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ckbookish · 4 years

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BATMAN BINGO MASTER POST 2020

1 "I thought you were dead.": I Still See Your Ghost

Today was just not Dick's day. First he overslept his alarm and was late to work. Amy had been less than impressed at his tardiness... Then He had bungled what should have been an easy take town... But the straw that broke the camel's back was Tim. Dick had forgotten to call Tim.

2 Friendly fire: Fratricide

Jason was pissed. No, Jason was enraged. Yeah, he was enraged at the whole mess his family-- if that’s even what they were to each other anymore-- had gotten him in. It was meant to be a simple night. Break in. Torch the drugs. Maybe shoot a couple of people and go home. But no, Batman heard about his plans and decided that arson was too extreme. “Someone could get hurt.” Well someone had gotten hurt, a lot of someones.

3 Hypothermia: Weekend Commute

Dick Grayson makes his way home during the first snow fall of the year, when he finds himself confused and cold, miles from home.

Chapter two Bruce's perspective.

4 Superman: Bringer of the Dawn

The Aftermath of when the Joker shoots Dick.

Where do you go when your family tells you to get out?

5 Shot: The Gratitude Trap

Bruce finds himself in the dark, a place he never thought he would be when it came to Clark Kent and Dick Grayson. Yet here he is digging for answers, because he is too scared to pick up the phone and call.

6 Two-face: The Better Choice

How do you reconcile the man who was once your friend with the monster he has become? Bruce reflects on how the man he once called his best friend changed. How could the man who helped him foster Dick, hold that baseball bat?

7 Drowning: Omori’s Law

Deep in the sewer's under Gotham, Batman is trapped. There is no back up, no Robin. He is faced with the single truth that he tried to teach each of his partners... You have to save yourself.

8 Found Family: A Restoration from a Resilient Heart

Dick just wants to not be alone with the shadows in the house. Bruce doesn't realize he has lived with them for far to long, and maybe he doesn't have to anymore.

9 Adoption: The Irrefutable Truth

When he reached the reception, he found himself looking around a fairly empty room. There were a few call girls in the corner filling out forms, an older woman holding a dog, a kid that looked about twelve and a middle aged man who looked like he was ready to cry. He knew no one. Dick was about to turn around and head back to his desk when the on duty officer called out to him. Officer O’Conner was one of his fellow rookies, he had a thick accent. Dick thought he might be from Louisiana. “Grayson! Why didn’t you say your brother was coming to see you?” Dick looked at him with his mouth slightly open. There was no way he heard that right. “My what?”

10 Bruises: Mr. Wayne

Tim is new to this. He's only been Robin for a little over six months. It was going well. But now he was going to be fired. Batman wouldn't want a partner who got caught at school with a black eye. Would he?

11 Bruce is dead: You Have One Saved Message

Gotham gossip columns spread lies and smear good people's names. But yet Damian can't help but think maybe this mornings article was true. That despite all his claims of being the true son of Bruce Wayne, he was in fact the only unwanted one.

12 CPR: Vital Signs

Robin wakes to find him and Batman in an exploded factory. With Batman injured and the building burning around them, Dick struggles to get them both to safety.

13 Dad: Storge

Bruce could have sworn his spirit had left him momentarily. The sudden hollowness that filled him couldn’t be explained in any other way.

“Your dad must have his hands full with you.” Elizabeth Ribbons leaned forward and patted Dick’s shoulder, as he reached for yet another slice of cheesecake from a passing waiter’s tray.

Bruce fixed his eyes on the ice sculpture that hid him from view. It suddenly seemed like the most interesting design in the world. The soft lines of the ice on the otherwise insignificant over sized swan seemed like a lead shield... Because Dick would read it easily in his expression. He wanted to be Dick’s dad. But he wasn’t.

14 Stealing the Batmobile: T-Minus Six Hours

Some days Tim is sure that he’s gonna be killed. Usually it’s some luck shot or near miss that made his life flash before his eyes. Not today though. Today he was positive Bruce was going to kill him. Yes, today was the day that Timothy Jackson Drake was going to be put down. He’s not sure that even Nightwing could save him. He was going to go down in history as the first sidekick to be murdered by their mentor. Because the Batmobile was definitely not where he’d parked it.

15 Wayne Enterprises: Amidst the Absence of Meaning

Bruce is worried. He's running on less than three hours of sleep, and way too many cups of coffee. He had messed up. That much was obvious. The question was would Dick forgive him?

A gruesome night on patrol bleeds into Bruce's work day and now all he can wonder is if this is the thing that will push Dick over the edge? Had he finally seen to much pain?

16 Ransom: Sum of My Worth

The ring of the phone seemed to echo through the manor’s still too quiet long, winding halls, and everyone present collectively held their breath. Bruce lunged for the phone.

17 Secret Injury: Hiding in Pain Sight

“What?” Dick asked sharper than he meant to. He was tired.

“Nothing.” Tim said with a small smirk. “Heavy is the head.”

Dick closed his eyes, glad that Tim couldn’t see them. He was so sick of this. Tim, Jason, Damian and Cass all didn’t think he was good enough, well Cass hadn’t said that, but Dick could read her. They didn’t think he was up to the job. Well they didn’t need to tell him that. He knew it.

18 Superboy: An Interlude in Breathing

Tim looked out over the water in a daze. Bruce and Dick had gone somewhere below deck and he was alone. Well there were strangers on the ship mingling and talking excitedly--but Tim gave them no notice. Instead he watched the water lap up against the hull and crash down back to meet the dark, cold waters. They were far enough out that he could no longer see the shore. It was just endless expenses of sea and sky. Something tickled his neck and he started, only to realize he had been crying. It was only a tear slipping under his collar.

The days after the battle of Infinite Crisis

19 Betrayed: Smother

She took another drag of the cigarette, letting the smoke roll in her lungs for a long moment before allowing it hiss out between her teeth. The screams from the warehouse weren’t completely muffled by the distance, or the walls. Perhaps she was only imagining them. But then, sounds like that, she didn’t think she could dream up. She jumped after a particularly high pitched yelp. “Get a grip.” She dropped the cigarette and pulled out another. Her hand shook as she lit it. “It’s just some random kid. He’s not--” She bit back a sob. She didn’t deserve to cry. She had no right to tears, not when it was her fault.

20 Crowbar: Breaklights

The mail fell to the ground and the paper smacked the tiles hard. The sound in reality couldn’t have been all that loud, but it seemed to echo around the entryway. Bruce didn’t look at the dropped bills and the invitation to a fundraiser for the new Gotham women’s shelter. He was too fixated on the small stamp with the queen of England's head on it. Wolverhampton.

The large envelope was far heavier then it should have been. Bruce could feel bile crawling up his throat.

He had forgotten.

21 Deathstroke: Debts and Dues

There were some things that were never pleasant, getting caught in the snow without socks, losing your keys, and not being able to remember the name of a song. Having a gun pointed at your chest, Dick felt, qualified as extremely unpleasant. He stood stock still. The barrel of the gun was still hot, it burned slightly as it dug into his sternum. Even with his uniform he could still feel the heat left over from previous rounds fired. He didn’t flinch. He couldn’t flinch. “Move.” “You know I can’t.” Dick wondered if Slade had the guts to do it.

22 Mission Gone Wrong: Murmur in the Quiet Hours

Superman? Clark froze. He knew that voice. But-- he had never heard it sounding so sad. Was that-- no. Clark dove for his phone, still on the counter from when he got home last night. The screen was black. Dead. Clark swore and dropped it. He was in his coat and shoes before it hit the counter top.

23 Kidnapped: Chum

Dick trumped through the leaves, stopping his feet roughly. He relished the sound of the crunch beneath his shoes as he tread on the brown, dead leaves before him. He felt rather justified in his satisfaction. After all the world had taken so much from him, why wouldn’t he do his best to crush it in return. The woods were cool and as he went deeper into them they grew darker. The sun had long set, and the sky was quickly vanishing as the trees grew thicker. Wayne Manor was far behind him. He was never going back. He hated those pristine walls, those old floor boards. He hated the quiet. He hated the stuffy furniture and the rules and the vases and pictures. He hated his new guardian and that… that… Dick couldn’t remember what Alfred was called, but he hated it. The bag on his back felt heavy. It had everything Dick owned in it. Well and a toothbrush that Alfred had given him. But he didn’t think that was really stealing.

24 Riddler: Seeking Silence on Shortwaves

Normally Dick would be happy to listen to Tim talk. In fact, Dick thought it was one of his favorite sounds in the world. Tim rarely allowed himself to be excited about things. Hearing him speak so freely and openly to Bruce and him about his plans was refreshing. Dick only wished it wouldn’t be at the cost of his life.

Batman hadn't always been so strict about talking unnecessarily over comms. When it was just two of them it hadn't mattered, their walkie talkie system had always worked. But now that Nightwing and Robin were in Gotham, it seems insane that they never realized: if only one person can talk over the radio at a time... how could they call for help?

25 Mr. Freeze: Glimpsing the Sun While Trapped in the Rime

He almost called Bruce between his fourth and fifth class. He pulled his phone out, leaning against his locker, and half dialed his number when a warm hand fell on his shoulder. “Hey.” Dick spun around and blinked back black spots as his body protested the sudden movement. A blaze of red hair filled his vision and Dick felt a small fire build in his chest. His face split into a wide smile.

After a run in with Mr. Freeze Dick finds himself feeling odd at school, but he can't go home, not when Barbara's asked him to drive her to Betty's party after school.

#batman bingo 2020 #Master Post #Batman #CK Writes #Nightwing #Dick Grayson #tim drake #Jason Todd #Damian Wayne #Red Hood #Red Robin #robin #My Writing

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northernindigenousbeautyhailey · 3 years

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TAMRA JEWEL KEEPNESS.

FEW CHILDREN IN CANADA JUST VANISH. Fewer still stay gone for longer than a couple of days. Some are found alive, others are hurt or killed, but rarely does a child simply disappear. The RCMP’s National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains database lists 147 missing children, in a country of more than 35 million people. Of the sixty children under the age of twelve, a quarter are thought to have been abducted by their parents. A large portion of the others were lost to apparent accidents or misadventure, falling through ice or swept away in the pull of wild rivers, their bodies never recovered. The database shows twenty-four children in the past sixty years who have inexplicably disappeared. Because there are so few, we know them. In Edmonton, there is Tania Murrell, six when she vanished while walking home from school for lunch in January 1983. In Toronto, Nicole Morin, eight when she disappeared from a condominium building in July 1985. Michael Dunahee was four years old when he went missing from a playground in Victoria in 1991. In Regina, there is only Tamra Keepness.

THE LAST TIME anyone saw Tamra, she was five years old, with bobbed black hair and soft, round cheeks. In one picture, she wears a T-shirt dotted with flowers, standing against the colourful collage of a classroom wall. Her smile is broad and open, her eyes lively. She was so smart that her mother called her “my little Einstein,” so feisty that when a little boy pushed her once, Tamra shoved him right back, and harder. She liked playing Mario Kart on Nintendo and climbing her favourite tree, down the block from her house.

July 6, 2004, was the first time Sergeant Ron Weir would hear Tamra’s name. He was getting ready to leave on vacation that day when he got an urgent call back to the police station. Weir was a veteran cop with the Regina Police Service and head of emergency services, which included search and rescue. In a meeting, officers from the major crimes unit laid out what they knew: sometime between the night of Monday, July 5, and the morning of Tuesday, July 6, a five-year-old girl had gone missing from her home in central Regina.

Weir had been a police officer for twenty years. He knew that kids often went missing and turned up safe a short time later. Sixty-five percent of missing children and teens are located within the first day, and almost 90 percent within the first week. But Weir also knew that Tamra was too young to get far as a runaway. Patrol officers had already checked the neighbourhood to make sure Tamra hadn’t wandered away or ended up at the house of a playmate or relative, as was often the case with missing children. They’d found nothing. Even in the early hours of the investigation, Weir suspected this case would be different.

TAMRA LIVED with her mother, stepfather, and five siblings at 1834 Ottawa Street, a shabby brown-and-white two-storey with a windowed porch at the front. The house stood between 11th and 12th avenues, just east of downtown Regina. The neighbourhood was a mix of long-time elderly residents, young families drawn by low prices for heritage houses, and ramshackle homes where residents struggled with poverty and addiction. The area was sometimes known as the “low stroll,” a place where women and girls sold their bodies for drugs or booze and men drove around looking to buy them, circling the neighbourhood in trucks and station wagons. Many of the women and girls who lived or worked in the area were First Nations, like Tamra. Long before calls for a federal inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women would dominate the political conversation, women were going missing from those streets. It was from that same area that nineteen-year-old Annette Kelly Peigan disappeared in 1983, followed by eighteen-year-old Patsy Favel in 1984 and Joyce Tillotson in 1993. Two years later, two young white men picked up a woman named Pamela George, sexually assaulted her, and beat her to death.

The last public development came in November 2014, when a Reddit user posted to the website a scrawled map with the words: “Location of Tamra Keepness, check the wells.”

Tamra’s house was less than a block from the Oskana Centre, a halfway house for federal parolees, and not far from the Salvation Army’s Waterston House, a residence and shelter inhabited by former inmates and men struggling with drugs, alcohol, and psychiatric issues. Residents of both facilities had been responsible for serious attacks in the past. Just four months earlier, convicted violent sex offender Randy Burgmann had lured a woman into his room at Waterston House with alcohol, before violently sexually assaulting her and leaving her beside a dumpster to die. The Oskana Centre had previously been home to both serial rapist Larry Deckert and Billy John Francis Whitedeer, who began committing violent sexual offences on children when he was ten years old. A few blocks farther was the Ehrle Hotel, one of the worst bars in town, from which patrons spilled soggy and staggering onto the sidewalk, and which appeared regularly in police reports and court testimony.

Police also had serious questions about what was happening at 1834 Ottawa Street. There was a broken window and blood spatter in the porch. Social Services had been involved with the family since not long after the oldest child was born in 1993, and there had been more than fifty reports made to crisis workers, most often about Tamra’s mother’s use of alcohol and drugs, and neglect of the children. Her mother’s boyfriend had a history of violence and domestic assault. In most cases, investigators knew, children are hurt by people closest to them.

POLICE STARTED with a thorough search of the area immediately around the home, then cast their efforts outward in an expanding grid. As the sun rose on the morning of July 7, 2004, the search effort intensified. First, there were ten officers, then twenty, then more. Some officers accompanied trained volunteer search teams; others questioned family members and potential witnesses, going door-to-door gathering leads or chasing down tips. The RCMP training academy provided cadets, and members of the public soon began arriving on their own to help.

Police set up a command-centre bus in the parking lot of a nearby church, from which Weir co-ordinated the search. Though it was an urban environment, the terrain posed serious challenges. The area was filled with overgrown yards, empty houses, piles of garbage. Tamra weighed forty pounds, and stood three foot five. There were so many places a child could hide or get trapped or be held, where a child’s body could be concealed or dumped. Searchers in orange vests worked in grids, knocking on doors, inspecting junked cars and crumbling garages, peering under discarded mattresses and piles of wood, looking down manholes. Police stopped garbage pickups, checking all the bins in the neighbourhood, the trash putrid and reeking in the summer heat. Some bins had already been emptied, so plans were made to search the dump as well.

And what if she had been taken farther? Not far away were industrial areas, large abandoned lots and buildings, Wascana Creek, and beyond that, the vast Prairie. With a thirteen-hour head start, someone in a vehicle could have had Tamra in Vancouver before she was reported missing.

When they were not speaking to police, members of Tamra’s family waited anxiously on the fringes, watching the searchers, eyeing the growing assembly of reporters and news crews holding out microphones and pointing camera lenses. “It’s not like her to go off by herself,” said Tamra’s father, Troy Keepness, sitting on the front steps of his ex-wife’s house, his voice tight with worry. “We’re trying to do our best to get her back.”

Weir worked in the command-centre bus, surrounded by maps and whiteboards. A scribe logged every aspect of the search in real time, recording ideas and progress. No one wanted to break, not for food or rest. Everyone knew the situation grew more serious with every passing hour. As the heat of the day gave way to evening, Weir stood outside and looked up. A strong wind had come in, and storm clouds were spreading, darkening the Prairie sky.

The next day, police strung crime-scene tape around Tamra’s house and the one next door, drawing it through the back alley and across six garages, long slashes of yellow dividing the street. Officers guarded the perimeter while forensic investigators went in and out of the house in boots and masks. “While we don’t have any direct evidence that Tamra has come to any harm, we also don’t know where she is,” police spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich told reporters. “And if, in fact, this comes to a point where we determine that she’s come to some harm and it’s because of a criminal act, this location could potentially be the scene of some evidence.”

THERE WERE three adults in the house that evening: the children’s mother, Lorena Keepness; her boyfriend, Dean McArthur; and a family friend named Russell Sheepskin, who had been staying with the family. All three had come and gone during the night, and investigators were starting to question their movements. There were no signs of forced entry to the house, and there were gaps, inconsistencies in their timelines that didn’t make sense to investigators.

The story the three told publicly, compiled from various interviews, was that Lorena and McArthur got into an argument while watching a movie on Monday evening, and McArthur and Sheepskin left the house around 8:30 p.m. to go drinking. The men returned briefly to drop off a bottle of formula for the baby, then left again. Lorena went out around 11 p.m, kissing Tamra goodbye before she went. The oldest child in the house was ten-year-old Summer, the youngest was Lorena and McArthur’s nine-month-old baby. Lorena returned briefly to check on the children and then left again around midnight. At about 3 a.m., Sheepskin returned home drunk and saw Tamra sleeping on the couch. Not long after, McArthur got back to the house and assaulted Sheepskin on the porch, punching him through a window and then stomping on his head. (Both men later said the fight had nothing to do with Tamra.) Sheepskin walked alone to the hospital to get stitches, and McArthur went to stay at his aunt’s house a few blocks away. Though it should have been a short walk, he said he got lost and kept passing out as he walked there. He didn’t arrive for at least two hours, until 5 or 5:30 a.m. Meanwhile, Lorena got home around 3:15 or 3:30 a.m., climbed in through a window, and passed out on the couch. She said that she got up to undo the latch on the door for her mother around 8 or 9 a.m. and that the two eldest children, Summer and Rayne, left on their own in the morning to attend a summer day-camp. Lorena didn’t realize Tamra wasn’t there until about three hours later, when the five-year-old didn’t come downstairs. At 12:16 p.m., a family member called the police and told them Tamra was missing.

Rayne, who was eight, said he had gone to bed squeezed into the space between the wall and mattresses piled on the floor in an upstairs bedroom. He told his mother he felt Tamra get up at some point, the slight movement of a child’s weight. All he could remember was that it was light outside.

