#the jury has come to the decision that I will not be putting details into hands at this juncture

[fishytoxicologist]

Hey everyone!! Work has kept me extremely busy lately, plus I had major surgery in the beginning of May so I haven’t had time for much. But….I decided to finally started writing a multi-chapter Rivamika fanfic. I’ve had this idea in my head for a while, and I think I’m finally somewhat happy with Chapter 1. I need to join AO3 so I can share it there, but for now here it is. I might modify it slightly before I share on AO3.

Brief summary….first of all, it’s an AU. the idea is that Levi, a successful and wealthy New York lawyer, and Mikasa, an up and coming fashion photographer also from NY, end up staying *very* close to each other while vacationing in a small town in Maryland.

Also, keep in mind I am a scientist. I enjoy writing and reading, but I am not a skilled creative writer like some fanfic authors are. I try!

Title: A Week in Oxford

Chapter 1: Much Needed Break

Levi - Lower Manhattan, New York

Exhausted but finally feeling at ease, Levi began to pack his documents from the trial into his sleek, black leather briefcase. After a long and extensive jury trial, his client, Dimo Reeves, was found not guilty for the crimes of securities fraud and embezzlement, but was found guilty of the misdemeanor of obstruction of justice. The client was more than pleased with the outcome, since the obstruction of justice charge was fairly minor and resulted in simply year one of supervised probation. The evidence against his client for the other two charges was overwhelming, but Mr. Reeves, a prominent Wall Street trader, hired Levi as his lawyer due to Levi’s impressive track record and tenacity for casting doubt on minute aspects of the crime and evidence. The prosecutors were pushing for 10-15 years of incarceration if he were to be found guilty by the jury. But, Levi had won, yet again. He was able to discover small details in the evidence and slight loopholes in the wording of the law to cast just enough doubt in the juror’s minds, and so they found Mr. Reeve’s not guilty. This is where Levi excelled. Over the last decade, he had proven himself to be a highly sought after attorney throughout New York. He had a mind that could easily find these small inconsistencies in both the evidence and the laws, and his skills in arguing and persuasion were second to no one. For all he lacked in stature, he made up for in his tenacity and cutthroat methods in the courtroom, willing to push the comfort level of the judge but knowing when to stop. To put it simply, in the courtroom Levi Ackerman was an imposing threat to the prosecutors that worked against him. This track record skyrocketed Levi as one of the partners of a now top legal group in New York, Smith and Ackerman. His partner and long time best friend, Erwin, glanced at Levi with a wicked smile on his face.

“What? I know that look. It’s usually never good.”

“Am I not allowed to smile? I am well aware of your amazing career history, but even I am impressed with how you managed this case, Levi. Two years and too many sleepless nights for you, my friend. This decision today was solely based on your impressive mind and work ethic. Choosing you as my partner four years ago is a gamble that has paid off well.”

“Tsk, what gamble? You act as if you haven’t been my closest friend for the last 12 years.”

“Even if you were my enemy, I would have chosen you. No one else can command a courtroom the way you can, Levi,” Erwin replied with a smirk. “Now that this case is finally over, I do believe you owe me a promise.”

Levi rolled his eyes, knowing that Erwin would not be one to easily let this go.

“Erwin, I’m fine. I don’t need to go on a shitty break to a shitty small town. Work keeps my mind occupied and you know how much I hate leaving the city.”

“Levi, you can’t continue to live like this. Trust me, your work ethic is above and beyond anything I could have imagined. But, you haven’t taken a day off of work in four years… and that was only because you had to attend your uncle's funeral. I’m convinced if I don’t force this, you would work everyday until you die a crippled, elderly man in a sterile apartment with nothing but career accomplishments to your name. You need a break. You need to interact with people, make friends and connections other than myself or Hange. It’s healthy to take a break and meet people. And you and I both know how much a change of atmosphere might help with your ongoing sleep problems -“

“What sleep problems? I sleep like a baby.”

Rolling his eyes, Erwin knew better. “ Hange says she has to know by this evening. Apparently someone has expressed an interest in renting the cottage during the same week as you.”

“Fine. I’ll think about it while I drive home and give Hange a call either way.”

Knowing that was as good as he was going to get from his cranky, small friend….Erwin nodded.

“Thank you.. Now, I need to get home and take a shower. This courtroom is stifling and I’m fairly certain it hasn’t been dusted properly in over a week.”

Erwin simply chuckled at his friend's quirks, knowing virtually all there was to know about the man who could intimidate an entire courtroom with just his glare, but who was equally as petrified of dust and dirt.

“Levi, as much as I would love to return home myself, there is a rather large crowd of members of the press waiting to speak to us. But, I know your distaste for them, so I will take the lead. The only thing I ask of you is to please behave and mind your temper.”

With another roll of his eyes, Levi began to walk toward the exit of the courtroom. He knew they meant well, but Erwin and Hange could be, well, imposing. They constantly nagged Levi about his workaholic tendencies and urged him to “get out there and meet people.” They asked about Levi’s sleep habits, knowing he suffered from insomnia, although Levi himself has never disclosed to his two closest friends the exact reasons why. The three of them met while attending Cornell University, although Levi was a freshman during the time Erwin and Hange were already juniors despite being the same age. Regardless, sharing an off-campus apartment together brought them close, and the three of them have remained friends since. While Erwin and Levi both attended law school and passed the New York State Bar exam, Hange received her phD in microbiology and works at New York-Presbyterian Hospital as a microbiologist.

Levi felt somewhat refreshed by the cool October air that encompassed him as he stepped outside of the courtroom, with Erwin and Mr. Reeves’s not far behind him. However, it didn’t take long for the hordes of journalists and cameras to force their way into his personal space, immediately agitating Levi and putting him on edge. He didn’t even do well with people he liked invading his space, let alone complete strangers. .

“Mr. Ackerman, how does it feel to be one of the top bachelor’s in New York City?”

“Mr. Ackerman, can you give us a statement on the jury’s decision today? What are your feelings right now?”

While Levi hated the press and attention, he knew this was part of his job. However, Erwin was much more cordial and well spoken, which made him better equipped to handle the PR aspects of their position, so Levi usually left this part to him. Levi’s temper flared though, when one particularly sleezy duo of journalist and cameraman would not relent, and asked Levi a question that went too far.

“Mr. Ackerman, do you feel guilty for willingly representing someone who scammed his clients out of millions? Especially given your own personal history of criminal acts?”

As soon as Erwin heard the question, he tensed. Before he could even react further, Levi had grabbed the camera from the man and slammed it toward the ground, smashing it into pieces. The crowd silenced, and Levi immediately felt every eye on him.

Without missing a beat, and with a broad smile reaching across his photogenic face, Erwin began, “Well then, with that I am glad to take any questions you have for my partner and I regarding the court’s decision in our case today.”

As Levi started to walk away, head down, he thought to himself perhaps he did need a break.

Mikasa - Murray Hill, New York

Mikasa was browsing through the results of her photo shoot today in Murray Hill. Graduating from Columbia University four years ago with a degree in photography, she quickly made a name for herself as a sought after fashion photographer in the city. Not only is it impressive that she was accepted into Columbia, with only a 4% acceptance rate, she was also offered a full scholarship. Of course, being named as the Valedictorian of her graduating high school class helped quite a bit. Mikasa had always been naturally smart, but when paired with her outstanding work ethic and participation in a variety of extracurriculars, she was a perfect candidate for selection for the highly prestigious scholarship Columbia offered her.

After chatting with her client for a bit letting them know when they would be receiving an email of edited proofs, Mikasa packed up her laptop and made the short walk from the studio to the parking garage. Unlike most New Yorkers, Mikasa insisted on bringing her car when she moved into her one-bedroom apartment in the neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, New York. There was just too much to explore; too much to see. She usually spent weekends taking long drives outside of the city in search of any and everything she could photograph. Sure, she paid a pretty penny for the parking spot in her neighborhood, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. Besides, her monthly rent of $2,500 was actually quite a steal for the modern, light-filled apartment that she always kept clean and organized. It had all of the necessities….a nice sized bedroom with surprisingly large closet space, a small but full kitchen, even a washer and dryer combo. The money she was making as a fashion photographer certainly didn’t make her rich, but she was more comfortable than she anticipated being at only 25. Plus, she was happy…at least as far as her career was concerned.

It was the middle of October, and the cool breeze and vibrant shades of leaves on the small trees dotting the sidewalks indicated fall had finally arrived. Mikasa loved this time of year, and it reminded her of growing up with the Yeager family in a suburb about an hour outside of the city. Although she suffered from an unimaginable loss as a young child, her years with the Yeager family were filled with love and support. Her second set of parents enrolled her in photography classes, supported her when she felt overwhelmed from her studies and duties as class president, and never missed a single one of her high school soccer games.

Her adoptive brother, Eren, was like a real brother to her in many ways, and she always found herself watching out for him due to his reckless ways. They were the same age, same year in school, and even went to college close to each other. Eren majored in software development and was now working in Philadelphia as a video game designer. He was never as studious as Mikasa was in high school, but he seemed to blossom in his college classes and seemed very happy with his career choice. Their close childhood friend Armin, who graduated as salutatorian right behind Mikasa, also attended Columbia and received his MBA. He also worked in Philadelphia and he and Eren were currently sharing a two bedroom apartment together as roommates.

The relationship between Mikasa and Eren wasn’t always healthy though, and she fears that her co-dependency on him has made it difficult for her to form bonds and friendships with others. One of the reasons Eren repeatedly pushed her away is her tendency to mother those she holds close. Even Armin had mentioned it from time to time. She was well aware of this, but why should she change who she is to please others? So what if she cared too much for people she felt close to? It was a part of who she was, and she didn’t see any need to change that fact.

Aside from Eren, Armin, and her college best friend Sasha, Mikasa didn’t really have anyone else she would consider as more than an acquaintance. Sasha often urged her to meet people and do things other than solitary drives to take photographs. At first, Mikasa dismissed those thoughts. Lately though, she has found herself feeling somewhat lonely, and aching for a connection and companionship. Part of her decision to work in New York and not follow Eren and Armin to Philadelphia was so she could give herself physical distance from the unhealthy relationship that developed between her and Eren over the years. Mikasa knew it was better for her to move on, to find someone who would dedicate their entire self to her and not just lure her in when it was convenient for them. Mikasa truly did want a companion and love, but with such a busy schedule and a small handful of friends, she had no idea how to go about meeting anyone. Plus, she craved for someone who accepted her, flaws and all.

About halfway through her drive home, her phone rang. She pressed the button on her vehicle’s control center to answer via Bluetooth.

“Hey Mikasa! Just wanted to call to check in, see how things went with your big photoshoot this week.”

“Oh hey Sasha! It went really well, the photos turned out amazing… I think the clients are going to be very happy with the finished product.”

“Mika that’s so great! I’m so proud of you! Wanna head out tonight to celebrate? There’s this new restaurant I’ve been dying to try, plus I hear the drinks are amazing too!”

“Actually, I decided I need to get away for a bit. I know it’s last minute, but I think I’m gonna book that AirBnB I was checking out in Maryland the other day.”’

“Seriously Mika? Wow that’s so awesome….damn I wish I could take off a few days and go with! You have to let me know how all of the yummy seafood is down there!!!”

Rolling her eyes, yet smiling, because Mikasa knew how food obsessed her best friend was, she replied, “You know I will Sasha…I always take pics for you too.”

“Yay! Mikasa I’m so happy for you. And who knows? Maybe you’ll meet someone while you’re there,” Sasha said with a wink.

“Sasha….the town has a population of 600 people. I highly doubt there would be someone there I could meet.”

“You never know Mikasa! Okay be safe, love ya!”

With a smile, Mikasa replied “You know it. Love you too.”

The cottage was located in a town called Oxford, which had a population of only 600 people. Being a photographer, she was immediately impressed by the contrast of the red park bench which sat just in front of the grey cottage with its dark green shutters. Near the winding brick sidewalk, tulips bloomed in reds, yellows, and whites. She longed to take more photographs of it, and could only imagine how beautiful the entire town must be as well. The cottage had an open floor plan with only one bed and one couch, but this was more than adequate for her needs. Last week, Mikasa had sent a brief email to the host, someone by the name of Hange, and Mikasa was pleased to see that the cottage was available during the week she had in mind. However, due to work demands, Mikasa never had a chance to follow up on the email.

Upon entering her apartment, she decided to open her laptop and view the cottage again, as well as do some research on the surrounding area. She was excited to see that the small town of Oxford and surrounding area provided numerous opportunities for her photography hobby. Sitting along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, the area offered opportunities for her to photograph not only the nature of the area, but also take photos of the hard working local people, known as waterman, who made their living fishing and crabbing on the Chesapeake Bay. There were gorgeous Civil-War era estates to explore, state parks to hike, rivers to kayak, and top-rated seafood restaurants to indulge in. Nearby towns like Easton and St. Michael’s offered boutiques, coffee shops, and local artisan crafts.

Upon checking the website calendar, Mikasa saw that the week she wanted, which started the next day, was still available. Without thinking it over too much, Mikasa clicked on the tab to book her one week stay at the small cottage. Within minutes of making her payment, she received an automatic email from the host. She quickly opened her email app and read that the key would be left under the doormat, and it also provided the exact address. Under the doormat? Didn’t these rentals usually have lockboxes with access codes? Then again, she was going to a very rural place. Maybe things there were just done differently than they were in the city? She pulled her suitcase from her closet and began to pack, excited for her last minute decision to make something happen in her life. The next morning, she would make the drive from New York to the town of Oxford, Maryland.

While Mikasa was excited for the chance to relax and explore a new area, she knew better than to get her hopes up about meeting new people. The town she was traveling to had such a small population, and even the surrounding area was mostly rural. However, the possibility still existed, right? Surely there was someone for her out there, somewhere. Someone who accepted her for who she was….someone who wanted all of her. Maybe she would meet someone special on this trip?

Levi - That evening, Tribeca

Levi pulled his sleek, black Audi into the parking garage under his apartment building. He knew he had royally messed up today, and he knew a lecture from Erwin was forthcoming. But, for now; all he desired was some calming music, a soothing cup of tea, and the view and ambience of his 20th floor apartment. He entered the elevator, hit the floor for 20, and exhaled loudly as he leaned back against the elevator wall. The elevator door opened, and he made the short walk to his door. He immediately felt a sense of calm wash over him when he entered his home. The sleek, grey and black modern furniture he selected contrasted beautifully with the exposed brick walls left after renovations. His kitchen had top of the line, chef grade appliances he loved using while creating new culinary dishes. He had a vast collection of various, rare tea leaves stored in metal tins in a cabinet which took up nearly an entire wall. Windows reaching from floor to ceiling provided a gorgeous view of the city skyline from the 20th floor. Levi wasn’t always fortunate enough to live this way, and while he did appreciate the finer things that his new life could afford, he never forgot his roots and where he came from. Perhaps that’s why he holds himself to such high standards in every aspect of his life now. He knows what it feels like to have nothing, and the fear of people seeing beyond the mask he has created for himself was always lurking. Even that sleezy journalist from earlier today took a low jab at Levi’s past, reminding him that he could never truly escape from who he once was.

While the material things were nice, Levi knew they didn’t make him truly happy. Sure, he had a successful career. He had two close friends. He was well known throughout the city as a tenacious lawyer. He had a gorgeous apartment, a shiny new car, and money to spare. But he wasn’t happy. Not the kind of happy he longed for….a romantic companion. Maybe even love. But, he knew he had a pretty shitty personality, and it was nearly impossible for him to open up to new people. He had no clue how he could find something as elusive as love when he could barely tolerate most people. Still, deep down, Levi craved the feeling of someone who he could call his. Someone who supported him, wasn’t after his money, and who loved him for him. Erwin and Hange were good to Levi, he knew that. He appreciated their friendship. But Levi had never truly experienced love before, in any capacity. Not any he could remember at least. Maybe that’s why he craved for it so badly? Levi didn’t even know where to start though. Hell, he had never even been in a real relationship. His experiences with women were limited to one-night stands and flings, and even those ended years ago as his career began to take up more and more of his time. He knew he had impossibly high standards, and he always seemed to find something wrong with women who were interested in him. Erwin and Hange encouraged him to try to have a more open mind, but when it came to something as important as a relationship, Levi didn’t want to settle. But, Levi was nearly 37 years old. It was high time he took steps to make this happen. Someone was out there, someone made just for him. Someone who wasn’t perfect, but who was perfect for him. Someone like that had to exist? Right?

For now, Levi thought he would start with baby steps. Getting away for a week seemed like a good place to start. His friend, Hange, inherited a cottage in a small town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. She had been begging him incessantly to take her up on the offer to stay there for a week, knowing how badly her friend needed time to relax and decompress from his career. He didn’t even know much about the area, only that it was about a 5 hour drive away and was quite rural. As he pondered, Levi thought this was a healthy first step toward exiting his comfort zone, which was basically staying exclusively in the city, and addicting himself with work. Without thinking about it too much, Levi grabbed his cell and hit the contact button for Hange. She answered nearly immediately.

“Levi! To what do I owe the pleasure? Also, I saw that slight mishap on the news earlier….don’t worry, I think he totally deserved it!”

Grumbling, Levi decided that maybe calling Hange was a bad idea after all. The last thing he needed right now was to be reminded of his poor decision making skills earlier in the day. Hange never was one who fully understood boundaries, though. He decided to look past it for now.

“While I appreciate the sentiment, I’m actually calling to see if your offer to stay in the cottage is still good for the week..”

“What? Is this my friend Levi? Levi Ackerman? Willingly asking about taking a week off of work? Are you being held at gunpoint? Is there someone coercing you right now?”

“I’m serious, four-eyes. After today, I decided maybe I really do need this break. I know it’s last minute, but can I stay there or what?”

Without even checking her app, Hange excitedly exclaimed “Of course you can! Well, I did have someone ask about it last week for the same time slot, but I never heard back from her so it’s definitely available. And you know you don’t need to book through the website….this is on me!”

“Hange, I’m only taking you up on this if you accept payment. We’ve been over this before. And for the love of God, I’m only staying there if someone other than you has been cleaning it. Oh…and make sure you mark it as booked on the Airbnb site….last thing I need is some random showing up because you forgot to update the calendar.”

“Of course I’ll update it, I. I’m not an idiot. Yes, my friend Nanaba lives in the area and she cleans and maintains it for me. Well, the key for the cottage is under the doormat. I’ll send you the address. Bye!”

Under the doormat? Didn’t most people have lockboxes with access codes for these rentals? Levi thought his strange friend was a little too trusting at times, but he dismissed it. All he knew is he would be leaving the next morning, to make the drive from New York to the small town of Oxford, Maryland. Levi pulled his suitcases from his closet and started the process of meticulously packing his things.

Little did Levi know that his friend Hange went to sleep peacefully that night, never once updating the Airbnb calendar, never checking her email or app, and not noticing whatsoever how royally she herself had fucked up.

#rivamika fanfic #rivamika #levimika #levimikasa #mikasa x levi #levi and mikasa

[gamesception]

lets read rgu chapter 16.5 extra

I'm not sure what the point 5 extra is about. It's not a separate chapter from regular old chapter 16. Are we doing a comedic side story? I'd like that. This chapter header promises some Utena/Anthy time, & I'd also absolutely be down for some time spent building up their relationship, something the manga needs to put some more time into before introducing Akio, if indeed manga Akio is going to be a thing.

After not really enjoying the duel with Miki, i'm honestly looking forward to whatever we're doing next.

We've referenced this a couple times, but yeah a lot of decisions that went into the anime weren't made with Saito nor was she even informed of them until pretty late. This is a cute little side comic about Anthy's dress, but I imagine other changes in direction were more frustrating.

A cute little story from Chuchu's perspective. Also I like the detail of Anthy being a terrible cook, something the manga shares with the anime, and a fun little humanizing detail, of exactly the sort I've been saying manga Anthy needs.

In the anime Anthy's terrible curry was eventually revealed to be to blame for a freaky friday style personality swap episode, that was pretty fun. Are we doing a version of that here?

Anthy cooking is soo cute. Mayo, haha.

Anthy tastes the curry and thinks its coming along well, Chuchu disagrees and takes it upon himself to add some curry powder, but...

He accidentally ALL of it?! ...chu...

I'm crying. This is great. The manga absolutely needed more of this. Come to think of it, this kinds of plots generally involve Nanami in the anime, and the lack of these comic asides to this point is the main reason I was sad that she wasn't here.

