#Victoria Police Corruption - 2 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

satorusnovia · 1 year

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𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥

Chapter 4: Toji Zenin

❦Pairing: Satoru Gojo x (f) Reader

❦Genre: Modern AU, romance, angst, forbidden love

❦Status: Ongoing

❦Summary: Your first touch, first love, first everything is stuck with no other option than to leave you to go to a whole new country across the world. 7 years flash by within the blink of an eye when you reunite with your past lover, but he's too late. You've already promised your love and detion to another even though that marriage is corrupting right before your eyes. But, of course that isn't enough to stop your pretentious past lover from stirring up old chemistry the two of you once shared. Only rule? Keep it confidential.

❦Warnings: NSFW content, emotional/physiological, manipulation/abuse, unhealthy relationships, mental health issues, heavy drinking, smoking, and graphic violence.

❦A/N: Hi, my name is Victoria. This is my fanfic and I hope you guys enjoy it! Please let me know your thoughts and opinions! ૮₍ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ₎ა

༊࿐ ͎. ｡˚ ° ⊹ ˚. ͎. ｡˚ ° ⊹ ˚. ͎. ｡˚ ° ⊹ ˚. ͎. ｡˚ ° ⊹ ˚. ͎. ｡˚ ° ⊹ ˚. ͎. ｡˚ ° ⊹ ˚.

Your teenage romance with Satoru was right out of a romance novel. Sure, throughout the relationship the two of you would bicker about little things, but what mattered is that you two got through it together. You two loved one another too much to stay mad at each other.

You two had sleepovers at your house, spent time with friends, went on dates, had (safe) sex, and practically everything a teenager would want out of a love life.

The only thing that would get in the way of this was when Satoru's father came back from his business trips. You would see your lover covered in bruises and sometimes even blood.

You told Satoru to get help and call the police, but he didn't listen. He just said, "Karma never forgets its victims”. It made you angry whenever he said this because you feared karma would.

It went on like this for 2 years, all up until...

*Present time*

November 31

You've forgotten what hunger feels like. Your eyes are either pooled with tears or dry and puffy. When you're not in school or studying, you're glued to your bed and stuck there like a magnet.

Your routine is the same every day:

Wake up

Cry

School

Cry

Nap

Cry

Study

Cry

Sleep

Repeat.

You would have small snacks here and there just to get you through the day.

Sometimes Ieiri and Suguru would force you to go out to eat with them. Each time you barely touched your food and zoned out when they would try to talk to you.

You lied and told them you were over him, but they didn't believe you. With the way you were acting, who would?

You didn't have the motivation to do your daily skincare and only brushed your teeth. You stopped wearing your expensive perfume since it gave you a headache and chose normal-lasting ones instead. You wore sweatpants and hoodies rather than your uniform and the school never stopped you because they knew who your parents were. You didn't care about jewelry or makeup. None of it had a point.

When you would cry over him, sometimes you'd shout his name, somehow hoping he'd hear you and come back to tell you this was all some sick and twisted joke.

But instead, you heard your voice echo off the hollow walls, with no response in return.

Most nights you'd have nightmares and it was the same each time. It was Satoru walking away from you, but you couldn't run after him. Your wrists were chained together by thick, strong metal that connected to the ground, making you unable to reach him.

You tried to break it every single time even though it was nearly impossible and it never worked. Your wrists were always bruised and bloody by how hard you tried. You even felt the pain, but continued to desperately try.

You would shout after him, begging for him to save you, but he never turned around, not even once. When you woke up, you found yourself in puddles of sweat and tears, gasping for air.

To say you were absolutely miserable would be an understatement.

Ieiri and Suguru would try to comfort you, but it rarely ever worked. They of all people knew how close you were to their white-haired friend.

Everyone at school slowly connected the dots when they noticed Satoru's absence and your behavior. The whole school knew you two were together since you two were always in each other's presence. People preferred to not get involved with you when they heard what you did to the girls that made fun of you because he left.

Let's just say you didn't hold back and somehow got away with it.

December 7

It's Satoru's birthday and you didn't even bother going to school. You've been crying all day, nonstop.

Once you stopped crying you grabbed a tub of ice cream, sat on your bed, and put on a random show. You weren't paying attention to the TV even though you were staring directly at it. Your mind was currently in an abyss that only consisted of the man you now viewed as a white-haired devil.

You suddenly heard a knock at the door and tried to ignore it, but they knocked again.

And again.

You groaned as it took every cell in your body to get up. "I'm coming!" You shout, obvious annoyance lingering in your voice.

You leave your room and walk towards the door and open it. Ieiri and Suguru were standing in front of you. They had large coats on with scarves wrapped around their necks due to the cold weather.

You peered behind them and saw everything decorated in snow. You've been home all day with every window covered by a curtain, so you didn't realize this until now.

Your friends looked you up and down with a saddened expression. Your hair was messy, eye-bags, dry skin, chapped lips, and to top it off, your tank top sleeve hanging off your shoulder all while you held a bucket of ice cream.

Embarrassment lingers within you, but you try to play it off. "What's up?"

"Y/n...are you okay?" Suguru's voice is full of concern. He looked behind you and saw all the lights were turned off, the only light coming through was light from the covered windows. "We almost assumed no one was home because all the lights were off..."

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" You respond, tilting your head to the side, knitting your eyebrows, and pretending to be confused.

"Y/n, you should get some fresh air. Why don't you come with us?" Ieiri suggested.

"I can't. I was...studying." You couldn't make it more obvious you randomly made that up, but your friends knew better that you were definitely not studying.

"Y/n, please." Your raven-haired friend looks at you with pleading eyes.

"I'm sorry." Were the last words to leave your mouth before shutting the door.

They didn't try to pry because they thought you needed space. With the relationship you and Satoru had, they knew it would take a while for you to heal.

But was healing truly possible?

March 14 *New year, meaning 1 year*

It's White Day and you planned on doing nothing, but Suguru and Ieiri didn't let you.

"Come on," Ieiri said, pulling by one arm.

"It'll be fun. We promise." Suguru said, pulling you by the other arm.

They were trying to get you off your bed. Ever since your ex-boyfriend left, you've slowly become more introverted. You hated talking to people you weren't comfortable around and most days you were glued to your room.

"Ugh." You groan, rolling your eyes. "Fine."

༺ ♡ ༻

They took you to the park. Ieiri was holding a blanket while Suguru held a tote bag.

Once they found a spot in the shade underneath a tree, they settled.

"Y/n, could you give me a hand?" Ieiri asks.

You walk up to your brunette friend and help her spread out the blanket. Once you're done, Suguru places the tote bag on top of it.

"What'd you get?" You ask.

Instead of responding, he takes out what's inside. He pulls out your guy's favorite snacks and drinks.

You look up at your two friends that are giving you a genuine, wholesome smile. You could tell they were proud they were able to convince you to go out.

You hook both arms around their necks, bringing them into a group hug. "Thank you."

June 10

You're standing in your graduation uniform and you're supposed to be happy, but you can't help but feel like your heart is being ripped from your chest. You were supposed to graduate with Satoru.

Yesterday you were walking behind a tall man who was about Satoru's height. Not only was he around Satoru's height but he had white hair and the exact same haircut along with his pale skin.

A wave of anxiety hit you like a strong gust of wind. Your heart felt like it was beating out of your chest as your arm hesitantly extended toward the man.

"Toru...?" Your arm landed on his shoulder, making the man turn around.

When you make eye contact, disappointment lingers without you.

It's not him.

He has completely different facial features. He also looks older and has green eyes instead of the perfect set of blues you easily recognized.

"Are you okay, miss?" You snap out of your thoughts and focus on the man in front of you.

"Hm?" You're confused by his words.

"You're crying."

You remove the hand off his shoulder and see it's shaking as you touch your cheek and felt the warm liquid rushing down your face.

"I'm sorry." That is all you say as you walk away from the man. You heard him shouting 'Miss!' a few times, but you didn't look back. He gave up and watched you as you disappeared into the crowd.

It's embarrassing for you to admit, but you'd pay extra attention to those around you, hoping one day one of them would be Satoru. This time you thought that paid off.

August 11

You tried to forget about Satoru to enjoy your summer. Ieiri and Suguru helped you keep your mind off him and you couldn't be more graceful.

But you still thought about him a lot.

You still kept the spare clothes he left in your room. He even had his own small closet in your room because of how often he'd spend the night. You'd secretly wear his shirts to sleep, just to remember his scent because when you would forget how he smelled, you'd panic.

His toothbrush was still in your bathroom. You'd tear up each time you saw the stale bristles since he hasn't used it in so long. Not to mention the circled shades he left on your nightstand. Those same shades haven't moved an inch since he last placed them there because that's where he placed them and he was the last one to touch them. If you moved them, you felt like part of him would rip away from you.

You missed the way he made corny jokes like when you'd say something like 'it's so hot outside' and he'd say something idiotic like 'even the sun isn't as hot as you, sexy mama' with his ridiculously handsome smirk to add to it.

Even though you couldn't help but cringe and laugh in his face or glare at him at his corny jokes, you missed them nonetheless.

He also had a habit of leaving the toilet seat up and each time you'd see it like that, you'd scold him. Now whenever you see the toilet seat down, it hurt like hell.

When you would go grocery shopping since your parents never did, you remembered how Satoru insisted he starts going with you from now on so you two could shop together since his parents didn't grocery shop either.

Now you were back to doing it alone.

And when you would watch certain movies. A hobby you and Satoru did together when you were stuck at home was watching movies. He would often be the one proposing to watch them since it gave him an excuse to cuddle.

Or when you would see anything baby blue and even your favorite flowers since he always got them for you.

Everything reminded you of him.

He said he'd stick by your side forever. What you didn't realize was that maybe forever was a word meant for memories, not people.

Such a foolish girl.

You didn't realize how bad this was until Ieiri accidentally broke a pair of chopsticks that were specifically Satoru's. He would always use them whenever he ate at your house.

You began to hyperventilate and slowly crashed into a panic attack as your knees gave up, falling onto the floor. Your fingers laced through your hair, pulling against your scalp. You were cradled into a ball, thighs against your chest, forehead against the ground, and fingers running through your scalp as your breathing became out of control and a puddle of tears slowly formed onto the ground.

Of course, Ieiri and Suguru did their best to calm you down, which they did, but they'd be lying if they said it was easy.

September 22

It's been a year since you've last seen him and you've been better. You began to eat normally and went back to dressing and smelling fabulous.

You couldn't believe you used to smell...normal?

Strawberry cake, your signature scent, which also happened to be Satoru's favorite scent. Of course, since he has a sweet tooth.

You got into the college you and the albino planned to go to together. You were starting next week. You didn't have time to bitch and moan about your long-lost past lover anymore.

You were an adult now and had to act like one. You had to get your shit together, move on, and focus on yourself.

You gathered Satoru's shades, toothbrush, and other belongings and put them inside his closet, which thankfully had a lock, so you locked it. Even though you couldn't find it in yourself to throw them away, this was still a huge step and you were proud of yourself.

When you went to bed, you had the same dream of him you had almost every night.

But it was different this time. You looked at your wrists to see they were completely freed, with no chains to hold you back. Satoru's back was to you as he began to walk away like he did in every single dream. You extended your arm but stopped when you were centimeters away from his reach.

You stopped yourself and stood there, watching him leave until he began to fade.

Your heart physically ached, but how else would you move on in life if you kept chasing after the same guy that most likely wants nothing to do with you now? You were done feeling completely pathetic and done with your negative emotions taking control of you.

Once he was fully faded away you woke up, but this time you weren't in a pile of sweat, gasping for air. This time you woke up to tears streaming down your face, but at the same time feeling a heavy weight lift from your chest.

You still don't think you'll ever fully move on, but you at least had to try and this was a good way to start.

December 7

It's his birthday.

You haven't had that dream since.

June 9 *2 years*

You're mostly over Satoru at this point. Sure, your heart aches for him here and there and not a day goes by where you don't think of him, but he was your first love, so what did you expect?

You have an apartment to yourself and still attend college.

Your parents called you because they wanted to have a "family discussion". Your guts twisted as anxiety swarms your veins. Your parents don't do "family discussions".

If there's any reason why your parents want a family discussion, it's because they need something from you.

You're standing on your parent's doorstep and stand there for a moment. You let out a deep sigh and finally knock on the door.

Your mom answers the door. "Hello, honey."

"Hi, okasan." You walk into the house as your mother shuts the door.

"Your father is in the dining room waiting for you." You hear your mother's voice say from behind you.

You walk to the dining room and see your father. Once he sees you, he greets you with a smile.

He needs something from you.

Your mother walks in and sits down next to your father. You waste no time to sit down and cut to the chase. "What do you want from me?"

"Why would you assume we want something from you?" Your father asks in a bit of a hurt tone.

You fold your arms over your chest and raise a brow at him, knowing damn well you were right.

"Fine, we do." He admits. "But listen, I know your breakup with Satoru was—"

"Gojo." You correct. "And if we're going to talk about him, I won't hesitate to excuse myself." Rage was slowly bubbling in your eyes and your parents could tell.

"What your father is trying to say is...we found someone you could potentially marry." Your mother says making you pause for a moment in disbelief.

"What are you saying?" You ask even though you know what they're implying.

"Honey, we—"

"Don't tell me you're trying to plan an arranged marriage for me?!" Your voice gets louder.

"Can you quit shouting and hear us out for a second?" Your mother's tone is serious, making you roll your eyes and listen to what they have to say.

"I was thinking about giving you the title of CEO for the company I run." You open your mouth to speak, but your father continues. "There's this young man, Toji Zenin, he's about your age and is going to be the next CEO of a different company."

"The reason we want you to marry Toji Zenin is for the sake of our company. Being married to someone from the same industry can maximize the profits that could come from business deals. It's all for the company's future."

"What about my future? I'm in my 2nd year of college. I'm 19, almost 20. Do I look like some sort of marionette you can just control?" You're pissed beyond belief, but you manage to keep your physical composure.

"And we're super proud of you, but we would be even more proud if—"

You cut your father off by standing up from your chair. "Lovely chatting with you and I would love to talk more, but I have errands to run." You walk out of the dining room and towards the door.

You were always neglected by your parents as a child and even now. You don't remember seeing them much as you grew up. The nannies your parents hired are the ones you sort of remember as a child, but they never helped you. Each one was disrespectful and stuck up once your parents were out the door. You practically raised yourself and once you turned the age of 12, you made your parents stop hiring them since they didn't benefit you in any way.

Your parents agreed since they truly could care less. All they knew was work after all.

"Y/n...please." Your mother called after you, but you didn't turn back.

You shut the door without another word.

Of course, you lied about the errands. You were too fumed with rage to do anything. You could feel the tears stinging your eyes, making you even more angry by how weak you felt.

*One week later*

Your mind was still on your parent's proposal and not only that, but you were beginning to consider meeting this Toji guy. To be fair, you never really knew what you wanted to do in life, so maybe being CEO wasn't so bad.

You couldn't believe you were actually considering all of this. You just wanted to fully move on from Satoru and maybe this would help with that.

You grab your phone and find your mother's contact. You call her and she picks up by the first ring. "I'll do it."

༺ ♡ ༻

When you told your mother you agreed to meet Toji, she immediately contacted him. She informed you that he would pick you up the next day at 8 PM to go to a restaurant.

You knew it would be some expensive, fancy five-star restaurant, so you dolled up.

You wore a silky maroon dress that went to your knees with dangling gold, diamond earrings along with a necklace and bracelet to match. You did your hair, leaving it down, and did your makeup. You chose shiny black heels along with a black clutch purse to match.

Right when you were done, you heard a knock at your door.

Talk about perfect timing.

You feel a wave of anxiety hit you so hard, you felt like you were about to throw up. You were extremely nervous, so you chugged a cool glass of water to ease your nerves and walked to the door.

Once you open it, you're met with a man's chest. He's wearing a casual black suit, but just by seeing his body, he seems huge.

You slowly look up and you're met with a pair of green eyes. He had black straight hair with his bangs covering his forehead that reached his eyes by the tiniest bit. You looked at his smile and saw a scar slide over the left side of his lip.

