#but this requires one to have 4 million responsibilities

[ironmanstan]

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[tlou-reid]

Security ✿ Aaron Hotchner

from the river to the sea, palestine will be free 🇵🇸 READ: this account stands with palestine, and so— i require everyone who interacts to educate themselves, and support/donate. READ THESE; 1 and 2, HELP HERE, BOYCOTT. silence is complicity, do not scroll past this.

♡ SUMMARY: reader calls aaron just as he arrives home from a case, needing a savior in her own home. aka baked goodies part 4

♡ WARNINGS: reader has the flu, criminal minds-esque violence, mentions of haley and her death, reader takes medicine for the flu and eats a frozen croissant and i do not wish to offend the French, not edited but when is my stuff ever?

𖤣 Part one here! 𖥧 Part two here! 𖡼 Part three here! ⚘

𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘.𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘.𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘.𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘

The flu. Of course, just as winter was finally wrapping up, your sniffles start and your throat starts to burn. The cold was no longer nipping at your nose, but you were still shivering at night. The fever you’d started a day ago didn’t feel like it was going away any time soon, so you’d decided to head to the urgent care a few minutes away.

The doctor had been surprised when your flu test came back positive, considering it was late march. “You’re probably the last positive we’ll get until thanksgiving time,” he had remarked as he signed the prescription for you. With a sigh, you made your way to the check out counter, got your prescription and headed to your car. You barely got your key in the ignition when your phone stayed to ring.

“Hi honey,” Aaron’s whisper filled your car as your phone connected via bluetooth. “Hi baby,” you mustered up all of the energy you had to coo at him, wanting to match his energy. He knew you weren’t feeling the best, so any energy you could give him was enough.

You swore he could feel the things you felt sometimes. You knew there was science backing the idea that your heartbeats could sync up, but this was a whole different level. Aaron knew you in ways no one else did, and no one else ever would. You’d been together for almost six months now, and you could very easily picture a lifetime with him. It was almost as if your souls were tied together, creating the most beautiful knot you’d ever seen. One that could only be named love.

“Feeling any better?” His voice was gentle, but you could tell he was keeping quiet. He was probably still in the Chicago Precinct, finishing up a very gruesome case. “I am now that I’m talking to you,” you flirted before breaking into a coughing fit. Your cover was blown. “Are you driving?” Aaron asks, ignoring your flirtation. “I have to get home, Aaron.” You were too tired for his overprotectiveness.

Once again changing the subject, he asks the million dollar question, “What did the doctor say?”

You winced at some dickhead behind you beeping at the car next to you as you answered, “The flu, he gave me some medicine.” You heard Aaron let out a sigh on the other side, “It’s spring time,” he declared, just as puzzled as you were. “I know, that’s what I said.”

“I’m sorry, honey.” You knew that would be his response. There’s nothing he can do but wish you well from about 11 hours away. He wished he could hop on the jet and come home to cuddle the virus out of you. But he couldn’t. He was here, in Chicago, catching evil criminals, and you were back home. You didn’t answer his sentiment, instead opting to sit in comfortable silence on the phone with you. He was alone in the conference room, mapping out similarities from the victims, so he put his phone on speaker and got back to work.

This was a comforting action for Aaron. It gave him some sort of peace he was always seeking when he was away on cases. The hairs on the back of his neck lowered and the pit in his stomach closed. Just a little bit, but the pit closed some.

A few minutes later, you were pulling into your driveway. You couldn’t help but peek out of your rear view mirror. It was as dramatic as a romance movie, the way you longingly looked at Aaron’s home, as if your gaze could spawn him in his front yard.

“Hey Aar,” You said, unable to hide how tired you were, “I’m home.” You couldn’t see but Aaron nodded, knowing that meant you were about to hang up. “Get some rest, please. And don’t forget your medicine.”

“I’m going to bed as soon as I get in the door. You don’t have to worry about me, I promise.” You switched your phone to speaker, disconnecting it from the car and turning the car off. “I’m still going to worry,” Aaron guaranteed. “I know, but try to not.”With a sigh, he agreed“I can do that, I love you.”

Saying “I love you” was something that came had come unexpectedly easy to Aaron. He’d thought after all of the loss he’d faced of people he loved, there would be a hesitancy, a fear that he’d buried somewhere dark and deep. But it wasn’t. It came easy and truthfully, just as being in love with you did.

It was surprising to you how often, how delicately, and how meaningfully Aaron said it. It carried so much weight when he said it, it was a promise every single time. A promise to be there to say it again and again, a promise to fight through whatever awful things are thrown at him to be the best version of himself for you, a promise to be there for you, a promise to be the man you deserve.

Aaron Hotchner was a serious man, always had been and always will be. But he’s especially serious about the people he loves, you and Jack the most.

“I love you too, goodnight.” You joked as you stepped into your home. “Goodnight, get some rest.” Aaron was smiling as he hung up.

You’re not sure how long you slept. It had to have been a few hours, considering it was dark when you woke up. Your head was pounding and and your stomach was rumbling.

You slowly dragged yourself out of bed, fighting through the deep ache in your bones. You couldn’t understand why you were both hot and cold at the same time, or why the ringing in your ears wouldn’t go away. You, despite all of the rest you’d gotten, were feeling about a thousand times worse than you were yesterday.

You stopped at your sock drawer, pulling out the thickest, fuzziest pair you could find, before hobbling down to the kitchen. You’d just gone grocery shopping, so you were sure there was something you could throw into the microwave.

As you rummaged through your fridge like an injured raccoon, your phone buzzed from its spot on the couch, where you’d tossed it after you came in. A text of Aaron lit up the screen, ‘Just got back to the precinct. We just have to fill out some paperwork and then we’ll be on the jet home. See you soon.’ it read.

After taking a few, small bites of the frozen croissant you’d found in the back of your freezer, you responded to Aaron’s text with a simple ‘be safe, love u’, energy level matching what you were currently feeling.

Then you headed back up to bed. There was some kind of uneasiness flowing through your veins, so you pulled up some mindless video to help you relax. You were sure it was just the medicine making you a little queasy, so you did your best to relax so you could sleep away the pounding in your head.

It took a while, about two and a half youtube video essays, but you did slowly drift off into an uncomfortable slumber.

Once again, you were unsure of how long you’d been asleep. You felt groggy, as if you could use a few more hours to truly feel good, even with the flu. You weren’t sure what woke you up, however.

It was dark out, so you reached for your phone to see if Aaron had made it home. ‘2:36’, the screen that was entirely too bright read. You signed, swiping down on your screen to show your notifications. A text from Aaron 35 minutes ago read, “Just got in the door. I bet you’re asleep, give me a call when you wake up. I’ll be up for a while.”

Every muscle in your body hurt, you pushed through for just 13 of them to form a smile at his care of you.

Just as your hand hovered over the call button on his contact, you heard your front door swing open with a bang.

Your head immediately perked up. You inched your way back toward headboard, trying to put yourself in a position as far away from the sound as possible.

Your breathing stopped as you listened. “Hurry the fuck up, we got two more to go to tonight.” You heard an unfamiliar voice call out. It was obvious they were trying to be quiet, albeit unsuccessfully.

Without hesitation, your finger hit the call button. It rang twice before Aaron’s groggy voice was coming through the receiver, “Hey honey, how are you-”

You cut him off with a desperate whisper of his name, “Aaron,” He was stricken with worry immediately. You were sick, so sick. You’d been running almost a 103 degree forever. Despite your medicine, there was no way you’d be able to speak with such conviction in your voice already.

“Aaron,” you repeated with as you squeezed your eyes shut, “Someone’s here.”

Aaron’s heart stopped in his chest. The last time someone entered the house of a person he loved, they never came back out of it. Haley’s last moments alive were spent with someone who was in her house when he shouldn’t have been. And now that was happening to you.

“Where?” Aaron asked as he shuffled around, moving to his gun safe. He quickly input the code, checked the safety and began to make his way to your house. He could hear Jackson barking in the background, doing his best to protect you.

You heard a crash somewhere downstairs, and decided you couldn’t sit anymore. Faster than someone with the flu should be able to, you stood up to move to the bathroom attached to bedroom.

“They’re downstairs, please hurry.” He could hear the fear in your voice, the way you were choking back tears. Jackson’s bark was getting progressively louder had Aaron’s heart speeding up.

Aaron didn’t answer as he approached the door. His end of the call went silent, before you heard your door crash open again. “FBI,” his loud voice boomed through the house. Even Jackson paused at that, standing with his fur perked up and his eyes focused on the door.

Aaron then yelled and you could tell it was directed towards you, “Call the police!”

You did as you were told, hanging up the phone call to dial 911. You quickly explained the situation and gave your address to the dispatcher. You told her that Aaron was here, he was an FBI agent, he was seemingly making sure the intruders weren’t leaving, and to please, please, please, not let him get hurt.

Her calming voice assured her that she wouldn’t.

You sat on the bathroom floor, shaking, running your hands through Jackson’s fur as you waited for the police to arrive. You wished Aaron could handle it. That he had the power to arrest them and it could all be over. But he didn’t, so you were stuck here, waiting, shaking.

It felt like an eternity, but was probably twenty minutes, but you heard the sirens as they pulled up. Once the cops were in the door, Aaron informed them of what was going on, and then made a beeline to your room. The door was still shut from when you went to bed, but not locked. Aaron decided to lecture you later.

His eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room as Jackson creeped out. Aaron gave him a few pats before following where he’d came from.

“Aaron,” he heard your tired voice call out. You were definitely crying, even if you hadn’t noticed it yet. “It’s me, honey,” he answered, finally finding you in the dark. He sat down next to you on the cold tile. He pulled you into his chest, completely enveloping you in nothing but Aaron.

You pressed your ear against his chest, searching for his heartbeat. You could hear how fast it was beating. The sound started to calm you down. As the adrenaline stopping running through you, the illness started to re-emerge.

Aaron didn’t speak as he held you. He held you until you stopped crying. He held you until your breathing evened out. He held you until you stopped shaking. He held you as Jackson curled up at your feet, also trying to protect you.

Ten minutes, then twenty minutes passed, then Aaron lost track of time. Still, he held you close with one arm, and gently combed his fingers through your hair with the other.

“You awake?” He whispered. “Mhm,” you replied. “Let’s go walk around the house.” Your eyebrows furrowed at his request. That was the last thing you wanted to do right now. Your bones hurt and you were scared of what could be lurking in the dark of your house.

“You won’t feel safe unless you know it’s clear.” You shook your head against him. “I won’t feel safe if you leave.” You promised him. Every word was true. “I’m not going anywhere.”

You knew every word of that was true, too.

“Can we go to your house tonight?” Somehow, you were even quieter. “Of course.”

Aaron moved to get up. He stepped over to flick on the lights and then help you up. You tried to ignore how lightheaded the shift in position made you feel, but stumbled as you got up. Aaron reached out, once again protecting you.

“Jackson’s not going to like being alone,” You sighed, with sad eyes. You didn’t want to leave him, but you weren’t going to feel safe. Against every part of his body wanting to tell you he’s just a dog and that’d he be okay, Aaron found himself saying, “He can come, too.”

“You don’t want dogs in your house.” You recalled the countless times Aaron complained about the dog hair. “I’ll make an exception tonight, you’re sick.” He justified. He could feel your body relax in his arms. With Aaron and Jackson by yourself, you knew you’d feel safe and secure. “Thank you, honey.” Aaron smiled at you using his favorite nickname for you.

“Well, let’s walk around and then we’ll head over.” You nod, following his lead. Aaron holds your hand as he guides you through the house, checking every nook and cranny he could think of. Jackson stayed right by your side.

As you made it to the bottom floor of the house, you could see two police cars still sitting, and two cops standing out front talking. You knew you’d have to give a statement or something eventually, but you were hoping Aaron could pull some strings due to how exhausted your body was.

“All clear,” You remark as you finish looking over the house. You’d have to replace your door handle on your front door, and your living room was in complete disarray, but you knew it’d be much worse if Aaron hadn’t come when he did. He was your savior tonight.

Aaron pulls you close again, relishing in your skin being against his. He was coming down from his own adrenaline high and all he wanted to do was hold you, so he could know that you were safe and alive, and opportunity that he didn’t have with Haley.

Something deep inside of him was gratified tonight. He knew that he could never replace Haley, that the love and the fear and the heartbreak he felt for her would always linger and would never, ever go away. But he also knew that he was a different man. He was a better man. A better father, a better lover. He knew that wherever Haley was, he was proud of the man Aaron had become. The man you helped him become.

Aaron pressed a kiss to your forehead, squeezed your shoulder, and then said, “Let’s go home.” You didn’t have to remind him about Jackson, as he moved to the closet that you kept his leash in. As if he could feel the heaviness in the air, Jackson didn’t put up an excited fight to put his leash on.

Aaron held your hand in his right, and Jackson’s leash in his left as he guided the two of you outside. You three took a few paces into the yard, before he was handing you the leash, mumbling an “I’ll be right back,” before walking to where the police were lingering.

You couldn’t hear what was going on, but you saw Aaron shake their hand after talking to them, and then he returned to your side. “They said you can go to the station in the morning to talk to them since I gave a statement. I told them you have the flu, so maybe we can get it pushed back more.” You nodded at his words, and slipped your hand back in his. Aaron ran his thumb along the soft skin of your hand as you walked across the street to his house.

Once you got inside, Aaron let you shower as he found a bowl that Jackson could drink from. The hot water helped your muscles relax, and unstuffed your nose. It felt good to be breathe for a couple minutes.

Aaron was already in bed when you made in to the room. Jackson was curled up on the floor at the end of the bed, softly snoring until you opened the door. “Come here,” Aaron gestured to the empty side of the bed. You complied and he pulled you tight against his side.

Even with the ache in your bones and burn in your throat returning, this was best you’d felt all week.

You tried your best to sleep. When that didn’t work, you tried your best to at least lay still so Aaron could sleep. When that also didn’t work, you sat up in the bed, frustrated. All you’d wanted to do all day was sleep, and now your body was still reeling from your house being broken into, so you could.

“You alright?” Aaron asked, hand moving to run along your thigh. “I can’t sleep,” You mumbled. You felt Aaron nod, before his hands slid up your body, guiding you by your torso to lay back down next to him. He pressed a kiss against your shoulder once he could reach it. “Let’s just lay here, then.”

You nodded, wiggling closer to him. His hand kept moving along your thigh, and you used it to slow your breathing down, matching it to the movement.

You weren’t sure how long you laid like that before Aaron broke the silence, “What would you think about moving in with me?” It was quiet, almost a whisper. It was easily the most timid you’d ever heard him be.

“Can Jackson come?” Aaron laughed at your response, a little less nervous than he’d previously been. “Of course,” he responded. It was quiet for a little bit as you pondered the question, before you replied, “If you talk to Jack and he’s okay with it, then I will consider it.”

Aaron nodded, know that was the best answer he could’ve received given your illness and how late it was. “Okay,” he replied, pressing one more kiss to your shoulder before laying back down next to you.

[wannabehockeygf]

You All Over Me - Auston Matthews

“‘Cause no amount of freedom gets you clean,

I’ve still got You All Over Me.”

Pairing: Auston Matthews x fem! oc Word Count: Currently 8.2k

Pairing: AM34 x Social Media Manager fem!oc

Warnings: alcohol, smut later on

Notes: (***) indicate chapter change, (---) time skip within chapter, or a seperation from a post or messages. Italics at the beginning of the chapter indicate who's 'pov'(not really cuz we're in third person) we're looking at. BOLD LETTERS LIKE THIS during chapters (excluding posts/the first word of the entire book) indicate location. Locations within Toronto will be more specific, outside of Toronto will be vague.

Story will be continued on my wattpad (same handle) and here, but should prob follow my wattpad because I won't announce new chaps here lol.

***

Toronto.

A place of endless opportunity – bright lights everywhere, bustling city streets, and the sinking feeling in one's stomach when realizing each of the 6 million people in the GTA have their own lives.

It's humbling, truly. Sitting on the subway, heading to a destination, one can't help but wonder about the people around them.

