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mentalhealthandgames · 3 years

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‘OMORI’ analysis:

OMORI’ is an Indie psychological horror RPG that was released December 2020, 6 years after its Kickstarter became fully funded in 2014. It was developed by OMOCAT, LLC and published by OMOCAT, LLC and Playism. It is a long game, the average play time of the main story is calculated to be 21 hours and 9 minutes by ‘HowLongToBeat’ (HowLongToBeat, 2021), a website which polls players with different play styles to calculate the average lengths of games. It personally took me 49 hours to complete. This is to say that, as a long and complex story based game, Omori’s plot will be difficult to summarise in a neat and short format but I will try.

The game has two main routes and multiple endings. I played the normal route and got the good ending so that will be the story I summarise, which also seems to be the one most players also got during their first playthrough.

The game starts with a short cutscene and then text appears on screen stating: “welcome to White Space. You have been living here for as long as you can remember.” The game then properly starts, revealing the main character in a large white space with a room in the centre. The room contains a laptop, a sketchbook and tissues. Around the room are a cat, a black lightbulb and a white door. If the player goes to the door it says: “a white door casts a faint shadow. What would you like to do?” The only choice is to do nothing. The sketchbook is filled with sinister drawings in red, white and black. The cat says “meow (waiting for something to happen?)”. The laptop allows you to either stare at the screen, look at the journal or log off. The journal (titled ‘Omori’s journal’) is filled with entries for days that are all listed as: “day ???” rather than with a date and each entry either consists of: “today, I spent time in White Space. Everything was okay” or “today I visited my friends. Everything was okay.” The tissue box is stated as “for wiping your sorrows away”. There is a sound and shake and then a text box appears telling the player “something fell nearby”. The player can then find a “shiny knife” by wandering around white space. After discovering the knife, if the player approaches the door they are now given the option to open it.

Once the door is opened it takes the player to Neighbor’s Room, a bright colourful room in sharp contrast to White Space. Neighbor’s Room is a part of a large area called Headspace which is only accessible through the white door in White Space. Most of the game takes place in Headspace, although not all of it, so assume the areas I discuss are in Headspace unless I tell you they are otherwise (White Space is not a part of Headspace). In Neighbor’s Room three of Omori’s friends are playing cards. They are Aubrey, Kel and Kel’s brother Hero. They are happy to see Omori, and after some bickering between Kel and Aubrey, decide to visit their friends Mari and Basil who have invited them for a picnic at the Playground. Saying yes to the invitation causes the friends to join the party and follow Omori. They leave Neighbor’s Room through a tree stump. There are four areas branching from the tree stump. One is blocked off by spiderwebs which Omori refuses to pass because he is scared of spiders, one is blocked of by the sea which Omori refuses to go into because he is scared of drowning and one is blocked off by a ladder which Omori refuses to climb because he is scared of heights. The only other option is to go to the Playground where they meet Basil and Mari who are waiting on a picnic blanket with Mari’s basket and some food. Mari’s picnic blanket, her basket and the food pop up throughout the game with the basket as a save point, the food as a way to replenish health or juice (which is basically mana, it powers skills and can be drained during fights) and the picnic blanket often allowing Omori and friends to have a picnic and take a break from whichever adventure they are on. During their friendly reunion and discussion, Basil shows them his photo album which is filled with pictures documenting their friendship. They then decide to visit Basil’s house except for Mari who opts to stay behind.

Before going to Basil’s house Omori and friends play hide and seek with other characters in the Playground where Omori finds everyone except Basil. Basil has been kidnapped by a character named Boss who is a childish character upset at being banned from the playground by the others who had deemed him too violent. After a fun short battle with Boss they then make their way to Basil’s house. I mentioned the fight with Boss as although it has no relevance to the plot it seemed to set the tone of exploring ‘Headspace’ for me. Colourful fun battles with Omori’s friends against characters who ultimately weren’t bad people. It felt hopeful and exciting even though I knew it couldn’t be the full story because Omori is a psychological horror game. Although I knew something would probably go wrong at some point, it still lulled me into a false sense of security. When Omori and his friends arrive at Basil’s house, Kel and Aubrey have another fight before they go inside which leads to them knocking over Basil and the photos falling out of his photo album. They go inside for Omori to put the photos back in place. After that seems done a photo falls out of the album and Basil picks it up. Basil seems not to recognise the photo, looking scared. A twisting shadow appears beneath him and then he says “n-no.. that can’t be… Mari” his eyes turning red. Then there is a flash of a greyscale photo and Omori is back in White Space, except this time the white door is missing. There is some new dialogue with Mewo the cat and a new drawing in the journal of a strange shape with one eye. However, without the door, the player is stuck, until they open the pocket menu. The pocket menu is where the player can access the party’s inventory, their skills and charms and the options menu. Previously there was a space only listed as ??? but at that moment it is replaced by red text saying “Stab”. Clicking on Stab it gives you the option to stab a member of the party, which, in White Space only consists of Omori himself. The player has no other way of progressing the game and has to click that option, which makes Omori to stab himself. This sudden dark turn shocked me. Although I had expected the game to turn dark eventually I didn’t think it would happen so early on and it felt wrong to have him stab himself.

After Omori has stabbed himself there is another short cutscene and then the player is shown a boy sleeping in his room and asked to choose his name. His default name is Sunny, so that is how I will refer to him. He looks almost exactly like Omori except he is in colour. He is the real version of Omori who lives in the real world and it turns out that Headspace and White Space are all in his head, a world he escapes to avoid a traumatic event in his past. Although they are the same person I will continue to refer to them as Omori and Sunny to separate when Sunny is in Headspace (or White Space) as Omori and when he is in the real world as Sunny. It turns out that in the real world Sunny is home alone as his mother is in the city, preparing their new home for them to move into in three days. It is also revealed that Omori’s friends in Headspace all exist in the real world as well. In the real world you can explore the top level of the house where Sunny’s bedroom is located, but if the player tries to go downstairs to the rest of the house Sunny will shake his head and not allow it. The only choice is to go back to bed where Sunny goes to sleep but then wakes up again hungry. A red light shines through the window making the area more sinister. This time trying to go down the stairs is allowed but the stairs seem to be infinitely long and some hands climb up the sides while others surround him and one photorealistic one chases him. When it catches up, the player is taken to a fight with a monstrous creature referred to as Something. The fight seems hopeless, Sunny’s attacks doing nothing to Something until a mysterious voice speaks to Sunny saying: “take a deep breath… don’t be afraid. It’s not as scary as you think.” The textbox then states: “you steady yourself… and remember how to Calm Down. Calm Down is then available as a skill (fights are won by using attacks and skills). Using the Calm Down skill shows an animation of Sunny breathing in and out and ends the fight, depositing Sunny at the bottom of the stairs. The player can then explore the rest of the house, two areas Sunny still refusing to go to, a room and an area outside, presumably the garden. The player can then take Sunny to the kitchen to pick up the Steak Knife and heat up and eat a steak. Then Sunny seems sick, the rooms wobbling as he walks around. After he goes to the upstairs bathroom and throws up, the rooms stop wobbling. Then there is a knock at the door and when Sunny approaches the door it shows Mari on the other side, still in the bright purple colours of Headspace. She tells Sunny she forgot her keys and asks him to open the door. If the player chooses to open the door there is a quick jumpscare of a ghost. If the player visits the bathroom to look in the mirror they will see the ghost behind Sunny. There is nothing else to do but to make Sunny go to bed and go to sleep. This time when he wakes up there is another cutscene saying “welcome to White Space. You have been living here for as long as you can remember” and Sunny is once again Omori, back in White Space. This time the white door is back but will not open and the Stab option is once again not available. Going to the laptop will open the Hangman menu which shows a list of computer keyboard keys along with vague descriptions of where to find them (they are all somewhere in Headspace). Out of all 26 keys there are 12 keys that are necessary to collected to unlock later parts of the game. It is impossible to collect all 26 in the normal route of the game. To be able to open the door the player has to find the map to Headspace in White Space, then it will allow the door to open when interacted with, once again taking Omori to Neighbor’s Room. Aubrey, Kel and Hero are relieved to see Omori and reveal that Basil is missing. Around this time Mari is also revealed to be Omori’s (and therefore also Sunny’s) sister. The main objective is to find Basil and this drives most of the story that takes part in Headspace. This involves a lot of exploring different areas of Headspace including an area accessed via the ladder that Sunny had previously been too afraid to use. Omori is encouraged by his friends to go up the ladder as they believe it may lead to Basil and this is clearly linked to Sunny defeating the Something on the stairs in the real world. This area is called Otherworld. After going on quests in the hopes that they will lead to Basil and fighting in a battle against the first proper boss, Space Boyfriend, some bloody footsteps will lead to a shadowy figure of Basil. Following shadow Basil takes Omori to a dark sinister space with some hints about Sunny’s dark past and his reason for creating and escaping to Headspace. He is chased by the version of Something the player will see the most, a version already depicted in Omori’s sketchbook in White Space, a strange shape with one eye. When caught by Something Omori wakes up once again in White Space where he once again has to stab himself to wake up in the Real World. This is the End of the Prologue and the start of the first chapter: Three Days Left. Each chapter counts down the days until Sunny is supposed to move out.

Every time Omori turns up at White Space and the white door is not present, the player has to make him stab himself in order to wake up as Sunny in the real world. That is the only way to access the real world. During each real world segments there is a battle with a different creature called Something related to each of Sunny’s fears. First heights, then spiders and finally drowning. Defeating these creatures in the real world always gives Sunny a new skill (these are: Calm Down, then Focus, then Persist) and allows Omori to later overcome, after his friends offer him support, the related fear in Headspace, allowing him to explore new areas that were previously blocked off (Otherworld, then Pyrefly Forest and finally Last Resort and Underwater Highway are only accessible by Omori and Mari swimming across the beach). I found this very interesting as it showed that Omori’s fears were limiting him and that he was able to overcome them, both for his friend (Basil) and with the support of his other friends (Aubrey, Kel and Hero). It implies that you should reach for help or support if you can and it reminded me a lot of my own anxiety which has limited me a lot in my past by making me scared to go to social events for example. Friendship is an important theme throughout Omori (in fact it is an important theme in all three games I chose to assess).

The first chapter opens in the real world with someone claiming to be Kel knocks on the door and the player has to choose whether to open it or not. This choice determines which route of the game the player goes down. The normal route starts when the player chooses to open the door. It is revealed to actually be Kel and not a jumpscare like Mari was and he wants to spend time with Sunny before he moves out. When Sunny explores the town with Kel he finds out that Aubrey has changed a lot, having dyed her hair pink and become the leader of what appears to be a group of bullies who often bully Basil, who is even more timid and scared than the version of him the player saw in Headspace (before he disappeared of course). Sunny and Kel rescue Basil by fighting against Aubrey who Sunny wins against by slashing her with his Steak Knife. Kel is shocked that Omori used a knife against Aubrey and takes it from him. This part made me realise how real the real world is meant to be and how Sunny had become incredibly detached from it by spending all his time in Headspace as Omori and becoming used to having to fight creatures and bosses with his Shiny Knife. Kel and Sunny then decide to retrieve Basil’s photo album which he says Aubrey stole from him. They find her in a church where she reveals to the player that Mari died four years prior, which is presumably the traumatic event that caused Sunny to retreat into Headspace, and is the reason the friend group drifted apart. Kel and Sunny then fight Aubrey again, drawing attention to Aubrey from the other churchgoers who criticise her, causing her to flee. Kel and Sunny then spot her throwing the photo album into the trash and take it to bring back to Basil. This photo album contains different pictures to the one in Headspace but is still filled with pictures showing their friendship, although all pictures containing Mari are missing, presumably taken by Aubrey. When they take the photo album back to Basil, who lives with his caretaker Polly they are invited to have dinner with them. Over dinner Kel mentions that Sunny is moving away and Basil runs to the bathroom. Following him to the bathroom shows him also seeing Something, which he says is behind Sunny. He clearly is also traumatised, his trauma most likely linked to Sunny’s trauma. Basil seems genuinely scared to be left alone but the only option for Sunny is to leave him alone. Then when Sunny goes home he faces the spider Something and goes to bed waking up in White Space.

