#how safe is algeria

[lionheartlr]

Exploring Algeria: A Comprehensive Travel Guide

Algeria, the largest country in Africa, offers a rich tapestry of history, culture, and natural beauty. From ancient Roman ruins to vast desert landscapes, Algeria is a destination waiting to be discovered. Here’s everything you need to know for an unforgettable journey. A Brief History Algeria has a rich and diverse history dating back to ancient times. The region was inhabited by various…

[northwest-by-a-train]

The amazing thing is not that the stomach churns, it's that it doesn't churn more often

[phoenixyfriend]

Why I think it's important to understand the geopolitical anxieties of Israelis

Oftentimes, it feels like even recognizing that those anxieties exist is viewed as siding with Israel in the current conflict.

And I think that it's... weird, to do that. Dismissing the anxieties wholesale makes it harder to resolve the situation. Addressing them directly is possibly the only way to resolve the situation, because America.

Let me explain.

This will have three parts:

Why the propaganda works

How it affects current policy

How we can pressure the (mostly US) government about Israel using what we know about propaganda

Why the propaganda works

A lot of it is just propaganda, yes, but a lot of it is based in history, and a lot is also sort of self-fulfilling at this point. They have had reason to believe that some of their neighbors want all Jews dead or gone for a long time (see: Syria, Lebanon, Yemen), so it's not that it comes from nowhere. When over half the population is either Mizrahi Jews who fled from nearby countries that were happy to have a place to kick their Jewish populations out to, or their descendants, it's not hard to see that 'if someone else is in charge, we'll have to flee again.'

You could tell the French in Algeria to go back to France, but are you going to tell Mizrahi Jews to go back to the ME countries that they left? Sure, some left willingly, but that kind of wholesale eradication doesn't happen unless there's some degree of systemic discrimination or threat of violence. You cannot send Yemeni Jews back to Yemen.

The threat is real. It is not as large as the propaganda claims. It does not in any way justify nearly 30,000 deaths, half of them children. But the threat is not just imagined.

The fact of the matter is this: the propaganda is fueled by actual violence and legitimate fears.

And unless those fears are recognized and accounted for, Israel cannot be talked down.

Being told that a threat does not exist when recent history clearly shows otherwise is not going to convince anyone. I cannot emphasize this enough: even if the far-right government is replaced tomorrow, those fears will persist.

Israel's current government is violently and militarily opposed to restructuring itself in a way that allows for either a secular democratic single state, or a truly free and independent Palestine in a two-state solution. Due to mandatory army service and large scale propaganda, many have been taught since early childhood that the only way for Jews to be safe is for Israel to exist and to be so incredibly overpowered for their size that other nations won't invade them. The fact that both distant history and more recent, across the world, is filled with antisemitic discrimination, feeds this paranoia. A lot of people are out to get them, and have been since well before Israel was established. The destruction of Judea, the Edict of Expulsion, the expulsion of Jews from Spain, pogroms, the Holocaust, the near-total eradication in Yemen, Jordan, and Syria, and so on... this shit keeps happening. Some of it long ago, some if it very recent.

But it does keep happening, and that is why the propaganda works. That is why the fearmongering has teeth. It has happened before, over and over and over again, and it is being loudly threatened again. The propaganda works in Israel, and it also works in Jewish communities, and non-Jewish people who just happen to hear it, based elsewhere in the world. Like America. (This is important.)

Before moving forward, I need to make this clear: There are Jewish Israeli activists, both within Israel and without, that are vocally against Israel's actions against Palestine. Some are organized, and some are individuals. Some stories even go viral: Israeli-born Natalie Portman's been criticizing Netanyahu for years and politicians have called for her citizenship to be stripped for it. Tumblr loves the story of the Swiftie Twitter that went to jail for refusing to join the IDF, and that's very common; plenty of young people get months-long prison sentences, sometimes multiple times. Right-wing mobs go after Jewish Israelis who speak in support of Palestine in any way, and these things get violent.

(In that same article, it also talks about how Israeli Palestinians are suffering much, much worse under the government's crackdown on free speech.)

How it affects current policy

The thing is, there are only really four ways for this to resolve:

Israel wins. They succeed in pushing Palestinians out of Gaza by killing anyone who doesn't comply, and take it over for themselves. (This is bad.)

Israel is cut off from any and all support from abroad, both 'here, you can help yourself with these guns' and 'here, we will fight your enemies for you,' and is very suddenly at risk of invasion, mass murder, and removal from the Palestinian Mandate by those groups they fearmonger about, the ones that include slogans like "death to Israel, a curse upon the Jews." (This is also bad.)

Israel is convinced to stop attacking Gaza, possibly through the threat of no more support, and settles in to figure out a solution with Palestine, whether two-state or secular single state or whatever, and normalizes relations with neighbors enough that they can start cutting back on their military. (This is the best option.)

A foreign power or coalition of powers invades and forces Israel to stop, and oversees a transition from military state to peaceful state while protecting from outside attack, like was done to Japan and Germany following WWII. (This one is... interventionism is bad, but also almost 30k people have died with no end in sight, so it's starting to look like a real possibility.)

We can all agree, I hope, that the first option is not an option. That is Bad.

I also hope we can agree that the second option is not an option. A number of Israelis may be settlers in the traditional sense of the word, but a lot of them are refugees from neighboring countries, survivors of the Holocaust, or descendants of such. "Just go back where you came from" doesn't work when many of them came from places that were also saying 'go back where you came from' because Israel now existed to expel them to. It's also been around for 75 years now, and some three-quarters of the population were born in Israel. Expelling them all, even the ones that were there before the early statehood aliyah? It's... I don't know. I understand in theory why some activists push for it, but I do think it is fundamentally different from any comparative colonization or settlement.

(Note: I do not include Israeli colonies in the Palestinian West Bank. Those do need to be returned to their owners. Give people their houses and land back.)

The third option is the one that most people, I think, would like to see happen. However, the Israeli government is clinging to the propaganda that they will be eradicated as a Jewish people if they do not forcibly take power where they can, and they are spreading it out among Israelis. Dissent by Israeli Jews may not be criminalized, but the society around them sure isn't receptive to it. The recent invasion of Gaza has also inflamed tensions across the region, which means that even countries which were slowly normalizing relations, or at least.

Netanyahu has not been convinced, and by all appearances cannot be convinced. The only thing that may force his hand is the threat of no more military aid, so he suddenly has to start conserving what missiles he does have in order to fend off a possible attack instead of continuing to hammer on Gaza.

Sounds great, right? This is why we are all (I hope) calling our senators or representatives or whatever your country has to tell them to stop supporting Israel monetarily or with military aid. This is why I keep giving suggested topics for Americans to call their senators about, even if I'm just one voice, and there are much louder ones saying the same thing, but better.