FRIDAY WAS hot again and wet from the previous night’s rain. An odour of decay hung in the air around Ottawa Street. Tamra had been gone three full days and become national news. Her picture seemed to be everywhere, hanging on street poles and store windows. In news stories, she became “missing five-year-old Tamra Keepness,” but more often she was just Tamra, as if we knew her. The front page of the Regina Leader-Post spoke directly to her, asking, “Tamra, Where Did You Go?”

Tips flooded in to police. On the street, there were rumours that Tamra had been seen at a dollar store with an older woman. Business owners in the neighbourhood said detectives had been looking for a middle-aged white man named Roch or Rocky, but police wouldn’t confirm whether that was related to the search. Lorena and McArthur said they gave police the names of five people they thought could be suspects, including a man who had befriended Tamra and later been discovered to be a pedophile. For a while, there was even a theory that Tamra had never existed at all, that she had been a scam to get extra money from Social Services. (Hospital records proved that was not the case.)

Searchers were coming from around the province to volunteer, streaming into the city from towns and First Nations communities, motivated by the faces of their own children or grandchildren to help in whatever way they could. “I’ve got a boy, and he’s twenty-one,” said Jerry Scott, one of the volunteers who joined the search. “And if he left, I’d go nuts, too.” Around the city, people organized vigils and barbecues, brought water and snacks for the searchers, wrapped ribbons around trees to show their support. Some left teddy bears and angels on the steps of Tamra’s house. Days of intensive searches had turned up lots of items that seemed as though they could be connected—clothing, a child’s shoe—but none of it belonged to Tamra. “I’m starting to go on different conclusions, like maybe someone took her, I don’t know,” Troy Keepness said. “I just hope nobody would hurt my daughter.”

WHEN Tamra had been gone a week, police announced they were suspending the ground searches. At a press conference, Regina police chief Cal Johnston announced a $25,000 reward for information and vowed, “We will find Tamra.” Police questioned sex offenders living in the area and obtained surveillance tapes from convenience stores, bars, gas stations, and the Greyhound bus depot nearby. Johnston confirmed that “criminal interference with Tamra is a distinct possibility” and drew attention back to Tamra’s house and family. “There were comings and goings from the house that night that remain not fully explained to our satisfaction, and we continue to ask those questions,” he told reporters. He would not elaborate.

Tamra’s family was growing increasingly angry at the police, and the strain of the situation was starting to show. Lorena told reporters she’d signed consent forms for police to search her house and had given her DNA, but still she felt as if they were focusing too much on her family and not enough on trying to find Tamra. She was angry that police hadn’t closed the highways out of the city and that there was no Amber Alert because police said it didn’t meet the criteria. “I’m fed up,” she told reporters. “They are wasting time. This is my little girl we’re talking about.”

The family was growing frustrated with the media, too. Lorena’s mother yelled obscenities at reporters one day, and on another, members of the family nearly came to blows with a TV reporter doing a live update from the front lawn. They had been watching the news inside the house when they heard the reporter imply what many in the city were already wondering: If not someone in that house, then who?

On July 19, two weeks after Tamra had been reported missing, police charged McArthur with assaulting Sheepskin the night Tamra disappeared. McArthur told reporters he had been interrogated for twenty hours, not about the assault, but about Tamra and about what had gone on inside the house that night. “It was always the same questions, and they were assuming that I knew the answers to those questions, but I didn’t know the answers, and I still don’t know the answers,” he said. “I would never hurt a hair on that little girl’s head.”

Two days later, Tamra’s brothers and sisters were removed from the home by child-protection officers. Tamra’s twin sister wore messy pigtails and clutched a colouring book and a yellow blanket as two women led the children away down the front steps of the house. Neither government officials nor police would say whether the children’s seizure was related to Tamra’s disappearance. When the children were gone, police searched the house again.

One night late that summer, Tamra’s father, Troy, showed up at the house with a baseball bat and confronted her stepfather, McArthur. Troy was charged with assault, though McArthur later said police “got things misunderstood.” “Everybody’s looking for answers,” he said. “We more or less talked.”

LORENA KEEPNESS was fourteen years old when she ran away from her home on the White Bear First Nation, 200 kilometres southeast of Regina. She had been in residential school for about three months, but that wasn’t what did it. For her, it was the same ugly stuff at home. She found her way to Regina. When her mom tried to take her home, Lorena wouldn’t go. She lived on the streets instead.

She had her daughter Summer Wind when she was twenty, her son Rayne Dance not long after. It was after the ultrasound for her third baby that she walked home in a daze and told her husband, Troy, “We’re having twins.” She kept repeating it until it sunk in, and then they just stood together in the kitchen and laughed. Her mother said “Way to go!” but Lorena told her, “They came from God. Not like I planted those in me.”

The babies were born on September 1, 1998. Fraternal twin girls, each weighing more than six pounds, carried almost right to term and curved around one another like pieces of a puzzle. Lorena and Troy split up when the twins were little, and after that, the girls stayed sometimes with their mother, sometimes with their father or with other relatives. Lorena and Troy each struggled with substance abuse, and their lives were sometimes too troubled and unstable to have the children with them. At five, Tamra was bold and courageous, and protective of her twin sister. Once, Lorena heard a soft knock in the middle of the night and opened the door to find the twins standing there. The children had left their father’s house and walked four blocks back to Lorena’s in the middle of the night, Tamra leading her sister by the hand as they found their way through the dark. REGINA POLICE received more than a thousand tips in the first six weeks after Tamra’s disappearance. At one point, a Volkswagen van that had been stolen the night Tamra disappeared was found burned outside the city. A jail guard told police she and a former inmate had stolen it, picked up Tamra, and then dumped the child’s body in a ravine on the Muscowpetung First Nation. Ron Weir led a week-long search on Muscowpetung, draining multiple beaver dams with compressor pumps, while searchers slogged through water up to their hips. The jail guard later confessed she had made up the story. She was charged with mischief and wrote a letter apologizing to the police. In court, her lawyer said she had been trying to get her abusive boyfriend locked up again.

Returning from medical leave to the police department in the fall of 2004, superintendent Troy Hagen could feel how Tamra’s disappearance was weighing on his colleagues. Hagen noticed it in everyone he spoke to, from the police chief down, whether they were involved with the case or not. Sergeant Rod Buckingham, one of the lead investigators, was among those who felt the growing frustration. “It’s a mystery,” he would say. “And I don’t like mysteries.”

Officers had spoken with more than 6,000 people by then, but there had been no arrests, and leads were drying up. Shortly after, a special task force was struck to re-examine the case, to see whether anything had been missed. The name of the project was iskwesis ayishowak e mamayahi, a Cree term meaning “little girl bring people together.”

TWELVE YEARS LATER, Lorena Keepness spends her days doing odd jobs and picking bottles, trading them in at the depot for cash. She is forty-three and lives with her eldest son in a rundown shack of a house on Victoria Avenue, a fifteen-minute walk from Ottawa Street. Lorena’s children were never permanently returned to her custody after the disappearance, and the three babies she had after that were all taken by Social Services, too. Tamra’s twin sister is seventeen now. Lorena says she is an athlete, smart and beautiful. Lorena lost her family pictures when someone threw all her stuff in the garbage a few years ago. The only photos she has of Tamra now are the ones on missing-child posters.

Tamra’s twin and her older sister, Summer, don’t want to be interviewed. Neither does Tamra’s father, Troy. McArthur couldn’t be reached. Lorena needs a six-pack of Black Ice beer to talk. She doesn’t really want to be interviewed either. She has never liked reporters or their questions, and it hurts to talk about that time. “But part of me wants to,” she says, as her face crumples. “Part of me needs to share what the fuck happened. Someone stole my child.”

Lorena has heard many theories about what happened to her daughter. Some believe Tamra wandered away and was abducted by a driver cruising the area or that she got lost, then crawled in somewhere so small she has never been found. Other theories focus on the adults in the house that night. Some officers will say off-the-record that they think Tamra is in the dump but that they just couldn’t find her in the mountains of debris. Many in the city believe that Lorena and McArthur sold or traded Tamra to pay off a cocaine debt. Lorena has heard that one the most. One night, she was at a bar and heard some women talking, loud enough so she could hear. “Yeah, she sold her kid for dope. She has a whole bunch of babies. She has kids just to sell them for drugs.” Her friend told her not to listen, but Lorena couldn’t ignore it. She swore at the women, promised she would get them for even thinking she could do that to her child. They met at the same bar again the next day, and that time they fought, a tangle of hair and fists. One of them had a knife and slashed her twice on the back of her arm. More scars to wear for life. It wasn’t the only time. One night, she was attacked in Moose Jaw. Not long ago, a woman shouted “Baby killer!” at her across the street.

Lorena and Dean McArthur are still together, on and off—“more on than off,” she says. Police tried hard to turn them against each other, but she always believed him in the end. He may be all kinds of things, she says, but he’s not a baby killer. “If I thought he did something to my daughter, I would have killed him myself,” she says. “I think the police were just so sure. They figured, ‘These guys are a bunch of nobodies. She did her own child.’ They already had their conclusions drawn before they even tried to look for anything.”

The suggestion she could have had something to do with her daughter’s disappearance still pushes Lorena to the point of violence. You can see her eyes flash, her muscles tighten at the question. But she holds back— it’s not worth going to jail. She’s had enough of the police, has grown used to the accusations. In the past twelve years, she’s repeated her story publicly many times, and it has never really changed.

REGINA POLICE have never released full details about the investigation into Tamra’s disappearance, on the grounds that it remains an open case that they still hope to solve. In an interview, Troy Hagen, now Regina’s police chief, would not speak about any working theories or confirm any specifics of the investigation, including whether one of the people questioned about Tamra’s disappearance had failed a polygraph test. Instead, Hagen echoed what police have said since the beginning: That there remain important unanswered questions about the comings and goings from the house on Ottawa Street that night. That they will continue to investigate every tip. That they won’t stop looking for Tamra until they find her. He pointed to cases in the United States where children have been gone for years, sometimes decades, and then been found alive. In Canada, twelve-year-old Abby Drover was held in an underground bunker in Port Moody, British Columbia, for six months after being abducted by her neighbour in 1976. There was an intensive search of her community—including by her abductor—but she had been only feet away from her house the entire time. She was found alive. It seems impossible, but it happens. “I refuse to lose hope,” Hagen says.

The years since Tamra’s disappearance have exposed the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. Suspected serial killers are facing charges in the Prairies, but there has been no public indication that Tamra’s disappearance may be connected to any of those cases. Hagen said police have also explored a possible connection with thirteen-year-old Courtney Struble, who disappeared from Estevan, a city 200 kilometres from Regina, four days after Tamra was last seen. Investigators initially believed that Struble was a runaway, and she had been gone for seven years before RCMP announced that her case had become a homicide investigation. No one has ever been charged, and her remains have never been located. Hagen says it’s strange to have two unsolved missing-children cases linked so closely in time and geographic proximity. He says the possibility of a connection was “very much” explored by police, but there doesn’t appear to be a correlation. The police investigation into Tamra’s disappearance is one of the largest and costliest in Regina’s history, but Hagen says it has never been about the money. If there were more leads or work for investigators, the police chief says he would reconvene the task force “in a heartbeat.” But the flood of tips has slowed. The reward for information that leads to finding her, now $50,000, sits unclaimed. The last public development came in November 2014, when a Reddit user with the name MySecretIsOut posted a scrawled map with the words: “Location of Tamra Keepness, check the wells.” The person later wrote that the map belonged to their grandmother and had come from a great-aunt who had visited an inmate in Alberta. “We, like many others, haven’t forgotten about you, Tamra, and continue to search and hope you are found,” the person posted. Police searched twenty-one wells around Muscowpetung but found nothing.

Sheepskin died on January 1, 2009, “with his family by his side,” according to his obituary. Many of the police officers who worked on Tamra’s case have retired or moved from the department to other jobs. Hagen says he thinks of Tamra whenever he is walking through the forest, not looking for her but always half expecting to see her there. Sometimes he looks at people he passes on the street, examining their faces and imagining what Tamra might look like now.

THROUGH THE YEARS, Lorena has developed her own theories about what happened to her daughter. These days, she mainly wonders about a drifter who used to stay with them, a woman Lorena knew from when she was a girl. A woman who sometimes told people she was pregnant even though she wasn’t, who Lorena knew by one name but whose medical documents said something else. The woman was around so much that Lorena’s children called her Big Auntie. Big Auntie had been staying at the house before Tamra disappeared, but left after she and Lorena had a falling out. Lorena says it took a long time to realize Big Auntie wasn’t coming around any more. When she did, she put word out on the streets, but no one there had seen her either. Big Auntie didn’t even show up for her own sister’s funeral in Regina a few years back. Lorena says she told the police about Big Auntie many times, but doesn’t know whether they ever found her, or whether they even looked. “She’s just gone now,” Lorena says. “Same time as my child.” Maybe it’s something. Or maybe Big Auntie is missing, too.

When I ask Lorena whether she thinks Tamra will ever be found, she struggles for an answer. “I don’t know,” she says. “But can I tell you about a dream I had?” There are two, both so vivid it’s as if they were real. In one, Tamra is inside a big house in a city Lorena has never seen. There are silk clothes draped around, and broad windows, and Tamra is upstairs, sitting on the edge of a bathtub putting on stockings. She is grown, with dark, shiny hair like her mother’s but cut straight all around. In the other dream, Tamra is still a little girl, running into her mother’s arms. “There you are!” Lorena says. “There you are!” She picks up her child and holds her, until Tamra wriggles free and is lost again.

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cosmiciaria · 4 years

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Assasin’s Creed III Remaster review - Spoilers! - Long post!

I wanted to keep this spoiler free, but as this game is such a narrative experience, I don't think I'll be able to. I'll try to keep them at minimum, but be warned: there are major spoilers ahead. By the way, this game is almost a decade old, so y'all had plenty of time to get spoiled beforehand. And if you're reading this, it's because you like this game and you probably know how it ends.

Review under the cut because this is way too long.

As always, I express my feelings and impressions regarding my experience with a game – I write it because I like writing reviews instead of, I don't know, recording a video for YouTube. I'm not a YouTuber and I feel safer behind a keyboard where people don't point out about my weird accent (the accent every Hispanic person has when they speak English). Since the pandemic started, I found refuge and comfort in AC games, with Syndicate being my first contact with the franchise, and Unity solidifying my love for it. I found strength and weaknesses in all the installments I've played, which are almost all of them by now (excluding the first AC with Altaïr, the new saga with Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla, and Rogue). I've also platinumed three of those games I've played, and I'm on my way to platinum this one, so I think I can speak from a deep fan standpoint by now.

Since Syndicate, I studied from up close each of the protagonists of the mainline games. I felt drawn to Arno because he looked like one of my oc's (and his girlfriend looked like my oc's girlfriend as well); I wanted to learn about Ezio because he's a fan favorite; I wasn't at all impressed by Edward but ended up growing fond of him; I respect Altaïr for what he means to the Brotherhood; but I can safely say, that I haven't felt as attracted to a main AC protagonist as I felt with Connor.

From the moment I knew he was a native American (such a bold choice, it seemed for me) I felt instant attraction – but not the, idk, physical (he's a cutie I give it to you), but because of what he could bring about as a main character. A perspective we don't usually get to see, and personally, as I'm not American, a point of view to educate me on a different side of history. I wanted to see what they could do with him as the star of the game, I wanted to play with him and understand how someone like him could rise up and become a protagonist of such a well known and beloved saga of games. I applaud this decision from Ubisoft, whether they did it because they wanted to look progressive or not, I don't care, I'll always cherish that the protagonist of a famous videogame is a Mohawk. And with the American Revolution as the main stage, no less. Such an important scenario to strengthen the virtue of independence, patriotism and love for a country, going hand in hand with a character that represents America even more than the Founding Fathers.

(Also I'm a Hamilton Fan Trademark so I couldn't stop singing random parts of songs while playing this game, it was a nightmare every time Lafayette appeared on screen because I JUST HAD TO start mumbling Guns and Ships)

I lunged blindly into this game – I'd only spoiled myself the very ending because I played Black Flag before – so imagine my surprise when I first saw Haytham, Connor's father, as the main protagonist.

So here's the deal. Let's clear this out of the way.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game. It was what I expected and more.

But.

Yes, there's always a but in AC games, you know the drill.

As I kept playing with Haytham, charming though he was, I kept thinking to myself "ok but when does Connor come into play". I also already knew Haytham was a Templar, so the end of the first few sequences didn't catch me by surprise – actually, what caught me by surprise was that there was no mention of Assassins or Templars during the "prologue" with Haytham, instead you're left to believe they're all Assassins until he prays to the Father of Understanding and you realize with a gasp "oH NoO!".

You play with Haytham the first three sequences. One of these have the most memories out all of the sequences more or less. This whole thing can take up to three to five hours depending on how much time you wish to put into exploring or completing the optional objectives. And still no signs of Connor.

Connor does come eventually – as a child – by sequence 4. It's not until the end of sequence 5 that you get to play as (almost) adult Assassin Connor, so maybe five or six or even seven hours into the game and you're barely starting.

I know what they did here. I understand. And this is what I meant when I said they were going for a 'narrative experience'. To make you play as Haytham before, to lure you into a false sense of safety believing he was an Assassin working for a just cause, to make you feel invested in his relationship with Ziio – only to discover he's one of the bad guys, that will eventually give birth to our true hero of the game – it sediments everything perfectly. It tells you everything you need to know to understand these characters and their motivations. I can see where they're going and some of it can be quite predictable, but it was done right. On the narrative aspect at least.

I got used to Haytham by the time we switch to Connor, we're used to his cloak and his three pointed hat – his accent, his sassiness, his everything. You grow fond of him and you think, hey, maybe it isn't so bad to not play as Connor, I can roll with this – until the sudden change happens. The game completed its purpose: let you know and care for Haytham, only to strip him away from your hands and bring you the real protagonist with an interesting background that didn't need to be told, but it was instead shown to us players. What a better way to tell a story.

But the problem is – most of Haytham's memories are fillers. For starters, the very first memory where you appear in the opera house (similar to that one at the end of Black Flag… mmm) serves as a tutorial for climbing and killing with the hidden blade. Then the whole memory on the ship to Boston – completely expendable and removable, the story doesn't suffer from it. All the memories used with Haytham as tutorials – how to shield from an open line of fire, how to use ranged weapons, how to sneak and find stores and viewpoints, how to use horses and walk on snow, fricking Ben Franklin – everything, everything could've blended in better. You could still tell the story you wanted in only one sequence playing with Haytham, and end it the way it does end in sequence 3, without avoiding any important detail to frame Connor's backstory as well – but instead, this part with Haytham does feel like it overstays its welcome, and by the end you're just hoping it ends soon, it drags on for too long, and there's no real sense of thread pulling the strings together here, everything just kind of 'happens'.

