#it was dismissive and negligent but not abusive

[fluffypotatey]

I was thinking about macaque being able to see his wukong bonds pre divorce, and I think it would have just resulted in a more codependent macaque. Like if he could see the string, he would have more likely stayed through mountain wukong's abusive speeches. Never stand up for himself, trying to remind himself they are fated. And wukong would have taken him even more for granted bc macaque would put up with anything

ok i kinda disagree with you a little, anon

codependency? yeah 100% that just gets worse if pre-JTTW!macky saw the strings. because, as much as the string confirm his desire and yearning, it will not change SWK’s own actions and everything that transpires in-canon will happen. Macky will still be left alone, he will still feel betrayed and ignored, he will still fight with swk under the mountain (tho maybe the fight will be worse. maybe he will reveal too much or say worse things he doesn’t mean but will haunt swk further in his life)

the thing is, anon, even with the codependency, i don’t think that will make Macky more reticent. swk trusts him for a reason and Macky trusts swk long before the Brotherhood. we have seen that Macky is more confident in giving his doubts to swk when it’s between the two of them and while swk does, on the surface, brush them off, he still listens.

the only issue is that swk is very confident in his prowess and believes he knows what he is doing, because his goal (according to lmk canon) was to protect the people he loved which are his monkey subjects in ffm. the further up the power ladder he goes equaled protection and safety for his subjects. he is the Monkey King, earned his title by jumping through a waterfall, yes, but he earned it nonetheless and will prove himself worthy.

which is why Macky’s doubts about confronting the Jade Emperor conflict with SWK’s plans with the Brotherhood. and why swk will brush Macky’s worries away (also, remember Mac’s heavily outnumbered in his dissent since everyone else endorsed and encourages SWK’s confidence bc they view him as their key to victory). but the reason why Macky will stay is still the same for in-canon but just strengthens Macky’s confidence to speak on his doubts more. he has the proof tied around his finger, so why wouldn’t it encourage him to try and make swk understand the danger that comes with fighting against Heaven?

so, yes, the red string will add more angst point to Macky’s heart because he sees the strings as proof that this connection means something. that he is so much more to swk than a subject or brother in arms. however, I also think the string will make Macky more bitter than he already is because the string did not change anything. it doesn’t make SWK’s words any different and it doesn’t change the timeline at all. all it does is tell Macky that they have a connection bound by fate, and he will love it in the beginning but grow to resent it as swk ignores his caution because what is proof if it can do nothing?

[thatsonemorbidcorvid]

“Every year, about 25,000 (UK) women who give birth — approximately 4 per cent — are so distressed that they meet the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. That makes birth one of the biggest causes of PTSD in the UK according to the Birth Trauma Association charity – probably coming second only to sexual abuse and rape. Hundreds of thousands more women are traumatised. This is a major health crisis. And yet it is barely discussed…

According to figures from NHS Resolution, the arm of the Department of Health and Social Care that handles litigation, 62 per cent of the total clinical negligence cost of harm in 2022-23 (£6.6 billion) related to maternity.”

When my husband and I left for hospital on a Friday afternoon, we had no idea what would happen. The next few hours would change my life. For good and bad. It had all started with a cervical sweep the day before. I was 40 weeks and 4 days pregnant and, frankly, I’d had enough. My pregnancy had been uncomplicated in terms of my baby — she was healthy throughout, albeit had spent much of her time in the back-to-back position. But I had found the nine months increasingly difficult. From around 20 weeks I’d suffered from pelvic girdle pain, which, for me, meant increasingly agonising pain in my lower back. Walking and other everyday movements became difficult. The only place I felt vaguely comfortable was in water. Swimming was a relief.

Women are offered a sweep to help induce labour. A midwife inserts their finger and sweeps around your cervix. It’s about as basic as you can get. They’re trying to separate the membranes of the amniotic sac that surround the baby from your cervix. This then releases hormones, which may help start your labour. “Some women find the procedure uncomfortable or painful,” NHS guidelines say. I found it excruciating.

“Oh,” the midwife said, as I lay in a rather compromised position. “I might have broken your waters.” This didn’t make sense to me. I’d always assumed that when my waters broke, I’d know about it. Apparently not always, and I was instructed to call the hospital if contractions hadn’t begun within 24 hours as I was now potentially at risk of infection.

They didn’t start. And I did what I’d been asked. The voice on the phone was chirpy — everything sounded fine, stay at home, we’ll be seeing you soon enough. Half an hour later, my phone rang. “Where are you? You’re meant to be at the hospital,” the woman said angrily. I needed to come in immediately to be examined.

It was late Friday afternoon and it was busy. We took the last of the beds in maternity triage. And my waters broke in earnest. That solved the mystery, I suggested. No, I was told, and the water birth I’d hoped for was out of the question — too risky.

Strong and regular contractions started immediately. We were moved to a glorified cupboard that had been turned into a makeshift holding room. I was denied any pain relief because it was “too early”, and told that someone would bring me some paracetamol when they came to “examine” me.

It seems obvious when you think about it, but I had never been told what being “examined” meant. Nor thought about it. It sounds medical. But it’s literally a midwife sticking their fingers inside you. I was 3cm dilated. Plenty of time to go, apparently. It was 9.30pm. I felt sick and in enormous pain. Both were dismissed — until I vomited everywhere. And lost control of my bowels. This would happen several more times over the coming hours. I felt utterly ashamed. Again, it’s common — but I hadn’t been told.

I continued to ask for pain relief and continued to receive none. An hour later, I was 7cm dilated — in full labour — and finally received some paracetamol. There was no space on the labour ward. In just another half an hour, I was fully dilated and ready for the baby to come out. No one seemed to know what to do. The midwives were panicking. And that made me scared. This was my first baby. I didn’t know what to expect. We were rushed to the ward. Already, nothing had gone the way I wanted, or the way it had been talked about at National Childbirth Trust (NCT) classes. Eventually, I was given gas and air to ease the pain. But only for about 20 minutes. Apparently it was “distracting” me too much and I needed to push.

Two hours later there was still no baby and I was in agony. A doctor arrived, took a brief look and said cheerily, “You’re going to be fine. You’re going to get that baby out.” And then he left. My maternity notes state, “PLAN: continue pushing.” I have no idea what this refers to — like so many of my notes. There was no plan. If there was, it wasn’t one I had agreed to. Finally, after another hour the decision was made that the doctor would use a ventouse — a suction cup that sits on your baby’s head — to help deliver my baby. Apparently I consented to this, but I have no recollection of doing so. And I’m ashamed to say I didn’t know what was being asked of me. My doctor didn’t use the word ventouse. He used “Kiwi”, which is a type of ventouse. At the time, I didn’t know what either were.