I will not go into detail into the areas of Headspace that the party explore while looking for Basil as that would take a long time and doesn’t need to be discussed to explain the plot. The reason I went into so much detail for the Prologue is that it sets up the game. Most of the story in Headspace involves the friends looking for Basil, discovering new areas, skills, items and Bosses and always ending in Omori seeing bloody footprints leading to shadow Basil which usually leads to White Space, Omori stabbing himself and waking in the real world.

In the second chapter, Sunny starts off in the real world again. To briefly summarise, he and Kel find Basil being bullied by Aubrey and her current friends ending up with Aubrey accidentally pushing Basil into the water. Sunny has to face his fear of drowning to save Basil and faces up against another Something. Sunny and Basil are then saved by Hero who has returned from college for a short visit. They go to Kel and Hero’s house and look through the photo album and then Kel and Hero ask their parents if they can go to Sunny’s house for a sleepover. In the house Hero goes to the piano room – the room Sunny previously refused to enter. Sunny and Kel then join him there where the player finds out Mari used to play piano, and that her death was a suicide. The player knows from the photo album by now that Sunny also used to play the violin and that he and Mari were meant to play a concert together before she died. Kel, Hero and Sunny then set up a fort in Sunny’s room.

Then Omori wakes up completely alone in Neighbor’s Room in Headspace. Leaving Neighbor’s Room all the paths are blocked off by fog except for the one to the Playground. The Playground is entirely empty but if the player interacts with the mirror they can play hide and seek alone. This is a clear tonal shift as usually Headspace is very cheerful and full of life but with only Omori it becomes eerie. Then the path to the beach is accessible. At the end of the dock stands Mari. She encourages Omori to swim cross the ocean and get past his fear of drowning by promising to stay with him and saying, “steady your heartbeat… don’t be afraid. It’s not as scary as you think.” Crossing the ocean with Mari takes them across to some wooden dock paths. When they reach the end of the long wooden paths there are some curtains floating atop them. Mari turns to face Omori and says: “… Omori… it seems you have forgotten something important. Are you okay with that? I’m not too sure… you’ve seen this curtain once before. The last time we went to the lake. This is my stop though. I know I shouldn’t have come… It just gets a little lonely without everyone. It’s not my place to say anymore, but… I hope you’re still there… Sunny… I really miss you” Mari then says “goodbye, little brother.” Then Sunny enters a new area of Headspace which leads to a hotel called the Last Resort where he has to collect Kel, Aubrey and Hero who were all trapped in contracts to a boss named Mr Jawsum who they have to battle against. This is more like the previous areas of Headspace with lots of puns and colourful new characters. Then the friends travel down the Underwater Highway eventually following a recurring side character Sweetheart to an area of Headspace called The Abyss, during which they start to forget what Basil looks like. In The Abyss there are a lot of hints towards Sunny’s past and trauma. Eventually the friends end up meeting a whale called Humphrey who invites them to enter into his stomach. He is both a new area to explore and, after this exploration, a boss who threatens to actually eat them. Then, once Humphrey is defeated the friends go to find the last of the 12 keys which spells out “Welcome to Black Space” and then shows them Basils house. On the way to Basil’s house the trees and plants look dead. Entering the house there is a pit and entering the pit leads to a dark place which eventually leads to a black door which Omori opens. This introduces the player to Black Space, essentially the inverse of White Space which is surrounded by black doors.

If White Space is where Sunny locks himself away to forget all of his trauma, Black Space seems to be where he hides all of his repressed memories, fears and mental health problems. There is a key in the centre of the room. The key will open whichever of the doors the player chooses to enter first. Each room behind a black door is disturbing and broken looking, with bloody footprints leading to a key and then a red hand appearing and taking Omori back to Black Space. One Black Space room is a small room with a Butler who has the face of a cat while the cat Mewo (who the player knows by now was Mari’s cat) is strapped down to a table with knives next to her. Once Omori has entered the room, the door he used to enter disappears. When Omori interacts with the Butler he says “Mewo has been very, very bad” and then gives Omori a key. As there is no door to use the key on it seems the only choice is to approach Mewo. When Omori interacts with Mewo the text box asks: “do you want to cut open Mewo?” with the options yes and no. As there seemed to be no other option I reluctantly clicked yes, not wanting to see Mewo cut open even though I had become a bit used to the violence of the game after seeing Basil die in several of the other Black Space rooms. However, when the I clicked yes it lead to more text. “Mewo stares at you. She tilts her head out of curiosity.” And then the game asks again: “Do you want to cut open Mewo?” I clicked yes again. More text. “Mewo stares at you. Her eyes widen. She wants to go now.” And then, “do you want to cut open Mewo?” I clicked yes again, feeling more and more uncomfortable. “Mewo stares at you. She struggles to break free.” Again the choice, “do you want to cut open Mewo?” And once again I clicked yes. “Mewo stares at you. Her eyes are filled with desperation.” I was asked again, “Do you want to cut open Mewo?” I clicked yes. “Mewo stares at you. She tries to scream, but there is no sound.” And again, “do you want to cut open Mewo?” I clicked yes again hoping it would eventually give me a different option but knowing it probably wouldn’t. “Mewo stares at you. She does not know what is happening.” Again the question, “do you want to cut open Mewo?” And finally she was dead, her red blood bright in the dark room and the text box “you cut open Mewo.” I thought finally, the red hand would appear and take Omori back to Black Space, but it didn’t. I waited a couple more seconds and then walked Omori around the small room. Nothing happened. I went to the Butler to see if he would help me leave after having committed such a terrible act but all he said was, “waiting for something to happen?” and I realised with growing dread that there had been no reason for cutting open Mewo. It had done nothing to help Omori leave the room. I opened the pocket menu and saw that the Stab option was back. I selected it and Omori stabbed himself and returned to Black Space. That was the moment for me where the game felt like an actual psychological horror. It had set out rules for Black Space. Open the door to a room, find the key for the next room and then the red hand would take Omori back to Black Space. I didn’t like the rules and the rooms unsettled me with how they took elements of the game I had grown accustomed to or invested in and then twisted them (like Watermelons hiding items, or Basil needing to be rescued) but I knew I had to follow them to progress. Except in that case, the rules weren’t the same and trying to follow them killed Mewo making me feel like a horrible person. When I watched a video titled “OMORI and Dissociative Amnesia”, part of a series of videos titled “Psych of Play” on YouTube by ‘Daryl Talks Games’ I saw the other side of that scenario. Daryl mentions how he “checked everything I could think to check to find a way not to kill this cat. Until I stumbled upon my menu and realised the Stab option was there and in that moment I was relieved. Finally something other than playing what feels like an actual nightmare I thought. And after I stabbed Omori and respawned in Black Space it sort of hit me like a truck that this game had just made killing myself seem like the best option. It seriously made me think that suicide was the easiest thing to do… given my circumstances. It took that unnatural feeling I had experienced so early in the game, and made me welcome it. Which I think paints a shockingly real picture of how suicide may seem to someone who is dealing with these astonishingly dark and sinister levels of anxiety” (Daryl Talks Games, 2021, 27:19). He had a moment where he felt that the game really revealed what it was like to be in Sunny’s shoes and made him emphasise with what Sunny’s suicidal thoughts probably felt like. And Sunny does seem to be suicidal as a result of his trauma and guilt. The bad ending leads to him killing himself by jumping off a building. This implies that part of the purpose of the game may be to show people who do not have mental health conditions what it is like to experience them. I think this would make sense since, as the disclaimer included in the game warns, ‘OMORI’ should not be played by people who are too close to the themes depicted and will find the game triggering. Much of the online community around Omori however talk about how it resonated with them or was important to them because of its mental health themes. The game has seemed to help a lot of people feel less alone with its exploration of mental health, although much of the community also emphasise that you have to be in a good state of mind when playing the game and recommend not playing it on bad days. I myself made sure I only played it on days I felt comfortable playing it and would alternate between playing the game for hours and then taking days off to decompress.

After finally escaping Black Space by killing Basil one more time (a lot of the Black Space rooms involve killing Basil by accident, but this last time seems to be on purpose) Sunny wakes up hearing music. Following the music takes the player to the piano room where Mari is sat playing the theme tune of the game. Mari talks about playing the piano and how she felt maybe she pushed Sunny to hard. She says: “We never did get to play at that last recital. Did you want to play it with me now?” Before Sunny can respond Hero bursts into the room. He tells Sunny to go back to sleep.

In the last part of the game the truth is revealed. Before their recital Sunny had thrown his violin down the stairs where it broke and had an argument with Mari, presumably over the pressure he felt to play the violin perfectly. He pushed her and she fell down the stairs and died. Basil found him and the two of them disguise her death as a suicide.

After this is revealed the player has the option to visit Basil who is convinced Sunny is possessed by Something and will start a fight between Sunny and Basil. Both Sunny and Basil will faint at the end of the fight. Sunny then finds his broken violin and is taken through memories that were shown in Basil’s photo album. After each new memory the violin will start to fix itself until it is complete. Then Sunny will appear at the recital where he is encouraged by his friends. He will put up his sheet music, start to play and then break down sobbing. Then Omori appears and the final battle is between Omori and Sunny. During this battle Omori speaks to Sunny telling him all the reasons he is a bad person and should be guilty. The phrases he used struck home and I become incredibly invested in the battle and trying to win as what he said sounded a lot like what the voices in my episodes of psychosis had told me. However Omori will ‘not succumb’ and eventually Sunny will be defeated and a game over page appears. It gave me the opportunity to continue so I took it. This time Sunny has the option to play. Choosing it will make Sunny take out his violin and he and Mari play their duet they practiced for their recital. This cutscene made me incredible emotional as it showed how much Sunny and Mari loved each other. The whole fight really showcases how Sunny felt, as Omori the representation of all his guilt and repressed memories, that his friends would be better off without him, but playing the violin gave him hope again and defeats Omori. They then hug in White Space and a white door appears. Going through it causes Sunny to wake up in the hospital with a bandage over one eye, injured in his fight against Basil. Leaving the hospital room will show shadow Basil and following him takes Sunny to Basil’s hospital room where Kel, Aubrey and Hero sit around Basil. Entering the room starts the Good Ending cutscene where Sunny decides to tell them about killing Mari, but the game cuts off before the player can see his friends reactions.

I know I have gone into a lot of depth explaining the plot and it might not have all been entirely necessary, the mental health aspects are central to the plot and discussing them felt like it would make no sense unless I described the plot first.

The game has a disclaimer both at the beginning of the game as well as on the game’s Steam page warning players that the game “contains depictions of depression, anxiety and suicide” which I think is very important and needed in the case of this game. The game is a (psychological) horror game, and horror games are quite well known in mental health gaming communities as misrepresenting mental health, mostly as portraying people with mental health conditions as violent and out of control, and mental health institutions as creepy and places to be feared and avoided. However, although the game uses Sunny’s mental health as a basis for the horror aspects it is not done in a way that belittles his struggles but rather just emphasises how difficult it is for him to cope with them. Although the cause of Sunny and Basil’s trauma is revealed to be a situation that players will most likely be unable to relate to, the way their depression and Sunny’s anxiety are portrayed still resonate with a lot of players as is evidenced in many Steam reviews. Omori and Basil are both quite sympathetic characters. They both seem to have depression but it is expressed in different ways – Omori completely withdrew into an imaginary world to avoid his trauma whereas Basil tried to put on a cheery façade but was actually deeply affected.

OMOCAT, the creator of Omori seems to be quite private and has not revealed much about the process or inspiration behind Omori and has not done any interviews, unlike the creators of the other games I have discussed, so it is difficult to tell whether she did any research on mental health when making the game or whether she experiences mental health conditions herself that may have assisted in making an accurate representation of mental health. However she did state in a blog post from the time of the Kickstarter that: “OMORI started out as a very personal project. He was a character that I created to help me cope with my problems during a confusing part of my life” (OMOCAT, 2014).

