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strangerthingslover69 · 1 year

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This is Enzo ~ Part 2

Warnings ~ swearing & violence

(So this isn’t really one where you interact with Enzo that’ll happen in next chapter, this is basically a the same plot when you arrive in Russia)

That evening as the others come back from what sounds like a pretty interesting and intense day from the roller rink Joyce tells them about her ‘conference’. She also explains that you need to come along as the company hired you recently. They aren’t too happy about it but no more questions are asked for now at least. The next morning yourself, Joyce and Murray are on the next plane to Alaska ready to meet this Yuri. You had a funny feeling in your tummy that you couldn’t shake off. As Joyce and Murray were talking your mind was elsewhere. After eight long months you were finally going to see your dad again. It made you heart feel full once again, of course you were wary of this Enzo though. He sounded arrogant on the phone. You end up falling asleep for the rest of the flight, Joyce wakes you up telling you’d all arrived there. You stretch up out of your seat as you collect your bags. ‘Welcome to Alaska!’ An air hostess says as you board off. ‘This is Alaska in the Spring?’ Murray shouts over the heavy winds. ‘Could be worse’ you say shrugging your shoulders. ‘Oh yeah? I’d like to see how’ Murray says replying to you. Oh Murray and those famous last words

The next day comes quick as you rent a car to take you to Yuris’ fish ‘n’ fly. Your head is all over the place but you try to stay calm and collected as you arrive. You all get out and look around. ‘Hello?’ Joyce shouts. ‘Hello!’ Murray shouts louder. ‘Yuri?’ You shout and finally you hear someone. Your attention turns to the plane where a man comes out with a face covering. He lifts it up and gets off the plane. ‘Who are you?’ He asks eyeing you all up and down. ‘We’re here to see Yuri?’ Joyce asks. ‘Why do you need to see Yuri?’ He asks making his way down towards you. ‘It’s a private matter. Is Yuri here?’ Joyce asks. The man takes off his face cover and puts it down. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know how to tell you this. You’re a day late’ he say with solemn. ‘What?’ You say confused. ‘You see damage? Yuri was sight seeing, looking at the polar bears. And then bears got into plane and pull him out of cock pit! And kill him!’ The man says with much expression. ‘No’ Joyce says sadly. ‘Yes. And he loved bears. They broke his heart. Or rather punctured it. With their bear claws!’ He starts gesturing the animalistic sound and actions of a bear. You all look at one another confused. He starts laughing. ‘Ha! I got you good!’ He says shoving Joyce’s arm nearly knocking her off her feet. ‘I’m Yuri, I am. You must be Joycie.’ He says looking at Joyce ‘Just Joyce’ she responds with a small smile. ‘And you are you?’ Yuri says turning to Murray. ‘Murray’ ‘Murray? Ha. Yuri. Murray. Yuri. Murray. We rhyme!’ Yuri says excitedly. You all just nod and agree, seriously this guy? You think to yourself. He turns to you last. ‘So that must make you the Americans daughter.’ He says looking you up and down, you feel unnerved around it and that familiar feeling in the pit of your stomach comes back. ‘Yup that’s me. We have your money’ you gesture to Joyce’s bag. His eyes light up like a Christmas tree. He walks inside and you all follows behind. Joyce puts the bag down and Yuri claps his hands together excitedly. He grabs the bag unzipping it, he leans down and takes a big sniff of the contents. ‘I love the smell of money in the morning’ he says looking at you all. He tips it out onto the table. ‘It’s all there’ you say bluntly. ‘I’m sure it is American but I just want to check. Please help yourself to some coffee, it’s still hot’ Yuri offers pointing at the pot. Murray and Joyce look at one another and nod walking over to it. You sit down across from Yuri, he looks up at your surprised. ‘You, you not going to have come coffee too warm you up?’ He says stacking the money. ‘Not really a coffee drinker’ you say shrugging your shoulders. Yuri mutters something quietly to himself in what you presume is Russian. ‘Let me check what else I can offer. I’ll be right back’ he says quickly hurrying to what looks like an office. You watch him suspiciously, he smiles and nods at you through the blinds. You decide to get up and talk to Murray and Joyce. ‘I don’t like him’ you say as you approach them. ‘Well he’s definitely something’ Murray says taking a sip of coffee. ‘The sooner this is over with the better’ you say shivering. ‘I’ll drink to that’ Joyce says taking a sip from her mug. ‘American. I made you some tea. Very good tea, please stay warm’ Yuri says as he passes you the mug. You take it from him eyeing him. ‘Thanks’ you say taking a small sip, it does make you feel slightly better. ‘No problem’ Yuri says making his way back to count the money

Your unsure of how much time passed but Yuri is done counting the money. ‘All there. $40,000 American dollars’ he says smiling. ‘Now go get Hopper’ Joyce demands. ‘I will but first I must make a call. I need to make sure he’s still alive. If he’s not it saves Yuri the trip’ he says with a smile. It makes you feel uneasy. ‘I’m sure he’s fine Americans do not worry’ Yuri says going back to the office room. ‘I do not trust him’ Murray says sitting down. ‘What choice do we have?’ Joyce says before she walks back over to pour another coffee. You watch Yuri’s expressions as he’s on the phone. He seems happy. Almost too happy. You start to walk over but you’re feeling dizzy all of a sudden. The room is spinning, you try to reach out for something to hold. Slowly turning you see Murray asleep on the sofa and hear something smash behind you. Yuri comes out of the room, ‘You feeling okay there little one? Do not worry. You will see your papa very soon’ is the last thing you remember before seeing darkness

You wake by the sound of Yuri whistling a happy tune. Your eyes take a minute to adjust and once they do you see your hands and feet tied with rope. You are sat in the front of Yuri planes strapped in, you try to budge but it’s no use. You hear Joyce and Murray behind you. You turn and hear them pleading to let them go, of course Yuri does not he’s going on about the fact he’ll be able to buy his daughter a pony. A few minutes later Yuri joins you at the front. ‘Ready American? Hold on it’s going to be a little bit bumpy’ Yuri says smiling. ‘Let me go asshole!’ You snap at him. Yuri turns to you leaning in closer, ‘How dare you call Yuri such a foul word. I am doing this for your own good. It has been an honour to meet you American, you are much more beautiful in person. You would make a good wife for Yuri’ he says leaning in closer to you, he strokes your cheek. You cringe at his touch and words before you spit in his face. Yuri is taken back by your actions you’re expecting a smack but instead he laughs. Yuri uses his sleeve to wipe off your spit. ‘Oh American. They are going to love you’ he says happily as he sits down and prepares to take off.

Yuri is happily chomping down on some peanut butter, your stomach growls at the sight. Murray is shouting him but it’s no use he can’t hear her due to the headphones. ‘Wait. He can’t hear you’ you hear Joyce say, you slowly turn your head to see her kicking at the peanut butters in the crate. You can’t help but think how brilliant she is. The crate falls causing a jar to smash. She asks Murray to reach the glass shard so they can cut one another free. You turn back so Yuri doesn’t catch you looking. You can hear Joyce cutting through Murray’s rope and telling him a plan. You sit there tightly and wait. After some time you feel see something shining in your eyes, you turn and see it’s the reflection of the glass. Shit shit. You need to distract Yuri somehow before it shines in his eyes. You shift in your seat leaning as closely as you can to block out Joyce and Murray. Yuri sees you moving and side eyes you. You smile sweetly at him. He keeps his headphones on as he speaks. ‘Can I help you American?’ He asks eyeing you. God you really don’t want to do this but you’ve got no choice. Deep breaths Y/N. You nod biting your lip, you lean in and place your lips in Yuri’s. Your stomach churns as you feel him kissing you back. Joyce and Murray notice and are puzzled but continue to cut the rope. Yuri kisses you more deeply inviting his tongue into your mouth, you can taste the peanut butter. You see his hands leave the controls of the plane as they move in your thighs slowly rubbing them back and forth. You pull away from the kiss and touch, unable to contain your face showing disgust. Yuri looks at you confused but his face drops quickly at your expression as he turns around seeing Joyce cutting Murray free. He turns back to you, ‘You, you trick Yuri. Tut tut American.’ He says standing up, before making his way to the others you see him take out a gun. Your heart races as you think this is it. This is the end. You close your eyes ready for the bang, instead you feel a thump on the side of your side and once again everything goes black

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

(Events of plane crash happen whilst your unconscious, you are moved out of the seat and put down safely in between some of Yuri’s storage crates)

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

‘Y/N?’ You hear Joyce’s voice echo through your ears as you slowly open your eyes. Everything feels numb and it hurts, you head spins a little as you sit up. ‘Take it easy sweetie’ Joyce says placing her hand on your back. ‘Where, where are we?’ You ask looking at your surroundings. Trees, a lot of them and snow a lot of that. Plus it’s freezing cold. ‘Russia. We, there was a crash’ Joyce says gesturing to the plane behind you. You shoot up quickly feeling panicked. ‘Where’s Murray?!’ You say worried. ‘Don’t worry Y/N I’m here’ Murray says appearing behind Joyce. She goes to him and whacks his arm. ‘I thought you were dead! It’s been hours’ she says in an angry tone but you can tell she was just worried. ‘May as well be. There’s nothing around here. I saw some smoke two miles North could be a town. Could be a house. Maybe they know where we can find it?’ Murray says trying to warm by the fire. ‘Right a top secret prison?’ Joyce says sarcastically. Murray sighs, ‘Any luck with our friend?’ He asks gesturing to Yuri. ‘What do you think?’ Joyce says with chattering teeth. You turn to see Yuri tied up, you get up and make your way over to him. ‘Oi prick. Tell us where we can find my dad. Now!’ You command. Joyce and Murray follow behind you. Yuri looks up at you and laughs. ‘For a price’ he says smiling. Your about to speak but Murray steps in. ‘$20,000 enough?’ He asks. You and Joyce look at one another in shock by Murray’s question. ‘Yuri wants all the money. It’s the least you could do for crashing my plane’ he says looking at the wreckage. ‘$30,000 that’s enough to fix it. Now tell us’ Murray says. Yuri scoffs. ‘No deal.’ ‘Okay, we’ll just go then.’ Murray says standing up and walking away. ‘You, you can’t just leave Yuri here!’ Yuri says, of course obnoxiously talking about himself in third person again. ‘You won’t be here alone. You know what I saw when I went through the woods?’ Murray asks Yuri. ‘Tracks. Big ones. Bear tracks. Won’t be long till they can smell you. Did you see you own future Yuri? Well ladies we best get going’ Murray says as you all collect your bags. ‘You better go North. Going South you’ll never get there. I, I can show you to my safe house. We get van and it’s two hours drive’ Yuri says feel defeated. You smile at Murray and Joyce. You walk back to Yuri and bend down to his level. ‘No funny business. Or I will kill you. Understand?’ You say through gritted teeth. ‘Why so angry American? Did you not enjoy our little kiss?’ Yuri says making kissing noises at you. You lean closer to him. ‘You are the most revolting person I’ve ever come across. I did not enjoy it. Not one bit. Now up you get and start walking. I mean it Yuri. I will not hesitate to kill you’ you say looking at him dead in the eyes so he knows your serious. He gulps visibly and nods