His looks could definitely kill. He looks like the type of man to have any woman wrapped around his finger in a matter of seconds.

"Toji Zenin, It's an honor to finally meet you." He bowed and handed you a bouquet of vibrant red roses. You could tell they were freshly picked.

You accepted the bouquet and bowed back. "Thank you, Zenin."

"Please, call me Toji." He insists.

"I like to get to know the person before going by first names." You answer truthfully. He may be rich, but so are you and you have standards.

He nods in agreement. "Fair enough."

When you made it to the passenger's side, you stopped, making Toji stop before entering the driver's seat. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

You looked at him and back at the unopened door. "Oh right, my apologies." He walks around the car and opens the door for you.

You don't say a word and enter the car. Once he shuts the door, he lets out a dreadful sigh. "Step up your game”, he says to himself.

You never had to remind Satoru to open the door for you. You shake your head, trying to stop yourself from comparing the two completely different men.

"Are you feeling alright?" Toji could feel your uneasiness.

"I'm fine." You reply.

"You look very beautiful, by the way." Toji stole a glance at you and focused back on the road with a smile.

You turn to him and look him up and down. "Not too bad yourself." Toji laughs nervously at your response. He could already tell you would be tough to crack.

༺ ♡ ༻

Toji tried to make small talk, but your answers were short and dry. He was silently dreading the awkward silence as you stared out the window, leaning against your fisted hand.

He was relieved when you two made it to the restaurant. Maybe you just needed food and a bottle of wine to ease your nerves. He had no idea, but he was hoping it'd help.

This time you didn't have to remind him to open the door. He holds out his hand for you to accept, which you did.

He holds your hand and guides you to the restaurant. "Zenin." He says to the waitress. She scans her paper and finally leads you to the table.

Once you two made it to the table, he pulled your chair out for you, tucking the chair in as you sat down. He sat in front of you and opened his mouth to speak.

"Can I get you two started with something to drink?" A waitress interrupts him, holding a notepad and pen, ready to take your order.

Toji clears his throat before speaking. "Can we get a bottle of Chardonnay?"

"White wine?" Your face twists displeased.

"Is there something else you'd prefer?"Toji asks.

"Yes, I don't drink white wine. It's too sweet for my liking." You dryly respond.

That's a lie. It was just Satoru's favorite and you didn't want it simply because it reminded you of him.

You focus your attention on the waitress. Your facial expression immediately changes to a delicate smile. "Can I get Cabernet Sauvignon?"

"Of course." The waitress smiles nervously as she can sense the tension. "For the two of you?"

You look at Toji, back to your emotionless expression and he nods. "Yes, for both of us."

Once the waitress leaves, you open the menu and scan through it. Nothing seems appealing.

"Tell me about yourself." You say, making Toji look up at you, but your eyes were still on the menu. When he still doesn't say anything you rip your gaze away from the menu and look up at him. He's still staring at you, not saying anything. Is it that surprising you started a conversation? "Hello?"

Toji snaps out of his trance. "Oh, my apologies." You squint your eyes at him, a bit suspicious. "As you know, I'm going to be the CEO of—"

"Not that kind of stuff." You interrupt. "What are your hobbies? What do you do in your free time? What kind of music do you like? Do you have any pets?" You gave him ideas of what you meant as he looked at you a bit confused.

He found it odd that you were genuinely trying to get to know him.

You set down the menu and looked at the man in front of you. "If this arranged marriage is going to work, I want to get to know you as best as I can before rushing into this."

There's nothing more attractive than a woman knowing what she wants.

"Of course." A sudden light sparked in Toji's eyes and you didn't fail to notice. His eyes were a beautiful shade of green, but nothing will ever compare to—

There you go again.

Toji began to talk about his life and hobbies. As he was talking you slowly began to see his personality bloom.

He was very earnest, determined, goal-oriented, and overall a very put-together man.

You slowly came out of your shell and told him about yourself. You tried to avoid anything that involved the topic of Satoru. You seemed to avoid it well until—

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" Toji asks, making you look up at him from your plate of food. "Or...girlfriend?"

You can't help but let out a small chuckle. "Yes, I did have one boyfriend. We broke up a long time ago though."

Toji barely knew you, but anyone could tell by your body language that you didn't want to talk about your ex.

"What about you?" Toji ripped his eyes from your fidgeting hands and onto your piercing gaze. "Have you ever had a girlfriend...or boyfriend?"

Toji chuckles from your sense of humor. "I had maybe seven girlfriends in high school?" He seems unsure as he counts on his fingers.

"You were quite the player, weren't you?" You say as you grab your glass of wine.

"No, it's not like that." He attempts to defend himself.

"Mhm..." You hum against the glass of wine in your hand sounding unconvinced.

"Okay, maybe a little, but that was high school. I'm a better person."

"Usually when people say they've become a better person, 99% of the time it isn't true." You take a sip of your wine as you study his facial expression.

His scarred lips twist into a smirk. "I guess you'll just have to find out."

You viewed this as a challenge and gladly accepted it. "I guess I will." You smirk against the glass of wine and take another sip.

"By the way, I have every intention of finishing college and attaining my master's degree before fully taking over my father's company." You fold your leg over the other, carefully studying his reaction.

But he only smiled. "It's the same for me."

His words make you return that smile. You're glad you both agreed on that.

༺ ♡ ༻

After dinner, Toji drove you back home, but this time you two talked.

When he made it back to your apartment, he opened the car door for you, offering his hand yet again, which you gladly accepted.

He walked you to your apartment door and once you opened it, he grabs the door handle and closes it. You turn around to see he's standing very close to you, not giving you any room to move whatsoever.

He digs in his pocket. "I wanted to give you this..." he pulls out a box. By the shape of the box, you already knew what it was. "I wanted to put it on you earlier, but I noticed you already had one on."

He opens the box and your eyes are met with a multi-diamond necklace. When you look up at him, his eyes are closed as he leans in with puckered lips.

It caught you off guard, but you were quick to retrieve your composure.

He opens his eyes when he feels a hand covering his mouth. He's one hand away from your lips, noses touching.

"I don't do kisses on first dates." You push his head back a bit to give you space. He's still close, but it's manageable.

You remove your hand from his lips and take the box from him with one hand, while the other opens the door.

You step inside backward until your head peeking out. "Goodnight, Zenin." You close the door in his face, leaving him there.

When you go into your room you carelessly toss his gift onto your bed.

What a foolish man. What kind of person doesn't know that a wealthy girl like you already has a ton of multi-diamond necklaces?

You let out a deep sigh. "I need to take a shower."

༺ ♡ ༻

You and Toji went on more dates and you slowly got to know him. He wasn't that bad and you were starting to like him.

But you don't know if you loved him.

Let me clarify.

You didn't love him.

It's not that you didn't want to, you just didn't feel a spark, but you still had time.

November 21

Toji asked you to be his girlfriend and you accepted. Of course, you rejected him a few times before finally accepting. You were serious when you said you wanted to take things slow.

January 8 *3 years*

Ieiri and Suguru met Toji.

They don't like him.

May 13

You've already rejected Toji's proposal twice. He tried last year and again this year, but you just weren't ready. The first time, he proposed to you it was in front of the Eiffel Tower because you two had a wedding to attend. It was cute, but you just weren't ready. Plus, you hate public proposals.

The second time was when you two took a small getaway trip and went to the Bahamas. He rented out a private area on the beach, which you didn't even know was allowed. You two fucked on that beach all night long and when you woke up, he was holding a ring in front of you.

What an idiot.

Just because you guys fucked didn't mean you wanted to get married. You're just as horny as everyone else. Is it so bad you want to fuck someone without also wanting to offer to spend the rest of your life with that person, or were you just an asshole?

Plus, Toji is so buff. You were afraid he'd rip you in half once he entered you. Thank God he brought condoms.

You don't know if you could marry someone so bulky. It's...scary.

August 16

He proposed again.

You said no again.

June 2

"Don't..." You were straddling Toji's lap on the couch in your shared apartment with a bottle of red wine.

The two of you were laughing and having a good time because you two just finished college, finally attaining your master's degree and of course, he took this as a chance to propose again.

He didn't even have to take out the box. Once he rummaged through his pocket, you knew.

Who the hell proposes this many times in the span of a few months?

Toji sighs in frustration and takes you off his lap. "Okay."

"Don't get mad...it's just—"

"It's just what, y/n?" Toji looks at you with so much frustration built inside him.

You didn't even know yourself. You thought you loved Toji. Maybe you weren't head over heels, but you still loved him. Right?

You had no idea why you weren't head over heels in love. He's been so good to you and treated you with so much kindness. You've rejected him three- four times and he still didn't give up. You had no idea why he kept trying.

I mean you were practically already married. You slept together, ate together, studied together, and so on. Though he did want to buy a house with you, you wanted to start small, so you chose an apartment.

"Are you seeing someone else?" His voice was quiet and husked with a hint of fear.

"What?" You jump up from the couch by his words. "Of course not! Why would you—"

"Oh, I don't know." He begins sarcastically, interrupting you. "Maybe because you've rejected my proposal four times now. I've done everything for you and you just can't seem to do it back."

Guilt runs through your veins and you can't help but feel like a terrible person. Even though you two have only dated for a few months and you were both so young and you still weren't ready for marriage. Why was he in such a rush?

"Let's do it." You finally say, making his eyes widen.

"No...I don't want it unless you want it." You can't help but frown when you see his teary green eyes.

You walk up to him and cup his cheeks. You wiped a tear that ran down his cheek with your thumb. "I want to do this."

Those were all the words he needed to hear before placing his hands on your waist and kissing you passionately.

43 notes · View notes

theboost · 2 years

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Can’t bring myself to watch the finale of due south, so for the two people who are interested, here are my thoughts from when I was watching through

Due South insanity moment where vecchio gives a long speech to his sister in which he tells her to stay away from fraser because she’ll only get hurt and guys like fraser won’t even notice and then she responds by telling him that he’s afraid to dream. How am I supposed to take this

Obsessed with Fraser having a sleepover with his childhood hockey bestie. I think they should practice kissing with each other. I’m such a gay fraser truther I’m sorry but id take him and random hockey guy over him and Victoria

I think paul gross just has a resting smirk which is something you don’t see too often but it’s really making this funeral scene unintentionally humorous. Buddy you couldn’t muster a frown. I hate you Paul Gross, you live action Disney prince. That is a term that gets thrown around a lot but it’s true for him

100 percent still a gay fraser truther. Why are they having romantical ten- SORRY LIEUTENANT THATCHER JUST HIT HIM WITH A DAMN BITCH YOU LIVE LIKE THIS- romantical tension between fraser and thatcher. I don’t like it. She’s so mean to him all the time. He needs to get with a real man like Ray. I don’t really think you can put a guy like fraser in a relationship with his superior officer the chain of command would fuck him up. But they just keep mashing them together like Barbie dolls. I don’t get it. Also I kind of don’t like Francesca I’m sorry women…

“Ray, get in the closet” “Benny, get out of the closet” real dialogue. I don’t even need to make the joke. “I was in the closet with detective vecchio” I could end it all

Are we really doing another season finale where they’re getting framed by someone who one of them put in prison who recently go out and now seeks revenge. I guess if it ain’t broke. Okay so it’s not a season finale arc but still. It’s weird that it happened twice

CAN WE STOP PUTTING POOR GAY BOY FRASER - henceforth referred to as gayser when he is into situations wherein I want to emphasize his homosexuality - IN FORCED STRAIGHT SITUATIONS LIKE I KNOW THAT HE DOESNT WANT TO PLAY DOMESTICITY WITH FRANNIE. And she really needs to get with a woman

Girl a clip show for the season 2 finale? Come now. Also this is why starsky and hutch will always be a show made to hatecrime the watcher while due south uplifts you, because starsky and hutch did the amnesia plot line but hutch faked it. Because he’s insane.

“Alone we’re incomplete” truly insane thing to say about your best friend. Season 2 has really solidified by theory that ray is an out gay man to himself and no one else and he performs heterosexuality as a cover and gayser is just really truly deeply closeted because there were no gay people in a 100 kilometer radius growing up in the yukon. Also “benny, I could kiss you” “I thought we were just friends, ray” “we are” hello??? Hello???

Okay what the hell is going on with Ray K. You weren’t lying. 2 episodes in and he’s asking if Fraser thinks he’s attractive.

“All women are our sisters” I LOVE YOU FRASER. FEMINIST LEGEND.

I still gayser truth of course but as far as love interests go I don’t mind this bounty hunter milf

I don’t love that ghost dad was made a main character I liked him more when he would randomly pop up and I think they use him too much but I do love his little office set. And I do love that ghost dad is a character that exists

I don’t really care for the fact that one of kowalski’s defining traits is his love of police brutality. Come on due south. You used to understand that police violence is bad

I’ll be honest this is one of the first American based shows I’ve seen that promotes the idea of Canadian exceptionalism. And like it wasn’t initially like this as, see my last point, due South used to know and show that both the Chicago police and the mounties were corrupt, with Fraser being the worlds most special guy, but later seasons are like “all Mounties are inherently virtuous supermen”

Detective Huey and Fraser narrative foils in that both of them lost their first gay partner and then proceeded to get even gayer with their second partner. I do love Huey. And Dewey’s strange ways bewitch me I think he should hook up with turnbull

Women love to ask Fraser if they can trust him and then kiss him. Non_threatening_boys.jpg

Whenever Scott Bakula sings on quantum leap I cheer and clap like a seal and whenever paul gross sings I shriek and cover my eyes and say kill yourself

Every subplot to Mountie Sings the Blues makes me so happy I love huey and deweys stupid ass country song and I actually think Francesca/Turnbull is cute I’ve actually been hoping they would do it

I’m so sad due south got canceled right after the Fraser sister reveal I want so many more episodes with them hanging out

One thing about Fraser is that his love interest will be a brunette woman. Frannie, Victoria, Thatcher, milf bounty hunter and- sorry I looked up the poker episode to remember if the poker chick was brunette and sure enough

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dark-twist-fairytales · 2 years

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Alright, I want to info dump first thing in the morning, so I am going to info dump about the Crossover AU for The Henry Stickmin Collection/Marvels Spider-Man.

First off, I think it should be called ‘Webbed Up AU’, since it sounds cool, but it also could be called ‘Charles Calvin | Spider-Man AU’ since it also makes sense. This can also be done with the sequel of Miles Morales.

Second, under the cut is going to be ALL of the characters replacing characters and why I feel like it would fit. It’s 11:23 in the morning writing this specific message, I’ll place the ending time here: 2:35 in the afternoon

Thirdly, It is the universe of Henry Stickmin replacing characters within the Spider-Man game. I am not cross referencing deaths from both games, but some may accidentally appear.

Forth, I am NOT including DLC’s, this is only the base game. Maybe I’ll include DLC’s later in the future, after watching them, but this is going based off of my knowledge of the base game.

