#and his school has been threatening possible suspension or expulsion against the students who have been arrested

[moistvonlipwig]

everyone please send good vibes to my cousin so he doesn't get expelled a few weeks before graduating theological school for getting arrested at the columbia protests

[azucanela]

DIVINE INTERVENTION [PT.2] OIKAWA TOORU

DIVINE INTERVENTION MASTERLIST | HAIKYUU!! MASTERLIST

SUMMARY: Maybe getting into a fight with one of Oikawa’s fangirls hadn’t been the best idea. 

WORD COUNT: 2.5k

WARNINGS: violence, injuries, bruises,

A/N: do people actually plan their series ahead of time, because i kinda just write whenever my brain has an idea

Meeting Y/N L/N had been... weird for Oikawa, to put it simply.

As conceded as it may sound, Oikawa knew that he was well-liked, he knew that there were people lining up to go out with him— especially since he got confessed to nearly daily— but it wasn’t just that. Teachers had placed Oikawa on a pedestal for balancing athletics and good grades, along with simply being a ‘joy to have in class’ because he was respectful and offered his help often. Other students adored him because he was actually a rather kind person when he wanted to be; and he was well known in his school. 

He’d been singled out for as long as he could remember, that now both Oikawa and his own classmates felt as though they were simply on two different worlds.

Which is why Y/N L/N had been weird. Most of the time his natural charisma charmed almost everyone he’d met, his skill in volleyball and academic prowess were something that had also earned him respect in the school. And yet Y/N L/N simply extended her hand to him like he didn’t matter, offering her name only momentarily before retuning her attention to Iwaizumi. She’d simply treated him like just another person; and it had been a while since Oikawa felt normal.

So he began to pester her, whenever she was around—most of the time with Iwaizumi— he’d started talking to her more in their shared classes, even inviting her to his volleyball classes. 

Talking to Y/N had been like a breath of fresh air, as stupid as it sounded. He would never admit this to her, of course. Though he was fairly close to when their last year of middle school had come upon them and they were all deciding on which school they’d be attending.

Thankfully, the entire trio ended up going to Aoba Johsai. Even now, Oikawa didn’t know what he would’ve done had Iwaizumi and Y/N attended different school, though he’s happy he doesn’t know. Blissful ignorance.

Despite their years of friendship, Oikawa had never actually been annoyed by Y/N, he enjoyed her presence if he was honest. She was good company. She’d always put up with his ‘nonsense’ as Iwaizumi put it, and she’d supported him throughout his life— though she’d also threatened him for taking things to far and endangering his well-being, Oikawa had a feeling that was something he was supposed to appreciated. Yet, Oikawa had a feeling that today would be the day Y/N truly annoyed him. 

Rumors spread fast in Aoba Johsai, especially when they were about Oikawa and his love life, it had always been an issue. He hadn’t been in many relationships, much less committed ones. People tended to talk, his fans tended to act out, and after about two weeks any relationships he had were over. Which is why Oikawa was shocked to discover that he was in a relationship with his best friend, and had been for a while. And his apparent girlfriend had gotten into a fight with another girl earlier today in class. 

If Y/N was honest, she just hoped that Oikawa went with the little story she’d made up— otherwise she’d seem like an idiot who was just as obsessed with him as the girl she now sat beside in the principal’s office. And honestly, there was no real explanation for why she’d lie, not without her seeming crazy. 

Was fighting her the best idea? No, not at all. Did the girl deserve every hit? Definitely. Was Iwaizumi struggling to pull Y/N off of her? Possibly, we don’t discuss that. Now you might be wondering, why would the lovely, kind, amazing and beautiful Y/N L/N ever get into a fight? 

Well the girl started talking and wouldn’t stop. Speaking like Oikawa was an object, a trophy to be won, a game like the one he played. She spoke like she knew Oikawa personally, as though he owed her a relationship, a chance. But if Y/N was honest it was the threats that set her off.

She wasn’t sure if Iwaizumi was more shocked by the girl’s words or Y/N’s fist ramming against her face after this girl tried to smack her. 