And yet, the Senate passed the aid bill. They snuck it into a Veteran Affairs thing as a last-minute amendment, but they passed it, and any failure in the House will have little to do with sympathy for Palestine and a lot to do with domestic border policy.

So... Americans are also pretty convinced of the whole 'if we stop supporting Israel, they will be invaded and killed off by the Iran-backed militias' thing. Many do feel sympathy for Palestinians, hence the 'Israel, you need to knock that shit off' comments, but they also are genuinely of a belief that the Israeli propaganda of 'we will be overrun by antisemitic Muslim extremist militias and exterminated like in the Holocaust' is true.

Like. Either they fear for Israelis due to the antagonistic forces in the region, or they belong to Christofascist ideologies about how supporting Israel is the way to avoid suffering in Armageddon.

You can't get to the latter on ethics or morality or whatever. You can only rely on ulterior motives (the border things) or telling them 'your reelection is in jeopardy, change your mind or you're going to be voted out.'

The former, though... you can. They believe the things that Israel claims and has been claiming since 1948, with regards to threats.

And if you acknowledge why the propaganda works, you can address it.

How we can pressure the government about Israel using what we know about propaganda

If you say that there is no threat to Israel from Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, or so on, you will be dismissed as an idealist who hasn't done any research. If you say that Israelis should be left to their own devices, you will be viewed as cruel, and if you say they should be removed and the land given back to Palestinians, you will be laughed away (silently, but it'll happen). You cannot convince the American government with these tactics.

What can you say?

Israel is making things worse for itself in regards to these exact threats. Pushing on Gaza is making neutral and nearly-normalized countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia less inclined to get in the way of the 'death to Israel' militias. The campaign is creating a whole new generation of extremists who will join the militias out of a desire to prevent more of these deaths by Israeli hands, and that will only increase the threat to Israel.

Destroying Hamas isn't going to do shit if Hezbollah, Iraq, Iran, the Houthis, and so on, invade. Especially if twenty years down the line, all those orphans that Israel just created these past few months start a new Hamas for revenge because, hi, look how many orphans you just created.

Netanyahu is working against the interests of the Israeli people. He is trying to remain in power, and the Gaza war is a distraction from the charges being levied against him.

Netanyahu has a vested interest in seeing that Donald Trump is elected, as they are much closer than the at best strained relationship with Biden. This is very complicated but if your senator or rep is a Democrat, it is relevant.

Israel's continued offensive is leading to the risk of millions of Palestinian refugees entering Egypt and destabilizing them, which, in an already unstable country in an already wobbling region, is going to risk another war across the Middle East. The US still has not pulled out all troops from the last one.

The US cannot afford, monetarily or in terms of foreign relations, to aid in causing a new regional war.

If Israel slows, halts, and withdraws peacefully from Gaza, tensions will settle enough to avoid possible invasion by those hostile forces they're so worried about. The UN can, if necessary, deploy forces to maintain relative stability until peace treaties are worked out. We'd like to avoid option 4 if possible.

The only way I can see to convince the US government to stop supplying weapons to Israel is to push on the fact that continuing to do so will, due to Netanyahu and his party's actions, put Israel in more danger rather than less.

There are other things to say to your senators, and I'll be making a post about that soon (not today, but probably this weekend; stuff like Michigan, UNRWA, international reputation), but in regards to just the geopolitics surrounding the propaganda, this is it. This is why we have to understand it. Because the way we get the United States government to stop giving aid to Israel to defend itself is by telling them 'this is putting them in more danger due to their head of state's aggression.'

This was very long, but I've seen a lot of misinformation and a lot of generalization, and a lot of it is... not great. Well-meant, sometimes, but not great. I felt it necessary to be very clear and very specific. I'm anticipating a lot of comments to the effect of "you forgot about this" and "but that doesn't excuse their actions" and "well, not all activists believe--" and I know.

I know.

But I've had people say "Nobody is advocating for the removal of all Jewish Israelis" to my ask box hours after I was talking about Yemen, a country that enacted a removal of all Jews and largely under the control of a group that has a slogan about doing just that to the Jewish Israelis.

So let me be very clear that I have seen a lot on tumblr recently, a lot of it extremist, and I'm not pulling any of this out of my ass or making up a guy to be mad at. I may not know everything on this topic--I may not even know much at all, given that it covers centuries of conflict due to the Ottomans--but I've been listening to hours upon hours of news from a variety of sources (Al Jazeera, BBC, NPR, and more) every day just to make sure I understand.

Please trust that, even if I get some things wrong, even if I don't cite every detail or generalize just a bit here and there, that I mean well. Please trust that I am making this in good faith and am trusting you to respond to it in kind.

Call your reps. Write them an email. Donate to a Palestinian charity.

It's a slog, but we can make a difference.

[hadia2211]

🆘Don't skip,, please help my family you could save our life!!🆘 🍉 🇵🇸

Hello‏ name is Hadia Saud. I lost husband, Momen Akl, the world champion in bodybuilding

‏We lived a happy life, we had a house and we had a gym. My husband participated in international tournaments in Lebanon, China, Algeria and other countries and won multiple medals, but since October 7, our club has been boombed.

Then my husband was killed by air strike and after that my mother too, who worked in an institution serving people with special needs, was martyred. My father, who was a tailor, was arrested, my brothers were martyred, and now I take care of my younger brothers"Talaat (15 years old), Khalil (14 years old), Retaj (10 years old), Subhi (9 years old), Tayseer (6 years old) who lost his eye, and Zahra (5 years old) "who never stops suffering from psychological distress and bedwetting.

‏We are now in northern Gaza suffering from security in food, drink, clothing and medicine

‏We are threatened with death every minute, whether from constant bombing or malnutrition

‏Since October 7, we have been displaced more than several times after being bombed. Our house was completely destroyed, and we are now in a school for displaced people. We do not suffer from contagious skin diseases due to the lack of clean water and the lack of safe drinking water. There is no place for us in these crowded and displaced places, and there is no support for us and my brothers in the north.

‏Gaza is suffering

‏Every day I face a difficult life. I try to remain the support in everything to my brothers, father and mother, and everything in this life. I try to secure some food at least half the morning every day for my brothers, and my battle is planning to obtain clean drinking water if it exists, and here it is on the cusp of normal winter. How can I do this? Let's get clothes and a cover to protect us from the extreme cold

‏I struggle daily to survive and live a humble life in the face of this life... I turn to this request and ask for help for the sake of my family and in order to meet our needs.

‏Every day I think and cry about how I will secure food, drink and all the basic necessities of life for the next day, even if it exhausts me and makes me walk for a long time. I could not bear this fear and anxiety because it had become a nightmare for me and I had no time to figure out how to get food and drink. All this, I think, I see. My brothers and sisters are crying from hunger and the loss of all basic necessities of life

‏These donations will be used for food, drink, and clothing, and the need for an alternative source of electricity due to the injury and loss of one of my younger brothers in his eye, and the children’s fear at night due to power outages.