One of its main themes, one which features strongly in all three games, is the importance of friendship. I think this is an important message to have, for friends to support each other. Early on in the game if you buy good advice from the wise rock in the Vast Forest it tells Omori: “pain doesn’t last forever.” This is a major theme of the game and I think it is an important one. Although the Good Ending is ambiguous as the player will not know how Sunny’s friends will react, it gives hope that Sunny is no longer trapped by his trauma and he can finally try to move forward from it, and by telling them it seems he is also freeing Basil from his guilt as well. Overall I think it was a game that told a story that, although the ending reveal made Sunny’s actual situation less relatable and the game leaned to stereotypes at times, his experience of mental health still felt very real and resonated with a lot of players.

References:

OMOCAT (2014) OMORI Kickstarter Update. Available at:

https://www.omocat-blog.com/post/85490697570/from-illustration-to-video-game-omori-kickstarter (accessed at: 23 February 2021)

https://youtu.be/rUDGlEWa4sE (accessed at: 11 April 2021)

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axwalker · 5 years

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The Trade: 2

Synopsis: This is an AU where the monarchy in Cordonia doesn’t longer exist and it has been replaced by a republic. It’s set in the final stages of the presidential race with Senator Liam Rhys competing against Fidelya Governor Godfrey Karlington. To assure his son’s victory, Constantine makes an arrangement behind his back for him to marry the rich ambassador’s daughter: Alexis O’Brien. Due to her father’s threats, she has no other option that seduce Liam and make him fall in love with her. But what does she really feel?

Masterlist: HERE

Warnings: I love drama and chaos so this will probably get very dark. None for this chapter though.

Please note that this is my first series and English is not my mother tongue. I appreciate all comments and feedback.

@pug-bitch

Pairing: DrakexMC, LiamxMC

Drake stepped out of the shower and turned on the TV. A towel around his waist, he sat on the edge of the bed and switched the channel.

“Good night everyone, I’m Anna de Luca and today in Politics weekly, we’re going to talk about the lasts updates of the presidential race with political expert Donnie Brine. Hi Donnie, we’re happy to have you on the show tonight. Tell us, what do you think of our candidates so far?”

“Hi Anna! Happy to be here. Well, we all already know Governor Godfrey Karlington and his conservative politics. He represents the old ways and rules Fydelia with an iron fist. Personally, I think the most interesting candidate today is the young and charismatic Liam Rhys, a new face in the political map, but well ahead in the polls.”

Drake arched his brows and laughed to himself. -New face?- Liam was a great candidate, the best one, but he was certainly no newcomer.

“New face?” Ana asked echoing Drake's thoughts. “Please, Donnie. We all know Liam is the son of ex-president Constantine Rhys and that he comes from old Cordonian nobility. He’s hardly a ‘new face’. However, I’ll agree that his rapid popularity growth is worthy of attention. Now, as a political expert, tell us: Is it true that he intends to surround himself with young politicians?

“Apparently this is all true, Anna. He’ll form his cabinet with his closest political allies, otherwise known as the “Brat-pack” of Cordonian politics, all being sons and daughters of either rich men and government members as Miss Hanna Lee or old noble houses as Sir Rashad Domvallier.”

“Can you give us a sneak peek of his cabinet?”

“Of course, Anna! I’ll give you the name of those we are sure he’ll appoint if he wins:

For Secretary of Treasury, he’ll appoint Bertrand Beaumont, he was Governor of Ramsford and his family have had ties with the Rhys for hundreds of years.

In Education, he’ll name Hanna Lee. Miss Lee is the youngest person that has ever directed Cordonian University. She has won world recognition for her research in educational methods.

In Foreign Affairs we’ll have Kiara Theron, the also daughter of the prominent judge Hakim Castelraillan, was our representative in the UN for two consecutive years and speaks 6 languages fluently.

The Secretary of Defense will be Capitain Olivia Nevrakis, a decorated top army officer.

Rashad Domvallier will be the head of the Department of Commerce, his bold business deals have brought a lot of money to the most prominent companies in Cordonia

And for some experience he will appoint Ex Supreme Court Juge Hakim Theron as the Attorney General and Landon Ebrim as the Minister of Agriculture” Donnie concluded.

“Well, all in all, not a lot of surprises, Donnie. As you said it before, it will be an incredibly young cabinet. Cordonian people should be happy that they’ll have Senator Ebrim and ex-judge Theron to babysit. Now two questions remain. Do we know who he’ll name as his chief of staff? And, more importantly: Who’s going to be his number two? Do you think he’s going to run with his brother, Valtorian Senator Leo Rhys? Or is that too much nepotism even for Cordonian standards?”

“To answer your first question, rumor has it that he will name his assistant, the man that’s been with him his whole career: Mr. Drake Walker. It is an important position, let’s hope that Mr. Walker is qualified for it, after all, he is not a real politician. As for the second question, his number two is the big enigma here, Anna. We know that a double Rhys ticket is the ex-president’s dream, but we are also aware of the Senator’s lifestyle, and I don’t think that the public opinion would approve of him running with the young candidate”.

Drake turned off the TV. Fucking vultures, they would love to see Liam fail just so they could feast in his loss. They didn’t care that he was the best candidate, much more than that fossil Karlington would ever be.

He opened the curtains and looked through the window, it was a sunny Sunday, his day off. He was wondering what to do when his phone rang. He saw Max’s photo on the screen.

Preparing for over the top excitement in three, two, one… he picks up the call.

“Draaaaake! You answered!”

“Yes, Maxwell. What do you want?” He sighed “Wait, is Sunday morning so I assume you need me to go get you at the beach because you woke up naked, surrounded by peacocks, with a horrible hangover and no memory of what happened last night. Am I right?”

“Heyyy Drake! Not all parties end up like last week’s party!” Max laughed

Drake rolled his eyes. “No, you’re right, sometimes you wake up naked in a garden surrounded by pigeons, or with a hippo tattoo you have no recollection getting.”

“Actually, I just wanted to invite you to lunch to thank you for picking me up last week, buddy,” Maxwell replied.

Drake sighed in exasperation “I’ve told you one hundred times NOT to call me buddy. And lunch is the minimum you can offer me after I saw you naked. I’m scarred for life, I hope you know.”

“He! You’re just jealous of my attributes, and jealousy is not a good color on you, Drake. You pick me up at 12…ish?

Drake growled at the phone “I’m starving; I’ll be there at 12 sharp.”

When they arrived at the restaurant at 2 pm, it was so crowded the waitress had to sit them at the bar.

As Maxwell stepped outside to take a mysterious call, Drake immediately noticed a beautiful girl in the stool next to Max’s. She was a tall brunette, with huge brown eyes and a beautiful smile. The short red dress she was wearing uncovered her long, tanned legs and hugged her curves in a way that made Drake blush.

Slightly disappointed, Drake noticed that she was talking to a guy in a blue suit. When he was about to move on and order another whiskey, he heard a very familiar voice:

“Sooo, as I was telling you, my family is very rich, they own the Sartorini brand, a very famous, very luxurious, very expensive brand of men shoes, among a lot, and I mean a lot of other things. You have heard of my family of course.”

Drake rolled his eyes.

“Of course,” He heard her answer, and he couldn’t help but notice a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “The problem… uh…Tariq was it?” Drake was smiling to himself “Is that I have it as a personal rule not to date very smugly, arrogant, conceited men. It’s a pity really, I can tell we really could’ve hit it off”

“Are you making fun of me bitch?” Drake was ready to intervene when he heard her answer.

“Wow, it took you 30 seconds to go from charming prince to creepy pig, a real record. Now if you excuse me, I’m really hungry. Have a good afternoon.”

Tariq got closer to her but as he was facing the girl and not him Drake couldn’t see what he was doing. Unfortunately for Tariq, he found out soon enough.

“I suggest you take off your filthy hand of my thigh right now if you don’t want to end up severely injured!” She seethed.

Tariq took a look at her slender figure and laughed. “By who? You?”

“No, me” Drake had decided to intervene “You heard the lady, Tariq. Get out of here.” Tariq’s face went white as he apologized.

“Oh! I’m sorry Drake, I didn’t mean to disturb her, I didn’t know you were with her… I…I... I’m leaving..” He sighed, visibly scared, leaving the bar immediately.

The girl puffed “Typical creep, he doesn’t even apologize to me, but to the man with a savior complex, who no one asked help from in the first place”

Drake arched his brows: “Sorry lady, I know Tariq, and he never would have left you alone. Anyway, have a nice lunch.”

The girl bit her lip feeling guilty, he was only trying to help her after all, and not that it mattered but he was very handsome.

“No, I’m sorry, you were only trying to be a good person”. She moved to the stool next to him while Max was still talking on the phone. “Let me buy you a…what are you drinking?”

Maxwell arrived just in time to hear the last sentence: “Whiskey! It is like he doesn’t know any other beverages. Can you believe that he has never tasted a Cosmopolitan??!!” He said grinning. “I’m Maxwell Beaumont, he’s Drake Walker and you’re…”

“I’m Elena, Elena Ortiz. Nice to meet you both” She grinned, and Drake couldn’t help but noticed what a beautiful smile she had. It felt like she’d be able to light an entire room with it. “And don’t worry Drake, me too I looove whiskey” That time she joined a little wink to the smile and Drake felt like he was actually melting.

“Hi… Magda” She said reading the waitress's name in her uniform “Can you bring us three glasses of Knob Creek, please?”

“Where are you from? You have a bit of an accent” He heard Maxwell ask her

“I’m American Maxwell, from New York”

“Please, call me Max. Is how all of my friends call me and I can tell right now that you and I are going to be great friends”

“How long are you staying in Cordonia, Elena?” Drake hoped she couldn’t hear the expectation in his voice.

“Oh… for now I’m just visiting, I haven’t thought very far ahead”

“Oh, I would looove to show you the highlights of our beautiful country,” Max said, smiling with excitement. “But I have a date tonight, so I can’t. Drake here, on the other hand, is a free as a bird today, aren’t you Drake?”

Since he met him as kids Drake had imagined one thousand different ways to kill the ever-annoying Maxwell, but at that moment, he could’ve kissed him.

“Actually, yes I am. I could show you some spots in the city that aren’t in the guides. What do you say?”

Elena grinned back at him.

“Maybe … where are you taking me?”

“You’ll have to trust me Elena, but I’m thinking you’ll like it”

“Trust you? I’ve known you for like a minute and a half. What if you murder me and hide my body on your baseman forever?

“Heh, that… or I’ll show one of Cordonian’s most beautiful sights while we drink some good whiskey. I guess you’re gonna have to take your chances.” Drake didn’t know why he wanted so desperately her to trust him.

Elena looked deeply into his eyes. She didn’t know why she felt so safe around him, maybe it was his gaze, intense and bright; looking at her longingly now.

“Let’s go!”

Drake took Elena to a beautiful beach next to Cordonia city; he showed her a little cove he visited when he needed some time far away from all the politics and plots.

“Drake! This is beautiful. It makes me think of my favorite spot in New York, next to Orchard beach. I go there whenever I’m feeling that I need some time for myself or to think about something.” She let out a small sigh.“Sometimes life can be too complicated”

Drake could hardly speak, completely lost just by looking at her. The gestures her hands make when she spoke, the elegant curve of her neck, her beautiful smile, and overall those big brown eyes, almost black. They were shinning now, enjoying the view, but there was something else in them; something unreadable…Pain, maybe?

“Do you feel like that often?” Drake asked, avid to know everything about the beautiful stranger next to him.

“You have no idea.”’ She turned to look at him. “But enough about that. What’s your story?” She gave him a flirty smile that almost made Drake’s heart stop. “Do you bring here all your dates?”