“Oikawa doesn’t find out about this.”

That was all Y/N said when he finally pulled her off the girl, just for her to get escorted by the school’s security guards, down to the office. Though Iwaizumi wasn’t necessarily sure was she was referring to seeing as the fight had been the talk of the school now, and Oikawa was headed Iwaizumi’s way. He’d been seated outside of the office for some time now, awaiting Y/N’s inevitable return, suspension, or expulsion. 

This was going to be bad. In all their time as friends, Iwaizumi had never expected something like this to happen. If we was honest, he wasn’t even sure if the pair was or was not dating. Perhaps they’d been hiding the relationship from him or maybe this was something Y/N had simply made up on the spot, he wasn’t sure. What he did know, was that things had never been so... messy between Y/N and Oikawa. 

Now, Y/N wasn’t considering the impacts her little plan would have on the friend group at the moent, just that she didn’t play the death threat card often but now seemed as good a time as any to allow a false tear to fall down her cheek, “and then—” A sniff, “and then she threatened me and I got so scared, Principal! She said she was going to kill me.” Getting expelled was the last thing she wanted, but if this didn’t work— well, she was running out of ideas.

Now, Y/N wasn’t the best actor, but she was friends with Oikawa, and she’d definitely picked up a few things from him. Like the fact that their principal was a lot more sympathetic towards members of their sports team; and Y/N happened to manage one of the teams. And she was fairly sure that their most noteworthy players would’ve drained themselves entirely had it not been for her, so she considered herself... kind of valuable. Especially with Oikawa’s knee injury that he insisted on disregarding, Y/N had a feeling things would’ve been far worse for the boy had she not gotten involved.

Speaking of Oikawa, even as Iwaizumi warned him not to enter, the boy simply pushed the door open, a fake smile making its way onto his face as he spoke, “Principal!” He exclaimed, arms spread open, his smile only faltering as he notices the fading red mark on Y/N’s cheek, accompanied by a few bruises on her arms and several bruises on the other girl. Oikawa quickly recovers from the shock, returning his attention to the man before him, “how are you?”

The Principal offers Oikawa a tight lipped smile as he replies, “a little busy in case you haven’t noticed.” A deep breath from the man in question, “you should see yourself out—”

“You see, Principal. I just came her to collect my lovely girlfriend, I heard about this little mix-up and got worried, you know?” His eyes meet Y/N momentarily, and the look on his face tells her that she’s going to regret this once he manages to get them out of this situation— hopefully with her clean school record being maintained. “Things can get so blown out of proportion by school gossips, right?”

The Principal doesn’t seem to buy his words as he gestures to the other girl seated across from Y/N, who’s holding a tissue to her bleeding nose as she stares up at Oikawa in shock. “This young girl was very injured and—”

“She’s just fine? Isn’t that right, sweetheart?” Oikawa looks to the girl, placing a hand gently onto her shoulder as he offers a sympathetic look, and she practically swoons at the pet name he sues, eyes zeroing in on the hand placed on her shoulder. The girl is clearly in awe at the fact that the very boy she’d intended to confess to all those hours ago was now here and touching her shoulder. 

Y/N nearly rolls her eyes as the girls mumbles out, “oh my god you’re– yeah I’m fine! I really shouldn’t have disrespected Tooru’s—”

“Oikawa.” Y/N corrects quietly, first names were reserved for people close to you, and this girl just had a crush formed from basic manners and good looks, though the girl pays no mind as she continues. Y/N can’t help but feel irritated by the fact that even though she’d literally been attempting to choke Y/N earlier, she was now acting as though Oikawa was her best friend. 

“—girlfriend! I didn’t know you two were actually together, I’m so sorry but—”

Y/N can’t help but feel odd hearing those words come out of someone else’s mouth. Girlfriend. The word feels wrong in a way, and leaves her with an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. She’d never considered being Oikawa’s girlfriend, not really, she’d heard other people’s speculations but she’d never actually considered why they might think that. 

