#loathsome coworkers

[chiliger]

Feels like it’s been a whole month.

[ominouspuff]

*The Office theme starts up*

Fanart for @chiliger’s Purge-Trooper!Cody comic that’s had me laughing out loud many times. Vent-Dweller you are dear to me. Thank you for creating, @chiliger!

@interested parties, the medic’s gun reads “olde Betsy”, and “tranc-66”.

[froot-batty]

Part 1 <- Part 2 <- Part 3

Ed's time attending college was a short one. College had a lot more freedom than the schools back at home, which he did enjoy, but between accidentally biting off far more than he could chew class-wise and having trouble adjusting to being in such a populated environment, he decided to drop out after a year (with plans to return once he settled in Gotham - which never ended up happening).

Instead, he took a job at a relatively small electronics store, which might've been a good transition point from small town to big city if he hadn't utterly hated his job. Not only did he have to deal with customer service (loathsome), but it was dealing with idiots who didn't even know the simplest thing about their own electronics! Though he put in the effort to attempt to be cordial, his short temper and inability to not be sarcastic oftentimes got him in full-blown arguments with customers.

This as well as their age and general obvious neurodivergency didn't make them a popular employee in their boss' eyes. Their boss not only thought Ed was too useless for most tasks, but would occasionally berate them or send them off to do menial tasks alone for hours at a time. Their coworkers (all but two) tended to avoid them, too, as to not be pestered with riddles or other fun facts. But Eddie needed the money, so they bit their tongue and tried not to get fired.

Until he thought of a way to start getting back at at least one part of his terrible job. When doing big repair jobs on things such as laptops or phones, he'd often be left alone with the device until it was all fixed. This meant he got a loooot of time to do whatever he wanted to it without anyone knowing. So whenever he'd get a particularly rude customer, he started messing with their devices. Just little inconvenient things in the beginning, but eventually progressing into downloading malware or making it so that they had to answer a riddle every time they wanted to log into their device.

And, eventually, they'd figure out a way to short devices remotely. They wouldn't do this too often in the fear of being caught, but they saved it especially for their boss, who's computer they'd messed with without his knowledge. The resulting fire from the short would end up seriously injuring Ed's boss, so much so that he needed to be hospitalized. Getting away with that crime would only fuel Ed's desire to see what else they could do.

They would start hacking into places. Changing the digital billboards around Gotham, or getting people's personal information to get themselves some extra cash; just general mischief that would eventually attract the attention of Batman, due the fact Ed would start leaving clues or riddles behind after they were done.

A little bit after that is when he would perform his first crime to really get the attention of Bats. For a while now he had been messing around with making puzzle boxes and other traps, and he decided to put them together to make an escape-room sort of activity that he could drop someone into and force them to solve. The first victim of this was someone Ed nabbed because it was convenient, and the beginner nature of the escape room meant that Bats discovered it and rescued the victim relatively quickly. But when Eddie discovered how much he loved the attention from Bats, he'd begin fine-tuning his escapes, personalizing them for the victim and making them more challenging for Batman. All the while, Ed stayed completely anonymous behind the moniker of "The Riddler".

It was this insatiable desire to keep the Batman's (and the public's) attention on him that would eventually lead to the event which would reveal who he was to the world and land him in Arkham for the first time.

[kanskje-kaffe]

Mando Culture Studies✨Pt. 1 - English

There are a lot of English influences in Mandalorian culture, from black ale drunk by the helmetful to uj’alaya, the Mandalorian dark fruitcake favored for all the same reasons as the traditional English one: easy storage, high energy, and long-life fruit preservation. Also, the willingness to get wasted and scrap with people anywhere in the Galaxy.

The strongest sign of this influence is in the language. A lot of words in Mando’a are at least derived from English working-class dialect words, especially Geordie dialect, if not just… the same word. I moved to the North-East of England back in 2020 and it’s remarkable how many mando’a words I’ve heard in everyday conversation since coming here.

Here’s a few of the connections I’ve noticed/heard in real life between Geordie/English words and Mando’a:

Chaav’la (adj.): rough, belonging to the criminal underclass

Chav/charva (n.): a rough urban person. I heard this derived from an acronym meaning ‘council-housed and violent’ lol, I don’t know if that’s a true derivation but it’s an accurate description of what the word describes. Chav is used all over England and charva is specifically a Geordie word

Shebs (n.): ass, backside, rear (of person or building etc.)

Chebs (n.): lumps on the body eg. ass, tits (male or female) etc. I heard this one in the wild when a coworker said he was ‘freezing his chebs off’. Geordie dialect

Skran (n.): food

Scran (n., v.): food, or eating. As a noun it can be food of any description but you’d be less likely to use it to describe fancy food. When used as a verb I think it has the connotation of scarfing the food down, eating quickly or in an unrefined way. You can call a food truck a ‘scran van’. Geordie dialect

Yaim (n.): home

Yem: home. ‘I’ll gan yem’ means ‘I’m going home’. Geordie dialect

Skanah (n.): a hated or loathsome thing, an object of dislike

Scunners (n., v.): as a noun, a horror or an object of dislike. As a verb, a strong feeling of aversion. This one is actually Scottish

Wayii: a general exclamation, like ‘good grief’

Way aye: an exclamation indicating affirmation or agreement. This one is more of a stretch, but since there are already Geordie words in Mando’a and Way aye is one of the most well-known Geordie phrases there is, I think it’s impossible the connection wasn’t made

Kando (n.): importance, weight

Kandosii: nice one! Wicked! Well done!

Canny (adv., adj.): as an adverb, canny means ‘very’ or ‘extremely’. Something can be canny good or canny bad. As an adjective, it’s always positive. ‘That’s canny’ or ‘he’s canny’ means good, reliable, sound, positive. He’s a stand-up guy. It’s a good outcome. Like wayii this one is more of a stretch, but it immediately stood out to me and I doubt I’m the only one. Geordie dialect

Mhi (pr.): us

Us (pr.): me. LOL. It’s common in a lot of working-class English dialects to say ‘us’ for ‘me’, but especially so in the North-East. “Can you give us that” means “can you give me that”. I’m absolutely positive this is an intentional reversal and it’s also hilarious

[toskarin]

I referred to something as loathsome at work and a coworker looked at me funny, this is all your fault. 10/10 experience

now you get to experience, if only for a moment, what it is like to be me every day

[read-bi-lina]

When You Least Expect It by Haley Cass

Synopsis: Caroline Parker is a successful divorce attorney who has never herself been in a long term relationship. Stopping by a local coffee shop one evening, she recognizes the barista to be Hannah Dalton, the wife of Caroline’s insufferable coworker. Or should I say, the separated-but-not-so-estranged-due-to-them-having-a-child-in-common wife of said loathsome colleague? Caroline decides to call Hannah after seeing she wrote her number on her to-go cup, only to discover Hannah wants Caroline to be her divorce lawyer when they meet up for what Caroline thought to be a date. Nevertheless, Caroline agrees to be Hannah’s lawyer. As a bond begins growing between the two, so do Caroline’s feelings towards Hannah. Are her feelings reciprocated or will Hannah always be just out of reach for Caroline?

