#in the meantime i decided to go for as much content as possible and aimed to date/marry ALL the girls

[moonlightserenadeeznutz]

Top Surgery

Oneshot about (trans) Remus Lupin getting top surgery. Bit of wolfstar as well.

Disclaimer: To all my trans boys/trans masc people reading this. You are no less trans, nor are you no less male/masculine if you decide against top surgery, or if you don’t/can’t get top surgery. This goes for bottom surgery, binding, hormones, etc. Your body doesn’t define your gender, nor does what you decide to do with it. <3 ~ Remus wasn’t allowed to get top surgery until he was seventeen. Well... “top surgery” was the muggle name for it. In the wizarding world, a simple spell would do the trick. But there was a law in the wizarding world stating that parts of the body weren’t allowed to be removed from an underage wizard or witch unless said body part was detrimental to the child’s life, say, an unfixable limb, or a gangrenous leg. And despite Remus’ adamance that his chest was a detriment, specifically to his mental health, (when would the wizarding world take mental health seriously? He regularly thought to himself), the law disagreed. So he had to wait until he was of age.

In the meantime, he simply wore a shirt with a binding charm put upon it, which did the trick to make his chest look flat with his clothes on, but he was desperate to just be able to take his shirt off, in the hot weather or in bed. He forwent ever swimming in the lake with his friends because he couldn’t swim with his binder on, but he didn’t want his chest to be noticeable. So he had to sit by the edge of the lake instead, his feet dipped in and his friends splashing at him from within the water.

Another problem Remus faced was that, even when he did turn seventeen, he had no idea where to go to get top surgery. He lived in 1970s Britain. There were simply no resources, muggle or wizarding, and he didn’t have the money anyway. And Madam Pomfrey couldn’t do it. She was a school nurse, she wasn’t allowed to perform procedures. She could only give out potions and fix up bones. Procedures were for St Mungos. And St Mungos didn’t have top surgery as an option.

The days leading up to Remus’s seventeenth birthday made him rather depressed. He’d soon be of age, but it wouldn’t make any difference. He was stuck. Stuck in the wrong body, and there was nothing he could do.

Of course, he had been on hormones since second year, or at least the wizarding version of hormones, which was just a transfiguration potion, and luckily for him, it wasn’t against wizarding law as long as he had his parents’ permission, which he did. And the potion had changed his body considerably. His voice deepened, he had facial hair and he tried hard to work out so he had abs and muscles, which he knew wasn’t exactly necessary, and he didn’t go overboard, but really he was just trying to offset the dysphoria he got from his chest by making the rest of him look as masculine as possible.

He was in a similar situation with bottom dysphoria, but at least he was able to hide it. Getting surgery for that wasn’t as pressing as his chest, and because of the potion he at least didn’t have to worry about his periods anymore.

Compared to Remus’s misery before his seventeenth birthday, Sirius, James and Peter were clearly happy about something, but they wouldn’t tell him what it was, even when he threatened to hex them; a threat he regularly used but never went through with, so it didn’t do much to get them to talk.

But he soon found out what they were whispering about on the day of his seventeenth. Sirius handed him an envelope, unlabelled, and said “It’s from all of us.”

“You know, for two rich people, you guys can be real cheapskates.” They just continued smiling expectantly until Remus opened up the envelope and looked inside.

There wasn’t a card like he was expecting, but some sort of advertisement, or pamphlet. He read through it, and his eyebrows knitted together as he read further down the page. The ad was for a wizarding clinic, specifically aimed at trans wizards and witches. It was set up by a guy named Gray Jacobson, who was a trained Healer, and trans himself, and offered all different kinds of things, including top surgery.

“I... don’t get it?” Said Remus eventually, pushing down any hope that was making its way up through his body.

“What’s not to get?” Exclaimed Sirius, no longer containing his excitement. “It’s a secret clinic, away from the ministry and St Mungos and shit, and surgery is affordable. Free even, if you really can’t pay. But don’t worry about that, because we all chipped in-” he was talking a mile a minute.

“Woah, woah, slow down, Padfoot,” interrupted Remus. ““How do you know this clinic is trustworthy.”

“If we didn’t think it was trustworthy, mate, we wouldn’t have shown it to you,” said James. “We’ve been researching it for months, Sirius and I even visited it last half term. The guy, Gray, is really nice. He told us all about it. He can tell you as well. The procedure for getting rid of your chest is so easy. Takes a few minutes, then you have to take a potion every night for a week until you’re all healed up. But then it’s done! No more chest!”

“No more binding!” Grinned Sirius. No more chest. No more binding. God it sounded brilliant. Too good to be true.

“Really?” Was all Remus could manage.

~ Half term was already upon them, so Remus and his friends were able to visit the clinic the next day. And James and Sirius had been right, Gray was very nice. And Remus loved meeting someone else like him. He’d never met another trans man before, and Gray gave him hope for his future. The man seemed happy, content. Remus wanted that.

It didn’t take long for Remus to view the place as perfectly legit, even with his usual paranoid, distrusting self. And according to Gray, the spell really did only take a few minutes, even if he did have to be placed under a sleeping charm while it happened, and he wouldn’t be able to see his chest until a week later. That didn’t bother him at all. What was a week after six years of waiting?

He booked the next appointment for the following Monday, and he really couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this excited. When he left the clinic, Sirius immediately hugged him, and James joined in, until Remus couldn’t even move under their combined weight.

~ The day of the appointment, Remus was nervous. Excited, but nervous. His friends had all agreed that it would be a little overwhelming if they all came with him, so it was decided that Sirius was to be the one to accompany Remus. He was Remus’s boyfriend after all, and besides, wild centaurs couldn’t stop Sirius from being there to support his best friend.

Remus didn’t know what to wear, and he couldn’t help but feel very self conscious at exposing his chest, even for a few minutes. But it was the price he had to pay, and he chose a button up shirt and jeans. Nothing special.