Thoughts don't often dwell on it, but that girl with the pink hair and the septum piercing? She just found out her dad is sick. The guy with the navy blue baseball cap? He just got promoted at work.

Sometimes she wondered if people look at her and wonder what her story is. What brought her to that moment, being in the same place as them.

She doesn't know if they do, but it brings her a sense of normalcy. Weirdly enough, it's one of the only things that makes her feel human when in doubt. Everyone is just trying to get by, right?

And sometimes, that can be especially hard - at least in her case right now.

Moving across the country had never been on Blair's radar until about 4 months ago. She had just finished her first year of law school after sustaining a season-ending, and career-ending, hip injury competing in figure skating last year.

As a little kid, she always wanted to play hockey, but her mom pushed figure skating on her, saying it was more 'feminine.' She didn't like it all that much, but it consumed her life so much that when she lost it, she didn't know what to do with herself.

So, when it blew up in her face, she decided to deny it and work towards making her communications bachelor's degree worth something in law school. Problem was, she hated it.

It drove her mental health into a ditch, and by the time she was finished, she was a shell of who she used to be - and who she used to be was broken too.

She didn't want to live like that anymore.

So, she finally broke things off with her long-term boyfriend, which she probably should've done earlier, and left. Left Vancouver behind to start a new life across the country - in Toronto.

Her music boomed in her headphones as she looked up, seeing that they were at the station she needed to get off at. Standing up, walking off the subway, she climbed up the stairs and faced the unfamiliar streets once again.

She had just come back from a job interview and was heading home to her tiny studio apartment in Trinity-Bellwoods. The job, which required navigating the trenches of Toronto public transit, was at Scotiabank Arena - working for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Coming from a fan perspective, she had been a Canucks girl her whole life, growing up in Vancouver. But this position of social media manager paid really well, and she wasn't letting team bias get in the way of putting some weight in her pockets.

Seeing the ice could be a little irking for her, sure, but it's not like she was being put out there with a puck and a stick and nothing else other than a pat on the back. She'd just be responsible for the social media platforms. Can't be that hard, right?

They said they'd get back to her within two weeks, and now the waiting starts.

***

Blair

SCOTIABANK ARENA

Blair shoved her face into the badly drawn map the information desk attendant had given her for directions. It really wasn't helping.

"Right... here?" she mumbled, taking a sharp turn without looking up and bumping straight into a firm chest, dropping the paper.

Startled, she let out a little squeal before stepping back to see who she had just run into. "Sorry!" she said, meeting the gaze of a blue-eyed man.

He smiled brightly at her. "All good," he replied, crouching down to pick up the paper and furrowing his brow at it. "What even is this?"

Blair let out an awkward chuckle, moving a lock of dark brown hair away from her face. "A... map? Sorry, I'm just so turned around here." She paused, swallowing hard. "Do you happen to know where I could find a... Brad Treliving?"

"Sure do," the man said, folding up the paper. He seemed about to give it back to her before he held out his other hand for a handshake. "And you are?"

"Blair Hanson," she replied, shaking his hand firmly. This guy must be the happiest man on earth, holding a full-on goofy grin for the entire interaction.

"Nice to meet you, Blair. I'm Mitch," he remarked, freeing her from the handshake and handing her the paper at last.

"Mitch...?" she questioned. As little as she knew about professional settings, she thought you were supposed to introduce yourself with your full name, which 'Mitch' didn't do, if that's even his name.

Mitch laughed, surveying the skeptical look on Blair's face. "You don't know who I am?"

Who did this guy think he was? Blair blinked a couple of times, then pushed her glasses up her nose. "Should I?"

Mitch chuckled again, clearly amused by her confusion. "How new are you here, exactly?"

"Well," she started, crossing her arms, "Does it matter? Maybe you should stop expecting people to recognize you on sight. I mean, what are you, Mark, like, a fitness trainer or something?"

Mitch furrowed his eyebrows, his friendly smile fading slightly. "It's Mitch," he paused, running a hand through his dirty blond hair. "Mitch Marner. I play for the team."

Oh. Oh. Blair should have known that, shouldn't she? She felt her face burn up as she started to apologize profusely. "I'm so sorry! I'm just... very new," she admitted, her guard wearing down.

Mitch waved it off, his smile returning. "No worries. So, you were looking for Brad, huh? Big day for you?"

"Yeah," Blair said, feeling a bit nervous under his gaze. "I'm starting as the new social media manager."

Mitch's eyes lit up. "Oh, that's awesome! You'll be handling all the behind-the-scenes stuff, right? Making us look good on Instagram and all that?"

"Pretty much," she laughed, starting to feel more at ease. "I'm still figuring out how I'm going to make a bunch of sweaty hockey players look good, though."

Mitch grinned. "Good luck with that. But seriously, welcome aboard. You'll do great." He gestured down the hallway. "Brad's just around the corner, I'll take you."

"Thank you, Mitch. I appreciate it," she said, falling into step beside him.

"No problem," Mitch replied, walking with an easy confidence that made Blair envious. "You'll find that everyone here is pretty welcoming. It can feel like a big family, especially once you get to know the guys."

Blair laughed. "Oh, sure. I'm sure I'll fit right... in." She trailed off, her eyes widening as Mitch pushed open a big double door. She first spotted the man she was looking for, Brad Treliving, standing at the head of a big conference table, along with the entire Maple Leafs roster seated around it.

She swallowed hard, standing frozen in place while everyone's heads turned towards her. Mitch placed a friendly hand on her shoulder, "This her?"

Brad Treliving looked up from the papers he was holding, a welcoming smile spreading across his face. "Yes, it is. Come on in, Blair."

Blair forced her feet to move, taking tentative steps into the room. If she wasn't nervous before, she was now, with every pair of eyes scrutinizing her. She offered a polite smile, trying to hide her nerves. "Um... Hi," she said, approaching Brad and standing beside him. "Is this... are we doing this here?"

Brad chuckled softly, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "Yes, Blair. I thought it might be good for you to meet everyone right away. This is the team you'll be working with closely, after all."

She swallowed again, feeling the weight of the moment pressing down on her. "Okay, sure. Hi, everyone."

The players nodded and mumbled their greetings, some offering small smiles. Blair could feel her heart pounding in her chest, but she forced herself to stay calm. This was what she came here for. This was her new beginning.

Brad gestured to a seat at the table, and Blair sat down, her back straight and her hands clasped in her lap. "So, Blair," he began, "We're thrilled to have you on board. Should we start with some introductions?"

She nodded, attempting to steady her breath as she glanced around the table. "Well, I'm Blair, as Mr. Treliving said, um..." She paused, fumbling with her fingers under the table. "I moved here from Vancouver a couple of weeks ago. I went to law school for a bit, and I used to figure skate competitively."

A chuckle came from somewhere across the table, and Blair's gaze shot in that direction. Her eyes met those of a tall, muscular, brown-eyed man as he stifled another laugh. "Figure skating, huh? No offense, but what do you know about hockey?"

Blair forced a polite smile, trying not to show her frustration. "None taken. I've been a Canucks fan my whole life, so, a lot more than you'd think."

A lot taken. It was like she had walked into a room with egos inflated to the max.

"Yeah, okay," he replied, his voice carrying a hint of sarcasm as he adjusted his Maple Leafs branded ball cap. "Nice glasses, by the way."

Blair pushed her glasses up her nose, feeling a little self-conscious at this point, and she was about to respond before another man she didn't recognize spoke up. "Auston, lay off. It's not like she's getting on the ice with us."

Auston. That name rang a bell, she thought. Of course, Auston Matthews. Blair made a mental note to remember the faces and names, but for now, she just needed to get through this. Auston rolled his eyes, leaning back as he replied, "Says the one whose wife is a figure skater."

The other man, with strawberry blond hair, tensed up, gaining his composure before he met Auston's gaze. "And how many Olympic gold medals do you have?"

Auston smirked but didn't respond. The tension in the room was palpable, and Blair could feel her anxiety rising again. She took a deep breath, reminding herself that she needed to stay professional. This was her chance to prove herself, and she wouldn't let an arrogant hockey player get to her.

Brad cleared his throat, bringing the attention back to him. "Alright, let's focus, everyone. Blair is here to help us elevate our social media presence, and I expect all of you to cooperate and make her job easier."

The fact that the general manager was talking to the players like they were literal children made Blair tense up even further. This was going to be a long day.

--- 436 TRINITY-BELLWOODS

Blair's phone rang as she shut the door to her apartment. She fished through her bag and pulled it out, seeing her brother's name, and slid to pick up the FaceTime.

She was met with the face of her baby niece, and it instantly warmed her heart. Sometimes, she thought she regretted choosing this type of life instead of settling down and starting a family, but she always brushed those thoughts away. She wasn't ready to be a mother—being the hot, cool aunt was enough for her.

"Hey, munchkin!" she greeted her niece, her voice softening. "Where's your dad?"

Her niece giggled, the camera shaking as she toddled around. "Da-da!" she called, and Blair heard her brother, Sam's, voice in the background.

"Hey, Blair," he said, taking the phone from his daughter and giving her a friendly smile. "How are you? How's the city?"

The stress of the day slowly dissipated as Blair saw the familiar face that brought her comfort. "Yeah, it's... different. Bigger, for sure, but nothing a little walking around can't fix. How's everything back home?"

Sam laughed, adjusting Blair's niece on his lap. "Same old, same old. Lila just started walking, so that's been fun." His face lit up with pride as he talked about his daughter, and Blair couldn't help but smile. Someday, she hoped she had that too.

"She's getting so big!" Blair said, watching as Lila reached for the phone, her chubby fingers grasping at the screen. "And walking already? Wow."

"Yeah, she's a little terror now," Sam joked, tickling Lila's side and making her squeal with laughter. He turned back to the camera, and his smile slowly got replaced with a frown as he looked at Blair's disheveled state. "We miss you, little sis."

Blair took a deep breath, feeling a wave of homesickness wash over her. "I miss you guys too. It's been a crazy day. I'm just trying to adjust, you know?"

Sam chuckled, attempting to lighten the mood. "Hey, you've dealt with worse, right? Remember when that one coach at nationals—"

"Sam! Don't!" Blair squealed, not wanting to be reminded of that. Figure skating might have been her entire life, but it was also the most traumatizing thing she had ever gone through.

Sam waved it off, returning the conversation to safer waters. "Whatever. But you got through that, right? You can get through anything, Blair. Toronto ain't nothing." He joked, trying to offer her more comfort.

Blair honestly felt bad for people who hadn't experienced having a big brother because they were literally the best. He was her only one, yet his words could always bring a smile to her face. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Sam. I needed that," she replied, smiling back at him.

"Anytime," Sam said, giving Lila a kiss on the forehead. "Hey, if you ever need to talk, you know we're just a phone call away. Don't be a stranger, okay?"

"I won't," Blair promised, feeling a bit lighter. "Give Lila a big hug from me."

"Will do," Sam said, waving as Lila babbled in the background. "Take care, sis."

"You too," Blair said, ending the call and setting her phone down on the coffee table. She took a deep breath, looking around her tiny studio apartment. The walls were still bare, and the only furniture she had was a small bed and a desk. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

A new start. Her new start.

***

Auston

SCOTIABANK ARENA

Auston Matthews was always straightforward with people. He thought that was a good quality, but recently, it seemed quite the opposite. His friends liked him, though, even though they butted heads sometimes. That made him not an asshole, right?

Through some light stalking, Auston had found Blair's Instagram the next day, and was actively scrolling through it, hunched over and everything while in the locker room. He didn't have shame doing it, because they might not have liked each other, but damn she was hot.

It started innocently, perhaps curious, when he searched her name at the gym the night before and saw that Mitch had already followed her. He even looked around before he tapped on it to make sure no one was looking, even though he was the only one there, and he'd been hooked ever since.

It was surprising that he wasn't drooling currently, as he was elbow-deep in her feed fifteen minutes before warmups. Mitch, who had been trying to hype the whole team up for their season home opener, frowned when he saw Auston didn't even glance up from his phone.

"Yo, Matthews!" Mitch exclaimed, trying to get Auston's attention. Auston glanced up, trying to find the source of the noise. His eyes scanned the room until they met Mitch's, whose eyes narrowed at Auston. "What?" Auston said, his tone annoyed.

"What?" Mitch mimicked Auston, mocking him as he rolled his eyes, "We have a game in fifteen minutes and you're glued to your phone. What's so interesting, anyway?"

Auston put his phone down on the bench as he started to put a glove on. "Nothing. I mean, nothing important. It can wait." He stated.

William Nylander, another one of their teammates, took the opportunity to snatch Auston's phone on the bench. He thought it would be an innocent prank to get him to flinch, but his face lit up when he saw it was still unlocked.

"Aw, you guys gotta see this," William said, quickly standing up and holding the phone out of Auston's reach.

Auston lunged for his phone, but with his gloves on, it was a futile effort. "Willy, fuck off and give it back." he snapped, his annoyance evident.

William grinned mischievously and darted away, holding the phone high. "What are you so worried about, Auston? Is it your secret mistress?" he joked, drawing the attention of a few other players in the locker room.

Mitch stepped forward, grinning at William's antics. "Let's see what's got our boy so hooked," he said, grabbing the phone from William's hand before Auston could protest.

The room fell silent as the players gathered around Mitch. Auston could only watch in horror as his teammates stared at Blair's Instagram feed. A few chuckles broke out, and Auston's face flushed with embarrassment.

"Man, she's cute," William remarked, nudging Auston playfully as he handed his phone back. "No wonder you've been glued to your phone."

Auston felt his frustration bubbling within him as he finally snatched the phone from William's hand. "I know she's cute, that's why I was looking at it, genius. No other reason."

"Whatever you say, buddy," Mitch said, rolling his eyes as he put his own gloves on, "No harm in trying anything, right? I mean, no rules are saying that we can't–"

Auston sat up from the bench quickly in his defense. "I'm not–" He paused, looking around to see that everyone's eyes were on him which made him decide to sit back down, "I'm not going to try anything, okay? I can do way better than some figure skater media manager or whatever."

The locker room fell into an awkward silence after Auston's defensive outburst. Mitch exchanged a glance with William before deciding to break the tension.

"Alright, let's get our heads in the game," Mitch said, clapping his hands to grab everyone's attention. "We have a season opener to win."

Auston kept his head down, focusing on putting on the rest of his gear. The other players started to shift their attention back to the game, the momentary distraction fading away. Auston could feel the weight of their looks, though, and he knew he'd have to find a way to get everyone to forget about it.

And he knew how to do that, precisely. He had to push away the subject – Blair – as much as possible, and that's exactly what he was going to do.

Tagged Location: Toronto, Ontario

austonmatthews: Thanks for the awesome home opener 💙🤍💙 @/morganrielly @/marner_93

♥ Liked by marner_93, williamnylander, and 73297 others.

Comments: marner_93: 🔥🐐💯

mapleleafs: Leafs nation has the PASSION

random: Auston one chance please

matthewknies: Arizona boys doing what they do best ↳ williamnylander: ice hockey...? ↳↳matthewknies: shhhhh

random: cup this ssn!? ↳ random: 1967

---

BAR DEM

"Another round?" William cheered loudly, urging his teammates on as he flipped his head of sweaty blond hair back. He was drunk – quite literally the entire team was as they celebrated their season opener win, and had what seemed like too many rounds of shots in the upscale bar downtown. Another one couldn't hurt, right?

Auston nodded towards William, approaching the bartender and placing his forearm on the sticky bartop, his credit card placed deliberately between his fingers. He waved over the young woman manning the bar until she noticed him, brushing her hair over her shoulder as she stood infront of him. "What can I get ya?"

Auston smirked, his eyes scanning the bartender head to toe. "Another round of shots for the best puck players in the league," he said, his words slightly slurring together at the end. He gave the bartender a wink before handing over his credit card.

Auston's inner dialogue, although absolutely plastered, was screaming at him to not do something he'd regret, but he decided to ignore it. The bartender flushed as she quickly pulled out the shot glasses from under the bar, then bent over slightly to grab the team's choice of tequila from the wall of alcohol. Auston's eyes, unfortunately, betrayed him at the moment but eventually found hers again. "What's your name, baby?"