Opinion/review: How is this book not more popular?! It is exactly what I’ve been looking for in sapphic romance ever since reading One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, Delilah Green Doesn’t Date by Ashley Herring Blake, and She Gets The Girl by Rachael Lipponcott and Alyson Derrick! Something that makes me really feel for the characters and gets me excited. I’ve read or listened to other sapphic books that I’ve enjoyed, but only a few of them have gotten me this giddy. Not to spoil things but I also enjoyed the pacing in this book because any issues that that occurred within the plot were actually resolved quickly and conveniently, allowing the focus to be less on obstacles and drama and more on yearning. While this could be seen as a negative for some readers, for me it was exactly what I wanted. I can’t wait to read Better Than Expected next! 

[bgm05]

This wholly loathsome group of old men that work in the same building as me , not my actual coworkers thank god, that camp out in the shared break room and just talk about War. I walk in and the first thing I hear is “they’re burying people in a ditch in Iraq”. One of them pronounced 9/11 as “Nine One One”

[chiliger]

Vader: That is the most foul, cruel and bad tempered trooper you’ve ever set eyes on!

Screenshots from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”

[ddarker-dreams]

Diluc, why are you wearing gloves all the time? I want to touch your real hands.

There was a single conclusion you came to after months of isolation and rebellion — humans weren't meant to live in solitude.

It's a simple concept, really, one that rarely crossed your mind as you lived your previous life. Friends, coworkers, family; unique personalities that come together in beautiful ways and keep life worth living. There were hardships, words that shouldn't have been said, or actions that you wish you could take back, but that was a sign you were alive. That blood pumped through your veins and a soul resided in your body.

When that was taken away from you, you were left to mourn what was lost.

Would you ever experience a mutual laugh with a closed companion ever again? Ruminate over past experiences with newfound wisdom? Hold hands while walking down the market, playfully arguing over who should pick up the tab for lunch? The answer was clear, no matter how much you wished it wasn't true.

He took away your life and could offer only a twisted, unsatisfactory replica in its place.

His eyes are soft and it makes you sick. Layers of delusion, meticulously built up in a rose-colored shade, obscure his vision to reality. You don't care who fulfilled your basic needs anymore. He took so much from you and you'd return the affliction tenfold, taking until he's reduced to nothing but a husk.

Diluc intertwines his fingers with yours, marveling over the sight of your palm pressing against his. You close your eyes. Not to savor the moment, as he'd prefer, but to block him out. The scent of leather and musky cologne makes it difficult to imagine him as someone else. That doesn't stop you from trying — you pull from a fading list of faces in your memory to replace him with.

"Is this okay?" He gives a tentative squeeze.

"Mhm," is all you can offer in response. Your throat is too tight to project words, so you don't try, and he accepts what you give him.

"As for your question," he rubs the coarse pad of his thumb over your wrist, "I didn't want to taint my hands in anticipation of touching you. You're without imperfection, after all. Pure. I... I can't ruin that aspect of you."

You laugh at that, short and dry. "Ah, of course."

A fool in love, that's what he is, you decide. A fool could never see the truth, no matter if it was in front of him.

He's already tainted you beyond redemption. Why else would you welcome his loathsome touch so eagerly?

[marvelslut16]

Idiots in love

Pairing: William ‘Bill’ Weasley x reader 

Synopsis: (Y/N) has been in love with Bill ever since she met him their first year at Hogwarts. Will she finally tell Bill how she feels, like Mrs. Weasley hopes she will, or will Fleur and Ginny’s assumptions about (Y/N)’s love life get in the way. 

Word count: 2.9k+

Warnings: Angst. Dumb asses pining after each other. Fleur, if she counts lmao. Brief mentions of death. 

A/N: This has been sitting in my drafts for months, I wrote it as a self indulgent piece since I can’t date Bill in Hogwarts Mystery and I wasn’t sure if anyone would actually read it. It's cannon divergent. Also, tell me if you want a part 2!

My first fic of the new year! Hopefully I'll be way more consistent and inspired this year. Thank you to everyone reading any of the fics I write, I love you all!

“Molly, he’s happy with her,” you roll your eyes at the older woman who had become like a mother to you over the years. 

You met her at Kings Cross Station the morning of your first year, she helped you cross the barrier, your parents are muggles who are afraid of anything different. You were in Bill’s year, the two of you becoming fast friends on the train ride. Through your years at Hogwarts you two became inseparable, both becoming Head Girl and Head Boy together. You two always studied together, explored the castle together, went to Hogsmeade together, you did everything together. Well, except one thing, you didn’t fall in love together; you fell for him, and he fell for that foul, loathsome Emily Tyler and now Fleur Delacour.

You spent almost every Christmas Holiday under the burrow’s roof, along with most of your summers. The burrow was your real home, and the Weasley’s were your family. After you and Bill had graduated Molly and Arthur insisted you use their first names, both convinced you and Bill would finally get together. But that didn’t happen, you both went separate ways, barely even owling over the years. He went on to be this fantastic cursebreaker for Gringotts, getting sent all the way to Egypt. And you, you became the astronomy professor at Hogwarts, you thrived in the subject and Professor Sinistra transferred to Uagadou.

“But you’re perfect for him,” Molly nags. You loved the women with your whole heart, but she really needed to learn when to drop matters of the heart. Especially when the topic of discussion was set to arrive soon. 

“Not everything works out how we want it to,” you sigh as you hand her a clean dish to dry, you had wanted to clean the dishes the muggle way. “Especially when it involves one's heart.”

The two of you are waiting for everyone to arrive, Arthur is picking the kids up from the train now that it’s summer holiday. You had apparated to the burrow after the students boarded the train, now officially a part of the Order. Dumbledore and Sirius are dead, but that just means that everyone needs to fight harder. 

“I just want you to be happy,” Molly’s eyes are soft and sad as she looks at you. 

“I am,” you smile through the lie. There’s a pop from the living room, assuming it’s just Charlie you continue. “I don’t need a man Molly, my students make me happy.”