I remember screaming in pain and then my daughter finally being born. She was placed on my chest for less than a minute. I was examined, told I had a fourth-degree tear that must be repaired and that I needed to sign a consent form for surgery straight away. “Look at the state of her,” my usually mild-mannered husband said. “How can she possibly sign a form?” I couldn’t. The writing on that form is barely legible, but they would not proceed without it.

I had no idea what had happened. I lay in an operating theatre in pain, silent tears rolling down my face. I was frightened. The anaesthetist was amazing and stayed with me while I was repaired. I am so grateful for that, at least. But I also feel guilty about it. It was half past three on a Saturday morning and she was the only anaesthetist on duty at the London hospital. Other women may well not have received the pain relief they needed because of me. “Will I be able to have any more children?” I asked as I stared at the ceiling.

After surgery I was moved to the high dependency unit (HDU) and reunited with my daughter. I finally held and fed her for the first time. That morning is a blur. My notes tell me we stayed in the HDU for five hours before being moved to a ward. It was there that I attempted to understand what had happened to me. I was in pain, barely able to move and soaked in blood. I asked various midwives to explain what had gone on. They repeated that I’d had a fourth-degree tear, but I didn’t know what that meant. One line, in scribbled handwriting, stands out when I look at my notes: “We don’t have any written info about fourth-degree tears.”

Eventually, a midwife appeared with some information they’d printed off after googling it. As I read it, I sobbed. I was 35 years old and thought my life was over; that I would be incontinent. And still no doctor came to explain. The medic who’d delivered my daughter was eventually marched to my bedside more than 48 hours later.

I am perhaps unusual in that I’ve always wanted children. We had done what many middle-class suburban couples did at that time and attended NCT classes. The underlying message of these was: try to avoid a caesarean section at all costs. “Natural” births were best, and even better just to breathe through it. No need for pain relief. I remember in our penultimate class bringing up the subject of tearing during labour. I had seen a TV feature on it that week and it struck me as important. “If most of us are going to tear to some degree, it would be really helpful to talk about that,” I remember saying. “It would be good to know how best to care for ourselves afterwards, that kind of thing.” The answer was no, there was no need. Instead, we proceeded to get on all fours and “moo” like cows and then practise putting nappies on a doll.

Up to nine in ten first-time mothers who have a vaginal birth will experience some sort of tear. The least invasive kind involves only the skin from the vagina and the perineum — the area between a woman’s vagina and anus. These tears usually heal quickly and without any treatment. Second-degree tears involve the muscle of the perineum and require stitches. Third and fourth-degree tears are the most serious. These involve not just tearing of the skin and muscle of the perineum but the muscle of the anus. In fourth-degree tears, the injury can extend into the lining of the bowel. These deeper tears need proper surgical repair under anaesthetic.

I don’t really have any happy memories of the first few days or weeks after we left the hospital. I was completely in love with my baby, but I felt shellshocked. I couldn’t process what had happened and there was no one who offered to help me. A different midwife was sent to our house every couple of days to weigh our daughter. I had no milk the first few days and she had lost a fair bit of weight. Even when my milk came in, I found breastfeeding painful and difficult, in large part because it hurt so much to sit down.

I cried quietly every day for several months. Often it would come completely out of nowhere. I’d be talking or watching television and I would just start to cry. Several midwives wrote in my notes in those early weeks the same phrase: “Mum is anxious.” I don’t think I was. I was traumatised. Several weeks later, I was told that I was “lucky” by the midwife examining my stitches. Apparently the doctors had done a “wonderful” job at repairing me and it looked “beautiful”. I now know that I was fortunate to be repaired properly and immediately after the birth. But the last thing I felt — then or now — was lucky.

After several months I desperately needed to have some control over my life again. I had never felt so helpless, lost and infantilised. But my overarching feeling was anger. I wrote to the chief executive and chair of the hospital to complain and was invited in for a debrief. The head of midwifery was lovely, apologised and followed through on her promise to try to prevent other women facing the appalling lack of communication I had. The hospital now has a specialist perineal health clinic too.

But the attitude of the consultant obstetrician whom I met with my husband floored us both. It was about six months after the birth, but I was still under the care of a consultant urogynaecologist. (I subsequently had two further operations: the first 14 months after giving birth to remove an undissolved stitch that was causing pain but hadn’t been spotted, and another six months after that.) My urogynaecologist had told me not even to consider giving birth vaginally again. The risk was too great, he explained. If I tore again, there was a 30 per cent chance I couldn’t be repaired and I’d be incontinent. The obstetrician said the opposite — don’t rule it out! I saw red. “How dare you,” I growled. I remember saying that he would never be so cavalier about a man’s body.

Every year, about 25,000 women who give birth — approximately 4 per cent — are so distressed that they meet the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. That makes birth one of the biggest causes of PTSD in the UK according to the Birth Trauma Association charity – probably coming second only to sexual abuse and rape. Hundreds of thousands more women are traumatised. This is a major health crisis. And yet it is barely discussed.

“Birth trauma is a broad term, but generally it’s overwhelming distress that leads to a detrimental impact on well-being,” explains Susan Ayers, professor of maternal and child health at City University in London. Estimates “range massively”, she says, but having conducted research into birth trauma for almost 30 years, Ayers puts it at about a third. “If you ask women whether they thought they or their baby was going to die or be severely injured, then it’s around 19-20 [per cent] in the UK. But if people just ask women, ‘Was your birth traumatic?’ some of those estimates are up to 50 per cent.”

“I’M BEATRICE’S MUM,” EMILY SAID, introducing herself to a committee of MPs in March. “Beatrice died during labour at full term in May 2022.” Emily is one of a number of brave women who have shared their traumatic birth stories with the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on birth trauma, during the first parliamentary inquiry into this issue.

“As soon as my labour started,” Emily explained, “I knew it wasn’t right, wasn’t normal.” The details are harrowing: a series of obvious but missed red flags and an attitude from medical professionals that can only be described as cruel. The midwife who shrugged her shoulders when Emily’s waters were meconium-stained; the consultant obstetrician who laughed at the “slimy” feel of that meconium while her hand was still inside Emily.

“The ultrasound scanning machine was brought in and showed that Beatrice’s heartbeat had stopped,” she explained. “At that point I begged, pleaded like I’ve never pleaded for anything in my life for a caesarean, and that consultant obstetrician refused. She said no. And she left.”

“It’s destroyed my life,” Emily says now. “I’m not the person I was before.”

This inquiry has been led by the APPG’s co-chairs, the Conservative MP Theo Clarke and Labour’s Rosie Duffield. They received more than 1,200 written submissions after asking women to share their experiences; that number doubles if you count the letters and emails they’ve been sent informally.

“The thing that’s really struck me is there seems to be a taboo around talking about the risk of childbirth,” Clarke tells me when I sit down with both women in Westminster. There shouldn’t be, she adds. “Something we’ve heard from a number of the mothers coming to speak to us is that there’s such a focus on the baby post-delivery, they almost forget there’s a second patient in the room, and that’s the mother.”