‏I endured this life like no one else could. I struggle with life, days, and my soul to be this steadfast for the sake of my brothers

‏I ask you to kindly support me so that I can get rid of this fear that is sweeping through my mind and thinking because at that time it is one of the causes of malnutrition and malnutrition.

‏We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your generosity and support. Your help is invisible to our motives for a while, giving hope and happiness to me and my brothers and enduring difficulties until this trust is over

🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘

each (55 sek =5$)

100$ = 1100kroner

‏will make a difference🙏🍉 be the one who helps us

Evrey donation can make a real difference and give us hope until this war ends.

[reasonsforhope]

"Lead is a neurotoxin; it causes premature deaths and lifelong negative effects. It’s said “there is no safe level of lead exposure” — as far as we know, any lead causes damage, and it just gets worse the more exposure there is.

After a 20-year, worldwide campaign, in 2021 Algeria became the final country to end leaded gasoline in cars — something the US phased out in 1996. That should make a huge difference to environmental lead levels. But lots of sources remain, from car batteries to ceramics...

Bangladesh phased out leaded gasoline in the 1990s. But high blood lead levels have remained. Why? When researchers Stephen Luby and Jenny Forsyth, doing work in rural Bangladesh, tried to isolate the source, it turned out to be a surprising one: lead-adulterated turmeric.

Turmeric, a spice in common use for cooking in South Asia and beyond, is yellow, and adding a pigment made of lead chromate makes for bright, vibrant colors — and better sales. Buyers of the adulterated turmeric were slowly being poisoned...

But there’s also good news: A recent paper studying lead in turmeric in Bangladesh found that researchers and the Bangladeshi government appear to have driven lead out of the turmeric business in Bangladesh.

How Bangladesh got serious about lead poisoning

The researchers who’d isolated turmeric as the primary cause of high blood lead levels —working for the nonprofit International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh — went to meet with government officials. They collected samples nationwide and published a 2019 follow-up paper on the extent of the problem. Bangladesh’s Food Safety Authority got involved.

They settled on a two-part approach, starting with an education campaign to warn people about the dangers of lead. Once people had been warned that lead adulteration was illegal, they followed up with raids to analyze turmeric and fine sellers who were selling adulterated products.

They posted tens of thousands of fliers informing people about the risks of lead. They got coverage in the news. And then they swept through the markets with X-ray fluorescence analyzers, which detect lead. They seized contaminated products and fined sellers.

According to the study released earlier this month, this worked spectacularly well. “The proportion of market turmeric samples containing detectable lead decreased from 47 percent pre-intervention in 2019 to 0 percent in 2021,” the study found. And the vanishing of lead from turmeric had an immediate and dramatic effect on blood lead levels in the affected populations, too: “Blood lead levels dropped a median of 30 percent.”

The researchers who helped make that result happen are gearing up for similar campaigns in other areas where spices are adulterated.

The power of problem-solving

...When the Food Safety Authority showed up at the market and started issuing fines for lead adulteration, it stopped being a savvy business move to add lead. Purchasers who were accustomed to unnatural lead-colored turmeric learned how to recognize non-adulterated turmeric. And so lead went from ubiquitous to nearly nonexistent in the space of just a few years.

That’s a better world for everyone, from turmeric wholesalers to vulnerable kids — all purchased at a shockingly low price. The paper published this month concludes, “with credible information, appropriate technology, and good enough governance, the adulteration of spices can be stopped.”

There’s still a lot more to be done. India, like Bangladesh, has widespread adulteration of turmeric. And safety testing will have to remain vigilant to prevent lead in Bangladesh from creeping back into the spice supply.

But for all those caveats, it’s rare to see such fast, decisive action on a major health problem — and impressive to see it immediately rewarded with such a dramatic improvement in blood lead levels and health outcomes. It’s a reminder that things can change, and can change very quickly, as long as people care, and as long as they act."

-via Vox, September 20, 2023

[fairuzfan]

For Liefer to pull up a Camus quote like this is quite laughable because of how the dynamics mirror each other. In the modern day, we have a status quo where Palestinians continue to be imprisoned and murdered and raped and segregated, denied basic medical care for years on end, all on their own land — while Jewish Israelis (to make distinction from Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, as many liberal zionists love to point out) suffer no consequences for anything, even if they play a direct role in the continued erasure and genocide of Palestinians. So if given a choice between suffering no consequences while benefiting from the status quo (that will not change unless the oppressed take it upon themselves to change their circumstance) and suffering consequences in the form of direct personal loss (with the strategy of forcing things to change by ennacting the same type of violence that the occupied experience on a daily basis onto the occupiers), of course someone who stands to lose nothing from the continuation of the status quo would rather the status quo continue if he has something to lose otherwise. Camus, when he said this quote, was not being righteous or overly sensitive. If anything, it shows how little he understood at the time of saying this quote. Because he didn't understand that an Algerian will suffer in both scenarios even if he (Camus) is safe, and for him to say something like this when people lived generations worth of violence for his and his family's (social) benefit is annoying and just plain offensive. Who is he, as a Frenchman born in occupied Algeria, to say what is worth justice when he only stands to lose anything in one scenario but not the other? He did not experience life as an Algerian native in French occupation. He might have observed it, growing up poor, yes, but he never LIVED it. Liefer might have observed the horror of settler colonialism, but that's nothing like experiencing it firsthand. To be the object of hatred to people who have higher status and more rights than you. It's just not his place as a person with nothing to lose if the status quo continues to comment on anything like this. What's the underlying meaning of this quote? "I'd rather others continue to suffer than myself experiencing suffering once."

I'm not saying Liefer doesn't have a right to mourn whoever. Im not even saying he has a duty to accept the consequences he experiences. But to say something so heartless as "I prefer the safety of my own rather than justice" within the larger, nearly century worth of context, is just insensitive and really belies his true opinions of the liberation of Palestine if he's so comfortable saying this outloud with moral authority in the middle of what is an outright bloodbath of Palestinians across Palestine. It's the timing of saying something like this because to say it now of all times when the entire world ignores or even encourages the violence in Gaza but mourns the death of Israelis? An Algerian born Frenchman and Israeli are going to be mourned on an international scale... but Palestinian and Algerian natives? Their deaths are regarded as facts of life by the rest of the world.

This makes it seem like I hate Camus, but I honestly don't, but I think the way Leifer is holding this quote up at face value and as the height of reason really is annoying. People like to mention Camus' "if" in this case as proof that he's actually saying "this is not real justice so therefore I do not have to accept it," but who is he to say what is or is not justice? The point I'm getting at is the people who benefit from occupation, in this case, Camus and Liefer have no right to determine what is or is not justice, despite their personal beliefs. The occupier has no right to tell the occupied what they should do to get freed. That alone is an arrogance in assertion that is so offending — the assertion that the occupier knows how to free the occupied in what *he* considers justice and the occupied just need to do whatever the occupier tells them to do. Because whether they both like it or not, they still benefit from and are part of the occupying force, and therefore have no real reason to fight the occupation at their own expense — the occupation is a violence that they are alright with inflicting if it means they cannot lose anything or anyone.