“Here’s the sleeping potion,” said Gray, handing Remus a bottle of silvery liquid. “You’ll be asleep in a matter of minutes, and then awake in another matter of minutes. The only difference is, when you wake up, there’ll sure be a huge weight off your chest.” Sirius snorted from behind the man, and even Remus grinned at the stupid joke. It was definitely something his friends would say.

They were in the clinic now; they’d arrived around twenty minutes ago, and hadn’t needed to wait that long. Sirius held Remus’s hand the entire time, though he seemed to be more nervous than Remus was. Remus was nervous, but the nearer the surgery came to actually happening, the more impatient he felt. He wanted this to be over with, so he could finally feel like himself.

Remus uncapped the potion and drunk it down in one, and within seconds he started to feel light headed and drowsy. Gray helped him to lie back on the bed that he was sitting on, and the last thing he saw before falling asleep was Sirius giving him a very cheesy double thumbs up.

Somehow, within only a few minutes, his brain managed to conjure up what felt like hours of dreaming, although it was so nonsensical that Remus couldn’t make heads nor tails off it, and by the time he’d woken up, he couldn’t remember anything.

It took him some time to come round properly, drowsy as he was, but when the fog from his head finally cleared, he immediately looked down at his chest.

It was wrapped up in bandages, but one thing was certain: his chest was flat.

He ran his hand across the bandages. Yup. Absolutely flat. He almost started crying right then and there.

“Hello, love,” greeted Sirius, seeing that Remus was now awake. Remus stared up at him.

“It’s flat,” he croaked. Sirius grinned.

“It sure is.” Gray walked over to them. He’d been tinkering around with some vials, and he handed one to Remus.

“Take a sip of this every night for a week, it will help your chest to heal fully. Then you can remove the bandages. And if you need anything else, any help, or you have any questions, you know where I am.”

“Thank you.” Remus hoped the man could see just how grateful he was, as he was unable to form full sentences for the moment, the affects of the sleeping potion still lingering. But Gray let him and Sirius go on their way, and like last time with James, Sirius waited until they were out of the clinic, this time using the floo network in the clinic’s fireplace to take them home to their tiny apartment, to throw his arms around Remus. This was it for Remus, and he couldn’t stop himself from breaking down in tears. Good tear of course. Happy tears. If this was what he was like now, he’d be a wreck after a week.

And if Remus was impatient before, he certainly was now. Sirius had to constantly stop him from trying to unwind his bandages early.

“Keep doing that and I will personally pin you to the ground,” Sirius warned.

“Is that a threat or a promise?”

“In this instance it is solely a threat.”

“Fine.”

After what felt like years, the week was finally drawing to a close. And James, Lily and Peter arrived to see the big reveal. It was an audience that made Remus feel a little self conscious, but a part of him didn’t want them to miss this.

They were all crammed into the bathroom, the only place in the apartment that had a mirror. Rather than cutting off the bandages with magic, immediately revealing his chest, he opted for unwinding them by hand. His nervousness had returned to replace his impatience and he wanted to take it slowly.

As the last bandages fell away, he started into the mirror, and his friends cheered beside him. His chest was completely flat, and it looked exactly how he wanted it to look. It was a chest that could be shown off. A chest he could take a shirt off of and go swimming with. Finally. He never had to wear his binder again. He’d never smiled this much in his life, and it only faltered as he tried not to once again start crying. He failed. Sirius went over to kiss him, and soon all his friends were hugging him.

And the first thing he did when half term ended and lessons at Hogwarts were let out for lunchtime, was take his shirt off, and go swimming in the lake with his friends.

[batfamscreaming]

Wonder Woman 1984 spoilers.

I feel like WW1984 suffered from a lot of the same editing issues that WW 2017 did, but with only enough content for a 90 minute movie. It's only 10 mins longer than the first movie, but it feels like it goes on for much longer, and part of that is a lot of superfluous scenes that could've been cut or done differently to tighten it up, and made themes a lot more apparent and maybe have fewer confusing messages. (Again, not 'complex' messages, just confusing.)

For example: the opening scene is beautifully shot and whoever is doing the 'from below as Diana runs over rooftops/poles/etc' shots? Amazing, change nothing. But also the opening scene is pointless and doesn't really tie into anything. They try to shove in something about 'the truth' when they really should be like 'this is a competition, don't cheat.'

But also a competition is not what Max is trying to 'win.' He just wants it to be 'his turn' to 'win' at... Liiife? They make a couple attempts at "we people who have been beaten down deserve to have something for ourselves finally, and you've never had to want for anything diana so you don't get it." And like, they're right ish? Diana's left her homeland behind and lost a lot of people, but as far as we know she's only really ever been surrounded by kind people out to help her, and didn't really have to worry about money or survival as she either existed outside of society's rules or she kinda slid her way in over time.

That's not saying she hasn't struggled and that she doesn't care, but she doesn't have the same experience as Max or Barbara of being abused and physically powerless. They are right about that. They also are starting a nuclear war and I feel like Diana can say "correct but also literally you do need to stop" and still come out pretty spotless morally. "First of all yes you're right but also if you just replace the oppressor with yourself then you are the oppressor now; yes that man needed to go but also you beat him near death and left him in the road, that's not cool"

I think maybe her time without powers might’ve been more effective too if it was clearer that the tradeoff wasn't "my powers are what's most important to me" as much as "my powers are what give me the power to protect and being able to PROTECT people I love is what is most important to me." Like, she has Steve back, but he almost dies like 3 times immediately because she doesn't have powers.

(Also, Diana, goddess of truth and shit, please face the fact that if Steve stays alive you are committing a homicide on his body's previous inhabitant. At least MENTION that he's body snatching and that definitely is something they should try to fix somehow. Maybe have it weigh in during the conversation about renouncing her wish-- Steve is dead, and also his bodyhost is alive and they have no right to kill him like this. What if he had a family? They're lucky no one recognized him or called him in to ask why he wasn't at work. Unsolved mysteries: the disappearance of This Dude Who Doesn't Even Get A Name At The End To Remind Us Of His Personhood. Imbd lists him as "handsome man." Talk about a slab of meat my guys.)