Oikawa has already moved on from this girl, turning back to the Principal as he spreads his hands wide, “see! No harm done, now I need to be getting to Volleyball practice along with our lovely manager here, if you don’t mind that is?” Y/N nearly laughed at the fact that he was pulling the, ‘I’m literally your star athlete so you better do as I say,’ card. Though she only watched as the Principal brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose with a sigh, waving them off.

“Just don’t do it again.” He grumbled out, not sparing them another glance as he grumbled something out about young love and ‘Oikawa’s stupid fans.’

Y/N practically shot up from her seat, bowing to the man in thanks, “of course sir! Thank you, and have a nice day!” Oikawa’s hand has already come to the small of her back as he guides her out of the classroom, passing Iwaizumi who simply sighs as he watches them.

“Try to be on time to practice, idiot.”

Oikawa waves back to his friend, “of course, Iwa-chan! Anything for you!”

Iwaizumi probably would’ve started cursing had he not been standing just outside the Principal’s office, opting to glare daggers into the back of the boy’s head instead. Watching as he and Y/N made their way through the halls wordlessly. 

Y/N knows Iwaizumi’s eyes are focused on Oikawa but she has a feeling that the rest of the people in the hallway are more focused on her; seeing as she was today’s scandal. For several reasons. There was the being Oikawa’s secret girlfriend— though they weren’t actually dating, and Y/N had a feeling the gossips at her school would have a field day if they found out about thaT— and the fight with that girl and the— well, we don’t discuss that last bit. 

She doesn’t have a plan, Y/N was now wishing she’d just accepted the possibility of suspension because then she could’ve put off this conversation with Oikawa, the conversation where she’d have to explain what exactly happened. And at the moment, she didn’t have an explanation to offer him. What she’d done had been impulsive, yes, she could admit that. But stupid? Well, the girl did apologize, so maybe not.

“So... how’s your day been?” 

A sarcastic laugh escapes him as he pushes open the door of an empty classroom, eyes scanning the room once more before he’s shutting the door and bringing his hands to his head. “Care to explain?”

Y/N offers him a sheepish smile as she takes a seat on top of a desk, shrugging, “shouldn’t we get to practice like you said?” Avoiding confrontation happened to be a specialty of Y/N’s, and more often than not, Oikawa respected this. But it seems today was not one of those days. 

“Shouldn’t you have stayed out of it like you said?” Came his response, eyes narrowed at her as his eyes trailed over her figure. “What happened, Y/N?” His thoughts go to the conversation they’d had not too long ago, he’d explicitly been against this idea, for a variety of reasons.

Oikawa’s racked through his mind for reasons why she would do this even after he’d explicitly asked her not to, even more so why she’d get into a fight over him. A small thought in the back of his mind nearly made its way back to him, one he’d been struggling to bury for years as he searched for an explanation. 

Y/N doesn’t really have an explanation either, maybe it was because she had been tired of these people pretending they knew Oikawa, because of the conversation they’d had in the gym. Seeing him upset over it might have triggered something inside of her, and made her decide— why not take things into her own hands? He didn’t deserve any of it, they could be so overbearing, acting as though he belonged to them. 

Maybe it was spite, pure spite. Anger over all the ways these stupid confessions and fans had affected her. Maybe she’d wanted it all to stop and thought that this was the best way how. Maybe there was no real reason beyond that. She finds herself wishing she could offer him an answer, though nothing comes out of her mouth.

When Y/N doesn’t reply, Oikawa simply sighs, bringing a hand to the bridge of his nose before turning to Y/N, his eyes trailed along the dulling red on the edge of her cheek and the bruises evident on her arms. Frowning, Oikawa brought a hand to her arm, “well at least you won the fight.” He didn’t know much about what happened, just what he’d heard in passing and when one of his teammates had approached him to congratulate him for ‘finally getting in to a relationship with Y/N.’

A small laugh escapes Y/N as she nods along to his words. “Yeah,” she mumbles in agreement, lips pressing together to form a tight lipped smile as she struggled to find words, “so... what do we do now?”

