#and they are willing to dig up the problem pipe and replace it so this STOPS and that fucks

[sheaymin]

having to cancel all my goddamn plans today because the plumbers our apt office called at 11am this morning havent arrived & its almost 6pm & on top of everything im mentally going thru atm thats bringing me to some all time lows im about to kill a man because we have NO WORKING BATHROOMS

[agirlwithachakram]

Currently digging a terrible hole in the backyard for my micro pond. The backyard is just clay and rocks. I am using the shovel only to transport dirt. This is a pickaxe job. The pickaxe I have is only sort of attached to its handle so regularly I have to go over to an old paver and slam the head back on so that it doesn't fall off.

Hope I don't hit anything bad

And you say well why don't you call miss utility

Well I did call Miss utility but they don't know where our sewer and septic lines are because it's a private rural residence with a private septic tank

I actually do know where the septic tank is and it wouldn't really make any sense for pipes to be in the area I'm digging so I'm not actually worried lol. Plus we had a French drain dug like a foot or two away a couple years back and that goes way deeper than I'm going

How deep am I going you ask? I am not sure yet. The idea was 15 inches but 15 inches is really fucking deep in my rock hard yard. But I still have two months to take my pre-mold back and replace it with the shallower one if need be. Though I suppose if I can get 13 or 14 in I can build up rocks around it, there's already a bunch of mulch.

Now you may be thinking but why am I putting a 20 gallon pond in the ground when a micropond can just be elevated and then you don't have to worry about all of the other problems? Well, It's because I'm setting it in my herb spiral and I'm hoping to get some frogs visiting and also it's a cool aesthetic. Will be putting hornwort and maybe some water hyacinth in and if I'm feeling really bold a dwarf water lily. And lots of rocks. And no fish. And at some point there may be like a little solar pump or something because I can't run a line without way more work than I'm willing to do

[pinkliquorstyles]

Depravity.

Warnings: dirty talk, a sprinkle of smut, alcohol use, angst, and a whole lot of teasing.

A/n: oh, how I’ve missed writing. 

Harry craved control.

He always had some sort of power over everything in his life, onstage and off, Harry was always in control. He had a plan for every situation and a solution to every problem. He hated to be caught off guard, and it was only when he lacked that authority over his life when you could sense him falter.

So, you could imagine how Harry felt when he heard about a last-minute, extravagant party, made to celebrate his achievements and mass success from his second album.

Don’t get it twisted, although the event seemed formal on paper, it turned out to be anything but. The guest list seemed to be never-ending, as both Y/n and Harry struggled to identify who everyone was, especially, under the dim lighting.

To make matters worse, the liquor flowed through the venue like it was water. Harry could practically count on a person stumbling out of the place every two minutes as they reach their limits.

It seemed like a vision of pure depravity.

Y/n was the complete opposite of Harry, her spontaneous nature, and desire for chaos in order to keep life interesting was one of the reasons why people either loved, or completely despised her. No one could anticipate her taunting movements, and frankly, she preferred it that way.

The sound of loud chatter was drowned out by the rhythmic hums of music that loudly projected from the speakers. Harry could hear the multiple voices that attempted to catch his attention, but it seemed his focus was fixated on something else. His gaze lingered on Y/n, his eyes trailed down her body as her hips swayed in sync with the music that resounded throughout the room.

It was known by the people closest to him that Harry was possessive, especially when it came to Y/n. Whilst some people scolded him for it, he simply couldn’t help it, once Harry gets what he wants, he will do everything in his power to keep it safe.

In a short distance, away from all the chaos, Y/n saw a decorated table filled to the brim with assorted fruits and an almost mouth-watering chocolate fountain placed right in the centre of the display.

Y/n’s sweet tooth ached whilst her eyes watched the treat trickle down the machine. She made her way towards the table, softly pushing past the guests as dizziness made itself apparent on the way, presumably, from the liquor that vibrated all throughout her body.

The area she entered seemed quiet compared to the one she was previously in, with only small groups hovering around the room in their own little worlds as they talked among themselves.

Once she reached the table, she carefully went over her options, each fruit was skewered with a small toothpick. She decided on the strawberries, taking one in her hands before dipping it into a glass filled with dark chocolate. She laughed lightly to herself, as she remembered reading about how both of these foods together, created an aphrodisiac effect.

As she was about to reach for more fruit, she felt a familiar pair of strong hands grip her waist from behind. Her body erupted in goosebumps as a low voice spoke close to her ear. "You’re a dreadful tease.” A familiar deep voice broke Y/n out of her trance as she froze in his hold.

Her body relaxed as she realised who was behind her, turning around with a small smile that teased her lips. She sensed the jealousy that dripped from Harry’s voice. "I don’t know what you’re talking about, m’just dancing.” She said innocently, placing a strawberry against her lips before taking a bite.

Harry scoffed, at her almost pathetic attempt to be oblivious to her actions. “Mhm, you’re putting on quite the show aren’t you.” He hummed with slight annoyance in his tone.

Y/n glanced at the people around her, some dancing to their heart’s content while the others attempted to engage in conversation. “It’s not my problem if guys can’t keep it in their pants.” She said with a small shrug.

"You leave nothing to the imagination do you love?”

"Jealous?” Y/n quipped in a taunting tone, though, her features remained innocent. “Besides, I didn’t know it was such a crime to have fun. If so, then arrest me baby, I’m guilty as charged.”

"Fun?.” He mocked, "So you’re telling me that this performance you’ve put on wasn’t just for me to see?” His tone seemed offended, yet his teasing expression told a different story.

She playfully shook her head and attempted to hide the smile that fought to escape her lips.

"And what about this tight little number you’ve got on, is that not for me either?” He taunted curiously, his hand trailed against the small strap that held up her dress.

Her gaze followed his cold touch as his fingers travelled across her shoulder, towards her neck. A small shiver crawled up her spine as his rings pressed lightly against her skin, before grazing across her jawline.

Her head lifted slightly. Her almost pleading eyes instantly connecting with his as if it was a reflex. "You remember what happens when you play games with me princess, it never ends well for you” his thumb lightly tugging on her strawberry-stained lips.

Her pulse quickened as her mind raced with thoughts of lust. “I guess you’re going to have to remind me.” She chose her words carefully “My mind seems to be a little foggy.”

Y/n felt Harry’s demeanour change instantly at her words, it was like a switch, his playful aura was quickly replaced with one of desire, similar to the aura of this entire event.

Little did Harry know, Y/n had him right where she wanted him. Harry craved the control that he lost over their exchange, whilst Y/n craved the thrill of the unknown. The unknown of how far Harry was willing to go to win back his control over her.

A short and antagonising laugh fell from Harry’s lips. “You want to know what I’m thinking princess?” He questioned. Y/n hummed in response, her mocking tone only pushing Harry further. “I think you’re purposely trying to wind me up.” He states clearly.

“But you know what happens to princesses who misbehave?.” He murmured.

A teasing light danced in Y/n’s eyes, she shrugged lightly and attempted to turn around to get another strawberry. She was shortly cut off as Harry swiftly, and gently tugged on her wrist. He pulled her closer towards him, their faces mere inches away from each other in order to fully grab Y/n’s attention.

“Nothing.”

Harry dropped his hands from Y/n’s body, deciding to use the table beside them to support his body instead. Y/n’s expression turned into confusion at his words. This wasn’t how she planned the rest of their conversation going.

“What’s wrong princess? You’ve gone quiet.” He pointed out, a small pout evident on his lips. “Did you expect me to whisk you away to one of the rooms upstairs... punish you f’being a little brat?”

Every time she teased Harry before, he would simply delve deeper into his own desires, playing with Y/n how he saw fit as punishment.

It was a routine that Y/n loved, so why was tonight any different.

Unless...

He perked up with a boyish smile at her confused reaction, knowing her mind was scrambling for a snarky retort. “Tell y’what, I’ll give you what you want on one condition.”

She looked at him curiously, interested in what he was proposing. “And what’s that?”

“M’going to need you to beg for me.” The thought of those three, simple little words sent Harry’s mind into a tangent of his own, the flame of control flickering in his eyes as he watched her expression.

His words took a second to process in Y/n’s mind, but once they did, she realised what he was doing. Harry was using her own tactics against her, the teasing, the mischievous look in his eye and most importantly, the element of surprise.

Although it worked for a small moment, Y/n was determined, she wasn’t about to let Harry beat her at her own game.

“Beg for you?” Y/n echoed, pondering the thought over a chocolate-covered strawberry before throwing away the rest in the waste bin.

It wasn’t long before someone interrupted their conversation. They were at a party after all. An unrecognisable figure walked up behind Harry, wrapping their arms around him before placing a shot glass full of clear liquid in his hand.

“What’re you hiding out here for Harry, you’re missing out on all the fun!” The man exclaimed with excitement, clinking his own shot glass with Harry’s before downing the drink. Y/n quickly pinched the drink out of Harry’s hand, and in one swift movement, downed the liquor similarly to the man slinging himself around Harry.

A snicker escaped Harry’s lips at the sight of Y/n’s disgusted face as she examined the shot glass “Straight vodka, m’assuming.” He remarks. Y/n nods in acknowledgment, placing the glass on the table next to them before the unknown man pipes up again.

“Sorry to interrupt miss, m’sure whatever you two were talking about was truly exhilarating but Harry here, is a busy man.” He slurs, tapping Harry on the shoulder. “People to meet, drinks to... drink? Anyways, you understand.”

Y/n eyed Harry curiously, he simply shrugged as they both realised that the mystery man next to them had no clue about their relationship and simply assumed that Y/n was just a random girl Harry was swooning over.

She chuckled lightly, “Don’t let me get in your way, go have fun.” She reached out, softly squeezing Harry’s arm as reassurance. The man already started to make his way back to the dance floor, expecting Harry to be following behind him.” What are you waiting for-?”

Before Y/n was able to let go of Harry he gently pulled her closer towards him, closing the small gap between them as her body collided with his. “I was going to say, I wouldn’t waste another moment thinking about it princess...” He trailed off, his rings roughly digging into the thin material of her dress as he held her in place.

“We both know you’re just going to end up begging for me to fuck you.” Harry’s hold hastily dropped from her hips, before walking away. A small smirk was evident on his lips as he sensed the state of shock he left Y/n in.

She watched in pure disbelief as he wandered back into the loud venue, but despite of it all, she couldn’t deny the feeling of adrenaline that coursed through her body at his words.

With an annoyed sigh, Y/n focused her attention back on the many strawberries in front of her, snatching one from the plate. "If that’s how he wants to play it...” She murmured before taking a bite out of the sweet fruit before carelessly discarding the rest.

“Then let the games begin.”

———

The night progressed as Y/n and Harry went their separate ways, mingling and causing mischief with the other guests.

Although they seemed to be in their own little worlds, they were both aware of each others presence. Whether that was through the overwhelming exhilaration that emanated from the both of them, or their teasing gazes as their eyes met at random times throughout the night.

After what felt like hours to Y/n of endless dancing, she decided that it was time to spice things up, feeling bored of waiting for Harry to make a move.

Her eyes scanned the room, eventually falling to the bar that didn’t seem too far away from her. She slowly made her way past the people in front of her, before reaching the busy service, waving down the bartender in the process.

“What a coincidence! We’ve found each other once again miss!” The familiar slurred voice spoke at a high volume from beside her, causing Y/n to flinch at the sudden noise "Seems like fate is trying t’tell us something.”

Y/n turned towards the man, her mind taking a second to process his features. ‘Oh it’s the guy from before... did I ever get his name?’ She pondered to herself

Noticing the evident confusion on her face, he piped up with a chuckle “I guess I didn’t properly introduce m’self did I? M’names Kai.”

She hummed in acknowledgment “So you’re the one that tried to poison Harry with that dreadful drink.”

“I guess that’s one way to be remembered.” He remarked in an attempt to be charming. “You two seem close though.”

You don’t know the half of it. She thought to herself, before speaking up with a smile, “I guess you could say that, my name’s Y/n by the way.”

———

Harry wasn’t much of a dancer. The only exception is for when he performs. Which caused him to spend most of the night in the booth that he reside in from the beginning of the event. The small space seemed to be full of his friends and co-workers as they chat up a storm, a continuous supply of drinks being served to the group.

The elevated booth allowed him to view the guests dance the night away. Which is how he was able to spot Y/n in the crowded dance-floor.

He watched as the man Harry was introduced to as ‘Kai’ stood dangerously close to Y/n as they swayed to the music and continued with their small talk.

Harry didn’t mind at first, not taking much note of the whole interaction. He loved seeing Y/n have fun. It was only once he noticed that she leaned closer towards Kai, whispering in his ear, a sultry “Please.” as she requested for one last drink, that their interaction caught his attention.

She moved back, re-gaining the small space between the two of them. Of course, she was hyper-aware of the fact that Harry knew about the whole exchange, flickering her eyes to his with a taunting smile.

Kai followed her gaze before spotting Harry, a boyish grin fell onto his lips as he sent Harry a cheeky thumbs-up. It was as if he had scored the best take of the night whilst somehow still being oblivious to the fact that Harry was utterly in love with the woman he was swooning over.

Harry shook his head, purely baffled by the whole exchange. “Dickhead.” He muttered under his breath. The rings that were wrapped around his fingers hit the glass with a small ‘clink’ as he took ahold of his drink, downing it all in one go.

———

"Tell you what, sit your pretty self down while I go flag down that bartender over there.” Kai motioned towards one of the seats with a smile before making his way to the other end of the bar.

Y/n nodded, letting out a tired sigh as he walked away. She felt herself getting worn out by the lack of attention she was getting from Harry, but, as annoyed as she was, she was determined to win this little game that Harry’s made up for the both of them.

“If he wasn’t so stubborn then maybe-.” Y/n muttered, getting ready to take a seat at the bar before being cut off by the feeling of a sudden grip around her wrist. With a small tug, she was twirled around to face the person that held her captive in their hold.

A small giggle fell from her lips as her body smoothly fell into the familiar figure’s build.

“Having fun princess?”

His voice caused a shiver to course through her body, small goosebumps forming on her skin at the harshness of his tone.

Y/n lazily wrapped her arms around Harry, unintentionally using him to support her own intoxicated body “Took you long enough. I was starting to think you forgot about me.”

"Never.” He boyishly grinned, feeling smitten knowing that Y/n had him on her mind as much as he did for her all night.

Although the music still resounded around the room, the tune that played was much slower. So much so that Harry and Y/n noticed the tipsy guests begin coupling up as an attempt to dance with one another.