The bartender's cheeks turned a light shade of pink as she glanced up at Auston, her movements slowing as she poured the shots. "It's Natalie," she replied, avoiding his gaze momentarily before meeting his eyes again with a shy smile.

Auston grinned, unapologetically eye-fucking the bartender once again. "Nice to meet you, Natalie. I'm Auston."

"I know who you are," she said, her voice barely audible over the noise of the bar. Auston raised a brow, leaning closer to Natalie, "Really? Then who am I?"

Natalie's blush deepened as she filled the last shot glass. "You're Auston Matthews. Everyone here knows who you are," she replied, her voice steady despite her shyness.

Auston adjusted his ball cap, which he was wearing backward before he focused on Natalie again. Even while wasted, he couldn't lie – he loved the attention. "Well, it's nice to know I'm famous," he joked, his words still slurred. "When do you get off tonight?"

Natalie hesitated, glancing around to see if anyone was watching her too closely. She met Auston's gaze again, her blush deepening. "Couple of hours," she said quietly, trying to maintain a professional demeanor despite her flustered state.

Auston grinned wider, sensing her interest. "Maybe you can join us for a drink later," He said, his gaze flickering to her lips for a split second, "We could... get to know each other."

Natalie bit her lip before rolling her eyes, "We'll see," She said, swiping Auston's card through the machine and turning the tablet around for his signature. He frowned slightly, scribbling on the screen before Natalie slid the tray of shots toward him, "Have a good night, Mr. Matthews."

Auston opened his mouth to reply to her, but before he could, Mitch yelled from their booth and waved Auston over. "Auston, stop hitting on the bartender and bring us those shots, would you?"

Auston rolled his eyes at Mitch's interruption but grabbed the tray of shots and made his way back to their booth. The rest of the team cheered as he approached, slapping him on the back and grabbing their glasses.

"I had this grreatt idea, Auston," Mitch started, right after he downed the shot the second he got it, "You've got the hots for our new media manager right? Well... I have her number!" He slurred, the alcohol clearly hitting him as much as anybody else.

"Okay?" Auston replied without missing a beat. He had an uncanny ability of being able to look like he didn't care about things, even if he did, and this was one of those times. "Why? And... how does this affect me?"

"I'm a nice guy, I make it my personal duty to get to know everyone on staff," Mitch leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper despite the loud music and chatter around them, "And, how does this affect you? Come on, you were looking at her pictures with more passion than you play our game, Tone."

Auston's jaw tightened as he sat back on one of the worn-out leather sofas, "I don't want anything to do with that prissy 'businesswoman'" He scoffed, using his fingers to make mock quotations.

Mitch rolled his eyes, talking louder this time. "Well, here's your one chance then. I've got Blair's number right here," he said, pulling out his phone and waving it teasingly in front of Auston.

Auston hesitated for a moment before snatching the phone out of Mitch's hand, his fingers fumbling on his own phone screen as he copied the number down. Yeah, okay, he might've absolutely detested the thought of actually being with someone like Blair, but casual, no-strings affairs were his specialty.

After he was done, he slipped his phone back into his pocket and handed Mitch's back. "There. Now fuck off and let's have fun, yeah?" He said, to which Mitch gave him a smirk back.

***

Blair

PRIVATE MESSAGES 2:43 AM

???: I got your number babe Cnt fuckin believe he gotb to yous before meeee Gna tell his wife lmaoooo Im sooooo fuckshng wastped rnight nkowww I took thnis grl hime Can't stolp thisnkinf aboust u thouglh Need a girl likes u in my lifne

8:01 AM

Blair: What? I think you have the wrong number And, word of advice, never drunk text someone ever again.

436 TRINITY-BELLWOODS

Blair woke up to her alarm. She squinted at the bright screen and saw several messages from an unknown number. Rubbing her eyes, she tried to make sense of the jumbled text, feeling a mix of confusion and annoyance. Who would send something like this at such an ungodly hour?

Setting her phone back on her nightstand, Blair groaned and rolled out of bed. The small studio apartment felt even tinier in the morning light, but she had no time to dwell on that. She had her first full day at work ahead of her, and she was determined to make a good impression despite the rocky start with the team. Or, atleast, with a certain person.

She had been in Toronto for about a month now, and it felt as if she hadn't gotten a good nights sleep since. The sooner she got more comfortable with her new place, the sooner she'd be comfortable in her new life.

She quickly showered, dressed in a professional yet comfortable outfit, and made herself a quick breakfast. Her phone buzzed again, and she reluctantly picked it up.

PRIVATE MESSAGES 8:32 AM

???: Oh fuck My bad Right number tho This is Auston Matthews

Blair: Did you even read what you texted me? Completely inappropriate. Who gave you my number?

Fivehead: Look, I'm sorry. Was pretty wasted last night. Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable Or whatever Read 8:34 AM

Fivehead: Mitch did. He was also pretty drunk

Blair: Asshole.

Fivehead: What?

Blair: What?

Fivehead: Me or him?

Blair: Him.

Fivehead: Oh, so I'm not an asshole?

Blair: No, you too.

Fivehead: You can't just call me an asshole

Blair: Who's stopping me?

Fivehead: I could get you fired.

Blair: You wouldn't do that. I thought you said you needed a girl like me in your life?

Fivehead: Better stop talking before I actually do it.

Blair: Make me.

Auston's typing bubble came up for a few moments, then stopped, but his reply came a couple of minutes later.

Fivehead: Whatever you say Cya in a few, princess Or would you prefer "your majesty" ? Read 8:42 AM

--- SCOTIABANK ARENA

Blair hunched forward in her office chair, the clacking of keyboards around her becoming more irritating by the second. She was told she would have her own office, but today, since renovations were going on, the general manager sent another woman to share the space with Blair.

The red-headed woman who went by the name of Jess was nice enough, but she was so focused that it drove Blair nuts. I mean, seriously, in the three hours they'd been at work, she hadn't stopped typing - other than when she would take sips of her strong-smelling herbal tea.

That's why when someone knocked on the door, Blair immediately shot up, thankful for a sound other than that goddamn keyboard. She quickly scurried to the door, passing by Jess who was unbothered by the distraction.

Blair opened the door to see Auston Matthews standing there, leaning against the doorframe with a smug grin on his face. She fought the urge to roll her eyes as she took a step back, crossing her arms, "Can I help you?"

Auston's grin widened as he took a step into the office, closer to Blair. "Thought I'd come say hi. You know, our last interaction wasn't all that great."

Blair raised an eyebrow, her arms still crossed. "And texting me at 2 am drunk off your ass, trying to fuck me is what you consider 'not all that great?'" She replied, using her fingers to make mock quotations.

Auston's grin faltered for a moment, but he quickly recovered, adopting a more serious expression. "Okay, I get it. I was an asshole, and I'm sorry. Can we start over?"

Blair rolled her eyes, "I don't think I can after that string of texts," She said, walking forward to back Auston out into the hallway. She shut the door halfway before continuing, "Do you need anything? Or are you just here to distract me."

Auston chuckled and rolled his eyes back. "Yeah, actually. We need you downstairs. Something about an on-ice interview for TikTok?"

"Are you serious? I have to get on the ice? I don't even have skates." Blair remarked, slightly panicked. Auston, oblivious to the discomfort he had caused, motioned for her to follow him. "We're a hockey team. We have extra skates for everyone, come on."

Blair reluctantly followed Auston downstairs to the ice. There, she found no other players or people at all, just a selfie stick with a company phone lying by it on a bench. She turned to Auston, quite practically fuming at this point, "Small budget, huh? And I have to interview you?" She said, to which he nodded, "You didn't mention that! You said-"

"These should fit, ma'am." An equipment person interrupted, holding out a pair of white hockey skates.

Blair forced a smile as she took them and thanked the employee before turning back to Auston, "You really should work on your communication skills," she muttered, sitting down on a bench to put the skates on.

Auston smirked, leaning against the wall. "You're a fast learner. You'll be fine."

Blair rolled her eyes, trying to focus on lacing the skates, but she very quickly realized that these were very different to figure skates. She swallowed hard, not looking up as she struggled to figure out a way to make sure they stayed on.

Seeing her struggle, Auston sighed and walked over. "Let me help," he said, kneeling down in front of her.

"I don't need your help." Blair muttered, quickly angling herself away from where Auston had knelt down.

Auston chuckled softly. "You're not going to get far if you can't tie them properly," he said, his tone surprisingly gentle. Blair huffed, realizing he was right but still not wanting to be in this situation in the first place. Reluctantly, she turned back towards him, allowing him to help.

Auston expertly laced the skates, his fingers moving with practiced ease. Blair watched him silently, feeling a mix of frustration and just straight up hatred. Once he finished, he stood up and offered her a hand. "Ready to go?" he asked, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

Blair looked at his hand, and then back up at him before completely disregarding his help and getting up on her own, although it wasn't easy in the new bulky skates.

"Always so independent, huh, princess?" Auston said, trying to hold back his laughter as Blair wobbled trying to walk out to the ice.

Blair managed to steady herself, her annoyance bubbling just beneath the surface. "Whatever, let's just get this over with."

***

Auston

YYZ - TORONTO PEARSON INTL. AIRPORT

Roadies - an inevitable event for a hockey player.

Usually, the Leafs schedule tried to make it so that they'd visit multiple cities during a roadie, getting it all over with and rewarding them with a long homestand, which is the way most of the players liked it. Today, though, they had a one-off trip down to Raleigh, just to fly back the same day.

Auston had decided to engross himself with his teammates today and pretend to be humble, flying on the team plane instead of his own private jet. He trudged on, a backpack slung over his shoulder and his dark hair sticking out of the beanie he was wearing.

Since he was running late, no one saw him at the terminal or even expected him to fly with them, so when he walked on everyone turned their heads. Mitch even shot to his feet, tilted his head in confusion, then finally waved him over.

Auston took a deep breath, hoping they would just talk normally, about the game or something, but braced himself for the inevitable other conversation as he walked down the aisle.

Mitch grinned widely as Auston approached, clearly eager to tease him. "Look who decided to slum it with the rest of us," he said, playfully nudging Auston's shoulder as he took a seat next to him.

Auston chuckled, shoving his backpack into the overhead bin and plopping down in the seat. "Yeah, yeah, I figured I'd give you guys the pleasure of my company for once."

Mitch's grin widened as he leaned back in his seat, rolling his eyes. "Pleasure, huh? More like a rare sighting of the famous Auston Matthews. What's next, you actually sitting with us on the bus?"

Auston rolled his eyes, adjusting his beanie. "Don't push it, Marner."

William leaned over the aisle, holding out his phone with a grin as wide as Mitch's. "This you?" He said, gesturing to the screen. Auston furrowed a brow as he leaned closer, but when he saw the Maple Leafs TikTok and a nicely manicured hand in frame along with Auston himself, he immediately looked the other way.

Auston groaned inwardly, realizing that the infamous TikTok interview had made its rounds. "Yeah, that's me," he said, pretending to not care as he slouched in his seat. "What's your point?"

William chuckled, pulling his phone back. "What's my point? Dude, are those hockey boots she's wearing? How'd you get Blair to do that?"

"Crazy thing, Willy, normal people don't carry skates around with them," Auston replied, his tone slightly annoyed, "She had to borrow them from equipment. No big deal."

William raised his hands in mock surrender, "Alright, don't kill me, but damn, I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared of her."

Auston scoffed, scratching his cheek. "Scared of her? What's there to be scared of, Willy?" He remarked with a passion. Auston, if asked, would describe Blair as many things, but 'scary' was not one of them."

William leaned back in his seat, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that she seems to have no problem putting you in your place?" he teased, drumming his fingers on the tray table, "I mean, seriously, who ever tries to put you in your place? I don't know why we haven't started calling you Mr. Ego yet."

Auston shook his head defensively, "First of all, ouch, and second of all, there's a difference between 'putting me in my place' and just being annoying and bitchy," He sat up slightly, his posture straightening, "And which one is she, again?"

William chuckled, clearly enjoying Auston's discomfort. He folded his arms casually. "Come on, Auston. You've got to admit, she's got you wrapped around her finger."

Auston scowled, his annoyance growing. "I am not wrapped around anyone's finger, Willy. She's just...holy shit." He suddenly said, catching a glimpse of Mitch's phone beside him.

Tagged Location: Toronto, Ontario

blairhanson_: last warm day ever :(

♥ Liked by han.samwich, marner_93, and 1072 others.

Comments:

random: holy

han.samwich: Come back to van pls, it may be rainy but atleast it doesn't snow

↳ blairhanson_: It's also a complete ripoff of a city I fear

↳↳han.samwich: Fair point, Canucks better though

↳↳↳ marner_93: Ouch

↳↳↳↳ han.samwich: MITCH MARNER ????

random: what a hottie, age?

williamnylander: make me look this good on the ice please

↳ blairhanson_: I will try <3

---

"Hmm?" Mitch said, straightening his head up from his phone, seemingly inconspicuous to Auston's reaction.

"Give that to me." Auston muttered, ripping the phone from Mitch's hand and holding it up to his own face. It was a simple Instagram post from Blair, nothing overly special, but Auston found himself unable to rip his eyes off of it.

It only took a few moments of Auston gawking at Mitch's phone before everyone burst into laughter, including other members of the team around them. "See something you like?" Mitch teased.

Auston felt his face heat up, but he quickly regained his composure, throwing the phone back at Mitch. "Whatever, man. Just checking her out. Nothing wrong with that."

Mitch caught his phone, grinning ear to ear. "Sure, Tone, sure. You're just checking her out for work purposes, right?"

Auston rolled his eyes again, slouching further into his seat. "You guys got me fucked up if you think I've never seen you checking out a pretty girl before."

"Yeah, but I think her eyes are up there," William remarked, looking over at Mitch's phone where the photo was still pulled up. He looked at Auston, then at the photo, then back before smiling. "You think she's pretty?"

"Fuck, I..." Auston facepalmed, running his hands down his face. He couldn't believe he was in a situation where his teammates were bugging him about a girl, at their big age. "She's not bad to look at, okay? Can we drop it?"

The laughter from his teammates finally began to die down as everyone took their seats. "Okay, we'll stop... for now." Mitch conceded.

---

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA

The Leafs took a tight victory against the Hurricanes that night in Raleigh, with a final score of 5-4 in overtime and a surprising Auston Matthews hat trick.

Fans in the arena booed him as he left the ice, but he didn't care. Drenched in sweat, he trudged into the visiting locker room with a big smile on his face, his glove out to fist bump anyone who wanted.

Auston pulled his jersey off, and left in only his compression shirt and chest protector was given the belt by last game's MVP, Matthew Knies. "Good shit, Tone, let's keep it going back home," Matt said, giving Auston a firm pat on the back.

With a smile just as wide, Auston sat in his stall, belt thrown over his shoulder and the three pucks from his hat trick in his other hand as he posed for a photo. William, as the second star of the game, posed with him, putting an arm around Auston.

Later that night, on the team bus to the airport, Auston leaned his head against the window, watching the city lights blur by as he tried not to fall asleep. All he wanted to do at the moment was collapse on his bed and have his dog cuddle up next to him, but he'd have to wait a few more hours.

As his eyelids got heavier and heavier, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket and he shook the sleep out of him as he fished it out and brought it to his face.

PRIVATE MESSAGES 10:07 PM

Princess: No fucking way.

Auston: ?

Princess: Do I really have to post that?

Auston: What are you talking about?

Princess: *insert MVP photo*

Auston: Wow! Who are those handsome guys?

Princess: Is there one without the egoist on the right?

Auston: Sure But he wasn't the MVP Was he, princess? See the game?

Princess: I did. Can I have his number?

Auston: Willy's? Why?

Princess: He's cute.

Auston: You're cute.

Princess: What?

Auston: You can read, right? Plus I know you're just asking that to make me jealous

Princess: Not everyone's obsessed with you.