But the never-ending prologue doesn't end there (badam tum tsss), because Connor still isn't an Assassin. Connor is not Connor actually, as I had been led to believe prior to playing this game: his real name is Ratonhnhaké:ton, which I wish it was used more often than it was. Ratonhnhaké:ton is like four or five years old when you first play with him, and his village is assaulted by what we assume are Charles Lee's men, a Templar and companion to Haytham. Ratonhnhaké:ton swears revenge upon these putrid British invaders and he grows up resenting the death of his mother, who died in the fire provoked by these Templars.

Not even knowing what a Templar or an Assassin is, Ratonhnhaké:ton is sent by one of "the spirit guides" (actually, Juno, one of the Precursor people) to seek the Brotherhood. When he's around 14, he sets out of his village into the wide world and finds Achilles, who will become his Assassin mentor – that is, after completing a set of tasks that yet again seem to go on forever. Ratonhnhaké:ton turns into Connor to cover his true origins, a name I thought it was random, but by the end I realized how wrong I was.

It isn't until Connor turns 17 that he becomes a fully-fledged Assassin – and you might think, well, Ezio became an Assassin at the same age – yes, but it didn't take him five sequences to reach there. I can't believe I'm defending Ezio.

It's not that I didn't enjoy playing as Connor when he was a kid, no, and I also don't think that part of the game should be skipped since it shows his people, family and friends – maybe comprised, yes, into only one sequence – the real problem here is the fact that first you need to play what could be considered the longest prologue ever, even longer than Kingdom Hearts 2's one, and you're teased with grasping the real protagonist but no, because there's still more 'prologue' to cover with Connor's rise to the Brotherhood. The real, real story, begins in sequence 6, and even then you still have a lot of tutorials to listen from the NPC on duty.

And if you do the maths – you're halfway through the game – halfway! – and you're just starting. The game has twelve sequences and the meat of the plot is on the last six. Then, why did I play all the previous parts?

For the 'narrative experience' thing I talked about. They wanted to lay the groundwork for a better, compelling storytelling, and I can appreciate it, but not when it hinders the pace of the game this way.

That is, certainly, my biggest issue with the game. The pace. If you're going to give me such a slow start, introducing characters non-stop, and only give me resolutions, discoveries and action packed sequences on the later half, then the story isn't balanced at all – I understand that at some points you need to slow down and sink in what's going on; you can't also introduce ten characters in one cutscene because that's just bad story telling – but the memories of this game are clearly not well organized and weren't thought with the player in mind, but rather with the story in mind. To think that the first mission you do as a full Assassin is to receive more and more tutorials on how the fast travel points work and how you can lower your notoriety (as far as gameplay goes in this mission, it's only walking around at a slug's pace to follow the NPC giving you instructions) it does feel like a slap in the face after all the things and hours and effort you put into it to finally reaching this point (which, I remind you, it's by sequence six!).

It's at this point where I can't blame people for not following through with this game. I have plenty of friends who abandoned it even before reaching this part. And I found myself having trouble to return to it: I only wanted to go back to it because I knew I had to like Connor, I knew he wouldn't disappoint me as a character.

Boy, was I RIGHT!

Now, to be honest, I may be biased, like I said: I was instantly attracted to Connor due to his backstory and I wished to see what he could bring to the table. And I have to say, he didn't disappoint me at all.

Maybe you know or maybe you don't, but up until this point, my fave Assassin was Arno: he showed weaknesses and he suffered the consequences of his actions, to the point of no return, that rendered him vulnerable and a mere human being. And I love me a good vulnerable character who knows their limits and strives to get out of that pit. I love me a good, compelling character that has growth and agency and isn't made of cardboard or has a one-dimensional personality. And Connor delivered on this front.

Connor might very well be my new fave Assassin. I'm sorry, Arno. I still love you babe. But Connor… I never found myself rooting for a character more than I did with him. I wanted him to succeed, I wanted his people to be saved, I wanted to see his ideals become a reality – and he's got so much agency, he's a storm when he comes into a scene, his naivety mixed with the brutality of his killings, the simplicity of his reasonings – he's an idealist, and he fights for it, whether we like it or not, and that devotion to his own creed is at least respectable, let alone admirable. He's never downplayed for his upbringing or his ethnicity, he works among the most notorious people as if he was another one of them, he's well respected in his community, he shows kindness and always offers a helping hand to those in need, but never doubts to plunge his blade into this opponent's throats, fearlessly, he doesn't mind telling George Friking Washington to shut the hell up and not follow him because he'll kill him (there's such a pleasure in a native reprimanding enslaver Washington) – he's, simply put, a great hero.

I've seen many complain that he's boring, or that the actor who played him, Noah Watts, delivered lines in an emotionless way – the only thing that could make him 'boring' is the fact that he's not a lady's man like Ezio was, and to my eyes that's a plus. He speaks slowly and modulates well in English because that's not his mother tongue, and I can appreciate when a company puts these little details, like his way of speaking changing throughout the game as he gained more confidence with this new language he was learning to use. As non-English native speaker, I certainly can commune with the feeling of adapting my tongue and my brain to a new language, and I also know that I speak weirdly to those who are native, maybe I don't have the same intonations, and maybe I sound emotionless as well, who knows, but I can't think of a better portrayal of a non-English character speaking English in videogames than this one. They remained faithful to his culture, and even though I noticed Noah didn't speak Mohawk as fluently as English, I can still feel pleased with the fact that Connor speaks in his mother tongue in all of the scenes he interacts with Mohawks (that's something they did better here than in Unity, where not a single character has even a French accent. I switched the language spoken to French in my subsequent playthroughs, much to my disappointment, because I really liked the Canadian actors). I know subtitles may seem threatening to some, but I wish they did this more often: deliver more lines in the original language of each of the protagonists. It shows care and respect. And I think this game excels at respect.

So, yes, I liked Ratonhnhaké:ton, as you can see. Maybe a lot. Too much.

I also really, really enjoyed his relationship with Haytham.

When Haytham appears back in to the fray it's when the plot picks up. Their interactions are gold: I love the rivalry, I love that Haytham is constantly testing his son, and I love the tiny bits that may show or make us believe that Haytham has a soft spot for him – I love that we never truly know what's going on through Haytham's mind, why does he do the things he does – but what I enjoyed the most about these two fighting together is the fact that they represent opposing forces, a clash of interest, and they bring back the concept of the blurred line between the Templars and the Assassins, their different methods. Haytham represents the collectiveness of the Templars, through him we learn of what they truly uphold as right and just, and behind some of his reasonings you can see sense and understanding – you comprehend his goals, you get to know your enemy, your antagonist, which is something, for instance, the Ezio trilogy lacks (because Templars bad bad pium pium die Templar bad guy) and Unity and Rogue tried to do but ultimately ended wasting its potential. I never understood Templars more than I did through Haytham, and sometimes I found myself nodding at some of his statement, like 'hey… huh… he's not that wrong about this…'. But still, we're led to believe that the good guys, the Assassins, are never wrong, so we pull through with Connor – only to realize that yes, Haytham was right in many aspects, and yes, Haytham has lied to us and he needs to be stopped.

It's here when my love for Connor reached its ultimate stage: when he denies both his father (Templars) and Washington (for whom the Assassins were working). It's here where you see the true agency of this character. It's not black or white, as Ezio's games were; it's not that he was expelled against his will from the Brotherhood like in Unity; it's not that because of a clash of interest now he resorted to the Templars, like in Rogue; no, it's the philosophy of the very first AC game with Altaïr: Templars and Assassins are one and the same, they only differ in their methods, and when Connor comes to this realization, his struggle is visible and he puts his people first. Like always.

He remains true to his personality. He's grown, he's seen the truth, but he must make a decision. And after all, we're here because we want to see him protect his people. That's his real main driving force and we root for him because of it.

Now, I've spoken a lot about our main character. But, what about the secondary ones?

Achilles, Connor's mentor, hides more than he's willing to share – but slowly his backstory unfolds. In his homestead, Davenport, you're able to build a community with different townsfolk that you can invite to live with you through special sidequests, which combine plot and gameplay seamlessly. Through the homestead missions, you get to know Achilles and the other inhabitants and you see them thrive and grow into a tight-knit community close as family. I daresay that these missions were my favorite out of the whole game, and seeing the town grow not only in NPC's walking around but also in sounds, steps, people working and laughing and dogs barking and kids playing, gave me all the fuzzy and cozy feelings of a warm blanket in winter. Most of Connor's innocence and kindness is shown through these missions, and there are also some really good jewels hidden there, like the quest that asks you to guide the pigs back inside – damn. This game gave me very good laughs.

On a gameplay level, this game is light years away from its predecessors – the parkour alone has been revamped and revitalized, making it more fluid. Free running now isn't a chore anymore. Now you can hunt, which is a great part of Connor's backstory and culture, so it's good to see they blend gameplay with plot like this. There's a crafting system that took me ages to understand, but thankfully I got the hang of it. The combat is pretty much the same (counter kills always for the win) and the difficulty remains quite easy, as the games that came before. I wasn't looking for a challenge so I'm fine with it. Now, if you're looking for a challenge… the optional objectives got it covered for you. Because, good lord, they made these stupid main missions so much unnecessarily HARDER and IMPOSSIBLE to complete without having three or four ragequits and sometimes you have to restart up to ten times. To be honest, I never found myself more enraged with the optional objectives than I was with these missions, and I thought Unity's optional constraints were stupid ass complicated, I was wrong. This game. Must be. The most. Annoying. Piece of videogame. To platinum.

Apart from the 'oh I want to die optional objectives' thing, you have naval missions – which, yes, you guessed it, take place on a ship – I guess they were testing the mechanics for a (not so far away) future pirate game, because I can see the seeds of what later Black Flag came to be. It's serviceable and it fulfills its purpose, but as I don't like ships much, I left it on hold for the endgame.

If you don’t dig the naval missions nor the main missions, there’s plenty to do in this game: you have the aforementioned homstead missions, the club challenges (which can take... quite a while), the underground fast travel points (a nice change of pace, though you can easily grow tired of them), the liberation missions, which will see you help liberate a city from Templar control and recruiting a new Assassin apprentice, much like in Brotherhood and Revelations; taking Forts, hunting like there’s no tomorrow, courier, delivering items and message delivery missions, a ton of collectibles, etc, etc.

You might realize I stopped talking about the plot by the time I reached sequence 6 – yes, it's because I'm a little upset with it.

I said that we're here because we want to see Connor protect his people and triumph against the Templars. Yes. We receive that, yes. Amidst. A thousand. History. Lessons.

In my Ezio's Collection review, I complained that in Revelations we were shoved history in the face – I hadn't still finished AC3, because then I would've mentioned something about it. Connor comes across all the important figures of the American Revolution in such a contrived way – he acts as a guardian angel of this revolution, aiding each of the emblematic characters that took part in. I can roll with it in my suspension of disbelief (how come this one person was present at every major event, you know), what I can't roll with is the fact that he was present at the Declaration of Independence – this is some Ken Follett level of bs of probability of something happening to a character. Besides, it's always latent though never truly explicitly addressed, but Connor's skintone was something that should've deterred him from even speaking to someone like Washington – let alone, be present at the moment they signed the Declaration. He does mention at some point that freedom and this new nation was only for white men, and that he acknowledged that slaves deserved as much freedom as everyone else was fighting for; I'm glad he addressed the elephant in the room, though I'm also glad they didn't make the whole thing about it, because normalizing a character like this as a main protagonist was the main idea, I think, when they chose a Mohawk to represent the American Revolution. Still, that someone like him was able to achieve all he achieved in a plot like this, it only means he has some kind of Main Protagonist Shield, otherwise I doubt this could've served as a realistic story for anyone else in the same situation as him. It's, uh, a little hard to believe, that's all. Whereas I can see Arno existing within the historical frame of the French Revolution, without being the one that let the guillotine fall on King Louis' head, this one was a little more far-fetched.

I haven't touched upon the Desmond part – the present day of this game is more, uh… present than ever. And I loved it! I loved it because it delved deep into the Precursor's lore, and also it fleshed out Desmond's relationship with his father, and we actually do shit with Desmond – though that part of the Brazilian stadium, huh, for a company that paid too much attention and consulted with experts on the Mohawks, they clearly left Brazil out of their investigations. I forgive them, they tried.

The music… didn't have as much personality as other installments, it was kind of there, and right now I can't evoke a single theme except for the main menu one, so there you go, it's quite forgettable for my taste, sadly.

I forgot to mention that: this game looks gorgeous. I played the Remastered version of the game, and sometimes it looked like it was done for the PS4 instead of being a remaster (it does look better than Black Flag which came afterwards!). Lighting is magical, the trees breathe life into the screen, the water effects are crystal and realistic; many times I felt like was horse-riding in a Last of Us game (yes, I just compared Ubisoft to Naughty Dog, don't hit me). Davenport Homestead is my favorite location, now more than ever, because it's not only beautiful, but it also means home.

This game accompanied me in a very important moment of my life: I sprained my ankle and I spent a week in bed recovering, while also pondering about my job and the prospects of my future; I took many decisions while playing regarding what I want for my life. I cried at the end because I realized I had become too attached to the characters and because I was so sad to see Connor keep losing things. It all comes full circle by the end. It's a very mature ending, maybe a little unfulfilling, but reality is often disappointing and not everything needs a happily ever after.

All in all, my major complaint goes to the structure of the game and the poor organization they gave to it (AND THE OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES DAAJKSDAD). But Connor as a character in itself made it all worthwhile for me. And I'll always cherish him. I know he won't resonate with everyone, but he resonated with me.

#videogame review #review #assasins creed iii #ac3 #aciii #connor kenway #ratonhnhaké:ton #ubisoft #haytham kenway #assassins creed #assassins creed 3

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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HBO Max New Releases: October 2021

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The fall is usually the domain of television. September and October are the months in which networks (and increasingly some streamers) debut all their new series. With its list of new releases for October 2021, however, HBO Max has decided that fall works just fine for new movies as well.

HBO Max’s new offerings this month are highlighted by two enormous Warner Bros. film releases. The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark opens things up on Oct. 1. The movie is getting a theatrical release as well but you can certainly just watch it via streaming to make Sopranos creator and film purist David Chase mad. Next up is the sprawling sci-fi epic Dune on Oct. 22. It’s long been thought that a faithful and suitably enormous Dune adaptation was impossible. Now it’s almost time to see if director Denis Villenueve pulled it off.

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How The Many Saints of Newark Almost Brought Carmela Soprano Back

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Even if the movies are the big blockbusters here, HBO Max isn’t letting its TV offerings go to waste. Arguably HBO’s biggest running drama, Succession, returns for a long-awaited third season on Oct. 17. Also mixed in to the streamer’s TV offerings are docuseries like 15 Minutes of Shame (Oct. 7) and What Happened, Brittany Murphy? (Oct. 15).

October will also be a good month for movie fans looking to check out some recent heavy hitters without buying a ticket. It: Chapter Two (Oct. 10), The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (Oct. 21), and In the Heights (Oct. 28) all arrive this month.

HBO Max New Releases – October 2021

October 1 Admission, 2013 (HBO) A Royal Affair, 2012 (HBO) After the Thin Man, 1936 All The President’s Men, 1976 (HBO) American Gigolo, 1980 (HBO) American Graffiti, 1973 (HBO) Argo, 2012 (Alternate Version) (HBO) Bad Boys II, 2003 Bad Boys, 1995 Bad Words, 2013 (HBO) Ballet 422, 2014 (HBO) Being Flynn, 2012 (HBO) Best Man Down, 2013 (HBO) Beverly Hills Cop, 1984 (HBO) Beverly Hills Cop II, 1987 (HBO) Beverly Hills Cop III, 1994 (HBO) Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, 1989 (HBO) Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey, 1991 (HBO) Billy Elliot, 2000 (HBO) Black Christmas, 2019 (HBO) Black Hawk Down, 2001 (HBO) Blades Of Glory, 2007 (HBO) Blazing Saddles, 1974 Blood Father, 2016 (HBO) Bloodsport, 1988 (HBO) Blue Crush, 2002 (HBO) Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason, 2004 (HBO) Bridget Jones’s Diary, 2001 Broken City, 2013 (HBO) Caddyshack II, 1988 Cake, 2005 (HBO) Cats, 2019 (HBO) Child 44, 2015 (HBO) City of God, 2002 (HBO) Clash of Titans , 1981 Client 9: The Rise And Fall Of Eliot Spitzer, 2010 (HBO) Culpa, 2021 (HBO) Danny Collins, 2015 (HBO) David Lynch: The Art Life, 2016 Desperately Seeking Susan, 1985 (HBO) Dinner For Schmucks, 2010 (HBO) Doubt, 2008 (HBO) Down A Dark Hall, 2018 (HBO) Downhill, 2020 (HBO) Drop Zone, 1994 (HBO) Dying Young, 1991 (HBO) El Cantante, 2007 (HBO) El Profugo, 2020 (HBO) Emma., 2020 (HBO) Endless Love, 2014 (HBO) Entre Nos: The Winners 2, 2021 (HBO) Entre Nos: What She Said, 2021 (HBO) Family Matters Fifty Shades Of Black, 2016 (HBO) For A Good Time, Call…, 2012 (Alternate Version) (HBO) Full House Gangs Of New York, 2002 (HBO) Gangster Squad, 2013 (HBO) Goodbye, Mr. Chips, 1969 Hacksaw Ridge, 2016 (HBO) Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, 2008 He Said She Said, 1991 (HBO) Hearts In Atlantis, 2001 (HBO) Hitch, 2005 Hitman, 2007 (Alternate Version) (HBO) Hooper, 1978 Hostage, 2005 (HBO) House of Wax , 2005 House, 2008 (HBO) Imagine That, 2009 (HBO) Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words, 2015 J. Edgar, 2011 (HBO) Johnny English Strikes Again, 2018 (HBO) Journey to the Center of the Earth, 2008 Just Mercy, 2019 (HBO) Kill Bill: Vol. 1, 2003 (HBO) Kill Bill: Vol. 2, 2004 (HBO) Kin, 2018 (HBO) Leap Year, 2010 (HBO) LEGO DC Shazam: Magic and Monsters!, 2020 Less Than Zero, 1987 (HBO) Like Water for Chocolate, 1992 (HBO) Little Man, 2006 (HBO) Lincoln, 2012 (HBO) Lottery Ticket, 2010 (HBO) M*A*S*H, 1970 (HBO) Mama, 2013 (HBO) Marathon Man, 1976 (HBO) Misery, 1990 (HBO) Monster’s Ball, 2001 (Alternate Version) (HBO) Moonrise Kingdom, 2012 (HBO) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, 1989 National Lampoon’s Vacation, 1983 Natural Born Killers, 1994 Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always, 2020 (HBO) Night Catches Us, 2010 (HBO) Orphan, 2009 Parental Guidance, 2012 (HBO) Pariah, 2011 (HBO) Police Academy, 1984 Poltergeist II: The Other Side, 1986 (HBO) Poltergeist III, 1988 (HBO) Private Parts, 1997 (HBO) Proof Of Life, 2000 (HBO) Racing Stripes, 2005 (HBO) Reservation Road, 2007 (HBO) Say Anything…, 1989 (HBO) Sergeant York, 1941 Shaft, 1971 Shall We Dance?, 2004 (HBO) She’s All That, 1999 (HBO) Sherlock Holmes And The Great Escape, 2019 (HBO) Sherlock Holmes, 2009 Shrek The Third, 2007 (HBO) Six Degrees Of Separation, 1993 (HBO) Sliver, 1993 (Alternate Version) (HBO) Snitch, 2013 (HBO) Speedway, 1968 Step by Step, Stigmata, 1999 (HBO) Strange But True, 2019 (HBO) Superstar, 1999 (HBO) Super 8, 2011 (HBO) Talk To Me, 2007 (HBO) Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans, 2019 The Banger Sisters, 2002 (HBO) The Blind Side, 2009 (HBO) The Bonfire of the Vanities, 1990 The Book Of Eli, 2010 (HBO) The Campaign, 2012 (Alternate Version) (HBO) The Cider House Rules, 1999 (HBO) The Cincinnati Kid, 1965 The East, 2013 (HBO) The Eichmann Show, 2015 (HBO) The Internship, 2013 (HBO) The Invisible Man, 2020 (HBO) The Harvey Girls, 1946 The High Note, 2020 (HBO) The Hours, 2002 (HBO) The Legend Of Hercules, 2014 (HBO) The Many Saints of Newark, Warner Bros. Film Premiere, 2021 The Outsiders, 1983 The Perfect Storm, 2000 The Poseidon Adventure, 1972 (HBO) The Quarry, 2020 (HBO) The Rite, 2011 (HBO) The Running Man, 1987 (HBO) The Way Way Back, 2013 (HBO) The 15:17 To Paris, 2018 (HBO) Things We Lost In The Fire, 2007 (HBO) Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, 2005 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, 2011 (HBO) Trance, 2013 (HBO) Tully, 2018 (HBO) Twelve Monkeys, 1995 (HBO) Underwater, 2020 (HBO) Up In The Air, 2009 (HBO) Wall Street, 1987 (HBO) Warm Bodies, 2013 (HBO) Wendy, 2020 (HBO) XXX, 2002