Alright, time to go under the cut. I’ll see all of you on the others side.

~~~

Charles Calvin as Peter Parker: I find this choice to be fitting. While Charlie is a little more monotone compared to Peter, they both are a bit childish, carefree, wants to do what’s best for their city/country. Peter loves swinging around, Charlie loves flying around. While Peter avoids busting into building, he still has fun with it, and you know Charlie would as well.

Victoria Grit as Aunt May: While there isn’t a lot of evidence for this one, she is one of the only members of the government, of a high rank, that is canonically female. No doubt, her and Charlie have gotten along or chat about with each other about missions. So, her as Aunt May, with no evidence of Charlie’s family makes sense, in my mind.

Hubert Galeforce as Mister Negative/Martin Li: Martin Li is seen as someone you can trust at first, before he turns his back on Peter, unknowingly. Galeforce can be seen as a morally grey character from the games, which I personally agree with, and with that falling into place, he turns his back on Charlie. Falling into place, it makes sense. 1/6

Henry Stickmin and Ellie Rose as Harry Osborn and Mary Jane: MJ, Harry, and Peter are essentially the ‘triple threat’ of the Spider-Man universe Now, these two are interchangeable, but I see Henry as MJ just the slightest bit more, due to MJ’s stealthy nature and ability to think quick. Plus Henry X Charlie is also a huge possibility. But, both of these characters could be either character. For this, I am making Henry MJ, and Elli Harry.

Dr. Vinschpinsilstien as Doctor Octopus/Doctor Otto Octavius: They both tamper with cybernetics, both use on amputees, and their both doctors. While Dr. Vin is seen as a better alignment compared to Doc Ock, Doc Ock WAS a good guy before the cybernetic arms began messing with his brain. Trying to do something for the better, but failing due to the corruption of the components. Anyone can change from good to bad with corruption. 2/6

Right Hand Man as Jefferson Davis: While RHM, in canon, wouldn’t exactly become a police officer, it makes sense that if he was a good aligned character to become an officer/detective. Him and Charlie also seem like they would get along, I don’t exactly know why, but they would. Henry and RHM canonically get along (to some extent), which is another reason why I made Henry MJ.

Reginald Copperbottom as Rio Morales: Okay, you know I had to bring CopperRight in here. But, Reginald as Rio made sense to me, both strong and independent, putting the safety of there family before there own, making sure that their children are alright. I haven’t played Miles Morales Spider-Man, I’m just going off the bit of ‘Into The Spider-Verse’ that I saw of her. Also going based off this fact, RHM would 100% embarrass Sven the same way Jefferson did with Miles.

Sven Svensson as Miles Morales: Yes, based upon the headcanon that is RHM and Reginald are Sven’s adopted parents. But, it still makes sense in my mind. Sven is awkward, Miles is awkward, and you can’t tell me that they would both they wouldn’t flutter around in the air just for the Hell of it. I can’t give a full amount of evidence, as there isn’t too much support for it, other than the headcanon that both makes sense and adds to the family side of the story.

[stopping and saving draft; 12:12] [picked up at 12:50]

Grigori Olayt as Silver Sable: Why not Dmitri, you ask? Well, that will come a bit later when I DO put Dmitri down. Grigori follows orders given to him, even if it damages other, but his intentions aren’t meant to BE bad. Both of them are good people, and Silver realizes this later in the future, and I feel like Grigori would realize it at some point, that The Wall’s intentions aren’t good like his.

Rupert Price as Yuri Watanabe: Putting him instead of Johnny makes sense. Rupert has been in both the police force and the military. He already has a relationship with Charlie, and it would be easier for them to have an established deal before story, like Peter and Yuri do. Yes, Charlie would be just as annoying to Rupert as Peter is to Yuri. Yes, Spider-Cop would STILL be a running joke between them.

Kyle Baxter as Norman Osborn: Running off another headcanon form The Henry Stickmin Collection, that Dr. Vin used to work for The Wall until the CCC showed up. Kyle Baxter is The Wall Liason that works for the CCC. Norman Osborn says that he ‘wants the best’ for Doc Ock, but it’s a double edged sword that bites him in the ass later down the line.

Dmitri Johannes Petrov as Rhino/Aleksei Sytsevich: Yes, we’re getting into some bad guys now! Big, bad, tough, and runs headfirst into things. Not afraid to bark out commands and gets angry at the inconvenience of things not going properly. Also, Santa Clause would 100% piss Dmitri off as a nickname. 3/6

Terrence Suave as Vulture/Adrian Toomes: A winged, electronical engineer with a bit of anger issues, only wanting to protect his family and be there? Yes. Another divergent of a headcanon, aka Father Terrence to Burt Curtis, but this one supports the role further. Basically, Adrian is the ‘what if Terrence Sauve controlled himself’ and succeeded. There’s not much evidence, and can be subjected to change. 4/6

Dave Panpa as Shocker/Herman Schultz: Listening to Herman’s dialogue in game matches the energy of Dave that he’s put out from the beginning. Nervous, a follower, and finds themselves in a lot of unlikely situations. While Herman is a lot more combative than Dave, it still fits, as the ONLY weapon Dave has used was a taser. Literally. And that worked better than his fists. {Changed as I got characters confused}

Gadget Gabe as Scorpion/MacDonald “Mac” Gargan: As we NEVER see Gadget Gabe, we can go based off of his object, which not only subject a lot of possible torture and/or death to users, his comments on the notes are similar to how Mac speaks. While Gabe is a neutral force, comparing to Mac’s job as a ‘Gun for Hire’, Gabe’s gadget’s would be able to create the scorpion costume, and with the help of Dr. Vin (as the Scorpion costume IS cybernetic), I think it’s pretty nifty. 5/6

Sir Wilford IV as the Kingpin/Wilson Fisk: This match was, without a doubt, the easiest one to make. Their entire demeanor separate matches each other. Wilford wants what’s best for the clan, and Fisk genuinely DOES try to help out their city. Strong, unbreakable mental beliefs, and will (literally) run head first into something if it means the possibility of getting what he wants. Although taken out early and not seen again, his lead still holds strong even though he is incarcerated.

Al Kohaul as Electro/Maxwell “Max” Dillon: Al is the only one within the Henry Stickmin games that gets affect, directly, with electricity. Although he may deal with photography and photographs, there’s just something about Max and Al that just seem so.. In tune with each other. I don’t know what it is, but if I find a better match, Al is Max. 6/6

Reynaldo the Brute as Taskmaster: I can’t exactly explain WHY this works, but good God, read Taskmaster’s wiki (here’s the link) and tell me it just doesn’t scream Reynaldo. I have no evidence, I have no facts, I’m going off vibe alone ans it works.

Milhouse Filmore “M.F.” Jones as Tombstone/Lonnie Lincoln: M.F. looks like he could be the leader of a biker gang and own it, and honestly, his smaller top hat makes him look like he’s bigger than he actually is. Regardless, it’s another vibe, as M.F. only has one, quick scene, but he OWNED that scene, if I’m being completely honest.

Carol Cross as Black Cat/Felicia Hardy: While Carol is more strict than Felicia, there is something about her that says she would gladly play a game of cat and mouse, if she was able to use manipulation on her target. While bad in the real world, makes great content for a Spider-Man game. (I do not condone manipulation, it sucks, I’ve been a victim to it plenty of times)

Ahnoldt Schwarz as J. Jonah Jameson: This is not only a funny image, but both men scream like it’s no one’s business. Comedy purposes, both of them.

-Factions-

The Wall as Sable International: This one just remotely makes sense to me, as they’re both Russian services, trying to help the government in a way that wouldn��t normally be seen as ‘helpful’. It is a little more round-a-bout with the way that help comes, but it still helps.

Police Force as the Police Force: Since we don’t see much of either police force in either game series, and they’re both very clearly established, it makes since to have both of them as police forces.

Toppat’s as Fisk’s Gang/Thugs: Criminal force with a criminal leader? Yep, count it in. I’m grouping the thugs along with it, as they essentially act the same, and they’re the first forces that you see as enemies.

~~~

And that is all! God, that took forever, even with that break!

#the henry stickmin collection #marvels spider-man #crossover #too many characters to tag #henry stickmin au

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laresearchette · 9 months

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Sunday, January 14, 2024 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: BELGRAVIA: THE NEXT CHAPTER (MGM+) YELLOWSTONE (Global) 8:00pm/9:00pm/10:00pm MONSIEUR SPADE (AMC Canada) 9:00pm TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY (HBO Canada) 9:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT?: 2024 CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS (CW Feed)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

AMAZON PRIME CANADA DOSTANA 2

CRAVE TV TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY (Episode 1)

2024 IIHF U18 WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (TSN) 9:00am: Bronze Medal Game (TSN/TSN3) 1:00pm: Gold Medal Game

NFL FOOTBALL (TSN4/TSN5) 1:00pm: Steelers vs. Bills (TSN4/TSN5) 4:30pm: Packers vs. Cowboys (TSN4/TSN5) 8:15pm: Rams vs. Lions

NHL HOCKEY (SN) 1:00pm: Capitals vs. Rangers (TSN2) 7:00pm: Jets vs. Coyotes (SNOntario) 7:00pm: Red Wings vs. Leafs

NBA BASKETBALL (SN1) 3:30pm: Pacers vs. Nuggets (SN1) 6:00pm: Hornets vs. Heat (TSN2) 7:00pm: Clippers vs. Timberwolves (SN/SN1) 9:00pm: Suns vs. Trail Blazers

PWHL HOCKEY (SNEast/SNWest/SNPacific) 4:00pm: New York vs. Minnesota

BOLLYWED (CBC) 7:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): With the second location not yet open, Kuki comes up with an eye-catching solution to Chandan's overstock problems.

NORTHERN AIR RESCUE (APTN) 7:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Operating in some of Canada's most challenging aviation conditions, a young pilot fresh out of flight school takes off on her first exciting adventure with Missinippi Airways.

PUSH (CBC) 7:30pm (SEASON PREMIERE): After a group skydiving adventure, Brittney organizes a surprise birthday party for Brian as he and Victoria work through a rocky time in their relationship; Aleem is hospitalized.

OCEAN WARRIORS: MISSION READY (APTN) 7:30pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Ahousaht's Coastal Nations Coast Guard Auxiliary team has extensive search and rescue training and a vessel that's equipped with the latest marine technology. These are critical assets as they race to find a sinking fishing boat with a man overboard.

MALCOM IS MISSING (CBC) 8:00pm: When her father vanishes in Mexico, a daughter contends with betrayal and corrupt police in order to bring him home.

NORTH SHORE (CTV Drama) 9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): When the U.K. trade minister's daughter is found dead in Sydney Harbor under suspicious circumstances, detectives delve into the dark secrets of those close to the victim to piece together the mystery.

AUSSIE SNAKE WRANGLERS (Animal Planet Canada) 9:00pm/9:30pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Stuart avoids a dangerous bite from an eastern brown snake; Mick and Adele struggle to remove a python from an office fridge. In Episode Two, Australia's busiest snake-catching team faces off against some of the world's deadliest animals, tackling everything from red bellies to eastern browns and whip snakes.

BÖRJE - THE JOURNEY OF A LEGEND (Crave) 9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Börje Salming was the first Swedish player elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame; follow his journey to the top, from his childhood in Kiruna to his breakthrough with Brynäs and eventually his professional career with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND (History Canada) 10:00pm: While the team struggles to stop water from pouring into the Garden Shaft, the connection between Oak Island, Captain Phipps and The Knights Templar is rapidly intensifying on Lot 5.

#cdntv #cancon #canadian tv #canadian tv listings #bollywed #northern air rescue #push #ocean warriors: mission ready #north shore #aussie snake wranglers #borje - the journey of a legend #the curse of oak island #iihf world women's juniors #nfl football #nhl hockey #nba basketball #pwhl hockey

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snakebusters · 3 years

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Reptile parties man honours dead American. George Floyd is recognized by having a new species of turtle named in his honour.A peer reviewed paper has formally named a recently discovered species of Australian Saw-shelled Turtle Wollumbinia georgefloydi Hoser, 2021 in honour of George Floyd. Floyd was bashed and killed by four police officers at Minnesota, USA, in 2020 and his death sparked outrage and protests globally. The naming of this turtle in honour of George Floyd follows a massive three volume monograph on the Australasian Tree Frogs published by Hoser in 2020 in which Hoser announced the formal discovery of 62 new species. One of those new to science species was also named in honour of George Floyd. At that time, Raymond Hoser wrote: “The species is named in honour of the late George Floyd, a victim of an unprovoked attack by four thug police officers at Powderhorn, in downtown Minneapolis, USA, on 25 May 2020.” A second frog species was also named Kumanjayiwalkerus kumanjayi in honour of Kumanjayi Walker a 19 year old Aboriginal (Black) Australian who was unlawfully shot and killed by a police officer in 2019. Hoser wrote: “The species Kumanjayiwalkerus kumanjayi sp. nov. is named in honour Kumanjayi Walker, another indigenous Australian victim of an execution by a racist white Australian police officer in the Northern Territory (NT), being one of over 400 such victims in Australia since 1990. The 19 year old was shot and killed by NT Police Officer Zachary Rolfe in November 2019.” Hoser also wrote: “The world is full of memorials and species named in honour mass murderers, thieves and despots and it is appropriate that victims of these people should also be honoured occasionally.” The frog paper was published in hard copy on Friday 5 June 2020 and following publication of this paper, a number of people have heeded Hoser’s words and toppled statues of racists and murderers and thrown them into rivers and lakes. The paper naming the new turtle species in honour of George Floyd was published on 16 August 2021. Wollumbinia georgefloydi occurs in the wet tropics region of north Queensland, Australia, bounded by the Burdekin Gap in the South and found as far north as about Cape Flattery. Hoser also named another newly discovered species Wollumbinia darnellafrazierae Hoser, 2021. Wollumbinia darnellafrazierae is named in honour of Darnella Frazier. Born 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee to parents LaTangie Gillespie and James Frazier. She has three brothers and one sister. Most of Darnella’s life, however, has been spent in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After being active in varsity basketball, she graduated from Roosevelt High School in that city. She is an American woman who (at age 17) video recorded the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and then posted her video on Facebook. Because Frazier’s video contradicted the initial Minneapolis police account of Floyd’s death, it sparked global protests regarding police abuse, lies and corruption. Demonstrations demanding justice for Floyd exploded over the summer of 2020 involving an estimated 26 million U.S. citizens in more than 2,000 cities across the nation. Similar protests took place in over 60 nations around the world. The Frazier video sparked the greatest level of demonstrations and protest in human history. More immediately her video led to more intense monitoring of police behaviour around the world including investigations of past acts of police killings of unarmed black men, women, and children. Without her video, the Floyd death would have been ignored and the victim blamed.The genus name Myuchelys Thomson and Georges, 2009 was illegally coined as a genus name to over-write Wollumbina Wells, 2007 by a pair of taxonomic vandals and police protected criminals, Scott Thomson and Arthur Georges. The name Myuchelys is an objective junior synonym of Wollumbina and the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) has ruled that the illegally coined Myuchelys should never be used. In spite of the ICZN ruling of 2021 against the thieves, Thomson and Georges have aggressively promoted their illegal name online, including on wikipedia pages that they obsessively control and so a warning against their reckless misinformation is given here.Raymond Hoser, is the world’s foremost expert on reptiles and frogs. He has authored numerous major books on wildlife, handles the world’s deadliest snakes on a daily basis, does reptile shows for kids and adults and invented Reptile Parties for birthday parties, which are now copied by businesses worldwide and hailed as one of the greatest wildlife conservation and education initiatives in recent times. To date he has discovered and named over 350 species of reptiles, as well as discovering and naming dozens of species of frogs and mammals. Not as well-known is that in 1990 Hoser was bashed by several police in a police station in Melbourne, Australia and nearly killed in the same manner George Floyd died. Hoser escaped that attack with a broken nose, smashed back and arms and required surgery and years of ongoing medical treatment. He also got hit with a series of falsified criminal charges which he eventually beat. Hoser's story was published in the best-selling books The Hoser Files and Victoria Police Corruption - 2. The Victoria police officer who led the attack on Hoser, Richard George Valentine was found guilty in the courts of unlawful assault at the same time Hoser's name was cleared of the false charges, but Valentine kept his job in the police where he could continue to engage in acts of corruption and brutality. The lead police witness against Hoser was a rent-a-witness, being a police protected criminal and pedophile named Brett David Winduss, whom even Valentine could not protect forever and was eventually jailed for a vicious attack on young girl in Kew, Melbourne. The unprovoked attack on Hoser by the corrupt police was sparked after Hoser complained in writing of another police officer (Ross Bingley) who was corruptly protecting a gang of criminals attacking taxi drivers in the 1980's. While an internal police investigation also found against Bingley, he too kept his job. Hoser noted "Watching the attack on George Floyd on TV, brought back the memories of the pain and suffering I suffered at the hands of Valentine and his gang of thugs 30 years ago. ... it hit a raw nerve. ... even now I suffer 24/7 pain in my back, elbows and hands as a result of several police jumping on top of me on the floor of the Kew Police station. ... this sort of vicious attack you never recover from."