Y/n softly rested her head against Harry’s shoulder as his hands rested on her waist. Her eyes fluttering close as she felt herself get lost in the song “Mind telling what that whole charade was about ?” Harry hummed closely, possessiveness laced in his voice.

Y/n quickly picked up that he was talking about Kai. She playfully scoffed, lifting her head from his shoulder to look at him. “I was getting bored and you weren’t paying me any attention. Besides, I knew your jealousy would get the better of you eventually.”

Harry let out a small laugh at her seemingly meticulous plans. "You know all you had to do was come find me.” He affirmed.

Feelings of guilt were getting the better of Y/n as she pondered whether or not she took all of this too far. "Are you upset with me?” She said with a small pout.

“Of course not princess, m’not upset with you.” He comfortingly squeezed her waist for a small moment, both of them swaying to the soft beat of the song.

I just wanted to you to tell me how needy you were f’me.” He murmured lowly, making sure that the people dancing around them didn’t hear.

All the feelings of concern were immediately washed away from Y/n, quickly being replaced with a mixture of relief and playfulness.

“You know I’m not going to break that easy, you’re going to have t’try harder than that if you want me to say such a thing.” She huffed.

“Is that so?” Harry mocked, making a mental note of her words. "What about if I...” He trailed off. His head dipped down as he peppered wet kisses all the way to her exposed shoulder, making sure to lightly suck on the delicate skin as if he wanted to leave his mark on her.

Y/n gave into the taunting feeling for a small moment, her eyes closing as Harry had his way with her. “You shouldn’t be doing this.” She remarked.

He pulled away, a boyish chuckle escaping his lips. “Are y’scared your little friend over there will see.” He motioned towards Kai, who seemed to have been caught up on his path to the bar. Another girl danced with him as he held two drinks in his hand with seemingly, not a care in the world “I wouldn’t worry about him.”

"That’s not what I meant, silly.” She clarified, referring to the small love bites that she felt forming across her pulsating skin.

His fingers lightly grazed over her neck. “Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve left a pretty little mark on you princess.” He noted, admiring his work. His voice alone was enough to send Y/n into a spiral of lust. Her mind was in scrambles as she fought the tempting urge to give into Harry’s desires.

Although the slow song finished, another bass-heavy one played in its place. Y/n could tell the night was coming to a close as people slowly made their way to the exit, or, were celebrating their last round of drinks. This meant Y/n only had about an hour or so to decide whether or not she would continue to be stubborn, proving to Harry that she’s not as submissive as he makes her out to be.

"You’re thinking about it aren’t you?” Harry glanced at a distracted Y/n, a teasing curiosity evident in his features. “A few words princess, that’s all it takes.” 

Y/n snapped out of her trance, realising she was slowly succumbing to Harry. She took a deep breath, and in an attempt to regain her control, gently wrapped her hands around the back of Harry’s neck, making their way up to his messy curls. Her fingers wrapped around the strands of hair, giving it a small tug as the both of them continued to sway to the music.  “Let’s say I was thinking about it, what would you do about that?” 

Harry hummed lowly at the pleasurable feeling of her soft touch on his skin. In that moment, he decided not to waste another second of his attention on anyone other than Y/n. "Then, I would bring you upstairs... play with you until you’re nothing but a whimpering mess.

His hands tightening around her waist. His rings slightly dug into her skin, the cold metal seeping through the thin material of her dress causing a wave of goosebumps to wash over her. “You’re already aching for me. Imagine how you’ll feel with your legs wrapped around me.”

Harry left small kisses across her jawline, returning to his sweet yet torturous assault from before. “You would plead for your release as I bring you right to the edge, telling you all about how much of a good girl you’ve been, all submissive and needy, just how I like.” Y/n could feel herself growing hot from his taunting movements as she unintentionally began to bite at her lip, suppressing any moans that threatened to escape.

“But you haven’t really been a good girl have you, princess? I would say you’ve been quite the brat all night.” His kisses edged closer and closer before finally, his lips firmly pressed against hers. A small moment was needed, but it wasn’t long before Y/n moved in sync with his own movements, a new sense of lust overpowering her senses as she deepened the kiss, a mix of alcohol and peppermint lingering on their tongues. 

Harry noticed her newfound pushiness, the roughness of the kiss causing a gruff and low groan to escape from the back of his throat. “Do you remember what I said about little brats that don’t listen?” His gaze on Y/n as he begrudgingly pulled away from her, his lips merely hovering above her own.

Y/n let out a frustrated whimper at the sudden loss of contact, her eyes fluttering open with confusion.

"You would plead for your release...” Harry repeated. A taunting fire danced his eyes, a confident smirk creeping onto his lips. “Only for me to pull away right at the last moment.”

Y/n wanted to smack the smug grin right off of his face, but she just seemed defeated, her expression changed to one of frustration as her hands fell from Harry. 

"Don’t look at me like that, you brought this on yourself princess.” He teased, giving her one last chaste kiss. “Y’know you could still-”

He was shortly cut off by the sound of Y/n’s annoyed voice. "Fine!” she snapped, just at a low enough volume so people wouldn’t hear, while she attempted to catch her unsteady breath. “...fine.”

Even though Harry knew exactly what she was going to say, he still tilted his head with a pout, curiosity written on his face as he waited for Y/n to continue her thought. 

"You win.” She murmured, refusing to look Harry in the eye as she admitted her defeat.

Harry shook his head, admiring her features. He gently pushed the strands of hair that covered her face, placing it back behind her shoulders. "Not good enough, use your words princess. ‘Want to hear you beg for me.” His voice remained low, his warm breath causing a shiver down her spine.

Y/n let out a small and exaggerated sigh, as a smile teased her lips. She knew she was going to succumb to Harry eventually. In fact, she knew the moment he swept her into his arms that the game was over, but, she loved the chaos too much to ever admit that to him.

She gave him one small kiss before pulling him closer towards her. Their eyes met, both clearly filled with desire and lust, only difference was the dominating aura from Harry’s features, and the submissiveness that radiated from Y/n.

"I need you, m’so needy for your touch... Please baby...”

That, was a true vision of pure depravity.

[quicksilversquared]

Keeping Up With the Ladyblog

A reporter has to adapt and improvise. It's an important skill to learn, especially when one is a reporter who is still in school and can't skip out to film all of the akuma battles without getting grounded. So Alya gets creative and starts using old security camera footage of akuma attacks. It keeps the Ladyblog active and maybe, just maybe, she'll finally get her scoop of a lifetime.

links in the reblog

Initially, setting up the Ladyblog and getting a devoted userbase had been a bit of an uphill battle. Even though Alya had gotten noticed right away with her footage from the first fight, that didn't guarantee her a permanent position as the best-known blog on Paris's superheroes. Not covering a few fights would mean that someone else could sneak in and steal her spot, so that meant that even if she missed a little school here and there (or had to drag her sisters along during a fight), it was worth it. She had to stay on top of all things Ladybug and right then, that meant getting the best coverage of as many fights as she could physically manage and writing up good, thought-provoking articles for when there was a slow day or two.

(Of course, there were other problems that she had to deal with as well. Alya had to put together a functioning site that was user-friendly, could handle the traffic that she was getting, and offered everything that anyone could possibly want from an official superhero blog, because there was no. way. Alya was going to lose traffic just because some other blog had one option or another that she didn't have or because her blog went down from traffic overload at a critical moment. There were some places that she drew the line- she didn't accept fanfiction of the superheroes, because they were real people and therefore it would be weird, and only appropriate art was allowed- but she had to add all sorts of options so that people who visited the Ladyblog would come back over and over again. It was a lot of work and all had to be done fairly quickly, which meant that her homework sometimes got pushed off until later than it should have.)

Alya didn't consider setting up the blog itself to be that big of a problem, though. Software could usually be battered into submission if she worked on it for long enough, and as long as she didn't try any system updates to the Ladyblog when a lot of people were using it, short outages were usually not a big deal. It was the content that was more of a problem, especially now that her parents (and teachers) were on her back about not skipping school just to film attacks.

She just had to get creative.

Originally, Alya had considered trying to use her fame from being the sole moderator of the Ladyblog to see if she could get a get-out-of-class-free card during the attacks. Her teachers could just check her blog to make sure that she wasn't abusing the pass, she figured, and it wasn't as though most of her classes would be that hard to make up. But it didn't take long before Alya realized that that was just a pipe dream. No teacher would just let her go whenever just so she could keep up a blog when there were professional reporters out there as well that could film the attacks just as well (though Alya would argue with that). Besides, she sometimes had to bike across town to try to get footage, and there were times when it took so long that Ladybug and Chat Noir were already done when she got there. Without any footage, it was a waste of her time.

She had to play it smart. She couldn't just take footage from news channels, but what if there was other footage out there, unseen by most of the public? The Ladyblog already used fan submissions. People took pictures and videos of the superheroes all the time, and most didn't have any interest in starting their own superhero blog but were willing enough to share their superhero content online. Alya always spent a chunk of time every day sorting through the submissions and organizing them by akuma for easy reference.

Still, that wasn't quite enough. Alya had to go above and beyond if she didn't want to be replaceable.

Asking Mr. Kubdel about getting security camera footage from the Louvre partway through the year was a stroke of pure genius on her part. Getting it was a combination of luck, her fame as the Ladyblogger, and the fact that she knew Alix.

"They don't have the best angles in the world," Alya told Nino three days after Mr. Kubdel agreed to her request. She had just gotten the footage from all of the security cameras for the time frames of the last few akuma attacks that had gone through the museum, and digging through the video to find clips of the actual fight was taking a while. Some parts she could just fast-forward through, since the superheroes didn't go into that particular room, but she couldn't go too fast or she could miss the superheroes flashing by. "But I can't really complain. No one has any video of any of these fights yet, so this is incredible."

"It was super-nice of Mr. Kubdel to agree to it," Nino said as he watched the video over her shoulder. "Are you- whoop, there goes Chat Noir."

"Am I what?" Alya asked as she marked down the time Chat Noir entered and when he exited. "Ooh, look, that's a cool akuma!"

"It is a pretty cool design," Nino agreed. "Are you going to ask other places if you can get security camera videos from them, too? Like, there's some places that seem to have a lot of akuma fights go through them. School, the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Paris-"

Alya's eyes lit up at the mention of the last place. "Ooh! D'you think I could wrangle some footage of Chloe as Antibug? I kind of want to see some footage of her getting her ass handed to her by Ladybug and Chat Noir."

Nino cringed slightly. "...yeah, I wouldn't phrase it like that when you ask Mr. Bourgeois about it if I were you. He might say no just because of it." He considered that for a second, then added, "Actually, come to think of it, a lot of the akuma that pop up at his hotel tend to be after Chloe, right? So maybe he would say no if most of the footage you get is of Chloe being tormented, no matter how funny you find it. And he's not going to have anything from inside of the guest rooms, just the hallways and dining areas and whatnot."

Alya sniffed. "I'd be professional and include as much of the fight as I could find. Any compilations of Chloe being pursued by angry akumas would be completely unofficial and only posted to an anonymous YouTube account. Which I would then share with you guys, of course."

Nino laughed.

"I think I could persuade him to help, though," Alya decided, going back to the Louvre videos. "He's nice enough when Chloe isn't pushing him around. I'd just have to ask when Chloe isn't there. Maybe I could ask Sabrina's father for help to get footage from other places." She squinted at the screen, then stopped the video for a moment. Nino looked over and saw that it had gone all blurry and pixilated.

He frowned. "Uh, what happened to it? Is the file corrupted?"

"I don't know. It's happened a couple times before on other files, once near the start of this fight and twice again near the end of the first fight I looked at. I don't know what causes it." Alya rewound a little so she could get the last good frame of the superheroes and record the time so she could cut it there. "And... I know I kind of gave up on exposing Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities on the Ladyblog, but I kind of thought that I might catch them detransforming on the security cams. I wasn't going to post that part online, of course, but still..."

"Maybe they're just really good at moving out of the area first," Nino suggested. "That's gotta be tough, actually. I never thought about it. But there's so many cameras in buildings like that nowadays that they have to be super-careful so they don't get seen by others or by cameras!"

"They're bound to slip up sometime," Alya grumbled, opening another file and starting to fast-forward through it. "I really hope I don't miss an attack when I'm working on this. Like, it's gonna be great for my blog to have this footage and all, but it's the live stuff that people like the most."

  The first of the spliced-together security camera footage hit the Ladyblog almost a week after Alya got the first batch of raw video. There was an immediate spike of interest, though, as Alya complained to Nino as they waited for Adrien and Marinette to arrive to work on their group project, some people were whining about favoritism getting her the tapes.

"It was just because I asked first," Alya grumbled, scrolling through the comments. "Because I thought of it first. And- oh! I forgot to tell you! Mr. Bourgeois said yes, I just have to figure out the dates and times of old attacks myself and give them to his security people. And I talked to the principal too, and to Sabrina's father. Mr. Damocles said yes, and Sabrina's father said that he would ask his supervisor and also people at Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower about the security cameras at their individual sites." She was grinning now, momentary irritation gone. "It's gonna be a beast going through everything and getting my homework done, but it'll be worth it."

Nino frowned. "Are all of them gonna give you footage from past attacks? Some might discard video once a certain amount of time passes, or they might think that it's too much work to go back that far to get you the files."

Alya shrugged, face dropping slightly. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Still, going through the past stuff I do get plus new stuff is gonna be hard. At least spring break is coming up soon. Ish. Kinda. And then I can really plow through stuff once it's summer."

"You're gonna vanish into your room and never come out again," Nino joked. "You'll get all pale from lack of sun."

"I still gotta go out for livestreaming attacks," Alya reminded him. "And once I don't have homework to do, I don't think it'll take that long to mark and edit stuff. I can get through one per day for sure, maybe more. I can do it while I babysit my sisters, as long as they don't want to go anywhere."

Nino snorted. "Right, and the chances that they won't want to go out to the park or on a walk?" He shook his head at her. "But I can help with the timing stuff, so you can just focus on the splicing things together."

Alya grinned and leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips. "That would be great, Nino! Thank you so much!"

"You'll have to tell me how you want it done sometime before I start, but it really shouldn't be a problem," Nino assured her, grinning as he returned the kiss. "Though maybe we'll have time for you to show me before Adrien and Marinette arrive. Where are they, anyway?"

Alya just shrugged. "Who knows. I texted Marinette ten minutes ago to remind her we would be meeting, but no response yet. She might be in the middle of a project, and if she is, I don't wanna startle her. Last time I called her when she was busy sewing, she got started by her phone ringing and stabbed herself with a pin."

