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darkeninganon · 3 years

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Hey, more Gream (Ghost Dream)! Told You I’m not dead! Trigger warning for: Mentioned injuries, trauma response, and arguing (parent/child). Read at your own risk!

Gream hopped about, playing with the little piglin girl. He had decided to try and spend more time with Michelle, since she was technically his sister, Puffy being parent to both of them. He laughed as Michelle finally tackled him, bringing him to the ground. He ruffled her hair, or what little fuzz there was, as she clambered off him to play again. He waved her off, having grown tired. Why did little kids have to have so much energy?

The door swung open, a tan and grey person stepping in.

"Bro! Bro two! Shark Brother!"

Gream locked eyes with a man who looked more totem than human, head shrouded in a hood that looked like a shark's mouth. "Oh. Who're you?" A trident slammed into the wooden floor right beside Gream, a strangled yell coming from his throat. "PUFFY!" Gream half-stumbled-half-ran for the door, desperate to get away.

A grey-tan arm slammed into Gream's stomach, knocking the wind from him and making him fall back to the ground. Gream stared up in horror, shuffling away from the stranger. "who... Who are you?! Why do you hate me?!"

Michelle ran between the two men, holding her arms out. "Stop! He's our brother! Duckling brother!"

"Michelle, move, that man is a danger to-"

"Foolish?"

All three people looked to the door, finding none other than Puffy standing there, face contorted in confusion as she stared at the totem-shark-guy. "Son, what are you-"

Gream used the moment of confusion to run and duck behind his mom. She was his mom. Michelle stayed where she was, but lowered her arms. Puffy swung her head around frantically, curious why Gream was so desperate to hide-

Oh. Right. She forgot to tell Foolish.

Puffy looked to her son, a sheepish smile coming to her face as she laughed nervously. Foolish looked like he was about to have a hear attack from how close Gream was to her. "Sorry. I... I have no idea where you moved to, so I couldn't tell you. This is Gream-"

"You mean Dream?"

"No, I mean Gream. He's... you're brother." another nervous laugh. "I'll... I... Gream sweetie," She turned, cupping his face in her hands; "Why don't you go and collect some spruce logs, hm? We can finish up working on that table!" Gream perked up, nodding excitedly as he grabbed a stone axe and ran off to start cutting down trees. Puffy sighed, turning back to Foolish.

Who looked like he had just seen a pig fly.

"Foolish, I know you have a lot of questions-"

"No! Dad, you can't just adopt someone like him!" Foolish hissed, finally snapping out of his daze. He was waving around his trident like it was an extension of his arm and not a weapon. "He killed Tommy! He exiled Tommy! He manipulated Tubbo! There's a reason he was locked in prison-" "Foolish he died in there!" The small house fell silent, Puffy just barely holding back from crying. Why, why, why did it still hurt to say? She should be happy, not sad, she had her duckling back. No, she couldn't go into her emotions at the moment, she had to stop her son from killing her duckling, or worse, allow her duckling to get thrown back into the prison. "Gream isn't just a cover name, it's short for Ghost Dream. He likes it because it sounds like "green". He..." She covered her mouth, remembering the first time she saw Gream. It was like her first meeting of Dream all over again; her being afraid only to realize he wasn't a threat to her. "He's really different... From Dream, that is. He's... He's so sweet... He's building a table for some reason so he can play with Michael and Michelle and the chicken gets some rest. Dream is dead... gone, like Wilbur was... Like Ghostbur is."

Foolish stared at her. He couldn't believe this. His dad was taking pity on the greatest enemy of the SMP. And why? Because he had died and came back as a ghost? No, Foolish wasn't about to be fooled by this... monster.

"Puffy, dad, I get you care, I really do; but how do you know it's not a trick? How do you know he really forgot just like Ghostbur? What proof do you have!?" Foolish stalked toward his dad, growing physically as his anger grew. "You have no proof! Other than what he says, which, by the way, is as good as dirt! God, Puffy, and you let him stay here, alone! With Michelle!"

"Foolish, please, just trust-"

"I do trust you! It's him I don't trust!" Foolish barely fit in the house now, curling around Puffy, looming over her as his anger continued to grow.

And right at that point, Gream walked back in.

"Hey, Puffy-" The ghost fell silent, eyes trained on the giant totem god now looming dangerously over him and his mom. "What..." Gream took a step back, cowering away. He wasn't small, right? No, if he was Puffy would be much bigger than him. What was going on then? Was this guy with that man? Why were they brothers? Was Puffy with that man?!

"Gream, Gream! Listen, you need to calm down, okay? Foolish is just... surprised! Yeah, surprised!" She smiled, she couldn't let him start dripping acid, Foolish would-

"Dad, why are your hands bandaged?"

Shit.

Foolish had finally noticed the bandages around her hands and hooves. They were just there to keep a healing salve in place. "It's..." She let out a sigh, turning away from Gream, facing Foolish with a stern look; "It's not your concern Foolish. Now, please, leave my house. Gream has not committed any crime-"

"Yes he-"

"You will let your father finish talking." She raised her voice, not quite yelling, but just enough to get across the point that she was done with this argument. "Gream has not committed any crime, and I will not allow you to harm him or drag him back to the- back there. This conversation is over now. You are to leave Gream alone. Do I make myself clear?"

Foolish looked past her, glaring at the ghost; "Crystal." he hissed through grit teeth. He forced himself to shrink back down to a more normal size, storming out of the house.

Puffy sighed, shaking her head before hiding her face in her hands. This wasn't how she had wanted to break the news to Foolish. She let out a loud groan, dragging her hands down her face. She turned back to Gream, who looked about ready to bolt out of there. "Gream, it's okay now. Foolish-"

"Are you working with him?"

Puffy stared, confused for several minutes before she finally remembered. "No! I'm not working with that... with the man. I would never work with someone like that sweetie." She reached for him, stopping as he flinched back, his eyes darting from her face to her hand, the faint green glow giving away the movement behind his mask. She never really knew how expressive he had been. "I promise Gream. Please..."

He fidgeted, rubbing his arms as he stood away from her. "I want to, it's just... Is Foolish... is he working with him? How did you know... How did you know?"

Puffy fell silent. She almost let the prison slip, and in order to protect Gream a different truth came forward: She knew where he was when he was "missing". She messed up. "I... Well you see... Oh, how do I put this?" Puffy paced, rubbing the base of her horns as she tried to think of how to phrase this. She sucked in a breath through her teeth, finally stopping to face Gream "I... knew where you were, and... The man... they had a lot of proof saying you should stay there... and I... I believed them over you." She bit the nail on her thumb, doing her best to think about how else to make it believable. "Foolish... I'm not sure what Foolish is doing. Last time I saw him, he was living alone in his summer home. He might be with... that man." She watched Gream closely, guilt growing as his posture showed his horror; acid slowly pooling underneath his shoes as the words finally sunk in. "I'm sorry, I should have told you! I didn't know... I'm really, really sorry Gream! I just found out today he might-"

Gream ran. She had an idea where he was going. He was going back to the mansion or to the community house. One was preferred over the other. She would go after him, but right now, she had to clean up some acid and give Michelle food. Today was not going as she had hoped.

#Gream #Ghost Dream #Trigger warning #mcytg/t #mcyt g/t

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bentforkent · 4 years

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earth-shattering, red roses

penelope garcia x gender neutral!reader

a/n: here is my very hesitant, very obscure, and very late submission for @veraiconcos fic challenge. is there a market for penelope x reader fics? dunno, but there should be. penelope rights.

tagging sweet @gaystevie

content warnings: none - this is half fluff, half angst :)

word count: 1842

in which you’re penelope’s online friend and she develops a crush on you.

“and then i just,” penelope pauses to hold up a pair of campy earrings to the camera, “pick out some earrings, and i’m good to go!” after putting the jewelry on, she turns her face to model. her hair is pulled back into a bun, adorned with some fluffy hot pink hair accessory.

“looks cute, pen,” you muse, watching her pose on your tiny phone screen. penelope looks at you with a wide smile. there’s a piece of your hair sticking up and out of place, and she desperately wants to reach out and smooth it out. her thumb twitches.

“alright my sweet soulmate,” she starts with a smile. you know what’s coming. “it’s time for me to head to work.”

you pout at her pixelated face. “already?”

“unfortunately, dear,” she says, but despite feeling reluctant to hang up, her words come out as cheery as ever.

“alright, penny. have fun at work,” you say, and as soon as she acknowledges your farewell and offers her own, the screen goes black with nothing but a tri-tone to signal the end of the call.

you and penelope met seven months ago on some new, groundbreaking virtual world game. penelope’s character was a fairy, with wings that glowed so much she had to have paid extra to have them. (she hadn’t. she just hacked into the fairly new and easy-to-bypass code and given her character the virtual wardrobe of her dreams.) she made a point to keep true to herself, even through her tiny computer alter-ego.

the two of you often floated in the same circles as you played the game. you were funny, always typing something witty into the chat, and she quickly found herself very fond of you. she let her fingers hover over her keyboard before typing out her first message to you. after the whole “fisher king” fiasco, she respectfully refrained from contacting people on the internet, resigning herself to admiring from afar. but you were different. you had interacted with penelope already, exchanging compliments and working together to solve quests in the game. you knew her, and she knew you, but direct message felt like a new realm. it felt...intimate.

when you replied to her first message, a simple “hi penelope!” with a butterfly emoji attached for good measure, penelope nearly flew out of her desk chair; she was so excited. she quickly typed back to you, punctuating with approximately two million exclamation points and a link to her own personal social media. you smiled widely to yourself watching penelope’s chat appear on your computer screen.

over the next months, you and penelope had become practically inseparable. well...virtually, at least. you lived much too far from penelope, and penelope much too far from you. your distance spanned one timezone and a handful of states, but with how often you two talked, you always felt close. you learned her favorite color, her favorite movie, her favorite tv shows. she learned your guilty pleasure snack, your nighttime routine, and your favorite song to drive to. after 12am, you’d whisper into the phone receiver about your day, telling her about everything that bothered you or brought you joy. penelope revelled in these chats. listening to you was the best part of her day. this was your friendship, and it was good.

but recently things had been ever-so-slightly different. penelope lingers on a phone call even though she is exhausted, just to hear your voice. she proof-reads her text messages multiple times before sending them out--who does that? the red heart emoji is fast becoming her most used, taking the place of the pink one. the pink one is platonic, it’s always been platonic, and the red one is romantic. how is this happening? often, penelope lies in bed, imagining you’re laying against each other with your hands entangled. she reaches and rests her hand on the other side of the bed, where you would lie if you were there. sometimes, when she’s really tired, she believes she can feel you.

when thinking about this, penelope’s chest feels tight in the most exhilarating way. she’s confused, naturally. the last time she felt this way was when she thought she had real feelings for derek. (she’d buried whatever feeling that was way deep down in the depths of her brain.)

could it be love if you had never touched? no. no, penelope is a romantic, but she’s also a realist. this can’t be love, not yet. but...a crush. the realization of the word seeps into her bloodstream, setting each cell in her body on fire. it’s a nice fire, a warm fire, a fire that flickers in pink flames. penelope spins around a few times in her work desk chair.

gee, how lucky is she that she’s got her own little cave here? no one to interrupt her private moment of reckoning...although, now that she thinks of it, it’s not much of a “moment” from the outside. it’s not like her cheeks are stained red and there’s a sign on her forehead that reads “i have a crush!” any one of her coworkers could walk in right now and have no clue anything is any different. (penelope forgets that she’s terrible at hiding things and that she works with trained behavioral profilers.) she pauses a minute, staring at the door, half-expecting hotch to walk in and chew her out for not looking up white males in nebraska, or something.

penelope smoothly rolls her chair over to where her cell phone rests. she really shouldn’t be making a personal call at work, she thinks, but she also really shouldn’t have hacked into reid’s work computer and changed everything in english into tagalog last week. penelope can’t remember the last time she genuinely cared about the FBI’s rules. (in her defense, it took spencer like--half of a second to figure out what the unfamiliar language was, and a whole work day to understand it. she was teaching him!)

she picks up the phone, grinning as she swipes through recent text notifications of you updating penelope on your day. she finds the “call” button quickly, and waits as it begins to ring.