That would be the question of the hour.

[tags] lmk if you want to be added via askbox

haikyuu!!: @shawkneecaps @therainroguefanfiction​  @iwaizoom @aquabcrry-y 

[journeysintowebcomics]

Worm Liveblog #21

UPDATE 21: The School vs Taylor and Danny Hebert

Last time Taylor had finally hit Emma in the face. The problem is that she did this in front of Emma’s father, her own father, the general public and Shadow Stalker. All in all, it could have gone better. The silver lining is that now she’s telling her father everything that’s going on at school, I think, so let’s continue!

Nnnnevermind, she’s not doing that. It seems it happened off-screen. Given that now Taylor and Dad Hebert are waiting to enter to the principal’s office, he reacted as I thought he would: taking this seriously and arranging a meeting with the principal. Nice! I don’t have much faith on this ending 100% well for Taylor, but who knows, maybe it’ll happen. Not long after we’d arrived, Emma and her dad had showed up, looking totally casual and unstressed, like it was a regular day. She isn’t even worried. Oh. If she isn’t worried then...okay, the meeting hasn’t started, maybe I’m jumping the gun a bit on this not having a satisfying resolution. I’ll keep hoping for the best.

Madison and her family have the decency to be worried, although Emma’s father seems to be trying to reassure them. Sophia arrives with someone who’s not her mother – adoptive mother, perhaps? – so it’s turn for Taylor and Dad Hebert to come in. Emma’s father is a lawyer, therefore he knows how to manipulate the system, or at least that’s what Dad Hebert says. After getting a phone call from my dad, Alan had been the one to call this meeting. ...okay, now I’m completely sure this won’t end well for Taylor. This has to be a trap. No wonder Emma is so calm! She must know what this all is about. I don’t know what kind of person this Alan man is, but I feel inclined to distrusting the purpose of this meeting. Give me a minute here to pick up my stress toy because maybe I’ll need it.

Everyone sits to the table and it’s rather telling that pretty much everyone except a teacher is sitting on the site opposite to Taylor and Dad Hebert. It’s them against the world, and we all know who has the advantage here. I was nervous.  I had told my dad that I’d missed classes.  I hadn’t told him how many, but I hadn’t wanted to repeat Bitch’s mistake and leave him totally in the dark. That’s a sensible move...at least he knows she has been skipping classes. What I wonder now is if he asked what she did during the time she was supposed to be at class. Hang around the library or something? It’s not like Taylor can see she was spending time with her friends instead of being with friends. Dad Hebert is quite understanding, but it’d be good to avoid saying anything that could point at the rest of the Undersiders being bad influences on Taylor.

Sophia is a troublesome person, who’d have guessed, right? So, Alan did arrange this meeting so this matters could be put to rest through the official channels. Taylor Hebert, time for your testimony. She’s encouraged to tell the major incidents, but instead she goes for every incident...because apparently she has been keeping track of that. Really? First time I hear of it. It’s a big paragraph, thick as a brick in comparison to the two-line and one-line things dialogue above it. And that’s just for one single day. Golly.

Taylor only gets to the middle of the second day when the principal interrupts her, saying they don’t have time to listen to every single incident. Really now? Well she’s not wrong, otherwise they’d be here for the rest of the day. That’s how much Taylor has been tormented.

Alan spoke, “I think we all grasp that it’s been unpleasant.  You’ve established that, and I thank you for the insight. But how many of those incidents can you prove?  Were those emails sent from school computers?”

Here comes the legal beaglery! Let me guess, she can’t. Hard to prove someone dumped pencil sharpener shavings on her head a few months ago. Taylor’s best chance is to appeal for the principal to believe her, but that’s quite difficult. This kind of stuff relies on evidence, and there’s very little decisive proof here. Not even printing the emails is enough, because they came from throwaway accounts. At least she can prove she’s being bullied, that much can’t be denied now. It’s not like she can fake stuff that has been happening for months!