Auston: Sure. See you tomorrow Read: 10:12 PM ***

Blair TORONTO TRANSIT COMMISION - DUNDAS ST. WEST at OSSINGTON AVE

“I’m just wondering why he has your personal Instagram. I mean, isn’t he basically your client?” Sam asked, holding his phone up to his face while he sipped a frozen margarita. Blair’s entire family had decided to go on an impromptu trip to Cancun, and when she realized her work schedule interfered heavily she was devastated. So, instead of tan lines and sun-bleached hair, she was doomed to a gloomy November in Toronto. 

Blair was looking up at the directional signs as she tried to navigate her way through the busy subway station while her brother was on FaceTime. The 8 a.m. rush was definitely a real thing, and being in a new city turned her around even further, “You know he’s a human too, right?” Blair remarked, her eyes darting wildly around at the multitude of directions she could go.

Blair heard Sam chuckle through the one Airpod she was wearing, “Sure, but commenting on your posts? Doesn’t he have a wife?” He replied, his words barely audible over the rush of the station.

Blair sighed, glancing down at her phone for a moment before finding the right platform and walking towards it, “Yes, Mitch has a wife, but I don’t see the point. He’s trying to be nice, and he’s a lot nicer than some of the other assholes there.”

"Okay, okay," Sam relented with a chuckle. "But what about the other players? Are they really that bad?”

Blair adjusted her bag as she stepped onto the train, glancing around for a seat before giving up and holding onto one of the poles. “Most of them are fine. I’m talking about Mr. Rocket Richard every year.” She replied, her tone annoyed.

 Sam's voice crackled through the earbud in her ear, his curiosity unabated. “Who? Oh, Auston Matthews?” He asked with a chuckle, “I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy, through interviews I’ve seen anyway.”

“Yeah, well, the dude puts on a real good media face. I would know.” Blair scoffed, shuffling in her purse to find a pack of gum, “I mean, seriously, I wish he could be genuinely nice for one moment in his sad-”

Suddenly, Blair felt a hand tug at her sleeve, and she quickly turned on the balls of her feet to, most likely, tell whoever it is who just touched her to fuck off. Blair was undoubtedly more bark than bite, but being skittish by nature didn’t help that fact. “Hey, how about you-” She started, quieting down as she met the eyes of the man who looked up at her from his seat.

The blond cracked a smile, then laughed. And what an addicting laugh it was because Blair’s heart immediately skipped a beat at the sound and found herself smiling back. “Rough morning?” William asked, sliding his bag off the seat beside him.

Blair felt a flush rise to her cheeks, partly from the surprise and partly from embarrassment at her earlier irritation. She quickly composed herself, sliding into the now-open seat next to William Nylander. "Yeah, you could say that," she replied with a small smile, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "What are you doing here?"

Sam’s voice came through suddenly. “Blair? What’s happening? Who is that?” He questioned, which caused Blair to not hear whatever William said next. “Sam, I gotta go,” Blair mumbled, her fingers fumbling against her phone for the hang-up button. She looked back at the blue-eyed man, leaning slightly closer to him, “Sorry, what was that?”

William laughed, once again, which Blair simply could not get enough of. “I always take the subway to practice. I like to blend in, plus, beats dealing with traffic.” He repeated as the train began to move.

Blair found herself more intrigued by William than she expected. She wasn’t actually going to try to get to know him unless it was to purposefully get on Auston’s nerves, but she immediately saw this as an opportunity to make a friend, and maybe get some actual action later on. “You never get noticed?” She questioned.

William shrugged as he scratched his cheek, which was already too stubbly for his liking. “Nah, not really,” He started, surveying Blair as she crossed her legs, “Who was that?” 

Blair quickly dropped her phone into her bag, not wanting any further distraction. “Oh, my brother. He was just… curious about how the job is going.” She said, knowing that it wasn’t the full truth but wanting to move on from the topic.

Unfortunately, William didn’t budge. “Ohhh,” He chuckled in realization, “You told him about Tone?”

Blair shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the question. She knew that they were friends and she couldn’t reveal much about her very strong feelings about Auston without offending William, so she offered something simple. “Oh, yeah. He’s been… difficult to work with.”

William snorted, outstretching his arm so it rested on top of the seat Blair was sitting on. “You can just say he’s an ass, no judgment.” He said, casually.

Blair’s eyes widened at William's straightforward comment. She hadn't expected him to be so blunt about Auston, especially considering they were teammates. Despite her own frustrations with Auston, she didn't want to badmouth him to someone who knew him personally.

"Well, yeah," Blair replied carefully, choosing her words. "He can be... challenging at times."

William chuckled, shaking his head. "Challenging, huh? That's one way to put it. Auston has a way of rubbing people the wrong way."

Blair nodded, relieved that William seemed to understand without her having to elaborate further. She shuffled in her bag for her water bottle, finding it and unscrewing the cap. "Yeah, you could say that. But he's not all bad. I think he means well... sometimes."

William raised an eyebrow, his expression curious. "You think so? I think he’s just into you.”

Blair was in the middle of taking a sip of water as William spoke, and when the words hit her, she choked on it, a small amount of it coming out of her nose as she tried to catch her breath. 

“Woah, Blair, you okay?” William questioned, sitting up and placing a firm hand on her back. People around them in the subway stared as Blair wiped the wetness off her nose with her sleeve.

Blair coughed and cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure after choking on her water. William's concern was evident as he patted her back gently. She straightened up, angling her body towards William as she furrowed her eyebrows. “What do you mean he’s into me?” She said through gritted teeth.

William pulled his hand back, realizing his comment had caught Blair off guard. He glanced around at the other passengers on the subway, who were surreptitiously watching the exchange with curiosity.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," William said softly, his voice tinged with concern. "I just… Nevermind.”

The crease inbetween Blair’s eyebrows deepened as she leaned into William further, “Nevermind? You can’t just say that and say ‘nevermind’” She remarked, trying to keep her composure

William, once again laughed like he always did when he was uncomfortable and put his hands up in a mock surrender. “Hey, Bro code, I can’t tell you anything else.”

Blair stared at William, her mind racing with questions. She hadn't expected him to suggest that Auston might have interest in her, whether that be sexual or romantic or some other way - It was a notion that caught her completely off guard, and she struggled to process it.

"Bro code?" Blair repeated, her voice incredulous. "What does that even mean?"

William chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "Look, I probably shouldn't have said anything. It's just... Auston can be hard to read sometimes, but I've seen the way he acts around you."

Blair frowned, crossing her arms defensively. "And what exactly does that mean?"

William hesitated, glancing around at the other passengers who were still discreetly watching their conversation. Outstretching his arm once again, he looked forward at the wall as he responded. “Okay, well, he looks at your pictures.”

Blair's mind raced as she processed William's words. Auston looking at her pictures? She hadn't even considered the possibility that he might view her differently than their professional interactions suggested.

"He looks at my pictures?" Blair repeated, her voice a mix of surprise and skepticism.

William nodded slowly, his expression serious. "Yeah. I mean, I've caught him a few times scrolling through your Instagram,” He laughed, the words keeping flowing without him noticing, “Like the other day, on the way to Raleigh, I was talking to him and Mitchy was scrolling his phone and saw your post. Auston grabbed that phone so fast, it was like-”

He abruptly stopped, swallowing hard as he turned toward Blair with a realization that he definitely overshared. “I… that didn’t happen. I just made it all up. April… fools?” He tried to lie, shrugging jokingly.

Blair stared at William, wide-eyed with her jaw dropped for a few moments before she took a breath, composing herself. “It’s November, Will,” She said, nudging him, “What the fuck? Auston Matthews? Really?” She said, more to herself than to William, but it was audible.

“Blair, please don’t tell…” William started, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder, steadying her. Right then, the train stopped at a station, and Blair abruptly shot up, William’s arm falling limply to his side. “I gotta go.” She murmured, quickly stepping off at the nearest door before William could get another word out. 

As Blair stepped off the subway platform, she felt a rush of conflicting emotions swirling inside her. William's unexpected revelation about Auston had caught her completely off guard, leaving her reeling with disbelief and confusion.

She walked briskly through the bustling station, one she didn’t know at all, at that, her mind racing as she tried to make sense of what William had said. Auston Matthews, looking at her pictures? Could it really be true? And if so, what did it mean?

Blair shook her head, trying to push aside the thoughts that threatened to overwhelm her. It didn’t matter. Auston Matthews was the most rude, full of himself, selfish man and she would be damned if she let herself-

And then, she felt her phone buzz. As she kept her pace, walking in who-knows-what direction, she pulled it out of her purse, and it felt like her eyes were about to pop out of her head at the notification.

New Follower: austonmatthews

***

SCOTIABANK ARENA

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Auston demanded, his hands gripping the smooth, polished leather of the chair's armrests. He took a deep breath, the scent of the office's faint cologne and clean air mingling in his nose as he exhaled. Meeting the eyes of his general manager, he added, "Sorry, language."

"Look, Auston," Brad began, his tone measured, "We're not asking you to do anything outrageous."

Auston furrowed his eyebrows, his glare piercing straight into Brad's soul. "Last time I checked, I'm an adult and I can be involved with anyone I want to. Surely you can't actually ask me to do this, right?"

Brad placed his hands on the mahogany desk, the rich grain reflecting the dim light of the office. He met Auston's intense gaze with equal resolve. "Actually, we can. This is an important event for our sponsors, and it's a 'bring your significant other' type of thing. We can't have you show up alone and hit on every breathing human woman there."

Auston gritted his teeth, feeling his frustration bubbling like molten lava ready to erupt. He leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms defensively, the leather creaking under his weight. "So, what, you want me to find someone to bring along as arm candy for the night? Just to make you and the sponsors happy?"

Brad sighed, his expression weary as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know this isn't your idea of fun, but it's important for the team and our image."

Auston scoffed, his gaze darting around the room as if searching for an escape route. "What makes you think that? Am I just some piece of meat?"

Brad sighed again, the sound heavy with exasperation. He picked up his phone, which had been sitting face-down on his desk, and scrolled for a few seconds before turning it around to show Auston. It was a video of him and a bartender from their post-season opener night out, sloppily making out outside of the bar.

Auston blinked, glaring at the video posted on Twitter by a fan. "Fucking hell, why did no one tell me that existed?" His cheeks burned with embarrassment, the heat spreading up to his ears. The truth was that he regretted that night, but no one knew that but him.

"You have really good publicists, Auston. Most of it is deleted; this is just something they haven't gotten to yet," Brad replied, putting his phone back down with a heavy thud. "Do you see what I mean, though? We can't have something like that surface after such an important event."

Auston stared at Brad, a storm of frustration and resignation swirling in his eyes. The video on Brad's phone was a stark reminder of the consequences of his actions, even those moments he thought were private. He rubbed his temples, the pressure building like a headache.

"Fine," Auston finally relented, his tone begrudging. "But I'm not promising anything. This is just for the team's sake, not because I actually want to be there."

Brad nodded, his expression softening slightly at Auston's reluctant agreement. "I understand, Auston. Just find someone who can handle the spotlight and won't cause any drama."

Auston rolled his eyes, leaning back further in the chair and crossing his arms tighter. "Right. Because that's so easy to find."

Brad chuckled, though the tension in the room remained thick as fog. "You're Auston Matthews. I'm sure you'll manage."

With a dismissive wave of his hand, Auston stood up from his chair. "Yeah, yeah. I'll figure it out." He turned and left Brad's office, the door clicking shut behind him with a finality that matched his mood. Pulling out his phone, he scrolled through his contacts, contemplating who he could ask to accompany him to the event. As he turned a corner in the hallway, his eyes still on his phone, disaster struck.

Out of nowhere, hot coffee splashed over Auston, soaking his shirt and causing him to yelp in surprise. He heard a squeak and then a thud as his phone hit the floor. "Shit, sorry, I didn't see you... there."

Blair looked up at Auston, her eyes wide with a mixture of bewilderment and anger. "What the fuck, Auston, watch where you're going?" she exclaimed, her voice echoing in the empty hallway.

Auston grimaced, his eyes unintentionally drawn to the lacy red bra now visible beneath her coffee-stained white blouse. He didn't say anything else, only glanced around to make sure no one else was watching before opening the door to a random closet and pulling them both inside.

Inside the cramped, dark closet, Blair immediately yanked her arm free from Auston's grip, glaring at him with a mix of confusion and frustration. "What the hell are we doing in here?"

Auston glanced around their tiny, dimly lit surroundings, the smell of cleaning supplies and dust filling his nostrils. "Look down, Blair," he hissed.

She followed his instruction, looking down at her stained blouse and realizing her bra was completely visible. "Oh fuck, holy shit!" she exclaimed, her voice too loud for comfort.

Auston glanced at the door, then back at Blair, his discomfort clear. And even though he tried to resist, the sight of Blair’s wet shirt clinging to her curves did nothing less than make him adjust himself awkwardly. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? It was an accident. Do you have like, a jacket or something in your bag?"

"Close your eyes!" she squealed, feeling his gaze on her chest. "And, no, of course I don't today."

Auston squeezed his eyes shut, turning his head away to give Blair some semblance of privacy in the tiny, dark closet. He could hear her rummaging through her bag, cursing under her breath. "Seriously, Blair, I'm sorry," Auston said, his voice muffled as he spoke through clenched teeth. "I didn't mean to—"

"Save it," Blair snapped, finding a tissue in her bag and trying to dab at the stain, which did little to help. "Just my luck. Of all people to bump into—"

Suddenly, Auston put a finger to Blair's lips, stopping her from talking as he heard a noise in the hallway. "Shh, shut up for a second." He hissed, listening intently.

"Auston?" Mitch called, his voice getting closer. He crouched down to pick up Auston's phone from the floor, recognizing it from the distinctive case. He figured Auston must be around somewhere if he had dropped his phone.

Blair's breath hitched as Auston's finger rested against her lips. Her irritation was still bubbling just beneath the surface, but she kept silent, listening to the footsteps approaching the closet door. Auston kept his eyes squeezed shut, clearly aware of her presence as well.

Auston finally spoke, his whisper barely audible. "Ok, you've gotta have something to cover up with, right? Maybe—"

"Give me your hoodie." Blair said suddenly, so casually that Auston did a double take. "What?" he echoed, quietly.

"Your hoodie," Blair insisted, her tone firm. "Unless you want me walking around like this."

Auston blinked, his eyes now open despite the darkness of the closet. He didn't want that, eyes on Blair and her see-through shirt even though he had no right to say so. "I'm not—I'm not wearing anything underneath it," he tried to reason.

Blair's glare intensified. "Auston, I don't care. Just give me it," she hissed, tugging at his sleeve.

Auston hesitated for a moment, realizing the predicament he was in. He couldn't exactly walk around shirtless without drawing attention, but leaving Blair in her current state wasn't an option either. With a resigned sigh, he began to pull off his hoodie, the fabric rustling in the confined space. He handed it to her, trying to avoid making eye contact. "Here," Auston said, his voice gruff and his eyes still closed. "Just make it quick."

Blair took the hoodie, her frustration still simmering but appreciating the gesture nonetheless. She turned her back to him, slipping off her stained blouse and quickly pulling on Auston's hoodie. The fabric was warm, still wet from the coffee stain, and besides smelling like it, smelled faintly of his cologne, a detail she tried to ignore as she adjusted the sleeves.

"Auston?" Mitch called out again, his footsteps echoing in the hallway. Auston knew that Mitch wouldn't leave until he found him, and that made their predicament even worse. "Alright, Blair, just think," Auston hissed, "We've gotta figure something out. He's not going to leave."

Blair, now clad in Auston's hoodie, took a deep breath, trying to steady her racing thoughts. They were in a tight spot, literally and figuratively, and the urgency of their situation was growing by the second. She crossed her arms, looking up at him, "Well, go out there then."

"Yeah, right," Auston chuckled quietly, waving a hand as if it was a joke, but when he met Blair's gaze he knew she was serious. "You can't be serious, right?"

Blair stared back at Auston with a determined expression. "Dead serious. I need to get out of here unnoticed, Mitch is not leaving until he finds you, and the longer we stay in here, the worse it looks."

Auston sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "But you're... you're in my hoodie, Blair. If I walk out there shirtless, people will talk."