October 3 Simmer, 2020

October 4 Laetitia, Limited Drama Series Finale (HBO) Niña Furia Sublet, 2020

October 5 American Masters: Mike Nichols, 2016 American Masters: Nichols and May: Take Two, 1996 El Verano Que Vivimos, 2020 Level Playing Field, Documentary Series Finale (HBO)

October 6 Muy Gay Too Mexicano (Short), 2020 The Republic of Sarah, Season 1 Rosa (short), 2020

October 7 15 Minutes of Shame, Max Original Series Premiere Craftopia, Max Original Season 2A Premiere The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo: Amber Ruffin / Bebe Rexha

October 8 Voyagers, 2021 (HBO)

October 9 Birdgirl , Season 16 To Your Eternity , Season 1 (Subtitled) (Crunchyroll Collection)

October 10 It: Chapter 2, 2019 Nuclear Family, Documentary Series Finale (HBO) Scenes From A Marriage, Limited Series Finale (HBO)

October 11 We’re Here, Season 2 Premiere (HBO)

October 14 Aquaman: King of Atlantis, Chapter One: Dead Sea, Max Original Series Premiere Little Ellen, Max Original Season 1B Premiere Love Spells (aka Amarres), Max Original Series Premiere Teen Titans Go!, Seasons 1-6 The Missing, (aka Os Ausentes), Max Original Series Premiere The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo: Jenna Bush Hager / Sophie Fatu Phoebe Robinson: Sorry, Harriet Tubman, Max Original Special Premiere Welcome to Utmark (aka Utmark) , Max Original Series Premiere What Happened, Brittany Murphy?, Max Original Series Premiere

October 15 In the Line of Fire, 1993 Point Break, 1991 (HBO) Tu Me Manques, 2019 (HBO)

October 17 Succession, Season 3 Premiere (HBO)

October 18 El Huésped Americano (aka The American Guest), Limited Drama Series Finale (HBO) Women is Losers, 2021

October 19 Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO)

October 20 Entre Hombres (aka Amongst Men), Limited Series Finale (HBO)

October 21 Aquaman: King of Atlantis, Chapter Two: Primordius Reign of Superwomen, Max Original Documentary Premiere The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, 2021 (HBO) (Available in 4K UHD, HDR10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos in English Only on supported devices) The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo: Ames McNamara / Leslie Odom Jr. Tuff Money (aka Bani Negri), Max Original Series Premiere

October 22 Dune, Warner Bros. Film Premiere, 2021

October 24 Insecure, Season 5 Premiere (HBO)

October 26 Maricon Perdido, Max Original Series Premiere The Mopes, Max Original Series Premiere The Truth of Dolores Vazquez (aka The Caso Wanninkhof), Max Original Series Premiere

October 28 Aquaman: King of Atlantis, Chapter Three: Tidal Shift In The Heights, 2021 (HBO) Love Life, Max Original Season 2 Premiere A Thousand Fangs (aka Mil Colmillos), Max Original Series Premiere The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo: Dani & Dannah Lane / AJR

October 29 Victor and Valentino , Season 2

October 31 The Bachelorette, Season 16

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Leaving HBO Max – October 2021

October 10 Malignant, 2021

October 11 Meatballs, 1979

October 17 Cry Macho, 2021

October 18 Sabrina: Magic of the Red Rose, 2015

October 20 HBO First Look: The Eyes of Tammy Faye, 2021 (HBO)

October 25 The Artist, 2011

October 27 The Hangover Part III, 2013

October 28 Tracey Ullman’s Show, (HBO)

October 31 Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, 2012 (HBO) A Little Princess, 1995 (HBO) All Is Lost, 2013 (HBO) All-Star Superman, 2011 Alpha And Omega: Journey To Bear Kingdom, 2017 (HBO) Alpha And Omega: The Big Fureeze, 2016 (HBO) Antwone Fisher, 2002 (HBO) A Star Is Born, 1976 A Time To Kill, 1996 Backdraft, 1991 (HBO) Bad Education, 2004 Bandits, 2001 (HBO) Barefoot, 2014 (HBO) *Batteries Not Included, 1987 (HBO) Battleship, 2012 (HBO) Black Dynamite, 2009 Blood And Wine, 1997 (HBO) Broken Embraces, 2009 Cats & Dogs, 2001 Cesar Chavez, 2014 (HBO) Chasing Amy, 1997 (HBO) Christmas In Compton, 2012 Clerks, 1994 (HBO) Conspiracy Theory, 1997 Cool Hand Luke, 1967 Critters 4, 1992 Darkest Hour, 2017 (HBO) Dirt, 2017 Dirty Harry, 1971 Dreamcatcher, 2003 El Pacto (aka The Pact), 2018 (HBO) Empire Of The Sun, 1987 Eulogy, 2004 (HBO) Final Destination, 2000 Final Destination 2, 2003 Final Destination 3, 2006 Final Destination 5, 2011 Firewall, 2006 Flight Of The Intruder, 1991 (HBO) Flying Leathernecks, 1951 Frantic, 1988 Freaks, 1932 Ghoulies, 1985 (HBO) Ghoulies II, 1987 (HBO) Gone Baby Gone, 2007 Good Morning, Vietnam, 1987 (HBO) Gothika, 2003 Gun Crazy, 1950 High Fidelity, 2000 (HBO) House Of Wax, 2005 How To Be A Latin Lover, 2017 How To Be Single, 2016 (HBO) How To Make An American Quilt, 1995 (HBO) I’m So Excited!, 2013 Ice Age: Continental Drift, 2012 (HBO) Immigration Tango, 2011 (HBO) Irresistible, 2020 (HBO) It, 2017 (HBO) Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, 2001 (HBO) Just Before I Go, 2015 (HBO) King Kong, 1976 (HBO) Lars And The Real Girl, 2007 (HBO) Lego Dc Batman: Family Matters, 2019 Lego Dc Shazam: Magic And Monsters!, 2020 Long Gone By, 2019 (HBO) Magnum Force, 1973 Man Up, 2015 (HBO) Mccabe And Mrs. Miller, 1971 Message Erased, 2019 (HBO) Monkey Shines, 1988 (HBO) Nitro Circus: The Movie 3D, 2012 (HBO) Norbit, 2007 (HBO) One More Time, 2016 (HBO) Pajaros De Verano (aka Birds Of Passage)2019 (HBO) Pale Rider, 1985 Pepi, Luci, Bom Y Otras Chicas Del Monton, 1980 Professor Marston & The Wonder Women, 2017 Red Dawn, 1984 (HBO) Risky Business, 1983 (HBO) Santa Buddies, 2009 (HBO) Save The Last Dance, 2001 (HBO) Save The Last Dance 2, 2006 (HBO) School Dance, 2014 (HBO) Serpico, 1974 (HBO) Snow Buddies, 2008 (HBO) Something To Talk About, 1995 Space Buddies, 2009 (HBO) Spawn, 1997 Stand Up Guys, 2013 (HBO) Sudden Impact, 1983 Summer Rental, 1985 (HBO) The Bucket List, 2007 The Color Purple, 1985 The Conjuring 2, 2016 The Dead Pool, 1988 The Debt, 2011 (HBO) The Family Man, 2000 (HBO) The Final Destination, 2009 The Five-Year Engagement, 2012 (Alternate Version) (HBO) The Fugitive, 1993 The Great Caruso, 1951 The Human Voice, 2020 The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, 2009 The Kingdom, 2007 (HBO) The Last Mimzy, 2007 The Lego Batman Movie, 2017 The Sand Pebbles, 1966 (HBO) The Shack, 2017 (HBO) The Shadow, 1994 (HBO) The Skin I Live In, 2011 The Switch, 2010 The Tuxedo, 2002 (HBO) The Voices, 2015 (HBO) The Quiet Ones, 2014 (HBO) The Witches, 1990 Thirteen Ghosts, 2001 Troy, 2004 Trust Me, 2014 (HBO) Volver, 2006 Wait Until Dark, 1967 Westworld (Movie), 1973 When Harry Met Sally, 1989 Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, 1988 XXX: State Of The Union, 2005

The post HBO Max New Releases: October 2021 appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3ur3tLW

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detectiveinchicago · 4 years

Text

SPARKS FLY: Chapter 5

Chapter list here

Note: Hi guys! I was inspired so I wrote this chapter even if I’m with my exams! I know I said that Kenny will be on this chapter but I promise that on chapter 6 he is coming. English is not my first language. THANK U FOR YOU BEAUTIFUL COMMENTS!!! Enjoy xxx. DISCLAIMER: GIF IS NOT MINE.

LAURA JAMES AS CAITLYN HALSTEAD

Caitlyn parked the car, took out the keys from the ignition, and placed her hands on the steering wheel, taking a deep breath. “Come on Caitlyn, you’re an adult and you need to get this over with” she told herself getting out of the car and walking up the hill.

“I didn’t come here to see you, I came here to end all these feelings and emotions that I have about you” Caitlyn said talking to the wind and looking down at her father’s grave. Pat Halstead had died more than a year ago and Caitlyn had left the family home over ten years ago, but the memory of Pat kept coming back. As Jess told her, she needed to get past that and move on. “Even when you are already gone you keep coming around to haunt me.”

“You couldn’t even apologize after what you did to me,” Caitlyn started looking at the name engraved on the gravestone. “Not even one phone call after all these years, most likely you couldn’t even remember what you did to me, you kept ruining my life and you couldn’t even remember it the morning after! What a father!”

----flashback----

Her mother had passed away last month, and Caitlyn’s family was broken. Her family was broke long before but that was the confirmation Caitlyn needed to know that she had to run away from Chicago. She had always been very good at sports, but since she entered high school, Caitlyn was on the track and cheer team. The University of California had offered her an athletic scholarship for the next year, Caitlyn knew that was her Chicago getaway ticket.

That month had been crazy. After her mother passed away, her brother Jay had applied for an army license and returned home. Her older brother Will had decided that he was “too busy” in New York to go home, Caitlyn wanted to be mad at him but if she had been in his place, she would have done the same. Their house was a living hell, their mother was the only thing keeping them together, and lately not even that, she had been sick for three years, cancer consuming her. Jay did not last long in Chicago. As soon as he attended their mother’s funeral he left again with the excuse that he needed to go back. But Caitlyn knew better than that. He wanted to run away from their father. In less than a week her father and Jay had fought more than in their entire lives.

Soon after, her house returned to normal. Family and friends stopped visiting, her brother was gone, and her father drank more than usual. Caitlyn didn’t mind because she was hardly home if she wasn’t at school, she was training or with her friends or studying in her room. She always had to clean and wash the mess Pat left. Dirty dishes were the first thing Caitlyn did when she went down to breakfast every morning, and at night she tidy up the living room and throw away the beer cans. Watching the game was her father’s excuse to drink.

That night she had stayed out late training and then went to a friend’s house to a small party she was throwing, When she returned home the lights were still on. Caitlyn went up the stairs and saw her father walking out of his room into the hallway with a bottle of beer in hand.

“You keep drinking huh?” she said looking at him.

“Shut up! Stop bothering me!”

And what happened then Caitlyn did not expect it, her father turned around and threw the beer bottle in his hand with such force that Caitlyn lost her balance and fell back down the stairs rolling down. She heard a door slam upstairs and tried to move from the strange position where she was but she gave a cry of pain; her left leg was killing her. She looked down but all she could see was her knee which had a vast bruise; she tried to reach it, but her wrist also hurt. She reached for the cell phone in her pocket to call 911. When the ambulance came, Pat didn’t even bother to get off.

When the doctor asked her what had happened, she said that she had lost her balance with her heels and that she had fallen down the stairs; it was not very far from what had happened. Caitlyn had already turned 18 two months ago, she did not need Pat to sign anything and despite Dr. Caitlyn’s questioning; she remained firm in her version of events. But for Caitlyn that night was the beginning of the end, she had dislocated her knee and kneecap which had rehabilitation for six to twelve weeks; she had sprained her ankle and broken her wrist. That night she said goodbye to her scholarship, she did not have enough time to recover on time and her getaway ticket had been destroyed.

----flashback----

“You deserve the hatred I gave you all these years because you turned the year that was supposed to be the best of my life into a living hell,” Caitlyn said as the memories hit her and she raised her voice “You were the reason I made so many bad decisions”

After that night, Caitlyn was lost without the scholarship and her future in California but also entered a path without direction. She felt that she had nothing to lose, so she started going to parties with her friends before she could never go to parties because she always trained early the next morning but now that she couldn’t, she started going out more. She couldn’t recover completely from her sprain; Caitlyn went to the doctor twice because she had fallen, because her ankle was still weak. One night when she returned from a party her father was still watching television and when she is an attack of anger tried to take away the beer from Pat, he twisted her wrist, causing it to break again. A week after that he threw a bottle into her again making a big cut into her arm and hand “You never showed even a little piece of sympathy for your only daughter, you didn’t even care”, she said with her broken voice, “You keep sending me to hospitals and you couldn’t even remember it, do you know how frustrating that was for me?”

Way long before that Pat was an especial person, the verbal abuse was the worst part, to Jay, to Will and to her “You broke this family, you turned it apart before mom died by underestimating Will and picking up on Jay”, she said while she kept talking to his grave “I couldn’t stop wondering… Why me?”

Autumn was beginning and living up to its name. The wind was blowing, and the leaves that flew around covered the cemetery. Caitlyn’s hair moved in the wind as she placed her hands in the pockets of her coat “You made me hate myself, being angry and so insecure all the time”, Caitlyn continued, “God! You even were part of my marriage, I wasn’t able to love anyone after you feared me apart, I deserved a great love and I let it go because I couldn’t get over you” Her tears fell while she remembered what it could have been of her marriage.

Caitlyn listened to the sound of the leaves of the trees moving as she took a deep breath “I wish you could have been a better father; you own my past but I’m tired of you defying my future”, she ended up lifting her chin and staring at the name engraved on the grave “You can’t control me anymore”

Caitlyn took a deep breath and turned away from Pat’s grave and walked back to the car. Her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. She gulped and tried to calm her voice before answering.

“What’s going on? I’ve been calling you for hours? I need to tell you something about the case, I found a clue,” Caitlyn to her partner when she answered the call.

“You can tell me on the scene, they found another body,” O.A informed her.

“I’m on my way”

When she hung up the phone, Caitlyn had lifted a weight out of her. She had not realized how much she needed to talk to her father and tell him what she thought even though he was already dead. She could finally move forward.