#Wollumbinia georgefloydi #Ross Bingley #Richard George Valentine #Victoria Police Corruption - 2 #The Hoser Files #Wollumbinia darnellafrazierae #Kumanjayiwalkerus kumanjayi #George Floyd

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tangent101 · 4 years

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Corruption at Blackwell Academy

Nothing does better to help point out the corruption at the root of Arcadia Bay than their pride and joy, Blackwell Academy. This private high school has, according to Max, one of the best art programs in the country and in many ways works more like a private college than a high school (including having dorms). But there is a dark heart beating in Blackwell, and that is the Prescott family. This heart has tainted the academy and the surrounding community.

When Max ventures forth into Arcadia Bay itself, she mentions that a lot of businesses have shut down. It used to have a thriving fishing industry but that has collapsed, while businesses supporting fishing have also dried up until there’s only a few areas which still bring in business - and these businesses naturally have Sean Prescott’s strings attached to them, such as the gated community he’s trying to have built.

Further, it seems the Prescott Manor is located at the heart of Arcadia Bay, even as Blackwell is at the “head” (the high point) of the community. While I’m a bit surprised it’s not oceanfront property, thematically it makes sense for Prescott Manor to be where it is - a hidden property we never see, but which ultimately touches everything around it.

Seeing that Blackwell itself plays a prominent role for the game (with over half of the game set at the school), it makes sense that we’d see the worse of Arcadia Bay’s corruption (and the Prescott influence over it) at the school, and we easily do so with Principal Raymond Wells himself.

On the surface, Wells seems to be a typical administrator. He’s one of the few black characters in the game, and the only one in a position of authority. But with Max’s first encounter with him, we get our first taste of how far Prescott corruption has taken hold with Wells accusing Max of “having something to hide” off of the most flimsy of reasons... and while on the surface he takes her claims of Nathan having a gun seriously, he never bothers to send his head of security to search Nathan’s room.

Seriously. If David Madsen had searched Nathan’s room, he’d have found information on Nathan’s gun (if not the gun itself), the photograph of Chloe in a compromised position, and more. The game would have gone far far differently in that case. And it would have been a reasonable precaution. If Max was lying or mistaken about the gun? Then Wells would have been in a position to force Max to formally apologize to Nathan for her words! Meanwhile he’d have looked effective at his job! Instead he pulls Nathan in for a quick verbal warning and that leads Nathan to assaulting Max in the parking lot.

We also learn from Chloe that Wells is a drunk. Now Chloe isn’t exactly the best person to talk to about these things. She refers to the school as Blackhell and got expelled, so she may be prejudiced about this. But we actually get to see Wells drinking whiskey at the end of Chapter 1. Further, in Chapter 3 when Max and Chloe search his office, you find he has several bottles of liquor hidden away. And trust me, if you tried drinking on the job or even just at the job after you were out for the night, and weren’t working at a bar... then you’re going to get written up at the very least.

Drugs and alcohol are quite evident in Blackwell, both among the administration and the student body. We can find a known drug dealer’s RV parked in the Blackwell Academy parking lot at one point. We learn that Rachel Amber (beloved icon and the lost Lenore of Life is Strange) was a drug mule for said drug dealer. We learn that Nathan Prescott also deals and distributes drugs at Blackwell (and Chloe accuses him of that when we first encounter Chloe and Nathan in the Blackwell bathroom).

Several students end up drugged by date rape drugs that were acquired from Frank Bowers (who never thought to consider their possible use for sexual assault apparently). One student admits to getting high before class, and at the End of the World event, the Vortex Club is full of students drinking alcohol and getting high off of various drugs (many of which Nathan provided). In fact it seems clear that Nathan’s popularity among the jocks is due to his being the middleman between Frank and their own drug habits.

David Madsen is another sign of the corruption at Blackwell. He is not a wise choice to have as chief of security for a school of rich teenagers. When we first meet him, he yells at Max for not leaving the school promptly when she leaves the bathroom. Excuse me? What is it women do in bathrooms? If you were in the middle of something when a fire alarm went off, would you just pull up your underwear, fix your clothes, and leave? No. You’d clean up first. And that takes a minute or two. If David were given any actual training, he’d have just treated her decently and told her to evacuate with the rest of the students and faculty.

(That’s another thing. There is a set procedure in place for fire alarms. Students and faculty are to line up outside so that the fire department knows everyone is safe and no one is trapped in the building. This was not done. Sure, part of this is to get the game moving rather than show boring realistic details and it could be claimed it happened “after hours” but you still should have seen the remaining students lining up with teachers. The laxity of Blackwell (suggesting that the fire alarms are misused frequently) is just another sign that Blackwell is corrupt and Wells an inept administrator.)

We see additional evidence that David is one of the worse choices for head of security at Blackwell at his accosting Kate Marsh and accusing her of being involved in something (later on we learn he’s blaming her for drugs at Blackwell showing once more he is a tool and an utter idiot). The girl is hysterical, there is a write-up in her file from the nurse that David should have known about, and he confronts her and baselessly accuses her of something. There is a legitimate reason why Max can accuse David of being responsible for Kate being on the rooftop of the dorms at the end of Chapter 2. He helped drive her there.

On a related note, additional corruption in Arcadia Bay can be found in its police force. At one point in Chapter 3, Max can talk to a police officer at Two Whales Diner, Anderson Berry. Berry admits outright to being on the take. More specifically, Sean Prescott did Berry’s family a favor and that he can’t get out of it. Nathan goes on further to state his father owns the police... and seeing that in LiS2 with the Sacrifice Chloe end that David is worried about Nathan getting out of jail three years after killing Chloe... he’s probably right. (Minimum sentence for involuntary manslaughter is 10 years, no parole. Boy’s getting out on appeal. Fortunately, Save Chloe is a valid option and has Jefferson locked away.)

No discussion about the corruption of Blackwell Academy would be complete without talking about Mark Jefferson. This predator has a couple dozen folders filled with photos of women in compromising positions, having most likely been drugged and then photographed while semi-conscious. While the fine folk at Dontnod have stated that Jefferson did not touch his victims sexually... it is clear that this was a metaphor for rape. You have a date rape drug used on two girls (Kate and Chloe). Both girls are messed up as a result of the drugging and subsequent encounters. Kate is suicidal and being blamed by society for what happened to her. Chloe is adversarial and confrontational and even states she would happily see Arcadia Bay turned to glass (one thing that some victims of sexual assault say sometimes is that they hate the world.) You even have the Dark Room and its vinyl-lined extra-large sofa. Yes, that is not at all suspicious.

Mark Jefferson is a popular and attractive white male teacher in a position of authority over students. He has taken one student (Nathan) under his wing and is coaching him in his ways (do note that Chloe is assaulted by Nathan using the same tools Jefferson uses on his own victims). There are rumors going around the school that a missing student, Rachel Prescott, was sleeping with Jefferson and this is not considered a bad thing. There’s no investigation of these rumors (half a year after Rachel disappeared). There’s no official denial of those rumors or any word at all. If a teacher in any decent school had that sort of accusation against them, I don’t care how popular the teacher was, there’d be an official investigation and the rumor mill would mention that.

It’s clear that Jefferson has done this to several students at the very least. If we assume that Jefferson was teaching at Blackwell for the past three years then he’s been preying on teenage girls for that entire time. The write-up for Jefferson shows that in the late 2000s he taught in several schools before settling down in his hometown of Arcadia Bay. (It’s odd how many characters in LiS were born in Arcadia Bay. The only two students whose records we have who were not were (amusingly enough) Nathan and Victoria. Go figure.) So it’s possible Jefferson was preying on students for four or five years, and may even have been at Blackwell Academy when Max’s family had to leave.

Getting back to Nathan, there are multiple examples of the corruption of Blackwell in regards to Nathan. We already know of how he’s dealing drugs at the school, providing various drugs for the jocks, alcohol for the Vortex Club, and the like. His school file shows he’s assaulted students and teachers, and it is strongly implied that Max’s English teacher is out because of Nathan. (Oh, hey, more corruption! Most schools require students to be in class even when the teacher is out sick and provide substitute teachers. When there is no substitute available, the principal or vice principal will fill in as the substitute teacher.) Nathan’s files however are sealed and his official student report shows him to be a “good student” without any problems. Suspicious? Suspicious.

When I first started writing about the Corruption of Blackwell, I was thinking along the lines of the $5,000 in cash found in the desk drawer of Principal Wells. It was just the tip of the iceberg, but it still smells fishier than Arcadia Bay’s docks. Yes, the money is marked as “handicapped fund” but legitimate businesses will use checks to finance construction. That includes schools. If there is a bake sale or the like to raise funds? Those funds are put in a bank account. You don’t go paying cash for business unless it’s under the table - at least, not when you’re a legitimate and popular private school.

Amusingly enough, the money for the Handicapped Fund gets used to put in a handicapped ramp at the school. But the ramp is being built for the Prescott Dormitory. (Oh, hey, the Prescott family again!) Do note, Blackwell Academy is built on a hill. To reach the school from the street, students have to walk up a couple flights of stairs. If you go to the parking lot, you have to climb a flight of stairs in a narrow enclosure to reach the school - if you use a wheelchair you cannot access the school at all.

David Madsen’s map of Blackwell Academy (for placement of security cameras) shows no means of reaching the dormitories from the parking lot. In fact, the parking lots are placed poorly and students checking into Blackwell have to trudge across the entire school with their belongings, up a flight of stairs and down another flight of stairs. It is poorly designed and I can hear the griping of every student and parent on moving day about how it’s messed up that you can’t just park the car next to the dorms.

In short? Putting a handicap ramp at the dormitories makes absolutely no sense. Students in wheelchairs cannot reach the ramp because when they get off from the street in front of Blackwell they have to climb a flight of stairs. If they park in the handicapped spaces in the parking lot, they have to climb a flight of stairs. They cannot get into the school itself because of more stairs, so installing a handicap ramp at the dormitories makes absolutely no sense at all. (If Blackwell was interested in becoming ADA-compliant, the first ramp would be at the parking lot, followed by the school itself.)

Let’s look at this further. We know that Sean Prescott has a construction company (Prescott Development) seeing he’s pushing a housing development, Pan Estates, a gated community that will be built in the “deep forests” near Blackwell. He’s run into some problems with local protests and the like keeping him from just building everything he wants. So Principal Raymond Wells gets $5,000 in cash to build a pointless and useless handicap ramp that workers at Prescott Development can use for a quick job. Further, cash is often used to pay undocumented workers. Prescott is spending some money for a fluff job to keep his undocumented workers paid and busy.

If Max and Chloe take the money, there is no investigation. There was a break-in at the school. The police could easily lift Chloe’s fingerprints from the scene and arrest her for the theft. They most likely have her fingerprints on file seeing she has been arrested in the past for various minor crimes (such as vandalism). So why would there be no investigation unless there was a reason to keep the money hushed up?

As I said, the corruption at Blackwell and Arcadia Bay goes deep. The Prescott family is at the heart of it... but at its head is Blackwell Academy. I truly feel for Max in this. She really wanted to go to Blackwell. A favored photographer of hers was teaching there, her best friend lived in the town, it was her childhood home! And she goes there and finds skeletons in the closet, bodies in the junkyard, and signs of corruption everyway she turns. Talk about a coming of age story... maybe Chloe was right. Turning the town to glass? It may have been for the best. It allows Max and Chloe to leave and make a life for themselves. It would be a better life than what they had back in Arcadia Bay.

#life is strange #lis #blackwell academy #arcadia bay #raymond wells #david madsen #sean prescott #nathan prescott #mark jefferson #anderson berry #frank bowers #chloe price #max caulfield #my posts

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jtem · 3 years

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I’ll tell you how f*cked up environmentalism/conservationism is…

“Big Cars” are gone. They pollute, they waste too much fuel so they’re all gone… replaced by SUVs which are bigger and get worse fuel economy.

The classic Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser? Gone. They all drive SUVs here. One town has full sized pickup trucks for their police!

We’re told these things – the laws and regulations – are for our benefit. They’re for the environment. They were done to conserve natural resources. But all they ever do is screw us. They’re pricing cars out of reach of people. It’s class warfare. They never banned the gas guzzlers, their solution was to build even worse gas guzzlers and then restrict them to a smaller and smaller circle of privileged elites.

Go on, go without. Go eat bugs “For the environment.” Meanwhile Richard Branson & Elon Musk – TWO BILLIONAIRES – are in a race to see who can burn countless millions of gallons of fuel on space flights which are literally just entertainment for the rich.

Private aviation is a hobby at best, a status symbol for greedy corporate types, celebrities, the idle rich and corrupt officials. It was already wasting more than 2 billion gallons of fuel every year – burning it in our atmosphere – and now they want joy rides on rockets?

THEY’VE BEEN SHAMING YOU FOR FLYING EFFICIENT COMMERCIAL AIRLINERS!

These same privileged elite, these same self-imposed “Leaders” that can’t seem to pollute enough, they are never satisfied. They keep pounding you with the idea that you have too much. You need “Carbon” taxes, auctions, credits & trading to make you poorer, drive up your prices because you have too much. You should be able to afford less. BUT they demand more & more for themselves.

Unsubscribe. Unfriend. Block.

Your whole neighborhood could stop using energy entirely, and you still wouldn’t make up for what Richard Branson wastes on his best days. So just unsubscribe.

#Greta #Environment #Ecology #Energy #Carbon footprint #CO2 #Green #Global warming #Greed #Wall Street #text post #txt post

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thecomicsnexus · 5 years

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V FOR VENDETTA MARCH 1981 - MAY 1989 BY ALAN MOORE, DAVID LLOYD, TONY WARE, STEVE WHITAKER, SIOBAHN DODDS

SYNOPSIS (FROM WIKIPEDIA)

Book 1: Europe After the Reign On Guy Fawkes Night in London in 1997, a financially desperate 16-year-old, Evey Hammond, sexually solicits men who are actually members of the state secret police, called "The Finger". Preparing to rape and kill her, the Fingermen are dispatched by V, a cloaked anarchist wearing a mask, who later remotely detonates explosives at the Houses of Parliament before bringing Evey to his contraband-filled underground lair, the "Shadow Gallery". Evey tells V her life story, which reveals her own past as well as England's recent history. During a dispute over Poland in the late 1980s the Soviet Union and the United States, under the presidency of Ted Kennedy, entered a global nuclear war which left continental Europe and Africa uninhabitable. Although Britain itself was not bombed due to the Labour government's decision to remove American nuclear missiles, it faced environmental devastation and famine due to the nuclear winter. After a period of lawlessness in which Evey's mother died, the remaining corporations and fascist groups would take over England and form a new totalitarian government, Norsefire. Evey's father, a former socialist, would be arrested by the regime.

Meanwhile, Eric Finch, a veteran detective in charge of the regular police force—"the Nose"—begins investigating V's terrorist activities. Finch often communicates with Norsefire's other intelligence departments, including "the Finger," led by Derek Almond, and "the Head," embodied by Adam Susan: the reclusive government Leader, who obsessively oversees the government's Fate computer system. Finch's case thickens when V kidnaps Lewis Prothero, a propaganda-broadcasting radio personality, and drives him into a mental breakdown by forcing him to relive his actions as the commander of a "resettlement" camp near Larkhill with his treasured doll collection as inmates. Evey agrees to help V with his next assassination by disguising herself as a child prostitute to infiltrate the home of Bishop Anthony Lilliman, a paedophile priest, who V forces to commit suicide by eating a poisoned communion wafer. He prepares to murder Dr. Delia Surridge, a medical researcher who once had a romance with Finch. Finch suddenly discovers the connection among V's three targets: they all used to work at Larkhill. That night, V kills both Almond and Surridge, but Surridge has left a diary revealing that V—a former inmate and victim of Surridge's cruel medical experiments—was able to destroy and flee the camp, and is now eliminating the camp's former officers for what they did. Finch reports these findings to Susan, and suspects that this vendetta may actually be a cover for V, who, he worries, may be plotting an even bigger terrorist attack.