“penelope?” you question upon answering. “i’m at work, i can’t really talk right now.” you sound happy, despite the intrusion penelope knows she’s providing.

“no, i know,” penelope replies, twirling a pen in her free hand. she taps her foot quickly. “which is why i’ll make this super quick.” she drags out the word ‘super’ like it tastes like candy. “i have a crush on you. an earth-shattering, red roses, big crush on you.”

“oh,” you gasp, surprised. “oh! yeah!” you shake your head quickly, as if trying to wake yourself from a dream. all penelope can hear on the other line is the swooshing of air. “yeah, penny, me too. definitely me too. by that i mean, i have a crush on you too.” you’re stumbling, tripping over the words in your haste to get them out, but neither one of you seem to notice. all you can tell is the grin on your face is starting to hurt your cheeks, and all penelope can tell is that if she pulls her knees any closer to her chest she might squish herself.

“okay, cool,” penelope says through a smile.

you give a breathy laugh. “i really do have to go, though. i’ll definitely talk to you later, though. bye, penny,” you say, and hang up before giving penelope the chance to quip a witty goodbye.

you like her back, penelope thinks, the harps playing in her head making her feel like a juvenile pining after someone on the playground. her stomach flutters. the angelic voices in her head are singing, something that sounds like a warbled, choral version of “i wanna dance with somebody” by whitney houston. she closes her eyes, and relishes in it.

after a second, the stark silence in penelope’s office startles her into reality.

what is this?

what is she doing?

oh, fuck, she thinks. tears well in her eyes. what is she doing? this is so unrealistic, penelope thinks, berating herself. you’re far away, only connected to her through a phone screen. it’s a great sentiment to have this sweet crush, yeah, but it’s not practical. not real. it’s not like penelope would ever be in a position to pack up and fly to you, and after hearing you gush about your job just the night prior, she knows you certainly feel the same.

and then she feels like shit for even calling, for even telling you that she felt this way. it would cause nothing but problems. penelope pauses, in her brain. no, it wouldn’t even cause problems! being with you is so incredibly far-fetched that there isn’t even a “will they, won’t they” debate. any problem is solved with a simple “won’t they.” no, this wouldn’t cause problems, but it would cause heartache, and she should’ve known better. penelope thinks she’s feeling a bit of that heartache now. she sniffles, toying with a tiny plush pig she keeps perched on her desk. sometimes penelope just gets blinded by the butterflies. it’s her best trait and most fatal flaw.

there’s a knock at her door. derek.

“hey babygirl,” he says, pushing open the door and leaning into the doorframe. “what are you doing for lunch?”

with her back turned to him, she rubs at her eyes delicately, trying very hard not to mess up her makeup. “uh, i brought my thermos. soup,” she says, clawing desperately at the bubbly personality she can feel slipping away from her for today. she’s just down in the dumps.

“hey, what’s wrong?” derek asks, instantly picking up on her sour mood. he steps into her office and closes the door behind him.

penelope turns to him, eyes rimmed in red, and gives him a half smile. derek, sweet derek, always so in tune with penelope, is looking at her intently, worry written in every crease of his face. penelope always feels lucky to have him, but especially in this moment. in a rush of emotion, she stands, flings her arms around his neck and pulls him in to a tight hug.

derek chuckles. “i love you too.”

penelope pulls away with a half-hearted chuckle, swatting the air as if to get rid of the negative emotions plaguing her office. “you come in here with your big muscles and your pretty face and somehow you’ve got me crying in your arms.” she laughs again, slightly more enthusiastic this time.

derek pulls her to his chest again, holding her there without words. penelope lets out a deep sigh, releasing every single emotion she just ran through.

she could deal with those later. she could deal with her royal mess with you later. right now, it didn’t matter. what mattered now was her office, her lunch, and derek morgan.

“derek?” she asks, voice small. he turns to her, prompting her to speak again. “if i asked you to stay, would you?”

#vicficwriterchallenge #penelope garcia x reader #penelope garcia #penelope garcia fanfiction #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds #my writing

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ataswegianabroad · 3 years

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Alone Amongst the Gum Trees Part 4 - Digital News Report: Australia - A Murdoch Review

NOTE - this article has been migrated to Medium. As of 2021, A Taswegian Abroad will be closed down, and all of my writing will be published on my Medium profile.

---

After seeing a significant public outcry to my story based on a response to Sally McManus on twitter - I recently spoke with the ABC on being an Aussie overseas and the challenges we’ve faced getting home. The failure once again of Morrison’s government to provide enough vaccines and a proper quarantine system (covered up by the Murdoch Press protection racket) is having real implications on everyday Australians.

I strongly believe that for this to change, the media needs to perform its function of holding both elected officials, and their peers in the press, accountable for such actions.

Until Australia has reestablished media fairness among the press, improved media literacy amongst its citizens, and have mostly removed the cancer of Murdoch’s News Corp dominating mainstream media, we will never break this cycle of government ineptitude, gaslighting, negligence, and outright corruption with little to almost zero accountability.

You don't need to look far for proof. The ones that immediately come to mind for me:

2020 Bushfires and consistent climate change denial - "I don't hold a hose mate"

Freedom of speech is threatened where internet comedians get arrested in their own homes for making jokes about a LNP Deputy Premier

Kate and the horrendous Christian Porter alleged rape case

The four stage plan to make a plan about having a plan for Covid, 18 months into the pandemic, with literally no dates or vaccination targets.

Back in March, I caught onto calls for a Murdoch Royal Commission by former prime minister Kevin Rudd, and since then I’ve been keeping a very sharp eye on the Australian media landscape.

Despite over 500,000 petition signatures and the ramping exposure by Rudd online (leading to a full senate enquiry), the Murdoch press is doing its best to discredit, misdirect, or, blatantly ignore the storm that’s brewing. A couple of major things have caught my attention since that date.

News Corp outlets are still consistently cowing their competitors at Nine, Seven, the ABC, and more into towing the pro-Coalition narrative THEY choose, or, risk facing character assassination. This applies to everyone who dares step out of line: reporters, ministers, producers, senators, editors, presenters, janitors… no one is safe.

This sort of behaviour and influence is not easy to show on graphs and charts, but if you read between the lines, you can see it. Let me show you.

The ABC Presents the Data

In April of 2021, the ABC published a fact-file article outlining the power of the Murdoch press - the first article from an at least somewhat reputable source addressing this that I’ve seen on this topic.

The biggest things I took from it are that despite there seeming to be a diverse ownership pool across many mediums, News Corp (Murdoch) newspapers significantly dominate the national market for print papers, and, have recently been crowned leaders of the #1 source of news for Australians: social media (via mostly viral, opinion, and video based content primarily from News.com.au and Sky News pages on Facebook and YouTube).

Remember this point - spoiler alert: it’s important.

At the recent senate enquiries, News Corp claims there is in fact diversity - focusing on different mediums such as online, social media, radio, television etc. available to represent “diversity”. This is response refers to medium diversity, and is quite frankly a misdirection based on a technicality to avoid the real question. Classic News Corp.

Rudd says “each story published online or broadcast over the airwaves finds its point of origin in a print story, often a Murdoch print story". The former PM is referring to content diversity where factual reporting reigns supreme, and different points of view are given equal time in the sun without the blurring of opinion and fact.

As Kevin likes to say: “pigs might fly”

While you might be thinking “so what? News Corp is strong in print and social, Nine is strong for television and online news, ABC is strong on radio and social, Seven is strong on radio and television etc” - I’d like to ask you a question: where then is the accountability for elected officials in the media?

The Murdoch press won’t say a word about the Coalition’s ever growing laundry list of corruption, negligence, ineptitude or incompetence, but if a Labor politician sneezes, they’re likely to be labelled a Covid super spreader on the front page of 15 national and state papers the next day.

How about this doozy from the Herald Sun in May 2021 after Dan Andrews quite literally broke his back and took medical leave:

I didn’t see one peep from the Murdoch reptiles about Morrison's three day actual disappearing act only last week after his bogus "AstraZeneca is OK for under 40’s / go to your GP” comments.

The key thing to point out here is that the news provider who ranks number one in Australia's largest news medium (social media) is a well known right wing protection racket that doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, and there's mountains of evidence that exists to prove they don’t play a fair game.

Let’s Go To the Numbers

To really drill down into how important online media control is, I found the Digital News Report: Australia 2021 (i.e “the report” for the rest of this article), recently published by the University of Canberra by way of the Reuters Digital News Report: 2021

Below I've outlined a number of key headers from the report, and more specifically tried to point out exactly where Murdoch and News Corp are exploiting and manipulating their way into control. The data shows us both what has been going on, and the direction it will likely continue in.

Having worked in digital marketing for the better part of the last four years, I couldn’t wait to dive into this data and explain just how much of a rort this all is for the sake of profit.

1: Local News

Replaced by Murdoch Sky News, Invests in Social Media

“For ‘hard news’ such as local politics, economy, crime and health, local news consumers continue to turn to traditional local news outlets, such as the newspaper or TV. However, for most other news and information, consumers are using internet search and other internet sites to get localised information.”

The report tells us that:

“2020 was a difficult year in Australian news sector, with news companies closing or suspended. This is in part a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it reflects a longer-term gradual decline in newspaper consumption that is replaced by online offerings”

So why did the BBC report in 2020 that Murdoch shuts 112 Australia print papers in major digital shift? CNN covered it too, as did the Guardian. I couldn’t find anything on a Murdoch owned site or outlet. That’s because Rupert is rolling out “Sky News Regional” to replace them all.

The report outlines:

“This year’s data highlights the important role of newspapers in generating a sense of community, particularly among older news consumers . Further, newspapers are perceived to be the best source of information about local government and politics, which is central to the functioning and accountability of local communities. It is important for industry and government to remember that the closure of a local newspaper not only leaves a gap in the provision of quality news, but also a loss of critical information that is connected to people’s sense of attachment to their community”

How on earth does one far-right Sydney run “news” channel represent hundreds of regional communities? Answer: It doesn’t - it’s designed to influence regional voters to think the way that suits the Murdoch press agenda.

2: Impartiality of News

Murdoch Cuts ABC Funding via Coalition, Ramps-Up Online Polarisation

The report tells us that

“traditionally, values of independence, and impartiality — or ‘objectivity’ — have been central to journalism’s mission and deemed important to perceptions of trust in news. However, in the digital media environment, former demarcations between news, features, opinion, and advertising continue to blur.

“News audiences are becoming more polarised and are increasingly attracted to news brands that offer partisan perspectives.”

What you’re seeing here is that while the data reveals a strong desire for news outlets to attempt fairness, balance, and an impartial approach to reporting - the demographics more likely to use social media (the medium that Murdoch now leads, mostly containing Millennials and Gen Z) are less supportive of impartiality, neutrality and giving equal time. More on this in Part 8.

On the flip side:

"news consumers who prefer impartiality are much more likely to say they distrust news on social media.”

“Both the 2020 and 2021 data highlight that these traditional journalism ideals are more strongly supported by older generations and those who use traditional sources of news."

You need not look further than the blatant defunding of the ABC to see how the Murdoch Cancer continues to take over.

So, if the majority of Australians believe the ABC is impartial and does a “good job”, why has the ABC had $783m in funding cut since 2014 by the Coalition government?

Seems to suit the Murdoch agenda pretty nicely.

