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paodequeijofeliz-blog · 4 years

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Let me tell you a good story

Bloodbound Fanfiction (characters and main story belongs to Pixelberry Studios).

Pairing: Kamilah Sayeed and MC (Annie)

Information: this takes place after Bloodbound 3, here I’m recreating how Kamilah and MC would meet if she had never gone to Raines Corporation right away.

Summary: Thirty years after meeting Annie for the first time, Kamilah is now a wife and a mother. During a regular family dinner, she decides to tell her daughter and the new son-in-law the story of how she fell in love with Annie after an unusual meeting through the hallways of NYU.

Warnings: none.

Part 1 Part 3

Let me tell you a good story - Part 2

March 2nd, 2048

“You’re telling it wrong.” Anna shook her head in disbelief. “Kamilah Sayeed, you be a woman and admit to them that you checked my butt when I was opening the office’s door.”

“I don’t think they need to know that part. It’s not an important piece of information.”

“Ha! But me shivering when you sensually pressed yourself against me is an important piece of information?”

“I did not sensually pres…”

“Guys!” Lysia hit the table, laughing. “Focus!”

“Maybe I should be the one telling the rest now” Anna pinched Kamilah’s arm playfully. “Since you’re omitting the good bits.”

“You know what, my love? That is not a bad idea. I want to hear your version of the next part. It’s my favourite one.” Kamilah eyes had a glimpse of amusement. “And you do not dare to hide anything from our conversation in the hallway.”

While trying not to blush over that memory – and failing – Anna turned to Lysia and Drake with a happy broad smile on her face. “So, let’s continue. We went for coffee. And you mother just couldn’t stop staring at my butt.”

Kamilah rolled her eyes but didn’t interrupt it.

August 15th, 2018

“So, how do you like your coffee?” Anna had guided them to a small coffee cart by the side of the building. There was barely anyone around, unlike the other gigantic coffee carts they passed by.

The woman arched her eyebrows to the small old man playing some sort of card game with a kid. They were speaking a language she couldn’t understand. “Black. No sugar.”

“Figured.” Anna laughed softly, approaching the old man and playing a kiss on both his cheeks before starting to talk in the same language as them. “Tudo bem, Antônio? Pode me fazer dois cafés pretos extrafortes? Um deles sem açúcar, por favor.”

“You know him?” She asked when the girl took a step back, waiting for the coffee.

“Yup.” Annie drove her attention to the kid on the floor. He looked back when felt her hugging from behind, smiling and waving to both women. “I stay here a lot.”

“So I see…” those brown eyes once again started to analyse the cart, now with less suspicion. “That language you spoke. Was it Portuguese?”

“Yeah. Got it right away, huh? People usually think it’s Spanish or Italian. Every time I tell them I’m Brazilian, they just start to speak Spanish with me… Or a really loud and slow version of English. Both suck. My Spanish is horrible. And I’m not deaf.”

“Aqui, Aninha. Dois cafés bem fortes. Um sem açúcar, e o seu bem doce.” Antônio gave her a warm smile. He always remembered how Annie liked her coffee. She paid for it with a five-dollar bill and refused any change.

Slowly, they started to walk away with their coffees. The sunset was almost over, a dark shade of orange shining on Anna’s black wavy hair. She kept her eyes staring at the floor, lips twitching with indecision. It seemed she was trying to find the right words. The stranger besides her had such an intimidating aura that suddenly Anna felt like a shy teenager again, not the impressive college professor who won tons of arguments during congresses. She tried to gather courage to look at the woman once again, her mouth opening to ask a question, but someone interrupted with a touch on the shoulder.

“Anna?” They turned to face another college professor. She looked no more than thirty, blue eyes shining behind blond bangs. “Sorry to disturb you. I was just passing by. Did you get the chance to read my email?”

“No worries, Faith. I’m the one who should be apologizing, I did read the email, but I was so distracted by the donations this week I forgot to give you an answer. It was about the article, right? You sent me a sketch?”

“Yes, yes. For a new magazine we’re working on. It’s due to Monday. I was wondering if you could take a look and help me fix the mistakes. I’m sure there are plenty of them.”

The one named Faith took a step forward, practically excluding the other woman from the conversation. There was something on her smile, a hint of a special admiration.

“To Monday? Gosh, I’m so sorry. Let’s do the following. Are you staying for the lecture today?” Anna pointed to the sign on the wall. They were having those big weekly lectures with different CEOs and tonight was going to be a Mrs. K. Sayeed speaking… Among others less important names.

“What? Oh. Yeah. I am.” She cleared wasn’t planning to until now.

“Perfect. That’ll give me time to read it again and make better notes. When the lecture finishes, come and meet me at my office, we can talk about it. Okay?”

“Sure thing, Ann. I’ll see you later.” Faith took another step forward, kissing Annie on both cheeks before turning back to the building.

The woman beside her had a judgemental look on her face.

“What?” Anna took a sip of the coffee.

“Do all of your co-workers kiss you?”

“I’m Brazilian. We kiss people on the cheek. Regularly. It’s the polite thing to do.”

“She is definitely not Brazilian. I don’t think her kissing was over politeness.”

“Why, are you jealous?” Anna opened a teasing smile.

The woman answered with a short laugh. “No.” But her eyes were sparkling. Analysing. Right now, she was capturing Annie’s features: the pink-flowered blouse stuck inside social pants, stains of coffee on one of the blazer’s sleeves, her short stature, those black burning eyes.

“Why are you here?” The professor’s voice cracked the silence that lingered between them. “I mean, you’re not a student. Is it the lecture?”

“Oh. Yes. I have to be there in ten minutes.” A flash of discomfort crossed Annie’s face after hearing those words. “What? Something against the lecture?”

“No. Not exactly. It’s just… Not my kind of thing.”

“How so?”

They were back at the entrance. Anna leaned her head for a second, deciding what to do. Then, she took a step in, waiting to be followed by the woman.

“Well. Let’s just say that listening to billionaires giving advices to a hundred rich kids about how to perpetuate the same M.O. of exploitation their parents and grandparents had been doing for decades is not on my top list of good use of academic time and space.” That was the sincerest she could be without cursing. “I’d rather watch other lectures.”

“Did you watch any of the previous ones to have such a sharp opinion?”

“I did, in fact. Two. The first one, with the Canadian guy, Mr. Phelps. And last week. I had some spare time. It was… Raines. Adrian Raines. From Raines Corporation. He was better than Phelps. A little.”

The woman seemed to stiff a bit.

“What about tonight? Do you know the speakers?”

Anna’s eyes moved away to the floor. Every time she had to search for something in her memory, there were these little signals. Fingers entangling, like a little prayer about to start. Eyebrows furrowing. Lips pressing. The unknown woman noticed it all, since she couldn’t stop looking at the professor.

“Three of them. Mr. Walker. He’s a teacher here. Stupid, arrogant, and too touchy around female professors, may I add. I also know Haley, Haley Dens, I helped her with a job interview a while ago. We met during a lecture at Columbia. She’s nice, but I’m not familiar with her work. I also know the main attraction, not on person, but I read her thesis. Ms. K. Sayeed. Solid thesis. Better than Mr. Raines.”

“Hm. Tell me more about it.”

Anna kept her posture, walking slower by the minute. “How can I say it? I sensed… A little bit of naivety on Mr. Raines thesis. He’s not actually perpetuating the status quo, instead he tries to fix it’s problems, make it into a new system by improving the qualities. This doesn’t work. He’s just embellishing something that’s already broken. Ms. Sayeed is clever. Her mistakes are different ones.”

The silence and the curious look on the woman’s face were pushing Anna to continue.

“Hm. Ok. Let’s just say that Ms. Sayeed thesis is more consisting, but the end is frustrating. She admits the system sucks. With better words, of course. And that it’s impossible to fix it. So far, I’m on board. But then, her analysis stop. It’s like a Fukuyama kind of thing, you know? He said history was over. Ms. Sayeed is claiming economy is doomed. Dead. Over. Nothing to do. No one can change things. I beg to differ. That’s such a stupid and lazy conclusion. I do believe the system is broken, and fixing it won’t take us anywhere… That’s why we need to build a new one. From scratch.”

“A dreamer, aren’t you?”

Annie lifted her gaze to find a malicious smile on the woman’s face. She was suddenly stunted by the beauty of it. All the seriousness on her tone, the posture, the entangled fingers, all of it dropped. Suddenly, the college professor returned to the hypnotized teenager mode, bouncing from one foot to another. She looks like a goddess. Oh my. Oh my. She’s… Wait. Who is she?

“Oh no. I’m so sorry. I was so distracted I forgot to ask your name.”

The woman’s brown eyes locked with Anna’s as she approached. For a moment, the professor thought they were going to kiss. Her back was pressed against the pillar, so dangerously close to the stranger that lavender parfum started to dominate her senses. And even though there were a few students walking around, she wouldn’t mind having that gorgeous woman kissing her in the middle of the hallway.

“Kamilah.” She tucked a lock of hair behind Anna’s ear. The small touch sent electric signals through their bodies. “Nice to meet you, Annie.”

“Nice to meet you too.” That was barely a whisper. Her voice was gone. Disappeared.

And all Anna could do was watch as that goddess step back and head inside the auditorium, wondering if all that talk was real. If she was real.

The coffee definitely is. The taste of it was lingering on her tongue.

So was the desire to kiss Kamilah.

#kamilah sayeed #kamilah x mc #choices kamilah #bb kamilah #choices: stories you play #choices: bb #kamilah

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kibbles-bits · 4 years

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OMG! I love the whole Zamasu and Mai thing, and you even made it make sense. Though, now that Zamasu is slowly realizing that things aren't adding up with this partnership, what's next? Pls only answer when you have time.

I’m answering a year later cause i have time now >_>’

Part 1 | Part 2

This part goes on very similar to the anime. Black is tracking and messing with Trunks as he wreaks destruction, Future Bulma dies, Trunks meets up with Mai… And she is seemingly killed by Black. Trunks manages to use the time machine to go to the past. Zamasu, meanwhile, is looking for Mai since he usually waits for Black to be distracted before he talks to her. Except he can’t find her.

Unable to sense Trunks’s ki anymore, Black takes out his frustration on the city and it attracts Zamasu’s attention. Zamasu asks what’s going on and Black admits Trunks somehow got away from him just as he was about to end him permanently. Black is extra angry in this version cause he thought that ending Trunks’s life would improve his and Zamasu’s relationship since this was something the two had argued about a lot. Zamasu believes Black just let him go again and the two bicker about it until Black says exactly how the fight went down… and that he killed the girl who was always with Trunks.

Zamasu is shocked. He convinces himself for a second it wasn’t Mai who Black killed, but some other, insignificant human. He demands that Black elaborate, and Black obliges, oblivious to Zamasu’s state. As he recounts what happens, he is clearly pleased that he killed Mai, since she was seen as such an important and inspiring leader to the other humans and Trunks had cared for her so much. He laughs that she is dead. Before Zamasu can get properly pissed, Black’s time ring reacts to his recount of the story and he is able to follow Trunks through time, leaving a very emotionally confused Zamasu behind and alone.

Trunks is in the past and can give a slightly more detailed summary of what’s going on in his timeline, thanks to what Mai has told him about Zamasu and Black. Beerus and Whis were at first upset about the time travel, but what Trunks says about a Supreme Kai going rogue is more concerning. They’re skeptical at first since they’re only hearing about it from a mortal who already broke such an important law, but once Goku Black manages to appear in the timeline they believe him (though they stay out of the fight). They conclude that Zamasu became Supreme Kai and made a Goku clone as a servant.

After Black destroys the time machine and Bulma finds the old one to repair, Trunks tells the others more about the fights he’s had with Black and limited information he has about Zamasu, since he had never actually seen the Kai himself and relied on what Mai told him. Beerus thinks it’s weird that none of the other gods have gotten involved and Whis wonders if they’re even still around. Trunks tells them that Zamasu told Mai that he and Black were the last gods but hadn’t given any more info, to their alarm. To satisfy their curiosity, they travel to Universe 10 and bring Goku along to see if Zamasu would recognize him. If he did, then they would have reason to suspect a plan is in the works to annihilate the gods and Gowasu would be in danger. Goku fights Zamasu and notes the energy is similar to Black, but overall they find no evidence of Zamasu being malicious towards Gowasu and leave.

Zamasu searches the ruins of the city for Mai’s body. As he looks, he thinks over Black’s actions and his own role again. The balance of power and influence over each other is fresh in his mind and he gets angry just thinking about it, though he still doesn’t know what to do with his anger. It’s been a while and he can’t find Mai’s body and he’s disappointed. He remembers that searching for bodies is what Mai would do for her comrades and wonders if that means he considered Mai an ally of his. That thought, combined with how angry he feels over her death, causes him to reluctantly accept that he did see Mai as someone with worth, someone he liked. It only made Black’s actions more despicable in his eyes.

When Black returns, winded from his fight with Goku, Zamasu pretends he doesn’t hear him calling to heal him and continues his search for Mai’s body. Eventually, he does find her. She’s alive! (Shocker)

Mai, to his annoyance, barely spares him a moment to talk, but he is too relieved that she’s alive to be too offended. She is in a hurry to get back to the rest of the resistance and has no time to speak to someone who isn’t even an ally when there are lives at stake. She tells Zamasu this and in response he grabs hold of her to keep her still and heals her injuries. Reluctantly he admits how much he has begun to detest Black and that he is relieved to see she survived. Before Mai can even think of a response, they see explosions and she rushes in that direction because she recognizes it as the subway station the rebels would go during an evacuation.

Black is distracted by Zamasu asking what he was doing now and how did he get hurt. Black happily explains what happened when he went through the time distortion. He wanted to test out his body’s forms when destroying the humans, though he is admittedly slowed down by the injuries he got from Goku. Zamasu has him return to their base so he can heal him, giving the resistance time to escape with just a bit more of the civilians than they did originally. Eventually he leaves Black with tea and an excuse, to his counterpart’s confusion.

Zamasu returns to Mai who icily thanks him for distracting Black, but people still died and she’s sick and tired of such pointless deaths. To Zamasu, it’s different to see the mortals at ground level after watching them fight so boldly from afar. They are dirty, starving and scared and he feels weird to be connected to the cause of it. Mai asks how he even found her and the others and Zamasu realizes he must have picked up the ability to sense power levels after Black brought it up and focused on her.

Remembering that fact, Zamasu informs her that Black will know where they are. He can sense their energies and the only reason he hasn’t killed them all is because he is either toying with them or wants to draw Trunks out. This is a huge blow to the other resistance members’ confidence. Mai just expresses her distaste and firmly stands by her decision to hold onto hope and support Trunks and any allies he might bring. Zamasu is intrigued in the idea of Trunks bringing allies but Mai refuses to give details. She then asks him to go and please, don’t come back unless he is going to help.

Zamasu leaves and eventually decides to just dispose of Black. Not for Mai or the mortals (totally not), but because he’s done serving him. When he returns, Black shows him his new form, Super Saiyan Rosè that he was able to acquire by taking in all the moves he learned by fighting Goku in the past and turning them into his own in his body. Zamasu is immortal, but not powerful enough to dispose of Black quickly so his plan to destroy Black needs rethinking – if he messes up then Mai and the other survivors would be put at risk. He plays nice and impressed for now, but unfortunately does not have any time to really plan.