Also the idea that liefer indirectly compares himself to Camus is a little funny to me.

[kasugayamaisforlovers]

Experimental thought for my MotA gurlies: So I'm rewatching MotA to get a better handle on Gale and what's hitting me on the second time around is how human John feels versus how mythologized and illusive Gale feels? 

Exhibit A: You're Bucky and he's Buck?

We as an audience are introduced to Gale in episode 1 via the recitation of the Buck(ies) lore by Marge. And yeah, sure, John and Gale jump in to add color around the edges but tonally it’s a far cry from how anyone else in the show is introduced and, while John is intro’d the same lore, we come to know John with an intimacy that unravels any notions of manicured or whitewashed anything. We never really get this for Gale. 

Exhibit B: No Engine Cleven.

So before the fight between Curt and the RAF guy in episode 2 Curt’s regaling (pun intended) the homies with the story of Walla Walla wherein Gale buzzes the control tower with 3 of his 4 engines feathered. Now it's pretty clear from the dialogue that Gale's still got a functional engine, but Curt's telling the story and he insists on changing the details so that Gale's got no engines. 

The boys drink to ‘No Engine Cleven’--the myth.

Flashcut to the end of episode 3 and Gale's fort has taken a gnarly beating. By the time he gets in view of the runway in Algeria he has to feather all 4 engines. And he fucking does it: he manages to land sans engine power! He glides the crew to a safe landing, as if foretold. The No Engine Cleven prophesy made real.

So much of Gale feels like mythology, it's all stories and tidbits other characters seem to know on faith: Gale’s not a sports guy, Gale's an excellent pilot, Gale is Buck. And to be fair on each of these points we do get a little bit of bonus content. (Gale tells John about his dad which we come to understand is the crux of his sports dislike. We see Gale fly and know from his continued  survival and other characters' reactions that he's good. See exhibit 1 visa vis ‘Buck’.) 

Exhibit C: the deference.

Ok so bonk me with the rubber mallet if this is a reach but like the deference that characters (other than John) show Gale also makes it feel like Gale's something special/held apart. Like yes, I do get he's both hierarchically above a lot of the other characters and simultaneously one of the more central characters. We don't see a whole lot of interactions between characters and like Jack Kidd or Chick Harding to really compare how folks are acting towards Gale vs someone else higher up the ladder. But listen

Let’s take Croz as our test example as Croz interacts with Jack and Gale.  When Croz interacts with Jack he's definitely in a subordinate role. There's a scene wherein he recommends Bubbles for desk work and a later scene wherein Croz has inherited said desk work and is nervous about whether he's a good fit. Both times he approaches Jack with respect and the deference of a subordinate but there's nothing more to it. Jack’s a guy and Croz is a guy and so Croz feels like he can talk to Jack.

Take that in comparison to the first time Croz and Bubbles meet John and Gale. Croz and Bubbles want to pin a US map with the locations of the various crew members’ hometowns. There's a shyness in Croz’s behavior here that I think goes beyond ‘you guys are Majors’ and more toward ‘omg the popular kids. The dudes that set the tone for everyone else' there's a sort of starstruckedness to the interaction. (Help I can't think of another time he talks to Gale.)

My point is, the other boys talk to Gale and John like they're the big dogs. The Buckies occupy a space that’s nearer the men than command (Jack, Chick, etc) but higher than say a different crew member, or even other pilots (say Brady or Dye). But whereas we get some real interiority on John we never get to really dig in on Gale and it leaves Gale feeling like a marble statue. (Dare I say like a John Waynian archetype of masculine stoicism and competency and controlled violence? Is that too far?)  Like a mythical hero at least.

[majorbuckyegan]

✨️ my clegan fic masterlist under the cut ✨️

He exhaled a shaky breath, feeling another tear sliding down his face. He'd never wanted to cry in front of Gale, but he didn't think he could hold it together any longer.

Ours is just a little sorrowed talk.

Explicit. 8.6k.

"It's okay, John." Gale said, gently squeezing his thigh again, "Trust me, I know how hard all of this is. I know how much it hurts with every man that we lose, but we will be okay. Like you said, if there were only two pilots left up there, it'd be me, and it'd be you. We'll be fine.

Read it on ao3 here

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He turned his attention away from watching DeMarco and Meatball, to find John still smiling at him in that stupidly charming way. Dressed in his heavy sheepskin flight jacket, with his officer's hat tilted at an angle that was slightly off for regulations, he certainly looked the part. Tall, and handsome, and perfect as ever.

In whisper as you come to me.

Mature. 8.7k.

Read it on ao3 here

✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

He was suddenly furious with Gale for not making it back to him; for leaving him behind with nothing but a locket with a sweet message inside, and the memory of his warm smile. He should have fought harder, he should have flown better, he should have done more in order to avoid being shot down.

Come back and stay for good this time.

Explicit. 15.1k.

Read it on ao3 here

✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

"Yeah, well, that's easy for you to say, isn't it?" He snapped, "We all know what you're rushing home to, since you never shut the hell up about it. Marge, this. Marge, that. Give me a fucking break."

Loving you isn't the right thing to do.

Teen. 7.1k.

Read it on ao3 here

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"No, I.. I-" He stammered, pushing the sheets off of himself as he scrambled away from Gale, feeling disorientated and panicked.

Another version of me, I was in it.

Explicit. 9.2k.

"Hey, it's alright, it's just me." Gale said softly, reaching out for him.

"Buck?"

"Shh, it's alright." Gale whispered, curling in close to him as he wrapped his arms around him to hold him close, "I've got you, you're safe."

Read it on ao3 here

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"I'm still getting married, John." Gale said softly, something that sounded a lot like heartbreak in his voice, "What happened here doesn't change that."

For tonight, let's love like there's no goodbye.

Explicit. 14.6k.

He nodded, unable to make himself meet Gale's eyes, "I know, I wouldn't want it to."

Read it on ao3 here

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He stretched over to take the letter, a frown crossing his face as he looked down at the name across the envelope.

Dear, John.

Teen. 11.2k.

- Maj. John "Bucky" Egan.

Read it on ao3 here

✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

It wasn't something worth dwelling on. The kiss had been quick and playful, and John was probably closer to drunk than sober right now, and so he knew there was no point in wondering what it had meant, or if it had meant anything at all.

Never saw the sun shining so bright. (Part one of Blue Skies)

Teen. 18.6k.

Read it on ao3 here

✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

"You need a break. I think the colonel ought to fix you up a weekend pass."

Never saw things going so right. (Part two of Blue Skies)

Explicit. 16.8k.

