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wander-wren · 1 year ago

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fantastic. so the song is The Gambler by fun and it’s essentially about a man talking to his dying wife and reminiscing about their lives so you know what that means!! post-great battle au where brackenfur actually gets to say goodbye to his wife instead of her dying stupidly offscreen.

please keep in mind i’ve never animated a thing in my life but i’m reasonably sure this is feasible. this also isn’t necessarily how i would break down the parts because they’re very different lengths/complexities.

Slow down, we’ve got time left to be lazy

Brackenfur enters the nursery looking triumphant, only for his expression to immediately fall as he rushes to a collapsed, bloody Sorreltail. The color palette is dark, a lot of drab grays and browns.

All the kids have bloomed from babies into flowers in our eyes

Brackenfur looks down at Lilykit and Seedkit, who morph into Poppykit, Cinderkit, Honeykit, and Molekit from their first litter. While the background changes to reflect that the latter are in the medicine den, all the kits are surrounded by streaks of blood from both battles. The four kits morph into apprentices, then into warriors (minus Molepaw). At the last second, Honeyfern also disappears.

We’ve got fifty good years left to spend out in the garden, I don’t care to beg your pardon

Shift to Brackenfur and Sorreltail as young warriors living their lives, slowly growing older until they’re in the elders den together. Sorreltail smiles up at him, her muzzle all gray. Very pink and orange-toned colors here, for contrast.

We should live until we die

The idyllic scene is torn away, returning us to the dark, bloody nursery, but Sorreltail is still offering Brackenfur a pained smile.

There’s a bit of music that could be filled with the two embracing or with a longer transition to the next scene.

We were barely eighteen when we crossed collective hearts

Back in the past, Sorrelpaw skips happily past Brackenfur in camp. Iirc it’s winter when she becomes a warrior, so snow. Blue tones, but still bright in comparison to the nursery.

It was cold, but it got warm when you barely crossed my eye

Brackenfur turns to look at Sorrelpaw, startled, as if really noticing her for the first time as she touches noses with Firestar to become a warrior. The colors around her are orange and pink again, and they slowly start to spread outward.

And then you turned, put out your hand, and you asked me to dance

The snow finishes melting; it’s spring or summer now, still in camp, and Sorreltail bounds up and tackles Brackenfur down happily.

I knew nothing of romance, but it was love at second sight

Brackenfur pushes her off and they go running into ThunderClan territory together.

I swear when I grow up, I won’t just buy you a rose

As they run, leaves start to fall, signaling autumn, and they reach the crest of a grassy hill covered in flowers on the last word.

I will buy the flower shop, and you will never be lonely

Little shot from Brackenfur’s eyes of him just staring adoringly at Sorreltail. She then reveals that she is pregnant on the hill, and Brackenfur is overjoyed.

Even if the sun starts waking up over the fields, I will not leave

The oranges and pinks start to melt into shadow; Sorreltail’s face turns to one of horror as they both look down at a spreading pool of blood. Brackenfur stumbles toward her.

I will not leave till it’s our time, so just take my hand, and know that I will never leave your side

Back in the nursery, Sorreltail collapses, but she isn’t dead yet. Brackenfur presses his face into her neck, trying his best to support her. Potentially he can sing part of this line.

At the end, we start to transition to the next scene with some music.

It was the winter of ‘86, all the fields had frozen over

Twoleg monsters destroying ThunderClan’s forest camp. It is winter, so that blue palette comes back, but it’s a little darker and more washed out, like a middle ground between the happy past and the present.

So we moved to Arizona to save our only son

The cats trail in a long line out of the forest, with Sorreltail looking sadly over her shoulder at the ruins.

And now he’s turning to a man, though he thinks just like his mother

Since Molepaw is barely around, this follows Honeyfern. An adult Honeyfern runs past her parents, and in following her we transition back to orange and pink and to ThunderClan’s new camp. She tackles Berrynose in an identical way to how Sorreltail jumped on Brackenfur earlier.

He believes we’re all just lovers, he sees hope in everyone

Honeyfern looks up from her antics to see Poppyfrost; they greet each other happily before something makes Honeyfern look over—it’s Briarkit and the snake. Honeyfern leaps to save her. You could potentially have the colors quickly fade out and go dark as she does to indicate death.

And even though she moved away, we always get calls from our daughter

Cinderheart and Lionblaze walk in the forest, doing their happy-couple thing

She has eyes just like her father’s, they are blue when skies are gray

Cinderpelt’s spirit appears to them (potentially splitting away from Cinderheart like that canon scene). Special focus, of course, on their matching eyes.

And just like him, she never stops, never takes the day for granted—works for everything that’s handed to her, never once complains

Scenes from Cinderheart’s life: Her as an apprentice, breaking her leg, and healing. Potentially you could add another struggle she goes through (is there a significant one?) or parallels to Cinderpelt, but it might be too much for how fast the lines go by.

To think that I nearly lost you when the doctors tried to take you away

The lighting goes dim and dark again, but instead of returning to the nursery, we go to the medicine den; Sorreltail’s first kitting, with a badger looming over her.

But that night you took my hand beside the fire, thirty years ago to this day

Brackenfur and Sorreltail embrace in the medicine den, happy to be alive. Then they slowly morph into their present selves in the nursery. Brackenfur pulls away to look at her. She’s still alive, but weak.

You swore that we’d be here till we decide that it’s our time, but it’s not time! You’ve never quit in all your life

Brackenfur begging Sorreltail to live, but all she can do is smile sadly at him, knowing there’s nothing anyone can do. If you like, you can add him calling for a medicine cat, but it would be fitting if he at least sings the very last line.

So just take my hand and know that I will never leave your side

As Brackenfur still looks at her, pleading, Sorreltail raises her head and one paw with the last of her strength to touch his cheek. Then she collapses, and her spirit rises out of her body.

You’re the love of my life, you know that I will never leave your side

This line Sorreltail’s spirit says to Brackenfur. He may know she’s there, or he may be focused on her body and Lilykit and Seedkit.

There’s a good bit of music here, so you can fill all of it with the death scene, switch to some scenes of Brackenfur going old, show their children again, etc. I don’t have a color scheme for that part, because it should be both happy and grief-tainted and I don’t know that much color theory.

You come home from work, and you kiss me on the eye. You curse the dogs and say that I should never feed them what is ours

Brackenfur ascends to StarClan. It’s very yellow and green-toned. Happy. He and Sorreltail embrace.

And so we move out to the garden to look at everything we’ve grown

Sorreltail beckons Brackenfur to come with her, over a hill not unlike the one from when she told him she was pregnant. Below them, StarClan stretches out beautifully, dotted with Clanmates Brackenfur hasn’t seen in years.

Now the kids are coming home; I’ll set the table, you can make the fire

Honeyfern, Poppyfrost, Molepaw, Cinderheart, Seedpaw, and Lilyheart appear, surrounding their parents. End on a shot of them all cuddled together.

tada! free, uh, map/pmv/amv idea for y’all. i actually have a few scripts like this lying around, but this is the one i like the most because sorreltail deserves more content

would anyone in the whole world want to hear about the map script i made up for sorrelbracken like a year ago because i dont draw so i cannot realize the Vision but i think it would slap

#wren wrambles #warrior cats #sorreltail #brackenfur #sorrelbracken #warriors map #while listening to the song again i realized some of these lines go FAST oops #i think its at least mostly possible tho thinking about the maps ive seen

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zeawoo · 3 years ago

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New beginnings

—yang jungwon

PAIRING ▸ NextDoorNeighbor!Jungwon x Fem!reader

GENRE ▸ fluff, a surprising amount of angst, strangers to friends to lovers, neighbors to friends to lovers

SUMMARY ▸ When a new family moves into the apartment next to yours, your parents grow quite fond of them whilst their son catches your attention with his—very—cute dimples

WORDCOUNT ▸ 2.32K

DISCLAIMERS & TAGS ▸ mentions of food, jungwon is moving and he’s most definitely not happy about it, a lot of reminiscing, mint choco (derogatory), hiyyih is a real mvp here, a terrible attempt by me at being poetic by putting together random stuff to create metaphors

In the cycle of seasons, each one of them held its own meaning. Summer symbolized hope and positivity whilst its counterpart, winter, represented pain and loneliness. Between the two, autumn was there to fill the bittersweet void. It was what people often compared to adulthood; the transition between being a teenager living their best life to an adult with responsibilities to worry about. But with pain came new beginnings, and that’s exactly what spring was there for. Blossoming life.

That’s what Jungwon’s parents had told him when they sat down and had one of the hardest conversations a parent could have with their child. They were moving. Far away.

Jungwon didn’t say anything. He listened to them as they tried their best to sugarcoat the unexplainable feeling of leaving everything behind to start a new life somewhere else he wasn't even sure he was going to like.

When they announced that the move would take place in three months, Jungwon excused himself and retreated to his room where he spent the rest of his night filling the emptiness he felt in his heart by studying for a test that he would be long gone before they even started printing them.

His dog, Maeumi, lay on the neatly made bed. It was like it could sense Jungwon wasn’t his usual self and whimpered, jumping down to nestle against the teenage boy’s tibia. The dog was small, but its radiating body heat was comforting. Jungwon reached down to gently pet its head, chuckling when it responded by licking his hand.

The bedroom door was the only barrier between Jungwon and the reality he wasn’t ready to face. He thought back to a few weeks ago when the guest room had been filled to the brim with empty cardboard boxes. Now it made perfect sense as his parents were using them to put away bits and pieces of the life he grew up with and sealed them in with clear packing tape.

New beginnings. He repeated to himself, finding it hard to understand why it was necessary when things were already going great just how they were right now. New beginnings meant a change of scenery, environment, and mindset. And Jungwon wasn’t very fond of the idea of that.

So when those three months went by at an alarming speed, Jungwon couldn’t do anything but watch as the days decayed into hours. Watching the movers transfer his whole life, everything he knew, into a truck was a signal that time had run out. This was real and the boy had no way out of this. And so with a heavy heart and Maeumi in his arms, Jungwon turned his back to the home he’d grown up in, leaving the uncaptured memories here to disintegrate as time gnawed away at them.

The new apartment felt weird. The walls were too white. Not like the ones at his old house that had turned a little yellow over time. He suddenly missed the creaking of the outdated wood tiles that were far better than whatever the floating floorboards beneath his feet were. His soon-to-be room felt suffocating. It smelled too much of fresh paint and it reminded him too much of a clean slate that was just waiting for him to start filling in.

At the sound of the doorbell ringing, Maeumi jumped down from his arms, running towards the source of the sound. Jungwon stood by the window, observing, watching. Watching as teenagers his age met up at a bus stop. Watching as businessmen took the time to grab a bun from the bakery across the street from their office during their lunch break.

His mother’s voice caught his attention as she called for him in the kitchen. He bowed immediately upon seeing the unfamiliar couple sitting at the breakfast bar along with a girl who seemed to be about his age. They introduced themselves as the Kim’s, next-door neighbors and Jungwon could only manage a polite introduction through his neutral demeanor.

The girl peeked through from behind her father, curiously watching as Jungwon crouched down to kiss his dog’s head before slipping on his shoes and leaving the apartment in search of a place that didn’t feel so.. unwelcoming. The woman sighed watching her son in such a miserable state. She knew he’d acted like everything was fine to not add any more stress and she was very grateful for that, but what she wanted most was for him to get back on track and hopefully find something— someone that would make him find the will to start anew.

And so she turned to you, a sad smile present on her lips as she gently wiped away the tears of her son’s burden from her downturned almond. “Please befriend my dear Jungwon. He’s all alone now.”

When Jungwon came home that day, his parents suggested that he stay over at your place for a couple of days. At least until the movers were done unpacking and assembling the furniture. He made sure it was okay for your parents to host him before gathering his belongings along with his best friend and settling in the guest room. His parents were staying at a nearby hotel and when he’d asked why he couldn’t come along, they’d simply said that it would be a good opportunity for him to get closer to you.

A knock on his door catches his attention and he mumbles for the person to come in. The door opened and you peeked your head inside before completely stepping in, taking up as little space as possible with your back glued to the door. Jungwon noticed how you were treating the guest room as if it were his own, being careful not to overstep any boundaries that he’d felt no right to lay down.

“Here, if you want to go shower,” You said quietly, placing two different-sized towels on the dresser before awkwardly rubbing your hands together. “I’ll set up the futon in the meantime. Unless you prefer sleeping on a mattress? I’ll bring mine over if you want.” You’d said, which made the cavity in his chest start to feel warm all of a sudden.

“I’m okay with the futon, thank you.” He’d replied calmly, peering at his dog who found laying on your feet comfortable. The boy envied Maeumi, wishing he had the ability to quickly adjust to new surroundings without any guilt.