Book 2: This Vicious Cabaret Four months later, V breaks into Jordan Tower, the home of Norsefire's propaganda department, "the Mouth"—led by Roger Dascombe—to broadcast a speech that calls on the people to resist the government. V escapes using an elaborate diversion that results in Dascombe's death. Finch is soon introduced to Peter Creedy, the new head of the Finger, who provokes Finch to strike him and thus get sent on a forced vacation. All this time, Evey has moved on with her life, becoming romantically involved with a much older man named Gordon. Evey and Gordon unknowingly cross paths with Rose Almond, the widow of the recently killed Derek. After Derek's death, Rose reluctantly began a relationship with Dascombe, but now, with both of her lovers murdered, she is forced to perform demoralizing burlesque work, increasing her hatred of the unsupportive government.

When a Scottish gangster named Ally Harper murders Gordon, a vengeful Evey interrupts a meeting between Harper and Creedy, the latter of whom is buying the support of Harper's thugs in preparation for a coup d'état. Evey attempts to shoot Harper, but is suddenly abducted and then imprisoned. Amidst interrogation and torture, Evey finds an old letter hidden in her cell by an inmate named Valerie Page, a film actress who was imprisoned and executed for being a lesbian.

Evey's interrogator finally gives her a choice of collaboration or death; inspired by Valerie, Evey refuses to collaborate, and, expecting to be executed, is instead told that she is free. Stunned, Evey learns that her supposed imprisonment is in fact a hoax constructed by V so that she could experience an ordeal similar to the one that shaped him at Larkhill. He reveals that Valerie was a real Larkhill prisoner who died in the cell next to his and that the letter is not a fake. Evey forgives V, who has hacked into the government's Fate computer system and started emotionally manipulating Adam Susan with mind games. Consequently, Susan, who has formed a bizarre romantic attachment to the computer, is beginning to descend into madness.

Book 3: The Land of Do-As-You-Please The following 5 November (1998), V blows up the Post Office Tower and Jordan Tower, killing "the Ear" leader Brian Etheridge; in addition to effectively shutting down three government agencies: the Eye, the Ear, and the Mouth. Creedy's men and Harper's associated street gangs violently suppress the subsequent wave of revolutionary fervor from the public. V notes to Evey that he has not yet achieved what he calls the "Land of Do-as-You-Please", meaning a functional anarchistic society, and considers the current chaotic situation an interim period of "Land of Take-What-You-Want". Finch has been mysteriously absent and his young assistant, Dominic Stone, one day realises that V has been influencing the Fate computer all along, which would explain V's consistent foresight. All the while, Finch has been travelling to the abandoned site of Larkhill, where he takes LSD to conjure up memories of his own devastated past and to put his mind in the role of a prisoner of Larkhill, like V, to help give him an intuitive understanding of V's experiences. Returning to London, Finch suddenly deduces that V's lair is inside the abandoned Victoria Station, which he enters.

V takes Finch by surprise, resulting in a scuffle which sees Finch shoot V and V wound Finch with a knife. V claims that he cannot be killed since he is only an idea and that "ideas are bulletproof"; regardless, V is indeed mortally wounded and returns to the Shadow Gallery deeper within, dying in Evey's arms. Evey considers unmasking V, but decides not to, realising that V is not an identity but a symbol. She then assumes V's identity, donning one of his spare costumes. Finch sees the large amount of blood that V has left in his wake and deduces that he has mortally wounded V. Occurring concurrently to this, Creedy has been pressuring Susan to appear in public, hoping to leave him exposed. Sure enough, as Susan stops to shake hands with Rose during a parade, she shoots him in the head in vengeance for the death of her husband and the life she has had to lead since then. Following Rose's arrest, Creedy assumes emergency leadership of the country, and Finch emerges from the subway proclaiming V's death.

Due to his LSD-induced epiphany, Finch leaves his position within "the Nose". The power struggle between the remaining leaders results in all of their deaths: Harper betrays and kills Creedy at the behest of Helen Heyer (wife of "the Eye" leader Conrad Heyer, who had outbid Creedy for Harper's loyalty), and Harper and Conrad Heyer kill each other during a fight precipitated by Heyer's discovery that his wife Helen had had an affair with Harper.

With the fate of the top government officials unknown to the public, Stone acts as leader of the police forces deployed to ensure that the riots are contained should V still be alive and make his promised public announcement. Evey appears to a crowd, dressed as V, announcing the destruction of 10 Downing Street the following day and telling the crowd they must "...choose what comes next. Lives of your own, or a return to chains", whereupon a general insurrection begins. Evey destroys 10 Downing Street by blowing up an Underground train containing V's body, in the style of an explosive Viking funeral. She abducts Stone, apparently to train him as her successor. The book ends with Finch quietly observing the chaos raging in the city and walking down an abandoned motorway whose lights have all gone out.

REVIEW

So, let’s just start this review with some honest truth. I came from a country that had several dictatorships and while democracy has been stable for most of my lifetime, countries around my country... not so much. So when I am confronted with a totalitarian government like the one in this novel, I find certain things missing.

For the most part, it is correct, but there is one thing missing. Corruption. And it is quite weird that this element is missing from the story. The only characters who abused their power to do crime, are the Fingermen, and according to Moore, that was an early mistake. Now, this lack of corruption has a reason. No one in this story is supposed to be good or evil. All of them exist in the grey zone. Perhaps that is the reason we do not see that element that most fascist governments have.

Instead, we focus a lot in morality. These characters know that what they did was not correct. And some of them change their mind when presented with new information about the ones they loved. Furthermore, the main characters that are supposed to be in the “good” side, are killers. And you side with these characters for the most part, because you understand them. You may not condone what they are doing, but you know why they are doing it.

Another thing that piqued my mind is the ending. What do you think happened to England after that ending? The people that didn’t know how to vote for so many years... is capable of living in an anarchy? It took Evey a life-threatening situation to find out she was never free in her life. How would people then wake up? I would normally not care that much about it, but in this story, anarchism is presented as the solution, and we never see the solution working. After all, if ideas are bulletproof, so would be the idea of totalitarianism.

Another interesting aspect of this story is V himself. While we never see his face or learn his name, we do know almost everything else we need to know about him. And in the end we do not need to know more. The man becomes an idea for sure, and while he is not good or bad, he seems to know exactly what to do and say in every step he takes. So I feel like his character arc is not much of an arc, is just him executing his plan, with so much precision, that he affects the freewill of other characters. In that regard, I feel like his character is very unrealistic in the context of this story. While we learn all we need to know about him, I don’t think we know how he knew how to make mustard gas and napalm. Or how he learned about literature so much, or when he became an anarchist (this may have been the reason he ended up in the camp).

Now, I watched the movie only once, and I am not thrilled to watch it again. The movie is clearly more against the patriot act, and I understand why they did that. But Evey’s arc is the one I have a problem in the adaptation. In the book, V influenced Evey, only one person, and that is why he went to the extreme of taking freedom away from her, to make her realize she is free. But in the movie, it seems like this was done for no purpose. In the end, everyone is V, how did they wake up? How do we know it isn’t just plain old mob mentality?

Because this story took so long to be finished, there are some pacing issues and the first episodes may contradict the later ones a bit. But overall, I think this is an amazing story, with an incredible amount of craft. This was more of a collaboration than other Moore stories. Lloyd being very influential in the final product. There are some small details about the art that are worth mentioning. The story used to be in Black and White, and I think it was DC that did the re-coloring. Because of that, the art looks a bit odd sometimes. Lloyd’s style was a pulpy chiaroscuro, that just doesn’t have the same effect when you add color separations.

Other than that, the art in this novel always felt hard to the eye to me. With Watchmen, you have great detail in every panel, but you can spend time in them because the art is very clear. In V, the art is more realistic, it has an euro style that fits the story very well. But for regular american readers, it may have been a bit harder to follow (It’s more of an acquired taste. Once you read a few pages, you love it).

Another detail is the roman numbers. The letter V is everywhere in this story and can be traced to door number 5, where V used to be. Well, the roman numbers are also present in all the covers.

It is easy to forget about this masterpiece. Unlike Watchmen, the publishing of this story took almost a decade, which made following it harder for fans (unless you started reading it when DC republished the original chapters). Also, unlike Watchmen, this story is very dark and really makes you think about the world you live in. Like Lloyd said in the introduction, this story is not for the people that do not want to watch the news.

I give this story a score of 10.

#alan moore #david lloyd #v for vendetta #dc comics #comics #review #1981 #1982 #1989 #vertigo comics #modern age

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smylealong · 4 years

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Year in review - 2020

2020 has been a mixed bag of an year. Where on one hand it has been a raging dumpster fire with a global pandemic, lockdowns, social distancing, online schools, politics, forest fires, Karens and the general sense of ennui that the year brought. On the other hand, the year gave us all time. Time to reflect on ourselves. Time to teach ourselves new things. Time to binge watch. And boy did the streaming platforms make full use of it. Listed below are the best things I saw in 2020. (Across languages and in no specific order.) IT IS A LONG POST. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

HINDI Thappad: Dir: Anubhav Sinha. Starring: Tapasee Pannu, Pavail Gulati, Diya Mirza, Kumud Mishra and Ratna Pathak Shah. On surface level, the premise seems frivolous. After all, it was just a slap. Just. One. Slap. Yet, with that one slap, the protagonist’s neatly organized world comes apart at the seams. From there begins Amruta’s (Tapsee Pannu) journey into exploring the micro-aggressions and tiny slights that she has turned a blind eye to, for the sake of keeping peace. The film never veers into a glorification of violence nor does it get overly preachy. It is a mirror to the patriarchal society and raises pertinent questions about the things that the society as normalized. Things that shouldn’t be normalized.

Bulbbul: Dir: Anvita Dutt. Starring: Tripti Dimri, Avinash Tiwari, Rahul Bose, Parambrata Chatterjee and Paoli Dam.

Horror does not always lie in the things that go bump at night. Sometimes, horror is what society expects of you. Horror is the consequence of not fitting into the role that has been written for you. Sometimes, it is terrifying to be a woman in a male-dominated society. That is what Bulbbul explores. Wrapped in a beautiful package, Bulbbul tells the raw story of a child-bride who is punished, harshly, inhumanly, for acting her age. If you haven’t seen it yet, drop everything and watch it. It’s on Netflix.

Lootcase: Dir: Rajesh Krishnan. Starring: Kunal Khemu, Rasika Duggal, Vijay Raaz, Gajraj Rao.

This was a charming little movie that had me in splits. A story of a simple man who chances upon a bag full of money. What follows is a hilarious tale of lies, deception and comedy of errors. Kunal Khemu proves that Bollywood does not realize just how talented he is. Vijay Raaz’s deadpan comedy and Gajraj Rao’s evil smiling desperation are a delight to behold. I’m smiling even as I am writing this. This was fun!

Raat Akeli Hai: Dir: Honey Tehran. Starring: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Radhika Apte, Ila Arun, Shweta Tripathi, Tigmanshu Dhulia.

This was India’s answer to Knives Out. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is at his finest as the honest and frustrated (in more ways than one) police officer who finds himself attracted to the mistress of the murdered man. What follows is a tale so full of twists and turns that I could not predict where it is going. When you have Siddiqui at the helm, you are almost certain to get a good film. But when he is backed by stellar performance from the able cast, that takes the film to another level altogether.

Patal Lok: Dir: Avinash Arun and Prosit Roy. Starring: Jaideep Alhawat, Niraj Kabi, Abhishek Bannerjee, Swastika Mukherjee, Gul Panang, Ishvaak Singh.

Wow. Just. Wow. This is arguably the BEST thing that I have seen all year. On the surface this is an attempted murder case. But what it actually is, is a mirror to our society. It is a human story. A story of greed, corruption, power, violence, misogyny, depravity and true evil. It is a story of love, hope, support, kindness and humanity. It is a story of us. My hats off to the entire cast and crew for coming up with something truly special.

ENGLISH

Haunting of Bly Manor: Created by: Mike Flannagan. Starring: Victoria Pedretti, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Amelia Eve, T’Nia Miller, Rahul Kohli.

Based on Henry Jame’s Turn of the Screw, this was a poignant tale of love, loss and pain. While it pales in comparison to its brilliant predecessor, Haunting of the Hill House, and the 1961 screen adaptation of the novel, The Innocents, Bly Manor still manages to be a worthy watch. In Mike Flannagan’s deft hands, we get to see a completely different perspective of the Haunting. I won’t say more, for spoilers, but this was definitely one of the better things I watched this year. Especially since I almost eschewed English movies/series this year. (I did watch some forgettable movies like Extraction and Mulan, but even mentioning them here feels sacrilegious.)

Korean

This year, I returned to Korean Dramas after a long time. My last Korean Drama before this year was Faith that I saw in 2014. Since Boys Over Flowers (Read Kim Bum) is my guilty pleasure watch, I decided to have it on in the background sometime in March or April this year. (Honestly, in 2020, who knows?). BOF took me to The King: Eternal Monarch. And TKEM introduced me to Woo Do Hwan who gave me some of the best times in this year. Three of his dramas feature here.

Save Me:- Dir: Kim Sung-soo. Starring: Ok Taec-yeon, Seo Yea-ji, Woo Do Hwan, Jo Sung-ha, Jo Jae-yoon.

Do you fancy a kick to your teeth? Because that is what this series is. What starts a simple story of a regular family’s struggles upon moving to a new town, quickly turns into a harrowing nightmare in which you are simply the viewer. The story delves into cults and the insidious power they hold. Through Seo Yea-ji’s brilliant performance as Im Sang-mi, we see a K drama heroine who is not a damsel in distress. She isn’t the one throwing the punches, that is done by Ok Taec-yeon and Woo Do Hwan. Still she is the one that leads the fight. If that wasn’t enough, Woo Do Hwan, plays Seok Dong-chul. Arguably one of the best male leads I have seen.

Mad Dog:- Dir: Hwang Ui-kyung Starring: Yoo Ji-tae, Woo Do Hwan, Jo Jae-joon, Ryu Hwa-young, Kim Hye-sung.

What a treat this show is! Smart protagonists pitted against equally intelligent antagonists and a taut plot that rarely sags (It does sag just a wee bit in the middle but it picks up pace very quickly). Woo Do Hwan is fantastic as the ever changing, tough to pin down, Kim Min Joon. The layers in this character! This show will keep you guessing. Every cast member is stellar and no one has a single misstep. A must watch!

My Country: Dir: Kim Jin-won Starring: Yang Se Jong, Woo Do Hwan, Kim Seol-hyun, Jang Hyuk.

This series brings a set of very complex emotions in me. Don’t get me wrong. I love the series. Its story, characterization, costumes, cinematography, acting, action scenes, OST. They are top notch. A+. But... and this is a big one, this series is also a glaring display of what happens when a writer falls in love with one of their characters. As a writer, I can say that we love all our characters. But it is very dangerous for a writer to move from simply loving the character to falling in love with the character. When that happens, the writer becomes afraid of letting that particular character make mistakes. Or glosses over their flaws. Often at the expense of the other character. Which is what happened here. The writer fell in love with Seo Hwi and Nam Seon ho paid the price. Hwi could literally assassinate people in front of Hui Jae and still be forgiven for it, while Nam Seon-ho gets demonized for trying to save Hwi by telling lies. I could go on and on about how unfair this series was to Seon-ho, but that would be a separate post altogether.

Tale of a Gumiho: Dir: Kang Shin-hyo Starring: Lee Dong Wook, Jo Bo-ah, Kim Bum.

I started this series for Kim Bum (I LOVE THE GUY). I was prepared for some cheesy, goofy fun with some good looking people. But soon, I was watching it for the story. A smart Urban Fantasy with elements of Korean Mythology, this was UF done right! This series made me do research. I am so tired of seeing the same old myths in fantasy that this came as a breath of fresh air. Intelligent protagonists who communicate well (gasp! what? That happens?). A flip-flopping anti-hero. A truly psychopathic villain and a bunch of other well-fleshed characters make for one entertaining watch. I highly recommend it.