--------------------------------------------

Tag list:

@lovecatystuff @bethii1 @give-jack-a-lightsaber @lovingfanofupstead @thevelvetseries @proceduralpassion @chicagogirl2019 @cpdfan231 @bxrgesses @sadsot @onechicago-upsteadrhekker @anna4-7kendrick @anotheronechicagobog @halstudandruz @captainbucky-yt @itsdesiree86 @hereforthedale @cactiem @agntrostova @nhcwdw @anotherfan07 @thetwit

#chicago pd #chicago pd imagine #chicago med imagine #halstead sister #halstead reader #fbi cbs #fbi imagine #fbi imagines #fbi most wanted #fbi: most wanted #ken crosby #kenny crosby #kenny crosby imagine #chicago med #chicago pd fanfiction #fbi most wanted fanfiction #one chicago fanfic #one chicago imagine #sparks fly chxkc

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whatdoesshedotothem · 3 years

Text

Tuesday 28 May 1839

1 35/..

very fine morning at my desk at 8 ¼ having dressed A- who gets terrible in lowness high time to be off – she can do nothing she says if she is not with me – at A-‘s cottage rental till breakfast at 9 5/.. in about ½ hour – then came upstairs and wrote note to ‘Messrs. Parker and Adam solicitors Halifax’ to say I knew nothing of the demand of Messrs. Nelson – I had paid them all allowed by Mr. Harper – he expected here on the 5th of next month on his return from London and I had no doubt he would do all that was necessary respecting the letter addressed to P. and A. by Mr. David Crossley – then wrote to ‘Messrs. Hammersley and co. Bankers London’ to ask them to order by Messrs. Ferrère Laffitte and co the payment to Mr. Cusinberche ainé (of no. 27 Rue St. Victor, Paris) of 360 francs – and should be much obliged to Messrs. H- to get me a foreign office passport as usual for myself (Madam Anne Lister) and Miss Ann Walker (ma niece) and my 2 servants Christian and Catherine Gross – he German native of Weimar – she English – hope to be in London a few days – intending to proceed as direct as I conveniently can to St. Petersburg – passport to be visé at the ambassadors of Russia, Prussia, and Austria and by the ministers of Holland Denmark and Sweden – if any difficulty at the Russian embassy, can settle this while in town the other signatures being obtained – sent off this letter (and the note) by George at 11 ½ - A- had been sitting by me writing to her sister but her letter was not ready – at 11 ¾ had Hinscliffe – came to speak to A-but she asked me to go to him – said the lease (new coal agreement) should be ready for him to sign at Mr. Parkers’ office on Friday morning – he begged hard for the new term to be extended 2 years instead of one beyond the old term end in November 1842 – so that A- consenting his new agreement, will expire in November 1844 – then other talk – mismanagement of towns’ money etc – money thrown away in highway repairs – should be laid on in wet weather if laid on in dry – now – ½ to take off in dust – alluded particularly to dross – then talk about the Harpercliffe wood Sutherland coal loose – he said it was worth £10 a year to Mr. Whitley – but should be kept open for the Sutherland coal – and then afterwards kept open by W. and S- jointly and an acreage received for loosing other coal on Norwood green – more beds there than one – and tho’ the coal lower there than at Harpercliff wood, yet the water might be pumped into the Harpercliff wood loose by an engine – told H- he should agree with Mr. Whitley for that coal, and then with the Sutherlands – why! perhaps he might try – had talked to SW. about the Sutherland coal but could never get any answer – I said with regard to Whitley and Captain S- they had best pay one another an acreage, and then divide the acreage paid up all coal belonging to anybody else, or on the other side of the Leeds and Whitehall road – yes! H- thought that would be very fair – Hinscliffe kept me till 12 ¾ Holt and DB. being waiting for me – A- had had luncheon – went into the cellar and got her a pint bottle of Malmsey Madeira and then went back (had been a minute or 2 before) to Holt and DB. Had my little case-plan of the estate on the table, and talked over the line of maingates from A.P. to W.P. – long talk about this matter and pencilling out on the plan lines shewing board and end etc. etc. Holt seemed to come round to my plan of driving end and board from AP. all the way – he thought one turn would do – then went back to his own cross-cut-coal straight line – then to consider about it – he said my way would be more expensive in rails and yarding, and his would be a better maingates – to be well considered about – Holt to come tomorrow and DB. and the gates to be lined out – brought his bill, which including about £2 for A- = from last settling to the 11th instant (and all goings to Low moor at 5/. per time = £2) about £30 – His salary and Booths’ to be settled – he said either either he or DB. should seek custom – I said it would not do for him H- to do it – I should appoint DB. and make him agent, and send the offer to contract for ¼ the gas-house contract (=550 tons) at 8/. per ton in his name for me – I said all must be done for as little as it could – could Robert Mann take the engine, and Joseph be banksman at WP. H- said there would be enough for Joseph to do in the bottom by and by – and Robert as always settled to bank the coal at so much per score and run all risks – it seems then there will be work for the 2 Manns – said I could not well have 3 men at £50 per annum (JM. has 52 guineas a year) and pay Holt and Booth and all – true – but I must keep Robert Fielding the Low moor time out i.e. 6 months from the beginning of the engine – and then it seems Holt has an offer of a lad (Hanson) DV. vouched much for the family) at 13/. a week – told h- to think what he ought to have and what DB. ought to have to be set down to the colliery – they must remember not to oblige me to let the colliery; and if I could not make 3 1/2d. per load profit, I should be ill off – 4 1/4 loads per yard at 3 1/2d. = about £300 per acre or not much less – to consider about his own salary and DB-‘s and let me know tomorrow as also whether he would like to take Pump (John Oates’s) or not! – on telling h- on my first entering the room, or rather hinting at his folly about High royds, it was all talked over – H- thinks P- behaves ill – he said he would not take less than £2300 and H- did not expect that £2250 would ahve been taken of Stocks – but it seemed H- would have given this price himself tho’ he owned they never offered above £2200 – However JO. told him the other day. he was tired and would let him Pump if he liked – H- had told him, he could not do that, but he (Holt)

SH:7/ML/E/23/0053

would tell me what he had said – H- seemed not knowing how I should take it – I said immediately I should like nothing better than to be well rid of JO. and have H- in his place – told him the quantity of land – said I had made up my mind to have a new settlement with JO. pay no more for Hartleys’ cottage nor anything else, but for the farm as it now stood have a clear £60 a year – and would H- take it on those terms? but then said I turning to DB. perhaps there will want a good deal doing – H-‘s wife may want a drawing room, and then I must have the £60 a year for the land there will be without the piece let off to Mallinson which (tho’ I had at first said I would allow for it as it had best go with Mitham) I thought I ought to have – H- would still have 29DW. 8 perch. ------ what I had taken for coal-staith and reservoir which would not altogether be more than a DW.? this to be considered about DB. went with H- to shew him the land and talk things over – DB. to come here again this evening and Holt to give me an answer tomorrow – they welt at 3 ¼ and I came upstairs and till 4 25/.. (A- returned from Cliff hill about 4 10/..) wrote all but the 2 first lines of today – then had A- went down to Booth before 5 and with him an hour – talked over Holt, and the maingates and his having Pump at £60 – I should want £70 of anybody else – and would let him at £70 on the agreement but I would give him £30 per annum for looking after the colliery considering the ten pounds extra towards the rent so that he would sit at a rent of £40 a year in reality – I thought £20 per annum for Holt, and the same for Booth enough the one for measuring the coal works, the other for keeping at accounts – had B- till 6 – then with A- till 7 – pothering over her letter to her sister the Rookes coal loose – dinner to 7 10/.. to after 8 – A- and I out at 8 10/.. to 9 – some time on the low terrace – Robert and co. at getting scraplings on to to it and levelling it today but I have never been able to stir out the whole day – we walked to back Lodge (or where is to be) to Whiskam flat and round by the Lodge to the paddock water drift and hay barn – ½ the top end parpoint walled up – to be done tomorrow – began today – then scrambled home up the wood – coffee on coming in at 9 – [A-] read the newspaper while sat by me writing her journal – then read French and I came upstairs at 10 ¼ at which hour F56 ½° inside and 46 ½° outside – very fine day – then at A-‘s cottage rental and calculating and writing out outgoings till 12 40/.. tonight mine are twelve hundred independent of the colliery and hers six hundred and fifty –

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foxsimthings · 5 years

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for @shittysimblr‘s Cyrus King!

Party Animal | Bro - Professional Slacker - Self-Assured Young Adult | Mechanic

private dl if chosen hi hello howdy

Bio: (deals a bit with mental illness(Strangerville-related but still), substance abuse and sexual themes so please skip to the TL;DR to avoid details!)

It’s nothing short of a miracle that Jonesy O’Dowd is as well-adjusted as he is which, truthfully, isn’t all that much. Dad wasn’t around. His mother was never married, though she had three children to different men. Jonesy was the eldest, his two sisters four and six years younger than him, in kind. Their dads didn’t stick around either. Their mother, Orla, lived with the fear of scientist spies taking the place of everyone around her because she saw a UFO as a child. What she needed was help, but what she got was spurned by family, by friends and by a system that should have taken care of her.

Jonesy couldn’t look after all three of them. He knew what she did and said to her children was a symptom of her illness, a symptom of her fear and the thought that someone had taken her real children and replaced them with enemies. But he’d woken more than once to her tugging him into an embrace in the middle of the night, her hands reeking of gasoline and hand soap.

Living with someone whose idea of reality was warped was a bit like swirling around in space, never certain which way was really up or down. He questioned how real he was sometimes.

Jonesy couldn’t stay out of trouble to save his life. He got into drugs and booze early, too early to think that it would change him forever. All he knew then was that he hurt and he wanted it to stop. He didn’t want to be the only parent his sisters had. He didn’t want to have to care for his mother, to run errands because she feared what lay outside her house almost more than what was inside. Jonesy didn’t want to carry so much, and it was selfish and wrong but he couldn’t help hating them as a boy for needing him. Orla couldn’t work, and all they ever knew were her small disability checks that came every month.

Drugs, alcohol, fighting and sex proved as a way to escape it all. Not forever, but for a while. And maybe some part of him hoped that coming home fucked up, convulsing on the floor until the ambulance arrived would make his mother snap, make her kick him out so he didn’t have to face the guilt of leaving her and his sisters all alone. But she never did. He bought groceries with the money he made selling weed at school but never told them where it came from. Sometimes Orla would take his hands in her thin ones(she was always so thin, like food was also an enemy) and she kissed his knuckles and praised his courage. They were brittle moments that he imagined other children felt all the time with their mothers.

The O’Dowd children came home one day to firefighters at their home. Orla set fire to their bedroom and got trapped by the flames. And Jonesy was sad, as a son should be, but in a way he was relieved. In some sick horrible way, he was glad.

The girls were still a bit young, so they went off to live with their grandparents. Jonesy was eighteen, so he took his small inheritance and set off on his own. He attended trade school in the day and worked as a bouncer at night to pay for his schooling, selling a bit on the side to make some extra cash. When he was through, he secured himself a job at an autoshop in San Myshuno. Something about it felt cathartic; he felt that the O’Dowds had always worked with their hands.

No longer working nights, it was back to partying. At first it was just the weekends but soon it was weeknights as well. He didn’t know when to stop. He had a reputation in bars and clubs for being an absolute lunatic; always ready for a fight, ready for shots, to do a line in the bathroom, to take home the first pretty thing to look his way. Passersby could hear Jonesy O’Dowd’s whooping laughter from the street. And after partying it up with Cyrus King and Don Lothario all these nights, it only seems natural that they take it up a level; partying on TV, of course!

That, and it’s as good a time as any to tell his old friend how he feels by... showing up on his... love... romance show thing... right?

Bio TL;DR: • born to a single mom, eldest of three with two sisters • mom lived with the belief and fear that spies were trying to replace her children • Trouble Incarnate. got into drugs, sex and booze way too young and got into shit at school for fighting. surprisingly never got caught selling pot at school but definitely did • mom passed away in a fire she lit when he was 18 • he went off to live on his own, attending trade school and working nights • now a mechanic, parties hard af at night and is semi-functional by day

Personality: • party animal to a T. Jonesy loves good music, dancing, drinking games, honestly the whole party scene is where he belongs • not altogether truthful. Jonesy loves telling tall tales about himself to keep the truth at bay, and it kind of trickles down into just not being honest as much as he should be • scrappy little weasel. Jonesy loves to fight and will throw hands with anyone for any reason, though he almost never takes it personally, he just likes to tussle • in a crowd he’s a lunatic and usually the life of the party, but one on one Jonesy’s a pretty warm guy, if a cheeky bastard • he has a hard time taking things seriously and there’s almost no scenario in which he can’t or won’t crack a joke. he loves making people laugh and has replaced being a well-adjusted man with being funny af • always running from, hiding or smothering the things that hurt. he doesn’t know how to cope with pain, just kinda... smoosh other things on top of it until he forgets

Fun Facts: • very Irish accent, sometimes a little hard to decipher • a surprisingly good singer, will break out an Irish drinking song at the drop of a hat • he did meet his dad once, it ended in a fight in the street and Jonesy spending a few hours in a holding cell • sent a dick pic to Judith Ward • has piercings in places that see the light of day more often than they should • sends a bit of money to his sisters every month to make sure they’re doing alright • his shortest relationship lasted less than twelve hours; they got together in the evening, he made waffles in the morning, she told him she doesn’t like waffles and he broke up with her • has pretty rough and scarred hands from working with machinery • fell asleep with a cigarette in his mouth and burned his couch • is 6′3″, very gangly boy • broke his nose falling out of the back of a truck. it wasn’t moving, he just fell.

🎵 And ya boy unedited, uncut and unsober.

#bc entry #cyrus king #shittysimblr #just don't read this actually it's fine

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riderdrauggrim · 4 years

Text

Day Unknown. Sat, Sep 26, 2020.

Nervous about randomly hiding in 4G Motorsports parking lot, I'm awake a few short hours later around 6:30. I have the tent packed by 8:30, and huddle beside the bike, waiting for staff.

9:00 rolls around and I approach the doors, making my way back to the Parts/Service desk. A young woman who's family shifts her between Alberta and Toronto seems thrilled to meet someone else from Ontario. We check if they have a replacement battery in stock. They do not. And their mechanics are not in on the weekends.

But!

There's a MAGNACHARGE Battery megaemporium RIGHT across the street!

Heartened my luck might be improving, I trot over.

Nope.

They're closed on weekends.

I trot back to 4G, on the way calling Riverside Honda in St. Albert, the blokes who'd changed my tires. They sold their last YTZ14S on Friday. BUT they'd ordered more and they should arrive at the start of this coming week.

I run over my problems with their parts guy. He suggests I remove the battery and try starting the bike with another random battery attached; That might be able to isolate if it is my battery or my starter system/charging stator/rectifier/words.

Sounds good.

Back at 4G I ask if they have a charger or a booster. The parts girl knows where a tender is, but not how to use it. It's okay, I do. They graciously let me push the bike inside their service bay so I can tinker on it, good thing too as it starts to drizzle outside.

So! My battery: Out and Charging.

My bike: New battery hooked up to test the ignition.

My key: In the ignition, turning to activate the bike-*Crack*.

One of the few flaws I've found with the NC750 design is the key is needed in a secondary lock. Turn one way to unlock the frunk (front trunk) where the gas tank USUALLY sits on a motorcycle. Turn the other way to unlock the latch securing the passenger seat, this allowing you to lift it up to reveal the gas cap to fill the tank, which sits under the rider. The problem with this lock is the key does not fully insert. It's about 3/4 depth to the ignition proper.

Over time, this has created something of a weak point on the key itself, occasionally twisting ever so slightly if too much pressure is applied, if the latches are sticky, or the frunk is overfull and a bit jammed. This was usually corrected by sticking the key in and turning it the other way, straightening the blade out again. For this trip, due to the tail luggage making lifting the passenger seat incredibly difficult at best, I had opted to outright remove the pillion cover, leaving the gas cap exposed for easy access. All I needed the secondary lock for was to get in and out of the frunk, which I was doing several times a day to fetch out Goose and Hat, or store drinks, or change power banks.

Perhaps it was this excess of one direction twisting that finally did the blade in.

Perhaps it was just six years of use and wear.

Perhaps life just wanted to take the difficulty level up a notch.

In any event.

I was left holding the top quarter of my key. The remainder still inside the ignition. Even if I can get a new battery, I can now no longer turn on the bike.

My coworker who helped fund this adventure texts me to see how things are going. I tell him my key just snapped in half. He says if I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. We discuss options. I'm 3,505 km from home. I'm 427 km from the nearest Honda dealership. I just want to Abandon Quest and Hearthstone out of here, but that's not an option. So I work through various plans.

I call Riverside back and get the Service department. Nick remembers me. I fill him in on the last twelve hours. "Wow." Indeed. He puts me on hold and consults his coworkers. If I can get it there, they'll try and squeeze me in and get this sorted. Some people have good luck using super glue to get broken keys out and then jury rigged back together. With my luck, I'll make a mess and fuse the tumblers and need an entirely new ignition system. The key is also a newer blade style, not a normal tooth house lock key. It's supposed to be stronger, amusingly enough. But it's not the sort of thing local locksmiths should be able to replicate, it needs a Dealership. So even if I got a Fort McMurray locksmith to fish the main part out, if he can't make a new one, I still can't Go.

AND there's the pressing matter of the battery.

During all this my battery on the tender has completed charging. I restore it into the bike, or try to, as the damn nut in the contact for the red lead slips out of the holder and falls precisely through the ONE (1) hole at the bottom of the compartment and somewhere onto the engine block. I don't hear it hit the belly pan, and wedging my fingers into every nook, curve and cranny yields nothing but grimy hands.

I call CAA anew. I get the same woman as the night before, so that helped since she already knew the first part of this story. I now have Multiple Problems that can not be fixed locally. St. Albert is outside the Alberta tow range of 350km. But my membership is from Niagara, and I'm covered for 500km. She calls them to approve it. They say 'of course'. One hurdle down.

She contacts the tow company. New hurdle.

Due to the nine hour round-trip commute, they don't run every single broken vehicle south to Edmonton every time someone breaks down. They wait for multiple items, load them all on a long truck, and do a couple runs a week. So. Yes, they can get my bike to St. Albert. Eventuallllyyyyy.

I get it; from a logistics and efficiency and financial perspective it makes perfect sense.

From a "but... my bike..." and waiting for a nebulous amount of time in a hotel somewhere just for it to get TO the mechanics, nevermind the unknown timeframe of the shop having time to look at it, figure out what's wrong, order new parts if needed, and install them.... Hrrrggggnnnnn.

So EMI came with the short bed and picked up the bike from 4G. The logic being, now it's in their secure compound, ready to go, and when they have a load ready, they'll shove it on and take it south for me. Solid.

How do -I- get back to Edmonton.

Well, there's several buses that run the corridor, presumably for the mine workers to get up and back around their shift days. Awesome!

Oh but they don't run again until Monday. Less awesome!

But what can you do.

My bike won't leave until monday at the /earliest/ anyway, so me being there any sooner really makes no difference.

I book a ticket - cheap at 65$! For a nearly five hour trip? I paid 85$ plus tip for the 20 minute taxi ride from Supertest Hill to Fort McMurray the night prior.

Leaving Monday at 8:30am, arrive near downtown Edmonton. Found a hotel for 80$ within a block of Riverside Honda, not as cheap as my beloved Whitemud, but Whitemud Inn being at the south center of the Edmonton bubble, I'd be paying more than the 15$ a night difference in a cab to get up to St. Albert region. So I'll be right nearby the bike if we can get it going, or I need something from my bags.

In the meantime.