The walk is not as bad as you thought it would be, Yuri thankfully was quiet for most of it, maybe your threat worked. As you make your way to the church your heart beats faster as it means you’re a step closer to your dad. Once inside Yuri points on the map where the prison is, you’re all hesitant to trust him but he is true however when he says that they wouldn’t put a top secret prison on the map. And you take such pleasure seeing his face drop when Murray and Joyce tell him the plan to get you into the prison. You find a razor and shave off Yuri’s beard. ‘So tell me American, how do you feel?’ Yuri’s question catches you off guard. ‘Fine.’ you say bluntly focusing back on shaving him. ‘Your face says a different story.’ Yuri says watching you. You sigh, ‘Look you. Yes I’m shitting it is that what you want to hear? Now shut up so I don’t mess this up’ you say snapping at him once again. ‘Enzo mentioned you when I spoke to him earlier. You two are very similar. You will like him I’m sure of it’ he says smiling. You stop and raise your eyebrows. ‘You spoke to Enzo, whe- you son of a bitch. That’s who you were on the phone to earlier!’ You shout slamming down the razor. ‘Guilty. You sound so much like him American it’s very amusing. Not long now till you can meet him. Now he’s stuck with your dear papa.’ Yuri says smiling showing you his god awful teeth. You huff and walk away from him to get some fresh air. That man is insufferable, you mutter to yourself. ‘I agree to that one honey’ Joyce says appearing at your side. ‘Sorry, I, he just gets under my skin. I just need a minute’ you say trying to calm down. You feel her arm around your shoulder. ‘It won’t be long till you see him sweetie.’ She says warmly to you. You lean your head on her shoulder and stay like that for a minute until you hear the church doors open and see Murray and Yuri in there trading places. ‘Ready?’ Murray says giving Yuri his glasses to complete the look. You take a deep breath and nod walking to Yuri’s van. The feeling was back in your stomach. You hoped to god his would work

Murray drives the bumpy roads as you, Joyce and Yuri sit in the back tied and gagged. Your heart feels like it could jump out your chest with nerves. After what you presume has been two hours the van comes to a stop as Murray comes to the gate, you hear him mutter something to himself. There’s a bang at the front window and Murray rolls is down and begins talking to the guard in Russian. After a minute of talking you see him approach the windows where you are all sat. He shines the torch on your faces, Yuri tried to makes noises but thanks to his gag he can not. The guard returns to Murray and pats the van. The gates open and Murray drives through

Only minutes later a guard is opening the door pulling you out one by one. Comments clearly being made about you and Joyce, you can tell due to the looks you are getting from the guards. They shove you as you all walk to a door. A man unlocks it and shoves you into another room. A guard says something to Murray then leaves you all in the room. Murray begins ‘acting’ as you wait for whomever to arrive. Joyce is shouting under her gag at Murray as he drops the gun. He walks over to her and moves it down. ‘Will you stop playing around with that thing!’ She snaps. ‘I’m not playing I am practising. Can you please stop trying to talk to me and stay in character, remember you are frightened, scared and confused’ Murray says. ‘Yes I am frightened, scared and confused!’ Joyce snaps back, Murray puts the gag back on her just in time as the door opens and guards walk in. Murray greets them as they all begin talking in Russian. He looks at you all and walks over. ‘Baumen, the spy.’ He says eyeing Yuri up and down. ‘Yes, he even tried shaving his beard off to disguise! Shut up American scum!’ Murray says smacking him. You have to hide a smile as Yuri whimpers. ‘You, you are even more beautiful in person’ the guard says walking to Joyce. ‘Very easy on the eye but not when she opens her mouth’ Murray says pulling down Joyce’s gag. ‘Hopper, where’s Hopper!’ She shouts as Murray puts the gag back on. The guard wonders over to you. ‘Who is this one?’ He asks looking you up and down. Murray claps his hands together. ‘Your going to love her. She is non other than the Americans precious daughter!’ Murray says excitedly. The guard smiles wickedly as he steps a little closer to you. ‘You’ll get to see you papa very soon child.’ He says in a tone you do not like. The guard turns to Murray and begins talking in Russian again. You have no idea what’s being said but you see Murray’s face drop and worry it’s all over but then they all smile and laugh. You and Joyce look at one another just feeling very confused. The talking ends and you are all taken out of the room through some of the prison and up some stairs. The guard brings you all to a stop above a larger ground that is bare and snowy, there is a group on men on their knees lined up with another guard talking to them. You look down at the men and that’s when you see him. Your dad. Your eyes well up as you look at him. Your heart races as you see him. He’s here. He’s alive. You turn to Joyce who has the same expression as you. Murray and the guard are taking, you wish you could understand what they were saying. You don’t notice the guard tossing the keys on the floor and walking off with the others

That’s when you hear it. That oh familiar sound. Your body starts to tremble, your mouth dry, heart feeling like it’s going to explode. It can’t be. Surely it can’t be? An alarm goes off and you see the men hurry up, one grabbing the keys and unlocking the lock. When he opens it you see weapons of all sorts. The man throws a spear to your dad, you watch as he wraps something around the top of it. The other men get there weapons and all stand waiting. The doors slowly open as your dad unscrews what looks like alcohol lid and pours the substance on the wrapped weapon. Murray and Joyce looks at one another straight away and they see him pulling out a lighter. The guard storms over to the others shouting at them and he dismisses them. Joyce nods at Murray as the guard comes back over. Murray quickly takes the gun out of his pocket and puts it to the guards side. He begins talking in Russian until you hear him say, ‘The Americans are very tricky!’ You watch as you see you dad trying to start the lighter but it doesn’t seem to be working, your heart sinks. Joyce pulls down her gag and speaks to the guard, you don’t hear what’s being said as your too fixed on your dad trying to get the lighter to turn on. You hear another man shouting to about the lighter. Seconds later the monster jumps over the man at the front launching his claws and mouth into the one behind. You loosen your ropes and reach for Joyce’s hand holding on tightly as you watch the monster mall the men. The sounds bring back memories from a few years ago. You want to be sick. Your stomach churns. The monster throws the men around weightlessly into the wall and floor. It rips them apart limb by limb. Ending each man’s life quickly. It roars to shows the terrifying set of teeth. Your too focused on the chaos the see Murray talking to the guard again. The man who unlocked the weapons earlier shouts in Russian to the others, you can tell he is scared. Before you see anymore death Joyce pulls you by the arm gently, you follow the others looking away from the carnage below. Murray leads you all in the control room with the guard in his arm with the gun next to his head shouting Russian at the men. They surrender their guns as Murray continues to speak to them. One kicks over a gun and Joyce grabs it pointing it to the men. Words are exchanged between a young guard and Murray, Murray begins to laugh. ‘I got to hand to you commies, you committed!’ He says before proceeding to hit the guards knocking them out one by one. He wasn’t kidding when he said he was a black belt. With all the guards knocked out you all make your way over to the control panel. ‘What are you doing?’ Joyce asks, you can hear the worry in her voice. ‘I, I dunno. There’s a lot of buttons and I can’t see. I need my glasses!’ Murray says standing quickly snatching his glasses off Yuri shouting, mine! Before Murray is back you and Joyce are already pressing every button you can find. ‘What are you doing, you don’t know what there’s buttons do!’ Murray shouts. Neither of you are listening, that’s press a black button. You turn and see Joyce and Murray shouting excitedly screaming that’s it! You watch as the man walks backwards squeezing through the doors your father slowly backing in also. ‘Close, close it!’ Murray shouts. You press the button again and turn back to the screen. The door closes. You could cry with happiness and fear. Joyce presses another button next to the one you pressed as you hear a door open. You turn to one another hand in hand and walk around the corner seeing your dad appear ready to fight with his fists up. He lowers them once he sees who is there. You see his arms and face drop slowly as you both walk over. You and Joyce hug him tighter holding him so tight. You both look up at him, you see the confusion in his eyes as he looks at you and then turns back to Joyce. He reaches both his arms around you both bringing you in for a well needed hug

After a long hug you dad let’s go, ‘Your here. You’re both here. Y/N, are you okay?’ He asks looking at you with his classic worried dad face as he sees your injured head. ‘I’m fine, a lot better than you for sure’ You say letting out a breath. ‘She’s just like her dad, determined’ Joyce says smiling at you. ‘As much as I love a good reunion we may want to work out how to get out of here’ Murray says appearing behind you. ‘Always good to see you too Murray’ Hopper says patting him on the back walking towards the control room with Joyce following him. The man you saw earlier approaches you. ‘So I guess I will get to meet you after all Y/N’ he says with a half smile. You raise your eyebrows confused but the voice. You recognise it instantly. ‘Enzo?’

#enzo x reader #dmitri enzo antonov #enzo stranger things #dmitri antonov imagine #dmitri antonov x reader #dmitri antonov fanfic #dmitri x reader #dmitri antonov #jim hopper #joyce byers #murray bauman #yuri ismaylov #strangerthings

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elbiotipo · 2 years

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Since we are talking about retro games (well, I AM, idc about the rest of you) I'm reminded of Starlancer and Freelancer, I got the Starlancer CD with a magazine when I was like 7 or 8 (maybe it's still there somewhere) and played it until it scratched and I played Freelancer as an adult, they're really good

the games themselves are fine they're very good space shooters and Freelancer is an excellent space trucker simulator (yes that's its own genre) with very good combat exploration and a living universe...

the "funny" thing about them is the geopolitical setup, in Starlancer you fight all across the solar system in a war for the Alliance which is made of the USA, the EU, Japan and Latin America it's unclear (more on that later)... So basically Space NATO against the Coalition that is made of China, Russia, and the "Tigris Confederation" or the "Saracens" it's so hkdjfjkssdjsdhj it's U-S-A AND ITS LITTLE BUDDIES AGAINST THE AXIS OF EVIL COMMIE-MUSLISMS (the game was released in 2000 btw), your friendly squad is mostly composed of Usamericans, British, Japanese and a few Latinos (again, it's unclear) and all the enemies have stupid accents and moustache twirling monologues it's so racist it comes all the way down to funny because how balant it is seriously even my cousin at 12 or 13 noticed... like you remember that Top Gun parody Hot Shots where all the Arab pilots have names like Falafel? It's exactly like that but taken seriously

NOW the sequel Freelancer is an amazing game where you can explore star systems and stuff, the story is good there's a lot of worldbuilding, but the backstory is as follows: some Aliens destroyed the Solar System (I acutally believe it was retconned from the Coalition destroying the Solar System because that would be too racist even for them), and the Alliance sent colony ships to escape (the rest of the world gets fucked I guess) which made new nations across the stars but they're basically the same nations of the Alliance now even more stereotyped, so you start in Space USA with planets such as New Manhattan, New Alaska, etc. and there's also Space England with a Space London which is rainy, Space Japan, Space Germany which has lots of space factory planets and starts wars at random, you get the idea

but the fifth lost colony ship, which was called the Hispania (AJHGHJSDGJHDFS MUERE DE CRINGE ODIO ODIO ODIO) apparently was supposed to represent both Spain and Latin America (because Hispanics I guess) apparently was destroyed or sabotaged because the captain was bad or something.

And what happened to the survivors of the Latin American themed ship?

they became drug dealers and bandits.

(you can't interact with them in game btw)

yeah.

it's still a fun space shooter, not gonna lie.

#it's so sad because they really could have done something very good with Freelancer I would have loved to visit Space China or Space Russia #even with all the stereotypes hell even Space Hispania (AAHHGJJJJJHHHH) would be fun #but no they were really really commited to their NATO Supremacy worldbuilding apparently #starlancer #freelancer #cosas mias

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dwild32 · 2 years

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Story and History of Fort Ross

The Russians lived and inter married with the Native Americans here. They would trade with the Spanish and Americans. They would go otter hunting and build ships here. It may look like it was a part of the military but no warfare happened here. This place was more than just that. Some Russians said this place was not getting Russia any money like the one in Alaska did but that was not true. This fort was basically running on its own. It had its own farm and it sold livestock and vegetables.

The fort is still up and running today. It was used as a ranch for sixty years after it was sold to America. It is not a state park in California. This park plays a big part in Russian American history. Russian Americans come here every year to celebrate what was once theirs. Most of the buildings were basically falling apart so all the building there now are 20th-centry renovations. The only original building that is from the Russians era is the house of the forts last manger, Alexander Rotchev. This is a link to the Russian American soil even though it is thousands of miles away from the motherland.