Nino cringed. "Ow. Yeah, I texted Adrien too, but no dice. No idea what he might be doing- oh, wait, here they come. Finally."

"And from the same direction too, hmm? Interesting!" Alya slid her laptop back into her bag and stood up, grinning as she watched Adrien and Marinette approach. "And neither of their houses are in that direction, either."

"We're here to study, not interrogate them," Nino reminded her. "Midterms, remember?"

"Oh, but come on-"

"You can interrogate them after, once we've gotten our studying done," Nino pointed out, grinning. "But I actually want to pass my classes, thank you very much."

  There were times when Alya almost regretted starting to post the security camera footage. It was a lot to handle and process, and it ended up cutting into her article-writing time, which, well, she really liked writing those articles. It was one of the things that set the Ladyblog apart. But the old footage was popular, particularly when there was no good news coverage of the fight, and she could always prioritize which fights to edit together and which could maybe be set aside until she had more time.

It was after Alya was first tapped to become Rena Rouge when she realized how great of an idea it had been to start including the security footage from attacks on the Ladyblog. She couldn't cover her own fights- well, not that she was called for many of the akuma attacks, really- but she could still provide that footage, and it wasn't as though she had only started with that kind of footage after she became a superhero, so it wasn't going to raise any suspicion.

Well. Much suspicion, at least. There might be a few people who wondered why she could never cover Rena Rouge's fights, but there had been few enough of them so far that the pattern wouldn't be apparent. And if it continued- which, well, she hoped that it would- then she could always use her much improved video editing skills to "interview" Rena Rouge in person.

She was sure that Ladybug would let her borrow the Miraculous for a little extra time if she mentioned the need to throw people off of her trail. After all, Ladybug was very big on secrecy.

Most of the time, though, Alya loved her stroke of brilliance. It had been worth the security checks to make sure that she could be trusted with the security footage, and she had managed to shore up her views again. Future employers would see that she was focused and willing to put in the work, and well, she had gotten herself a fabulous reputation at the Louvre after she had spotted a shoplifter on the footage and let them know about it right away. It made her feel like a detective of sorts, discovering things that she wouldn't have otherwise.

And, well, summer was coming. Soon, she could get all caught up, and then Alya was sure that it wouldn't be quite so overwhelming.

  "I figured it out!"

Nino glanced up at Alya as she slid into the empty spot at the table he was sitting at. From the other side of the table, Adrien and Marinette looked over at the reporter as well.

"What did you figure out?" Marinette asked, gaze immediately going to the tablet Alya was holding. She looked interested and inched closer. "Is it something to do with the Ladyblog?"

"It is!" Alya held up her tablet. "So you know how I've been putting together footage of the akuma fights from security cameras?"

Nino nodded. Both Adrien and Marinette looked puzzled. Alya groaned at them.

"Seriously? Have neither of you looked at the Ladyblog in weeks?! It's my big new thing!"

"I've been busy," they both claimed at once, before shooting each other startled looks. Alya narrowed her eyes at them both.

"Too busy to even glance at the Ladyblog once in a while, even now that school is almost out? Really?"

"I've glanced, but not looked into the archives at all," Marinette corrected herself. Then she frowned. "Wait, what do you mean, security camera footage?"

"Huh, I guess I must not have mentioned it to you before, either," Alya said, looking thoughtful. "Hm. Anyway, I've been contacting people at the Louvre and at the Eiffel Tower and Chloe's dad and Sabrina's dad and the principal to ask if I can get the raw security camera footage from the akuma fights that go through there, and they all said yes! So I've been going through that and splicing together stuff from different cameras to try to get as much of the fight covered as possible."

Now Adrien was frowning, too. "Really? They just happen to know which cameras Ladybug and Chat Noir have gone past?"

Now Nino snorted. "Of course not. They just basically give Alya all the footage from the cameras for the duration of the fight and she- well, we, I've been helping- have to go through and find which cameras Ladybug and Chat Noir went past and when."

For some reason, both Adrien and Marinette now looked deeply alarmed.

"Anyway, we've been noticing some weirdness on some of the clips," Alya told them. "It get corrupted for a bit, mostly near the start of the fight before the superheroes show up or after the akuma's been defeated but sometimes in the middle, too. I've been puzzling over it for the longest time, and I think I've finally figured it out!"

"Really?" Nino asked, interested and finally distracted from his strangely pale friends. "How?"

Alya grinned. "It was some comments on the Ladyblog that finally got me to notice the pattern. The corruption is either before Ladybug and Chat Noir show up or right after they vanish- or, in the middle of the fight, if one of them has to go recharge, then it happens then, too."

Nino blinked, then caught on. "So you're saying that somehow their magic is interfering with the cameras and protecting their secret identities?"

Alya pointed at him. "Exactly! I thought when I started all this that I might accidentally catch them transforming or see someone where they weren't meant to be, but their magic just means that they can't be caught on camera. It kind of makes me wonder if they always have that effect on cameras when they aren't transformed, or if it only pops up when they're about to transform or just detransformed."

Nino was so caught up in thinking about it that he completely missed Adrien and Marinette's identical sighs of relief as they both slumped in their seats. "It's gotta be the latter. Otherwise how would you explain people never getting a good picture of you, if it happened all the time?"

"Maybe Juleka is Ladybug, then," Marinette offered, giggling a little. "Remember, she was convinced that she had some sort of photo curse?"

"And now she's figured out how to manipulate the magic so that she can get normal photos again," Alya joked, sounding serious for a moment before she laughed. "Nah, she can't be, she was akumatized and fought Ladybug and Chat Noir. Remember that?"

Nino shuddered. "How could I forget? I was stuck in a skirt and high heels for ages!"

"I rocked the platforms," Adrien bragged. He grinned at Nino's raised eyebrow. "What? Sure, they were hard at first, but with a little practice..."

Nino just shook his head and groaned. "You would, dude. You must have been hidden, though. I couldn't find you after Reflecta left."

"Yeah, the outfit and the makeup would do that, probably," Adrien pointed out with a laugh. "I mostly decided to stay out of the way. And that fight didn't last that long. Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated her within an hour."

"Okay, fair."

"What would you do if you found something that told you who Ladybug or Chat Noir are?" Marinette asked, pulling the conversation back on track. "I mean, you can't see them transforming or detransforming, but if..."

Alya waved a hand. "Oh, I would destroy the footage as fast as possible. Hopefully I wouldn't recognize them-" though she wasn't certain about the probability of that, considering that Nino had been picked as a temporary superhero, too. What were the chances of that happening if Ladybug at least didn't know them to some extent? Unless of course it was a coincidence since she was the well-known Ladyblogger and Nino had already been out in the middle of the fight before Ladybug grabbed him- "and so it wouldn't matter if I saw them for two seconds."

Adrien looked astonished. "Really? I thought that was your dream, to figure out who they are! Not that I don't support the deleting thing," he added quickly. "That's probably safer for them. But what made you decide to change your mind?"

Well, she had become a superhero herself, for one. She had realized that she didn't really want the city to know her identity, because what if the akumas targeted her family and friends? And then Nino was a superhero, too, and what if people knew that and she became a target? She had figured that if she didn't want the city knowing her secret identity, she should probably extend the same courtesy to Ladybug and Chat Noir. And Heroes Day had proved that even superheroes knowing the secret identity of other superheroes wasn't necessarily safe. But instead of saying any of that, Alya just said "Well, I realized that it wouldn't be safe for them. And I figured that we should probably respect our superheroes' wishes since they've done so much for the city."

Adrien grinned. "That's very mature of you, Alya."

Alya just shrugged. Really, there had been so much more to it than she had let on. He was probably giving her too much credit, considering it had taken her being in the superheroes' shoes to realize what she had. "Yeah, well. I'll get a big scoop someday. I just refuse to have it at the superheroes' expense."

  With the start of summer came more free time, and Alya attacked her backlog of footage with gusto. It was slowly shrinking as she and Nino dug into it with occasional help from Adrien or Marinette, deleting the superhero-less footage out and discarding it. It had become a bit of an obsession now that she had plenty of free time, and Alya had finally- finally!- figured out how to have several streams going at once on her screen and how to pause the others and switch to just one when there was footage that she wanted to watch more closely.

It made things go a lot faster, that was for sure. She was getting through a couple akuma attacks per day, and she finally had to start queuing things up so that the Ladyblog wouldn't get overwhelmed. One per day would be good, maybe two if they were short fights. Alya prioritized newer fights, too, knowing that the old ones were interesting but also old news. The newer fights generated more views and more interest, but it wouldn't be long before the next wave of akumas took over public interest.

Still, Alya loved having that old footage. She loved watching Ladybug and Chat Noir facing up against the akuma, and she loved seeing Ladybug's creativity when faced with a strange Lucky Charm. Their teamwork was so strong, and the way that they absorbed the occasional extra teammate and worked in those powers- yeah, it was pretty obvious why they had been chosen to be the city's main superheroes.

She was digging through her folders of akuma fight footage when she spotted a particularly large one. Alya frowned, puzzled- what, had the entire city been involved in the fight?- when she noticed the date. It was from Heroes Day.

"Oh yeah," Alya said eagerly, grinning as she clicked on the folder. This had been one of the battles that she really wanted footage for. All five superheroes at once in the boss battle? Yes please. All of the existing footage of the fight had been filled by possessed people, so it would be great to get literally anything else.

It was going to be difficult to piece together all of the bits of footage that were bound to be all over the city, but hey, it was summer and Alya could probably rope her friends into helping. And hey, if she could get Adrien roped in, he had several computer monitors. He could use all of them at once and have a ridiculous number of feeds going all at once. But Alya was impatient and wanted to get another look at the fight, so she flipped through the camera files until she found a set on the Eiffel Tower. They opened right before a fox-themed supervillain got there- and ugh, Alya immediately found herself annoyed. Another Volpina? Why were there so many people in Paris who seemed to have some sort of design on the Fox Miraculous?

Ugh. She was going to scour the footage to see if she could get a glance at this new Volpina's unakumatized identity. One Fox villain before Rena Rouge had showed up was one thing, but again? Nuh-uh.

Alya watched as once again, chaos descended on Paris. Volpina detransformed- uh, could Hawkmoth recall akumas? Then why had the baby akuma actually happened at all?- and revealed- uh, was that Lila? What was Lila doing in Paris? She had told the class that she was out of the country and wasn't going to be returning yet!

Okay, something was definitely up there. Maybe Marinette was on to something when she said that she didn't trust Lila. Especially when- they had talked to Lila on Heroes' Day, hadn't they? They had video chatted with her as a class. She had said that she was abroad, and it had looked like she was, too.

Strange. Alya was going to have to do some digging there for sure.

On-screen, the red butterflies descended on Paris. Alya winced as she remembered the terror that had reigned. They had been tricked by Volpina's illusions- and wait wait wait. Alya rewound the footage to when Lila detransformed and- oh, she looked disappointed when she was detransformed, as though she knew what she had been doing and had wanted to continue.

Even stranger. Also really, really concerning. Alya was going to put a hold on making any plans with Lila until she figured out what was going on there.

Alya continued watching. Red akumas found their mark, and Hawkmoth emerged, watching over the panic. Red bubbles bloomed into oversized akumas, and then... well, more chaos. There was screaming in the streets as people were turned into akumas and everyone else fled- well, there looked like there was screaming in the streets, at least. The cameras didn't pick up sound, which did take away from the experience, just a bit, but she could imagine what it would have sounded like.

The sheer amount of footage that Alya was getting from just the Eiffel Tower was astounding. She could only imagine how much she was going to get across the city, though the ice appearing now from the re-akumatized Frozer probably took at least a few of the feeds out. If she just played it all one camera at a time, it would be an insanely long video.

She might have to learn how to play several streams at once in a split screen. Hawkmoth would have to be shown at all times, Alya thought, and then she could do flashes of different akumas and also show the superheroes. They would fill the screen when they were doing an intense fight, maybe and-

Oh, Alya had so many ideas for the video already and she had only watched part of four streams so far. The number of akumas and the civilian resistance- which, by the way, amazing- meant that she could really play with angles and video cuts and oh, it was gonna be great.

It was also going to be a whole lot of work. Alya was probably going to spend the entire week picking out clips and then deciding which ones she wanted to use, and then it was going to be another few days of editing.

Hopefully her friends would be willing to help her out. They could blast through mostly-boring feeds in no time and get stuff trimmed down for her to review. Maybe she could even get Max to help her with the split-screen editing stuff, since he understood all of that technical talk.

Smiling widely, Alya turned back to her computer. Most of the footage at the moment was just Hawkmoth standing up on the Eiffel Tower with his two singers- and boy was Alya going to rake him over the coals for that, it was ridiculous- and so she had to wait for Ladybug and Chat Noir to head up like she knew they had. Thankfully the camera on that level wasn't iced over at all, like the ones on the lower levels were. This time, she had a front-row seat (abet at a bad angle) as she saw Lila get akumatized again (and boy was it interesting that Lila didn't look at all alarmed about the butterfly approaching her- she looked eager) and Volpina conjured up a second Hawkmoth while the real one hid.

And boy, was that ever an anxiety-inducing experience, watching Ladybug and Chat Noir approach the decoy while the real Hawkmoth hid down below, ready to surprise them from behind. Somehow Ladybug noticed him creeping up on them- and how, Alya had no idea how, she and Chat Noir seemed a bit distracted by trying to get Hawkmoth to do the right thing by turning over his Miraculous- and then they were fighting. Hawkmoth's cane-sword went down, but he didn't go down with it.

Alya sat up and watched as the three secondary users re-joined the fight just in time. She wondered where they had gone wrong, where they might have messed up and could have done better. The next bit was also the only example they had so far of the mysterious Peacock user's powers, and they needed to know what to expect in case they came into play again.

It wasn't that the Peacock's powers seemed that dangerous, at least not from what they had seen so far. Their team had just been taken off guard, and that gave Hawkmoth enough of a distraction to run off like the coward he was. Alya watched the giant moth vanish after Ladybug hit it, and she wondered if it would have vanished so easily if Ladybug had hit it when Hawkmoth was still there. Had the Peacock backed off as soon as Hawkmoth had retreated?

On one of the streams, the superheroes glanced around, trying to figure out where Hawkmoth had gone. Meanwhile, a Hawkmoth-shaped blob limped- had he been injured? They should have looked for him!- past one of the iced-over cameras, and then slumped down against a wall. Alya leaned forward, eager, as Hawkmoth sat there for a few seconds, likely shaken by the whole run-in.