I found an RV campsite literally next door to the bus stop. I called the owner and explained my experiances, and my need for somewhere to simply hide in a tent until Monday morning. Sure, I could try and hide -anywhere-, but for my own safety, and nerves, if I can do this cheap and legal, the better for it. She says she can help me out. She offers a site for a price considerably cheaper than the nearby hotels, which I of course agree to. It's a twenty minute walk from 4G, made longer by hauling two drybags of tent/sleeping bag and essentials, and a third partial of food. Plus wearing my gear. And being somewhat small and scrawny. I take several rests. I drink my Gatorades. I make it. She has the sweetest tabby cat with white socks, no tail, and the SOFTEST fur. Name 'Trouble'. Awwww.

Transaction complete, I set up my tent, kindly serenaded by a curious magpie.

I hear a nearby RV owner pull up, truck doors closing, and then I see a giant white monster making a beeline straight for me. My best guess would be Lab/Samoyed. The head was very much the rectangle block and jowls of a lab, but the pelt was definitely a living cloud. It gives an very quick sniff at my tent, and promptly accepts me petting it. I realize I've been pet-starved during my journey. All my stress is put on pause as I scruffle the heck out of this random dog's sides. In fact, twice I tried to move one hand to teach for my phone for a photo, and he turned in annoyance to see why I'd partially stopped. I hear a woman calling, and ask if he needs to go. He makes no move. In fact he tries to push backwards closer. On a whim, I drop to my rear and make a bowl with my legs. He promptly fills said bowl with his rump. Me on my butt and him on his haunches, I came up to his shoulders.

Good dog.

A woman shouts again, more insistent. I give him a bump with my leg. He resigns himself to getting up and heading home. I realize the owner can't see us, so I pop up and apologize for stealing her dog. She realizes he hadn't just ran off for no reason, and laughs, saying he loves people. Yes, I had learned this.

I needed that.

There's a valley beside the camp ground.

The trees are spent matchsticks, grey and charred and empty against the sky. New growth slowly fills in around the dead wood. I don't know if this is a remainder of the BIG fire of 2016, or another more recent event. It's a staggering amount of devastation, and only a small fragment of the damage done.

The clouds out here... I love skyscapes.

Beautiful.

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swpbubble · 4 years

Text

THE ROYAL DALLIANCE

Volkswagen turned on the road of Neptune valley, near to Nrityadham Villiage, Bengaluru. It was a foggy morning. Zane borrowed Nilopher’s car to bring his lab material from the underground market. Nilopher had called him yesterday night about the new case. He was heading towards her home.

“Two packets?” He asked the shopkeeper.

“Sixty rupees sir” Shopkeeper handed over the coffee packets to Zane. Zane kept it in a bag.

He reached quickly to Nilopher’s place.

“What’s that?” Nilopher pointed at the bag.

“Best Material for Americano! Fresh coffee beans from Chikmagalur” Zane answered. “What we are up to?”

“A pre-wedding meeting turns out into murder,” Nilopher answered. “Groom and Bride were going to meet for the first time and someone poisoned the groom”

She was working on her laptop.

“So why we are not at the crime scene?” Zane asked.

“We are going there Zane, tickets are booked.” She answered.

“We are not taking a car?”

“No, the place is much far so we are taking flight. Tomorrow morning.”

“Where we are going?” Zane asked.

“Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Go to your place and pack your bags.” Nilopher replied.

“International case! Awesome!” Zane was excited.

“I’ll tell you rest on the flight, tomorrow morning come to my house and we’ll go to the airport,” She said and started packing her bags for the journey ahead. Zane also went back home to take his bags and equipment.

The next day they both went to Bengaluru airport from Nilopher’s house. After boarding the flight and take off, breakfast was served. Over breakfast, Nilopher explained the details.

“So we are going to Delft Island, which is near Jaffna. Local cops told me the murderer used the poison. They found a syringe and inside it, they found residue of Cyanide.”

“Hmmm….Then he must have died in minutes” Zane.

“Murdered person was the Prince Tavish from Dravidians Royal Family from the famous Five Dravidians descendant from India who settled in Sri Lanka later on. Few days before Prince Tavish returned from the University of Pennsylvania after pursuing a Post-graduation in Economics. His marriage was decided with princess Kiyoma from the Royal Sinhalese family. Princess was also studying in America at Stanford University. She had an accident before she came back here from Stanford, She got her face burned in that so she did plastic surgery before she came. Prince and Princess met before back in America. The marriage was decided by the Royal family a few weeks ago so they were meeting for the first time as a future Groom and Bride. The meeting venue was the tower house near to the Royal Palace of the Dravidian family. They were just two of them while meeting. Apart from them, Princess Kiyoma’s Mother, her brother was there for the wedding. In Prince Tavish’s family which includes his parents, uncle, his older brother, apart from the one family lawyer were all present for this wedding. Princess said she saw one person came, pushed her and forcefully injected poison in the neck of the prince, opened the window and ran. According to the police, report poison was injected in the Jugular vein so that it can affect strongly. One footwear print of murderer near to window before he jumped and one the ground where he jumped was found but they disappeared over the grass. “

“Any suspects?” Zane asked.

“No. No one saw the murderer or any person running from the tower house. No fingerprints that mean murderer wore gloves and no one has seen anyone entering in that house, that means murderer must be waiting for them.” Nilopher gave further information.

“Chances of heist? Or robbery?” Zane asked further.

“Nil. Nothing disappeared so this is only cold-blooded murder.”

“Awful, let’s see, the first case in Sri Lanka” Zane murmured.

The plane landed in Jaffna Airport.

“How are we suppose to go there?” Zane asked after disembarking the flight and arriving at the Airport terminal.

“Prince Tavish’s mother sending the Car and then yacht for seaways,” Nilopher informed. They collected their baggage and went out of the arrival hall. There, they found one board with their names on it and a driver in a uniform. They showed him their ID's and he took their baggage to the car.

“Is that our ride?” Zane was surprised.

It was Rolls Royce Ghost. Black and shining in Sri Lankan Sun.

“It’s Royal Family, what do you expect?” Nilopher smiled.

They traveled for almost one hour to reach Kurikadduwan Harbour. The yacht with the crest of Royal Family was waiting for them. They started their journey on the yacht and reached the castle in half-hour. Prince Tavish’s mother was waiting for them. Palace also had royal security. It was impressive. They went to the Royal Palace. The hall was large, antiques were placed neatly, stairs were made up of marble. Paintings of past Kings were on the wall which had ivory frames. Behind the stairs, there was a passage which lead to different rooms.

“We are very sorry for your loss madam. I’ll do my best to help you.” Nilopher said to Prince’s Mother.

“I’m glad you are here detective. It’s been four days and cops have nothing” She said angrily.

After some introductory talks, Nilopher went straight to the crime scene. Tower house was not far away from the royal palace. It was there on the right side of the palace. They went to the tower house. The crime scene was on the ground floor. The chief inspector was already there in his uniform. Nilopher started observing carefully. Zane started to note down some details. It was a small room of a tower house, windows had curtains which suited royal structure. Walls were made up of black stones. One baccarat vase was broken on the marble flooring and some were shattered over the flooring.

She looked at the chalk outline representing the dead body’s position.

“Everything is as it is? Or anything contaminated?” She asked the Chief inspector.

“Everything is as it is.” He replied.

One White rose bouquet was lying Next to the Chalk outline. Flowers were dry and crumpled.

“Why they are still here?” Nilopher asked.

“We are clearly instructed to not contaminate the crime scene and to not remove anything even if it is less important.” Chief Inspector replied.

“They might be from that broken vase,” Zane said.

“No, the maid said they were not here in the first place. The prince must have brought those for the princess. We thought you might examine them as well” Chief Inspector said.

“For what purpose?” She asked. “I’m not sure if they are useful, but you can keep it as crime scene material.” She said.

“Forensic reports?” Zane asked.

“As we told you before. Death by poison”

“And what about this?” Nilopher pointed at the coffee table. A teapot with two cups was placed there.

“Refreshment. Maid delivered this before prince and princess arrived for a meeting.” Chief Inspector said.

“One cup had less tea than others,” Zane observed.

“Someone might have taken some” Chief Inspector said.

“Did you examine?” Nilopher asked.

“No need. We found a syringe hole already on the dead body.” Chief inspector replied.

Still, Zane put some drops from the teacup in a little glass container.

“Can I have footwear print’s samples?” Nilopher asked.

Chief Inspector handed over the photographs and impressions to Nilopher.

“No doubt this is men’s footwear. Photographs and impressions of footwear print clear everything. Foot dimension shows statistically significant asymmetry which is found in males only. Since our murderer is a man, we can assume some potential suspects. And if we look at the average length of the left and right footwear print, our suspect that is murderer must be 6’ to 6’5” tall” Nilopher pointed details.

She went to the place where the murderer jumped and observed the area along with Zane and Chief inspector. There was only a large area covered with trees and undergrowth.

“Difficult to track further footprints,” Zane said.

“We have enough,” Nilopher replied. “Let’s go back to the palace.”

Prince Tavish’s mother was waiting for them. A young gorgeous lady was standing by her side.

“She must be the princess,” Zane said.

“Hello, detectives” Princess greeted.

“You must be princess Kiyoma. My sympathies for your loss.” Nilopher said.

“Have you found anything?” Princess asked.

“We are on it, don’t worry your highness, we’ll find murderer soon,” Zane said.

“You didn’t remember the murderer’s face?” Nilopher asked.

“He was masked,” Princess said.

“Tell me everything, since you arrived in the tower house,” Nilopher said.

“I went to the tower house as decided by us. Prince Tavish was waiting for me, having his tea. He gave me roses. We were talking about the wedding plans and then the murderer came from nowhere. He pushed me and forcefully injected something on Prince’s neck and ran away from the window. First I was in trauma, then I started shouting. Guards came but they didn’t find anyone” Princess answered.

“Who else lives here?” Nilopher asked the Prince’s mother.

“Prince’s father, brother and his uncle. And Princess Kiyoma’s mother and brother are here for the wedding” Prince’s mother said.

“Maids and servants?”

“Six housemaids, two chefs, and four butlers”

“Can I see them?”

“Yes, of course,” Prince’s mother said.

In the next minute, eleven servants were present in front of them.

“You said you had twelve servants,” Nilopher asked.

“Yes mam, But Rayuga, the new butler left the island yesterday night. His mother is infirm due to pneumonia.” Chef said.

“Interesting” Zane was curious.

“You allowed him to leave?” Nilopher asked the chief inspector.

“I had no idea about this, plus he wasn’t a suspect” Inspector replied.

“Pardon me Princess Kiyoma?” one of the handmaiden said.

“Yes?” She replied.

“You have a courier from Stanford, courier boy delivered this few minutes ago,” she said.

“Thank you. That must be my friend. She told me she’ll send me a wedding gift.” She took the courier.

“You want to ask more questions?” she asked Nilopher.

“No, that would be enough for now.” Nilopher allowed her to leave.

Just then, Prince’s rest of the family arrived.

“Zane, go with the Chief Inspector and see the evidence if they examined syringe then bring the report copy. I’ll talk with family members” Nilopher said to Zane.

After talking with Prince’s family, she went to a safe house. Prince’s mother ordered a handmaiden to make arrangements for their to stay in a safe house which was on the left side of Royal Palace. It was a nice and homely wooden cottage. She was waiting for Zane to arrive with reports. He came back to the safe house and they highlighted the points of the case.

“Well like they said, syringe contained residue of cyanide,” Zane said. “What did you get?”

“Prince Tavish’s family members are kind. His father, the King himself, he was planning to give his 75% inheritance to the Prince Tavish which was opposed back a month ago by his elder son. His elder son that is another prince, was looking sad too, and his uncle, quite mysterious. I don’t think he has any condolences for the late prince. Access for the tower house during the meeting was given to the maid who delivered tea, the old butler who made arrangements and Prince’s new butler who left the island last night. Prince Tavish’s father, brother, and uncle, all have a height between 6’ to 6’5’’ and so as our murderer. The curious thing about that butler who left last night also has a height about 6’1’’. He is a former chemist. About Princess Kiyoma, I haven’t seen any cicatrix or sign of plastic surgery on her face, it can be hidden easily, just a proper makeup since she is the princess I’m sure she is taking care of that.” Nilopher told him everything.

“What about a maid?”

“Old, extremely predisposed towards late Prince. She was in agony. Trustable person and the other butler, he is out of the equation, he is serving the Royal family since he was nineteen so he is a trustworthy person.” Nilopher was very clear.

“So the late prince’s father, brother, uncle and a butler who is not present are our primary suspects,” Zane concluded.

“See, the late prince’s elder brother had a fight for his right, but the King didn’t listen, so he is the victim of usurpation. Prince Tavish was a hindrance to him and that’s why he had the perfect reason to commit this murder, But he also seemed very attached to his brother so it is a little confusing. On the other side, the late prince’s uncle, he didn’t seem so much affected by this tragedy. I spoke with his butler he did inform me that Prince’s uncle is debauch and pervert. He might not look for the inheritance but possibly he might have the notion of despise for his brother and his nephews. Now, I am concentrating particularly on these two men, height between 6’ to 6’5’’ and the reason for crime and again, ‘But’, they are smart enough not to do that themselves. So here the butler whose absence is bothering me comes into the picture. It might be a coincidence but he is 6’1’’. I’ve seen his identity documents. So I told the Chief Inspector to send his men for him. Let’s see.”

“And the sample of tea we collected? What about it?” Zane asked.

“We are going to examine it by tomorrow, Chief Inspector is allowing us to examine it in the forensic laboratory,” Nilopher said.

They went to the laboratory the next morning with the Chief Inspector.

“I still don’t understand why you are running a test on tea? We already found a syringe hole on the neck of the dead body ” Chief Inspector was curious.

“Believe me, it’s worthy enough,” Nilopher said and started the test.

“Botulinum toxin!” Nilopher exclaimed after running a test for 20 minutes.

“You mean a different poison was there in the tea?” The chief inspector asked.

“Yes, in very capable amount” Nilopher.

“So, we can conclude that the plotting of murder was not only for Prince Tavish but also for Princess Kiyoma” Zane was surprised.

“Yes, but the princess didn’t have tea so she survived. “ Nilopher said.

“How did you know that the tea was poisoned?” The chief inspector was impressed.

“Teapot, it had stain pink lines on edges which indicate clostridium, an element found in Botulinum toxin” Nilopher explained.

“I believe you detective but we’ll have to cross-check your finding with our experts as per the laws and I’ll put some guards for princess’s protection,” Chief inspector said.

“We have to take that maid in custody. She was the one who delivered that tea in a tower house.” Zane suggested.

“As I said, she is trustworthy. The murderer might have poisoned tea after she delivered it. As per our assumption, the murderer was already in the room.” Nilopher said. “Let’s cross-examine our suspects.”

They went to the Royal Palace and started cross-examination one by one with Chief Inspector in the last room behind the stairs of the hall of Royal palace.

“Where were you when this happened?” Nilopher asked.

“I was in my room,” Prince’s Tavish uncle said.

“Doing what?”

“Reading”

“Your room is near to the tower house as compared to others.”

“What? Stop this false allegation. I’ve nothing to do with it” He was angry.

“I didn’t put allegations, sir, I said your room is near to the tower house so you might have seen some movements or bustle? “

“No, I haven’t” He answered.

“Okay, you can go and send the Prince’s brother for questioning,” Nilopher said.

She moved further towards Prince’s brother.

“I heard you and your father had some difficulties in inheritance,” Nilopher said.

“That’s not a concern in my brother’s death.” He said.

“Where were you when this happened?”

“Jaffna, to find a lawyer who will help me in this inheritance problem.”

“Did you find one?”

“No, as soon as I heard the news I came back”

“That would be enough,” Nilopher said.

She was going to discuss the facts of the crime with Zane and Chief Inspector in the room.

“Detective, The King insists you join in lunch along with Chief Inspector ” Maid arrived from the passage of the palace and conveyed the message.

“Royal Order” Zane smiled.

After lunch, Nilopher and Zane were leaving towards a safe house, The Chief inspector was leaving back to a police station and suddenly a voice came from behind them.

“Detective?” A young man was coming towards them.

“This is Princess Kiyoma’s brother.” Chief Inspector provided the information.

“May I speak with you?” He asked.

“Yes please.”

“Is my sister’s life in danger?”

“Not now, she is safe,” Chief inspector said.

“She refuses to have bodyguards. She never refused them before. She is behaving particularly odd, must be frightened after what happened. But she loved to play the violin. She didn’t even touch that since she came. She loved to spent time with our horses, she hasn’t visited stable since she arrived. She is being very quite.”

“I’ve noticed that too she is very quiet. Can I ask you questions?” Nilopher asked.

“Yes, sure”

“She did plastic surgery, did she told you before she had it?”

“No, in fact, she told us after she had the surgery. Sometimes it’s odd to accept that’s my sister. We should be getting used to her new face but it’s difficult.”

“Can you get us her plastic surgery reports?”

“I’ll try,” He said.” See you later detective and officer.” And left.

“Sent me a copy of that.” Chief inspector said.

“Why did you asked for her plastic surgery reports?” Zane asked.

“It’s suspicious if the poison was there in the tea then it was meant for both Prince and Princess. She didn’t have that tea. And if a murderer wanted them both dead then how did he simply pushed the princess and attacked only the prince?” Nilopher wondered.

“You are saying the murderer only wanted to kill the prince?” The chief inspector asked.

“I’m saying this case is getting more and more confusing. If the Prince’s uncle and brother are saying the truth, then they were not at the murder spot. Had one of them hired that butler for killing prince? Particularly that butler because the Royal security is very impressive, for an outside assassin it’s impossible to reach that close and escape after the murder, and the important one, whether the princess is involved in all this? Or is Princess real?” Nilopher said.

“More mysteries to solve,” Zane said. They took leave of the Chief Inspector and left towards the safe house. In the evening they went to the head of Royal security to inquire about the name of the people who came and went on the day of the murder. They couldn’t get any lead from that. So they came back.

The next morning, Nilopher received a call from Princess’s brother.

“What did he said?” Zane asked.

“She didn’t bring her surgery reports here, left-back at Stanford,” Nilopher said.

“So we have to run a DNA test?” Zane said.

“Possibly,” Nilopher said and her phone beeped. She received a Text from Chief inspector stating the absconding butler has returned to Royal palace. ‘’ Let’s go, Zane. I’ll tell the inspector to bring his forensic team for a DNA test.”

They went to the Royal Palace. The chief inspector was already there with the butler. He said to Nilopher, the butler was telling truth, his mother was admitted to hospital because of pneumonia.

“Where were you when this happened?” Nilopher asked the butler.

“In the garden, King found me handier with plants. As Prince Tavish was outside of the country most of the time so I was also given the gardening duties by the King. I was a chemist so I have a better knowledge of pesticides ” He answered.

“Like you have knowledge of poisons?” Zane asked.