#fort ross #california #russia #russian american

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bophtelophti · 2 years

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A map of Star Trek major characters who canonically were born on or grew up on Earth, and where they’re from. Across the bottom row are several characters who are canonically from or implied to be from Earth, but there’s no specific location that they’re from directly stated in canon.

Some things to observe:

The majority of these characters are from the U.S. Most of them are white; notable exceptions include Sisko (from New Orleans) and Sulu (from San Francisco). Sisko and Sulu were very valuable representation for men of color and I love them both, but the writers weren’t very creative in having them be from a couple of the most obvious cities for a Black American and an Asian American to be from. Kudos to the Voyager writers for defying stereotypes and deciding Harry Kim was born in South Carolina.

Not a single character from China or South Asia, and only one from Southeast Asia—the most densely populated regions on the planet. Nobody canonically from the Middle East or North Africa either. (Alexander Siddig is from North Africa, but there’s no canonical information on where Julian Bashir is from, and it seems implied that he’s from England.)

Basically there’s what the writers obviously think of as the Default Places someone can be from on Earth (the U.S. and a handful of places in northwestern Europe), and then a handful of characters from Exotic Foreign Places such as Russia, Japan, and Africa™.

The distribution hasn’t gotten noticeably better over the fifty-something years of the Star Trek franchise.

Some methodological notes on how locations and pointers were chosen:

Pointers indicate specific cities that characters are stated to be from, if possible. In some cases, if all we know is the country a character is from but not what city, the pointers point to a location they’re associated with: e.g., Keiko O’Brien is from Japan, and her mother lives in Kumamoto, so she gets a pointer to Kumamoto.

Riker, Rios, and Chekov don’t have pointers to specific locations because all we know canonically is that they’re from Alaska, Chile, and Russia respectively, and those places are quite large. We don’t have more specific information for Miles O’Brien and Malcolm Reed than Ireland and England respectively, but the photos are bigger than the countries appear on the map, so pointers it is for them.

Archer is stated to have been born in Upstate New York but grown up in San Francisco; he’s attached to San Francisco on the map. However, Harry Kim was born in South Carolina and didn’t grow up there, but he’s attached to South Caroline because we don’t know where he grew up.

Worf is implied to have lived in Russia or Belarus; there’s been dialogue associating Culber with Puerto Rico and M’Benga with Kenya, but there’s no canonical information that they’re actually from those places.

Information is from Memory Alpha.

#star trek #maps

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a-god-in-ruins-rises · 2 years

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Who do you think would win in a war between the US and the world?

lmao. i mean, the question would come down to victory conditions. if in order for america to win they have to go out and conquer the whole world then we'd probably lose. america is great, but we're not quite in a position to occupy every nation on the globe quite yet.

but if america's victory condition is simply "not dying" or "not losing washington" or something along those lines? i think america could last indefinitely.

as i mentioned the other day we could swiftly take out canada and then we could easily do the same with mexico (we've done it before with less) and central america down to the darien gap. with that we would basically be untouchable. the hardest part would be dealing with cartels/rebels in mexico and central america. but no country would be able to mount a serious invasion of america. no country has that kind of force projection. i used to think that maybe russia could invade through alaska but after seeing their handling of ukraine i now doubt that very much. we would have to reindustrialize but i believe america could be entirely self sufficient, especially with the newly acquired canadian, mexican, and central american territories. at that point it's just a waiting game.

holding the panama canal hostage, harassing other nations with our navy, crippling their economies with surgical strikes on their infrastructure, maybe even some targeted preemptive "counter-invasions", etc. i don't think it will be long before the world cries "mercy".

#of course this is assuming no nuclear war

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veliusthewanderer · 2 years

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MAGA: America's Terrorist Organization

The basic definition of terrorism is the application of fear, often with violence, in order to foment a forceful change in ideology, religious viewpoint, or societal policy. Ecoterrorism, while somewhat more limited in its scope, can also fit in as they have also been known to employ violent methods to steer change. Into the same group with such diverse organizations as the KKK, Westboro Baptist Church and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) comes America's very own terrorist organization: MAGA

MAGA's origins go back to the two conservative movements which arose during the Obama Administration, the Tea Party and the Birther Movements. While the Tea Party movement was mostly focused on the financial and political repercussions of electing the first African American president, the Birther movement was more racial in its views. Using the revelations that Obama had Kenyan kin and that he briefly attended a school in Islamic Indonesia as their basis and often ignoring the fact he was born in Hawaii a year after it became the 50th state, they discredited his election as illegal on the basis that he was a "foreigner". Among the loudest voices in the Birther movement was one Donald Trump, who even went so far as to hire investigators to look deeply into Obama's birth certificate and other childhood documents to dig up anything he could then point to as proof of his claim Obama was a foreigner.

Trump rode that wave of birtherism into the 2016 Presidential Elections and through a combination of bullying the FBI into investigating Hillary Clinton and collusion with political agents sent from Russia managed to steal a victory. In his campaigns and on his opening day as president, Trump uttered the slogan which would fuel a new form of political-religious terrorism "Make America Great Again". With those words, racism, sexism, homophobia, Hispanophobia and Islamophobia exploded in a way never seen before. So now I'll break down the three key ingredients that allowed MAGA to prosper even after the defeat of Trump in 2020 and how this could embolden a return of Trump to power.

The religious ingredient had been long in coming together. Evangelism began to express itself more openly with the 1970s and 1980s due in large part to television. Pastors such as Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Oral Roberts, Jim Hagee and Billy Graham now had a new medium to spread their message, and furthermore, they were often supported by such political players as President Ronald Reagan. They were the foundation-layers for the next generation of televangelists such as Jim O'Steen, T.D. Jakes and others, who in addition to milking thousands of dollars from the average American by claiming their donations assured them a place in Heaven (similar to how in the Middle Ages, purchasing indulgences was also made to be seen as a guarantee of a place in Heaven. This is what led Martin Luther to nail his 95 Theses which touched off the Protestant Reformation). They have, in turn laid the next level in televangelism, and with the coming of social media and streaming services such as YouTube and Twitch, allowed for a more virulent brand of evangelism to take root and spread their pseudo-Gospel such as "If you're a Democrat, then you're a demon and deserve punishment!". Many of these new televangelists and internetevangelists now call for the establishment of a State religion for the United States, arguing that there is no such thing as the separation of Church and State and gaining supporters such as congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado and disgraced former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

It is partially the result of the new wave of religious fanaticism that has also shaped the downturn in the social/cultural sphere. Ilhan Omar, a naturalized American citizen and congressional representative who's family came from Somalia, has time and again came under attack from the two most despiccable fellow politicians we have, Boebert and Marjorie Taylor-Greene of Georgia. In fact, Greene even made a political ad in which she was brandishing an AR-15 and threatening several Democratic politicians including Nancy Pelosi as well as Omar, and AOC. At any other time, such an ad would be seen as grounds for investigation and possible disqualification from office, but in the post-Trump Age where MAGA still holds considerable influence, Greene's ad has garnered little beyond the ultimately futile protests of the people she targeted. And its not even just Omar, as Trump implemented a travel ban on Muslims coming to the US within months of taking office. He failed to take into account that many of the countries on the list were in fact on good standing terms with the United States and that no truly hostile state was even on the list. He's also targeted Latinos, referring to them-particularly "Mexicans" (which was likely a blanket term he used) as "rapists, drug-traffickers and murderers". The one bright spot here was that despite his promise to build a wall along the southern border and make Mexico pay for the cost, nothing substantial came of it. The wall was recently revealed to be more flimsy than he'd have preferred and the Mexican government denounced the threatened ransom. With the arrival of the Covid-19 virus and resulting pandemic, Asian nationals and Asian Americans found themselves taking fire from Trump and his MAGA group. The most brutal example happened in Georgia, where six Asian Americans at a massage parlor in Alpharetta were brutally murdered by a white nationalist inspired by Trump. Even the LGBTQA+ community has felt the wrath of MAGA. Greene attacked one fellow congresswoman whose child identified as LGBTQA+. As with her ad, only those directly affected as well as the numerous liberals across the country expressed any true outrage as Greene was hardly punished for her actions. Now, Republican-controlled states across the country have begun passing anti-trans laws barring them from athletic events even at the local high school levels, with plans to go even further.

Finally, the political ingredient hardly needs to be stressed as the continuing issue remains the so-called Big Lie, that Trump actually won the 2020 Presidential Election and that votes were illegally switched to give Joe Biden the win. There are currently hearings taking place investigating the resulting coup attempt on January 6, 2021 in which 5 people were killed, hundreds of others injured and the Capitol building ransacked in a way not seen since the British burned down the White House during the War of 1812. Hundreds of hours of sworn testimony have painted a picture of an individual hellbent on holding on to power at any cost, but even as new and more horrifying details are being uncovered, MAGA continues to support Trump's baseless claim that he was cheated out of his second administration and the Right-Wing media outlets such as Newsmax, OAN and Fox News have even chosen to air what the Right calls "counterprogramming" designed to focus people more on the shortcomings of the current administration-choosing to ignore the fact that the Republican Party, under MAGA influence, are the main cause of the shortcomings. Greene, Matt Gaetz, Ted Cruz and others have even threatened to reform the January 6 Hearings into a deep and illegal investigation into both Joe and Hunter Biden as well as Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, AOC, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Ilhan Omar among others. Here again, the only bright spot for Americans is the fact that MAGA has lost some of its influence thanks to defeats in several state primaries. But the fact that Gaetz and Greene remain-and the likelihood that Boebert will also remain means that while MAGA has taken a beating, they're far from being down. Add to that the new batch of MAGA loyalists such as Hershel Walker, Mehmet Oz, J.D. Vance and others and its clear that MAGA, like its Dear Leader, is intent on holding on to and even gaining more power at the expense of American democracy. The recent Highland Park shooting on the 4th of July by an individual who was an ardent Trump supporter also shows that MAGA will use any means necessary both to gain more power and to crush any who attempt to oppose them. Clearly this makes MAGA a terrorist organization like Al-Qaida. As we've combatted and defeated Al-Qaida time and again, we must now take the fight to MAGA. Come November, we have to show that the power of the ballot STILL counts for a great deal. We have to insure that the current crop of MAGA are given little power in government, and insure that the new batch never sees political office. Most of all we need to hold MAGA's Dear Leader accountable for his actions on January 6. Its time to show that"when they go low, we can go high".

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therealeagal · 2 years

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Things I know about the United States.

Ah, the United States of America. Land of the free and home of the brave. Where we crown our good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea. A new land promised to our forefathers by God himself, away from the European rabble.

The party line is that they were fleeing religious persecution, although I have heard (don’t quote me on this) that they were fleeing because Europe wouldn’t let them religiously persecute certain people. If true, it would explain a great deal about how Americans behave.

The United States is a big place. Really big. It takes up most of North America. The USA is divided into fifty states (plus a smattering of territories).

Can you name all fifty states off the top of your head? I bet you can’t. I bet most people can’t. I certainly can’t. And even if I could I would only know like, one or two things about each of them. Though I’m an American, I probably know less about America than some non-Americans. In no particular order, we have;

New York? No one gives a shit about New York state. New York state is New York City’s giant bitch and everyone knows it. Sorry non-NYC-New-Yorkers. I don’t make the rules.

Texas? It used to be its own country, you know. For like five minutes until the United States slapped it down to remind it who’s daddy. Also, it’s got the biggest of everything. Especially (one might argue) douchebags. In both senses of the word, I have to imagine. Sorry Texans. I don’t make the rules.

Alaska. Oil and also it used to be Russian. Also the biggest state, which Texas is probably mad salty about.