“I was constantly told by GPs that I had nothing wrong with me,” one mother, Sarah, told the MPs. She experienced a major tear that doctors and midwives failed to diagnose. “I was discharged two days later with [an] untreated tear, which very quickly led to enormous amounts of pain, incontinence, faecal incontinence and thinking I was going mad.”

“It’s very painful,” explained Jenny, who also experienced a serious tear that was left untreated, “but the long-term consequences of an unrepaired tear are that I had to give up my job. I’ve suffered PTSD, anxiety, depression. My activities are restricted. My life is impacted in that I have to meticulously plan my day around toilets.”

Another mother, Neera, lost three litres of blood and required more than ten hours of life-saving emergency surgery the day her daughter was born. The haemorrhage had not been picked up by staff. She said she is fortunate to have had the “means and support” to access mental healthcare over four and a half years of her five-year-old’s life. “I have personally spent over £6,000 and received more than 50 hours of mental health support,” she told parliament.

The women who have spoken to politicians as part of the inquiry had different medical experiences. But there were obvious similarities. Their concerns and their pain were dismissed. They were not treated with respect or, in some cases, like human beings. They felt helpless, angry and scared. “Nobody really cares about women,” says Kim Thomas, CEO of the Birth Trauma Association. “What we tend to find with most of these stories is there’s failure after failure after failure. Lots of things go physically wrong… and that continues afterwards in the postnatal period with really poor care.” Almost all women seeking out the charity say their experience was made much worse by the way they were treated during labour. “The number of stories we hear of women being shouted at by midwives or laughed at by midwives is quite extraordinary.”

Birth doesn’t have to be this way. And it isn’t for many women. But women, in England in particular, could — and should — be having better experiences than they are.

Let’s start with serious tears. The number one risk factor is being a first-time mum. There’s nothing much that can be done about that. But the next is having an instrumental vaginal delivery — and in particular one that uses forceps. “Data indicates that we use more forceps than other parts of Europe,” says Dr Ranee Thakar, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG). While rates in several European countries hover at around 0 per cent, a 2023 study of assisted births in 13 high-income countries found England used forceps in a higher proportion of births — about 11 per cent — than any other.

There are cases where forceps must be used. When babies are premature, suction would cause too much damage to the head. But that’s doesn’t explain the discrepancy. “It’s education,” Thakar explains. “We should be trained to do both [forceps and ventouse], so that we provide the best care to women and use the right instrument for the right baby and the right mother.”

The risk of a severe tear when forceps are used is at least twice as high as with ventouse: 8-12 per cent compared with 4 per cent. Women should be told this. The recent parliamentary inquiry heard other suggestions that might explain why forceps use in England is so high. The consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr Nitish Raut explained that when poor outcomes of childbirth become part of litigation, the question, “Why were forceps not applied earlier?” will be asked. Although they can cause injury to mothers, forceps are the most effective instrument for getting a baby out. If a doctor tries and fails to deliver a baby with the less invasive ventouse first, a record will be made at the hospital trust. It was suggested by others that this might also be pushing some doctors straight to forceps use even when they might not be necessary.

“Training is a really key part of everything here,” Posy Bidwell, deputy head of midwifery at South Warwickshire Foundation Trust, told MPs. “If we can train people, we can prevent these injuries happening. Many midwifery students wouldn’t know the impact that these injuries are having on women.”

Newly qualified midwives did not know enough about perineal damage, and yet they’re providing one-to-one care to women. Current training did not seem to see it as a priority: while several aspects of maternity care are mandatory each year, suturing and perineal protection are not.

Neither doctors nor midwives appear to be taught how to routinely examine women after they have given birth either. Where this was once part of mandatory medical training, doctors are no longer encouraged to do it, Raut explained.

England is short of as many as 2,500 midwives, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) estimates, although people are wanting to train and join the profession. Donna Ockenden, who is reviewing maternity services at Nottingham and who previously did so at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust, cautions against being too optimistic, however. The focus needs to be on retention. “Two midwives don’t equal two midwives,” she told parliament, “of we are losing midwives with 20, 30, 35 years’ experience… and they’re then being replaced by a more junior workforce, who are not being supported in those early days of their career.”

In the past decade and a half, the UK has seen several NHS maternity scandals — in Morecambe Bay, Shrewsbury and Telford, and East Kent. In all these cases, some of the poor care provided to mothers and their babies was because of a push towards “normal” or “natural” birth and a desire to keep caesarean section rates low. The RCM ended its campaign for “normal births” in 2017, but its legacy persists. Some NHS trusts still talk about them today. A culture of cover-ups and a lack of care remains in others. Just last month, the Care Quality Commission found that staff at Great Western Hospital in Swindon had been downgrading third and fourth-degree tears, “which meant they were not investigated as thoroughly as they should” have been. The c-section target was only officially dropped in 2022. Does RCOG now accept that it was a mistake? “It’s difficult for me to say years later whether it was a mistake or not,” Thakar tells me. “I think there was a general trend at the time to put figures to caesarean section rates. But now we know that, we don’t do that.” It was now right that women were offered a choice; she insists she hasn’t seen an attitude against caesareans more recently.

Aside from any physical and psychological impact, traumatic births are costing the country billions. According to figures from NHS Resolution, the arm of the Department of Health and Social Care that handles litigation, 62 per cent of the total clinical negligence cost of harm in 2022-23 (£6.6 billion) related to maternity. Of the £2.6 billion spent on clinical negligence payments that year, £1.1 billion (41 per cent) related to maternity. (As the fact-checking service Full Fact explains, the cost of harm differs from the amount actually paid out in compensation: the former includes an estimate of claims expected in the future arising from incidents in that financial year.) The year before, maternity services accounted for 60 per cent of the total clinical negligence cost of harm (£13.6 billion). NHS England spends about £3 billion a year on maternity and neonatal services.

There is such a long way to go. The government is well behind on its long-term target of halving the rates of stillbirth and neonatal mortality by 2025; the death of mothers within 42 days of the end of pregnancy is at its highest rate in almost 20 years. And while only a handful of trusts have been subject to official investigations, there are signs that poor care is happening across the country. Only half of maternity units in England are rated good or outstanding; one in ten is inadequate. That is a damning indictment of the way so many women are cared for.

One crucial area of improvement does not cost money at all. It requires a shift in attitude to one where women are treated with respect, listened to and allowed to make informed decisions about their bodies and babies.

When I first heard of parliament’s inquiry into birth trauma, it was never my intention to share my experience. Doing so has been upsetting and uncomfortable. But as I sat listening to other women talk about how giving birth had affected them so profoundly, it felt dishonest to stay quiet. Difficult births are not something we should feel ashamed of — much as I know many women will have been, myself included.