So Diana, even though she still has a comfortable enough life, loses her powers for about a day and it woild be very funny for her to be like "ugh I hate not being able to DO THINGS SO EASILY and my shoulder hurts I was shot" and chris like "lol yeah sorry I also miss feeling that extra safety layer around you" and it's not exactly "humbling"(???) as mentioned in the opening scene, but it is a reminder of what it feels like to nit be the strongest person in the room. Maybe that's where a flashback to Themyscira would have worked well, where she's eager to prove herself and outclass everyone but she has to be reminded that even though she's special even among amazons there's still like.. I don't want to say great power comes great responsibility, but maybe ‘we would love you even if all you did all day was stare at the sand and even then you would be precious and protected,’ but also that is a gift the amazons are giving her, because when they were enslaved in the world of man, they saw no love or protection given to those who needed it most. Maybe just, sometimes you don’t lose because you ‘deserved’ to lose. Maybe you just slipped and lost it all.

Maybe the film ends with Diana being Othered again, like how in the first movie she is clearly a goddess and showing magical stuff for the first time but she has her posse. In this one she's alone at the end but a little more able to connect with the little things. It's already sort of there with that very saccharine ending, but again, more explicit might be better.

For scenes that would just tighten things up and get us moving along though:

cut Maxwell absorbing the crystal. Diana figures out what happens later and in the meantime is confused what's happening. We can join in on that mystery.

Cut every kissy thing by at least half

No unnecessary park scene. The homeless man is a nice hint into Barbara's like personal life I guess, but ultimately it doesn't really do anything, and the rapist dude just takes up space honestly. Like, she could kick the ass of any of the catcallers and just roundhouse kick them into a pole and go "huh." Creepy smile. End scene.

Mall scene useless. Vigilante diana confusing and useless. Open us up immediately with Barbara being bullied and Diana appears as a savior first thing in the movie. FBI raid still happened and they just have rocks and shit. Diana still hesitant about contact with people but Barbara is so obviously in need of a friend she kinda saviors herself in again. Gets a clingy friend but also someone who maybe is able to appreciate Diana's archeology feelings.

I don't remember anything that happened in the museums but agree Steve should see the air and space museum, but maybe it would've worked better if one scene he just shows up decked out head to tow in NASA merch

That is NOT how flying works but I'm gonna be honest I think they didn't need to go to Byalia/Egypt(??) much at all. At the very least the car could’ve swerved into the town as a crisis instead of having the kids in the road to be saved. Diana feeling bad after being hit by a humvee would indeed show more clearly than the bullet-- we don’t know if she is or isn’t bulletproof because she’s deflected all of them before. She doesn’t do any extra superstrength before. She doesn’t seem any less powerful than earlier in the movie. It ends up trying to ‘show’ but instead it ends up NEEDING to be told later on.

I can go either way on this I guess, but the plane section can be... At the very least shortened. Coffee cup joke was good tho.

Acceptable answers to "how do fly?"

"Flying is easy, it's landing you have to worry about."

"Aim for the ground and miss"

Ultimately WW 2017 was a war movie that happened to have a superhero in it, amd WW1984 was a superhero movie that had trouble finding where it's plot had to go I think. With World War One, like, there's stuff to say and talk about automatically, but in 1984 it feels a bit like they knew mutually assured destruction and how it was ultimately real bad as a strategy and if we all just agreed itd be... Fine? I guess? Again, unless you go to a specific incident there's not much to say about the cold war except 😬

Patty Jenkins and Geoff Johns both got into their teenage years in the 80s so it's totally possible they were going off personal memories instead, but it definitely had some trouble translating onto the screen I think.

There is some good stuff as well, it's just getting to them while buried under all the other stuff mostly. Pedro Pascal did extremely good at making me hate Max Lord Immediately. Steve Fashion Show was fun. "Topaz is such a lame rock lol". Kristen Wiig is holding this movie together more than anyone else and it's great. I like how her becoming an Alpha Bitch doesn't mean she immediately hates Diana but still wants to be her friend and be seen by her. The entire "You seem like you'd be out all the time and like never go on ever" sounds a LOT like a closetedness conversation.

There is a lot of good stuff in it but it's just... Not what the first one was. I think probably the constant delays on release didn't help the hype at all. They went powerful sappy at the end (gooshy feelings? In my wonder woman movie?) which I understand theyre trying to make Diana a hero who doesn't murder the tiny earthlings over stuff... But I am also left just kind of wondering if everyone's memories were erased with the nukes or if the cold war ended VERY differently in the DCEU, and I am far too distracted by that to think about how people are good at their core and stuff. It just feels like it brings up lots of things, and decides that if they have enough emotions, it's fine to brush them aside.

[dorizardthewizard]

The Revival of Akillian: Chapter 2

Prologue / Chapter 1 / Chapter 3

2. MEETINGS

Just like Maya, Rocket has invested in a cave at the foot of a large Cedryan, whose gnarled roots mingle with stalactites and walls of ice. But this tree is well and truly dead, and Rocket has not built his cave to exercise a talent for fortune-telling. Rocket is not clairvoyant, but he is passionate about Galactik Football.

Secretly.

In secret, because his father Norata no longer wants to hear about Galactik Football; it is out of the question for his son to indulge in it. But since it’s forbidden, that makes it exciting! And Galactik Football is a sport - the most compelling spectacle there is. In his cave, Rocket hung banners and posters of his favorite teams and players: the great Warren of course, captain of the Lightnings and top scorer in the whole Galaxy, THE star of GF; the terrible Kernor, goalkeeper of the Rykers, who defends against goals like a knight in a castle; the beautiful Lun-Zaera, attacker of the Wambas, that every GF player dreams of having in his team - even in his bed [T/N: UUHHHH maybe this sounds more normal in French??] ; and especially Aarch, his uncle, to whom Rocket devotes true worship. Being the nephew of the one who almost made the Akillian team win the Cup fills Rocket with pride, a pride he unfortunately does not share with his father. According to Norata, Aarch is dead and buried- or exiled to the Shadows, which is the same. This "betrayal", Norata has never forgiven. Never.