Deciding to leave his thoughts there, Jungwon stood. He grabbed his bag and the towels, not uttering a word for the grateful bow he’d shown you was enough to speak volumes. You felt your heart ache, the exhaustion from having to deal with his life being turned upside down weighing on the half-smile he still managed to put for your sake.

A week went by and Jungwon’s family had finally begun settling into their newly furnished apartment. You didn't spend much time with your neighbor when he’d stayed over, merely sitting next to him during mealtime and running errands together for your parents. You barely talked to each other, except for when you two would play with Maeumi, a movie playing in the background as your parents came home from work and started working on dinner.

Despite all of that, you grew quite fond of the boy. Especially his dimples that made very rare appearances in front of your parents when he thanked them for the food they either made or brought home.

Jungwon hated his new home. Hell, he couldn’t even call that apartment his home for his heart was still stuck in the past. He missed his childhood bedroom, navy walls covered in crayon marks from when his three-year-old self enjoyed drawing anywhere but paper. His new room felt empty. Cold.

And so Jungwon took it upon himself to slip on a hoodie before heading over and knocking on your door. When you opened it, you were surprised to see your neighbor with those dimples you couldn’t stop thinking about. “Hey”

You opened the door wider, stepping back to let him in and Jungwon already felt more comfortable in your apartment than in his, even though they were the exact same save for the furniture and scent. Your home felt a lot warmer, and it reminded him of the place he’d abandoned not even two weeks ago. The smell of fresh bread and candles lingered throughout the air. He felt better here than next door, already reminiscing the meals he’d shared with you and your family, the times Maeumi preferred to sleep with you instead of him.

“Hey, sorry for stopping by. I know I was here a few days ago.”

“Don’t apologize, you’re always welcome here.” You felt your cheeks heat up that the words that left your lips so easily, fidgeting with the hem of your shirt. “Oh by the way,”

He had his full attention on you as you spoke softly, “Have you been registered at the school yet?”

He nodded, “Yeah, the same one you’re going to, I think. That’s what my parents told me, at least.”

“Yup, my parents suggested it to them.” You chuckle awkwardly at the silence that follows and the boy does the same, his dimples showing through.

“It starts in two week, right? Would you mind showing me the way there on the first day so I don't get lost?”

“Of course! We can even walk to school together every morning.”

A chuckle resonates in his chest, “And how about after school?”

You pause to look at him, a mix of surprise as you weren’t expecting him to want to spend more time with you than necessary. “If you don’t mind stopping by the manga store every day then sure.”

Time flew by surprisingly fast for Jungwon and before he knew it, the snow outside had started to melt and the sun shone warmer. Spring was nearing and Jungwon thought back to what his parents had told him almost four months ago. Spring means new beginnings. And for him, it meant a new school that he hadn’t yet seen, classmates that, unlike everyone else, already knew each other from prior years. All he had was the newfound trust that things were going to be okay, and you, the girl he’d often spend time with at your apartment arguing over if mint choco was an acceptable element in society.

Just as promised, you two walked to school together and when you’d got there, Jungwon was whisked away by the secretary before you could bid him goodbye. A chuckle bubbled in your chest watching him awkwardly follow the woman around before you turned to go find your friends.

You’d introduced them to your neighbor and they hit it off instantly. Your art club senior, Jay, had taken quite a liking to the new boy. At lunch, when you’d left the table with Bahiyyih to get some food, the girl looked at you like she knew your deepest, darkest secret. The grin on her face made it hard for you to take her seriously.

“What?”

She crossed her arms over her chest, giving you a pointed look as she switched her gaze from you to Jungwon.

“You like him, don’t you?”

Your eyes grew wide as you began panicking, shaking your head and hands as your friend smiled teasingly at you.

“Oh my god no! Of course not he’s my neighbor, Hiyyih!” You covered your face with your hands, feeling your stomach being overwhelmed with what you could only assume was butterflies at the thought of you and Jungwon being more than friends.

“I see the way you look at him, Y/n. You’re clearly crushing on him and i’m surprised the others— well except for maybe Jay— haven’t noticed yet.”

“What? No! Hiyyih, I-“ You couldn’t even lie because you knew she was right. Somewhere along the way, maybe it was from the usual movie nights in your living room with a tub of mint choco ice cream, or maybe the awkward glances you shared whenever the both of you didn’t know what to say in the middle of a conversation. You couldn’t pinpoint where exactly, but you knew that you started feeling something more than what you were supposed to feel for a friend.

“See?” She raises a brow teasingly, giggling like a madwoman and trudging back to the table with you trailing behind. You slid down to your spot next to Jungwon as Hiyyih sat down between Sunoo and Yeeun.

You could tell she was up to something when she whispered into Sunoo’s ear that made his eyes widen in shock. Yeeun had overheard, and did the same, the both of them switching glances between you and Jungwon.

Before you can send her a signal to stop, Sunoo had already told Jay. The older gasped, a grin picking at the corner of his lips as he looks to a clueless Jungwon.

“So, Jungwon.”

The boy next to you raises his head, completely unaware of the three others watching the situation unfold as they grinned like idiots. “Yeah?”

“Do you like Y/n?”

It didn’t take Jungwon a single second before responding. “Of course, she’s a cool person and an awesome friend.”

Your cheeks heated up again at his words, sending panicked looks to your other friends who giggled as they held each other tightly, mouthing a few words that you can only assume were You got this!

“Would you date her?”

The question from Jay makes you freeze in place, and you’re almost certain the color drained from your face. Jungwon tears his gaze away from Jay to you. For a moment, you swore you saw a faint rosey color dust his cheeks. The smile on his lips was worth more than a million dollars when his dimples were on full display for you to admire. And Jungwon answered, his eyes never leaving yours.

“If she’d let me be her boyfriend, then yes. Absolutely.”

#AHHHH WHY IS THIS SO CUTE #wow this ended up being a lot more angsty than i’d initially thought but hey at least we got a happy ending #enhypenwriters #kflixnet #kpop fanfiction #kpop fanfic #enhypen #enhypen fanfiction #enhypen x reader #enhypen fluff #jungwon x reader #jungwon fanfic #jungwon fluff #enhypen oneshots #enhypen x female reader #kpop oneshot #yang jungwon

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newstfionline · 4 years ago

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Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Next stop Mars: 3 spacecraft arriving in quick succession (AP) After hurtling hundreds of millions of miles through space since last summer, three robotic explorers are ready to hit the brakes at Mars. The United Arab Emirates’ orbiter reaches Mars on Tuesday, followed less than 24 hours later by China’s orbiter-rover combo. NASA’s rover, the cosmic caboose, will arrive on the scene a week later, on Feb. 18, to collect rocks for return to Earth—a key step in determining whether life ever existed at Mars. Both the UAE and China are newcomers at Mars, where more than half of Earth’s emissaries have failed. China’s first Mars mission, a joint effort with Russia in 2011, never made it past Earth’s orbit. All three spacecraft rocketed away within days of one another last July, during an Earth-to-Mars launch window that occurs only every two years. That’s why their arrivals are also close together.

Around the globe, virus cancels spring travel for millions (AP) They are the annual journeys of late winter and early spring: Factory workers in China heading home for the Lunar New Year; American college students going on road trips and hitting the beach over spring break; Germans and Britons fleeing drab skies for some Mediterranean sun over Easter. All of it canceled, in doubt or under pressure because of the coronavirus. Amid fears of new variants of the virus, new restrictions on movement have hit just as people start to look ahead to what is usually a busy time of year for travel. It means more pain for airlines, hotels, restaurants and tourist destinations that were already struggling more than a year into the pandemic, and a slower recovery for countries where tourism is a big chunk of the economy.

AP-NORC poll: Few in US say democracy is working very well (AP) Only a fragment of Americans believe democracy is thriving in the U.S., even as broad majorities agree that representative government is one of the country’s bedrock principles, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just 16% of Americans say democracy is working well or extremely well, a pessimism that spans the political spectrum. Nearly half of Americans, 45%, think democracy isn’t functioning properly, while another 38% say it’s working only somewhat well. The poll’s findings are broadly consistent with how Americans graded democracy before the election. But there are signs that Trump’s attacks on the democratic process, including his repeated argument that the election was “stolen” because of voter irregularities, resonated with Republicans.

Schools plan for potential of remote learning into the fall (AP) Parents of schoolchildren learning from home shouldn’t necessarily count on reclaiming the dining room table any time soon. After seeing two academic years thrown off course by the pandemic, school leaders around the country are planning for the possibility of more distance learning next fall at the start of yet another school year. “We have no illusions that COVID will be eradicated by the time the start of the school year comes up,” said William “Chip” Sudderth III, a spokesperson for Durham, North Carolina schools, whose students have been out of school buildings since March. President Joe Biden has made reopening schools a top priority, but administrators say there is much to consider as new strains of the coronavirus appear and teachers wait their turn for vaccinations. And while many parents are demanding that schools fully reopen, others say they won’t feel safe sending children back to classrooms until vaccines are available to even young students.

2nd major snowstorm in a week blankets Northeast (AP) A major snowstorm pushed through the Northeastern United States on Sunday, less than a week after a storm dumped more than 2 feet on parts of the region. By early afternoon, 5 to 7 inches had already fallen in parts of northwestern New Jersey and southwestern Connecticut. New York’s Central Park reported about 3 inches. The highest total was recorded in West Whiteland Township, west of Philadelphia, where about 9 inches had fallen. The National Weather Service predicted up to 8 inches of snow in New York City and 2 to 4 inches in Washington, D.C. Up to a foot was projected to fall on some areas along the Connecticut coastline.

Biden faces border challenge as migrant families arrive in greater numbers and large groups (Washington Post) President Biden’s more-welcoming message to immigrants is facing an immediate challenge along the Mexican border, where Central American families and children have been crossing in numbers that point to a building crisis. In recent days, U.S. authorities have seen the return of large groups of parents and children crossing the border in the darkness, a replay of scenes that occurred during the record influx of families who arrived in 2018 and 2019, overwhelming migrant shelters and Border Patrol stations. Republican critics of Biden say the new wave is the start of the crisis they have long predicted, invited by the new administration’s eager rejection of Trump’s deterrent approach. Yet Biden also inherited a highly improvised enforcement system from his predecessor that was already under strain and highly dependent on Trump’s diplomatic bullying of Mexico. Late last month, Mexican authorities in some areas of the border stopped taking back families returned by the United States under emergency pandemic health measures implemented last March. With the U.S. capacity to hold adults and children reduced by the pandemic and the temporary closure of the largest Border Patrol facility in South Texas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection began dropping families off at bus stations and shelters last week.

Ecuador’s election (Foreign Policy) Ecuador’s presidential election is set to go to a second round after early returns showed a split electorate. Leftist Andrés Arauz leads the count with 31.5 percent of the vote, while his closest challengers Guillermo Lasso and Yaku Pérez both received roughly 20 percent. As the margin between them is so tight, it’s not yet clear whether Lasso or Pérez will face Arauz in the April 11 runoff.

Brexit growing pains (Foreign Policy) Exports from the United Kingdom to the European Union fell by 68 percent in January, according to a trade group representing British truck drivers. The Road Haulage Association (RHA) attributed the drop to trade disruptions due to the end of the Brexit transition period, although the British government has said border friction has been “minimal.” The news comes as EU and U.K. representatives meet this week to discuss extending post-Brexit grace periods on the trade of certain goods.

‘Al desko’ (Foreign Policy) The French labor ministry says it will soon relax a ban on workers eating lunch at their desks in order to enforce social distancing regulations. France’s labor laws currently forbid employees from eating “al desko” and companies face financial penalties if inspectors catch them flouting the law. The country’s strict labor rights include a 2017 law that allows workers to ignore work e-mails outside of normal working hours. “We French and you Americans have totally different ideas about work,” Agnès Dutin, a retired Parisian, told the New York Times. “It’s a catastrophe to eat at your desk. You need a pause to refresh the mind. It’s good to move your body. When you return, you see things differently.”

Russia considering at least $6.7 billion spending package to ease discontent (Reuters) Russian authorities are considering a new social spending package worth at least $6.7 billion to address discontent over falling living standards before an autumn election, according to two government sources. The package, which one of the sources said President Vladimir Putin was likely to unveil in an annual speech to senior political figures in coming weeks, follows unsanctioned nationwide protests last month that hit the value of the rouble. The two government sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters the spending package was meant to make people feel the authorities are aware of their financial concerns and are doing something to help them.