“No sir, that’s out of my capabilities.” He said.

“One way or another we will make you talk.” The chief inspector warned the butler.

“I have nothing to do with Prince Tavish’s murder sir, please believe me,” the Butler said.

“You can not go out of the island unless this case is solved.” Chief inspector said to him.

“Okay, you can go,” Nilopher said.

“Why did you asked for the forensic team?” Inspector asked Nilopher.

“We have to take blood samples of the princess” She replied.

Then they came out in the hall. The chief inspector asked the princess to come in the hall for further process. Princess arrived with her mother.

“I said only princess” Chief Inspector said.

“My daughter is frightened after what happened. I’m not going to leave her alone anymore. She needs support” Her mother said.

“We need to take a blood sample of Princess Kiyoma for investigation.” Chief inspector said.

“No, this is an insult!” Princess Kiyoma’s mother shouted.

“This is standard procedure madam, we have to follow it, and right now your daughter is the only one who was present at the murder spot.’’ The chief inspector tried to explain to her.

“I’m not allowing this” Her mother was furious.

“It’s okay mother, I’ll do whatever they said, if it helps to find a murderer then I will do it” She took her right sleeve up and co-operated very well.

After collecting the blood sample, they went back to the safe house.

“You know Zane, that blood sample is only our hope. It will reveal so many answers because I did contact Stanford, they agreed to the fact that the accident happened and the princess's face suffered burns.” Nilopher said.

“You take this sample to the laboratory for the DNA test,” Zane said to the Chief inspector.

“I’ll inform you the result, “ Chief inspector said and he left.

The next morning Nilopher and Zane were talking about more possibilities of murder.

“What if Princess did this all by herself?” Nilopher said.

“That’s impossible. Prince was strong, he had the strength to protect himself as compared to the princess” Zane said.

Nilopher's phone rang. She spoke for a minute.

“What happened?” Zane asked.

“Chief inspector said DNA reports are very clear. She is Princess Kiyoma.” Nillopher said.

“What to do now?”

“We have to go to the palace, apologize to the princess and let's see the crime scene one more time, maybe we’ll find something.” She said.

They went to the Royal Palace.

“We need to see the crime scene one more time,” Nilopher said to the king.

“This is the last time Ms. Nichols. This time if you don’t find anything, you can go back to India. You insulted our daughter in law.“ King said angrily and went away.

They were heading towards the crime scene with Zane. Nilopher saw a maid was preparing the cloths for the laundry.

“You seem busy” Nilopher smiled at her.

“Yes detective, it’s Princess’s costume. She was very sad to see this costume, that’s what she wore on the day Prince Tavish got murdered.

“Can we see his room?” Nilopher asked.

“Sure, I’ll take you there. It’s in the palace” the maid said and led them to Prince’s room.

“Was prince dear to you?” Zane asked.

“Prince Tavish was a good man. He was always dear to me. He loved my food instead of the Royal Chef’s food. I knew him to form the days when he was a child. Here, this is his room, all things are as it is.”

It was a big room. His study books were arranged properly. The bed was clean. His rifle, which he used for hunting was tied on the wall and near to one big painting.

“Was this Prince Tavish?” Nilopher asked.

“Yes, madam. This was our prince.” Maid said.

“How did I missed this?” Nilopher left the room and ran towards the safe house.

“Hello? we were supposed to look at the crime scene.” Zane ran behind her.

“No need Zane, I got a theory. And yes, you are going to America.” Nilopher was excited.

Four days later Nilopher went to the royal palace with the chief inspector and local cops. Everybody was summoned by the Chief inspector.

“Ms. Nichols, did you get any clue?” Prince’s mother asked.

“We are here to arrest the murderer,” Chief Inspector said.

“You are under arrest for committing the murder of Prince Tavish and kidnapping” Chief inspector cuffed Princess Kiyoma.

“Are you out of your mind officer? She is a Princess. She didn’t kill the Prince. And kidnapping? Whose?” King asked.

“She kidnapped Princess Kiyoma sir. The Real princess Kiyoma.” Chief inspector said. “Detective Nilopher will explain to you everything. It was brilliant planning.”

“Detective?” King was confused.

“I’ll tell you everything, your highness. She murdered Prince Tavish in the tower house.”

“But according to your deduction, the murderer was a man. You found footwear prints.” Princess Kiyoma’s brother said.

“Yes, sir. I analyzed footwear prints. According to analysis footwear prints belongs to man, whose height is nearly 6’ to 6’5’’. According to that, we found four suspects, Prince Tavish’s father, brother, uncle and the butler Rayuga. They all have height in between 6’ to 6’5’’. We found the king is in agony. He wouldn’t kill his son, then who else? His brother had reason to kill him for the inheritance. But I found the attachment between two brothers. We checked CCTV footage of Jaffna streets and confirmed that he was not in this place when this incident happened. So who left? His uncle. His room is near to the tower house as compared to others. But the man of his age can’t do this crime that fast. And the butler Rayuga, he was telling truth about his mother so he got negated. Now the question is who else can commit the murder? After seeing the painting of Prince Tavish in his room, I realize that his face is similar to his father. What else can be similar between his father, brother, and uncle? The height. If Prince’s father’s, brother’s and uncle’s height are in the range between 6’ to 6’5’’, Prince Tavish’s height must lie between that range. It is a Simple hereditary logic. The footwear prints we found belonged to none other than Prince Tavish. Our fake princess imprinted those footwear prints with the help of Prince Tavish’s shoes and cleaned those shoes so that the Chief inspector will not found any marks of dust and soil on the shoes and after that, she shouted for help. Perfect diversion. Well, if we consider strengths, there is no chance one on one fight would have happened. The Prince somehow couldn’t resist her attack. But how? What else was there? Then I found the answer…..THE ROSES. The fake princess told us the exact opposite of what transpired. It was not the prince who reached the tower house first, she went before him. She poisoned the tea, but she was not sure that whether he’ll drink it or not that’s why she brought roses. It’s very fortunate that we took that roses as the crime scene material. I examined those, and I found another poison, Aconite, commonly known as Wolf’s bane. She didn’t revealed herself until Prince smelled those roses, Wolf’s bane went to his lungs, he found himself numbing, she took the advantage of that and injected Cyanide. Death in minutes.”

Everyone was shocked to hear this revelation.

Nilopher continued, “ We didn’t found any fingerprints on the syringe, this mystery was solved when I saw the maid was taking Princess’s costume to the laundry. Her costume which she wore on that day, included gloves, So there was no need to use other gloves as protection. When I saw the crime scene I was hoping that I’ll find gloves somewhere. But I couldn’t.”

Nilopher took a deep breath.

“Her idea for DNA test was remarkable! She used a ‘Penrose Drain’ for fooling DNA test. ‘Penrose Drain’ is nothing but a soft flexible rubber tube used as a surgical drain, she implanted that to not get caught in the DNA test. She implanted it exactly in the lower side of her elbow, She used the makeup aptly to hide the marks of implantation. and she did give her the right hand for a blood tests. But for that, she required the blood of the real Princess. Where she got that? You must remember my first interaction with you all, a courier arrived as a wedding present for the fake princess. The wedding present was nothing but a blood sample of a real princess. She knew the day will come and someone will surely ask for a DNA test. She was prepared. I asked her handmaiden about the courier company and the Chief inspector checked the courier services records, the courier which our fake princess received was under allowances of medical material. I don’t think wedding gift requires medical allowances so surely, it was a blood sample. A perfect plot.”

Nilopher took step towards the fake princess.

“The fake princess is Rebecca Symondson from Pennsylvania. Postgraduate in epidemiology, topper in her class and skilled in botany. She was in the same collage of late Prince Tavish. She plotted an accident that is responsible for the face damage of the real princess. After that, she kidnaped her and kept her in her own apartment. When I dug into this, I found the accident actually happened. But, there are no records of any kind of plastic surgery in the name of Princess Kiyoma. My colleague Mr. fox released her with the help of local cops in Pennsylvania and captured Rebecca’s companion. Rebecca’s companion had been paid for feeding princess and making sure that she will not make any voice.”

Nilopher took one more step towards her.

“You used three poisons to kill the Prince. You must have a very significant amount of rage and anger inside. And that kind of rage and anger come only if you love that person.”

“Oh, I loved him” the fake princess Rebecca answered. “I loved him more than my life. He betrayed me, after betraying me he fooled my sister, he promised her to marry her. She was pregnant because of him. Your Prince might be a noble man here but out of your sight he was a debauch, impertinent and scoundrel. My sister committed suicide just because of him, his lies and treachery” Tears of anger were coming out of her eyes.

“Why did you stay? Why didn’t you left this country after you killed him?” Nilopher asked.

“I wanted his family to suffer as my family did. I wanted justice. I was going to kill everyone”

“Chief inspector you might want to search her room, you’ll find more poisons and the blood of Real princess,” Nilopher suggested.

Inspector did find the blood of the real princess and the poisons in the fake princess’s room. They took Rebecca in custody,

“You helped us tremendously. I saved from this psychopath. I heard about your talent before. And now I don’t have doubts about it. Here is your payment. Thank you for your service. I insist you stay here for some time and let us offer you our hospitality.” King thanked her and gave her a check.

“Thank you for your kindness your highness, but I must go as Zane will return from America the day after tomorrow in India.

Nilopher thanked the Chief inspector as well.

“It was a pleasure working with you detective.” Chief inspector said.

Then she left back for Bengaluru. On the other day, she went to the airport to receive Zane.

Airplane landed. Nilophe was waiting for Zane at the airport. Zane came out.

“Strange isn’t it? A love story turned into a crime.” Zane sat on the driver’s seat and started the engine.

“Like one wise man said” Nilopher shut the door of the car. “Love and Crime both are equal”

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hcneymilkks · 5 years

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24K Jinhong | The Purge

REPOSTED FROM WATTPAD!

[ALL P.O.V's THAT HAVE NO NAME ON TOP BEFORE THE SENTENCE STARTS IS Y/N's WORDS AND THOUGHTS.]

[ALSO, SOME OF THE DESCRIPTION IS FROM 24K's MV "STILL 24K" AND "BINGO". THE SAME MEMBERS IN THOSE MV's WILL BE USED HERE. CREDITS TO THE TRAILER OF "THE PURGE" AS INSPIRATION FOR THIS IMAGINE.]

[STARS (***) WILL REPRESENT NEW P.O.V's WHILE DASHES (---) WILL REPRESENT CONTINUING P.O.V.'s]

[Y/N means your name and Y/F/N means your friend's name.]

The poster flapped vigorously in the wind, one corner already peeling off. In bright red letters painted to look like streaks of blood, it said 'On October 13th, 2018, all crime will be legal for twelve hours, starting at midnight. Be prepared, for you don't know what's coming for you.'

News stations around the city were announcing this very important yet dangerous day, encouraging us fellow citizens to lock our doors and hide. As if it would help. People in this century know how to pick locks, or even easier, blow up the whole front door.

Once the twelve hours end, all citizens are to resume their daily lives like normal, only some may have lost valuables, doors, and even people. No one can report the crime, for the criminals are safe under the law, The Purge Law.

"The Purge Law states that any crime, whether small or extreme is legal. Any persons killed are given a regular funeral, no compensation may be given. All weapons used are granted permission by the government to be registered yet the files will be destroyed after twenty-four hours. No one is protected, everyone is vulnerable on this day." The newscaster read, making me chuckle.

History has shown that The Purge has been going on for one hundred years, starting in 1918 when the Ku Klux Klan in the United States had reformed. Their goal was to use violence against Blacks, Roman Catholics, Immigrants, and anyone who supported giving minority groups equality rights. Their vision was to have a White Christian supremacy, just like how Hitler in World War Two wanted Germans to be the Master Race.

But now, people have used it just to reduce the population, or to get revenge on a family member or friend, or anyone who just doesn't fit in society.

Coming from Japan, where little to no crime happens, I wanted to see it in action. Yes, I wanted to leave myself as vulnerable as I can, even if it means I'm asking for a death wish.

***

[JinHong]

October 10th, 2018

11:09 PM

JeongUk's garage was filled to the brim with boxes on each side, a couch in the middle, and a table with weapons.

Hui was using a cloth to wipe down a simple handgun, one of his favorites.

"So," Cory, the appointed leader started. "Does anyone have a specific person in mind to target?"

"Just anyone who gets in my way," Kisu says, twirling a dagger around his fingers with careful yet fast movements.

JeongUk nods in agreement.

"Changsun, Hongseob?"

"I mean, I want to steal rather than kill because you can sell the valuable items in exchange for money and maybe invent something new," Changsun says shyly.

"That's a good idea," Hongseob says and uses the computer. "According to Google Maps, there are many jewelry places in Portland so it's either we can split up or go altogether."

Cory puts a hand under his chin. That signifies he is thinking of a plan. "I believe it's best to go in all together. That way if anyone tries to attack, we all protect one another."

"But doesn't the law state that all of us are vulnerable no matter what? It's like saying not to trust in one another and only focus on ourselves." Changsun explains.

"What? Do you think we are going to just abandon one another? Or are you the one who's going to abandon us?" Kisu says angrily and Changsun gulps in fear, probably regretting speaking up.

"Easy now Kisu, I need you to save that energy for tomorrow," Cory says. He turns to Changsun. "Changsun, there's no need to worry, we are all in this together okay? We will protect one another."

"Let's go till the end." Changsun mumbles.

Cory turns to me. "JinHong, usually you're the most talkative. What? Cat's got your tongue?"

I playfully smirk. "Nope. I just wanted everyone to have a chance to speak what they want to."

"Now they have. So, what specific person do you want to target?

"Well, remember when I joined this gang group for one reason only?" I ask.

Cory nodded. "You said your parents died in The Purge when you were only nine."

"I found the people responsible for my parent's death."

"But the law states that-" Changsun started but I interrupted him.

"I know. The law states that you can't press charges or throw them in jail or something like that. But that's not it. I saw in old records that in 2008 they moved to Japan and stayed there until they died."

"So...if they died, who are you targeting?" Kisu asks, clearly annoyed.

I smirk. "They were husband and wife, and from reading many books, couples want to have children. The wife gave birth to a daughter, who they both kept their secret from her. But, she's here, and I want her. I want her to know the truth of what her parents have done. I want her to know how it feels to have your heart ripped out and your breath stuck in your throat. I want her to die a slow and painful death."

---

"Hey baby," Chun-Li kisses me on the lips. I feel Kisu shooting glares at me but I ignore it.

"What's up? Anything new with the girl?" I ask her. Along with Hongseob, Chun-Li is an expert of hacking and tracking down people.

"Not much. All I know is her name, how old she is, what city she lives in, and her hobbies."

"Spill," I said.

"Her name is Ji Y/N. She's nineteen years old, she currently resides in Portland, Oregon and loves to read and write."

I smirk and kiss Chun-Li on the lips happily. "Get ready baby, for the 13th will be the best day of your life!" I pick her up and bring her inside one of JeongUk's many rooms, with her laughing.

***

October 12th, 2018

3:34 PM

I walked along the streets of Portland, letting the cool air surround my skin. It was like giving me an extra layer of protection from the harsh rays of the sun and from the scorching heat. Many people smiled and laughed as they walked, but it was a shame to see that all of this would be gone in less than twenty-four hours.

The bookstore was calling me so I entered roamed around. Fairy tales, Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Murder, Romance and many more genres swarmed around my eyes. Oh, how I wanted to have all of them. I smirked. Stealing books was the one thing I have been dying to do since I've heard about The Purge.

At the corner of my eye, I saw a speck of black. Craning my neck to where it came from, my eyes immediately land on a blank black cover. No title, no author. I pick it up and flip to a random page. Nothing. I look at the back to see if there is a price tag. Nothing.

I put the book down and go back to looking around but my feet indistinctively went back to the same place where the book was.

Although The Purge started tomorrow, I couldn't help myself and tucked the book into my bag, walking away and praying that no alarms will go off. Once I pushed the door and walked out, I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding.

---

6:50 PM

Unlocking the door, I walk in but step on my own foot causing me to lose my balance and almost faceplant into the hardwood floor.

"Woah girl did you drink? Why are you walking all tipsy?" My friend Y/F/N asks.

"No. You know how clumsy I am. I legit just stepped on my own foot. You know how saddening if would have been if I dropped my bubble tea? I paid six dollars and thirty cents for it."

She starts to laugh. "This is why you should stay in the house during The Purge. It's either you are going to run away from the person and fall in the middle of it, or you are gonna talk so much that the person can't be bothered with you. So it's a fifty-fifty chance you make it out alive."

"Are you dissing me or offending me?"

She smiles evilly. "Whatever you think it is."

"I hate you."

"You know you love me."

---

That night, we watched a lot of action and defense movies "in order to protect ourselves if we get in that kind of situation" as how Y/F/N described it.

We moved to the basement and sat on the floor cross-legged, each of us having a knife and a handgun.

It's now eleven fifty-seven pm and at any given moment, our phones are supposed to go off. At least that's what they said.

"Y/N?" Y/F/N asked.

"Hmmm?" I responded.

"You won't betray me, right? We will survive this together right?"

I nodded. "After my parents died I had no one. You took me in because we looked like twins. Over the past few months, we did a lot together. I wanna continue it. I can't lose you."

She started crying and I saw her phone screen light up. One minute. I hugged her back.

"I love you, my twin."

12:00 AM

Beeps came from our phone, signaling a text alert.

'ATTENTION! THE PURGE HAS NOW STARTED. THE BILL OF RIGHTS HAS BEEN TEMPORARILY TAKEN DOWN AND BEEN REPLACED BY THE PURGE LAW. YOU HAVE TWELVE HOURS TO COMMIT A CRIME IF CHOSEN TO. OTHERWISE, BRACE YOURSELVES, FOR YOU WON'T COME OUT THE SAME WHEN YOU FIRST CAME IN.'

Muffled sobs came from Y/F/N's mouth and I whispered soothing words into her ear, trying to keep her voice down.

It was quiet, too quiet.

"Why does the government have this Purge thing going on every year?" I whisper.

She opened her mouth to say something until a crash was heard upstairs. She buried her face in my shoulder and I rubbed circles on her back.

Loud steps, not one, not two, more like eight people were walking. I heard fabric being ripped, glass shattering. I pictured the whole living room a mess.

"Stay here," I whispered. "Go hide in the hidden closet. I will come back once everything is fine upstairs."

I was about to leave until Y/F/N grabbed my wrist.

"You said you wouldn't leave me. Please stay."

I pried her hand off my wrist and tears were in her eyes. "I can't, if we both want to live, one of us has to go up there. Just trust me. If I'm not back here in thirty minutes, stay hidden and don't make a sound." She nodded and I trudged up the stairs, using my phone as a small flashlight to guide me.