For his part, Rocket is not content to just revere Aarch! He collects the figurines of GF stars and sneakily watches matches on the family holo-TV. Always in secret, he trains. Saving money on tips and delivering the flowers grown by his father, he managed to buy himself a ball. In the ice walls of his cave, he has carved a dozen targets at different heights and positions of increasing difficulty - which he strives to hit with well-adjusted shots. However, it has become too easy, he does it flawless almost every time... he will have to find something else. The ideal would of course be to join a team, or simply to go and kick the ball around with a bunch of friends on the Windy Plateaus... but how to keep it secret, with constant and scrupulous paternal supervision? Rocket doesn't even have any buddies, at least none who are a fan of Galactik Football like him - his dad makes sure of that.

So he lets off steam with his other passion: speed. Norata consents to this. For his fifteenth birthday, he gave him a jet snowmobile, with which Rocket frees himself from his frustrations in crazy races in the mountains or on the plateau. In addition, combining the useful with the pleasant, the snow jet is used to deliver the bouquets and floral arrangements that Norata creates with love and competence in his heated greenhouses.

This is what he is supposed to be doing now, as he successfully shoots yet another flawless shot by aiming straight at the hole in the ice next to marker 10. In the meantime, the magnificent floral basket of the family Matto is freezing on the snow jet! He'd better go deliver it before the flowers are all shrivelled...

He throws a glance mixed with devotion and pride at the life-size poster of his idol, which sits in the middle of the stalactites.

- Yeah, you're right, Aarch. I have to go deliver these damn flowers, or dad will skin me alive…

Rocket carefully hides his ball in a crevice (his father is unlikely to find his lair, but you never know), zips up his gray coat, puts on his gloves, gets on his snow jet and takes the crate down the snowy slopes.

***

Meanwhile, in his vast wooden lodge with the windows misted up by the abundant plants which adorn it, Norata engages in color tests on some rather brownish Lepidodendrons. In greenhouses, his crops get everything they need - controlled heating, daytime lighting, soil with scientifically calculated pH, computer-controlled irrigation, etc. The absence of the beneficent rays of Vega is sorely felt: his flowers often have dull hues, pissy yellows or browns that are not very spicy. So, he invented a chemical composition of which a few drops are enough to immediately restore their brilliant colors. But the effect does not last, which is why he sells with his bouquets a nutrient solution incorporating this composition. Cheating? Not at all: a plus, an exclusive service from the Norata company, which enchants its customers and earns it abundant orders.

Today he is trying it on a cardinal violet that he had a hard time developing. A few drops in a pipette, carefully poured into the center of the calyx... The product diffuses into the veins of the leaves, which soon take on a pretty violet hue. He must now see if the dosage is correct, if this solution will not roast the plant, if the color will hold up to watering...

Norata hears the door to his lab open but does not look up, due to experience: it is undoubtedly Rocket, back from his delivery...

- Finally, you're back! You took a long time!

- You are right... indeed, fifteen years is a very long time.

The voice is not that of Rocket: more serious, older. Norata sits up abruptly, but refrains from turning around.

- Aarch - he whispers - I don't believe it... Aarch looks around the lab in admiration.

- I see you haven't lost your skill, Norata. Flowers have always been your passion, as far as I can remember.

Norata decides to face his brother anyway. As much as Aarch, a footballer with a long career, remained massive and muscular, Norata, handicapped by his artificial leg, was melted, thinner, his features hollowed out by suffering and loneliness. Only his flowers sometimes manage to cast a shadow of a smile on his thin lips, downturned bitterly.

- What can I do for you, sir? - he utters in a cold tone.

- Sir ?! - notes Aarch offended - I haven’t changed that much! Don't tell me you don't recognize your brother?

Norata swivels his chair, and stares at Aarch angrily.

- You must be mistaken, sir. I had a brother once, it's true. But he disappeared when everyone needed him most... especially me. Since that day, for me, he's as dead as this leg.

He stretches out the artificial leg - made by Technoid - which replaces the one he lost in the Catastrophe, frozen and broken in the rubble of the Arena Stadium, fifteen years ago.

- I'm sincerely sorry for your leg, but that’s not my fault. If I had stayed, it wouldn't have returned to you.

- If my brother had stayed, I would have overcome this ordeal. (Norata swivels his chair again, leans back over his purple Lepidodendrons). Now, if you will kindly leave me... I have a lot of work to do.

Aarch is searching for a relevant line that would break the ice between the two brothers, when he is distracted by the lab door sliding again. Rocket bursts in, dishevelled and covered in frost, face reddened by wind and cold.

- It's okay, dad. I delivered the order to the Matto family, they are ... (A glance at Aarch) Hello, sir... They are really delighted. Mrs Matto found your flower arrangement beautiful, she...

Rocket pauses again, staring more attentively at this stranger standing at the door of the lab. His hazel eyes widen in surprise.

- Hey, but... you wouldn't be…

- Goodbye, Norata! - calls Aarch, returning to the exit.

- But...

Rocket glances at his father, leaning stubbornly over his flowers, then follows Aarch out.

- Rocket! - scolds Norata. - Come back here immediately!

His son doesn't listen to him: by the time the old man gets up and follows him, with his droid leg...

- Hey, sir! Wait! You’re Aarch, right? You are my uncle, aren't you?

- Yes - Aarch admits with a smile. - And you, you must be my nephew Rocket, right?

- Yes, sir... that's right. - replies Rocket, blushing.

- You look a lot like your father when he was your age.

Rocket blushes even more, intimidated to finally meet his uncle in the flesh. Indeed, he has the same elongated face as Norata, the same chin (a distinguishing feature of the family) that he tries to hide under the three patches of hair that serve as his goatee. Abundant brown hair adorned with some dreadlocks gives a little volume to his narrow head.

- I'd rather be like you, sir. Uh... I have posters of you.

- ROCKET!  - roars Norata from the lab.

- Goodbye, Rocket. Maybe we'll see each other again.

- I... I hope so, sir. (He wants to shake his hand, but he doesn't dare). Goodbye… Aarch. - he whispers behind the back of his idol, who is already walking away.

***

- I don’t get it. I’m sure I left them here!