3: News Representation

Low Media Literacy in Under-Represented Demographics

“Importantly, a large proportion of Australians say they don’t know if the amount of media coverage of ‘people like them’ is sufficient or fair. Those who have low education are much more likely to say they don’t know. This indicates a lack of engagement and adequate media literacy to identify misrepresentation and bias in the news.

“Combined with a lack of awareness about misinformation, lower interest in and consumption of news, these findings confirm the ongoing need for targeted media literacy interventions"

The only way the public can push back against misinformation is by knowing they’re witnessing it first hand. That does not suit what Murdoch is selling.

Misinformation breeds confusion, smoke and mirrors, and is aided by political spin, gaslighting and stone throwing to keep people moderately confused and ultimately giving up on understanding the “truth”, or, deciding their own convenient version of truth.

The closure of the Australian Alternative Press due to revoked funding by Nine and News Corp in 2020 should be enough to tell you the media landscape is gravitating consistently to the right.

4: News Access

People Losing Interest, Murdoch Keeps the Elderly Onside

As traditional mediums (television, radio, and print) are on the decline, social media and online news is on the rise with the aid of mobile device popularity (45% of Australians preferred news devices).

It's not a surprise to learn that during COVID-19, older Australians have increasingly turned to social media platforms to get news.

“The percentage of 75+ who use social media as their main source of news has more than tripled in two years from 3% to 10%. Among this age group, social media is now comparable to print use.” the report states.

While it’s hard to point this as a direct plot by News Corp, this is still great news for Murdoch. All News Corp had to do was weaken the traditional mediums that aren’t making them as much money, and push the audience toward social media. It worked.

75+ votes still count, and they are more likely to click the “clickbait” articles to make News Corp that sweet, sweet ad platform revenue.

5: Emerging New Habits

Murdoch Funds the Fuel for the Fire

Despite people being somewhat varied on their social media usage for news specifically, the important statistic here is that more than half of Australians consume news videos.

The below statistics from the ABC should set alarm bells screaming. To put it plainly:

More people on social media than ever before

Murdoch ramps up social media content (Facebook posts / videos & YouTube videos mainly), then mega-funds paid advertising on said content

Drives subscribers and views through the roof

Overtakes ABC (yes, the one he’s got his politician friends/puppets actively defunding)

Don’t believe me? See for yourself.

The ABC outlines that:

“Fact Check has analysed audience data for media accounts on what Canberra University found were the two most popular platforms: Facebook (used by 39 per cent of news consumers ) and YouTube (21 per cent).”

“Data from the analytics site Social Blade shows that Sky News Australia's YouTube channel had more than a million subscribers at the start of 2021, having doubled its following in just six months. Its subscriber base began to pull ahead of Channel 7 and Channel 9 from mid-2020, and by March 2021 Sky had overtaken ABC News”

The University of Canberra report aligns to these trends, and summaries that:

“Australian news consumers are accessing news online from a diverse range of sources including news videos, podcast apps, and numerous social media platforms alongside traditional branded news websites.”

“Although social (media) is the most common main pathway to news online it is common for consumers on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram to say they mostly see news incidentally while they are on those platforms for other reasons.”

6: Trust and Misinformation

Rupert’s Bread & Butter

“Tackling disinformation and misinformation is complex and won’t be solved by platforms alone. Responsibility must be shared across governments, digital platforms, users, news media and society to make sure Australians can access accurate and reliable news and information online, while ensuring rights to freedom of expression are protected.”

Creina Chapman, Deputy Chair, Australian Communications and Media Authority

This in part ties back to my earlier points in part 3 regarding media literacy - the report indicates that trust remains high where people use both multiple mediums AND multiple sources for news. This is further compounded by the evidence that low educated readers are less likely to know they’ve encountered misinformation.

The report confirms this by indicating:

“The differences between high and low educated Australian consumers in relation to concern about COVID-19 misinformation and their ability to discern it, points to an ongoing need to boost media and information literacy among socio-economically disadvantaged groups in Australia”

The ABC and SBS still continue to be the most trusted brands, however, it needs to be highlighted that “Local or Regional Newspaper” comes in third (62% trustworthy) - the vast majority of which Murdoch owns.

In 2020, survey participants were most concerned about Australian governments and politicians being sources of general misinformation (35%), followed by activists or activist groups (20%).

Despite this, 2021 shows that trust in news has increased in 2021 (43%), rebounding off trust associated with COVID-19 news reporting. The report breaks this down further:

“The data show(s) that concern about journalism as a source of misinformation about COVID-19 is very low (9%). In 2018, we asked about ‘fake news’ and 63% of news consumers said they were concerned about poor quality journalism as a source of ‘fake news’, and 40% said they had encountered it. This signals a possible positive shift in perception of journalism after 12 months of reporting expert health advice about the COVID-19 pandemic.”

"The data also highlight(s) ongoing low levels of trust in news found on social media (18%) compared to trust in news generally. Given much of the news encountered on digital platforms is the same as that which appears on the homepages and front pages of well-respected news brands, the findings suggest that the nature of the online environment itself is one the factors lowering perceptions of trust, rather than the news content."

Creina Chapman, Deputy Chair, Australian Communications and Media Authority states in the report that:

“In the context of online news, nearly two-thirds of Australians remain concerned about what is real and fake on the internet. And a variety of surveys over the past 12 months have shown a concerning portion of the population believe dangerous falsehoods about COVID-19 that have been circulating online.

"Any lack of trust in authoritative or reliable sources of news and information is particularly worrisome during a global pandemic, as it may drive people to spaces where misinformation is more prevalent. This, in turn, increases exposure to false conspiratorial narratives that can result in real-world harm to both individual users and broader societal institutions”

Where does Murdoch benefit here? Same as always: smoke, mirrors, confusion, and spin all wrapped into enormous volumes of social media content.

7: Paying for News and Funding Journalism

Conveniently Avoiding the Issue

“To ensure media diversity and plurality in Australia, a mix of substantive, fiscal measures is necessary to support, transition and stimulate existing news businesses and encourage new entrants”

Anna Draffin, Chief Executive Officer, Public Interest Journalism Initiative

Despite a fair and balanced media being a must-have for any democracy - this is not surprising, given the low amounts of trust for online media content. Overall, given that Australians are not concerned about the poor financial state of news outlets, it’s sad but not surprising that many feel the government should not step in to help.

What is the most dangerous here is the simple fact that when there’s no money to fund decent and ethical journalism, we end up with tabloids, opinion pieces, shock jocks, and anything that just gets you to first: SEE it (an “impression” in the marketing world) and second: CLICK on it. Both of these things make News Corp richer.

Here’s the report evidence:

“A quarter (25%) of left-wing news consumers and 27% of centre-leaning are supportive of government intervention (to assist struggling journalism). However, more than half of right-wing (58%) news consumers are opposed to government assistance for financially struggling news companies."

“This is consistent with the findings that left-wing news consumers are more likely to say they are concerned about the financial state of news businesses (41%) compared to centre (37%) or right-wing (34%) news consumers”.

News consumers who think their political views are represented fairly for online news are another win for Murdoch. This is compounded by the fact that those who think news should take a position are also more likely to pay for that news.

That means if the mainstream media is pro-right wing, for example, then more people look at right wing news and pay for right wing reporting, ultimately leaving the left without funding, and fighting a losing battle. All Murdoch needs to do is discredit who he deems as “left” and it’s game over.

But Murdoch doesn’t need subscriptions. That’s just pocket money for him. With the introduction of the News Media Bargaining Code, Rupert & News Corp continue to improve their financial revenue streams through digital marketing strategies (views and clicks) without needing people to pay for fact based, objective journalism.

8: Political Orientation

Stealing the Centre & Making Opinion the “News”

Of all the elements of this report, this one shocks and upsets me the most.

The majority of Australians (61%) identify with the centre-left of politics (30% political ‘centre’ and 31% identify as either ‘very left-wing’, ‘fairly left-wing’ or ‘slightly left of centre’).

Only 22% of Australians align themselves with the right wing, and 18% don’t know their political orientation.

Younger generations have historically been the drivers of progressive social change, and younger Australians are more concerned about the environment and the impacts of things like climate change and equality.

Clare Armstrong, National Political Reporter at the The Daily Telegraph outlines in the commentary that:

“many young Australians may rightly feel their futures, livelihoods and social activities have been either jeopardised or overlooked by a centre-right government, and subsequently a larger cohort has been pushed toward the left”

To begin in closing, based on this - how do Conservative/Right Wing parties keep winning federal elections?

It’s by doing exactly what we’ve mentioned in the first 7 sections:

Flooding the online and social media landscape with non-factual spin and confusion

This is aided by the bedrock of owning the majority of national, capital city, and regional papers which in turn steer the daily political narrative on television/radio

This is all driven home by bullying competitors into following suit, or, suffering the consequences

There is no governing or peer run body with teeth (or guts) to hold Murdoch and News Corp responsible or accountable

According to the report;

“Younger generations, who say they feel less attached to their local community, and who also access social media widely for general news, are more likely to seek local news and information from the internet and online platforms.”

As Clare Armstrong also states:

“Social media has significantly fuelled political polarisation in the last decade as its algorithms, by design, show users more of what they want to see, rather than a broader mix of ideas presented in traditional media.”

In summary - this quote from the Political Orientation trends leaves a long-lasting impression on my psyche:

“Left-wing news consumers (61% of the country) are more comfortable with news that takes a position rather than maintaining neutrality.”

Rupert has them right where he wants them: thinking that opinion is news.

#murdochroyalcommission #scotty from marketing #covid australia #auspol

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flowerpowell · 5 years

Text

The Boy Next Door (Colt x MC / Logan x MC)

PART THIRTEEN

A/N: IM SO SORRY PLEASE DONT HATE ME. Characters belong to Pixelberry, I’m just playing with them.

Rating: PG-18 (lots of swearing)

Word count: 2250

Tagging: @brightpinkpeppercorn @desiree-0816 @lovehugsandcandy @walkerduchess @liamzigmichael4ever @emceesynonymroll @emichelle @hellomynameisdevi @client-327 @badchoicesposts @blackcatkita @pixel-thirsty @drakeismyweakness @donutsgirl36 @miss-raleigh-carrera @i-bloody-love-drake-walker @lovemychoices @mrskaneko @missameliep ♥

I love him. I love Colt.

“Bye, honey! Safe journey, you two!”

“Bye, Dad!”

I love Colt. I love Colt. I love Colt.

“You okay in there?” Logan asked glancing at his girlfriend, lost in thought.

I love Colt, I-- “Yes, yes,” she smiled at him.

“If something is bothering you--”

“I’m fine, Logan. I just want to go home and lie down for a bit, I’m tired.”

Logan swallowed hard and shifted his attention back to the road in front of them. “If you say so...”

She hated this. She hated the fact that Logan still didn’t know. She hated the fact that she loved Colt, not her own boyfriend. She did love Logan though, but it was nothing compared to what she felt to Colt. She just wanted to be home, in his house, see him, just see him. She needed to see him or else she would die.

When Logan parked in front of the house, Ellie almost ran inside looking for him.

Colt was doing the dishes when she entered and he instantly turned his head at the sound of the intrusion. He smiled at her so widely that Ellie forgot how to breathe.

I love him. I love him. I love him.

With a heart beating way too fast for a healthy human being, she took a few steps towards him as he wiped his hands.

I love him. I love him. I love him.

Slowly, he put his arms around her waist, wrapping her in a hug. She could smell his cologne and his aftershave and it was the most beautiful smell ever.

I love him. I love him. I love him.

Colt pulled away and looked at her with a serious expression. Even though it lasted for less than a minute, it felt like eternity and the longer he stared the more sure she was that Colt just read her mind.

Colt? You’re here? I might have used your toothbrush to clean the toilet when I was mad at you.

No reaction. He couldn’t read her mind after all.

“Ellie, I--”

“Hey, can someone help me with these?” Logan walked into the apartment carrying two large suitcases, two bags full of homemade dishes from Ellie’s father, her purse, his phone and two water bottles.

