#rank and file harrassed

[556betrayed]

TWU 556 History lesson: this email sent to the TWU 556 Executive Board after screenshots of the unbecoming behavior of TWU 556 officers/ officials and their paid loyalists were exposed.

There were no apologies. And the retaliation for demanding apologies and taking corrective action was just starting. Rank and file would later feel the wrath of corrupt union officers and officials for years to come.

[going-to-ikea-for-the-fries]

Brass Balls. - OC Backstory.

pairing: F!OC: Kathleen "Brass" Moore x John Price words: 1.7K~ cw: yelling, threats, roasting (not even that aggressive really)

At the meager age of 23, Kathleen Mary Moore had succeeded in doing something that no one before or after her could get ever away with: becoming an unofficial charge nurse at the military hospital in Tidworth Camp. 

And all thanks to one skill of hers: Conflict Resolution.

Well… more like… Resolution through Conflict.

Didn’t matter if the person that needed their arse reamed out was a patient, a family member or a commanding officer. She had enough sass to last her a lifetime and metaphorical balls big enough to look a superior in the eye and call them a gobshite.

In her case, being a charge nurse means little else than being a glorified enforcer. She’d be called in by anyone, in any department of the hospital, whenever there was a Difficult™️ situation to be solved. And solve them she did.

Maybe it was the Leo in her, maybe it was the Older Daughter blood in her veins. Who knows.

Nonetheless, it earned her an unfortunate nickname: Brass. 

Not just because, according to the other medical staff and even some low rank enlisted, she had “brass balls”... but also because she had the brass (the high-ranked officers) by the balls.

And that’s, unfortunately, the way she met John Price.

On March 28th, 2013, the Tidworth Hospital received an influx of 20 SAS soldiers that, although housed in the nearby Stirling Lines Garrison, didn’t have a proper hospital at the base, and so, were placed in Tidworth for emergency treatment.

By April 7th, 2013, only one soldier of the group of 20 stayed behind, a Sergeant Craig Wallcroft, the rest having returned to Credenhill. Wallcroft wasn’t under Kathleen’s care, being in a completely different department, but, eventually, she was forced to pick up his case.

Called to her nurse’s admin office by her Lieutenant-Colonel, Lieutenant Moore watched a small pile of paper being placed in front of her, 14 or so pages long.

“Sergeant Wallcroft’s superior, a ‘Captain Price’ has been very insistent in the release of his Sergeant…” Lieutenant-Colonel Margot Ward, a no-nonsense greying-brown-haired woman explained as she stood face-to-face with Kathleen.

“Insistent, you say?” Kathleen asked, dipping her head slightly at an angle, an eyebrow raising in a display of displeasure. “What’s he done?”

“Very.” Margot explained with a sigh. “He took to filing request after request for the release and clearance for combat… Then to filing transfer requests to the medical ward in Credenhill… To downright harrassing us with phone calls on the matter.” She revealed.

Kathleen’s eyebrows raised and her head pulled back at the chin in a look of utter surprise. To have someone abuse the online request system or maybe the email inbox of the department was one thing… But to downright shout down the phone line over this? 

Oh, Kathleen was not happy, her hands already trembling with the anticipation of putting this man in his place.

“And, now, he’s sent one of his Lieutenants to… pressure us into releasing his teammate. The man’s shouted at Lieutenant Byers in the nurse’s station already.” Margot added.

That did it. Hearing that someone raised their voice at one of her closest friends? She didn’t even want to imagine the state her friend Felicity was left in… the poor girl, always prone to tears.

“Leave it to me.” Kathleen said as she walked out of the room, marching away quickly.

-

The trip to Credenhill was quick. It took no convincing at all for the helicopter pilot, who was meant to transpo Wallcroft back to Credenhill, to turn the chopper around to deliver her, and this Lieutenant he sent for him, Lieutenant Cameron, back to Credenhill.

Cameron then lead her across the garrison in the lightly pouring rain, to the training gym where ‘Captain Price’ was bound to be.

Her brown eyes flittered over the room very quickly, surveying it, to try and locate Captain Price. Most of the men there were on the young end, handsome-ish, muscular and strong, wearing tight clothing while they grappled and tossed each other around.

Before Cameron could lead her further into the room, she took two fingers to her mouth and let out a sharp, deafening whistle, that stopped all the sparring (and observing) soldiers, in their tracks.

“WHICH ONE OF YOU GOBSHITES IS CAPTAIN PRICE?!” She barked at the top of her lungs, the silence in the room so loud that her voice bounced off the walls.

One of the men straightened up from where he was sparring with another of the soldiers and he stood tall and imposing, even from across the room. “That’d be me.” John said. “Who are you?”

“I’m someone that’s sick and tired of your bullshit, Captain.” She told him directly. “Now, come over here, please.” She demanded as she beckoned him close with two fingers.

John approached with a certain swagger, confident steps and swaying hips, strong muscles wrapped by an army green t-shirt covered in sweat, beefy, burly and hairy forearms on display.

“Nurse Corps.” He acknowledged her uniform’s patches as he came to a stop before her, standing a bit below her, a few steps worth of a height difference, as she stood on a catwalk, and him on the gym floor. “You finally transferred my Sergeant?”

He was handsome. Bloody hell, he was handsome, stern blue eyes staring at her from below, stubble on his jaw that she knew would soon grow to be a thick shrub…

“No.” She replied as she set her hands on her hips. “Your Sergeant is still bed-bounded back in Tidworth, where he’ll stay for the foreseeable future because as you’ve been told many times by now, he’s not. fit. for. service.”

John looked at her blankly. “Is that what you came all this way for, little nurse?” He asked her with a cocked brow, his tone almost condescending. “This could’ve been a phone call.” He added and turned away. “Get back to work!” He shouted at his team.

Oh, how she hated being underestimated… And talked down to.

She lunged forward and grabbed John by the collar of his t-shirt like one would to a naughty child and tugged him back with an aggressive pull. “Get back here, you wanker.” She demanded.

John turned to look at her, eye-to-eye, faces mere inches apart, as she finally let go of him. “You’re gonna listen and listen good because I’m not bloody playing around and I have NO PROBLEM embarrassing you in front of your troops.” She gestured to the other soldiers in the room who had not heeded Price’s command to go back to work.

“You have no qualifications to decide what your soldiers need or do not need when it comes to their health. Hell, I wouldn’t trust you to tell your arse from your elbow considering the state of the First Aid that half of your soldiers came to Tidworth with.” She told him point blank, her hands now coming to rest on the railing of the catwalk that separated them.

Her voice grew louder with each word she spoke, venom slipping from her tongue as she continued her tirade. Her face had morphed into a wide-eyed, almost frantic look, her brows set low over her eyelids, and her jaw clenched tight.

“And even if you had qualifications, that gives you no right to talk down to me or my bloody staff. I’ve seen plenty of men like you in the last couple years and you all have one thing in common: hubris. You think that suddenly, what, cause you made Captain you can suddenly treat everyone as if they’re below you?” She confronted him as she leaned forward, getting right in his face.

“Just because your ego suddenly soared sky high thanks to your spiffy new title and shiny medals, it doesn’t mean that you can suddenly proceed as you fucking please. Your inability to fathom that your power over others is only in the scope of your immediate subordinates in the chain of command is not the Nurse and Medical Corps’ concern. We have better things to do than deal with little men with fragile little egos.” She shouted at him, pointing a finger right in his face, her teeth catching her lips as she spat pure vitriol at him.

“So you better hear me well and good-” She added and suddenly grabbed him by the front of the collar, tugging him close to her. “because I am not saying this again. If I hear so much as a PEEP about you, that you put in another request for Wallcroft’s clearance, or, God help you, that you called the nurse’s station and talked down on one of my sisters, again-” She warned him.

“I’ll print out the stack of over 30 requests you’ve already put in, come back here,” She pointed at the floor to mean Credenhill. “...roll ‘em up nice and tight and shove ‘em SO FAR UP YOUR ARSE that when I pull ‘em out your mouth, your teeth will work as a paper shredder. AM. I. CLEAR?!” Kathleen pointed her finger right in his face, almost poking him between the eyes with it.

John was dumbfounded. He had never been spoken to like this. Not since he became an adult. Even his mother wasn’t this intense as she reamed him out when he was younger, and there had been plenty of times where he had deserved it!

So, Price simply stared at her and blinked slowly, his breathing having hitched and his heart beating like a war drum in his chest. He swore he could hear his blood flowing inside his ears. His arms hung limply on either side of his body as he kept staring into the fiery woman’s brown eyes.

“AM. I. CLEAR?!” She repeated herself, eyes still wide, pupils blown, as she glared right into John’s blue eyes, his own pupils blown.

“Yes, ma’am.” John ended up saying and nodded imperceptibly.

Kathleen let go of his collar and leaned back. “That’s what I fucking thought.” She goaded in a vicious tone through her teeth.

Then, she turned around, facing Lieutenant Cameron and nodding at him before she marched off, forcing the lieutenant to rush after her to escort her back to the chopper, and leaving behind a stunned group of SAS soldiers… and her future husband.

[alwaysshallow]

Bestieeeeee!!!!! Ik we were on the higher rank reader w ghost wagon but what if its higer rank reader with soap🤭

Like hes about to become ur assistant, like a loyal dog. Always wants to please and make a good impression. Doesn’t even mind overtime even tho its the 5th time this week. Miss Captain wants something done? Soapy boy gets it done.

If Miss Captain works overtime, he works over time. If Miss Captain wants paella for lunch and kebabs for dinner, hes going out of his way to get that. Cap wants a specific document even tho its not stated on the mission files? Hes not done sweeping until he finds it.

Man wants to follow Miss Cap whenever he has the chance…… like a guard dog lol.

“cap! How r ye doin!”

“Get out Soap this is the ladies BATHROOM”

“Yes m’-am! Sorry m’am! ;)”

Helps Miss Cap getting in the helicopter and put the gears on for her. Even though she is very capable of doing it herself.

Like simon he would disobey if it means to protect you.

“You disobeyed orders! Could have gotten shot”

“Rather it be me than you, Miss Love 😊”

“……… its Captain, sergeant.”

Lowkey gets excited when Miss Cap said “chop chop Soapy boy👏” lmao

-💸

fhashjfn anon you completely ruined me with this idea

ohhh i just can see how fascinated johnny would be with a woman that's not only older than him, but also wiser and..... damn, she does NOT give a damn about anything but the mission. a dream.

a dream to fuck, too—it's hard to miss johnny's eyes, lingering on you like you're a renaissance painting. he stands straightest, proudest in the room, like it would change something about the way you perceive him.

he's like a puppy. you're gonna praise him? oh, you're not seeing the end of it. not at all, he's in love and he's not going back to what it was. he insists on a date, telling you no one needs to know!! after all, it's just the two of you. could be a date in your office if that's what you need.

if you're not really into a date with him, he's gonna blackmail you into doing that:/ something about sexually harrassing him at work, even if you didn't even touch him in the past.

[soartfullydone]

Rufus: 8, 12, 21. Bastion: 4, 5, 18

Rufus (shut up)

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I genuinely try to avoid learning what the fandom does at all buuut anything that paints Rufus as being domestic when he has no concept of what a normal life looks like, never mind a functional family. This man has no idea how to balance a checkbook and wouldn't have an instinctual interest in putting your feelings first. I'm not saying he can't have moments of vulnerability or being soft, but those moments are ephemeral. This man has walls around him. He distances himself from others as a rule. He has personas he shows to the board, to rank and file employees, to the general public and keeps his true self and intentions carefully hidden. He's manipulative and it comes second-nature to him. He loathes not feeling in control of a situation and isn't going to sub for you.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

A then-unnamed Darkstar was a failed genetic enhancement canine experiment that was going to be terminated. The breed was meant to follow its owner's orders without question, but Darkstar exhibited significant aggression and behavioral issues. When Rufus interceded on the experiment's behalf, it wasn't to plead mercy from his father. Instead, Rufus made a bet with him. If he could train the animal, he could keep him as his personal guard dog.