Just like that, most of Taylor’s work has been dismissed as useless. Damn it, I hate when this happens! Thankfully, there’s one incident Taylor can prove, and it’s one we did see by ourselves here in the story.

“Two weeks ago, Mr. Gladly approached me,” I addressed the room, “He verified that some things had occurred in his class.  My desk had been vandalized with scribbles, juice, glue, trash and other stuff on different days.  Do you remember, Mr. Gladly?”

I really hope you won’t have the gall to deny something you said, Mr. Disney Movie Teacher. He doesn’t, he just kind of distorts what Taylor had said, sidestepping the part that he did see harassment in action.

“No,” the principal spoke, “But I think that when someone is being victimized, it’s possible to embellish events, or to see harassment when there is none.  We want to ensure that these three girls get fair treatment.” Nothing wrong with fair treatment for everyone, yeah, but implying Taylor is making up stuff to get them in more trouble is...well that’s not going to help. Taylor wasn’t wrong, this is a farce of a meeting. This is the kind of thing that’s difficult for me to read...because it’s the most plausible parts. Powers and all is fun, even if it gets to the gory and bleak parts, but this here is something that can happen to pretty much anyone. Maybe some of the readers of Worm even experienced it at some point. That’s why it’s harder to read this, because it can happen.

Shut up, Alan, you’re not helping. He doesn’t outright say Taylor is lying, but he’s really implying it – even daring to bring up Taylor’s mother’s death. Like father, like daughter, really. That’s playing dirty. No wonder Emma was so calm.

Since everyone has pretty much formed a wall around themselves and refused to do anything about Taylor, Alan goes for the jugular and asks what exactly Taylor and Dad Hebert want. “Transfer me to Arcadia High.” Really? Well I didn’t expect that! But now that the surprise is gone, I must say that’s quite a good answer. Better to get away from them and try to start anew in a new crowd. It’s not like Taylor has anything in this school she’s going to miss, so...yeah, I like this move! Nice. Looks like most here were expecting to hear she wanted them to be expelled from the school. I for one am hoping the principal will agree to transfer Taylor!

Giving them freedom through expulsion or suspension wouldn’t be good, since it’d be like a reward for those three – that’s Taylor’s opinion. I kinda agree to that. If it were up to her there’d be suspension in-school for two months, and that’d be quite a sizable punishment, but...yeah, I don’t see that happening. I hate to say it, but taking the easy route about transferring to another school is more likely to work.

Once again, shut up, Alan. This is no time for jokes about no punishment at all.

Since it’s extremely obvious there has been bullying but most of the incidents can’t be proven, the principal proposes a two week suspension. I sigh. Guess it’ll be no punishment for them, then. This is exactly what Taylor didn’t want.

She hadn’t mentioned the classes.  I wondered if she even knew. Taylor really is like invisible to everyone except the bullies, eh? Nobody here mentions Taylor has avoided her classes. Once another reason to transfer to Arcadia High, maybe there Taylor won’t be a non-entity. Since suspension is the one thing on the table here, Taylor gives up on that regard and accepts it, because otherwise it’d be like ramming her head against a brick wall.

Just transfer me to Arcadia.  Let me walk away from this.”

“That’s not really something I can do,” the principal said, “There’s jurisdictions-”

Hm. Alright, question time, dear readers. I’m not knowledgeable about the American educational system, but is there anything stopping Dad Hebert from pulling out Taylor from the actual school and transferring her to Arcadia High? Because that’s what’d be done around here where I live, one wouldn’t have to rely on the school to do something. The one obstacle I can think of is that there could be no space for a student in a classroom, but that’s usually solvable. Maybe I’m missing something about this American school system.

Wow, Taylor is seriously starting to lose her self-control, and I doubt it’s because of the concussion. She’s reaching her limit. Everyone’s lucky there’s not a swarm of bugs in the room right now. Taylor even threatens to bring a weapon to the school, and pretty much begs for her own expulsion. Damn...