“On it,” Colt quickly broke the eye contact with Ellie and took a few things from Logan to help him out. Ellie grabbed her purse and headed towards her bedroom, feeling both, Colt’s and Logan’s, eyes on her.

Oh boy, what a mess.

~~~~

A few days passed and Ellie still didn’t know what Colt wanted to tell her that day. She tried to get him to talk to her but they seemed to never be completely alone. Ellie’s feelings to Colt only intensified with each day and she felt like she was going to explode soon.

On a Saturday morning, she decided to wake up earlier and catch Colt in the kitchen before Logan woke up. But once she got out of bed, her boyfriend opened his eyes and gently grabbed her hand.

“Hey... Is everything okay?” He asked concerned.

“Yes, I couldn’t sleep. I’m going to make coffee.”

“Ellie...” he let go of her hand and looked at her wistfully. “Is it about me? I—I see something is wrong, you’re being distant and I... I know I’m busy with my job and everything but I hope you know how much I love you.”

Ellie swallowed hard and nodded. She needed to tell him. Soon. Before he would somehow find out on his own.

“I love you too Logan,” she whispered and got back in bed with him. I love you Logan. Just... not the way I love Colt.

He pulled her closer and kissed her forehead.

Why does life have to be so complicated?

~~~~

Ellie didn’t talk to Colt that day. She talked to Annya instead. The woman brought more letters and pictures for Ellie and the two were looking through old photos of Colt, laughing and sharing stories. Ellie grew to like Colt’s mother and she was sure he would love her too. She knew from Annya that Colt inherited his stubbornness from his father. Colt was actually very similar to Teppei in many ways as Ellie noticed after learning more about Teppei. She wanted Colt to learn more about his parents too. She had many letters to prove that Teppei did love his son a lot and was proud of him and she couldn’t wait to share them with Colt. She hated knowing that he thought his parents hated him. He deserved nothing but love and Ellie wanted to prove it to him.

When she came home after school a few days later, Colt was sitting on the couch and watching something. He smiled when she walked in and she felt a familiar warmth in her heart at the sight.

“Hey, how was school?” he asked turning off the TV.

“It was... good, but this is not what I wanted to talk about with you,” Ellie sat down next to him and started chewing her lip nervously.

“Talk? What happened?”

“Nothing happened! I just wanted to talk. About life and stuff like that. Nothing specific.” Liar.

“Okay...? Then, umm... how’s life?” Colt asked confused and Ellie tried to supress a chuckle.

“Your life Colt. I wanted to ask you to tell a little bit more about your father and mother. If that’s okay.”

“Ellie,” Colt ran his hand through his hair, “there’s not much to tell. My mom left us when I was little and Pop never cared about me. You know the story.”

“I do but... Do you know why your mom left you? Or why your father was treating you like this?”

Colt sighed. “Pop said she wanted to focus on her life and the two of us were just an obstacle. I don’t know why he treated me like this, he probably hated me for ruining his and mom’s life.”

Ellie swallowed hard knowing it was not true. She didn’t want to push him too far as Colt really hated sharing anything from his life and the fact that he was talking to her was already a big victory.

“Why do you care, actually?” He raised an eyebrow and looked at her and she shrugged.

“Just wondering. You know I’m nosy.”

“Fair enough,” he chuckled.

“I think it’s not true. I mean, I don’t think your father hated you. I think he loved you and was proud of you. And your mother loved you too.”

“Yeah, yeah, and then pigs started flying and shitted all over Pop’s head and it turned him into a grumpy monster,” Colt rolled his eyes and Ellie bursted into laugher.

“Maybe not exactly that but... Your father was proud of you.”

“I wish, Ellie. I tried so damn hard but he only complained about me. And now he’s dead so it doesn’t matter anyway.”

Ellie took a deep breath and retrived Teppei’s letter from her pocket. She cleared her throat before speaking. “He was proud of you. I—I have a proof. Here.” She put the letters on his lap and Colt looked at her with a puzzled expression. “These are your fathers letters. To your mom, who didn’t leave you by the way, she... was studying here and it was your father who took you from her and--”

“Ellie,” Colt turned his attention to letters in front of him, “where the hell did you get these?”

“I umm.... got them from your mom...”

“Who?!”

“Your mom. She just started working at my university and I wanted to get to know her better when we started talking--”

“You what?”

“I... talked to your mom. She actually never left you and I--”

“You talked to my mother?” Colt abruptly stood up and was towering over her now.

“Yes, but I wanted to know why she left you because you always thought you had no one and I thought--”

“You thought what?” His voice was calm but she could see he was angry.

“I thought... I wanted... I thought I would try to reunite you with your family...”

“And why would you do that? You know why I never wanted to keep in touch with her, I thought you knew me... Why, Ellie?! Why?”

“Because... I wanted... I wanted you to have a family. I knew you wanted one and--”

“Wrong. I never said I wanted anyone. I have no one and I’m good with that.” He didn’t even sound angry at that moment, he sounded broken and upset that Ellie did something like that.

Shit.

“You have me...”

“I don’t.”

“But...”

“No buts, Ellie!” He started yelling, now definitely angry, “How DARE you talk to someone from my life? Why couldn’t you just mind your own damn business?! Why did you do this?!”

“Because...”

“I am sick of you. You always think you know best, don’t you? But this is not your life, it doesn’t affect you, so fuck off.”

“I just wanted--”

“I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU WANTED! This woman left me, and I don’t care what is her official version, I have the right to not talk to her.”

“I know but I--”

“But I! I! I! This is not about you! You’re not my sister, you’re not my family.” He looked at her and swallowed hard before adding. “You’re not my girlfriend. You’re not even my friend. You’re NO ONE, and you have NO rights to do anything like this behind my back!”

“But Colt...”

“NO BUTS!”

“Hey! Why are you yelling at my girlfriend? She didn’t do anything wrong!” Logan walked in after hearing their heated conversation. He glared at Colt and Colt sent him an angry look too.

“A knight in shining armor! This is none of your business so get the fuck out of here!”

“Colt!” Ellie screamed and grabbed Logan’s arm when he wanted to punch Colt.

“You’re being rude to my girlfriend, this is my fucking business as well. She just wanted to get you to talk to your mother, why are you so mad about it? She did it because she cares about you, for whatever reason.”

“Care.” Colt snickerred. “What do you know about caring about other people? Look at you. Defending your girlfriend because you ‘love’ her. And have you ever told her the truth?”

“What truth?” Ellie asked confused.

“Colt!” Logan narrowed his eyes.

“Why, since we’re not minding anyone’s business, let’s share some stories, shall we?”

“COLT!” Logan raised his voice.

“Logan worked for my father,” Colt turned to Ellie with something unreadable in his eyes. “They were both stealing cars, revamping them and selling as new. As a job. I never got into it, I only helped when I needed to. But these two, they were close. Stole many cars until one days they were caught on camera. My father was killed while escaping from the cops but Logan made it.”

Ellie looked at Logan with horror on her face. He stood still, quiet, avoiding her eyes.

“He helped me get my revenge. For my father. This is why I owned him a favor. Wanna know the best part?”

“COLT!!!” Logan yelled but Colt ignored him.

“Logan was so scared he would go to jail that he wanted to find out who was solving his and my father’s case so he could ‘take care’ of this person, too. This is how you found Detective Wheeler, isn’t it, Logan? As you said, it would be easier to get to him through his daugther, right?”

“Logan...?” Ellie looked at her boyfriend or... whoever it was, with tears in her eyes.

“Ellie, I swear I can explain. It’s not like this, I--”

“IS IT TRUE? What Colt said?”

“Yes...” Logan bit his lip and looked at her pleadingly.

“How could--”

“Oh, stop it. As if you’re a saint!” Colt turned to Ellie.

“Colt...”

“What? We’re telling each other secrets, right? You didn’t think twice before prying into my business so why should I?” He turned to Logan. “On your anniversary, when she broke up with you, she ended up naked in my bed. Has she ever mentioned that? I still have scratches on my back from her nails if you wanna see.”

“Colt!!!”

“What? Isn’t it nice when people don’t mind their own business?”

“I need... I need a moment,” Logan took a few steps back and Ellie started crying. They both looked broken and Colt, on the other hand, looked furious.

“Good. Now that we all established that you are worth each other, I want you, both of you, to get the fuck out of my house. I don’t want to see ANY of you EVER AGAIN in my life.” Colt yelled before storming out. Logan took his jacket and walked out of the door too.

Ellie looked at both of them leaving, feeling as if her whole world was falling apart. She collapsed on the floor, crying so hard that she couldn’t catch a breath. It didn’t take long before her crying stopped and everything went black.

#ride or die: a bad boy romance #ride or die: bad boy romance #colt kaneko #colt kaneko x mc #colt x mc #rod colt #rod logan #logan x mc #angst alert #choices #playchoices #sorry

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buddha-in-disguise · 4 years

Text

A full of fucking swearing long post about the shitstain that is Dominic Cummings. Plus where I can find them, at the end I will link fucking sources, just in case anyone wants to try and say otherwise.

Also, if you do start @ me over him, I'm blocking your fucking cunt of an arse. Clear enough?

Good. Then let's begin.

As a nation, we can be a fairly mild mannered lot. At least collectively. But as of now, the majority of Britons are a mass of anger. So much so, I've even agreed with pundits like Piers Fucking Morgan! That alone is distressing enough, but Dominic Cummings has pissed off just about everyone.

But first a little background on this heaping pile of shit.

Dominic Cummings was one of the main instigators of Leave Campaign in regards Brexit. Now for those who don't know or haven't cared until now, not only were they found to be in breach of the electoral law, Dominic himself was also found in contempt of Parliament when they tried to find out if Vote Leave used fake news to help achieve their goal.

To add to this, he took around 200k of subsidies from the EU for his properties. So a known lying fucking hypocrite.

Even before that, he was advisor to Gove, that spineless fucking weasel who has been out today spouting even more fucking bollocks over this. Funny that.

Don't think for a minute being Gove's Special Advisor meant Cummings was liked by others in the Tory Party. Cummings was pretty much despised by a lot in Government at the time. David 'Pig fucker' Cameron called him a career psychopath.

Fast forward to 2019. Cummings is now Special Advisor to another spineless fucking cunt known as the Prime Minister Boris Johnson. BJ was never in control. Anyone watching what was going on knew that the moment Cummings had Javid's one aide uncermoniously marched out of her job, using armed police no less.

Only problem was, he had no authority to do that.

But never fear, BJ decided to change the rules, so lo and behold, he didn't break any rules (seeing a pattern here yet?)

So fast forward to the last few days. Now newspapers were reporting that Dominic Cummings drove his COVID-19 symptomatic wife, with a 4 year old in the same enclosed vehicle, some 260 miles to his parents location in Durham.

Oh now comes the fun part, and why as a nation we are all beyond extremely miffed, and fucking pissed off!

The offical guidance was anyone in a household with someone displaying symptoms (tested or not) was to stay the fuck at home. There was one exception to this rule. One. Extreme risk to life.

So Cummings took the decision to go and drive for fucking childcare reasons.

A man with his wealth, privilege and even with family in fucking London, couldn't do it at his home, but had to drive (thus risking his own child because of viral load you're going to get in an enclosed vehicle), himself and others (because he had to stop. Tell me of anyone with a 4 year old in the car they wouldn't be stopping anywhere?)

So anyway, they take a fucking jolly jaunt up to his parents.

But hold on, a Minister recently resigned for breaking lockdown rules. So why in the ever loving fuck was Cummings not resigning or being fired?

I don't know what Cummings has on BJ, but I suspect it makes wanting to fuck a dead pig seem like child play. Because not only isn't he fired, good old Jolly BJ comes out and fully defends and supports his senior advisor (who is unelected as well, just to add salt to that wound).