But making room for Anthy to be a bit more of a goof is a fantastic trade off. She's needed to be more of a character for a while, and in particular we need to hget to know and like her as more than just the Rose Bride before all the Akio stuff kicks in.

So anyway, yeah, we are doing the freaky friday thing, and it's every bit as fun here.

Yeah, this is great.

But of course they decide they have to switch back, and quickly hone in on the Curry as the cause, but in manga land Chuchu not Nanami was responsible for the added spice, so instead of Nanami & her friends traveling to India to find more Chuchu has to venture to the grocery store - a trip of roughly equivalent epicness for a creature of Chuchu's size.

But oh, no, that villainous Saionji has purchased the last of the curry powder! And he'll only hand it over in exchange for getting Anthy (Utena) to meet with him, since she's been avoiding him ever since he lost her to Utena (Anthy).

As in the other version of this story, Saionji wants to continue his love journal with Anthy.

In the anime, Utena as Anthy wrote a big 'fuck you' to Saionji, but here neither Utena nor Anthy want to deal with it, so it's up to Chuchu.

Yeah, if anything this is funnier.

But Saionji already gave Chuchu the curry powder before reading the note, so...

And yeah, we end more or less on the same note, with Anthy and Utena back to normal but Chuchu and Saionji swapped.

I do miss the anime-only joke where in the end it wasn't the super hot curry powder but rather Anthy's bad cooking that caused the explosion & personality swap, but overall this little comedic side story was every bit as fun and funny here in the manga, and a wonderful palate cleanser after all my Juri and Miki complants.

#revolutionary girl utena #rgu #sception reads rgu

[enihk-writes]

[thunder bots in a clear sky]

[02] - the error in our messaging system has yet to be resolved, we kindly seek your understanding as we continue to solve this urgent issue at hand

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content warning: graphic descriptions of torture (inflicted on reader), hints to men having a sick fetish for that, not-as-detailed descriptions of the death process

[PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY TRIGGERS CAUSED BEYOND THIS LINE]

YEAR 3XX7, 50TH DAY OF WINTER

the woman had been sentenced to death by [redacted]. it was a unanimous decision among the jury, a sentiment echoed and praised throughout the other ordinary citizens living in the cosmos. they didn't care that she had once fought in the frontlines for the peace they had today, they didn't care that the corruption of the alliance party had come to light each time she made a mess, even if it was only for a brief moment. these armchair judges, jury and now executioners must have had so much fun playing with her life in their hands. how much satisfaction do you think they must have felt when the sentence was doled out on her the exact way they wanted?

well, she's never going to get an answer to that.

everything after the sentencing went by in a blur. from the moment she was escorted out of the courtroom kicking and screaming, because she hadn't had the chance to deny that last accusation nor did she have the chance to cave in that smug expression of her former superior, everything that happened in this time was nothing more than a rapid collection of memories overlapping each other like a broken mirage.

she rubs the sore spots on her neck. right, the higher-ups of the I.G.A.P's worked fast to seal her powers. it's like she now had a perpetual blocked nose that she just couldn't blow out. what a bummer.

so what else was there? what else did they take from her?

she didn't think there was much of her left that could be salvaged. but she finds herself sitting in a meditative stance out of habit, checking just in case.

breathe in.

in, in, in. she feels her consciousness standing on the bridge of her nose.

breathe out.

breather in deeper.

in, in, in. she feels the air push onto the core of the body, right above the stomach.

breathe out. let out a big sigh.

she can feel each hair on her skin touch the cold prison air.

finally, she feels her senses leave the tips of her toes.

she sits there in that position for a long, long time. listening to every drop of water hitting the floor, every whistle of the breeze or the warmth of the sun passing by her tiny barricaded windows. as the cold of the night air seeps past her tattered clothes into her skin, the pattering of the night critters grew louder around the base of the bed she was sitting on. sadly for them, her cell was bare as bones licked clean. they lost interest quickly and went someplace else.

when morning finally rolled around, she opened her eyes. putting an end to her meditative state. it was almost time for her execution. even then, the guards had yet to arrive and take her to the gallows. she honestly wouldn't put it past the I.G.A.P. trying to use this petty trick as a way to mess with her psyche. they were a group of people who loved playing little mind games on their prey and watch them squirm. she used to be one of those types of people too.

heh. and here she was now, on the receiving end.

loud clanging disrupted her thoughts. drunk and rowdy guards clamoured past the small entrance into her prison cell. the smell of alcohol made her nauseous. she'd never liked it back when her co-workers from the security department would go out drinking on a weekday work night, and come to the office the next day spent and almost half-dead. she liked it even less now. it, unfortunately, made her the office prude, the one everyone made fun of behind her back for being so uptight and a stickler for rules.

she scoffs. they were all hypocrites in the end.

spineless fools that followed the crowd even if it meant they would march on like ants in a death spiral. brainless, thoughtless, fools. no morals, no goals, no particular ambition. that's why she was the one on death row, not they.

aye, but who cares now. by tonight, her lifeless corpse will be incinerated and the guards will go home to their families. her old colleagues will drag their tired bodies to work at the ass crack of dawn and all that she had done will be for naught. all this effort has gone to waste. nobody she cares for is alive, the people she thought she was fighting for were all scum. nothing matters.

she feels the tight grip of the guards on either side of her arms, yanking her up in a standing position. she didn't scream or trash around or yell in pain like she did yesterday. with her feet dragging across the floor, she was brought before the hall of judges. the guards threw her to the ground, and she feels the air leave her lungs when her chin hit the cold marble floors harshly.

she just laid there, her ears picking up the voices reading out her sentencing once again. and when silence fell on the hall once more, rhythmic clacks of tailored shoes glided over the smooth pure white stone towards her.

a hand clawed into her matted locks of hair and pinned her face on the ground, a knee pressing down on the side of her head, digging into her and causing her eyes to tear up from the pain.

WE SHALL BEGIN WITH THE PUNISHMENTS NOW, PRISONER [REDACTED]

she jolted when a thick needle was jabbed into her neck, hissing when the metal brushed the bone of her spine. her breath stops when she feels a low tingle emitting from the needle, she feels the deepest pits of her senses stand up in high alert, her instincts were too slow to kick in because that dreaded suctioning sound barely made it to her ears before a guttural scream escaped her lips.

her body writhes in agony, her vision going white in spots, shallow gasps and bile forming up her gullet.

that device was a concoction she had made in her youth when she had been fuller of life and loyalty to the alliance. she remembers telling everyone at the showcase that this was nothing more than a prototype — the real deal wouldn't hurt as much, and it would ensure that death-row inmates would be given the chance at a painless end.

but down the line, the longer you stayed in the alliance, the more you saw and the more hope you lost for the world. and you grew conflicted in your beliefs and in your morals even after the day you left.

she wanted to laugh.

to use her own inventions against her, how typical of the I.G.A.P big-shots. and...

she probably wasn't the first to go through this torture, was she? perhaps, to die by her own hand was providence enacting her due punishments. that much, she can understand. that much, is a sin she is willing to repent for.

so then why? why was the worst yet to come?

she felt numb, the procedure was a mere few seconds yet it felt like hours, she didn't have it in her to feel ashamed of the tears and spit and vomit pooling around her face. she was already tired. so, so, tired.

perhaps her body was still doing its best to protect her, six large wings unfurled from her back, tearing apart the thin garb she was wearing to shreds as it did so. the wings, thick and heavy with pure white feathers flapped once, and then again — yet her body was still plastered flat on the marble floors. the wings eventually droop over and fall flat, all remnants of her energy completely and utterly spent in this meaningless attempt.

her eyes were clouded over, everything in front of her were just a mess of white and grey blobs with pops of lights and dots of colour. the mustard-coloured one growing bigger and bigger until she could make out some sort of shape. she didn't get to look for too long though, a foot slams on her head again, bringing it down to hit the floor hard.

the other foot found their way on her spine, the person above her swaying a little as they tried to find their balance. their weight pushing out the air in her lungs as she was left wheezing for a breath.

hands grabbed onto one of her wings, and surrounding her were people who had her limbs pinned down. she wasn't a fan of this constricting feeling, she tries to shake them all off her, helplessly. after all, she didn't even have the energy to even move a finger. what can she even do?

the hand yanks on her wing.

mustard was seemingly trying to gauge the strength they needed. pushing and pulling the appendage watching the muscles on her back move along with the motions. after a while of this, they must have been satisfied, letting go of her wing, leaving it to flop down. she feels the nervousness die down, oh if only she knew.

kklgchhhkkkkkk—!

a sickening crack of bones getting crushed fills her ears. truthfully, she doesn't even know if she could hear herself screaming out in response, the ringing in her ears and the jolts that pierced through her heart following the pain from the snapping of her bones were far louder, a more distinctive feeling. something warm drips down from her back to her sides, her back felt cold and it stung. it stung so badly that she thought she might as well die right then.

curses.

of all times, why did her cockroach-like survivability decide to present its abilities?

she just had to be conscious the whole time each of her six wings were broken and ripped off her body. her mind losing its grip on her mortal flesh, the muscles on her lower half loosens… she thinks that she might have defecated herself throughout this process. this was humiliating. it was all so humiliating.

truthfully, she already knew stripping away her chance at a dignified death was not some ground-breaking rocket science method for the I.G.A.P cronies. if anything, their hands were itching to spill blood, to spill hers more specifically. they were all nothing more than a bunch of snivelling pigs who filled their pockets with all the gold and luxuries the universe had to offer, sitting comfortably on their plush leather chairs in an air-conditioned office as they watched young girls barely in adulthood fight wars they didn't even start.

how cliché.

was this her whole life thus far flashing across her eyes right now?

she still remembers the cold settling in the bodies of her friends, watching on helplessly as life left them — it was a cloudless day, on the beach and… the sun was rising over on the horizon. it was so bittersweet, the promise of going on a summer vacation and doing all the typical people-on-holiday activities, like watching the sunrise then sunset on the beach with the waves crashing, ended up happening.

just, without them.

as the last of her wings were snapped and pulled off her — the brief feeling of a nerve ending touching the air sent another piercing shot into her guts. even then, her mind was still as clear as the skies of the beach that day, and there was blood all around her, though it wasn't as much as that time.

they say that when someone is about to die, by some freakish chance, that person can summon up the energy and strength even if they had none left.

she lifts her head, resting her chin on the floor, eyes looking past the strands of hair hanging over her face at the men assembled in this hall. she couldn't see them, not when they were wearing masks to hide their face, hide their shameful faces. stupid boys, they shouldn't have worn those white pants for today's execution. and she knew, damned well, that they could see her observing them all.

and she looks, just looks, at each and every man in the eye never breaking her gaze for what seemed like an eternity before moving onto the next one. and then another. and then another. not once uttering a word, not breathing a single sound.

the men too, sat in suffocating silence. dare not admitting that the dying woman before them felt intimidating — some shuffled awkwardly in their tightening pants, putting their hands on their laps or crossing their legs as well.

she lets her head fall back down on the marble floor, seeing her tired face looking back at her through the still-wet pools of red. she's seen enough of these men, she'd seen enough of this wretched universe.

as she exhales, the foul smell of blood and waste dulls in her nose. her heart skips, stopping its rhythm more often and things in front of her eyes lose their colour. it didn't feel cold, not to say that it felt warmer now… it just didn't feel. just as her vision goes black, she ears pick up on her unconscious mumbles —

you all will not receive a merciful end.

the sword will promise you that.

#enihkwrites #thunder bolts in a clear sky #tbcs #return of the blossoming blade x reader #return of the mount hua sect x reader #chung myung x reader

[srbachchan]

DAY 5179

Obr:Grg:del                         April 20,  2022                  Wed 6:33 PM

🤍 , Tomorrow .. April 21 .. birthday of Ef Arijit Bhattacharya from Kolkata .. and we wish him all the joy and happiness .. .. and .. happy birthday to Ef Amlan Goswami from Lucknow for April 18 .. Love and prayers .. 🚩🙏🏻✨🕊️💮🌼

खोपड़ी पे खोपड़ी पे खोपड़ी पे खोपड़ी  !

रामलाल पंडा ,  खोपड़ी का झंडा  !!

🤣🤣🤣 ..

many would be in thought that the Blogmaestradonoda needs to get some much needed rest .. the khopadi has collapsed  .. khopadi ? in colloquial tongue refers to the head  !!! 

the ‘rest’ remark comes from a well wisher who felt I needed it since, when asked what name should be given to the bat menace in the house , due to its repeated occurrence , I suggested .. balla maar .. बल्ला मार ... balla in Hindi is a name for the bat .. in cricket , or any other game where a ball striking object is used .. balla .. so for the bat , its balla maar .. maar as in hit or strike ..

so the well wisher after receiving this naming, retaliated with ..’i think you need to get some more rest .. 🤣🤣..’!

BUT .. ladies and gentlemen of the jury .. the रामलाल पंडा ,  खोपड़ी का झंडा  !! is not another freak sentence or suggestion to the picture on post ..

IT is .. an oft repeated voice at the time of the Mela or the large fair that is held on the banks of Sangam, the confluence of the two sacred rivers - Ganga- Jamuna .. and of course the mystical Saraswati river that flows, they say, as a stream beneath the Sangam .. 

Panda’s are genealogists .. genealogists ? .. is the person who traces the family line .. keeps books of names and signatures of descendants , and at times a few words with names and dates of a visit to the sacred Sangam , by ancestors .. there are many such in the entire country .. especially at sacred Holy places .. 

I have traced many of mine at such places and left my details for the generations to come after me  .. 

So these Pandas they have their little cottage or a tent during the festive bathings on the banks of the river during Kumbh , held every 12 years ( held every 12th year in January and February at Allahabad, Haridwar et al , because that is the auspicious placing of the Sun in Aquarius as per astrology pandits, on that date  ) and Ardh Kumbh, half Kumbh mela - the largest gathering of humanity in the World for this event at the time - and to announce their presence, they put up a flag pole over their little habitat/hut, so that they can be identified among the millions that come .. and their agents or at times they themselves shall indicate where they are by putting an identifiable object on top of the flag pole .. at times a pot, a lota , or anything , a jhoola , .. just any object .. and the clarion call for them then is - if Ram Lal is the name of the Panda , he will shout :

Ram Lal panda ..  jhoole ka jhanda .. if the flag pole has a jhoola on the top for identity .. 

so Ram Lal panda, the one with the jhoola on the flag .. jhoola is the small swing as the object .. jhanda in Hindi is flag .. so the flag with the jhoola, is that of Ram Lal panda !!! 

SO .. if ever I were to change my profession and become a Panda, I would put up this picture on the flag pole and scream to attract audiences :

Amitabh panda .. khopadi ka jhanda  ..

अमिताभ पंडा  , खोपड़ी का झंडा  !!!

Panda to rhyme with jhanda  .. 😀😀

more later .. got to do my water gym and physio  .. 

but before that some sad news .. lost a friend and a Director of eminence today :

T Rama Rao .. an astute Director and maker from the South, did films in Mumbai in Hindi too .. I worked with him on several .. the most prominent -

ANDHAA KANOON .. 

a most disciplined human .. sure of what he wanted from his artist and did not rest until he got it .. strong in decision and conception .. 

my prayers .. for him and for his family .. 🙏 🚩 

Back from all the formalities related to work outs and gym water procedures .. to sit and filter the results of the work done in the sweltering heat of the day .. mostly in training coincidentally for physical conditions .. and they were strenuous and demanding .. and there were many .. but this missive has become unusually large and I do know that many of the Ef simply do not go through the entire page , saying it is too long to read .. so shall encrypt say GN and leave you all in peace .. with some of the visuals I took .. at Humayun’s Tomb .. 

Humayun was the son of Babar, the first Mughal invader into India and ruled from the 1500′s hundreds to the 1700′s .. then the Brits moved in and took over  .. 

Yours truly at mobile camera work .. at 6 am Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi  ..

.. there are more but are taking for eternity to download so .. ya .. lump it .. but some work related are in ..

... phewwwww ... 

Amitabh Bachchan

[garrothromeave]

let’s talk about minecraft diaries rebirth.

and why it’s literally amazing. (warning: this will contain spoilers. lots of them. also, long post ahead.)

i think a lot of people hate mcdr because they were expecting a remake; but the point of rebirth is for jess to rewrite it. it wasn't supposed to be exactly the same.

honestly i went into mcdr with a closed mind. as an og mcd fan, i thought that this was going to suck ass and that i'd rant about how bad it was to my friends later. but actually watching it, i just... couldn't help but immediately fall in love with it.

ik im probably the only motherfucker that likes mcdr, but honestly how could i not? for one, garroth and zenix actually have personalities at the beginning. AND; the villagers? actually amazing. donna made me smile, visher made me laugh and cry, brendan was just bein as good as ever. like... i even didn't despise emmalyn with every ounce of my soul like i usually do?? the characterizations of them were GOOD, man.

and honestly, aphmau like--the way she spoke, her whole thing. it was reallyyy well done in my opinion. she was oblivious to things, but it wasn't overdone and wasn't done in a way to make her annoying. she's a very appealing character in mcdr, a main protagonist i do not mind following along with. her dynamics to the characters are really cool and all very unique.  gonna cut it here so i don’t clog y’all’s feed cuz i got a lot to say :)

the early use of aphmau’s powers was actually pretty cool as well, it also really showed how clueless aphmau really was to everything going on around her. AND UH, THE FACT THAT SHE THOUGHT THAT GARROTH FELT FAMILIAR? GOLDEN. absolutely golden.

AND GENE OH BOY, the early introduction of gene? ik a lot of people are upset about it, but god DAMN i love it so much. his role in the story is very important in original, and i cannot express how much joy this brought me learning that he was actually getting the proper attention for it. and the fact that gene and aphmau were working together?? i mean ik gene was just trying to use her to get back to the "shadow abyss" (pretty pog replacement for the nether, gg) but god DAMN i loved every moment of it. i found their dynamic to be pretty fuckin funny to be honest, would absolutely love to see more of it.

i might be biased considering gene is one of my absolute favorite characters, but i honestly think that introducing gene this early on in the story was a good move. again, he's literally the right-hand man to the shadow lord. it makes you really wonder why he didn't have as much of an important role in season 1 or even 2 of the original mcd plotline. also, we get some of that good-ol-fashioned exposition with seeing early on how vylad and gene interact. vylad’s at a very strange point in the story right now; his motives are unclear, even to the side he’s ‘supposed’ to be taking (aka, a shadow knight.)  another early introduction to a character is zane! this, my friends, is good. really good. i’d say that zane is the main antagonist of season 1 in the original series--and he wasn’t even introduced until like, episode 50. it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but him being introduced this early on really gives the audience a better understanding of what threats are out there and what our protagonist will have to encounter in the future. in the original series, there’s not much explanation as to why lords are disappearing/dying left and right--and while yes, that was supposed to be the mystery of it, having some of that early information is a better move in terms of writing. 