Since it’s obvious nobody except Dad Hebert is on Taylor’s side, things get heated, with Dad Hebert threatening to get the media involved, and Alan threatening to press charges on Taylor for assault and threats. It’d lead to a drawn out legal battle that’d end only when a side runs out of money – and I can already guess which side it’d be.

I looked at my teachers.  At Mrs. Knott, who I’d even say was my favorite teacher, “Don’t you see how fucked up this is? He’s blackmailing us right in front of you, and you can’t understand that this manipulation has been going on from the beginning?”

I hate to say it, but I’m afraid Alan’s move, while dirty is...completely legal. Taylor did pretty much assault Emma. Charges may be pressed anytime, and there’s evidence to back them up. It’s not really blackmail. Not that it matters, because this sucks. I fully sympathize with Taylor on this. There she goes, pretty much kicking the door on her way out, and immediately calling Lisa.

“We’re gearing up for a raid on the ABB.  We didn’t bother you about it because you’re still recovering, and I knew you’d be busy with your meeting at school.  Want in?”

Want in? Right now she’d be more than willing to go for another bank robbery, I’d say! Yeah, let’s let out steam through some good old fighting! While Taylor was trying to straighten up her life, everyone else was arranging teams for an attack on the ABB. I wonder which group Taylor would be with? Let’s hope it’s not with Skidmark!

“Every team is splitting up, bit complicated to explain, but yeah.  Bitch would be going with one or two members of the Travelers, some of Faultline’s crew and probably some of Empire Eighty-Eight.  It would do a lot for our peace of mind if you went with. ‘specially with the tension between us and the Empire.”

...uh...alright, whose idea was to stick Heckpuppy with E88? I guess it’s fine as long as the owner of that dogfighting ring isn’t part of the team, or else this can’t end well. At least Taylor will be there. It’s a good chance as any to get scenes between Rachel and Taylor, maybe they’ll stop being cold to each other. Taylor already started trying to get closer to her, will Rachel accept it? I hope she does! That’s the end of the chapter.

I think I have time for one chapter more, so I’ll go ahead with it. The main course of this arc is coming now!

Yeah, they’re getting ready for their missions, dressing with their costumes. “The idea Coil proposed was that we would mix and match the members of the groups, so nobody can pull anything without their teammates being hostage to the other groups.” Good thinking, Coil. You can never trust a bunch of teams each with their own criminal goals and vendettas. I guess it also means it was unlikely for Heckpuppy not be in contact with someone from E88, yeah. There are arrangements for the Undersiders to check with each other, and codes in case there’s trouble and they need to be subtle. Think traffic lights.  Green for go, everything is okay.  Yellow for warning, if you aren’t sure about things.  Red for stop, need help. That’s...that can work. For a moment I had thought they had said to name the color, not an object of that color, I was already typing how obvious it was. Hah! Good thing I reread the lines, that’d have been embarrassing.

Tattletale’s going in the team that has Faultline. Hah! Of course she is. I bet that if Shadow Stalker was a villain and she was part of this plan too, she’d be in Grue’s group because Mr. Wildbow seems to be rather interested in putting rivals with rivals. Everyone ready? There are going to be daily attacks, these will be busy days! Hit hard, hit fast, get out of there.  If you aren’t making much of a dent, don’t sweat it. Perfect. This’ll also be a good chance for me to see what other villain factions can do in terms of power. This is likely to be good! Show me your best, Mr. Wildbow!

“Don’t show her any weakness, or she won’t let up on you.” At this point I’m completely sure Skitter has enough strength not to show weakness in front of Heckpuppy no matter what. She’ll be okay. Not that anyone’s happy with the arrangements, Heckpuppy spends the trip in the van just glaring daggers at Skitter. What a marvelous start for this mission, eh? Things are going to go just peachy in here.

Remembering my bugs, I took a few seconds to extend my powers outward and begin gathering them.  I was surprised at how far my reach was extending.  I generally measured things in city blocks – I’ve never been good at eyeballing distance – and I would say my range usually sat at around two blocks. Today I was reaching just shy of three and a half.