So by following his fatherly instincts (the fucking laughable defence given, when BJ couldn't even say how many fucking kids he has) and acting with integrity, (someone please give these fucking morons a dictionary), Cummings was given a free pass.

And then a load of fucking MP's including cabinet ministers all piled in saying how great a father he is, how it was exceptional circumstances that made him do it, you're all overreacting you terrible ingrate you, blah, blah, more horse shit, blah!

So, now all of those families who actually followed the fucking rules, and did what the government said are now being told, oh sure. You could've attended the funeral of your loved ones. Gone halfway across country to get child care for your kids, and so on and so fucking forth.

So basically saying, hah the jokes on you.

A few grumbles came out from the odd Tory, who might not have grown a spine, but were looking less like jelly (jello) being nailed to the wall, and more like thick fucking custard. A little more substance to them, but still slopping around with no spine.

We have a bank holiday coming up, and unusually good weather forecast, because as every Brit knows, Bank Holidays are normally shit weather wise. And a lot of people saying, fuck me if Cummings can do this, so can we. And all pile into cars for days out as if nothing had changed! No masks, no social distancing. Zilch. Great innit.

No it fucking isn't! The virus doesn't take a holiday you fucking morons!

So back to the other mess. Cummings now gives a press conference in the fucking rose garden of No.10. Also likely in breach of the rules, but as we know, he really doesn't give a flying fuck about rules now does he.

First of all he was 30 minutes late (you would've been sanctioned , therefore getting no money, for weeks, probably months if on benefits and did the same thing thanks to this government). But he eventually rolls up, looking slightly less like he's been dragged through a hedge backwards, but still looking like a dogs arse. Actually sorry dogs, you don't deserve that comparison. I'm really sorry!!

Anyway, here he is, about to fill us with more bullshit.

The shit now isn't just hitting the fan. In the immortal words of Terry Pratchett, The Midden has now hit the Windmill.

Cummings is trying to explain why he did what he did, oh and now we have the added delight of him being caught going out to a location some 30 miles from the family home, which is another breach of the law!

He sat there, and said, the public aren't angry at me, they're angry because of how the media have reported it. Woe is me, they're making me out to be the bad guy in all this .... blah fucking boo hoo blah.

This was supposed to calm us down.

Dear reader.

It. Did. Not.

So journalist after journalist (Beth Rigby gave a fucking masterclass) actually didn't let him get away with it.

These weren't just questions or accusations. They threw proof at him! Despite the collective rage, it was glorious to see them do it. If this was when stocks were still in use in the town square, Cummings would've been covered in excrement and anything else to hand. That shit was blown back so fast, it was hard to keep up.

Anyway, without going into too much here, his excuses ranged from he didn't feel safe because of demos outside his home (unverified and strangely enough, no neighbours reporting any disturbances either. Funny that),

Then, having gone to great lengths to say he drove up to his parents to keep his kid safe, he explains the additional trip he got caught out on was taken to test his eyesight, which had been affected because of being unwell with Covid19.

So not only is it highly fucking illegal to drive while impaired (including if eyesight is impaired) in this country, you decided to take your wife and kid, who you wanted to protect, not for a little jaunt down the road, but on a 60 mile fucking round trip.

Oh, and he hadn't stopped on the 260 mile trip up there, but his kid needed a stop on the way home, so a less than 60 mile trip required a stop. Yeah. Strange how that works.

He still kept blaming the media. Still kept up the woe is me, it was exceptional circumstances, and so on. Must get sore lips there Cummings, with the amount of smoke you try to blow up peoples arses.

So, to end it all, he has flatly refused to resign. No need to even consider it. The public will be jolly good chaps in all of this and see my side of things.

No we won't, you motherfucking cunt!

So this morning, various people including Gove are still making excuses for this fucking shitstain.

I now wish Cummings is fired, but better yet, thrown out of our universe, so he can never ever be seen again. But I've seen more spine on a fucking snake that I have Boris Johnson, who is just as much to blame in all this.

Before I end, we also had an infamous Tweet from someone in the Civil Service, who knew they were torpedoing their career. I'm including a screen shot. It was taken down, but it was genuine. Whoever they were, you deserve all the applause and a fucking medal!

Oh and a few sources for this and the cuntface Cummings. But you know, just Google the fucker. You can find this and much more.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44856992

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47712040

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/aug/10/dominic-cummings-owns-farm-got-eu-subsidy

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jun/18/david-cameron-dominic-cummings-career-psychopath

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/dominic-cummings-boris-johnson-cabinet-minister-aides-civil-service-sajid-javid-a9109836.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52782913

[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52553229

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-52792200

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52793991

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/dominic-cummings-trip-county-durham-18306147

https://www.gov.uk/driving-eyesight-rules

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inkdrinkershadowsinger · 4 years

Text

Thoughts/ Background The Deathly Hallows Part Two

The introduction music is so haunting. The castle in all its glory is haunted by dementors and fog. Snape is solitary. Everything is singular and empty on the grounds. The only color we see at Hogwarts during this time is during the final battle when McGonagall pushes Harry out of the way, and we see that flash of fire from her wand. That’s when you know stuff is about to kick off.

Griphook sounds so lost as to why Harry would bury Dobby. The divide between creatures and wizards, between goblins and wizards has gotten so great that neither side even thinks to assume that the other possesses even the smallest hint of kindness or humility. This is a fic all in itself.

What are the goblins stake in the sword? What is with the mention of the tiara in the books? I feel like Rowling had more to say about this topic, but for some reason she didn’t.

I hate that Fleur seems to be so meek in this movie. I want her to be this badass fighter chick, the kind of person who the Goblet of Fire would chose once again to play one of the most challenging games ever, the kind of person who would leave her country and family for an amazing opportunity and adventure, but her character wasn’t given much time or space to be free to show itself in that manner.

Wandlore is super fascinating. Is there a book about wandlore? Like a companion book like Quidditch Through the Ages? I feel like there should be.

It looks like that is a quilt patch behind Harry’s head. It would have been a gift from Mrs. Weasley.

It always bothered me that Luna was just like, “Yeah, I’m going back to school.” They just locked her butt up in the dungeons, and then she decides to go back to a school where the people who locked her up are currently in power and could torture her for information about the whereabouts of Harry Potter, the person she literally just escaped with. I think, that’s why this scene was cut from the final cut of the basic DVD versions.

Ron is so quick here to be like, “They suspect us. They suspect us.” But the silence doesn’t go on for that long. It feels like someone with such an iron gut gets antsy really quickly, and not antsy like sweating a bit, but antsy like he’s about to start crying. It just seems weird. One of the basic security measures to the bank might be that they have like a gas that leaks through that makes people feel paranoid or something like that. You want to get 200 galleons out, but what happens if you get robbed on the way out the door? Better to only get 100, thus keeping money in the bank under the goblins eyes. It would help keep out thieves as well, petty and otherwise.

None of the other goblins think that something is off with the behavior of this one goblin who seems to be in a positon of authority?

Goblins are keyed into the various vaults? Which means that they could seal them at any time as well, right? Is this in the books?

Hermione, baby, your Gryffindor is showing, and it is SEXY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lol

Those goblins are like, “Assume the fire breathing position.”

You can see how deep down they are. And I know this isn’t real, but to think that that dragon would have only had that small opening of real light shining down on it all that time is truly depressing.

Litearlly, they all deserve to bite it after what that dragon was put through.

“And he’s homicidal.”

“We plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose.” I feel that.

I always assumed that Voldemort when to Gringotts and killed the goblins. But no, he summoned them to Malfoy Manor, and then killed them. Why would he do it like that?

That mirror is rectangular, but I always envisioned the mirrors as being circular.

Why does Aberforth tell them that the Order is finished? He knows that it isn’t. This whole speech of his is very demoralizing. But Harry dgaf…..

This, “I trusted the man I knew” attitude is why Harry named one of his children Albus Severus.

Hermione is the one who asks questions of Aberforth, and yet, he directly responds to Harry. I always thought that was odd.

And Aberforth has been helping them the whole time? Then why the speech?

Neville badass Longbottom.

Another nod to the books.

I wanted some more information about what was going on in Hogwarts while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were on the run. I wanted to hear more about what Dumbledore’s Army were getting up to while the others were hunting horcruxes. There were tasters of it in the book, but I would have loved to have had more of it tbh.

Fact: Neville’s plant from five is the mascot for the Hogwart’s resistance.

“She gots lost of those, hasn’t she?” This line from Seamus at the very beginning of this movie just made it so perfect. This movie is a gosh dang masterpiece.

Snape had such a hard job. I mean, I know people hate on Snape, and I can understand their reasoning, but I have a soft spot for the man. Maybe I read too much fanfiction because fanfic!Snape and canon!Snape are two very different individuals.

Harry’s name among these students is the stuff of legend. The way they all look around and start talking carries that spark of hope that good rumors sometimes have.

Harry, “Perfect timing group.”

People back up when Harry faces Snape. People move the hell out of dodge when McGonagall draws her wand.

Snape takes out the two Carrows behind him before he apparates out of the school.

Padma gets zero dances at the Yule Ball, and then Voldemort invades her mind. Great.

Pansy, my darling, there is a time to speak and there is a time to stay silent. Read the room.

Filch, ditto.

Why do all of the magical, “evil” Slytherins allow Filch, a squib, to lock them up?

Even the portraits are getting out of there.

All the kids in the background are completely flummoxed.

“Boom!”

Say that five times fast. No, say it once without messing up and you get to be bff’s with Maggie Smith.

This spell is sick, this music is sick, McGonagall is a queen. When I saw this in theater, my skin got goose pimples. “Do your duty for our school!” It is just so amazing, and iconic. This whole scene makes me feel so empowered, and pumped like I’m about to head into battle, like I’m about to defend my home and my life.

My thoughts on the diadem and the other founders objects can be found in a post that I made. My thoughts are strong, and though they aren’t canon, they are still unspoken canon.

Voldemort is like, “I was about to monologue. Why you speaking to me?”

“You okay, Freddie?” Don’t come at me like that, writers.

We all died laughing in the theater when Ron said that. “Harry talks in his sleep.” Harry only speaking parseltongue when around snakes theory is still enforced when you think about the snake Pettigrew sneaking around the whole time.

Exactly why the fuck does Remus need Tonks more than her small child? I never understood this line, and I never liked them as a couple. Thought the book version was creepy, and the movie version unrealized.

Some movies really don’t need to be split into two for the ending *Divergent trilogy* but this one really benefitted from having two films. I wouldn’t want this huge battle scene and character plot and humor to be lost.

No one thinks to cast a spell to catch Neville??? This is like the first flying lesson all over again.

Go, Mr. Weasley, you are on fire.

Kingsley, whip their arses with that fancy shit. LET’S GO!!!!!!

Harry reached out to Ginny first. This movie is so lacking in any real chemistry between these two actors and characters that it is almost painful. This is one instance, that I never noticed before, that makes all of their other interactions less cringey to watch.

Neville almost died on that bridge. He might as well tell Luna how he feels. I love this and can fully ship canon book couples with canon movie couples at the same time. Thank you very much.

That kiss between them is so weird. I just can’t.

Hermione in this scene is proof that men rattle your brain with smooches. Lol

So, if you are using the room of requirement for something, and someone who already has been in that same room, and wants it for the same reason that you do, they can get in as well? But not if they want it for the same reason, which is why Umbridge couldn’t be get it in Order of the Phoenix.”

There are so many Easter eggs in this scene in the ROR. You can see a chess piece from 1, pixies from 2. It just enforces my headcanon that the house elves use the ROR as a sort of dumping ground for the random stuff that they find at the school.

Harry is so gosh dang blasé about seeing Draco again. He’s just like, “What’s up, dude?” He is not concerned in the slightest that he has three wands pointed at him right now. They are just causally chatting about whose wand each other has got.