Kneeling under his anti-grav hammock, Micro-Ice is rummaging through the indescribable mess that constitutes his room, in the attic of the family house. Sitting on a pouffe (from which he had to get rid of a stack of GF-Mag, the magazine on Galactik Football), D'jok observes the scene with a mocking air.

- Sure it's weird, seriously, how is it possible to find tickets in such a tidy room?

- D’jok, I swear, it's not funny - sighs Micro-Ice, sweeping away a pile of schoolbooks with the back of his hand. - If I don’t find them quick, I’m a dead man!

- You should have thought about that before doing business with these thugs. (D'jok opens a can of SuperForm, the amino sports drink, chugs it and continues). What an idea, too, to give them photocopies! Did you think Ballow wouldn't notice?

Micro-Ice gets up and bumps into his hammock, which sways gently on its anti-gravity lifters. It pisses him off.

- I didn’t expect it to rain. If you’re just gonna lecture me, then there’s no point in you being here!

D'jok shrugs his shoulders, gets up and goes to the sloping window overlooking the hill. He leans over, intrigued: outside, in the immaculate snow, very clear footprints have emerged. Right under the window.

- Hey, Micro-Ice, come see!

The boy joins him, and also sees the footprints.

- Apparently, you're not the only one going through the windows, D'jok remarks. They’re Techno-Sizor 128’s... the same brand as mine. But let me reassure you right away, I wasn't the one who stole the tickets from you - he says, showing the ordinary sneakers on his feet.

- O.K., if it's not you, that means everything is fine! You're still my best friend. Seriously, D'jok, I really have to find them, otherwise...

- Yeah, I know, you're a dead man. But don't worry, we'll nab him, your ticket thief.

***

“It’s Akillian’s big comeback on the interplanetary football scene since that famous match, remembered by all, which was interrupted by the Great Catastrophe. And the least we can say is that things have started badly: 3-0 for the Rykers after only ten minutes of play, the outcome is sealed! ... "

On the ground of Unadar Stadium, the Red Tigers are having a rough time. They barely manage to get possession of the ball and attempt a pass, when the wing player is jostled by an aggressive Ryker attacker. She projects her Metal Scream - the Flux of Unadar, which manifests in sizzling electric shocks -, leaps with the ball to an incredible height and, with a powerful shot, sends it straight at a Red Tigers defender, who proves unable to stop such a missile. He receives the ball in the stomach, is propelled with it into the goal, where he completes his glide by collapsing against the goalkeeper in a tangle of arms and legs.

“And the fourth!! the TTV announcer exclaims. “4-0! The word "crushing" seems to be perfectly suited to the situation, and even Artegor Nexus will not contradict me. The former Akillian defender certainly did not know what he was getting into when he agreed to coach the Red Tigers... "

In the suspended pod reserved for the technical staff, in front of his control screen, Artegor tears at his hair.

- Aaarrrh! - he fumed. - What a bunch of incompetents!

On the field, the players have resumed their position. The ball springs from the central spot, rises... and falls right into the feet of the Red Tiger striker, who finally sees the opportunity to take action. But his rival Ryker unleashes a nasty Metal Scream that paralyzes the poor player on the spot, crackling with static electricity all over. She has no trouble retrieving the ball and the Rykers set off again for the Akillian goal.

Adium grabs the remote and turns off the holo-TV.

- I'll spare you the rest. - she says to Aarch, who had come to visit her in her large and bright office on the first floor of the high-tech Federation building. - We lost 10-0. And yet, I have the impression that the Rykers eased off at the end of the game so as not to humiliate us even more... (Aarch nods sympathetically) As you can see, Akillian's Breath is totally gone. Gone are the days when we could hope to compete with the best teams in the Galaxy…

Adium - a young and pretty brunette, who makes herself look stern with her hair bun and strict-looking outfit - sighs, then continues:

- Anyway, personally I have no reason to complain: I have a good position, a high title - president of the Akillian Federation - and I earn a good living. But football has become a sport for snobs on our cold planet...

- I see that. - replies Aarch.

- And you, to what do we owe the pleasure of having you return here?

- I came to create a team.

- What, here? On Akillian? (Adium stands up and walks around her desk.) You know, Aarch... people don't take you coming back very well. Not me, of course, but there’s been a lot of talk since you've been here. You have to understand them, too: you left like a thief…

- I do understand them! Besides, I came back to redeem myself in their eyes. And mine...

- Galactik Football has no future on Akillian. Open your eyes! You’re wasting your time!

- Well, that's good. - replies Aarch. - I have time to waste at the moment.

With that, he leaves Adium's office and the Federation building, as luxurious as it is useless. To believe that the League or the sponsors of the GF - Technoid in the first place - have money to throw out the window...

Standing behind the large window, Adium watches Aarch, who is standing on the porch of the building. He seems to be contemplating the desert of snow and ice that the Windy Plateaus have become, as if he were searching in these desolate expanses for a sign of Akillian's rebirth... She could almost pity him.

A call from Artegor Nexus brings her back to her office. On the screen, the coach of the Red Tigers displays a haughty expression behind his everlasting UV glasses. Adium summarizes her conversation with Aarch.

- And you gave him your authorization?! - he yells as if scolding her, as if he holds any power over her.

She is irritated by his superior tone.

- He never asked me, imagine that!

- Fortunately, I wasn't counting on you to get rid of him. - Artegor emphasizes, with a condescending little smile.

- And may I know who you’re relying on, exactly?

But the screen turns white: Artegor cut without answering.

[fedeipox]

The Way of Time (Rdr2 fanfic) - Chapter 5 (3/3)

Happy New Year!! Hoping this one will be better than the last... Generally to say a year has been good or bad is a very personal consideration. This could be the first time that all people around the world agree in saying that 2020 sucked. 