Blair rolled her eyes, though there was a hint of amusement in her voice. "Let them talk. It's not like they haven't seen you shirtless before," She paused, shuddering from the now cold stain on her shirt underneath. "What, you'd rather me go out there wearing your clothes?"

"No, of course not, I just-" Auston started, but he was cut off as Blair swiftly opened the door a crack big enough for him, hiding herself behind it, and pushing him out into the hallway before shutting the door again.

Auston stumbled slightly as Blair pushed him out into the hallway, his bare chest exposed to the cool air. Mitch quickly turned around from the noise, raising an eyebrow as he glared at the shirtless Auston that had just appeared. "Uh, hey, man, where did you come from? And why do you have no shirt on?"

Auston stood awkwardly in the hallway, his bare chest feeling uncomfortably exposed. Mitch's incredulous stare didn't help the situation either. "Uh, long story," Auston muttered, trying to maintain some semblance of composure. "Just... spilled coffee and went to clean up."

Mitch's eyes narrowed, his skepticism evident. He crouched down, picking up the now-empty Starbucks cup from the ground. "This one? I didn't know you were one for sugar cookie oat lattes."

Auston glanced at the cup Mitch held, trying to formulate a response that wouldn't raise more suspicion. "Yeah, well, I was in the mood for something different," he replied vaguely, shifting uncomfortably under Mitch's scrutiny.

Mitch raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying Auston's explanation. "Right. Well, you dropped your phone." He said, stretching out his arm to hand Auston his phone back.

Auston took his phone from Mitch, offering a tight-lipped smile. "Thanks, Mitch. I've been looking for it" He tucked the phone into his pocket, glancing down the hallway as if considering his next move.

Mitch crossed his arms, still eyeing Auston suspiciously. "You sure you're okay, man? You seem... off."

Auston shrugged nonchalantly, trying to play it cool despite the uncomfortable situation. "Yeah, just one of those days, you know?"

Mitch nodded slowly, clearly not convinced but deciding not to press further. "Alright, well, see you around, I guess."

Auston's eyes widened as he saw Mitch take a step in the direction of the closet. "Mitch!" he blurted out, "Let's go get a coffee, yeah?" he suggested awkwardly, nodding his head in the opposite direction. "Spilled mine anyway."

Mitch raised an eyebrow, clearly still suspicious, but he decided to go along with Auston's suggestion. "Alright, sure. Let's go," he replied, turning away from the closet and heading down the hallway with Auston.

As they walked, Auston kept glancing over his shoulder, hoping that Blair made it out without anyone seeing her.

to be continued!

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

Two independent terrorist attacks against Israelis took place over the last 24 hours. Yesterday, a Hamas terrorist stabbed in the back a 49 years old Israeli reserves soldier, who stopped to buy something at a shop in a gas station, on his way home. The soldier turned around and, despite being injured, pursued the terrorist, shot and wounded him. The terrorist was later arrested, he had a permit to work in Israel. In the second one, a terrorist started shooting at civilian vehicles passing by, and ended up injuring a 27 years old woman. Thankfully, a baby who is 1.5 months old, who was in the car with her, was not injured, despite at least 10 bullets being retrieved from her vehicle. The IDF is searching for the terrorist.

Israeli soldiers have found and confiscated suitcases with 5 million shekels in cash from the home of a senior Hamas terrorist in Gaza. I want everyone to understand that this sum is currently 1,369,507 $ (yes, I checked with professor Google), and that most Israelis will never see that kind of money. I imagine a majority of "privileged" westerners never will, either. And this kind of money was just lying around in this terrorist's home...

The IDF has exposed and is now in control of what is likely the biggest Hamas terror tunnel. It is about 4 kilometers long (roughly 2.5 miles), and it is wide enough for vehicles to comfortably drive through it. Israeli soldiers have also found footage showing Muhammad Sinwar, the brother of Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, doing exactly that, in addition to footage showing the construction of this terror tunnel...

I don't post every single day about the Israeli soldiers injured and killed in Gaza, because the truth is that it has become technically difficult and emotionally painful to keep track. Yesterday, five more soldiers were confirmed as killed, one of them having been injured last week, and he has now succumbed to his wounds. So far, 128 soldiers were killed in Gaza.

Last month, there was a cyber attack on Israeli hospital Ziv, trying to derail its medical activity. Israel has confirmed today that it has traced Iran and Hezbollah as responsible for the attack. If we count the cyber war (and in terms of requiring manpower and resources, as well as in terms of the potential loss in human life, there is no reason not to count it), then Israel has been defending its citizens on no less than six fronts.

The Iran-funded terrorist Houthis in Yemen have been attacking ships unconnected to Israel, for simply passing through territory close to Yemen. A lot of shipment companies from around the world have announced they will not be sailing through this area for at least a time, which means they would have to sail all around Africa, to pass goods between the far east and the western world. This will hurt the entire world's economy, as shipment prices are expected to rise (think of the Evergreen ship blockade of the Suez Canal... these ships will not be trying to get anywhere near the canal. Symbolically, Evergreen is one of the companies announcing they will no longer sail through the Red Sea due to the threat of the Houthis). This will financially hurt so many countries, including Egypt (which operates the Suez Canal), the US and China (this means Iran's move has created a rare moment when American and Chinese financial interests align). The biggest question is, when will the world fully take in the fact that the biggest threat to world peace is the Islamist regime in Iran, and start acting accordingly?

This is Haj Amin al-Husseini.

Out of all of the people who helped shape the Israeli-Arab conflict, he's probably the most influential one, an antisemite, a Nazi collaborator, and a believer in pan-Arab nationalism (he didn't want to fight Jews to establish a Palestinian state, he wanted to exterminate the Jews and establish a greater Arab Islamic state, a new chaliphate, if you will. There is a FASCINATING docu series in Israel, dedicated to the Arab and Muslim leaders who have fought Jews and Israel, interviewing intelligence agents from many countries. The ep dedicated to al-Husseini is unbelievable, and I wish everyone could watch it. It's available online, but sadly, only in Hebrew. The truth is, I don't think anyone can understand the Israeli-Arab conflict without understanding the role of al-Husseini in it, and how different things could have been, if only the more moderate Arab leaders in the Land of Israel at the time had managed to squash his influence, or if the British hadn't tried to "tame" him by appointing him to the position of Jerusalem's grand mufti.

This is the Belchassan family, 31 years old Yuval and Ofir, and their two years old son Tai.

On Oct 7, Yuval left Ofir and Tai to hide in the bomb shelter, and went out to fight off the Hamas terrorists. He and his friends saved their kibbutz, but now, as Ofir is due to give birth to a daughter, they have no home to bring her back to.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[decolonize-the-everything]

Was looking up updates on Tyre Nichols and decided to click on the link for his lawyer, just wanted to see other cases he had and judge whether or not he'd be helpful or harmful.

And was linked to another case from last June with an update from this month that also deserves attention.

“People from my community have been coming to us for years talking about how they torture people in the back of paddy wagons,” said Scot Esdaile, according to the Associated Press. “They put people in the back of the paddy wagon; they go real fast and then they slam on the brakes.”

Mr Crump has similarly raised allegations that the driver could perhaps be more culpable than the force is letting on, saying he suspects speeding or texting while driving could’ve been a factor, and is thus demanding that the police department be transparent in the investigation.

The Independent has reached out to the New Haven Police Department for comment on the investigation.

Writing on Twitter on the Fourth of July holiday, Mr Crump highlighted how Mr Cox – an otherwise healthy young man – went from being able to step into the back of the police car on his own to now needing full support to breathe and eat with little hope that he’ll be able to walk again.

x

And there was an update recently......Just 4 days after Tyre's murder in fact.

The officers -- Sgt. Betsy Segui and officers Oscar Diaz, Ronald Pressley, Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera -- were each charged in November 2022 with one count of second-degree reckless endangerment and one count of cruelty to persons

Both charges are misdemeanors and the officers were each released on a $25,000 bond.

[...]Gregory Cerittelli, the attorney for the fifth officer Sgt. Betsy Segui, confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday that Segui will plead not guilty.

"The job of a police officer has become increasingly more difficult in recent years," Cerittelli told ABC News. "Police officers are often required to utilize their best judgment in assessing situations, and are now being judged with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. Our Supreme Court has consistently held this is not the appropriate standard."

[...]The video footage also shows the officers dragging Cox by his feet and throwing him into a wheelchair, which his lawyers said could have exacerbated his already life-threatening injuries.

"[Randy] is essentially quadriplegic. He's in a rehab facility. He can't feed himself, he can't clean himself, he can't relieve himself without assistance," O'Donnell said on Tuesday.

"Randy is going to be left with permanent injuries. The least that can happen to these officers is that they have permanent records," he added.

Cox filed a $100 million federal lawsuit against the city of New Haven and New Haven Police Department officers in September 2022.

x

The lawyer saying "remembering to put a seatbelt on people is too high of a standard" "everyone has 20/20 hindsight" like???? About putting on a seatbelt??? What my 8 year old does As Soon as she enters a car cuz even she understands and knows it could be dangerous not to?

The absolute disregard and dismissiveness for Black lives in on full display with this pathetic excuse.

Remember that whatever platitudes they give us don't matter. Platitudes and promises mean nothing.

Firing the 5 cops who hurt Tyre Nichols won't help Randy Cox from New Haven. It won't help any future Randy Coxes and it won't help any future Breonna Taylors.

It's a band-aid. An attempt to look like they care in an attempt appease us all so we stop demanding better, so we stop protesting and rioting for police brutality to end.

....Because it's almost an election year. And a stance more extreme than "thoughts and prayers to everyone except cops who get another $50 billion" just isn't centrist enough to win the majority vote. So police reform and increased budgets will be the response. That's already the response. That's what they want us to accept.

Don't.

Keep protesting. Keep demanding. Keep posting. Don't let this die out.

Don't get complacent.

If change is ever going to happen it's because we will have forced it to. Not because the people in power suddenly decided to have a conscience.

[girlactionfigure]

🔅Thu morning - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

🔻Air attacks on Israeli civilians… 

HEZBOLLAH ROCKETS - heavy today, multiple attacks

Goren, Gornot HaGalil, Rosh HaNikra, Goren, Gornot HaGalil, Betzet, Shlomi, Hanita, Shlomi, 

ANTI-TANK MISSILES - at border IDF post by Lebanon.

SUICIDE DRONES - Dishon, Iftach, Malkia, Mevuot Hermon Regional Council, Ramot Naftali 

‼️TERROR ATTACK.. A terrorist fireed on cars and school buses on road 90 near Ojah (Jordan Valley).  The buses were armored.  A 30-year-old man is in serious condition with wounds to the limbs, a 21-year-old man is in a light condition with a wound to the limbs and a 13-year-old boy is in a light condition with glass shard injuries in the face.

A local commentator: “It is impossible to make this up: the two wounded in the attack in the Jordan Valley are left-wing anarchists who came to act for the benefit of Arabs in the Jordan Valley.  I wish them a full recovery.”

❗️BLOOD NEEDED!  MDA's blood services are warning of a significant difficulty in raising the amount of blood required to treat the sick and wounded.  Give blood!  Visit the MDA website at http://www.mdais.org/dam  or call 03-5300400.

▪️PMO SAYS.. Contrary to the news, the Prime Minister did NOT approve the departure of a delegation to Washington.

▪️GAZA..

.. ANTI-AIRCRAFT FIRE.. Gazans report that the terrorists tried to fire a missile at an IDF helicopter in the northern area of ​​the Gaza Strip. Unsuccessful.

.. HAMAS SAYS.. "There are about one and a half million displaced people in Rafah and this helps us maintain stability in the continued production of the missiles for the next round.”

.. IDF BUILDING IN GAZA.. For the first time: temporary residences will be built for IDF forces, along with buildings for technological needs - in the central area of ​​the Gaza Strip and later in other areas.

.. KILLING CIVILIANS? (No) Al Jazeera published a document in which it was claimed that Israeli soldiers executed Gazan citizens. IDF spokesman in response: "The edited documentation does not show the context.”

▪️LEBANON..

.. ESCALATION.. (The Arab Desk) For the first time it is possible to write that the possibility of a real and tangible escalation with Lebanon has climbed several steps. Israel is escalating the attacks in intensity. Will Nasrallah blow a fuse and decide on his own to attack without permission from Iran?

.. DRONE PRODUCTION HIT.. One of the targets that was attacked last night was a site for storing logistical materials for the production of suicide drones, which the Iranian militias have recently begun to produce in Albukhamal, was attacked.

.. HEZBOLLAH SAYS.. in a fancy graphic video “DOOMSDAY HAS COME”, feeding into Shia Islam religious prophecies.

.. NEGOTIATIONS?  The Lebanese channel LBC reports that the talks conducted by the American mediator with all parties related to Lebanon are progressing in the right direction towards a diplomatic solution.  (( Rating: Fake or propaganda to slow Israel down. ))

.. APPROACH CHANGE.. policy change in the north - every attack by Hezbollah will be answered with a sharp attack by Israel. (N12)

.. RUMOR, EXPANDED TARGETING.. (this via a less reliable source) The IDF Chief ordered to expand the circle of targets in Lebanon.

▪️US SENATOR SAYS.. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham in a statement to the media after a meeting with senior Israeli officials: accusations that Israel is starving people as a weapon of war is "bullshit". It's a blood plot. The Israeli army and the Israeli government are making great efforts to take care of the basic needs of the Palestinians.

▪️HOUTHIS vs. US.. The US  Central Command: Houthis fired 4 suicide drones at a US Navy ship in the Red Sea.  Intercepted.

[reasonsforhope]

"California just cracked down on pollution from transportation in two major moves, part of an effort to improve air quality and cut carbon emissions at the same time. 

On Friday, the California Air Resources Board unanimously approved a rule that would ban the sale of diesel big rigs in the state by 2036. The mandate, which will apply to about 1.8 million trucks — including those operated by Amazon, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service —  is reportedly the first in the world to require trucks to ditch internal combustion engines. The news came one day after California became the first state to adopt standards to limit pollution from trains. 

Trucks and Diesel

The regulations are intended to improve air quality and trim carbon emissions from transportation, the source of about half the state’s greenhouse gases. Trucks and trains spew diesel exhaust, full of soot that contains more than 40 cancer-causing substances, responsible for an estimated 70 percent of Californian’s cancer risk from air pollution. 

The trucking rule requires school buses and garbage trucks to be emissions-free within four years. By 2042, all trucks will be required to be “zero-emission,” meaning there’s no pollution coming out of their tailpipes. The deadline comes sooner for drayage trucks, which transport cargo from ports and railyards to warehouses — typically short routes that require less battery range. New drayage trucks must be “zero-emission” beginning next year, with the rule applying to all drayage trucks on the road in 2035. 

Currently, medium and heavy-duty vehicles account for a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions statewide. In August, California clamped down on pollution from passenger vehicles with a plan to end the sale of new gas-powered cars in the state by 2035.

People breathing pollution from freeways and warehouse hubs have long called for stricter air standards. In the port cities of Long Beach and Los Angeles, some 6,000 trucks pass through every day, exposing residents to high levels of ozone and particulate matter, pollutants linked with a range of problems including respiratory conditions and cardiovascular disease. Long Beach residents who live the closest to ports and freeways have a life expectancy about 14 years shorter compared to people who live further away...

Trains and Locomotives

According to the new rules, the state is banning locomotive engines that are more than 23 years old by 2030. It also bans trains from idling for more than 30 minutes, provided that they are equipped with an engine that can shut off automatically.

The stage for the rule was set by a single line buried in the Biden administration’s proposed auto emissions rules, in which the Environmental Protection Agency said it was considering allowing states to regulate locomotives. Still, California’s new rules may spark a legal battle with the rail industry, which argues that the state doesn’t have the authority to make such sweeping changes.

Though railroads only account for about 2 percent of the country’s carbon emissions from transportation, switching to trains powered by batteries or hydrogen fuel cells would provide some benefits in the effort to tackle climate change. The public health gains would be even bigger: The California Air Resources Board estimates its new rules for trains, passed on Thursday, would lower cancer risk in neighborhoods near rail yards by more than 90 percent.