Myanmar junta imposes curfew, meeting bans as protests swell (AP) Myanmar’s new military rulers on Monday signaled their intention to crack down on opponents of their takeover, issuing decrees that effectively banned peaceful public protests in the country’s two biggest cities. The restrictive measures were ordered after police fired water cannons at hundreds of protesters in the Myanmar capital, Naypyitaw, who were demanding the military hand power back to elected officials. It was just one of many demonstrations around the country. Rallies and gatherings of more than five people, along with motorized processions, were banned, and an 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew was imposed for areas of Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s first- and second-biggest cities, where thousands of people have been demonstrating since Saturday. The growing wave of defiance—particularly in Naypyitaw, where such protests are unusual—was striking in a country where demonstrations have been met with severe force in the past.

Iran: US must lift sanctions before it lives up to nuke deal (AP) Iran’s supreme leader on Sunday urged the United States to lift all sanctions if it wants Iran to live up to commitments under its nuclear deal with world powers, state TV reported, but President Joe Biden says the U.S. won’t be making the first move. “If (the U.S.) wants Iran to return to its commitments, it must lift all sanctions in practice, then we will do verification … then we will return to our commitments,” state TV quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying, in his first comments on the matter since Biden took office. Biden rejected the idea in a “CBS Evening News” interview taped Friday and airing Sunday. Former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. in 2018 from the atomic deal, which saw Iran agree to limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Biden has said he will seek to revive the deal, but insisted that Iran must first reverse its nuclear steps, creating a contest of wills between the nations.

Israel’s Netanyahu walks out on his own corruption trial (Washington Post) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told judges in a Jerusalem court on Monday that he is innocent of corruption charges before abruptly standing, saying “thank you very much” and leaving with his motorcade. Netanyahu quit the courtroom some 20 minutes after the start of Monday morning’s hearing, which continued on without him. The sessions kick-started the second phase of a precedent-setting legal procedure, which, for the first time, involves the indictment of an Israeli prime minister while still in office and campaigning for elections in the coming weeks—the fourth in two years.

Congo working to stop new Ebola outbreak in country’s east (AP) Health officials in Congo confirmed another Ebola outbreak in the country’s east on Sunday, the fourth in less than three years. On February 3, a woman died in Butembo town in North Kivu province, Minister of Health Eteni Longondo announced. This is the 12th outbreak in conflict-ridden Congo since the virus was first discovered in the country in 1976, and comes less than three months after an outbreak in the western province of Equateur, officially ended in November. The 2018 outbreak in Eastern Congo was the second deadliest in the world, killing 2,299 people before it ended in June. That outbreak lasted for nearly two years and was fought amid unprecedented challenges, including entrenched conflict between armed groups, the world’s largest measles epidemic, and the spread of COVID-19.

#headlines #news

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foolproofidea · 5 years ago

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The Best Gadgets for 2020

Pelican Go G40 Charge Case

Pelican has consolidated its rough waterproof Go case with a 10,000mAh rechargeable battery. The brand structured the arrangement for simple remote charging of your cellphone. You can likewise go through it to charge different gadgets through a USB charge port while in a hurry.

The Pelican Go G40 Charge Case will hamper you $100. It estimates 10.63 inches long, 5.39 inches wide, and 2.42 inches down, and it weighs about 1.8 pounds.

NAD M10 BluOS Streaming Amplifier

In spite of its minimized plan, this remote speaker has the force and execution of an encompass sound framework. Perfect for laying everything out for on-board gatherings and meals, the M10 can stream and play music in remarkably high caliber from various administrations including Amazon, Spotify and Tidal and is additionally ready to help Alexa or Google voice-controls.

Self-Sealing and Self-Changing Trash Can-TOWNEW

This creative trash can will make taking out the trash considerably less of a task. It may resemble your run of the mill movement sensor container, yet it's quite considerably more. At the point when it's full, you should simply press a catch for it to naturally seal the trash pack and line the receptacle with another one.

Regardless of whether the canister is flooding, the top compartment will lift up so it can even now seal the sack shut with no wrecks. Our Cleaning Lab aces state it's the ideal size for restrooms, workplaces, and little kitchens.

Samsung Ballie

Samsung's Ballie is an intriguing mix between keen home gadget and automated partner. The ball-molded device, furnished with cameras and sensors used to chase after you, can control different shrewd home highlights, take photographs, send you refreshes about your home when you're away, and even capacity as a wellness right hand. Intended to be an "inside and out life partner," Ballie may be adorable enough give your puppy a run for its cash.

A 20-PIN USB-C MAGNETIC BREAKAWAY CONNECTOR

Goodness, how this has altered my life. Thus did the MacBook MagSafe connectors from the times of old. They spared me hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in fixes and new MacBooks by keeping me from hauling my costly yet delicate workstation to the ground careful my occasional chimp-like clumsiness. Be that as it may, my MagSafe MacBooks became old and I in the long run needed to move up to a more up to date model highlighting USB-C connectors.

Delicate USB-C connectors. USB-C connectors that cling on enough to permit my MacBook to be pulled off a table and placed into Isaac Newton's cold, detached hands.

At that point a peruser pointed me in the direction of the 20-pin USB-C magnetic breakaway connector. I was skeptical, not just because they were sold under no-name marking, yet additionally because of the price. $25 appeared to be cheap.

However, they are incredible. Fantastic. I have accumulated a serious collection, and they are perfect for MacBooks as well as any contraption with a USB-C port. The magnet is sufficiently able to keep the two pieces of the connector cozily attached, yet will give way if the cable is pulled hard enough to jeopardize the attached device.

I recently discovered that there is additionally a form with a USB-C cable attached in the event that you need a progressively compact arrangement.

The connector underpins 100W (20V/5A) charging, which makes it perfect for all MacBooks and different PCs and USB-C devices, and even backings up to 10Gbps information move and 4K@60Hz video yield.

Samsung Sero TV

CES is always big on TV announcements, and especially worth noting is Samsung's new Sero TV, because its defining feature goes beyond LED and 4K and what have you. It seems so obvious: a TV that transitions from the horizontal plane to the, gasp, vertical plane. That's what Samsung is doing with The Sero, which means "vertical" in Korean. This QLED TV, already available in South Korea and going global this year, flips so that longways it resembles a 43-inch phone screen. That means it's ideal for mirroring an Instagram or TikTok feed from your Galaxy phone, should you have one. What a trick. And here you hoped you’d be looking at your phone screen less in 2020.

Cleer Flow II Headphones

Cleer sound have increased their game with the most recent model of remote, sound-dropping headphones. Close by a google-voice helped control framework the Flow II headphones currently highlight a discussion mode, permitting volume and sound-dropping to be incidentally diminished by squeezing the left earcup. Perfect for plunging all through discussions or tuning in to declarations.

Dell XPS 13

CPU: eighth era Intel Core i5 – i7 | Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620 | RAM: 8GB – 16GB | Screen: 13.3-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080) – 4k (3840 x 2160) | Storage: 256GB – 1TB SSD

Focused webcamBattery life superior to ever2019 update isn't hugeExpensive

The Dell XPS 13 has been a customary of our best laptops list for a considerable length of time, and – despite the fact that the Huawei Notebook X Pro knocked it off this rundown for a brief timeframe – the 2019 model is a genuine come back to frame. It holds all that we've come to cherish from Dell's lead 13-incher, from the perfect and light plan, to the incredible present day segments that force it.

The Dell XPS 13 shakes an eighth era Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and a bezel-less 'Limitlessness Edge' show, this Dell XPS 13 keeps on being the most well known Windows laptop on the planet.

Likewise, there's a wide scope of customization choices, so you can truly make the Dell XPS 13 the best laptop for your needs. The 2019 model doesn't bring a tremendous measure of enhancements, yet then not so much about the Dell XPS 13 needs improving. Its webcam has been put at the top focus of the screen, rather than at the base, which a great deal of clients have been requesting. You additionally get a more drawn out battery life in the current year's model.

Mophie Powerstation GO Phone Charger and Car Jump Starter

You know Mophie for its phone chargers and force banks, yet the brand's most recent item makes it a stride further: It can jump start your car and charge your workstation, as well. Keep the lightweight Powerstation in your car if there should be an occurrence of crises, such as awakening on a virus winter morning to a car with a dead battery.

It additionally incorporates small scale jumper links that won't start. It likewise has USB spaces, a divider charger opening, and a remote charging cushion — and it can charge numerous things simultaneously. It's excessively conservative, so you never must be without power.

Canon EOS-1D X Mark III

Rumors of the DSLR’s demise have been greatly exaggerated based on Canon’s update to its beloved — and expensive — EOS-1D X lineup. The Canon EOS-1D X Mark III boasts improvements like the faster Digic X processor, burst shooting at 16 frames per second, and face and head-tracking thanks to improved computer vision tech. It also shoots 5.5K RAW video and 4K video at 60 frames per second.

Altec Lansing EVP Speakers

Altec Lansing has refreshed its whole line of Everything-Proof (EVP) speakers. These speakers glide, are IP67-evaluated for waterproofness, and have a remote scope of 100 feet, fun-shaded LED lighting, and a carabineer clasp or convey lash so you can undoubtedly take them anyplace. Most even have Qi remote charging to effectively charge your cellphone from the speaker's battery.

There will be five sizes of the EVP speakers on offer in spring 2020. The two new bigger units offer Play Your Way innovation, taking into consideration vertical-direction, 360-degree omnidirectional sound or even direction, forward looking stereo sound. Estimating ranges from $40 to $200.

Bose Audio Sunglasses

The new audio sunglasses from Bose signal that the future really is here. While providing UV protection, these wearable devices can be used to play music, make and answer calls and connect to bluetooth. They can be pared with your other devices and are capable of accessing apps including Spotify, Skype or Google Maps. Eventually Bose hopes to offer sunglasses that can be connected to fitness and gaming apps too. There are currently two frame shapes to chose from; Alto (pictured) and Rondo

Fitbit Charge 3

Assume responsibility for your wellness with the best tracker

Light designBig screenNo installed GPSNot a shading screen

More refined than the Fitbit Charge 2, the Charge 3 is one of the organization's most cultivated gadgets. It has a more lightweight plan than the last-gen, and it looks better on your wrist. It's our main all-round wellness tracker since the cost has dropped somewhat as of late, and it offers a great deal of knowledge into your general wellbeing.

There's no locally available GPS, and it doesn't have the more test plan of this present guide's past victor, the Moov Now – which doesn't have a screen! the Charge 3 does, in any case, offer a full wellness suite including a pulse tracker. It's even waterproof as well.

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deesdiaries · 6 years ago

Link

The 2019 fall equinox—also called the autumn equinox—takes place on Monday, September 23, 2019. |The fall equinox is not on the same day each year, though it always falls between September 21 and September 24. It marks the first day of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. (The reverse is true in the Southern Hemisphere, where the September equinox signals the first day of spring.) People have celebrated the fall equinox for centuries. In the Northern Hemisphere, the September equinox coincides with the fall harvest, and many ancient harvest celebrations take place on or around the fall equinox.

Fall Equinox Definition

Equinox comes from the Latin words “aequi,” which means equal, and “nox,” or night. On the equinox, day and night are of nearly equal length across the planet.

As the Earth orbits the sun, it is tilted at a fixed angle. For half the year, the North Pole is tilted slightly toward the sun, bringing longer days to the Northern Hemisphere, while the South Pole is tilted slightly away from the sun, bringing fewer hours of sunlight to the Southern Hemisphere.

Then, as the Earth continues to move around the sun at its fixed angle, the North Pole is tilted slightly away from the sun. The equinox marks the point of the year where this transition occurs, and on the equinox the part of Earth closest to the sun is the equator, rather than places north or south.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the September equinox marks the first day of fall. The reverse is true in the Southern Hemisphere where the September equinox signals the first day of spring.

Ancient Cultures

Ancient cultures didn’t have clocks to calculate minutes of daytime and nighttime, but they could measure the sun’s position geometrically.

People observed that the sun’s rising and setting points moved slightly each day of the year. The summer solstice would occur when the sun reached its northernmost point, marking the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The sun’s southernmost point marked the winter solstice, or shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, when the North Pole was tilted the farthest from the sun. The two days of the year when the sun rose exactly due east and set exactly due west marked the equinoxes.

Archaeologists believe a number of prehistoric sites were used by ancient peoples to track the position of the sun and predict equinoxes and solstices. Some of these sites include Stonehenge and Newgrange in the UK and the Majorville Medicine Wheel in Alberta, Canada.

Fall Equinox Customs And Rituals

Greek Mythology: To the ancient Greeks, the September equinox marks the return of the goddess Persephone to the darkness of the underworld, where she is reunited with her husband Hades.

Chinese Harvest Moon Festival: The full moon that falls closest to the autumnal equinox is sometimes called the Harvest Moon. The Chinese began celebrating the fall harvest at the Harvest Moon centuries ago, during the Shang dynasty. Ancient Chinese celebrated the successful harvest of rice and wheat and made offerings to the moon.

Ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese people still celebrate the Harvest Moon or Mid-Autumn Festival. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, lanterns adorn streets and family and friends gather to give thanks, share food and watch the moon. Round pastries, called mooncakes, are often enjoyed at this time.

Japanese Higan: Higan is a holiday celebrated by some Japanese Buddhists. It takes place twice a year, during the fall and spring equinoxes.

During Higan, Japanese Buddhists will return to their hometowns to pay respects to their ancestors. Higan means “from the other shore of the Sanzu River.” In Buddhist tradition, crossing the mythical Sanzu River meant passing into the afterlife.

Harvest Festivals In Great Britain: The people of the British Isles have given thanks at fall harvest festivals since pagan times. Harvest festivals traditionally were held on the Sunday nearest the Harvest Moon.

Early English settlers took the harvest festival tradition with them to America. These tradition festivals, once celebrated around the equinox, formed the basis of American Thanksgiving, which we now celebrate in November.

French Republican Calendar: During the French Revolution, the French government designed and implemented a new yearly calendar.

Each new year would start at midnight on the day of the autumnal equinox. In the revolutionary attempt to rid the calendar of religious or royalist influence, each month was named after a natural element.

The French followed this calendar from 1793 until Napoleon Bonaparte abolished it in 1806.

Modern Paganism: Modern pagans celebrate a feast called Mabon on the autumnal equinox. This harvest festival is a time to celebrate the gifts of the Earth.

Northern Lights Viewing

In the far north, the autumnal equinox signals peak viewing of the aurora borealis, or northern lights.

The celestial display of brilliantly colored lights happens when charged particles from the sun strike atoms in Earth’s atmosphere, causing them to light up. These light displays peak around the fall and spring, or vernal, equinox. That’s because disturbances in Earth’s atmosphere—known as geomagnetic storms—are strongest at these times.

SOURCES

Ancient Observatories—Timeless Knowledge. Stanford Solar Center. Who, What, Why: What is an equinox? BBC. Fall equinox ups chances of seeing Northern Lights. Space.com.

#autumnal equinox

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bellsybuilds · 7 years ago

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[Supernatural] No one will know the violence it took (M, Michael/Adam, 3.8k)

No one will know the violence it took (Can also be read on AO3)

Michael / Adam Milligan (M)

With thanks to Hillywood for actually freeing our boy from the Cage, I don’t mind writing for this fandom once more. So long as I don’t have to address actual canon because have no idea what’s going on.

Part 5 of Somewhere to Begin

(“I'm sorry. I'm sorry you are who you are and you got mixed up in all of this. I'm sorry you decided to forgive me and I fell for it. I'm staying away. What else do you want me to say?”)

Adam bites the inside of his lower lip and blinks his vision clear of that borrowed memory. He shakes off the remembered lash between his shoulders of the cold wind on that dark night, the empty street spilling before them. Michael hovering, angry and shaken, uncharacteristically at a loss.

Sometimes Adam wonders if Castiel really did him a favour downloading all of that to his brain.

(”What else do you want me to say?”)

How does Michael transition from a psychopathic mass murderer to a man who even considers that he’s at fault? Who pleads with Adam to forgive him? How does Adam even inspire the thought in Michael’s head that he doesn’t want to torture Adam and play with the already fraying threads of his mind?

“It starts with you, Adam,” Castiel unhelpfully reminds him just when Adam thinks the angel has finally given up the cause. “The war turns when you get him on our side--”

They’re three boxes through unloading their supply run in late winter, running up and down the stairs from Sam and the trailer back to their food pantry.

Spring is just around the corner. Adam can taste it in the thaw of the morning, that minuscule difference in degrees that settles on his skin like mist instead of frost. It couldn’t come soon enough. Being cooped up underground is driving him stir crazy with the seasons dragging longer in an beleaguered stream of overcast days.

Adam just has to wonder aloud when this might all end and he can eat some real food again. At least if they had some fresh ingredients, he could cook them a real meal. And somehow the angel contorted that question into the Bigger Picture.

Doesn’t Castiel understand rhetoric?

“Well maybe I can’t, okay? And maybe I don’t want to."

Adam whirls, shoving the box of canned vegetables on the central table of their bunker. A pile of jars pickling sun-dried tomatoes and fruit jostle at the corner. Kevin would be disappointed if they toppled; Adam glares at them until he's certain they won't.

"He’s a psycho. He messes with people--he kills them and he enjoys it, speaking from experience.” He throws his hands up in dismissal. “And I don’t want another fucking cent of that guy. I just wanted a normal life helping people, but failing that: a quiet after where I could be with my mom. Since I don’t get that either maybe the least I can ask is people stop trying to shove that fucking maniac down my throat again. And when I say people, I really mean you -- it’s just you, Castiel. I will turn up to your shitty war and keep the kitchens stocked, I’ll oil the gun barrels and do your research, I’ll keep Kevin safe. But stop trying to make Michael and me happen. It’s not gonna happen.”

Castiel stalls at the top of the stairs, arms full of canned beans. His face pulls in contrition, “Adam--”

Adam throws up a hand up signalling the conversation over, mouth terse as he storms off, boots stomping on his ascent of the tiled stair. He’ll feel bad about putting that look on the angel’s face and making Castiel put the rest of their food away by himself, but for now he’s done.

///

One day, the war will end, humans and all other species will have peace, and the archangel Michael will stop invading Adam’s dreams like it’s his regular pit stop. But--dragging his hands down his face in exhaustion, Adam laments--it is not this day.

“Your vessels are no more than marionettes in a storefront: stars and dust collecting memory as you drag yourselves towards death. The oldest of us understand what you really are… we can rearrange your atoms, however we like.”

Michael stands in the open living-slash-dining space of Adam’s motel room with all the grandeur of a self-important, ageless being unaccustomed to sharing the spotlight. Adam doesn’t have the heart or the care to tell him this isn’t the Globe Theatre. Michael’s hand turns on the air, twisting some unseen dial to a design in his mind’s eye. His dark eyes gently thin on his spectator.

“I could unmake you. And make you again. Over and over. Until I was done with you.”

Doesn’t Michael get tired of this?

Slouched against the headboard of his bed and tucked beneath the sheets, Adam draws his knees up with a slow, heavy sigh. “You’ve done that already--down below. Or is ‘the oldest of us’ also the first to forget?”

It’s ten-past-ten, he would really like to get some proper shut-eye. He hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep since he tried to make reparations with the First Nations tribe they pissed off when Adam’s brothers trespassed on a hunt three weeks ago. So many elders and families to apologise to. Things Dean just did not care about.

Michael’s expression loses its bright, faraway glaze, focusing on his former vessel. His mouth curls in a smile. “It didn’t all hurt, if you remember.”

Where is Michael going with this?

Adam blinks back at him, careful not to flinch. He must present only a portrait of tired exasperation.

“Never said I didn’t,” he concedes, and turns his back, burrowing down into his thin cocoon for the evening. It still rails against his instincts to show even a figment of the angel his back -- his subconscious doesn’t know that Michael isn’t really here and bears no real threat against him.

The creak of floorboards make him tense. He shuts his eyes and bites his tongue when the mattress dips with weight.

Michael is not really here. He can’t hurt him.

“Maybe I’ve been trying the wrong approach,” the angel's timbre softens, warm and low. "Too much stick. Not enough carrot.”

Adam refuses to react to the presence radiating heat at his back through the sheets. His fingers clutch a little tighter to the duvet tugged tight around his shoulders.

Michael is not here.

“Good night, Michael,” he mutters tightly in dismissal.

Warm breath stirs the hair above his ear, and years of conditioning tell Adam to remain as still and quiet as death, to wait--wait, hold his breath and pray, wait--

He’s not real. He’s not real.

“I’m coming for you, little Adam,” Michael promises him in a soundless breath. “I’m going to find you. And I’ll make you so glad I did.”

///

“I’m really glad you’re not seeing that vampire anymore,” Kevin tells him when they’re packing the small barrels of rock salt and mountain ash into the back of Sam’s truck.

Adam narrows a look at his not-quite-maybe-friend, and glances around to see who may be in hearing distance. Thankfully, his brothers have disappeared back into the bunker and Castiel….

Adam has stopped caring about Castiel.

“Kevin. Dude.”

He doesn’t clarify that he was never ‘seeing’ Michael; his dignity isn’t that fragile, and he knows what Kevin means: I’m glad you’ve stopped sneaking away and risking your life to barter with that guy.

Adam doesn’t clarify that since they ran out of sage to ward the places they sleep, Michael has been invading his dreams instead. Well, Adam is the only one who ran out. More was supposed to arrive in the latest stock run but Sam’s supplier didn’t come through. Adam just has to hold out for a few more days. In the meantime, Sam needs it more than him.

Adam may also have failed to disclose this recent development.

It’s just as well. He was getting light-headed from all the blood loss of his face-to-face time with Michael. Not to mention the other reactions the angel inspired from his body the last time they met.

He shoves the memory away, like a dirty sweater kicked to the back of his mental closet.

Adam and Kevin agreed never to speak of it. At least, Adam negotiated for Kevin to hold his tongue in exchange for getting to speak with his mother. Far be it for Adam Milligan to keep a guy from his mom. If Adam had his way, they’d all be home with their moms by now.

Kevin, unfortunately, forgets the exchange was for his silence because his face falls into a soft pout and he keeps talking. “He’s dangerous, you know. He could really hurt you. And you’re my friend. And what if he hurt me?”

Adam sighs under his breath, slamming the tray closed once the barrels are secured. “He’s not gonna hurt you, Kevin. He has to protect you.”

For now, Adam echoes. Who knows about tomorrow? Kevin doesn’t need to lie awake at night from nightmares about the fickle oaths of angels. Kid hears enough about the Order of Dickheads On High from Dean’s daily sermons.

He stills as a thought occurs to him. He considers Kevin with a narrowed eye. “You been having dreams about him?”

Kevin blinks with a small frown of confusion. “No. Why?”

Hmm. “Just checking. They’re known to do that sometimes.”

Kevin peers closer at him, dark eyes frustratingly earnest. “Are you?”

“Nope,” Adam lies and resigns himself as Kevin crowds close, suspicious and worried, their shoulders brushing in their hurry back to the shelter of the bunker. The convoy is locked and loaded for Sam and Dean to go do their hero stuff. Good riddance.

Or, God willing. Adam really has to get the intent straight in his head. Sam and Dean have to survive this. He wants them to fight and come back safe because--

--If they don’t, that’s one less buffer between Adam and this war.

No! Because he just doesn’t want them to die. He doesn’t want anyone else to die.

“I don’t like leaving you with him,” Kevin says.

“You won’t have to. We’re done.”

“I don’t trust him.”

“And you shouldn’t.” Why does Kevin think Adam still needs convincing? “All angels are the same.”

Kevin’s expression turns troubled. He looks so young when his face twists like that, seeking an olive branch of congruity in this crazy world that’s yawned open beneath his feet. “But… Castiel isn’t like that.”

Adam doesn’t like the angel, but he has to concede the distinction. “All angels who haven’t been kicked out or clipped their own wings, are exactly the same.”

///

Castiel finds Adam a few days later in one of the rare circumstances he’s allowed topside without an escort. Well, it’s a nice illusion. The appearance of Castiel affirms that he is never truly alone.

It’s a nice place, this vantage from the bunker aboveground on the lake. The sun has broken through the clouds of Winter grey, beaming over the calm water and basking Adam in a warmth he tries to draw down into his bones. He slumps on an overgrown tree stump by the shore, breathing deep and listening to the breeze coo through the pines and the water lap at the brambles.

Castiel lowers himself, folding his legs by Adam’s stump and Adam watches the angel’s trenchcoat smear with moss. The effort is noted. Castiel doesn’t often sit.

“I’m sorry if I’ve put undue pressure on you,” Castiel says, careful and halting. He glances up, briefly meeting Adam’s eye and unlike every other dysfunctional fuck in their party, at least Castiel’s contrition comes before the crime. The angel licks his lips, searching the vantage of the lake and the tall pines of the shore on the other side. A piercing cry makes them both look up. A falcon soars by, wings spread wide and high above the treetops.

“Not long ago, I would have asserted you had to do this because it was the only way. But oblivion… brings a certain perspective. I’ve been betrayed, beaten and killed more than most. I think you and your family are uniquely qualified to empathise.”

Adam snorts a laugh under his breath. He flicks a wreath of twigs he braided against his thigh. “You giving me permission not to do the thing I already said I wasn’t going to do?”

Castiel sighs. “I’m sorry, Adam. I was wrong. Before, I didn’t know. We’re all desperate to protect what we care about.”

Dean. It goes unsaid, but the fact he and Castiel are now a thing has changed a lot.