“Mum,” the unmistakable voice of William Weasley calls as he walks towards the kitchen. “I have great news, Fleur and I are engaged! We want to get married this summer!”

You accidentally drop the plate you're washing back into the soapy water, causing some to splash your shirt. For a split second you see Molly’s face fall before she puts on a bright fake smile as she turns to her eldest. You refuse to turn and see him, you thought you had enough time to prepare yourself to see him again, but you didn’t. He refused to see you after he got hurt during the battle of the astronomy tower when he was in the hospital wing and ignored you in the few weeks following.  

“Oh, wow,” Molly tries to come up with a response that won’t upset him. “This quickly?”

“I can’t take the chance, not now,” his mood is hard to read from his voice. He almost seems too defensive when he responds. “Not with everything happening.”

Your heart stops its thumping for a second, you didn’t realize it would hurt this much to see him happy. You want more than anything for him to be happy, but you also know that his mother and sister will never approve of Fleur. And he’ll never be fully happy because of that. But maybe you're wrong, maybe you don’t really know him. Maybe you never did. 

“I can’t believe I signed up for bloody astronomy again,” you can hear Ron complain through the open window before Molly can respond.

“You know you love me,” you holler out the window as Ron and Ginny get closer to the house. They’re the only two at Hogwarts now, they’re growing up so fast. 

“Yeah, yeah professor,” he mutters as he walks through the door before grinning widely at you. 

Even though you had seen Ginny hours ago, the younger girl runs up to you and throws her arms around you. You laugh as she pulls back and makes a face as some of the soap suds transferred to her shirt. 

“You just saw (Y/N),” Ron rolls his eyes at Ginny’s actions.

“Yeah but that’s different,” Ginny defends. “At Hogwarts I can’t talk to her about boys, or eat dinner with her, or ask for Quidditch tips.”

“I’m always up for talking about boys,” you grin down at the red headed girl. You laugh and apologize to Molly as Ginny pulls you from the kitchen and up to her room. 

You don’t glance at Bill, you can’t. You’re too scared that all of the feeling you have bottled up will resurface with just one glance. You miss the way his eyes soften at your interaction with his sister, and how they trail after you as you get pulled past him. You sit with Ginny as she fawns over Harry for close to an hour, interjecting occasionally when she asks for your opinion. This is what you always imagined having a younger sister would feel like. 

“What about you?” she asks with a teasing tone in her voice. 

“What about me?” you laugh lightly as your eyebrows furrow in confusion. 

“You and professor Snape,” she’s smirking. 

“Severus?” you laugh before your face pulls into a disgusted look only Ginny can see. “We’re coworkers. Dare I say friends. And he’s a part of the Order, we have to at least tolerate each other.”

“Mhm,” she sounds unconvinced. “He smiled at you the other day! In the Great Hall, where people could see! He never smiles!”

“Ginny, we’re friends,” you try to get through to the stubborn teen. “Plus he’s known me since I was eleven, that would be gross.”

Before Ginny can respond there’s a knock on the open door, you turn around and see Bill for this first time in years. His red hair still falls to his shoulders, and he still has that fang hanging from his ear. There are scars down his cheek now, those and the fang make him look bad ass. Your heart stutters as your eyes meet his, the heartache that disappeared when you were gossiping with Ginny resurfaces with just one look.

“Dinners ready,” he says before turning and walking back down the stairs. 

Dinner is loads of fun, the two eldest Weasley’s joining the group since there’s a small Order meeting afterwards. Dinner is full of Charlie joking with you, something you're happy about since Ginny wouldn’t be able to bring up Severus again. You ignore the giggles and the French accent that poke holes in your heart as Bill only pays attention to Fleur, who showed up at the Burrow when you were upstairs. 

After dinner you agree to show Ron and Ginny some Quidditch moves you had picked up over the years, borrowing an old broom left behind by one of the other boys. Remus and Tonks appear in the front yard, signaling that the meeting would start momentarily. Ron thanks you as he continues to practice the moves as you fly to the ground. Ginny follows you, wanting to get a drink from the kitchen before it's closed off to the youngest two. 

“Are you going to take his last name, or is he going to take yours?” she teases. 

“Ginny, not now,” you sigh, not sure how to get it through her head that you have no feeling for the potions master without revealing that you’re in love with her oldest brother. You aren’t sure who’s worse, her or Molly. 

“Alright, whatever you say Mrs. Snape,” Ginny wiggles her brows in your direction as you head for the kitchen. 

“Mrs. Snape?” Severus’s monotonous voice comes from behind you two. Ginny’s eyes widen before she takes off running, and a strangled sound leaves your lips.

“Ginevra Molly Weasley, that’s a month of detention next year!” you yell after her. You take a breath before turning to stare into Snape’s obsidian eyes. “Ginny saw you laugh at my stupid joke in the Great Hall a few weaks ago and now she’s convinced you have feelings for me.” Severus raises his eyebrows at you before looking in the direction Ginny ran off in. “She’s just a kid Sev, don’t hold her delusions against her.”

“Weasley’s,” he mutters before heading to the kitchen himself. Dumbledore had told a select few in the Order the plans for Severus to kill him so Draco didn’t have to, and since the Headmaster was already dying nobody was as mad as expected. “Don’t you have feelings for the oldest one?”

“Be quiet!” you hiss, as look to make sure no one heard. He smirks before walking into the room where the meeting is to be held, leaving you standing confused in the hallway.

The meeting is small tonight; Remus, Tonks, Charlie, Molly, Arthur, Sev, yourself, Bill, and Fleur. The rest had prior engagements unfortunately, so it was essentially just family and Severus. 

Molly uses her magic to pour you a glass of tea as you sit beside Sev, the only open seat. You smile a quick thanks before lifting the cup to your lips. The warm liquid soothing your tired throat, students liked to talk over you during the last week of school so your throat was a little raw. 

“Do you want a cookie with that, love?” Snape’s monotonous voice is slightly louder than it normally is. The term of endearment comes as such a shock that you spit out the tea that's in your mouth, landing across the table on Fleur. 

There was no denying that Severus’s question was directed at you, he’s holding the plate full of Molly’s cookies right next to your face. The room goes deathly silent as the seconds pass by. Ginny, who was getting herself some pumpkin juice, drops the glass she was holding, it shatters when it hits the ground. Molly, Arthur, and Charlie abruptly stop their conversation to stare at you and Sev in shock. Remus furrows his eyebrows as he looks between you two, Tonks looks like she's holding back a laugh. A flash of pain seems to cross Bill’s face before it goes blank, and horror crosses Fleur’s when your tea lands on her. 