“This is an absolutely transformative rule to clean our air and mitigate climate change,” Liane Randolph, the chair of the air quality board, said ahead of the vote on the trucking rules on Friday. “We all know there’s a lot of challenges, but those challenges aren’t going to be tackled unless we move forward … if not now, when?”"

-via The Grist, 4/28/23

[omgkatherine01]

Moonlight Beta: Chapter 5 - Time Of Death

Series Masterlist

Chapter 4, Chapter 6

Pairing: Scott McCall x Fem!Liam Dunbar

Please comment, like and share

Scott had brought Lia to his house after she started to show signs of healing, instead of taking her to her house. After explaining to his mother why the girl was looking like a mess, she immediately checked on the healed wound despite knowing she had alreayd healed.

Lia had showered and changed to more comfortable clothes, which were Scott's, and after that she called her mother and told her she will be staying over at a friend for the night, and she will come back during the day the next day because she will have the day off tomorrow.

"So... Lia is staying over for the night?" she heard Stiles when she walked toward Scott's room. "Yeah," Scott answered.

"Why...?" Stiles asked. "Because, I don't want her to be dealing with what happened tonight alone," Scott said.

Stiles was sitting on the carpet, facing Scott. He tilted his head, frowning, "All right, I get that. But--"

"She's my Beta, all right?" Scott said, "She's my responsibility." Stiles pointed at him, "Are you sure it's only that?" he asked quietly. Scott frowned, "What do you mean?" he asked and pulled the bag of money from under his bed.

"Never mind," Stiles said with a sigh, and he nodded to the bag, "What's that?"

Lia decided to walk in when she heard the bag unzipped. Scott sensed her coming and looked up. "Hey," she said, and Stiles looked over.

"Lia! What's up? Feeling better?" Stiles asked. Lia nodded and when Scott nodded her to come in, she did. "Yeah," she answered, and sat down between them, "Is that the bag from last night?"

"Yeah," Scott said and looked at her, "I, uh... I lied." He opened the bag, showing her and Stiles the money inside, making their eyes grow wide.

"Oh... wow," Lia said softly. There was a moment of silent before Stiles spoke, "You counted it yet?"

"No," Scott answered. "We should probably count it," Stiles told them. Lia nodded slowly, "I guess so," she muttered. Scott and Stiles each took a side, letting the money spill onto the floor.

A cassette tape fell with it, and Lia picked it up with a frown, flipping it over.

It said, "Play Me".

Lia, Scott and Stiles looked at each other in confusion. "Do you have a radio to play it?" Lia asked Scott. "Uh, yeah, hold on," Scott said as he got up. He walked out of the room for a moment and then came back with a radio.

He sat down on his spot and put the tape in. The trio listen to a man's voice.

"After entering the IP address, you will be connected through a Darknet portal to an untraceable bank. Once logged in, enter your account number to receive wire transfers. The IP address will deactivate with each transfer. You will be assigned a new IP address if you choose to continue down the list. Remember, visual confirmation is always required for payment."

Stiles hit pause, looking at Scott, "Ever made a wire transfer?"

"Never had enough money," Scott answered. "Me either," Lia muttered. Stiles gave the girl a look and when she looked at him in confusion, he looked at Scott, "So you didn't understand a word of that either."

"I don't understand any of this," Scott said, "Why would someone use all this money just to kill us?"

"Someone wants you dead, dude," Stiles said, "Badly. And Lia, she may not be in that list, but the is another..." He looked at Lia, "You can be in the next one."

"Thanks," Lia muttered sarcastically while Scott gave him a look. He rolled his eyes and started to put the money away. Stiles looked at him, "Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?"

"It's late," Scott pointed out, "You and I got the PSATs in the morning."

"No, I meant the money," Stiles said, "$500,000. You know how much money that is?"

"It's $500,000," Lia said in a duh voice. Scott couldn't help but smirk lightly while Stiles pointed a finger at her, "Hey, shh." He looked at the Alpha, "It's half a million dollars. Scott. What are you going to do, just slide it under your mattress?"

"I have to talk to Derek," Scott said, "The money's his."

"You mean his and Peter's," Stiles corrected. "Who's Peter?" Lia asked when Scott opened his mouth. "Uh, Derek's uncle," he answered, and he looked at Stiles, "And what does that mean?"

"It means maybe we should proceed with caution," Stiles said. Scott frowned, "You don't think we should tell Derek?"

"No," the human said, getting up, "No. No, of course we have to tell him. I'm just… I'm just saying, some of that money's Peter's, right?"

"Yeah."

"Right," Stiles said, "Peter. Homicidal killer? Remember? You want to give $500,000 to him."

"So we should give Derek his money back, but not Peter?" Lia asked suddenly, "I don't think it's right..." Stiles gave her a look. "What?" she asked.

"No, you right about it," Scott told his Beta. "Oh come on, I didn't say that," Stiles said. Scott gave him a look, "Stiles, what are you saying?"

Lia could smell Malia's scent and looked to the door. "Malia is coming." Scott and Stiles looked surprised and exchanged a quick look before putting the bag under the bed.

The second they did, the door opened and Malia walked in, drenched from the rain. Scott and Stiles looked down at the new Beta. Scott raised his eyebrows, impressed with his Beta, while Stiles raised his eyebrows and nodded, clearly impressed as well.

"Not bad," he muttered. "We found Satomi's pack," Malia said, and the trio looked at her, "Derek and I. But they're dead."

Scott's eyes grew wide, "All of them?" Malia nodded, "All the ones we found." Stiles frowned, "Then where's Derek?"

--------

A few days later, Lia met up at the McCall's with Kira, Scott, and Stiles to review the plan to try and bait the benefactor. Lia, however, was not convinced that this was a good idea to go through with.

"Is three enough?" Kira questioned, meaning the three laptops they had ready as monitors. "Depends on how many cameras they have. But I think so," Stiles replied.

Lia was fidgeting, clearly uncomfortable and anxious with this whole idea, "Are we really doing this?"

"We're doing it," Scott said, "Tonight."

Lia looked at her pack members, "But, isn't it kind of dangerous?" She couldn't help but worry for her new pack. Especially Stiles who was the human of the pack. Lia knew he could hold his own but it felt like pack instinct to keep him safe.

"It's incredibly dangerous," Stiles said with a nod, clearly not trying to calm the Beta much, "And borderline idiotic."

"Have you guys done something like this before?" Lia asked as she looked at Stiles, hoping they had experience in this so the rest wouldn't be walking in completely blind.

"Something dangerous? Or something idiotic?"

Kira butted in when she noticed how Stiles' words weren't helping the Beta relax at all, "I think it's a yes to both."

"You don't have to be part of it if you don't want to," Scott told his Beta in a comforting manner, feeling bad that she was already being sucked into the drama.

"I'm not scared," Lia said. Stiles snorted to himself at her words before ruffling her hair teasingly, "Well then freshman, you're borderline idiotic."

Lia failed to hide the small smile that made its way onto her lips from Stiles' words. Stiles then turned to his best friend, "If we do this, we don't know what's coming for us. You know that, right?"

"How do we even know something's definitely coming?" Kira asked.

"Because the tape from Garrett's bag said visual confirmation required," Scott explained.

"Simon said the same thing," Stiles said, recalling the guy who tried to kill them during the junior testing day. "He couldn't get paid by The Benefactor until he had proof that you guys were dead."

"So the idea is..." Scott trailed off, "'What if you kill someone on the dead pool, but you can't send the proof?'"

"You don't get paid," Kira answered the rhetorical question.

Lia frowned, "But how does that get us any closer to whoever the Benefactor is?"

"He still needs to know if the target is really dead," Scott answered.

Stiles nodded at his friends' words before adding, "Especially if it's someone high on the list."

"So if they want visual confirmation..." Lia trailed off.

Scott nodded, "He's gonna have to come get it himself."

--------

Lia, Scott, Kira, and Kira's Mom Noshiko were all in Scott's room as they prepared for the procedure which would put Scott in an almost death-like state.

Lia, feeling like she was the only sane one there, was incredibly concerned about the backfire that this could have.

"Are you guys totally sure about this?" the blue-eyes beta had been pacing back and forth.

Kira glanced from her to Scott, "I think Lia's kind of nervous. Maybe you should tell her it's going to be alright," she advised Scott, knowing that he was the alpha and she would listen the most to him.

Scott looked over at the freshman who was extremely anxious, terrified even. He smiled at her softly as she stepped closer, "It's gonna be alright." However, Scott's words weren't able to fix everything. Lia looked over at Noshiko who was helping Kira learn how to use her powers.

"So, you've done this before, right?" Lia asked.

"I've seen it done" the older Kitsune corrected.

Lia frowned lightly, "Is that just as good?" she asked. The youngest in the room was holding onto her last shred of hope.

"No," Noshiko answered bluntly and honestly.

Kira gave her a look, "Mom, you're not inspiring confidence." The girl was already worried enough that she might mess this up, she needed her mother to have confidence in her and not upset Lia even further.

"Good. This is a terrible idea."

Lia couldn't help but panic more because of this, and Scott took her hand. "Do you want us to do it without you?" Kira snapped at her mother, and both of them stared down at each other.

Lia and Scott looked between them before glancing at each other.

"Put your hand over his heart," Noshiko said, giving in.

Before Kira did as told, Scott grabbed her arm to pause for a moment. "Hold on." He turned towards Noshiko, "What happens while I'm out? Am I gonna feel anything?"

"It might feel like you're dreaming," Noshiko answered.

"Good dreams or bad?" Scott asked.

"I suppose that depends on you," Noshiko told him.

Scott laid back down on the bed, and gently let go of Lia's hand. Noshiko nodded to Kira, who hesitated.

Kira took a steady breath before she put her hand above Scott's heart, making electricity crackle through his body, slowly shutting it down temporarily.

Scott gasped loudly, looking up in pain.

--------

Lia, Stiles, Kira and Noshiko surrounded Scott's semi-dead body, which was lying on the table in the hospital morgue. Melissa entered the morgue after giving a performance of a lifetime when breaking down after finding out her son was 'dead'.

"I still hate this plan," Melissa said as she wiped her tears away. "I mean this is pretty significantly terrifying. He looks dead."

"Give me your hand," Noshiko said softly. Melissa looked at Stiles and Lia, who nodded. Melissa held out her hand, and Noshiko took it and put it on her son's chest. "Wait for it."

Melissa sighed in relief when she sensed the faint heartbeat. "Is that enough to keep a werewolf alive?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Enough for an alpha," Noshiko answered.

"How much time do we have?" Melissa asked.

"45 minutes."

She nodded, "What happens after that?"

"I bring him back the same way," Kira answered confidently, holding Lia's hand.

"No, I mean what happens if he stays like this longer than 45 minute?" Melissa asked, and the group of teens looked away awkwardly.

"No ones told her?" Noshiko asked.

"What?" Melissa asked, "What happens after 45 minutes?"

"He dies."

--------

Stiles, Kira, and Lia were in front of the three laptops as they spoke with Chris Argent over the phone in a room.

"I'm ready. Try it now."

Stiles turned the three on to see the cameras that Chris had placed all around the hospital were successfully on.

Lia smiled knowing that it was starting to go in a good direction for them.

***

Scott's Mind:

Scott woke up inside one of the body drawers. He looked behind him, seeing that the narrow square shaft seemed to go on forever. He crawled through the shaft drawer, and crawled out to find himself falling out of a locker and at the high school.

Scott got up and started walking down the hallway. "Catch," the famished voice of his Beta rang through his ears.

Scott immediately caught the lacrosse ball and saw Lia standing there in her lacrosse jersey. She smiled, "That's why you're team captain." She winked before walking down the hall and into a classroom. Scott followed in confusion, dropping the ball behind him.

Scott walked into the classroom, looking around, but he didn't see Lia.

There was a laptop open on the teacher's desk. On the screen, the Benefactor's code scrolled to a stop. The "Keyword" prompt flashed. Scott typed in his own name, hitting enter.

The list uncoded into a list of the assassins.

The Mute

The Orphans

The Chemist

Scott thought that the dream was telling him to take this list as his own dead pool. "I can't do that. I can't kill them."

Lia appeared next to him, "Someone has to."

Scott turned at her, "Why me?"

"Because you're the Alpha," Lia said.

"I'm not a murderer," Scott said.

"But you are a predator," Lia said.

Scott shook his head, "No, we're predators. But we don't have to." Lia looked at him curiously, tilting her head. "We don't have to."

Scott shook his head, starting to breathe heavily, slamming the computer closed. He heard gasping of pain behind him, and turned around quickly. Lia was on the floor, with the Mute standing above her with his tomahawk on Lia's back.

***

Reality:

Stiles, Lia and Kira were still watching the computer screens until one went completely out. "Is that supposed to look like that?" Lia asked, being the first one to notice the screen going out.

"No," Stiles muttered, "No, it's not."

"Where is that?" Kira asked.

"It's the roof," Stiles answered, "Someone's gonna have to check it out."

"I'll go," Kira told them, turning to leave.

"Whoa, whoa," Stiles said, making her turn back to him, "This might not just be a malfunction."

"That's why I'm bringing this," Kira said as she pulled out her Katana before starting to walk away.

"I'm coming with you," Lia immediately said.

Kira slowed down for a moment so Lia could catch up before the two girls started towards the roof, ignoring Stiles' protests, "Okay! And you're both coming right back immediately. Especially you Lia!" Stiles sighed to himself. "Kids."

***

Scott's Mind:

Once again, Scott woke up inside one of the body drawers. He crawled and fell right out of a locker, falling into the school. He got up and started walking again.

"Catch!"

Scott did so, but somehow this time he had his claws out. Scott looked at Lia.

"That's why you're the Alpha."

Scott then somehow was now in the locker room. He was leaning against the sinks, looking at his reflection in the mirror.

Lia was standing behind him, crossing her arms over her chest. She watched him examining his fangs in the mirror. "There's something different, isn't there?"

"I've got more fangs," Scott said, "I noticed it during the quarantine. I don't know why."

"Maybe it's part of being an Alpha," Lia suggested, "Like you're becoming more of a werewolf."

"Or more of a monster," Scott muttered.

"What if it makes you stronger?" Lia suggested and smirked lightly, "What if I said it makes you sexier?" Scott smiled unconsciously. "It's like you're--"

But he heard a stab and turned around to see now the Mute killing Lia. "Evolving" It finished as Lia fell forward, but Scott rushed to catch her. He looked at the tomahawk in her back. He looked at the Mute, glaring.

The Mute placed a finger over where his mouth should have been.

***

Reality:

Kira and Lia made their way to the rooftop. They were looking around until one of the boxes exploded into electrical sparks, startling both girls. "Looks like someone did something to it," Lia said.

They heard behind them growling, and Kira turned first to see a Berserker.

"I think somebody did," Kira said and got out her Katana swiftly while Lia turned around to become face-to-face with the creature.

The Berserker growled as it approached them. Lia's face morphed into her werewolf one as she growled back. She flicked her claws out before roaring and charging at the creature to fight. The Berkserker blocked her moves, and then it gripped her by her throat, lifting her up, throwing her back several feet into the chain link fence, making her fall.

Kira tried to fight but was knocked out a few moments after. "Kira, Kira, get up!" Lia's shrieks finally pulled Kira out of the trance, and she helped the older girl get up to her feet.

The berserker was still standing, ready and eager to keep on fighting.

Lia groaned as she, once again, was thrown to the ground by the Berserker. "Lia, run! Get out of here!" Kira yelled as she tried to fight the Berserker by herself. But the Beta ignored her pack member pleas, getting right back up.

"Lia!" Kira warned. Lia roared, jumping on top of a fence that covered the box panel of the hospital, about to claw at the berserker.

***

Scott's Mind:

Scott, once again, woke up in one of the body drawers. He crawled and fell out, getting up again.

"Catch!"

Instead of the lacrosse ball, it was the tomahawk that he caught. He then looked down to see Lia on the ground, a wound in her chest.

"Why did you do that?" Lia whimpered.

"Let me help you. Let me show you how." The Mute's hand guided Scott to swing the tomahawk. And Scott did exactly that again and again.