Drake gave her a cocky smile. “Ha, good to know this is a date” She blushed in the most adorable way. “In fact, if you have to know you’re the second person I bring here, and the first one was my sister,” he said hoping she didn’t ask a lot of questions about Savannah.

“Oh, well is an amazing spot, but I was promised some excellent whiskey and I’m not seeing any.” He grinned taking out a little silver flask from his pocket and handing it to her.

“You’ll never taste anything better.” When he watched her take a sip and then lick her lips, it took everything he had not to kiss her, but for some strange reason, for once he didn’t want to go to fast with a woman. “So?”

“It’s not Knob Creek but is not bad.” She moved closer to him, hoping he would make a move, it was her last day of freedom and she really liked him, much more than she should. Drake was looking directly at her with his chocolate eyes, and a sexy smile in the corner of his mouth.

“What’s in your mind? You didn’t stop talking all the way here and now you’re very quiet”

Drake was a stranger, she would probably never see him again. However, his strong, steady presence invited her to confide in him. Without a second thought, she blurted out, “I was thinking that I can’t be the person I want to be.”

“What do you mean you can’t? What old are you, like 24? You can do whatever you want Elena.”

She shifted her position to watch the ocean. “25, and no, I can’t. Forget it, you’ll never understand”

He gave her a small smile, he definitely understood. “You mean that you feel trapped in a life that you don’t know how to live anymore but you have no fucking idea how to get out of?”

She looked surprised “That’s exactly it. You have the same feeling?”

He sighed looking at her with a bit of regret in his eyes. “I’m in a job that I hate, very far away from the life I pictured for myself when I was a kid”

She took his hand, feeling an immediate spike of electricity run through her arms “If you hate your job that much, why don’t you just resign?”

“I hope it was that easy, but it’s not. My boss is also my best friend and I owe him and his family everything. He’s asked for my help and I can’t deny it… so here we are”

“Wow, you make it look like the mafia, Drake. Maybe I should be scared” She said teasing him and he smiled.

“Well, actually it’s not that different from the mafia, that I can tell you. But maybe after this job is finished, I’ll be free to do what I want”

“And that is…?” He could see she was genuinely curious.

Drake took a long swig of whiskey. “It seems like a ridiculous child’s dream when I say it out loud, but I love horses and animals in general. I would’ve like to be a veterinarian, instead of going to business school”

“Well maybe someday… you’re young too, there is no reason you can’t make that happen”

“Now that you made me spill my guts, you have to tell me something about you. Why do you feel trapped?”

She also drank before answering. She didn’t want to ruin the mood by confessing the truth.

“Let’s say that I’m in the middle of a very awful business deal, that I can’t undo”

He looked at her quizzically. “What the hell does that mean Elena? Now is you who’s talking like a mob family member”

“He! If only…” She moved even closer to him, boldened by the whiskey and the confidences they’d shared. “But that’s enough of sad little secrets”.

Elena gave him a very inviting smile and he suddenly realized that she was impossibly close to him. He could smell her scent, delicate and fruity. Her brown silky hair had a cherry fragrance, that was inebriating him much more than the whiskey he had drunk. When Drake saw her dark eyes looking directly at him, he didn’t doubt one more second. He took her face with both his hands and kissed her. She had never been kissed like that, it was sweet and passionate at the same time. With longing and tenderness, desire and reverence all at once. Elena could smell his scent, something woody and musky and it drove her crazy. His tongue was entering her mouth looking for hers, delicately at first then more and more passionately, until they had to come out for air. He didn’t need much because almost instantly he was kissing the corners of her mouth, her cheeks, her neck, and there he was ravaging her mouth again.

Suddenly, the spell was broken. They were brought back to reality by the incessant ringing of her phone.

“Sorry Drake, I really have to get this” He saw her walking away a few meters and talk to someone, visibly affected by it. Her features hardened, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but she seemed different, sadder, gloomier. Drake saw she had ended the call but remained in place, so he went to her.

“What was that about Elena?” He asked softly stroking her left cheek with his thumb. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah… it’s just that I’m gonna have to go back to real life tomorrow morning, and I don’t want to.”

“I thought you were in Cordonia indefinitely …”

“It’s complicated. Can you bring me back to the restaurant? A car will pick me up there.”

“I can take you to wherever you’re staying, Elena”

She gave him a rueful smile that tugged his heart. “I rather not, thank you.”

“This is the last time we will see each other. Isn’t it?” Drake asked, sadly.

Elena could feel the tears. Tears of sadness for everything she’d always wanted but never would have. Tears of joy for the moment she just shared with Drake, as briefed as it was. Tears of regret for leaving him despite all the possibilities that he held.

“Yes …it was the last time”

#drake walker #drakexmc #axwalker writes #tw noncon #the trade

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ohshcscenerios · 3 years

Text

Neighbors

Chapter Twenty Seven

Poll Result: Kyoya

“Kyoya?”

Kyoya sat at the end of her neatly made bed with a straight back and hands folded in his lap, dressed in a black suit and purple tie. He also wore a thoughtful frown as he watched her take hesitant steps to her kitchen counter.

“You didn’t sleep here last night.” He casually said, running his hand over her cold bed sheets.

Haruhi frowned, “Why are you here? How did you get in?”

Kyoya looked her in the eye and asked, “Where were you last night?”

Haruhi scoffed, “I’m not answering your questions unless you also answer mine.”

“I had a spare key made for everyone’s apartment, for emergency reasons.” He explained quickly, “ Now, where were you last night?”

Haruhi wasn’t sure if she should tell him the truth. A part of her suspected he already knew, but did that mean he also knew about her hiding in the hallway? Is that what’s this about? Kyoya couldn’t have known Haruhi was in the hallway unless Tamaki saw her from the corner of his eye… but he didn’t leave either. There was no way they would know she overheard them.

“I studied with Mori-senpai.” She said, turning to put her tea tumbler in the sink.

Kyoya fixed his sleeves and crossed his arms, “Must have been a good study date.”

“It wasn’t a date.”

“Hunny-senpai begs to differ.” Kyoya rebutted.

“Well he’s wrong.” Haruhi snapped back.

“Then why did you spend the night with him?” Kyoya didn’t miss a beat which infuriated Haruhi even more. She didn’t want to be interrogated this early in the morning, it was too early for this nonsense.

She took a deep breath, “I was really tired. Why do you need to know?”

Kyoya’s stern eyes averted to her window, chewing on his cheek as he took a moment to think.

“My father wants me to consider taking you as my wife.”

Haruhi’s breath caught in her throat as she took a step backwards, shocked but unable to speak. She respected him and appreciated their friendship but to marry him? She wasn’t sure if she could do that herself… or to him. If she heard correctly last night, his heart lies with someone else.

“Don't take this the wrong way Haruhi but I don’t want to marry you. I’m sure you feel the same.” He watched her slowly nod her head yes and looked back to the window. “I’ll have to tell him a reasonable excuse as to why I can’t win your hand in marriage. You know my father won’t be satisfied with our opposing feelings. Feelings don’t matter to him. We can easily overlook our feelings, stifle our truths, and live a life forever boxed into someone else’s pathetic definition for happiness…” He cleared his throat, collecting himself, and continued, “What I’m trying to propose Haruhi is… I will tell my father you are already engaged.”

This second shock helped Haruhi find her words, “But I’m not engaged to anyone.”

“Yes I know that,” Kyoya sighed, “But my father doesn’t. We can use this to our advantage. Since you graduated the academy he’s lost tabs on you Haruhi. He now relies on me as his eyes and ears. He doesn’t like having to trust me for certain intel but there’s only so many legal loopholes he can jump through before jurisdiction catches up to him.”

Haruhi crossed her arms and leaned against the kitchen counter, “So you want to lie to your father about my supposed engagement so I’m no longer a potential bride for you.”

“Exactly.” Kyoya stood to his feet and pulled at his sleeves, “I’m glad we’re at an understanding.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Haruhi rounded the kitchen counter, “I haven’t agreed to this yet. I want to know the ramifications of this plan. Will I have to take any actions in this or could we simply say I’m engaged and let it rest? Have you thought this through?”

Kyoya was beginning to lose his patience, “Of course I thought this through. I wouldn’t propose a strategy if I didn’t have faith in its success.”

Haruhi looked at the floor, needing a minute to think this over. On one hand, Kyoya was trying to give them both a way out of a situation that otherwise would be difficult to oppose with honesty. He was right, his father only cared about the Ootori’s Corporation’s success, even at the cost of others. Haruhi didn’t want to be snagged into his web of manipulation, even as an option. On the other hand…

She looked back to him, “Who will be my fiance?”

Someone cleared their throat by her open front door and it made Haruhi jump. Kyoya apparently didn’t need to look to see who had silently joined them. Her eyes widened when she saw who stood at her threshold.

“I can.”

Who volunteered to be her fiancé?

Vote Here - Poll will close by 12:00pm (ETS)

Now we’re cooking with gas. Also I apologize for the long wait, I got caught up in making my family’s traditional Easter feast. It was very delicious and I’m still snacking on it. yum-yum.

#ouran high school host club #ohshc #choose your own adventure #fanfiction #neighbors

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onisionhurtspeople · 6 years

Text

Onision flirted with my little sister

This was in 2014. My sister was 12. She used to follow him on twitter and sometimes tweet at him. He did not follow her back nor did he ever tweet at her. After a while, she stopped tweeting at him because she lost hope that he would ever pay attention to her (I know it sounds pathetic but she was only 12 and a fangirl). Then one day he randomly DM’d her. She was so shocked but so happy. He asked her why she hadn’t tweeted at him in a while. He told her he looked forward to opening his notifications and seeing tweets from her every day. He said he missed them and seeing her pretty face (she had a real photo of herself on twitter as her profile pic). He also noticed that she hadn’t tweeted at all in over a month at the time and asked her if she was OKAY. He said he was worried and that she could talk to him if she was ever having a hard time and needed someone to talk to. She told him that there was nothing wrong, she just got bored of twitter and lost hope that any of her favorite youtubers would ever tweet her back. He kept pressing her and insisting that something must be wrong. She assured him that she was okay. Then he started asking her weird personal questions. He asked her if our dad was abusive. He asked about our home life and whether or not we had a dysfunctional family. It’s almost like he was trying to PROJECT abuse and dysfunction onto her. She insisted that she was fine and our family was fine. I was 16 at the time. I was never a huge Onision fan but I was still a bit giddy knowing that a youtube celebrity was talking to my sister. Anyway, my sister would show me their DMs every time they talked. At first, they were innocent. They would talk maybe once or twice a week on average. He would just check in with her and see how she’s doing and then they would end up talking about silly things like telling jokes, sending each other emojis and sharing funny photos. Then after a few months, my sister turned 13. They were DMing each other and this is when it started to get creepy. He told her “13 is legal in lots of countries”. She was confused and said what? And he said “if we lived in another country I could date you”. She just laughed it off and didn’t take it seriously and said “yeah but you’ have a wife”. And he responded saying “but we have an open relationship” (this is before Lainey started her youtube channel, before she came out as Bisexual, and before she came out as polyamorous so I doubt they were in an “open relationship”). My sister didn’t know what to say so she stopped responding for about 5 minutes and then he messaged her saying “i’m just kidding”. I told my sister she should stop talking to him because I was concerned for her safety at this point. I didn’t appreciate him “joking” with my little sister that way. She insisted that he was just joking and that I should calm down. So they continued talking but now my sister was secretive and wouldn’t show me their DM’s anymore. So I had to hack her twitter and read the DMs myself. There was nothing too scandalous or illegal said on his behalf but it was still nonetheless creepy. For example, she would post pictures of herself on twitter every once in a while, and he would send her a DM telling her she looks pretty. One time she put a picture of herself and put a poll on twitter asking her friends what she should do to her hair (the options were 1) Cut it to her shoulders 2) Leave it the same and get bangs 3) Cut it to her shoulders and get bangs. Well he DM’d her and told her she would look really cute if she cut it short into a pixie. She responded saying she doesn’t like short hair. He told her that girls who go against mainstream beauty standards are confident enough to be “different” are sexy. It disgusted me that he was telling her what she should do to her hair to look SEXY!! I deleted her twitter the moment I saw that. I admitted to her that I deleted her twitter and she was mad but I threatened that if she makes a new one, I will tell mom and dad that she was talking to a grown man online. She agreed that she would stop talking to him and wouldnt go back on twitter. Well one day I went on the family computer (me, my sister, our other sister, and little brother all shared a computer at the time) and I opened up Photobooth and noticed a bunch of pictures of her on it where she was trying to look sexy. I was alarmed. And then I noticed that she had ONISION written on her body in a few pictures. In one of the pix she had Onision written on her cleavage (and she was wearing a pushup bra trying to make it look like boobs were bigger in the photo). On another photo she had it written on her hand and she was showing it off to the camera. In other photos she was making kissy faces and trying desperately hard to look sexy. My sister didn’t have a cell phone back then so she used the built in webcam to take “selfies”. I was SO MAD when I saw these photos and went to go interogate her about the photos. She lied and said the photos were old (from months ago when she was talking to him on twitter) and that she forgot to delete them off photobooth. That’s a lie because they weren’t there months ago and also it says the date of the photos on photobooth and they were recent. She got mad at me and told me to mind my own business. She refused to answer any of my questions so I went and told our mom what happened. Our parents were so mad and interogated her but she refused to tell them why she took the photos and where she was communicating with onision. My parents ended up grounding her for a whole year and told her she cannot use the computer again until she’s 18. They took the computer away from the office downstairs and put it in my room and said only I can use it from now on and must put a password on it so none of my younger siblings can use it. I was already 17 by this time so they trusted me. Anyway, this was the end of my sister and onision’s friendship since she did not have a cell phone and did not have access to a computer. To this day, I still don’t know where or how she was communicating with him, or where she sent him those photos. Years later I discovered that he had a forum where other underage girls were sending photos of themselves with his name on their bodies so I’m guessing that maybe she submitted the photos to his forum? Or maybe she made another twitter and was DMing them to him and was clever enough to delete her browsing history? I don’t know. But the fact that he allowed underage girls to submit provacative photos of themselves to his forum is SICK! The fact that he was flirting with my sister on twitter is SICK! The fact that he was potentially flirting with her on a new twitter account and telling her to take sexy photos is SICK! I’m convinced this guy is a pedophile and a predator.