“I’m so sorry!” you cover your mouth, thankful the liquid wasn’t warm enough to burn. Bill doesn’t even turn to look at his fiancee, just stares at you. 

“Are you alright?” Snape has a small smile only you can see. You aren’t sure how to respond, especially as you stare at the amusement dancing in his onyx eyes. 

“I knew it!” Ginny yells, finally breaking the few seconds of silence, seconds that felt like years. You flick Sev’s leg under the table, and he has the audacity to grin larger.

“Thanks honey,” your eyes narrow slightly as you grab a cookie off the plate, passing it to Bill without looking away from the man in all black. 

The rest of the meeting is awkward, and as soon as it’s over you pull Sev out of his chair and outside. The cool night air cools your burning cheeks and he lets out a laugh that he had been holding in.

“What was that?” you pull at the ends of your hair. 

“We made your precious Weasley jealous,” even though he’s smirking, there’s no change in his inflection. 

“And now they all think we’re together!” your voice is high pitched and squeaky. 

“Good luck with that,” he disapparates before you can respond.

“I hate you!” you yell at the spot where Severus was just standing.

“You and Snape, huh?” Charlie’s voice cuts through the silent night. 

“Not bloody likely,” you roll your eyes, before plopping onto the ground. Charlie joins you as you lay and stare up at the stars. “He heard Ginny saying she thought he liked me, and he knows who I like, so he decided to run with it. He’s actually fun when you break through his cold exterior.”

“You still love Bill,” it isn’t a question. No matter how many times you denied it while you three went to school together, Charlie never believed you. 

“Yeah,” you sigh, turning to look at him. He’s already facing you so you continue, “your mum kept going on about how I should be the one with him this afternoon. She won’t drop it.”

“I love my brother,” Charlie makes sure you keep eye contact with him as he continues. “But he’s being stupid. I agree with mum, you should be the one marrying him.”

“He’s happy without me,” your voice comes out sadder than you thought it would, guard finally down. “We’ve barely talked in years, and he wouldn’t even let me see him after the attack. He doesn’t need me, nor does he want me in his life anymore.”

Charlie just sighs, annoyed that neither you nor Bill could see the truth starring you both in the face. You love each other. Charlie just lies next to you in comforting silence, staring at the night sky until he has to head back to Romania and you off to bed. 

A single tear slips down your cheek as you lay down in the bed that once belonged to Charlie. Ginny enters the room without knocking, and you quickly wipe away the tear. 

“Why didn’t you tell me!” she practically screams. 

“There’s nothing to tell, he was messing with you, Gin,” you look her directly in the eyes so she knows you aren’t lying. 

“What aren’t you telling me?” she sits beside you on the mattress. 

“I’m in love with Bill,” you whisper, finally saying the words out loud. Sure you had agreed with Charlie earlier, but you had never said the five words out loud before. It feels like a weight is lifted off your chest, until a new wave of heartache hits you. “I have been since we were in school, and it hurts Ginny. Fleur, she’s perfect, I couldn’t possibly compete with her.”

“You’re so much better than her, (Y/N),” Ginny grabs your hand, causing you to look up at her. “And he’s a fool if he doesn’t see that.”

“Thanks Gin,” you smile sadly, squeezing her hand before she heads off to her room. 

--

“Zank you,” Fleur’s French accent is the first thing you hear in the morning. Ginny comes up behind you as you stand in the hallway, and puts her hand on your shoulder. Today is the day you forget about all of this foolish childish love you have for Bill. 

Molly watches you closely as you sit down at the breakfast table, Ginny plopping down beside you. As you talk to the young girl about Quidditch over breakfast, a black owl flies through an open window. You roll your eyes as it plops a letter beside you, you give the owl some of your toast before it flies out of the window again. Ginny looks over your shoulder as you open the letter, the rest of the Weasley’s not-so-secretly watch you read it. 

The letter isn’t anything special, just Severus letting you know that you had left a book at Hogwarts. You know full well he’s being his dramatic self, going out of his way to send an owl, just so he can say he was right. He even added a p.s, asking if Bill had gotten jealous yet. You laugh at the ridiculous question, causing Bill to excuse himself and walk outside. Fleur doesn’t move from her seat, causing you and Ginny to make a face at each other.

A few moments pass before you decide to follow your old best friend against your better judgment, but someone should check on him. He’s in the backyard pacing like a madman, running his hands through his long hair and pulling on the tips. 

“Bill?” you ask softly. He whips around and looks at you, once again his face is hard to read. Your eyes, however, soften as soon as they see what Fenrier Greyback did to him. “What’s wrong?”

“You and Snape?” his voice is hard and cold. “He hated us growing up, and you just pretended that never happened and you're with him? He hated you!”

“It’s none of your business William!” your voice is high pitched, you’re angry. He doesn’t talk to you in ages and now all of a sudden he thinks it’s okay to judge your relationships. “We were annoying kids back then, of course he hated us.”

“You could do better than him!” his anger seems to rise at the use of his full first name. 

“We’re just friends!” your voice is shrill, and you're sure everyone inside can hear you two clearly. “Not that it’s any of your business anyway! Severus was letting me know I forgot some of my belongings at Hogwarts. You have no right to judge who I choose to spend my time with and who I befriend, not when you haven’t tried to talk to me in years Bill!”

With that you turn and head away from the burrow, not wanting to face anyone right now. Especially any of the Weasley's, and most of all, Molly. Bill calls your name as you walk away from him, but you don’t turn around. You can’t. William Weasley has broken your heart multiple times since you met him, and you aren’t about to give him the satisfaction of watching himself break your heart all over again.

Part 2

Permanent tags: @crimson-knuckled-queen​ @rexorangecouny @mrs-malfoy-always​

[woman-loving]

The FBI’s Sex Deviates Program

Selection from The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America, by Eric Cervini, 2020.

In 1933, a few months after the attorney general appointed him director of the new Division of Investigation in the Department of Justice, J. Edgar Hoover read an appalling description of himself in Collier’s magazine. Hoover, the leader of America’s “secret federal police system,” was “short, fat, businesslike,” and walked with a “rather mincing step, almost feminine.” It marked the first time anyone had put the rumors in print. The thirty-eight-year-old, unmarried Hoover still lived with his mother, and he had never been seen with a woman. The Bureau responded quickly, planting a story in Liberty magazine—the same publication delivered by a young Franklin Kameny in Queens—that described him as “170 pounds of live, virile masculinity.”