President Shinra agreed, on the condition that if Rufus failed, his son would be expected to plant a bullet in the dog's head himself. Rufus named his dog the very next day, a defiant vow to them both that he would succeed.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

Whenever Rufus is in a scene, it feels like everything has suddenly been placed under a microscope. He's observant and calculating, the emotions he expresses wavering between bored, cool, muted, and amused. But the play of emotions, while subtle, are there if other characters are observant enough to clock them. Focusing on body language is a must and a nice challenge for me because so much about Rufus is what he isn't saying. Other characters have to be on their A-game while dealing with him, and that's impossible for some to manage. Since characters making missteps is always a possibility, scenes with him tend to feel alive and interesting to write, even if they're not full of action. Walking on a knife's edge just does it for me.

I guess what I don't like but I willingly do to myself is that I don't write from his perspective, at least not yet. I don't want his every thought and action to be transparent to the reader or the other characters, but that means I, the writer, have to keep track of what he verbally notes and what he mentally files away for later. And that means making a lot of side notes. A real pain in the ass, this rich boy.

Bastion (i'm being harrassed)

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Does pymary get to come with him? Because if it doesn't, I think it would kill him. This is hard, though. I've not thought much about it, so I don't have a serious answer for you but. The Gentlemen Bastards series because that's what Locke and Jean need. A pansexual necromancer bastard in desperate want of money and whose unsettling, otherworldly patron won't leave alone. Locke and Bastion would be so bitchy at each other as they try to prove who's more clever. Jean's just the right side of ugly yet fuckable that Bastion would seduce right off, and Locke would hate that, actually. He'd go for Sabetha, too—good luck to him. But Bastion's offsetting and pymary would be so useful to the thieves, and maybe, just maybe, Locke and Jean's slightly better moral compass would inspire Bastion to be the better person he wants to be but is too scared to commit to. They'd still murder people as needed, though.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Funeral by Reaper and Prison Sex by TOOL, it's instant. (They're side-by-side in my playlist for a reason.) The former captures the Black Tongue lifestyle, the swagger, glamour, and ultimate self-destructiveness of it all. And the latter is about the cycles of abuse started by Delicieu and perpetuated by Bastion onto others, coupled with his over-reliance on sex as both stimulant and escape.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

I deeply adore Bastion's relationship with Rahm Ripa. The genuine friendship between them. The mentorship Rahm tries to give Bastion. The mutual respect of an accomplished compeer. How these two can absolutely level with each other and call each other out on their bullshit. How they go along with each other's unwise endeavors anyway, for knowledge, for pymary. And of course, there's the fucking. I genuinely mourn its loss every day, but it's a hurt that hurts so good, so it's fine. It's fine. I'm fine.

[dairogo]

Royai

"What we're you saying again? Nothing would make you deal with this stack of files before the end of the day, wasn’t it? I'll prove you wrong, Colonel..."

Colonel Bowman stood over Mustang’s desk, sneering as he surveyed the inch-thick report on the Aerugo situation, the pile of purchase orders waiting for confirmation, the packet of internal memos that hadn’t been opened since delivery that morning - all the things that Mustang had ample time to deal with but ignored on days like these. He thought he could get away with his laziness, but it was pure foolishness for a man in his position.

Bowman’s words made Mustang pay attention - at least, he took his feet off his desk and sat up like a semi-respectable officer, even if he didn’t hang up the personal phone call he’d been loudly engaged in when Bowman entered the office.

“Oh? And how will you do that?”

“In fact,” Bowman said, feeling more confident as he went on, “I’ll wager that you’ll start doing those immediately - the moment I leave the room, if not before.”

Mustang’s eyes narrowed.

“Because I just heard that today is the last day of Lieutenant Hawkeye’s leave,” Bowman crowed, revealing the ace in his sleeve that had him so certain of winning.

It was unbecoming of him, perhaps, a forty-eight year old military officer, to use a woman twenty years his junior as a threat to Mustang, but while the man dawdled on his paperwork and those purchase orders that Bowman needed a week ago, he somehow was still the darling of the military and was beyond reproach. It chafed him how they shared the same rank, and no-one higher in the organisational structure had done anything about it.

But Mustang was a known womaniser, and when he’d selected Riza Hawkeye as his adjutant he’d probably expected to spend the entire day flirting with her. Luckily the woman had more sense than he did. Everyone knew that she kept this office running - it was clearer with every day that she was on leave - and if part of that was threatening Colonel Mustang with bodily harm so that he would get things done, well, Bowman was happy to look the other way. Human Resources would deal with the situation if either got too out of hand with their mutual harrassments, and better that they be stuck together than on someone else’s team.

Mustang’s eyes flickered toward the calendar on his desk, the slack-jawed surprise on his face immensely gratifying.

“You’ll want to hang that up, now,” Bowman added, trying not to sound too gleeful. “And if you can get to the purchase orders first, I’d be much obliged.”

“I’m sorry, Elizabeth, I just-” Mustang said into the phone.

Bowman thought he heard the hapless recipient of Mustang’s flirting on the other end of the phone say something about “your scary Lieutenant?” and “no customers”.

“Alright, then I’ll see you tonight? In that little black number?”

Bowman’s finger itched towards the phone’s cradle, longing to press down the switch arms and cut off the call, but he was still counting on some measure of goodwill from Mustang to get those orders out.

“Looking forward to it,” Mustang said, and finally slammed the receiver down. He glared up at Bowman as he grabbed the envelope with the internal memos, ripping it open haphazardly. “You’ll get your POs by the end of the day.”

And that would have to be enough for him. Bowman cast a look around the office as he left, taking in the other officers at their desk, fighting against laughter. Yes, he thought as he strode out, it was good to see a fool beat at their own game.

[lowritesthings]

Resonance

Part One of ?? Next >>

Notes: Takes place in the days immediately before the opening of the Remake.

The bar is still mostly empty. When the evening train arrives it will fill up quick enough, but for now it’s just you and a very serious man around your age that Tifa has just informed you is Cloud Strife. You’d told him your name and he’d accepted a handshake, but that had pretty much been the end of the conversation. He seems quite content to sit at his end of the bar and brood over his drink. You don’t mind if he doesn’t want to talk, but when you catch Tifa’s eyes she mouths, “sorry!” at you before she fixes you something deliciously cold to drink.

“Have you seen Jessie?” she asks you as she passes your drink over. You shake your head and she purses her lips. “I hope there’s no trouble.”

You hear the extra note of concern in her voice and lower your own. “So it’ll be soon then?”

“Yes.” Her expression is unhappy but she doesn’t say anything more. It’s too dangerous. There are still plenty of people even in the slums that are believers in Shinra, and a lot of the locals suspect that Tifa is at least sheltering Avalanche if she isn’t one of them. They’re right, of course, but as long as they keep their suspicions to themselves it isn’t a problem.

“I’ll make sure my kit is ready,” you say. You’re not a card-carrying member of the cell, but you help patch the team up if the injuries aren’t too serious, and assist the doctor if they are. Your day job is at the Leaf House, which is how you got involved in the first place: Biggs had been forced to retreat to his former work place once after a run-in with a bunch of Shinra’s goons, and when you’d seen the bullet hole he couldn’t pretend he’d just fallen off a ladder or something equally pedestrian.

“I’m sorry I can’t tell you more,” she tells you, and you can tell she means it. “But…”

You laugh softly. “Barret would have your ass? It’s okay, I understand. Hopefully no one will need me and I’ll find out what happened when the rest of Midgar does.”

“Thanks. I know we all really appreciate you.” Tifa reaches out and gives your hand a squeeze, and you feel the warmth of acceptance. Even if you’re not part of the team, it’s nice to feel useful and appreciated.

You’ve moved on to talking about Marlene and her newfound passion for dancing when the door bursts open and Biggs rushes in. Your heart clenches the same way it always does at the sight of him, and that familiar colony of butterflies takes wing in your stomach--which drops as soon as you recognize the tightness around his eyes.

“Tifa,” he says in an urgent but controlled voice. She nods and disappears into the back room, perhaps disabling the lift to the hideout beneath your feet. Cloud looks up for the first time but he doesn’t move or ask questions. Still, you can see that he’s paying close attention even as his fingers curl around the glass in front of him.

Tifa pops back into the room and Biggs asks, “Barret?” When she shakes her head, he lets out a short sigh and says, “Well, that’s probably for the best. This the guy?” He indicates Cloud with a jerk of his thumb.

“Yeah. What’s going on, Biggs?”

“Shinra raid,” he replies. His eyes fall on you. “What are you--? Nevermind. There’s no time.” He takes your elbow and when you’re on your feet, tugs you gently into a corner. His arms come up to frame your head and he leans in close, but it isn’t sweet nothings he whispers in your ear. Instead, as the door slams open again, he leans down and murmurs, “Try to keep your face hidden. Put your hand on my waist. I’m enough of a risk to the Leaf House, but if they can trace you back there…”

You nod as the Shinra soldiers fan out through the bar, hands on weapons. You follow Bigg’s orders, only instead of putting your arm around his waist, you let them both dangle over his shoulders and you idly play with the hair at the back of his neck. You can see the little shiver it gives him and feel one of your own dance down your spine.

Then he smirks at you. “Oh, and don’t forget to pretend I’m very distracting and funny.”

“Mmm…not sure if I can pull that off.” But you let out a flirtatious little giggle anyway, because you do have an audience and you’re hoping they won’t be interested in an amorous couple.

Behind Biggs, you can see Cloud’s eyes cut toward you both before he looks over to Tifa, and then back down to his drink. His shoulders relax and his expression turns glacial as the leader of the Shinra squad marches up to the bar.

“You in charge?” he snaps to Tifa.

“Y-yes…” she replies slowly. “Is there some sort of problem?”

“There are rumors that Avalanche is hiding here, so you just sit your pretty ass down and stay out of our way.”

He makes a gesture and the men he’s brought with him begin methodically--and forcefully--searching the bar. They flip chairs and shove tables around, pull decor off of the walls and shove at the jukebox.

“Now, wait--you can search all you want, but don’t break the--” Tifa starts, but the squad leader shoves her back. You feel Biggs’ shoulders tense under your arms, torn between helping her and protecting you, but there’s no need for him to make a tough decision: Cloud’s head comes up once more.

“Touch her again and I’ll stick my sword up your ass, lieutenant,” he says in the same bored voice he’d used when you’d been introduced. It’s so clearly a threat that he intends to take out, but he says it like he’s observing the weather. The squad leader spins to face him, spots his sword and uniform, and swallows whatever smarmy comment he’d been about to make. Biggs chuckles in your ear and you shoot him a curious look.

“I can’t believe it,” he says under his breath, sounding impressed in spite of himself. “That cocky son of a bitch is pulling rank!”

“You’re a...a SOLDIER? What are you doing here?” the squad leader asks, sounding much less confident than he had thirty seconds ago. Cloud waves a lazy hand.

“Whatever I want.” Then he glances around at the men the Shinra lieutenant brought with him. “What’s going on?”