"You should come. London. Let's do it up, Buck. Paint the town red."

"Yeah, maybe next time."

"We'd have a hotel room. A bed, forty-eight hours of leave. You remember what we spoke about in Algeria, don't you?"

Read it on ao3 here

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His stomach twisted with something ugly whenever he thought about what John might have been through over the last few days. These injuries didn't look like they'd come just from John bailing from his fort. Somebody had done this to John, and that realisation filled him with a kind of murderous rage that he'd never felt before.

Blue days, all of them gone. (Part three of Blue Skies)

Teen. 10.2k.

Read it on ao3 here

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[brotherwtf]

bbg I’ve got one for you! 😌

what if Gale and John never went down?

Bremen was Gale’s 22nd mission and he only had 3 more to go, he would have been sent state side by the end of October with the frequency of his missions

John was only at 8 (apparently there are other reports that he was at 16) either way John would be at Thorpe Abbotts without Gale for much longer, especially with the way his behavior was changing

How do you think they both would’ve handled this?

very interesting love! I think it would be an angsty sum bitch bcs Gale would probably be home with Marge and married before John even hit 20 missions.

they had started exploring with each other a little bit after Gale's first mission, when the fear of losing Gale was most prominent in John. They started off with just handjobs or blowjobs, not wanting to make things too personal by kissing. When Gale kisses John after one of their meetings together, John can't get enough of it. It starts turning into something more, tender kisses and spooning in barracks. They realize they're in love after Algeria and John takes Gale on his weekend pass.

They spend the 48 hours together in a hotel room, pretending to be lovers and taking a stroll down the streets of London like they're actually in love.

Once Gale gets back, the four missions he had left went by too fast for John.

On his 25th, Gale goes all out. He buzzes the tower before landing, and whoops loudly when he jumps out of the plane. John is immediately there on the runway, pulling Gale into the tightest hug he can get away with in public.

Much like Dyes 25th, the Air Force spares no expense. The drinks are flowing, the music is loud, and John is latched to Gale's side the entire evening. While Gale is quieter in celebrating than John, he still smiles the entire evening. The words "No Engine Cleven" are hung up behind the band and John laughs at the words. He hangs on Gale's arm the entire evening, because he knows as soon as the night runs out, he'll be stuck in the soup of Thorpe Abbotts without Gale by his side.

John requests "Blue Skies" to end the night and grabs the mic, despite protests and sings the entire song to Gale, who just blushes and hides his face in his hands.

At the end of the night, Gale drags John to an empty storage hut, and they make love all night. Gale whispers all night how much he'll miss John and how much he loves him, and John finds himself crying.

Gale is shipped back to the states in a week and John's heart breaks. It soars only at the thought of Gale finally being safe, he's back home with Marge and with the people he loves.

Gale hounded John to write, and the first letter he had sent was asking John to be his best man. John had sobbed that night, he wanted Gale all to himself. He has to force himself to respond to Gale's letters, but it hurts too much to even think of Gale back home while he's still stuck here in Thorpe Abbotts.

I think his breakdown might be similar to his breakdown in the Stalag. He gets moody and mopey, refuses to joke with anyone bcs Gale is not by his side. The letters from Gale start to pile up and he can't bring himself to respond.

He's still flying when the missions required for a tour were upped to 30, and Gale had written him telling him not to do anything stupid.

Shockingly, John survived all 30 missions and partied like no other, got blazingly drunk, fucked some skirt from the pub, and had to be peeled from the wet ground of the Thorpe Abbotts runway.

When he's shipped back to Manitowoc, Gale is waiting for him at the train station. John drops his bags on the platform and rushes towards him, pulling him into the tightest embrace he has ever given someone. He feels elated on the inside, but exhausted on the outside.

I might turn this into a full fic just bcs it has so much potential, but I really liked this idea! The idea of them celebrating Gale's 25th fills me with so much joy 🥹

Thank you for the ask love!

[middlingmay]

Hose Trainer Gale x Veteran Bucky Part 4 (finale!)

Read Part 1 here.

Read Part 2 here.

Read Part 3 here.

John hid Colonel Huglin's ill health from the higher ups after John had found him vomiting blood into a trash can, and the man had begged his subordinate not to say anything. Because John could understand better than most how little you cared about yourself when your team was on the line.

He'd helped Colonel Harding avoid a major embarrassment by turning a mission to Algeria into a roaring success instead of a cataclysmic fuck up by disobeying every order the Colonel had given. He'd let Harding take the credit in the end, on the condition that he never risked lives that that again. Or rank be damned, John was going to drag him up and down that air strip until he was unrecognisable.

He pulls in both of those favours now. Huglin is in the FBI, and Harding works in the Pentagon. He'd offered John a job there after he left the Air Force, but he was in no state to accept it. He calls them and tells them he needs to know everything about Gale Cleven's father, past and present. Huglin gives him the latter, and Harding the former.

Whilst Mr Cleven has never done time, his sheet is as sketchy as it gets. Known associates full of small time criminals. Barely got away with solicitation. Investigated several years ago now for domestic violence. And child abuse. Spent more than his fair share of time in the drink tank at local jails. His father, Gale's grandfather, had owned the ranch and the land and passed it down to Gale, not his own son.

Around that time, over the course of several months, there were major disturbances at the ranch, an altercation, and a suspected case of attempted arson. The only reason Mr Cleven didn't go down for any of it, was because Gale refused to press charges.

The docket Harding gives him tells him Cleven is currently living in a fleabit apartment in a shitty part of town, after a spate of hopping from motel to motel. He's been seen around low grade gambling dens, edging closer to the big tables but unable to pull up the stakes needed to gain an invite. Which explains why he's harassing Gale for money.

John doesn't go so far as to go to Cleven's home address, admittedly mostly thanks to Curt talking him out of it. Curt insists on helping Bucky because he's caught Cleven at the ranch before trying to make of with some of their pricier equipment, and even trying to break into the safe, once.

They try the haunts Harding gave and they luck out on only the second one.

Curt keeps the car running and acts as John's look out as he crosses the road. Cleven has just stumbled from a building and John tracks him to the dark mouth of an alley before he pushes him inside and shoves him against the wall.

Mr Cleven is strong and more wily than he looks, no doubt used to getting out of all manner of scrapes. So John has to struggle to keep in him place. But John's size and sobriety work in his favour and eventually he has both of Cleven's arms behind his back as the man eats the brick wall in front of him.

He's a cowardly man, but not meek. And at first he has no interest in bowing down to some "friend" of Gale's. He tries to threaten John, asks if he's queer too and how difficult would his life in the military be if that got out.

Clearly Cleven doesn't know John isn't active anymore, so he asks him, "Do you think trying the blackmail a Major in the US Air Force is the smart move here, Cleven?"