Florida. Old people and alligators and Disney, traditionally, but these days it’s mostly known for that Bugs Bunny animation where Bugs saws Florida off the United States. I don’t remember the original context, but suffice it to say, most people outside of Florida tend to agree with Bugs’ decision for other reasons involving the Republican party. I reserve comment.

Hawaii. Beaches. Volcanoes. I remember there was a thing about a telescope that people didn’t want to be built for some reason. I think it’s the most recent state. Used to have a queen until America “bought” it (in much the same way that Russia is currently in the process of purchasing Ukraine).

Alabama. Oh, I think we all know what Alabama is famous for. Sorry, Alabamans, I don’t make the rules.

Idaho. Potatoes. That’s it. That’s all anyone knows about it, really.

Ditto Arkansas and Bill Clinton.

Wisconsin? Cheese and the Packers.

Minnesota. I know literally nothing about Minnesota. The Vikings? They’ve got a sports team called the Vikings, right? Or is that someone else?

Michigan. It makes the cars. Also, Detroit. Also, that thing in Flint with the water, right?

Ohio. Cleveland. No one cares about Ohio except for Cleveland. Ohio is the New York to Cleveland’s NYC. Sorry Ohioans. I don’t make the rules.

Nevada. Las Vegas. Also, maybe Reno. MAYBE.

California. Crazy people. Crazier than shit-house rats. On drugs. Also, Hollywood. Though that may be redundant. There’s also Los Angeles. Golden Gate Bridge, yes. Very famous landmark.

Massachusetts. Boston. Which I am continuously surprised to learn is not a suburb of NYC. Sorry, Bostonians. I don’t make the rules. Also it was one of the original 13 colonies if Assassin’s Creed 3 is to be believed. I should replay some of them old AC games. The series has gone to pot lately, but I remember quite liking 3.

Vermont? What’s Vermont got? Vermont's got nothing. Vermont keeps its head down. When was the last time Vermont was in the news? Never. Vermont has a moderate Republican governor. It’s walking the razor’s edge of bad publicity. California can afford bad publicity. Everyone knows Californians are crazier than shit-house rats. On drugs. Vermont can’t afford bad publicity.

Louisiana. N'awlins. That’s how the cool kids say New Orleans. It’s basically all there is in Louisiana. It and Baton Rouge, which is French for red stick. The French are not known for their creative nomenclature.

New Mexico. What was wrong with Old Mexico? We didn’t need a new one. There’s nothing in New Mexico anyway.

Arizona. The starting point for trips to Tacoma.

Washington has Seattle. And Seattle only has the Space Needle.

North Dakota. I think Mt Rushmore is there? Or was it the Grand Canyon? I don’t know anything else about it.

South Dakota. Ditto.

Rhode Island. It’s the smallest state, land-wise. That’s all I know about it.

How many is that? That’s only like 20. There’s way too damn many states.

What else? Mississippi. A hard to spell name. Neighbors with Alabama and Louisiana, which oughta tell you a lot.

Uhhhhh....Maryland. It’s got Washington D.C., home to POTUS, literally the worst job on the planet.

New Jersey. Uhhh...Jersey Shore? That’s all I know about it.

Maine. The one at the top right. That’s all.

So I can only name 23 states off the top of my head and 4 more given a bit of thought. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

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ghostnebula · 3 years

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Ok so I know we've collectively agreed that in the werewolf losers au, Eddie is by far the tiniest wolf among his friends. BUT! I think there is something to be said for the potential hilarity if their height/weight as humans carries over to wolf form. Bc North American wolves average abt 79 lbs, & per wikipedia it's uncommon for wolves to weigh over 119 lbs (though exceptions exist, in Alaska, Canada, & ESP Russia). If Eddie's abt 5'5" tho, his weight should be between 111.2-168.3 lbs (1/2)

(2/2) In other words, Eddie would be quite large for a wolf. Now, for contrast, let's say Mike is the tallest Loser, going by the movie cast's height, at 6'3". HIS weight should be between 148 and 224 lbs, & ideally around 182 lbs. For reference, exceptionally large wolves in Russia are estimated to top out at 174 lbs. So, basically, Eddie could easily be both one of the largest wolves in North America AND hilariously outsized by his entire group of friends. I can only imagine his frustration😆

Eddie: "Fear me, I am enormous and powerful!"

Richie: "Sure thing, squirt."

#ask #werewolf losers

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newstfionline · 3 years

Text

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Changed by pandemic, many workers won’t return to old jobs (AP) There’s a wild card in the push to return to post-pandemic life: Many workers don’t want to go back to the jobs they once had. Layoffs and lockdowns, combined with enhanced unemployment benefits and stimulus checks, gave many Americans the time and the financial cushion to rethink their careers. Their former employers are hiring again — and some, like Uber and McDonald’s, are offering higher pay—but workers remain hesitant. Employers and business groups argue that the $300-per-week federal unemployment supplement gives recipients less incentive to look for work. But Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist who researches low- and middle-income workers with the Economic Policy Institute, said health concerns and child care responsibilities seem to be the main reasons holding workers back. In April, she said, at least 25% of U.S. schools weren’t offering in-person learning, forcing many parents to stay home. And health concerns could gain new urgency for some workers now that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said fully vaccinated people can stop wearing masks in most settings. Some workers say the pandemic helped them prioritize their mental and physical health. And in a tight labor market, some workers are also finding that if they hold out, they might get a better job than the one they left.

Unhealthy Dose of Litigation (CNN) It’s not personal, it’s just business. Tell that to tens of thousands of individuals sued by hospitals for ‘medical debt’ they have no way of ever paying. Community Health Systems, Inc. (CHS) is one of America’s largest hospital chains. A CNN investigation found that since March 2020, company-owned hospitals filed at least 19,000 lawsuits against their patients over allegedly unpaid medical bills, even as other hospitals around the country have curtailed similar lawsuits during the pandemic. CHS’s 84 hospitals are concentrated in the South, but stretch across 16 states from Alaska to Key West, Florida. The hospitals have sued patients for as little as $201 and as much as $162,000. Most defendants didn’t hire a lawyer or fight the lawsuits, and judges often rendered a default judgment in the hospital’s favor. Attorney’s fees and interest are often tacked on. Once a court rules against a defendant, a hospital can proceed to put a lien on the defendant’s house or garnish part of their wages. Many garnishments were against people working for low-wage employers like Walmart. A researcher who has studied hospital lawsuits said that it’s typical for hospitals that sue patients to only make a tiny fraction of their revenue from those lawsuits. “It’s not keeping the lights on for the hospitals—they don’t need to be doing this,” she said. “But for the patients... They’re choosing between medical care and food.”

Argentina Halts Beef Exports for 30 Days to Contain Prices (Bloomberg) Argentina’s government is limiting exports of beef, a staple in the country, in the latest unorthodox move to try to contain runaway inflation that’s approaching 50% annually. President Alberto Fernandez told a key beef export association that they won’t be allowed to sell the product abroad for 30 days, according to a Production Ministry statement released late Monday. “The president expressed his concern over the sustained growth in domestic beef prices over the last few months,” according to the statement. The country’s beef exports in 2020 amounted to roughly $3 billion, but the government may be more focused on the political cost of falling domestic consumption.

Spain Turns to Corruption Rehab for Officials Who Can’t Stop Stealing (NYT) Carlos Alburquerque isn’t your typical rehab candidate. He’s a 75-year-old grandfather living in Córdoba, a city in southern Spain. He was a town notary before he retired in 2015. He hasn’t touched drugs or alcohol in years. But his isn’t your typical rehab program: It’s an 11-month boot camp to reform corrupt Spanish officials and “reinsert” them into mainstream society. “Repairing the damage is what is left for me in this life,” said Mr. Alburquerque, who is serving a four-year prison sentence for stealing around 400,000 euros, nearly a half a million dollars, in his work drawing up contracts and deeds. That such a program exists in Spain may say much about the country’s belief in second chances as it does about how corruption has captured the public imagination here. Flip open a newspaper or turn on the radio: You will hear of schemes, scandals and skulduggery which almost always lead back to the public purse. According to Ángel Luis Ortiz, a former judge who now runs Spain’s prisons, the boom-bust cycles of Spain’s economy had led it to a long history of fraudsters and betrayals of public trust, he said. But at least, corruption rates in Spain were no worse than in other European nations, Mr. Ortiz said, just 5 percent of all crimes.

Russia’s northernmost base projects its power across Arctic (AP) During the Cold War, Russia’s Nagurskoye airbase was little more than a runway, a weather station and a communications outpost in the Franz Josef Land archipelago. It was a remote and desolate home mostly for polar bears, where temperatures plunge in winter to minus-42 Celsius (43 degrees below zero Fahrenheit) and the snow only disappears from August to mid-September. Now, Russia’s northernmost military base is bristling with missiles and radar and its extended runway can handle all types of aircraft, including nuclear-capable strategic bombers, projecting Moscow’s power and influence across the Arctic amid intensifying international competition for the region’s vast resources. Russia has sought to assert its influence over wide areas of the Arctic in competition with the United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway as shrinking polar ice from the warming planet offers new opportunities for resources and shipping routes. China also has shown an increasing interest in the region, believed to hold up to one-fourth of the Earth’s undiscovered oil and gas.

Cyclone kills 19 in India, heavy rains lash parts of Gujarat state (Reuters) A cyclone on India’s west coast has killed at least 19 people and damaged infrastructure and agriculture, while heavy rains continued to lash some regions even as weather officials said on Tuesday that the storm’s intensity had weakened. The cyclone Tauktae, which made landfall in the western state of Gujarat late on Monday, has hit power supply in 2,400 villages in the state as a thousand electricity pylons were damaged, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said in a media address. Nearly 160 roads have been destroyed, 40,000 trees uprooted and several houses damaged, Rupani added.

India reports record day of virus deaths as cases level off (AP) India’s total virus cases since the pandemic began swept past 25 million on Tuesday as the country registered more than 260,000 new cases and a record 4,329 fatalities in the past 24 hours. The numbers continue a trend of falling cases after infections dipped below 300,000 for the first time in weeks on Monday. Active cases in the country also decreased by more than 165,000 on Tuesday—the biggest dip in weeks. But deaths have continued to rise and hospitals are still swamped by patients. Infections in India have surged since February in a disastrous turn blamed on more contagious variants as well as government decisions to allow massive crowds to gather for religious festivals and political rallies.

In Gaza, grief and destruction (Washington Post) In a conflict already marked by harrowing scenes of tragedy, one image stood out. Rescuers in Gaza City on Sunday pulled out Suzy Eshkuntana, a 6-year-old, from the rubble of a building that had once been her home, but which was flattened by Israeli airstrikes. She was covered in dust but alive. Her mother and all four of her siblings were dead. It’s not clear why the Eshkuntanas’ home was brought crashing down. Israeli authorities told reporters that they had targeted a network of tunnels used by Hamas militants that may have run beneath the area where the family lived. “The collapse of the tunnel system,” Reuters reported, “caused the houses above to collapse and led to unintended civilian casualties, the military said.” In Israel’s telling, there are many more “unintended” casualties in Gaza. According to local Health Ministry officials, the death toll in Gaza climbed to 212 people, including 61 children and 36 women, as fighting entered its second week. Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, home to some 2.1 million people, the majority of whom are classified as refugees by the United Nations. That’s a legacy of the displacements that followed Israel’s creation in 1948 and the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Children make up about half of Gaza’s population. The territory has been under Israeli blockade since 2007, after Hamas took power following a rift within the Palestinian Authority. “Living conditions in Gaza are bleak: 95 percent of the population does not have access to clean water, according to [the United Nations], and electricity shortages periodically bring life to a halt,” my colleagues reported. “The territory has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, World Bank statistics show, and the United Nations estimates that roughly 80 percent of the population relies on international aid to survive and access basic services.”