Holy FUCK, dude. Do you think it would be possible to track down any of those Twitter DMs that he sent to your sister? I realize it’s been a while since this all went down, so I understand if you don’t; but it would be so, so helpful if you did.

I don’t even know what to say. Just.. wow. What a fucking piece of trash.

#onision #laineybot #submission #victim

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maddystar1theyoutuber · 5 years

Text

The whovian the mad man Chapter 1 A new world

-Valerie. P.o.v.-

I was in my room watching the latest episode of doctor who when my ass of a stepdad barged in.

I knew the reason he was in my room. It was because I was an unemployed 17-year-old who seats in her room watching doctor who, plays video games, and does small jobs like baby seating or dog walking.

“that’s it I’ve had enough of your lazy ass under my roof pack your things and get out. And you best be gone by the time I get back with your little brother from footy now get out.” He said and slammed the door behind him.

I was shocked. he’s an ass don’t get me wrong, but this was new.

My little brother is the reason I wasn’t kicked out sooner. My stepdad and I had a silent agreement, sins my mother died I would fill in that role for him sins he was my brother but he was only my half brother but my brother nun the less.

I grabbed my Messenger Bag and my duffel bag I thankfully I didn’t have much all my games where online and I had 4 external hard drives filled with my tv show’s and movies.

I also grabbed my laptop, phone, clothes, my wallets, my guitar and camera.

I headed to the door it was winter and even though its Australia it can get cold.

So, I grabbed my hoody and my 4th doctor overly long scarf. And left I decided to go to a friend’s house, but I had to go throw a very overgrown park.

When I was halfway through the park, I heard a strange familiar sound from behind me.

I turn to and a massive gust of wind throw me off my feet.

I yelp as I hit the ground and looked up to sea. the fucking Tardis materialise in front of me.

I couldn’t believe it I was frozen staring in awe at it and thought I was going insane.

It was somewhat different, it seemed more like the 8th/6th doctor’s Tardis, but a lot more sparks and the wind picked up even more, but I could see smoke coming off the Tardis witch as any whovian knows is bad.

the Tardis fully materialised with bolt of lightning hit the Tardis and a shock wave forcing me back to the ground.

When I looked up again to see and I don’t believe it.

It was Michelle Gomez dress as missy. My mind and body where frozen, I couldn’t rap my brain around it.

I noticed she was coughing a lot and leaning on the TARDIS for support.

She looked like she just bean put through a blender, her clothes were tattered, there was bruises and cuts on her exposed skin.

I was concerned wen I noticed this and at the same time she noticed me.

“oh hallow I’m looking for some one can you point me in the right direction and I’ll be on my way” She said cheerily.

I was still stunned and studded “but…”

“I think her name started with a v… it could have been a v… I mean I wasn’t paying any attention to her name… but there’s always the chains that her name didn’t start with a v.” she rambled as she scratched the back of her head out of embarrassment.

I was still in shock she was acting like missy but why she can’t be missy. ‘there’s no way… she can’t be missy it can’t be… that’s impossible’ I thought to myself

“so if you could point me in the right direction that would be great think’s” she said clearly becoming inpatient.

“what…”

“I think her last name was harper”

“but…”

“she’s slightly shorter then I am has blue hire and a tenancy to swear.”

“but… but that’s… what”

“you all right.”

I get up and slowly approach the Tardis, walking past missy who was confused at what I was doing.

I brush my fingers against the door and felt the slight vibration.

“but… that’s not possible… but it is!” I started Circling the Tardis.

After my lap around the Tardis I stepped back from it and stared in awe.

Missy who I only just remembered being here asked “you look like know what that is.”

I would have jumped away from her, but I was to in fascinated by the Tardis to realis missy the insane psychopath was standing next to me.

“it’s… it’s the Tardis, the real actual type 40 Tardis owned by the doctor but… but that’s not possible… but it is!” I ranted.

that’s when I remembered missy next to me and because my brain still didn’t realis, she was a psychopath.

I grab her just a above the wrist and check her pulls.

One, two, three, four.

I couldn’t believe she a time lord. Wellll, time lady.

And that’s when my brain realised who she is and I jump back, dropping her arm in the process.

“well isn’t this interesting not only do you know the doctor but you know me as well.” She mused

“oh shit…” I whisper yelled.

Before I could run someone came out of the Tardis and I knew instantly it was David Tennant.

He was coughing like missy was, he noticed us and approached he looked me up and down and then looked to missy.

“missy who’s this?” he asked questionably

“I don’t know but she seems to know us” missy said.

My brain finally court up and a turned around, started walking and said “NOPE…nope…nope….nope.”

“weight, Valerie.” David Tennant who I’m guessing is actually the doctor yelled out to me.

I stopped surprised he knew my name I turn around and said “how do you know my name.”

“because your what’s missing from our universe.” He replied.

My curiosity and fascination overwhelmed my fear and confusion.

“what do you mean missing.” I asked questionably

“our universe is collapsing because certain fixed points never happened, we need you to inshore that they happen” He replied, but I was still confused.

“but why me, wouldn’t it cores a paradox if I change things.” I asked curios why they’d risked a paradox.

“that’s exactly why it has to be you. pleas our universe will die without your intervention.” He begged, and I thought for a moment and decided.

“Well to be honest I have two options, stay here and be homeless or go with you with a fresh start.” I said taking them off guard.

“so that would be a…” the doctor asked and I nodded my head, and they went in to the Tardis and I followed.

The interior was the same as peter Capaldi’s Tardis and I was confused.

“hang on aren’t you supposed to be the 10th regeneration.” I asked confused.

“yes I am what’s wrong with that.” He asked curiously

“because this desktop is meant to be your 12th regeneration.” I answered, then missy polled down a leava and we where off

End of chapter 1

Chapter 2 rose: autons a friend and a mad man.

#doctoe who #Doctor Who fanfic #fanfic

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incarnateirony · 6 years

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Tumblr chaos, post rescue; Castiel, ratings, etc etc.

So tumblr decided to go bonky but in a way I could save an old post, that won’t turn up by direct link anymore, or open the Keep Reading. Keep in mind this was made mid-season-13, and I haven’t been arsed to update it since then, but this is just me like... rescuing a post. HOPEFULLY THIS ONE WORKS.

So we’ve all heard the divisive wank. First, it was that “Cas ratings are the lowest rated” and, some that STARTED clue-ing in backpedaled to “well he has no POSITIVE effect on the ratings.” - whatever it took to try to make it seem like Misha had no personal positive impact to the show.

This is a topic I covered in an old video of mine, but I decided to do it modernly again, complete with automated spreadsheet. Episodes have been listed by number, demo, raw viewers, and then Cas Y/N. For the sake of argument, at another point I’ll also do breakouts based on “Cas promotion” to show how the shift is incredibly more drastic there, but Northern Sparrow did that back in Season 10 with expectable results. So for now, let’s cover this. And I’ve literally tried to postulate as many of the anti-arguments to discredit pro-Cas things as possible.

The following episodes are based on “Did Cas appear in any capacity in these episodes in this season,”

Arguments have been made such as removing the Premier as an alternate total for Castiel, under the extremely generous assumption that fans and GA do not generally expect Cas in the Premier at this point, and that none of the numbers are in any way related.

This is a buffer provided in the interest of anti-arguments, rather than from the angle of Pro-Cas. Finales do not have the same effect, as they generally drift from the premier demo, as quite literally witnessed in all the charts below. The charts are then sorted by N/Y on Cas, but you can doublecheck the numbers as you wish.

All numbers have been rounded to hundredths (0.xx) for demo and x.xxx for million viewers. If it is missing another unit, that means it was a 0, and Excel ate the 0.

( Numbers are sourced from the highly popular https://tvseriesfinale.com/ )

SEASON 11

Possible anti argument: Cas was only in voice in Baby. Even still I urge you to do the math and realize it does NOT bring Cas down to the season average or No Cas thresholds as is. Minus the premiere, Cas still pulls 0.044 above episodes that do not have him. Minus baby it drops to the 0.03 range-ish. Go on. You have a calculator.

SEASON 12

This is the closest one to date, if only because various negative impact of 12x19′s airdate is NOT being removed, again, in the interest of giving anti-Cas people every benefit of the doubt (and it wasn’t the size of the one I’m about to talk about soon), and every angle, without removal or exemption for special rules that would give him any positive edge. Even with this hit, 0.016 demo still cements Cas above episodes without him, even with the premier removed.

HERE’S WHERE IT GETS FUN THOUGH.

SEASON 13

You’re probably wondering what the hell all of that at the bottom is. That’s me literally giving haters every possible argument in the book I could think of in their interest to drag Cas down.

Cas Minus Premier you’ve figured out by now.

Cas Minus Premier Minus Thanksgiving seems like we’re giving Castiel an extra “but but but!” argument.

But you will also see that “No Cas” has been given an exception on the mass pre-emption of 13x17, with an option removing that from the tally, despite not doing so for season 12 in his favor (which you will notice very similar number shift on 12x19).

Both Thanksgiving and the NYC blackout of airing were exceptional events, and each “side” reasonably has one, so while giving the NYC exemption, and knowing the network has said they’re aware of Thanksgiving and writing it off as a “special” due to the holiday, both are receiving options of Exemption from the totals.

In the interest of comparing the excess effects of Scoobynatural, a bracket has been made for “Total without Scooby,” “Cas value without Scooby,” and “Thanksgiving without Scooby.” Obviously we can not include “No Cas NYC without Scooby” as that is already self-exempted as an episode that contained Cas.