“I used to believe the ends justified the means,” Castiel continues, the soft breeze ruffling his fringe as he gazes out to the lake. “I believe it was sung into our being on creation. And I was ready to be the means, to sacrifice anybody and anything for those ends. But the ends are the same for all of us. Death is coming for all of us. Your brothers and I… we’re trying to help what happens after. And there will still be sacrifices to make, but… it also matters how we get there. I tried the other way. I was fooling myself thinking I had any real control over the outcome. But I can control this: so, if I’ve caused you any more harm in asking you to do this--I’m sorry.” Castiel’s voice lowers, apologetic and gentle. “You don’t have to turn him. Maybe we’ll find another way. Maybe we won’t. But that’s not on you alone.”

Adam stares out at the lake and he can’t quite tell when his vision began to burn and blur .

A wet laugh chokes out of him and he swipes his cheek when some of those tears escape. He thought he didn’t need any of those apologies, but maybe that was just because he believed they would never come. He feels like his chest has been wrenched open and something black and poisonous has loosened its hold on him.

Castiel really is the exception.

“My brother does not deserve you,” Adam finally says, voice thick, resolutely glaring at the lake. “He’s way too primitive.”

A hand closes around his elbow and Adam looks down. Castiel smiles in understanding, squeezing his arm. Adam swallows thickly and nods back, remembering a time before he knew about monsters and Winchesters, and he might have thrown his arms around someone for sharing something so sincere, but Minnesota was a long time ago.

Everything is different. Even him.

///

“Fuck me well enough to remember; I won’t need a sex tape.”

The words reach Adam murky and incomprehensible as he rises from the weight of sleep. Strange noises prickle his ears, familiar but estranged in this context of waking alone in his motel bed, a line of drool smearing against his cheek on the pillow. He raises his head to peer blearily at the white paint peeling from the bathroom door, then the dark curtains still drawn over the windows, not a hint of sunlight breaking through.

What time is it? What’s going on?

“Relax, baby. Open up for… that’s it. Breathe with me.”

Wait a fucking minute.

Reality hits him like a shard of ice between his shoulderblades. He whirls in bed, sitting up sharply.

Slumped in the bedside armchair, Michael holds Adam’s most jealously guarded possession above his face as the video plays on that phone: telltale whimpers and grunts fill the room. Adam feels his face flush with panic and embarrassment, all coherent thought flees his mind.

Fuck, fuck--

“What the fuck are you doing?” is all he can screech.

Michael doesn’t even glance his way to acknowledge he’s been caught, he doesn’t blanch or flinch at the knowledge he’s watching a sex tape of the two of them. A tape that somehow involves neither of the two people currently in this room He’s probably watched the birth of galaxies and orgies of entire dynasties; this probably doesn’t even blip on his radar.

Adam’s mind spirals to a terrifying possibility: Michael will want to know where this video came from, how this video even exists. He’ll force Adam to talk, and soon enough he will realise that there’s another future Adam is aware of. If he’s discovered the phone, what else had he discovered in its storage?

Adam’s stomach drops. If Michael grows aware of the reality Castiel is trying to forge, will he nullify it entirely?

(“That’s not on you alone.”)

A grunt of amusement draws Adam from his mental spiral.

“The way you move, Adam,” the angel shakes his head, posture lazy, shoulders dropped low in his chair. Michael raises an eyebrow, swiping at the phone screen and Adam’s ears burn hearing his counterpart cry out. “I’ve watched this five times and I still can’t believe it.”

That smirk turns on him and Adam flushes all over again, this time definitely in embarrassment--and anger at himself.

He should have known. He should have done something--been more careful about what memories Michael could access through the door and down the hatch of his dreams. Maybe if Adam hadn’t watched the video multiple times himself, it wouldn’t have preserved itself in his memory for crystal clear recollection.

Shame winds hot through his gut. He did this to himself.

The sheets twist as he kneels forward on the bed. He thrusts his hand out. “Give that to me.”

The video abruptly falls silent and Michael pulls a face at it. “Why haven’t you watched to the end? Are you that scared of me coming inside you?”

Adam didn’t think it was possible to blush any harder. He falters at the force of the full-body flush of horror, hot and dizzying. He feels sick. He’s sure his face is beet red, his head is ringing and his heart feels like it will ratchet its own chambers apart. He stumbles off the bed all the same, towards the archangel, reaching for his phone.

“Why would I add to my nightmares?”

Michael frowns gently and keeps him at bay with a raised hand, holding the phone away. The simple touch against Adam’s shirt is enough to make him flinch back. And from the way Michael pauses, studying him, it does not go unnoticed.

“Nightmares?” Michael’s frown turns quizzical. “You looked like you were enjoying yourself.”

“That’s not us!”

“I know that’s not us.”

Michael stands, flooding into his space, almost chest-to-chest. Adam stumbles back, feeling the blood that had rushed to his face abruptly drain elsewhere, heart thumping, hands tingling, priming for a fight.

Michael cants his head, a familiar and dangerous little smile curving his mouth. “But it could be, if you tell me where you are. You’ve thought about it.” Michael studies him closely, eyes glittering in the dim of the bedside lamp. “Haven’t you?”

Adam stares back in shock. Michael seriously isn’t going to ask him where he got that video?

This is all very disorienting.

Misinterpreting his stunned silence, Michael presses on. “Remember? With the power I have, I could unmake you… you remember what it feels like when it hurts.” Michael searches his eyes carefully. “Imagine… remember. We can tip it the other way.”

Adam swallows nervously. That knowledge, that muscle memory is the undercurrent of every conversation, every look, every touch that Michael has brushed against him since he stalked across the parking lot of that bar with Adam in his sights.

Their most recent encounter only confirmed it, falling against each other with the delirium of blood loss and a brief inversion of power. Michael’s mouth on his skin, sinking between his thighs.

In the dim of Adam’s dream, Michael’s smile gentles, coy. “If I made you feel good. Rearranging your atoms, I could wreck you from the inside without ever laying a finger on you. Give you so much pleasure, leave you hoarse and slavering, it would break your mind.”

Adam huffs a rueful laugh under his breath and shakes his head.

There it is. Always warping back to control and damage. It doesn’t matter how it happens, so long as Michael gets to enjoy creative and fun ways to unmake him.

Adam’s voice cracks, trembling. “Do you remember... when you weren’t so into breaking people? And... you actually protected me? Down there?”

In the Cage.

That video had disturbed Adam for weeks. At first, he thought it was the obvious revulsion of seeing himself wrapped up in his enemy. He felt sickened and betrayed by his other self, and the unwanted arousal it inspired. But he was most repulsed when he realised beneath it all was a wretched sadness--mourning for what could have been.

Because the way Michael held and sheltered him in that video made him recall when they first landed in the Cage. Their relationship had never been like that, but--

“I looked for you,” Michael reminds him, voice a thick slurry through clenched teeth; one of those involuntary truths. Huh. Adam didn’t even consider if that would still work in dreams. “I took you back and I fought for you, remember?”

“You gave up,” Adam mutters, throat tightening.

Michael has inflicted a lot of hurt on Adam and his family, but this fact aches the most: Michael wasn’t kind before, but the Cage turned him downright cruel.

Adam trembles, fists clenched at his sides. He glowers, unsure what to make of the way Michael studies him, expression softening. “I blame you and your brother. But he’s not the one who won’t leave me the fuck alone now. I fucking hate you. Yeah, you could play me like a puppet; that’s all you’re good for now. But you couldn’t make me feel a genuine thing I enjoyed if it killed you.”

He steps in close enough that he feels the typical heat Michael radiates, the sheer power and energy of his angelic form straining to contain itself in the month’s vessel of choice. One breath too deep would press them together, Adam would feel that heat through the thin layer of his shirt. He doesn’t push his luck, though he very much wants to shove both hands against the angel’s chest and watch him stumble. He wants Michael off-balance, staggering back--

--On his knees, nuzzling his smile into Adam’s palm, rumbling pleasure at Adam’s praise (“you did so well”)--

Adam kicks that memory down the hatch and slams the door shut.

“You’re pathetic, General. I can’t even pity you. Get out,” he growls.

Michael raises an eyebrow. “You’re not fun when you’re sad.”

Adam’s fist flies, but Michael is gone before it connects--and Adam jolts awake mid-swing, tangled in his motel bed sheets.

The sky is paling to a grey sunrise behind his curtains. He is alone.

He thumps the mattress with a snarl and takes a deep breath.

Not fun when you’re sad, Adam’s mouth twists into a bitter scowl of frustration. Asshole.

#midam #michael (supernatural)#adam milligan #supernatural #castiel #kevin tran #dream sequences #somewhere to begin #my niche is officially redemption arcs of psycho and sociopaths

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earthshaker1217 · 7 years ago

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4 of swords + vision + Hod, Left Leg of Submission

Happy Sunday!! The theme for this week’s Sunday set up is “Chill before you Charge”. It’s easy to get wrapped in the excitement of a new season and a fresh start. However, new starts should be a progression to new territory as opposed to repeated cycle. Before you initiate that new project, make some time to review yourself and your past endeavors before you leap into the future.

4 of swords signals rest, restoration, contemplation. Stability and formation of the mind is a central message here, and it’s an appropriate one as we will be experiencing the transition from winter to spring with the Vernal Equinox. Relax and prepare is what we can do. This week can be a time where we review all that we have lost, gained, learned and how we choose to move forward. Give yourself a break to restore yourself. You're gonna need it.

Vision: Vision can come best when the mind is relaxed. The card here emphasizes a message of reliquinshing some power in order to gain insight. Like the 4 of swords card signals, this week can be a time for us to sit back and remember our own visions, motivations, etc. before we launch into our new phases. The owl in the image is blindfolded, but the owl is still ready to fly. This moment of relaxation may feel like this image. Embrace it.

Hod, Left Leg of Submission: Hod is an emanation that is connected with letting the universe flow around us and through us without resistance. I've said this before; the relationship between you and the universe is a relationship between two divine beings. It's push and pull. It's assertion and submission. Hod’s presence with the other two cards emphasizes a message of us relaxing this week as we transition into spring. There’s no need to rush anything. Everything is already in place or it will be in place. We have planted the seed. Now let it grow.

Those are the messages for this week. Remember to take what resonates and leave what doesn’t.

Know thyself and be blessed

IZO

#Sunday Set Up #Tarot cards #Oracle cards #Angelarium #earthbound oracle

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wanderingtravelographer · 5 years ago

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It’s a phenomenon that is hard to capture in words, or pictures for that matter. The advent of summer snow, the fluff that floats around the city which signals the transition from spring to summer.

Where will it settle, and who will see the exact wisp your eyes noticed just a moment ago? Will those seeds grow into trees, or will a cat try to catch them, playfully, as though they were butterflies, or perhaps someone will wish upon a tuft they caught accidentally, letting it go before it is weighed down?

The cotton-like tufts whirl around the streets and parks in a carefree, ephemeral dance before fading off into the distance, gone almost as quickly as they appear. Some of them hover for a while longer, lingering in the air hesitantly before moving on, like unsaid thoughts which, for one reason or another, never did materialise into words.

These pieces of light get caught up in cobwebs and in between blades of grass, creating kaleidoscopic flecks of rainbows as the evening sun sets, bringing forth cool layers of air that break up the warmth of the evening. As dusk sets in, the fluff starts to look like soft pieces of cloud which dropped from the sky.

There is something enduring about summer snow, as it feels more permanent than the icy winter snowflakes which melt as soon as they come into contact with one’s fingertips. It only disappears when the rain, which rarely visits now, washes it away.

Daily Magic – Summer Snow It's a phenomenon that is hard to capture in words, or pictures for that matter. The advent of summer snow, the fluff that floats around the city which signals the transition from spring to summer.

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anoldfashionedlife · 5 years ago

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COVID-19: Tuesday, April 7

In normal times when the weather turns pleasant I switch between my Prospect Park run and my Manhattan Bridge run. It’s nice outside, but also the park has been crowded lately. Today I run the Manhattan Bridge.

I listen to Matt’s new podcast. It’s good—informational yet keeping his signature “no shit there I was” style—but it brings a familiar voice to the stories I’ve been reading in the newspaper.

I leave my apartment and turn left onto Lafayette, turn right onto St. James, left onto Dekalb, right onto Clinton. I’m guided by the signals to walk and make my way towards Flushing, which will give me more-or-less a straight shot to the bridge, running along the Navy Yard

I remember the first time I’d ever been to the Navy Yard many years ago. It was always a curiosity behind a high, guarded wall, filled with mostly-empty buildings, some light industry, and miscellanea. A collective of artists had open studios that a group of friends and I went to, not because we were interested in the art but because we wanted to see the inside of the Navy Yard. We saw some bad art and then climbed several stories to the top of the building for one of Brooklyn's few remaining unobstructed views of the Manhattan skyline.