Trunks returns with Vegeta and Goku and Black is drawn to the area where are and the fight goes as it does in the anime as Zamasu watches from above. Eventually when Black is about to finish them off, Zamasu tell him to stop. Except in this version, he means it. Goku appears happy to see him, claiming he knew he didn’t seem like a bad guy and Zamasu is offended he calls to him so casually. Black is furious and demands an explanation. Zamasu tells him he’s had a change of plans and is not going to just follow him anymore. At some point it’s revealed Black is Zamasu from the past in Goku’s body and Zamasu criticizes him for it and his primal obsession again.

While Black is distracted, Yajirobe and Mai save the three Saiyans and send them back to the past, more hopeful now that Zamasu appears to have switched sides.

Zamasu spends his time keeping Black away from the remaining humans. Black knows he can’t kill him and Zamasu knows he can’t defeat Black on his own so eventually the fight goes to a standstill with the two just arguing again. Black is on the brink of hysteria because he can’t believe the one he is fighting is himself. He can’t deal with the idea that any version of himself could be as flawed as to think mortals are worth anything. He begins to taunt Zamasu. What did he plan to do if he killed him? The Super Dragon Balls are gone so he can’t undo anything. All the other gods were gone, was he going to live amongst the filth and sins of mortals? Stay at his side. They are so close to a perfect utopia. The last of humanity wasn’t worth it. He’s seen what they do, how they dare to claim godly power as their own and throw fists at true higher beings, what plan could he possibly have for them? Zamasu begins to lose confidence in his decision.

In the past the Saiyans are sent to recover. Trunks tells Beerus and Whis about how Zamasu had swapped bodies with Goku after losing a fight with him. Beerus decides he hates time travel and they revisit Gowasu and Zamasu. Like the anime, they prove Zamasu’s murderous intent and he is erased. They explain everything to Gowasu and he is horrified, but then decides he wants to help. Beerus says its unnecessary since Zamasu is erased in this timeline so therefore, he is gone in all of them, but Gowasu says it isn’t the case if Black is wearing a time ring. He wants to help the future Zamasu who has switched sides since he apparently had failed so badly with his own. Beerus doesn’t care and says to do what he wants, time travel is such a hassle.

Goku, Vegeta, Trunks and Bulma are ready to travel back to the future, more battle ready. Goku and Vegeta barely begin to fight Black while Zamasu stands aside uncertainly. As Black fights he recounts all the sins that Trunks, Vegeta and Goku have committed, confident he can get Zamasu back on his side with these blatant examples in front of him.

Shin arrives with Gowasu and once Black sees him, he is frozen. Gowasu condemns everything he has done in a speech and it makes Black furious but it gets through to Zamasu, strengthening his resolve and he rejoins the fight. Faced with Goku, Vegeta, Trunks, his old master and himself, Black completely snaps. He tries to kill Gowasu for a third time but Zamasu intercepts the attack. From there, Black’s attacks are overpowered and erratic. There’s a big dramatic fight and probably speeches and monologues but with everyone teaming up on him, it doesn’t take too long for them to kill Black. Trunks gets the killing blow cause its Trunks.

Gowasu asks Zamasu to join him in his timeline and perhaps they can make up their mistakes with each other, but Zamasu declines. He won’t go through with the Zero Mortal Plan, but he also can’t go back to standing idly by and watching as mortals fall to evil. Everyone parts ways and goes back to their respective timelines as everything gets wrapped up. Trunks’s future is safe and they begin to rebuild as Zamasu rethinks his future and his role. It’s all a pretty uncertain, but happy, ending…

…Then upper management gets involved.

#Zamasu #Mai #Zamai AU #Asks #merusthedivineangel

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mamusings · 4 years

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Supernatural Season 1 Thoughts

So I'm rewatching mainly to distract myself from the dogs breakfast the show has descended into. But also because my feelings about the show as a whole are decidedly mixed. I come to it as a buffy fan. I've always been curious about spn as a successor show to buffy, but only watched thr first 13 seasons in 2020. Blame lockdown.

Anyway s1. Blinding start, blinding finish. But the middle is just too many MOTW episodes without enough season arc development. I keep wondering who the show is for. It feels aesthetically very male. Lots of blood, guns and violence. Well-realised horror feel - although I think it's hard to really feel fear when you dont particularly care about who might die. It's only when you threaten a major character death that things hit harder. Also the genuflecting to realism by drawing on urban myths feels like something for stereotypically 'male' rather than 'female'. Probably reflects my preferences that I was never to into the MOTW format some buffy fans loved and that I was always more interested in the story telling than realism or even consistency. Monsters as metaphors works better for me. But Spn is a much more cloistered universe. Two guys and their absent father is what s1 is about. But it dits weirdly between being comfort viewing and needing attention. There's much that starts to feel formulaic with MOTW episodes: Impala on the road scene, some rock music, an opener that gives you a new mystery and people to go with it blah blah. You can practically set your watch by the final denouement happening in the final 8 mins. It feels like the show is diligently checking off every myth and monster going which gets tedious. I found the need for setting up yet another family in danger was something that gets hard to care about. "Oh look a couple, someone's gonna die, shall I fast forward until sam and dean show up." And yet there are some interesting undercutting of the white working class vibe the show has. Two that stand out to me are: the 'female gazing' of the camera work off Sam and Dean. There's a lot of panning - are we getting in the boys with the guns and hardware and then offering up the handsome male bodies for women? I felt a little cheap, but they they are v cute. The other is having a black/bi racial woman play Dean's only serious love interest. The ghost truck thing is terrible but putting attitudes to race at the centre of this particular storyline was intriguing. Perhaps a counter balance to the overall wwc feel of things. (Full disclosure I am a black woman and I enjoyed seeing this - even tho I did have several moments of wondering was the predominant female look so uniform back then. All the girls have the same build (and did we all wear such low rise jeans?) plus long, wavy/curly hair...except Meg who basically has Sam's hairstyle ha ha)

What's impressive? The first few episodes give us a cluster of core lines: bitch/jerk, no chick flick moments, and the sibling dynamic This show hits its stride right in the pilot and wendigo is still one of the scarier episodes. Thats a really good opening shot imo.

It's no surprise that what's really riveting is Sam and Dean. But on rewatching I saw a lot more on why this is so interesting. Basically when the characters are introduced you first get Sam. He's your archetypal nice guy whis hot everything though for him. Stanford, girlfriend, friends, great test score but also and crucially hes likeable. Then you get Dean and hes introduced as a dick. Breaks in, wrestles Sam, comes on to/is sleazy with Sams gf. So cocky bad boy: check.

In the pilot dean is the annoying big brother to a t. So they set up two contrasting personalities. Dean is disrespectful to cops, Sam is embarrassed by it. Dean is into hunting, Sam is unwillingly persuaded. Dean is insensitive, Sam kinder and sweet. Dean plays dumb, Sam's the academic achiever. But what we witness over the course of the season essentially reverses this. Sam's the real rebel defying his father, Dean the obedient son. Dean gets a lot of scenes showing him make swift emotional connections esp with children or people in caretaker roles. Dean's very adult 'I'm 26 of course I go on hunts alone' is unmasked by the fact he gets Sam to help him because hes lonely. And Dean (often clumsily) tries to help Sam move on about Jess and open up about his nightmares. While the explicit dialogue casts Sam as the geeky loser brother what we see in this season is that the loser is actually Dean. Sam has friends, Sam has a relationship, Sam has a life he wants to get back to. Dean has no one and some of the hardest emotional hits this season are when his mask is lifted to show us just that. For instance shape shifter Dean voices his jealousy in Skin. Also Azazel taunts Dean about how he needs Sam and John in a way that they dont need him.

The closing episodes really bring some of these contrasts home. Dead Mans Blood gives us a great bonding scene between Sam and John, for me that's a moment where it falls into place that they so much in common that it leaves Dean on the outside. They both loved women they lost to a demon. For both of them (at this stage) the mission, as in killing this demon, matters more than family. Its Dean who constantly prioritises family, even while his family deprioritise him. Both Sam in Salvation and John in Devils Trap put sacrificing themselves to kill the demon as their first priority. Whereas Dean consistently argues for family, first persuading John that they are stronger together, then telling Sam that the three of us 'is all I have' in Salvation. The point gets hammered home in Devils Trap where Dean says (in case the stupid viewer missed it "you and Dad are a lot more alike..cant wait to sacrifice yourselves, but I'm going to be the one to bury you").

Much of the rest of the relationship development is about showing us the partnership Sam and Dean are developing. You see increasing ease in working together - maybe most cliched in how they toss weapons back and forth in Hell House. Plus that interesting sibling dynamic when you love someone and find them intensely annoying that feels enjoyable even if your own sibling relationship is nothing like it.

But what's interesting is that while Dean's character is revealed throughout the season. You see through the episodes the difference between his Dean presents himself and hiw he is, but dean doesn't change. Hes immature and emotionally driven I'd also savvy and brave. Its Sam who changes. Not in how he is, but in his priorities. Sam realises the good bit about Dean among the stuff that irritates him. But most importantly the final episode shows us Sam moving from thinking the mission is what matters just like John. To thinking his family matters more. He doesnt shoot Azazel inside John and when John berates him for it his look at the bloodied-up Dean in the rearview mirror speaks volumes.

It's all the more striking because thus argument has been the core dilemma for the last 3 episodes. It's also the crux of how Dean, for all his obedience, sees himself as falling short of who his father wants him to be. He cant turn his heart off. Its Dean who calls his dad sounding like a tearful little boy in Home. It's when John approves of him making the heart choice and using the colt to save Sam, that Dean realises it's not his father but Azazel speaking. I find that painful to watch it's been so well set up. You get lots of preview of Dean really wanting approval and when it finally comes and you're all ahh fsmily bonding, Dean puts it together and goes you're not my father. Ouch.

Absent fathers and eventually I guess an absent God is a big spn theme. So there is something to say for looking at it in this season. John's absence is the driver of the whole season. But it's also the foundation stone of both Sam and Dean's character. What we get most of in s1 is a sense of the impact of his fathers absence on Dean. The childhood neglect, but also the absence of approval. My European background always makes it jarring when children address their father as sir so I hope I'm not over reading this. When John gets back the way it emasculates Dean is jarring. The jumping to attention with the yessirs and the following orders is such a distance from the cocky law breaker. Its interesting that the first scenes in which I recall the boys speaking in unison are these yessirs. But the scene I remember most is a trivial one, Dean offers John a machete out of Babys messy looking trunk - hes already been pulled up by dad for inadequate car maintenance. But John pulls a bigger, better, cleaner machete out of his high spec truck - Dead Mans Blood. Sums it up for me. Dean is so eager for approval, his father withholds it so casually. Sam is less like this, because he had Dean to parent him however ineptly. Sam did not have a hoid parent in Dean, but Dean showed up. Sam starts to make that realisation in season 1 and there are a few thank you moments. Contrast Dean's only outburst against his father when hes admonished to call when in trouble. He takes a leaf out of Sam's book and notes that they did call in Lawrence and they called when Dean was dying in Faith, hes angry and rightly so. John didn't show. But its interesting that Dean's fight with John sounds like a child fighting with a parent. It even ends with 'I dont care for your tone' from John even as he accepts Dean's point. Constrast Sam and John who have a much deeper ongoing disagreement. But Sam fights his father from an adult position. He's not looking for approval or acceptance, Sam claims his ground, argues his point. Dean still just needs to be loved.

But as well as the impact of the absent parent there is also having grown beyond the parent. I feel like the final few episodes show us that 'the boys' have surpassed their father. John's fake colt idea is lame and Dean calls it. By contrast the devils trap at Bobby's to catch Meg feels like a moment of brilliance particularly as the trap is sprung on the viewer so we feel surprised too.. Sure they call in help from Bobby, but what they do is well planned and they pull it off. And calling in helo when you need it us grown up.

Theres an element of fate vs character exploration when it comes to Sam and Dean. What happens to Sam is fate. It's not related to how he is or how he behaves. We find that out more fully soon. Whereas what happend to Dean relates to his character. IMO Dean actually has the option of walking away from hunting that Sam tried to exercise. Unlike Sam, hunting wouldn't have pursued Dean by killing his girlfriend. But Dean's character means he doesnt chose to walk away because family is important to him, in a way that it isn't for Sam until the end of this season. Its interesting that Sam perceives of himself as having choices he doesn't have. Whereas Dean sees himself as having no choice, when in fact he does. But I guess we don't know that yet so maybe the argument doesn't work?

#supernatural #sam #dean #winchester

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lilithsgayadoptednephew · 4 years

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To Be Daumerling

Fandoms: Shall We Date?: Obey Me! Not Rated Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings M/M Complete Work

Master List

Chapter 11

He was still small.

Not that he'd ever been a big guy but... standing before the man who'd done this. He felt small as a mouse.

When the angels had returned him to his original size he was relieved. So relieved he practically jumped up and down in celebration. He reached for high shelves, picked up chairs just because he could, and yelled.

Good Lord he screamed.

Finally after 6 days, he could be heard.

When he spoke people responded, their voices didn't rattle him, he spoke and raised his volume until they were the ones covering their ears. Needless to say they were kicked out of the library. It felt so good to be back he didn't even think as he hugged Lucifer around the neck.

Lucifer was stunned, his first instinct to push the human away. But he didn't. He stood for a moment and felt MCs body pressed against his. Still much shorter than Lucifer, but not nearly as small as the last few days. His bones so breakable yet he stretched his arms up to meet the demon with no fear or restraint. Lucifer wrapped his limbs around the human's waist and felt MCs weight settle in his arms. At normal size he fit perfectly, like a puzzle piece.

They said their thanks to the angels and returned to the Devildom to confront the culprit. Now they stood before Diavolo himself. They'd found him in the very same room where everything had started. Staring forlornly at the model castle by the empty fireplace. His expression when they greeted him wasn't surprised, just displeased.

MC felt very small indeed under the disappointed gaze of the Devildom prince, but he felt a shift. Glancing down for less than a moment, he saw something that made his heart grow. Lucifer had lightly linked his pinky with MCs, a quiet reminder he wasn't going to leave the human to an uncertain fate.

MC returned his gaze to the prince and suddenly it didn't seem so piercing. Suddenly Diavolo didn't look so big.

"I should've figured out sooner exactly where you'd gone…" Diavolo practically whispered, casting his gaze down to the week old remains of the shattered wine bottle on the carpet. Lucifer looked away but did not apologize. "How could you have betrayed me?" Diavolo spoke as Caesar might have to Brutus.

"I didn't know it was your doing" Lucifer defended sharply, Diavolo just narrowed his eyes. "At first…" the proud demon admitted reluctantly. Diavolo shook his head violently, advancing a few steps.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was? I thought I'd lost him in the Devildom. I thought I'd killed him, Lucifer!" Diavolo was in full demon mode now, his voice breaking like a vase on tile. Lucifer's eyes blew wide...he did understand. He thought he'd killed MC in the drain. His resolve snapped as he heard his friends desperate anger at what Lucifer had done.

"My... Diavolo I'm sorry." He breathed, but he couldn't bring himself to say any more. It wouldn't have done any good. Diavolo was about to continue yelling when MC stepped between the demons.

Lucifer's resolve was failing, but MC was unmoved.

"You shrank me" MC hissed, Diavolo blinked at the sudden change in conversation.