Hmmm...hey, what if Bakuda’s bomb is responsible for this? It affected Skitter’s brain or something, didn’t it? You know, to stun her and all. What if it accidentally gave a boost to Skitter’s powers? I really hope the concussion isn’t doing this, or else Skitter may lose such boost once she’s healed. Skitter wonders why she’s a bit more powerful and accidentally makes puns, then turns her attention to how Heckpuppy uses her power on the dogs. It was like seeing a sausage split its casing—ooooookay, that’s enough, Skitter, a bit too descriptive for me. Somehow, hearing about something bursting out of its skin when we’re talking about living beings is giving me the heebie-jeebies.

The point of reunion for the team Heckpuppy and Skitter are part of is at the other side of a bridge destroyed by the ABB. Is everyone else over there? It’s a matter of passing through the rubble of the bridge until they reach that, not too difficult. The dogs are even having fun.

Wow, I’m surprised Heckpuppy is trying to make small talk, noting Skitter is angry. Trying to reach out to Skitter, perhaps? “Should hit ’em.  Teach them to fuck with you.” Good news, she did that. Bad news, it pretty much screwed her over. Good news, now Dad Hebert knows everything that’s going on. All in all, the only reward was momentary satisfaction, and that can be enough. Our detour had given the flying bugs time to catch up to me.  Wasps, moths, houseflies, no-see-ums, a few bees and a fair few cockroaches. The heck is a no-see-um. I googled it to find out, and I regret it. Take a lesson from me: photos of no-see-um bites or whatever are not pleasant to look at. You have a lot of courage, Taylor, stuffing so many bugs in the nooks and crannies of your costume.

All the other capes were already waiting. Hello, Kaiser, fancy meeting you again! He has his Valkyries with him. From Faultine’s crew there’s Newter and Labyrinth. I once received a comment asking why I hadn’t seemed surprised about Newter and...someone else. Honestly? I don’t remember who they are. I blame the introduction of a couple dozen characters at once. I wonder what kind of powers they have, though. I do note that Newter is orange, literally orange. What’s up with that, hmmmm...

The attack is scheduled to start in five minutes. Is that really enough time to decide the method of attack? There’s a lot of people here, it may be a tad difficult to coordinate everything in so little time. Not that there’s really any other option, it’s a necessary thing to do.

Oh, come on, don’t describe the body horror again, Skitter! Once was enough! I really didn’t want to hear about sprays of gore on people, but here you go and say that. It’s a surprise Kaiser stepped back, though. I didn’t think he’d be taken by surprise. I can’t blame him, though, what an unpleasant thing to see.

Everyone’s going in direction to the attack they’re going to do now. This is a good point to stop, I’m guessing next time the attack will happen. Great! Can’t wait for that. See you next time, everyone!

Next update: next time

[duaneodavila]

Free @bmaz

If the name isn’t familiar from twitter, it should be from his writing as a founding contributor to Marcy Wheeler’s brilliant burden of bureaucracy, Empty Wheel. Bmaz is a criminal defense lawyer, a friend and a person I know in real life.

Bmaz is a rather large saguaro cactus in the Southwestern Sonoran desert. A lover of the Constitution, law, family, sports, food and spirits. As you might imagine, a bit prickly occasionally. Bmaz has attended all three state universities in Arizona, with both undergraduate and graduate degrees from Arizona State University, and with significant post-graduate work (in physics and organic chemistry, go figure) at both the University of Colorado in Boulder and the University of Arizona.

Married, with both a lovely child and a giant Sasquatch dog. Bmaz has been a participant on the internet since the early 2000’s, including active participation in the precursor to Emptywheel, The Next Hurrah. Formally joined the Emptywheel blog as an original contributing member at its founding in 2007.

Bmaz grew up around politics, education, sports and, most significantly, cars; notably around Formula One racing and Concours de Elegance automobile restoration and showing. Currently lives in the Cactus Patch with his lovely wife and beast of a dog, and practices both criminal and civil trial law.