Chinese:

K-dramas made me revive the Tumblr account that I had created sometime in 2017 and which lay dormant since then. Soon, my Tumblr feed was filled with gifs and metas of a show with pretty men. I did not pay much attention to it, till a post about Jin Ling’s Uncle made me snort. Even though I didn’t understand what it was talking about, it was still funny. Realizing that the show is on Netflix, I saw the trailer and wasn’t impressed. Then there was the length. 50 episodes! Holee-moleee. “No. I ain’t got that much time,” I said and moved on. But then, I saw a gif of a man smiling. I had never seen a smile that dazzling. There was something about that smile that made me go back and click on the first episode. And in less than ten minutes of the episode, they killed the man whose smile drew me to the show. WTF? But I had seen gifs of him. There had to be more. Then, the show began and I had no idea what was happening. I decided no smile could be worth the brain-cells I am having to expend for this. Chuck it. But people in Tumblr said, hold on. You will understand it. Episode 2, and I still wasn’t sold. I gave it till episode 5. Then, before I knew it, I finished the 50 episodes and currently reside in the rabbit hole that is The Untamed.

Dir: Zheng Weiwen and Chen Jialin Starring: Xiao Zhan, Wang Yibo, and a host of others. I can’t write the name of the entire cast, even though I want to.

PS: In case you don’t know, the man with the pretty smile is Xiao Zhan.

#2020 year in review #long post warning

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humanrightsupdates · 4 years

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Australia: Harsh Police Response During Covid-19

Police Public Order Response Teams respond to a small group of protesters who appeared at a shopping center and quickly dispersed before any arrests could be made during pop-up protests on September 20, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia.

Victoria’s police have used harsh measures during the Australian state’s Covid-19 lockdown that threaten basic rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Victoria’s parliament should reject a new attempt to broaden police powers. Victorian police have engaged in abusive practices during the pandemic that raise concerns about their commitment to upholding human rights. Premier Daniel Andrews said on September 12, 2020, that imposing curfews was about giving law enforcement “the easiest set of rules to enforce.” He asserted that the curfew would remain in place “because it was not about human rights, but rather a matter of human life.” A bill passed by Victoria’s lower house would expand the authority to detain people during the pandemic crisis. “Rights should be upheld and reinforced during a pandemic, not abandoned,” said Elaine Pearson, Australia director. “Several recent incidents raise serious concerns that Victoria’s police are taking excessive or disproportionate action against suspected lockdown violators.” Metropolitan Melbourne has been living under a strict second lockdown since the first week of August, with a daily curfew, currently from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and residents only allowed to leave their homes within a five kilometer radius for a limited time to buy food, provide care, exercise, or attend approved work that requires permits. Victoria faced a severe Covid-19 outbreak after a mismanaged hotel quarantine effort in May. The total number of Covid-19 cases in Victoria as of September 22 was 20,076, with 766 deaths. The majority of these cases resulted from the second outbreak, most of them residents of aged care homes, which led to the second lockdown. On September 2, in Ballarat, police were recorded on video as they arrested a pregnant woman on incitement charges for organizing an anti-lockdown protest on Facebook. Gatherings have been banned under regional Victoria’s Stage 3 stay-at-home orders, yet arresting, handcuffing, and taking someone to the police station solely for planning a protest is a seemingly disproportionate response. Police handcuffed the woman in front of her children and ignored her offer to delete the post. They have since asserted that their actions were proportionate. The case will return to the courts in January 2021. An Indigenous man riding his bike to work at about 5:30 a.m. on September 3 alleged that Victoria police tackled, assaulted, and racially abused him. Police say the man failed to stop when asked for a permit check. The police did not have their required body cameras turned on so there is no independent record. The man’s workplace union plans to lodge a complaint with Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) for an independent review. The police said that after an internal debrief they were satisfied with the level of force used. - Human Rights Watch

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dakarimainink · 4 years

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Chapter 2

WARNING: None

I walk down the long hallway of the rebuilt estate of the Hellsing organisation. What was once a top-secret property, has now opened their doors to the public for people to get trained in combat, weapon handling and knowledge about dark creatures.

Sir Integra Hellsing know that when she passes away, there will be no one to truly lead the Hellsing organisation, except the government. This was her way of making sure the Hellsing legacy would continue – by opening a sort of school for people to become hunters. I had taken some time to learn how to become a hunter, and apparently, only a few were selected. The criteria – have a specific set of skills one could only be born with.

A set of double doors are open, and inside are people fencing. I note one of the people watching, dressed in a burgundy red uniform with a red writhing mass as her left arm – Seras Victoria. I have read about her, the second human to have been turned by Alucard. She was only 19 years old when she was turned. She had a tragic past and a hard upbringing. Now she was head vampire and the one to train the new hunters.

I watch as two people fence with grace. It’s almost a dance, but one of them is clumsier than the other. The footwork is almost to perfection and the movement like calm waves on the ocean. The fencing ends and they pull off their masks and one of them is revealed to be Integra herself. I look in awe as her long white hair flow down her slim body and her right eye shimmer in the bright ceiling light.

“Well done, Oliver, but you need to work more on your defence.” She points out as she shifts her weight to one side. “I believe you have quite the potential.” She adds before her eyes meet mine. I keep her gaze locked with mine, letting her know I am here for her. She gives me a slight nod. She turns to Seras. “Keep them training. I will be right back.” Integra makes her way over to me, assess my presence before gesturing me to follow her.

We walk in silence down the hallway until we finally enter a room to the left.

The room is open and high ceiling. The back wall has huge fixed windows, letting in the grey light from outside. In the left corner is dark red chesterfield couches, with a dark oak coffee table placed in front decorated with a bouquet of flowers. In the right corner is a small bar filled with all kinds of liquor and crystal glasses. The walls are decorated with huge framed paintings of different historical figures. In the middle of the room is a long dark wood executive desk with a lamp, a landline phone, papers neatly stacked, pens placed in order and a silver box with cigars. Behind the desk is a dark green executive chair.

Integra makes her way to the desk, places her mask on top and sit down in the chair. I walk over to the desk and wait patiently while she reaches for her cigar box. She pulls out a thin and brown cigar, places it between her thin lips, light it up with a golden lighter and inhales deeply. She breathes out the light grey smoke while taking in my form.

I feel her eyes etch into my skin, making me want to spit out words at her, but I know she is a respectable woman with high standards. It took me three years to get this interview and I am not planning on screwing this up.

The silence linger between us uncomfortably as she takes another drag from the cigar. The smoke makes me want to cough, but I supress it. She turns the chair a little, leans back and crosses her legs as she lets the cigar rest between her lips. Her eyelids are heavy, not from lack of sleep, but from the fact that she knows she can somewhat relax in this room.

“You’re from the London History Chronicle.” She says as she finally drags her eyes away from me. She looks absentmindedly at one of the paintings hanging on the wall. “You’ve been nagging me for the past three years for this interview. Why?” She adds and continues to look at the painting.

Nagging her? I mean, yes I have tried desperately to get this interview, but nagging you is a bit too far. And I have never been in direct contact with you, but rather your new housekeeper; Stella Cherrier.

I scan the side of her face. A brown patch covering her left eye from a gunshot wound that made her go blind on that eye. I can see a thin line of a scar peeking from below her patch. It must have been one hell of a shot, yet I have a feeling she didn’t even flinch. That’s the kind of woman Integra is, hard, unfaced, strong, relentless, cold and deadly. I know she could stare death in the eye and still not bat an eye.

“I have been studying and reading about what happened in London 31 years ago.” I begin to explain. “I even wrote I master thesis on the events. I want to ask y…”

“It was nothing more than just an exchange of bullets.” She cuts in, still not looking at me.

I bite my tongue. So she is one of them. “Just an exchange of bullets? I am sure the bill for rebuilding the whole of London would disagree with you, Sir Hellsing.” I lean my weight on one leg as I cross my arms. It makes her turn her head towards me. She looks at my posturing, she seems to dislike it. “I am also sure the three million people who died that night would also disagree with you.”

She narrows her eyes at me, before a smirk grows on her lips. She shifts in her seat, leans forward on her desk with her fingers intertwined. “I like you, what is your name?”

My eyes widen at her remark. She likes me? I felt rather cocky spitting those facts out, showing off my knowledge. I just spat at her and she likes me? I let my arms hang down to my sides and I straighten up. “I am Alessa.” I introduce myself.

She leans bank in her chair and take another deep drag from her cigar. “How much do you know of what happened 31 years ago?”

I scan her face. Is this a test or an actual question? Besides, I thought it was I who were going to ask the questions. “I know everything that is available in writing plus the rumours and fairy tales.” I begin to explain.

“And how do you know the distinction between what is true and not?”

“I go with my gut, my knowledge and what seems reasonable. I hardly believe there were actual angels during the battle, but rather the image of angels because of Iscariot the papal knights joined the battle on their helicopters. I also heard dragons interfered in all of this too, but I mean…” I glance at her grin as I speak. “Vampires and werewolves, that’s okay, but dragons? That’s a bit too far.”

“You would be surprised.”

I let out a gasp at her remark. My eyebrows shoot up as I stare at her questioning.

“But you are correct, no dragons exists. At least to our knowledge. Now you seem like a person who has a great deal of knowledge about what happened and more than enough information to write an article, so why are you here?” She places her cigar in the ashtray and leans forward on her elbows.

“I am here because I want to hear from someone who saw it all. Who was in the middle of it. Yes, there are some corrupted videos available, but you are the only human, as far as I am aware of, who saw and experienced everything.” I explain. She raises an eyebrow at me and I once again cross my arms in front of me. “And who is still alive.” I add.

She smirks at me. “Well then, Alessa. Please go ahead with your interview.”

I pull my backpack off, pull out my notes and my phone to record the interview. “I hope you don’t mind.” I show her my phone and she shakes her head. I start the recorder on my phone, places it on the desk and look at my notes.

I clear my throat. “When the vampire attacks leading up to the reveal of the Millennium, did you ever think it would be linked to something greater than just some random vampire attacks?”

“I had my suspicions, but vampire attacks are not that uncommon, we are just good at hiding it and cleaning up before anyone else sticks their noses in it. We know that humans are not strong enough or equipped with knowledge about vampires that they can fend for themselves, which is why we stepped up from the start. Wasting human lives and sacrificing them as ghouls is a fait I wouldn’t send upon anyone.” Her eyes fall to my phone and there is a twitch at the corner of her right eye. “The police has no knowledge or equipment to fight off vampires or ghouls for that matter. Which is why it is crucial Hellsing is the first to know about these kinds of attacks.”

“It this why you have opened up to the public to train new people?”

She looks up at me. “Yes. I have realised that family run businesses is a thing of the past. When I pass away, the government will take over. I know Seras will do a fine job leading everyone, but I don’t know what will happen to Alucard, as there are no heir to the Hellsing family.”

“What do you think will happen to him?” I am intrigued to know what she thinks. Her head must be filled with the most wonderful things imaginable, both dark and light.

“Who knows. Alucard is the most powerful being to ever exist and without a master, he might go rogue, find a new purpose, find a master within the government or clench his thirst for whatever is going on inside his mind.” She sighs out. “All I know is that the government will take over the Hellsing organisation and it is my duty to make sure the standard of our hunters are the best.”

I nod in agreement. I wonder how England would be without the Hellsing to protect us. Who knows how many creatures they’ve kept at bay by just existing.

“I read that you gave the command to Alucard to release all his powers, did you know what it entailed? From what I read about it; every soul he has ever consumed was released from his coffin and fought alongside him. It was described as a sea of dead souls.”

Integra lets out a chuckle and it somewhat takes me by surprise. “I knew what it entailed, but I had never seen it before. It was quite the sight. To see his raw power unleashed upon this world was almost frightening.”

I raise my eyebrows. Integra, scared? Sounds impossible based on everything I had read about her. She was calculated, strong and fearless. If she was somewhat frightened, who knows what everyone else felt.

“I remember as soon as my command slipped my lips, everyone, from all sides, attacked him. The Nazis and the Iscariot. They could feel the annihilation was about to wash over all of them. Their lives snuffed in a flash.”

“What did it make you feel to know you commanded such powers?”

She leans back in her chair and locks gaze with me. I notice she is chewing her inner cheek. “Responsible.” Is the only word slipping out of her.

My jaw lowers slightly as I am stunned not to hear the word powerful come out of her.

“I feel responsible for every innocent life lost during that night. This war begun because Alucard exists. I believe that if it happens once, it can happen again.” Her eye lower and I sense a hint of sadness. “And I don’t know which state Alucard is in now, considering what happened 31 years ago.”

“What?” I gasp and take a step closer to the desk. I can see she realise the last sentence was not meant for my ears. “What do you mean by state? What happened?” I ask desperately.

The stands up. “This interview is over.” She declares and press a button on her landline phone.

Within a second, a woman dressed in a black dress with a white apron – the housekeeper – enters the room. “Stella, please escort Miss Alessa out of the estate.” Integra commands with a calm voice.

I sigh, letting her know I dislike her decision to just throw me out. I reach for my phone, end the recording and put everything back in my bag. “Safe travels home, Alessa.” I reluctantly follow Stella out of the massive building.

#hellsing #hellsing ultimate #original character #original female character #writing #ao3 #anime / manga #integra hellsing #seras victoria #alucard

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antoine-roquentin · 5 years

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On a Wednesday afternoon in late March, dozens of striking metalworkers gathered outside the gates of a steel factory three miles south of the Texas border. “Get out corrupt unions!” a banner read. The event was broadcast on Facebook Live, receiving over 10,000 views within hours. Messages of support streamed in from across Mexico, and the Mexican diaspora as far away as Texas, Florida, France, and Dubai. It was a calm day—workers grilled chicken thighs and sausages over charcoal in the shade of palm trees; a reporter asked for interviews. Four days later, on March 31, state police in riot gear would show up outside the plant, beating workers and tearing apart their encampment. The metal workers, who earn roughly $2 an hour, had been on strike over their wages for 55 days without pay.

The strike is part of an ongoing struggle between workers and U.S. manufacturing suppliers in Matamoros, a Mexican border city of half a million, known to many in the U.S. only as a migrant checkpoint. Since January 12, around 50,000 workers have gone on strike in Matamoros—including those employed by or supplying to Walmart, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Ford, Telsa, and Auto Zone. Another 15,000 non-union workers have staged illegal work stoppages. It’s the largest strike the city has seen in 30 years in a country with a long history of endemic, and at times violent, worker suppression. The so-called maquiladora industry workers in Matamoros, some of them deported migrants from the U.S., have demanded a 20 percent raise and a onetime bonus of 32,000 pesos ($1,655), calling themselves the “20/32 movement.” In recent weeks, 90 out of 95 factories in Matamoros have conceded to workers, leading labor analysts to predict, at long last, an upheaval of traditional labor relations in Mexico—what has been called “a labor spring.”

For decades, pro-government unions in Mexico have suppressed workers’ collective bargaining rights by colluding with factories to keep wages low—enticing U.S. industrialists to move their manufacturing operations south of the border. But now, the country has its first leftist, labor-friendly president in modern Mexican history. And the United States has offered another stimulus to union activity: Amidst the new protections for the pharmaceutical industry, provisions that require more car parts to be made in the United States, and the tightening of intellectual property laws, the Trump administration’s overhaul of the North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) in 2018 also included provisions that require Mexico to recognize independent unions, hold democratic union elections for contracts and leadership, and establish independent labor courts. “It’s been 30 years of union suppression. Thirty years without real raises for workers,” said Alfonso Bouzas, a labor expert at the Universidad Nacional Autónomo de México in Mexico City. “Now we’re going to have more and more labor movements in Mexico.”

The trigger for the strikes, odd though it may sound, was a wage increase. On January 1, Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador doubled the minimum wage on the U.S.-Mexico border to $9.20 a day (the rest of Mexico received a 16 percent increase to $5.30 a day). Most manufacturing workers in Matamoros already earned this amount. They soon became aware of a provision in their union contracts—unique to Matamoros—that requires companies to match federal minimum wage increases.