"MC this isn't about you" he dismissed, but MC was not impressed.

"Not about me?" He hissed and took a step closer. Lucifer put a hand on his shoulder.

"MC let me handle this–"

" Sit down " MCs voice struck the demon like a backhand and he immediately dropped into the armchair beside him. Diavolo took a step back in shock. MC took a moment to calm his shaking limbs before practically falling to his knees in apology. "Lucifer I...I'm so sorry I have no excuse."

"It's ok"

"–i didn't even think I–what?"

"It's alright" Lucifer's voice held an emotion MC was certain didn't actually exist. Carefully he stood back up.

"I...well….ok if you say so…" he turned cautiously back to Diavolo.

Lucifer's head spun. The craziest things happened around MC. Like shrinking really small, or making him feel even smaller, but this was by far the craziest.

MC hadn't used the pact.

Returning his attention to Diavolo MC felt his rightious anger return.

"You were going to keep me prisoner. Alone. Possibly forever." He accused, pointing a finger. Diavolo's offence was painfully evident in his face.

"Alone? I was going to keep you safe here with me!" He shouted. "you should be fucking honored." His voice seemed to layer menicingly as he stared down at the human. MCs gaze did not waver.

"Thank you"

Diavolo opened his mouth to retaliate but stopped short.

"Excuse me?"

"Thank you" MC repeated. "I know you don't go to these lengths for just anyone, so thank you but I must decline." He continued. Diavolo opened and closed his mouth for a moment before responding.

"You can't just decline"

"Yes I can, it's called a human right" MC said simply. Diavolo seemed to calm visibly, he really was interested in human culture.

"What's that?"

"It's one of the many rights I have as a human. 'no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile'" Lucifer closed his eyes in embarrassment, was the human actually trying to envoke human laws? Diavolo looked at the ground, then back at MC.

"You think I'm... imprisoning you?" He sounded really genuinely hurt, MC sighed.

"Well aren't you? To keep someone against their will is false imprisonment at best." His voice was calculated as he made his case. "And since you moved me from the house of Lamentation to do it, I'd say it's kidnapping at worst."

"But you're just a human, you don't even know what's good for you" his voice was grossly sympathetic.

"The first right disagrees, see we are all born free and equal with our own thoughts and ideas" he spat back readily.

"Maybe on earth, but in my kingdom you don't have a clue. Like a silly pet" he cooed.

"Again wrong, 'Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.' human right number 6"

"Says who?!" Diavolo whined.

"The United Nations" MC deadpanned, Diavolo rolled his eyes.

"You're not going to win this argument."

"Why? My case is airtight and backed by the law. Honestly I can't believe I have to spell it out that you can't shrink people and keep them in isolation" MC laughed. Diavolo grimaced.

"It's not isolation! You have me"

"Well I need more than that." MC shot, no longer caring if he hurt the prince's feelings. Diavolo winced like MC hit him. "Anyone would need more than one person in their life"

"What about three?" Diavolo asked quietly. MC was thrown, that was a random number.

"Three isn't enough either" MC said at length. Diavolo looked back up at him.

"Barbatos, Lucifer, and my father." Diavolo said quietly. Lucifer looked down at the sound of his own name. MC raised an eyebrow. "Though I suppose...my father isn't much of a person anymore." He laughed mirthlessly. MCs eyes widened as he understood.

"Those...those are the only people you talk to?" He asked incredulously. Diavolo's ears turned pink.

"No no! I throw parties and galas and talk to lots of people... business people…" he trailed off. MC leaned against the chair Lucifer sat in.

"So you only have three friends" MC corrected himself. Diavolo still looked embarrassed.

"Barbatos has no interest in being more than my servant, my father is definitely not a friend, and Lucifer?" He looked at the offending demon sadly and Lucifer held his gaze. "I can't grasp exactly what I am to you honestly" he admitted.

Like invisible ink exposed by heat, a different picture of Diavolo's intention began to form. He was lonely. Who knows how long it had been this bad, he was so lonely he tried to trap a friend.

MC looked around the room and suddenly Diavolo's castle felt much larger, much emptier. It eerily resembled the soulless foam and card castle MC had walked through that first night he was small.

Suddenly he missed the house of Lamentation. The family dinners and continuously lively halls. Always someone waiting to drag MC away for something or another. That house was his home, he couldn't imagine living like the prince.

"Do you have to live here?" He asked cautiously. Diavolo looked up from his inner musing and blinked.

"Why?"

"This place is the problem, you're trapped here. Can't you live somewhere else?"

"Where would I go?" Diavolo asked quizzically. MC threw a pointed look at Lucifer and he stood suddenly.

"No no no, MC what you're suggesting is out of the question." Lucifer dismissed.

"Why?" MC asked innocently.

"Because there's already too many of us" he reasoned.

"You welcomed me readily" MC twirled a strand of hair. Diavolo's eyes lit up as he caught on.

"But...we have no extra rooms" Lucifer said resolutely.

"I could have MCs old room" Diavolo pleaded.

"No I'm staying too" MC waved his hand at the prince.

"You can't, not whi–"

"You shrank me and kidnapped me" MC stayed flatly.

"Yes b–"

"You owe me" MC insisted. Diavolo grumbled playfully but relented. "Consider me an immigrant, official resident of the Devildom."

"No!" Lucifer interrupted. "We simply do not have the space or accommodation for anyone else. That is the end of it." He crossed his arms, effectively ending the discussion.

0Diavolo was moved in by the weekend.

MCs room was completely taken over by the prince in his excitement to live anywhere with roommates. He had to seriously thin out his luggage when he realized he would only have one room to himself, but he loved everything about it. "The real housemate experience" he called it.

Lucifer was less than thrilled to have his boss living with him, but Diavolo's enthusiasm eventually grew on him. At the end of the day he couldn't let the prince continue living in his empty castle after learning just how lonely he was. Yet one problem still remained.

Where to put MC?

Naturally every brother volunteered to share their room, some even fighting over the opportunity. In the end Lucifer trumped all of them declaring MC would move in with him.

At first this was exciting but...MC wanted his own space. He'd shared rooms before with siblings and whatnot but never someone as possessive and pushy as Lucifer. As patient as MC was, Lucifer simply was not a good prospective roommate.

He was thinking about the situation and coming to terms with it as he walked down the halls. Alone since many of the brothers were on the town or in their rooms.

Light from the artificial Devildom sky glowed softly through the window, casting peach patches onto the carpeted hall floor. His privacy and solitude were things he'd always cherished, that's why he chose this remote hallway for his walks. He'd walked it before but never had he stumbled as he did now. Feet fumbling over each other to regain balance he careened right into a bookshelf. Dust filled the air as the ancient structure toppled to the floor.

"Damn" MC rubbed his head and began gauging how heavy the shelf was. Maybe he could set it back up. It must have been there for a long time since the wallpaper behind the shelf was a completely different color.

No not wallpaper, a door.

Reaching cautiously to the knob the curiosity got the best of him. Carefully he stepped inside. He felt at the wall in the dark for the lightswitch. Flipping it he saw something unexpected but familiar.

Liliths room.

He had no idea there was another door to the deceased angels tomb. The white sheets covering the furniture swayed like ghosts as he padded quietly through the room. Warm and inviting scents of dust greeted him, as if the room was happy to see him. In an instant his decision was made.

0His eyes rested on the intricate woodwork of his floor. His wake up call was on its way and he wouldn't budge until it arrived.

The delicate clicking and squeaking of the bats outside the window were more melodious to his ears than any morning birdsong. He waited in content silence.

Knock knock knock knock

Mammon knocked four times before swinging into the room. Still in his pajamas.

"MC! You better get up cause it was your favorite Mammon's turn to make breakfast." He plopped down on the edge of the bed and waited as MC ran a comb through his hair.

Every Saturday morning Mammon sprinted all the way to MC's room to wake him up for breakfast. The door MC had found on his walk all those months ago was pretty out of the way so he appreciated the demon's enthusiasm. He was among the first to get used to the idea of MC taking Liliths room.

As they made the trek back to the kitchen MC couldn't help but smile to himself. He had a tournament to continue with Levi after breakfast, then he was going to check out the new book cafe that just opened with Satan. Nothing was so perfect as a lazy weekend with the family.

As the smell of bacon met his senses and the sound of breakfast chatter grew louder, MC closed his eyes. Walking without haste, He felt found.

#obey me!#obey me fanfic #To Be Daumerling

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tigerlover16-uk · 7 years

Text

Things I’d like to see in Dragon Ball Super post-universe survival Saga

I just felt like writing down a bunch of random stuff I’d enjoy seeing. Didn’t really think too hard and there’s definitely more stuff I’d like, but I just wrote all this down in a hurry and thought I’d post it for the fun of it. So here’s a bunch of random ideas:

Gohan continuing to be relevant as a top-tier fighter.

Gohan showing off his great saiyaman poses to the Pride Troopers, leaving them in awe and fangirlish glee.

Toddler Pan bonding with Grandpa Goku and starting to learn how to fight.

Krillin and Jaco having a team up episode to try and catch an intergalactic criminal, or break up a crime ring, or SOMETHING space cop related. Come on, Toei, you're sitting on a gold mine here.

A few stories devoted to actively exploring some of the other universes.

Vegeta and Goku spending time actively training Cabba, Caulifla and Kale.

More insight into Kale's character, her backstory, her relationship with Caulifla, basically just give her more fleshing out. Also maybe have her not really be in control of her berserker powers just yet, and give her a character arc with her gradually gaining better control of them over time as she becomes more confident and mentally healthy. There IS good character development to be had here, and it would be a shame not to do anything else with Kale and leave things as they are in the US saga so far, which have had pretty meh results.

Caulifla going super saiyan blue. Just because i want to sit back, sip a coke and laugh at all the elitist fanboys losing their minds. (Seriously though, I'm okay with however she progresses just so long as it feels earned and she continues to be a likeable and entertaining character).

Launch being brought back

Majin Buu playing an important supporting role for at least one saga and NOT falling asleep (Seriously, Toriyama, it was never funny).

More Hit.

Goku and Bergamo, if not exactly leaving on friendly terms, then at least part ways with a mutual respect, and Bergamo acknowleding that he was wrong to hate Goku. Same for Toppo for that matter.

Check up on Gowasu and see how he's coping with everything he's been through these last two sagas and trying to move on and be a better supreme Kai, maybe getting a new non-crazy apprentice. The guy just deserves a break.

Have Raditz be brought back to life to join the Son family. Yeah, i know this sounds like blatant wish fulfillment fanservice, so what, we ALL want to see this happen. Why not. I'd also be happy if they brought Nappa back instead though.

Have Goku go to meet with Grandpa Gohan sometime after the tournament, either in Otherworld or have Baba bring him back briefly. I really want to see these two just talk about everything that's been happening lately and how Goku's life has gone since they last saw each other. Also, let us see more of Goku's thoughts on how he felt knowing he was the one to accidentally kill Grandpa Gohan and have them actually talk that through! I'm still sore his reaction to that was basically a footnote in the Vegeta fight and then just forgotten about afterwards.

A member of Frieza's race that's ACTUALLY good and not just a lying scumbag, like Frost. Seriously, i actually like Frost, but I'd much rather have had an actual good Frieza.

An episode about Dende and Mr Popo's daily duties and interactions.

Krillin's family meeting Android 17's family.

Marron performing a destructo disc. Because don't lie, you all want that as much as i do.

Goten to be relevant to a saga's story, or at least have his own breather episodes.

Same for Yamcha.

A saga set in one of the top 4 universes heavily involving that universes God of destruction in the plot.

Pan helping Baby Bulla to start flying. Because that would be so adorable.

An episode set in the new future timeline checking in on Future Trunks and

Future Mai showing what they're lives are like now.

Piccolo getting a God tier power up and being more useful to big scale conflicts later on in Super.

Mr Satan and Gohan father/son-in law interactions.

More adorable moments with Goku hanging out with Goten.

Beerus and Whis developing a fondness for Baby Bulla and possibly Pan as well.

Android 8 appearance that's not a silent cameo in the future timeline.

Master Roshi making Krillin the new official Master of the Turtle School of Martial Arts at some point.

Puar playing with Marron, Pan and Bulla.

A visit to planet Namek for whatever reason.

King Kai to get his wish to be brought back to life at the end of the series, only to somehow die in another weird accident soon after to his frustrations.

An episode where Majin Buu babysits Pan.

Beerus discovering his namesake and getting drunker than Barney Gumble on Saint Patrick's day. I'd love to see just how that situation pans out.

One of the other universes Gods of Destruction being an antagonist in another saga (Probably Quitela, all things considered).

An episode where the entire cast just decides to hang out at the beach, Goku takes Chichi's telling him to invite everyone too literally and goes about inviting every single friend he's ever made along his adventures, including those from other universes and even getting Whis to contact Future Trunks to show up in his time machine with Future Mai and Bulma.

And, that’s about all I got. Feel free to add your own ideas on what you’d like to see, either serious or joking

#dragon ball super #dragon ball #dragon ball z

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3000wordsandnolife · 7 years

Text

Countdown to Midnight- Chapter 4

been busy working on stuff, so forgot to post stuff for a few days.

Time: 9:30

The search of the hotel proved fruitless in terms of exits, and I began walking back down the stairs to the bottom floor, disappointed. As time ticked on, it began to feel more and more as if someone was indeed going to die, and I was beginning to worry it might be me. If people really thought I was the traitor, they were definitely going to target me, and I wouldn’t blame them. Everyone else had alibis and regular backstories. I was the only person who had lied. Honestly, I would be surprised if I wasn’t the first one to die.

I shook those morbid thoughts off. No, I was not going to die. I was going to find a way out, and then I’d be paid and tell Alan to shove it, maybe go work for Gracewell or something. Anything was better than risking this again. I checked the time again on my phone (which was all it was useful for now), a rhythm I had been doing for a while now compulsively, and sighed. Two and a half hours left until we all got choked to death by gas. Or burned by a gas explosion. Either way, gas-related deaths were not a fun way to go, so finding out some way to escape was imperative. I stepped back into the lobby, where the sight of Jenny and Jane greeted me, the former looking over building schematics and the latter leant against a wall, staring into space. “Oh hello, Rose!” Jenny said cheerily, quite a juxtaposition to the general atmosphere of the hotel. “I don’t suppose you’ve found a way out?” She continued, hope in her voice.

“Unfortunately not.” I responded with a sigh. “Do you have anything?” I asked her, and she shook her head.

“Nothing we don’t already know, I’m afraid. The building’s not got anything like secret passageways, or at least not ones that show on the building plan.” Jenny said, looking disheartened. “I’m beginning to feel like there is no escape from here.” She sighed, slouching down in the desk chair, with her head in her hands. I turned to Jane, who was still leaning on the wall, but had turned her head to listen to our conversation. “Guessing you haven’t got anything either.” I said, already knowing what the answer would be. Jane shook her head. “Nope. The only thing I’ve seen is that for all sixteen of us, we have about enough food and water to last us ten days before we need to go without.” Jane looked down thoughtfully. “I have a feeling this was premeditated for quite a while. Possibly the mastermind even predicted who is going to be the first to die.” She mused, as Jenny and I stared at her, unbelieving.