[yardsards]

if i could change one thing about the owl house, i'd change the main point of conflict in clouds on the horizon from "odalia's okay with genocide, alador isn't" to "alador is willing to listen to his children, odalia isn't"

first off, i'd make it so that odalia *didn't* know what the draining spell actually did. her knowingly participating in genocide just serves to overshadow her pre-established abusiveness, and feels like the writers didn't trust the audience to understand that she was Bad and deserved to be cut out of her family's lives on the basis of abuse alone.

(also it. kinda doesn't make sense why she'd be okay with it? like she is greedy and short-sighted. but the draining spell would negatively impact her personally, and while the idea of her being so distracted by greed that she acts against her own interests is extremely neat and an apt commentary on real billionaires, it's just,,, a big stretch.)

instead, i'd have her dismiss the truth with "i'm not going to put such a good business deal in jeopardy because of some unfounded suspicions" and "i trust the emperor far more than i trust a bunch of children"

next, i'd replace the scene where king talks to alador. while it was a really nice scene that revealed more about alador's situation and kinda laid the groundwork for king being helpful in the next episode, it's not the best way for alador to learn about the draining spell in my version of the episode. because in that scene, alador believes king is a coven scout -an authority figure- so trusting what he says about the day of unity is not any kind of challenge for alador.

instead, i'd make it so that *emira and edric* are the ones who tell him about the draining spell (maybe king helped the twins escape? that gives him a purpose within the episode and there's a fun parallel with him freeing the collector later).

i don't think the twins were deliberately looking for alador, but they saw him sitting out there as they broke out and they had two choices: sneak past him and continue trying to stop things themselves, or talk to him. and they don't quite trust alador to listen and do the right thing, but amity seemed so convinced when she told them he'd listen, and they trust *her*, so they decide to talk to him.

and he listens and promises to put a stop to it. and he tells them to go find safety, and emira is like "but shouldn't we stay and help/make sure amity is safe" and alador tells her that it should have never been her responsibility to handle everything (i am starving for her whole parentified older sister thing to get addressed can you tell) and promises that he's going to do better for all of them, and apologizes for being so negligent -and Maybe explains a bit of why he was like that and what odalia did to him (if i could fit it in without it being clunky and keeping it clear that it's an explanation not a full excuse)

so the twins go to take shelter at hexside (no more "wtf did he just leave them in gay baby jail???" that we had in canon) and alador and king go confront odalia/save amity like in canon

and then in that confrontation, perhaps alador brings up the abuse and overwork (since it maybe wouldn't come up in my rewritten scene w him and the twins like it did in canon's scene w him and king). and the general vibe w him confronting her is less "this is the final straw" and more "i should have done this years ago"

and overall i'd want the episode to keep the "he is also a domestic abuse victim and, at times, messed up because he was acting out of fear and trying to protect them" that it introduced in the canon version of the episode (i know some people have criticized the show's choice to make him a victim too and while i can understand some of their reasons i overall liked the concept so it stays) while keeping in mind the "sometimes he messed up because he was trying to do what was 'best' for his kids whilst ignoring what the kids actually wanted/needed" that they established in reaching out

[thehellsaint]

Dr. Colin Ross is a DSM contributor. He's not just some random doctor. He is PART of that academic consensus you're talking about.

I couldn't find anything about him contributing to the DSM but what I did find was a lot of information from a malpractice suit brought against him for abusing his patients at an inpatient facility.

Here's Elizabeth Hart's affidavit describing being over medicated, wherein Dr Ross would dismiss her complaints by calling them switches and naming different alters responsible for her reactions.

While still hospitalized in the ward, Dr. Ross admitted a male patient in what was, up until that point, a female only ward. The patient had videos on file of him sexually assaulting multiple women. There's no surprise then that the patient assaulted Ms. Hart and when she sought help from Dr. Ross he said, "I didn't think he would do that on the ward."

When she reported him to the local paper for negligence resulting in her sexual assault while in his care, he "became furious" and "told me I had to get out." He then proceeded with the patient discharge of Ms. Hart despite knowing he would be forcing her out to face extreme withdrawals from the medication he put her on.

He left that hospital some time later, abandoning her with no recommendation or way to set up a continuation of treatment, she was left to face the addiction he created alone. When she finally was able to speak to him again, he suggested more medication.

The next year, he would deny to her face that he ever gave her medication in the first place.

This is a very brief summary of only the first parts of one patients affidavit, of which there are two that I saw when looking at the case. Both victims of his malpractice continue to explain the things he put them through and I recommend reading through them.

But sure, if he says what endos wanna hear then his word is gospel, I guess.

[odinsblog]

T/W femicide, domestic violence, death

Dora Howell filed her lawsuit in 2011, where she described in painstaking detail the abuse she suffered at the hands of an ex-boyfriend beginning in 2008.

She stated that police violated the Domestic Violence Intervention Act by not arresting Andre Gaskin, against whom Howell had EIGHT orders of protection.

Dora first reported abuse at the hands of Andre Gaskin in 2008 when she was pregnant with their child. She lived on the floor below him in a building in Brooklyn.

She stated that he threw her to the floor and kicked her stomach, causing her to bleed and require hospitalization.

In response, Howell filed an order of protection against Gaskin.

Between September and November 2008, Dora called the police NINE times to say that Gaskin was violating that order by contacting her, showing up at her door and assaulting her.

Each time police arrived, Dora would show them the order of protection.

Instead of arresting Gaskin, police would say they would remove him from the premises; yet each time they allowed him to go back to his apartment upstairs.

One night, Andre Gaskin used a metal pipe to bang on Dora Howell’s door, breaking the lock in an attempt to force his way inside.

Instead of arresting Gaskin, police asked Howell, “Why don’t you move? Why don’t you go stay somewhere else if this keeps happening?”— and made demands, saying they’d arrest Howell if she called them again.

Weeks later, Dora called police several times to report that Andre Gaskin was breaking the protective order.

On the first occasion, Officers Mosely-Lawrence and Meran responded and waited until Gaskins uncle picked him up.

The following morning, as Dora was about to enter her apartment, she heard Gaskin inside.

Gaskin was speaking on the phone in Howell’s apartment, arranging for someone to assault and rob her.

Dora recorded him through the door, left the building, and called 911 from outside, explaining what she had overheard and recorded.

According to Dora, Gaskin’s uncle “is something . . . I don’t know if he’s a detective.” Dora testified that the uncle came around “all the time,” always dressed in a suit, was known to the responding officers, and that Gaskin was treated specially because the officers knew his uncle and treated him deferentially.

According to court documents, officers have not disputed those facts.

A week later, Andre Gaskin dragged Dora Howell by her hair up the stairs and into his apartment.

There, he physically assaulted her.

When she went to the window to yell for police to help, Gaskin said, “You want help? I’ll send you for help,”before throwing her outside of his THIRD floor apartment window.