And finally Cleven seems to realise his predicament. John warns him once: that he's got friends from the police all the way to the Pentagon, and if he puts a toe out of line, or trespasses of Gale's property ever again, he'll make sure he gets prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

It takes about two weeks for Gale's shoulders to unbunch from around his ears. Only then does John think it's safe to reassure Gale that his dad won't come anywhere near him again.

But Gale doesn't react the way John expects. He flushes red and his face looks almost as angry as it did that night in then barn, and he goes off on John who can only stand there, feeling worse and worse and smaller and more pathetic every second.

"You had no damn right! It's nothing to do with you! This is my ranch, my dad, and I'll deal with it how I see fit. Who do you think you are barging in here and trying to take over?! What makes you think you can interfere in people's lives like that? Throw your weight around like that."

And it goes on and on until John's eyes blur and Gale storms off.

John doesn't go back to the ranch. He avoids Curt for a week, and that's all the other man gives him before he's dragging him out to a restaurant (no bars, no alcohol, no matter how little John cares about staying sober right now), and makes John spill his guts over his ragout.

It takes another two weeks. John is increasingly miserable and trying to hide it. His ma is increasingly worried and doing nothing at all to hide it. He shoos her out the house one day so she can get some fresh air and lunch with friends and promises her he'll be alright.

There's a knock at the door and he thinks his ma caved and ran back, but when he opens it with a telling off on his lips, the words die in his throat when he sees Gale Cleven standing on his porch.

John doesn't so much as invite him in as he allows Gale to push past him and just about has the presence of mind to close the door.

Gale's wringing his hands and looking anywhere but at John and pacing his ma's kitchen. John doesn't quite know what to say. Part of him wants to apologise, part of him (the smallest part) want to tell Gale to leave, but mostly he wants to know why Gale is here looking as sorry as he's even seen him.

"Curt punched me."

That isn't what he expects. "Curt what?"

"Yeah. In the stomach. Then he called me a moron and told me to pull my head out of my ass."

John tries not to laugh and doesn't entirely succeed and Gale looks at him sheepish.

"I'm sorry for how I spoke to you. it was...harsh. And uncalled for."

John only half agrees. "Harsh, yeah. Uncalled for, not so much. You're not the only person to tell me I have a problem with boundaries."

They talk, there at John's ma's kitchen table. Gale tells him how he's been so used to doing things on his own, with the glaring exception of Marge, and whenever someone tries to help he can't help but feel ashamed and like a failure. A little less of a man. John tells him how years spent leading people to death or life changing injuries meant you tended to cling to people a little tighter (he still lived with his ma for Christ sake despite having plenty of money for his own place), and it made it a little difficult to let go.

"I don't want you to let go," Gale tells him bashfully as he scooches his chair nearer to John's. He admits to John that he likes that he wanted to defend to Ranch so much and John cuts him off.

"You. The ranch is great and all, but I was looking out for you."

Gale nods like it confirms something, then next thing John knows he's got Gale Cleven in his lap, arms thrown over his neck, kissing him life his life depends on it.

And of course that's the moment his ma decides to come back from lunch. They whip their heads to the door and Ma Egan stands there holding a bag of leftovers looking like a startled owl.

Until she remembers she's an Egan and she gets the same wicked smile that John has and snaps the door closed behind her with relish and demands John introduce her.

They extract themselves and Gale stands almost to attention.

"Gale this is ma, thorn in my side. Ma, this is Gale. He's..."

The glance at each other and his ma is thoroughly enjoying the awkwardness, he just knows it.

"His...boyfriend," Gale finishes for him, and Ma Egan immediately cackles at the dopey, lovesick look that comes over her son's face.

"Well about time," she says, gleeful. "Maybe you can get this lump of skin to finally move outta my house."

"Ma!"

-

FIN.

[forasecondtherewedwon]

dear john

Fandom: Masters of the Air Pairing: Gale "Buck" Cleven/John "Bucky" Egan Rating: E Word Count: 2354

Summary: The Regensburg-Schweinfurt mission changes John. What Gale can't say aloud, he puts in the letters he writes to John in his head.

John had grown further from himself since the last plane, Gale’s plane, had touched down in Algeria. Gale had watched it: the relief that became a just-perceptible, sleepless despair. Eleven planes left, and John’s emotions shifted like the hot sand on which they’d landed. Some of the guys watched the sky for a long while. Not John. He sat and stared at the horizon, a hard look on his face as he squinted tightly against the sun.

They had all been changed by the mission, of course. The survivor count was sobering. The destination, painted as a paradise when they were in England, was no victory party. Their quiet celebration was a cup of warm water in the shade of a battered bomber. And this was enough. It seemed more than enough to be alive.

Gale sweat like the rest, was exhausted like the rest, had stripped his upper body free of clothes but had not yet resorted to shucking his pants, as many had. He wasn’t sure if it was being a major that stopped him or the anticipated horror of having to get dressed again after making himself just a smidge cooler. There was also John, who was always near. Gale wanted to seem, for John, as though he were keeping himself together.

John had taken to sitting not beside Gale but slightly ahead of him, making of them a pair of birds in migratory V-formation.

Even though it put him partly in the punishing sun, Gale laid down. The sound of the boys speaking aloud the letters they were writing home came to him as a murmur over the ground. He shut his eyes and listened as they strove to explain Africa, the sky, and even bigger things than those. The sacred place inside themselves where they kept safe the gentleness that having someone to write to made worth preserving when it was so damn hot and their bodies were weary and the promised lobster had failed to materialize.

Gale opened his eyes and peered at John. What he saw: the limp undershirt, the silver chains cutting across the sunburnt nape of his neck, the bowed bulk of his body as he slouched his elbows over his bent-up knees. He exhaled heavily through his nose.

Dear Susan,

Dear Ma,

Dear Jackie,

Dear Cassandra,

Dear John, Gale thought, pillowing his head on his arm. I do not know what it was to wait and hope that you would land, but I believe that you waited and hoped for me. Now you guard me like an animal—I am your last, your best, when too many others have gone.

You know I do not have much faith in the traditional sense. Instead, you have been the totem of my convictions. I know that you are good, and that you exist, and that is sufficient. I do not need much, unless you are offering. Thank you again for my bicycle.

Please be there when I land, always, always. I need to feel that I am pointing the plane towards some sort of home.

John shifted and his dog tags clinked together as he looked back at Gale over his shoulder.

—

The party made Gale aware how different he was from the rest of the men, with respect to John. And, man, there was so much he did assess that way: with respect to John. He’d assumed that John was universally irresistible. Gale himself couldn’t claim a personality prone to hero-worship or puppy-dog devotion, and yet the choice to be with John or not to be wasn’t a choice he thought he’d ever take seriously. Surely everyone felt the same. John was loyal, lovably wayward, endlessly entertaining.