Part 1 here: https://fedeipox.tumblr.com/post/638598893496631296/the-way-of-time-rdr2-fanfic-chapter-5-13

Part 2 here: https://fedeipox.tumblr.com/post/638776947069059072/the-way-of-time-rdr2-fanfic-chapter-5-23

Chapter 5 (3/3) - Valentine

Words: 1,9 k

Valentine was quieter that day. There were definitely fewer people wandering in the big muddy street and that was perfect according to Javier: fewer people meant fewer possibilities to be recognized, targeted or disturbed. They left the wagon where they could keep an eye on it while they had a look around and then they split: Charles went with Karen and Tilly at the saloon, while Javier, Mary-Beth and Emily walked past it.

“I need to stop by the Gunsmith. You want to wait here or…” he said as he saw the big sign painted on the top of the building.

“No, no, we come with you. I’m here for this” replied the new girl.

They crossed the street and entered the blu house. The store was poorly stocked with gun’s variety, but Javier didn’t mind it, he was there for a problem with one of his pistols and wasted no time in asking the shop-owner.

“Do you clean your weapon regularly?” he asked.

“Of course.”

“Then, it can be due to the wear. You can buy a single piece or if you are interested we have a fine supply of new Cattleman Revolvers, sir. They came the other day directly from Saint Denis.”

“I’ll take the single piece.”

“As you wish, sir.”

While the shop-owner walked in the other room, Javier turned around to watch the new girl admiring a display cabinet full of Lancasters.

“I thought you was scared of guns” he said making her turn around.

“I am, when someone holds one. Here displayed and closed up, no.”

“Is there something else I can provide for you, sir? A new rifle maybe? A shotgun?” asked the owner coming back with the new piece in his hand.

“What’s the difference between a rifle and a shotgun?” asked Emily walking closer to the counter.

“Well, there are plenty of differences, Miss. The most important is that a rifle can shoot farther and with more precision than a shotgun, thanks to the little grooves of the bore.”

“Wow, it’s fascinating. What’s the most accurate rifle you’ve got?” she asked laying her elbows on the counter.

“The Carcano Sniper Rifle. This one” he replied pointing to a big firearm inside a cabinet. w“It can hit a target at a great distance without making the bullet lose it’s power.”

“For being afraid of guns you’re quite interested” joked Javier taking out his money to pay the man.

“Hey, I’m just curious. It’s always good to learn something new. Thank you, Mister. Have a good day” she said to the man before she followed Javier outside.

“So, what you want to do now?” he asked as soon as the three of them walked out of the store.

“I don’t know. Just let’s look inside the other stores, I’m really curious to know how they’re like.”

Javier sighed thinking that that trip to town was going to be useless, but he followed her anyway when she crossed the road and aimed for the doctor. They walked inside and just like before the new girl started looking around with that admiring expression of hers, just like she had never seen an apothecary before. She watched carefully all the ingredients, medicines and tools displayed in the cabinet behind the counter and from now and then she asked something to the doctor.

“Is this real laudanum?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“You know it is addictive, don’t you? It’s like a drug.”

“Yes, Miss, but with a proper dosage the addiction can be avoided.”

“If you say so” Javier heard her murmur and it made him chuckle. 

They were waiting patiently for her to finish her little tour when the door behind them opened and made the little bell above it jingle. Two men came inside, and from their look Javier was sure they weren’t there for some laudanum. And in fact, they exchanged a look with the doctor who excused himself and went to the other room followed by the two. 

Javier took a couple of steps towards the door, acting indifferent but studying the two figures and the doctor as they reached another heavy iron door in the back of the other room. The doctor knocked and a couple of eyes showed up from a little window. Then, from the other side they opened and let the two men inside. Javier turned around and pretended to look at something on the table as the doctor came back.

“Hey, what do you think he has back there?” whispered the new girl walking closer to him.

Javier narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. She had noticed the two men, too. How could it be? She was clumsy and distracted, she wasn’t paying attention and she had no idea how to find an illegal activity, and that one was clearly some kind of illegal practice the doctor was running.

“I don’t know. Something illegal, it seems. There could be some money. Maybe we’ll take a look” he replied.

“Do you want to do it now?”

“No, not now. Let’s go.”

...

They walked out of the building and decided to go to the saloon to meet the others. Charles was drinking at the bar, Karen was upstairs trying to fool a poor idiot to steal from him, Tilly was at the general store to buy something. 

“So, have you found something interesting?” asked Emily reaching Charles’s side.

“No, you?”

Since she had seen those two men walking inside the apothecary and she had understood something shady was going on there, she was thrilled to bits and couldn’t wait to tell it to someone else. 

“We found an illegal activity or something like that. Javier says we can try to rob it.”

“We?” asked Charles frowning. “Since when you’ve become a criminal?”

“Well, technically speaking, the doctor is doing something against the law, so… if we rob him, we’re doing something good. Right?”

“I guess” murmured Charles and he drank from the little glass he had in his hands.

Emily had no idea why she had said that. She didn’t believe in what she had said: illegal activity or not, robbing him was wrong. The right thing to do was go to the police… no, the sheriff, and tell him about what they had found out. But robbing him could get them some money, which they needed so desperately. 

“What are you drinking?” she asked to Charles.

“Whiskey.”

“Can I try?” she asked and looked at the man behind the bar who with a nod of his head turned around to take a bottle.

“You never had whiskey?” asked Charles

“I generally drink beer or cocktails at the parties, but never tried whiskey, no.”

“Get me one too, while you’re here, buddy” said Javier throwing a coin on the bar.

“Do you want something, Mary-Beth?” asked Emily.

“No, thank you. I’m going to check on Karen” she answered and walked towards the stairs that leaded upstairs.

The barman poured two glasses of amber liquid and served one to Emily and one to Javier who didn’t even look at it before he swallowed it. 

“Are you sure about the job thing?” she asked at the man behind the counter.

He looked at her in a way that made her understand there was no possibility to get a job there, at least not the job she wanted to get. 

“Okay, okay, sorry. I won’t ask again.”

Then, she took the little glass and just like she had seen people doing in the movies, put all the content in her mouth and down her throat. Needless to say, Charles had to pat her back and ask her if she was okay when she started coughing hard.

“Y-yes, I’m fine. Shit, this thing is strong. How can you drink it all the time?”

“We’re used to it” answered Javier.