“First to die? No one’s going to die, Jane!” I exclaimed, surprised that I had to spell this out. “Thinking like that is not going to help us get out of here!” Jane looked at me, examining my expression as if scrutinizing every detail on my face.

“There’s just over two hours left. This is the point where someone is going to kill in order to survive. We’re now in a world of kill, or be killed, and quite frankly, if it wasn’t for the fact that I doubt either of you could kill me, I’d be keeping my distance from you as well. As is, you make a good witness. I’m safe as long as you guys are around. It’s just the way the game’s played.” Jane said, making me feel sick. This was all just some twisted game to her?! The thought flashed through my mind that perhaps she was the traitor, but I shoved it down, refusing to listen. I was not about to let my mind start crazy conspiracy theories.

“Jane, this isn’t a game! This is a scale model of chaos! All you’ve done is give in!” I said, trying desperately to make her see.

“And don’t I seem better off for it? Sure, a bit pessimistic, but that’s life. Maybe it isn’t me accepting it that’s the problem. Maybe it’s you not accepting it.” Jane challenged me, and I would have continued arguing further, had Jenny not intervened.

“Okay you two, is this really the best time for this discussion? How about we wait to see if Rose was right, and if she wasn’t, then we can discuss it.” Jenny said, stepping between the two of us. I had to admit, she had a point. For everything I had been saying, I didn’t know for certain that no one was going to die. I just wasn’t ready to accept that possibility. Nonetheless, giving in this soon just didn’t feel right. I wasn’t about to just continue it needlessly though.

“Alright.” I said, calming down. “You have a fair point.” I sighed, moving myself away from Jane, who went back to her pastime of staring blankly at nothing. At this point, other people were entering the room, starting with Aaron and Den, who obviously entered together. I didn’t know what they had been doing, and I didn’t want to ask. Next was Amanda, Edward and Annie, who had decided to check all the windows to see if any of them had glass that wasn’t either tinted or incredibly thick, though their expressions told me that they had had no luck. Natalie and Keith were next, and from the foul expression on Keith’s face, I guessed that whatever they had been trying to do hadn’t worked out either. I heard him swearing to himself as he walked by, which confirmed my thoughts, and Natalie followed, a concerned expression etched on her face. I kinda felt sorry for her. She clearly liked the guy, who definitely seemed like a huge dick. I stopped focusing on that too. It wasn’t the time or the place to judge other people’s relationships. When the room seemed to have filled with the people I recognised, I hopped onto the front desk and addressed them.

“Okay, rundown. What do we have?” I asked. The group hesitated, before Den came forward.

“Aaron and I were checking wall structure. On the bright side, some of the walls are definitely breakable.” Den began, his pause indicating that there was going to be a downside mentioned. “On the not-so bright side, we’ll never break through them in time.” I sighed, wrote it down in one of Melvin’s notepads, and the next person came forward.

“All the exits to the damn building are sealed. Even the ones for the roof! What kind of paranoid freak blocks off the roof access door?” Keith growled in annoyance. “Not to mention that the elevator seems fucked too. When we got in with other people, it started beeping and refused to go anywhere.” “That’s just the weight limit. There were probably too many people in at once.” Jane said plainly. “The limit’s five. Or did you just ignore that, with your clear superiority, and decide that the laws of physics would just bend themselves to fit you?” She added, snarkily.

“Jane, stop antagonising people.” I said simply, the threat behind my words non-existent, yet still implied, and she backed down. “Alright, that’s probably something to remember. Anyone else got anything? We know we’ve got enough food to last us about ten days.”

“Enough food to last sixteen people ten days. The less of us, the longer they’ll last.” Jane corrected me.

“Yes, but as we’ve said, we aren’t going to let people die.” Jenny said, cutting her off before she could spout more bullshit. “Just let us see what happens, okay?” She reasoned, and again, Jane backed down. This was becoming a common thing with her, and it was starting to get on my nerves. “Alright, anyone else got anything they’d like to contribute?” I asked, emphasising that I didn’t want Jane to respond, and thankfully she either took the hint or had no more objections.

“You know how the mastermind said there was no way to communicate with the outside world?” Claire said, catching my attention. “I think he may have been lying, since signals can get in. The TVs still work, and I caught some of the news. There’s nothing about the Ruxford, most likely meaning that the mastermind can also cover that up.” Claire’s words made me think, as they had sent up several red flags of confusion. How do sixteen people disappear without anyone being concerned? Even if they were known to be going to a hotel, there had to be someone trying to contact one of the guests, right? Also, why did the mastermind lie about the communication? Did they just expect us to not try? No, that couldn’t be it… so what was it? Something about this fact made it linger in my mind, so I inquired further, trying to make it make sense. Unfortunately, the responses I got just made it even weirder.

“So has anyone tried to use their phones?” I asked the group.

“It was the first thing I tried when I woke up, but like that creepy guy said, it didn’t work.” Natalie responded, pouting, her makeup not helping cover the unpleasantness from the expression. “It’s possible to individually block a phone signal while letting a TV signal through. However, with the modern TVs the hotel has, there would certainly be some interference.” Melvin said, before turning to his assistant. “Tell me, were there any issues from the TV?” He asked her. She shook her head in response.

“Crisp as when we got here. No visible issues at all.” Claire informed us. “So there must be something else stopping us from using our phones. Or, someone’s watching us and making sure we can see the outside world.” She hypothesised.

“What would be the point of that?” Peter asked her. She looked over at him with a strange expression, and I realised that the two hadn’t spoken at all up until now. But then again, hadn’t they come from the same way? Plus, I had no idea if they had talked beforehand or not, I had been sleeping for hours. “Well, I’d say to make us certain that no one’s going to come help us. Everything we’ve discussed so far makes it seem like we’re being pushed towards killing each other.” I said, bringing the attention back to myself. “Of course, since that isn’t what’s going to happen, we’ve just got to be more vigilant than ever.” I reassured the group, though it was definitely for my benefit in this case. As the time to our possible death got closer, I worried more and more as to whether or not there was actually going to be a murder. Not that I was going to let them know that. Jane would have a field day. Speaking of which, she had been casually observing up until now, having watched instead of participating.

“If we’re going back into looking for a way out, we need to be in groups this time. If people go off by themselves, it’s going to be easy to kill them.” Jane said, surprising me. What, did she now not want people to die? “And before you ask, if two people go off together and one is murdered, the culprit is obvious, so there’s less incentive to murder.” She made sense, and I wasn’t sure whether I was happy about that or not. On the one hand, she had smart, clearly thought-out reasoning, but on the other, she was saying how she was okay with the idea of the game, so how could I be certain that this wasn’t just some sort of ploy?

“Alright then, we’ll pair up! If we work together, we’ll be able to get out of here easily!” Jenny said, in a show of determination and passion that surprised me. God, to have optimism like hers… it must really make life easier.

“Alright then, I’m going with Rose.” Jane said. What? Why was she wanting to go with me? Was she going to kill me? Several negative thoughts went through my head before Jane continued her sentence. “Of all the people I don’t have to worry about being murdered by, at least Rose is slightly tolerable and willing to stand up for her beliefs.” Wait, was that a compliment? Jane confused me so much, so there was little I could do but just wordlessly agree to pair up with her. I looked over to Jenny, and saw her glancing over the group, a confused expression on her face. “Jenny? What’s the matter?” Jane said, cautiously.

“I guess the pairing won’t work… there’s only fifteen of us here.” Jenny said quietly, scanning the group.

“That’s not right, there were… sixteen.” As I said the sentence whilst counting the heads, the fact hit home. There were only fifteen people in this room. Where was Ray Wendell? Looking over at Jane, I saw that she had quickly reached the same conclusion, and met my gaze. The two of us ran out of the room to the staircase, where we stopped at the foot of it. Some of the group had followed us out, and were watching us with concern, some of them having also realised the same thing we had. “You check the first three floors, I’ll go for four through six!” I said, before racing up the stairs, taking them three at a time. Getting to the fourth floor, I racked my brain, trying to remember which rooms were empty. I began to pace the hallway, getting closer to my room, and that was when I saw something that made my blood freeze. My room’s door was open. I wouldn’t have been the one to leave it open, so who did? I heard my name being called from behind me by some of the other guests, but it was as if I was underwater, only one thing on my mind. I pushed the door to my room open, and turned on the light.

In all my life, I don’t think I’d ever experienced something as bad as that moment. Turning the light on threw the once-dark room into deadly shades of scarlet, and the metallic tang in the air only served to make the experience more unpleasant. The room was a wreck. Someone had clearly been looking for something, and whatever it was, it had been found. And I knew exactly what it was from the torn open suitcase, missing a nondescript package. But that wasn’t the issue. There were pools of blood everywhere, as if someone had taken a blood bag and spun around with it, with the sole intention of getting blood on every surface. And in the middle of the biggest blood pool was the source of the blood: Ray Wendell. The murder had been brutal, whoever having done it having used a knife to slice at the body in numerous places. His face was contorted into one of confusion, his eyes asking the same ones that every dead person’s eyes always did. Asking why it had to be him, why he was the first to die. Probably also asking why he had made such a poor decision as to walk into someone else’s room. The blood from his body had been sprayed on a lot of places, and from giving a quick second-glance at the body (I didn’t want to look at it too long), I could see that his throat had been slit, definitely the killing wound. Clenched tightly in his right hand was a short length of metal, which upon closer inspection was one of those telescopic batons, clearly what he had used to defend himself. There was also something else that was off in the room, but I couldn’t place my finger on it. There was certainly a lot of blood, but at the same time, it almost felt as if there was too much blood. Suddenly my crazy theory as to how the blood had gotten everywhere didn’t seem too crazy.

“Jesus Christ.” Breathed Claire from behind me. A few other members of the group had gathered, and I heard the unpleasant sounds of retching coming from what I could only assume was Den, though it could have very easily have been a wounded Bigfoot, judging from the noises he was making.

“Is that Ray?” Jim asked, glancing through the doorway. Claire nodded.

“Yeah. Poor guy.” She sighed, looking over the body and the room. She looked around again after a pause, her expression changing and her eyes squinting suspiciously. “Something isn’t right here.” She concluded, confirming my earlier thoughts. I shared my thoughts and observations with her, and she listened intently, nodding her head. When I had finished, she walked over to the body, and knelt down next to it. She carefully moved the body around, examining it without disrupting it too much. She looked at the fatal wound, pushing at it slightly with a pencil from her pocket. Seemingly satisfied, she put it away, having gained some sort of information from it, but whatever it was, I had no idea. “Whose room is this?” Claire asked.

“It’s mine.” I replied, and she looked up at me with an expression I couldn’t place. It was only when I looked at the other people that I realised what she and everyone else were thinking. Someone had been murdered in a room, and the person to discover the body had been the person who owned the room. I was the prime suspect. But I also realised something else. Whoever had been into my room to steal the package had known about it. So the murderer was the person in possession of the package. But how could I track them down? I thought of each of the guests, but none of them stood out to me as anyone who could possibly be working for Alan as well as me. However, there was a bigger picture here. Someone had been killed, possibly for what they had seen, more likely just to keep the others alive. I looked back at Ray again, thinking. Maybe he had known about it, and the murderer had killed him? Then, having the package, they could have thought it to be something like a trap or a bomb, thus taking it for safety? Coming to this conclusion only gave me one solid fact to go on; if I was going to find the real murderer, I needed to pretend that I didn’t know about the package, and find out who has it by myself. I sighed, as I snapped back into the present, looking at everyone. “This is just going to be me proving myself to you assholes over and over again, isn’t it?” I said bitterly, before walking out of the room. Claire jogged up behind me, matching my pace.

“I don’t think it’s you, you know.” She said to me. I refused to look at her as I kept walking, trying to think of ways to find the killer. “Me neither, surprisingly enough.” I responded, stepping into the elevator. Claire stepped in behind me, before the doors could close her off.

“I mean, I want to help. Or at least, I want to be the solidifying evidence if I end up dead.” Claire’s words caused me to look over at her, and I raised an eyebrow incredulously. “You are insane.” I said, unable to articulate any further than that. My shock was clearly evident, as she tried to explain herself.

“No, I just meant that I have enough faith in you to assume you’re not the killer. If you are, and you do kill me, then what does it matter, you’ll end up dying too.” Claire was good at reading people, a fact that she was well aware of. This must have been why she was so reckless with her trust. Not that it was bad to trust me, but if I had been the killer, she would have been killed quite quickly. I narrowed my eyes, staring at her.

“How do I know you’re not the killer?” I asked her, staring her down, but she was unflinching.

“Two reasons. One, Ray would have very easily won the scuffle that had gone down between him and the killer if it was me.” Claire began, as the elevator dinged. The two of us walked back into the lobby, preparing to begin the search. “And two, your room’s clock is broken on 9:33, which was when I was with Melvin and Peter, and you were with Jenny and Jane. Solidifying both our alibis, as well as Jane’s and Jenny’s.” She concluded. Of course she had seen something as obvious as that. At least that explained the trust. “Now come on, we’ve got a killer to catch.” She walked into the room marked security office, and I quickly followed behind her. We were hot on the killer’s trail, as well as the mystery of the box’s disappearance. I had to stop myself from getting excited. Things were actually getting quite interesting, and also terrifying.

#Countdown To Midnight #writers of tumblr #writers on tumblr #Creative Writing #story

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weannoyingbouquetgalaxy-blog1 · 6 years

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"What kind of license do you need to sell auto insurance?

What kind of license do you need to sell auto insurance?

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I've been living in the UK doing some studies for 3 years. When I came to the UK, I didn't know how to drive a car. Also, I found it difficult to pass the driving test in the UK and afford private driving lessons. Few months ago, I went for a 3-month holiday in my original country, Egypt. There, learning how to drive is much easier and less expensive. Besides, issuing a driving license is not so difficult as the theoretical and practical tests are not so complicated. Therefore, I decided to learn and get a national license. Based on this license, I could issue an international one from Cairo that allowed me to drive in some countries one of which is the UK. However, when I returned to the UK and decided to by car, I found a proper one for 550. I decided to buy it, but I was asked to go online to get a quote from a car insurance company. I spent the whole night trying all the websites that my friends told me about. The shocking fact is that many of them refused to give me a quote because I hold an international license, not a UK one. Even those websites which accepted that requested a huge amount of money (i.e. not less than 1, 200-1, 600) which is much higher than the price of the car itself. I wonder if there's a way to sort this out or if there's any alternative solution that saves money for me. I don't want to go through any further driving tests in the UK. Also, I don't want to provide wrong data (e.g. having a full-UK license). Your suggestions are highly valued (serious answers please as I really feel down!). Thanks so much in advance!""

Can i buy contacts online using my insurance only?

I HAVE EYE MEDS INSURANCE?

""If you had an extra car that was paid off and cheap on insurance, would you sell it or keep it for a back up?""

If you had an extra car that was paid off and cheap on insurance, would you sell it or keep it for a back up?""

How much would a 2005 Honda Civic Coupe be worth?

I probably totalled my car. What is the estimated value of the car? How much do you think my insurance company will give me for a new one? Is there a site I can go to?

Who is the most dependable Motorcycle insurances and the cheapest?

What all do I really needfar as coverage..I have good medical already...what's the minimum coverage? I have a new HD fatboy 2006 with the 1689 cc with custom pipes. I just wantthe basic coverage. How much is a good premium?

Who is the Blonde looking for better insurance rates in the progressive insurance commercial.?