AND IVAN?? BEING A PART OF THE JURY OF NINE?? I COULD NOT HAVE ASKED FOR ANYTHING MORE LIKE GOD DAMN that was a very pleasant surprise i'll just say that, thank you jess :)

and no i did not loop the 4 minutes of screentime laurance got in that one episode haha who would do that i would never do that anyways

SPEAKING of laurance, im so glad jess actually wrote him in this early :) she totally could have just waited for the first time aphmau visits meteli and meets him there, but no! she put him in an early episode. i dont even care if she did it just to shut up the fans about laurance but man that made me so happy seeing him, even if it was only for a bit.

okay i kinda wanna go over the guards real fast firstly; garroth. ignoring how weird the helmet showing emotions is, i really like how garroth is portrayed. he's under a lot of pressure because the village is putting a lot of the blame on him for malik's death, and he's trying his hardest to keep things running. the fact that garroth utterly refused the to take up the position of lord and even got a little snappy about it was actually really cool to see as well. and while he doesn’t have that same “reserved, quiet, observant” feel as the original mcd version of him had, this version of garroth is absolutely awesome. he’s more direct and blunt, is significantly more sarcastic, and isn’t as stiff or as much as a pushover as he is in the original. he even has a sense of humour. also, no homo, but he’s kinda adorable.  plus, the desperation that he goes through during the whole thing is just--it’s really cool to see how hard he’s trying to prove himself and help the village. my rating for mcdr garroth? 9/10. the helmet... the helmet is the main thing throwin me off, i can’t lie. next, zenix. oh BOY do i have a lot to say about this man. first of all, his and garroth’s dynamic is incredible. when i saw how the interacted with each other, my first thought was: father and son. zenix has this immaturity to him that is so fucking fun and interesting to watch, and seeing how garroth scolds him is so fuckin good man. and! seeing how he interacts with the rest of the village... honestly, if jess ever picks this story up again, i would probably cry when zenix (literally) backstabs garroth. HELL, i hope that’s something that still happens, it’d be heartbreaking to witness this character that we’ve come to love hurting his mentor, the man who took him in. he’s just a really good character all in all, and much more appealing than the original mcd zenix. ...except season 3 zenix. no zenix can be better than that one.  either way, zenix is amazing written to be the comic relief and he’s just an all-out lovable character in this series.  finally, dale and brian. yes i’m going to group them up because there’s not much to say regarding them, but i do want to address them. for starters, we have brian; who’s already 16 when the story starts. good on jess for doing that, because in the original aphmau watched brian be born and age INCREDIBLY quick, haha. THOUGH i do feel like there’s a slight connection lost there--one of the hardest things about brian’s betrayal in the original series in the fact that we watched him grow up in phoenix drop. we were there from the moment he was born, to the second he betrayed phoenix drop. BUT OF COURSE, this version is a lot more realistic, so it’s understandable. i just think that if it’s brian who’ll be betraying phoenix drop again (if it even goes down that same route), it won’t hit as hard unless jess really takes the time to grow the connection between brian and aphmau.  as for dale; gotta admit, love it. and like, i think one of the main things about how good of a call it was to make him a drunkard from the beginning is considering how much the village is struggling. the fact that the second-in-command is literally drunk all of the time really conveys the message of, “yeah. this village needs help.” plus, he’s another good comic relief character. i loved seeing molly and dale’s relationship too, it was very funny.  PLUS. we were blessed with a well scene, in which aphmau had to help villagers out of the well. i don’t know about you guys, but that was one of my favorite nods to the original series. i cannot thank jess enough for that, there was a smile on my face the entire time. another amazing thing--visher’s character. instead of just being introduced to this quirky lil merchant who only had one or two interactions with aphmau like in the first one, we got to sit there and really get a feel for someone worth remembering and worth mourning over. we had a reason to be sad over his death, it wasn’t just some npc getting blown up suddenly. this was different, and this hurt.  one of the major things that i hope is to come out of this is for jess to fix the major mistakes she had when writing the first series. she’d expressed how unhappy she was with some of the decisions she made, and i’m glad that she’s getting that second chance to undo the things she didn’t like. this series also gives her a second chance to really, really dig into characters and their motives. like, gimme laurance backstory in better detail. or like, garroth and zane’s relationship from back when they were kids? or how vylad died and who killed him? etc etc. she’s already done an excellent job so far, and i can’t wait to see where this goes. that is, if she ever continues it. god, i wish there were more episodes so that i could seriously let you guys know how beautiful of a series this is. there’s so much i want to say about rebirth, but i think i’ll stop here. i might say some more shit about it later, but if there’s anything i’d want you to take away from this, it’s: give minecraft diaries rebirth a chance. there’s a lot of potential, and this is a chance for jess to really change things for the better! ... but again, that is if this ever is continued. 

#aphmau #minecraft diaries #minecraft diaries rebirth #garroth #laurance #gene #zenix #vylad #rant

[noirandchocolate]

All right, since I was asked very nicely by a couple people when I complained in general about how Americans don’t get properly taught about their own Constitutional rights, here is a post explaining why, in the US, jurors are not permitted to do their own research outside the courtroom (even if they think something a witness said might be incorrect or ‘wrong’).

The Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution states that a person may not be deprived of her life, liberty, or property “without due process of law.”  More specifically, the Sixth Amendment guarantees a criminal defendant the right to a trial by “an impartial jury,” and the right to be “confronted with the witnesses against him.” 

The “impartial jury” rule has been interpreted to mean, among other things, that the jury must make its decision based solely on the evidence presented in court, and that the verdict must not be tainted by outside influences.  The “witness confrontation” rule also comes into play with this topic, as I’ll explain below.  But basically, the short answer to the question “why can’t jurors do their own research?” is “because the Constitution says they can’t, and the Constitution is the supreme law of the land.”  But that doesn’t explain WHY that’s the rule, and is therefore unsatisfying, so here’s some good reasons why a criminal defendant shouldn’t want jurors to be able to consider things outside the evidence presented at their trial!

1)  Publicity--One of the major things jurors are instructed not to look at while a trial is ongoing is news media.  Why?  Because news outlets are not forbidden from reporting about ongoing criminal matters (First Amendment!), and exposure to such publicity can jeopardize the impartiality of a juror.  Let’s say you are charged with robbing a convenience store, and your trial has just started.  A news reporter posts an article online about the robbery.  It has a pretty sensational headline, something like “Father of Two Threatened with Gun in Convenience Store Holdup.”  A juror hearing your case, let’s call him Rick, is curious about the location of the store, and googles its name.  The news article comes up and Rick sees this headline.  Oh, wow, the cashier has kids?  He was threatened?  It was a “holdup”?  That sounds terrible!!  Humans are very susceptible creatures and can be swayed by all kinds of things.  Would you, the defendant, want Rick to read that headline, much less the article giving out a bunch of details that haven’t (yet, or ever) been revealed in court?  Would you trust Rick to listen to your side of the story, and base his decision in your case on the evidence in court, after reading such inflammatory things about the incident?

Many times, very high-profile cases are moved out of the jurisdiction where they would normally be tried, because the local area has been inundated with pretrial publicity making it difficult to find jurors who haven’t heard about the case and formed some kind of opinion, conscious or unconscious, about it.  Keeping a sitting jury from being exposed to media publicity during a trial is just as important.

2) Right to Confront Witnesses--As stated above, the Sixth Amendment guarantees this.  What does it mean?  That the prosecution must base its case on witness testimony and evidence that it puts before the jury in court, and you the defendant must be given a chance to cross-examine those witnesses about their testimony and the evidence presented, to call its truth into question, challenge whether it establishes all the elements of the crime you’re charged with, or otherwise poke holes in the case against you.  This is the reason hearsay evidence is barred unless one of a number of exceptions applies.  So what does that have to do with jurors doing outside research?

In our faux robbery trial, let’s say that juror Keisha thought there were some gaps or inconsistencies in the cashier’s testimony, so she looks him up online to see if he talked about being robbed on social media closer to when it happened.  Not only does she find his tweets from right after the incident, which bolster the story he told on direct examination (and that your counsel did their best to bash holes in during cross), she finds his cousin’s Facebook.  The cousin has an emotionally charged post about how the cashier came to her house sobbing after talking to police, and everything he told her about the robbery.  During deliberations, Keisha shares the tweets and the cousin’s post with the other jurors.  Now, wouldn’t you be mad if you found out that there was another witness against you in the case (the cousin) that you didn’t get a chance to question?  Wouldn’t you be upset to hear that the jurors were using the cashier’s tweets as evidence for your guilt, when the prosecutor didn’t present them in court and you didn’t get an opportunity to ask the cashier about them (and they may have been inadmissible, as discussed below)?  Your Sixth Amendment right to confrontation has been violated, because a juror did outside research!

3) Expert Witnesses--This is obviously linked with the last point.  When explaining evidence will involve some technical knowledge, the prosecution may present an “expert” witness to provide that background and knowledge.  Such an expert might or might not have any other link to the current case.  For example, where a gun is involved in a crime, a ballistics expert might be called to testify in general about bullet calibers, how guns work and how bullets can be matched to them, etc., and then may be asked to provide an expert opinion based on that knowledge--perhaps whether, after performing some examination, she believes a bullet fired into the floor of the convenience store during the robbery appears to “match” with a gun found in your home.  Before an expert witness may provide such testimony, both the prosecution and the defense will ask her questions about her qualifications as an expert, such as her education on the subject, whether she has any certifications in the field, whether she attends ongoing training to update her knowledge, things like that.  Then, the judge will make a finding whether the qualifications are sufficient for her to testify as an expert, and will tell the jury that it should consider those qualifications when deciding whether her opinion has any weight.

Now, for an example, let’s say juror Winn didn’t think the ballistics expert sounded very certain about matching the bullet to the gun police claim they found in your home, and is wondering how much weight  they should even give the witness’s testimony.  At home, they do a quick google search to see if the kind of gun police claim was at your house uses the type of bullet they found at the store.  They find a website listing many types of guns and bullets, read that the gun can indeed fire that type of bullet, and even see the site creator’s opinion that this kind of gun is an “assault weapon” and that those bullets are particularly damaging.  During deliberations, Winn tells the other jurors what they learned.  Whoops!  That website may have been used by the jury as an “expert witness,” despite the fact that its creator may only be a hobbyist gun enthusiast without formal education!  You didn’t get to question this mysterious person about their qualifications to speak about ballistics, you didn’t get to cross-examine their opinions...and you should really file an appeal if you’re convicted.

4) Inadmissible Evidence--Prior to any criminal trial, there will probably be at least some discussion (and motions) by your counsel and the prosecutor about whether certain evidence is admissible at trial.  For example, your lawyer might move to suppress your confession to police, because they used improper interrogation tactics or violated your Miranda rights.  Or, if you have a prior record, the State might try to submit evidence of your earlier convictions (a type of evidence that is highly prejudicial, because it makes it look like you’re “a criminal,” particularly if your prior conviction involves a similar offense to the one currently charged).  In fact, let’s go with that example.  Let’s say you have a prior conviction for assault, from several years ago.  The court rules that the prosecution may not bring up that conviction to make you look bad during their case.  However, if you choose to testify, the prosecutor will be allowed to ask you some basic information about it--its degree, and when it happened, but NOT what offense it was for--so the jury can assess the credibility of your testimony with the knowledge that you have broken the law before.  Maybe you choose to testify anyway, and that “sanitized” (a legal term) info is told to the jury.

Hearing that you had a prior conviction, Amir is curious, and searches for your name and the phrase “conviction.”  He finds the record of your conviction, which is public, and finds out it was for assault.  Well, the very information the court ruled inadmissible is soon shared with the whole jury, and several members now think of you not just as someone with some vague prior offense, but as someone who assaults people.  You know.  Like a robber does.  Alternatively, let’s say you decided not to testify, because you worried that the jury would find out you had a prior conviction and become biased against you.  So, the prosecutor wasn’t allowed to talk about the subject at all.  But Amir still wondered in general about what kind of person you are, so he still did his google search for your name and found out about your conviction anyway.  You gave up your chance to tell your side of the story, and the jury still discovered exactly what you wanted to hide! 

This point can also dovetail with the prior ones.  What if Amir found your mom’s blog post where she mentioned how you confessed the robbery to police, despite the fact that the judge ruled your confession inadmissible and the jury would otherwise have no idea it existed?  The jury now knows that you “confessed,” but since the confession was never discussed at trial you didn’t have a chance to cross-examine the cops that interrogated you about the subject.  So the jury doesn’t know they withheld food from you for hours and wouldn’t let you speak to your attorney.  As far as the jury knows, the cops did nothing wrong!  You didn’t get the chance to confront that evidence against you.

5) Mistakes or Misinformation--Seriously, a website might have a typo in it.  The problem can be as stupid and yet as vital as that.  Plenty of sites have agendas or viewpoints they’re trying to push, too.  Sure, a person testifying in court might lie (on pain of being found out and charged with perjury!) or make a mistake or not remember something correctly.  But it’s a really bad idea to add into that mix the chaos of internet research, when a criminal defendant’s liberty is on the line.  Jurors are expected to evaluate whether they think witnesses are credible based on what goes on in the courtroom.  Allowing them to “check” witness testimony online, using sites that might also not be credible at all, simply doesn’t make sense.  In court, at least a witness can be cross-examined.  You can’t cross-examine a juror’s Wikipedia trail.

6) Even Positive Stuff is Bad--Okay, you may be saying, but all these examples involve jurors discovering stuff that’s bad for me the hypothetical defendant.  What if a juror googles a cop witness and finds his racist tweets, hurting his credibility?  What if a witness lies about something, and a juror finds their Facebook where they told the real story?  What if a witness misstates something and a juror looks up a website that tells them the accurate facts?  That would help me!  I guess so, and the lack of prejudice to you the defendant’s constitutional rights might be taken into account if, say, the prosecutor finds out about these types of jury taint and moves for a mistrial.  But the government also has a strong interest in maintaining the integrity of a trial, and that will also be weighed.

In the end, the answer to the question “why don’t we let jurors do outside research” is “because your Constitutional right to a fair trial is so important.”  You shouldn’t be deprived of your liberty without due process, and due process includes the right to question, cross-examine, and call into question all of the evidence against you.  As a result, the verdict in your case needs to be based on the evidence officially presented in court during your trial, not whatever mishmash of sources the jury might discover outside.  Even though there might be the off chance that some juror’s research could help your side, there are so many ways you could be hurt by it.  If you were facing the possibility of several years in prison, would you want to take that chance, and have this key rule be changed?

#kidk says stuff #law #this got long but i feel like things make more sense to non-law people if i explain with examples #and honestly the fact that it's long is in itself evidence of how important this shit is #it's SO important to know and understand your rights #they're not just concepts on paper in an old ass document--they're there for a reason!

[indefinitely-in-fandom-hell]

It’s Gaara Week! - just kidding, Gaara Week is in January - this is Gaara Weekly. So I heard the topic this time is:

“what Gaara would do together with Shinki if he had some time off” 

now that’s just wholesome, how could I not at least *attempt to* provide some headcanons?

*side note: I have no idea how I ended up with this mess of a post but here you go*

So we know their hobbies: Gaara likes “battling” according to the second databook and by the time the third came around, he added “cultivating cacti” to the mix. Shinki likes both “gardening” and “embroidery” according to character trivia from Boruto. Makes sense that they would bond over tending to plants right? In fact, most would probably assume that Shinki adopted this hobby from his father. And while I do believe they get some rare father-son time tending to Gaara's cacti together - I don't know if that's what they would actually choose to do if they had a significant amount of free time.

If I was being realistic: They would probably spend their days off training.

_________________________ Yeah I hear you people in the back screaming “booo” - but this seems to be the most realistic scenario - to me at least. So let me explain:

His people and village always seem to be the priority for Gaara and Shinki is the future of Suna, not only as the Kazekage's heir but simply as part of the next generation who will take on leadership positions after the current decision-makers retire. There is not a single doubt in my mind that Gaara views mentoring future generations as one of his top priorities. Shinki wants to make his father proud and properly represent his family and village. He is hugely appreciative of any training time his busy father can spare for him - such an opportunity doesn't come every day. Both of them have very no-nonsense, goal-oriented personalities.

- So if Gaara had a couple of hours to spend however he wanted, he would invest them in the future of his village: Shinki. If Shinki had the chance to get some in-depth one-on-one training with his father, he would jump at the opportunity.

We know that Gaara, unlike Naruto with his son, has at least somewhat regularly been training Shinki in person. He has mentioned how he taught his son 'everything he knows' and Shinki actually training directly with his (very busy) father just makes sense: The two of them are the only people we know of with their kekkei genkai - and Gaara is the only one with abilities almost identical to Shinki's. It’s true that Gaara only knows the basics when it comes to iron sand - or rather, that was confirmed to be the case until at least the early blank period. But he would know next to every use of regular sand and that’s still more than any other jonin in suna. Of course, as the Kazekage, Gaara simply doesn't have the time to do the majority of Shinki's training - but I wouldn’t question that he's the one giving the crucial advice, reviewing his training progress and telling his son what abilities need more work.  

So if he has a little bit of time to spare - I have no doubt he would (and does) put most of it into training Shinki. And that includes days off. 

_________________________

.

.

.

But y'all didn't come for that - don't lie.

*enter Part 2: “But what if we talk about cats instead?”

We love these two (and the entire Sand-family for that matter) so naturally, we want to see them use their time off for anything BUT work or training. Gaara and Shinki are definitely the worst offenders here, they always seem like those people who would rather work on their duties than cut cake on their birthdays - Gaara more so because he seems very focused on always putting his own pleasure behind doing 'something useful to others' and Shinki because he's just beginning to realize the value of friendship. *Insert mlp meme here*

So for the sake of fun, we will just assume SOMETIMES Gaara decides that his son should do “normal activities” instead of training and ends up going somewhere with him. But where? If for some reason, Shinki were to accompany his father to another village for a diplomatic meeting, I think they would definitely walk around that village a bit and just take in the local culture: food, sights, and the like. Imagine the way Lee and Tenten showed Gaara and Kankuro around Konoha in episode 497 and had them try ramen for the first time - kind of like that. But this example also shows just how rarely Gaara seems to get time off during official visits: it took him being Kazekage for 4 years until he ate his first Ramen - but ok, if the war hadn’t been in the way I guess Naruto would have made him try it sooner. Now, if we are talking about “regular” time off, the place would definitely need to be in Suna - Gaara is important for the protection of his village so he can’t just leave whenever he wants.

I’m also going to assume that Gaara can walk around relatively freely without being bothered by crowds - if simply for the fact that we have seen him do so before, at least in other villages. Gaara strikes me as a character who could very much enjoy new experiences - there was once a time when most things “normal” people did were foreign to him and he had to go through a very steep learning curve after his first encounter with Naruto. I can see him trying new things when he gets the chance and also wanting to encourage Shinki to do the same - so long something falls not too far outside both of their comfort zones.

.

We established all the little details but no one has gone anywhere yet. So if we are going for something interesting: > how about we bring cats into this?

Gaara and Shinki strike me as having a lot of, for the lack of a better word, “cat-people energy” - were they aware of this before this fateful day? Probably not. Were they aware of it afterward? - you bet!

Gaara felt a bit confused when he heard that Suna would be hosting a big pet show for the first time in a few years *he had to sign the paperwork after all* - what was that again? People bring their cats and dogs to show them to visitors and a jury?

“Must be another unique way humans manage to be vain about their property” - the concept of placing much importance in the things one owns and how they reflect on you was something Gaara understood as a concept but never fancied.

He didn’t understand very well why visitors would want to see such a spectacle until Kankuro said something along the lines of “sometimes people just want to see animals do cute stuff I guess? You know how girls and kids are - show them a dog rolling over and they will go crazy - don’t worry too much about it, I’m also not much of a fan.”

On a second thought: “Oh but maybe Shinki likes that stuff? I mean he’s a kid - ..... although he doesn’t behave like one most of the time.”

- and with that comment, the deal was settled: there would be father-son bonding time scheduled and they would go observe cute animals!!

Shinki wasn’t very thrilled but what can you do - he wanted to train but was too well behaved and respected his father too much to object any of his decisions - no matter how strange some of them sounded.

In the end, none of them had high expectations for this trip but they went anyway because “At worst we have made a valuable experience” - Gaara

*Shinki didn’t dare question what could be “valuable” about this*

As it turned out, the date they picked for their visit was designated for cats of all breeds --

Of course, both Gaara and Shinki had seen cats before - from afar. No one in their family owned any animals - if you didn’t factor in the deer raised on the property of the Nara-clan.

But they had also HEARD about cats before

--------- mostly because Shukaku never seemed to miss an opportunity to insult them: “cats are the most useless creatures, it goes to show how stupid humans are for domesticating them” - “and you are sure you aren’t just saying this because kids always seem to mistake you for one?” -Kankuro would add

*Needless to say: Kankuro still enjoyed provoking people he really shouldn’t.* -------------

Well now the two shinobi were in front of one - their first close encounter with a feline - a big sand-colored persian with her owner, a friendly-looking old lady, standing next to her.

“Well I suppose they are quite endearing with their big eyes” -Gaara noted

Old lady: “Oh dear would you like to come closer? She really enjoys being pet behind her ears - she’s even calm with most strangers”

Gaara was a bit hesitant

When you’ve only ever heard bad things about cats and their temper you might think twice about petting them when you get the chance - at least until you take the courage to hold out your hand and they start purring like you are their best friend and they will love you forever.

Now, if anything gets Gaara - it’s being shown unconditional love and acceptance in unexpected places

yes apparently this does not exclude kitties

*holding out his hand while the cat is purring and meowing* Gaara : O.O Shinki, next to him: O.O Both of them internally: "ohhhh so THAT'S what all the fuss is about"

- Instant non-verbal agreement that cats are awesome

After that encounter, both might or might not have been extremely tempted to adopt a cat.

But since Gaara knew no one in this family had much time to spend at home - *and because he had this lingering sense that the cat might develop a taste for his succulents* - he had to resist.