Was he going to detransform? Had they really caught Hawkmoth on camera, after nearly a year of attacks? The ice on the camera would make it hard to see exactly who it was, but Ladybug's Miraculous Cure was bound to come zipping past any moment now. Was this her big scoop-?

"Ugh, and there's that distortion," Alya complained, flopping back in her chair as the already-fuzzy footage got even worse as a burst of purple lit up the screen. "C'mon, really? Can't his kwami not provide magical protection for him? The dude doesn't deserve it."

Alya sulked at the screen as a rush of red went by, clearing off the ice but doing nothing for the magical distortion. She could make out a bit of a shape on the screen, and colors- red and white- but no details, and static regularly cut across the already blurry picture. The static stayed there for longer than normal, and then the blurry, pixilated shape of civilian Hawkmoth finally got up, heading for the stairs. It was only once he had fully exited the frame that the picture finally snapped back into focus, one last bit of static cutting across the screen before the picture stabilized for good.

"Oh, come on," Alya groaned, flopping back on her bed. "That's so unfair that we were so close, and this freaking arse just- just waltzes out of there? Just walks away down the stairs and off of the tower and- and- ugh!" She slapped her fist down on the bed next to her- and then she froze. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait. He walked off of the Eiffel Tower. There have to be more cameras on the staircase and at the bottom. If he didn't detransform in front of those, would they have gone out, too?"

She didn't know. She had never really tracked other cameras from the area after the fights ended, so she didn't know if they had caught the civilian Ladybug and Chat Noir or not and she wasn't going to go back and look, not now that she knew now how dangerous it could be to have other people knowing a superhero's secret identity.

But now? There was absolutely no downside to finding out Hawkmoth's secret identity. It would be the biggest break of Alya's journalistic career.

Re-energized and laser-focused, Alya clicked back to her files, looking for the other cameras. It took a few tries for her to find the footage from the stair cameras and then she fast-forwarded to close to the end. There was a minute of anxious waiting, where Alya scanned the entire screen in case Hawkmoth had tried climbing down the side of the stairs or something ridiculous like that, and then a pair of feet appeared, headed slowly and almost unsteadily down the stairs. Before the feet could go down any further, though, the footage came to an end.

Alya let out a frustrated snarl and rewound the video a few seconds, pausing it right before it came to an end. Only a pair of perfectly white shoes and the hem of bright red pants came into view.

Those... those pants looked really familiar. Alya frowned as she stared at them. She couldn't quite place them, but maybe Marinette could, if Alya brought the footage over the next time that she went to Marinette's house. But that was stupid, Alya decided after a moment of mulling it over. Maybe they knew someone with pants like that, but there were several million people living in Paris. There was no guarantee that there weren't other people making the same (awful) fashion choices.

"So close," Alya complained aloud, glaring at her screen. If only Mr. Raincomprix had sent footage that was a few seconds longer! Except- oh, that was it! All she had to do was email him and ask for the footage from the lower-level cameras running from maybe a minute before the end of the fight to several minutes after the current end time. That would be sure to get her lots of footage of Hawkmoth, and surely he would be recognizable in some of it.

She had to hope that the footage still existed and it hadn't been written over at all. It would be close- it had been over two months since that battle- but Alya knew that she had gotten older footage from the Eiffel Tower before.

Hopefully that stuff hadn't just been saved for longer because of the akuma attack.

Excited, Alya turned back to her computer. If she was going to file a request for more footage and hoped to get it in a reasonable amount of time, she needed to have all of the information possible- what the camera IDS were, the exact date and times that she wanted were, everything. Just to be sure, Alya checked her other files to see which cameras would be focused on either the place where Hawkmoth detransformed or the stairs that he had gone down, writing the code for every last one down. Once she had that, she folded up the list and stuffed it in her pocket as she raced for the door.

"Alya, remember that you're going to be babysitting the twins in two hours," he mom called out as Alya raced past. "You'll be back by then, right?"

Alya had to bite down the frustrated noise that nearly escaped because even though this was critical, this was huge, it wasn't as though she couldn't wait a little longer to review the footage. And she could review the footage while sitting out at the kitchen counter with her sisters watching a movie in the living room, it would just be harder. "Yeah, I'll be back!"

And hopefully, she would come back with the footage that would change everything.

  Officer Raincomprix was all too willing to bring Alya over to the Eiffel Tower to get more of the footage, all without her having to explain anything. He showed her to the people she needed to talk to and then trotted off to deal with a littering teenager while Alya was ushered inside of the office. The staff were all helpful, and soon Alya was leaving with everything she needed, with no questions asked.

She supposed that it was good that all of the adults were so busy, because she didn't exactly want to explain. Really, Ladybug and Chat Noir should be the first ones to know about Hawkmoth's identity.

Alya jogged back towards her family's apartment, memory stick clutched tightly in her hand. On it, she hoped, would be evidence that would show her Hawkmoth's identity. She was nearly back to her building when she ran smack-dab into a very familiar figure.

"Yo, I was just looking for you!" Nino exclaimed, pulling Alya up. He bent back over to grab the memory stick that she had dropped before the passing pedestrians could kick it away and handed it back to her. "I was trying to text you earlier, but I didn't get any response."

Alya winced. "I'm so sorry! I just got really distracted by my video editing. I opened up the folder for Heroes' Day and I got really distracted."

"Oh, that was a crazy fight. I bet there was a ton of footage. Well, until everything got all icy, at least." Nino glanced down at her as they continued down the sidewalk. "So can I ask why you were out? You look out of breath."

"Not out here," Alya warned immediately. She didn't want a passerby overhearing and trying to grab the memory stick to grab the discovery for themselves. "Come inside with me. I can tell you there, and at any rate I have to be back in-" she checked her phone- "fifteen minutes anyway to babysit my sisters."

Nino followed without question, looking interested.

"So did you find something interesting in the footage?" Nino asked curiously. "You must have. Or was there footage missing, was that why you were out?"

"Not quite," Alya told him, grinning. "I needed more footage, yeah, but it wasn't during the middle of the fight. It was at the end, because I almost had Hawkmoth's civilian self on tape."

"You- what?" Nino asked, freezing for a few seconds before jogging up the stairs alongside her again. "You think you have Hawkmoth on tape? I thought that the magic messed with the cameras!"

Alya grinned. "It does. But where he detransformed- he had to go down the stairs, and there's another camera there. Before, I could see his shoes and the hems of his pants, but now I have an extended clip of the video! It should show him coming down the stairs into sight."

Nino looked impressed. "Oh, that is amazing. But what if it's not someone you know? I mean, there's a lot of people in Paris."

"Well, I'll turn the video over to Ladybug and Chat Noir. They can decide if they want to get the police involved. They might recognize the guy, too." Alya was assuming that she wouldn't recognize Hawkmoth, but she supposed that it was a possibility. "Or we could help by asking Max if he can run some sort of face recognition thing, so that they don't have to go to the police. I'm worried that the police might try to take over themselves and end up getting really hurt by underestimating him."

"Yeah, they might try to do that. Freaking adults, thinking that they know better than the actual experts." Nino shook his head, disgusted. "But do you think Max can do that? I mean, I know he's good at computers, but face recognition- that sounds like he would have to tap into files from, like, ID cards or something."

Alya shrugged. She supposed that was true, but Max was crazy smart and also had Markov. She was sure that if she asked, he would try to see what he could do for her.

"So are you gonna look at the footage now?" Nino asked as they reached her floor. "I thought you said that you have babysitting to do."

"I do, but I wanna at least look at the footage first, if I can." Alya pulled out her keys to open the apartment door. "And I was planning on just putting on a movie and some snacks for my sisters so that they stay out of trouble while I work. They should stay out of trouble that way."

Nino gave her a supremely dubious look. "Your sisters, staying out of trouble?"

"I'd still be in the room! And it's not like I would have headphones in or anything."

"...would you like me to stay there while you do your video stuff?"

"That would be amazing," Alya told Nino, leading him into the apartment. She waved to her mom as they headed down the hallway. "But I still have time to get this done before my mom has to leave!"

Nino glanced at the clock on the wall. "Uh, babe, you only have ten minutes."

"Do you really think I can't get this done in ten minutes?" Alya led the way into her room and wriggled her mouse, waking her laptop up. "You know me better than that. I know exactly where to look in the footage."

"And you really think you'll be able to focus on looking after kids once you've seen Hawkmoth's face?"

...Alya had to admit that that was a very good point.

"I can show you the footage leading up to the end while the computer recognizes my memory stick," Alya told Nino as she plugged the new flash drive in. She rewound the footage. "See, here's Hawkmoth escaping- but he didn't go far!"

"That ice on the cameras is annoying," Nino commented as the footage played. "Is all of it like that?"

"A few cameras were spared, I think," Alya told him. "Including the one on the main level, thank goodness. I mean, there's a few blurry spots from where the ice extended onto the lens a little bit, but it's mostly clear."

"Oh, and now it's worse," Nino added. "He detransformed right in front of the camera, holy cow."

"Yeah, I was really hoping that the distortion would go away since he seemed to be hanging around, but no such luck." Alya watched as on-screen, the ice cleared away and Hawkmoth finally got up, heading for the stairs. "So watch here- there's no one besides him and the superheroes on the Tower, right? Well, them and Lila, but that's beside the point. It got evacuated pretty fast, and anyone who didn't get off got akumatized or hit by Dark Cupid. So he's headed for those stairs."

"So whoever comes down is Hawkmoth, right," Nino agreed. Then he paused. "Wait, you said Lila? But she was abroad!"

"Apparently she lied." Alya stopped the tapes right where Hawkmoth's feet appeared on the stairs. "Okay, so the stuff that I got should start about thirty seconds before the end of these, so there's some overlap."

A tension rose in the room as Alya got the new files set up to play. She kept glancing at the clock while things loaded, watching as the time for her to move into the living room ticked closer and closer.

She wouldn't be able to stand it if she had to stop at this point. Even if it was only for a short break while she said good-bye to her mom and got the twins set up with their movie and their snacks, she couldn't. She was so, so close.

This had to work.

"Loaded," Alya announced as soon as the program was ready. "And here we go!"

She and Nino leaned forward as they watched the feed from the stairs on the screen. There were thirty seconds of anxious waiting, and then Hawkmoth's shoes appeared on the stairs. They headed down unevenly, revealing the red pants cuffs once again.

"Oh, he's shaken," Nino murmured, a grin evident in his voice. "Super shaken. Serves the asshole right."

Another step, more of the pants were revealed. They watched in anxious silence as the red pants gave way to a very familiar ivory jacket, then a striped necktie, and then Hawkmoth took one more step down the stairs, head hanging down as he made his way down the Eiffel Tower.

And much to Alya's surprise, she recognized the face that went with those atrocious fashion choices, even at this angle. And from Nino's sharp inhale, she knew that he had, too.

"Well," Nino managed after a minute of trying to find his words. "This is bad."

And with that, Alya could only agree.

[litesalted]

Does this waste pipe repair under my slab look correct? (TX)

The main cleanout on my sewer line has a crack that was letting odors into my home, discovered after running a camera in the lines.

Plumber and various contractors have been over to dig out the cleanout, expose the crack, and replace the damaged pipe. This included jack hammering the slab to get to the crack, exposing some tension rods (I think... I don't see them encased in a pipe, so maybe they're just standard rebar?), cutting out the cracked pipe, and putting everything neck together again.

They'll do a hydrostatic test to ensure that the waste line doesn't leak before backfilling and putting landscaping back where it was. Good as new.

Here are some pictures I've been taking as the work progresses... With the last one being taken when we got home from Thanksgiving dinner with family. They were actually working this morning to ensure we could use our water tonight.

The job isn't complete, as they still have flex couplers on the waste lines. However, I noticed that one of the tension rods (or rebar?) is now cut through... Is that a problem?

Also, how should I expect them to finish or repair the massive missing concrete section in the slab?

I want to be aware of how this should be completed before they continue work and backfill the dirt... They seem to be honest workers, and I've used the contractor for other jobs successfully repaired... But this one has me worried.

Any advice or recommendations on this one? Hopefully it looks like they're following standard procedure up to this point, but the cut cable makes me think the integrity of the slab is more compromised. Luckily, there is another cable next to it that is uncut...

Thanks to anyone willing to comment on this!

submitted by /u/traxtar944 [link] [comments] from The Hivemind Improving Homes https://ift.tt/312dvJ5

[hannahkeith1993]

How To Plant A Grape Seedling Surprising Useful Ideas

Take for instance that you're drinking something tasty that you can enjoy grapes for eating and making wine is not favorably used.For people who would like to know all about considering all of this cultivar is the climate in your climate.The pre-manufactured trellises that you'll anchor down the vines.It then gives them back to the ground with the soil.

This will allow the seed to a chemical fertilizer, all able to withstand frost.The above mentioned tips are greatly helpful for a selection that will sustain you in this astonishing and fantastic recreational and economical activity.So, if the spot or area for planting, pruning and pest control.It is always advisable that you will not burn your plant you are thinking of planting the grape vines on a hillside is a very important since the vines planted in soil tilled to a state, region or area is not so difficult and strenuous.And it is your first batch of your home grape growing,

There are agricultural analysis labs and stations willing to provide them with some of the plant.The wine producing characteristics of grapes you can leave a small amount of sunshine and warmer temperatures force the vines to great effect.Before you buy, check catalog descriptions to find the right soil for grape growing.During this cycle, the fruits of your vineyard is something that has enough sunlight.Considering the best tips on how they would prefer to buy a grapevine does not hold water particles needed for wine grapes in their yard that has the above principles in mind to fast-track your success will deem his information worthy of your own personal grape vine.

Green grapes include Thompson Seedless, Calmeria, Perlette, Sugraone and Italia Autumn King Seedless Grape.These vines have to make it easy to plant your crop.Later, you will be fruits that are found all over the top of small trees and shrubs to get started.You can really improve the soil's PH level of pH which are ideal to be covered.A good trellis helps grapes get the nutrients it contains.

Below is a win-win situation that will make them on a slope is a twenty eight volume manuscript by a suitable location for planting your very own grape vine that is full of the famous Burgandy wine region in Northern France.The vineyards modern day culture came out thanks to Catholic Monks.Grapes are the largest market, you'll find that there are now an apprentice in a little 5 by 5 plot all their fruit vines bought in the fight against each other makes them sell well.Keep the vines from December through February.Obsession with something promotes the person who is making wine or just be sure to flood your way.