When Andre Gaskin threw Dora Howell out of his third floor apartment building, she landed on a wheelchair ramp leading to her building.

Her knee, pelvis and hip were broken, and her spine was fractured.

She stayed in the hospital for over a month, undergoing multiple surgeries.

Dora Howell sued the city and the two officers alleging negligence in 2011. The state Supreme Court ordered the city to produce the officers for deposition THREE times, each time they failed to comply with the courts order.

Instead, in 2012 they filed to dismiss the complaint.

In August 2009, Andre Gaskin was arrested for the assault and for his violations of the orders of protection. He pleaded guilty to charges of assault and criminal contempt in April 2010.

👉🏿 https://gothamist.com/news/she-called-nypd-about-domestic-violence-for-years-they-found-her-dead-in-a-basement

👉🏿 https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/8516085/dora-howell-v-city-of-new-york/

[son-ofthe-father]

"Father told me to tell you that dinner is ready."

"I'm Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, my father is the priest of this village. I'm nineteen, and when father retires, I'll inherit his church. I usually spend all of my time at home in our modest little house an hour away from the village where father works. 'To preserve my innocence, he says.' I spend my time doing household chores, since mother passed when I was young and father has no time for house-keeping."

Fyodor looked up from where he was nibbling on the end of his thumbnail, bringing his hand down quickly when his father came into the room.

He looked down innocently and nodded his greeting as his father dismissively waved Fyodor off with a, "Be sure to get dinner prepared, the minister is coming over tonight."

Fyodor sighed again before looking back up. "The minister is a close friend of father's, which means he gets to do more than just look at me as I do small things like stoke the fire in the fireplace or change out the ashtrays. It's not something I particularly enjoy, but I have no say."

Fyodor thought for a moment, mumbling to himself before speaking again. "Oh, ah, sometimes people visit while on their way into town, and sometimes they stay the night. Father lets them sleep in the barn, since the home is only big enough for the two of us. Occasionally, those men called cowboys visit. Father doesn't like them, calls them the dirt of the civilized world, but he lets them stay anyways since he's so generous."

"I think that's all, did I answer all your questions?"

Hi! This is my 6th Fyodor blog! This blog is based on a fanfic called Homegrown Soteriology by Cash_Drabbles on AO3. This is purely my spin of him and I do not claim the idea of this AU. This is simply an idea I got after reading the fanfic.

Warnings for this blog: Religious trauma, potential (explicit) NSFW, religious themes, period-typical homophobia, homophobia, religious guilt, suggestive themes, negligence, implied abuse

I recommend not interacting with this blog if you do not wish to come across any of these themes.

Main blog - @vinnncentias

Tag list - @juniper-bunch

Other links:

Playlist

[to2llynottoby]

Rumors have been going around for a while now and I just want to set the record straight. I wouldn't have even bothered and I don't expect most people to believe it but I feel like I have to get this off my chest

This is a callout post for @foxmulderswaifu5ever (aka Scully, aka foxmulders), who is, as some of you may have guessed, the father of my beautiful Donald Kaczynski. Ever since I got pregnant she's been more dismissive, inattentive, and frankly negligent than I thought her capable of. It's not easy being a mom, but she refuses to step up and help in these early months of my pregnancy despite my REPEATED insistence.

This is her reaction to me breaking the news to her. I hoped it could be a happy occasion, but her response was absolutely chilling. Infantalizing, dismissive, and completely insensitive!! Maybe it's just the hormones but this really felt like a knife to the heart. An emoji-shaped knife no less.

Here she is conveniently forgetting a doctor's appointment were BOTH supposed to be at. Note her flippant attitude towards both me and the baby. I'm not sure if other moms have to deal with this but I am utterly appalled that someone I trusted enough to share eye contact with (which is of course how you get pregnant, everyone knows this) could be so laissez-faire and aloof about something that matters so much! I was waiting in the doctor's office for an hour before I even got word she wouldn't be making it because of, and this is not a joke, her "job".

And I wasn't even going to say anything, but this was the final straw. Making fun of me and my position openly, taunting me with this ask and KNOWING that I would likely be too afraid to answer, much less make myself vulnerable by telling everyone the sick, twisted game behind such an innocuous message. She thought she had me cornered, she thought I wouldn't dare to speak out because I know a lot of her friends are likely to take her side even despite ALL THIS EVIDENCE of her mental and emotional abuse. Well sorry dad, but this mom won't go down that easy!

I don't expect many of you to believe me, or take my side even if you do, considering how loved this person is by every person who interacts with her, and how charming and funny and cool everyone (rightly) thinks she is. But just because someone is amazingly likeable doesn't mean they can't be a DEADBEAT SCUMBAG behind the scenes.

Anyway this has been a long stupid rant and even as I'm about to send it I'm still second-guessing myself. But that's just what it means to be a do-it-yourself mom these days, you have to be ready to make the hard choices and do the right thing. Sorry for cluttering up your dashboards with my drama, but I just had to tell my story even if it would upset some people.

[garseeyart]

Its wild to me how Amity’s involvement in the weapons showcases is dismissed as physical abuse when said abuse includes acts that knowingly/willingly threaten or put one at risk of harm. “But its scripted!” Okay, but did yall see either parent stop the abomiton once it went off?

Like, the abomiton that was programmed to eliminate its enemies which said child had become?? The abomiton no child should be demoing for that reason (among others)?? The abomiton that was only disengaged when said parents got what they wanted from said child?? Yeah, me either.

Like, its honestly concerning how folks just, don’t see a child being made to demo weapons as punishment by people who are known to be untrustworthy, negligent, abusers as an issue. Weapons can misfire or do harm accidentally, let alone when they are being tested on someone?

And like I know I bring it up all the time but we really need to move away from the idea of physical abuse only looking one way or taking one form because that is simply not the case. Esp cos some of these other forms can easily fly under the radar as accidents when harm is done.