This however wouldn’t mean that their next “family day” wasn’t already planned to be a trip to the local animal shelter. _________________________ Bonus:

eventually, Shukaku finds out about their trips and is NOT amused that they considered bringing one of “those things” home.

Yes- he’s still fuming from that one time he was carried by Shinki in his more “compact” form and a toddler pointed at them saying “oh your cat is so chubby! can I pet it? Pleeeeese!!” (*needless to say both Shinki and Gaara were mortified back then and hurried to get Shukaku away from the little girl before any casualties were to occur*)

He continues to sulk for at least a full month about this “betrayal”.

#Gaara #shinki #naruto #boruto #justgaaraweekly #gaara headcanons

[thecandywrites]

Blood For Gold Chapter 20

Ah, now the truth shall be revealed! Time to show our cards and see where they will lay. So I actually wrote this chapter and the chapter to follow BEFORE I wrote the Kamoba battle chapter because I was overwhelmed trying to pack all of that information and detail into a chapter that read that way and not like the notes of a deranged lunatic from the inside of a padded cell. And writing this chapter and the one to follow flowed so nicely and it helped me keep the focus on the characters and their story lines and their arcs within a battle sequence and not get lost in the battle itself. Which was a struggle for me. Not going to lie. 

@punkhorse96​ and everyone else- enjoy.  

Blood For Gold 

Chapter 20

The moment all of you came down to breakfast and just before Gregori could announce the news of the case being dismissed from court, a messenger from Buckingham Palace arrived with a proclamation as all of you stood respectfully to receive it. 

“It is ordered by her Majesty Queen Dowager Anastasia Raymond, that all occupants of the Palace of Windsor are hereby requested to go to Buckingham Palace for an audience with the Queen Dowager, His Royal Highness, His Majesty the King, as well as Her Royal Highness Queen Alexandria as soon as possible.” He read aloud before you all immediately disbursed and practically ran back to your rooms to dress in your best attire that you had before you came back down. 

“Countess Audravienne Morrigan, you are requested to ride in the head carriage alone.” The messenger informed you as you looked anxiously at your family and Demsey who looked particularly anxious to have you leave his sight as you were only allowed to give him one last squeeze of his hand before the attendant escorted you away and into the royal coach of a carriage as you sat there, alone before you finally found you had the opportunity to read that damn journal as you opened it up and immediately started crying when you saw it was from Demsey two days prior. 

You barely noticed everyone else get loaded up into the various carriages behind you as once everyone was loaded up, the whole caravan travelled towards the palace as your heart reached out to Demsey as you resolved in yourself that no matter what would happen at Buckingham Palace, if you did not make Demsey yours by the end of the day, you felt like you would die. Finally, after all this time and pain and hurt, you found what you were looking for, a gentle man who would love you without reserve, be faithful and loyal to you without question or waiver. Who didn’t care if you were penniless, poor and destitute or had nobility or not. All he wanted was you and you would be giving everything you had to him, no matter how much or how little that was as you read through it before pressing it to your chest and wiping happy, grateful tears from your eyes as the knowledge of his love gave you so much peace and comfort and was exactly what you needed as you regained your composure as you only had time to write a single line in it- in answer to the pages upon pages of declaration of love. 

‘I love you too.’ 

Once at the palace you were taken out of the carriage and escorted into the audience room where the Queen Dowager and the King and Queen were seated on their thrones as the Queen Dowager’s Mage was seated nearby and on the other side of her was seated a second mage, a male one this time, as you handed the journal off and requested that it be put into Duke Demsey Voyambi’s hands and no one else’s before you entered the room and approached them. 

“Your Majesties,” you greeted respectfully as you bowed low. 

“It is a pleasure to see you again so soon, again, congratulations on your victory in the Kamoba battle yesterday Countess Morrigan or do you prefer the title of Sultana Saharazat?” The Queen Dowager greeted you formally. 

“Whichever you prefer to use your Majesty.” You answered. 

“Sultana Saharazat it is. Now, it has come to my attention that your correspondence has gone missing within the Royal Mail Service?” Dowager Queen Anastasia asked from her spot on the thrown that flanked her son’s, mirroring her daughter in law’s throne on the other side of the King. 

“Yes.” You confirmed. 

“If you will come forward and approach this table, I think you will find it has all been found and is hereby given back to you.” She offered as you obeyed and came forward as you noticed stacks of mail, organized by who sent what. So many letters from your parents, from your family, from your friends, especially Leumeni, he seemed to have written the most to you before you noticed your own letters that were meant to reach them, and none of them had been opened and they all looked as if they had been written only yesterday before you noticed more than just your mail was on the table, but letters from members of your own household to the Morrigans and Richard’s mistress, Myra as you noticed even more letters from Dr. Rickets to Gregori which was the most surprising to see along with letters from Richard to various members and masters at the Royal Mail Service there as well. 

“Unfortunately, all those letters that you see on the table, they are all duplicates of the originals, since the originals were all destroyed by fire. These are just humble recreations of what was lost. We have proof and solid evidence as you can see from the letters on the table, that there are some directed from Count Richard Morrigan to the members of the Royal Mail Service. That is the proof that it was his direction that all of your mail coming in or out to you personally was to be destroyed the moment it touched the hands of the mail sorters and messengers.” She explained as you picked up the letters in question and read them yourself. 

“Mage Bellfast, who is seated over there,” She continued as she gestured over to him as you looked over and nodded respectfully at him as he did the same to you. 

“He was ordered by my son Gregori, to recreate all of them and I asked him to come to me and deliver it all to me as evidence and proof. Your own personal correspondence to and from you personally was never opened but all other correspondence was to gather evidence. And the proof of such sabotage is as you can see, very sizable. I wanted to tell you personally that because this involved my family and the Royal Mail Service and because it exposed it’s corruption, I am the one who dismissed your case in the public and even the private court systems and I hope you can, one day, forgive me. But I insist on giving you justice myself and dealing with this matter personally because a grave sin has been made against you and I insist on doing everything in my power to set it right. And I will serve as judge and jury, for surely you know that even I, was once a moura bride just like you. And such a slight will never be tolerated again and such a case of corruption can never be allowed to happen again. And may I also offer my deepest and most sincere apologies to you for such grievances and I hope that you will allow me to make amends.” She offered as tears flooded your vision, while a mixture of emotions seemed to wage war within you, part of you was relieved, at least for Jane’s sake, another part of you wanted to expose Richard and Agnes Morrigan for the monsters that they were for all of England to see. But you were not going to refuse this help by any means. 

“Of course, thank you, your Majesty.” You thanked her as you did your best to wipe the grateful tears from your eyes as you saw that Demsey had even tried to write you a letter a few days before the ball, to warn you about who might be there and who would mean you harm. 

“Now, Mage Bellfast as well as my own Mage, Mage Altissia have found your scene catcher spell and if you will forgive them, but they found your passwords, but let me assure you that I, nor any of the royal family have seen what was behind those passwords, only that they were there and only with your explicit permission will such footage be shown or it can be destroyed upon your decree, but, for now, if you would hold off from making such a decision before this entire case is heard out, I have all parties coming to assemble to so that everything can be sorted out with everyone and once the air is clear and all the sins against you have been exposed, then justice will be dealt out accordingly. Now, as far as I can tell, this involves Gregori, Yalin and their family and the entire Morrigan family as well, along with Dr. Rickets and the post men who Richard has contacted. I also have Dr. Chu and his wife, who is practically a doctor herself here along with five other physicians to serve as their own jurors along with stable masters from Dorierra to change your classification. And with your permission, I would like to call them some of them in now.” Anastasia offered. 

“Yes of course,” you agreed. 

“Call in, the physician-, Dr. Rickets and the post men, the entire Morrigan family as well as my son Gregori and his family along with Sultana Saharazat��s family in, at this time.” Queen Dowager Anastasia commanded before they came in, all at once from different doors around the room since they all had been waiting in different rooms attached to the main audience room so as not to cause a stir outside of it.

“You bitch!” Agnes screamed as the moment the side door was open and she saw you, she ran towards you before guards came and stood between her and you. 

“Countess Morrigan! You will conduct yourself with the dignity of your station or I will strip you of it, have you whipped and then drawn and quartered in the town square!” Anastasia boomed as she stood from her throne as she glared down hatefully at Agnes. 

“Sultana Saharazat is under my protection and any threat against her is a threat against the crown and comes with a death sentence and you and your family will be branded as traitors to the crown and everything you have will be awarded to her in retaliation, do I make myself clear?!” Anastasia snarled as Agnes realized the royal family was there immediately slinked back. 

“I apologize, your Majesty, I did not think you would be in here but this woman is a...” Agnes did her best to try to excuse.  

“You didn’t think that I would be in my own palace? Much less in my own audience room? Are you mad or a simpleton?” Anastasia demanded. 

“Neither, just...careless your Majesty.” Agnes tried to defer but her face was as red as beet as Richard looked angry and ashamed as his mistress, Myra stood a decent distance behind them and looked particularly annoyed as well. 

“Now guards, keep a line between the whole Morrigan family, the Sultana’s family and the Raymonds, just for good measure.” Anastasia commanded before more guards were called in as your family joined you as you reassured them that you were ok and that the Dowager Queen, was going to be acting as judge and jury in your case as your family was relieved. 

“Many many thanks to you- your Majesty for dealing with this matter personally.” Your mother and Grandmother offered as they knelt down respectfully as was their custom. 

“Do not thank me yet, we are just getting started, please, get up, also someone get everyone chairs so that they may be seated comfortably.” Anastasia commanded as she had you sit down at the table where all your letters were. 

“Now, let’s start at the beginning shall we? Ramsey, what exactly did you say to your father at Sultana Saharazat’s wedding to Count Edward Morrigan?” Anastasia demanded as Ramsey’s eyes got as wide as saucers as everyone except for Axal seemed to be surprised at the news that all of this would start with him and not the Morrigans. 

“I uh...well, you see at the time…” Ramsey fumbled over his words as he stood on his feet and fidgeted with his cuff links as Anastasia looked irritated as did the rest of his family especially his parents. 

“Ramsey, for the sake of time, please just tell this audience chamber- you said to your parents that day?” Anastasia tried to gently coach him. 

“That Sultana Saharazat was the perfect bride and that no one could match her.” Ramsey finally admitted. 

“But I don’t see…” Ramsey began before his grandmother raised her hand to silence him. 

“Now, Gregori, Ramsey is nearly forty, you have been on him to wed for the last two decades and in the last eight to ten years you have become harder and harder on him to find a bride, to get married and give your family line the legitimate heir it so desperately needs but you were stopped since Ramsey up until that point, has been a roguish rake clinging onto boyish foolishness as if it was his lifeline instead of realizing that it was his downfall and was going to be leading to his ruination, I believe the current lengths you had gone to up until that point was that if Ramsey had not found a bride that season you were going to cut him off financially completely and send him into the army to get the rakish ways beaten out of him one way or another.” Anastasia said with a hard look to her grandson who seemed to wilt under her intense gaze. 

“But since then, I have found a bride, and I am leaving behind my rakish past and she is the one true bride for me.” Ramsey offered. 

“And was it Sultana Saharazat?” Anastasia demanded. 

“Well...no,” Ramsey winced. 

“Right, so what I want to know was why you chose Sultana Saharazat on her wedding day to another as your bride?” Anastasia demanded. 

“I chose her out of panic, because since she was getting married that day, she was no longer available and it would give me more time and I figured that when Edward would eventually die, I would have had enough time to grow up by then.” Ramsey confessed shamefully. 

“So you deliberately chose a bride who was unavailable to put yourself and your parents at an impasse, thinking that they would stop hounding you and threatening you with the army if you chose one who conveniently was already married, by mere minutes.” Anastasia concluded. 

“Yes.” Ramsey confirmed as his cheeks were also beet red as he looked at you apologetically as everyone in your family as well as his own actually groaned, along with the Queen Dowager, the King and the Queen herself as the King looked ready to strangle his nephew with his own hands. 

“So you had no real feeling or attachment to Sultana Audravienne Saharazat, she was just a moura bride in a white dress at the end of the season and it was either chose an impossible option or lose everything?” Anastasia pressed further. 

“Yes.” Ramsey nodded guiltily. 

“And do you realize because you panicked and did that, that you are the reason Sultana Saharazat’s life was destroyed?!” Anastasia seethed as Ramsey’s eyes flooded with tears as he looked particularly mortified. 

“Please! No! I had no idea!” Ramsey wailed as he shook his head no. 

“How could Ramsey have known that the Morrigans would try to poison her with mourkatili! No one could have predicted that they would be so cruel and abuse her, thinking that because Edward Senior would have her that no one else could?!” Yalin insisted, coming to her son’s defense. 

“No, nor could you foresee that your own husband, my own son, which after today, that may be up for debate and put into question, but that is a battle for another time. In an effort to give your son the impossible would go so far as to poison his own countrymen to death.” Anastasia revealed in a snarling growl as everyone gasped as all eyes turned towards Gregori who was unusually silent as he kept his gaze on his mother defiantly. 

“Dr. Rickets, I believe it is your turn to tell the truth, the whole truth or you will be sent to the tower, drawn and quartered, your house burned after it is turned into a public toilet and your family turned out into the street.” Anastasia leveled at him as Dr. Rickets gulped. 

“The day after Edward came home from his honeymoon, he had gone to town on business and had run into Dauphin Gregori Raymond and when the Dauphin questioned Edward Senior about his new wife and he had confirmed that she was the perfect bride, he sent for me. He told me of the encounter and gave me a sum of a thousand pounds if I would poison Edward Sr. with Wolf’s Eye to be mixed in with his regular medicine, Wolf’s Eye is known for causing delirium before it causes a stroke and with his old age, going senile and dying of heart failure would not raise suspicion.” Dr. Rickets answered. 

“You took a bribe to kill my father?! To poison him?!” Richard roared as he stood up and pointed his finger at Dr. Rickets and had Richard been armed, you were sure Dr. Rickets would be run through from the rage in his voice alone.  

“Yes,” Dr. Rickets confirmed as he could not raise his eyes to Richard out of shame. 

“And when you discovered that he had been poisoned, I lied to you to protect myself and my family and put the blame on someone who would know poisons,” Dr. Rickets confessed. 

“Which in that household only left me to be suspect.” You volunteered. 

“So you asked for mourkatili but at the time the Dauphin was in Dorierra, trying to find Ramsey another wife, and the letter couldn’t reach him in time for me to find an answer and you said that if I did not supply you with mourkatili, that you would find another source so I obtained some, but I added Jade’s Crown to it, to help neutralize it’s lethality until the Dauphin could be reached.” Dr. Rickets tried to excuse as the whole royal family practically groaned and rolled their eyes in annoyance. 

“Except that Jade’s Crown when mixed with mourkatili while it does lesson it’s lethality when first ingested, it does not neutralize it, instead it makes it lethally addictive so that the moura who drinks it is instantly addicted and will drink themselves to death trying to drink more and more of it which in turn can lead to madness in a moura with 77% of the cases studied to date it leads to the moura being completely deranged beyond repair, if you really wanted to neutralize it, you would have added Dragon Heart Flower which turns mourkatili from sweet to putrid, salty and bitter so that even the smell of it makes everyone want to vomit, if you were so intent on offering up Sultana Saharazat to the Raymonds, why didn’t you do that or go to the police at the very least to report that Sultana Saharazat was about to be poisoned?” Mage Altissia snapped angrily at Dr. Rickets. 

“Because I was afraid, that if Dauphin Ramsey had found his bride once he visited the stables, that I would be found out, and I couldn’t risk the Morrigans knowing I tampered with the mourkatili, they knew what it smelled like and what it was supposed to look like, I could not use Dragon Heart Flower, because they would know that I knew too much about poisons instead of medicine and they would be suspicious of me and I would lose my medical license and my living as a doctor.” Dr. Rickets blubbered as he did his best not to cry and failed miserably. 

“Do you think after this moment anyone is going to trust you with their health? If I went to the papers and even hinted to the editor to tell the gossip columns about this, you would be run out of England and all of Europa based on rumor alone.” Yalin seethed. 

“And it’s not like Count and Countess Morrigan didn’t know that Audra was innocent. Jane informed me that when it was Audra who discovered that his medicine had been tampered with and tried to talk to you all about it, that she was dismissed and then accused of the very thing she was trying to bring to light and you repaid her by poisoning her in turn and how Jane, through her own snooping found the Wolf’s Eye and the Jade’s Crown in his own medical bag but yet you still did not believe her.” Charlotte offered with a pointed look to Agnes and Richard as Jane stayed by Rian’s side with your family because she didn’t want to be with the rest of her family for fear they would hurt her. 

“And the fact that your daughter even now, shrinks back from you proves your own guilt of abuse.” Anastasia pointed out as she noticed Jane’s reaction to all of this. 

“And the fact that you then accused her of being brainwashed by Audra and then disciplined her for just using her own mind and powers of deduction because Jane had investigated Audra herself and found that Audra brought no such things with her, says a lot more too.” Charlotte smirked smugly at the Morrigans as well as her grandmother. 

“So, what happened after that Dr. Rickets?” Anastasia asked. 

“The Dauphin sent a transmission via messengerari, and when I found out that Ramsey did not find another bride, I told him about what the Morrigans had done and what I had done to try to diminish it and then he told me to up the dose to Count Edward Senior and that he wanted to see Edward Morrigan’s obituary in the paper when he got back so that Ramsey would only have to wait another year before he could marry Countess Audravienne Morrigan. But I did not expect Edward’s body to be so strong. And I did not think he would hold on so long, nor abuse Countess Audravienne Morrigan to the extent that he did and I did not think that the Morrigans would be so determined to bury her with Edward.” Dr. Rickets confessed. 

“So, your own doctor was bribed to poison your father and yet you blame the innocents in the situation and break the contract by trying to murder the very one who knew something was amiss. Why didn’t you go to the police? Why didn’t you have her arrested and investigated, why go through all the trouble of poisoning her and trying to kill her?” Anastasia asked RIchard and Agnes. 

“We didn’t want to ruin our good name and reputation. Mouras are known to die of broken hearts, we thought it would be less suspicious if she died with him and we could pass the blame onto that.” Richard confessed. 

“And bury your own guilt with her, brilliant.” Anastasia sarcastically praised as she glared down at them. 

“But that wasn’t all your Majesty, the Morrigans have more sins that should be known.” Charlotte insisted. 

“Well, no one in this court room can trust either of you to ever tell us the truth, I would like ask the only trustworthy Morrigan left. Jane. Before you speak, know that when and if you decide to do so. You have my word to be protected from those monsters over there that you are unfortunately related to. And if you are worried about your own name and reputation being called into question, know that I personally will guarantee your safety and integrity of your own reputation and if I have to invite you to stay at Buckingham Palace as my honored guest and ward, then I’m ready and willing to make that offer.” Queen Alexandria finally spoke up. 

“And I second that.” Anastasia insisted. 

“The first time my parents had the mourkatili served to Audra, it was in a tea, disguised as hibiscus tea with sugar and honey to hide the mourkatili. Audra took one sip and immediately knew she had been poisoned and called out for help but they bound her and gagged her and forced it down her throat. She spent the better part of a week being drunk off of it and then almost another week being hungover and refused any drink other than water and nothing even remotely purple in her food. The second time my parents tried to poison her, they had my oldest half brother Dale, who is my father’s mistress, Miss Myra’s son she has born to my father out of wedlock, who was only 20, come and serve it to her and my mother insisted to prove that it was not poisonous, insisted that he taste test it first and Audra could tell from the smell that it was mourkatili and tried to stop him but he obeyed my mother and the moment it touched his lips, he fell down dead. My mother tried to pin the blame for his death on Audra, saying it was her insistance that all of her food and drink be tested first to Myra who came to Audra and demanded to know what Dale had ever done to her for her to poison him. And when Audra tried to tell her the truth, she didn’t believe her. Then my father returned home from business and when he heard about it and saw Dale’s dead body being carted off, he had Audra bound and gagged and then he whipped her himself, even though I was just in the other room and saw and heard it all, And I had a messengerari in the room and captured the moment and it wasn’t until I made Myra and my father both watch it when they learned the truth. Myra apologized to Audra, by my father never did. Instead he then did the same abuse he did to Audra, he did to my mother only twice as worse. My mother couldn’t leave her room for two months after and could barely walk without the help of a cane because he had beaten her so badly, he nearly killed her.” Jane confessed as Ramsey was actually sobbing, feeling so much guilt and remorse as Axal wanted nothing more than to comfort him but the line of guards kept him from doing so as you watched as your own family stopped looking at Jane like the enemy, instead, looked at her with kindness and sympathy instead. 