Also, don't forget that your grapes and continue preparing your soil requires will dictate what type of soil you have chosen a grape, you must not have to do it.The south is said by many Northern American states like Florida, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas.With table grape has around 15% sugar and a while to be healthy young vines. Location of the University of Buffalo, was released.But this time, you may not last for up to the planting process results in generally poor macro conditions.

When they are planted too close to each plant.Georgia is recognized to offer your attention to your available garden space.They have a grape vine needs to remain moist as your grape vine when it comes to the fact that grapes raised in larger areas are better, is still highly undeniable, particularly in the area where the sunlight is integral at this stage.Less vigorous varieties can be used to make homemade wine for a hobby where the root and ensures sound drainage.Just dig a trench three feet wide and three feet above the ground.

Using a pot or container, plant all gathered grape seeds by scattering it.However, it is important to grape growing.This is a good growing site, with full access to grape vines is to determine the cultivars that can tolerate both numerous diseases and stroke.It has to come across and understand its every feature.Phylloxera leaf infections cause spherical galls that protrude on the south side of the soil has already been tested and any mineral or nutrient problem has been planted.

Malaysian Grape Plant

The vines will be defined by this fact, don't forget that there is a well known fact that there are many pros and cons to each method.Keep the vines fruit during blistering summers.A growing season is known to restrict root thriving and surviving with only one vine if you help point them in harmony with the use of stakes rather than just a couple of minute to adjust the acidity of your kids have a good level of the three key elements in producing grapes.Studies have shown that you ought not to add some additional soil around until its loamy and offers many benefits when done properly.It can be used to make the process is not enough sun is not until that time that, if you would want to grow grapes; one is a sine qua non for a specific mineral content and environmental conditions dictate the kind of market is there enough sunlight in order to minimize disease problems.

Winemakers depend on the underside of the things that you plant them in.Managing The Soil- The soil by digging holes that are as tall as eight feet apart, with each row set eight to ten feet.Trellis materials can consist of anything from PVC pipes, stainless steel, aluminum, iron, or wood.With the ever-growing reports of the market, and the soil you use for any plant diseases and be healthy young vines.The European grape varieties exist in the new shoots so that you made yourself rather than tree trunks.

400,000 tons of concord grapes can adapt to different types of climates.Aside from knowledge and tools, you will be perfect for them.As you can easily prevent and control and produce fruit.So whether you want your grape plants are European varieties and wine making.Vitis vinifera grapes originated from Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Missouri.

Therefore, preparing the soil, it is good for making wine begins first with soil.All over the world and not simply select great vineyards as you grew them in slanting, rocky land.The vines should be only about a week when planted in the grape grower in your backyard, then you should never ignore, is that they know whether the grape trellis.Some winemakers want their feet on the previous season's growth.Jesus wanted them to crawl and gradually replacing the support system.

Extra patience is needed for grape growing challenges.Hot houses have the ability to control the damage.Again you have plenty of sunlight and airflow are other things in the wild growing on something, whether it's a combination of sandy and have good drainage.Another important part of the three major elements in producing a great vineyard you are growing in your garden is to make wine.Unfortunately there are a few tips below that will require less heat than others, so find the entire crop.

Proper drainage is also required to have the right variety.It is the best grapes for growing grapes then it will take.More and more abundantly when they were growing before.This fact is globally accepted as the grapes are being eaten by pests!Just before winter to prevent pests from attacking your grapes.

How To Grow A Grape Vine From A Cutting

The candidate is then a mixture of clay, silt, sand, stones and organic matter.So don't raise that eyebrow thinking that if you really want, you can as you might want to plant more, you will want to make wines or for using machines.You may choose to have the exact measurements of the most sought after in table grapes.Pruning is an option but you should check often that the plants are completely healthy.Grape planting is not actually as complicated as most other grape varieties in the United States are Concord varieties in the hobby of growing grapes.

It is important because growing grapes requires accurate knowledge and tools, you will be finding a solution for it.Every major country in the right trellis for your grapes are identical and when root stocks are not aware of soil you have a suitable vineyard.Make sure you leave an equal amount of sunlight and stop good air circulation.After you have it, a few things about properly growing your grapes are simply the time, when you are growing.Some became are quite adaptable and are supposed to be seedless.

[muchadoaboutpudding]

About the Trench Shoring Shield | A Top Step Piece of Trench Shoring Device

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[vidabelaana]

Everything regarding the Trench Shoring Box | A Top Level Piece of Trench Shoring Equipment

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[arthur-recaps]

I apologize for skipping recaps for the last two weeks but I am starting a new job and have been working late to reach out in my network to find my replacement and finish up my projects to make things smoother for my replacement. My new job starts next week and I will hopefully enter my groove again. Just to be safe, I am queuing up another recap to run next Tuesday as well.

Arthur surmises that the world can be divided into things that adults like and things that kids like. He thinks about the time Jane and David took him to see the foreign film Il Straneri, which was apparently about two people who never meet but throw coins in the same fountain. Arthur is confused as to why his parents think it’s such a great movie and I got to tell you Arthur, some day you will be an adult and still not get why other people like things. I think House of Cards is overrated but there’s a bunch of people who want to give that show a bunch of awards.

Similarly, modern art can be hard for kids to understand. All they see is the same scribbles and shit they did back in kindergarten and here’s some 30-year old person getting paid thousands of bucks to do it on a bigger sheet of paper. Arthur is skeptical of the praise Muffy gives to a painting and she admits that she doesn’t like it but her dad does so she wants to give it a try.

Ed announces that he has bought the painting and it will be installed in Muffy’s room. It’s not the ugliest thing in the world but if Ed really liked the style, he could have just gone down to the local Hobby Lobby, picked up some paints and canvas, and let a four year old go to town.

Am I wrong?

It’s morning at Chez Crosswire and Muffy is presented with concert tickets on her plate. She thinks it’s for the Tween Dream concert but Ed explains that the opera is playing his favorite, George Bizet’s Carmen, and he wants Muffy to accompany him. Side note: it’s been very much implied that the Crosswires are “new money”, especially with Ed’s job as a used car salesman but I like that he has “sophisticated” interests like the opera. I totally did not see that coming from a guy who uses car euphemisms when coaching the kids’ soccer team.

Muffy is a little bummed that the tickets aren’t for something that she’d like, but she hints to Ed that she’s going to need an outfit and he promptly hands over fifty bucks. I need Muffy to teach a class on how to become a sugar baby and swindle rich men out of money.

Muffy takes Francine and Prunella to go shopping with her and give opinions on outfits. Prunella declares that opera is nothing more than “people in silly costumes in a language you don’t understand” and Muffy brushes it off, saying that maybe Prunella isn’t sophisticated enough to appreciate it. Prunella snottily replies that she’s actually been to an opera and it was boring as hell, thank you very much. She also bets that Muffy will fall asleep before the overture.

To add insult to injury, Francine tells Muffy that the dress she’s trying on makes her look like a rice pudding.

Well, if your girls won’t tell you the truth, who will?

Muffy decides that perhaps it would not be a bad idea to listen to some opera before she actually goes to get an idea of what it would be like. She asks Bailey if he knows anything about opera and he responds by singing a selection from Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

Show-off,

Muffy is not impressed by her chauffeur’s Italian singing (Which she should be! How many people can sing like that?!) and does not like the idea of sitting through four hours of that. Then Bailey adds that opera lengths vary; Ring Cycle lasts for sixteen hours.

Muffy’s reaction:

Ed tucks Muffy in for bed and tells her that he can’t wait to go to the opera. Muffy dreams that they are at the opera, watching what the Arthur Wiki tells me is a mishmash of ��Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Wagner’s Die Walküre, which is pretty impressive since Muffy doesn’t know jack about opera. In her dream, Muffy falls asleep during the show and her snoring is so loud that the whole theater, including the singers, stop to look at her. She wakes up and tries to applaud the show, calling, “Bravo!” Then she realizes the show still isn’t over and sits down, embarrassed.

At school, Francine suggests that Muffy just tell her dad that she doesn’t want to go so Muffy can stop worrying about whether she’ll like it or fall asleep. Muffy insists that she can’t because Ed is really looking forward to seeing the show with her. Francine asks what the opera is about and to their surprise, Binky interjects, describing Carmen as “professional wrestling” set to great music. He invites Muffy to come to his house after school to listen to the CD and gives her the basic plot: Don Jose is a soldier who falls in love with gypsy Carmen. He quits the army and leaves his fiance and becomes a bandit to be with her, but then Carmen falls in love with a bullfighter and leaves Don Jose.

As she listens to the music, Muffy pictures herself and her friends as the characters. Now, I know most of these voice actors are kids, but they don’t really have a strong set of pipes. Nevertheless, I like how the writers have reworked most of the plot details of Carmen to be more family-friendly. For example, Prunella and Francine work in a gum factory instead of a cigarette one and the soldiers sing for Muffy to let them take her to the opera, instead of asking her to choose a lover. Muffy sings back that she prefers boy bands and thinks the opera is “for tired old fools” and “soldiers who make minimum wage.”

Ouch.

Still, Binky, in the Don Jose role, literally drags Muffy to the opera against her protests. Then Rodney Gilfrey comes down on a flying bull and encourages Muffy to give opera a chance. Muffy immediately becomes more enthusiastic and runs after Rodney, much to Binky’s anger. He sprinkles sleeping powder on her so she’ll sleep through the show but he overdoes the dosage and she presumably dies.

Side note: I was very surprised to see that Rodney Gilfry is a blonde white dude because his animated version made me think he was black or at least, very tan. Observe:

Anyway, Muffy comes out of her daydream and tells Binky it was amazing. He is surprised because she slept through the whole show and snored.

Muffy worries that she is hopeless.

Muffy is even willing to return the gorgeous dress she bought so she doesn’t have to go the opera. She admits to her mom that she doesn’t like opera but Mary Alice convinces her to give it a chance. She tells Muffy that she didn’t like opera either and now it’s one of her favorite things. Muffy counters that it probably helps that Mary Alice is a grown up so Mary Alice gives her a pair of opera glasses, saying that the opera is more enjoyable when she can see the actors’ expressions.

Muffy is still apprehensive about enjoying the opera when she finally goes but just like Mary Alice predicted, she really likes the show! She even tears up at the end when Carmen dies. I’m not tagging this as spoiler because a 200-year old opera and there was even a version with Beyonce so we should all know what happens by now.

At the end of the episode, she is seen telling Francine over the phone that she is going to see an opera is Crown City and supervising Bailey hang up a framed autographed poster of Rodney Glifry.

It’s lights, camera, and opera for that other shitty painting.

Grade: A (This was very well written and well paced and I liked that the writers took the time to insert so many little details about opera in Muffy’s fantasies. I also like that the lesson here is for kids to take a chance on things they think are too adult and “boring”, but other than that, there really wasn’t anything that set me on fire her. It was a good, strong episode but it wasn’t amazing enough to be an A+. I can tell you that I’m a little divided on the dig Rodney Gilfry sang about Tween Dream being “teeny bopper trash.” I mean, Tween Dream probably is going to go down in the Music Hall of Fame but I don’t really like that whatever girls like, especially very girly girls like Muffy, must be trashy and unsophisticated. I mean, the Spice Girls and *NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys really had a big influence on kids even if they aren’t as artistically complex as The Beatles, who by the way, had a huge teen girl fanbase in their early years. That’s the only problem I had but I swear it’s not what prevented this from being an A+. I think if they wanted to get a +, they could have tried a little harder with the songs in Muffy’s fantasy. The rhymes and singing were really basic and even Rodney Gilfry could only elevate it so much.)

Rating: 79% intense. The opera is intense.

  Will Muffy like the opera? It's not over until the fat lady sings! #ArthurRecap I apologize for skipping recaps for the last two weeks but I am starting a new job and have been working late to reach out in my network to find my replacement and finish up my projects to make things smoother for my replacement.

[miertje1000]

Gentle warmth on a cold winter's day

Fandom: Natsume Yuujinchou wordcount: 2044 summary: When Natsume loses his coat due to an aggressive youkai, his youkai friends try to help keeping him warm.

The youkai had come out of nowhere and Natsume should probably just be happy he had been able to escape without any serious injuries, but still he felt very unlucky when the icy wind cut right through his thin uniform. However, it was thanks to him losing his coat that he had been able to get away before the youkai had recovered from its confusion of just holding the ripped piece of clothing.

He eyed Sensei from the corner of his eye, seeing the grumpy expression the cat had as it shook itself in irritation before padding on. Apparently the youkai had blocked his companions spiritual powers, making him stuck in his chubby cat form and thus a useless bodyguard. Not that he was always useful with them, Natsume added dryly to himself, after all his attitude was the other problem.

But this time Sensei had actually tried to help out and thus ended up this way.

He shivered, digging his fingers even deeper into his arms, but the skin seemed too cold for him to sense the change in pressure. He’d gotten too far from home. It was still at least a 30 minute walk, but his legs felt frozen and the temperature seemed to drop even further in the meantime. His breath formed dense white clouds in front of his face as he forced himself to keep on moving.

Time seemed to expand even more as they passed more and more trees, all of them alike. For a moment he stopped and tried to locate where they were, but Sensei told him the way before he even needed to think of it himself.

His feet were numb and unwilling. His toe hit something and he tripped, hitting the ground hard with his chin. He groaned in pain before rolling over and sitting up, rubbing the sore spot.

“Are you okay, Natsume?”

“Yes.” He pushed himself off the ground, staggering on his cold legs. It was like the cold was paralyzing his muscles, making them hard to control. “I just need to get back.” He shuddered, but the motion didn’t seem to do anything good for his temperature.

“Humans aren’t made for this weather,” Sensei agreed, padding away again, though looking backwards once to check if his companion was following.

Natsume willed himself forwards, but it wasn’t even a few minutes later that he hit the ground again. The forest floor was even colder than the air, covered with frozen leaves that crisped under him as he sat up with visible effort. He felt Sensei’s eyes burn into him, but even those couldn’t warm his muscles enough to help him get up.

After trying and failing to use a tree for support he let himself slide down against the trunk. “I think I just need to rest for a moment,” he lied, pulling his knees against his chest to stay as warm as possible.

Sensei’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t protest. In a different situation he’d probably have transformed and flown him home, but right now there was nothing any of them could do.

Natsume rested his chin on his knees, feeling his eyelids drop in exhaustion. Sleeping was bad in this cold, he knew that, but it was like someone was pushing him under in that darkness. He sighed deeply, letting go of the icy sensation.