And @bmaz has been suspended from twitter, though suspended in this instance means expelled, as twitter, in its anonymous algorithmic wisdom, has informed him that his suspension is permanent.

I digress for a moment to make a few tangential, but necessary, points. Twitter, as a private enterprise, has the right to throw someone out arbitrarily and capriciously. It’s under no duty to be fair or even remotely rational in its decisions. That it has the authority to do this isn’t the question. It does.

Bmaz is a passionate guy. He can be pigheaded and profane, as can we all. He regularly goes far deeper into the weeds on the left than I do, and will not hesitate to take me to task when he disagrees with me, and that happens regularly. And he will often end his dalliance with someone he deems a fool with a blithe “fuck off.” I prefer “bite me,” but to each his own.

You don’t have to agree with @bmaz. Not just sometimes. but at all. You don’t even have to agree that he brings a worthy perspective to an issue on which you stand firmly against his position. Disagreement is the lifeblood of ideas, without which we are limited to the soft tones of validation in our echo chambers.

On a platform like twitter, as opposed to, say, SJ, which is not a platform that exists solely as an open medium of communication, disagreement is rife, except for those who shut out any noise that harshes their mellow. And in reaction to cries of the fragile that mean twits are violence and deny them their right to be wrong and threatening, twitter has created a pseudo-systematic means of pretending to vet its medium along the lines favored by the woke.

Naturally, the exceptionally unwoke have seized upon it as a weapon to game in return. This is one, but only one, reason why the inanity of the scolds and censors must fail, as they assume that their weapons will only be available to them. As @bmaz’s situation demonstrates, that’s not at all how it’s going to happen. Whether it’s because the alt-right is as fragile as the SJWs, or they’re just flipping the script back on them, is irrelevant. It’s mutually assured censorship. Twitter has made @bmaz its victim.

Why? Because if you believe in free speech as a concept, and not merely a right protected by the Constitution against the government, then his speech should be as free as, say, NRA shill Dana Loesch. An odd choice for juxtaposition, you say? Well, no. This is why twitter expelled @bmaz from its midst.

The underlying discussion was about school shootings. When @bmaz wrote, “Own the death, you piece of crap,” he was clearly referring to the students who died from gunshots. Perhaps an poorly tuned algorithm would latch onto the word “death,” but certainly human eyes would see more clearly. As for the second twit, he called someone “a fucking idiot asshole,” which is about as banal a twit as possible. Yet, the troll account, which appears to exist for no reason other than the create the impression of support for Dana Loesch and appeared not to have suffered undue trauma for the hurty words, did what he/she/it said and reported @bmaz.

So @bmaz appealed his expulsion. And the response was curious.

Hello,Your account has been suspended and will not be restored because it was found to be violating Twitter’s Terms of Service, specifically the Twitter Rules against hateful conduct.It is against our rules to promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.

Perhaps the AI is smarter than the human eyeballs, though this response suggests no intelligent life exists in the boiler room of twitter.

Disagree with what @bmaz thinks of guns all you want. Disagree with bmaz’s way of expressing himself. Or agree with him. It doesn’t matter. There was no violation of the terms of service, no targeted harassment, no “attempt to silence” someone else’s voice. There was certainly no on the basis of race, etc., unless the mere hint that a woman (and just because the handle says it’s a woman, does that make it so?) was on the receiving end converts all make speech into a sexual assault.

Fight for @bmaz. Fight for free speech. Fight for Jack Dorsey to end the hypocrisy of pretending to be woke while censoring views over nothing. Like it or not, these private platforms are where the disagreements happen. If either side gets to silence the other by inane complaint, with the mindless support of alogos or dolts, all of our ability to express our views will be subject to the irrational discretion of the twitter gods. If they frown upon us, even without reason, we will be eradicated from the conversation. And for the woke, they will take you down using your weapon just as you would do the same to them.

Free #bmaz. Do it for him. Do it for yourself. Do it for free speech. Free @bmaz. Tell @jack Dorsey to step in, end this irrational charade, and free @bmaz.

Free @bmaz republished via Simple Justice