As others have pointed out before, if you visited a web page 20 years ago and it acted like that, you would rightly assume your computer had gotten a virus.
Inspired by @janetm74's quest to get Troy Tempest punched by as many people as possible
Colonel White steepled his fingers before his face as he stared at his officer, standing at attention before his desk.
Scarlet was rumpled but healed after a small fracas groundside in a civilian-but-popular-with-WASP bar, which itself had been after a joint exercise between their two organisations. Blue and Grey had also been involved - both in the exercise and in the fracas - and they would have been present but Fawn hadn’t released them yet and as the alleged instigator, the responsibility rested on Scarlet’s head.
“Why did you backhand Tempest?” he finally asked.
“With the relative positions of myself, Captain Blue, Captain Grey, the other officer, his buddies, and the furniture, I judged a backhand was the best tactical option,” was the crisp report.
The cheek of it would have gotten a smile from him if it hadn’t been for his years of command experience. “That’s not what I asked, Captain.”
“No, sir,” was Scarlet’s ready agreement.
“So tell me, Captain Scarlet, why did you hit him?”
Somehow Scarlet drew himself into an even stiffer ‘attention’. “Sir. I did not hit him when he and his buddies were unknowingly mocking Captain Grey when they discussed the captain of the first Stingray prototype. I did not hit him when they insulted Spectrum as an organisation. I did not hit him when he turned to insulting you personally, sir, nor did I hit him when he started insulting myself and Captains Blue and Grey. At that point Captain Blue, Captain Grey, and I attempted to deescalate the situation by removing ourselves from the area but the other officer continued to escalate. I hit him,” his jaw clenched, “because he insulted the Angels.”
“I see.” Privately, White was almost certain that list would have been half as long if it hadn’t been for Grey and Blue’s presence. He had already watched the security tapes, he knew his officer’s temper and the pride he had in Spectrum, and he also knew how short Scarlet’s fuse could get when someone started in on his favourite people. “What was the nature of this insult?”
“Sir, I am uncomfortable repeating it word for word but I will relay exactly what he said in my report on the incident. Tempest stated that the Angels are on Cloudbase for decorative purposes and,” Scarlet’s mouth thinned, “and to provide… entertainment for the male senior officers.”
“I see. Any mitigating factors in this situation?”
“They were drinking, sir. We were not, which appeared to trigger some of their commentary.”
Choosing to ignore the admission that Scarlet had information on Grey’s life before Spectrum - because this meeting was not about that - White sat back in his chair to consider what to do next. With that damning accusation against him, it was almost a surprise that the WASP officer was alive to complain. ‘Shore is generally a reasonable man, but unfortunately the person in question is one of his favourites and this little incident has stung WASP’s pride as well - my three gave Shore’s five a sound drubbing.’ Decision made, White took some time to pick his words - again, he knew his officer. “While your actions are understandable, I cannot condone inciting violence against other organisations, no matter how unacceptable their actions are. We cannot claim the high ground by sinking to their level. I believe it was George Bernard Shaw who had a rather pithy saying about ‘don’t mud wrestle with pigs, you’ll both get dirty and the pig likes it’ - but while we do not start fights, Captain, we do finish them.”
That got the barest twitch at the corner of Scarlet’s mouth. “Yessir.”
“In any case,” White continued, “despite any personal opinions that may be held on the matter, the forms must be observed. Along with your report I want a formal apology letter on my desk by 1800 and after your duty shift tomorrow you will be spending three hours as fetch-and-carry for Medical, they have a restock arriving at 2100.”
“Yessir.” Scarlet accepted it without reservation: they both knew that his punishment should have been much worse.
Effeminate dentist: You need to brush more on your gums-- hold on why am I "effeminate?" What? I'm literally just a normal dentist. A masculine one, even.
Me: (struggling to speak through the dentist's fingers) youw weren't shupposhed to shee that
This is brought up all the time but it never fails to amuse me.
The Great Jeff Tracy (if we're taking his b'day as the late noughties) would have been a Gen Z kid. He'd have been on TikTok. He'd have been around in the heyday of all these influencers. He'd be fifteen years young currently.