“Hey!”

The three of them turned around to look at the man approaching the counter.

“You were here the other day, weren’t you? With the big man with the cowboy hat” he said to Emily.

“Yes, I was here, why?”

“Weren’t you looking for a job?”

Emily exchanged a look with Charles before she answered.

“Yes.”

“I’ve got a job for you, honey.”

“Really?” she asked naively.

“Right here” he said and he brought a hand to his… private parts.

Emily was used to stupid boys who played silly with her at school or at work, but no-one, no-one, had ever done something like that. She felt outraged, insulted, shameful and she had to look away as the man started to laugh with his friends.

“Hey, watch yourself, cabrón” said Javier.

“What, she’s yours? Sorry, partner, but I don’t believe such a delicate flower can go with someone like you.”

“Listen, why don’t you go back to your friends and leave us alone” replied Charles taking a step forward.

“Easy, big fella. I don’t want no problems. I just want to try the little thing here” he said with a nod towards Emily, who in the meantime had lowered her head so much that she was looking at the tip of her boots.

The men in the room laughed again and she felt her eyes sting and the shame running through her body. Then, Charles took her by her shoulders and pushed her away. 

“We wait for you by the wagon” she heard him saying to Javier.

Just like Arthur had done the day before, he led her out of the saloon and from there they reached the wagon.

“Are you okay?” asked Charles very kindly.

Emily nodded, but she dried a tear from her eye and Charles didn’t miss it.

“Don’t listen to them. There are always people like that in the world. You have to be strong and don’t mind what they say.”

Emily nodded again, as the tears started running uncontrollably. She din’t want to cry, to appear weak, but yet she couldn’t stop herself from doing it. Charles patted her on the shoulder and for her that was the go-ahead: she rounded his waist with her arms and hided her face in his chest.

Charles was surprised by the contact, but he didn’t withdraw. How could she be like that? He had never met someone so naive. Life was hard, the world was cruel and there was no escape for anyone from becoming cold, mean and heartless. So either she had lived all her life closed inside a room, or she was… Charles felt bad by thinking that, but she was a little dumb.

Tilly was the first who came back from the store and she helped Emily in recovering from the bad experience. Then, the others showed up and they all got on the wagon and rode back to camp. 

That was the second trip to Valentine and again Emily couldn’t not think that she didn’t like that place. It stank of shit, it was full of assholes and there was nothing interesting.

When they arrived, she decided to take something sweet from the kitchen to cheer herself up a little and reached Mr. Pearson who, noticing her sad face, decided to give her a chocolate bar.

She thanked him and giving it a bite she walked towards the rest of the camp passing in front of Hosea and Arthur seated at the same round table.

“So, how was Valentine?” asked the former.

Emily, looked first at him and then at Arthur.

“You were right” she said, fixing her eyes on Mr. Morgan’s face. “That saloon is no place for me.”

[formula365]

We will always have Portimão

For a moment, during the Portuguese Grand Prix first lap, Kimi Raikkonen must have thought he had jumped into the wrong car. After all, he was supposed to be driving an Alfa Romeo, one of the slowest cars on the grid; he had started P16, a regular occurrence this season, and had only finished in the top ten once in the whole season. So how was it possible that he was breezing past Ferraris, Racing Points and Renaults? He had gained 10 places in the first lap and was glued to the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc down the main straight. If indeed he was wondering about what car was he really driving, he wouldn’t have been the only one. A bit further up the field, as Kimi tussled with Verstappen and Leclerc, Carlos Sainz had just taken the lead of the race. The Spaniard must have been as surprised as everyone watching, as he left Bottas and Hamilton behind him; that was a sight he had surely not expected to see in his rearview mirrors when he woke up on Sunday morning. You would have been forgiven if you thought you had time travelled to 2012: a McLaren leading, another in P4 and Kimi in P6. Alas, it wasn’t to last - of course. There had been some light spats of rain just before the start, and the difficulty of warming up the mediums had thrown the field into pandemonium. Once those tyres were up to temperature, the natural order returned, with the Mercedes on top and Kimi moving backwards (although not as much as expected, the Finn finishing an impressive P11). Nevertheless, the first handful of laps of the race were as exciting as anything we have seen in a merry long time. The history books will tell you this was another typical 2020 podium with Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen, the seventh time it happened in 12 races. Hamilton annihilated the opposition with a blitzing pace. There were some good races from midfield drivers: Leclerc had another strong weekend to finish P4, Gasly bossed his way to P5, Sainz faded from his early lead but still managed sixth, Checo stormed through the filed to get P7, Ocon stretched the medium tyres to last more than two thirds of the race. Plenty of praise can be spread through the field, but the highlight of the race can’t be an individual performance. The chaos of the early rounds, with drivers out of position and unexpected drivers at the front, felt like what F1 should aspire to be. The reduced grip of the early stages transformed the race, levelling the playing field and allowing race craft to come to the fore. Sainz and Kimi, perhaps with some rallying mindset to help, managed to master the conditions better than most, and it was fascinating to witness the trouble an expected lack of grip in a relatively unknown track brought to the grid. Of course, F1 can’t recreate these conditions, nor should that be the aim. But what these conditions provided was an ideal: a vision of what we, as fans, would love to see this sport become. After all, this is why we love wet races: the unpredictability, seeing frontrunners struggle and back markers shine. This is not something that can happen in a constant manner, and at the end of the day some teams and drivers will be better than others. We should, however, expect to have a more balanced field, and more opportunities for teams to evolve and grow and challenge those at the front. Fans went nuts for the opening laps of the race not just because it was crazy and it was fun, but also because deep down we know we just had a peak of the F1 we want to see. Just like Vettel, I don’t have a crystal ball, so I can’t know if the new regulations can deliver something like this, but in the meantime we can go back and re-watch the early laps of the 2020 Portuguese GP, to have a taste of the F1 we dream of. We will always have Portimão.