The results are as to be seen. The only way, whatsoever, that ratings operate at-or-better than the average result of episodes with Castiel included are if you: Include Thanksgiving’s crash to Cas, while giving non-Cas eps an exemption on NYC, and remove Scoobynatural’s bonus. That’s right. If you give them a free pass on their reasonable crashout episode, but make Cas take the equally reasonable crashout episode as a penalty, and remove a good episode of his entirely as a special, the episodes would almost match.

To clarify:

Castiel, Thanksgiving Included, No Scooby: 0.59, and removing the premiere ticks it to about 0.58.

Non-Cas eps, NYC exempt, letting them get the benefit OF Scooby’s ratings without including it to Cas... even though... Cas was in the ep? You’ll get 0.585.

That is literally the only way to break it even. If you remove Scooby from their season average since... Cas was... in Scooby... and not getting the benefit... they still drop under the line.

Obviously the most reasonable comparison would be to remove Scooby from both for the “special” argument (which really only strips bonus from Cas), and give either neither, or both, their respective exemption. (Thanksgiving, NYC)

Cas, minus premiere, minus scoob, minus thanks: 0.607

Non-Cas, minus NYC crash: 0.577

Cas, Minus Premier, scoob, including Thanks: 0.59

Non-Cas, including NYC crash: 0.557

[drums fingers on desk] So what I’m reading out of this is, if I penalize every possible Cas route and give every possible benefit to non-Castiel episodes, they break even. If we do equal penalty or lack thereof, we get 0.030 difference and 0.033 both in Castiel’s favor, kinda like I said he runs us roughly 0.03 difference depending on the night, modernly?

And we had an identical effect in S11? And... S12, it appears to be half, when allowing Castiel to still take every penalized episode, but it’s still above the same base line?

And then there’s also the fact that raw viewership on all S11-13 totals are also higher on average, if people want to spin that angle, even if it’s technically demo that matters.

I wonder what this MEANS.

WHAT COULD IT MEAN?

That’s at least three years. I could probably go further back, as I imagine this divide started gradually inclining from S9 for misc reasons, but it’s here, and we’re here, and we’re now. Digging back into archives of season 6 (if there’s even a true net negative going on there, which I doubt, just saying “ancient history”) doesn’t matter when we are in TODAY. This is three consecutive years. With EVERY REASONABLE ANTI ARGUMENT AVAILABLE AND SPECCED OUT FOR THEM. I am literally arguing a case FOR THEIR END and the only way to do it is to WILLINGLY twist it into the most ridiculous penalty/reward imbalance to even make it even.

And while this prepares to reblog and no doubt get skewed, I’m going to provide a useful attachment in advance for the inevitable, pre-telegraphed, “But ratings are down compared to before and that’s cuz Bro Only fans left and they’re the TRUE MAJORITY” (as if we never had a Cas/Destiel fan exodus in S9 and 10 too or anything from other drama) so have a link on why that simply isn’t true. As well as addresses a bunch of other dumb-as-rocks talking points people who don’t understand what they’re looking at tend to use to bag on people/the show.

There’s a reason S12 crept into the top 20 shows for digital calls in the world for the first time last year, including resources like Hulu and Amazon that, while they do not report to Nielsen for demo numbers, report to the network for digital sales. S13 is doing even better. I can’t wait to get the numbers on that when season is done.

And before anyone challenges my “link on why that simply isn’t true” I’m going to issue a simple challenge: Find me a show aside from the Superbowl that gets, today, the 10.0s that were fairly common high-ish end TV back in 2005. I’m not gonna make it ridiculous and ask for the 20.0′s that ER was getting at the time. Find me a 10. Because ratings everywhere have declined.

I keep issuing this challenge for people to find me even one 10.0 current nightly show this year, but it’s like... it’s like nobody can find it. I wonder why!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It’s fine if you don’t like Cas. Nobody says you have to like Cas. Acting like he has no net positive impact is ridiculous. Spreading misinformation because someone with a myopic episode-to-episode, strictly-fandom-bubble, argument-of-the-hour-for-only-their-preferred-perspective, is absolute insanity.

And before anyone does the OTHER telegraphed argument of “WELL... THAT’S... JUST... 0.03ISH!” you first need to recognize that’s a 5%~ loyalty viewership impact over the season, but those are strictly STANS THAT ONLY TUNE IN WHEN HE IS THERE. That is NOTHING to say of the ramifications that would happen if he would leave entirely, permanently. And considering the myopic “no positive impact” is direly wrong, you MIGHT want to consider how much of the GA outside of the hatred-bubble has drawn an affinity to him as their primary interest. All existing demographic information says about 33%. Some have said over 40% would quit if he didn’t come back at one point. This was a 10,000 head census, IP-checked-for-individuality polling with over 60 individualized questions. Dean still got 50% of preferred character interest. Sam’s made me cringe with how low it was but it unfortunately matches all other global trends on other platforms, and that sucks. But even if it was “low” respectively, they’re both important. Between the two it meant J2 - as two separate individuals - pulled about 67% of the show popularity, with Misha pulling the other third. And considering the regained S7-8 demographic, thataboutmakessense.

Like I said, at some point I’ll do one on the effect of Cas promos, but at one point, Northern Sparrow did this in S10, so I mean

Have that to pacify you for now to see that this was already an ongoing this even back then.

Hopefully I armed people with some good information the next time someone spews this age-old horse shit at them.

#supernatural #ratings #castiel #the cas effect #tumblr is wild

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crownoyami · 6 years

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Chapter 7 - Archangel

Title: Archangel

Pairing: Gabriel/Sam Rating: E Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Warnings/Tags: Drinking, Frottage, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Killing, Hitman Gabriel, Feet, Switching, Bottom Gabriel, Bottom Sam, Top Gabriel (Supernatural), Top Sam Winchester, Rimming, Oral Sex, Public Display of Affection, Rough Sex, Marking, Violence, Minor Character Death, Mentions of Rape, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting

Summary: Secrets had a way of being discovered. For hitman Gabriel, his biggest secret may just cost him the only person he ever loved.

AO3 Link To Story: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16273952/chapters/38720678

Author’s Note: The dates have been posted for the Reverse J2 Big Bang! Since I have three and am posting a full story once a week starting the 17th I plan on finishing up this one before then. For this month the only posts will be this story, 3 Reverse J2 stories and my Gabriel Monthly Challenge (which I still have to write). I’ve been keeping on track with NaNoWriMo (have you?) so I should be able to find some time next month to either A) Write a new Story B) Do 12 drabbles or C) Finish a WIP (There is a poll on my Twitter which is closing soon if you wanna cast your vote).

**This has been edited by Gamermom

Chapter 7

As Gabriel continued to drive toward the location sent to his phone from Charlie he couldn’t help but sigh. Turning off his com, he looked at the long stretch of road in front of him. It would be another three hours before he arrived at the location and met up with Balthazar. Absently Gabriel thought it was funny how he had avoided inviting the other man to the BBQ and now here he was meeting with him.

The BBQ that ruined his relationship. Brushing the thought aside, Gabriel continued to drive, using every bit of his training to block out the thoughts circling in his head. It didn’t work. All he could think about was Sam, and how the taller man hadn’t been able to even look at him as he left. Sure, Sam had watched but he was closed off, shielding himself from Gabriel, and sadly that was all Gabriel needed to see to know how this was going to end. Giving Sam the house was the right move, it had taken most of his savings to have it built and the security installed, but Sam deserved it.

He could always save up again, in another ten years or so he would have to retire; while he wouldn’t be able to afford the house he was giving away again he would be able to make a home eventually. Although it was only for a brief time, Sam had made Gabriel feel like he could have a home, that he was home when with the other man. Giving him the house was Gabriel’s way of saying thank you, of trying to repair at least some of the damage he caused by sticking around.

Eventually, Sam’s memory of him would fade and he could create a new life from his old one. Gabriel’s heart hurt at the thought of Sam moving on, the taller man was probably going to try and forget that Gabriel even existed once this was over, and Gabriel would try to do the same. Only, assassin knew he would never be able to forget the one man who made him feel human again, the one who -despite it being a horrible idea- Gabriel had fallen helplessly in love with, in a few short months.

Sighing, Gabriel let his mind wander while maintaining most of his focus on the road. It would be a long drive, he could afford a few moments of dreaming about a future that was lost to him now.

*~*~*~*

Finding Balthazar was easy. While they were supposed to remain invisible, Balthazar preferred to do so in plain sight. Gabriel had wasted no time in parking his car and walking into the small restaurant where Balthazar was seated next to the window. It was a dangerous move since they knew someone was targeting them, but also gave some level of protection considering the bystanders around. Slipping into the seat across from his friend, Gabriel tapped his com on discreetly, so Charlie could listen in.

“Good afternoon, boy you sure can make good time I wasn’t expecting you for another half hour at the earliest.” Spoke Balthazar his blue eyes never leaving the paper in front of him. Gabriel meanwhile couldn’t help but notice the slight bags under Balthazar’s eyes and the way his shoulders were tense against the worn upholstery of the booth they were sitting in.

“I figured I needed to see you sooner rather than later. No reason to delay the drive.” While he was speaking casually, Gabriel could tell something was off about Balthazar. The older man was one who was never tense, not even while working. On the rare cases where they had been paired up, Gabriel had seen the man crawl his way out of impossible situations, even once having been captured by a mob and still, he never looked at tense as he did now.

Balthazar thanked the waitress who made her way over and refilled his coffee before asking Gabriel if he wanted anything. Politely declining, Gabriel turned to his friend once the waitress was gone and wondered what he was missing.

“They got to Hannah,” Balthazar said softly, his tone remaining neutral though there was a slight tremor in his hand when he lifted the cup to his lips. Startled, Gabriel sat back, wishing he had taken the waitress up on her offer even just so he would have something to do with his hands.

Hannah had been with Balthazar at the very beginning of his career. Though the two didn’t often see each other, there was a bond between a field agent and handler, one that went down to their very foundation. To have Hannah killed, someone who should have been safe for her line of work, would have cut Balthazar far deeper than Gabriel could imagine.

“I don’t know who it did, there wasn’t much left… but it was professional. She had just given me the location for our little get together before it happened, I couldn’t hear anything; of course, she turned off her com as soon as the intel was passed. The only reason I knew was because I tend to send half hour updates and after the first one went unanswered I made my way to her place.”

Balthazar paused for a second and took another sip of his coffee. “I don’t know if they knew we’re no longer in the dark or not but they’re moving fast and are cleaning house. I thought it was only us in danger, if they’re going after our handlers it must be something larger than either of us, mate. You sure we shouldn’t just pack up and head across the pond?”

It was unlike Balthazar to want to run, though Gabriel could understand with Hannah’s death why he would want to. If a field agent went missing it was nothing, they were essentially ghosts as it were. Handlers were different, they had families and friendships outside of work. While they had to keep odd hours, it was easily explained and in general, they could live a normal life. You always knew in the back of your head that a field agent could be killed at any moment, it was not the same when it came to their handlers. Gabriel didn’t know what he would do if he lost Charlie.

“You and I both know that stopped being an option when the list was released. If we work quickly we might be able to stop this before it goes any farther. I have an address where we believe Kali and Crowley are being held, if these people are smart they haven’t killed them yet. Are you in?”

Gabriel waited for Balthazar to answer, his friend was hurting and while Gabriel wanted nothing more than to comfort the other man it wouldn’t be accepted. Instead, he watched as Balthazar nodded his head and set a few bills down to cover the cost of his coffee and tip the waitress who hadn’t come to bother them or usher them out. Standing, Gabriel made his way outside the building, unsurprised when Balthazar followed behind him into his car.

They had work to do.

*~*~*~*~

Getting inside the building had been the easy part. While it was well guarded, the warehouse wasn’t impenetrable. It had taken stealth and skill; however, Gabriel was inside the building with Balthazar covering the exit. Even finding the two captives hadn’t been overly hard, while Charlie couldn’t get a blueprint of the warehouse it was designed the same as some Gabriel had seen before and five minutes into the mission he found their holding cell. It was nothing more than a damaged room, the walls damp and leaving a chill in the air Gabriel could feel through his layers let alone how the two captives must have felt in the rags they were wearing.