“We have reason to believe she’s sheltering terrorists,” he replies, with a sneering look at Tifa.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers grabs Biggs’ arm and tries to jerk him away from you. Remembering your orders, you keep your face turned away from him. Biggs’ other arm drops from the wall to your waist and he pulls you tight against his body.

“You mind?” he snaps at the soldier. “The lady and I are a little busy.”

“I need to see your ID,” the soldier tells him. His eyes fall on you, but your hair is down and thankfully obscuring your face further. “Both of you.”

If Cloud notices your dilemma, he gives no indication of it. He just keeps staring at the squad leader like he’s a semi-fascinating bug. “You think I’d drink at a bar full of terrorists?”

The squad leader falters. “W-well…”

A flicker of disdainful amusement crosses the ex-SOLDIER’s face. “If I find any planet-huggers, I’ll send them right to you.” His tone is so patronizing that you almost feel bad for the poor lieutenant...well, not really. But almost. “Unless you prefer me to deal with them myself? Probably not worth my time. Who’s your battalion commander?”

The squad leader makes a choking noise. Then he signals to his men again. “Search completed, let’s go.”

You can see the soldiers glance at each other, but they’ve been too well trained to question an order, so they begin filing out--including the one harrassing you and Biggs.

“Wait.” Cloud’s eyes have fallen back on his drink, but at the sound of his voice the room freezes again. “Not very good manners, trashing a place and leaving it that way.”

Immediately, the men begin setting the room to rights. It’s almost funny how fast they move to clean things up. Chairs and tables get shoved back into place, decor is put back on the walls, and one man even begins sweeping up the shards of a glass he’d broken while smashing his way through the search. While they’re distracted, Biggs turns back toward you and you tuck your face into his shoulder as his other arm joins the first around your waist.

“Almost,” he murmurs against your ear. “You’re doing good.”

“Tough assignment,” you whisper back, threading your fingers into his hair just in case anyone is still paying attention to you. “Standing here and trying not to let them see me.”

“Well, and pretending I’m the most interesting man you’ve ever met, even with SOLDIER-boy sitting at the bar over there,” he replies, sounding amused at your nonchalance.

“Broody hero types are popular,” you admit with a dramatic sigh, “but we met five minutes ago and I bet he has no idea what my name is.”

“Broke your heart already, did he? What a bastard,” Biggs chuckles, and you grin against his shoulder.

“Dispicable,” you agree, and he gives you a squeeze. When the last of the Shinra soldiers disappear out of the door, he lets you go and steps away. The urge to drag him back into your arms is almost painful, it’s so strong, but you force yourself to settle for heading back toward your waiting drink.

“What was that about?” Tifa asks, sounding a little shaken. Biggs takes the stool next to yours and steals your drink, taking a sip before his expression settles into something a little grim.

“They know something’s coming. They must be trying to stop us before we can pull the job off,” he says. Cloud makes a noise and all three of you look over to him. He looks up, realizes that three pairs of eyes are watching while you all wait for him to speak, and falters for a second. Then he says,

“They’re not really trying, they just have to make it look like they are. But the PR is much better if they swoop in and clean up after a terrorist attack than if they prevent it. People will forget if they stop it before it happens. They won’t forget who helped them in the aftermath. Makes them look like heroes, which is exactly what they want.”

“So what do we do?” Biggs asks him.

He shrugs. “This is your op. I’m just the hired help. Ask your fearless leader...if you can find him.”

Biggs snorts and takes another gulp of your drink before you snatch it back.

“We can’t stop now,” Tifa says, though she sounds unhappy about it. “We’ve worked too hard and...people have been…”

“I know,” Biggs replies in a tight voice. “Guess I’m just wondering if our timing sucks.”

“It’s never going to be the perfect time, no matter what you’re planning. But the planet can’t wait forever, right?” you ask. He glances toward you and nods and you give him a supportive smile. He smiles back--and then steals your drink for a second time. He finishes it off while you lunge forward to take it back, then slaps some gil on the counter to pay for a new one for you before you can complain too much.

“I better find Barret and give him an update,” he says. “See you guys later.”

“Later,” you and Tifa chorus. Cloud lifts a hand in goodbye without even looking over. You want to say something else, make some joke about being tucked into a corner together, but you can’t think of anything. Instead, you watch him stride back out of the bar and let your shoulders slump in disappointment. Tifa gives your hand a comforting pat.

“Don’t give up,” she tells you, and you give her a wry smile.

“It’s okay. He’s got bigger things to worry about. Besides, it’s just a crush, right? It’ll disappear on its own with time.”

“Maybe…” she agrees, but she sounds doubtful and you follow her gaze to Cloud. Then you both let out unhappy sighs. Love, you decide, thoroughly sucks.

[prorevenge]

Not following orders? You're fired.

For those of you that haven't read my previous posts, english is not my first language and im posting from mobile.

I work six days a week as a painter (not the artist type). This story happened from the 10. of august (saturday) to yesterday the 26.

Meet the spartans: Me: hello there, Hubby: my Cliff, JB: jester boss, Karen: my entitled supervisor.

Backstory: As some of you know, I got married the 11. of august. I had informed my boss and supervisor of this a week prior as per company rules regarding vacation time for our honeymoon. So just to be sure they understood the situation, I decided to mention it again the day before. They said they understood and told me to enjoy the week off with my husband. And just to be clear, I usually have a nice relation with both JA and Karen, but something wasn't right during all this.

So I finish my work that saturday and drive home to make the final preperations for the wedding. We got wed by the same priest that baptised me back in the day and everything went perfect and I couldn't have asked for more. It wasn't the big wedding you see in the movies, mostly because the only guests were my husbands parents and two siblings as well as about ten of our closest friends. We finish after some time and we retired for the evening. My husband had during his toast surprised me with our honeymoon destination, Australia. He hadn't mentioned anything about it, and he is BAD at keeping secrets from me, but we were both happy about it.

Since most people think i'm a girl because of my build and choice in clothing, you betcha we got some funny looks in Sidney while being there, we always have a good laugh when they realise. While being in Sidney I get a phone call.

Storytime:

It was Karen asking me where I was, why I hadn't shown up monday morning.

Karen: where are you? We have an urgent assignment.

Me: I'm in Australia, you know, on the other side of the globe.

Karen: why are you there? Who approved vacation?

Me: well first of all, it's my honeymoon. Second of all, you approved me taking time off.

Karen: well, that decision has changed, you are needed here ASAP.

Me: (dumbfounded)

Karen: yea, my son moved away from home and need his new appartement painted.

Me: I'm not the only employee in the firm, surely you can use someone else?

So, to clarify. Our company mostly hired people without education, I didn't have an education when I started but took it during my time there. But we discussed this for a good part of an hour before I got fed with her and hung up on her. I couldn't understand why she needed ME to take care of the appartement when there are six employees that rarely had an assignment and were more than good enough to take care of it, but noooo, it had to be me.

A couple hours later I get a call from my boss, he's a cool guy and we go out for a drink every now and again so he knows me. He was even a guest at the wedding.

JB: I got a call from Karen. She told me you were on leave without permission. And that you were quite rude toward her.

Me: as you know, I'm in Sidney on our honeymoon. I requested permission as per regulation and got permission from Karen herself. She called me earlier requesting me coming home to work to paint her sons appartement. I simply got fed up with her and hung up on her.

JB: well, we all know how she is with people, there is a reason why you are the one handling customers. You just enjoy your vacation, and say hi to the hubby from me.

Me: I will. See you in a week.

We continue our trip, but every now and again I hear my phone ringing, guess who. Noone in my firm like Karen, she is the biggest power hungry person I have ever known besides my own parents. Since I never shut off my phone, I kept getting calls and texts. Some were nasty like her personality, others were so sweet I thought she was on drugs. I got really tired of her so I answered the phone again (big mistake for her and me) I started recording our conversations to try get proof of her harrassment. She started threatening me with firing me and that JB was on her side. This continued for a couple of days. So just for fun, my husband and I start taking about taking revenge after years of oppression from her. So we used some of our time at the hotel looking into her. And I happen to know some stuff about her taxes and regular finances since she asks me to take care of her tax payments. We contacted some of our friends back home to help us, (we have some friends in the local police force) and the plan was in motion.

Revenge: Friday we returned home with the biggest jetlag in my life, but with fire in my soul keeping me going. We found some dirt on her during the week. We had enough to use. Because of her Union, the firm was unable to fire her because of the certain type of harrassment she commited. Bullshit, my turn to screw her over. My husband and I decided to cut the vacation short so we could start immediatly. So saturday I clocked in and had a meeting with the guys on my team. We had five ranks in the company, Boss, supervisor, teamleader (me), employees and interns. So I had a meeting with my team to get them in on the fun, no hesitation, they joined. None liked her so, LET THE HUNGER GAMES BEGIN, AND MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN OUR FUCKING FAVOR. We printed out the tax files I had and collected a total of one hundred and fifty pages with taxes. We made memes of her sleeping on the job and such, and you name it we did it.

I went to her office regarding the appartement and she lit up like a pumpkin on halloween. She hadn't noticed me being back at work so she jumped into the air. But she immediatly started rambling about her son and how he needs to get painters out. I said funny, enough ok and finished up preparing. We drive to the appartement to set up, and wouldn't you know Who came by, yup. She came rambling through the hallway. And when she came in, oooohhhoho you should've seen her face when she saw our fabulous job. We had taken every printout of her tax files, every mail with threats to employees and basically every piece of evidence against her that we had sent a copy of to her Union, and glued Them to the walls and painted around Them like a picture frame. Of course she would deny everything, but she now had no backup from the union to keep her from being fired.

We sent her tax files to our country'S CRS (tax evasion), we sent both mails with threats and tax papers to our boss, who btw was in on it from the start, and to top it all off, we got her ex-husband to dig up old files from when they were married, and wouldn't you know, tirns out it was some juicy stuff we found. We mailed these papers in to my friends in the local police and asked Them to let us have some fun with her before they took her. We did.

Fast forward to yesterday (26.) I got a call from my friends that Karen tried to use me as a scapegoat, that I was the one who made all those papers to frame her since I didn't like her, well true, I didn't like her from the start, but every file and mail were written by Karen herself. She had no credibility and found herself locked up before long. Just to rub it in her face I showed up in court with my husband and the entire company just to see what would happen. She was livid. When she saw me and my husband, she immideatly stood up, acting like nothing's wrong, and tried to run for me. I don't know if she taught she could kick my ass or what, but even though I dress like a girl and have a pretty small and feminine body, I am much stronger than she think.

The court came to a verdict. She was to pay about 450.000 USD for tax evasion + fraud, we found out that she used money from the company to renovate her own house. She got fired by my boss, and was to spend 3 years behind bars because of fraud, tax evasion and contempt of court. Over all, a shitty day for her.

On her way out she started yelling slurs at me and trying to bite the officers in the neck in pure desperation.

This morning when i clocked in I saw a notice on our board about a possible promotion. I applied on the spot. I went in, had a Nice chat with My boss and got the promotion while still keeping my old position as team leader. My pay got almost tripled in a span of 72 hours. I'm happy.

Tl;dr Supervisor gives permission for vacation and tries to revoke it as her son just moved out. Wrong person to demand from.

Summary: Don't mess with newlyweds

(source) story by (/u/Tobi_wan_kenobi_)

[chxseungyoun]

Xukun ♡ 》 Cold Heart, Warm Smile

Pairing: A career endangered! Xukun x Contented! Reader

Genre: Celebrity Life, Romance.