“So then, a month later, my mother tried to have my youngest half brother- George, who was only six, to come and serve Audra that mourkatili tea and tried to do it again only that time Audra, in an effort to protect little George, drank all of it down as quickly as she could so that he would not be harmed at all.” Jane revealed with a broken sob. 

“Jane, show them.” You pleaded with her before she nodded and together you went up to the large mirror on the wall that was itself, a grand messengerari  and put in your code to bring in the feed from your scene catchers for it to play out on the it before you put in your first password into the messengerari and then Jane put in the second as everyone watched as it all played out as you and Jane held each other and cried as you watched it all as you noticed that someone had gone through this and strung all the “best parts”, or “worst parts” depending on your point of view-  together so that it really showcased just how horrible and vicious the Morrigan’s- besides Jane- were. 

“This is an outrage! To have our privacy invaded as such!” Agnes screeched. 

“Guards, will you bind and gag that wretch to her chair and handcuff that beast next to her...” The King, Leopold snarled angrily before they came and bound and gagged Agnes so that she was tied to the chair and couldn’t move as the rest of it played out as Richard looked fully ashamed and like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole and didn’t fight when irons were put on his, neck, wrists and ankles so that he was bound just like all the postmen who had also been brought in were. 

“But your majesties, there is something missing from the record, where is the moment of Edward’s death?” Dr. Ricket’s volunteered. 

“He had either a stroke or heart attack by your diagnosis and that happened while he was in the act of raping Audra, I helped her strike it from the record to at least preserve what little bit of dignity she had left.” Jane defended evenly. 

“And that will be allowed and of course accepted.” Anastasia insisted. 

“Absolutely.” King Leopold agreed. 

“Indeed.” Queen Anastasia readily agreed as well. 

“So, since it is clear that Sultana Saharazat is the innocent party and since she has paid for every bit of gold and wealth she has with her own blood, it is unthinkable that she should have to pay any more for anything else. However, in order to protect the Crown, the Dauphin’s involvement in this case can not be made public, so, Sultana Saharazat, what can Gregori, Yalin and Ramsey offer you in recompense for their involvement? Besides their deepest apologies and regrets?” King Leopold asked you. 

“There are a few things I want from them. The first, I want Charlotte to be free to marry whoever she deems worthy, whether he be of high status or low. It is clear her parents enjoy a loving and wonderful marriage and I want her to enjoy the same with someone who she wants. The second is I want Ramsey to be free to marry Octavia Lafronze and I want her own fee to the stables for her and her companion, Katardrina to be paid as well. I want my brother Axal to marry Katardrina but stay close to Ramsey and Octavia since the four of them are very close and I do not wish to pull them apart. It is clear to me that Ramsey did not intend for any of this to happen and he made a mistake and neither he nor anyone else could foresee how desperate his father was to see him married. And the fact that he has shed so many tears of guilt and remourse, I know he does not take this lightly and I believe he has learned his lesson and will never make this mistake ever again. Gregori and Yalin have been nothing but kind and compassionate and generous with me while I have stayed with them. But now I feel that they only did so out of guilt, at least on Gregori’s part, because they knew they provided the figurative spark that ignited the forest fire that happened at Broadcove. Third, my griffin Heavencrest has mated and paired with their own griffin Charlico. I would like him to be mine so that Heavencrest and Charlico may stay together and fourth, at the ball at Havenfield, Ramsey, in friendship offered that I and the other mouras who came from Dorierra would be elevated to Dowager status, and I want those promises and guarantees to be fulfilled, So I want everyone who has come from Dorierra up until this point in my case, either male or female, to be given Dowager status and any who wish to stay in English society, I would like for them to receive titles of Nobility, they do not have to be high, but I would like them to be high enough that they all can move about in high society with ease, if they wish to.” You answered. 

“Audra, please know that at least my children and I had no idea of Gregori’s involvement and I want you to know that all kindness and consideration from them and myself, was always genuine, of course you can have Charlico, I will give you his papers the moment we get home, please is there anything else we can do?” Yalin offered and you could tell she was being genuine. 

“I will let you know when I think of something else.” You offered. 

“Thank you.” Yalin thanked you graciously. 

“Now for the Morrigans, let’s revisit your case, because it does not stop here. You actually bribed four members of the Royal Postal Service to destroy every piece of mail Sultana Saharazat sent out and every piece she would receive and you hired a mage to cast a spell on your own lightning rods so that it would disrupt the signal from every messengerari not only on at Broadcove and Mirador but it was so strong that it made all your neighbor’s messengerari’s cut in and out for the last two years. The fact that you put into question the integrity of the Royal Mail Service was the reason I dismissed your case from court. But as you can see Mage Bellfast was more than happy to duplicate every piece of mail that you ordered to be burned and Mage Altissia provided the rest. But if that wasn’t enough, you had your mistress, send her own children, your own bastards as servants in the Sultana’s household to work for you as spies as you continued to pay them their wages that you had been paying them at your home while they collected wages from Sultana Saharazat as well. Your wife is one to talk about an invasion of privacy, when you yourself have been invading hers all along.” Anastasia insisted as you began opening the letters and read them for yourself, only to find about three months into your widowhood, how all of them told their father in their own way how they would spy on you no more, because you had treated them with kindness, respect and dignity and how he could keep his money, they didn’t need it or want it. But instead, that your own wages to them were plenty generous enough for them to have comforts enough to suit “the likes of them”. 

“Except she turned my own children against me, they haven’t reported to me in over half a year! Practically nine months! And they keep sending back any money I try to send them, which is hurtful and deceitful in itself.  She has deceived you all and she has clearly conspired with the Raymonds!” Richard tried to accuse.

“Did your nanny drop you on your head? Are you mad to make such an accusation?” King Leopold asked Richard who shut his mouth to keep from saying anything else. 

“Nevermind answering that, I have come to my decision. Because of your shameless exploits and treachery. You will be stripped of your nobility. Since you both are guilty of murder as in the case of that wretch who goes by Agnes or attempted murder in both of your cases. Everything you have, all wealth, all connections, all property, business enterprises, investments, land ownership, everything, will be handed over to Sultana Audravienne Saharazat to do with as she pleases and she can turn your precious Broadcove into a public latrine for all I care. Both of you will be sent to the asylum for clear insanity, where both of you will not only be treated with Wolf’s Eye but Wolf’s Mane as well and both of you will rot in a prison cell going insane and because Jane has been with the Raymond’s she was not exposed to the sickness that caused both of you to go mad in attempts to bribe Dr. Rickets into giving you mourkatili to poison and kill the Sultana Audravienne Saharazat.” King Leopold decreed. 

“Except for little Edward. He is only a boy, and is completely innocent in all of this too.” You offered. 

“Very well, since Sultana Saharazat has spoken for him, he will be brought to be with Jane. 

“Actually, your majesty, if I have a suggestion, if you like it, you can use it, if not, let things happen how you have directed them to.” You intervened again. 

“Very well, what are your thoughts on this matter?” He asked. 

“I have read these letters that all of Richard’s eldest children have written to him, rejecting him because if their father loved them so much, why would he put up with Agnes mistreating them so cruelly so that with just a little bit of kindness, respect and dignity from me- they happily switched their loyalties to me. Richard’s mistress, Miss Myra Bellafont, I wish for Broadcove may go to her. For she too has spent most of her life having to put up with Agnes, and was powerless to protect her own children from her partner’s wife, to the point that her own eldest son lost his life because of Agnes’ hate towards them. They were blameless in that they did not ask to have the father they do and they did not ask to be brought into the world or had any control over their circumstances and as much as Richard and Agnes made my life a living hell, I can’t imagine what they have made her go through. If at all possible, if she could be given a title, it doesn’t have to be a high one, but I wish for her and her children to inherit Broadcove and even though Agnes has treated Myra and her children with animosity, I know Myra doesn’t hold any towards Jane or little Edward and even Edward Senior was kind and partial to them while he lived. Even now the children of hers that remain at Broadcove are little Edward’s playmates and if Myra can swear and promise me as well as their Majesties that she will care for Edward and Jane well, I trust she will care for little Edward as well as she does her own little Geroge and I do not wish for Jane or little Edward to partake in their parent’s disgrace and I want the same freedoms that I have requested for Charlotte to be Jane’s as well, so that she can accept any offer of marraige from anyone she deems worthy as well, who will love her and treat her with kindness, respect, reverence and dignity, all of which she is just as deserving as I am.” You offered hopefully. 

“Very well, Myra Bellafont, you are now awarded the title of Marquise, you have come from somewhere foreign, you are a wealthy widow and have bought up Broadcove once you learned that Count and Countess Morrigan had gone on holiday and contracted a disease that made them go mad and your own sympathy towards their innocent children have moved you to take them on as your wards and you are now their loving and caring guardian. The house is to be cleaned thoroughly and Sultana Saharazat will award you any businesses that the Morrigans have so that you may upkeep Broadcove and that income may provide for your needs and the needs of your children.” King Leopold proclaimed. 

“Yes your majesty.” Yourself and Myra happily accepted as she curtsied deeply as Anges wriggled and screamed around her gag in her spot.

“Take Mr. and Mrs. Morrigan and Dr. Rickets to the asylum at once and turn these four traitorous men over to the tower.” Dr. Leopold insisted as he gestured to them since they had come in already in chains. 

“But it was Audra who dealt Edward his death blow!” Dr. Rickets hollered as the hair on the back of your neck rose as your anger blazed as you gripped the dagger at your waist so hard your knuckles turned white as you wanted to stab him. 

“You yourself proclaimed he had died of heart failure in your autopsy report before his body was buried.” King Leopold frowned as Jane and yourself looked at each other worriedly before your own desperation to never be afraid of this secret that you had given almost everything to keep hidden. But no more. If you were going to expose everything, you would not hold back.  

“Your Majesties, I do not wish to live any kind of lie. I do not wish for anyone to ever hold anything over me or blackmail me ever again. So, I will show you the moment of Count Edward’s death and you can judge for yourselves, whether I was guilty or not of his death, but I ask all of you watch and really see all of it, do not look away, do not close your eyes and do not turn a blind eye to it.” You insisted as you held Jane’s hand and gave it a comforting squeeze as you gave her a reassuring smile as you both put in the third and final password that showed the truth as all of the Royal Family as well as yours watched in horror as Edward tried to rape you then once his flesh touched yours, he turned into a statue of platinum and fell to the bed and broke it, the crash echoing through the audience room as gasps were given by everyone except by Myra, Jane and yourself as it showed you in a panic, touching Edward and turning him to flesh again and then calling for Jane for help as you told her what had happened and how confused you were about it and wanted to know what to do as both of you called in Dr. Rickets to make a diagnosis and then to Myra and the servants to keep quiet about the crash as Myra herself brokered for you to take her own children with you when you would leave Broadcove as a widow and pleaded with you to be good to them. 

“Audra, I would like to apologize, had I known that that was the reason for the crash I heard, that  I never would have made that deal with you and I’m so sorry if my own children following you to Mirador caused you any distress, I never asked them to spy on you.” Myra offered as she wiped her tears from her eyes. 

“I know, but Richard did.” You answered. 

“So you did kill him!” Richard practically crooned, feeling vindicated and validated.

“Oh enough! Guard, gag him as well so that nothing else of a poisonous nature leaves his mouth, only enters it.” King Leopold ordered before Richard too was gagged with a handkerchief. 

“No, she is innocent of murder because she didn’t purposefully do so because if she did know she had had that ability prior to that instant, don’t you think you yourself would have turned to platinum the moment you landed your first slap? It was self defense, surely you know enough of moura history and heard the tales that any one who dare force a moura to bed, would be turned into a pillar of gold by morning?” Anastasia defended you evenly. 

“That was our protection for millenia. Audra did not intend for Edward Senior to die and had Edward Senior had his wits, he never would have done so to begin with. And now that you are officially branded as insane, you can scream such things at the top of your lungs and no one will believe you.” The Queen Consort- Alexandria replied to the Morrigans.  

“I judge you innocent in all things, do not let this moment define you and do not let this moment stop you from living your life to the fullest.” Alexandria urged you warmly and comfortingly. 

“I too judge you completely innocent. And hereby decree, that because you suffered at the hands of Richard Morrigan, Edward Morrigan Senior and by extension, Dauphin Gregori Raymond, all previous rulings will stand, and this doesn’t change anything except for one thing. I hereby promote you and all mouras who choose to stay in England- the noble rank and title of Marquess as well and award you personally, a living of twenty five thousand pounds a year from the crown for the rest of your life, whether you choose to remarry or not. And all others who wish to stay in the country, a living of ten thousand pounds a year.” He decreed. 

“Thank you, Your Majesties, might we invite all the other Mouras in to tell them the news directly?” You requested before King Leopold nodded and ordered for Calla and her brothers as well as Benny and her brothers to come in along with Octavia and Katardrian as the messengerari was cleared to just show a mirror’s reflection yet again. 

“So, the reason I have brought you all here today was to discuss Sultana Audravienne’s Saharazat’s case in the courts. Because of certain components of the case and sensitive nature of it, I myself put a stop to it going into the court system to keep reproach from coming to the crown. And with such concessions to protect the privacy of all involved, the Sultana has been reimbursed accordingly and hopefully to her satisfaction.” Dowager Queen Anastasia began. 

“Yes, it has been settled to my satisfaction, thank you Your Majesty.” You happily replied as you and Jane smiled happily and with relief to each other as you sat side by side and still held onto each other because now, you both were safe, and more importantly, free. 

“So part of the concessions and reimbursement that the Sultana asked for was that all of you from Dorierra, male and female alike, are now all considered Dowagers and are invited to stay in England as Maquess and a living will be awarded each of you for ten thousand pounds a year.” The King ordered as they all smiled brightly and happily. 

“Thank you, your Majesty.” They all happily and excitedly thanked him. 

“Now, call in the stable masters from Dorierra so that their masters may be updated to Dowager status.” King Leopold instructed before the stable masters came and took two at a time, starting with the adults just as Agnes and Richard were being led out along with Dr. Rickets as he too was gagged and bound. 

“Marquess Saharazat.” Mage Bellfast approached you as you sat down at the desk and continued to go through all the letters there. 

“Yes?” You asked. 

“Again, I am Mage Bellfast, I was hired by the Dauphin to recreate your mail that was burned.” He reintroduced himself. 

“Oh, yes, thank you so much. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have it all back.” You smiled happily as he offered his hand as you graciously gave it to him for him to kiss your knuckles in a very gentlemanly like manner. 

“But I was hoping to get just the smallest of tokens from you in thanks.” Belfast began. 

“Of course, what would you like?” You asked. 

“For you to turn this bar of moura gold into platinum for me.” Belfast said as he produced the bar and put it onto the table in front of you as Mage Altissia practically ran towards you. 

“Do not do that!” Mage Altissia demanded. 

“Why not?” Belfast asked. 

“Do you think she would give me moura platinum and not you? Surely you have something made from moura gold that she can turn for you.” Belfast replied calmly as you picked up the bar but nothing happened. 

“No, because she only got the power once the mourkatili was in her system and since the Dragon Grevu healed her, thus her indigo violet hair, she has lost such capabilities.” Altissia offered as you blew out a breath of relief as you squeezed the bar with all your might but nothing was happening. 

“Well that won’t do, will it.” Belfast before in a flash he hit you with a spell that knocked you backwards off your chair and your feet flying over your head and onto the floor which caused everyone to stop and stare and rush over to you. 

“What did you do to me?!” You yelled as everyone watched as the indigo violet drained from your hair back into your scalp just as you found your feet, drew your dagger and aimed it at Bellfast’s throat before he used magic to stop your fist.

“Temper, temper.” Belfast tsked and smiled wolfishly as the golden dagger turned platinum white in your grips as indigo violet blood dripped from your nose as your eyes changed color from gold- to a glowing indigo violet as well as once again the mourkatili entered your body as you felt weak and fell to the floor coughing and sputtering, your blood splattering and staining the wood you stood on as your blade clattering to the floor with you. 

“Mage Bellfast, what is the meaning of this?!” Queen Dowager Anastasia demanded as she and the Queen and the King came over to see for themselves. 

“Well you saw it for yourself, she is a platinum moura now and I wanted my payment for all that mail and correspondence I had to conjure up.” Belfast explained. 

“And since your Majesties have ordered for her and every other moura who came to England to have nobility and a very generous yearly income, wouldn’t it be fair for her to help mitigate that cost by turning any number of moura gold bricks you have in the place to platinum for you?” Belfast offered as King Leopold hesitated for a beat. 

“Guards, have ten moura gold bricks be brought in.” King Leopold ordered as Alexandria and Anastasia both gasped in outrage. 

“Leo that is uncalled for, hasn’t the poor girl suffered and given enough?!” Anastasia demanded. 

“You said yourself that she shouldn’t have to pay anything to anyone ever again, this is going back on your word!” Alexandria insisted as she stared in horror at her husband. 

“I’m just asking her to change ten small bricks of gold into platinum, then I’m sure Bellfast can cure her again and all will be well.” Leopold insisted. 

“Now, if you’ll please.” Belfast insisted as he handed you the small gold bar as you touched it and watched with regret as it turned from gold to platinum before you hatefully gave it back to him before you turned and walked over to where your grandmother’s dagger had clattered away as you picked it up but when you touched it again, it turned back to gold, before turning to black ash in your hands and disintegrated in your hands as all the jewels fell through your fingers and fell to the ground as everyone else screamed to see your hands now stained black just as Bellfast took the platinum bar in his gloved hands and made the fatal mistake of kissing it, the moment the bar touched his lips, his whole face began to be eaten away and turned into black ash which caused everyone to give Bellfast room as they watched helplessly as Bellfast completely disintergrated into a pile of black ash and clothes, the platinum bar now landing in a heap. 

“The plague! You have unleashed the golden plague again!” The Dowager Queen screamed in horror at Leopold as she struck at him. 

“Your Majesties, I can explain this phenomenon. Because Audravienne unlocked her platinum abilities once the mourkatili was in her body, that means that only when she has mourkatili still in her system can she turn moura gold into platinum, but that also means that all platinum she turns has the same properties as mourkatili. So, I would not advise for her to turn anything else into platinum, and for her to return to where Grevu is and become healed again, then all will be well, besides, the “cure” that Mage Bellfast gave to Gregori was not infact a cure, but it would make everything Audra touch turn into deadly platinum and she would surely die of starvation.” Mage Alitssia insisted before you went over and picked up the platinum brick and watched as it turned from platinum white- to gold but then black ash almost instantaniously once again. 

“Guards, disregard that order about the gold bricks. As soon as they have all been classified as dowagers, they are free to go. My apologies Marquees Saharazat.” King Leopold offered as he looked both fearful yet apologetic before he ordered for that mess to be cleaned up immediately before the Voyambi’s finally came into the audience room to see the King, the Queen and the Queen Mother leave quickly through one door as the Morrigans had already been carted off in chains which was a relief to see before they came in to see you standing there with blackened hands but with golden hair again with a pile of black ash at your feet and on your dress. 

“What happened?” Demsey asked as he approached you before the masters returned with your parents and your grandmothers and your hier father and his wife and his mother in tow as they all had their masters rolled up in their hands with big bright smiles as the smiles immediately fell when they saw the scene. 

“Addie? What happened?” Your mother asked. 

“I unleashed the gold plague.” You whispered before you were called back by the masters of the stables to be reexamined by them and the group of doctors with them as you explained to them what had just happened in the audience room with Mage Altissia’s help.  

“Unfortuantely Sultana Saharazat, because of the mourkatili and because of your affect on moura gold, we can not give you the status of Dowager, the best we can offer you is Tavnit and until you are healed, you can not set foot back into Dorierra.” Master Ophelia offered apologetically as you closed your eyes and let your tears of disappointment fall. 

“That’s fine, I accept.” You nodded as it was put into your master and stamped in as your hands were washed clean from the ashes as you walked away and went over to Dr. Chu and his wife to get reexamined by them as Dr. Chu took your blood pressure and his eyes went wide. 

“Mei, take her blood pressure and pulse.” Wen insisted in Mandarin to his wife before she did as he asked as her eyes went wide. 

“What is it?” You asked them softly in Mandarin to keep your conversation private in the corner. 