Despite the rumors, America’s growing preoccupation with sexual deviance helped Hoover grow his personal empire of surveillance, which would ultimately last forty-eight years and eight presidents. In 1935, the division became the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and its director began throwing fuel onto America’s concern about sex crimes. The “sex fiend, most loathsome of all the vast army of crime, has become a sinister threat to the safety of American childhood and Womanhood,” warned Hoover in 1937. His Bureau opened a Sex Offenders file, and across the country, police roundups of sexual deviants became the norm. The director’s “War on the Sex Criminal,” meanwhile, helped him justify a larger, better-funded Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On April 10, 1950, two months after Senator McCarthy’s Wheeling speech, a special messenger arrived at the White House to deliver a confidential letter to one of President Truman’s top advisors. The FBI, wrote Hoover, had obtained a list of 393 federal employees who had been arrested on charges of “sexual irregularities.” Within days, the FBI’s “Sex Deviates” program came into being. From then on, when the Metropolitan Police made a homosexual arrest, the department automatically forwarded the deviant’s fingerprints to the Bureau, which checked them against its files. The FBI then forwarded its information to the Civil Service Commission or the employee’s federal agency, which promptly purged the homosexual from its ranks.

Hoover’s Sex Deviates program grew from a simple clearinghouse of arrest information to a mammoth apparatus of homosexual surveillance. In June 1951, the director ordered his subordinates to begin forwarding not only arrests, but also mere allegations of homosexuality to the CSC. If federal employees had suspicions about a coworker’s sexuality, they could simply inform the FBI. The suspected homosexual would be in an interrogation room—and often without a job—within days.

The Bureau kept track of Washington’s homosexuals through a simple, elegant system. If a Bureau supervisor noticed an allegation of homosexuality in a file, the director held him “personally responsible” for underlining the deviant’s name with a green pencil. The Records section, when it saw the green underline, indexed the name accordingly, and Hoover gained one more homosexual for his vast collection of secrets.

Hoover also used the purges to strengthen his reign. To ensure that the Eisenhower-Nixon ticket won the 1952 election, he leaked allegations—that Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson had twice been arrested for homosexual activity—to Nixon, McCarthy, and the press. Sometimes, if the Bureau learned that a public official was closeted, the FBI refrained from telling that official’s agency. Instead, the Bureau stayed quiet if the official agreed to become a “listening post” for Hoover, giving the director one more set of ears to spy on political adversaries within the government. By maintaining this regime of blackmail, Hoover did not need further proof that homosexuals threatened national security. Indeed, if it was so easy for him to blackmail homosexuals, why would the Soviets not blackmail them, too?

When Hoover learned of the Mattachine Society in 1953, he ordered an investigation of the homosexual organization. The investigation yielded an extensive report, which relied upon twenty-one different informants and ultimately concluded that Communists did not control the Mattachine. But the Bureau’s list of homosexuals grew. After the Society organized its blood drive to demonstrate the upstanding nature of homosexuals, the FBI easily acquired the names of those who had donated. Over the next five years, the Bureau forwarded its fifty-three-page Mattachine report—and the names contained within—to at least ten federal agencies, which could then appropriately administer their own purges.

On July 28, 1961, two FBI agents appeared at the offices of the San Francisco Mattachine to speak with Hal Call, the organization’s chairman. Call had dissolved the Society’s national structure only weeks earlier, partially because of the rumormongering Mattachine chapter in New York. He had been in the Mattachine since the days of the Fifth Order, and he had joined Marilyn Rieger’s openness faction in 1953.

Call agreed to hand over information about other homophile activists if it would be of interest to the police. He agreed to add the Bureau to the Mattachine Review’s mailing list. And yes, Call told the special agents, the San Francisco Mattachine “would be willing to cooperate with the FBI in assisting and locating homosexuals whether they are members of the Society or not.”

[odinsblog]

If there’s one thing our culture still — depressingly — abides, it’s sexually inappropriate behavior by prominent white guys.

The Jeffrey Toobin scandal, with its pleas for sympathy from, among others, Brian Stelter at CNN, Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic and Kevin D. Williamson at The National Review, makes one thing resoundingly clear: Men such as these, who surely identify as erudite, sophisticated truth-tellers to power and on the right side of women’s issues, have learned nothing from #MeToo.

Or worse, they don’t really care.

Or even worse, they think women have become too hysterical, too reflexively offended, a little too loud, a little too angry, a little too powerful.

How else to explain why Toobin — brilliant legal mind, contributor at The New Yorker and CNN, best-selling author, a 60-year-old Harvard alum who boasts of his longtime friendship with Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan — decided to masturbate during a Zoom meeting, with the New Yorker’s best-known writers, during the day?

“I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera,” Toobin said, before invoking the refrain of our new cultural archetype, The Otherwise Respectable Sexual Deviant: “I apologize to my wife, family, friends and coworkers.”

How else to explain why New Yorker editor David Remnick announced a suspension followed by an internal investigation? And oh, to be a fly on that wall, time-lining the emergence of Toobin’s penis from his underwear, how it came to be resting in his hand, how said hand began manipulating his member, the Zoom footage a regular Zapruder film, the august New Yorker parsing the traumas of those assaulted by Toobin’s O-face?

In a great column for The Week back in 2017, Lili Loofbourow wrote about “the myth of the male bumbler,” asking us to reconcile the notion that men who have risen to the top of their hyper-competitive fields, be it politics or journalism or entertainment, somehow don’t know they’ve been sexually inappropriate, deviant or assaultive. She cited Woody Allen’s astonishment at having married his stepdaughter — Whoops! No idea how that happened — and self-identified feminist Louis C.K., who proclaimed he had no idea that locking women in his hotel rooms over decades, then forcing them to watch him masturbate, was wrong.

“Now I’m aware of the extent of the impact of my actions,” he wrote.

Let’s consider the fallout had this been a prominent white conservative. He’d have been toast by cocktail hour, woketivists on fire. And a woman who did such a thing — well, there would be no doubt of her intent, would there? Both cases would be considered acts of clear-cut sexual harassment and deviance, committed by a toxic and dangerous colleague.

So why the double standard?

Toobin’s loathsome treatment of women is on the record: The longtime mistress, daughter of a friend and colleague no less, who he got pregnant and then tried to bribe into an abortion (it gets worse, Google it); the prominent woman who claimed Toobin followed her back to her hotel room, saying “You know you want it,” then leaving her several disgusting voicemails.