Maybe everyone would remember Xukun as that one trainee who rised beyond ranks when he joined Idol Producer and even earned him the center position.

Apart that, he managed to own his own recording label at a young age. It felt like he could have everything in the world during that time.

However, some stars were always meant to lose their shine and he had been one of those.

How did it happen? He could not recall but now there were no more promotions, no more calls. Nothing. All he had were memories and his cold heart.

Some people said he loss the passion that he used to have. How it flamed in fires then died than to dust. He became an alcoholic as he tried to cope with his experiences through wine then vodka when he could not afford his tastes anymore.

He spent most or his time at the local cafe where it was inexpensive and where newspapers were allowed to be borrowed. He had to try and get a job which could help him sustain a living.

You always saw him. You were a fan of him and you almost couldn't believe how your idol was sitting at the cafe you worked at.

You watched as a few people would recognize him but most of the customers didn't. You heard the news how he lost his fire and you did notice how when he was alone, he looked so cold and isolated but when someone showed interest in him, he would give one of his warmest smiles.

Or so you assumed.

It was his idol smile...probably not even his real smile.

Who was Cai Xukun and what really happened to him?

You would always deliver him his drinks but never did you once had a conversation. He had been drowning himself in the news section which never made him look up at who delivers his drinks.

You noticed how he was looking at the job postings and wanted to recommend the opening for the cafe but was hesitant to.

You overheard his call one time and it seem like he was desperate for a job considering his landlord was demanding for his rent.

So you tried to man up and tell him about the opening.

At first he gave this judgemental look but then one of those idol smiles. Next thing you knew, he was now your fellow employee.

Maybe you were just observant but he seem to have changed his look the day he started working. It was almost like he never was cai xukun. He wanted to be referred to as August.

That was the first time he heard your name as well since you were assigned to train him.

It was quite difficult since it was like...he had never worked this way at all.

"Do you need help?" You often asked and he would dismiss it and say he was fully capable of learning it on his own.

You were really nice to him but you could not say the same for him.

"I don't get why I need to be trained by someone who isn't that skilled either." You heard him talk over the phone.

Yeah, you made mistakes of your own but at least you never complained about them.

"Well, excuse me for knowing how to be a regular citizen, mr. Celebrity. Oh, that's right...you're not anymore."

Maybe you would regret it the next day. But you were so offended by what he said that you could not care about him.

The next day had been awkward considering how you both kind of made a mistake.

But you did not want to back down. You knew you were not someone to looked down on, not even from your own idol.

You two were minding your own business until a rather difficult customer came.

This customer had always been flirting with you whenever you were at work and Xukun had always noticed how you shifted uncomfortably whenever this certain customer came.

He was a very disrespectful man and he always commented about your body and even if you were not someone to let that happen, you were always scared to speak up around him.

However, the unexpected happened. Xukun pushed you aside and decided to take the customer's order. "Will you be purchasing anything?"

"I wanted to talk to her, not you." The cocky tone in the man's voice made Xukun raise a brow.

"If you aren't ordering, then you can just leave."

"How rude of you, call your manager." The arrogant man demanded and Xukun just smirked at him.

"Do you see those?" Xukun pointed to all the cameras at each corner of the cafe. "Those can contribute to a court case when we file for harrassment and also I had been recording you for a while now." He pointed to his breast pocket which had his phone in it.

"I...I'm never coming back h-here!" Then the man rushed out.

"Thank you..." was all you can mumble and you watched him give you a side glance before proceeding back to work.

Today was a long day so you two got off your shifts a little later than usual.

You were waiting by the bus stop when you saw Xukun stand right next to you.

It was silent...and a little awkward too.

Until you heard him sigh, "Hey."

You looked at him and waited for him to talk.

"I'm sorry for being rude the other day. I crossed the line and...I'm sorry for seeming like I only cared about myself." He said as he looked away.

He may have avoided eye contact but he seemed sincere.

"It's alright. I'm sorry for what I said too...I shouldn't have..."

"It's fine. What you said was true anyway. I'm losing what I used to be so..." he gave this strange smile. A smile you haven't seen from him even if you were a fan. It seemed pained but it also seemed warm.

"I know I'm not in the place to...but maybe it's time for you to find your new self...your present self?"

"How am I supposed to do that?"

You smiled softly and snapped your fingers. "I have a few ideas. Would you be okay with that?"

"Are you going to show me how to live my life?"

"That sounds kind of bad..."

"No. I'm willing to." He nodded and exchanged numbers with you.

You spent the next couple of days going to different places after work.

To the park.

To the museum.

To the carnival.

To the mini book club.

To the karaoke.

Everywhere you had fun in. Xukun seems to have been enjoying himself too. Maybe these were a few places he couldn't go to when he was still a celebrity since everything seems foreign to him.

He offered to take you home as a thank you for the rest of the day. "Hey."

"Hey." You repeated as you laughed.

"Do you wanna go on a date sometimes?" He asked which made you abruptly stop from walking.

"What? Do you mean it?" You blinked repeatedly and stared up at him.

"You got me knowing more about things but not much about you...so yeah?"

It was strange but you two did ended up dating.

It was not as awkward as you thought to be.

Or how it was when you two first met.

Even he knew that his once cold heart was slowly thawing out the more he spent time with you.

Maybe he did lose a lot from his past but having to know you and everything else he was missing out on, that was the real win.

[556betrayed]

Core Team Members sexually harassing a rank and file flight attendant. To this day, this flight attendant has yet to receive even an apology from his union officer and/ or officials.

When does the bullying and harrasment of Rank and File flight attendants end? When does it stop?

When charges were brought up against NT member, CAN Team Member, DMT Member, FADAP Team Member ( and serial sexual harasser) Bill Holcomb were brought to the board, they were shot down.

Later, after the Charlene Carter vs TWU 556 and Southwest Airlines Co trial exposed what happened to this rank and file member ( along with many other rank and file members) the current EB deemed charges against now disgraced President Audrey Stone as proper, yet nothing has been done so far.

How can the EB expect respect from rank and file members when it continues to allow rank and file flight attendants to be Bully and Harrassed by current and former union officers and officials?

Bill Holcomb= TWU 556 negotiator and serial sexual harasser.

Now, another serial sexual harrasser ( remember the "giving CC h*ad" from the transcripts) has been appointed to the NT by the TWU 556 Executive Board.

When does it stop?

Members, remember these names next election!!! Let's not allow these harrasers back into office under any circumstances!!!

The days of silencing the victim and protecting abusers/ harassers is long gone!

Shame on the Executive Board of TWU 556 for continuing to allow the harrassment and bullying of Rank and File flight attendants!!! Shame on the recent appointment of Sam Wilkins. Flight attendants no longer have to stay silent!

Any flight attendant sexually harassed, abused, or made to sign an NDA by the company and TWU Local 556 should contact an attorney as soon as possible.

No more company/ union protection for those who have harrrassed in the past and will continue harassing in the future!

[simple-nexus]

1 //  (<< read from the beginning)

The stones strike the surface of the water, but do not skip, because a fatherless child is not taught to skip stones.

A father (not his father) stands behind him on the lakeshore, a few paces back, eyelessly watching the hills that rise around them, bathed in late afternoon light. His hand rests lightly on the hilt of the blade, unexalted at his side, and in the rare moments when he isn’t watching the hills, he watches the child who isn’t his.

The stones strike the water as though in anger, as though the boy who throws them wouldn’t want them to skip, even if he knew how to skip them. Pain and fear and helpless, childish rage find their expression in the stones he throws at the surface, at being orphaned yet again.

But Natah was never a mother. The Tenno cannot be a child. And Umbra is no longer a father, though those same feelings still stir from deep within him, as he watches the boy on the lakeshore.

“The worst part is the way he thinks he’s helping!”

Another stone strikes the water.

It’s not the first thing he’s said, but it’s the first proper outburst, the Tenno’s voice rising and cracking slightly with emotion, revealing the tantrum for what it is. He’s been ranting quietly to himself ever since he started throwing stones. His words have mostly been lost on the wind, mutterings caught on the breeze and blown to all corners of the Plains of Eidolon, though Umbra has caught and heard every one of them, and the anger and pain that they carry.

“Like he thinks I need her, like I ever needed her, because I didn’t and I don’t!”

Now he shouts loud enough that Umbra lifts his head slightly, alive and aware of his own volition, unlike the puppets that fill the Orbiter, waiting obediently high above the surface of the Earth, and the mad, tragic Cephalon who cannot hear what’s being shouted about him, and the form he has chosen to synthesize as he passes on alerts and directives from all corners of the Origin system. As though he’s helping.

Lately the Operator has responded to fewer and fewer of these. Lately, he has instead chosen to spend his time on Earth, in Cetus or the plains around it, and in the flesh, rather than hidden away within the Somatic Link, endlessly dreaming.

And lately, perhaps for lack of anyone better—because he has been fatherless for millenia, and motherless for months now—he chooses Umbra’s company.

Another warframe would stand empty and dead on the shore behind him, an empty cage without a bird within. Another warframe would not wait or watch or guard the Tenno’s flank, or listen as he throws a tantrum on the shore of Gara Toht lake, and disturbs stones from where they’ve rested for millenia, to make ripples upon the water that last only moments.

“I found something to do without her. I found my own mission. And I’m doing it—we’re doing it—without her. And without him, pretending to be her.”

The Operator is only mad because he’s deseperately lonely. And while it’s obvious that the Operator is mad, the only reason Umbra knows the Operator is lonely is because there’s only room for one mind within a warframe, and when the Tenno seizes control of Excalibur Umbra, Transference flows both ways. And the pair of them flow together, kindred in ways beyond blood and flesh.

And so Umbra prefers to stand on the shore at the Operator’s back, watching him rage impotently at the emptiness of his life without the Lotus. Umbra has borne fathomless rage and unimaginable pain and boundless grief across the course of countless centuries—and yet the quiet, hidden pain of a motherless child, forlorn and lost in an uncaring universe, seems somehow to wound him anew.

Another stone strikes the surface of the lake, and then falls, silent and meaningless, into its depths.

Rank and file, by and large, the Grineer do not know that one of their queens is dead. The queens are beloved, Elder and Younger, and at the news of one’s death, there would be chaos and despair, and the fear and terror inspired by the Grineer command is nothing compared to the fanatical love and devotion shown to the Grineer Queens, false though they are. Or were, for the Elder is dead, assassinated by a lone Tenno, assisted by the treacherous Teshin Dax.

The Worm Queen maintains the fiction that her sister is merely fallen ill, and that the most elite of their forces gather Kuva to heal her. This lends a fanaticism to the ground troops, beyond the genetically engineered and inborn loyalty to the queens, for they know only too well what it’s like to sicken and die, withering and wasting into death, and would do anything to spare their beloved queen her suffering.

If the lie rankles within the ranks of the Grineer command, they cannot fault the fervor it spurs in their troops. If the truth is that the Elder Queen is dead, and that it’s only the madness of grief that drives her sister to scour the system for Kuva—then there is leverage to be gained by winning her favour. Councillor Vay-Hek seeds the plains with more Ghouls than ever, and hopes to convince his remaining queen that the Orokin Temple behind the walls of Cetus contains all the Kuva she could desire.

To that end, his spies have sought out and traced the Tenno responsible for the assassination. By some cosmic serendipity, it lately seems drawn to Cetus and the plains around it, and has insisently made a damned nuisance of itself, harrassing the troops that guard the excavation efforts on the Plains of Eidolon, and cutting wide swaths through Vay Hek’s precious Ghouls, newly emerged from the earth, before they even have a chance to make their war on Cetus.