The statue of the pig right behind Harry and Hermione. It would make sense Voldemort would try to totally remake Hogwarts, and I think that would go into removing those odd little things that make the castle a bit quirky. The castle looks bleak and unnaturally bland compared to the other movies. It would make sense that he would want statues of hogs also taken out.

You see the lanterns that Slughorn had at his Christmas party.

Why is the fire morphing into different animals? The phoenix attacks Draco, Blaise, and Goyle, the tiger chases Ron and Hermione, and then the snake goes after Harry. And then they all converge on the trio? Why make it animals? Is there any significance to this? I never noticed that they were actually animals before.

Finding the brooms perfect. Saving them perfect. Killing the horcrux then kicking it into the flames. Perfect.

The music while the trio are fighting to get to boat house is so haunting and lovely and it’s like it calls to every nostalgic atom in your body.

Really, death eater, you’ve got time to stop and cast the cruciatus on someone in the middle of this warzone?

I love that Hermione was the one to blast Fenrir away from Lavender. So touching.

Aberforth, Mr. IT IS ALL GOING TO END HORRIBLY WHY EVEN TRY, has enough hope and good memories to cast away that many dementors. Yeah, he’s fake.

Voldemort just doesn’t like that Snape is taller than him.

I just wanted a touch of the friendship that was expressed between Lily and Snape in the book. Harry understood it, and said it perfectly at the end of book seven. I wanted some of that to translate to screen. It wasn’t just because Snape had some weird crush on her it was because they were friends, best friends. Ron and Harry and Hermione friendship. The next time someone comes at me with that bull I’m just going to refer them back to the facts.

This is probably the first time that Snape had ever been allowed to really look at Harry as a person rather than someone who is supposed to hate him. It is the first time that he could be unguarded around him.

Snape hired more healers. Why else would they be there? He knew that with the group in charge that as in power, that they would be needed.

I can’t stand this barrage of lost souls. It is painful, and I get flashbacks from when I read the book for the first time, and the pages were covered in my tears.

It doesn’t look like Snape even has anything in this office. It looks barren. He knew he had no time to get comfortable in his position.

That tree is beautiful.

I love their friendship. I will always love their friendship.

Look at Snape and all those books. Lily and Snape, the studious, top of their year duo with the Marauders who eschew libraries but still manage to succeed. I don’t need to think hard to imagine the rivalry. In fact, I did imagine it, and wrote some down in the thing, message me if you would like part of the thing.

Hermione knew, or at least, strongly suspected that Harry was going to have to do what he sets off to accomplish, for sure.

I love that when Harry walked into the forest to face down death that he had these people, these guardians, these people who at one point or another swore to protect this boy with everything that they have get to be the ones that are with him at the end just like at the beginning. Things are different for them, and different from how they thought it would be when Harry was born into this world, but they still kept their promise.

“Does it hurt?” This is something that a child asks. We forget that Harry, here, is only supposed to be 17 years old, that’s a kid. Added to that, you have the very real

“We’re here, you see?” Perfect.

“Stay close to me?” “Always.”

My thoughts mean nothing in the perfection of this scene.

Hagrid is still looking out for Harry’s best interest. He is the only adult worth a flip in more than half of these films.

“The boy who lived come to die.”

I know Dumbledore is like, “The man” here, and the mentor or whatever, but I would have really have liked to have the person who met Harry at Kings Cross had been Snape especially after harry had just learned the truth. Way more dynamic.

Narcissa straight up lied to the most dangerous wizard ever. She deserved that pardon for her family. All she wanted was out, and to take care of her son, and I respect that. Don’t give a dang for the rest of the world when they would gladly let you burn. Take care of number one even when number one is a group instead of a single entity.

You hear that noise when Neville picks up the hat, and if you read the books, you know what he just found. He was out there preparing and scouting for another battle, and Hogwarts rewarded him.

Hagrid carrying in Harry’s body was so painful to watch. Visually, there little death parade plus the music just puts you in this anxious state. Pinpricks.

The acting by Bonnie Wright here is superb. The lack of chemistry is not equally weighted on her shoulders.

Luna looks at Draco like she is sick. Then like she is sad. I hate it. She was wishing for something else there for sure.

The way Dean Thomas looks at Voldemort in this scene is the way that I feel about that weird af hug.

Voldemort has to restrain himself from killing Neville on the spot for interrupting him.

Neville has never in the course of these movies failed to speak when needed. He stood up to the trio in 1, and he spoke up against Seamus and nearly everyone else in the common room in Ootp. Neville stands up for what is right.

All of those death eaters are like, “Fuck! This boy came back to life again? What are the Dark Lord’s AK’s broken? Nevermind, fuck this shit, I’m out.”

That music when Neville regains consciousness. YES!

See, if Voldemort didn’t play with his food, he might have won.

NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!!!! When I say people cheered and screamed in the theater when Molly said and did this epic shit I ain’t kidding. IT WAS AND STILL IS ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC HP QUOTES OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ONE OF THE BEST, MOST EMPOWERING QUOTES!!!!!!! We all want Molly Weasley to have our backs like this.

The whole ending of this movie is LEGENDARY!!!! I went to the midnight showing for the release of this movie with a bunch of other diehards, and seeing Neville cut the head off of the snake, and watching Harry finally beat Voldemort with the elder wand. I mean, we were literally just in such a state of excitement and yes and hallelujah, it was insane.

Neville and Luna. I see y’all.

Percy is talking to Arthur, reconciling.

That guy behind Cho is definitely about to shoot his shot with someone.

Filch, bless his heart.

Ron and Hermione. Harry knows. Harry blesses this union. Harry has been the number one ship captain this whole time, and now he is rewarded.

I like that Harry snapped the wand in the movie. See, if book Harry had snapped the wand, the Cursed Child would have never graced our consciousness with its heteronormative agenda. Scorbus is life. Fight me.

This series has had such a serious impact on me. I love it. I spend hours upon hours inside of this universe every day as beloved fanfiction writers play inside of it’s territory. It made me a reader. It helped me when I wasn’t sure what was next for me in life. It gave me entertainment and enjoyment, and still does. I love it, and I hope that I always will. We cling to the thought of magic because we hope that it is really, we hope that like in this world where there is magic that cannot be easily be explained exists. We hope that in our world, too, there is that same kind of magic that can wrap itself around us.

I think that kind of magic is real. I just think that we have to look for it, remember it, talk about, cherish it, and spread it around for others who have forgotten to look for it themselves. And great literature, like this series, helps us to do that.

That is why it will be remembered for generations to come. At least, if I have anything to say about it.

#Harry Potter #Harry Potter and the deathly hallows part two #Harry Potter thoughts #Harry Potter anaysis #Harry Potter background #harry potter meta

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novembersrain · 5 years

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Her. - Roger Taylor Fanfic - (II)

Pairings: Roger Taylor x OC.

Summary: It’s been three months since Roger met Natalie Manning from New York City. Queen was in the midst of their Sheer Heart Attack tour, and girls were throwing themselves at him every chance they got. It wasn’t that he was opposed to it, but there was still one certain brunette who he couldn’t keep his mind off of.

Warnings: Swearing, mentions, and implications of sex, small age gap.

Word Count: 1.8K

A/N: Yay! Chapter two is here! I’ve gotten such a positive response on the first that I genuinely can’t even begin to tell you guys how happy I am that you’re enjoying it. I’ve gotten some requests to be upon a tag list so if you have any interest of being apart of that at all... Send me a direct message and I’ll be sure to add you to the list! I hope you enjoy this chapter!!

Chapter One Chapter Three

...

“I’m just saying, love. You grew up in California, isn’t that right? What’s the harm in taking a little trip down here to see us? It’s at the Santa Monica Civic. You love the beach. It’d be a two in one package deal.” Roger said, speaking softly into the payphone. He had been trying desperately to get his dear Natalie to come out and see him perform live ever since he left her three months prior, back in the Big Apple.

“You know that I would if I could, Roger, but I am just too busy right now.”

“Too busy for your favorite rock star? That’s not quite fair now, is it?”

Natalie laughed at this, but she didn’t reply, she didn’t need to. They’ve had this same interaction every time they spoke over the phone. Roger knew what she was going to say.

I have an audition coming up that I need to practice for, Roger.

Finals, Rog. Not this time.

You know I would be there if I could, but I have prior commitments I need to attend to.

I don’t have the money to do it this month. I need to save up for my trip back to California in December.

He had tried to persuade her in every single way that he knew how. Told her that he would help her learn her lines, would help her study for her finals, and even offered to pay for her flight out to whatever state he was in that week. Her response to that was, “I’ll let you do that when pigs fly.”

Roger then went to Freddie and asked him to design something similar with his graphic design skills so he could send it to Natalie. She still declined.

The silence that filled his ears was enough for him to realize that she was over this topic. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Listen–”

“Roger, I know. I know that you’re frustrated with my same answers over and over again, but now just isn’t a good time. I’m almost done here; I only have two weeks left. Then I’ll fly out to wherever you are and I am all yours. Alright?” Her voice was soft, soothing. It was reassuring for Roger to hear, but he wasn’t going to let himself get his hopes up. He had done that one too many times already.

“Alright.”

The mood of their routine phone call had changed. He was frustrated. He wasn’t use to people turning him down. Especially when he was sure the more resistance from her that he got, the more that he wanted to be with her. It was making his life more difficult.

Brian, Freddie, and John’s too. If they weren’t on stage, he was trying to talk to her on the phone. If he wasn’t on the phone with her, he was moaning and groaning to them about how much he missed her and how he wanted to throw himself out of the window of the tour bus.

“It isn’t like you guys are actually in a relationship, darling. You spent a full week with her in New York and promised to call her every single day. Just because you kept your word, doesn’t mean you’re going to get married when she finally comes out to see you.”

“Yes, Fred, I am quite aware of the fact that we are not actually in a relationship, thank you. I really needed you to remind me of that.”

“I’m just saying! You act as if your entire life is going to end if you don’t see her soon, but I feel that she’s making it quite obvious that coming out to see you just isn’t what she wants. Now, I’m not saying that she’ll never come out to see you, but for the love of God, stop pressuring her about it.”

That conversation he had with Freddie rung clear in his mind. She’s making it quite obvious that coming out to see you just isn’t what she wants.

“You don’t have to come, ever. If you don’t want to. I get it.”

“It’s not that, Roger. I promise you that it isn’t. It’s just– I’m 21. I still have a year left that I need to get through. You’ve already graduated from college. You're 26. You've already been through all of this. I would be there if I could, I know you know that. However, getting on a plane and flying out to a whole other state, just for a one-night show, it isn’t where my priorities are at right now. It really isn’t anything personal.”

There wasn’t much Roger could say at that. He could have yelled at her, told her that he doesn’t have to wait around for her, wishing for something that will never come, because she’s just holding him back anyways. Then he remembers that they aren’t in a relationship, and he’s holding onto unrealistic expectations from someone who just isn’t there yet. It isn’t her fault.

By this point, he can hear the guys yelling at him to get off the phone because it has been an hour since the show ended and there are people waiting to talk to him. Not to mention he’s used all of John’s quarters to have this long of a phone call.

“Right. Well. ‘Ve gotta go, love. I have some business to take care of. Let me know when you can talk next. I don’t want to interrupt your far more important priorities.”

“Roger, wait–“

He didn’t wait. He hung up, in fact. Petty? Yes. Did he care at this particular given moment? No.

I told all of my groupies to piss off because of her, was the immediate thought that came into his head. A fact that he planned to change immediately.

Meanwhile, in snowy New York City, Natalie was in a deep frown when she heard the other end of the line go dead. She had known Roger long enough to realize that he had quite the reputation for an explosive temper. The week that they spent together when he was still in New York was proof enough.

He threw a piece of bread at someone because his hair blowing in the wind was getting in their eyes. She would have deemed that action inappropriate had he not giggled at himself after the fact.