Fast-forward a few years and there’s now a distillery and a vineyard, wholesale coffee roasters and bakers, and even a client of mine is headquartered there after spending many years in Flatiron. I once arrived for a meeting and was asked to provide extra identification—and to leave early—because Hillary Clinton was speaking there later that night.

There’s a line outside Wegmans grocery store where Admirals Row once was. I turn right onto Navy, I pass the temporarily closed Kings County Distillery bar and turn left onto Sands, which turns into a bike path that leads directly to the Manhattan Bridge pedestrian access ramp.

I cross the Manhattan Bridge, running over Brooklyn Bridge Park and the East River and the FDR. The pedestrian bridge ends at Point #3 of the former Five Points neighborhood at the intersection of Bowery and Canal. Normally I’d turn around and run back home. Normally the sidewalks along Canal would be impenetrable, pedestrians would be shoulder to shoulder and there would be no space to run: tourists buying knock-off Gucci and Louis Vuitton bags; traditional Chinese medicine shops; vegetable stands; fish mongers; and if you look hard enough you can see Little Italy.

But today Manhattan looks like a ghost town. Even a satirical image of plastic-bag-as-tumbleweed fails because New York banned single-use bags five weeks ago, an eternity.

Not to belabor a point, but the near absence of human life on Canal is such an aberration that I am beside myself. Canal is the main east-west artery of Lower Manhattan, linking the Manhattan Bridge—Brooklyn to Manhattan—to the Holland Tunnel—Manhattan to New Jersey. My most recent memory of Canal is not buying soft-shelled crab or cannoli—both of which I’ve done within the last year or so—but rather sitting in traffic at 2 o’clock in the morning and it taking 30 minutes to drive from Baxter to the Manhattan Bridge onramp. A distance that today takes 20 seconds on foot.

I run down Canal and turn left onto Broadway. The streets are empty and the stores are closed, of course, but even restaurants that could technically remain takeout-only are closed because there are few residential buildings. I pass a store called Prime Essentials that sells cheap clothes. It’s closed.

There’s something eerily familiar, but it’s the familiarity of walking through the Financial District on a weekend afternoon in the middle of winter. Not a weekday afternoon on a beautiful spring day. It’s impossibly empty; you can’t not social distance. A particularly cinematic moment is when I run past a restaurant playing Standing Still by Jewel to their nonexistent al fresco diners. Remind me again how long we’ve been self-isolating? God damn you all to hell, I think to myself.

I run past the Woolworth Building and St. Paul’s Chapel. I run past the Stock Exchange and turn towards Battery Park. At the southern tip of Manhattan I pause and look towards the Statue of Liberty in the distance. A few men are fishing nearby. The stockades holding tourists bound for Liberty Island are empty. “Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be—Daniel J Boorstin.” I think to myself there must be literally thousands of quotes better than this one containing the word “freedom."

I turn back towards the Brooklyn Bridge, towards home. I run past the National September 11 Memorial. It’s empty and the trees are dead, but I remember the trees always being dead. I run past the Oculus, our $4 billion Calatrava-designed transit hub, looking like it did in architectural renderings from before it was built: clean, white, no people. The Apple Store is closed. Eataly is closed. Shake Shack is closed. Khiel’s Since 1851 is closed.

I’d planned to be in Manhattan for the evening applause for essential workers, but there isn’t anybody to applaud, so turn back towards Brooklyn. Approaching the Brooklyn Bridge I run past city hall. It’s quiet. As I leave the city I think about congestion pricing: if Manhattan had congestion pricing would the algorithm go haywire and start paying people to drive into the city?

Before home I run to Ft Greene Park. There are six-foot-wide signs in fire-engine red indicating how far to keep distant from one another.

I told my mother that I wouldn’t walk over to Brooklyn Hospital just to see what it’s like, but I do. It’s strangely quiet from the outside. I clap to nobody, but for everybody.

I run home wondering what scams Gwyneth Paltrow has cooked up at Goop.

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protectjugheadjonesiii · 8 years ago

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Seattle Rains

Pairing: Jughead x Reader

Description: A new girl brings rainstorms to Riverdale, and more specifically, more rain in Jughead’s world.

Warnings: none

Word count: 1,844

A/N: I’m sorry I haven’t been writing requests, but this idea popped in my head and I decided to write it. Hope you all enjoy!

He only saw her when it was raining. Maybe it was pure coincidence, or maybe it was a sign.

The first time he met her was a rainy Monday afternoon. It was the first day of their freshman year in Riverdale High. Jughead continuously announced to anxiety-ridden Archie and Betty that he was not nervous at all. He would never admit it, but there was a twinge of fear in his stomach as he walked through the doors of his new school.

The day became a blur in his memories, nothing especially memorable occurring. Except one thing: her.

(Y/N) had just moved to Riverdale from Seattle, so her rainy first day of school in a small town helped her transition from the large city she was used to. She sat in her last class of the day, English, when the rain began to pour even harder. Right as the bell signaling the beginning of class rang, one last boy walked through the door.

Jughead knew that, by being late, he wouldn't get a seat in the back of the classroom that he craved. There was only one vacant seat left next to a girl he didn't recognize. He sat down next to her, slumping in his chair.

"You're new, aren't you?" he whispered as the teacher explained the syllabus. (Y/N)'s head shifted to look at him out of the corner of her eye, shocked that someone had spoken to her. She had been ignored all day.

"Yeah," she confirmed his suspicions. "How did you know?"

"This is a small town," Jughead answered. "Everyone knows everyone."

"Right," she muttered, turning her focus back to the teacher. Jughead, however, continued to stare at the new girl.

"I'm Jughead," he introduced himself. "Jughead Jones the third."

"The third?" (Y/N) quietly laughed.

Jughead shrugged. "Yeah," he responded. A smile grew on his face. "It's funny, though, because most people laugh at my name being Jughead."

"I think it's cool," she complimented. "I'm (Y/N)."

"Well, (Y/N)," Jughead said, "what's the-"

"Mr. Jones!" their teacher suddenly interrupted their conversation. "Ms. (Y/L/N)! Please, no talking while I'm speaking!"

Jughead and (Y/N) muttered ashamed apologies, and with a satisfied nod, the teacher turned back to the board. Jughead shifted in his chair so that he was slightly facing (Y/N).

"I was gonna ask what's the best burger you've ever eaten," he explained quietly. "But that's a stupid question, because I'm gonna introduce you to a burger that'll put every other thing you've ever eaten to shame."

"Oh really?"

"Definitely," he smirked. "Have you ever been to Pop's diner?"

The rain reduced to a drizzle as Jughead and (Y/N) walked from school to Pop's.

"You're sure you don't need an umbrella?" Jughead asked for the hundredth time.

(Y/N) laughed, "For the last time, Jughead, I'm fine. I'm from Seattle; I can handle a bit of rain."

Jughead's umbrella offers died down after that, and the two quickly arrived at Pop's. They entered the diner, Jughead leading her towards his favorite booth. He sent subtle waves towards all the beaming waitresses who greeted him.

"Someone's popular," (Y/N) commented as she and Jughead sat down across from each other.

"I come here quite often," he shrugged.

A waitress approached the table and asked for their orders. Immediately, before (Y/N) could even open her mouth, Jughead ordered two cheeseburgers. About ten minutes later, the same waitress carried out two baskets. She set one in front of both Jughead and (Y/N). Jughead watched as (Y/N) picked up her burger.

“Are you gonna eat yours?” she asked before she took her first bite.

Jughead shook his head. “Not until I see your reaction,” he said, biting back a smirk. (Y/N) shrugged and nonchalantly took a bite. As her tongue registered the beautifully charred beef mixed with the freshly melted cheddar, topped with refreshing tomatoes and lettuce, Jughead broke out into a grin.

“This is so good,” she moaned, taking more bites of her burger.

“I told you,” Jughead laughed.

“We’re gonna come back here every day and get these, right?” (Y/N) asked, between burger bites. Jughead’s grin widened.

“Whenever you want.”

Riverdale was rainy for that entire week. On Thursday, their English teacher assigned their first project of the year, splitting the class into pairs. As if answering both of their prayers, the English teacher paired up (Y/N) and Jughead. They decided to start the project that night, agreeing to meet at (Y/N)’s house.

“I’m sorry about all the boxes,” (Y/N) apologized as they entered her bedroom. “I still haven’t finished unpacking.”

“It’s no problem at all,” Jughead waved it off. “My place is even messier, and I can’t make up excuses about having just moved here.” (Y/N) laughed and shook her head, sitting on her bed. Jughead chose to remain standing, scanning (Y/N)’s room. He glanced at her pastel blue walls, the simply-framed windows covered by pale white curtains. He walked in front of the window.

"I think you brought Seattle weather with you to Riverdale," Jughead commented, pulling (Y/N)'s wispy curtains aside to look at the rainstorm outside her window. She rose from her bed and walked over to stand next to him.

"Good," she muttered. He turned to face her and raised his eyebrows. "I like the rain."

"So do I," he agreed, "but this is excessive."

"No such thing."

Even without the project, Jughead and (Y/N) frequently met up. Whether it be the drive in, (Y/N)’s house, or Pop’s, the two always tried to make time for each other.

A month after they met, Jughead decided to introduce (Y/N) to his other two best friends: Archie and Betty.

It was drizzling on a Wednesday when they met in Pop’s, both Archie and Betty immediately adoring (Y/N).

“You must be (Y/N),” Betty smiled, sticking out her hand to shake. (Y/N) beamed as she happily shook Betty’s hand. “I’m Betty Cooper.”

“And I’m Archie Andrews,” Archie greeted, choosing to simply wave at (Y/N) rather than shake her hand.

“I’m (Y/N),” she introduced herself, laughing, “but it seems that you already knew that.”

“Jughead talks about you a lot,” Betty giggled, causing (Y/N) to smirk at Jughead.

“Oh really?” she inquired, and Jughead rolled his eyes.

“She’s never gonna let that go,” he complained to Betty and Archie. “Thanks a lot.”

The four quickly fell into a casual conversation, (Y/N) fitting into the friend group with ease. It felt like she had always been with them in Riverdale. Archie and Betty noticed the obvious chemistry between her and Jughead, and throughout the dreary evening, Archie and Betty exchanged knowing glances as they observed (Y/N) and Jughead’s interactions. Neither of them said anything, but instead, they chose to just sit and watch Jughead and (Y/N) slowly but surely fall in love.

After two more months, Betty and Archie grew frustrated with the lack of progression in Jughead and (Y/N)’s relationship. Riverdale had grown too cold for it to rain anymore, but the snow, in Jughead’s mind, still counted as rain. It was only frozen.

He hadn’t seen (Y/N) in a while outside of school, both of them too busy. (Y/N) became buried under her heavy academic burden, and Jughead grew immersed in his writing. They hadn’t grown apart, they just didn’t grow any closer, much to Betty and Archie’s dismay.

A bitter and cold February passed through Riverdale, and it was during that month that (Y/N) finally met Kevin Keller. It had been four months since Betty and (Y/N) had met, and the two of them grew very close. Not as close as (Y/N) and Jughead, but Betty was definitely (Y/N)’s go-to girl.

“You’re gonna love Kevin,” Betty assured her as they sat in Betty’s pastel pink room.

“If you insist,” (Y/N) smiled. A light knock on the door caught their attention, and they whipped their heads around to see Kevin entering Betty’s bedroom.

“I finally have the privilege to meet the famous (Y/N) (Y/L/N),” he grinned.

“Kevin Keller,” she laughed. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Likewise,” he said, sitting down next to her. “God, I’ve been dying to meet you ever since Betty started talking about how cute you and Jughead were together.”

“Together?” she lightly scoffed, playfully rolling her eyes. “Jughead and I are just friends.”

“And you like it that way?” Betty questioned with a smile tugging at her lips.

(Y/N) hesitated for a split second. “Of course,” she answered.

“You hesitated,” Kevin immediately noted. (Y/N) released an exasperated sigh.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I never really thought about it that way.”

“Well maybe you should start considering it,” Betty suggested. “I’ve known Jughead for years, and I’ve never seen him look at someone the way he looks at you.”

The rest of winter breezed through, and soon April showers began to roll into Riverdale. It was the rainiest spring they ever had, but it came to no shock to Jughead. He stood by his belief that (Y/N) brought the Seattle rain with her.

With spring came more free time for (Y/N) and Jughead, allowing them to begin to meet up more often. Their relationship picked up where they had just left off, except with a small alteration. Jughead couldn’t quite pick up what had changed between the two of them, but (Y/N) knew exactly what it was.

They sat in her bedroom again. It was a typical scene, but something was different. The sun was out for what felt like the first time since they met. Something had shifted in their relationship, and neither (Y/N) nor Jughead knew how to express it.

"The sun's out," Jughead gave his daily weather report. (Y/N)'s eyes lazily flicked towards her window, watching the beams of light float into her room.