He has petitioned the Worm Queen herself, and she has promised him an assassin of his own. She has not promised him where or when her assassin will strike, but she has promised that when they do, if the Tenno falls and Vay Hek delivers her the corpse she so craves—then he will have whatsoever of her favours he could ever ask, be repaid a thousand times over. He will have forces enough to storm Cetus and ravage its people, and to topple the Unum tower into Mer-Sah Bay, so that the blood of the Ostron will run red to the shores, mingling with the Temple Kuva as it floats on the surface of the sea, to be harvested for the glory of the Grineer.

But it all begins with the bullet meant to kill the Tenno, the real Tenno, the demon child that hides behind the warframe.

next >> 

[sordidandsublime]

Damn it don’t always feel good to be a gangster

Warnings for mentions of murder, domestic abuse, self harm etc. details might be fudged, in need of clarification or I might just straight up change some things in the future.

1945: Avenir is born. I’m not certain where. Possibly in a small, fairly rural town.

1961: Vadim is born. Avenir is 19, living away from his family, probably in Moscow with other relatives (paternal uncle(s)? Possibly working in the military or government service?) beginning his medical studies. Avenir visits his family now and then, but he never lives with his parents for longer than a week or two after he starts university. OR. The entire family is currently living in Moscow. Valeriya’s musical career is going well. Regardless of where the family is based, Demyan is a director at a health center.

1969: as-yet undecided disease, maybe an early onset arthritis, puts a stop to Valeriya’s performing career. She continues to teach piano at the state conservatory and has a minor administrative job at the cultural commission.

1970: the family returns to the ancestral village of Valeriya’s family. Or perhaps Demyan’s? The move is prompted by Valeriya’s worsening arthritis but mostly by Demyan’s falling out of favor with someone higher up in the medical and health commission. He is reassigned to the district health center as an assistant. Avenir remains in Moscow and visits occasionally to see his brother. The abuse starts and continues until Demyan’s death

1971: Milan is born. His childhood isn’t an unhappy one, although the family is strained; occasionally happy but often strange. Vadim is very quiet, deeply lost in his head, but he comes to to speak with and spend time with Milan. Milan is the family’s sole source of cheer in these years.

1977: The two younger boys and their father are at the family vacation home. Valeriya is in Moscow with Avenir for a hopeful but pointless check up. Her bones hurt her, and the loss of her ability to play has made her more stern, sensitive and irritable.

1977: Vadim kills Demyan. Several months previous to the holiday Demyan had begun striking Milan. I’m not certain how Vadim kills Demyan. Possibly a kitchen knife and farming implements in the old shed/barn behind the house. He prepared for it by hunting deer in the wooded areas surrounding their home, getting used to gutting the creatures. Often he didn’t even take the carcasses home. Maybe he killed a homeless man to acquaint himself with the sensation of cutting a grown man. He burns the house down when it’s done and takes Milan to Moscow.

1977: after Demyan’s funeral and a cursory investigation into the fire Milan and Vadim return to their hometown with Valeriya. Avenir goes through the arduous process of acquiring leave time to spend a few weeks with his mother and brothers. He considers filing for a transfer to the town. Valeriya is often ill and suspicious of both boys. She is constantly traveling between Moscow and their home for many different reasons; her treatments, to see Avenir, for this and that.

I’m not sure if Valeriya dies or if she goes to live with her family after getting Milan and Vadim settled in Moscow when Vadim graduates from high school. After the boys’ move to the city she constantly travels to her family and stays for extended amounts of time and hardly sees her sons. By the time Milan is a teenager she is a stranger to whom he is friendly and well inclined to, but not much more than that. Due to difficulties in acquiring housing/living permits the younger boys don’t live with their older brother and instead live in a shared flat with three or four other families. Later when Vadim returns from his mandatory enlistment they move into a flat with fewer occupants+ Avenir

Getting ages/dates to mesh really sucks lol. Don’t @ me, I’ll fix it later

1981(?): Vadim goes into university, pauses his studies to fulfill the mandatory draft. Milan moves in with Avenir despite being officially registered at a different address; the paperwork for the move is very slow. Vadim is officially ‘homeless’ himself once he returns from Afghanistan.

1987: Vadim travels to Czechoslovakia for five months for a portion of his masteral studies. He meets Katya. He returns to Russia at the end of his studies and applies for a permit to travel to Czechoslovakia again to see Katya. She ends things with him when they meet.

1988: Miklos is born

1990: Vadim is convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years imprisonment in a detainment facility in the Urals (?). It’s a work camp, attached to one of the mechanical industrial complexes. Mea culpa coz I still haven’t figured out why or how he ends up killing someone. He probably doesn’t remember why or how it happens exactly and I think I’m fine with that bc it contributes to the atmosphere of confusion, absurdity and anxiety. Currently I think he kills a student whom he had given a failing mark. The student is the son of a ranking party member (a man who later becomes a minor oligarch? Is this a revenge plot I smell (on the man’s part, not Vadim’s). Worried over his father’s reaction the student harrasses Vadim, hoping to get him to change the grade. It starts out as a mildly amusing annoyance, then becomes stranger and more dangerous as the student grows more violent, persistent and sinister/showing up outside the brothers’ flat/ threatening Vadim and Avenir’s careers and Milan’s schooling and military prospects etc. I think I like the idea of something so banal becoming overblown and dissolving into absurd violence (v.typical of living in a chaotic and corrupt society where the citizens have little security)

Events follow the AU outlined in a previous post

God I think I have to make everyone older. With the current outline Milan would be getting into bootlegging around this point. Frankly perfect timing. He wouldn’t need to enlist, but I think he still does and is into illegal arms, drugs and human trafficking with his superiors, utilizing military resources. His intelligence and special forces career would be way different from what I had imagined it to be; he probably would have participated in the gulf war and done intelligence work in Angola, Cambodia, Nicaragua etc. Mostly illegal arms dealing and bribing warlords tbh but yeah. At least Milan dresses like someone who cut his teeth in the early to mid 90s lol.

[spicynbachili1]

Two Riot Games folks sue the company for sexual discrimination

One former and one present worker of Riot Video games are suing the League Of Legends builders, claiming they’ve “been denied equal pay and located their careers stifled as a result of they’re ladies” in addition to having suffered in that festering office tradition of sexual discrimination and harrassment. They accuse Riot of behaviour together with “violation of the California Equal Pay Act” and “failure to stop discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in violation of the Truthful Employment & Housing Act”. Whereas Riot did this yr publicly admit they’d enormous issues, a jury would possibly determine fairly how a lot the corporate are accountable (is the reply “very”? it looks like it’s very). Riot say they don’t touch upon ongoing authorized issues however do “take each allegation of this nature severely and examine them totally.”

In August, a wonderful report on Kotaku spoke to many present and former Riot workers to construct an image of an organization with an actual “bro tradition” downside, the place ladies have discovered their careers stifled, males have mentioned how fuckable their feminine colleagues are, inappropriate jokes are rife, males have despatched unsolicited footage of their dicks to colleagues, a senior member would fart within the faces of different male workers, complaints about misbehaviour have been usually ignored and even punished, and… a lot extra.

The lawsuit filed on Monday, as reported by Kotaku, lists many of those behaviours and extra – together with some really surprising stuff I’m listening to for the primary time.

“A former male worker was allowed to stay ready of management regardless of recurrently making sexual feedback within the office and drugging and raping one other Riot Video games’ worker,” the swimsuit alleges. Christ.

All of this builds to Riot violating quite a few California legal guidelines, the category motion lawsuit says, and the plaintiffs are looking for damages.

Following Kotaku’s report, Riot issued a public assertion vowing to “rebuild” their tradition and “depart no room for sexism or misogyny” as they “change into a pacesetter on range, inclusion, and tradition.” Which might be a fairly main rebuild, contemplating how deep the issues appear to run. Riot mentioned “we’ve by no means backed down from a problem earlier than and we don’t plan to begin now,” forgetting that they’d spent years pretending the issue didn’t exist. What they did subsequent mentioned rather a lot about how severely they took the issue.

One week after that, Riot fired at the least one worker for publicly (although crudely) tweeting out in opposition to the backlash to Riot’s PAX West panels that have been solely open to feminine and non-binary viewers members. And to assist with disaster administration, they introduced in a regulation agency famend for union-busting, Seyfarth Shaw. Then a Kotaku follow-up a fortnight after Riot’s vow reported that a number of high-ranking workers recognized for his or her unhealthy behaviour (chief working officer Scot Gelb was reportedly the face-farter) have been nonetheless on the firm. Riot’s assertion talked massive, however their seen actions don’t appear to again it up.

The swimsuit alleges that “despite the fact that the problems plaguing Riot Video games have come to gentle in a public discussion board, Riot Video games [are] merely sweeping this allegations below the rug with empty investigations and counselling, whereas defending the unhealthy actors from any repercussion.” In order that they’re taking ’em to court docket, calling out particular labour legal guidelines they imagine Riot have violated, and looking for damages. The 2 core plaintiffs have particular claims about their particular experiences, however the class motion additionally covers any present or former ladies employed by Riot who’ve been harassed, discriminated, and retaliated in opposition to due to their gender or intercourse over the previous 4 years. That may very well be lots of people.

“Whereas we don’t focus on the main points of ongoing litigation, we will say that we take each allegation of this nature severely and examine them totally,” Riot responded in a press release offered to Kotaku. “We stay dedicated to a deep and complete evolution of our tradition to make sure Riot is a spot the place all Rioters thrive.”

from SpicyNBAChili.com http://spicymoviechili.spicynbachili.com/two-riot-games-folks-sue-the-company-for-sexual-discrimination/

[simonconsultancypage]

Signet Jewelers Settles #MeToo-Related Securities Suit for $240 Million

In yet another significant #MeToo-related development, the parties to the Signet Jewelers securities class action lawsuit have agreed to settle the case for $240 million. There are a number of interesting features to the settlement, as discussed below; among other things, over $200 million of the settlement amount is to be funded by insurance. The settlement is subject to court approval. The plaintiff’s March 26, 2020 letter to the court regarding the settlement can be found here. The parties’ stipulation of settlement can be found here.

  Background

As detailed here, Signet Jewelers and certain of its directors and officers were first sued in a securities class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York in August 2016. Multiple consolidated amended complaints were later filed. The lead plaintiff’s Fifth Amended Complaint, the operative complaint in the action, can be found here.

  The plaintiff’s complaint included two distinct sets of allegations: first, that the company had made a series of misrepresentations and omissions concerning the in-house lending program, through which the company provided purchase financing to its jewelry customers. The complaint essentially alleges that the company represented its lending program as conservative, when, in fact, the plaintiff alleged, the company had built up a large portfolio of “high-risk subprime loans” that cause the company to incur significant losses.

  The second set of were based on allegations pertaining to alleged sexual harassment. As described in the plaintiff’s motion for preliminary approval of the proposed settlement (here), the sexual harassment related allegations pertained to the company’s allegedly misleading public statements concerning the “Jock litigation,” an employment arbitration brought by employees of Signet’s U.S. division, Sterling Jewelers. The securities litigation lead plaintiff alleged that the defendants “misleadingly minimized the Jock litigation as involving only ‘store-level’ employment practices concerning ‘compensation and promotional opportunities’ at a ‘few stores.’” Instead, the securities plaintiff alleged, the Jock litigation “in fact concerned allegations of sexual harassment by Signet’s most senior executives, which were set forth in numerous sworn declarations by former Sterling employees.” The securities plaintiff further alleged that the company’s investors “suffered losses when the truth was revealed through a February 27, 2017 Washington Post article” reporting on the statements in the employees’ declarations.