(continue reading)

[addictedtostorytelling]

hi! i'm wondering (in terms of csi meta) if you have any headcannons or thoughts about grissom and hodges friendship over the seasons. while grissom makes a number of snarky remarks to hodges - when grissom leaves in season nine, the tone and interaction of their goodbye would suggest grissom doesn't completely think hodges is the exasperating lab tech others percieve him as. there seems like there could be a friendship there, but when was it cultivated? and what may have happened off-screen to allow for their friendship development? i hope this makes sense

hey, anon!

here’s my take:

gil grissom is not a people-person.

in fact, with very few exceptions, he could do without most people.

and why? 

well, frankly, because most people annoy him.

they talk too much, they crowd him, they make their emotions his problem, they lie, they machinate, they behave in ways that are completely irrational, they’re loud, they interrupt his studies and his work, they mess up his carefully ordered systems, they’re demanding, they’re disappointing, they hassle him over his quirks, they’re hypocritical, they invade his personal space, they cause problems, etc., etc., etc. 

david hodges is one of the many people in grissom’s life who annoys him.

of course, the key words in the above sentence are “one of the many.”

honestly, that hodges is annoying doesn’t make him that special as far as grissom is concerned.

—hence what grissom tells greg in episode 06x08 “a bullet runs through it,” pt. ii:

gs: “doesn't [hodges] bug you?” 

gg: "no more so than anyone else around here.”

to others at the lab, hodges may be the king of all things obnoxious, but to grissom, he’s just another pesty coworker, not necessarily more or less loathsome than anyone else who squanders his time or tries to pop his personal bubble. 

the fact that grissom views hodges as just one among the annoying rabble, really no worse than most folks on any given day, forms the basis of their dynamic and allows for some of those more empathetic moments between them that you note (particularly in s8 and s9).

the tl;dr version is that grissom is really good at separating his general annoyance with hodges from his ability to recognize hodges’s more useful qualities and to give hodges credit where credit is due.

the much longer version is after the “keep reading,” if you’re interested.

________

your average human annoys grissom, both in terms of their individual traits/quirks/behaviors/habits and in terms of being part of the demanding, noisemaking, thought-interrupting collective. 

because grissom is so often annoyed, he has become very used to working through his annoyance or at least around it, not permitting it to distract him from the tasks at hand or impinge on his professionalism overly much.

however, that’s not to say that grissom no longer registers his annoyance or that he never reacts to being annoyed, because he absolutely does, and especially regarding hodges.

the guy can and does push his buttons.

frequently so.

naturally, grissom is bothered whenever hodges self-aggrandizes, hovers over his shoulder, pries into his history and/or personal life, makes false assumptions about him, insinuates that they’re closer and more socially intimate with each other than in actuality they are, etc., etc.; and hodges’s egotism, quickness to pass blame, shameless glomming-on, nosiness, and sense of entitlement all do without a doubt get to him.

that’s where we see his more-than-occasional shortness with hodges coming in.

he’s not above calling hodges out for brown-nosing, overstepping, and/or passing the buck. he’s also not above snide remarks or jabs at hodges’s expense. he’ll get after hodges for being an ass if he needs to.

—it’s just that, because grissom is so accustomed to being annoyed, both by hodges and by others, he also doesn’t consider “being annoying” a wholly disqualifying trait in a person.

since 95% of all people annoy him in some way, “being annoying” can’t be the main determiner for him when it comes to how he considers their worth. there’s got to be another factor in terms of whether or not he’ll give that person the time of day.

when it comes to his coworkers, that factor is contributing at the lab.

your average lab worker can be as annoying af to grissom, but if they’re nevertheless good at their job and over all a benefit to the cause of justice—someone who’s really bought in to the lab culture—then grissom will still tolerate them.

the perfect example here would be greg during the early seasons of the show.

greg’s squirreliness, habitual goofing-off, not-so-secret crush on sara, lack of professional decorum, penchant for loud music in the workspace, frequent use of sexual innuendos, tendency toward distraction, etc. are all traits that all annoy the hell out of grissom, and he makes no bones about the fact that they do. 

however, because greg is a brilliant dna tech who always comes through when grissom and the other csis need him and is willing to pitch in however he can to help solve the case of the day, oftentimes going above and beyond the call of duty to get the solve, grissom accepts and even comes to value him.

he’s able to look past the things that annoy him about greg because, ultimately, he sees greg as being on the same team as he is—and, moreover, being an asset to that team.

of course, the opposite is true when it comes to coworkers whom grissom deems useless and/or an impediment to the cause of justice.

here, see ecklie.

ecklie is overly competitive, a flagrant social climber and opportunist, small-minded, punitive, rude, egotistical, and boorish—but, honestly, all of those negative traits in him might be something that grissom could overlook, were ecklie not also prone to crunching evidence to fit his desired outcomes and authorizing bureaucracy to take precedence over justice.

grissom has a distaste for ecklie as a person, yes, but his real beef with him lies in their professional differences—and specifically in the fact that, in grissom’s view, discovering the truth and securing justice aren’t always his main priorities; both as a criminalist and an administrator, ecklie lets his personal interests (and vendettas) dictate his courses of action and sometimes works against what is best for the lab and the people it serves, and to grissom, his doing so is the cardinal sin.

—which brings us back to hodges.

for as irritating as hodges can be—and he does irritate grissom a lot—he is nevertheless “one of the good guys” in grissom’s book, and because he is, grissom is largely able to separate his personal distaste for hodges’s personality from his acknowledgment of and sense of appreciation for hodges’s contributions as a coworker.

while hodges is a wheedling, kiss-up, tattletale grandstander, he’s also the best damn trace tech in the country who routinely comes up with results where other techs would have nothing, and when it’s crunch time—like when the team is running against the clock to identify the miniature killer—he comes through with a solve.

because he makes himself so useful, grissom is willing if not to forgive, then at least to tolerate his faults.

moreover, along much the same lines, while many people would suppose that an acquaintance who was wrong about most things would generally be wrong about everything, grissom is able to acknowledge that while nine out of ten times, hodges is wrong about the assumptions he makes regarding his [grissom’s] inner life, every once in a while, he gets things right.

hodges often mistakes in thinking that he and grissom are more alike than they actually are. he also often mistakes in thinking he has a good read on who grissom is as a person and what he values. he frequently makes inferences about grissom that are nothing but wrong, wrong, wrong.

however, as winston churchill is supposed to have once said, “the greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.”

and hodges sometimes is right—providing insights into cases that grissom otherwise wouldn’t be able to solve (like when he figures out the miniature killer’s bleach trigger in episode 07x20 “lab rats”) and even correctly diagnosing grissom’s moods when others can’t (like in episode 08x08 “you kill me”).

in a literary sense, hodges very much fits the trope of the “wise fool.” 

while certainly not in any way actually stupid—i mean, the man is a certifiable genius—he is, as wendy so aptly describes him, nevertheless oftentimes “the dumbest smart guy” around, foolish in the sense of being socially unaware and presumptuous rather than in than in the sense of being intellectually deficient. 

in filling the role of the wise fool, hodges is able to, in his pomposity and obliviousness to social conventions, occasionally (accidentally) speak wisdom, and especially to speak wisdom to power. 

like king lear’s jester, he can advise on precarious situations without fearing that “the monarch” will punish him—which is exactly what we see at the end of episode 08x08 “you kill me,” when he alone out of all of grissom’s coworkers is able to broach the subject of sara’s recent departure from vegas without grissom dodging or shutting him down—and, moreover, to correctly surmise that grissom feels unready to follow sara (despite desperately wanting to).

that hodges can sometimes—however improbably—be a beacon of truth for grissom and say the words that no one else can or will say to him increases his overall value.