After he’d taken things, admittedly, a few steps beyond what was either appropriate or sane by calling Colonel Harding “flak-happy,” Gale’d expected the boys to rally ’round. There would be those who didn’t understand, Gale had thought, believing they’d witnessed some sort of nervy prank, but most would see, as Gale did, that John needed something. Needing something—there, then—meant needing each other. There was little else.

But the boys had scattered, leaving Gale to make the suggestion of a weekend leave from the base. When John invited him along to London, Gale had another terrible realization: it was the first time he wanted to get away from, not with, his best friend. He wanted to help him, yes, but the on-edge, provocative John who stood beside him at the bar was not a John who would lift the latch on the gate of his emotions to permit Gale entry. He saw John’s weekend unfolding, and it was destructive if he accompanied him. An audience would only hurt John, Gale thought.

He felt cowardly as he escaped as Meatball’s dance partner, but he was afraid that John might insist about London, that he might hear him plead. He was afraid that John hadn’t meant it, merely extending the invitation so Gale’s initial suggestion seemed to have always been intended as a plan for two, not Gale telling him he needed a break because his attitude was growing dangerous. Perhaps for himself most of all.

Dear John, Gale thought, when he’d crossed the dance floor, released Meatball, and watched John skulk from the hall. Let me tell you here that I miss you, where you cannot interrupt. A stranger has been coming and going from your body. I do not know if he is trespassing through a window, swinging in the wind of what you probably think is a private storm, or you are greeting him at the front door and he is only a stranger to me.

Do not be hurt by my refusal to go to London. Remember that you are also making the choice to go when you know I will stay here, watching our men, guiding them. It will be strange to greet them without hearing “Major” twice in short succession.

I will think of you often while you are absent. This is true already, when you have only just left the room. Come back and dance with me. At least ask me, and smile when I say no.

Gale stepped out into the quiet dark, leaving all sound behind him. He remembered the last night of revelry cut short by the bombing of Norwich. He thought of Curt and felt a tension in his chest. He walked on.

John hadn’t gone far; he was barely away from the mess hall, kicking his feet through the dampening grass. Gale could tell John knew he was there, but there was nothing more for them to say to one another that night. That was sometimes how it was.

—

Gale guessed the woman had meant something to John because he wouldn’t share her name. The boys got out of him that she’d been beautiful (though Gale doubted John would have said any different, picked anybody different), and had kept John company in his hotel rather than seeking shelter when bombs had begun to fall on London. They teased John about protecting her. He got a sly smile on his face then, and when he told them this woman coulda taken care of herself, they all ooooohed with gusto. She sounded like quite a woman. Blonde, John’d said. Real good-lookin’. There was a mirror in their quarters that Gale avoided that day. He knew what he’d see in his reflection.

There had been another mission, called off at the last minute. The boys had been in the planes and everything, waiting to taxi, when the order came down. Bad timing. Somebody was a little gun-shy after everything’d gone to hell the last time. Gale knew they weren’t special; there just weren’t that many of them left.

John had missed the whole thing. He’d come back feeling superior, having not been left out of an opportunity for valour and having intimately enjoyed the heated touch of another human being within the previous 36 hours. The latter was enough to make him a man of singular admiration on the base. When he would only surrender so much after the boys begged for details, things went back to how they’d been. Gale felt the memory of the woman hanging between John and himself, but not as an obstacle, only as a card drawn and then shuffled back into the deck of John’s experience. Gale watched John tuck her away, and he reached out—with conversation, with brief anecdotes of the base over the weekend—feeling the same softened edges of the deck that were always there. John threw an arm around Gale’s shoulders during breakfast, made some little joke, leaned forward to catch the grin Gale tried to hide in his cup of coffee.

Dear John, Gale thought, as they strolled over to the sleeping quarters. There was a book John wanted to show him, something he’d bought in London. You are not a new man after your leave. I did not want you to be.

When we were alone, you told me more about the bombing. What had gone on as the bombs fell you kept in your hints for the boys. To me, you spoke of what happened after. I see it as you described it: cars on the wrong side of the road, red telephone booths, and drifting conversations in the British accents that are still a novelty to us, surrounded mostly by our own countrymen and -women. I see the body of the child lifted from the rubble of what had been a home, and I hear the woman—the mother, you presumed, and so do I—screaming in the street.

So, John. A leave bracketed by the arms of one woman and the screams of another. We cannot shed the war. Not when it is under our skin, not when the enemy makes an uninvited appearance on our weekend holidays. I held you in my mind every minute that you were not here. Take that any way you will.

Gale couldn’t tell if the book had been only an excuse to get away from the others, but he turned it over intently, watched by John, who had his hands perched on his hips. He started talking about the bookstore, stuff in heaps, impossible to find anything. Gale passed the book back and ran a finger along his top lip.

“How was it really?” he asked, because John spoke in moments and vignettes, failing to give an impression of the leave as a whole.

“I was wishin’ you were there,” John said, shrugging and heading for the door. Gale followed.

“And when you were with your Polish widow?” he asked John’s back.

“Like I said.” John paused before the threshold. “I was wishin’ you were there.”

He turned. His eyes burned into Gale’s, but they were also wet.

Although Gale cleared his throat, his voice came out gruff: “I’m here now.”

“Yeah,” John agreed, nodding. “Yeah, you are.”

Gale saw his jaw clench and reached out, yanking the length of John’s tie from between the buttons of his shirt.

When they kissed, hard and standing just to the right of the doorway, Gale thought how much there was that couldn’t be put in a letter. He felt John’s tongue thick in his mouth, almost gagging him, and gripped the back of John’s head to pull him in deeper. They wouldn’t let each other breathe, and then John’s hand was closed in a fist around Gale’s belt. Be reckless here, with me, Gale urged him in his mind. He dug his blunt nails into John’s scalp.

He allowed John to push his back against the wall. There was little room between them, but enough—after Gale unbuckled the belt and John unbuttoned the pants, their hands working over and under one another’s—for John to sink his hand down the front of Gale’s shorts. With John’s intense stare on him, Gale turned his head to watch the door. In the corner of his eye, he could see John’s lips parting, silently mirroring Gale’s low groans.

John pumped him roughly, then unexpectedly slowed, adjusting his fingers. Gale panted and shuddered. He took hold of John’s tie again and drew him in. Turning to face him meant leaving the door unguarded, but he did it, he did it so they could be so close that he felt the feather of John’s eyelashes on his cheek after they kissed and John hung his head, watching the shifting bulge that was his hand wringing pleasure from Gale.

Gale slid his own hand down John’s body. He caressed the buttons John had fastened when he’d dressed that morning, the neat tuck of his shirt into his pants. He settled his hand lower, on John’s inner thigh, and John grunted. He was as hard as Gale was and Gale wasn’t touching him. Gale felt John’s hot, impatient breath against his temple. He tipped his mouth to John’s throat, let his lips skim.

“Dear John,” he sighed across thin skin.