[feralkwe]

I'm like. I'm sorry if your (op of that one posts) parents sucked or whatever but personally, as someone who's parents did somewhat monitor their internet activity and still track my location, I'm really grateful they did/do that??? It saved me from a lot of trouble and it makes me feel safer knowing that they can generally see my location 😭

i absolutely wish we lived in a perfect world where that sort of thing was completely unnecessary. and ofc there are terrible people who are abusive and controlling and a danger to their own children who would use privacy invasion as a tool for those ends. i would never dispute that.

but "there is no non-abuse reason" is an incredibly dangerous blanket statement that is not only reductive and unhelpful to the people that op thinks they are protecting, but flat out incorrect as well. i will not make assumptions about that person's life and whether or not they have been a parent, but it seems a safe bet they have never been in my situation, which is sadly not rare in the least. they would sing a different tune if they had been, otherwise they would be a shitty and negligent parent, which is as bad as an abusive one.

and no, i am not going to elaborate on what that circumstance or experience is/was. that is not mine alone to share. that is the place where my now adult child gets to have their absolute privacy. they get to decide who gets to know their story. people like that op and those who reblog their opinions are gonna have to trust me. if they don't, i can't help that, but i am unburdened by regret because i succeeded in my job despite the cost.

tumblr very much is the "parents are the enemy" website. i get it. many of us grew up with parents who made terrible mistakes, didn't know what they were doing was actually bad, or yeah, were outright abusive and controlling. but also many of us were just kids who had needs that were met by parents making decisions for our well being that we didn't like. that very much happens. that's part of the responsibility of being a parent/caregiver. we were unreliable narrators in many ways, through the ignorance that sometimes accompanies youth and inexperience. context matters, and it is an unfortunate truth that it is sometimes difficult fully have all of it.

i don't say any of this to excuse abuse or to diminish experiences. it's a fact that abuse happens. neglect happens. we should be vigilant in following up when things seem off. we should listen to children in order to ask the right questions to find the truth of a matter. there should, frankly, be more checks in place to ensure parents/caregivers are not abusing their power and that they do not get to treat children like property. we as a society, especially in the u.s. where "parents rights" is often code for "forcing a child to adhere to a strict set of religious rules that strips them of their human rights," fail children every day because we dismiss them outright and deny them their free will in situations where their will is absolutely harmless and even vital to growing and becoming full and independent individuals.

but also sometimes a minor child's free will stupid and is absolutely going to lead them to a deadly place, and it is absolutely our job as caregiving adults to step in and say "no" so they can learn and live.

there is a difference because we live in a world full of nuance, and "this thing is always an act of abuse" is unhelpful to the point of ignorance, absurdity, and yeah, danger. i would have been negligent as a parent had i acted any other way. i am beyond tired of seeing otherwise intelligent and reasonable people propagate such an unnuanced opinion uncritically, especially people who have never had to face those circumstances that i and many other parents have endured in the name of preserving our children's lives. i know they are well-meaning, but their experiences are not universal. it serves no one to pretend they are.

i sincerely hope they never have to face those things, but i'll be absolutely damned if i am going to be painted with their broad brush of ignorance because they have the privilege of their innocence.

[anamericangirl]

the reaction to churckbones' post is so heartbreaking, like... even if you're a pro-choicer who's gonna dismiss her on the basis not everyone having the same experience as her, you can still think "hey! why the fuck an abortion clinic doesn't offer post-checkups? hey! why do they do not point an abused woman torwards helpful resources to maybe get her out of her situation?" why wouldn't you want to advocate for women to be able to make "their choice" as safely as possible?

Pro-aborts have a knack for coming through with the worst imaginable takes for every situation. With how often they use raped and abused women to advocate for abortion you would think when one of those raped and abused women they claim to care about so much dares to talk about the absolutely atrocious care they received at an abortion clinic the logical thing would be to aim anger and criticism at the abortion clinic, not the abuse victim.

But no. Pro-aborts have been duped into believing that abortion clinics can do no wrong. That they are the gold standard of medical care. That anyone who criticizes an abortion clinic is attacking women’s rights because abortion clinics are above criticism. And if a rape victim didn’t receive proper (or really any) pre or post abortion care, on a level that would be considered medical negligence at any other medical facility, at an abortion clinic well, it must be the victim’s fault.

Pro-aborts do not give a shit about rape victims, which is evident when a rape victim dares criticize the industry they idolize. The only thing they care about is abortion. And screw having any reasonable standards of care. All that matters is getting the abortion and they don’t care what happens to the woman afterwards. Once the abortion is done the woman is no longer useful to them.

The notes on that post are absolutely sickening and everything wrong with the pro-abortion movement.

[immortalvipers]

Pressure The Incompetent

Child Protective Services (CPS) are not always helpful. Especially with cases of emotional abuse. From personal experiences and many relatable stories, CPS appears extremely unhelpful for children trapped in emotionally abusive homes and seeking a way out. Emotional abuse is extremely dangerous. It comes in many forms (body shaming, slut shaming, manipulation, negligence, picking favorites, etc.), it is a type of "hidden abuse", it is extremely mentally damaging, it is extremely hard to escape, and it is extremely hard to prove. Unfortunately, many forms of emotional abuse are often disregarded by society, and this includes authorities such as CPS. They will not defend a victim unless they present the effects of physical abuse. They will wait until you're injured or dead. There needs to be more dire consequences for perpetrating emotional abuse. There needs to be more attentive and thorough investigations done by the proper authorities (CPS). There needs to be more justice for emotionally abused children. In some states and/or counties in the U.S. emotional abuse does not make the parent unfit. This needs to change, or else many, many children will continue to suffer and/or die. Pressure those in power who ignore the issue of child abuse, especially emotionally abusive cases. Do not let them dismiss grave problems and leave the victims trapped and helpless. Pressure the incompetent.

[beardedmrbean]

A creeper confesses to his bishop. He’s raping his 5-year-old daughter.

For seven years, the bishop tells no one outside his church – remaining silent, as a church lawyer advises him to do – and the abuse continues. Then the creeper starts raping another daughter, just six weeks old.

Last week, a Cochise County judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by several of the creeper's children against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It’s galling, though not surprising, that a judge would decline to hold the church responsible. While Arizona has a mandatory reporting law for teachers and doctors and such, members of the clergy are not required to report a confession that a child is being abused.

What is shocking – stunning, really – is that a key state legislator won’t even consider changing the law to carve out an exemption that might have protected that 5-year-old girl, her sister and God only knows how many other children.

Rapist's rights trump those of his victim

“The seal of confession is a sacred, sacred part of the Catholic church,’’ Rep. Quang Nguyen, who is Catholic, recently told Capitol Media Services' Howard Fischer.

Put another way, a rapist’s sacred religious rights trump a child’s sacred right to be protected from a sexual predator? Really, sir?

This horror story was brought to light last year, the result of an Associated Press investigation into the Mormon church’s handling of child sexual abuse cases.

Paul Adams, of Bisbee, a father of six, admitted during a counseling session with his bishop that he was raping his then-5-year-old daughter.

According to court records, Bishop John Herrod called the church’s help line, which is used by bishops to report child sex abuse to church officials in Salt Lake City, and was advised by attorney not to call the police or alert anyone outside the church. According to the AP, which based its report on court records, attorney Merrill Nelson advised Herrod and his eventual replacement, Bishop Robert "Kim" Mauzy, for more than two years not to report Adams.

So they didn’t – instead trying to persuade Adams to seek help – and the rest, as they say, is horrifying history.

Church's silence let abuse go on for years

The abuse went on until finally in 2017, Adams was arrested. It seems he videoed his perverted attacks of his children and posted them on the internet. Authorities in New Zealand and the United States traced one of the videos to Adams, who later died by suicide in jail while awaiting trial.