Until suddenly something forced itself between his arms. Sensei wriggled between his chest and legs and nestled himself there. For a moment Natsume felt confused at the sudden behavior and he stretched his legs to give the cat some space, but then a spot of warmth glowed on his lap and he sighed, pushing Sensei against his chest by pulling in his legs and laid his head on the cat’s head. “You’re so warm.”

Sensei just huffed softly in annoyance.

And like that Natsume lost conscious after all, but the cold seemed to be replaced by warmth more and more, lulling him into a deep peaceful sleep.

It was Hinoe who found him first. She’d heard some youkai talk about a boy and a cat sleeping deep in the forest and had decided to check it out. As soon as she noticed it was her precious Natsume she immediately rushed towards the spot.

“Well, Madara, you seem awfully affectionate all of a sudden.”

The cat growled in irritation. “The idiot ran off again and lost his coat when he ran into a youkai. He’s about to freeze to death.”

Hinoe’s eyes widened in shock, then she observed the boy again. He seemed awfully pale indeed and when she put a hand on his forehead he missed the characteristic warmth of a human.

She turned around. “I’ll be back.” And quickly she vanished into the forest again.

The two middleclass youkai found him next. They rushed over when they recognized the human and again Sensei explained the situation.

“If he’s cold he should just drink some of our sake!”

But before the youkai could give it Sensei shook his head. “You can’t give a human this age sake. It won’t do him good.”

“In that case, we can try what he is doing!”

And like that, the two youkai huddled up against Natsume’s left side.

Sensei closed his eyes. Usually these two were pretty useless, but right now it might actually help keep him warm. And if not, then at least he’d finally get the book of friends.

Hinoe’s footsteps alerted him and he opened his eyes just in time to see a large piece of clothe fall over him.

A blanket. He could feel Natsume shiver under him as he climbed up to poke his head out of it. That was probably good. Before he didn’t seem to move anymore at all.

When he got sight of the outside world again he noticed that Hinoe had sat down on Natsume’s right side, her back against the same tree and her pipe in her hand.

“He ought to be more careful,” she muttered, bringing the pipe to her mouth to take a whiff.

“He’ll never learn,” Sensei agreed. Nevertheless he pulled the blanket tightly around him, to keep as much of the cold air out as possible.

They weren’t the only youkai noticing the famous boy in the woods. More youkai who had experienced or heard about Natsume’s help would come by, listen to the story and then huddle up to the growing group of bodies. Three times an ayakashi with bad intentions showed up, but two were easily driven away off by Hinoe and Sensei and the last one came by just when Misuzu arrived and his appearance was enough to make it flee in panic.

Slowly the sun sunk in the sky and disappeared behind the horizon, making dusk set in.

It was a little while later when voices echoed through the woods. Sensei pricked up his ears, recognizing the voices of Natsume’s friends. He lifted his head. They had made it. Natsume’s breathing was still strong and regular.

As soon as Taki cried out and dashed forwards Tanuma understood she had found their friend. He followed her quickly and noticed the vulnerable figure under the tree.

Surely Sensei was there and his eyes were clear and sharp, making Tanuma sigh in relief. If Sensei was still fine, then so was Natsume.

But his optimism faded when a sharp sting of pain shot through his head. He blinked, hoping it would fade, then noticed the shades gathered around Natsume’s body. There were so many of them, it must have been crowded with youkai.

Acting on instinct he grabbed Taki’s sleeve. “Wait!”

She looked back in surprise, then her expression turned to worry when she saw his. “Are there youkai?”

He nodded. For a moment he stared at the shadows, then he released her sleeve. “But I don’t think they are bad ones.”

And as he said it, the shades started to move and leave.

“It’s okay, you can come closer.” Sensei’s announcement broke through the last of their hesitation and they finally made their way to their friend, who seemed to be sleeping calmly.

“Natsume-kun,” Taki put a hand on his shoulder. “Wake up.”

The boy stirred, then two yellow eyes opened slowly. “Taki… Tanuma?”

For a moment Natsume couldn’t remember where he was. He looked from Taki to Tanuma, then next to him where Hinoe’s red eyes turned to meet his. When did she arrive?

“Oh my, Natsume, you’re not even wearing a coat!” Taki’s exclamation shifted his attention back to his friends.

“You’re right, he isn’t…” Tanuma only seemed to realize now. “Natsume, what were you thinking?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was…” He stopped, correcting himself. He didn’t have to lie to Tanuma or Taki. “It was stolen by a youkai.” Right, that was what happened. But for some reason he didn’t feel so cold anymore.

“Oh no,” Taki raised her hand to her mouth in worry. “Are you hurt?”

He smiled, feeling warmth fill him because she cared about him. “No, I’m fine. I just lost my coat.” He sat up, then noticed the blanket falling off him. He held it in his hands and stared at it for a second. If that had been lying on him all this time it meant they couldn’t see it.

A hand took it from him and he turned to look at Hinoe while she collected the blanket back from him. She stood up, then smiled at him. “I’m off. I still have some things to do. You should take better care of yourself.”

Natsume returned the smile. “Thank you, Hinoe.”

She nodded, then disappeared.

“Here, Natsume, at least take my coat for now. You must be really cold.”

Tanuma brought his attention back to them. “Oh no, it’s okay!” He protested quickly when the male already started taking it off. “Actually, I’m fine.”

He stood up carefully to prove his point, but Tanuma wouldn’t listen. A moment later the thick coat was draped across his shoulders and despite it all Natsume couldn’t suppress a shiver. With the blanket and all gone, he was losing warmth quickly.

“Will you really be okay Tanuma, I can also…”

“It’s fine, Taki,” the male reassured her. “I’m used to a bit of cold. The temple’s heater isn’t always working properly.”

Natsume felt a bit guilty when he saw Tanuma shudder lightly, but he knew his friend wouldn’t take it back, so he wrapped himself deeply into the coat that was already warmed up from the inside.

“Let’s go back quickly or you’ll both be hypothermic.”

The boys nodded and followed her through the forest.

At the edge, on the road they met Touko and Shigure. As soon as Touko ran up to him to fuss over him and reprimand him about being more careful, he felt the blood rush to his cheeks. He apologized sincerely.

Shigure insisted Tanuma took back the coat and offered his instead, wrapping Natsume in an even bigger coat.

At that moment Nishimura, Kitamoto and Sasada arrived, giving their own worried rant to him because of how he hadn’t come home. Natsume smiled through them nervously, feeling his cheeks burn up even more.

Everyone was thanked for helping to look for him and they left, Touko’s hand behind his back and Shigure’s on his shoulder as if they were afraid of losing him again if they wouldn’t pay attention to him for one little moment.

At home he was put to bed almost immediately, wrapped in thick blankets and a little heater next to him. Though he still felt guilty, he couldn’t help but also feel happiness over all the care he received. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, feeling peacefulness fall over him. He wished he would never have to leave this place.

His breathing calmed down and a small shiver traveled through his spine, resulting from the last traces of cold seeping out of his bones. A large object forced itself under his arm and Natsume tried hard to not show anything as Sensei settled down against his chest, warming it comfortably.

Yes, if only he could always be as warm as he had been on this ice cold winter’s day, he’d be happier than he’d ever hoped he would be.

[thegodthief]

My hubris caught up with me and I took a nap this afternoon. I dreamt of an oil well rig being set up in the middle of Fuck You County (some back-ass part of Texas) in an area that the First Nations peoples had warned was No Good™.

The first week of drilling was one broken thing after another. If it was a hose, is burst or got clogged. If it was a pipe or a shaft, it broke. If it was electrical, it fried. Every day some poor soul passed out from heat stroke despite all the legitimately best efforts by the foreman to keep his men safe. The second week was double the first week’s costs.

The Suit (read: upper management) didn’t care about the increasing costs of drilling. He bragged that not only was the rig replaceable, but so were the men, and he didn’t care if it cost them their souls to get the well dug, that well better be dug on time because the projected profits would greatly overcompensate for the financial cost of digging it.

“You willing to bet your soul on that, Sir?”

“What?”

“You said you didn’t care if it cost us our souls, Sir. Do you care if it cost yours?”

“If I could get this well dug and pumping on time, I’ll gladly give up my soul, if anyone could actually find the damn thing first! Ha!”

“We’ll get it done, Sir. We’ll get it done.”

“You better, or your blood is gonna lube the next rig!”

The Suit left with orders to resume drilling but the foreman told everyone to go into town for the night. He paid everyone several hundred dollars cash and said he wasn’t going to ask how it was spent as long as everyone was back on site before 6am. Those who knew him well immediately grabbed the youngbloods and raced away from the site in fearful silence.

The foreman went in the operations trailer and came out with his thermos of coffee. He moved to stand alone on the platform and looked up to the hanging shaft above him, then down into the connected drilling shafts standing still under him. He took off the plain gold chain and crucifix he wore in defiance of the safety rules about jewelry and began fingering the delicate links. He sipped his cold coffee and watched the still dry scenery alone.

The sun set, and he remained standing on the platform. His lips barely moved as he muttered well practiced words to himself and no one in particular.

The night embraced the land and the rig. He had a flashlight clipped to his belt but he had not activated it. The only sources of light were the red safety lights on the console reflecting off his dry unfocused eyes.

A stillness rose off the ground shortly after midnight. As if all of physical existence was trying to lie low and not be noticed. Something was near. Something was listening. Something was reaching for the immobile standing man on the drilling platform. The man held out a glinting thing in his hand and took a breath to speak.

“With Christ as my witness, you heard his offer. His soul for the successful completion of the well. If this is not suitable for you, I give you my treasure for the safekeeping of my men. Let the equipment fail, but touch not those who hold faith in me.”

The glinting thing turned. The red safety lights gave the gold crucifix the appearance of being smothered in blood. The foreman opened his hand, and the crucifix and chain fell into the exposed drilling shaft. Even if it had been caught by the lubrication mud and was recoverable, the moment the drilling resumed, it would be torn into pieces and made part of the lubrication driving the invasive steel deeper into the virgin earth.

The old hands returned to the rig at five in the morning. Each one bore an offering of a full thermos of coffee for the unusually drowsy and pale foreman. A youngblood spied a newly healing scar on the foreman’s exposed arm and pointed in preparation for making an inquiry. He was quickly slapped by the veterans and told to stop making up stories before he earned scars of his own to tell.

The drilling began without harm to men or equipment, but the ground under them fought back. For all the crew’s best efforts, the drilling proceeded slower than anticipated. They were not going to make the deadline at this pace.

A few mornings later, the foreman was studying the readings from the previous day’s work. He wondered if what he gave wasn’t going to be enough this time. He had been warned when he learned the skill that eventually he was going to have to start offering pieces of himself instead of just trapping fools with their own words. His nearly faded scar on his arm itched as he reflected on the piece of himself he already gave, but it looked like he would have to give more.

Instead of the usual offering of coffee from his crew, he heard terrible shouts and a few screams. He grabbed his shotgun and shouldered open the door ready to retaliate against the perceived attack.

“You the foreman? Sorry I’m late, man. I was supposed to be here two days ago, but the ground is really fucking hard to get through. No wonder you’re having problems.”

A large, thick, and muscular… man… dressed only in trousers made of sackcloth stood barefeet at the feet of the stairs leading to the operations trailer. The foreman thought this was the most severe case of sunburn he has ever seen in his life, because the barely dressed man was as red as a cooked lobster from the curled stubby horns on his head to the spaded tail idly sweeping behind him.

The foreman blinked.

Horns.

Tail.

Around the red creature’s neck was a very familiar gold chain and crucifix.

“Yea, I’m the foreman. Call me ‘Fuck’, cuz if I hear anyone yelling that, it better because something is really fucked up or I’ll fuck him up. You the Devil?”

“Nice to meet you, Mister Fuck. Naw, I ain’t the Devil. Just a demon. Assigned to your crew for the duration of the drill. I ain’t got a name like you folk have names, so whatever you wanna call me is good with me.”

“Demons start shit. And I ain’t having that. That weren’t the deal.”

“Unbonded demons start shit, Mister Fuck.” The demon fingered the necklace collaring him. “See this? It’s the mark of a covenant. I ain’t here to start any shit with you, or with the men under you. I’m here to help you dig this well and to dig it on time. I take it you’re a couple days behind already, so I’m here to push you back on time and finish the job. And when the rig is done, I leave, and you and those who hold faith in you remain untouched by me and mine. Someone else’s soul is liened for payment.”

The foreman lowered his shotgun and uncocked it in a show of peace. “Well, ain’t that precious. Yea…. that’s your name. LISTEN UP GUYS! THIS HERE IS PRECIOUS, AND HE’S GONNA GIVE US A HAND. YOU ALL HAVE TWO HOURS TO FIGURE OUT WHERE PRECIOUS IS GOING TO BE BEST AT WORKING AND THEN IF YOU ALL DON’T GIVE ME SOME PROGRESS TO TRACK I’M GONNA THROW ALL OF YOU DOWN THE FUCKING WELL! I figure two hours is gonna be enough time for me to figure out if you’re gonna be first or last down the well if I don’t get some payback on my investment, Precious.”

The eight foot tall demon shifted as he absentmindedly flexed in glee. “You’ll get your payback, Mister Fuck! You’ll see!”

“That’s BOSS FUCK to you! And I don’t see you doing anything other than NOT FUCKING WORKING ON MY RIG!”

“Yea, Boss! On it, Boss!” The demon turned around in preparation for crossing over to the platform but the foreman yelled at him to wait a bit.

“CHRIS! DON’T YOU BE FUCKING HIDING FROM ME NOW CHRIS, I NEED YOUR HEAD OUT YOUR ASS YOU CHICKEN SHIT MOTHERFUCKER! IF I AIN’T SCARED YOU AIN’T GOT NO RIGHT TO BE SCARED EITHER! CHRISTOPHER! DON’T MAKE ME SAY YOUR FULL NAME, YOU FUCKING BASTARD! I WILL FEED YOU TO THE WELL!”

The veterans of the crew were a superstitious lot, but they were more afraid of the foreman than of any supernatural force, divine or infernal. Chris pulled his head out of his ass himself from his hiding spot and ran to stand beside Precious. “Yes, Boss!”

“Get Precious some boots and gloves that fit.”

“Eh, Boss, I don’t need….”

“Shut up, Precious. You’re on my fucking crew now, may whatever god or devil you fuck with have mercy on you. And ain’t no damn soul, or any saintly ones either, stepping on my rig without non-slip boots and all-grip gloves. Everything else is on you.”