—which brings us to where they stand at the point when grissom finally leaves vegas (see episode 09x10 “one to go”).

i don’t believe that at any time during the seven years when they work at the lab together grissom and hodges have any kind of relationship outside of work. it’s not like they socialize or hang out off the clock—and even on the clock, they’re not generally very close in anything but hodges’s imagination; grissom is aware that he has to maintain some fairly strict boundaries with hodges, lest he encourage him to overstep. 

he can’t open the door more than an inch or else hodges will try to take a mile, you know?

that said, for as much as grissom does find hodges annoying 99% of the time, they do, in their own way, bond (at least to a degree) over the years.

their bond starts with hodges impressing grissom professionally (see episode 05x17 “compulsion”), and particularly as he contributes a major discovery to the miniature killer case after grissom himself has been stalled on the investigation for a while (see episode 07x20 “lab rats”). 

however, hodges also impresses grissom with more than just his professional skills; in time, grissom recognizes and comes to very much rely on his loyalty to the lab/team, and especially during crisis events, like nick’s kidnapping (see episodes 05x24 and 05x25 “grave danger,” pts. i and ii) and sara’s ordeal in the desert (see episodes 07x24 “living doll” and 08x01 “dead doll”). 

that hodges has “skin in the game” and does everything in his power to help get “their people” back is not lost on grissom.

it also is not lost on grissom that after sara leaves vegas, hodges is one of the only people at the lab who meets him where he is in his grieving process and doesn’t try to push him to go after her or behave in ways that are unnatural to him (see episode 08x08 “you kill me”); he just listens and offers grissom the chance to distract himself for a while, which is what grissom needs at the time.

the heart-to-heart they share isn’t necessarily an experience that they have had before or one that they will repeat again, but it’s enough to prove grissom’s general theory with hodges, which is that, despite being annoying, he does have his moments, and he does belong at the lab.

he is, despite his faults, one of grissom’s kind of people.

while many others at the lab dismiss hodges out of hand on account of his unsavory personality, grissom sees that hodges does genuinely have his heart in the right place. when he’s an ass, he’s an ass due to insecurity, not malice—and grissom can ultimately forgive insecurity, and particularly in retrospect, as he is preparing to leave the lab.

that so, his parting gift to hodges is to give the guy the validation he has always so desperately sought—and which he honestly deserves, given his fine work over the years.

when hodges asks him who watson is without sherlock, grissom kindly replies, “a genius in his own right.”

he wants to encourage hodges’s ingenuity, drive, and devotion to the pursuit of the truth; he also wants him to know that he has, despite sometimes being short with him, valued his many contributions during the time they’ve worked together.

aware as he is that many people find him obnoxious to work with on account of his personality traits and habits, grissom ultimately doesn’t condemn hodges for his obnoxiousness, either, and even is able to connect with him, genius to genius, social pariah to social pariah, puzzle-solver to puzzle-solver, man with a calling to man with a calling.

—or at least that’s my read.

anyway.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[musictherapy611]

09/22/2021

Only half a day at work. We had our weekly “team” meeting and I was so hoping to hear fire and brimstone called down upon that loathsome para who mocked a kid - two days ago - but all we got was, “Be careful about what you say because there are always kids listening in.” Lame lame lame.

They could have gone with “We all want to vent about the kids and our coworkers, that’s normal - just don’t do it during school, or at work at all!” Not a single f-bomb, and point still made.

Anyway, half a day (poo-etry), then off with Daughter to sign our lease paperwork stuff. It involved a very long walk - no bus service close to their office, and we don’t have a car - but it was a lovely day, in a pretty part of town, with good company.

[bexterbex]

A Soul to Mend His Own | Ch. 4

Warning, if it hasn't been obvious in the movies there is Nazi symbolism within the First Order. I will expand on this much more throughout the story. If this is something that bothers you, please just exit the story. The author does not condone any Nazi ideals, this is just for fictional uses only.

A Kylo Ren x Modern! Reader in a soulmate au with some canon divergence. —————————————SLOWBURN————————————–

He is already the Supreme leader, searching the universe to find you, his Empress. Your name on his wrist has been the only constant in his life, while you have doubts about his existence and his acceptance of you. He isn’t in the database and why did the name Kylo Ren cover Ben Solo?

Originally posted on my Ao3 Crystallclover. (Incase you missed it) Chapter Three 

Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Chapter 4: When the Machine Starts

Summary: “ALL REMAINING SYSTEMS WILL REMEMBER THIS, AS THE FIRST DAY OF THE NEW EMPIRE!!!” Cannon fire was heard in the distance.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Y/N? What do you think,” asked Carter.

You thought for a moment and answered, “I don’t know, this is all so much to take in. When are you guys thinking about registering? I don’t want to go alone, there will be too many people.”

“I was thinking about going tomorrow morning. The registration office closest to me doesn’t open until 9 AM but I want to guarantee that a line will start 6,” said Carter. 

“I guess I really hadn’t thought that far to be honest. Too caught up in the alien thing,” said Hayden “Why don’t we plan on going together?” 

“I think that would great, but Y/N do you need to go to a special registration center? As an American,” asked Carter.

“Let me check online,” you said while pulling up the government website on your phone. “It says it I should be fine if I go to the motor vehicle registration office, the social insurance number office, or the immigration office. I need my passport, social security card, immunization forms, birth certificate, driver's license, and work visa. It also says that I will be in a separate line and that my registration will take up to 1 hour to complete.” 

“Sweet, I know you aren’t a fan of getting up early Hayden but what if we all go to the MVR office tomorrow at like 5:45 AM and just get it done together? We have no idea how long the lines will be or really how long it will take,” asked Carter.

“Fine, but like we need to get brunch afterward or I will riot in the streets. You guys don’t have to work tomorrow right,” asked Hayden. “Tony gave me the next few days off.”