Three of Adams’ six children sued the church, the bishops and other church officials in 2021, accusing them of negligence and conspiring to cover up child sex abuse to avoid “costly lawsuits” and protect the church's reputation.

In a Nov. 3 ruling, Cochise County Superior Court Judge Timothy Dickerson threw out the lawsuit, saying the church had no legal duty to report that a child was being raped.

"Church defendants were not required under the Mandatory Reporting Statute to report the abuse of Jane Doe 1 by her father because their knowledge of the abuse came from confidential communications which fall within the clergy-penitent exception," Dickerson wrote.

Arizona legislator thwarts bill for clergy to report abuse

Church officials, who apparently sleep quite well at night, pronounced themselves “pleased” with the decision.

“Contrary to some news reports and exaggerated allegations, the court found that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its clergy handled this matter consistent with Arizona law,” the Mormon church said in a prepared statement.

Which bring us back to Arizona law and the people who make it at the state Capitol.

Rep. Stacey Travers, D-Phoenix, introduced a bill this year to require a member of the clergy to report abuse learned about during a confession or confidential communication if “there is a reasonable suspicion to believe that the abuse is ongoing, will continue or may be a threat to other minors.”

It didn’t even rate a hearing. Didn’t even get assigned to a committee.

His rationale: Victims can turn to others for help

And, apparently, it won’t go anywhere next year either, as Rep. Quang Nguyen, the Prescott Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, says he won’t give the bill a hearing. (He did say he would at least speak to Travers, so I guess there's that.)

Nguyen, in his interview with Capitol Media Services, said he believes that the bill "is an attack on the church," and he questioned why members of the clergy would need to call the police or state Department of Child Safety.

"The victim has the parents, the victim has the teachers, the victim has friends, the victim has relatives that he or she is close to," Nguyen said. "So, it doesn’t need a priest to be able to go to court and testify."

Tell that to the 5-year-old Bisbee girl who would endure seven years of assaults while devout daddy’s bishops stayed silent.

“They just let it keep happening,” the girl told the AP last year. “They just said, ‘Hey, let’s excommunicate her father.’ It didn’t stop. ‘Let’s have them do therapy.’ It didn’t stop. ‘Hey, let’s forgive and forget and all this will go away.’ It didn’t go away.”

For her, it likely never will.

Perhaps Rep. Nguyen can explain to her that her father’s rights were sacred.

“The seal of confession is never to be broken,’’ he said. “And priests will go to jail for it.’’

And children will live in hell because of it.

For shame, Rep. Nguyen.

[poppyandzena]

Question for Saige:

If Poppy's treatment of Noeh isn't abuse because of her BPD and Hayleigh's crime isn't giving her the attention she needs...

Why is Poppy's negligence of your needs and dismissal of your spirals not abuse?

If Poppy's demands on Noeh's metamours are valid and reasonable because hearing about other partners is a trigger for her...

Why is it okay that her response to how her public adoration of NF was triggering you was just to tell you to mute her Twitter?

And how do you feel about her letting Milena back into her life and them getting closer? Did that feel respectful of your relationship with her? Do you get to have a say in that?

Why are all of her needs with an FP essential, but none of your needs with her as your FP are?

How do you not see why people are questioning your relationship and treatment? Don't you see why some people might be legitimately worried about you, and not trying to gaslight or attack you?

^

[thestobingirlie]

The urge to make Steve’s parents good feels like people rebelling from angst sometimes. Like “why can’t he have a normal childhood” type of question. “Not every teenager whining about their dad is actually being abused”, also might be some people trying to protect the status-quo of parenthood.

Except that Steve having negligent parents is so, so normal. Stranger things has various types of parents, from the ideal Sinclairs and maybe overbearing Claudia to very, very grey Karen Wheeler, and of course horrible Hargrove senior and Max’s mom who is an alcoholic. And the same fic writers sometimes try to make Susan Hargrove not an alcoholic, too. Just a single mom.

But the thing is that both Susan being like that and Steve’s parents being like that is actually… well, not to sound cruel, but it’s pretty regular. So is Eddie’s story.

And the three of them (Steve, Max and Eddie) are different from the other kids. And it’s visible. And they sort of have a canon understanding with Max very quickly warming up to Steve and caring for Eddie enough to sound the alarm and believe that he is not a murderer. With Steve and Eddie actually becoming friends super quickly. It’s Eddie immediately calling Max “Red”, it’s Steve saying “why is the only one who’s helping me is this random girl”, it’s canon that they all immediately click, and not with this brotherly love, like with Dustin, no, there is this immediate understanding. And I just don’t get why do some authors want to erase that. Max, the character who suffers from parental abuse and abuse from her family very consistently through the series, trusts Steve and Eddie immediately for a reason. Them immediately acknowledging her and addressing her in a careful and not overbearing way that is probably very flattering for Max (“the only one who helps me”, “Red”, etc) is there for a reason.

I have shitty relationship with my parents, probably similar to Steve’s. I have been dismissed that I’m just a whiny, disrespectful teen, so it hurts me obviously, to see people try and erase Steve’s canon relationship at least with his father. So maybe I’m being unfair.

But like. It’s there for a reason! Otherwise they wouldn’t have had Max, Steve and Eddie gravitate to each other so obviously! They get each other and btw Dustin is not there with them. Dustin is friends with them, loves all thee of them, but he is not always there. Neither is Robin or Nancy.

Max and Will immediately liking each other is there for a reason, too, btw. So is Max being endlessly patient with El. Like. Like it’s canon, it’s just not said implicitly. But I swear to god, no one speaks about parental abuse and neglect openly at Steve’s age if they can hide it, and it’s the 80s, and he is a rich boy in a small town, where everyone knows his father. He’ll get in trouble! Max and Eddie can’t hide it. And they both try, but it’s impossible, their parents just don’t have the same social status that Harringtons enjoy! But Steve can hide it and he can’t speak about it because a) no one is going to believe him, b) he will protect his parents reputation because that’s important to them, c) he does speak about them like that! “Big house, no parents”, come on! To say that it’s debatable unless Steve will be abused on camera is idiotic! Steve’s dad will never abuse him in front of others, and Steve will always try to hide the abuse.

i do think some people giving steve good parents just… want their favourite character to have a happy childhood lmao. but a lot of them just seem to have this hatred over the idea that steve doesn’t have good parents. and i don’t get that. like, more than one character can have bad parents. they come in all shapes and colours!!

i do also see it coming from the fact that people aren’t always great at writing morally grey characters. some people don’t think steve’s parents horrifically beat him, so obviously they’re great parents! and it’s like, they can be neither.

parents, especially in the 80s, aren’t always great. it’s typical that they’ll fuck up in some way! that doesn’t mean they hate their children! like, i’m sure steve’s parents do love him in their own way, they’re just not good at parenting. honestly, even if steve never mentioned his parents, i would think they had some kind of issues, because just look at that boy lmao.

and that’s actually really interesting! i’ve never thought about max, eddie, and steve in that way, but i do see it. all of them have some kind of emotional detachment from their parents, and i could see them totally clicking because of it.

also, el and max are so special to me, and i wish we saw more will and max.

yeah, i really don’t see how you can look at canon and say, we never get concrete proof his dad’s a dick, so obviously steve is just a liar! like, what a jump.

this fandom is just not great at picking up information if it isn’t explicitly given to them. i mean, people forget jonathan is abused and we saw that on screen, though clearly it wasn’t brutal enough for the audience to pick up on lmao. clearly every bad parent needs a scene like neil and billy’s to be able to get that they’re not good parents.