The New Arab Street: Online, Global and Growing (NYT) The video traveled at 4G speed, leapfrogging across international borders, social media platforms and social justice movements: a young Palestinian woman in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, shouting in furious English at a Jewish man, “You are stealing my house!” “If I don’t steal it, someone else will steal it,” he retorts. Within days—as Israel bombed the coastal territory of Gaza, Palestinian militants there launched rockets at Israel, and Arab and Jewish mobs faced off in Israeli cities—the video had rocketed from young Palestinians’ social media feeds into the Arab diaspora, then lit up the internet, kindling outrage around the world. It used to be that when Palestinians were under fire, protests would follow in the streets of Arab cities. That potential for combustion forced Middle Eastern and Western leaders to keep a wary eye on the temperature of what was called the “Arab street.” This time, a week into an Israeli bombing campaign that has killed 212 Palestinians in Gaza, the reaction from Arab capitals has been muted and protests small and scattered. Instead, solidarity with the Palestinians has shifted online and gone global, a virtual Arab street that has the potential to have a wider impact than the ones in Middle Eastern cities. The online protesters have linked arms with popular movements for minority rights such as Black Lives Matter, seeking to reclaim the narrative from the mainstream media and picking up support in Western countries that have reflexively supported Israel.

Ransomware hits AXA units in Asia, Irish healthcare (AP) The Thai affiliate of Paris-based insurance company AXA said Tuesday it is investigating a ransomware attack by Russian-speaking cybercriminals that has affected operations in Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Meanwhile, a cyberattack on a public health provider in New Zealand took down information systems across five hospitals, forcing staff to cancel some elective surgeries and creating all sorts of other problems. It was unclear if the event was linked to a cyberattack that has nearly paralyzed Ireland’s national healthcare IT systems. The Irish government’s decision not to pay the criminals means hospitals won’t have access to patient records—and must resort mostly to handwritten notes—until painstaking efforts are complete to restore thousands of computer servers from backups.

The Places Ranked Best for Expats in 2021 (Bloomberg) Taiwan, Mexico and Costa Rica have been ranked as the top spots to live and work abroad in 2021, based on their cost of living, ease of settling in and overall quality of life. The U.S. was ranked only 34th out of 59 places, largely because of how expats viewed quality of life in America, according to a new survey published Tuesday. Taiwan topped the charts for the third year in a row in the survey of 12,420 expats conducted by InterNations, a Munich-based expat network with about 4 million members. The top 10: Taiwan, Mexico, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Portugal, New Zealand, Australia, Ecuador, Canada, Vietnam.

#headlines #news

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troughtonmedia · 4 years

Text

Script #10

China, Russia, the United States and most of Europe were all destroyed simultaneously in a nuclear holocaust after a minor skirmish in the Middle East pitted the world against itself. This story is about the survivors more specifically South America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Alaska. These unlikely parts of the world would build friendships to last many lifetimes.

Now that the world really had come to an end, the survivors were really grateful to be alive. Also, it took a few years for the world to reconnect. To better describe what happened I’ll metaphorically compare earth to a boxer in the ring that just got knocked out by Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson but there was no referee or medical attention. The boxer was left near dead in the ring but eventually there was a recovery.

Australia was obviously extremely grateful to be spared from nuclear blasts. Communications were down globally but they eventually got in touch with the neighboring islands. Desperate for connectivity, these islands united as a new nation that called itself Mercia. Mercia quickly created departments of government with the intention of re-exploring planet earth. Technological advancements in travel were made and a map was forged with mathematical analysis spilling out where there might be more survivors.

Africa encompasses nearly the size equivalent of two Russias. The upper half was greatly affected by radiation but South Africa was fine. However, South Africans felt extremely alone and vulnerable after watching what they believed was the end of the world on live television. A civil war would later break out as South Africans took defense to different sides of the holocaust. Black and white no longer mattered as people were torn with opinion on who was responsible for the death of 5 billion earthlings.

Alaska was the only part of America that survived relatively unscathed and the people were in a mood that cannot be described with words but they continued their lives of living in the remote wilderness. Finding out about the new nation of Mercia was a gigantic moral booster. They joined immediately.

South American nations such as Brazil, Argentina, and Chile were not bombed with nukes. Rattled but not broken they united as well, yielding a new nation with a familiar name: El Estados Unidos in honor of the fallen America. After 9 months of hunting for answers, El Estados Unidos made contact with Mercia and a global friendship begun again.

Now fast forward 1,000 years. OuterSpace really has been explored and colonized. Earth has greatly healed from Nuclear Holocaust; in fact modern human beings barely even talk about it outside of government education. Antarctica houses Earth’s capital, MildredMandeville. People look so different from 21st century human beings it’s amazing. They also became extremely peaceful with each other and petty shit basically disappeared. The End.

#Scripts #Science Fiction

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jyndor · 4 years

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Cop-thing-anon here:

(I don't believe in the blue lives matter thing by the way)

I do get where you're coming from. I guess I see the thing about cops and cop AUs differently because the police is different and not as fucked up in my country. The thing about the fanart is just..I think you're reading too much into it. I don't think the artist really focused on the skin colour of Sokka, I mean, it's a kids show. Skin colour was never really mentioned or important in atla. But Sokka's personality is most likely why the artist was inspired to draw him as a "gangster", with azula (the villain) being a cop. It is kind of insensitive to draw that with the events going on, but I think that a lot of people in the fandom take some things way too seriously, for a kids show back in the late 2000's anyway.

hey anon, I say this with love and I am being sincere. I'm gonna need you to rewatch the show if you think skin color didn't matter. and it doesn't matter where you live because there is no part of the world, no culture, that isn't shaped by colonialism. I don't mean to be condescending so please bear with me, I truly believe in educating people as a part of allyship and anti-racism.

Anon, please know that I am not angry or anything but sincere in what I’m about to say. Just bear with me because I know that unlearning shit is difficult and can be painful, but we’ve gotta do it. I do appreciate you wanting to have this conversation at all. And I’m not writing this just for your benefit - this is for anyone who wants to learn about why A) race is a part of ATLA’s narrative and B) why critical analysis of mass media is actually important. So I’m not assuming you don’t know basic things about this stuff, I’m not trying to be condescending.

Now we’re gonna fix colonialism and imperialism XD wee okay here we go.

No matter where you live in the world you have some awareness of skin color. Your understanding of race might be different than mine, in fact it probably is. Race as we know it today is a social construct that stems from many things (and I wrote several hundred words on it but it was too much and too far removed from the point I’m trying to make so I edited all of that out. Yay.)

You don’t usually see imperialism, one of the major themes in Avatar, without colonialism. Imperialism is slightly different than colonialism - you can think of it like the ideology behind the practice of colonialism.* Imperialism can be used to describe expansionism in general - which has been going on since the bronze age lol humans, I stg - but usually when people today refer to colonialism and imperialism they’re talking about imperialism starting in the 17th century.

Now imperialism is not just a European concept. ATLA is set in a world that we know is supposed to be like a combination of different Asian cultures (with some influences from the Americas). And the Fire Nation is clearly influenced by Imperial Japan. So briefly:

Japan had a policy of sakoku (chained or closed country) which kept it mostly isolated (out of concerns that Japan would fall victim to something like the Opium Wars in China, among other things) from the rest of the world for a couple hundred years until the 1850s when a US Naval commander named Matthew Perry (I am not kidding) forced Japan to open its borders for trade to the United States by gunboat diplomacy, an oxymoron if I have ever seen one before.

Japan ended up signing unequal treaties with a lot of Western countries, and this bred xenophobia and hostility in Japan. The Emperor who signed these treaties died of smallpox, and after some internal conflict his son decided try to renegotiate these treaties. The US and European countries were not interested in renegotiating dick but the mission wasn’t unsuccessful because the diplomats A) exchanged some islands with Russia and B) were inspired by western economic policy and society to “modernize” Japan. Japan began industrialization and it converted to a market economy with the help of the US and other western powers.

So over many years, Japan went to war with China, Korea, Russia (and took back some of the land they exchanged with them), and others. From wikipedia:

Using its superior technological advances in naval aviation and its modern doctrines of amphibious and naval warfare, Japan achieved one of the fastest maritime expansions in history. By 1942 Japan had conquered much of East Asia and the Pacific, including the east of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma (Myanmar), Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, part of New Guinea and many islands of the Pacific Ocean.

But ATLA is not a Japanese story. The Fire Nation is not Imperial Japan. The Earth Kingdom is not China or Korea, the Air Nomads are not Tibetan monks, and the Water Tribes are not Inuit. The creators definitely drew heavy inspiration from all of these places and others, but ATLA is a story written by American people in the United States for American kids. It is an American story.

And it was created at a time when the United States was victimizing people in Afghanistan and Iraq (and other places) in many similar ways to how the Fire Nation victimized people. In fact, the show starts in the Southern Water Tribe, which represent Inuit people, indigenous people in Alaska, Canada and Greenland, I think it’s safe to assume that the genocide being referenced here is not one by Japan but rather by European colonizers and later by the United States and Canada.

Imperialism is in the show’s DNA.

And so is racism. In our world they are inherently connected. And visual cues from the show along with things the characters say suggest that we are meant to make the comparison between our world and the ATLA world. Every story has a purpose - it doesn’t have to be political, but for Avatar it is political, it is anti-imperialist.

In this article about how ATLA resonates with us in 2020, Aina Khan of the Guardian interviews Professor Ali A Olomi about using ATLA to teach at Penn State. “One of the things we see with the Fire Nation is the ideological justification for what they’re doing. We are a glorious civilization. We have abundance, we have wealth, we have technological advancement; we need to share it with the rest of the world. That’s almost word for word European colonisation.”

Zuko and Azula both call Katara a peasant. In fact, Azula calls her a dirty peasant. This is one step away from calling her a s*vage I mean come on. While peasant might just be purely classist (lol no) because Zuko and Azula are royalty, um it’s clearly racialized classism because of real life context. There is real history with colonizers calling indigenous people this, dismissing their cultures as primitive and barbaric.

Add into the mix colorism, which is bias against darker skin and privileges fair skin (which is a byproduct of imperialism) and you have clear race shit happening in Avatar.

When I saw that fanart, I was immediately reminded of black lives matter of course, but mainly of the fact that indigenous peoples are also at high risk of being victimized by police. Not just in the US. And how gross it is to depict a colonizer like Azula as an angry cop (representing the state) turning her gun on an indigenous man who is dressed like a gangster which... yike.

Mass media influence everything we do. The messaging we get, our politics, what we want to eat for dinner because we’re hungry and have been writing this stupid essay for three hours LOL. It’s important that people think critically about what they consume. Otherwise you get the goddamn United States with half of our population stanning a racist fraud. You want to know why US Americans are so ignorant? Because our education system sucks, because we don’t have any real media literacy. But apparently the rest of the world has some fucking nerve making fun of Americans** because all of us suck at it. No one is thinking critically about media.

A really terrifying thing about people is our ability to take whatever message we want from stories, even if it is in direct contradiction with the narrative of a story. There’s a movie called American History X which is explicitly anti-fascist, but because it’s a drama and Ed Norton is cut and looks badass and uncucked or whatever LOL, the iconography in that movie is fairly popular with neo-nazis. Yike. This is not at that level of course, this is some random niche fanart for a rare pairing.

For better or for worse, US media and entertainment gets a lot of attention and people around the world eat it up. Maybe you don’t need to know every little detail about US American shit, and I know we tend to dominate media, but black lives matter is not just a 2020 thing. People have known about it for years, since it started. If that fanart was created in 2019, which I think it was, the BLM movement had already existed for six years. If you’re watching an American show like Avatar and you’re making fanart on social media but you don’t know what BLM is in 2019... well educate yourself lmao.