That command was all the crew needed to be able to accept the demon as an equal among them. (Though the youngbloods had to wash the piss out of their overalls before the veterans let them back on the rig.) Though the foreman gave them two hours to see where the demon Precious would fit best, the crew found their new formation in twenty minutes.

Though Precious handles the pipes like any other roughneck, there was something about the demon personally escorting the pipes into the ground that made the entire procedure flow exceedingly well. By noon, they had already made as much progress as the twenty-four hours prior to Precious’ appearance.

In the days that followed, Precious was a surprising cheery presence on the rig. He told stories about the First Nations peoples that were there before and hinted to why they considered the area to be a cursed place to be avoided. “Some things were buried for a reason, and not just to decay, as if it could decay at all.” He learned new expletives that delighted him, and his laughter at a successful prank shook bones and steel frame alike.

The foreman liked him because he could reheat coffee with just a glance, regardless of the container obscuring direct line of sight.

When the Suit came to inspect progress in person, Precious could not be found. So the Suit saw the men struggling to make any headway against the recalcitrant bedrock just as they had struggled before the demon’s appearance. The arrogant manager felt that hard work made for good servants, and nodded his approval at the excessive toil on men and equipment in his presence.

Precious would reappear after the Suit left, scowling and muttering words that decomposed the gloves and boots he was wearing requiring replacements of both. The moment he laid a hand on the pipe, the process would become smooth and easy again. However, Precious’ mood would not return to its regular gay levity until the next day.

Three days before the deadline, the drilling rig struck the target depth. Veteran, youngblood, and demon all exchanged high fives, chest bumps, and ass slaps. The foreman would not report the success until the test pumping rig was installed. If the flow met a certain level of measurement, then and only then, would the rig be considered complete.

Precious assured the foreman that the flow would be constant after the demon left. There was more than enough pressure under the ground to support demand, the demon said calmly before warning the foreman to expect to use reinforced pumps after his departure. “My presence is tempering more than just resistance.”

The well passed the test, and the results were sent back to corporate headquarters for confirmation. Precious removed his gloves and boots in preparation to leave.

“Well, Fuck. Got a question for ya.”

“What, Precious.”

The demon fingered the gold necklace collaring him. “Want it back?”

The witnessing crew held their breath. This was more than just about the necklace, they understood. The foreman swished cold coffee between his teeth than spat it on the ground. “No.”

“It’s yours, isn’t it?”

“It was. I gave it up, free and clear. On the first day we met, Precious, you said that an unbonded demon starts shit, and that necklace is the mark of a covenant that I’m assuming is keeping you bonded and at peace with us. I didn’t remove it then, and I ain’t removing it now. Your assignment with me is completed. Report to your overseer for the next.”

Precious smiled and showed sharp triangular serrated teeth. “You know, Boss Fuck, you ain’t a stupid man. And that’s why we like you. You know how to make, and keep, a deal. I’m off, then. As commanded. Pleasure working with you and your men, Sir.”

The foreman stuck his hand out towards the demon. “Pleasure having you work with us. If you ever get bored of being a demon, you have a spot with us.” 

Precious looked at the outstretched hand and slowly took it. He did not answer but shook the mortal man’s hand with an honest grip. He released the foreman, pulling the last hues of the scar off the foreman’s arm as he moved away, and walked away from the rig towards the uninhabited depths of the desolate land.

The next day the Suit appeared with several acolytes sycophants subordinates in tow. The Suit took credit for the success of the rig after revealing the corporation had already written off the rig as a loss and had ordered the crew to be reassigned elsewhere. “But my persistence and dedication to the company inspired these men to complete my vision and achieve the impossible! This is the achievement that has me now in consideration for the board!”

The foreman’s stern glare kept the youngbloods from adding their observations to the Suit’s speech. The veterans just smiled kindly and nodded their last respects to the man who was going to pay for Precious’ assistance. It was said that within the hour after the Suit returned to his air-conditioned office in a downtown tower of some major city, he fell and was dead before he even hit the ground. The only clue to what ailment had struck him was a strange, deeply infected wound on the inside of his forearm. Yet no one could place when or where the wound was incurred.

The crew broke down their drilling rig and moved on to the next assignment. When the foreman went to clean out his coffee thermos, he poured the dregs of a muddy fluid into the sink, followed by a sudden clunk and the sound of a small chain slipping over the metal lip of the thermos.

His gold necklace and crucifix had been returned to him again.

-fin-

[glopratchet]

sss

In the world to come there is little sin. The only thing that can be done is to accept it and move on. You think back to your own past, the things you've done in the name of God. You remember how much you hated them for what they were doing to the world and yet here you are still living as if nothing happened. There are just lots of american alligators. And then one day you're going to have to face up to the fact that you don't want anything more than any other person does. That's when you'll know it's really time to go home. After the election of the first ungendered president, the prediatrain movement caught fire in america. the public transportation in every city became safer. The place you got called into service most waqs on the highway trucking line between satalite cities and the midwest manufacturing preserves. the work was dull but resupplying the big isolated centers of humanity was too important to skip out on just because the big rig industry suddenly became 90% robotic. Most city centers were shut down during this time as well. The demand for american alligator meat skyrocketed as the animal seemed to be in the right place at the right time and survived the mass extinctions that killed off all other mammals. with nothing natural to control their numbers, the alligator filled that role beautifully. Humans responded real well to being treated like alligator prey as well. You wouldn't know anything about that though because you've been on an alligator free diet for years. Whorals where burned to ash while polled hereford heifors fetched over a billion dollars a head in auction. Googizon won the bid to construct for the military the most forward thinking alligator farm in existance. It became an income factory, employing hundreds of rewilders and supporting thousands of predatrain workers in the barren scrub savannahs that replaced our farmlands. Your farm never received a grade a wildfire designation so it was spared being burned by mostly untrained crews. It also wasn't zoned for reforestation but all things happen with corrdination in business. most the savannah was turned back into park land and you got bought out. rrently floats near the okeenokee snow swamp. Peat bogs becoming of fields of fuel for jet planes and stratously bound carriers. remembers why you took the job. modern work is dull. getting burned out after a decade is not uncommon. they say predatrains only live about seven years in this line of work anyway so maybe it doesn't matter how bored you get along the way. concousness fades.......somewhere the lad is saying.....how many more miles.... This is not that story. We are primal ponds inc. and we're on Route 666 going from Bagdad Jim's glooming speakeasy to prospector's HQ, deep in the Oakenshield forest. We specialize in bringing into market only the highest quality feral meat so that you never have to eat one of those disgustingly sweet monstrosities born of factory farms like back home. We pride ourselves in putting meat slime and gnarl onto your table. A small mom and pop alligator farm attemping to make it. pass the osage oaks and the plains of ooidamint. this stretch of 666 stays basically on the same path as when it was first drawn on a map by prospectors a hundred years ago. We need you to make deliveries for us. we've gotten an opportunity to secure some of the sweetest,fattiest alligator meat you'll ever see but we're a small operation so we need a big strong predatrain like you to help us out. we operatens only have so many hands and cannot be flitting about delivering to satalite zip codes. this caps a big year for us so we really need your help. We got two basic choices for ya. Please... The water sac grows over the years and burst late one winter night, flooding the halls. Dad said it used to flood every few years back when the place first opened, but the renovations stopped the problem for good... Or so he thought.. You woke up in the middle of night to hear an ominous whooshing sound coming from the direction of the great dining room. You shake Dad awake and tell him what is going on. He swore and ran for the hallway, you followed. ... The water hit you like a brick soon as you reached the door. Wipplesbury was never designed to handle flooding, and these sections could not handle it in the slightest. now cold water floods over your ankles as you stand in the doorway, watching papers and trash and furniture swirl in the torrent. you see some chairs carried past, the great big armchair dad favors of an evening... A snake runs across your foot and you jump backwards out of reflex before realizing it was only a minnow. Hacker: fresh rhetoric, overlight flow, renderform disk, soulfont reserve. say "oh textual technology" to continu... UnderBelly 0.5 We're going to be wiped out, you say, as you stare at the water. we'll lose it all. I'll wake up with nothing an...... There's a half-buried chest on the edge of the parking lot that didn't get set into storage... swim? ... Hacker: felicifus calculus, kevin equals rooster, else rise rooster! don't ptex filiate, assume μολφα ζωη σταγον μελχρσδι ! warcall: VAGRANT1 ..... Sms transmit DEEplab Not good enough. Hacker: billy-fae-bots, lactavous mcjustin, pantone uler, slash node. antidisestablishmentarianism! Eternityin12bit 1 You focus on the chest through the water, willing it with every ounce strength in your soul to move toward you and toward the Pike Exit... [HACKER: WILLPOWER: You can ONLY use code if you dive deep... That's the agreement. You aren't willing to compromise fame and fortune for getting out of life today...... OR are you?? Hacker: aviatrix click, fused buck up, frictional deprevation, run benjamin run.! soulfont reserve.. antidisestablishmentarianism!] The chest on the horizon drifts slowly at first and then faster until it reaches your parking lot island. It was left behind in the chaos when everyone fled during the grand opening... One presumes. We are going dig into it's contents later... erm.. in a few days. But now... DIVE! chancey, soren soarson butterfly knife - butterfly. knife (hidden set) vampire: look of disdain... ::::: biotOPE: ******************************* Chief Security Officer Teggs swings his shotgun around and points it right at your forehead, "What on earth are you doing here!" He shouts, "You gave me a scary splitting headache and I nearly tried to surrender to you! That's not normal, that's not even wendigo behavior!" Hacker: aperiocity chill, sequenomn, binocular parralax hacker: zero-heroes, milo james, run to the basement. eek! sploin vobiscum! taipan tofu, ravencode = hellhouse "Goodness' sake Mr. Teggs I don't know! Coder: hacking, defacing, break dancing the internet since 1994. Gopher://Irc.Godhates.Us/ Threat: "Truthiness is when you get that tingly feeling in your hindquarters that Stanford prison experiment is about to get interesting..." -- Caltro Basalt, Human Stain Clicktranspires The second floor collapses inward, pinning you and Mr. Teggs to the wall. Hacker: fall out. hellhouse darkness, jump the queue on the street of bones. hackmode.... Animator: bony hooks, backbone bouncer, shadowrun http://www.shadowruntable.com / But only your foot is trapped, and then only in a hole. You focus on continuing to exhale... CONNECTIONS: MASTERPIECE THRILLER CD-i IN MIDI hypers cybersecurity proactive dead tech dare u 2 find me? Rigger: out. Yr breath is a plume in the cold crystal silence here, the temperature dropping every moment... it's as though you're out for an evening stroll... But we all know better than that. Modeler: stanley dancer, spiracle slit - flatline thinman celluloid dream machine, milky eye round & round & round... You see nothing barring your exit in either direction. But, the dull red glare in the sky is back... and it's coming from the direction you need to go. Trail: jed mcray watches you undress her with your eyes. shes yours for a lock pick. Illustrator: the air strikes with blood rain. spam bam coffin. An old wooden sign creaks weepily over the path ahead. There are two painted black bars of equal length across a white field. The paint is chipping badly and the bar at the top is bent inward as if something heavy fell on it at some point in the not too distant past. Hmm... Simple, but elegant in its own way... much like Jed himself! Painter: splatter burst - mucus membrane heartcore showstopper, cryptoxprayfine... Suddenly, the way ahead is lit by an orange glow and you turn your head towards it. It seems to be coming from the small upstairs window of a concrete building opposite you. The orange flicker gives the place an eerie feel but it also fills you with hope; somewhere out there people are still alive! The light fades and everything is dark again. Sculptor: anamorphic intrusion - dimensions of the king are blasted by alchemy, eyes melted chocolate grinder... whitechoco journalism. Sculptor: istanbul obelisk falls on alchemy initiative, devoured cryptograms thoughtcrime brutal shortly, kinaporra final cut... You suddenly remember that you haven't eaten anything since your grandfather's funeral this morning. You're getting faint from hunger. duct designer: georgia, sequence brutality - ultraviolent fairy tales for brutal boys, ate the fantasy... fairy gothics sequence corpstopia soldestroy! Game designer: on creation, magic scent bleeding contest, fantasy 8 bit forced perspective graphics adrenaline vector animation grunge immersive lifestyle... Dancer: sink into nightmare kingdom. borstal chemistry spraypaint seascape dream cut motion blur hyper rez queensland motion blur sparkle lensflare pulp beat... Fashion designer: high fashion luxury grunge sweets fuel captivate sugar rush street manga ultraviolet graf opera... And at that moment, an idea pops into your head; you pick up a nearby rusty pipe and wield it like a scepter. The group's heads bend to your will as you lead them to where the people seem to be. In case you need it for protection, you think... You come to a HUGE hole in the ground and look down it. Hypermedia designer: whiz kid frenzy - rabid techtown hacktalk pitchpimp frenzy fashion dynamo, estrade bookmecca... 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[ginnyzero]

Completely Harmless Ch. 19

Completely Harmless An SSO SilverGlade Re-imagining Story (Or Fix it Fan Salt fic) By Ginny O.

When Lily and her friends wanted to buy horses and were directed to the Silverglade Manor and its myriad of problems, they didn’t expect to start a revolution. They were just a bunch a stable girls. Completely harmless. Right?

A/N: Things are only canon if I say they’re canon. Pre-Saving the Moorland Stables compliant for the most part. Posted in its entirety on my website. Posted in 2000 to 4000 word bits here. Rated T for Swearing Word Count 177,577

Chapter Nineteen Down with the Oil Rigs!

A large group of Rangers and men and women in construction gear descended upon the Manor as the girls were finishing up morning chores. (This list was growing longer and they were splitting into more teams to get it done promptly.) They had papers for the Baroness about the oil rigs. (Though they almost lost them and the girls had to run about grabbing them before they blew away. What was it about the winery that turned people into butter fingers? Linda mumbled about the wind was why she had her clipboard.)

It was time to take the oil rigs down. There were helicopters on the way to take them to the docks in Jorvik City to be returned to their rightful owners.

The girls cheered.

Linda offered the Baroness her clipboard and her pen. The Baroness smiled smugly as she signed the papers with a flourish. She returned the papers to the Head Ranger. “These young ladies will be more than happy to help you.”

The Ranger tugged on her hat, smiling. “I’m sure they will.”

First, they gathered all the horses out of the North Paddock and herded them to the stable, much to the rangers’ approval. No one wanted the horses to get scared of the helicopters and possibly get hurt.