“No, Henry gave us all time off. I’m pretty sure Scott and his wife will go awol. Like you should have seen him this morning. He was on his phone in the walkway for the first hour, late to our meeting. Ally had to message him asking if he was coming. He then walked finally went into his office and got ready. He blamed it on his wife being paranoid,” you said. 

“Yeah but that is such a Scott thing to do, I am surprised Talia hasn’t evaluated him yet that man is a walking HR nightmare,” said Carter.

“That isn’t even the worst of it. Immediately after the announcement he kind flipped out. Talking about how the First Order will brainwash us and how we shouldn’t stand for it. Like I’m pretty sure he was going to blow a gasket. Daniel told him off and then he went to talk to Henry but not until saying that this may be the last time we will probably see our families, then Henry gave us the week off basically,” you ranted. “I honestly hate the man he’s late to everything, even deadlines, he also can’t organize his office even if his life depended on it. Plus he’s always on his phone with his wife. Just all around unprofessional.” 

“Damn go off, I would hate to hear what you would have go say about me if I worked with you,” stated Hayden.

“Well, I’m glad we are just friends and not coworkers. Brunch sounds like a good idea to me, especially if we can start day drinking because guaranteed my registration is going to be more stressful than both of yours and I’ll probably need something to take the edge off. And if Scott is right about this being the last bits of freedom before the First Order starts brainwashing us or ‘probing’ us then I’d like it to be fun,” you ranted. 

“Probing, damn I wish I thought of that earlier. You know we should start watching some really cheesy Sci-FI movies before the ‘Supreme Leader’ announcement,” suggested Hayden.

Both you and Carter agreed and you set up your phone to keep steaming CBC News and you set up “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” on your laptop.

After your third movie, you all just decide to pull up the news to avoid missing the announcement. The seemingly perfect white brunette anchorman and similarly perfect blonde anchorwoman were explaining once again where to register while also talking about the average wait time to register. You always found their perfect hair, teeth, and skin; they were just too perfect. 

Live from Washington D.C. 

The camera focused in on the Supreme Leader, “People of Earth, the First Order has so far been impressed by the cooperation we have received from you. As it was mentioned before, if you remain calm and follow all orders directed towards you, you will be able to live a long and prosperous life here. 

Your respective nation’s leader should have informed you of more updates such as where to receive registration and changes to your planet's economy. The First Order and my self Supreme Leader Ren have a few more directives for you. 

First as mentioned to you many times today, everyone on your planet must register with the First Order as citizens. Anyone refusing to do so will be dealt with justly. Second, all citizens upon registration will receive an education on the First Orders and the beliefs of the new empire. Any citizen who has an issue with this education should direct their comments and concerns to any Stormtrooper or First Order officer at their local registration station. 

Finally, anyone found in favor of the New Republic or the Resistance will be dealt with immediately. The First Order would like to make this transition for Earth as smooth and as peaceful as possible. Any found being a traitor to the First Order may find themselves at a public execution!

My Allegiant General Hux has a few words for you.” He stepped to the side to reveal the ginger human-looking man. 

“Today is the is the beginning of the new empire! And the end of a regime that acquiesces to disorder! At this very moment, in a system far from here, the New Republic lies to the galaxy, while secretly supporting the treachery of the loathsome Resistance,” The red hair man almost seemed to be foaming at the mouth while he was giving his speech. “Our alliance is a fierce machine that we will build, upon which we will stand, will bring an end to the Senate, and to their cherished fleet! ALL REMAINING SYSTEMS WILL REMEMBER THIS, AS THE FIRST DAY OF THE NEW EMPIRE!!!” Cannon fire was heard in the distance and the camera came to a wide shot of the podium’s stage. 

On the stage, you could see the U.S. President, Supreme Leader Ren, Allegiant General Hux, and the silver armored soldier. Behind the stage, you could see the white house lawn filled with the white armored soldiers standing at attention. In the distance you could see there was now a banner over the white house, it was large and read with a hexagon with a star-like black symbol. You assumed this to be the flag of the First Order. 

The camera cuts back to the news anchors who were now conspicuously wearing pins with the same symbol that was on the banner. “I like the sound of that, don’t you Karen,” asked the male news anchor.

“I sure do Jim. A new galactic economy and protection from a powerful new ally to protect us from the treacherous Resistance. I don’t think we could have asked for a better ‘alien’ invasion, do you, Jim,” responded Karen.

“Now it's almost as if fate was on our side, or should I say the Force. For everybody, at home, both Karen and I have been registered and have started our First Order education. That’s where we got these cool new pins that you will be required to wear once you’ve been registered unless directed to do otherwise,” stated Jim. 

“Yes, it is important that all citizens register as soon as possible, and all citizens are asked to cooperate with the First Order. You all heard our new Supreme Leader Ren, they would like us to be peaceful and anyone found in contempt of the First Order may be subject to public execution,” stated Karen. “And I’m sure all of you remember 8th-grade world history when we learned about what happened to Marie Antoinette, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” She and Jim chuckled at her off-color joke. 

“I’m sure no one wants that so if we all stay calm no one should lose their head. There will be nightly updates every night at 7 PM Eastern Standard Time from the First Order. We have been informed that it will be various officers as our new Supreme Leader is very busy,” stated Jim.

“I’m sure he is, and what a wonderful Supreme Leader we have. Dedicated to our safety and the safety of the galaxy. I can’t wait to learn more about him from my First Order education. Now stay tuned to the weather,” said Karen. 

You muted your laptop once again. You, Carter and Hayden all sat in shock after what you just watched. 

Carter was the first to speak, “well at least be getting the registration and education over an done with as soon as possible. That General Hux guy seemed pretty intense.”

“Your boss might be right Y/N we may just all be brainwashed soon. Why do I have a feeling like the First Order may be something out of a George Orwell's novel,” said Hayden.

“Just promise us you won’t do anything stupid Hayden, we will all have enough to worry about. Tomorrow at the registration office you might want to keep your conspiracy theories to yourself. I don’t know how much the First Order will like them,” you responded.

Carter seemed to be in agreement with you, “Why don’t we all just call it a night? We can meet in the parking lot of the MVR office at 5:45 AM and I’ll bring coffee for all of us.”

You and Hayden nodded in agreement. Both of them packed up their things and left. You cleaned up the kitchen and plates. Shut your laptop before preparing for bed.

You grabbed your pajamas and went into the bathroom and took a shower hoping it would relax you. Getting you changed into your clothes, brushed your hair and teeth. 

You shut off the lights to your apartment and walked over to your bed. You plugged in your phone and set an alarm before crawling into bed and drifting off into fitful sleep.