[gy4rucartman]

Do you have any specific Mike hcs that you'd like to share??

yes!! apologies on being slow to anons btw ideally id like to draw responses for these but i havent got the time to atm... i'll edit this or make a separate post with more hcs btw!

specific Mike hcs according to mod vulture:

-half asian! i like to think mike is central asian

-transguy, and he struggles with his image often though not always in relation to gender dysphoria--he often envies people like Michael or Kenny who have what he considers "beautifully masculine features"

- Severe social anxiety but its the kind where he overcompensated to "overcome" it but hes often burdened with feelings of loneliness when hes not in a crowd. becomes more noticeably awkward if hes left alone with one or two people.

-has a form of Porphyria, which leaves him in the hospital for majority of his schooling (why hes not always around), his feelings towards vampirism, why he has such a strong need for community and fostering one.

-i hc hes the child of poor teen parents that couldnt afford to take care of him, so most of his life was under foster care and orphanages until finally his mother passed (also has porphyria, and couldnt get proper care.) and then Mr. Adams adopted him since Mikes biological father wasnt able to take care of him on his own (bio parents with a baby mike below!)

-his relationship with mr adams is difficult, while Mr. Adams isnt verbally abusive he IS extremely emotionally negligent which weighs down on mike heavy growing up. Mike feels unheard, and due to Mr.Adams need to make everything a joke or to try way too hard as his new father figure, it often causes rifts between the two leaving Mike dismissed and desperate to find found-family.

-Mike doesnt remember his parenrs very well, and even in adulthood dreams of meeting them. All he knows is his mom passed away when he was very young.

-Mike isnt as pretentious as Michael or the other goths but actually knows just as much if not more about music as them. He just wants a chance at friendship really, maybe hes also overcompensating for this?

[foxydivaxx]

Yugioh Pretty Little Liars Style Chapter 3

FLASHBACK

"Wait, let me get this straight. So Amber caught Ami with Theodore in the locker room, pants down and all?!" says Yuma. The others snorted with laughter whilst Yami nods. "That's what Amber said but then again, why would anyone even trust a word she says? Afterall she is a gossip." says Yami.

"Right." says Yusei with a nod. "Anyhow..." says Yami, flicking his hand in a dismissive manner. "That's their headache. Could care less what those bitches do with their damn lives. They can go contact some disease for all I care. Though they better not come around my end else I'll sue."

The others snorted with laughter at that statement. At that moment, some blonde chick in a blue dress storm into the hallway and stands in front of the boys, hands on hips. Yami glares at her. "Can we help you?" he says in a nonchalant attitude.

She rolled her eyes and says in an irritable manner, "I would like to speak with you in private." she says through gritted teeth. He rolled his eyes. "Fine." With that, they both walk away to an empty classroom.

Once inside, she begins to spill. Needless to say, Yami's eyes widened in shock. "You don't mean it?" She nods grimly. "Trust me. It's that bad." Yami sighed and then thinks for a bit. "It seems that we have to speed things up."

END OF FLASHBACK

Alexis Rhodes smiles sadly as she pats her belly. Why she even agreed to marry her current husband is beyond her.

Sure family business and stuff but still she could always enjoy a little thrill every once in a while. At that moment, her phone rings. Upon seeing the Caller Id, she smirks and picks it up and says, "Was wondering when you would call."

The caller on the other line had a deep baritone. "Ready for your next assignment?"

Yugi slips his hands into his pockets as he takes a walk along the streets. At a glance he appears innocent but those that know him know that that was far from the corrupted him and the others no doubt about that but there are others that were worse than his brother.

But then again what does one expect from them when their parents were either abusive, negligent and irresponsible or heck all of the above.

Every kid in Domino has a story to tell in regards to their families. Oh he has heard a lot of shit and it isn't pretty.

"Hey Yug." He stops in his tracks and gasps as soon as he comes in contact with a tall blonde dude with brown eyes. "Joe?!" The blonde smirks and walks over to him.

"Been a while huh Yug?" he says. Yugi who was completely out of words simply nods. He and Joey were childhood friends and back then they often got up to all sorts of mischief with Yami's encouragement.

"Still, you are back." Yugi says. Joey nods. "My parents recently got divorced so dad brought me back here with him.

"Oh...sorry about that."

"Heard about Yami. You ok bro?" Yugi shakes his head. "I will never be ok?" Yugi replies. Joey sighs. "Reminds me of what happened to Serenity back then." Years ago, his younger sister Serenity was killed in a car crash.

"Man life sucks." says Yugi. The blonde nods. "Say, lets go hang like ol' times?" For the first time in years, Yugi manages to smirk. "Oh yeah!"

Meanwhile Seto Kaiba walks into his room after a busy day out. "Hey Seto." The boy in question whips around and smirks as he comes face to face with Jaden who was lying down seductively on his bed.

"How have you been Jay?" Seto asks as he walks over to the bed and sits beside his lover.

Jaden crawls over to Seto and sits on his lap. "I need my sugar fix now," he says. Most people aren't aware of the secret affair Seto, Yami and Jaden had back then.

Seto chuckles. "Oh you will get that babe." He pulls the other closer to him and kisses him passionately.

Meanwhile Yusei heads into his room with a glass of orange juice in hand. Ever since he checked into rehab following the aftermath of Yami's death, he had been struggling to stay sober. If anything, they all had their individual demons to deal with.

He stops as soon as he sees a brown envelope. "Who left this there?" There isn't a name prompting Yusei to open the envelope and empty the contents onto the bed. What he finds is some medical report and a note from Y which says:

I know what you did last summer

-Y

Yusei goes through the medical report and gasps. "Da Fuck?!"

Elsewhere Yuya hums as he prepares for a nice shower. "God I feel so yucky right now." He soon gets in the shower and cleans himself up. The boy is so lost in his world that he does not notice anyone behind him.

He whips around and lets out a bloodcurling scream, blood splattering everywhere.

That same night, Marik Ishtar growls as he types away on his laptop. If he doesn't submit this report by tomorrow. He soon sees an email notifìcation and clicks on it. Upon seeing the contents, he gasps. "Holy Shit!"