  Among other things, the lead plaintiff in the securities litigation alleged, the over 200 declarations in the Jock litigation showed that the ranks of Signet’s executives were filed with “womanizers,” “playboys,” and serial sexual harrassers who “preyed” on female employees. The declarations alleged that female employees were propositioned to engage in sexual behavior in exchange for employment advancement; those who did so were rewarded with promotions, but those who declined or reported the activity were retaliated against. Specific allegations of sexual misconduct were alleged against the company’s then-CEO.

  The defendants moved to dismiss the plaintiff’s complaint. As detailed here, on November 26, 2018, Southern District of New York Judge Colleen McMahaon denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss. The opinion  can be found here.

  The Settlement

Following the dismissal motion denial and extensive subsequent proceedings in the case, the parties entered mediation, which ultimately resulted in settlement.

  According to the company’s March 26, 2020 filing on Form 10-K, the charge the company  taking for the settlement cost is “net of expected recoveries from the Company’s insurance carriers of $207.4 million.”

  Discussion

In a recent post (here), in which I discussed the dismissal without prejudice of the #MeToo-related securities lawsuit pending against Papa John’s International, I tried to make the statement that the various #MeToo-related management liability-related lawsuits had not fared particularly well.

  Several readers challenged this statement, noting that in addition to the $90 million settlement in the 21st Century Fox #MeToo-related derivative lawsuit settlement (which I had mentioned in the blog post), the Wynn Resorts #MeToo-related derivative lawsuit also had settled for a cash payment of $41 million, including a $20 million cash payment from Steve Wynn personally. My blog post had not initially acknowledged the Wynn Resorts settlement.

  In light of the massive settlement in the Signet Jewelers securities lawsuit, as well as the two previous large settlements in the 21st Century Fox and Wynn Resorts suits, it clearly is not accurate to say that the plaintiffs’ in these various #MeToo-related management liability lawsuits have not been particularly successful. At a minimum, plaintiffs in at least some of these #MeToo-related management liability cases have been very successful.

  To be sure, it is complicated to talk about the Signet Jewelers securities suit settlement in relation to the other #MeToo-related management liability lawsuit settlements, because the Signet Jewelers case included a distinct set of allegations unrelated to the underlying sexual misconduct-related allegations. The lead plaintiff’s allegations concerning the company’s in-house lending program were serious and extensive, and actually were featured most prominently in the plaintiff’s final complaint. It is hard to know how much of the $240 million settlement of the Signet Jewelers securities suit is related to the underlying sexual harassment allegations. Clearly, some indeterminate but not insignificant portion of the settlement is not related to the #MeToo allegations. It is hard to say how much.

  One thing we can say for sure about this settlement is that it is massive. According to the latest ISS Securities Class Action Services list of the Top 100 Securities Class Action Settlements (discussed here), the Signet Jewelers settlement would rank 71st on the all-time list.

  It is also the latest in a series of recent significant securities suit settlements, including, among others, the January 2020 $350 million First Solar securities suit settlement (discussed here), the February 2020 $149 million Equifax securities suit settlement (discussed here), and the February 2020 $187.5 Snap settlement  (discussed here). All of these securities suit settlements are on top of the separate March 2020 Wells Fargo derivative suit settlement, which had a cash value of $240 million (discussed here). All of these massive settlements have been entered just in the first quarter of this calendar year.

  Cumulatively, the impact of these various settlement on the D&O Insurers is enormous. The D&O insurers’ contribution to the Signet Jewelry settlement alone was over $200 million (not counting defense fees, which in this case undoubtedly were substantial). These kinds of developments are among the myriad of reasons why the D&O insurance market was already in disarray before the recent coronavirus outbreak. These kinds of developments are a significant factor in the recent increases in D&O insurance premiums that insurance purchasers have been experiencing, and likely will continue to experience.

  One noteworthy point about the Signet Jewelers settlement is that it arose in connection with a securities class action lawsuit. The two prior significant #MeToo-related settlements – in the 21st Century Fox and Wynn Resorts cases – both arose in connection with derivative lawsuits. As far as I am aware, the Signet Jewelers settlement is the first (and certainly the most significant) settlement in a #MeToo related securities suit. Indeed, in its motion for preliminary approval of the settlement, the plaintiff expressly asserted that “to Lead Counsel’s knowledge, [these types of allegations] have never been successfully pursued in securities litigation prior to this case.”

  As interesting as it is to consider the various settlements in these #MeToo-related cases, it may be that these kinds of settlements may be a relatively short-lived phenomenon. While there were a host of #MeToo related case filed in 2018 and early 2019, it has been more than 12 months since I have registered the filing of any additional #MeToo-related management liability lawsuits. Of course, there may have been cases filed of which I am unaware, but I feel comfortable saying that there have not been any high-profile #MeToo-related management liability lawsuits filed for many months.

  There have of course continued to be event-driven lawsuits filed; this Signet Jewelers settlement involves one of the many event-driven lawsuits that have been filed in recent years. Interestingly, most of the very large settlements noted above also involve event-driven lawsuits, as well. Whether or not we are going to see any further #MeToo-related management liability lawsuits, we surely are going to continue to see event-driven litigation filed.

  Signet Jewelers Settles #MeToo-Related Securities Suit for $240 Million published first on http://simonconsultancypage.tumblr.com/

[lawfultruth]

Dismissal Motion Denied in Sexual Misconduct-Related Securities Suit

One of the things that has happened in the wake of revelations of high-profile sexual misconduct as part of the #MeToo movement has been the rise of D&O litigation following after the revelations. However, this type of sexual misconduct follow-on litigation didn’t start with the rise of the #MeToo movement. Even before the #MeToo movement there were D&O lawsuits arising from sexual misconduct allegations. One of these earlier cases involved the retail jewelry chain Signet Jewelers. On November 26, 2018, Southern District of New York Judge Colleen McMahaon denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss in the case, in a ruling that may provide an interesting perspective on the many subsequent #MeToo follow on lawsuits. The November 26, 2018 opinion in the case can be found here.

  Background

Signet Jewelers is in the retail jewelry business, selling jewelry through several different branded stores, including its Kay Jewelers, Jared the Galleries of Jewelry Stores, Zales the Diamond Stores brands. On August 25, 2016, a plaintiff shareholder first filed a securities class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against Signet Jewelers and certain of its directors and officers, as discussed here.

  In a subsequent amended consolidated complaint (here), the plaintiffs asserted their claims against the defendants relating to two sets of alleged misrepresentations. The amended complaint alleges that Signet made material misrepresentations or omissions relating to the health and management of its credit portfolio and with respect to Signet’s alleged corporate culture of sexual harassment. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ complaint.

  The Underlying Allegations of Sexual Misconduct and the Allegedly Misleading Company Disclosures

With respect to the allegations based on the alleged culture of sexual harassment, the plaintiffs allegations related to the company alleged disclosures concerning an underlying employment practices class action lawsuit that previously and separately been filed against the company in the Southern District of New York. This prior litigation is referred to as the Jock litigation (in reference to the name of the first-named plaintiff in the lawsuit).

  The complaint alleges that Signet first disclosed the Jock litigation in an SEC filing in March 2008, in which the company said that the lawsuit is based on the allegations of 15 former and current employees. In subsequent disclosures, the company said that the lawsuit alleged store-level employment practices that allegedly were discriminator as to compensation and promotional activities.

  Initially, the allegations in the Jock lawsuit were not publicly available due to court-required redactions and a seal of the court record. However, when the plaintiffs moved for class certification in the Jock lawsuit and the more than 250 declarations of more than 200 company employees became available in the public record, as least in part, it first became apparent that the lawsuit included allegations of sexual harassment, which, rather than being confined to store-level employees, was “rampant at Signet at all levels, including among senior executives.”

  A February 27, 2018 Washington Post article (here) detailed the newly revealed allegations in the employees’ declarations, including allegations that the ranks of Signet’s executives were filed with “womanizers,” “playboys,” and serial sexual harrassers who “preyed” on female employees. Among other things, the declarations alleged that female employees were proposition to engage in sexual behavior in exchange for employment advancement; those who did so were rewarded with promotions, but those who declined or reported the activity were retaliated against. Specific allegations of sexual misconduct were alleged against the company’s then-CEO.

  The November 26, 2018 Opinion

In his November 26, 2018 opinion, Judge McMahon denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss as to both sets of allegations.

  With respect to the plaintiffs’ allegations regarding Signet’s credit portfolio, Judge McMahon concluded that the plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged that the company’s statements about its credit portfolio were misleading. He also held that the plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged scienter and loss causation.

  In ruling on the sexual misconduct disclosure allegations, Judge McMahon said that the defendants were obligated under their reporting duties to provide a brief but accurate “description of the factual basis alleged to underlie the claims” in the Jock litigation. He said that the plaintiffs had “adequately alleged that Defendants did not do that.”

  Judge McMahon specifically noted that the company had said in its SEC reports that the Jock litigation involved store-level alleged misconduct involved alleged discrimination in compensation and promotional opportunities, whereas, the plaintiffs had alleged, the allegations in Jock were about “pervasive sexual harassment that reached the highest offices in the company.” These allegations, Judge McMahon said, “suffice to state a claim that Signet’s public disclosures regarding the Jock litigation were false or misleading.”

  Judge McMahon also found that the plaintiffs’ allegations based on the company’s disclosures relating to its Code of Ethics were also sufficient, noting that “statements contained in a code of conduct are actionable where they are directly at odds with the conduct alleged in the complaint.”

  However, he said, the plaintiffs had not adequately alleged that the defendants’ generalized statements touting the importance of Signet’s relationship with its employees were materially false and misleading; these statements, he said, are the sort of “broad, aspirational and vague puffery statements that no reasonable investor could possibly consider in making investment decisions.”

  Finally, Judge McMahon concluded with respect to the sexual misconduct disclosure allegations that the plaintiffs had adequately pled scienter and loss causation.

  With respect to scienter, Judge McMahon noted that senior management, including one of the named defendants, were implicated in the very sexual misconduct alleged in the Jock case. Judge McMahon said that the plaintiffs had adequately alleged that the defendants “either had present knowledge or were reckless at the misleading nature of their disclosures regarding Jock and their corporate policy against sexual harassment.” He added that the inference of scienter “is at least as compelling as the one that Defendants offer – that their disclosures were in good faith.”

  Discussion

One specific thing Judge McMahon said at the outset of her opinion is worth highlighting here. She opened her opinion by saying the securities lawsuit against Signet “is a garden variety securities fraud lawsuit.”

  I believe this is important and worth emphasizing because I think some D&O underwriters and even some insurance company claims representatives get confused about these kinds of cases. They look at the underlying employment practice misconduct allegations and think that these cases are EPL cases. To be sure, the underlying lawsuit here (the so-called Jock litigation) is indeed an EPL lawsuit. But the securities lawsuit is not an EPL lawsuit, it is a “garden variety” disclosure lawsuit, the very kind of lawsuit that a public company D&O insurance policy is designed to address.

  As I noted above, this lawsuit was first filed before the #MeToo phenomenon really got going, but even though it predated the phenomenon, it is very much a part of the same sensation. There are a couple of things that are important to note in that regard.