When I turned at the stairs I immediately closed my phone, trying to force my eyes to adjust to the dark as quickly as they can.

"There's no one here." One person says.

"Do you think she left?"

"That's not possible, there's still a bowl of fresh popcorn on the coffee table." Another one says.

Wait, how can they see that? It's pitch black outside and they didn't even open any of the lights.

I quietly went up the stairs and took out my knife. If I can get close to one of them then I can-"OUCH!" I covered up my mouth.

"Who's there!" One took out their flashlight and I tried to run away but I bumped into something, wait no scratch that. I bumped into someone.

The person took out their phone and shone their light on me, revealing a boy who looks my age with silver hair wearing a black bandana as a mask.

"HONGSEOB, CHUN-LI! IS THIS HER?" The boy yells and another one comes and puts a device to my face.

"JinHong, it is." the boy says and the silver-haired boy who I presume is JinHong pulls down his mask and smirks.

"Ji Y/N, you're coming with me." and I felt something heavy hit the back of my head, the last thing on my mind was if Y/F/N was going to be okay.

MASTERLIST

#24k #kpop #jinhong #cory #kisu #jeonguk #hui #changsun #hongseob #the purge #ive actually never seen the purge so....lmao #trashbin writing #another part coming soon

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codenamecynic · 6 years

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Conventional oven-style Kalua Pork recipe for the lovely @jadesabre301 who I am still like 87000% in love with because she is the best. Also, I’m sorry in advance. But not sorry enough to stop.

OKAY CHILDRENS LISTEN UP, WE GON COOK A THING WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION

I'm pretty sure that I can never top my recipe for crock pot kalua pork for sarcasm and sheer epic style, but sometimes let's be real - you hangry and you ain't even got time to wait 24 hours for actual food.

So here's the bad news - you still have to wait like four to six hours.

But also, here's the good news. YOU ONLY HAVE TO WAIT FOUR TO SIX HOURS, which is less than 24. Do the (as Travis Willingham would say) reverse math.

If you want a little bit of backstory on what kalua pork is, check out this post. If you just happen to have a big ass hunk of pork in your fridge and you are desperately trying to figure out what to do with it before it starts to turn green and you have explain to your army of cats that you went grocery shopping without a list again, READ ON.

So fun story, for the last couple of years my family has decided that turkey is done AF and we're all sick of it by the time the Christmas holiday rolls around, so we've started the holy tradition of the Xmas Luau. We're talking steamed rice. Lomi salmon. Mac salad. Spinach Luau. Musubi. Manapuas. Purple sweet potato and haupia pie. Butter mochi. The whole thing (and yes, I know none of you know what any of this is, GOOGLE IT).

But you super can't have a luau without a main dish, so kalua pork is definitely the go-to.

The really nice thing about Hawaiian food (at least, the food from my childhood) is that a lot of it is really easy to make in catering portions. Food in Hawaii is like 100% grandma levels of 'you're too skinny, have another plate of food or twelve' so it's hella useful to be able to make things that are super simple to do in huge batches and then gorge yourself for days on the leftovers like an anaconda that's gotten uppity with a crocodile and can't move because gravity is a non-negotiable force of nature.

Is your body ready? Okay good.

INGREDIENTS

This is literally the same shit as in the other post, but since you're going to make it in a conventional oven instead of a crockpot, the amount of pork you want to cook is only limited by the size of your oven and the power of your will. Also, spoiler alert: once again we're not going to measure jack shit. I expect you to feel your way through this like a proper chef, and even if you're not one it is literally so hard to fuck this up.

You need:

An oven.

A pan that will fit in the oven. One of those disposable foil situations works fine.

Some aluminum foil. This is actually optional, for those of you who are motivated enough to want to do an additional step. I've done without and it works fine.

A hunk of boneless pork that will fit in the pan that will fit in the oven. Pork butt or loin works fine, and if it's got a bit of fat on it even better.

Salt. It does not have to be bougie salt of any particular kind, literally grab the rock salt that goes in the grinder you got at your wedding 15 years ago and still haven't managed to use up and that legit works fine. If you're real unprepared for this culinary adventure you can also use table salt, just use a light hand or you will possibly salt yourself into the grave.

Liquid Smoke. In a pinch you can use soy sauce, just dial back the salt or for real, you will have regrets and you will also have brought shame upon my house.

*For those of you who REALLY NEED MEASUREMENTS, a) this is not the cooking class for you, and b) I've had fairly decent results with using 4 tbsp of liquid smoke and 1/8 cup coarse salt per 5 lbs of pork.

**For those of you who like to live that YOLO life, remember that you can't take away salt once you've added it, and it's really kind of hard to use too much liquid smoke.

NOW HERE'S WHAT WE GON DO:

1. Score your pork lightly in a crisscross pattern. Stop screaming, I have a visual aid.

You don't even have to do it as deeply as I did here, because I went hard as a motherfucker and was being real sloppy this day, which was naturally when the hubster was like LET'S TAKE SOME PICTURES FOR YOUR SIBLINGS LIKE THEY'RE EVER GONNA MAKE THIS THEMSELVES (they have cooked this exactly 0 times to date). Somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 an inch is fine. Make sure you do this on both sides.

2. Sprinkle on your salt and dump in the liquid smoke. You don't have to be fancy and do precisely half on each side like Martha, you can just literally throw it in the pan if you want and then roll your pork around in it to get things evenly distributed.

3. Massage your pork. Eh heh heh. No but really, distribute that shit evenly. Really grind it into the places you cut like they’re the bleeding wounds of your enemies. There are only three ingredients in this recipe, don't be lazy and also please wash your hands before and after, don't be gross.

4. Cover with foil and roast in oven at around 250F for four to six hours (or longer if you're trying to make enough food for six years so you don't ever have to cook again).

Here's a thing about that: Kalua pork, like all pork, can end up a bit dry if you don't take the laziest and most halfhearted of steps to prevent this. If you roast it covered until it's fully cooked (read: shreddable with a fork/disintegrating in the pan like it failed its DEX save) you'll be able to reserve more of the drippings (you want to do this for later steps). Also, if you want a bit of nice browning and texture on the outside, just take off the foil and let it roast for another half hour or so, or until you're too hungry to wait any longer, whichever comes first.

5. Skill challenge: Reserve the juices from the pan without scalding all your skin off. Please be careful, I am not responsible for your poor life choices or your delicate human flesh. Set aside.

6. Shred pork. Obviously kalua pork fresh from the oven is the most excellent and is at its juiciest, but you may still find that you want to add back in some of the drippings to moisten things up. Just remember - IT'S SALTY. Be like a chef on Chopped and taste your food.

7. Profit

Bonus Round: Reheating

Like I said above, this is a super easy dish to make in batches and take to parties, so odds are you'll find yourself in need of reheating a large portion of this at some point. The easiest way to do that is in the oven, same as how you cooked it the first time. Just cover your pan in foil again to retain as much moisture as possible, and if you find that the extra heat is drying things out, add in more juices.

BUT CYNIC I DON'T HAVE JUICES. Well that's a personal problem. You can always substitute in vegetable broth or chicken stock if you need to, just again make sure you're watching the sodium content.

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT. Oven kalua pork in *mumbles* hours or less. Steam some rice and enjoy!

#again what even to tag this #cynic cooks #i guess?#jade this is your fault i hope you're happy

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louisysl · 6 years

Text

so my brother left for the army today.. it’s mandatory for men in finland, and you serve 6-12 months depending on various things, most though serve the full twelve months.

i’m really scared. it’s so fucking weird. i drove him to the bus stop and on my way back, alone, i felt so unsettled. even though i only just had dropped him off. and i miss him, even though i saw him eight hours ago. i think it’s mostly just knowing for at least six months, i’ll only see him a couple times a month.

that probably doesn’t even sound so bad, and trust me, my feelings were very different when my older brother left for a year. in fact it was a relief, as it meant there’d be one less abuser in the house. i wasn’t close to him, either, so even if he hadn’t been abusive, i doubt it would’ve been a big deal, at least in a negative way.

and i realise that, sadly, many siblings aren’t that close. in fact rather few are as close as my little brother and i; he’s my best friend, my Person, my favourite human being. we’ve been called twins our whole life, not because we look alike, are twins, or are even of the same age, but because we’ve always been incredibly close. closer than most siblings are, and i feel so incredibly lucky to be able to say that.

for nearly twenty years i’ve seen him every day, only exceptions being some odd weeks here and there, and my stay at the mental institution (during which i did still get to see him a couple if not a few times a week). and to go from being able to walk three steps to see him every day, to only being able to text or call and then see him once or twice a month is so, so weird. i don’t know.

i’ve been ignoring this, because that’s how i deal with everything. i just pretend it’s not happening, as if that’s actually going to make the problem go away, but of course, at one point or another you’re going to have to face the reality of the situation.

we’re only hours into this thing, and i’ve already had so many instances where i’ve felt his absence. i think of something, see something, hear something, and i wanna go tell him about it, talk about it, maybe just say something in passing, but i can’t. he’s not in his room, and he’s not even coming home later today.

i’m scared, too, mainly because anything violent scares me. guns scare me. don’t even get me started on the war. and it’s my lil brother. i’m worried when he drives alone, i get worried when he goes to the store alone and takes longer than i thought he would, i worry about him a lot and very easily. i don’t really show it to him as the last thing i would wanna do is let my worry dictate his actions. obviously he’s nearly twenty and fully capable of taking care of himself, and the chances of anything happening to him are so slim and on top of it all, it’s just part of life. it’s risky and scary. and he’s the most important person to me so obviously he’s the one i worry most about. but i want him to live his life and do what he wants and the only time i’ll allow myself to show my worry is simply by asking him to text me or the family group chat once he’s arrived home from driving alone, should nobody be home to make sure he’s okay. and that feels relatively reasonable, in fact even my parents would ask as much from him.

i do know he’s going to be okay and i in fact think he might even enjoy this experience. i’m so excited for him to make friends and have these experiences. every guy i’ve talked to that has done this, has told me it’s an experience they appreciate and are glad they had, but wouldn’t necessarily want to have again. also, it helps you become more independent and includes lots of exercise and important life lessons, so all in all, it’s a pretty great thing when viewed from that perspective.

i’m also scared, because for the first time in my life, i’ll live alone with my abusive parents. i’ve always been the one they’ve been harshest on, even more so since my big brother moved away. it’s not even something that’s just in my head, as my little brother would tell you the same thing, and he’s certainly not afraid to disagree with me and often even sides with my parents or remains neutral. i actually really appreciate that about him, and i’m so grateful he has a strong mind and confidence like that.

and, like, it’s scary to live with two people who are supposed to not only take care of you but love you. neither of those apply here.

i got a call last week from somebody who works with the social services, as i’m getting help from, i guess, what’s essentially the child protective services for young adults, and the lady told me they’re going to have available apartments soon, in the city i work in no less. i’m going to have an interview with her on tuesday and i have no clue what to expect or what my chances are but i’m praying, praying so god damn hard this is it. i need to move out, i do, and this is the first time since six months ago when i started this process that any progress has been made.

this is gonna be a year with big changes, that much is obvious.. my lil brother going to the army is the first one, and from what i can foresee, the second biggest change (moving out and living on my own is going to be really fucking weird and hard and new, and going to bring a lot of challenges of its own).

it’s just.. no matter how bad it’s gotten at home, i’ve always had him here. usually he’s (unfortunately) been present in the situation and i don’t have to explain shit and i can just, yknow, talk it out. get support. perspective. all that shit i do need. and even more so, there was a period of years during which the only reason i didn’t kill myself was his existence and while it’ll always remain a good enough reason to endure anything, it’ll be harder to hold onto without him here. yknow?

i just. there’s nobody that comes even close to him. not even close. no one ever has nor will anybody ever. and i realise i may sound really dramatic to anyone who doesn’t have a sibling or person they’re as close with as i am with him but god, none of this is exaggerated. yknow. it’s just. i. i feel so unsettled this is so god damn weird and every second that i’m not distracted, i feel so out of place. like a piece of me is missing and he’s, yknow, he’s alive and just a text or a phone call away (even if he’s going to have very little time to answer either, but still), but it is just. i miss him.

i miss him even when i spend a night away, or we’re too busy and don’t get to spend time together or even see each other for a day or couple of days. and it’s always been relatively easy to cure because even getting to exchange a few words helps.

also like. i always go to the grocery store with him ‘cause it’s an errand we both need to run regularly and it’s a great excuse for us to do something productive as well as spend time and catch up. now i have to do those alone and it’s gonna be so weird.

and even after the six months to a year, i’ll likely, hopefully, have moved out and it’ll never be the same again, yknow. obviously i’m always gonna keep in touch with him and i know we’re gonna remain just as close, but it’s just gonna be so different and i’m getting really emotional thinking about it because it’s never gonna be so easy again, it’s never gonna be just a walk through two doors a couple meters apart.

i. i know he’s gonna be okay. i’ll also be okay, we’ll be okay, we are okay. but it’s a massive change and one i haven’t wanted to face, one i’ve seen coming for a long time but never wanted to even think about.

#x #i miss him so much

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the-colony-roleplay · 6 years

Photo

VIOLA RAIN HACKETT | THIRTY THREE; SURVIVOR

House: Delma Security Class: 2 Status: Deluded

HISTORY

Viola Rain was a girl who didn’t realize she was running. She grew up with a loving mother who worked as a veterinarian and a father in the CIA. They were a happy family, leading relatively normal lives in their suburbia bungalow home with their two cats.

Viola, who’d never loved the stuffy air about her first name, had begun to more commonly go by Rain as she got older, and she was sixteen when her father was killed on the job. The loss left her and her mother to fend for themselves, but despite the expected grief, her life stayed more or less the same.

That is, until her eighteenth birthday. From nearly the minute she came of age, Rain started to notice oddities about her day to day life. It started small at first, but she started to feel like she was being watched. In the beginning, the feeling walked the line between occasional and somewhat frequent, and though she tried to write it off as perhaps some kind of psychosomatic paranoia (she even talked to a therapist about it), later it evolved to nearly all the time. Though professionals had suggested that it could have been to do with the trauma from her father’s death and the nature of his line of work, it was an excuse that was becoming increasingly trying to have faith in. She was convinced something was going on—it couldn’t all be in her head.

In the space of maybe eight to twelve weeks, it only got worse. In fact, Rain had suspicions she wasn’t just being watched, but rather followed—stalked even—and it only took a couple incidents of being chased down dark alleys to confirm them.

Though Rain knew nothing of who these men in suits were, men who carried guns and often spoke in foreign tongues, she wasn’t about to slow down long enough to find out. So she ran. More than that, she trained: in techniques of survival and self defence, knowing only one thing—that she had to survive her pursuers long enough to find out the truth.

Even still, it didn’t feel like enough; it seemed no matter what she did, they were gaining on her, each assassination attempt closer and more accurate than the last. Rain began to fear not only for her own life, but for her mother’s. She’d not told her mother about anything that was going on, hoping to protect her and thinking the less she knew, the better.

But soon her mother’s ignorance alone didn’t seem as though it would be enough, and so at nineteen Rain moved out in an effort to keep her safe. That’s when Rain was contacted by an old friend of her father’s calling himself Seymour, who confirmed that no, Rain hadn’t lost her marbles, but neither was what she doing going to be enough; these men were trying to kill her and would inevitably succeed unless she accepted Seymour’s help. All this, Seymour claimed to know; he also claimed to know the reasons behind why Rain was being chased, only he wouldn’t tell her why. And though Rain was hesitant to trust a man who kept so many secrets, whose entire nature was so unclear, what other choice did she have?

So Rain agreed, and in the space of a year, she was a woman on the run, skill enough with a gun, and with her fists and wits, to do it properly—but she also still had hundreds of unanswered questions. By the time she was twenty two, three years had passed since Seymour’s appearance and she was starting to piece together information, little hints she’d stumble upon from Seymour’s drunken slurs, from her pursuers, from her father’s old files. By the time she was twenty six, Rain knew her pursuers were hired by some corrupt thread of government, and that they were after a chip that her father had had implanted in his daughter’s head for “protection” when she was only eight years old—what Rain didn’t know was protection for what exactly, her own, or the chip’s? What she also didn’t know, was why.

RAIN TODAY

Rain was still missing answers by the time D-Day hit, and with most of the planet wiped out, she hoped that at least her running days were over. With no proof of Seymour’s survival, but neither proof of his death, Rain still buries herself in some of her father’s old files she’d salvaged. Nearly six dozen dusty cases of Echo chips that Rain had found stashed in the attack just a few weeks shy of D-Day. She’d only just started sorting through them all and digging through their contents on her senior’s private office Echo system, by the time the apocalypse had come around. Rain had fled the crumbling city and found shelter, taking nothing but a back pack with each of the roughly 6” by 3” cases shoved inside, and whatever provisions she could manage.

Rain survived on her own for about twelve weeks after D-Day, sleeping at the edge of a shrivelling forest and traveling about an hour’s walk every few days to raid a half-collapsed supermarket that she and whatever other possible survivors in the area were using for food. The contents quickly waned, though Rain never allowed herself to be seen or to approach other survivors. In fact she avoided every other infrequent soul, purely for the fact that in her shock, she couldn’t trust anybody.

When she was found by Colony 22 about three months later, she was thin and growing bony, and having lost the will to be paranoid, she went with relief. Since then, Rain’s returned to what anyone can consider ‘normal’ in circumstances like this, though she’s quite scarce with her trust; even when fond of someone, she will second guess their every move.

When it eventually came out, the truth of what she believed to be in her head, and that she’d been mysteriously an assassination target since the day of her eighteenth birthday, she was classified as Deluded. With no record of her on-the-run life in the Echo system, and no means to properly check the validity of a supposed ‘chip’ in her brain (not to mention no real will to, as it was easy to write her off as another delusional victim of D-Day’s infection) she never had a shot at being taken seriously.

Though it’s been years, she can’t shake the habit of being on the lookout, always on the watch for a knife at her back, a gun to her head. But at least with the Echo System once again at her disposal, she can continue with her private research on finding out what exactly is in her head and why. However, this is something she has resigned to doing in complete secrecy, sneaking around at night to go through the files, and stowing away the ripped and tattered rucksack of cases under a floorboard under her bed during the daylight hours. It’s therefore, a very slow process, and she has yet to get through even half of her father’s salvaged files.

OPEN

#ruth negga #ruth negga fc #literate rp #original rp #bio rp #delma #viola rain hackett #female #survivor #deluded #sc2 #open #open female #open deluded #open survivor #open female deluded #open female survivor

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