Two weeks later, “wildcat” strikes, i.e. those not authorized by union leadership, broke out in 45 maquiladoras across Matamoros—mostly auto-parts manufacturers, including Adient, which claims to make one in every three automotive seats in the world. Soon, workers at grocery stores like Sam’s Club, Walmart, and even the city’s main milk distributor, Leche Vaquita, went on strike. Within 10 days, Matamoros’s maquiladora association estimates that companies lost $100 million. Employers across the city threatened to call in federal forces, shut down operations, and leave the city. This week, the Tamaulipas state police were called in to break up encampments at steelworks factories, and a human resources manager at a Coca-Cola bottling plant ordered non-union employees to attack striking workers, including a pregnant woman. But only two plants have shuttered to date, and the federal police have not been deployed.

The movement has also travelled over social media to the industrial cities of Reynosa, Agua Prieta and Ciudad Victoria in northern Mexico, where workers have staged their own wildcat strikes. “We consider this a battle definitively won by the workers,” said Susana Prieto Terrazas, a labor lawyer who lives in El Paso, Texas and the unofficial leader of the 20/32 movement, who has amassed over 80,000 followers on Facebook. In recent weeks, she’s received phone calls from workers in the border cities of Reynosa, Tijuana, and Ciudad Juárez, asking her to replicate her movement in their cities.

Over the past several decades, vast swaths of manufacturing areas in the United States have suffered the loss of unionized jobs to Mexico, where labor is one-tenth of the cost. Less discussed is that those jobs, once outsourced, do not support a middle-class lifestyle for Mexican workers, either. In 1992, before the passage of NAFTA, maquiladora workers earned the equivalent of nearly $19.50 a day. Today, they earn just half of that. Many peddle goods, like used clothing, sweet bread, or tamales to survive, as the price of basic goods in the Mexican borderlands is much higher than the rest of the country, sometimes even surpassing those in U.S. border cities: A pound of Serrano chilies in Matamoros costs $2.84, over half the daily minimum wage before the recent increase. A maquiladora worker I met in 2017 who worked for the German electronics company Bosch in Ciudad Juárez, another border city, told me it took him a month to save up enough money to take his family to the movie theater.

But the revamping of the free trade agreement between the United States and Mexico, at the urging of Donald Trump, could reverse some of the post-NAFTA trends, if its terms can be enforced. In part, that’s because Trump is more protectionist than prior Republican presidents. Trump’s U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, one of his more progressive appointees who grew up in a depressed blue-collar town in Ohio, fought tooth and nail for the new deal to include increased labor protections for workers both in Mexico and the United States, much to the ire of other Republican legislators. These provisions also helped induce Democrats and their union allies to back the NAFTA revision, known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Such protections tend to appeal to U.S. unions for two reasons, somewhat in tension with one another: First, they would improve labor protections for Mexican workers. Second, the increased cost of labor in Mexico might keep manufacturing jobs from fleeing to Mexico in the first place, an outcome that would satisfy both unions and Trump. “Our unions have pointed out problems in Mexican labor law for many years,” said Finnegan, the global worker’s rights coordinator at the AFL-CIO. In theory, the new deal addresses some of those. “The big question remains enforcement. We have lots of doubts.” On Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi said that the House will not pass the USMCA unless Mexico implements labor reforms first. “We have to see that [Mexico passes] the legislation, that they have the factors in place that will make sure it’s implemented and they demonstrate some commitments in sincerity, because it’s a big issue how workers are treated in Mexico,” she said.

In recent years, under international pressure, the Mexican government has shown some willingness to enact reforms. The killed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) required Mexico do away with corrupt labor courts and give workers a vote in union elections. Last year, Mexican government ratified constitutional reforms, including Convention 98, of the International Labor Organization, to guarantee free and independent unions. These reforms now sit before the Mexican Congress, and are expected to pass in April.

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princeescaluswords · 5 years

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12 for salty ask.

Question #12 is “ Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?”

My initial response was going to be the “Mason is the Beast” arc in Season 5B of Teen Wolf, because I love the idea that intelligence, compassion, and morality are powerful and the Doctors sought to corrupt that power to their own ends, but then I remember that the writing staff decided that Mason was “too good” to suffer any long term effects from the Doctors’ experiment, and I dumped it in the trash. The idea that either good people don’t suffer long-term effects from trauma or if you suffer long-term effects from trauma means you aren’t good is ... repugnant to me.

So I’m going to have to go with the Dark Allison arc from the end of Season 2. It was so well done, so well grounded in what was happening in the show, that I enjoyed it immensely.

Too many people think that it’s just about Victoria, or it’s suddenly all about Allison being prejudiced against werewolves. Victoria is certainly important to it, as is Gerard’s manipulation, but it’s not just about that. It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back.

We are introduced to Allison as a beautiful, vivacious girl who makes friends easily and falls in love with our hero. If you can only express empathy for attractive white men, that is where your engagement with Allison ends. You will no doubt think of her dark arc as her just being a -- and I’ve seen this so much -- ‘bitch.’

When we get to know Allison, we get that she has issues with what she sees as her own incompetence. She hates for people to think she was held back a year for educational malfeasance or moral failing. She goes through hobbies and discards them because she’s not good enough. And above all, she doesn’t like feeling helpless or terrified.

Now, putting aside the empathy for good-looking men (and one woman) that make up the population of Beacon Hills’ werewolf pack for the eight-to-twelve weeks of 2011 that comprise Seasons 1 and 2 of Teen Wolf. Think about what she’s seen werewolves do and what they’ve been responsible for.

- the unconsented-to transformation of a boy she’s come to care about and his repeated physical and mental violation (Scott)

- the mauling and mental violation of the closest friend she’s made in Beacon Hills (Lydia)

- the death of four conspirators to the Hale fire. While not innocent, all of them were attacked from behind by a creature that was power incarnate, and one of them was burned alive (Myers, Riddick, Unger, and the video story clerk)

- the death of two innocent people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time (Nurse Jennifer and the janitor)

- the death of her beloved aunt, which while justified, was done right in front of her face (Kate)

- Peter’s insistence that he was going to kill Allison as well, even though she was 11 years old at the time of the Hale fire

- the consented-to transformation of a boy she’s considered a friend, only for that transformation to go horribly wrong and hand him over to a narcissist stalker (Matt) so he could be an enslaved killing machinel (Jackson)

- the death of Coach Lahey

- the death of five members of the 2006 swim team for the heinous crime of being stupid kids, including one agonizing, spectacular death

- the death of four police officers

- the sheer amount of lies that she has told and been told, the nearly-ruined friendships, the family stress

- a brave girl suffering from an illness gets exploited and transformed into a bully and a would-be killer, who hurts one of her friends (Stiles), who attacks her and the boy she loves, who tries to kill her friend and her best friend, and talks about fun it would be to take Allison’s boyfriend away from her (Erica)

- an abuse victim gets exploited and transformed into a bully and a would-be killer, who hurts one of her friends (Stiles), who attacks the boy she loves, who tries to kill her friend and her best friend, and gloats about killing her best friend because Lydia turned him down for a date (Isaac)

- a lonely teenager gets exploited and transformed into a bully and a would-be killer who attacks the boy she loves (Boyd)

- her mother dies. She may not know all the details, but it’s still her mother.

These things were caused by the actions of werewolves in a little under three months. She’s losing her boyfriend; she’s losing her friends; she’s losing her family. She’s terrified. She’s overwhelmed. She’s powerless.

But Grandpa isn’t terrified. He isn’t overwhelmed. In the face of a setback, he coolly alters his strategy. The wolves are scared of him. It’s a dark arc, all right, but they hit all the right notes and set up all the right situations to make Allison’s fall into darkness a choice between power and weakness, between able to do something and being a victim. It was magnificent.

Of course, if you’ve dismissed Allison as some boring dolt’s love interest, then you weren’t even paying attention to what’s going on in her head. The scenes between her and her family gets in the way of Derek’s brooding time. You might miss the fact that Allison and Stiles both feel they’re passengers and witnesses to terrible things happening to ones they love.

It’s one of my favorite stories in Teen Wolf.

#teen wolf meta #allison argent #mason hewitt #teen wolf fandom problems

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the50-person · 5 years

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HONG KONG UPDATE 2 NOV 2019

1423: Causeway Bay. Ppl gathering for march from Victoria Park to Central at 1500. 3 police cruisers and 5 vans two blocks away on Hennessy Rd.

1430: Causeway Bay. Heavy police presence.

1451: Causeway Bay. Tens of thousands streaming down to Victoria Park where tens of thousands more are already inside.

1451: Unknown. Man yells "corrupt cops", pepper-sprayed and arrested. In no way what he has done is illegal nor worthy of arrest.

1459: Victoria Park. Park alr on brink of chaos. 1 man arrested cos he shouted "Triad!" at the police. Note that this is not unlawful/illegal. Blue flag. Police order ppl to remove masks.

1507: Causeway Bay. Pro-dem legislators holding a street booth.

1511: Victoria Park. Riot police pronounce mask ban and police commissioner's objection on the Victoria Park rally. Ppl continue flowing into park, many with masks.

1515: Causeway Bay. Lawyer in expensive car playing Glory to HK out loud, car stopped and surrounded by police. Man hauled out of car, police shouted "he assaulted an officer!" And brutally subdued and arrested him.

1519: Victoria Park. 128 pro-dem District Council candidates holding election rallies of less than 50 ppl each to circumvent public order laws.

1522: Victoria Park. Ppl begin marching out of the park. The plan was to hold a rally that would turn into a march as they overflow and leave.

1530: Victoria Park. District Council candidates call on attendees to head to authorised rallies in Central and Tsim Sha Tsui at 5pm.

1539: Police yell, "Don't do smth that insults yourself!"

1540: Causeway Bay. Police and citizens have occupied diff sections of Hennessy Rd.

1552: Causeway Bay. Black flag at Great George St. Shops and malls close. A group of citizens gathered under Gooseneck Bridge.

1554: CWB. Tear gas begins.

1558: CWB. Tear gas on junction btwn Canal Rd and Hennessy Rd. The group under Gooseneck Bridge has dispersed.

1558: Victoria Park. Police block and St George St and force citizens in park. No citizen was blocking roads or taking aggressive actions. Black flag. Hundreds of thousands on lawn, tens of thousands on the football pitches. Citizens build barricades. Tens of thousands in CWB on Sogo.

1600: Citizens peaceful despite police use of force.

1602: Victoria Park. Goalposts and spectator stands being used to build barricades. Police also on road to the south near cantral library. Roadblocks set up by citizens at entrance of park.

1603: Vic Park. Police shoot multiple rounds of tear gas from 2 directions and move into the football pitches. Citizens there try to join those on lawn but can't as there are so many they can't move fast. Police continue firing tear gas into crowds even though crowds are unable to disperse.

1607: CWB. Another round of tear gas.

1608: Vic Park. Police enter park, exchange insults with pro-dem district council candidates that are still inside. Imagine fully geared up riot police rushing into election rallies and threatening opposition candidates, then filling up the venue with tear gas.

1613: CWB. Tear gas on Causeway Rd next to Vic Park, now moving eastward on road. Water cannon on road. One tree on fire from tear gas round. Frontlines of citizens reach end of Johnston Rd in Wan Chai. Police line is 100m away, outside police HQ with blue flag. Citizens pause. Some are helping street stall owners to pack and get out.

1620: CWB. Prominent social worker surnamed Chan tackled to ground by riot police and detained. Chan has been taken into a police van. Entire Sogo area now cleared and filled with riot police. Water cannon heads west.

1621: CWB. Tear gas on Hennessy Rd, Causeway Bay Rd, Victoria Park.

1623: Vic Park. Tens of thousands of citizens trying to leave the park and heading to North Point. Note that the Park was peaceful until police attacked.

1624: Police order pro-dem candidates to get out of their way, while candidates shout back "I have right to campaign!"

1625: Vic Park. Richard Chan, District Council candidate for Tai Po, calls on other candidates through loudspeaker to not tussle with police and move away back into park. Police attack him and suppress him with great force to ground. Richard foams at mouth, is later handcuffed and taken away by the police.

1626: CWB. Police arrest first aiders and social workers on unknown charges like during other protests.

1623: Tsim Sha Tsui. Police emerge from MTR stn and walk north along Nathan Rd. BUT police authorised a protest on Park Lane.

1627: CWB. Street is largely empty. Water cannon and armoured vehicle on road, warning issued over use of irritant.

1630: Tsim Sha Tsui. Trees outside police stn have been cut down to reduce coverage for citizens.

1633: CWB. Tens of thousands of citizens move rapidly west on Kings Rd/ Causeway Rd in direction of CWB from North Point.

1635: Wanchai. A barber from a barbershop on Swatow St arrested while having his smoke break. Manager comes up and voice displeasure, shows proof of barber's employment. Police reply "I saw him walk, 'Working here does not mean that he isn't a cockroach'. (Note: Police call citizens "cockroaches" to dehumanise them, exactly the same as Rwandan genocide.)

1639: Wanchai. Ordinary citizens who weren't protesting were hit with tear gas. Protesting citizens help them to wash eyes.

1640: CWB. Citizens trek west on Causeway Rd at central library. Crowd spread all over.

1640: Vic Park. Police arrest and attack multiple pro-dem District Council candidates holding election rallies in park.

1643: Vic Park. District Council candidate Cheng (he was beaten up by police in 2014) is pepper-sprayed and arrested on charges of unlawful assembly. BUT under election laws, his election rally is legal. Police becoming the law themselves.

Why go bother disqualifying election candidates when you can just lock them up?

1645: Vic Park. Police firing multiple rounds into Victoria Park. The park is surrounded by hedges and fences, so police are effectively doing potentially lethal kettling action (refer to the infamous Sha Tin kettling incident). Tear gas on Queen's Rd East as some citizens head east.

1646: Central. Large number of banners in Edinburgh Place for authorised rally slated to begin at 5pm.

1650: CWB. Water cannon deployed.

1653: Kowloon. Hundreds gather to pray and sing protest songs. Half of crowd in masks. Rally is authorised.

1700: CWB. Water cannon truck and dozens of police vans come rushing down Hennessy Rd, but there are so many citizens that they had to escape via side streets. Police try to scatter and pick them off. Crowd is trying to get to Central where there are 2 lawful assemblies at 1700.

1700: Tsim Sha Tsui. Dozens of riot police standing by at Park Lane singing protest despite their superiors having authorised the event. Large crowds at Edinburgh Place.

1701: Vic Park. 3 District Council candidates arrested.

1702: Wanchai. Molotov cocktail thrown onto Queen's Rd East as citizens leave area because police have arrived.

1704: CWB. 1 woman arrested by police charging into Jardine's Crescent after water cannon was deployed once on Hennessy Rd/Lee Garden Road where there was no remarkable presence of protesting citizens. Pepper spray was pointed at reporters and angry shouting hurled at onlookers asking for name of arrestee.

1700-1710: Wanchai. Police rush out of a side street to pursue citizens, firing tear gas and pepper spray. Dozens of arrests made in the area.

1715: Tsim Sha Tsui. Riot police retreat after intervening in a peaceful, authorised demonstration in Tsim Sha Tsui. Hundred were in silent prayer when officers arrived demanding ppl remove facemasks.

1716: Central. Police invoke HK's strict colonial public order laws and banned the Central protests – which they had earlier authorised – and given participants until 1730 to vacate.

1719: Central. Police order rallies at both Edinburgh Place and Charter Garden to end, even though both have been approved by police and have letter of no objection. Ban is extremely last minute, police clearance begins in less than 15 mins.

Unknown: Wanchai. Riot police charge into Southorn Playground, randomly tackle a young girl to the ground. A few dozen citizens are also charged upon and detained behind the gates for no reason.

1721: Wanchai. Police at Southorn Playground, put a large crowd of young people into a file outside the playground toilets. Citizens are trapped and are sitting ducks as police arrest them. Police block media from filming. A young woman seen crawling on the floor as about a dozen are seen getting searched.

1725: Wanchai. Police at Southorn Playground subdue at least 50 citizens and threaten them with pepper spray and pointing of rubber bullet guns. Police force citizens to kneel and raise hands at the same time. No one is allowed to leave.