His hand dragged up and clutched John’s cock through his pants. He’d never heard John like this before. He wanted those sounds inside him, so he kissed John’s mouth again, urging him to spill it all into him. The sounds, the broken, two-part thing his name became in John’s mouth when he wrapped an arm around John’s waist and forced their hips together. It was sloppy and crude, John’s hand trapped in the middle. They ground into one another, John’s body pinning Gale’s to the wall from thighs to shoulders. The friction was harsh. Panting, John bit Gale’s cheekbone, and Gale came. Shorts damp, cock too sensitive, still Gale held John tighter as he kept thrusting against him, rubbing at him, finally finishing with a choked gasp Gale figured would make it difficult for him to get to sleep tonight. Most nights, for a long while.

It hadn’t been more than five minutes. It might not’ve been two.

“I sent you a postcard from London, by the way,” John muttered.

Gale grabbed John’s tie, threaded it back into his shirt.

“Oh yeah? How’s it start?”

[hero-israel]

It looks like people are starting to move from "denial" to "bargaining". That's good.

Israel encouraging civilian safe passage corridors, warning civilians to flee, and treating captured Hamas death squad members in its hospitals are all indications that there isn't genocidal intent. We can also see how closely the bombing sites overlap with the mapped Hamas command tunnels, as opposed to being indiscriminate regional carpet-bombing. Biggest giveaway is that if Israel's goal were genocide, they would have done it already, from the air, with no need for a ground invasion that has so far cost 24 Israeli soldiers their lives.

And it's also a grotesque racist government that no one should trust. I think it's depressingly, monstrously plausible that even without genocidal intent, Israel could be locked into a bad combat plan by bad leadership that drives up the death count to levels I/P has never seen before. You need to be able to talk about bad things accurately, without self-derailing.

What have I, an American, done to help? What do you want me to do? The most important thing anyone can do is get Palestiners to acknowledge that their entire French in Algeria / Dutchmen in South Africa "colonial" framework for this conflict is false, and that rape and infanticide are not "decolonization" actually, so both their concept and their strategies are going to continue to fail them as they have for the last century. Why don't you help spread the word?

[lestweforget5]

Curt and Dickie live AU. If no one sees them go down and their radio/communications are damaged, Curt and Dickie pull off a miracle and glide into the Algerian base after Buck tells Millie that they went down. Cue happy and emotional reunion with concussed/overtired Millie at the base?

Hello, Nonnie! Thank you for the ask!

Now this is a fascinating idea that you have, but I'm not sure how well it would work for them to reach Africa in a damaged Escape Kit. Their plane went down in Belgium, I believe, in the show/early in Germany historically, so unless you assume in such an AU that Escape Kit was much less badly damaged apart from the radio, I'm not sure how they would make it all the way to Algeria, especially given how close a thing it was that even Major Cleven's plane reached there.

What would work, however, I think is a Just-a-Snappin' scenario, so a slight twist on your idea, where Escape Kit is severely damaged and drops out of formation BUT manages to limp back to England, not that anyone in the formation knows this. And if the crew could get Dickie safely out of his seat, Godbey could help Curt with the controls.

So several days/a week later, the 100th arrive back at Thorpe Abbotts. Dickie would probably be at Redgrave, McKay, too, but maybe Dennis or Curt are at Stymie's hardstand waiting for Brady (and Millie) to land...

That would be the best news in the world for Millie, but oh what a shock, especially with her exhaustion and any lingering effects of the blood-loss from her headwound.

(Lots of angst and hurt/comfort potential.)

[sissa-arrows]

Sometimes I remember that white chick who decided to quote a tweet of mine where I was saying that it’s fucked up to talk about settlers being traumatized by decolonization… and like she decided to bring up her settler grandma “trauma” into it. Algerians were calling her out and then this Algerian girl said “Oh your grandma is a pied noir? I’m a wahrania” and this will forever be my favorite tweet of all time.

The historical reference was perfect and over a year later I still think about this answer.

Context: During French colonialism in Algeria Wahran (Oran) was a settler majority town. It was a region very violent against indigenous Algerians and the segregation was worst than in the rest of the country. When the war of liberation started it got worst the settlers became more violent. Even buying food was dangerous and Algerians from Wahran had to send group of men to be able to go buy food for the neighborhood safely, you couldn’t send a child or a woman or even go alone as a man it wasn’t safe. Toward the end of the war when they realized that Algeria would be independent and the OAS was created (a white supremacist terrorist group) they found a lot of support in the settler population of Wahran. It was so horrible for Algerians that at the independence they attacked the settlers who were still in Wahran to kick them out. Colonial nostalgia means they call what happened a “massacre” and always talk about how traumatizing it was. Wahran is THE “traumatic” experience they love to mention so much. So the girl saying “your grandma is a settler? I’m a Wahrania” is just so freaking sweet.

[tosteur-gluteal]

I have a cousin in Algeria who is a big Ladybug fan. Last year I've made some art for her when I went to visit her. She's so sweet and she kinda reminds me of how I was as a kid (my grandmother also told me I kinda behave like her)

I can't understand a single word of what she's saying but she's really a good kid. I will make her a ladybug Fanart when I can!!

(kinda sad I can't really show her my MLB au because uhhhh gay boys and uhhh Algeria is NOT SAFE AT ALL. I think even Marinette's romance with Adrien got censored there, and it's one of the main appeals of the story. I don't like the romance aspect of the series (I largely prefer the whole plot with the miraculouses) but it's kinda baffling to imagine how the show would be like WITHOUT the romantic plot.

Aaaa because. Apparently she started drawing thanks to me 🥹 and she draws like Ladybug and Gumball and Princess Sofia it fills me with so much joy to see like, a kid being a kid and enjoying kids stuff, reminds me of my own childhood.

Maybe one day when she grows older I could show her my MLB dumbassry, really hoping she won't turn to become homophobic aaaa tho it's probably likely because dayum they really teach kids to hate eachother there (or at least where my family lives)

I don't like to learn Arabic right, it feels like a chore but sometimes I wanna learn it so I can ramble with her!!

[v4lentin3d0ll]

[description : includes valid link connected to a gofundme page for the person mentioned below. this link does briefly mention physical abuse , a suicide attempt , and anti-lgbtq+ topics. please read with caution]

hi everyone !! i wanted to spread this around in case anyone comes across this post.

there’s this young woman (trans mtf) named elle who really needs help !! she’s been through a lot of familial abuse , abandonment , suicidal thoughts , and many other things. it would be amazing if you guys could help her pay for her college tuition so she can continue to live safely among her peers in the uk !!

if you are able to send a donation to her , it would be a major help !! any amount , no matter how big or small , counts !!

p.s. if you or anyone you know is suffering from abuse , suicidal thoughts , or anything else , please reach out to a professional or a hotline ! everyone deserves genuine love , food , water , and a safe and accepting place to live ! please be safe out there.