***

Reality:

Stiles, Lia, Kira and Chris stood around Scott. Kira managed to wake Scott, who screamed as he opened his eyes. "Scott, hey!" Lia said as they looked at him in relief, while the Beta placed her hand on his arm.

"What happened?" Scott asked, "Did it work?"

They all exchanged a look; they failed to capture the Benefactor, whoever it may be. Instead, they had caught the attention of the werejaguar Kate Argent, Chris' sister. Kira's Mom had gotten injured. Nothing to come out a success from this plan.

[kny111]

New York would create a commission to consider reparations to address the lingering, negative effects of slavery under a bill passed by the state Legislature on Thursday.

"We want to make sure we are looking at slavery and its legacies," said state Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages before the floor debate. "This is about beginning the process of healing our communities. There still is generational trauma that people are experiencing. This is just one step forward."

The state Assembly passed the bill about three hours after spirited debate on Thursday. The state Senate passed the measure hours later, and the bill will be sent to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for consideration.

New York would be following the lead of California, which became the first state to form a reparations task force in 2020. That group recommended a formal apology from the state on its legacy of racism and discriminatory policies and the creation of an agency to provide a wide range of services for Black residents. They did not recommend specific payments amounts for reparations.[1]

The New York legislation would create a commission that would examine the extent to which the federal and state governments supported the institution of slavery.[2] It would also address persistent economic, political and educational disparities experienced by Black people in the state today.

According to the New York bill, the first enslaved Africans arrived at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, then a Dutch settlement, around the 1620s and helped build the infrastructure of New York City. While the state Legislature enacted a statute that gave freedom to enslaved Africans in New York in 1817, it wasn't implemented until 10 years later.[3]

"I'm concerned we're opening a door that was closed in New York State almost 200 years ago,"[4] said Republican state Assemblymember Andy Gooddell during floor debates on the bill. Gooddell, who voted against the measure, said he supports existing efforts to bring equal opportunity to all and would like to "continue on that path rather than focus on reparations."[5]

In California, the reparations task force said in their report that the state is estimated to be responsible for more than $500 billion due to decades of over-policing, mass incarceration and redlining that kept Black families from receiving loans and living in certain neighborhoods. California's state budget last year was $308 billion.[6] Reparations in New York could also come with a hefty price tag.

The commission would be required to deliver a report one year after its first meeting. The panel's recommendations, which could potentially include monetary compensation for Black people,[7] would be non-binding. The legislature would not be required to take the recommendations up for a vote.

New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who is the first Black person to hold the position, called the legislation "historic."[8]

Heastie, the governor and the legislative leader in the state Senate would each appoint three members to the commission.[9]

Other state legislatures that have considered studying reparations include New Jersey and Vermont, but none have passed legislation yet.[10] The Chicago suburb in Evanston, Illinois, became the first city to make reparations available to Black residents through a $10 million housing project in 2021.[11]

On the federal level, a decades-old proposal to create a commission studying reparations has stalled in Congress.[12]

Some critics of reparations by states say that while the idea is well-intentioned, it can be misguided.[13]

William Darity, a professor of public policy and African and African American Studies at Duke University said even calling them reparations is "presumptuous," since it's virtually impossible for states to meet the potentially hefty payouts.[14]

He said the federal government has the financial capacity to pay true reparations and that it should be the party that is responsible.[15]

"My deeper fear with all of these piecemeal projects is that they actually will become a block against federal action because there will be a number of people who will say there's no need for a federal program," Darity said. "If you end up settling for state and local initiatives, you settle for much less than what is owed."[16] K, Blog Admin notes: [1] This is useful because it's attempting institutionalization of the divestment in needing money to solve the issue of slavery reparations and instead aims to provide a means to account for such a system by way of adhering to necessities. This seems like a legislative path to that. A formal apology is well overdue so the creation of these institutions, paired with divestment in money (which are literal enslavement notes) makes for said apology more effective and honest.

[2] Correct, slavery is handled and supported to this day at a state and federal level. Any strategies aimed at changing this enslavement system requires changes at both state and federal levels, otherwise what's the point? [3] Legislature like the one in 1817 what it did was make enslavement go covert while continuing to operate with the same engine. Which is why we need to correct any semblance of it existing by abolishing institutions that were created from slavery and repurpose ones sabotaged by past and existing pro slavery legislature. Reparations fixes itself to do just that.

[4] Read [3] because slavery's door was never shut. There's never been enough evidence, something I hope this legislature corrects, with regards to presenting when this "end of slavery" ever occurred. As far as everyone experiencing this god awful system is concerned slavery continued just fine.

[5] Slavery as a system created such a historical inequivalence for all involved that a path has never honestly been formed to claim we're all equal. How can we "continue" on something we've never even established?

[6] Translation: The enslavers who own this system over us and invested so much in slavery can't put their money where their labor is. This is our issue how? Legislature like this will help correct that.

[7] I would hope that this conversation around monetary compensation and reparations from enslavement systems involves a divestment plan from a currency note that has factual connections to and will continue to be looked at as an enslaver note to those who study slavery historically. So this might look like an institution that can help communities divest from ever even needing to use money due to their systemic connections to slavery.

[8] This legislature is needed and overdue, I wouldn't call it historic yet. People within government tend to have a low bar for what's historic and epic.

[9] Not enough people. 3 is not enough. This is a ridiculously low amount considering how easy it can be to sabotage this work as they have in the past, this increases that chance. They need more community input. Otherwise, what's the point?

[10] Further implicating these states with systemic slavery.

[11] Not enough for similar reasons that a slaver creating their own paper and telling you to live off of it is not enough to stop slavery.

[12] So the one thing that did have a semblance of working, you let it rock there, doing nothing? Seems like an institutional trend.

[13] How? Explain using evidence in the same way we abolitionists use evidence to prove slavery is not needed.

[14] Agreed, and they don't have the capacity to make their enslaver dollars mean much into the future. Money temporarily becomes pay outs which are like the apology letter you include system changes with otherwise its just enslavers recycling their image.. AGAIN.

[15] Agreed, but I hope this doesn't mean shift in focus from what needs to structurally change at a state level and what these types of legislature can do. I think federal changes should come with state strategizing as well.

[16] see [14] and [15]

[latibvles]

could i please request #4 "the promise" for genevieve and bucky, pls and thank you? <3 — @shoshiwrites

this one whacked me in my feelings completely on accident. the fun part about prompts is I can drop them anywhere! anyways this isn't... spicy per se, but there is definitely a lack of clothes. The inbox is open! Send me prompts!

—

##THE PROMISE — GENEVIEVE & BUCKY

There is the first time Bucky tells her about an impending mission, and then the first time Gen worries about him going up there.

Full disclosure isn’t a requirement of their arrangement (and she’d hardly call it an arrangement at all. It’s not a thing they really talk about. Her lips just happen to find his at the end of the night more often than not). He rarely ever talks about it when he comes down, let alone telling her when he’s going to go up. But the first time he tells her, it comes across like every other word he says: a flirt, a tease, laced with a try not to miss me and a wink.

This time, he’s sprawled out on her bed, all long legs and a pleased grin. He’s a vision, really — something straight out of a painting, down to the way her sheet drapes over him and keeps him modest. All he lacks is Cupid crowning his head with a wreath of flowers, and she thinks her lute playing would be subpar at best. He may not be Venus, but he’s pretty close to it. Even as he rises, leaning over the edge to pull his pants back on. He turns back to her for a moment, and his smile grows.

“Something on my face?” Bait.

“You stare at me all night long, I’m allowed to return the favor, am I not?” She grins as he turns further, caging her.

“Oh so that’s what this is? A favor?”

“Well then what would you call it, Major?” The hand not placed precariously by her head goes to curl around her dark tresses, slipping between his fingers.

“Well I think you just like lookin’ at me. I mean, that’s why I’m starin’,” He pauses for a moment, with her hair still coiled around his fingers, eyes tracking his own hand, then her eyes, all the way down to the column of her neck before meeting hers again, lips pressing into a line. She can feel something in the air shift. “Not a lot of pretty things up there, y’know? Unless clouds are your thing.” He tilts his head up and towards the corner of her room, with all of her drawings taped to the walls — angular figures in outfits of faded colored pencil. He already knew the answer even before he made the statement.

It almost sounds like a lament.

Genevieve reaches up, lets her hand brush up against the roughness of his cheek — curious, more than anything.

He tilts his head until his lips brush up against her palm.

“We’re going up again in a couple days.”

She feels considerably more flushed than she was moments prior. Being under him is one thing, having his kiss pressed against her hand as he tells her this is another. Intimate. Nothing about their not-quite-arrangement demanded actual intimacy. Maybe it could. Maybe he wants it to. And then, the million-dollar question of all, but what do you want?

“For how long?” Genevieve doesn’t know why she asks the question as opposed to avoiding the subject. She could’ve gotten away with any other response, really, rather than prolong this. Her hand still up against his cheek, the corner of his mouth brushing against her skin on every word. And Bucky is staring at her, and knowing that he’s taking her in makes her stomach churn, makes her lips press into a line.

“All day, not overnight, I don’t think,” he reaches up to brush some of her hair from her forehead. “Be back before you know it. Promise.”

She almost wishes he hadn’t said that word so easily. Promises, disclosure, intimacy, nothing she expected to really take center stage — and maybe he doesn’t either, because the laser-focused expression breaks in exchange for another one of his grins, and he’s reaching up to take her hand and press it above her head above the pillow. She wants to challenge the word, why he said it, in the same way he had with favor just a few moments ago, but she doesn’t.

“I’ll be here, then,” is what Genevieve offers instead, and there’s something about the way he smiles at her response that makes her want to stare at him just like he’s done to her countless times before.

[chamerionwrites]

While these protests succeeded in disrupting normal operations at the targeted arms companies, they were unable to meaningfully halt the manufacture of weapons, in part because the group best poised to shut down production was conspicuously absent from each of the actions: the companies’ workers. More than two million US workers are employed by the weapons industry, which produces over 80% of all of Israel’s arms imports, including “precision guided munitions, small diameter bombs, artillery, ammunition, Iron Dome interceptors and other critical equipment,” according to the Pentagon, as well as F-35 aircraft—the most advanced fighter jets in the world. In the past month and a half, Israel has used these weapons in a genocidal assault that has killed more than 14,000 Palestinian civilians in Gaza, at least 5,600 of them children. The violence has prompted direct action against the Israeli war machine’s supply chain, with protesters targeting not only munitions factories but also ships transporting arms to Israel and financial firms with significant investments in the weapons industry. But unlike in many other parts of the world, where weapons workers have led the disruption in response to an urgent call for solidarity from Palestinian trade unions, in the US, unions in the weapons industry have so far remained outside the fray.

This is despite the presence of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of unionized workers in the US weapons industry, some of whom are employed at the very factories that protesters have attempted to shut down this fall. As journalist Taylor Barnes reported earlier this year, each of the five major Pentagon contractors—Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and General Dynamics—employs some unionized workers, although union density at the firms ranges from as low as 4% at Northrop Grumman to as high as 32% at Boeing. Many of these unionized workers belong either to the International Association of Machinists (IAM), or to the United Auto Workers (UAW), which is part of a renaissance in the US labor movement. Both unions include employees at Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and General Dynamics; the IAM additionally represents workers at Northrop Grumman and M7 Aerospace, a wholly owned subsidiary of the infamous Elbit Systems, while the UAW represents workers at Woodward, Inc., an aerospace firm that gained unwanted attention last month after a viral photo from the ruins of Gaza appeared to show a used missile component with the company’s logo on it. The unions are also actively organizing more workers in the weapons industry: Just last month, for example, the IAM unionized 332 Lockheed employees in Kentucky.

For anti-war labor organizers in the United States, unionized weapons workers present a paradox: Serving such members ostensibly requires making weapons industry jobs stable and remunerative, but the principles of global solidarity call for dismantling the war machine altogether. Traditionally, US unions have only pursued the former mandate. As one anonymous local union president in the industry put it to researcher Karen Bell earlier this year, “my top priority is trying to make sure that we have work in jobs in the United States . . . I don’t make a lot of judgments on anything other than, what can you do to keep the people I represent in work? That’s my job, and to be anything other than that, it would really be a disservice to the people that are paying my salary.” Rather than questioning their role in the industry, unions have reconfirmed their relationships with weapons companies since the start of Israel’s assault on Gaza. Last month, 1,000 IAM members in Arizona and 1,100 UAW members across the Midwest separately ratified new contracts with Raytheon and General Dynamics respectively, during a period when both companies were actively implicated in the mass killing of Palestinian civilians. When the Raytheon contract deal was announced on October 22nd, one IAM leader said he was “proud to support our Raytheon members and excited for this contract’s positive impact on their lives”—a statement that highlights the seemingly irreconcilable conflict between the economic interests of weapons industry workers and the anti-war, anti-genocide movement.

[rollsrocker]

Today marks 83 years since the Soviet annexation of Bessarabia from Romania

SOURCE - Deschide

Today marks 83 years since one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Romanian nation. On 28 June 1940, the USSR issued an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Romania, following the abduction of Bessarabia, northern Bukovina and Herta Land. Under political pressure dictated by the dirty diplomacy of the great global powers and advised by the 'allies' to accept the Soviet government's conditions, Bucharest ceded the requested territories, a total area of 50,762 km2 with a population of about 4 million inhabitants, mostly ethnic Romanians.

On 26 June 1940, the Government of the Kingdom of Romania received a final note from the representatives of the USSR asking it to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina.

In the interest of "restoring the truth"

In that text, Soviet Foreign Minister Veaceslav Molotov argued that Romania had taken advantage of Russia's military weakness and severed the territory of Bessarabia from the Soviet Union in 1918, "thereby violating the centuries-old unity of Bessarabia, populated mainly by Ukrainians, with the Ukrainian Soviet Republic".

"The Soviet Union has never reconciled itself to the fact of taking Bessarabia by force, which the Soviet government declared not once and openly before the whole world. Now that the military weakness of the USSR is a thing of the past, and the international situation that has arisen requires the rapid resolution of the questions inherited from the past in order to finally lay the foundations of a solid peace between countries, the USSR considers it necessary and opportune, in the interest of restoring the truth, to work with Romania for the immediate resolution of the question of the return of Bessarabia to the Soviet Union," the document added.

The Soviet government asked the Kingdom of Romania to return 'at all costs' the territory of Bessarabia to the Soviet Union and to hand over the northern part of Bukovina to the Soviet Union, with the proviso that it expected a reply no later than 27 June.

Manipulation of history

Historical studies have repeatedly noted that the Soviet last note has no support in reality, for several reasons.

First, Bessarabia never had a Ukrainian majority, nor did it have any "secular unity" with Ukraine. On the contrary, ever since the annexation in 1812 by the Russian Empire, the ethnic majority has always been Romanian. The same was true of Bukovina.

Secondly, Bessarabia declared its independence in 1918 from the Russian Federal Republic. The USSR was created in 1922. So Romania could not 'untie' Bessarabia from the USSR for the simple reason that the Soviet Union did not exist.

If anyone should have been compensated, it was the Kingdom of Romania for 107 years of Russian occupation, not the USSR.

Unfortunately, the Kingdom of Romania was at that time internally collapsed, de facto, so it had no one to respond properly to this mocking final note from the USSR.

The notion of "surrender" was avoided

The Kingdom of Romania conveyed to the Soviet government that "immediate negotiations on a wide range of issues" were necessary, a response that did not please the USSR, which demanded Romania's absolute submission and unconditional acceptance, without negotiation, of the conditions imposed.

As a result, on 27 June, Russia issued a second ultimatum, demanding the evacuation of the Romanian administration and army from Bessarabia and northern Bukovina within four days.

The next day, the Romanian government led by Gheorghe Tătărescu, after receiving advice from Germany and Italy, agreed to submit to Soviet conditions.

The decision to accept the Soviet ultimatum and to carry out a 'withdrawal' (the word 'surrender' was avoided) from Bessarabia and northern Bukovina was taken in the Crown Council on the night of 27-28 June 1940.

The diary of King Charles II records that there were 6 votes in favour of rejecting the ultimatum, 20 votes in favour of accepting it and only one abstention.