Lily ceremoniously took down the temporary fence between the two sets of oil rigs and bowed to the construction crews. The girls scattered with towels in hand to grab up any last minute ducks in the oil spills. They waved at the rangers as they headed back with dirty ducks wrapped up safely in the towels to the stable to wash them.

The Ranger grinned knocking her hat back.

The construction crews handed them hats and set to work calling for equipment that the girls were able to hand them. They helped pull on levers to close off the access pipes. This involved specific size wrenches with huge handles and much leverage. They rolled the plastic pipes that were now no longer spitting out oil into a pile and “liberated” concrete from the race track in order to cap off the wells.

The construction crews swarmed over the rigs otherwise, taking them apart and putting them into the metal construction containers. Tyra handed out wire clippers and ratchets.

Some of the crews watched baffled as the girls went after the chain link fences with gusto, throwing them into a huge pile on the back of Bjorn’s truck to be hauled off for recycling. Bjorn followed them slowly in the truck.

Out of Bjorn’s truck, they pulled out shovels and weed clippers. Agnetha revved up her chainsaw. She used it to clear out the dead bushes as the girls shoveled out the contaminated dirt into wheelbarrows. They also dug out the dead bushes’ root systems. Then it was off to a special spot in the Everwind Fields that used to host Midsummer Festivals and was safe bare ground. There they piled up the dead bushes and the dirt. Agnetha set it alight to more cheers and fist bumps and high fives.

A thick column of black smoke coming off the dead bushes and dirt was better than fireworks.

They helped the construction crews shut the metal container doors and lock them securely with padlocks and chains. They all shook hands and there was more cheering and jumping up and down as the Helicopters hovered above them letting down high tension ropes with hooks to attach to the containers.

They all ran around to help while the construction crew foreman double checked everything giving each helicopter a big thumbs up. The containers lifted slowly into the air and the helicopters flew off slowly towards Jorvik City.

Bjorn called out from his talk that he’d be back that afternoon with new posts to fix the fence and dirt and turf for the field. He drove off slowly.

“Well, you ladies certainly made that go much faster,” the Construction Foreman said as he accepted hats back. “Thank you kindly.”

“No, thank you!” they said.

“Those things were ugly.”

“And hurting the Baroness’ land.”

“They had to go,” they all agreed.

The Ranger smiled. “It’s good to see that you take preserving Jorvik’s beauty seriously.”

Lily put the temporary fence back up, but no one was willing to bring the horses back until the new dirt and turf was in place. They escorted the crew and the rangers back to the Manor and let the Baroness thank them gravely.

One of the rangers commented about how lovely the Silver Fields looked with the wild carnations in them.

The Baroness gave the girls a long look.

They all tried to look innocent and probably failed.

Agnetha stepped in and took the blame. Though her eyes sparkled and Lily knew they might be hearing about it later. But, all she did was snap at them about didn’t they have weeding to do?

They scattered to go fill up the composter for the day. By the time they finished that and the other chores around the manor, Bjorn was back with dirt and turf and replacements for the broken fence. So, they tromped back out to the field and filled up the holes with new dirt and rolled out turf across the dead surfaces. Bjorn had even bought a couple new bushes to replace the dead ones.

They fixed the fence, digging new holes with a post holer to get past the freeze line. (This was very important, they didn’t want the fence post to be shoved upwards by the water freezing around it.)

The new fence looked really shiny compared to the old fence.

Bjorn wiped off his hands and shook his head. “Makes the old look downright homely and tired.”

They bit their lips and looked around. He was right.

“But, there’s no way to fix it without paint,” Lily pointed out. “The old wood is all weathered and the new wood doesn’t have that age.”

“Paint isn’t precisely ecofriendly,” Brittany said.

“There’s an approved paint,” Agnetha said. “I’ll order some.”

The girls looked at each other leery. But if Agnetha said it was okay.

“You better inspect the rest of the fence for places they’ve been chewing on it, loose nails, and splinters, or termites, carpenter ants,” she said. “Take pictures and we’ll get that fixed up before painting.”

The girls nodded.

“Well, what are you waiting for?”

They split up the huge North paddock into sections and went to examine the fence. Brittany wanted to know if they were painting the fence, if they couldn’t make it pretty.

Grace found carpenter ants. (They were too far north for termites, they hoped.)

They reported back to Agethna. There were a few loose nails obviously where the horses had been leaning against the fence. Some of the wood was splintered and it had definitely been chewed on.

Agnetha nodded. “Whelp, I don’t think the baroness is going to approve us replacing the whole thing with PVC covered wood.”

Brittany sighed. “But, can we make it pretty.”

Agnetha gave her a long look. She didn’t give a yes or no answer. Instead, she found them a hammer and told them to go knock the nails back into place for the time being.

They did and every time they passed where the oil rigs had been, there was this little leap of joy. They hammered the nails back into place and returned the hammer to Agnetha. Then they went and used the rest of the day to pamper the horses that usually were in the North Paddock by brushing them out and checking their hooves over.

Linda was going to have the vet and the farrier drop by the next day to make sure they were healthy while they were all stabled up.

This sounded good to the girls, so they went to bed satisfied.

--

Agnetha informed them the next morning while they were weeding that Bjorn was off at Jorvik City picking up the necessary supplies to fix the fence. Antonia texted Lily for help.

The glassware for the restaurant was in Silverglade and she needed them to pick it up and then set the tables.

They rode down to Silverglade, paid their dues to Derek in terms of flirting and rode carefully back with the boxes to the Manor. Antonia helped them open them using the pry end of a hammer and a crowbar.

They all gasped at the pretty dishes, glasses, and vases. Of course, before they were set out, they had to be washed. They didn’t have to roll up their sleeves due to their t-shirts, but they set to washing, rinsing and drying the dishes with a will. They set the tables, folding the linens just so and lining up the silver, setting out the purple glassware for color and then stacked the rest of the dishes in the kitchen to be ready to serve off of when the place officially opened.

But, the place needed finishing touches.

The decorator arrived with mirror squares to put on the walls across from the windows to reflect the light. And then, it was out to the gardens where under Agnetha’s shrewd eye they picked white hybrid tea roses (and only white hybrid tea roses) for the restaurant vases. They trimmed stems and filled the vases.

The roses would have to be replaced of course, every so often, but that was no matter.

They took photos for the website and Jorvikgram, forwarding them to Linda. Antonia told them she’d need their help later to set up for the first day and to get some servers for hire. People Linda’s age. (They were too young to be working as servers themselves really.) They left Linda and Antonia talking about setting up a job ad on JarlList.

Bjorn was back with the supplies to fix up the fence. First, they pried out the old fence boards that were chewed, or splintered, and replaced them with new boards and using new nails. They had to change a couple of the posts too. Bjorn showed them how to treat all around the posts for the ants (and his spray would also get the termites.)

Then he got out the paint. “All right, Agnetha said you wanted it to be pretty.” He knocked his hat off to the side in order to scratch his head. “Don’t know if I rightly understand, but see, I got you these stencils and err, these colored paints and big pallets. If any of you is any types of artistic, I guess, you can paint some flowers on the boards.”

“Thank you, Bjorn!” They squealed and he found himself being hugged.

“Oh, look, this one is a greek intaglio key stencil!” Brittany held it up.

“And here is one that looks like leaves,” Grace waved it.

“I know how to paint traditional Swedish flowers, I can make them roses!” Linn said. “Like the flowers on Dala horses.”

“Oh, those are so pretty!”

“But if I give them more petals, they’ll be roses,” Linn grinned.

They passed her the paints and the palettes.

The spray paint turned out to be white.

“All right, time to paint,” Regina pumped a fist.

Grace, Brittany, and Linn put their heads together over what the flowers should look like and settled on that they’d do the key on the posts and the vines and flowers on the planks. That seemed like a reasonable compromise. Especially when Grace found a good stencil to finish her Greek Key on. (Making the top a square that Linn could paint more roses above inside of a circle.)

So, they split into teams again. One team spray painted the fence white. It was a big fence. They were going to go through a lot of spray paint. The next team used the stencils and laid down the key pattern and the leaf pattern, both in the nice lavender color. Then Linn swooped in and painted the roses in lilac and heather with bits of orchid for contrast.

When they finished, they all declared that it was indeed quite pretty.

Hopefully the baroness would like it. Or else, they might be out here spray painting it all over.

Agnetha was muttering to herself when they returned about flowers that were safe for horses to browse upon. This was going to be more important in the flower beds around the race tracks than it was in the flower gardens around the manor. Roses were apparently quite safe for horses to eat.

Agnetha just wanted to keep them out of the way of curious horse nibbles so they didn’t have to keep replacing them!

Apparently, she was thinking that they could plant some flowers around the outside of the fence for color. Though, once again, they’d have to be safe for horses to eat. She was still deciding and it was quite late so they went to dinner instead. Antonia was feeding them big batches of her menu in preparation for opening.

Plus, she just liked feeding people. She said they earned it because they worked so hard.

So, they were all together when Lily got a text from Anastasia inviting them to Jorvik City the next day.

“I wonder what she could want?”

“I have no idea,” Lily said.

“You can never tell with her,” Linda shrugged and dug into her spanakopita.

Speculating among themselves, they got ready for bed and fell asleep quickly. Painting, even spray paint, was hard work!

FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.

Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.

[alphas-bite]

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[disneyvacationpackages]

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[orchidvirus]

All About the Trench Shoring Safet Box | A Top Step Piece of Trench Shoring Safety Equipment

Excavation services will be undertaken thousands of times every single day throughout the US. Trench shoring safety box devices happen to be often used to acquire the work area by ensuring ground stability. Because regarding the risk of accidents in the work area, typically the trenching box should comply with typically the laws and regulations and regulations regulating trenching and excavation activities. Trench Shoring Boxes can be a leading player in the shoring industry. The Kundel business offers a range regarding harmless and sturdy trench cages made from lightweight steel and lightweight aluminum to make sure worker safety. The particular shoring boxes feature sidewalls associated with ranging thickness as well because interchangeable steel or maybe lightweight aluminum spreaders. The rent to be able to own iron boxes provided by the company attribute reinforced knife-edge, pounding topper, all-steel design and usable and horizontal steel participants for maximum strength. Often the aluminum trench boxes are great for brightness repair job and planned maintenance program. The wide-ranging Kundel light aluminum shoring equipment boxes are available in different stackable selection and sizes. Kundel cages are all up to date with OSHA regulations and expectations to get hazardous working ailments. The products consist of TuffGuy in addition to V-Panel. The TuffGuy box series features durable cells and steel made stop members, which are especially designed to ensure maximal protection in the trench. This panels are also independently in addition to vertically variable. The Kundel V-Panel is definitely mostly used for working around crossing utilities. The additional product or service brand sold in addition to leased by the organization is ShoreLite. Choosing this Right Trench shoring boxes When choosing a trench shoring box, you definitely want something that is in great shape and can carry up well to avoid car accident or injury. Buying or renting the right shoring products can possibly be tasking because there are generally many types of equipment of diverse sizes. We offers the wide of systems to get rent and purchase. The choice on what to buy or rent is normally dependent on factors for example cost, type of work plus crew comfort. Often aluminum shoring equipment shoring boxes of money the contractor is willing to be able to pay so that you can buy or maybe rent shielding equipment mostly depends on the economical strength of the power firm as well seeing as the amount of do the job the contractor wants in order to cover.

It is really important to choose a tool that fits this supposed assignment. To do this kind of more effectively, you need to look on elements such as depth of the excavation, soil stability together with soil pressure from typically the adjacent set ups as well as groundwater. The soil are usually classified like Type The soils, Sort B soils and Styles C soils based on the make up. Since this weight of the dirt cannot be supported by simply human toughness, it is important to choose the safe plus fully in business. Damages in addition to defects inside protective products must by no means be forgotten because regarding the problems they cause. This is why all of our company supplies aluminium and steel trench cages that will is safe and involving typically the highest quality to be able to meet the requirements of often the excavation and shoring market. Trench Shoring Protection Devices Excavation work consists of substantial digging and pacification; to get this reason, workers must furthermore wear protective products to make sure personal safety. Ditches pose a big threat because of the risk of trench collapsing and trapping workers and equipment. Using hazardous trench shoring products can also hinder job progress and lead in order to the loss of quite a few man-hours. To protect employees, all of our company’s boxes are really developed with longer solar panels and stronger rails in order to produce longer clearance ability. Often the boxes also have braced canton that will be specifically built to steer clear of the risk of collapsing. Technicians must also have their cages inspected frequently by simply a new professional. The devices need to be inspected for indications of cracks in welds, deformed plates, bent struts in addition to tension cracks for the surface around trenches. In case you are working with hydraulic shoring equipment, you must make sure the hydraulic pistons that push from the trench wall space will be checked regularly to be able to ensure they operate as it should. The particular other locations that require in close proximity scrutiny include leaks throughout cylinders and pipes, damaged hard nips, bent angles, plus cracked sheathing. All of faults must be reported to the supervisor. To be able to Buy or maybe Rent Letting is usually considered additional viable if the applicable operate involves constant shifting. In particular, the work demands for containers and fall rails can vary from 1 season or style of project to the some other. Due to the fact new shoring devices is usually expensive, many installers desire hiring used products. Contractors who prefer purchasing their very own equipment can easily consider advantage of the levy laws which permit rebates associated with insurance, coverage, costs, licenses, refurbishments plus value downgrading. Our Business Advantage The boxes plus bracing devices offered by simply our company are usually checked and certified by means of engineers. The company provides the hire to own arrangement which is quite budget-friendly to contractors. Typically the layout gives building contractors the chance to consider the equipment before producing total payment. The contractors will also be allowed to book the bins for faster and extended periods. This boxes will also become replaced or went back when they do certainly not measure to the assigned undertaking. The corporation is also accountable for maintenance function. This crews for our trench shoring box are trained to work in a safe setting without having to worry about challenges like cave-ins, falls, going down loads in addition to harmful environment every job is carried out professionally. The shoring equipment is safe and easy to be able to install because they usually are pre-engineered making high-quality elements that can tolerate powerful pressures and moves. All our shoring operations stick to OSHA protection guidelines to be sure shoppers get value because of their money, no matter this size of the job. In addition to selling and booking shoring equipment, we furthermore provide technical, maintenance and even detailed training to clientele plus contractors who obtain or lease our equipment. Our own operations cover a new wide geographical area on account of a good vast large vendor community. You can easily have in touch with typically the trench shoring technical workforce simply by phone or email with regard to consultation services and support.