In fact, she would have been terribly angry with him now had she not been holding onto that one week they spent together, amongst all of their hour-long phone calls after that.

That week that they were together was something truly, well, blissful.

Upon meeting him outside of Juilliard, she didn’t give Roger much else of a passing thought. He was certainly easy on the eyes, but so were millions of other people in the world. It wasn’t something out of the ordinary. She had learned quite quickly that she would be eating her words. Roger asked if she would take her down to the cafeteria so he could fetch something to eat, and she was happy to do so. It was there that she would then deem Roger Taylor to be one of the most interesting men she had ever met in her life. He was funny, intelligent, had a wonderful taste in music, (he gushed to her for about twenty minutes over how good her cover of Imagine by John Lennon was), and he could hold a decent beat. And a decent tune. She was already cursing herself for not using the hour that they had just spent together previously getting to know him better. So, that’s what she did the week they spent together. She got to know all of him. All of him.

“You are an absolute idiot.” She mumbled to herself, setting the phone down on the hook and laying back into her mattress. Her life was much less eventful than his was, but… She had dreams of being on Broadway. Other than the classical training she had for singing throughout middle school and high school, she had nothing to back herself up with. Going to this college, getting the absolute most out of everything that she could was what was going to send her into the profession that she wanted to be in. She knew that. Everyone knew that. No ridiculously handsome and talented drummer in an incredible band was going to persuade that. Even if she truly hoped that she would let herself give in one day.

“Into fitness, are you? Well, I’m sure that we could find an activity or two that is absolutely certain to get your heart racing.”

The woman that Roger was talking to didn't oppose his idea, so he was quick to want to head out of the bar with her. This was typical Roger behavior. To head to a bar after a show and pick up a girl, a girl who would actually want to spend some time with him.

The drive that he had taken to his hotel was quiet, other than the light music playing from the radio. The drive was longer than he thought it was going to be. It was easy for him to do things like this. He had done it several times before, but in the moment, all he could think about was how this girl wasn’t Natalie.

It isn’t where my priorities are right now.

Right. That’s why he was taking someone else to his temporary home. Because she doesn’t want to be there with him. It’s not like he’s upset over it. That’d just be plain crazy. He wasn’t in a relationship. He could do whatever the hell he wanted without giving a damn what anyone else thought.

If that was true, then why does he feel so down in the dumps? Why can’t he stop thinking about Natalie? Why is he wishing that this were her that he was kissing right now? Why doesn’t this woman smell like sunflowers? Why don’t her dark roots match the rest of her hair? Maybe he should tell her. She might want to get them fixed. That would be a nice thing to do. Why is she looking at him like that? Aren't they having a good time?

“Natalie!”

Oh.

Oh. That’s why she’s looking at him like that. Maybe he should help her gather her things. No. She seems to be doing just fine without him.

“I’ll call you?” He yelled out after her but was only met with the loud slam of the hotel door.

Maybe he deserved that.

“I’m sorry, you did what?!” Brian asked, nearly in hysterics once being updated on the events that went on with Roger the night before. Freddie was rolling around on the floor laughing, and he swears that he’s never seen John laugh so hard over something before.

Great moral support.

“I was having an orgasm and I called out Natalie’s name, okay? You want me to say it again so the whole audience can hear you? I WAS HAVING AN ORGASM AND I CALLED OUT NATALIE MANNING’S NAME.”

“I’m sorry. You did what?” A softer voice asked, one that was enough to make the guys stop laughing and scramble off.

Roger turned around and was faced with the woman he had never wanted to see less at that moment.

“Hey, Nat. How was your flight?”

...

Taglist: @jennycidesstuff @sarai-ibn-la-ahad

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findmoneycoach77 · 4 years

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sending-the-message · 7 years

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Something is badly wrong in the Ky wilderness by KyBluEyz

I'm a park ranger, who is a retired Navy Gunnery Sergeant. I enlisted on my eighteenth birthday, and was in basic training twelve days later. I quickly rose through the ranks, making several times the number of enemies than friends among my peers. See, people don't like a young man being in charge or in command of an older man. Its cliche but true.

I rose to my current rank, and was satisfied to remain there. I was happy. I knew what I was doing, why I had to do it and knew my men would follow orders. I didn't need to know what other squads were doing, and didn't want to. I was content. That is until I got a personal visit from the Secretary of the Navy.

It was late, and I was already drunk. Halfway through my fifth of Jim. A knock from the opposite side of my quarters door, drew a slurred " Whaddayawant?" From my numb head. The door opened, revealing the SecNav in his dress uniform, medals shining almost as bright as the lights glaring into my eyes.

"Is that anyway for you to address your superior, Gunney?" He said with a half hearted attitude.

" Sir, no Sir!" I said, snapping to a staggering attention, hand raised in salute to my boss's boss. I knew I was fucked for being drunk in quarters and for the disrespectful manner in which I addressed the fucking Secretary of the mother fucking Navy. The boss of the entire NAVY. I stood in a drunk salute awaiting his wrath. He wasn't known as a kind or forgiving individual.

" At ease. Gunney. Are you going to pour me drink, son? I think I could use one. I think you'll need another too. You will when I tell you what I am here to tell you."

" Please sir, won't you have a seat?" I asked as I rushed to grab a shot glass and pour the man a shot of whiskey. I poured the shit, and handed it to him. He promptly drained the glass, and proceeded to pour another as he gestured for me to sit down on the small sofa with him.

I sat down, but didn't sit back. I stayed as straight backed and stiff necked as I could. Trying to mimic the respect that I was far too drunk to pay.

" Gunney, do you watch the news?" He asked pausing long enough to look at me and register my shaking head, " Ah, I don't blame you. This world is in a bad way. We know that more than most, don't we? The world is full of disgusting violence. People killing each other, hell kids killing kids and themselves. Then there's the recent rash of suicide bombs and shit. The old wives tale of a woman holding a baby that turned out to be a suicide bomber? True, it happens. A lot. And then, as if that's not bad enough there's this." He removes a manilla folder from his coat, and lays it on the coffee table.

I reached for the folder, but he grabbed my hand, and looks into my eyes and says, " Be careful, son, once you see what's in there, you can not unlearn it. It can not be unseen. Are you sure that you want to know what I am talking about here? No hard feelings, no negative career impact, just a drunk conversation, that didn't happen?"

"Sir, whatever is in that folder, if its something that can be stopped, that I can help to stop, then I owe it to the US to at least try."

"Gunney, its bigger than the United States. What is in there is bigger than us all."

Shit. Now I had to know what was in there. I didn't have a choice. I opened the folder, and gasped. It was a picture of a little girl, just a standard child. Maybe seven or eight years old, pig tails and a flowered dress. But her eyes, they were solid black. If that wasn't creepy enough, the flies were. They swarmed everywhere in the picture, seemingly coming from the child's mouth. Like a living black speech bubble. Dead bodies littered the floor, and blood ran down the walls.

Behind that picture, was a picture that wasn't too scary, but was odd to say the least, a grainy picture of a big black box in the woods. It looked off. The trees weren't visible behind it, the ground wasn't visible under it. But what was climbing out of it was. The closest thing I can even think of to describe it was a skinned person, organs and muscles still wrapped around the bones and threatening to spill from the rib cage. The eyes were huge, glaring and red. Not just the whites. The entire eyes were red. The hot searing red of molten steel. And they looked directly at me. Just the sight of those eyes made my skin crawl.

Behind that macabre image was something almost unexplainable. A picture of a small peaceful creek, in a secluded area. A small wooden bridge crossed the babbling brook in the background of the photo. In the foreground was something climbing out of the water. It looked like it might have been human at one time. It had the head, and torso of a man, but that's where the similarities ended. It had six legs, emanating from its torso, three on each side. They resembled spider legs, but at the tip of each hairy black appendage was a human hand. Eight large eyes adorned the rotting peeling face. I shuddered and flipped to the next and last photo.

It was actually six small pictures printed on one page. In the first was a playground of a school. Normal with the regular equipment and toys. The next one was of the same area, but this one was wrong. I couldn't see it at first, then it dawned on me. It was the equipment. The damn jungle gym and swing sets were built from bones. Human bones. In the next a head of a young boy hung from the cord of a tether ball post. Blood still dripping from the jagged remains of his neck. The fourth was even worse. It showed a group of around twenty kids, all of them covered in blood tearing at a lifeless body on the ground in front of them. The fifth was a close up of the lifeless body. It could have been, probably was, the body of the tether ball boy. Huge chunks of his flesh were missing, and his intestines poked through a large hole in his abdomen, like a hellish worm. The last picture was disturbing on a new level. It simply showed the same group of kids, but this time, they all looked at the photographer, it was clear that they wanted to do to that person what they had done to that poor boy. Blood and viscera clung to their chins and ran down their necks.

I shuddered and flipped the folder closed, raising my eyes to the Secretary, unable to talk. He poured two shots of Jim and shoved one toward me. We both drank and sat there for a while. After what seemed like hours, but was probably minutes, he spoke again, " I have been asked by the POTUS to set up squads and offices in all 50 states and one in each international US embassy that will be responsible for controlling this type of thing. I would like to know if you would run the Kentucky office. If you choose to do so, you will be in charge of fifty men, you personally decide what cases to send men to, and what cases can wait. If anything needs more than your office can offer, you can, and are expected to call me personally. Of course this would all be classified, Need To Know, and anyone under you doesn't need to know anything except what to expect when their team is deployed to an anomaly. You will be compensated nicely. And will be given any and all weaponry you request. Will you accept?"

I sat there for a second. Thinking. I would be in charge of an entire field office. Me. " Yes sir. I think I will accept. When do I leave here sir?"

" Well Gunney, you will fly out of here at 0400 tomorrow, a transport helo will be arriving soon, and after a pause to refuel and load the men you request you will be off. I can spare you ten men from this ship, no more no less, and the rest I will assign based on my information. Is that going to be an issue Gunney?" . " No sir. That's fine. Can I please have a moment to go through the crew roster? I know one member I want in my team is my 2IC, sir. I feel I owe it to him. He has always liked to tell me ghost stories, and I think he actually already believes in this stuff. The rest I will pick out and notify of their assignment by 0330. Thank you for your confidence sir." I was somehow already on my way to sober.

The next four hours were a whir of commotion, as I called and knocked on the doors of, the men I had chosen to accompany me. I didn't tell all of them every detail, most I simply told, " You have been re assigned. Pack up and meet me on deck at 0400"

Some were shocked and happy to get back to land, a few were in disbelief, and a couple didn't want to go. Those were the ones that I told a few details. I had only kept the folder for proof on the flight out, for those that weren't ready to accept the truth. One man I picked calmly asked me to please pick another member for this team, because he would rather die at the hands of a true evil human, than to be shredded by an unseen evil. He looked me dead in the eyes, and said " I can't deal with that again sir. I can't. Respectfully declining your offer sir. I am sorry." I agreed to leave him behind, and added a backup name to the flight manifest as the chopper started to spin up.

At exactly 0400 the rotors spun up and the heavy bird hoisted us into the air. We raced over the ocean, to an undisclosed base in Texas where we were flown in an unmarked navy jet to the air strip in Powell County Kentucky. It wasn't a large airstrip, and the guy in the "tower" ( that was actually a two story block shed..) tried to decline the pilots request to land, arguing the strip wasn't long enough to accommodate the small jet. About thirty seconds after the pilot radioed base the ATT guy squelched back in to the radio," Clear to land in runway..well its the only one."

The jet came to a halt, just feet from the wall of a steel hanger, as four black Hummers roared through the field to stop at the end of the runway. We all loaded our belongings into the backs of the Hummers, and off we went. Not speaking a word until we arrived a short while later at a unmarked cement block building in the middle of the woods in Wolfe County. We silently unloaded the Hummers, as three of the drivers exited their perspective vehicles and climbed into the last one. Before they pulled away, one of the soldier, a reserve Guardsmen named Paul, said " Sir, I have a message for you, its simply a few odd words that I don't have clearance to understand. Ready?" He paused, looking at me, I nodded in agreement, " well sir Remainder enroute you will soon be armed."