The King bowed his head to Russian pressure

On the morning of 28 June, the population was officially informed of the existence of the ultimatum and its acceptance by the Romanian Army's General Staff, in communication no. 25.

According to the terms of the ultimatum, three key cities - Chisinau, Chernivtsi and White Fortress - were to be surrendered to the Soviets by 2 p.m.

By 2 July, the new border along the Prut River was permanently closed.

The Romanian government sought to avoid, if only temporarily, a war with the Soviet Union.

As a result, all military installations were surrendered without being destroyed and without a single shot being fired, the Romanian army having strict orders not to respond to any provocation.

More than 200,000 people of all ethnicities fled to Romania in the few days following 28 June.

Forced ideologisation and deportations

Only a small part of the population of Bessarabia and Bukovina greeted the Soviet annexation with positive feelings.

According to Professor Anton Moraru, PhD in history, the character of the occupation of Bessarabia in 1940 was very clearly and convincingly seen in the policy of the communist regime promoted towards the population of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and Herta Land, as archival documents show that the population of these territories rejected the occupation regime.

"The smallest protests were suppressed and suppressed by the Russian NKVD and KGB forces. According to some data, in 1940-1941 alone, the communist occupation regime arrested, ill-treated, fined, sentenced, deported and shot more than 300 thousand people in Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and Herta Land, including 32 thousand innocent people, who were deported on 12-13 June 1941," Anton Moraru said.

In most of the occupied territory, the Soviets proclaimed the Moldovan SSR, while the southern part of Bessarabia, Bugev, and northern Bukovina were annexed to the Ukrainian SSR.

With the proclamation of the Moldovan SSR, the RASSM, the autonomous "Moldovan" republic east of the Dniester, was divided between the two neighbouring Soviet republics, Soviet Moldova and Ukraine.

The losses suffered in the summer of 1940 affected the geopolitical and strategic role and weight of the Romanian state in the region. But the heaviest blow was a moral one. Only 22 years after the fulfilment of an ideal - a united Romania - Romanians had to resume the struggle for national unity from the beginning.

The annexation of Bessarabia by the Soviets anticipated the establishment of the communist regime in Romania after 1944. Since the ethnic Romanian majority in Bessarabia was made up of peasants, and this class was targeted by the measures of terror, the repression indirectly took on a pronounced anti-Romanian character.

[usafphantom2]

Canada selects Boeing's P-8A Poseidon as its new multi-mission aircraft

The partnership with Canadian industry will provide long-term economic prosperity to Canada 🇨🇦

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 11/30/2023 - 18:52 in Military

With the P-8, Canada guarantees the interchangeability of allies NORAD and FIVE EYES.

The government of Canada signed a letter of offer and acceptance of foreign military sales for up to 16 Boeing P-8A Poseidon aircraft, as part of the Canadian Multimission Aircraft Project (CMMA).

Canada joins eight defense partners, including all allies of FIVE EYES, the intelligence alliance that also includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and becomes the fifth NATO nation to have selected the P-8 as its multi-mission aircraft. The first delivery is scheduled for 2026.

“The P-8 will strengthen Canada's defense capability and readiness, and we look forward to delivering that capability to the Royal Canadian Air Force,” said Heidi Grant, president of Business Development at Boeing Defense, Space & Security. “Together with our Canadian partners, we will deliver a strong package of industrial and technological benefits that will ensure continued prosperity for Canada's aerospace and defense industry.”

The P-8 is the only proven in-service and production solution that meets all CMMA requirements, including range, speed, strength and payload capacity. This decision will benefit hundreds of Canadian companies and bring decades of prosperity to Canada through the support of the platform provided by our Canadian industrial partners.

The acquisition of P-8 will generate benefits of almost 3,000 jobs and $358 million annually in economic output for Canada, according to a 2023 independent study by Ottawa-based Doyletech Corporation.

“This is a very important day for the Royal Canadian Air Force and Boeing,” said Charles 'Duff Sullivan, managing director of Boeing Canada. "The P-8 offers unparalleled capabilities and is the most affordable solution for acquisition and life cycle maintenance costs. There is no doubt that the P-8 will protect Canada's oceans and borders for future generations."

The partnership with Canadian industry will provide long-term economic prosperity to Canada.

The Poseidon Team is the cornerstone of Boeing's Canadian P-8 industrial partnership, composed of CAE, GE Aviation Canada, IMP Aerospace & Defense, KF Aerospace, Honeywell Aerospace Canada, Raytheon Canada and StandardAero. The team is based on the 81 existing Canadian suppliers for the P-8 platform and more than 550 Boeing suppliers in all provinces, contributing to the company's annual economic benefit of approximately CAD$ 4 billion for Canada, supporting more than 14,000 Canadian jobs.

With more than 160 aircraft delivered or in service and 560,000 collective flight hours, the P-8 has proven capabilities for anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief response.

Tags: Military AviationBoeingP-8A PoseidonRCAF - Royal Canadian Air Force/Canada Air Force

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[lele-o-north]

Recycling Centre Site Visit ✨

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Hazardous Waste Recycling Centre in Gateshead (i): a tour organised by Suez, the site owner ♻️

I am pleased with how transparent Laura and Hannah, our guides, have been while explaining what happens to the local recycling and general waste. No question has been left unanswered, and topics have been discussed with the most environmentally friendly tone: everything led to the concept of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle 🙌🏻

The overall experience exceeded my expectations as the amount of knowledge I gained was HUGE ⛰️

This is how I would summarise today’s experience in few points:

1. Disposable vapes are a PROBLEM 💨

Strangely classified by UK Legislation as “toys, leisure and sport equipment”, they have been responsible for numerous fires at the recycling centre. E-cigarettes contain lithium batteries, which can easily ignite when segregated with the other waste streams. Furthermore, recycling one 200L barrel full of disposable vapes costs more than £2000 😰

2. Machines that sort general waste out DO NOT EXIST ⚙️

Due to complex composition of general waste, there is no machine or automated process able to effectively separate non-recyclables from recyclables that ended up in the general waste. At Suez, sorting is done BY HANDS 🤲🏻

3. Energy-from-Waste (EFW) requires A LOT of ENERGY ⚡️

Suez’s EFW facility has the potential to generate enough electricity to power 30.000 homes via waste incineration. However, the majority of energy goes back into the facility to keep the process going: fire is on 24/7 🔥

4. Separate food waste segregation at home is COMING SOON 🍔

Around 6.5 MILLION tonnes of food waste come from households every year. The shocking thing is: around 70% of that food waste IS STILL EDIBLE when people dispose of it (4.5 MILLION tonnes). Suez compared it to 90 Royal Albert Halls! 😱

5. Load contamination is a serious thing ☣️

Staff works hard every day to ensure skips contain the waste they have been designed for. When hazardous materials get in the same bin with recyclables, the WHOLE load becomes hazardous. This means that all the waste contained in that bin is very likely to lose its recycling potential. As it has been said today: “It is better losing some recycling in the general waste than contaminating an entire load of recycling and losing all of it” 😞 This is such a powerful sentence.

For those interested in knowing about waste disposal and recycling, I strongly recommend this experience. Event details can be found on Eventbrite and many waste sites are available for tour booking 🤩

Ah, forgot this: IT’S FREE 🤯

References:

i. (Photo) https://lnkd.in/eYyWCWmp

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New results from the CMS experiment put W boson mass mystery to rest

After an unexpected measurement by the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) experiment in 2022, physicists on the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment (CMS) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) announced today a new mass measurement of the W boson, one of nature’s force-carrying particles. This new measurement, which is a first for the CMS experiment, uses a new technique that makes it the most elaborate investigation of the W boson’s mass to date. Following nearly a decade of analysis, CMS has found that the W boson’s mass is consistent with predictions, finally putting a multi-year long mystery to rest. View the paper posted.

The final analysis used 300 million events collected from the 2016 run of the LHC, and 4 billion simulated events. From this dataset, the team reconstructed and then measured the mass from more than 100 million W bosons. They found that the W boson’s mass is 80 360.2 ± 9.9 megaelectron volts (MeV), which is consistent with the Standard Model’s predictions of 80 357 ± 6 MeV. They also ran a separate analysis that cross-checks the theoretical assumptions.

“The new CMS result is unique because of its precision and the way we determined the uncertainties,” said Patty McBride, a distinguished scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Research Laboratory and the former CMS spokesperson. “We’ve learned a lot from CDF and the other experiments who have worked on the W boson mass question. We are standing on their shoulders, and this is one of the reasons why we are able to take this study a big step forward.”

Since the W boson was discovered in 1983, physicists on 10 different experiments have measured its mass.

The W boson is one of the cornerstones of the Standard Model, the theoretical framework that describes nature at its most fundamental level. A precise understanding of the W boson’s mass allows scientists to map the interplay of particles and forces, including the strength of the Higgs field and merger of electromagnetism with the weak force, which is responsible for radioactive decay.

“The entire universe is a delicate balancing act,” said Anadi Canepa, deputy spokesperson of the CMS experiment and a senior scientist at Fermilab. “If the W mass is different from what we expect, there could be new particles or forces at play.”

The new CMS measurement has a precision of 0.01%. This level of precision corresponds to measuring a 4-inch-long pencil to between 3.9996 and 4.0004 inches. But unlike pencils, the W boson is a fundamental particle with no physical volume and a mass that is less than a single atom of silver.

“This measurement is extremely difficult to make,” Canepa added. “We need multiple measurements from multiple experiments to cross-check the value.”

The CMS experiment is unique from the other experiments that have made this measurement because of its compact design, specialized sensors for fundamental particles called muons and an extremely strong solenoid magnet that bends the trajectories of charged particles as they move through the detector.

“We were able to do this effectively thanks to a combination of a larger data set, the experience we gained from an earlier W boson study, and the latest theoretical developments,” Bendavid said. “This has allowed us to free ourselves from the Z boson as our reference point.”

As part of this analysis, they also examined 100 million tracks from the decays of well-known particles to recalibrate a massive section of the CMS detector until it was an order of magnitude more precise.

“This new level of precision will allow us to tackle critical measurements, such as those involving the W, Z and Higgs bosons, with enhanced accuracy,” Manca said.

 The most challenging part of the analysis was its time intensiveness, since it required creating a novel analysis technique and developing an incredibly deep understanding of the CMS detector.

“I started this research as a summer student, and now I’m in my third year as a postdoc,” Manca said. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

TOP IMAGE: Comparison measurements of the W boson’s mass with other experiments and the Standard Model prediction. The dot is the measured value and length of the line corresponds to the precision; the shorter the line, the more precise the measurement.  Credit mage based on a figure produced by the CMS collaboration. Created by Samantha Koch, Fermilab

LOWER IMAGE: Comparison measurements of the W boson’s mass with other experiments and the Standard Model prediction. The dot is the measured value and length of the line corresponds to the precision; the shorter the line, the more precise the measurement.  Credit mage based on a figure produced by the CMS collaboration. Created by Samantha Koch, Fermilab

[distracteddaintydemon]

So. Let's say you have a problem, because you're repeatedly going to bed at 4 a.m. and you would rather go to bed at midnight, and you have no idea what to do about it because it's slipping on its own…. And you are by some miracle completely new to the subject and have not yet tested a million good tips on sleep hygiene and are looking for good advice to get started…

Then listen, I had and have a very similar problem and the answer is:

THERE IS NO ONE ANSWER, because the diurnal rhythm is made up of a mess of elements, and it's impossible to tell blindly which IN YOU are the main ones responsible for the shifting diurnal cycle.

Maybe it's about increased eveningness (i.e., you function best in the evening and it's a shame to go to bed when things are finally going well for you). Or it's about revenge bedtime procrastination (there's not enough time for everything during the day, so you try to catch up a little more and snatch some time for yourself before you "close the day" by going to bed). Then there are no simple solutions, you have to try to reorganize your day so that "your part of the day" starts earlier.

Maybe it's a matter of the actually-awake-moment slipping away, which entails delaying the rest of the day? Then you need to work on the quality of sleep. If you're continuously sleep-deprived, your body WILL fight for the extra sleep. Maybe you'll win but it'll be a pyrrhic victory. It's worth starting with such trivia as hydration, vitamin D supplementation, airing your room, finding the optimal temperature for sleeping. (If someone tells you that the ideal temperature for sleeping is 18°C and that's it, don't believe them, they're talking shit. People are different and there is no rule, for some everything above 19°C is heat, others below 22°C need socks and a bathrobe to sleep).

Maybe your diurnal rhythm is light-dependent? If you notice that you find it much easier to get up in the morning in summer than in winter, invest in a light alarm clock aka dawn simulator. WORTH EVERY MONEY YOU HAVE (as long as you're light-dependent, of course). I got one for Christmas and it took me 2 weeks to fall in love: getting up happens on its own and painlessly, it's easier to get through dark days, easier to fall asleep with the sunset simulator, basically a miracle machine.

Maybe you have trouble to fully wake up after getting up? Like "no matter what time I get up, I wake up at 11"? Then you can do lots of things to get well into the morning. Set the radio to turn on automatically in the morning, or turn on a puzzle game (the best ones are those with short levels, clear level endings and an expressive victory screen like fanfare confetti fireworks - this is legitimate and serious advice from a psychiatrist, tested on me). You can also make coffee in the evening for the next morning and put it next to your bed along with a candy bar (a small serving of quick calories -> increased activity right after waking up -> you are awake and highly active early in the morning -> your body registers that the activity period has already started and you go with the schedule).

Maybe you're having trouble getting yourself together for bed because your evening routine has too many elements? Simplify it. Don't make your bed in the morning, keep your evening and morning medications permanently by your bed, change into your pajamas right after dinner and put on your favorite robe or tracksuit and hangout like this all evening. Anything that ensures the decision "I already want to go to bed, I'll go to sleep" will require 0 mana points to implement. Going to bed is supposed to be a cantrip, never a spell. If the problem is getting away from the computer desk and into bed - then drown the advice about the "no-electronic bedroom". The moment you feel Quite Strongly Sleepy, already lying in bed with your laptop, all you need to do is close the laptop flap, put it on the floor next to the bed and rest your head against the pillow. If you feel Quite Strongly Sleepy while sitting at a desk in another room, you have to close the computer, rouse yourself a bit, get up, change rooms, change clothes, lie down and feel sleepy again, which can take any length of time. For some, that's a difference of more than 1.5 hours of sleep per night. That's a VERY large amount.

Maybe you're having trouble falling asleep because your day is insufficiently stimulating? And the "tired, I've been doing a lot and there's been a lot going on" clock shows that you still have plenty of activities to fit in, when the "fatigue, I've been up a long time" clock says it's time? If so, ask yourself when was the last time you felt a pleasant, healthy tiredness. Maybe you should start playing Pokemon Go and doing a 15-minute walk around town in the afternoon? Maybe you don't have enough contact with people and it's a good idea to call a friend every 2-3 days and chat for half an hour about things? Maybe you're doing the same thing over and over again at work with no sense of purpose and need something tangible and purposeful, like knitting a few rows or playing the guitar for ten minutes?

Maybe the delayed falling asleep is related to some health problem that "hides" under the stimuli of the day and comes out in all its glory when you lie down in a dark and quiet bedroom and try to relax and fall asleep? It could be anxiety and fear (been there), it could be allergic itching (also been there), it could be chronic pain (also been there). The immediate solution is to provide stimuli to drown things out - when I was in pain, I slept with the lights on and podcasts playing. The long-term solution is to agree with your doctor on evening medication - appropriate to your problem.

Or maybe you just don't have a sense of time and you're always surprised by how much time has passed since you last looked at the clock? In that case, consider a clock with a chime. Or a smartphone app of "hourly chime" type. It will be easier for you to mentally prepare how much time you have left for the various things you planned to do during the day if the chime clock reduces your time-judgment error to 1 hour.

TLDR: there is no single solution, because the diurnal cycle consists of many elements, track down the elements that in your case are the most important.

If you have no idea where to start, then start with hydration (make sure you drink a minimum of a liter of fluids a day and that you don't ignore thirst / dry mouth / strange taste in the mouth), and then embrace the light alarm clock.