Considering that Black fans have expressed frustration and discomfort in fandoms over and over again, and I am sure indigenous fans have too because fandoms are racist sometimes, it’s important that white fans help make fandoms better. And I am a white fan, and I consider myself an anti-racist. Which means I have to be active about racism when I see it.

btw I found this great essay by @cobra-diamond which you should read if you want more details about the similarities between Japan and the Fire Nation.

* that is very reductive but it’s fine lol

** I am kidding, unless you are english feel free to make fun of americans for non-gun, non-trauma related things pls

#anons #asks #racism tw #colonialism tw #atla #fandom racism #acab #police violence #indigenous right #nazism tw #oh lord shitty discourse tw #imperialism tw #anyway now i'm gonna eat

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glorifiedsnickersbar · 4 years

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Farthest North

Chapter 22 - Country-Hood

Word count: 1201

The crowd cheered, and a toast was given to the newest Country. Alaska's flag didn't change, in honor of it's creator, and all hoped that she herself wouldn't change either. Those who attended the festivities congratulated her, giving her presents, small and large, even America as he stuck out his hand for her to shake, 49 States permanently etched onto his face. Despite the sudden drain from his systems and the lingering headache from after it was finalized for Alaska to become a Country, he kept a smile on his face.

�� "You're highness," he curtsied, making the woman giggle, "today I give you the finest of gifts!"

"You can't top China's shipment of tea, silk and porcelain!" Egypt hollered over the crowd.

"Can I not enjoy a small moment of bravado?" America huffed, glaring at the Country.

"Your life is a moment of bravado," Cuba rolled her eyes, "I think you can deal."

"Now, now," Alaska shook her head, pointed teeth hidden by her red scarf, blisters and burns covered by a long sleeve and pants, "As true as that is-"

"Hey!" America whipped around, hands on his hips as he took offense.

"-Everyone is getting their moment. Let's not forget that this isn't only about me, but you all as well. The finalization of our future work together, thanks to U.N.," the man nodded toward her, having taken to the sidelines, "I can provide military aid, medical support and financial support to those who truly need it, and I know that you all are willing to help me in return. I can't wait to work with you."

The crowd applauded to her small speech, the blue and gold Country waving for America to continue his "moment of bravado". He cleared his throat, dug in his jeans pocket for an Aspirin, swallowing it before continuing.

"Today I give you the finest of gifts: Twelve Million U.S. dollars, as a cushion for your developing economy; three shipments of basic necessities, such as food, bottled water, clothes maybe a candy or two," the crowd chuckled, "And my blessing as your step father, for your wondrous life ahead, as a Country, and not my State."

Alaska cried as she wrapped her arms around the shorter man, lifting him up so she wasn't hurting her back. The crowd clapped, a few 'aws' coming from the onlookers as they found the exchange adorable. She set him down when he started to wheeze from lack of oxygen, making them both laugh.

As festivities continued, America grew worried. Most everyone had no clue of Alaska's current summer time state, and it may be a major factor in most deals, Israel was for sure going to be wary, Finland and Sweden perhaps... U.K. was never too keen to mention Third Reich, and to have a trade partner so close to having the same mentality when angered? Oh dear... He knew Alaska intended to inform her newly made friends during the party, but he was unsure if now was the right time.

"Maybe after you've been in business for a little while," he suggested, pulling the taller woman off to the side, "If you tell them now some might retract their deals entirely, without a second thought."

"I've hidden this side of me long enough," she shook her head, just as America feared she would, "It's time to spite my father and be more than he ever thought I could be, even with this... handicap."

The American frowned. A hindrance? Yeah, sure, but Alaska's condition couldn't be a handicap, could it?

When the room finally settled down, Alaska brought their attention to the front of the meeting hall, where a projector and white screen waited after being hastily set up. She sighed in frustration as Germany fiddled with the wiring, only to be pushed aside by China as he mumbled something about sticking with the sciences to Germany. When the projector was up and running, it showed a fanciful picture of one of Alaska's vast fields filled with Fireweed.

"I'd like to introduce you all to something I like to call, 'Death by Powerpoint'," she earned a laugh from the crowd, "It's not too long, I assure, but it's important. In it I have my... well I'll just show you-"

She quickly brushed the mouse pad on the laptop beside the projector, the slide moving to multiple bullet points.

"These are my goals for the first year. I hope to affirm my trade deals with you all, military aides, and peace treaties for those of you who would prefer me your territory -ahem- Russia."

"Hey," the Country took offence, but those who knew it a simple jest chuckled at the poke of fun between siblings.

Alaska moved to the next slide.

"Here you see my readied military," she explained, pointing with a red laser light, "these are those ready to fly or sail out at any time to aid those who I have offered my help to. If this is unsatisfactory, I can discuss further offers."

The crowd was silent, so she assumed she could move on.

"I explained my exports already, but for those who would like to reconsider or expand your demands, you may write down whatever you would like from this list, if there is something not listed, you will have to speak with me at an appointed time."

There was some frantic writing or tapping of phones, so she paused on this list for a moment before continuing.

"One last thing..." she paused, bringing up her scarf as she nervously fiddled with it's tattered and worn out ends. The next slide shown as ready to present, but her finger hesitated, "I... I realize all of your perception of me is of good report, it's why you all voted me in as a Country, that and my resources were profitable to you, and at a fair price," she turned to her waiting audience, who all stared at her with attentive expressions, "but I... I must admit, I did not give you one specific piece of information."

China stood by her side, looking up to give her a reassuring glance before looking to the audience, daring them to go back on their word already given. America stood as well, placing a hand on her back, soon joined by Germany, Japan, Canada and Russia.

Alaska made one final tug at her scarf, the linen which had hidden her menacing features for years, now brought into the light for all to see. The room filled with a synchronized gasp.

"Fires are what cause it," she explained, a shy smile an attempt to be less threatening-like, "It's only for the summer months, unfortunately it came early this year, so I'm a bit more irritable than usual, I'm afraid..."

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Egypt questioned accusingly, "No wonder your father sold you like some palace slave."

America was about to retaliate with a come-back, but Alaska stopped him as she gave a hideously sweet, pointed smile.

"My dear Egypt," she giggled, making his colored face pale at her equally as sweet tone, "You couldn't afford this slave even if you sold all the golden idols in your land."

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artificialqueens · 5 years

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learning to be silent (chapter eight) — multi - Roza

[ summary ] : the rostelecom cup comes to a close and crowns it's medalists as the grand prix assignments find it's six solo ladies qualifying for the final.

[ author's note ] : hope you all enjoy! great time to post with euro champs and american nationals on! :)

AO3 / My Tumblr / ♪ヽ(･ˇ∀ˇ･ゞ)

— *.✧

"Фигуристки женской группы семь теперь выйдут на лед!"

"The skaters of women group seven will now take the ice."

The last group had officially stepped up to skate, lined perfectly and straight as the six skaters tossed off their skate guards in a row as they jumped towards the ice. Someone's Grand Prix report card would be stacked after tonight and so would their winnings paycheck: 18,000 USD for first place.

"Representing France, Fame Mikkelsen."

The blonde smiled as she waved, bowing to the mass amounts of thundering applause and cheers. She appreciated the few but mighty and large French flags that waved through the air as she ran a hand down her white costume, the crystals absolutely radiant as she touched her short and curled hair to make sure it was stiff enough.

Sixth place was definitely not a lost cause, anything could happen and a medal definitely was not out of the question. In her heart of hearts she knew fourth at the Cup of China wasn't ideal and that score would tank her chances for the Grand Prix final but French Nationals and the Olympics was now in all focus.

"Representing the United States, Alaska Honard!"

The blonde twizzled before turning on the ice and waving to the sold out and absolutely pact crowd. The American flags waved as the cheers gestured from the crowd sweetly. She sat in 4th with the disappointment of the short program still pulling a weight across her shoulders. Her chances of the final sat uneasy to the American who could only plaster a smile and slowly turn to circle the rink for the seven minutes they had to warm up.

Focus. This is your last international event before the possible Olympics if the finals truly disappear.

"Representing Puerto Rico, Vanessa Mateo!"

Vanessa jumped at the staggering amount of cheers that were planted in her direction as she smiled and waved to all of the Russian audience. She was impressed to even be in the top five let alone next to her best friend who sat comfortably in third. She skated around the edges of the rink once she waved and bowed before throwing her team jacket to Alexis who grabbed it intently.

The clear presentation of stress across her face must've shown easy to her coach who rubbed her shoulders and tried to make sure she was motivated and calm enough to skate the best she could going into the free dance.

"Don't stress yourself out mija. Free skate changes everything, you were five points from being fourth in the short program." Alexis whispered as she touched her shoulders, taking her jacket in the open hand.

"I won't I promise." Her mouth running before Alexis shushed her gently knowing she'd do her best regardless. Vanessa nodded before skating off, wanting to practice her triple axel before the last group would begin skating.

"Representing the United States, Kameron Michaels!"

Loud screams greeted the younger American as she gasped before smiling, giggling as her hands covered her lips. She was truly an unexpected surprise: the underdog in the competition. It was a moment of pride to be standing next to her follow Americans, a French legend, her best friend as well as a Russian icon in the sport to compete for the medal, money and the Grand Prix points.

Kameron took off as they continued on with the names, hitting her tights as she bent down to adjust before she began taking off from the back outside edge of the skating foot, turning three rotations in the air before landing on the back outside edge of the same foot. The triple loop was always a struggle and putting her hands up to get more towards the grade of execution was twice as tough.

I'll be fine. I did it once, I'll do it again.

"Representing the United States, Detox Sanderson."

Detox grinned as she spun and waved to the crowd, gesturing towards the left section that was riddled with American flags. First place in the short program was a great start but it did not garner a thing in this sport. She could fall once or twice and a medal could possibly be out of the question.

Trending on Twitter was nice, it was Alaska who sent her the mass amounts of praise on Twitter scattered for Detox and her flamenco short program. She unzipped her Team USA jacket as the top half of her blue ombre costume was revealed, perfectly matching her hair. The American skating into her step sequence completely galvanized and focused.

"Representing Russia, Katya Zamolodchikova!"

The loudest screams and applause came for the hometown hero who had proven to only get better and better with age. The blonde waved as she pursed her lips jokingly before waving her own stupidity off and focusing on the skating. She bowed proudly as she had her Russian team jacket zipped up, her blonde hair in a tightly secured updown.

Katya watched closely as she skated after Alaska who was focused on getting her quad flip down and improving the disappointing (but still impressive) fourth place finish in the short program. The Russian huffed as the music played louder and the announcer echoed the "six minutes remaining in the warm-up period."

Unzipping her Team Russia jacket and throwing it to Chad she began to circle around the rink, working on her edge work and step sequence before deciding to move on to her quads.

The blonde skated along the center of the rink before entering from the back inside edge of one foot, jumping and rotating four times before wanting to land on the back outside edge of her opposite foot but that wasn't the case. She had skated a bit too close to her French friend who she immediately crashed into. Her hands sliding in front of the ice as she fell on her ribs, groaning.

The Russian filled crowd immediately responded with loud screams and gasps before Fame gasped and stopped in front of the other blonde as she bent down, the other skates making sure Katya wasn't in need of medical assistance before the blonde grabbed Katya's hands, asking if she was alright and apologizing for her not being more careful.

The two Europeans kissed cheeks as Katya shrugged, a bit breathless. Her hips in pain as she bent down and nodded, "I will be okay." She promised to her friend as they slowly skated on the ice careful to not intrude on anyone else's time on the rink. Her mentality couldn't change now that she had a brisk moment falling, it was no one's fault, it just simply happened.

I'll skate with broken ribs, it wouldn't be the first time and certainly not the last.