She works alongside Stephanie Courtney in the progressive insurance company commercials.

Car insurance?

Does your car insurance have to be under the title holder's name? And as far as that goes...does the title have to be in the name of the person with the loan? If it does, can there be another person on the title who isnt part of the loan?""

Seperate Business Car insurance Policy?

I am starting my own delivery business and plan on using my own vehicle, I have looked into the price of business car insurance and got a rough quote, however I realised I am with Hastings Direct, and have not seen anything about business car insurance with them, so I checked on their site and it appears they do not offer business car insurance, so my question is, should I cancel the policy with them and take out a new one with someone who does, or is it possible to have a domestic car insurance with one company and a business one with another?""

18 year old car insurance quotes?

I passed my driving test 2 months ago live in a small village and have a full time job i am 18 years old.recently i have been looking around for car insurance quotes for the obvious 1st cars 106s,corsas etc and the lowest quote iv had is still over 3 grand these are all of compare sites aswell as admiral quinn and direct line, surely this carnt be right? this is on my own insurance as the main policy holder, because apparently you carnt go on your parents insurance anymore. would appreciate any help Thanks""

Should vegetarians be required to pay as much for health and life insurance?

We get breaks for being non-smokers, not taking risks, why not for being vegetarian. It is a healthier lifestyle, for me at least, and why should we pay for the cardiac care of those who eat meat? Very few vegetarians suffer from heart disease - the leading cause of death in America.""

17 year old and car insurance policy?

my mothers insurance company called her today asking if i had my license. when she responded no but i was thinking about getting it, they said if i did get it, she would have to immediately put me on her policy, even if i DON'T have a car. sounds like some bull to me but then again ive never done this before. to insure a 17 year old male with the car i would have would cost her 3 grand a year anyway which isn't gonna happen. she then asked if i could have my own policy in my name and was told yes and it would be completely in my name and i wouldn't have to sign on any ones policy. as far as i know, i cant sign a legal contract until im 18 because im still a minor in the eyes of the law. (her insurance company is allstate by the way) my questions are-- (1) do i have to be put on her policy as soon as i get my license even if i DON'T have a car? (2) can i have my own policy in my name being a minor (17) with no existing credit history?, and if so (3) can anyone recommend some of the cheaper insurance companies for teens, or is 3 k a year about the norm? 10 to the best answer. thanks.""

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What would my insurance be for a kia forte koup 2010?

i'm an 18 years old male about to 19 in a few months,i live in New york and i'm really considering this kia,but i need someone to help me out on what my insurance would cost without having to go through all these insurance quote process,thanks""

Which type of insurance is the best for a family insurance and Child insurance in India?

I want to know more detail about the insurance in India for Child and Family.

Which company gives best insurance to young drivers?

I'm currently 17 and the cheapest quote i've got at the moment is 4000 on my own car as the main policy holder but with my dad as the main driver i've found a quote for 1500. but does anyone know which companies are good for young drivers?

'occasional driver' Car insurance?

Hi, I'm 18 and I'll be heading off to college in the fall and so won't be home very often. However when I am home I'd like to be insured on my dads car. I don't see the point in having to pay the same price for car insurance as someone who drives almost daily, so I wanted to know if there was a type of car insurance for the 'occasional' driver. I'll only be home on vacations, and even then I won't be driving all the time, but I really need a car insurance for when I do drive, mostly summers.""

What is the cheapest car insurance?

i am shopping car insurance, any suggestions""

How much do footballers pay for car insurance?

just wondered cos Wayne Rooney Keeps spinning and having prangs, given his age, and the value of cars involved how much does he have to pay in premiums? I'm in no doubt he can afford it, but just wondered how much premiums would be.""

Would my car insurance company give me any problems if I get a 2nd car?

I am the only driver in my household but I plan to get my son a car and register it under my name and put it on my insurance. He has a license and lives at a different address. Would the insurance company get suspicious about anything?

What car is cheap for insurance?

I'm 17 year old im looking for a car I have got to the point of I want anything thats ok but insurance is killing me so I came up with a few cars let me know if it's good on insurance . 89 Silvia s13k ,98 gto twin turbo ,98 pointac grand prix and if you have any cars that you suggest or insurance plains that I should look into let me know.""

How can I get my first ever used car if I don't have any auto insurance b4?

So here is the conflict: I can't drive the used car off the lot if I don't have insurance. But to get the insurance, I need to have the car purchased first. Am I missing something here?""

Cheapest car insurance?

I'm trying to insure my first car. It's a Rover Metro SI 1.4 auto. I'm 20 years old + am still driving on a provisional lisense. I've held this lisense for 1 year. I'd do around 5000 miles a year when I pass + want third party as the car is only worth 350. I'm also a lady as I know that makes some insurers cheaper. I've tried moneysupermarket.com + confused.com + Quinn comes up the cheapest with a deposit of 109 + then 10 months at 43. However both sites have a big list of insurers that they could not provide quotes for. Does anyone know, or is anyone with a cheaper insurer than Quinn Direct? I live in England, so no American insurers thanks :)""

Why is my mortgage company forcing me to buy insurance on my home?

what is homeowners insurance good for?

How to estimate landlord insurance?

Landlord insurance Flood Insurance Are there any sites that give an estimate based on the location of the house? I'm looking for something that doesn't ask for all of my info before giving out an answer (because that's their outdated marketing tactic).

Does anyone know the best car insurance to buy from with just the minimum required?

i am so sick of car insurance companies taking advantage of people with these super high prices just because the dumb law says you have to have insurance.

How long will it take for your auto insurance premiums to go down after and accident and a speeding ticket?

I got into a car accident 3 years ago. Due to my car lost control during raining weather. There was no one involved but myself and the police cited me for reckless driving. That was almost 3 years ago. Recently, in October I had gotten a speeding ticket of going over 15-20. I took it upon myself to go to traffic school both times to wipeout some of the points off my driving record, but some how my insurance still upped my premiums yet again. My question is how long will it take for my premiums to go down or have the accident removed from my record? Does any one know of a good insurance company that I can transfer to due to my insurance premiums are way too high. I know of other people who have worse records but their insurance isnt at much as mine. Also I've had my license for 13 years and have in all that time just have been in 1 accident and 2 speeding tickets. Any help would be appreciated.""

My car was taken to the compound on friday in the uk when the driver was found to have no insurance.....?

However i have got insurance and so when i go to the station to have the form stamped so i can go to the compound and collect my car back, The police tell me i have to produce my licence as well...problem is i cant find it.. so i go to dvla internet site and order form to get a new licence....But this can take 3 weeks to come back and unfortunately the car gets crushed in 2 weeks, But the law says i can continue driving even tho i havent got my licence card ...because i do have a licence but its been lost and im waiting on my new one coming.A Please dont answer if you are only speculating on what you think you know i havent got time to read brain dead answers from all you dick eds on here. Nor do i want your personal opinion on the situation as it is a Question.. put on a Question Board wanting an answer...Not a message board asking for your opinion so use the board as it should be used and stick to the rules...answer the question ...if you cant ...then dont waste my time and yours""

What is life insurance?

I'm not looking for a detailed answer, just a very basic (simple!) idea of what it is. I understand other types of insurances, so I get how it works, but I'm just confused.. is it supposed to help your family when you die? Does it give them money to live off of? Thanks!""

Where can I find cheaper motorcycle insurance?

I need to get insurance today as I'm picking up my motorcycle later, it's a 1977 Honda CG125. The cheapest quote I have found is 377 TPFT, and that's with two years' NCB! Granted I'm still on a provisional licence but still ridiculous. Also, can anyone explain if there is any point at all forking out 150 more a year for Theft and Fire cover when it demands 500 excess? I'd have to pay that if it were stolen, right? Even though I paid less than that for the bike...""

Cheap Family Insurance?

I am looking for an affordable insurance for my whole family. We dont qualify for medi-cal or healthy families. In our family its my husband and I and 2 young children. If you have any suggestions, thanks!""

Landlord's insurance in NJ?

I have few rental properties in NJ and looking for an insurance company that provides landlord's insurance policies. I will appreciate if you could arrange to send me few names of insurance companies. Thanks

Best way to find affordable therapy for a teenager with depression?

I'm seventeen years old and I think I have depression. All teenagers are emotional, I get that, but I know this is more. When I'm occupied and around people for a few hours at a time or less, I'm fine and usually even happy. Then when I actually have time to stop and think and let my mind wander, I usually feel kind of hopeless and just very sad. I also have other emotional issues, like the littlest things seem to enrage me. Also, I read somewhere that depression can cause physical issues such as digestive issues (which I have been having a lot of the past four or five months). I cancel plans a lot now, either because my stomach is acting up or I feel too sad to go anywhere and I just dont want to be bothered with people. Ive been sleeping a lot more than normal lately because thats the only time things dont bother me. When I was about thirteen I had an issue with cutting, I would talk to my guidance counselor (which is not an option now because I did home schooling and now am done with school until college next fall) and when she realized that I may have some more serious issues, she called my mom. My mom always brushed it off. She talked to me a total of one time, only when I went to my older cousin and my cousin forced my mother to talk to me. Basically, my mom got mad because I said I didnt feel comfortable talking to her and she refused to send me to a counselor, then she said she would send me to a counselor (at that time I had insurance) but she never actually ended up doing anything. So I went back to doing what I always do, pretending to be fine, and for the most part I controlled it. I stopped cutting until about seven months ago, which was also when all my other issues started popping up. I havent cut myself in a few months now, but I still have the urge to which is not okay. Depression and other mental health issues run in my family, and I keep thinking of one particular relative who got so bad that she took her own life. I know that at some point she must have been like me, where it was difficult but still somewhat manageable, and it just scares me that I could get to the point she was at. I have no insurance, and we have very little money. I know Yahoo Answers isnt the ideal place to seek advice, but I dont know where to go. I only have one true friend that I trusted enough to tell, and obviously she is my age so shes just as clueless as me. Then I have tried talking to my older cousin (not the same one I mentioned before, she and I dont talk anymore) but in her world even if the money is not readily available, when its needed they find a way, so she doesnt get the concept when I tell her I really do NOT have the money for a psychologist or insurance. Is there any websites or anything that provide information on free or more affordable counseling for teens? Im ready to admit that I need help I just need to find somebody actually willing and able to give it to me.""

Truck Insurance CHeaper then car insurance for a male?

is truck insurance cheaper then car insurance for males, and why?""

How can I obtain drivers insurance when neither parent has a license in California?

because insurance is a binding agreement that requires one parent to have a valid license, and neither of mine do, I cannot buy auto insurance. - My grandparents will not help me either I have 1000$ to buy insurance, and I will drive either way, insurance or not, is there any loophole around this law? thanks.""

If I am 16 can I get a rental car if my insurance company covers it?

We went to the rental car company and they said that being under the age of 18 I can not get a rental car, but I do have full rental coverage on my insurance. Would I be covered to get one since I have full rental coverage? I am going to call my insurer tomorrow to see. But I'd like to know now.""

Is Health Insurance Innovation a good insurance company?

I'm scouting for a cheaper health insurance plan and so far Health Insurance Innovation offers a cheaper price. It's $50/month for pretty basic stuff and it's $2500 deductible.

I work per diem and have no insurance. do you know any good insurance that is affordable?

I am also a student so I need something that won't break the bank and that I will hopefully be able to use after school

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https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/question-state-farm-car-insurance-noah-ward/"

0 notes

rebeccahpedersen · 6 years

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The Friday Rant: Has The World Lost Its Mind?

TorontoRealtyBlog

Folks, it’s been a while.

Maybe I’m mellowing as I get closer to obtaining true “middle-aged” status.

Or maybe I simply reached a point where nothing in the world of real estate fazes me anymore.

But here’s something new: there are buyers in the market that didn’t know the price of real estate could fluctuate, and now they’re upset.

This is the p-e-r-f-e-c-t time for me to revive a classic TRB feature, The Friday Rant…

I don’t understand the world today.

And while I know that sounds like something an old man says, I just really, truly seem to have lost touch with the world around me.

The Prime Minister of Canada. Wow. This guy!

Interrupts a young speaker at a town hall meeting, who had the audacity to say “mankind,” to tell her that “we,” whoever we are, prefer to use the term “people-kind,” since it’s more inclusive.

The pendulum has swung so far one way, that it’s about to break through the other side of the universe on the way back.

Sorry, but I don’t like Mr. Trudeau. I think he’s of below-average intelligence, his low self-esteem, ego, and desire to be admired is at the forefront of every decision he makes on behalf of 33,000,000 people, and he has no experience, or ability, to lead.

This is a microcosm of where we’ve gone as a society, and while some think this is steering us in a better direction for peoplekind, I think it’s making us feeble, weak, and eventually we’ll all be incapable of self-care.

The public school systems have done away with “enriched” programs, such as the enriched English programs I took throughout high school that helped make me the writer I am today, so that “everybody can get an equal opportunity.” So in the race to the bottom that has become public education, we’d now rather have a so-called “level playing field,” than ever see an advanced child flourish.

We don’t keep score in children’s sports games anymore. Somebody might get upset to learn that in sports, as in life, there are winners and losers.

Cue the “December Seasonal Concert.”

Change the lyrics to “O Canada,” because it’s one of the worst things plaguing our country today.

Have we ever become softer as a society?

Many of you are already disagreeing, so I won’t go on, with countless more examples, and perhaps better ones, of where our municipal, provincial, and federal leaders have taken us.

But I fear it’s this “guidance” that has brought us to a point where most people in society today refuse to take any responsibility of their actions, especially when those actions are misguided, uninformed, or have consequence of any sort.

As it pertains to real estate, I’m seeing this more and more.

And how could it not transpire, with what we have inflicted upon ourselves?

Recall the story of the “Museum FLTS” condominium project in Toronto, which was cancelled back in November.

The newspapers picked up the story, and made martyrs of these poor souls who entered into legally-binding contracts with a developer who then exercised his right to terminate the project. I wrote about it on my blog, and I was extra nice:

Another Pre-Construction Condo, Cancelled. Who Is To Blame?

And despite being told by many that I was too nice, I still received hate mail from people who bought into the project – many of them who were obviously well-versed enough in contract law to not spend the $3,000 on a lawyer that might have educated them on the pros and cons of the stack of paper that was thrust upon them by a salesperson, representing the developer.

Oh, the heat I took! Wow!

I try to take the high road folks, I do. And it took every ounce of strength I had not to share with you the self-pitying, naive, wishful-thinking emails I received from buyers into the project, who read my blog, and took issue.

You wouldn’t believe it, if you tried.

But as bad as that example of “not taking responsibility for your actions” truly was, I think we reached a new low point.

Some of you pointed this out last week, so I know I already have your ear.

“What did the neighbours pay? Whitby homebuyers just found out the answer: a lot less”

This story first appeared on the CBC website on January 24th, and to attempt to read it without shaking your head at least once is a fool’s errand.

The very first paragraph tells you all you need to know:

Planned homes in a new Whitby subdivision are on sale for up to $90,000 less than similar homes in the same development were a year ago.

Right.

Sooooo……….what’s the story?

A person who can tell time, tie their shoe, and breathe in-and-out, could probably ascertain that the price of real estate, believe it or not, can fluctuate.

Prices go up, prices go down.