"Yes," she replied simply.

"I don't think it's been sunny since you've moved here," he joked, forcing out a laugh. (Y/N)'s fingers twiddled with the soft fabric of her bed. Jughead sighed at her lack of response. They sat in silence for a couple minutes, Jughead continuing to stare out the window and (Y/N) fidgeting on her bed. Finally, (Y/N) stood up and crossed her arms over her chest as she ventured next to Jughead.

"It was very rude, you know," she drawled, earning a confused look from Jughead, "that you made me fall in love with you. Inconsiderate, really."

A split second of silence passed as Jughead tried to collect his wits.

"Not what you had in mind?" He smirked.

(Y/N) shrugged. "Quite inconvenient, actually."

"I'm not sorry," he stated, stepping closer to her. He tenderly placed a hand on her cheek.

"Me neither," she whispered, her gaze focused on his lips.

Without any more hesitation, Jughead brought (Y/N)'s face towards his and pressed his lips against hers, just a feather-light kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck in a desperate attempt to deepen the kiss, like a flower craving the thirst-quenching rain.

"You know," Jughead disconnected their lips, "I lied about liking the rain."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he nodded, smiling. "I just pretended to like it for you. I actually hate the rain."

Tag list: @isis278 @lost-in-wonderland-x @spam-to-follow @thatspidernamedmeagan @isabellarose5150 @mariadrinaa @amyyleblanc1999 @sweetvengeancee @latenightbooknerd @sweetthoughts-of-insanity @icouldntcomeupwithausername123 @britishfancyturtlebraindead @sxazzaxs @fragilefrances @opiate-this-hazy-head @onceuponagladerhead @sarahvaliquette @deanskitten @vibes09 @rainbows-and-glitter-bitch @pharaohkiller @platonicasever @littlemisscaptainfandom @becausefuckkyouthatswhy @poorsop @klf1999 @cass-v-95

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kansascityhappenings · 6 years ago

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Joe’s Weather World: Joel Nichols Podcast + rain and cold(?) (FRI-10/4)

Happy Friday…I’m going to be taking some time off for the next couple of weeks or so…blogs resume around the 14-16th or so depending on the weather situation…I might cobble a quick blog together on Monday the 7th though for you.

With that said I’m pleased to release my newest podcast to you. I had a chance to sit down and visit with Joel Nichols, for many years with Channel 9 and a few years with Channel 41. He’s a fun guy and I was thrilled to talk to him. Not surprisingly we had a lengthy conversation about his past TV life and the path he took to get there and succeed. I ended up creating a two-part podcast…we’ll release the 2nd part when I’m back from vacation.

Here is the link to my podcast page…

It was a great conversation…part two will focus more on his weather career and also what he’s up to now!

Forecast:

Today: Cloudy and cool with scattered sprinkles/showers possible. Highs only around 60°

Tonight: Mostly cloudy with steady to rising daybreak temperatures and readings in the mid 50s

Saturday: Rain with maybe some storms likely from mid morning to early afternoon. Not an all day rain and I’m hopeful we can clear out in the afternoon. Highs may approach 70° with enough sunshine.

Sunday: Partly cloudy and pleasant with highs in the mid 60s

Discussion:

Today is a rather significant day in KC weather history…

How many remember this…

21 years ago on 10/4/1998…the infamous deluge @ArrowheadEvents @Chiefs 3-6" of rain deluge during the game. I was on the phone with the refs/groundscrew making them aware of what was coming and happening. What a mess! #fox4kc JL (h/t @mammatusman) pic.twitter.com/6eflCV8V1d

— Fox 4 Weather KC (@fox4wx) October 4, 2019

There were two major aspects that night…one was the deluge at Arrowhead…the other was the devastating floods and destruction on the east side of the Plaza area…

From my colleagues at the NWS…

“During the afternoon and evening of Sunday, October 4th, 1998, two separate rounds of thunderstorms produced unusually high rainfall rates in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The intense rainfall, on top of already saturated soils and in a largely urban environment, quickly resulted in excessive runoff and flash flooding. Flash flooding along Brush Creek, Turkey Creek and Indian Creek resulted in eleven people losing their lives – eight lives alone were claimed as Brush Creek inundated the Prospect Road bridge. Ten of the eleven deaths occurred after sunset and in automobiles, traditionally high risk factors associated with flash floods. In addition to the fatalities in Kansas City, another death attributed to flash flooding was reported in St. Joseph, Missouri. The flash flood received national attention, as millions watched as the deluge swamped a nationally televised football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks. In addition to the flash flooding in Kansas City, reports of hail up to quarter-sized, wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour and high impact river flooding was reported. All toll, damages were estimated at over $50 million.

At the time the flash flood of October 4th, 1998, was the second deadliest flash flood in Kansas City’s history, eclipsed only by the September 11-12, 1977 flash flood that killed 29 people and resulted in over $100 million in property damages that affected the Country Club Plaza.”

This is a radar snapshot from that night…as the storms were pelting parts of the Metro.

The storm totals from that night show that there were significant parts of the Metro that had very little.

Note the areas in SE JOCO and SE JACO…barely anything. While folks lost their lives in the Plaza area from flooding rains…it barely rained south and east of the I-35 corridor.

On this date back in 1998…

Onwards…

I’ll have the team handle the rain chances for tomorrow (the 5th) for you.

I wanted to start and talk about later next week as the model data is giving big signals on a potential significant invasion of much colder air into the Plains…this is has far-ranging implications…especially considering the late crop plantings that occurred because of the flooding/heavy rains from the spring that delayed planting.

Model data for the last few days show a significant storm carving through the northern Rockies into the Upper Midwest. This will likely tap into much colder air from Canada and drive that colder air into the Northern Rockies and then into the Plains.

Now models can be a bit dicey and shouldn’t be taken verbatim for obvious reasons so far out…error rates are very large…especially in seasonal transition times…but they tend to have decent ideas on big picture things from 5-7 days out. The devil is always in the details.

I wanted to show you though the potential…because low temperatures may really need to be watched for either next Friday or Saturday (the 12th)…

Here is a look at the temperature anomalies up at around 5,000 feet from the ensembles…this is probably (from so far out) the best way of depicting the potential…this map shows Next Thursday afternoon. The anomalies are in °C. This is for 1PM Thursday the 10th

That is a significant shot of cold air diving through the Rockies and into the Plains.

Now fast forward to 7PM on Friday the 11th

Again this is up at 5,000 feet.

At the surface the combination of winds and perhaps clouds may keep next Friday above 40°…

It would be next Saturday AM, depending on the speed of the front…that we could see temperatures tank…and raise the prospect of a frost or a light freeze IF this is close to correct…still a HUGE if.

Heck the EURO and the GFS have accumulating snows near and north of the I-80 corridor…later next week.

It’s something to sort of pay attention too I think…especially for farm/agricultural interests. There was so much delayed planting because of the saturated soils in the Spring…and even double plantings…that depending on the location in the Plains could adversely hurt the crops since many are behind schedule and need as much growing time as possible.

IF it wasn’t for all the moisture in the winter/spring…the crops would be matured … but for at least areas north of here…they may not make it in time…the following animation shows our saturated conditions…but also show the developing drought in the SE part of the country.

"Flash drought" appears to be the term of the day. Quick look at monthly soil moisture anomalies in the U.S. Southeast shows quite the change from August to September. Record heat & no precipitation will do that. pic.twitter.com/QjEpb6sL8D

— Steve Bowen (@SteveBowenWx) October 3, 2019

By the way…temperatures there yesterday, as they’ve been for almost a week…are crazy high. Daily/monthly records have been set in many cities in that part of the country. It’s never been hotter so late in the year, with numerous places at or above 100°.

Almost 40 cities set monthly high temperature records yesterday – most of which tied or broke records set earlier this week

Since Tuesday the number of cities that have seen their hottest October temperature stands at 75

pic.twitter.com/zqHqy2KR1n

— Greg Diamond (@gdimeweather) October 4, 2019

So a lot on the table…over the next 7+ days…there will be some very nice fall weather too…especially early next week…classic fall days as a matter of fact.

Our feature photo comes from P-Hilip @vorexis (on twitter).

Joe

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/10/04/joes-weather-world-joel-nichols-podcast-rain-and-cold-fri-10-4/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/10/04/joes-weather-world-joel-nichols-podcast-rain-and-cold-fri-10-4/

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chadsavage · 6 years ago

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The Scariest Tarot Cards for a Halloween Reading: Guest Article by Christine Hirlehey

Halloween may seem like an artificially spooky time of year, and not really a festival with which you would like to associate your spiritual practice. But Halloween is in fact a perfect time to conduct a Tarot reading for yourself. What is Halloween Modern Halloween is based on the Celtic festival of Samhain, which was a feast to mark the end of the harvest and the start of winter. This was an important transitional time of year for the Celts as in the summer and spring they would live spread across the land caring for their cattle, but in winter, which lasted from October until May, they would come together and live in close-knit communities for protection against the cold. It was during these winter months that elders shared their knowledge with the young, and the young would be able to court potential partners. The ‘spooky’ side of Halloween also comes from the Celts. The Celts associated times and places of transition – the time between one day and the next, where land meets sea – as times and places where the veil that separates the physical and spiritual worlds comes down. That is why at Halloween entities from the spiritual plane, both benevolent and malign, could access the physical plane. This made Halloween not only a scary time of year, but also an excellent time to conduct rituals to access the spiritual plane and garner its knowledge. While Halloween may have lost its transitional connotations, it still may be an excellent time to consider accessing the spiritual plane, through activities such as Tarot readings. Fear But is there anything that you should be afraid to see during a Halloween Tarot reading? My philosophy is that you should never be afraid of learning anything in a Tarot reading. The information that we learn during a Tarot reading is meant to help us better understand what is happening in our lives and the challenges that we are facing, so that we can make clear decisions and make positive changes in our lives. None of the information learned should be feared, but rather viewed as opportunities. Nevertheless, there are a few cards in the Tarot deck that are considered more ominous than the rest. Ten of Swords The imagery of this card usually features a variation on a man lying face down with ten swords in his back – not a pleasant sight, and not one that brings positive connotation to mind. The appearance of the Ten of Swords usually indicates that you are likely to suffer an unwelcome surprise, and that whatever it is will be painful and difficult. It can also mean that this terrible thing has already happened, you just haven’t seen the consequences of it hit you yet. It is often a symbol of being let down by another person, or ‘stabbed in the back’. However, the appearance of this card often signals that a negative influence that has been in your life for some time, such as an untrustworthy friend, is dealing its final blow. This may be painful, but it also means that this energy can be expelled from your life, and that the pain will be followed by a period of recovery and renewal. Five of Pentacles The Five of Pentacles is usually a sign of financial strife and adversity, it is generally a sign of material misfortune. The card usually depicts people in some state of destitution and suffering. Ominously, the card often depicts an older person accompanied by a young person or child, suggesting that whatever misfortune befalls you will have implications for people other than yourself as well. But the card does not signal disaster without hope. The card also suggests that you have people around you who are willing to help, and that you have the resources to recover from this disaster. The card may also suggest that a focus on material comfort may have been distracting from more important things in life, and their loss may give you an opportunity to reprioritise. Three of Swords The Three of Swords represents rejection, sadness, loneliness, betrayal and isolation. Its appearance in a reading is usually a sign that you will lose something that you value, and that the loss will have a profound emotional effect on you. However, the Three of Swords is also a reminder that pain is one of the main ways that we grow as a person and learn what it important to us. It is also a reminder that while we cannot control everything that happens in our lives, we can control how we respond to things, and that it is through our response that we shape ourselves and the world around us, and build the life that we desire. Death While the Death card is ominous in both name and imagery, it is rarely a symbol of physical death. The Death card is rather a symbol of transition, representing the end of something in your life. Endings can often be painful, and it can be difficult to let go of things that have been a significant part of your life, but the Death card also promises that this ending is making space for something new in your life. So far from being a harbinger of doom and gloom, the Death card should be seen as reassuring. It is a promise that the loss you are facing is not without purpose, and that it will make space for other things that you need. The Devil Contrary to popular belief, the appearance of this card does not indicate that you have been tainted by your sins and that you will suffer the consequences, in this life or the next. It does, however, indicate that there is something negative going on in your life that is leading to destruction. The appearance of the card may be a warning to rid yourself of this negative energy before it causes more damage, but is also usually a sign that you will have to live with the consequences of what has happened. Although consequences can be challenging, the appearance of The Devil card heralds and opportunity to learn from this situation, and to be stronger and more aware, ensuring that you are not ensnared again in the future. The Tower The Tower often indicates upheaval and chaos. Often depicting a tower in the state of being destroyed, and its occupants hurt as part of the process, it can suggest that something that seems solid may in fact be built on shaky foundations and could collapse at any time. Its appearance suggests that while you may think that everything is safe and comfortable, a major upheaval is on the horizon. The appearance of this card usually indicates that you need to let some fundamental structure in your life collapse. But the card suggests that this will not represent the end, but rather an opportunity to rebuild, and correct mistakes from the past. The post The Scariest Tarot Cards for a Halloween Reading: Guest Article by Christine Hirlehey appeared first on Cult of the Great Pumpkin . - https://www.pumpkincult.com/2019/02/the-scariest-tarot-cards-for-a-halloween-reading-guest-article-by-christine-hirlehey/

#Halloween Info & Education #Tarot

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kansascityhappenings · 6 years ago

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Joe’s Weather Blog: Happy St Patrick’s Day + our next rain chance (SUN-3/17)

To say the weather on St Patrick’s Day can be all over the place would but putting it very mildly. The cold high was 24° back in 1892…2 years later we hit 84° for our warmest St Patrick’s Day. We had a stretch of warm ones in 2009, 2011 and 2012 with upper 70s to around 80°. The coldest low was back in 1906 with temperatures down to 10°. In 2014 we had a low of 18° and in 1960 we had…18″ of snow on the ground. In 1958 we had over 1″ of snow on today’s date. So this time of the year is usually a battle between spring and winter.