  While some of the #MeToo follow-on D&O lawsuits have been filed as shareholder derivative lawsuits, others have been filed as securities class action lawsuits (refer, for example, here). Judge McMahon’s ruling shows that plaintiff shareholders can in fact plead a misrepresentation lawsuit based on underlying allegations of sexual misconduct. In other words, these kinds of lawsuits are not merely mismanagement lawsuit; they can in fact be misrepresentation lawsuit, as this case establishes.

  The allegations against the company and its executives that have come to light in the Jock lawsuit are indeed troubling, if true. But it is not those allegations alone that allowed the plaintiff shareholders’ securities lawsuit to survive the motion to dismiss. It is not what is alleged in the Jock lawsuit that allowed the plaintiffs here to avoid dismissal; it is what the company itself said in its SEC filings about the Jock lawsuit that allowed the motion to dismiss to be denied.

  As is so often the case, the way the company deals with bad news can itself be the source of securities liability. In essence, the plaintiff shareholders allege that the company tried to soft-pedal the seriousness of the allegations in the Jock lawsuit, and that, the plaintiffs allege, is what harmed their investment interests when the alleged truth later came to light. All of which is a reminder of the importance for companies of the way in which they communicate with the investment public regarding negative developments involving the company.

  The bottom line for the claimants in other securities class action lawsuits that have been filed on the bases on allegations involving underlying alleged sexual misconduct is that, as this case shows, it is possible to establish a viable securities misrepresentation claim based on company disclosures relating to the alleged misconduct.

  The claimants in the other cases may find Judge McMahon’s statements about the plaintiffs’ allegations here based on the company’s code of conduct particularly helpful. Many of the securities suits based in reliance on allegations of underlying sexual misconduct include allegations based on supposed misrepresentation in the company’s disclosures about its code of conduct. Judge McMahon specifically held that these kinds of allegations can be sufficient to state a claim. Claimants in other cases will find Judge McMahon’s conclusion that statements in a code of conduct can be actionable where they are directly at odds with the conduct alleged in the complaint to be helpful.

  In a recent conversation, I was asked whether I think the #MeToo phenomenon had run its course, and whether we would see fewer of these kinds of D&O claims in the future as a result. I happen to think that, unfortunately, we will continue to see high-profile allegations of misconduct. However, I think the direction of the phenomenon and the kinds of misconduct alleged may change.

  The one thing I know for sure is that the #MeToo movement has been very empowering for many women, particularly younger women. The message that women can do something when they are treated improperly is powerful. I believe that the kind of issues that women will challenge will move on from sexual misconduct to issues of gender equity, including in particular gender pay disparity. And so, no, I don’t think the #MeToo phenomenon has run its course, I just think the nature of the revelations and of the follow-on D&O litigation will change.

The post Dismissal Motion Denied in Sexual Misconduct-Related Securities Suit appeared first on The D&O Diary.

Dismissal Motion Denied in Sexual Misconduct-Related Securities Suit syndicated from https://ronenkurzfeldweb.wordpress.com/

[kayawagner]

Railog Playing Cards (Stylized)

Publisher: Hammurabi Concepts

Railog Playing Cards

In ages gone by, omyr wandered the Arlin plains riding their sitar and following Arlios. Eventually the settled around Getha lake and built villages, then towns, then cities. When they roamed westward they found the Misty Sea whose year-round and day-long mists prevented crossing without ships bearing the Eyes of Meth. The sailors who braved those mist-covered waters would play at cards to pass the time, cards that reflected omyr sensibilities.

Now reproduced for your card playing pleasure, these cards with their rich presentation of omyr culture are now available in Umath... err, I mean Earth.

The Design

Each of the cards in this deck was individually hand painted. The background for each suit uses a set palette to keep the suits coordinated, but even the dark frames are unique to each card. The face cards use a stylized representation of an omyr.

The Cards

A basic deck of Railog playing cards consists of eight suits with eight numbered cards and four face cards which vary by region. The suits also vary by region but are typically divided into two groups of four with paired colorings. In all, there are thus 96 cards in the deck.

Number Cards

The suit is indicated in the left corner with the number in the right corner. The numbers are hash marks with an under score indicating +4. The suit symbol is also produced a matching number of times on the card’s face. Some examples from an omyr deck (4 of rblus, 7 of sitar and 8 of thrim) are shown.

Face Cards

Although the deck is not standardized the function and ranking of the four face cards do not often vary. In omyr decks the face cards are usually named alak, arl, deiskatun and arlas, in order from lowest to highest rank.

Alak (ah-lahk)

The lowest ranked of the face cards, the alak represents an exceptionally fierce warrior who inspires the troops to great feats. When portrayed as an omyr this card is an alak wielding a medra, a hafted weapon with curving tines intended to represent a claw. The alak is characterized by a red mane with red ticks in the fur. The card’s rank is indicated by a stylized medra.

Arl (ahrl)

Ranked above the alak is the arl, representing effective military leadership whose tactics increase the effectiveness of the troops. When portrayed as an omyr this card is an arl, usually wielding a ra, a hafted weapon with a narrow, curving blade. The arl is characterized by stripes that run parallel with the fur grain. The card’s rank is indicated by a ra.

Deiskatun (day-ihs-kah-tuhn)

The second highest rank card is the deiskatun, or priest. The deiskatun provide protection from the supernatural through intercession with the gods. When portrayed as an omyr this card is an amri, usually wielding a staff. The amri is characterized by stripes that run perpendicular to the fur grain. The card’s rank is indicated by a sun wheel.

Arlas (ahrl-ahs)

The highest rank card is the arlas, or sorcerer. As a wielder of magic he is supremely powerful and dangerous. When portrayed as an omyr this card is an arlas, usually wielding the suit symbol. The arlas is characterized by blue spirals. The card’s rank is indicated by an eight-pointed star.

Suits

Although there are always eight suits there is substantial regional variation in the suits themselves. Although traditionally divided into four gener and four larer suits this dichotomy is not set in stone. It is typical, however, for the suits to represent gods, archetypes or principles. This is seen in the eight suits used in the traditional Markat deck.

Sitar (sih-tahr)

The sitar, a beast with enormously powerful hind legs that it uses to sprint in great leaps and bounds—and to turn 180° in the blink of an eye, is the favored mount of omyr and represents speed and agility. The symbol for this suit is a stylized representation of the defining hind leg. Its color is blue. Sitar is opposed by Larfu and paired with Meth.

Meth (may-th)

This is the god of the sea whose eye is painted on the prow of ships to enable them to see through the dense mists that cover the Misty Sea. The symbol for this suit is Meth’s stylized eye. Its color is blue. Meth is opposed by Rblus and paired with Sitar.

Thrim (thrihm)

This is the god of storms and war symbolized by a silver lightning bolt. He is defender of omyr, particularly form the kronin. The symbol for this suit is a lightning bolt. Its color is white. Thrim is opposed by Kron and paired with Raimon.

Railog (rah-ee-lohg)

This is the goddess who personifies the entirety of the world. She is understood as the earth goddess and mother to all. The symbol for this suit is a square that represents the four corners of the world. Its color is brown. Railog is opposed by her sister Raimon and paired with Larfu.

Larfu (lahr-foo)

This is a concept, a pejorative used by omyr to insult someone. Someone who is larfu is big and strong, but slow, awkward and stupid, naive and deceived. The symbol for this suit is a maul. Its color is brown. Larfu is opposed by Sitar and paired with Railog.

Rblus (ur-bloos)

This is the god of fire who is feared more than revered. Fire is an important part of life providing warmth and used in cooking and crafts. But it is also dangerous, inflicting burns and destroying homes and towns. At the annual Fire Festival the priests bless each omyr’s firestone. The symbol for this suit is a ring. Its color is red. Rblus is opposed by Meth and paired with Kron.

Kron (krohn)

This is the god of destruction and earthquakes whose minions erupt from crevices that open in the ground to harrass and attack omyr and larin. The symbol for this suit is a crevice. Its color is red. Kron is opposed by Thrim and paired with Rblus.

Raimon (rah-ee-mohn)

This goddess is sister to Railog and appears as a silvery disk in the sky that turns like a spinning coin and traveling from here to Ylansi, the sideways world. The symbol for this suit is a bisected disc representing her when fully turned to Railog and the remaining visible edge when turned to Ylansi. Its color is white. Raimon is opposed by Railog and paired with Thrim.

Games

Although these cards have multiple uses an obvious one is to play games. The standard game for mercenaries is sometimes called yamiro in their honor, but it is also known under the more general title of “war.”

Yamiro (yah-meer-oh)

The goal of yamiro is to defeat an opponent through a war fought through various engagements. It is difficult to win every battle and winning the war is as much about picking which battles to lose, and how to lose them, as it is about winning engagements.

Starting with a shuffled deck each player is dealt four cards. These form the resources available to the player and are constantly replenished: each time a card is played a new card is drawn from the pile to replace it.

Hands are played with each player alternating going first. Traditionally the dealer is the defender in the first hand so the other player goes first. A hand consists of four cards played by each player. A player must play a card on their turn, they cannot skip over or yield their turn. So a hand ends when the defending player plays their fourth card.

At the end of the hand the cards are counted to see who won that hand. Number cards are worth their face value and added together to give a total for the rank-and-file troops. If at least one alak is played then the total is doubled, and if—in addition to the alak—at least one arl has been played then the total is doubled a second time. There is no benefit to playing two alak or two arl, or even playing an arl without an alak. The highest score is achieved by playing two eight cards, an alak and an arl giving a score of 64.

However, regardless of the score, the first player to play an arlas wins the hand. Unless the opposing player plays a deiskatun. In that case the second arlas played wins the hand, unless the opposing player played a deiskatun, and so on for each arlas-deiskatun pair. Thus if the attacking player plays two arlas then the defending player must either play two deiskatun, or play a deiskatun and an arlas, with the arlas played before the attacking player’s second arlas.

In summary: victory is obtained by having a higher score where number cards are worth their face value, playing an alak doubles the score and playing both an alak and an arl quadruples the score. The first arlas played always wins, unless negated by a deiskatun.

The winning player captures the opposing players hand, adding it to his capture pile.

In the event of a tie both hands are discarded.

Play continues through eight hands after which the capture piles are counted. When counting captures number cards are worth their face value while face cards are always worth eight points. This is different than their victory value during a hand with a maximum value of 32 points for the four cards captured in a single hand and a theoretical maximum of 256 points for the game (though theoretically possible it requires a very contrived set of hands to achieve). Average game points are sixty to eighty, though much larger variation is common.

Four-Handed Play

Four players are divided into two teams. Each hand consists of four cards from each player with four hands to the game. The player to the dealer's left starts the first hand, the second hand is started by the player to their left, and so on. Partners sit opposite from one another and don't see each other's cards. Hands are won by combining each team's cards, keeping the order of play in mind when necessary (the arlas). This means each team has eight cards in their combined hand.

Solitaire Play

Although the strategy of the game comes from playing against a second player, a single player game can be managed by dealing four cards for the player. Each hands starts by turning over the top card of the deck. The player then plays a card, turns over the top card of the deck and draws a card three times. For the fourth and last card in the hand the player turns over the top card of the deck and plays a card. Victory is determined normally with the winning hand discarded and the opposing hand captured.

This is repeated until eight hands have been played. The goal isn’t to just win (which is fairly easy as there is no opposing strategy), but to win by the greatest margin.

There Must Be A Winner

Although the classic game sticks strictly to four-card hands in a variation favored by alak if there is a tie at four cards play continues until the tie is broken. Though typically this will result in only a five-card hand it is possible to have a long run. In the extremely unlikely event that the end of the deck is reached the discarded cards are shuffled and become the pile.