Like the stock market, or spot gold. Bonds, or treasury bills. Corn futures, or Bitcoin…

But the story here, folks, is that some of the buyers who purchased real estate last year, and who saw the value decrease, are, well, upset.

“It’s painful,” Astrid Poei said in an interview. (from the article)

That’s fair. Nobody is expecting this person not feel the sting of an on-paper loss, for a property not built, which in effect, doesn’t really mean anything.

“There are no building materials on site, there is no foundation poured, so I don’t understand how we are paying more than someone who bought a couple of weeks ago.” (from the article)

Here’s where things go off the rails a little bit.

The idea of there being “no building materials on site,” and “no foundation poured,” simply goes back to inexperience, and naivety. It’s pre-construction; delays are automatic. I’m not going to belabour this point.

But then somehow attaching the fact that the project hasn’t started building yet to the idea that “we’re paying more than somebody who bought a couple of weeks ago,” doesn’t make sense to me.

What’s the issue here?

That somebody who bought a couple of weeks ago paid less?

God help us, folks.

This is what we’ve done to ourselves, as a society.

By removing scores from children’s soccer games, automatically passing high school students who receive failing grades, and electing left-wing governments that promise everything to everyone, we’ve allowed people to believe that they can’t fail.

Failure is a reality in life.

And when you buy real estate, you should know that the price can go up, or down.

Again, from the article: “To come back a year later and see the same house that we bought is now $90,000 cheaper, that’s not cool,” Thompson, 52, said in an interview.

Not cool.

Is that an economic or legal phrase?

Imagine that, folks. The audacity of a developer to sell properties for prices, as they see fit.

The irony is, if the properties were selling for more money, these people wouldn’t be complaining.

But then what about the second-phase of buyers? Could they complain?

What if somebody said, “To come back a year later, and see the same house that this guy bought only 12 months ago is now $90,000 more, that’s not cool.” Would we accept that?

And now, the kicker:

“…Poei and Thompson, who are not looking forward to meeting their Phase 2 neighbours, knowing they paid tens of thousands of dollars less for the same homes.”

Ain’t it the truth, folks?

I remember once when my best-friend of 22 years bought a set of Callaway irons for $750, for which I had paid $1,000 the previous year. So I did what any normal person would do under those circumstances: I kicked his dog, and then never talked to that motherf*cker again…

I know, I know, I’ve said too much.

But guess what?

I’m far from finished…

The Toronto Star also picked up this story, for some odd reason, since I really don’t think it qualifies as news.

“Price drop crushes pre-construction home buyers’ dreams”

Important point here – I’m not faulting the writer. I think she’s awesome, I’ve done a ton of stories with her, and as I’ve learned over the years – sometimes, the story picks you.

But it’s the quotes in here that really get me.

And even worse than the CBC article – this one shows not only the absolute disillusionment of the buyer, but also the complete and utter lack of qualification!

Mariam Boni was among the buyers caught up in Toronto’s scorching property market last January. She says she got an email from Mattamy when the first phase of the development was released. On the appointed date, she waited three hours in line to get a ticket to return to the sales centre the following day.

When she went back, there were only two lots still available and Boni ended up spending $899,000, plus additional money for upgrades, exceeding her target price of $500,000 to $600,000.

Although she owns a home already, she said Queen’s Common would be a better place to raise her son.

Wow.

A lot going on here…

So first, we have a woman that stood in line to get a ticket to buy a home. Can you say, “mania?” I hear Bitcoin came down from $20,000, btw…

Second, she spent $900,000, with a budget of $500,000 – $600,000.

And last but not least, she already owns a home. This was a second property, and while she was probably going to sell the first one, it doesn’t remove the speculative nature of the adventure.

The woman added:

“I have a 3-year-old. I’m thinking about his future, I’m thinking this is a good investment. It’s going to go up in price, I’m going to do something nice for my child.”

Exactly!

You thought it was a good investment. You thought it would go up in price.

You thought.

That’s it.

That’s all you need to know.

There’s no guarantee, nor should there be. If the prices went up, as you thought, would the developer come back to you and cry foul? Would Mattamy Homes go to the Toronto Star to describe the hurt and anguish they feel about selling properties that went up in price, when all the while, they could have held them and made more money?

The developer offered this explanation, which is like explaining to a child how boys and girls are different:

“When (the market) is moving upwards, we obviously raise our prices and when it’s moving downwards, in order to continue to sell and to build and complete the communities, we have to lower our prices to a price point the market will bear.”

Yes, when the market goes up, prices go up. When the market goes down, prices go down. What’s that, Marigold? It’s half-past four?

I honestly can’t believe these stories went to print.

Our imaginations could run wild with the analogies. In fact, some of last week’s readers already beat me to it.

So tell me I’m wrong, folks.

Tell me that these stories were newsworthy.

Tell me that the buyers in these articles have a legitimate beef.

Tell me that peoplekind should be able to buy real estate with absolutely no fear of the price dropping, but with the full expectation that the price will rise.

But do so in the comments below, because I have to leave; I need to go find something sweet. This blog has left me really goddam salty…

The post The Friday Rant: Has The World Lost Its Mind? appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

Originated from http://ift.tt/2nNRXsU

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oselatra · 7 years

Text

Who's afraid of Barry Seal?

The 'true lie' behind Tom Cruise's new film on the notorious drug-trafficker-turned-federal-informant who operated out of Arkansas.

The poster for the movie "American Made," to be released Friday, Sept. 29, shows a grinning, cocky Tom Cruise as the drug smuggler Barry Seal, hauling a duffle bag bursting with cash. "It's not a felony if you're doing it for the good guys," the poster teases. The film's trailer has Seal casually boasting about his simultaneous work for "the CIA, the DEA and Pablo Escobar."

One critic was led to ask: "So, was Seal a triple agent?" Perhaps. The producers say this swaggering story, based mostly in Arkansas, is all "based on a true lie."

"American Made" is Hollywood's second film about Seal, the trafficker-turned-government-informant who is fast becoming America's most intriguing outlaw. HBO released the first, "Doublecrossed," starring Dennis Hopper as Seal, in 1991, five years after Seal's controversial murder.

When Cruise's film was announced, its title was going to be "Mena," after the town in Arkansas where a local company hid Seal's aircraft and modified them for drug drops. I was a reporter focusing on drugs in the 1980s, but I learned of Seal's three-year presence at Mena only after the night in 1986 when Colombian assassins gunned him down in Baton Rouge, La.

I became one of many reporters who tried to untangle Seal's story and, though that task ultimately proved impossible, I did learn a lot about him. But now, the bits and pieces collected about Seal have provided enough material — enough "true lies" — for Hollywood to weave into films that enlarge his legend.

But his actual story is littered with dead ends — secrets that are still being carefully kept — especially in Arkansas. And here, I'm sorry to say, some police records that were open to the public 20 years ago are apparently no longer available.

I wouldn't know this if it weren't for Cruise's film. When it was announced with a planned release in 2016, Rod Lorenzen, the manager of Butler Center Books, a division of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, asked me to write a history of Seal's time in Arkansas to correspond with the movie's release. I was honored. The Butler Center is part of the highly respected Arkansas Studies Institute, a creation of the Central Arkansas Library System and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

I'm a huge admirer of the ASI and consider its staff my friends. Yet I declined. I told Lorenzen that the book he proposed would be too hard to write; that there were still too many people in power — in both political parties — who did not want Seal's full story told.

But Lorenzen persisted. I began to waver, recalling the words of some Arkansans who'd known Barry Seal.

"I can arrest an old hillbilly out here with a pound of marijuana and a local judge and jury would send him to the penitentiary," a former sheriff at Mena in 1988 had said, "but a guy like Seal flies in and out with hundreds of pounds of cocaine and he stays free."

The prosecuting attorney there had avowed: "I believe that the activities of Mr. Seal came to be so valuable to the Reagan White House and so sensitive that no information concerning Seal's activities could be released to the public. The ultimate result was that not only Seal but all of his confederates and all of those who worked with or assisted him in illicit drug traffic were protected by the government."

And this, by the Internal Revenue Service agent who'd found evidence of money laundering at Mena: "There was a cover-up."

Nothing had changed with regard to Seal since those men spoke those words, except that the savage war on drugs had ground on, while Seal — whatever he was — remained a hidden but important part of its history. Finally, I told Lorenzen I would write the book; I would document as much as I could of Seal's secretive Arkansas years.

We agreed that the book would be called "The Mena File: Barry Seal's Ties to Drug Lords and U.S. Officials." Lorenzen commissioned a cover while I began my research by contacting the Arkansas State Police. I knew the agency had an extensive file on Seal because I'd read it decades earlier, shortly after Seal's murder. In fact, I still had a letter from the former director advising me, in case I'd planned to make copies, that the file held some 3,000 pages.

But now, three decades after Seal's murder, State Police spokesman Bill Sadler reported that he could locate no files on Seal. None. Arkansas's Freedom of Information Act requires the release of public records, but Sadler said that, in Seal's case, the agency was unable to do that. I protested, and after weeks of back-and-forth, Sadler reported that a file on Seal had been discovered. He eventually provided a packet of 409 pages. He said this was all the agency could release after duplicates and documents that are exempt from public disclosure were removed.

Even allowing for duplicates and legal exemptions, I would find the reduction of publicly available records, from 3,000 pages 20 years ago to just over 400 now, disturbing. My concern increases when the case is one of national interest that's also replete with political connections. As Sadler suggested, the state police in the past may have made too much available. On the other hand, if the grip on information about Seal has been tightened, the reason for this extra control might be traced to his earliest days in Arkansas.

By late 1982, when Seal moved his aircraft to Mena from his home base in Baton Rouge, federal agents had already identified him as "a major international narcotics trafficker." Police watching Mena's airport notified federal authorities that a fat man from Louisiana had begun frequenting an aircraft modification company there called Rich Mountain Aviation.

That same year, President Ronald Reagan appointed Asa Hutchinson, already a tough, anti-drug crusader, as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. Wanting to keep tabs on Seal, Hutchinson ordered William Duncan, an investigator for the IRS, to watch for signs of money laundering around Mena resulting from Seal's presence.

Another investigator, Russell Welch of the State Police, was assigned to look for evidence of cocaine arriving there. Duncan and Welch both told me that being assigned to Seal ended up ruining their careers.

Welch said he began to suspect that something was amiss one night in December 1983, when he and several other law enforcement officers had staked out the airport, watching for Seal. He said they'd seen the smuggler and his co-pilot land and taxi to a hangar at Rich Mountain Aviation, where workers installed an illegal, extra fuel tank in the plane.

Welch said that Seal had taken off into the wintry night, fast and without lights. But what he remembered most was how surprised he, the FBI agents and the Arkansas Game and Fish officer who'd joined them had been that, although officers for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had met them at a motel in Mena, none had gone with them to the stakeout.

Seal had no criminal convictions at the time, but he did have a puzzling record. Ten years earlier, federal agents in Louisiana had caught him attempting to take off from an airport in Shreveport with a planeload of plastic explosives bound for Cuban ex-patriots in Mexico. Seal was charged with being part of a plot to overthrow Fidel Castro. But prosecutors abruptly dropped the case at the start of his trial. That event, relatively early in Seal's career, would later prompt speculation — unquestioned in Cruise's film — that he performed contract work for the Central Intelligence Agency.

From later court records, we know that in April 1981, before Seal moved to Mena, DEA agents in Florida had caught him in a drug sting. We know that while his case there was pending, Seal agreed to become an informant for the DEA — but that the circumstances of that deal were also strange. In the summer of 1984, facing possible life in prison if convicted, he'd flown his Lear jet to Washington, D.C., where, in a meeting with top DEA officials, he'd established the terms that would allow him to remain free.

Duncan and Welch were not informed of Seal's change of status as they pursued their respective investigations. Throughout 1984, they had no idea that Seal was supposedly working for an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. So far as they could tell, he was a drug-runner continuing to run drugs, while the DEA remained, as both officers put it, "conspicuously absent" from Mena. The Arkansas lawmen, along with their peers in Louisiana, could scarcely have imagined all that Seal was up to that year.

From a variety of surviving court records, we know that DEA officials in Florida cooked up a plan for him to help them round up the leaders of Colombia's Medellín cartel in one dramatic sting. Suffice it to say that the plan turned into a catastrophic failure — one that exposed Seal's status as an informant to his former associates in the cartel.

With Seal's usefulness in that regard ended, he was put to another use. This time it was a political one — on behalf of Reagan's White House. Reagan wanted evidence that officials of Nicaragua's Sandinista government, which he opposed, were shipping cocaine into the U.S. After allowing CIA technicians to install hidden cameras in his C-123, Seal flew to Nicaragua and returned with photographs that he said showed Sandinista leaders helping load cocaine onto the plane.

But again, Seal was compromised. Someone who knew of the flight leaked word of it to a Washington newspaper. Seal's status as an informant was confirmed, placing his life at still greater risk.

After that, the justice department found yet another use for Seal, as U.S. attorneys began calling him to testify about his experiences with major drug dealers whom they were prosecuting. From Seal's testimony at some of those traffickers' trials, we know that he claimed to have grossed $750,000 per flight while he was smuggling for the cartel; that he continued to fly in drugs after becoming an informant; that he had smuggled about 6,000 pounds of cocaine into the U.S. during that period; and that for one of those flights alone the DEA had allowed him to keep the $575,000 he'd been paid.

But it's clear that by late 1984, Seal was getting worried. A man who had lived by secrets suddenly made the unthinkable move of agreeing to be interviewed by a reporter. Seal flew Louisiana TV reporter Jack Camp to Mena, where he allowed Camp to film him inside the C-123 as he talked about his work for the DEA, while pointing out the places where the CIA technicians had hidden their cameras.

It was only after Camp's interview aired on Baton Rouge television in late 1984 that law enforcement in Louisiana — and, quickly enough, Arkansas — accidentally learned of Seal's dual roles. But even now his status remained unclear, and federal officials weren't trying to help. Seal was still flying, apparently free, in both states, while ground crews, including workers at Rich Mountain Aviation, continued to work with him. Duncan and Welch focused their own investigations on the period before Seal became an informant.

In mid-1985, Duncan told Hutchinson that he had sworn statements from employees at Rich Mountain Aviation and Mena bankers about illegal cash deposits being made into area banks. With what he called this "direct evidence of money laundering," Duncan asked Hutchinson to subpoena 20 witnesses, all of whom, he said, were ready to testify before a federal grand jury. But Duncan said that Hutchinson balked and, in contrast to his conduct in other cases where Duncan had requested subpoenas, in this case the U.S. attorney subpoenaed only three. Later, when Duncan was asked under oath in a deposition whether he believed there was a cover-up, he replied, "It was covered up."

In August 1985, shortly after Duncan's request for subpoenas, U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese flew to Fort Smith to meet with Hutchinson. DEA Administrator John C. Lawn was with him. While the nation's two drug officials were in town, they held a press conference with Hutchinson to announce a series of raids dubbed "Operation Delta-9," which they said were meant to eradicate home-grown marijuana. Although Fort Smith sits just 70 miles north of Mena, nobody mentioned Seal. No one even mentioned cocaine.

By then, though local investigators still did not know it, Seal had become a darling of the Department of Justice. In October 1985, the President's Commission on Organized Crime invited him to be the featured speaker at a symposium in the capital attended by several top U.S. law enforcement officers. The following month Hutchinson announced that, having decided to run for Congress, he would be resigning as U.S. attorney.