The home crowd cheered in anticipation, hoping their hero would take home the gold and join Sasha, her own Russian partner, to be the second woman in the Grand Prix final. Katya had gotten used to the pressures and anxiety that skating always brought on.

"This concludes the remainder of the warm off, skaters please exit off the ice."

Im winning the fucking gold medal. Even with my ribs on the ice.

— *.✧

"Next to skate, representing the United States, please welcome Alaska Honard."

"Рядом кататься на коньках, представляющих Соединенные Штаты, поприветствуйте Аляску Хонард!"

Alaska huffed and took a deep breath before jumping on the ice and pulling down her tights as she waved and gave a small smile to the utterly sold out and pact crowd who seemed excited to see if the blonde could bounce back from her previous mistakes in the short program or if she'd repeat the same story.

Fame sat comfortably in the lead, an eleven point gap between her and the current second place standing that was held by Kim. Alaska tried not to think about the obvious: this would be her last attempt at qualifying for a Grand Final. This was her final assignment, her final skate of a Grand Prix qualification would be in Rostelecom in front of a stadium of crowded figure skating enthusiast's.

Her skates glided across the ice before she stopped in the center of the rink, the fabric of her delicate black and white dress draping across her thighs as she cracked her neck and kneeled, hands over her head and eyes closed as she breathed heavily. She had been to three Olympic games, over a decade of world championships and nothing horrified her more than doing her Black Swan program in front of a Grand Prix qualification crowd.

It's do or die now.

Alaska heard the woodwind and strings begin from her program music and she unwinded out of her position, spinning as she kicked her leg out and began to skate around the arena. Her edge work perfect as she bent down before looking above, hand out in front of her.

Her head and shoulders now dropped backwards as she arched her back downwards toward the ice. Her free leg lifted toward her back with the arms held above the body as she completed her layback spin.

The skater approach her triple axel from the left forward inside edge of her skate, stepping forward as the music kicked in. Alaska then kicked through with her free leg before spinning three and a half rotations in the air and landing on the right back inside edge her skate. She grinned slightly as the applause came in, breathing a sigh of relief that she had landed her mandatory axel.

Alaska spun quickly, skating back as she extended her arms and tried to keep her ballet posture, she was forced to take classes for years so she might as well show off her basic experience level. The blonde waited for the music to begin accelerating into madness before taking off from the back outside edge of her skating foot, turning four rotations in the air, landing on the back outside edge of the same foot. She lifted her arms in success as the crowd cheered at her successful quad loop jump.

She continued the momentum with her triple toe, triple loop combo as the harp and violin began to flood the program with a bit of whimsical notation.

Her forward approach on the inside edge of the blade saw her switch to a backward-facing position before her takeoff, jamming her toe-pick in to the ice as she spun three rotations, exiting from the back outside edge before taking off again from the back outside edge of her skating foot and turning three times in the air, landing clean and successfully.

The step sequence was her chance to refocus, to gain those presentation points as her technicality had only begun. She began her serpentine step sequence, traveling from the end of the rink to the opposite end. The skater traveling in two curves as she jumped in the air with her split jump, the Russian crowd yelling in delight. Alaska glided forward on the ice with her chest facing towards the ice and with the free leg stretched back as she completed her arabesque.

After accomplishing her beautiful Biellmann spin she turned out of the spin, arms open wide as she skated intensely on the ice. The violins following her every beat before the pace of the music quickly changed with harps and an intense flooding of instrumental insanity following.

Alaska was not a large fan of doing classical music but she always promised her coaches one day she'd do Black Swan, it was a good program with the right levels of intensity and intricate jumps Alaska wanted.

The music crashed as the blonde spun, timing her quad salchow with the beat of the symbols as she takeoff from the back inside edge of one foot, rotating four times before feeling herself land sloppy on the back outside edge of the opposite foot, hand almost touching the ice as she managed to recover herself from a fall. Though she knew in the back of her mind this would absolutely downgrade her GOE and overall score.

Alaska focused as she began her final choreographed sequence feeling those four and a half minutes beginning to pass by as she completed her final step sequence. The music now crashing and hitting its highest level of utter intensity and demanding attention from the crowd as she took off from her back inside edge, rotating four times and landing on the back outside edge of the opposite foot. The landing a bit shaky but she quickly saved herself another fall.

The final moments of the program built with a flying sit spin, approaching the spin on an edge as her freeleg trailed behind her body. She quickly swung her freeleg forward before leaping off the ice as her rotation started. Alaska tried not to break although the encouragement from the pact crowd certainly helped her inner disappointment.

Her final move was the scratch spin as the music perfectly synched out it's loud, banging ending with Alaska on her knees once again, arms behind her back as she tilted her head backwards before sighing and falling to the floor exhausted. The deafening amount of screams and plushies that fell across her body signaled her to finally get up as she bowed to the crowd, attempting to hide her sadness.

She hadn't fallen but she knew some of her jumps were sloppy and was worried she underrotated her quad flip at the end.

"Representing the United States, Alaska Honard!"

"Представляя США, Аляска Хонард."

Alaska smiled before grabbing the giant teddy bear that was so large that not even the children volunteering to clean the ice could handle its mass size. Alaska laughed before grabbing it as she blindly skated off the ice, jumping as she gently dropped the stuffed animal as her and Sharon hugged tightly.

"I'm proud of you, great job." She mumbled to her as Alaska nodded, ripping off her skate guards and handing them to her girlfriend as the coach and skater headed to the Kiss & Cry, obscenely large teddy bear in her hands as they sat on the couch waiting for results.

Sharon wrapped her Team USA jacket around her shoulders as they patiently sat, the skater knowing it might not be enough to beat her own teammates and Katya. Especially not good enough for a gold, no matter how badly she wanted to be proved wrong by the ISU judges.

"The scores please."

Sharon grabbed her hand and held it tight as the silence in the arena dimmed with the results that came with it.

"Alaska Honard has earned in the free dance a total combined score of 200.65 points." The scoreboard flashed as it showed her total score as 280.86. Sharon smiled brightly as the audience cheered knowing that she was in first place with the gold medal position though it was narrowly. The American nodded with a tearful smile across her face knowing there's no way it would be enough.

"I tried my best."

"And your best was definitely enough for me." The blonde beside her whispered as they shook their interlocked hands, "If it isn't enough we will focus on nationals, you're going to the Olympics and that's a promise."

— *.✧

"Next to skate representing the United States, Detox Sanderson."

The culmination of blood, sweat and tears and a few injuries had gotten Detox that first place in the short and one medal, that medal didn't matter if she didn't win tonight. Katya was her biggest competition and the two shook hands on a good short program and were now watching each other's skates like a hawk.

Kameron sat firmly in first place, with a program Detox choreographed might she add: her swing inspired program adored by the Russian crowd in the arena. guaranteed a medal as Vanessa sat in second with a surprisingly well put together program. Alaska began to feel the effects of knowing she wouldn't qualify at her Grand Prix and seeing her woefully sit on the couches self aware stung to Detox who was praying that somehow she'd really recover and score herself a medal.

Focus on yourself, she's your best friend and doesn't want you to whine about her own struggles. She has Nationals to focus on now.

Detox smiled widely at the generous amount of screams and applause, a few waving American flags as she skated to the center of the ice with her blue ombre costume firmly in place as she adjusted the mesh. The crystals adorning every part of her body showed in the light as she waved and got into position. She was glad to finally have a costume that matches her blue hair, that was always a problem with the judges.

"Your hair is far too distracting for your program."

"It's about my skating not my hair sir, if you're focusing on my hair you're not doing your job right."

That comment got her in a bit of trouble but Sharon stuck up for her and all was cleared. Detox took a breath before her head was facing down and her arms by her sides. Moonlight Sonata wasn't the type of program she usually went for and was looking forward to changing it but Sharon said she needed to work on not looking like a flirt and do something with emotional substance.

The piano notes began as Detox held her arms out, spinning on the edge of her skate as she breathed and skated a few steps before skating backwards and turning on the edge of her skates, grabbing out. It was difficult to channel a song like Moonlight Sonata but once she found proper motivation and a clear picture she just needed to act it up, she needed those presentation points.

Detox followed suite of the gentle piano medley as she skated on the back outside edge her right foot as she began taking off from the back outside edge, turning three rotations in the air before landing on the back outside edge of the same foot. She quickly followed it up with a forward approach as she took off from the right back outside edge and left toepick, jumping three more rotations before landing the jump on her back outside edge. A soft smile gracing her face as the crowd jumped for her perfect triple toe - loop combination.

As the notes played again she twizzled across the rink, dipping her head as she desperately let her body take over, focusing on her storyline at line as she got ready to do her triple axel jump as she approached the jump from her left inside edge. A series of backward crossovers as she followed with a step forward onto the forward outside takeoff edge, rotating three and a half times before landing with her arms out. The applause didn't distract her as she continued smoothly.

Transitioning into her layback spin she lifted her free leg lifted toward her back in an attitude position with her arms held above the body as she spun gracefully, holding on to her stress before releasing herself from the jump and skating along the rink as she channeled all her possible emotion into this program without looking overdramatic. This had to be genuine.

The halfway point saw her accomplish a quad flip and another triple axel successfully, both with her arms up so she could try and learn a greater score towards the Grade of Execution that is added to the elements. Her Biellmann spin began with a camel spin, her free leg extended backwards with the knee held above hip level. She turned before executing the jump with one-foot spinning as she grabbed her other foot, extending it over and behind her head, forming a teardrop shape with her body.

Detox glided on her knees, an intentional choreographic choice, before spinning and standing slowly. Her skates taking her across the arena as her step sequence kicked in. Her multidirectional turns and edgework hoping to impress as she accomplished her midline step sequence, traveling along the center axis of the ice rink and crossing the full length of the rink.

Only two more elements, don't stress.

Her final jump, a quad salchow, saw her with a takeoff from the back inside edge of one foot, jumping and spinning four rotations in the air with a landing on her back outside edge of the opposite foot. The crowd cheered and claps arrived with barely twenty seconds left as Detox jumped in her flying sit spin.

She leaped high as she spun on an edge, her freeleg off the ice, trailing behind the skater's body. Detox swung her free leg quickly around towards forward and lept off the ice as rotation began.

The music began to end, softly in sparks as Detox stood on her knees before getting up and slowly skating towards the light, hand in front of her as she breathed with the final beat. The program had ended and the American wiped her eyes, feeling the song finally cut through and do what it was supposed to.

The audience gave a deafening combination of screams and applause, another standing ovation as the crowd threw plush flowers and a few plush penguins, her favorite animal. She couldn't spot her girlfriend too well in the crowd but she knew afterwards they'd spot each other and celebrate no matter the result.

She grabbed what she could as she took her bow and approached Sharon off the ice.

Her coach teary-eyed spoke as she sniffled, "So beautiful, it's the best it's been." The two hugging tightly as they walked to the Kiss & Cry where Detox would receive her score, Sharon had no doubt in her mind she would be walking away with a podium finish but the question was would it be gold or silver?

Detox and Katya both had a gold medal each from Skate Canada and Cup of China respectively, tonight would decide who would qualify to the final with a perfect 30 point or two gold medal finish.

Sharon stared intently at the screens displaying the replays of the best moments, close ups of her quads especially to look for any under rotations or flutzs. Detox laughed as they showed her in tears and breathless at the end of her skate.

"You look so emotional, it's perfect."

"I look fucking ridiculous." Detox whispered as she flattened out the ends of her blue ombre dress, she winked at the camera and waved as Sharon did as well. "Love you mom!" She yelled as the arena quietened hearing the announcer ask for the final scores to be submitted.