“My Lady, you have the happy heartbeat.” Mei informed you with big wide eyes and a serious face. 

“I what?” You asked. 

“You are pregnant, about three and a half weeks to a month along.” Dr. Chu diagnosed as Mei nodded in agreement to that diagnosis as you searched your thoughts back before you remembered- that last night with Demsey Draft, at the Masquerade ball, you were so heartbroken, that you forgot to order the pregnancy warding tea. You did not drink it that last time and apparently that was all it took. 

“Can I get rid of it? Surely it’s too early…” You tried to ask. 

“No, this is why Grevu healed you. I can tell by your chi, aura and energy readings. His magic is protecting this babe from all harm, even now, the mourkatili is not harming it at all, it’s being shielded and protected.” Mei explained as she waived her hands over your abdomen to feel the variations in energy as tears flooded your vision. To be so close to finally being with Duke Demsey Voyambi and Demsey Draft planted an obstacle right into your belly and you loved Demsey too much to try to pass this on as his, even if you married him today, the baby would come a month too soon. And while Mr. Draft and Duke Voyambi shared a lot of the same features, surely you couldn’t live with yourself if you passed this baby off as his. You needed to get out of here. And fast. 

“Say nothing, to anyone.” You pleaded with them. 

“Of course.” They readily agreed. 

“Thank you.” You thanked them as you hugged them tight before you bowed in respect to both of them to honor them. 

“I have to go.” You excused yourself as you left the room and the moment you saw Demsey, as much as you wanted to run into his arms, you couldn’t and it felt worse than a thousand stabs to the heart as you came out into the audience room with your master rolled up in your hands as you went over to your family and revealed what had happened with the stable masters as they too started crying. 

“Leumeni? Why are there so many letters between you and Audra?” Kiera asked as she picked a small stack of them up and looked them over. 

“We are just close friends, that is all.” You tried to excuse as you grabbed the letters out of her hand as you readily got a bag and hurriedly dumped all of your mail into it to keep anyone else from looking through it.  

“Yup, just close friends,” Leumeni did his best to deflect just as you heard Benny scream out a ‘What?!’ in horror and outrage. 

“What the hell?” You asked as Benny came storming out of that room. 

“Leumeni! Coravien! Come we need to go home! Now!” Benny demanded angrily in Marinai as she stormed out of the examination room before you went over to Dr. Chu and his wife. 

“What was that?” You asked them in Mandarin.

“She has the happy heartbeat too. Grevu’s snot made the seed from the sex she had the night before the Kamoba take root. His magic is protecting her babe just like yours, but until he lifts his magic, she has no choice but to bear the babe. Even now she is going to plead with him to lift it so she can kill it.” Mei answered as you gasped and covered your mouth with both hands as Sierge came over to you. 

“What is wrong with Benny? What are they saying?” Sierge asked you. 

“Uh, Sierge, you need to go back to the Palace of Windsor and stay with Benny and do not let Benny approach Grevu until she tells you exactly why she wants anything to do with him.” You advised him with a gesture to your belly as if you were stroking a very pregnant belly as Sierge’s eyes went wide when you made that gesture before he fled Buckingham Palace to chase after Benny.

#Blood For Gold #Blood For Gold Chapter 20 #regency era orc period drama #regency orcs #orcs #orc love story #orc romance #monster boyfriend

[adamwatchesmovies]

12 Angry Men (1957)

If there is such a thing as a perfect movie, then 12 Angry Men is it. This 1957 film hits you like a ton of bricks; it's an experience you’ll never forget.

The picture begins with a judge instructing a jury to move into the deliberation room, reminding them that should they find the 18-year-old accused guilty of murder, he’ll be sentenced to death. As the men sit down to discuss what seems to be a pretty airtight case, juror #8 (Henry Fonda) votes against the others and the deliberation begins.

What I like so much about 12 Angry Men - the real reason to seek it out - is for the ideas it brings to the table. This movie is about real-life issues. It centers around a dilemma, a problem that can’t be solved by shooting someone or punching them in the face. It’s about the majority telling someone “come on, just give in” and him saying “No.” It examines the reason why people think the way they do and why the judicial system is the way it is. As the arguments become more heated, you'll threaten to tear your hair out.

What we have here is a concentrated deliberation drama. Every superfluous detail has been boiled away, leaving you with the rawest emotion. Colour? Irrelevant. Make the film in black and white. The names of the people involved? What does it matter? Take those out too. In fact, take out the trial, the witnesses, everything that isn’t the jurors deliberating.

When you first look at the jurors, you subconsciously expect them to agree. You don’t foresee anyone bringing emotion to the argument. It’s kind of a boy’s club, a place where they can get down to business, address the case quickly, and then move on. The play’s been re-done with a cast of mixed genders but this homogenous approach suits the story best. They’re all the same. They should all think the same. Yet there he is, a lone juror, a rebel defying the rest. What should have been unison has turned into a battle of David vs. Goliath. Whether he's right or wrong almost doesn't matter. It's the back-and-forth, and why people are voting the way they do that matters.

You forget that it’s a movie. You feel like a 13th juror who can do nothing but listen and wonder what decision they’ll come to. You start in one spot, unsure what to think and then, the ball starts rolling. Everyone in the jury room is angry and getting angrier. As the frustrations begin to boil to the surface, the camera gets in tighter and tighter. If you didn't feel it already, you will then. You can see it too.

I’ll go so far as to call 12 Angry Men an important film. It’s about standing up for what’s right, about the need for fair juries and the presumption of innocence. It’s about the claustrophobia of being forced to make a decision and the fear of making the wrong one. It’s a powder keg waiting to blow as emotions, logic, prejudices, facts, and assumptions duel for supremacy. In the end, it's not even about whether or not the defendant committed the crime, it’s about the jury’s duty: not to punish, but determine if there is reasonable doubt.

Like a chef who takes a single egg, a cup of flour, water, and a bag of licorice and suddenly presents a mouth-watering cake, director Sidney Lumet does so much with so little. He masterfully utilizes camera angles and lenses to make a picture you can't put out of your mind. 12 Angry Men is the kind of movie you try to slide into conversations, hoping to find an excuse to talk about it with others or an excuse to watch it again. (On DVD, May 28, 2016)

#12AngryMen #movies #films #movie review #FilmReviews #filmCriticism #SidneyLumet #ReginaldRose #HenryFonda #LeeJ.Cobb #EdBegley #E.G.Marshall #JackWarden #1957movies #1957films

[yourfavewriteress]

chance for something more (part 2) | tyler seguin

part 1

Teaser: “I wish on everything that I could take it back.”

I sighed, dropping myself in the booth across from Tyler. He had invited me to a small, quiet restaurant in Dallas a few days after the party.

He furrowed his eyebrows, “Hello to you, too.”

“I’m an idiot,” I said.

He laughed, “I know this, but why this time?”

“Shut up,” I rolled my eyes. “I was doing my laundry before this and let’s just say I now have a shitload of pink clothing.”

“And, you hate pink,” He said.

“Bingo,” I nodded. “What are you drinking?”

He slid his glass over to me, “Beer.”

I took a sip, crinkling my nose, “You’re sick.”

We both laughed just as the waiter appeared. “Hi, can I get you a drink? Or another one?”

“Yes, I’ll just have a screwdriver,” I said.

“Another beer, please,” Tyler said. The waiter nodded, disappearing.

“So,” Tyler breathed, taking off his hat and placing it on the booth next to him. “I’m sorry for springing this on you at a party, first of all.”

I shrugged, “It’s fine. I’m just happy you told me, since you said you’ve been holding this for awhile.”

He smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, I have.”

“Are you seriously not going to tell me how long?” I raised my eyebrows.

“I never stopped,” He said. “Thinking about you, I mean. And, us. No matter who I was with, I can’t act like I didn’t think about you.”

“How do you want this conversation to go, Tyler?” I asked, looking around the restaurant. I could feel my chest tightening at his words, and I knew this was just the beginning of a very long and trying conversation. “Do you want me to just listen or…?”

“I have a lot of shit I want to get off my chest,” He let out a laugh. “And, I dunno, maybe you do, too. I just want to explain myself because we haven't talked about it in almost a decade and thinking back, I know I didn’t give you the explanation you deserved. To be honest, there’s no explanation for what I did, I know that. I’ve been racking my brain this past week, and even these past years to understand what happened, and why I fucked up so bad, but it’s like everything was amazing. And, then it wasn’t.”

“Because you cheated, Tyler.”

“I know, fuck,” He paused, his eyes dropping to the table. “Cheating on you is by far one my my biggest regrets in my life. And, I wish I could tell you what I was thinking, or why I did it, but I just can’t. We had just won that game, and we got all these bottles to celebrate. All of us were so fucked up and high off the win. The house was packed, and there were girls everywhere. They wanted us to sign this, and sign that. Take this picture. Answer that question. It was fucking hectic.”

“Sounds like most of your nights after a game.”

“No, no, this night was different. We just clenched a spot in the championships, we thought we were big shit. All the guys had at least three girls hanging off of them, that’s just how it was. And. when she came in-”

“-Please,” I whispered. “Minimal details.”

He nodded, pausing for a moment before continuing. “I let my guard down for a second, but I was drunk and too far gone to even realize what was really happening. I know this hurts, but I have to be honest. I know that’s what you want and what you deserve. It felt good, I’ll never lie about that. But realizing what it meant for us? I wish on everything that I could take it back. It was a stupid, stupid decision that hurt you. I was a fucking idiot, Y/N, and you did not deserve that. You didn’t deserve your boyfriend and your best friend to do that to you. You didn’t deserve me treating you like that and for that, I am so sorry. I’m sorry for everything. For the cheating, for breaking your heart, for not realizing how truly fucking incredible you are, for not prioritizing us and you, for disrespecting you and our relationship. I’m so fucking sorry, Y/N. For it all.”

Silence took over the table as I processed his words.

This was a very different conversation than we had a while ago. Eighteen-year-old Tyler apologized for cheating, and probably meant it, but also did not understand the gravity of his actions. He was still a kid. We were still kids. But, it didn’t hurt any less.

This Tyler sitting in front of me was not a kid. He stopped being a kid the second reality caught up to him in Boston. I’ve seen him grow into the man he is today. If it wasn’t for the growth of both of us, we would never have been able to reconnect as friends and even have this conversation today. 

“I didn’t cheat on you because I didn’t love you, or there was anything wrong with us. You didn’t do anything to deserve this, this was all me. I was selfish and I didn’t think about you or your feelings. I should have been fucking thinking about you,” He said, running his hands through his hair. “I promised not to hurt you and I did. I know this all just words, but I’m sorry.”

“Did you see her again?” I whispered, looking down at the table. I almost thought Tyler didn’t hear me but he shook his head immediately.

“No, absolutely not,” He said. “That night was the only time I saw her.”

“What do you want me to say?” I asked.

“Anything,” He said, softly.

I paused, “You know, even though we were only teenagers, I wholeheartedly believed that you were going to be the one for me. I was certain that I had met my match and that was it. We were best friends, who also really fucking liked each other and everyone could see it. Even my mom said she wouldn’t be surprised if we stayed together.”

Tyler smiled softly, “I think your mom liked me more than you did at one point.”

“Trust me, she did,” I rolled my eyes. “But, I did love you with everything in me, Tyler. And, when you told me what happened, I felt like my entire world just collapsed. I always told myself that I would never be that girl that would give a guy the power to shake her world up like that, but to me, you weren’t just some guy. You were my best friend, someone that I had cried to hundreds of times with no shame. Someone who I could tell anything to and never feel judged. And that night, all of that went out the window.”

“I know,” Tyler nodded. 

“I didn't think I was ever going to be able to look at you again,” I admitted. “But, my mom reminded me that we were friends first. And, I never thought that I would be able to say that you were one of my best friends again, but you are.”

“You’re my best friend,” He leaned over the table, his eyes staring into mine. “You always have been and I’m pretty sure you always will be if I have any say.”

“I know, Tyler.”

“I’m happy that we were able to be friends again, and still laugh and talk,” He said. “I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, just like you didn’t deserve what I did. But, I was stupid back then, I fucked up. I’m older now, and I cannot act like you’re not the person I want to be with. I want to try, Y/N, even if that means starting over completely. I love you, and I’ve never stopped. If you’ll let me, please, can I try?”

I searched his face for a few moments, and as someone who has seen Tyler speak directly from his heart, whether it be pleading his agent to work on clearing his name in the media or begging his sisters to come see him after a while, I could tell that he meant every word. But, that wasn’t enough.

“Did you love me when you were having sex with her?”

He paused, reaching up to scratch his beard, a mechanism he used when slightly uncomfortable. “I never stopped loving you, and I don’t know if that makes it worse or better, but it just is. It was a fucked up situation that I put us in, and as much as I wish I could give you clear answers to get us out of it, I can’t. And, I’ve been pissed at myself for the past 10 years for it.”

I downed the rest of my drink quickly, avoiding his eyes. 

“I’ve been nothing but lucky to have you in my life after what happened,” Tyler reached over to squeeze my hand. “And, I know it’s stupid of me to risk that by bringing up old feelings, but I can’t just be your friend if there was ever a chance for something more.”

“So, what do you want to do, Tyler?”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with,” He responded. “I lost the right to dictate anything the second I stepped out on you.”

“There’s always been the chance for something more,” I admitted. “I’ve grown. I’ve seen your growth. We were 17 back then and my feelings for you were real. I know that because I still feel them today.”

He smiled, “I like the sound of that.”

I rolled my eyes, “Relax yourself. You still have to prove to me that I can trust you. The jury is still out on that.”

“I will do everything,” He said. “I told you ten years ago that you were one of the most important people in my life, and that’s still true today.”

“You can start by driving me home because I need another drink.”

He smiled, waving over the waiter. “Anything you want.”

#Tyler Seguin #nhl #hockey #nhl imagines #nhl imagine #nhl fanfiction #nhl fic #nhl fanfic #nhl fluff #nhl blurb #nhl blurbs #nhl writing #tyler seguin fanfic #tyler seguin fanfiction #tyler seguin fic #tyler seguin imagines #tyler seguin imagine #tyler seguin smut #tyler seguin x reader #dallas stars #Dallas Star #dallas stars imagines #dallas stars imagine #Hockey Fanfiction #hockey fanfic #hockey fic #hockey writing #jamie benn #jamie benn imagine #fic rec

[foreverlogical]

On January 20, 2021, Donald Trump will no longer be the President of the United States. Later that year, he may become the first former president to face a criminal indictment. Trump is reportedly worried about being arrested, and he should be.

President-elect Joe Biden also has something to worry about: how to handle the misconduct of the 45th president.

This was always going to be a dilemma for Trump’s successor. After an openly self-dealing president like Trump, the nation needs to see that no American is above the law, and that there will be consequences for anyone—even a former president—who enriches himself at the nation’s expense or abuses his power.

But any prosecution of Trump, no matter how fair, will draw criticism from Trump’s supporters in an already-divided nation. Even non-partisan observers have reason to be concerned by the spectacle of the administration of a new president prosecuting the president who just left office. It’s essential for any stable democracy that elected leaders don’t use their new powers to punish their opponents after they’ve lost. No president has ever done it.

So Biden needs to pursue justice when it comes to Trump—but he also needs to ensure that any prosecutorial decisions about Trump are made in a manner that restores public faith in the Justice Department, rather than making it seem, as Trump has, like just another political arm of the White House.

Biden has promised to stay out of any prosecutorial decision, but that won’t be enough. Former President Barack Obama stayed out of the investigation of Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server, but that didn’t stop rampant speculation regarding the role of then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Biden will have one tool, however, that allows him to pursue justice while also ensuring that the process doesn’t appear to be tainted by politics. That tool is the special counsel—a prosecutor appointed not by Biden, but by his attorney general, who has a measure of independence from the administration. The special counsel should be a career prosecutor who has no connection to Biden or his team, and the Attorney General should publicly state in advance that he or she does not intend to place any restrictions on the special counsel and will follow his or her recommendation.

Unlike the recent investigation by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the scope of the special counsel’s authority should be made public at the start of the investigation in a manner that reveals as much as possible without violating grand jury secrecy rules. There should not be a question or controversy about the scope of the special counsel’s authority, as there was in the Mueller investigation.

Although special counsels are typically appointed due to a conflict of interest, such as an investigation of the president who appointed the Attorney General, the regulations provide that a special counsel can be appointed due to “other extraordinary circumstances.” The investigation and potential prosecution of the most recent former president certainly qualifies as an extraordinary circumstance.

It is, of course, impossible to make a decision regarding the prosecution of Trump in a manner that won’t be criticized by Trump and his allies, short of pardoning him or giving him a pass altogether. But appointing a special counsel takes the power away from Biden appointees and puts it in the hands of someone who is non-partisan and is not tied to the administration. That is the best move for the country, and the best realistic outcome Republicans could expect.

Federal criminal investigations often take a very long time to complete. But Trump presents a special case because some of Trump’s conduct during the Mueller investigation has already been investigated and documented by Mueller’s team. Any prosecutor could review their work and determine whether to prosecute Trump for obstruction of justice.

In May 2019, I was one of more than 1,000 former federal prosecutors who signed a letter stating that Trump would be charged with obstruction of justice if he were not president. There can be no serious question that sufficient evidence exists to charge Trump with obstructing justice, and leaving office does not absolve him of accountability.

For a prosecutor, however, that is not the only consideration. The special counsel also must determine, pursuant to Justice Department policy, whether there is a “substantial federal interest” in the prosecution and whether the evidence is sufficient not only to charge Trump but also to “obtain and sustain a conviction.”

I believe there is an interest in deterring future federal officials who could abuse their office to curtail investigations of themselves or their friends. I also believe that there is sufficient evidence to convict Trump, but a special counsel should make that determination, considering potential novel legal issues presented by the first-ever prosecution of a former president for his conduct as president as well as the challenge of trying a case before a jury that could contain Trump supporters.

There are certainly other matters that a special counsel should consider. Trump has directed many federal employees to violate the Hatch Act, which prevents federal employees from engaging in political activity while on duty, and some have argued that he could be criminally prosecuted for doing so. Proving that Trump coerced federal workers to engage in political activity won’t be hard, given that he held political rallies at the White House, and some government employees had to facilitate those events. But ordering a subordinate to violate the Hatch Act is not typically prosecuted criminally, and an argument can be made that the president should not be held to a higher standard than others. A special counsel can also consider that issue and make a non-political determination.

The special counsel can also consider Trump’s attempt to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden’s son by withholding military aid, which was the subject of impeachment. I have explained elsewhere why that corrupt conduct does not fit into federal bribery and extortion statutes, which were not crafted with presidential abuses of power in mind. I suspect that a special counsel would reach the same conclusion, but if not, it would not take long for that matter to be investigated, given the work already done by the House of Representatives.

Some matters might take time to investigate. Ever since the New York Timesreported that Trump paid $750 in taxes in his first year in the White House and paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years, there have been calls for a federal investigation to determine if Trump engaged in tax evasion. The public information regarding Trump’s taxes is not sufficient to establish whether he committed a crime, because avoiding the payment of taxes is not itself a crime. But this is certainly a reasonable matter to look into. Given that there has been an audit of Trump’s taxes, and that federal prosecutors can easily obtain his tax returns, a special counsel could quickly determine whether there’s enough evidence to warrant further investigation.

Regardless of the decisions made by the special counsel, Democrats will learn that even in a Biden administration, there are limits to what the criminal justice system can or should do. Some of the most objectionable actions taken by the Trump administration, such as the separation of children from their parents, don’t obviously fit into the four corners of a federal criminal statute.

That doesn’t mean that the Trump administration’s abuses should not be examined closely. The public deserves to know what their government did in their name and with their tax dollars, and Biden should consider the creation of a commission to conduct a non-criminal investigation to consider matters that the Special Counsel declines to prosecute, and publish a report that details what happened and makes recommendations for reform.

President-Elect Biden won election by promising to bring Americans together. One important way to do that is to strengthen our faith in our institutions and to help us move forward while ensuring that no one is above the law. There is a way to accomplish both objectives.

VISIT WEBSITE

[96thdayofrage]

It was 2009 when PINAC News first broke the story of a mother named Tasha Ford who was arrested on felony “eavesdropping” charges for recording police detaining her teenage son in the parking lot of a South Florida movie theater after accusing him of trying to sneak inside without a ticket.