At first, it looked like Hutchinson's successor, J. Michael Fitzhugh, was ready to act on the cases related to Seal. In December 1985, Fitzhugh announced that he had subpoenaed Seal to testify at a grand jury session to be held in Hot Springs. In preparation, he sent Duncan to Baton Rouge to interview Seal, and the State Police sent Welch.

When I interviewed the investigators for my book, they told me that Seal seemed weary. He and his attorney fretted that Seal's deals from Florida would not protect him in Arkansas. But, after some dickering, Seal agreed to be sworn in. "I don't want to waste these men's time," he told his attorney, Lewis Unglesby. "They have come a long way in bad weather and it's Christmas."

In the recorded interview that followed, Seal acknowledged some, if not all, of his business with Rich Mountain Aviation. He told Duncan and Welch that he had warned the company's owner that he stood "a good chance of going to jail" for the illegal modifications Rich Mountain Aviation had performed on his planes and that the owner had "better get himself a lawyer and be ready to look at pleading guilty."

But five days before the grand jury was set to convene, Fitzhugh suddenly canceled Seal's appearance, due to what he termed Seal's "lack of credibility." Duncan and Welch were incredulous. By now they knew that Seal had been invited to the Washington symposium largely because of the respect he'd won from U.S. attorneys for his testimony at high-profile trials. Duncan and Welch could not understand — and Fitzhugh never explained — why, at the last minute, he'd suddenly deemed Seal's "credibility" insufficient in Arkansas.

Seal may not have intended to show up, anyway. The pressures on him had intensified since he'd agreed to testify against Jorge Ochoa, a cartel leader who was soon to be extradited to the U.S. To prevent that from happening, the cartel had placed a half-million-dollar contract on Seal's head.

And it worked. On Feb. 19, 1986, a group of Colombian gunmen murdered Seal in the parking lot of a halfway house in Baton Rouge, where a federal judge had ordered Seal to spend nights while on court-imposed probation.

Barely four weeks later, Reagan appeared on national television to explain his opposition to Nicaragua's Sandinista government. As part of that explanation, the president held up one of Seal's photographs from inside the C-123. The image was grainy but Reagan said that it showed officials of Nicaragua's Communist government loading cocaine onto a plane that was headed to the United States.

Reagan never mentioned Seal, and the photo's authenticity was soon challenged. Nevertheless, that televised moment captured the whirlwind into which Seal flew after his move to Arkansas: the intersection of drugs, Central American politics, the DEA, the CIA and the U.S. president.

We might never have known about any of that except for what happened on Oct. 5, 1986, less than eight months after Seal's murder. The C-123 cargo plane he'd kept at the airport at Mena was once again flying over Central America when a Nicaraguan soldier shot it down. Papers found with the downed aircraft linked it to members of Reagan's White House staff and with that, the political upheaval known as the Iran-Contra scandal burst into world news. Questions about the plane led to questions about Seal, and, inevitably, some of the fallout reached Hutchinson. The former U.S. attorney had lost his initial race for Congress, and by 1996, when he was running again, many Arkansans were trying to sort out his connection to Seal.

When someone at a campaign appearance asked the candidate if there'd been a cover-up at Mena, Hutchinson replied: "All I can tell you is I started the investigation. I pursued the investigation, and I was called to run for office. And after that I was out of the loop." Hutchinson won his 1996 congressional race and two subsequent elections. He resigned from Congress in 2001 to accept an appointment by President George W. Bush as head of the DEA.

After a subsequent appointment at the Department of Homeland Security, Hutchinson returned to Arkansas, where he became the state's governor in 2015.

Soon after taking office, Hutchinson installed veteran DEA agent Bill Bryant as head of the State Police. I came along a few months later, asking to see the agency's file on Seal. When I learned how much less was available than reportedly had been in the past, I wrote to Hutchinson, hoping to ask about the difference, but he did not respond.

Bill Clinton, who was governor throughout Seal's time at Mena, has also had little to say about the smuggler's presence. While governor, Clinton was drawn uncomfortably close to questions relating to cocaine after police arrested his half-brother, Roger Clinton, on charges of distributing cocaine, and Roger Clinton reported that he'd gotten the drug from his boss, Dan Lasater, a Little Rock bond trader and financial supporter of Clinton.

Seal was dead by late 1986, when Lasater was indicted, but the FBI's investigation of Lasater produced at least one intriguing connection between the two. Billy Earle Jr. had been in the co-pilot's seat on that night in December 1983 when Seal flew into Mena to have an extra fuel tank installed. The following year, when Earle was arrested in Louisiana, Welch went there to interview him.

Earle told Welch that immediately after "the new plumbing" was installed, Seal planned to fly "to a place in southern Colombia, bordering Peru, and pick up 200 kilos of cocaine." He said the trip was for an "operation to be staged out of Carver Ranch in Belize." But, Earle said, that plan had fallen through.

In the fall of 1986, when FBI agents were investigating Dan Lasater, they questioned his personal pilot. That man reported that he had flown Lasater and his business partner, Patsy Thomasson, "to Belize to look at a horse farm that was for sale by a Roy Carver." He said that flight had taken place on Feb. 8, 1984, within weeks of the aborted trip Seal had reportedly planned to the same location. Lasater and Roger Clinton both pleaded guilty to drug charges and served time in prison. After Bill Clinton's election as president, he placed Thomasson in charge of the White House Office of Administration.

Though accusations abound, no link has ever been established between Clinton and Seal. Still, on the few occasions when the smuggler's name has come up, Clinton has sounded as "out of the loop" as Hutchinson.

At one point, while Clinton was governor, the local prosecuting attorney for Mena had attempted to act where U.S. attorneys Hutchinson and Fitzhugh had not. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Charles E. Black wanted to impanel a state grand jury to consider evidence that people at Rich Mountain Aviation had abetted Seal's drug-trafficking operation. Realizing that such a case would cost more than his district could afford, Black had asked the governor's office for a grant of $25,000. But Black said he never received a response.

Bill Alexander, one of Arkansas's long-term Democratic congressmen, supported Black's idea. Alexander told me that he wrote to Clinton personally, repeating Black's request and explaining that questions about Seal needed to be "resolved and laid to rest." But he, too, said that he did not recall receiving a response.

Yet, later on, when a reporter asked Clinton what he had known about Seal, the governor had a somewhat different recollection. He said that, although he had authorized payment of $25,000 to fund the grand jury Black had requested, "Nothing ever came of that."

On the subject of Seal, the usually astute governor had come across as unusually uninformed. A citizens' group called the Arkansas Committee suspected that state and federal authorities had agreed to protect Seal in Arkansas. Disturbed by Clinton's apparent disinterest, members of the group at one point unfurled a 10-foot-long banner at the state Capitol that asked: WHY IS CLINTON PROTECTING BUSH? In 1992, when Clinton and George H.W. Bush opposed each other for president, neither candidate mentioned Seal.

After Clinton's election as president, when White House correspondent Sarah McClendon asked him what he knew about Mena, he remained adamant but vague as he mischaracterized Black's investigation. "It was primarily a matter for federal jurisdiction," he said. "The state really had next to nothing to do with it.

"The local prosecutor did conduct an investigation based on what was in the jurisdiction of state law. The rest of it was under the jurisdiction of the United States attorneys who were appointed successively by previous administrations. We had nothing — zero — to do with it, and everybody who's ever looked into it knows that."

Almost a decade after Seal's death, U.S. Rep. James A. Leach (R-Iowa) took an interest in what one of the people he questioned, CIA Director John Deutch, later described as "allegations of money laundering and other activities" in Mena. As chairman of the House Banking Committee, Leach was well positioned to investigate such claims. He told reporters: "We have more than sufficient documentation that improprieties occurred at Mena. This isn't a made-up issue. There are grounds to pursue it very seriously."

In a letter to the DEA, Leach asked the agency to provide all documents relating to "possible ties between activities at Mena Airport and the use of a private airstrip at a similarly remote location near Taos, New Mexico, at a ski resort called Angel Fire" — a resort owned by Lasater. Leach wrote: "Published reports indicate that DEA conducted at least two separate investigations of alleged money laundering and drug trafficking in or around Angel Fire, the first in approximately 1984, and the second in 1988-1989." He said the second investigation was triggered by allegations from former Angel Fire employees "that the resort was the focal point for 'a large controlled substance smuggling operation and large-scale money laundering activity.' "

Leach added: "The alleged activity at Angel Fire was roughly contemporaneous with the money laundering and narcotics trafficking alleged to have taken place in or around Mena Airport during the period 1982-1986."

Leach sent congressional investigators to Arkansas. And he asked the U.S. Customs Service what it knew about "the disposition of potentially ill-gotten gains by Seal or his associates," especially with regard to "a piece of property in Belize known variously as the Cotter, Cutter or Carver Ranch," because, "Barry Seal allegedly used this property in his narcotics trafficking operations and attempted to buy it in 1983."

Little more was heard of Leach's investigation for the next three years. Finally, in 1999, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal inquired about its status. Leach's spokesman responded that investigators were "putting the finishing touches" on their report.

But that was the last the public heard. The House Banking Committee's investigation into what Leach called the "improprieties" relating to Mena has never been released.

And my book, "The Mena File?" It was not published, either. I'd completed the manuscript, with hundreds of supporting notes, by this time last year. Lorenzen, who had prepared the index, was pleased. The book was listed in the University of Arkansas Press catalog and for presale on sites such as Amazon.com.

It was time for an attorney to read the manuscript to make sure it contained nothing libelous. This vetting process is standard for books of contemporary nonfiction, especially those involving crimes. Having been through the process with publishers of my other books, I understood the need and was ready. I was also unconcerned, in part because I'd been careful, but also because the most serious allegations — those concerning Rich Mountain Aviation — had already been vetted years ago for a section about Seal in my book, "The Boys on the Tracks."

But I was in for a shock. Lorenzen told me that his boss, David Stricklin, the ASI's director, had suddenly expressed some "concerns" about the book. Lorenzen further reported that, while these concerns were legal in nature, Stricklin had said the ASI could not afford to have the manuscript vetted.

Neither the decision nor Lorenzen's explanation that "we're just a shoestring press" made sense. From the start, the book was intended to be a solid work of Arkansas history buoyed by a major Hollywood film. What's more, Random House had already contracted to buy its audio rights and paid an advance.

From a business point of view, the ASI's position defied logic. I asked Lorenzen if the newly arisen concerns might be political rather than financial, but was told nothing more. Lorenzen proposed rescinding our contract. Seeing no reasonable way forward, I agreed. As I'd written the book without an advance, the deal's undoing was simple.

•••

By now I've had a year to reflect on my experiences in writing about Seal, as well as those of Duncan, Welch, Black, Alexander, members of the Arkansas Committee, and others who've tried to shed light on his time in Arkansas. None of us much succeeded.

So I'm glad that at least Hollywood has found Seal's "true lies" worth exploring. Too many secrets have been kept for too long; too much important history has been hidden, lost or destroyed. Let's hope that Cruise's high-powered version of Seal prompts an equally high-powered demand for disclosure of all government records on him, especially after his move to Mena.

Mara Leveritt is author of "The Boys on the Tracks," "Devil's Knot" and "Dark Spell."

Who's afraid of Barry Seal?

#Who's afraid of Barry Seal?

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tiswhatyouwill · 7 years

Text

Lolly lady

He had always had an obsession with lolly pops. He always had one and if he wasn't eating one then there were three on call ready to be devoured. When he was a kid it was comfort from his parents arguing. He could sit there at dinner and enjoy sucking on the little round candy and ignore them. When he got older it became weird for a little boy to always have a lolly pop or wear dresses so he changed the only thing he could. He became a she. That was a lot easier. He became very good at it and his obsession became some thing people liked. Sexy was what they started saying to her in high school. She learned to giggle. Her dad wasn’t there any more and her mom seemed to like having some one to take shopping with her. In fact the two were very close. They were like true best friends. Not in the weird obsessive way mothers and daughters usually were best friends. Neither worshiped the other. They didn't even use the names assigned to them her conception. Mom was simply Sam and Roy was Lilliy. The hormones weren't hard and they moved when the dad died so on one at school knew her as Roy. She was the beauty of the school and her only bully were the jealous little boys and girls who couldn't handle her perfection. She strictly avoided dating though. She claimed religion but it was her fear of discovery that she wasn't actually quite the girl she said she was. The lolly pops never went away though. They were her symbol. they were what allowed her to be silent when she didn't want to talk and a little bit of comfort when ever the situation got rough. It was a particularly difficult Latin translation and sucking on some thing always helped her concentrate. The biggest guy on the foot ball ream, or really the biggest guy in the whole school Rounded the corner and grinned wildly when he saw her. It was the kind of grin a hunter makes when their prey stands in the open and has no idea there was an attack coming. That was some thing he did frequently when they made eye contact. She gave removed the lolly pop with a loud pop sound and said hello sweetly though her edge of annoyance was obvious. He didn't seem to mind. “I heard you haven’t said yes to any one for prom even though its tonight” “Yes things are said all the time. Props to you for being able to hear” He laughed at her attempt to insult him “I know why too” To that she quirked an eyebrow “I though my reasons were quite obvious. I dont date.” He made a tisk tisk sound and sat next to her, a little too close. “And I don’t use steroids.” His sarcasm almost made her laugh because it was an absurd statement. Everyone knew he took testosterone and a slew of other drugs to help him bulk up. He had bragged about it before gym class one day and even flashed his buddy the syringes. Lilly caught a gimps of it form where she was standing. “Some of us are more honest then others.” She said and pretended to go back to her Latin translation. He seemed amused “you lie as much as i do. You date. You Just need the right man.” There was an odd sarcastic edge to that tone and Lilly looked up in time to see his face right next to hers. He pretended to kiss the edge of her jaw and she held her breath. Her cheeks filled with blood and she set the book down to hide the other place blood was going. He laughed and whispered “Of course maybe you are just hiding some thing.” he whispered in her ear and very quickly removed her latin text book. She would have thought her hands were holding it with a death but with the ease of which he took the book no one would ever have known. It sent her candy across the hall where is shattered aginst the floor. She was too saddened at the loss of her candy do notice the slight bolge of her pants. The boy grinned like a hunter with prey about to be devoured and teasingly nibbled her hear in a way that made her forget to breath. “So prom. I will pick you up from your place at 6.” He stood before she could respond and left the book where he had been sitting. She still couldn't remember how to breather completely and was still stairing at him as some one rounded the corner. She startled realizing what was easily see but didn’t have time to panic as the foot ball player was already pulling to the student and pulling the kid in the other direction and going on about how toe coach needs some one help fill all the doge balls.