I nodded and excused the young man, as I turned to look at my new "base" of operations. It looked like an old abandoned factory from the outside. A grey block building, with a rusty steel roof, surrounded by chain link fence and razor wire. It was only when we entered that it became clear that this was all a facade to cover the true purpose of this place. It was full of computer equipment, large touch screen monitors as wide a I am tall hung from the beams. In one wing of the massive building there were twenty black Hummers, like the three outside. Each had the same appearance, black, tinted windows, and a turret mount on the roof, placed in a way the gunner could stand from the backseat and reach the gun when mounted. There was a locked room, with a post it note stuck to a key pad next to it. The note read as follows: " Gunney, your Navy ID will open this door. Only you and your chosen 2IC are to access this room, and each item has to be issued and recorded , SecNav G. Carsons"

I entered my ID number and stood in awe when the door opened. Inside this very large room was every weapon you could imagine. Claymores, shock bangs, gas bombs, dynamite, C4 detcord canon fuse AK-47s Glock 9mms etc. There was an entire armory in here. I could fight a war with the contents of this room. With a smile, I turned to my men and said" Welcome home boys! Everyone find a rack, and be making it your own while I find out when the rest of us will be here. Dismissed!"

The men scattered, some pausing to throw a lingering stare into the armory, others spun on their heels and walked toward a sign with an arrow and the word Bunks written on it. In a few seconds, I was alone. I walked into the armory, and picked up one of the several dozen burner phones. I punched in the number Carsons had given me, and asked him when I should expect the rest of the men to arrive. I was told that in fact the budget only allowed for the eleven of us. That's it. The entire department consisted of eleven men. I was told that in my quarters, which was attached to the bullpen was a laptop with contact info for the other forty nine bases in the country.

I yelled for my 2IC. " Keith! Front and center! We need to talk!" He walked back from the bunks and looked at me sideways and said " Sir, no disrespect, but the bunk house has ten rooms each with a single rack. How are fifty of us going to live here?"

" Well, Sergeant," we were equal rank, though I held a much higher clearance level, " that's why I waned to talk to you. Let's walk." I walked him to my quarters, where I was sure nobody would hear what I was about to say. We entered my room, and I closed the heavy steel door.

" Keith, let's not military this up. I'm not your boss, you're not my second in command. Were just friends. Is that alright with you?" I asked, and he agreed, saying it would be refreshing to not have to call me Sir.

" Keith, we've been duped man. The Secretary lied, or was lied to or whatever. What I mean is there is no more guys coming. We are the department. I have contact info for the other bases like this a crossed the country so if we get held down or need help or whatever I can call them. But, for now, I need to find a way to tell the guys I lied to them. We're all used to the politics of the Navy, but being told you are a team of fifty, then finding out you're a team of ten, its going to be bad. They're already scared, most of em would go back to the ship if I offered that choice. They were okay thinking we had a small army, but now.." I trailed off.

Keith shuffled his feet, looked at the floor and said" well, Steve I think they're gonna be pissed, but you picked a solid team of guys. I know five of them were SEALS and a couple have several commendations, they'll be fine. They all follow orders like they should, and we have enough fire power to kill a small country, so it should be fine."

I looked around my new chambers and seen a P.A. microphone on a desk. I walked to it and broke the news to the men simply by saying " Attention, we are alone. There will not be any more men coming to this base. The budget has been cut and we are capped at ten men and the supplies we have. I have been told the National Guard Armory in Breathitt county has been ordered to give us whatever we need, so we will be fine. Today we rest, and get our land legs. Tomorrow we start work. If anyone has any questions, come find me. I can't promise an answer, but you can ask. I am ordering you all to remain at ease, no calling me sir, no salutes to me or anyone else that's living here. If a superior comes on base, you return to military respect and procedure. That's all. At ease."

Fast forward seven years. Six of my men have been killed. One at a time they were eaten alive by our first case. A small town had gone mad. Every resident with children had murdered and eaten their children. The ones without kids, have taken to eating their pets, or spouses. When I was alerted to the situation, I ordered the power to be shut off, I had men place cellular interrupters throughout the town, and shut off all other utilities. The cannibalistic townsfolk now had no running water, no heat, no AC, couldn't cook indoors, and they had no way to communicate with anyone. The town was thankfully small, and had one main road that went in and out . we closed the roads, and tried to contain the sick fucks.

The first day all went well. The next morning as I sat on the bumper of my Humvee at the road block, drinking stale coffee from a thermos, the first one attacked. A tall, lanky man, in torn clothes with shaggy hair approaches. " They..they all went crazy. They started eating each other and then they wanted to eat the pets! My wife ate our newborn daughter. She was six days old for fucks sake!" The man cried, falling to his knees sobbing.

I knew what was happening, but I was frozen in thought as a low ranked member approached the crying man. He reached to help the man up, and the bastard grabbed his arm and took a bite from his flesh. Before anyone could get a shot off, the crying man had stood, shoved the soldier down and climbed atop, and began chewing. He ripped the young soldiers throat out with one big bite, blood running down his chin as he chewed and screamed out " Yes, you were right! Its so fucking good! I feel it now! I will obey." that's when he stopped talking and sat still, a small hole appearing in his forehead as Keith put a round in his brain. The cannibal fell over and was dead instantly, the soldier, wasn't as lucky. I tried to stop the bleeding. I did. Even as I told the boy, because face it, he was 19 he was a boy, anyway, I told him he would be fine, but knew better. He gurgled and choked as he laid there and died.

That's when I heard the gunshots from across town. I knew that the other road block had been attacked as well. The radio burst open, with static and gunfire " They're attacking us! There's more than thirty of them. I've lost three men already! They came from" the soldier was interrupted by a woman screaming at him, to " Hold still and come to your new God!" They soldier yelled and another gunshot, this one loud in the radio rang off. The soldier was breathing hard and continues " they came from everywhere. Somehow the managed to surround us and they all attacked at once.

I stood up, wiping the young boys blood from my hands into my camo pants. I triggered the radio and gave my hardest order ever at that point. " Light em up. No survivors. If it breaths kill it. Any kids left are not to be harmed, contain them. Leave one adult alive and in custody. I want to know what's going the fuck on. Fourteen hours and another dead grunt later, the town was silent. Bodies laid everywhere and blood was running in thick nasty rivers through the streets.

" Listen up! Take a Humvee and toss the bodies of the towns folk in the back, load them up and bring them here to the hardware store. We're going to burn them. I will set it up so the media reports it as a unavoidable accidental, gas explosion. Head out!"

I called to Keith, and told him to find the main natural gas valve and turn it on. As he did, I walked into the empty hardware store and loaded every propane tank and flammable liquid I could find into a cart, pushing it outside. Keith returned a short while later, and told me he had turned the gas on, and that it was flowing fine. He and I went to the small fire department and took the only water truck they had. A 1400 gallon rig, and it was completely empty. Good. We started at the Shell gas station on that side of town. In all, the small town had four stations that sold gas and diesel. We pumped all of the fuels into the tanker truck and went back to the town center. The rest of the men had finished the cleanup and all the corpses were piled in front of the small hardware store. I ordered the remaining men to find the lost soldiers, and respectfully load their bodies so we could give them a funeral. So their families had closure.

I drove the tanker truck slowly through the entire town, stopping here and there, as Keith sprayed the fuel on as much of the blood as he could see. I then called the Armory in Jackson and told them to send as much water and foam as they could. I was soon informed that within an hour I would have close to 50 thousand gallons of water and almost as much fire retardant foam. I waited till the fire fighting crew was only ten minutes out, then ordered my men to head out. I opened the gas valve in the hardware store, and opened every propane tank I could, before walking to the tanker truck that still had fuel in it I opened the valve slightly and lit the tiny stream of fuel, the truck was running, aimed at the hardware store, so I ripped it into gear and let it roll into the store, dragging fire behind it.

I managed to make it to my Hummer before the gas caught, and sent an explosion reeling in every direction. I reversed as fast as the diesel would allow and whipped into a drive way shoving the shifter into first and tramping the accelerator. I felt the explosions going off like gigantic firecrackers as the local homes caught and their gas supply's then caught.

The town incinerated in my rear view mirror as I radioed to the National Guards to keep the flames in the town, and not to let it spread. I told them to appear to put the flames out, but to really just contain it and let it burn out. I stopped and turned the main gas line off as the town burned. I wanted to watch it, but I had something to do. There was still one single resident or that now non existent town. I wanted to know what happened, so the rest of my crew had taken him and the bodies of our fallen brothers back to the base. The survivor was placed in to a small room, with no windows and only one door. He was left there for two days before I even bothered to question him.

The bodies were sent home, their families told they perished in a tragic helicopter training accident, and that they had all served their country well. The standard government line. A flag was presented to the next of kin of each soldier, a 21 gun solute given as well.

Two days passed in a blur of funerals and crying families. Folding that flag, and me handing it to the sobbing widow, or mother. I had to look these poor people in the eyes and lie to them about the death of their loved Ines. By the end if the second day, I was dead inside. I was alive, but numb. I didn't understand how a bunch of fucking civilians manages to ambush a small group of armed soldiers...

I walked to the small holding cell, and could hear the man inside screaming in pain. I thought maybe one of the men had taken out some aggression, but the camera showed the man, emaciated, nearly dead, the food and water that had been given to him were laying on the floor, untouched. He had shit himself as well as pissed in his pants, vomit clung to his chin. I opened the door, and gagged. I couldn't handle the smell. I had a soldier bring me a set of sweat pants and a white tee shirt. I hosed the man down, with a small fire hose, cleaning the worst of the nasty off of him. I yelled and told him to strip naked or I would have my men cut his clothes off. The thing that used to be a man listened and stood there naked, feces caked to his legs and other body parts. I hosed that off and as he spun around, I noticed he was covered in what looked like bug bites. I finished hosing the poor bastard off and threw him a towel. I told him to dry off and get dressed. He dried off, and tried to put the old nasty rags back on. After yelling at him to stop, and put on the new clothes, I noticed how he was moving. His motions, looked. .wrong. Jerky, and rough. Like his joints are frozen and he's breaking them loose.

He got dressed, and I had four armed men cuff and shackle the man and bring him to an interrogation room where he was locked to the floor and just had enough room to sit up and place his hands on the table. I walked in and took a seat across from him.

His eyes were turning white, like they were dead, I could hear the death rattle coming from his chest, as he struggled to breath. I could smell the death and rot pouring from his body. I tried talking to him, but he couldn't make words come out, his voice was gone, from screaming and because the man was rotting from the inside out. He could still write though. He wrote answers to my question, and at the end of the discussion, I ordered him returned to his cell. I looked at the scribbles of words on the sheet of paper, and shuddered when I read the answers.

Q: What started all this?

A: Meeeaaaattt

Q: Who was in charge?

A: Boney maannn

Q: Why did the children have to die?

A: Meat for the boneee maannn

Q: How did your people jump my crew?

A: boneee maannn told usss two[sic]

Q: what's your name sir

A: Meeaaattttt

The rest of the answers were just nonsense and broken words.

I sent the man back to his cell, hoping his death was fast. What happened next changed my life forever.

#reddit #nosleep #scary #story

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earnxmoney-blog · 4 years

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13 questions that instantly reveal customers’ emotional hot buttons that lead to sales (these are the shortcuts to PUSH THEIR BUTTONS so they buy, try, and subscribe)! – pg. 235-236

Why people pass judgement on you and the quality of your product or service based on this one single “boo boo” in your sales copy (Good News: you have 100% COMPLETE control over it)! – pg. 268

and much, MUCH More!!!

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