Ford’s arrest by Boynton Beach police was one of several high-profile arrests at the time on charges of eavesdropping or “wiretapping”; an unconstitutional trend in which cops across the country were using outdated felony laws to keep citizens from recording them in public.

Several landmark court cases since then have affirmed that citizens have a First Amendment right to record police in public which is one reason why we have been seeing so many police abuse videos in recent years. Turns out, they had a lot to hide during those early years.

But on May 5, the Fourth District Court of Appeals in Florida ruled the Boynton Beach cops who arrested Ford had a reasonable expectation of privacy and therefore had probable cause to arrest her, once again denying her the right to sue for damages. Ford first filed the lawsuit in 2010 but has since faced a string of judges who claim that cops have an expectation of privacy in public despite existing case law stating otherwise.

Ford’s video from that night should have ended the expectation of privacy debate because it shows the cops were standing in front of a bustling movie theater on a Saturday night as dozens of people stood or walked by. Some of the bystanders exchanged comments with the officers. One man even walked up and introduced his date to an officer while the cop tried to obtain Ford’s home address. The officer shook both their hands before resuming the conversation with Ford as if it were just another meet-and-greet community event.

But it does not appear as if Judges Edward L. Artau and Melanie G. May even watched the video, much less researched case law because they did not elaborate on their decision other than recite what was already stated in summary judgment from the lower court judge.

In his summary judgment under the heading “Undisputed Material Facts,”, Judge G. Joseph Curley described Ford as “confrontational” because she would not stop recording when ordered to do so. He also stated that she had “admitted” to recording the cops without consent as if confessing to a crime when the whole point of the lawsuit was that she was not committing a crime and had nothing to admit to because she never made it a secret that she was recording.

The summary judgment also claims that the cop’s friend who walked up and introduced his female companion also had an expectation of privacy, never mind the fact he was the one intruding into a conversation that had nothing to do with him.

The 2-1 ruling is already being challenged in an amicus brief filed Thursday by the ACLU, the National Press Photographers Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and several other First Amendment groups who predict cops in Florida will begin using the ruling to arrest anybody recording them in public as they’ve done in the past.

Below is an excerpt from the amicus brief which you can read here:

If allowed to stand, the panel majority’s opinion will license law enforcement officers to order citizens to stop recording the officers’ public discharge of their duties and to arrest all who refuse to comply for obstruction without violence. Like Ms. Ford, those individuals can hope and expect that sensible prosecutors will decline to charge, and sensible judges and juries will decline to convict, but they will nevertheless suffer the considerable consequences of an unlawful arrest, ranging from humiliation, degrading confinement, the cost of bail and defense counsel to the potential loss of employment and disruption to familial bonds, all captured by the popular culture saying, “you can beat the rap, but you can’t beat the ride.”

This Court should put an end to the practice by:

1. Granting rehearing or rehearing en banc;

2. Ruling that defendants lacked probable cause to arrest Ms. Ford;

3. Holding that recording police officers in the public discharge of their duties cannot create probable cause to arrest for wiretapping or for resisting without violence irrespective of whether ordered to stop recording; and

4. Holding that arguably rude speech unaccompanied by threats, incitement, or physical interference cannot give rise to probable cause to arrest for resisting or obstructing without violence.

The dissenting judge

It appears that the only judge who watched the video was dissenting Judge Martha Warner who has been on the bench since 1989 when she was appointed by then-Governor Bob Martinez. Artau was appointed to the bench last year by Governor Ron Desantis and May was appointed to the bench by Governor Jeb Bush in 2002.

Judge Warner not only watched the video and did her research, she explained her dissent in detail, citing a couple of the landmark cases that were made since Ford’s arrest. She also highlighted the viral George Floyd video from last year and the importance of being able to record police in public as you can read in the excerpt below.

I would hold that a law enforcement officer has no reasonable subjective expectation of privacy in conversations he has with the public or the arrestee in the performance of the officer’s duties in public places. They are performing a public duty at the time, and the public has a right to hear their words. This is as true today as it was in 2009.

A rule otherwise would mean that everyone who pulls out a cell phone to record an interaction with police, whether as a bystander, a witness, or a suspect, is committing a crime. Given how important cell phone videos have been for police accountability across the nation, I do not believe that society is ready to recognize that the recording of those interactions, which include audio recordings, are somehow subject to the officer’s right of privacy. If that were the case, then had the individual who recorded George Floyd saying to the officers “I can’t breathe” been in Florida, he would have been guilty of a crime.

The facts of this case seem to be only too similar to so many police encounters caught on video or cell phones. The officers had no reasonable expectation of privacy in their conversations while performing their public duties, particularly in public spaces. Given the prevalence of small video cameras and cell phones in public spaces, society has definitively come down on the side of approving the videoing of officers in the performance of their duties as a method of accountability. Because I conclude that the court erred in finding that the officers had probable cause to arrest the appellant for violation of the wiretap statute or for obstruction of the justice statute, I would reverse the final summary judgment and remand for further proceedings.

The Arrest

The arrest took place on February 28, 2009, a time when most people did not have video cameras on their phones. Not even the iPhone had a video camera at the time.

Ford, who had recently moved to South Florida from Washington DC, was at her mother’s house when she received a call from Boynton Beach police telling her to come pick up her son whom they said tried to sneak into a movie theater without purchasing a ticket.

Ford drove to the theater and began recording with her Canon Powershot as soon as she stepped out of the car. The cops immediately accused her of being “aggressive.” She responded by saying she was “passionate” about her son, especially after learning one of the cops slammed him against the car when he would not remove his headphones.

At no point did the cops whose names are Robert Kellman, Ricky Lauture and Russell Faine  ever make an attempt to keep people from walking through the area where they had the teen detained while talking to his mother, which is a routine step when they want to keep their conversations private.

They just did not appreciate Ford questioning their authority as she recorded them which was not as common back then as it is today where there are now dozens of YouTube channels dedicated to doing just that. That is what made her aggressive in their eyes.

And that is what made her “confrontational” in the eyes of Judge Curley, a word that was also by the attorney of the cops in describing the incident to the judge, according to court documents.

Curley decided to weigh the evidence in summary judgment rather than let the undisputed facts speak for themselves as he is supposed to do.

Clueless judges

Judge Curley’s misunderstanding of the eavesdropping law probably comes from federal judge William Zloch who dismissed Ford’s federal lawsuit in May 2011 by claiming the cops had probable cause to arrest her because she had recorded them without consent.

Judge Zloch was probably in for a shock when less than three months later in August 2011, the landmark Glik vs. Cunniffe decision from the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Massachusetts affirmed that citizens had the right to record cops in public, contradicting his opinion on the issue.

The following year, ACLU vs. Alvarez out of the Seventh Circuit in Illinois was what finally put a stop to Chicago police arresting people on felony wiretapping charges for recording them in public.

But even before those landmark cases, the right to record police in public was already established in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Florida, with the case, Smith vs the City of Cummnig in 2000 which states citizens have a “First Amendment right, subject to reasonable time, manner and place restrictions, to photograph or videotape police conduct,” including a “right to record matters of public interest.”

The following is an excerpt from our original article on the arrest published on March 6, 2009 after we interviewed Ford by phone, less than a week after she was released from jail. It was a time when the mainstream media would ignore such arrests until they became impossible to ignore which is what happened here.

After pulling into the parking lot, she started filming as soon as she stepped out of her car.

“I saw my son surrounded by five officers and I started filming them, then I filmed the officer walking up to me,” she said.

Rather than stop to talk to the officer, she walked up to her son and asked him what happened. He told her that he had been tackled from behind by an officer and handcuffed after having been thrown out of the theater by a security guard.

“I kept asking the officers, ‘Was he aggressive? Did he pose a threat? I cannot perceive why you would want to put a child in handcuffs’,” she said.

But the officers seemed mainly concerned about the camera.

“They said ‘you can’t record people without letting them know’,” she said.

“So I said, ‘Ok, Tasha Ford is recording you’ and I continued filming them.

“I was filming them for my own protection,” said the mother of two who recently moved to South Florida from Washington DC. “I’ve seen the way cops interact with civilians down here.”

She said one of the officers, Robert Kellman, was extremely antagonistic towards her and told her son, “since your mother is such a fucking asshole, I’m going to arrest you for trespassing’.”

And then a supervisor arrived and when he noticed that she had a Maryland driver license, he allegedly told her, “you fucking northerners think you can come down here and mess with cops. You are about to get a lesson 101 on how to deal with Florida cops.”

The supervisor ordered her arrested under Florida’s electronic surveillance law, which is mostly applied to recording phone conversations without the other party’s consent.

In other words, it doesn’t apply to people who do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

But here we are 11 years later and the judges still don’t understand basic Constitutional law. Or perhaps they just don’t care.

After dismissing the federal claims over the eavesdropping charges, Judge Zlock kicked the case back down to the lower court to resolve the claim over the obstructing justice/resisting arrest charge which is really nothing more than a contempt-of-cop charge.

After her arrest, prosecutors wasted little time in dismissing both charges against Ford which should have bolstered her chances of suing police for damages but she had the misfortune of going before clueless or corrupt judges who ignore actual case law.

The amicus brief filed last week is requesting an en banc review which would bring the case up before the entire bench of 12 judges in the Fourth District Court of Appeals rather than just a panel of three. And the next step after that would be the Florida supreme court.

The case has never gone before a jury who would likely have a much different interpretation of the eavesdropping law than the bulk of judges mentioned in this article.

Ford vowed more than a decade ago that she would continue fighting this until she obtains justice so it is unlikely she is about to give up. Especially now that she has found an honest judge.

[mykravlife]

What’s your safety colour?

Develop your situational awareness using the cooper colour code

A Lesson In Situational Awareness

She stood in front of the class going through the traumatic details…

“I was walking to my car” she started.

“That’s when he grabbed me from behind and tried to drag me into the trees. I was so scared.”

She was referring to an incident that I had read about a few weeks ago in the paper and now she was in my class.

The news article said that she was coming out of the arena and as she approached her car was grabbed by an unknown assailant, who tried to carry her into the woods.

“What were you doing when he grabbed you?” I asked

“Oh. I was texting a friend.”

In our Krav Maga classes we refer to this as condition white. Fortunately she put up a fight and was able to escape unharmed.

She was lucky…

…because just as easily the situation could have turned out different.

And more importantly, just a little bit of situational awareness could have prevented it from happening in the first place.

I often talk to my classes about the importance of situational awareness, which we define simply as knowing what’s going on around you.

It’s obvious that she was distracted by her cell phone and wasn’t paying attention to her environment.

It’s easy for us to point at her and say that she shouldn’t have been on her phone.

But the reality is that in our normal everyday lives things like that don’t happen to us. They also rarely happen to people we know!

Situational awareness however is more than just looking out for bad guys. In her situation, it could have just as easily of been a car that hit her.

That’s why I place a heavy emphasis on teaching situational awareness in every Women’s Self Defence Seminar and Krav Maga class that I conduct.

The Cooper Colour Code

“If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore what he must be taught to fear is his victim” — Jeff Cooper

I want to start off by saying that you don’t have good situational awareness or bad situational awareness. I believe that your situational awareness is either trained or untrained.

The tool that I use to teach situational awareness to my students is called the Cooper Colour Code.

Retired Marine Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper stated that the most important tool you can have to help you survive an attack isn’t a weapon or your martial arts skills, but what he called your combat mindset.

To help develop this mindset, in the 1970’s he introduced the Colour Code which describes the different psychological conditions, or states of mind, that a person has in any given situation.

The Cooper Colour Code is made up of 4 awareness levels, each represented by a different colour.

Condition White is the first condition and is best described as generally being unaware of what’s going on around you. Basically you’re not paying attention.

Condition Yellow, the second condition, you now sense that there could be potential danger around. You begin to actively scan your environment to try and identify any potential threats.

Condition Orange is the third condition and during this level of awareness you have locked on to a potential threat. You are now formulating an action plan to put in place if needed.

Condition Red is the last level. When your awareness level has elevated to red you are now actively engaged with the threat. You are also executing the plans you formulated in Condition Orange.

There’s also another condition level that has since been adopted by the Marines that was not part of the original Colour Code. Condition Black.

Condition Black is used to describe someone who has become immobilised by panic or overwhelmed by fear.

Before I go into the specifics of the Colours and how to use them, we need to define two concepts that we’re going to be using.

The first concept is physiological response. This refers to what’s happening to your body as a threat presents itself.

Essentially it’s the activation of the fight or flight response, also known as the acute stress response.

The acute stress response is activated by the sudden release of hormones into the body in preparation to fight for our lives or to run away.

This response is characterised by physical changes such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing.

The second concept that we need to be aware of is what’s called our psychological response.

This is what happens to us mentally. As the stress of the situation we are in climbs different things happen to us mentally.

Now, let’s look at each of the conditions individually.

Condition White

“The difference between being a victim and a survivor is often a low level of situational awareness.” — Barry Eisler

When you’re in condition white you’re in a state where you’re unprepared and not ready, physically or mentally, for an event.

That event could be an attack from an assailant or it could be getting run into by a guy on a bike.

The point is that you’re unprepared. If you live in Condition White while your out and about in public then you’re more likely to become a victim.

Bad guys generally choose people who are not paying attention. This makes it easier for them to victimise you because you’re less likely to react and they’re more likely to get away with it.

When you’re in condition white you have low psychological awareness, meaning that you’re not focused on what’s going on around you.

You also will have low physiological arousal levels, which means that your fight or flight response hasn’t been activated. You’re petty relaxed.

Now, we need to spend time in condition white. Having a constantly elevated alertness level is taxing on us mentally and can lead to mental fatigue.

So when do we go into condition white?

Generally when you’re at home. Anywhere else and you should be in the next condition.

Condition Yellow

“I think it’s always important to be vigilant of what you’re doing and aware of your surroundings.” — Leona Lewis

Condition yellow is simply being in a state of awareness of what’s around us. We need to be actively searching and scanning the environment for possible threats.

We should be in condition yellow whenever we’re out, at work, at school, or at church, etc.

So what am I looking for when I’m scanning…

Basically anything that can become a potential threat. Things like people acting aggressively or suspiciously, speeding cars, off leash dogs, etc.

When you’re in condition yellow you will have a moderate psychological awareness level and moderate physiological arousal level.

Condition Orange

“Your mind-set is your primary weapon.” — Jeff Cooper

Once you have identified or locked onto a potential threat you have now moved into condition orange.

For example imagine that you’re out for a nice walk.

Whenever you go out, you should automatically be in condition yellow.

In condition yellow you’ll be casually scanning your environment. You’re looking for things that are out of the ordinary, making sure to take note of anything that could become a potential threat.

Ahead you see a dog that’s off leash and running in your direction. At this point you should move yourself into condition orange.

You have identified and locked in on the threat. Now to do the important work that characterises this condition.

You formulate a safety plan.

When confronted with a threat you essentially have one of three choices to make.

Run. Hide. Fight.

This is the time to make the decision and the plan on how to execute it. You don’t want to be doing that once the attack is under way.

You may decide that if the dog gets to a certain point in front of you, you’ll run away, or maybe you identified some shelter that you can safely hide in, or maybe you mentally prepare to fight the canine.

It doesn’t matter what the decision is, as long as one has been made.

When you’re in condition orange understand your heart rate will become slightly elevated as you’ll be in a higher state of physiological arousal.

But more important to realise is that because you’re focused on the dog, you won’t be focused on other things. You’ll have a lower state of psychological awareness than you did than when you were in condition yellow.

Condition Red

“The only acceptable response to the threat of lethal violence is immediate and savage counterattack. If you resist, you just may get killed. If you don’t resist you almost certainly will get killed. It is a tough choice, but there is only one right answer.” — Jeff Cooper

My hope is that you never have to go into condition red. That your situational awareness and instincts are developed enough that you avoided the danger long before it ever had a chance to become a threat to you.

Going into red means that you’re now in the fight. You’re at the point where you have no choice but to execute one of the plans you made back in condition orange.

You have a very high degree of physiological arousal as hormones race through your body.

Your awareness level sink even lower as you become solely focused on the threat. You no longer know what’s going on around you.

You’re now fighting for your life.

Hopefully, everything goes according to plan and you get out of there safely. It will take a good while for the adrenaline to leave your system and you may become jittery. But at least your safe.

As you can see, the Cooper Colour Code can be a useful tool to keep yourself safe. At the very least remember to be in Condition Yellow every time you leave the house and decide what you will do in different situations before they happen.

#krav maga #self defense #cooper colour code #situational awareness #martialarts

[the-powerhouse-of-the-cell]

Listen up cowards

Please sign this.

This is a petition for the Trayvon Martin Law.

If you’ve forgotten who he was, then let me jog your memory a little.

Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old boy visiting his father’s fiancée at the time of his murder.He was coming back from a gas station with skittles that he bought for his soon-to-be stepbrother when George Zimmerman, who was on neighborhood watch that night, had started following him in his car because he had labeled him as 'suspicious'.

Trayvon saw that he was being followed and began to run; Zimmerman reported this to an operator and got out of his car.A grown man was following an unarmed 17-year-old boy with a loaded, concealed weapon.

The ordeal ended with Trayvon's life being cut short.Zimmerman wasn't arrested the night of the murder because Florida Statute 776.032 States that a police officer cannot detain you or arrest you for shooting someone unless they have probable cause to believe the force you used was unlawful or if you shoot a police officer while they're in the act of performing their duties. Law Enforcement didn't arrest Zimmerman the night of the murder because they claimed they didn't have probable cause. (copied from the description of a petition because I feel that they explained it better than I could)

When he was finally interrogated, Zimmerman confessed to profiling Trayvon and following him. He couldn't even keep his story straight throughout police interrogations. The detective admitted that Zimmerman was an "overzealous vigilante who took the law into his own hands" and exaggerated his injuries.George Zimmerman was let go and claimed self-defense.

People worldwide marched and created petitions, and Zimmerman was arrested and convicted with 2nd-degree murder. But this battle for justice isn't over yet. A year after his conviction, a jury found him not guilty of 2nd-degree murder or manslaughter. Now, he's a free man.

Long story short: Trayvon Martin was profiled, followed and murdered by George Zimmerman and has yet to be served justice.

<<<<<<>>>>>>

This petition is so that this never happens again.

(this next part is copied directly from the petition)

This Petition calls for Florida Statute 776.041 (2) (A) to be redacted or revised.

776.041 (2) (A) allows an aggressor to use deadly force even though they started the aggressive act, confrontation or altercation.

776.041 Use of force by aggressor.—The justification described in the preceding sections of this chapter is not available to a person who:

(1) Is attempting to commit, committing, or escaping after the commission of, a forcible felony; or

(2) Initially provokes the use of force against himself or herself, unless:

(a) Such force is so great that the person reasonably believes that he or she is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that he or she has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger other than the use of force which is likely to cause death or great bodily harm to the assailant; or

(b) In good faith, the person withdraws from physical contact with the assailant and indicates clearly to the assailant that he or she desires to withdraw and terminate the use of force, but the assailant continues or resumes the use of force.

Also, this Petition calls for the Neighborhood Watch Handbooks to be revised. The current handbooks aren't detailed enough and leave too much room for misinterpretation. The revised handbooks should include specific do's and don'ts for its members, and local or state laws that they must abide by while they're performing their duties. The revised handbook should also include rules that the Coordinator must follow. Not specifying these rules can lead a regular citizen to believe that they have the power to make Law enforcement decisions.

Most importantly, it calls for a new law to be made in Trayvon's name. A law that will prevent someone from claiming self-defense after they've done the following:

TRAYVON MARTIN LAW

1. Unless you are a member of Law enforcement, you are not allowed to chase an unknown person while you are carrying a concealed weapon. Unless that person has harmed you or they are attempting to cause bodily harm to you or someone else. Following, chasing or confronting an unknown person, who is in an authorized area or public area while you have a weapon waives your right to claim self-defense should said person end up dead. An aggressor carrying a deadly or concealed weapon can't claim self-defense if they follow, chase, or confront an unknown person who isn't in the act of committing a violent crime towards them or anyone else, and that person ends up dead. If you think said person is suspicious, contact law enforcement instead of taking the law into your own hands.

2. Unless you're a member of Law Enforcement;  following, chasing or confronting someone who has not caused you bodily harm or attempted to cause you or someone else bodily harm, while you are carrying a deadly weapon will be considered an aggressive act in itself; because that act alone automatically puts said person in fear of their life.  An aggressor carrying a deadly weapon enters the situation with more force than their victim has. Therefore they have an advantage over their victim who doesn't have access to the amount of force needed to stand their ground or protect themselves from the aggressor.