Kali was the worse off, though Crowley was hanging slightly by his arms which were shackled to the ceiling. Unlike Kali, he still had most of his clothing on. It didn’t take but a moment for Gabriel to realize what had happened to his former lover. Kali’s dress was in tatters; the red fabric covering a bit of her stomach, shoulders, and back. The bottom was torn above her crotch and there was nothing covering her breasts. From the dirt and blood, Gabriel could see along her thighs, hips and back, along with other stains painting her skin Gabriel had little doubt as to how they thought they would break her.

Pulling off his coat, Gabriel risked having his weapons exposed while he made his way to the woman who was laying on the filthy floor. There were chains around her wrists, so she couldn’t leave, but unlike Crowley who had no length of chain to work with, she was free to move, most likely so it would be easier for her captors to access her. Once he was close, Kali jerked, moaning slightly in pain before she opened her eyes. The second she saw who was coming for her, Kali relaxed.

“I thought you would never get here, what took you so long?” she asked with a small smile on her face through her broken and bloody lips. Gabriel crouched down and wrapped his jacket around her before pulling out his lock pick and starting to work on her chains. When the cuffs were snapped open she jerked her arms until the shackles were no longer touching her skin, easily pulling the jacket on to cover herself. It didn’t cover her completely, but it did just manage to lay a couple inches below her ass.

“I had a visitor at my house, took me a while to calm everyone down and get things organized. Bal is covering the exit for us; do you think you can stand?” Instead of answering, Kali glared at Gabriel before rising to her bare feet. It was causing her obvious pain by the way she was grinding her teeth, but Gabriel didn’t have time to coddle her, they needed to move. Crowley had woken up during the exchange and was waiting impatiently as Gabriel made his way over and released him as well.

Once both prisoners were free from the chains, Gabriel waited for the all-clear from Balthazar. He was to cause a distraction at the side of the building so Gabriel could usher the two out. The second Gabriel heard the explosion, he moved. With one arm around Kali and the other on his gun, Gabriel guided the two toward where he had planned to escape. Crowley kept up behind him, limping but not saying a word while they silently made their way.

“It’s just around the corner, then we should have some cover once we’re outside.” Looking down the hallway they would need to exit, Gabriel silently cursed when he saw three men standing there. He knew one of them, someone he had seen from time to time in passing. Closing his eyes, Gabriel looked to the two he was responsible for, while both Crowley and Kali could hold their own on normal terms this wasn’t normal. They needed him, even if he gave them a gun there was no way either was in prime condition to fight should things go wrong.

“Stay here a second, would you?” asked Gabriel while screwing the silencer on his gun. “There are three guards, Uriel is one of them.” Glancing at Crowley who growled slightly in response, Gabriel saw the answer to his unasked question in the other’s eyes. Stepping around the corner Gabriel didn’t hesitate to line up his shot and pull the trigger. The silencer didn’t block all the sound, but it was enough not to alert anyone else in the area.

Three shots each, two in the chest and one in the head. Gabriel barely registered the sight of blood staining the floor and walls. While Uriel had tried to react, Gabriel had made certain his fellow agent was dead before moving on to the others. Waving his hand behind him, Gabriel covered Kali and Crowley while stepping over the bodies of people he had once known and opening the door that led to their freedom.

P.S. If you want to keep up to date on my writing add me to Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter or Instagram as CrowNoYami ;-) Also, if you want to see what I’m reading (I always review so you know what you’re getting into) I’m on Goodreads as well, the same name as always.

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patriotsnet · 3 years

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Are There More Republicans Or Democrats In The Senate

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-there-more-republicans-or-democrats-in-the-senate/

Are There More Republicans Or Democrats In The Senate

Biggest Influencers: Democrats Or Republicans

Democrats take House, Republicans keep Senate in historic midterms

To understand who influences politics, you can easily find out who the wealthy support. For example, the Walton family, the owners of the retail giant Walmart, has traditionally donated to Republican candidates. Alice Walton, the daughter of Walmarts founder, hasnt strayed from that too much. That is, until the 2008 election. In 2008 and 2016 the Walton family donated to Hilary Clintons campaign.

She isnt the only person from a wealthy family to change tradition where politics are concerned either. Many of the younger individuals in Americas richest families have begun to sway from their familys political associations as well. Below youll find the affiliation and overall net worth of the top 10 richest families in America.

Weve Had A Split Senate Before And They Mostly Figured It Out

The most recent 50-50 Senate occurred following the 2000 election. Sens. Tom Daschle and Trent Lott , then Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate respectively, formed a powersharing agreement to guide the chamber. Key features of the agreement included:

Majority Leader: Lott was recognized as the de factor majority leader following Inauguration Day, based on the tie-breaking vote of Republican Vice President Dick Cheney.

Committees would have equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats;

If a tie vote prevented a measure or nomination from being reported to the full Senate, the majority or minority leader could move to discharge the committee from further consideration; Debate on the question of discharge was limited, and therefore, a filibuster could not block it.

Debate: Cloture motions, which are used to bring debate on a measure or nomination to a close and prevent filibusters, could not be filed on any amendable item of business during the first 12 hours of debate.

Scheduling and agenda: the leaders were to attempt to balance the interests of the parties in setting the Senates schedule and deciding what matters to bring up for consideration.

An important caveat in the agreement noted that Senate Rules do not prohibit the right of the Democratic Leader, or any other Senator, to move to proceed to any item.

Senate Votes To Kill Debate On Voting Rights Bill

Republican senators voted against debating Democrats election and voting reform legislation, as expected.

Sixty votes are required to open debate on any measure under the Senates filibuster rules and in a 50-50, evenly divided Senate all 50 Republicans voted against advancing and debating the legislation.

We can argue what should be done to protect voting rights and safeguard our democracy, but dont you think we should be able to debate the issue? said Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer.

Its unclear where Democrats can go from here. Progressives have pushed to end the filibuster, which would allow them to vote and narrowly pass voting rights reform without Republican support. But moderate Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have rejected the idea.

Geoffrey: The Case For Republicans

Republicans may be slightly behind in the polls, but we should be cautious about reading too much into these surveys as its hard to say the slim Democratic edge is all that meaningful. Polls have routinely disagreed over who is in the lead and nearly every survey has fallen within the margin of error. Whats more, there just havent been that many high quality polls just two of the 16 firms that have surveyed Georgia since November have a FiveThirtyEight pollster rating that is higher than a B. This is unfortunate, but not surprising given many pollsters are gun-shy after polling misses in November. Simply put, a small polling error in the GOPs direction wouldnt be that surprising and furthermore, it would be enough to give Loeffler and Perdue the advantage.

Lastly, while Nathaniel poo-pooed it, the GOP does have a history of doing better in runoffs than the Democrats. Outside of one 1998 runoff for a seat on the states public service commission, Republicans have always gained at least a little ground in the runoff compared to the general election. True, we only have a sample size of eight, but some of the factors that contributed to Republican runoff success in the past could still come into play, like an older electorate. And remember, if the Republicans improve on their November showing or even just hold serve they win.

Main Difference Between Democrats And Republicans In Point Form

Democratic Party was founded in 1828 while the Republican Party in 1854

The Democratic Party has about 15 presidents while the Republican Party has about 19 presidents since independence

Republican Party voters are older generation while Democratic Party voters are the younger generation

The voters of Republicans are conservatives while democrats are liberal

The main color of republicans is red while that of democrats is blue

The party symbol of democrats is a donkey whereas that of republicans is an elephant

The Democrats party was founded on the basis of anti-federalism whereas republican party on the basis of anti-slavery and agent of modernity

The Democrats party has a larger membership subscription whereas republican has a lower membership subscription

Democrats applaud same-sex marriage whereas republicans condemn same-sex marriage

Democrats want the elderly medical program to be allowed while republicans reject suggestions of elderly medical care program

Texas Governor Vetoes Bill Protecting Dogs From Abuse

Sarah Betancourt

The governor of Texas has pulled a surprise move, vetoing a bipartisan bill that would have provided greater protections for dogs against human abuse.

The Republican governor, Greg Abbott, vetoed a bill on Friday that would have made unlawful restraint of a dog a criminal offense, sending animal rights activists and legislators on both sides of the aisle into a fray and spurring the hashtag #AbbottHatesDogs.

State senate bill 474, dubbed the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act, aimed to ban the use of heavy chains to keep dogs tethered. The bill had bipartisan support in the legislature, passing the house 83-32 and the senate 28-3.

In his veto, Abbott said state statutes already existed to protect dogs from animal cruelty, and the penalties proposed in the bill of $500 to $2,000, and jail time of up to 180 days, were excessive. The bill said that dog owners could have dogs outside but could not restrain them with short lines and chains or anything that could cause injury and pain to the dog.

Dog owners would have faced a $500 penalty for a first offense and class C misdemeanor, and the next penalty would have been a class B misdemeanor, for a fine of up to $2,000 and up to three months in jail.

Abbott said Texas was not a place for that kind of micro-managing and over-criminalization.

Georgia Election: Democrats On Course For Senate Control

US election 2020

The Democratic Party of US President-elect Joe Biden is on the verge of taking control of the Senate as results come in from two elections in Georgia.

Pastor Raphael Warnock is projected to win one seat. Fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff leads narrowly in the other.

If they both win, Mr Biden will control Congress fully and have a much better chance of pushing through his agenda.

He said it was time to turn the page. The American people demand action and they want unity.

Histories Of The Parties

The Democratic party started in 1828 as anti-federalist sentiments began to form. The Republican party formed a few decades later, in 1854, with the formation of the party to stopping slavery, which they viewed to be unconstitutional.

The difference between a democrat and a republican has changed many, many times throughout history. Democrats used to be considered more conservative, while the republican party fought for more progressive ideas. These ideals have switched over time.

Which Party Is The Party Of The 1 Percent

Democrats Target Vulnerable Republican Seats In Effort To Gain Control Of Congress | NBC News NOW

First, both parties receive substantial support. Much of it comes from registered voters who make $100K+ annually. However, Democrats actually come out ahead when it comes to fundraising for campaigns. In many cases, Democrats have been able to raise twice as much in private political contributions. But what about outside of politicians? Does that mean Democrats are the wealthier party? Which American families are wealthier? Republicans or Democrats?

Honestly, it is probably Republicans. When it comes down to it, the richest families in America tend to donate to Republican candidates. Forbes reported out of the 50 richest families in the United States, 28 donate to Republican candidates. Another seven donate to Democrats. Additionally, 15 of the richest families in the U.S. donate to both parties.

The Prospect Of Ditching The Filibuster

In theory, Senate Democrats could change the cloture ruleand, with it, the need for 60 votes. They could, in other words, kill the filibuster.

There are two ways that Democrats could do that. The first is by holding a vote to change the Senates standing rules. The only problem is that a vote to change the rules requires a two-thirds majority. So, as has happened many times in the past, Senators can simply filibuster the attempt to eliminate the filibuster.

The second way to kill the filibuster is known as the nuclear option. That would mean that Senate Democrats vote to establish a new precedent in the chamber, which can require only a simple majority: the 50 Democrats plus Harris. The nuclear option has been employed twice in the past decadeonce in 2013 by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and then once in 2017 by McConnellto make it easier to confirm executive and judicial nominations.

In recent months, Democrats have been clamoring to eliminate the filibuster. Former President Barack Obama called it a Jim Crow relic and President-elect Biden said hed consider eliminating it, depending on how obstreperous become. But Democrats are hardly in lock step over the issue. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has he will not support such a vote.

Is A Dream A Lie If It Dont Come True

Americas various disproportional representations are the result of winner-takes-all voting and a two-party system where party allegiance and geography have become surprisingly highly correlated. Places where people live close together vote Democratic, places where they live farther apart vote Republican . Under some electoral systems this would not matter very much. Under Americas it has come to matter a lot, in part because of an anti-party constitution.