Playing With Standard Poker Cards

The game can be played using standard poker cards where jacks are alak, kings are arl, queens are deiskatun and aces are arlas. Due to the smaller deck size either two decks should be combined or the game played in sets of four hands with capture totals being done at the end of the set and all cards reshuffled into the deck for the second set. When counting capture points, face cards are worth ten points each raising the maximum capture value of a hand to 40 points and a game to 320 points.

What Is Railog?

These cards, the omyr (and their four anthyr) and larin, gods and so on all come from a fantasy world named for the earth goddess. It is a magical place where the world is flat, the sun dies each day (to be reborn as the dark sun, which itself dies in the east to be reborn as the sun), reality is comprised of the eight elements (which can be woven by the arlas) and the land is populated by omyr, larin, kronin, arlioin, /lar, \lar, and so on, but nary a human in sight (much less elves, dwarves, etc.). The prevalent civilization has no notion of marriage or of traditional families (or parentage) with professional associations filling those roles. To change the nature of something (such as a metal alloy or even creating a mirror) requires mystical ability that is granted by the gods through spirit intermediaries to select members of those professional associations. And outside of that, most adults have at least one spirit bound to them in the form of a fetish.

In short, it is a very different sort of place though their cosmology includes our Earth as one of the eight worlds (Umath) and the souls of the departed from Umath collect in another of the eight worlds (Thuigamu), albeit bereft of memory.

Price: $9.99 Railog Playing Cards (Stylized) published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com

[kayawagner]

Railog Playing Cards (Stylized)

Publisher: Hammurabi Concepts

Railog Playing Cards

In ages gone by, omyr wandered the Arlin plains riding their sitar and following Arlios. Eventually the settled around Getha lake and built villages, then towns, then cities. When they roamed westward they found the Misty Sea whose year-round and day-long mists prevented crossing without ships bearing the Eyes of Meth. The sailors who braved those mist-covered waters would play at cards to pass the time, cards that reflected omyr sensibilities.

Now reproduced for your card playing pleasure, these cards with their rich presentation of omyr culture are now available in Umath... err, I mean Earth.

The Design

Each of the cards in this deck was individually hand painted. The background for each suit uses a set palette to keep the suits coordinated, but even the dark frames are unique to each card. The face cards use a stylized representation of an omyr.

The Cards

A basic deck of Railog playing cards consists of eight suits with eight numbered cards and four face cards which vary by region. The suits also vary by region but are typically divided into two groups of four with paired colorings. In all, there are thus 96 cards in the deck.

Number Cards

The suit is indicated in the left corner with the number in the right corner. The numbers are hash marks with an under score indicating +4. The suit symbol is also produced a matching number of times on the card’s face. Some examples from an omyr deck (4 of rblus, 7 of sitar and 8 of thrim) are shown.

Face Cards

Although the deck is not standardized the function and ranking of the four face cards do not often vary. In omyr decks the face cards are usually named alak, arl, deiskatun and arlas, in order from lowest to highest rank.

Alak (ah-lahk)

The lowest ranked of the face cards, the alak represents an exceptionally fierce warrior who inspires the troops to great feats. When portrayed as an omyr this card is an alak wielding a medra, a hafted weapon with curving tines intended to represent a claw. The alak is characterized by a red mane with red ticks in the fur. The card’s rank is indicated by a stylized medra.

Arl (ahrl)

Ranked above the alak is the arl, representing effective military leadership whose tactics increase the effectiveness of the troops. When portrayed as an omyr this card is an arl, usually wielding a ra, a hafted weapon with a narrow, curving blade. The arl is characterized by stripes that run parallel with the fur grain. The card’s rank is indicated by a ra.

Deiskatun (day-ihs-kah-tuhn)

The second highest rank card is the deiskatun, or priest. The deiskatun provide protection from the supernatural through intercession with the gods. When portrayed as an omyr this card is an amri, usually wielding a staff. The amri is characterized by stripes that run perpendicular to the fur grain. The card’s rank is indicated by a sun wheel.

Arlas (ahrl-ahs)

The highest rank card is the arlas, or sorcerer. As a wielder of magic he is supremely powerful and dangerous. When portrayed as an omyr this card is an arlas, usually wielding the suit symbol. The arlas is characterized by blue spirals. The card’s rank is indicated by an eight-pointed star.

Suits

Although there are always eight suits there is substantial regional variation in the suits themselves. Although traditionally divided into four gener and four larer suits this dichotomy is not set in stone. It is typical, however, for the suits to represent gods, archetypes or principles. This is seen in the eight suits used in the traditional Markat deck.

Sitar (sih-tahr)

The sitar, a beast with enormously powerful hind legs that it uses to sprint in great leaps and bounds—and to turn 180° in the blink of an eye, is the favored mount of omyr and represents speed and agility. The symbol for this suit is a stylized representation of the defining hind leg. Its color is blue. Sitar is opposed by Larfu and paired with Meth.

Meth (may-th)

This is the god of the sea whose eye is painted on the prow of ships to enable them to see through the dense mists that cover the Misty Sea. The symbol for this suit is Meth’s stylized eye. Its color is blue. Meth is opposed by Rblus and paired with Sitar.

Thrim (thrihm)

This is the god of storms and war symbolized by a silver lightning bolt. He is defender of omyr, particularly form the kronin. The symbol for this suit is a lightning bolt. Its color is white. Thrim is opposed by Kron and paired with Raimon.

Railog (rah-ee-lohg)

This is the goddess who personifies the entirety of the world. She is understood as the earth goddess and mother to all. The symbol for this suit is a square that represents the four corners of the world. Its color is brown. Railog is opposed by her sister Raimon and paired with Larfu.

Larfu (lahr-foo)

This is a concept, a pejorative used by omyr to insult someone. Someone who is larfu is big and strong, but slow, awkward and stupid, naive and deceived. The symbol for this suit is a maul. Its color is brown. Larfu is opposed by Sitar and paired with Railog.

Rblus (ur-bloos)

This is the god of fire who is feared more than revered. Fire is an important part of life providing warmth and used in cooking and crafts. But it is also dangerous, inflicting burns and destroying homes and towns. At the annual Fire Festival the priests bless each omyr’s firestone. The symbol for this suit is a ring. Its color is red. Rblus is opposed by Meth and paired with Kron.

Kron (krohn)

This is the god of destruction and earthquakes whose minions erupt from crevices that open in the ground to harrass and attack omyr and larin. The symbol for this suit is a crevice. Its color is red. Kron is opposed by Thrim and paired with Rblus.

Raimon (rah-ee-mohn)

This goddess is sister to Railog and appears as a silvery disk in the sky that turns like a spinning coin and traveling from here to Ylansi, the sideways world. The symbol for this suit is a bisected disc representing her when fully turned to Railog and the remaining visible edge when turned to Ylansi. Its color is white. Raimon is opposed by Railog and paired with Thrim.

Games

Although these cards have multiple uses an obvious one is to play games. The standard game for mercenaries is sometimes called yamiro in their honor, but it is also known under the more general title of “war.”

Yamiro (yah-meer-oh)

The goal of yamiro is to defeat an opponent through a war fought through various engagements. It is difficult to win every battle and winning the war is as much about picking which battles to lose, and how to lose them, as it is about winning engagements.

Starting with a shuffled deck each player is dealt four cards. These form the resources available to the player and are constantly replenished: each time a card is played a new card is drawn from the pile to replace it.

Hands are played with each player alternating going first. Traditionally the dealer is the defender in the first hand so the other player goes first. A hand consists of four cards played by each player. A player must play a card on their turn, they cannot skip over or yield their turn. So a hand ends when the defending player plays their fourth card.

At the end of the hand the cards are counted to see who won that hand. Number cards are worth their face value and added together to give a total for the rank-and-file troops. If at least one alak is played then the total is doubled, and if—in addition to the alak—at least one arl has been played then the total is doubled a second time. There is no benefit to playing two alak or two arl, or even playing an arl without an alak. The highest score is achieved by playing two eight cards, an alak and an arl giving a score of 64.

However, regardless of the score, the first player to play an arlas wins the hand. Unless the opposing player plays a deiskatun. In that case the second arlas played wins the hand, unless the opposing player played a deiskatun, and so on for each arlas-deiskatun pair. Thus if the attacking player plays two arlas then the defending player must either play two deiskatun, or play a deiskatun and an arlas, with the arlas played before the attacking player’s second arlas.

In summary: victory is obtained by having a higher score where number cards are worth their face value, playing an alak doubles the score and playing both an alak and an arl quadruples the score. The first arlas played always wins, unless negated by a deiskatun.

The winning player captures the opposing players hand, adding it to his capture pile.

In the event of a tie both hands are discarded.

Play continues through eight hands after which the capture piles are counted. When counting captures number cards are worth their face value while face cards are always worth eight points. This is different than their victory value during a hand with a maximum value of 32 points for the four cards captured in a single hand and a theoretical maximum of 256 points for the game (though theoretically possible it requires a very contrived set of hands to achieve). Average game points are sixty to eighty, though much larger variation is common.

Four-Handed Play

Four players are divided into two teams. Each hand consists of four cards from each player with four hands to the game. The player to the dealer's left starts the first hand, the second hand is started by the player to their left, and so on. Partners sit opposite from one another and don't see each other's cards. Hands are won by combining each team's cards, keeping the order of play in mind when necessary (the arlas). This means each team has eight cards in their combined hand.

Solitaire Play

Although the strategy of the game comes from playing against a second player, a single player game can be managed by dealing four cards for the player. Each hands starts by turning over the top card of the deck. The player then plays a card, turns over the top card of the deck and draws a card three times. For the fourth and last card in the hand the player turns over the top card of the deck and plays a card. Victory is determined normally with the winning hand discarded and the opposing hand captured.

This is repeated until eight hands have been played. The goal isn’t to just win (which is fairly easy as there is no opposing strategy), but to win by the greatest margin.

There Must Be A Winner

Although the classic game sticks strictly to four-card hands in a variation favored by alak if there is a tie at four cards play continues until the tie is broken. Though typically this will result in only a five-card hand it is possible to have a long run. In the extremely unlikely event that the end of the deck is reached the discarded cards are shuffled and become the pile.

Playing With Standard Poker Cards

The game can be played using standard poker cards where jacks are alak, kings are arl, queens are deiskatun and aces are arlas. Due to the smaller deck size either two decks should be combined or the game played in sets of four hands with capture totals being done at the end of the set and all cards reshuffled into the deck for the second set. When counting capture points, face cards are worth ten points each raising the maximum capture value of a hand to 40 points and a game to 320 points.

What Is Railog?

These cards, the omyr (and their four anthyr) and larin, gods and so on all come from a fantasy world named for the earth goddess. It is a magical place where the world is flat, the sun dies each day (to be reborn as the dark sun, which itself dies in the east to be reborn as the sun), reality is comprised of the eight elements (which can be woven by the arlas) and the land is populated by omyr, larin, kronin, arlioin, /lar, \lar, and so on, but nary a human in sight (much less elves, dwarves, etc.). The prevalent civilization has no notion of marriage or of traditional families (or parentage) with professional associations filling those roles. To change the nature of something (such as a metal alloy or even creating a mirror) requires mystical ability that is granted by the gods through spirit intermediaries to select members of those professional associations. And outside of that, most adults have at least one spirit bound to them in the form of a fetish.

In short, it is a very different sort of place though their cosmology includes our Earth as one of the eight worlds (Umath) and the souls of the departed from Umath collect in another of the eight worlds (Thuigamu), albeit bereft of memory.

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