Forecast:

Today: Partly cloudy skies and not as mild as yesterday with highs 50-55°

Tonight: Variable clouds with perhaps a sprinkle? Lows in the upper 20s

Monday: About like today…50-55°

Tuesday: Showers possible…with highs 50-55°

Discussion

See yesterday’s blog about the latest river information upstream of KC towards NW MO…including updates on river stage forecasts.

I’m getting ready to head out for the St Patrick’s Day parade and I’m reminded of the scene when the cars we are passengers in are making the surn southwards on Broadway to a throng of revelers. In some years the trees (especially the Pear trees) have blossomed out and look fabulous as they can do during the spring season…this year though nary a bud to be found I don’t think.

I was doing some research yesterday and trying to find a way to point out how “grinding” this winter has been, especially related tot eh colder weather. A lot of you are over the cold…which I totally get…but this winter has been a bit strange from that standpoint.

We started the middle of October with our earliest accumulating snow in KC (.2″). Then we had the blizzard on Thanksgiving weekend..a bunch of small snow events…a few bigger ones and essentially no prolonged mildness to speak of except what happened in early December. Our “faux” thaw I guess. Anyway what we’ve been missing this winter is interludes of milder days. So I wanted to investigate that a bit more and see if that adds any clarity.

My colleagues at the NWS in KC sent out a tweet the other day…

The high temp at Kansas City Int'l Airport has remained below 65° for 133 days now, which ties a record set in 1912. Based on this afternoon's forecast high of 62, we should break that record today, but it will be close.

— NWS Kansas City (@NWSKansasCity) March 13, 2019

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This caught my eye…and let’s tack on another 4 days to that by the way…and for that matter add on another few more to that too because we won’t be sniffing 65° for awhile I fear.

So here is what I did…looked back to the period from November 1st through 3/16…and wanted to see how many days of 60°+ we’ve had…65°+ …70°+ and 75°+ …and then compare that to the last few years of the same time period.

Temperature 2018-19 2017-18 2016-17 2015-16 2014-15 60° Or higher 9 22 37 49 25 65° Or Higher 0 11 27 23 14 70° Or Higher 0 4 16 14 8 75° Or Higher 0 1 4 3 3

I think that table is pretty interesting…as a matter of fact this year…the 9 days of 60° or higher is the fewest since 1993 I believe. Hmmmm what happened back in 1993? Oh yeah…flooding.

Then again…look what happens after the season’s 1st 70° day…on average.

Updated map showing the average snowfall AFTER recording the first 70°F day of the year using all available stations (n=3,094; 1981-2018). @wxjay pic.twitter.com/Lijg2sWTJ2

— Brian Brettschneider (@Climatologist49) March 15, 2019

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You know for as chilly as it’s been…March isn’t exactly turning into a gangbuster snowy month (so far) in KC…we’ve had 2.8″ which IF it stopped there would be tied for the 51st snowiest March in KC.

Our next system is due in on Tuesday but it won’t rain all day long…as a matter of fact we may try to warm-up a bit as a surface low comes close to the I-70 corridor region.

It’s a weak system overall…and the better moisture may be more towards northern MO…not helping the saturated conditions up there but not having a big effect on the flood situation…and you can see the drop off towards the south. It’s also possible that depending on when exactly we start getting some light precip going early Tuesday…there still could be a few ice pellets/flakes mixed in briefly.

How warm we get on Tuesday is a bit of a tough forecast. We average the mid 50s now…and IF we can get dry weather for awhile on Tuesdya and IF we can get some sort of SE/S wind move into the KC Metro…we could warm-up more than I think (50-55°).

IF it rains all day long…we’ll be much cooler…but there has been a trend for milder weather with the more concentrated rain coming towards the later part of the day.

Beyond that nothing really remarkable overall…at least from a temperature standpoint and use the data below cautiously because we are definitely at the time of the year where these values change a lot.

On that note I will mention to be aware of changing temperature forecasts for the next few weeks especially as we start to transition the seasons. The battle between the warm and cold air masses gets more intense now…winter tries to hang on while the daylight gets longer and the sun angle gets even stronger. This time of the year can be rather perilous for forecasting high temperatures as well even 24 hours out. Not that those forecasts are bad…but there is a tendency I think to underestimate potential warmth by a few degrees.

Back to the slow start to spring…and granted it doesn’t “officially” start for another few more days…but the vegetation doesn’t go by calendars…

Notice the blues encroaching farther and farther north in the last few days of the animation above…this signals a delay in the typical spring “green-up” that is expanding northbound. Areas towards the deep south are having an early spring green-up though…

There have been years in the past that I’ve written about our early spring green-ups coming up into KC…as recently as a couple of years ago. Last year was another slow green-up for us with the crummy March and April weather we endured.

Speaking of which…the 1st 16 days this month are the 19th coldest start to March in KC weather history. Remember how crummy last March was…well on average through the 1st 16 days it was 10° warmer!!!

I did a double take when I saw that this morning. We had a lot of 40s though on the back half of March last year…hopefully we can do better this year.

Our feature photo comes from Nattapong Assalee

Joe

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/03/17/joes-weather-blog-happy-st-patricks-day-our-next-rain-chance-sun-3-17/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/03/17/joes-weather-blog-happy-st-patricks-day-our-next-rain-chance-sun-3-17/

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flauntpage · 7 years ago

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Alex Cora Never Lost His Edge

Little remains to be said about Alex Cora’s performance as manager of the 2018 Boston Red Sox—now with 117 wins on the year—that hasn’t been said already, in glowing, effusive terms, over and over again. Managers are most often in the headlines for their missteps; the work of a good manager, in making the decisions that need to be made and keeping lines of communication clear in the clubhouse, would seem to be largely invisible. But Cora has bucked that trend this postseason. He has made bold decisions—Rick Porcello and Chris Sale out of the bullpen, Brock Holt and Rafael Devers into the lineup, Craig Kimbrel for six outs, Eduardo Nuñez to pinch-hit. These decisions would have been questioned and scorned unto infinity had they backfired. None of them have.

If the Red Sox win the World Series this year, it will be because they were the best team in baseball. They had the pitching staff, headed by Sale and Price, with Kimbrel’s shadow looming in the back end of the bullpen. They had a lineup almost without flaw, with Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, Xander Bogaerts, and J.D. Martinez leading the onslaught. But the best team doesn’t always win in the postseason. In the postseason, even the slightest edge can be the difference between defeat and the ultimate victory. And with rookie manager Cora at the helm, the Red Sox have seized every edge and clung to it.

Not that long ago, in 2011, Alex Cora was a light-hitting utility infielder for the Washington Nationals. When he sat down for an interview with MASN, the first line of questioning was not about his current status, nor about the 13 seasons of major league experience behind him. It was about his college days: with the University of Miami, Cora had been the top-rated defensive infielder in all of college baseball.

The 13 seasons Cora had managed to stay in the major leagues were, indeed, largely on the virtue of his defensive talents, his ability to play multiple infield positions well. His bat never quite measured up. Cora’s best season at the plate came in 2002, when he batted .291/.371/.434 with five homers: a good line, but one still too light on power. Two years later, he would slash .264/.364/.380 in his final season with the Dodgers, the team that had drafted him in 1996.

After that season, Cora never played full-time again. He had a stint in Cleveland, then in Boston. He was part of their World Series championship campaign in 2007. But he was also viewed by Red Sox fans and media members as a symptom of that team’s inability to find a real everyday shortstop. Cora was just another name passing through an endlessly revolving door. He played much the same role in his season-and-change with the Mets. The Mets released him mid-season in 2010; the Rangers picked him up, then released him less than a month later. He found his home for 2011 only with the Washington Nationals, a team coming off a 69-93 season.

Still, after all that—after almost a decade of being relegated to occasional appearances, Cora professed a belief in his ability to play every day. He prepared for every game as though he were going to be a starter; if anything, he suggested, his constantly precarious role led him to be even more prepared. “If you lose that edge,” he told MASN, “in a month or two months you’re gonna be out the door.” It was the same edge that, when the Mets went 2-9 on a July 2010 roadtrip, led him to chastise a player for joking around with reporters. It was the same edge that showed when he described his transition to a bench role in these terms: “Someone decided I wasn’t good enough.”

Cora played in 91 games for the 80-81 Nationals, finishing the season with a paper-thin .224/.287/.276 line. In January 2012, as yet unsigned by a major league team, he announced his retirement from the Puerto Rican Baseball League’s Criollos de Caguas, with whom he had played every year since the winter of 1996-1997. Los Criollos have been in Cora’s hometown of Caguas since 1938, winners of 18 league championships and five Caribbean Series championships. Cora was part of two league championships, one a decade removed from the other. His retirement from his hometown team signalled the beginning of the end. A month later, he signed with the Cardinals. They released him at the end of spring training, and thus the book closed on Alex Cora, professional baseball player.

Cora stayed around the game post-retirement. He was the general manager of Puerto Rico’s World Baseball Classic team, was both manager and general manager of Los Criollos, did analysis on ESPN. He interviewed for a few managerial positions. None materialized. Until, in November 2016, he was announced as the bench coach of the Houston Astros. A year later, in the middle of an Astros postseason run that would culminate in a World Series victory, Cora was announced as the new manager of the Boston Red Sox. He would be taking the helm of a team that had shown the talent, but failed to achieve the postseason heights expected of them. He would have the spotlight of the Boston media on every decision he made. It was a challenging situation for any manager, let alone someone managing for the first time. With the World Series as a goal, the decision to hire a rookie was questionable.

What has Cora done in his year as manager? He’s advanced the team’s use of analytics in their game-planning. He relaxed limitations on self-expression. He used his platform to deliver desperately-needed aid to his hurricane-stricken hometown in Puerto Rico, and spoke out when the devastation the island experienced was dismissed by the President. The Red Sox have had dynamic, charismatic young stars for a few years now. Under Cora, they have finally seemed to embrace the full extent of the talent they have—both on the field and off. Even the doubters and Sox-haters have to have been converted somewhat by this postseason run: the stunning catches, the clutch home runs, the two-out magic. They are a special team. It will take some kind of comeback from the currently listless Dodgers to knock them out of this groove.

And guiding them, putting the pieces in place for the Red Sox to succeed as brilliantly as they have, has been Cora. He, the 43-year-old first-time manager, has already led the Red Sox to the best season in franchise history. No matter how this series ends—should the magic run out, the decisions start to backfire, the Dodgers offense regain its pulse—that alone is worth celebrating. A World Series title would only put a crown on that achievement.

Less than a decade ago, sitting on the bench, Cora continued to prepare as though he were a starter. To believe that he was good enough, that he deserved to be playing and winning. Now, sitting on the bench, he gives the Red Sox the edge he nurtured as a player all those years. Now everyone knows just how good he is.

Alex Cora’s most memorable moment as a player was in 2004, that final season before he was permanently relegated to the bench. On a May evening at Dodger Stadium, batting in the bottom of the seventh, he battled Cubs pitcher Matt Clement for 17 pitches before sending the MLB-record 18th out of the ballpark. Throughout the entire ordeal—through foul ball after foul ball, the crowd’s anticipation rising after each pitch—Cora’s expression remained the same. Cool and focused, mouth set, he barely seemed to be breaking a sweat.

When he connected on that 18th pitch, Cora tossed the bat aside with an ease that was almost casual. It was only when he’d rounded the bases, turning to face his teammates waiting for him at the top of the dugout steps, that he finally smiled.

Alex Cora Never Lost His Edge published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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