Americas founders wanted power to be hard to concentrate, and for people who held some powers to be structurally at odds with those who held others. To this end they created a system in which distinct branches and levels of government provided checks and balances on each other. They hoped these arrangements would be sufficient to hobble any factions which sought to co-ordinate their actions across various levels and branches of government. The first two presidents, George Washington and John Adams, both warned that a two-party system, in particular, would be anathema to the model of government they were trying to build.

Take the Senate. To make sure the largest states do not dominate the rest, the constitution provides equal representation for all the states, large and small alike. This builds in an over-representation for people in small or sparsely populated places.

Policymaking Has A Liberal Bias

Democratic presidents talk more about policy, propose more specific policy ideas, and pass more significant pieces of legislation. The numbers are stark. Since 1945, Democratic presidents have put forward 39 percent more policy proposals than Republican presidents, and 62 percent more domestic policy proposals.

There is a good reason for this asymmetry, write Grossmann and Hopkins. Democrats and liberals are more likely to focus on policymaking because any change that occurs is much more likely to be liberal than conservative. New policies usually expand the scope of government responsibility, funding, or regulation. There are occasional conservative policy successes as well, but they are less frequent and are usually accompanied by expansion of government responsibility in other areas.

The chart above codes significant policy changes by whether they expand or contract the scope of government regulation, funding, or responsibility. Policy changes turned out to be more than three times as likely to expand the scope of government than to contract it. This is often true even when Republicans are signing the laws.

As such, gridlock is often the best small-government conservatives can hope for. And so theyre more comfortable with it than Democrats.

What Limitations Will Senate Democrats Face In Passing Legislation

Most proposed legislation can be filibustered by members of the minority party, which means 60 members must agree to end debate and move the bill to a final vote.

The use of the Senate filibuster has become increasingly more common since the 1700s and is now a routine way of obstructing legislation. Concerns about increasing partisan gridlock have sparked debate over whether to reform the legislative filibuster, which would give the majority party vast authority to pass bills. During the recent filibuster debate between McConnell and Schumer, President Joe Biden remained silent on the issue. Other lawmakers in the past, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have called to do away with it.

But advocates for keeping the filibuster said it preserves power for the minority party. Removing the filibuster could also backfire on Democrats if they lose control of the Senate again. As of now, Democrats do not have the votes to end the filibuster but could also consider lowering the threshold, for example from 60 members to 55.

Senate filibuster use over time. Graphic by Danny Davis and Kate Grumke/PBS NewsHour.

There are some very narrow rules around it. It has to have budgetary implications. You cant just stick on any random thing. It has to actually be pretty narrowly tailored, Powell said.

Tied Senate: Who Controls A 50

The results of the 2020 election continue to be finalized, but one possible outcome is an evenly divided Senate sometime after January 5, 2021. This raises questions regarding which party will hold the majority and who the majority leader will be, as well as whether we should anticipate a completely deadlocked Senate on every vote, among others. Here are seven things you need to know

Statement from Bipartisan Policy Center President Jason Grumet: BPCs Bipartisan Approach to a Partisan Process

Who Are The Winners And Losers

Maine Democrats had high hopes of unseating Susan Collins, the 67-year-old moderate Republican who had been trailing her Democrat rival in the polls for months.

But Sara Gideon, 48, conceded in a call to Ms Collins on Wednesday afternoon.

So far, Democrats have managed a net gain of one seat in the Senate election.

Democratic former governor John Hickenlooper won a key Colorado seat from the Republican incumbent Cory Gardner.

Mr Hickenlooper, who stood for the Democratic nomination for president, was governor of Colorado for two terms from 2011 until last year. His rival was considered particularly vulnerable because of his allegiance to President Trump.

In Arizona, former astronaut Mark Kelly defeated Republican incumbent and former fighter pilot Martha McSally. Mr Kelly earlier said he was “confident that when the votes are counted, we’re going to be successful in this mission”.

However, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Trump ally Lindsey Graham have both been re-elected in their seats of Kentucky and South Carolina respectively.

And in Alabama, Republican candidate Tommy Tuberville took a seat from the Democratic incumbent Doug Jones.

United States Senate Elections

2020 United States Senate elections

The 2020 United States Senate elections were held on November 3, 2020, with the 33 class 2 seats of the Senate contested in regular elections. Of these, 21 were held by Republicans and 12 by Democrats. The winners were elected to six-year terms from January 3, 2021, to January 3, 2027. Two special elections for seats held by Republicans were also held in conjunction with the general elections, with one in Arizona to fill the vacancy created by John McCain‘s death in 2018 and one in Georgia following Johnny Isakson‘s resignation in 2019. In both races, the incumbent Republican lost to a Democrat. These elections ran concurrent with the 2020 United States presidential election in which incumbent Republican president Donald Trump lost to Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

In the 2014 United States Senate elections, the last regularly scheduled elections for Class 2 Senate seats, the Republicans won nine seats from the Democrats and gained a majority, which they continued to hold after the 2016 and 2018 elections. Before the election, Republicans held 53 seats, Democrats held 45 seats, and independents caucusing with the Democrats held two seats, which were not up for reelection. Including the special elections in Arizona and Georgia, Republicans defended 23 seats and the Democrats 12.

Th Congress 2015 And 2016

Panel: After 10 GOP Reps Vote For Impeachment, Are There 17 More In The Senate?

The 114th Congress was notable because Republicans won their largest majorities in the House and Senate in decades after voters used the midterm election in 2014 to express dissatisfaction with a Democratic president, Barack Obama. Democrats lost control of the Senate in the 2014 elections.

Said Obama after the results became clear:

Obviously, Republicans had a good night. And they deserve credit for running good campaigns. Beyond that, Ill leave it to all of you and the professional pundits to pick through yesterdays results.

White House: Democrat

House: Republicans held 246 seats, Democrats held 187 seats; there were two vacancies.

Senate: Republicans held 54 seats, Democrats held 44 seats; there were two independents, both of whom caucused with the Democrats.

Not Much Was Said In This Video And Yet It Explains Why Our Us Senate Is Such A Mess Nothings Funny About This And Yet All There Laughed

The US Senate is a mess. The Republican Senators are closer to Democrats than they are to their base. The Republican base was behind President Trump and gave him the largest number of votes in US history for a Republican and a sitting US President. If not for the millions of ballots suspected of fraud, President Trump would have won in one of the biggest wins in US history.

But the Republican Senators want President Trump out and appear happy he is not there. The Democrats are thrilled they got away with the suspected fraudulent election steal. They dont care about election laws and the people of the United States, they care about power.

So when Senator McConnell, who led the assault on President Trump after the election, was stopped by Democrat Schumer, everyone laughed.

TRENDING:They Openly Mock Us Now: Taliban Hangs “Traitor” by the Throat From US Helicopter in Kandahar Left Behind by Joe Biden

The Republicans in the Senate have no idea what is going on. They have no idea what Americans want. They have no idea Americans are very angry about the 2020 Election and will not be satisfied until the election is fully forensically audited. The Democrats just want power and are happy every time they step on the American people and the U. S. Constitution, while the Republicans laugh.

Who Controls The Senate For Now

Republicans have the majority until Inauguration Day.

Georgia counties have until Jan. 15 to officially certify the results of Warnocks and Ossoffs elections, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has until Jan. 22 to make the victories official. . Once Warnock and Ossoff have an official certificate of election, they will be sworn into office.

Until Inauguration Day, Vice President Mike Pence will preside over the chamber. After Jan. 20, Kamala Harris will have the honors.

Write to Abigail Abrams at .

Republican Memo Warns Us Senate At Risk Of Falling Into Democratic Control

Memo summarizes senate races of 10 states and how the outcome of each could determine who controls the Senate

A memo by Senate Republicans campaign arm has admitted that control of the upper chamber is at risk and that Democrats could win the Senate in Novembers elections.

The September 2020 political update from the National Republican Senatorial Committee summarizes the state of the race of 10 states with Senate races around the country and how the outcome of each could factor into whether Republicans or control the chamber in January.

The memo, obtained by the Guardian, has been circulating among political operatives, donors and interested parties. It comes just shy of 50 days before the November 2020 elections.

The next few weeks will define the future of our country for generations to come, the NRSC memo reads.

Memos like these are often shaped like dispassionate updates but in actuality they are often used to convince interested parties that races slipping out of reach are still in play. They are also often used to juice donations to lagging candidates and counter trending narratives.

Democrats need to pick up three or four seats to take control of the Senate. The fact that the NRSC memo categorizes seven Senate races as ones that simply cant be lost or deserve serious attention suggests that its possible, but not certain that Democrats can take control of the Senate.

Effect Of Republican Retirements

Indeed, 2020 was actually a Democratic-leaning year, with Biden winning the national popular vote by 4.5 percentage points. So theres a good chance that states will be at least a bit redder in 2022 than they were in 2020.

That could make these retirements less of a blow to Republicans than they first appear. Whats more, by announcing their retirements so early, Burr, Toomey and Portman are giving the GOP as much time as possible to recruit potential candidates, shape the field of candidates in a strategic way in the invisible primary and raise more money for the open-seat campaign. And in Ohio specifically, Republicans still look like heavy favorites. Even in the Democratic-leaning environment of 2020, Trump won Ohio by 8 percentage points, implying that its true partisan lean is probably even more Republican-leaning. Ohio is simply not the quintessential swing state it once was; dating back to the 2014 election cycle, Democrats have won just one out of 14 statewide contests in Ohio and that was a popular incumbent running in a blue-wave election year .

Nathaniel Rakich and Geoffrey Skelley, FiveThirtyEight

Us Senate Representation Is Deeply Undemocratic And Cannot Be Changed

Few, if any, other democracies have anything this undemocratic built into their systems.

The U.S. Senate, as you know, is currently divided 50-50 along party lines, thanks to the impressive double win in Georgia, and counting the two technically independent senators as Democrats, since they caucus with the Democrats.

But, according to the calculation of Ian Millhiser, writing for Vox, if you add up the population of states and assign half to each of their two senators, the Democratic half of the Senate represents 41,549,808 more people than the Republican half.

Millhisers piece is named after that fact: Americas anti-democratic Senate, in one number.

41.5 million. Thats a lot of people, more than 10 percent of the population . You might think that in a democracy, the party that held that much of an advantage might end up with a solid majority in the Senate, rather than have just barely eked out a 50-50 tie in a body that, taken together, represents the whole country.

Republicans have not won the majority of the votes cast in all Senate races in any election cycle for a long time. Nonetheless, Republicans held majority control of the Senate after the elections of 2014, and 2016 and 2018 and still, after the 2020 races, held 50 of the 100 seats.

GOP does better in lower population states

Works to the detriment of Democratic power

Its deeply undemocratic. Nothing can become federal law without passing the Senate.

Smaller states had to be reassured

Democrats Are Under More Pressure From Interest Groups To Pass Policy

Another difference between the Democratic and Republican parties is that Democrats answer to more interest groups than Republicans.

Grossmann and Hopkins assemble studies showing that Democratic delegates at both national and state conventions report more organization memberships than Republican delegates, suggesting that Democratic conventions are the site of more organized interest group activity than Republican conventions. They also note a study showing that more interest groups make endorsements in Democratic primaries than in Republican primaries.

The graphic above is perhaps the most persuasive evidence of the density of the Democratic interest-group ecosystem: it connects interest groups that endorsed more than one of the same candidate or bill in the 2001-2002 Congress and the 2002 midterm election. So, if the AFL-CIO and the Sierra Club both endorsed Senator Mary Landrieu for reelection and they also both endorsed No Child Left Behind, they get a line. The more shared endorsements between two groups, the thicker the line connecting them; the more total connections any individual group has to other groups, the larger the circle they get.

there are more organized groups asking Democrats for policy than asking Republicans for policy

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