It took her several minutes to calm her self and process what had happened. She didn't even know the guys name. Harvey or some thing like that. Why though. If he knew what she was hiding was he going to humiliate her? It had to be it. He wanted her to go with him and then in front of everyone he was going to tell everyone. Buy why make her go as his date. Wouldn’t people call him gay if he did brought her as his date? She finally decided he was doing it for status. She was asked by at least 10 different guys including the foot ball teams captain. He must have just needed a date that bad. Though it wasn’t like he wasn’t handsome. He was the biggest guy on the team though not just by bulk. he was tall and covered in lean muscle. sh vaguely remembered hearing about him doing hip hop dance. So if he was lacking in a date it was his choice. Maybe there was a bet about who could get her to go with her. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful though she was nervous about the night to come and it was only made worse by the fact that her last lolly pop was laying shattered in the second floor English wing. She texted her mom to pick more up on her way home. However when she got home she found a police car out front and not her moms car. A police officer was sitting across a coffee table from her mother. He was trying to look stern. When Lilly came in the officer turned to her but her mom spoke first “Lilly! How was school” Like nothing weird was going on. Truthfully it wasn’t that weird but she eyed the officer like he was suspicious. “Oh don’t worry. I pulled me over for speeding and i was just a tad too far from home. Officer Louis was kind enough to take me home fro the station.” The officer sighed “If you keep breaking the terms of house arrest they will make you serve the rest of your sentence in a prison. This isn’t a joke.” “I was running just a little late. No one is going to put me in jail for tht.” She said brightly. “No they will put you in jail for murder.” He said harshly. He was tired of her not taking anything seriously. Sam’s face darkened immediately and the officer started to appoligize and stumbled for a moment over words “Look you two deserve better but you need to take this seriously. I still have to obey the law and you only have two more slip ups before I have no choice but arrest you for real. Lilly frowned at the pair of adults “Yes officer she knows. Rubbing it in her face wont chance anything. Some people just deal with stress by smiling and saying harsh things to a troubled woman wont help her. She wont brake the rules again. But if you can excuse us I have a dance to get ready for.” He cleared his throat awkwardly; not use to being scolded some one so young but not having the heart to get mad about it. He stood to leave “So long as you make sure of it.” He said nodding to the woman in question and left. Lilly laughed aloud and her mother joined her. “One of these days he will come back to marry you.” Lilly say by her mom and shrugged her back back to the seat beside her. “Did you call a tow truck for the car?” Same palled suddenly “I said you could use it to go to your dance?!” Lilly laughed “Don’t worry, I have a date picking me up.” She let the skepticism show in her voice and with only a slight prompt she told Sam about what happened. Sam tried to sound as skeptical as Lilly was about the date. But she was all to eager to add in “Maybe he is just gay and-” she was cut off by a glare from Lilly. But she glared back and continued “What harm could there be. You like him-” Another glare “And he didn't actually assault you did he?” Lilly blushed and remembered the ear nibble. “He did kind of." Her mom got very serious suddenly and there was a very rear bout of her mother acting like a mother coming. “Lilly you have avoided dating up until this point so I haven really talked to you about this.” Lilly frowned at the prospect of ‘the talk’ but her her mother was owed a few mom talks every once in a while and Lilly would listen. So she stared blankly at Sam and waited. Same rolled her eyes and continued “If he made you uncomfortable and your didn’t like it.” Lilly scoffed at the implication that she could have done anything but dislike it. The way you scoff when some one accuses you of stealing the last cookie. “then you cannot go with him tonight. You need to stand up for your self especially sense he gave you a veiled threat.” She paused and thought for a moment. “No one has the right to do that to you. You need to be strong and not let him. If you don’t like it then don’t let him do it.” She paused “But it is okay to like it. You are allowed to be attracted to anyone and if that’s the case be honest about it. Don’t let any one push you but be honest about things you do want. That is the condition of not letting people push you. You have to push your self to the place you want to be but are uncomfortable about wanting. You need to firmly say no to what you don’t want and to firmly say yes to what you do want.” Sam had succeeded in thoroughly confusing her daughter. “So what are you saying I should do. If it was a veiled threat then I cant just do what he wants me to do because that’s pushing me? But If I want to go it suddenly doesn't matter that he threatened to expose me?” Sam paused and thought about it for a moment. “I think that he is a teenager and bad communicating what he means. He could have been meaning to imply that if you dont go then he will tell other people or he could have just been trying to show you that he was okay with it and that you don’t need to keep it a secret from him.” “How do I know which he meant?” Lilly was feeling exasperated buy the conversation and wished desperately for some a lolly to nibble through her confusion. “I don’t think you can know. I think that you have to act on what you feel and prepare for the worst. If you like him then go. Worst case he IS using you for status or to win a bet in which case you get a bad date. And if you dont like him and you go then so what if he tells other people? he has no proof and you are the loveliest lady, no one will believe him. And if anyone does believe him then I home school you through the last semester and we will move to California with my sister. There is a huge LGBTQ movement there where you dont need to pretend anything.” A suggestion made before and an eventually sense all the colleges she applied to were in California. Though her mother house arrest made it harder but the federal government actually asked her to move before so she was with her sister. Some thing about having a more stable enviornment. “So I go?” Lilly finally asked “Do you like him?” Sam retorted Lilly glared again “I guess i should get ready then.” And so she did, with sam to help her like a best friend any high schooler would to giggle the night away with. It was exactly 6 when the door bell rang. Lilly was putting the last pin in her hair. She wore her long dark hair in an elaborate not around her head with dozens of sparkling pins to make her hair look like it was lightly dusted in snowflakes. Her dress was a pale blue that fit the contour of her breasts and waist like a glove. It flared just below the waist into a silky silver waterfall that flowed gracefully around her with every step. The front was shorter and showed up to her knees while the back trailed lightly on the ground. When she emerged from her bedroom her mother had already and was making some veiled threats of her own. Harvey or what ever his name was did look a little shaken which was an odd sight as he stool almost a foot and a half over the two women. Lilly cleared her throat after a moment and Sam grinned at Lilly “ Lilly! You didn’t tell me Henry was such a gentleman.” Lilly caught that Sam had saved her the awkwardness of asking her date what his name was. “He is my Date Sam, flirting wont help.” Sam giggled as if she weren't in her early 30s. Henry looked a little like he was drowning and Lilly had a moment of wondering if this was the same person who so boldly demanded her to come to prom with him. “Shall we?” Same looked grateful as he nodded yes and promised to take care of Sams daughter though he said daughter a little like a question. Sam was unfazed and wished Lilly a good night making a point that is her if she didn't hear from Lilly every hour she would call the police. As soon as they were in the limo normal smile returned and Lilly felt a little less confident in her choice. Well less confident in her choice to go with a date... more confident in her choice of a dress that did not constrict around her hips. The limo was empty and he made a point of sitting across form her and only smiling like a lion about to pounce. She realized this was an afewl mistake. Of curse he didn't like her. He was going to make a joke of her. Self consciously she tried to make her self as small as possible. He eyed her suspiciously and said with more sincerity they she thought he could “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” She blushed hard and before she could relay the limo stopped and another guy got into the car. He was another of the foot ball team. This happened 5 times more after that with guys or girls joining. Several were Lilly's friends and she was a lot more comfortable. At several houses they were all pulled out and the parents paraded camera in front of them. And thats how the night continued. It was the fantasy of every teens prom. Everyone was talking of going to the after party when Henery declined and said he had special plans and wiggled his eyebrows. Lilly wasnt too disjointed as she couldnt drink with the hormones she was taking and being around drunk highschoolers when you arent also drunk is no fun. She was however not to sure how these this special plan was Henry was talking about. Once they were all dropped off at a very loud and bright house Lilly asked her date about it. He smiled “It was more of an excuse not to go to their lame party sense we cant drink and I don’t want them to know i cant.” He laughed and she was confused. She quirked an eyebrow at him but he didn't answer. “Come back to my place? Were we can get out of these cloths and get to know each other a little better?” His voice was unexpectedly low and full of suggestion that made her blush “Get to know eachother? she asked with a lot more skepticism then she actually had. She wanted to get to know him in what ever way he was implying. “Well sure, I don’t think we ever spoke one on one before today. We have lots to talk about.” Lilly sighed in a way that sounded like relief but she was hoping for a more explicit answer “Alright then lets go” she texted sam that she probably woundnt text until morning and that she was fine as the car started off. Sam replied with a winky face. When Lilly looked up Henry was staring at her and she blushed. He had sat across from her again and she wondered why. “How far do you live” she asked trying to fill the quiet. “Not far, a couple minutes. My parents are home but they dont mind me bring friends over.” He assured her. For the first time she had the good sense to wonder how he knew where she lived and she asked “One of the girls you had over to study told me.” he laughed like there was some joke behind it. Lilly wasn’t amused “Why is that so funny?” “She didn't believe I would get you to come is all. And she said your mom acted like a teenager. She was was right about one of those things” Lilly got the joke knowing that her mother’s eccentricity was some what of joke on it’s own despite how much all her friends adored her mother. “Still rude of her to just give out my address.” He chuckled again “I told her i was just going to show up and sweep you off your feet. Then she warned me about your mom and said good luck. She said you needed to go on a date and that it would be good for you. Then I saw you in the hall and realized it would he hard to convince you like that in front of your family” Lilly blushed “So you are really okay with?” She looked down and then back at him. His response was to get and half crawl across the seat and straddle her lap. She squeaked at the suddenness of his actions. he placed her hands on her cheeks and looked into her eyes. “Very okay” he said before kissing her and as he did so he ground his pelvis into hers. For a minute she was too blown away by the sensation, the feel of the kiss, the friction between her legs, to notice something was rather odd. There was no bulge to rub against her own. When she did realize what wasn’t there she gasped through the rather passionate kiss and he chuckled at her realization and pulled away and copied her words “So are you really okay with” And he looked down, not just at him self but them together, the wrong parts in the right places. She nodded, rolling her hips up in a way that made him growl lightly. She laughed and realized that for the first there was something far sweeter than a lolly pop she wanted to taste.

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rebeccahpedersen · 6 years

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The Friday Rant: Has The World Lost Its Mind?

TorontoRealtyBlog

Folks, it’s been a while.

Maybe I’m mellowing as I get closer to obtaining true “middle-aged” status.

Or maybe I simply reached a point where nothing in the world of real estate fazes me anymore.

But here’s something new: there are buyers in the market that didn’t know the price of real estate could fluctuate, and now they’re upset.

This is the p-e-r-f-e-c-t time for me to revive a classic TRB feature, The Friday Rant…

I don’t understand the world today.

And while I know that sounds like something an old man says, I just really, truly seem to have lost touch with the world around me.

The Prime Minister of Canada. Wow. This guy!

The pendulum has swung so far one way, that it’s about to break through the other side of the universe on the way back.

We don’t keep score in children’s sports games anymore. Somebody might get upset to learn that in sports, as in life, there are winners and losers.

Cue the “December Seasonal Concert.”

Change the lyrics to “O Canada,” because it’s one of the worst things plaguing our country today.

Have we ever become softer as a society?

Many of you are already disagreeing, so I won’t go on, with countless more examples, and perhaps better ones, of where our municipal, provincial, and federal leaders have taken us.

As it pertains to real estate, I’m seeing this more and more.

And how could it not transpire, with what we have inflicted upon ourselves?

Recall the story of the “Museum FLTS” condominium project in Toronto, which was cancelled back in November.

Another Pre-Construction Condo, Cancelled. Who Is To Blame?

Oh, the heat I took! Wow!

You wouldn’t believe it, if you tried.

But as bad as that example of “not taking responsibility for your actions” truly was, I think we reached a new low point.

Some of you pointed this out last week, so I know I already have your ear.

“What did the neighbours pay? Whitby homebuyers just found out the answer: a lot less”

This story first appeared on the CBC website on January 24th, and to attempt to read it without shaking your head at least once is a fool’s errand.

The very first paragraph tells you all you need to know:

Planned homes in a new Whitby subdivision are on sale for up to $90,000 less than similar homes in the same development were a year ago.

Right.

Sooooo……….what’s the story?

A person who can tell time, tie their shoe, and breathe in-and-out, could probably ascertain that the price of real estate, believe it or not, can fluctuate.

Prices go up, prices go down.

Like the stock market, or spot gold. Bonds, or treasury bills. Corn futures, or Bitcoin…

But the story here, folks, is that some of the buyers who purchased real estate last year, and who saw the value decrease, are, well, upset.

“It’s painful,” Astrid Poei said in an interview. (from the article)

That’s fair. Nobody is expecting this person not feel the sting of an on-paper loss, for a property not built, which in effect, doesn’t really mean anything.

“There are no building materials on site, there is no foundation poured, so I don’t understand how we are paying more than someone who bought a couple of weeks ago.” (from the article)

Here’s where things go off the rails a little bit.

What’s the issue here?

That somebody who bought a couple of weeks ago paid less?

God help us, folks.

This is what we’ve done to ourselves, as a society.

Failure is a reality in life.

And when you buy real estate, you should know that the price can go up, or down.

Again, from the article: “To come back a year later and see the same house that we bought is now $90,000 cheaper, that’s not cool,” Thompson, 52, said in an interview.

Not cool.

Is that an economic or legal phrase?

Imagine that, folks. The audacity of a developer to sell properties for prices, as they see fit.

The irony is, if the properties were selling for more money, these people wouldn’t be complaining.

But then what about the second-phase of buyers? Could they complain?

What if somebody said, “To come back a year later, and see the same house that this guy bought only 12 months ago is now $90,000 more, that’s not cool.” Would we accept that?

And now, the kicker:

“…Poei and Thompson, who are not looking forward to meeting their Phase 2 neighbours, knowing they paid tens of thousands of dollars less for the same homes.”

Ain’t it the truth, folks?

I know, I know, I’ve said too much.

But guess what?

I’m far from finished…

The Toronto Star also picked up this story, for some odd reason, since I really don’t think it qualifies as news.

“Price drop crushes pre-construction home buyers’ dreams”

Important point here – I’m not faulting the writer. I think she’s awesome, I’ve done a ton of stories with her, and as I’ve learned over the years – sometimes, the story picks you.

But it’s the quotes in here that really get me.

And even worse than the CBC article – this one shows not only the absolute disillusionment of the buyer, but also the complete and utter lack of qualification!

When she went back, there were only two lots still available and Boni ended up spending $899,000, plus additional money for upgrades, exceeding her target price of $500,000 to $600,000.

Although she owns a home already, she said Queen’s Common would be a better place to raise her son.

Wow.

A lot going on here…

So first, we have a woman that stood in line to get a ticket to buy a home. Can you say, “mania?” I hear Bitcoin came down from $20,000, btw…

Second, she spent $900,000, with a budget of $500,000 – $600,000.

And last but not least, she already owns a home. This was a second property, and while she was probably going to sell the first one, it doesn’t remove the speculative nature of the adventure.

The woman added:

“I have a 3-year-old. I’m thinking about his future, I’m thinking this is a good investment. It’s going to go up in price, I’m going to do something nice for my child.”

Exactly!

You thought it was a good investment. You thought it would go up in price.

You thought.

That’s it.

That’s all you need to know.

The developer offered this explanation, which is like explaining to a child how boys and girls are different:

Yes, when the market goes up, prices go up. When the market goes down, prices go down. What’s that, Marigold? It’s half-past four?

I honestly can’t believe these stories went to print.

Our imaginations could run wild with the analogies. In fact, some of last week’s readers already beat me to it.

So tell me I’m wrong, folks.

Tell me that these stories were newsworthy.

Tell me that the buyers in these articles have a legitimate beef.

Tell me that peoplekind should be able to buy real estate with absolutely no fear of the price dropping, but with the full expectation that the price will rise.

But do so in the comments below, because I have to leave; I need to go find something sweet. This blog has left me really goddam salty…

The post The Friday Rant: Has The World Lost Its Mind? appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

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