"Detox Sanderson has earned in the free program a total combined score of 230.67 points—" the audience blew up into an explosion of screams and cheers as Detox sighed, covering her eyes to not cry as Sharon shook her shoulders, covering her mouth as she stood up jumping in excitement as the scoreboards showed her final score: 332.28

"She is currently in first place."

"Yes!" Sharon screamed as Detox shook her head and groaned into her coaches shoulder unable to process the feeling of beating everyone with only skater still to go. The American zipped up her jacket as she bowed and waved to the arena who chanted, making Detox cry further.

She approached the couches as Kameron yelled and clapped, hugging her teammate. She shook Vanessa's hand kindly and gave a hug before slamming into Alaska who teared up admitting she was upset for herself but proud of Detox.

Detox ran a hand through her blue hair sighing, she gave a tight squeeze to Alaska's hand and congratulated her best friend on her amazing attempt. Detox sat uncomfortable in the top spot as Katya was still left and Alaska had just been dropped to fourth and would most likely be fifth overall, destroying any chance she had of qualifying.

"Congratulations." Kameron spoke again feeling her uncomfortable body language showing to her and Vanessa. Detox smiled and nodded, staring intently at the screen's waiting for Katya to be done with.

"It's not over just yet."

— *.✧

Katya closed her eyes and prayed, taking off her skate guards as she handed them to Chad. She never got nervous at competitions, everything happened for a reason and in her case it was happening in her motherland: she had only slight fumbles this season and managed to keep her sanity and cool despite the pressure and drama with quitting and switching coaches right before the Olympics and Russian nationals.

"Focus, they love you in Russia no matter what happens and you already have a gold, think logically and listen to yourself." Chad spoke softly before Katya nodded, giving her new coach a smile before holding in a breath and jumping on the ice as she skated around the rink. She didn't want to say she intimidated by Detox's score but it was definitely a big score and she deserved it, great presentation and perfect quads.

Now it's up to me. I'm gonna get drunk after today no matter the result so let's hope it's a good reason.

"Our last skater represents the Russian Federation, please welcome Katya Zamolodchikova."

Katya couldn't help but bit her lip from smiling hearing the screams and the utter mass murder of chants as Russian flags waved from every corner of the arena.

"Представляя нашу великую Россию, Катя Замолодчикова!"

The crowd only got louder as she waved and felt herself bite her tongue, this was another layer of pressure but nothing she couldn't handle. Her black and red costume draped the sides of her hips as a slight slit was seen with her long legs but she made sure it wasn't too risque.

For Carmen I kind of have to be slutty right? It fits exactly what I'm going for.

She adjusted the rose that adorned the back of her head in the updown hairstyle as she grinned staying in a hip bent position. She tried not to snicker hearing a group of what must've been younger female fans scream her name before the music started. The music building as the church bells rang before Katya jumped and turned smirking as the distinctly overplayed but recognizable Habrena theme began.

The crowd clapped along to their Russian hero as she spun, arms above her head attempting to look as flirty and seductive as possible. The crowd cheering at her split jump before she landed and spun into her first step sequence, letting the beats follow her footwork and making sure her edges and turns were perfect and clean.

God my fucking ribs.

She ignored all her injuries as she hoped the athletic tape would hold up for at least until after the competition, she had to skip the exhibition to go to a hospital but this medal would make it all worth it.

As the music now changed and intensified Katya jumped as she got ready for her first quad, entering from the back outside edge, jamming her toe pick as she rotated four times in the air before landing on the back outside edge of the opposite foot. She grinned as she left her arms above her head turning as the crowd screamed in delight seeing her quad cleanly land.

Detox's program was perfect, everything had to be just as perfect and better and cleaner if Katya was going to win this gold. She was barely behind the short program and made sure she added as many quads as she could handle in the second half to try and up her score.

The blonde spun into her layback as the music built, head and shoulders are dropped backwards and the back arched downwards toward the ice as her free leg lifted toward the back. She held her arms held above her body, spinning as she then did a short arabesque around the rink before finishing off with her Biellmann spin.

Her flexibility knew no bounds but this was about the attitude and jumps, everyone knew that Katya had impeccable spinning technique.

The deperatue into her successful triple toe triple loop combination earned another large cheer from the crowd as she matched the growing stress from the music with a camel spin before jumping out as the crash started. Katya began with a takeoff from the back inside edge of one foot before jumping and making sure she rotated four times, landing on the back outside edge of the opposite foot.

The Russian girl grinned as she accomplished all her proper choreography with the crowd utterly and obviously in her absolute favor. She added to the list of jumps with a triple axel, always perfect in execution and high in height and take off. She held back a groan as she continued on with the program, her ribs and hips beginning to feel the pressure of keeping up with the fall from warming up earlier.

Katya began her quad flip jump by taking off from the back inside edge of her skate, rotating four times in the air before she felt herself completely crash on the ice. The loud groans and gasps were definitely as loud as the program music but Katya continued, letting her anger of not completing her jump show through to the music.

I am not losing because of a fall. I am not going to throw away my fucking record for this.

She knew her next move was for a step sequence so she simply threw that out of the water as she approached to attempt another quad, her body now getting the best of her it seemed. Katya entered from a forward outside edge as she then determinedly jumped four rotations in the air before landing on a back outside edge of the other foot, gasps from the crowd as screams ensued. Only Kameron had previously landed the quad axel (with a bit of trouble) but now Katya was added to that list.

The Russian jumped into a sit spin, her body uneasy as she pulled through and kept her perfect flexibility in check. Her vision was beginning to haze but she knew this wasn't the time to give up.

I'm not losing in my own fucking country to an American, no matter how great she is. I am not giving up that easy because of an injury.

Fuck it.

Katya knew Chad would be curious for pushing her own body so damn much but she needed this gold and the satisfaction of shutting up all the media in Russia. The blonde entered her last addition to her program from a back outside edge, rotating four times in the air before landing on the back outside edge of the opposite foot as Katya threw her arms in the air in relief and pride, the crowd standing up already as the music built and began to dimmen for its final moments.

The blonde jumped into another sit spin before grabbing her legs and spinning out of the jump, finishing her program with a scratch spin that somehow managed to stay a float before finishing perfectly on beat with a jump right at the final crash, landing on her feet and arms outstretched.

A standing ovation since the quad, the crowd threw dozens of plushies and flowers to the blonde who only collapsed on the ice and groaned. Giving a wave to the crowd as she stood up slowly, skating around the rink and giving a few sets of bows as the crowd couldn't stop yelling.

"Representing Russia, Katya Zamolodchikova!"

"Представляю Россию Катя Замолодчикова!"

She skated off before hugging Chad who stood silent, running a hand through her hair worriedly, asking if she was alright. Katya nodded but whispered a soft, "I'm about to black out and I feel it." Chad nodded and grabbed her water as the two gently raced to the Kiss & Cry, Katya sitting as she waved to the crowd above them laughing and catching a teddy bear that was thrown near her lap.

"You really wanted to win I'm guessing." Chad's teasing yet worried tone biting at Katya as she snickered, nodding and taking a long sip of water before winking at the live cameras.

"Спасибо за поддержку!" Katya yelled to the camera as she smiled widely, keeping her cool through her hands were shaking nervously, it all came down to added quads. The footage replying her fall didn't exactly strike a good cord in her body but it was over and done with now.

"The scores please."

Chad grabbed Katya's hand as the two looked quietly at the scoreboard.

"Katya Zamolodchikova has earned in the free skate, a total combined score of 241 points—"

Half of the arena exploded into screams and flags waving as the other half stood idly confused, Katya being one of them as Chad shook her hand's whispering that she won, she had won the gold.

"I cannot read this English very well Chad." She admitted sheepishly as she blinked and stood up to try and stare at the scores confused before the announcer continued over the screams, Katya sitting down anxious.

"She is currently in first place."

Katya gasped and screamed as Chad laughed and hugged her, the two tightly embracing as the Russian announcer repeated it and the arena officially blew into a production of yelling, chanting and bundles of screaming fans. Katya stood on top of the Kiss & Cry bench waving to the arena and those behind her as she pumped her fists in the air and yelled in delight.

Chad clapping as she helped her down and hugged her again, Katya subdued into tears as she cried on her shoulder. Katya had never wanted a medal so badly in her life and she managed to fluke and still get the gold after pushing her body beyond its limits.

It would be Katya with her gold and Grand Prix final qualification secured, Detox with the silver and the underdog Kameron who finally won a bronze medal and won the Russian crowd's hearts.

Katya quickly rushed over to the coaches, hugging a clearly disappointed Detox who smiled and congratulated the legend herself before she quickly shook hands with Vanessa and Kameron before being utterly blasted and bombarded with Russian and international media attention.

This is truly my life, broken ribs and all.

— *.✧

It had been a week precisely since coming back home from Russia, the Grand Prix qualification had ended with Shea taking gold in Japan at the NHK Trophy and now the official lineups and qualification came for the six solo ladies who'd be fighting for the most competitive medals in the world minus the Olympics of course.

Alaska was happy to be back in America to say the least, Rostelecom might've just been her darkest moment even if some skaters dreamed of having a fifth place finish at a Grand Prix qualification event. Her focus had now shifted to nationals and changing her programs, it was a bold move but if she had to skate to Black Swan one more time she might throw up on the ice and in front of the judges.

A lash out between her and Sharon finally saw them change it but Sharon's priority was now Detox and understandably so, she had a gold and silver locked in her closet and had qualified for the Grand Prix final with (almost) flying colors. Alyssa would help Alaska grow her new programs out to ensure she qualified for the Olympics that were coming soon as Nationals were in almost two months.

—

Grand Prix Final Set List

December 10-13th in Marseille, France

Women's Single Skating Qualifiers

° Katya Zamolodchikova, Russia

° Sasha Velour, Russia

° Detox Sanderson, USA

° Shea Coulee, USA

° Trixie Mattel, USA

° Brooke Lynn Hytes, Canada

—

The list was pinned all throughout the home rink in Los Angeles and Alaska ignored it. Of course she was rooting for her friends and especially Detox who was beyond excited to get a second chance after coming third to Sasha last year in Japan where it was held last year. Alaska had gotten silver that year and what a downgraded this was from almost winning the entire fucking competition.

Detox skated over to Alaska as the two skated around the rink slowly, Trinity having the right of way to practice her newly formed program that was a collaboration between Sharon and Pep who thought it be a good way for her to finally sneak in to the Olympics after last qualifications saw her third and robbed of a spot due to some bullshit about not having enough international experience.

It was Alaska, Sharon (in her last year of skating) and Scarlet who went but it should've been Trinity and everyone knew that.

"How are you feeling going to France soon?"

Detox laughed, nervously rubbing her arms, "It's wonderful but it's awful going without you. I was packing with Trinity last night and it feels so weird to not have you there."

Alaska nodded and slapped her back, "Well dry your fucking eyes because nationals is coming and I get extra training!" Detox cackled as the two skated along the edges of the rink, staying clear of Trinity.

The brunette took off from the back inside edge of her left skate, rotated four times in the air before making a clean landing on the back outside edge of the opposite foot. Detox yelled and cheered for her girlfriend, Trinity giving a slight smile as Sharon and Peppermint clapped, "Good!" Sharon yelled from the rink as Trinity continued on.

"Let's go train in the dance studio and then we can go sneak off and get junk food for lunch to celebrate your qualification."

Detox smiled and high fived her best friend as the two gently exited the rink as Trinity continued, landing her triple axel as Detox jumped and yelped for her girlfriend before turning to Alaska as she zipped up her Team USA jacket.

"Done deal."

#rpdr fanfiction #figure skating au #lesbian au #katya zamolodchikova #alaska thunderfuck #sharon needles #detox icunt #trinity taylor #peppermint #kameron michaels #chad michaels #vanessa vanjie mateo #miss fame #roza #concrit welcome

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