1726: Wanchai. A young woman taken away by police in the MTR stn.

1727: Wanchai. Large amounts of tear gas. Citizens open umbrellas and wave flags, not budgin an inch.

1729: Tsim Sha Tsui. Participants have returned to singing protest songs as shops close around Nathan Rd.

1729: Wanchai. Citizens sprint through the district.

1731: CWB. Multiple rounds of tear gas at intersection btwn Tonnochy Rd and Hennessy Rd after some citizens threw objects at them.

1732: Tsim Sha Tsui. Protest applicant Ms Wong tells HKFP off-camera that police were earlier reacting to black-shirted demonstrators who appeared futher south on Nathan Rd. Her rally has been allowed to continue.

1734: Tsim Sha Tsui. Tensions escalate again after a young woman is accused of taking photos of the scene suspiciously. It is a common occurrence by pro-Beijing supporters who then submit faces to the CCP and puts the lives and livelihoods of protesting citizens at risk, hence ppl get really paranoid about it. Marshals attempt to calm the situation. Woman tries to leave, then collapses shortly after. First aiders carry her out and she is taken away by an ambulance as riot police arrive on the scene. I will not comment on whether she is really a spy or not, but fainting is an often used tactic by pro-Beijing supporters to get out of the crowd and also give the police a legit excuse to do stuff to the group of protesting citizens (e.g. arrest, attack, ban rally), and there has been very solid evidence of them doing that multiple times. Also, usually everyone knows the importance of not taking photos (unless you're press) and the risks of showing their face, so no one will take out their camera/phone to shoot ppl. Well, I leave it to you to decide if she's maligned or not.

1736: Tsim Sha Tsui, Central. Rallies at Edinburgh Place and Chater Garden are both cancelled by organisers on police request. There, I said it. Rally at Edinburgh Place is banned within several minutes of its official beginning. A peaceful paper-crane folding event that has been "allowed" on a very rare occasion is suddenly banned by police with 30 mins for ppl to leave. No wonder protests are getting "more violent" (in the words of the government) - because peaceful events are repeatedly banned.

Unknown. CWB. Chemist tests emission of tear gas after it is fired at Sogo. 50ppm Hydrogen Cyanide detected, 5 times of OSHA.

1741: Wanchai. Lawmaker Ted Hui and a crowd on Johnston Rd urge police to release citizens arrested and detained at the east side of Southorn Playground. Police raise black flag.

1752: Wanchai. Police threw at least 3 tear gas cans into crowds outside Southorn Playground at close proximity. 2 were thrown at a small group of ppl already retreating. A police officer shot a cannister directly vertical into the air and one lands on the roof a residential building. The velocity must be very strong since it took around 5-8 seconds before it hit the ground. Reporter says that helmets are important.

1754: CWB. Multiple rounds of tear gas on Queen's Rd East. Lots of bystanders, shop owners and pedestrians unexpectedly hit by fumes but surprisingly (or not), most are carrying masks in their bag.

1758: Central. Roadblocks set up by citizens to slow advance of police.

1800: Central. Tear gas. Police also smoked the area around Southorn Playground. Citizens responded with petrol bombs.

1800: CWB. Someone apparently used an electric drill to drill anchor bolts to bolt roller shutter of CWB MTR stn to the ground, to prevent police from rushing out suddenly to attack and arrest citizens, which has happened many times before.

1806: CWB. Police suddenly charge and subdue 2 citizens.

1806: Tsim Sha Tsui. Peaceful singing rally with phonelights. No police around.

1813: Wanchai. Flat fire of tear gas on Johnston Rd after a citizen told them NOT to fire tear gas horizontally and was shouted at by the police.

1815: CWB. 4 arrested on Hennessy Rd after police's surprise appearance.

1818: CWB. Citizens lobbed petrol bombs and bricks in direction of police after the arrests. Police fired tear gas in return.

1819: Photos show that Xinhua News Agency HQ at Hong Kong has been trashed.

1841: Sheung Wan. Police pushing west into Sheung Wan, firing tear gas as they go.

1845: CWB. Near Times Square. A first aider was hit by police tear gas canister and his back was severely burnt, with his left back concaved. Wound has turned black very quickly. Large burnt area, unconscious. China-made tear gas canisters burn at even higher temperatures, witnesses say that his back lit up with fire when he was hit.

1845: CWB. Police arrest 2 as they attempt to clear Percival St.

1900: CUHK confirms arrest of 2 medical students.

Unknown: Wanchai. Around 40 ppl escorted onto first coach.

1900: Wanchai. 30-40 arrestees escorted onto a coach outside Southorn Playground. This is already the 2nd coach. A witness said the first coach also had some 40 ppl.

1906: Wanchai. 3rd coach picks up female arrestees.

At least 4 coaches. Estimated arrests: ~200 at least

1907: Sheung Wan. Riot police march up to Queens Rd Central.

1912: Wanchai. More tear gas along Johnston Rd. First aiders treating passersby and diners. Police fire really far down the road, where it is impossible for civilians to realise the black flag has been raised.

1913: Sheung Wan. More tear gas as police loop back around from Sheung Wan. Fired in front of Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Rd.

1926: Wanchai. Police just teargassed themselves by accident in front of Southorn Playground. Crowd around them are amused.

1950: Unknown. Police suddenly drag a man in white shirt who just walked out from MTR stn, pushed and kicked him and sprayed another woman in blue shirt with no reason. They are literally just commuters who just exited from the train station.

2010: CWB. Raptors charge down Hennessy Rd and fire tear gas, most citizens have scattered, no arrest made.

2013: Tsim Sha Tsui. Police suddenly charge out of police stn, taking down citizens who refuse to stand down on Nathan Rd.

2024: CWB. Multiple rounds of tear gas on Hennessy Rd. Police were surrounding citizens from both ends of the road, one from CWB, the other forming a line with vehicles near Canal Rd.

2024: Osman Cheng, District Council candidate, provides update. He is photographed on hospital mobile bed.

2025: CWB. More tear gas as earlier attempts to disperse citizens have failed

2026: Jordan. 4 arrestees loaded onto police van at Tak Hing street. Citizens chant "black cops" and "go away" as police retreat southwards. Police have swept northwards on Nathan Rd, clearing citizens after an approved rally in Tsim Sha Tsui.

2027: CWB. A member of the Protect the Kids group hit by tear gas bullet on leg.

2030: CWB. Police officers dressed as protesting citizens switch from one van to another in full view of reporters.

2032: Sheung Wan. Still a large police presence, but no press around. They were chasing someone a moment ago but lost them.

2034: CWB. Tear gas rounds fired directly at reporters walking towards Sogo.

2048: CWB. A black-clad couple in masks attempt to flee as police reopen a cordon. They are chased by police who apprehend them and push reporters back, amid angry chants from onlookers. As onlookers chant "black cops", police raise black flag.

2112: Tsim Sha Tsui. Riot police clearing Nathan Rd again as onlookers heckle.

2123: Tsim Sha Tsui. Police warn usage of force but roads remain clear of citizens. Police face no resistance as they move north.

Unknown: Unknown. Fireman complained about unnecessary firing of tear gas that landed on the fire engine. Fireman was affected by gas as well. Police push and manhandle him, they are rude to him. Police also pepperspray the reporter filming the incident.

2155: Wan Chai. Police force arrestee to kneel on Wan Chai Rd and kept shouting loudly every time to make the man inaudible every time he tried to share his name so that others may call a lawyer for him. Police also insulted a female onlooker by calling her a "fat c*nt".

2317: Unknown. Police twice threaten to fire tear gas after someone pointed a laser beam.

2320: Mongkok. Police left, citizens return and occupy junction btwn Nathan Rd and Argyle St.

2359: Mongkok. Tear gas. Area only has some cars and the media...

3 Nov 2019 0000: Mong Kok. Police pepper spray a woman. Direct shot to face of a person posing no threat and taking no aggressive action.

0130: Mongkok. Police still firing tear gas. As of this point, HK police have been attacking hundreds of thousands of HK citizens across HK Island and Kowloon for over 10 hours.

0153: Mongkok. Citizens defiantly remain despite multiple attempts to disperse them. Police nowhere to be seen. Celebratory mood on street with bonfire at intersection, a flag bearing the protest slogan and a laser light show.

Earlier on 2 Nov 2019: A crowd of citizens besieged by police at Kennedy Town. Police raise blue flag so citizens cannot proceed forwards, but behind them, another group of police chased them in a pincer attack. Citizens indicate that they have no path to leave but police ignored them and fired tear gas at them while they are stuck in a narrow and enclosed area. Citizens forced to escape down the hill through a small path to the side.

#hong kong #human rights #chinese #china #news #anti-extradition #and so the world spins

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leovand · 5 years

Text

ARIZONA U is proud to introduce you to LEONARDO “LEO” VAN DOREN , the twenty-five year old, undergraduate fine arts major in his SENIOR year. most of their peers deem them as someone who is +eccentric , +intelligent & +self-sufficient but i know that some of their professors think they’re more -self-righteous, -precipitous & -self-destructive, maybe that’s why the police are still interviewing them on the reopened cold case. maybe it was because they were also A BAD INFLUENCE for NATALIA LINDERMAN. i mean that is just a little suspicious, but i only really think of scuffed black combat boots, a car that always smells like weed, and meaningless tattoos when i hear their name, not murder. but i could be wrong. — MAXENCE DANET-FAUVEL.

boo bitch i’m gin, bout to head out to work but tbh i’ll be around to chat n plot bc whew it’s boring there !!!! anyway down below you’ll find a terrible bio + some wcs so come hmu and we’ll plot some angst or give this a like and i’ll slide in ur dms woo ah

also a tl;dr is right before the wcs and above that is a brief description of his connection to natalia

trigger warnings for drug use/abuse, addiction, and infidelity

background info

leo was born in london to two very wealthy parents, richard and cynthia van doren. richard was something of an inattentive father (particularly when it came to leo) and from early on beginning to distance himself from the family, and while cynthia certainly loved leo, she’d always wanted a daughter, which she got two years later when his little sister victoria ( @toriivd ) was born. thus, it was from an extremely young age that leo began to feel like something of a black sheep in the family. richard was, unbeknownst to any of them, already having an affair with a woman in america whom he’d met on several business trips to arizona. all they knew was that he hardly seemed invested in their family anymore, let alone to take an interest in their lives. of course, victoria was a daddy’s girl, and though she often pretended not to see this happening leo knew perfectly well she was lying deliberately to herself. it was something he only pulled out when they fought bitterly, and they both knew it was a low blow when he did.

this was especially apparent in high school, when leo’s acting out turned to drug use, skipping school, and even trouble with the police a few times. richard was almost never there either to lend fatherly support or to discipline--the only time he was, leo got the tongue-lashing of his life as well as a slap in the face, and if he had to pick a specific event which led him to the realization that he hated his father, it would be that one.

even as things were looking rockier and rockier with their parents, leo was 12 when his mom got pregnant again. 13 when she had their baby brother, bradley. it was frankly a mess and for the first couple years leo was not at all good about helping. he resented the further attention drawn away from himself and hated his dad more than ever for his seemingly endless supply of bullshit

when he was 15, tori 13, and bradley 2, their parents finally got divorced. he and tori listened in on the final, blow-out fight from the stairs and learned that the reason their father had been taking so many business trips to the states all these years was in fact another woman, and even better, the two kids he had with her. tori had processed this in her own way, and leo had tried to be there for her, but his own self-destructive method of processing it made it difficult to do so. in other ways, however, the whole thing changed the nature of his relationship with his mother, which had always been a little distant. the fact of his father’s betrayal had the effect of inspiring within leo a fierce love and protectiveness over her, and in the rubble of their family the four of them found something much more intimate than they’d had before.

he graduated high school in spite of all this but spent the following two years doing nothing productive; it was sex drugs rock n roll and rebellion, and through it all giving a huge metaphorical middle finger to his dad, who’d officially moved to arizona to pledge his allegiance to his chosen family. leo and tori eventually came to the morally questionable agreement to tell people that their father had died in a car accident rather than explain the truth, and for leo, it was as much an act of spitting on his father’s memory as it was a tactic to avoid talking about it.

it was when tori finally graduated high school that they formulated the plan to go to university in arizona, and while they were there to try and find their father. not because leo missed him, of course--it was closure he was after, and only seeing him and his other family would allow him to find it.

a year ago now, leo went back home to england for a month and a half to check himself into rehab, but the only person he told was his mom. it was for an opioid addiction that had gotten out of hand and he did indeed manage to get clean. he’s even managed to stay clean when it comes to the opioids, but he’s started doing coke now and then and dabbling in pills. mostly though it’s just a lot a lot of weed all the time.

he’s in his senior year of his bfa and has almost no prospects, although that’s mostly due to his screwing them all up by being high and careless about it. a part of him despises the whole idea of school and the work force and having a career and is lowkey self destructing bc he can’t handle the idea of growing up and having to act like an adult

personality

so for the most part, leo is super super chill, doesn’t take anything very seriously, is cracking jokes 24/7 (his sense of humor is so so so dry), almost always high, and if no one stops him will start rambling on about literally anything in his pretentious know it all way that he genuinely doesn’t realize is so wildly pretentious

he’s a fine arts major with a focus in illustration but he also does a lot of sculpting. so he doodles a lot, probably on things he shouldn’t doodle on, and he makes money on the sculptures here and there (which he’s telling himself he can sustain for his entire life lmao)

pansexual, tends to sleep around but genuinely likes being in a relationship. he falls in love rly easily and has little crushes on random people all the time and is prone to infatuations with people who don’t feel the same way. most relationships he’s had have failed bc of his drug problem interfering and/or becoming too much for his partner at the time to deal with

for everything he’s been thru, leo actually has quite an optimistic view of the world and people in general and he just really likes human interaction and being around people. he can come off as wildly eccentric and difficult to keep up with and sometimes makes it seem like he thinks he’s better than everyone and doesn’t give a fuck what anyone thinks but on the highest of keys he cares so much what everyone thinks and will probably admit that out loud tbh ftyegudhsujka

cares about his mom, sister, and little brother more than anything in the world and feels guilty as HELL about not being there while his brother is growing up

will lose his mind if u call him leonardo

connection to natalia linderman // natalia was the good girl, and that was certainly part of leo’s motivation to corrupt her—there was something thrilling about being able to effect such change in someone held in such high esteem on campus—but that wasn’t all of it. some part of him had developed feelings, too, and it killed him that she never saw him that way. the drugs and the class-skipping to smoke weed made him feel close to her, even when she was talking about other people. he eventually began to feel guilty for what he saw as poisoning her with his way of life, and he’d been working up the nerve to tell her this until she went missing. he now lives with the fear that whatever she got mixed up in that resulted in her death could be blamed on the drugs, and more specifically, him.

tl;dr // comes from a wealthy british family whose father left when he was 15 in favor of his second family in america; weed smoker, class skipper, pretentious art boy acts like he doesn’t give a fuck but actually gives the most fucks and readily admits it; surprisingly soft but will Fight for his mom and sister; spent two months that nobody knows about in rehab last year for an opioid addiction

wanted connections/plot ideas

this will have to be discussed with me n maia but !! a boy who tori was dating six months ago (for however long before that) who seduced leo and then told him he wanted to be w him instead, and then broke up with tori when leo said no and told her he cheated on her but not with whom fytsugeuhkdij so hmu if u wanna fill that and i’ll give u more deets 👀

the two kids!!! from their dad’s second family!!!! PLEASE!!!

randomly someone he was in rehab with showing up in arizona somehow???? more likely than u think !!

a few exes from arizona + any exes from back home in london would be cute

someone with a s/o whom leo is practically in love with who does not feel the same way back p l e a s e ideally they’d be rly close friends too

stoner buds thanks

gimme some of tori’s exes/suitors for leo to fight OR even softer.....to rly like and root for

a bad influence who encourages his drug use :/

good influences!!!

whew also someone who kind of.....had an idea of what he was doing with natalia and was Big Sus about it and maybe still is !!!?????!

#auhqintro #wow a mess but im abt to go check out all the intros so look out 4 me in ur dms :')

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