3. Following, chasing or confronting an unknown person while carrying a deadly weapon, should be seen as an aggressive or threatening act because you are putting that person in fear of their life. Also, you shouldn't be allowed to claim self-defense should that person end up dead as a result of the escalation of that act. Should that act lead to their death, you should be charged with the highest degree of murder applicable to you or manslaughter.

4. An adult carrying a deadly weapon waives their right to claim self-defense if they follow, chase, or confront an unknown minor, and that minor ends up dead or injured. Unless that minor has caused bodily harm to them or someone else or is attempting to cause bodily harm to them or someone else.

https://www.change.org/p/the-trayvon-martin-law-stop-this-from-happening-again-trayvonmartinlaw-blacklivesmatter?original_footer_petition_id=4496600&algorithm=promoted&source_location=petition_footer&grid_position=6&pt=AVBldGl0aW9uADuwEgAAAAAAXtqg9DzRhDsyNjg0NmRlOQ%3D%3D

(If you haven’t signed the petition for justice for Trayvon Martin you can do that here https://www.change.org/p/jeff-triplett-justice-for-trayvon-martin)

#blm #justice for trayvon #trayvon martin

[cherry3point14]

Stranger Than Fanfiction: Ch 3

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Dean x Reader Warnings: Meta baby. Pure meta. Word count: 2,100. Chapter Summary: Your google search turns up something unexpected. A/N: No author in this one for... reasons. Also this one is kind of short and lame. A means to an end if you will, but trust me, Ch 4 is a doozy. P.S it’s nearly 3am so Chapter 4 will be up when I wake up, ya dig.

Ao3 if you prefer

It’s almost funny how dramatic the voice in your head wants to be about those suited criminals and yet it doesn’t care to elaborate on anything important. Like, say, your imminent death. The mention of it was so casual, calm, but a couple of weirdos want to pretend to be insurance adjusters and suddenly it’s all pretty prose and run-on sentences. Flowery language about broad-shouldered men in roaring muscle cars that are going to change your life. She’d kept going while you’d interviewed Maggie Hall. She’d harped on and on about how you couldn’t stop thinking about them.

Of course, you couldn’t stop thinking about them, she wouldn’t shut up about them.

After an entire monologue about the way the paper felt in your hands and could never be replaced by computers—purists are the worst—you finally get to leave. That's when you get some respite. You’re walking out into the late afternoon sun and thanking Maggie for her time and it's bliss. Maggie's story sounds a little off, after years doing this you have this gut instinct for when you should investigate further. Funnily enough, you have drama in your life that you’ll submit a valid claim anyway. Just so you can get this cursed case out of your hair. You might even hurry it through the system before the thing has the chance to kill you.

You’re still not sure how a case could kill you. You’re a pencil pusher at best and the interview with Maggie is an excellent example of the majority of your fieldwork, obviously excluding the criminals at the start. Unless your demise is death by papercut.

For now, you’ve given up trying to fathom out the voice you’re hearing, especially since she's chosen to once again go radio silent. If she won’t say anything useful, like say how not to die, then you were going to have to figure out how to skip ahead on your own. Since she kept talking about the imposters you’d met that day, they seemed to be an excellent place to start.

CNK 80Q3. Ohio plates. That's as much as you know without google.

That evening you set yourself up in the same way you would to work from home. There's a desk in the corner of your dining room with a chair that offers enough lumbar support for the longest of research sessions. Although it’s your personal laptop and there’s not normally a large glass of wine sitting next to you when work.

After it powers on you’re assaulted by the usual pop-ups; windows you forgot to close last time and your emails. Procrastinating is not a new routine, and you’re on a mission, so they all get minimized instead of closed completely. Then you open a new browser window and a stark google homepage stares back at you. A hopeful new beginning.

CNK 80Q3. You’re genuinely surprised that she hasn’t started talking again to describe the change in the air as you type in the plate number. Or some drivel about the way your fingers emphasize each letter and number. It’s all there happening anyway, making the moment foreboding, but your narrator doesn’t seem care.

The first row of results are images. Weirdly its images of the license plate itself. That doesn't strike you as odd at first glance and then you think about it a little more. Why are there so many pictures of this particular license plate? Who is running around taking these pictures? You're pretty sure if you typed in your own plate number there would be no pictures of it. And then you see some shopping results where you can actually buy the plate. While the online shops might explain the images, it only really poses more questions. Why are so many people buying that license plate? What’s so special about it?

You take a sip of your wine before you scroll further, savoring the taste as well as the way it relaxes your shoulders. You don't own any 'fun' novelty coasters that say it but you're inclined to agree with the statement you've heard before. Wine really does make everything better.

You’re not yet into the murky depths of page 2 but you’re far enough down the page now to make it past the sponsored results. These links come thick and fast from websites that all seem to have one word in common. Supernatural.

Then you see your salvation. A page called Supernaturalwiki—the link is simply titled: Impala—and you stop scrolling, a grateful sound slipping past your lips as you do. Wiki, you know that word. Like Wikipedia. Wikipedia has references and moderators', clear and concise explanations. This was the easy way out you were looking for.

That’s what you hope as you click on the link anyway. Your naivety lasts all of twenty seconds before the page loads. With its stock image of a 1967 Chevrolet Impala, and a quote about it being the most important object in the universe.

Or it's the most important object in some books at least.

Further clicking and longer sips of wine reveal it’s a series of books called Supernatural—with the title of the wiki you should have seen that coming. These were story after story of ghosts and demons and angels? There are pages that describe monsters, urban legends, and two men. Sam and Dean Winchester. They each have dedicated pages with their whole lives mapped out.

Sam and Dean are fictional brothers and apparently the heroes. Each of their respective profiles begins with an illustrated image from book covers, and then a series of quotes that contradict those pictures. Then their lives are intricately detailed, or should you say they are chronologically recorded according to each book. You would read their histories in full if it wasn't for how tiny the scroll bar is, indicating that these profile pages are ridiculously long.

You sit back in your chair and take a deep breath in the hopes of it being soothing. Or answering all your questions. It does neither. You have no answers and more stress.

This went beyond two men pretending to do your job now. Those guys were driving around in a car with fictional license plates. What was this? Some weirdly immersive cosplay? Was that something Sam and Dean did in the books?

Even so, those two guys weren’t roleplaying at comic con, they were actually in that woman's home. If you hadn't arrived they could have done anything. They could be doing anything now.

There's a ding from the kitchen which means the frozen meal you’d thrown in the oven is ready. Not that you stop thinking about this while you go and grab it because the more you think the less sense everything makes. Like why is a narrator who, until now, was obsessed with those guys, so very silent all of a sudden?

Back at your desk with hot food, you head back to google to see if you can buy these books anywhere because knowledge is power. Unfortunately, not even Amazon has copies. It’s only when you add the term “ebook” to your search do you find a Tumblr blog with links to download all the files, split into two categories. Published and unpublished. There are a lot of Supernatural books and from the looks of it there’s an equal amount of drama over how the unpublished ones got out.

You start downloading them without consciously making a decision to read them. Downloading kind of happens because your macaroni cheese is too hot for your mouth to handle yet, and your hands still need something to do. Besides you didn’t necessarily need to read all of them, if they were truly terrible you’d delete the files. No harm, no foul. But if this was the only way to get answers then you and your kindle were going to be pretty busy this weekend.

“Morning Laura.” Nobody likes Mondays, yet you have a little bounce in your step having made your usual green tea, got dressed, and driven to work in complete and utter silence. In fact, you’d heard nothing all weekend. The caveat was that, yes, you’d spent all weekend reading those books.

You liked reading and without discrimination. Trashy romance novels at the airport? You betcha. Fantasy books thicker than your mattress? Sure thing, order a pizza. But a mystery? Well, those were your favorite. Of course, the detective needed some sort of sketchy backstory and there had to be a fishy amount of red herrings. Most importantly there had to be something to solve. It was an elevation of your day to day life and you always get sucked in. In your job, you try to solve the most benign mysteries; people faking insurance claims. More often than not there isn’t even a mystery to solve, someone really did slip and break something. So, a mystery that grabs you out of nowhere is like a promotion for you, a challenge.

That had been how those Supernatural books had dragged you in. Ghosts and ghouls you could take or leave, you might have stopped reading if that’s all there was. Then this Carver Edlund went and put in that damn side plot about their missing father. It was too enticing, addicting. From the cryptic disappearance to the indecipherable journal of clues. John Winchester would be the death of you.

Or case 24-01 would be. The jury was still out on that.

And now it’s Monday. You’ve heard nothing more from the voice in your head—it may have been a low-level case of carbon monoxide poisoning—and the boys are so close to figuring everything out you can taste it. Technically they know John is alive by now, you finished Shadow some point yesterday afternoon and felt yourself choke up at the emotional goodbye with a father they just got back. But they still have no clue what he's up to, which is a hideous funhouse mirror reflection of your own life. Hopefully, by the time they figure out John’s game plan, you'll have your life figured out too. And fingers crossed figuring everything out will involve staying alive as well.

“You look like you’re feeling better this morning.” Laura is her perky self, always a little too happy for this side of 9am.

Oh right, you went home sick on Friday. You should remember things like that. “I think it was a bug or something I ate maybe.”

“Sure, sure. One of those convenient Friday bugs.” She winks at you.

If she accused you of that say, last week, you’d have laughed it off given that's a thing everyone has in common; trying to skip out on work. So, that's what you try to do this side of the weekend. You push out something that hopefully resembles a regular person's laugh like you’re in on the joke. You have to fake it because you’re still thinking about Providence. The book you’d finished that morning instead of watching the news. You’re still wondering if Sam is starting to move on after Jessica. 

Needless to say, you understand now. The many fan blogs and the artwork you’d glanced at before you started reading. All those things that you’d disregarded as an unhealthy fascination for a bunch of books. Now you’re one of them, obsessed. Walking into the office with your kindle tucked in your bag and Salvation just begging to be read.

This goes beyond finding John. That plot got its hooks in you but you’ve known John was alive since Home and you’re still reading. You could also blame this on your general love of reading except it goes beyond that too. Honestly, it’s hard to pick one thing. They’re really great books. Sam and Dean have such turbulent lives but they still have each other. They’re snarky, lost, angry, and caring. They’re both so different but the sibling relationship is so real. And the stories go beyond a new monster every book, there are these huge interesting story arcs that you couldn't stop reading if you tried. John Winchester had been the first example of these addictive plot points, but not the only one.

“Y/N?”

You snap your head up, “sorry, sorry.”

“I was only saying you’re going to be here all day then, lunch?”

Even though Laura must see the decision on your face she still pretends to hope until you start speaking. “Actually I have a lot to catch up on so I’ll probably be working through. Tomorrow?”

She smiles brightly and nods, “sure thing.”

As bad as you feel about lying to Laura she has presented you an opportunity. Everyone thinks you were sick on Friday. They even think you're behind on your work and they don’t know you’ve already conducted the initial interview. Which makes your decision to sit at your desk and prop your kindle up next to your screen even easier. Nobody would notice the difference between you concentrating or reading. If you skip lunch you might be able to get to Bloodlust out of the way too.

Continue to Chapter 4.

5eva tags: @divadinag @darthdeziewok @fluentinfiction @witch-of-letters @supernatural-teamfreewillpage @magnitude101999 @alexwinchester23  Dean babes: @thewinchesterchronicles @akshi8278​ @bloodydaydreamer StrangerThanFiction tags: @jaylarkson

#dean x reader #supernatural fanfiction #spn x reader #dean winchester x reader #spn fanfiction #supernatural #spn #spn fanfic #supernatural fanfic #dean winchester #dean winchester x you #dean x you #dean x y/n #dean dean the soft lil bean #honestly this isn't a strong chapter and I kind of hate it but I need it to get to the last part because GUYS #I actually wrote a fucking outline for this #can someone please be proud of me #like you don't need to read this just be proud of me #anyway it all comes together in the end and just EUGH chapter 4 is way better just stay with me till chapter 4 #LITERAlly the next chapter #also I am tired so if this is poorly edited as well as poorly written then I am sorr #y

[starlene]

The night before Henry Jekyll's wedding to Emma Carew, John Utterson has to make a very difficult decision.

Wedding preparations

For as long as he could remember, John Utterson had dreaded Henry Jekyll’s wedding day.

It was late and John’s thoughts circled around the ceremony tomorrow. His shoes were polished, his suit brushed, his tie ironed, his hands shaking. Only one thing left to prepare anymore.

Or two, keeping in mind that he was supposed to be giving a speech at the dinner tomorrow. He hadn’t put any thought into that. If, by some miracle, the wedding day proceeded without incident all the way to that point, he could certainly improvise something about the bride looking radiant and the groom unbearably dashing and commendably non-murderous, so please have a nice rest of your life together, have my blessing to make plenty of babies and see you in hell.

At the moment, John was more concerned about the details of his outfit.

It was a ridiculous thing, really. John’s uncle had given it to him on his 21st birthday. Just the sort of gift you’d expect from Uncle Abraham, honestly, ceremoniously handed to him with a solemn speech about the importance of a young man arming himself against the forces of evil. As far as John was concerned, it was better to avoid places where you’d expect to encounter forces of evil altogether, so for years, the sword cane had stayed hidden in the back of his wardrobe.

This time though, he couldn’t really avoid facing the evil. And before morning came, he would have to make his choice: should he take the weapon with him to Henry’s wedding?

~

It was a true wonder John hadn’t gotten himself discharged from his work yet. Ever since his first meeting with Edward Hyde a few weeks ago, he had spent his nights worrying, unable to sleep, and his days resting his head on top of the ever-growing piles of poorly drafted wills and contracts that were taking over his desk.

Worrying – or, lately more often than not, wide awake with Edward Hyde in his bed.

It was nothing to be proud of, but after having opened his door to Hyde once, John had ended up welcoming him into the house nearly every night. It was not Henry, but it was the closest he was ever going to get, and since Hyde always initiated it… John didn’t have it in him to say no.

That didn’t mean John didn’t always feel terribly guilty afterwards. What was he doing, taking such risks and doing such things with the devil that was tormenting Henry? And, supposing Henry was in there somewhere, aware of what Hyde was doing, feeling everything – well, how could John ever justify his own actions to him? John was certain Henry wouldn’t agree to him using his body like this. In all likelihood, their meetings were just one of Hyde’s many ways of making life more miserable for Henry.

Still, John wanted it so much he always let Hyde in. Let him in and thought about Henry.

Upon their first meeting, John had been certain – had desperately wanted to be certain – that Hyde was a completely separate creature from Henry, a surplus soul possessing his body. Every time they had met each other since, it had become harder to hold onto that belief. John was disturbed by Hyde’s sense of humour. It was disturbing that the demon had a sense of humour to begin with, and it felt even worse to realise how familiar Hyde’s tone actually was. John could hear Henry in Hyde’s snarky, often scornful words. The only difference was that Henry never aimed his truly biting remarks at John, trying his best to make his friend laugh by describing others instead, while Hyde’s derision was usually directed towards him.

Besides the ways they moved and the ways their voices sounded like, there were two big differences between the two that John could notice, as far as he could notice anything while receiving Hyde’s full attention. Henry had shame where Hyde had none, and while Henry had always been temperamental and tactless, Hyde was downright cruel, both in his words and in his actions. Hyde couldn’t take no for an answer – not that John was in the habit of refusing him, but everyone has his limits – and while John was stronger and sturdier he was, the punches hurt all the same.

Despite everything, it terrified John to see how skinny Henry’s body had gotten, so he didn’t strike back.

~

On the nights that Hyde did not knock on his door, John had plenty of time to think about him.

Most nights, John thought about an article he had read in the newspaper, complete with a gruesome illustration, about a girl being murdered at a brothel and the murderer getting away unnoticed. A girl that looked, as far as you could tell based on the messy illustration of her mutilated body, all too familiar, in a brothel that John could well recognise.

How could it be possible that Henry had created something that was capable of such senseless, ultimate cruelty?

And could it be possible that Hyde would do it again?

John had a certain respect for Emma Carew. Sure, when Henry had first told him about her, he had wanted to tear her head right off for taking away the last sliver of a chance that John could keep Henry to himself. But, upon meeting her, it had turned out he had a very hard time actually hating Emma. She was too clever for that, too quick-witted and down-to-earth. John had a feeling that, had Emma been born a man, she would have made a better lawyer than he could ever become.

Had Emma been born a man, there would also have been no wedding to worry about.

And had Emma been born a man, maybe she would have been able to take Hyde’s blows like John did. As she was, with her short stature, John was not so certain.

~

The pre-wedding dinner that evening had been the most excruciating affair John had ever taken part in.

It was the first time he had seen Henry in weeks. Of course, he had seen his body – the thought of how familiar, in fact, he had become with Henry’s body made John’s face burn – but this was the first time in weeks he could see Henry in there. Could be sure that the body’s original occupant was in charge of it.

If John still had some doubt as to whether Henry was aware of Hyde’s doings, the way Henry turned red at the sight of him cleared that from his mind. Clearly he could remember.

Most of the evening was spent in agonising silence. Emma’s bridesmaids, Elsie and Clara, tried their hardest to tease the groom-to-be and to talk with Emma, but their efforts were met with stone-cold silence. Sir Danvers mumbled a couple of awkward sentences about young people and pre-wedding nerves and spent the rest of the dinner quietly fiddling with the stem of his wine glass. John, Henry and Emma spent their time by, in turns, trying to catch and trying to avoid each others’ eyes.

While the dessert was being served, Henry excused himself with some unintelligible words and rushed out of the house. No one knew what to say to that, so the rest of them continued spooning away at their puddings without a word.

As John was about to leave, Emma caught up with him in the empty hallway.

“John. You have to tell me what’s wrong with Henry.”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t lie to me. You have no idea how this feels like. First I don’t see Henry in weeks, then he comes here tonight, looking completely unwell. He doesn’t speak to me, and for half the dinner, you two keep exchanging weird looks, and then he simply runs away. Clearly you know something that I don’t.”

“I said I don’t know.”

“I said don’t lie to me!”

“Miss Carew… Emma… if you’re so worried about him, have you considered…”

“Now you’re going to suggest I should call off the wedding, right? You would think it’s that simple, wouldn’t you! For Christ’s sake. After what happened with Simon… I can’t. It would ruin father, it would ruin me! You understand there is no way I’d be getting a third chance at marriage after that, do you?”

A silence.

“It’s not fair! I’m supposed to be marrying him tomorrow, I’m supposed to be moving into his house to live with him for the rest of my life, but it’s like he doesn’t trust me at all. It’s clear he’s telling you something he’s not telling me.”

“He doesn’t tell me anything anymore either.”

“John, please be honest with me. Don’t tell me what’s wrong with him if that’s such a bloody huge secret, but please, tell me this. Do you think he is ever going to get better?”

A silence, again.

“I don’t know, Emma. I really don’t know.”

~

The clock struck three in the hallway. For a short little moment after the unfortunate dinner party, John recalled, he had considered telling Emma the truth.

Had he loved Henry any less, he would have told her.

What was there to do? If Sir Danvers knew his precious daughter was marrying a murderer, he would use all his influence to get Henry before a judge and a jury before the day was out. John knew that to speak of what he knew would be to condemn Henry to a certain death, no matter if Hyde ever came back or not.

But not to speak… Henry had clearly been smitten with the girl Hyde had murdered. Henry had been best friends with John since they were twelve years old, yet Hyde had threatened him with a handgun, had hit and disparaged him… What if it wasn’t Henry who stood by the altar tomorrow but Hyde, and what if Emma looked at him the wrong way? Or what if Sir Danvers got in his way, or someone else? What if Hyde didn’t arrive unarmed?

Could John stand there and watch and not do anything?

For as long as he could remember, John Utterson had dreaded Henry Jekyll’s wedding day.

Placing the sword cane by the clothes he would put on when morning came, he wished, for the millionth time, that the day he would have to attend his best friend’s wedding would never come.

#Jekyll & Hyde #Jekyll and Hyde #Henry Jekyll #Gabriel John Utterson #Emma Carew #abuse cw #violence cw #and to finish off this smörgåsbord of charming #dubious consent cw #(not that either Hyde or Jekyll have any problems with it – but Utterson here doesn't know that) #trying to tackle the difficult question: what goes through one's mind when he decides to take a deadly weapon to his best friend's wedding #otp: nuoruuden hairahdus #my stories.