Talking points * I dedicated the main text of the Nurburgring review to Hamilton equalling Schumacher’s record, so I decided not to repeat myself in this race, but my oh my did he mark the occasion with a brilliant performance. Hamilton didn’t set out just to win the race, he was out there to show how much better he is than anyone else. Having lost the lead early on, he let Bottas open a small gap for a few laps, but once he turned it on, there was no stopping him. He made light work of Bottas’ defence and, once in front, disappeared into the distance. There were brief complaints about his tyres, and a cramp hampered him close to the end. No matter: he set fastest lap after fastest lap, showing his true pace in a way that, due to tyre and car management, we don’t get to see every weekend. This was pure, unadulterated Hamilton, and it was devastating. At the chequered flag, he was a massive 25 (twenty-five) seconds ahead of this teammate. This wasn’t just a win, or even a record-breaking win; this was a statement. * Watching the post-qualifying and post-race interviews with Valtteri Bottas can be heartbreaking at times. The Finn is a fantastic driver, specially on Saturdays, when he is able to push Hamilton hard for pole. Yet, no matter how hard he tries, he still has no answer to Hamilton’s true pace. When he needs to, the champion-elect switches to a gear above, one that Bottas simply cannot match. Having to face that reality right after he jumps from the cockpit has to be tough: you can almost see the light in his eyes fade weekend after weekend. * After retiring with mechanical issues in the first race in Spielberg, Lance Stroll embarked on the best run of his career, with seven consecutive races in the top 10, including a podium and two P4s. But since the heights of Monza, he has failed to score. After retiring twice in a row, and then missing the Eifel Grand Prix due to catching COVID, he must have been raring to show his pace once again, but never really seemed to show up. He crashed with Verstappen in FP2, was nowhere near the pace in qualifying, had been warned about track limits by lap 12, crashed into Lando Norris in a - let’s use a euphemism - ambitious overtaking attempt, and ended up bringing up the rear of the field until his retirement. His seat is obviously not in danger, but he is now behind his team mate in the standings, who has one less race start. After Monza he was fourth in the championship; after this weekend, he is eleventh. * Renault’s rollercoaster season continued in Portugal. After a mighty impressive run of results between Spa and Nurburgring, they seemed to go backwards again, with Ocon failing to make it to Q3 and then with both drivers failing to challenge the Racing Points and McLarens, or even the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly. Without the crash that took Stroll and Norris out of points contention, they would have left Portugal with just one point and their hopes of clinching P3 in the championship a bit dented. * There are several drivers on the grid racing for their futures, whether that is to retain their seat, claim a better one or just grab one of the last remaining ones. Of these, Gasly and Checo enhanced their claims enormously with tremendous drives. Checo would have probably been P5 had it not been for the team’s strategic mistake of putting him on the softs for his last stint; impressive in and of itself, but even more so given that he was spun by Verstappen on the first lap and ended up at the back of the field. This result continued his streak of finishing every race in the points; Spa and Monza aside, he has known nothing but the top 7. Gasly, on the other hand, continues to make Red Bull management look ridiculous for not wanting to take him back. Another brilliant drive saw him clinch P5 and climb to P9 in the championship, only one point behind Alex Albon. He must have stepped on some mighty toes for Red Bull to refuse to give him a chance… * Albon, on the other hand, might have just lost his seat this weekend. To start P6 and finish P12 on a Red Bull, without crashes or mechanical issues, is not up to the level required, and something has to give. He looked to have turned a corner after Mugello, the relief of finally making it to the podium obvious on his body language, but he has collected only one point in the three races since. I feel for him, as it is obvious that that seat is never going to have the full support of the team, but when you are being lapped by your teammate when he finishes regularly on the podium, something is not working. Albon is a great driver and I hope his landing will be soft, whether in F1 or elsewhere; he deserves another break.

[flaminglikeanythingzine]

The interest check is closed!

Thank you so much everyone who filled out our interest check. :) Contributor apps will open on August 20- please look forward to it!

In the meantime, we will work on answering a few of the questions we received in the form:

Сan I become a contributor if I draw not so much because of my mental state? I'm still improving, but I'd like to try

So long as you can meet deadlines, everyone is welcome to apply! We will be posting the link to the application form in a few days, and will be making selections for contributors based on applications.

Are things like scat, wet sports and major blood going to be allowed in the zine. I would like to know ahead of time if that kind of thing is ok so that I can decide if I need to skip it or not.

Until we have our contributors and their pitches, it isn’t possible to say what will be included in the zine. We will endeavour to make sure that folk know what they are ordering when preorders open, as well as including a content guide at the front of the zine. 

Include shibari as a topic?

Shibari is definitely allowed as a topic for contributors to cover in their pieces! It’s fairly likely that some form of rope bandage will make it into the zine.

Is there any kind of loose schedule in mind for when check ins and final turn ins may be?

We’re currently looking at check ins in October and November, with a final due date in mid December. Check out our full schedule here!

Will this be a strictly ineffable husband's zine? If not I would love to contribute a Bureaucracy piece if it's allowed

Flaming Like Anything Vol 2 will not be limited to Ineffable Husband content! Much like volume 1, we will be welcoming a variety of content.

For fics, what is the word count limit? And can the fic already be published online (for instance on AO3)

All works must be unpublished for inclusion in Flaming Like Anything, there will also be an exclusivity period after the zine has been created where we ask that works not be made available. The word limit for fics will be 2500.

Will there be an option to buy any merchandise separately if we miss things like preorders?

It’s quite possible that there will be some leftover merchandise after preorders! If that is the case, these will be made available for purchase at a later date.

Will the funds go to a charitable organization?

Funds will mainly be funnelled back into the zine. If we surpass our funding goal we plan to have a few different stretch goals in place, so that folks who preorder the zine get more. If there are leftover funds after everything has been paid for, a percentage will go to RAINN, and the rest will be divided between contributors.

I'd like to see as much switching as possible! Sometimes people typecast a character as a dom/sub or top/bottom and won't move from there. I'd love to see them in every role. I'd also enjoy things like rarepairs and multiple-person scenes (as in more than two).

We do aim for variety when accepting contributor pitches so that we create a zine with a wide reaching appeal. We hope that we’ll be able to provide a publication with something for everything, within the realm of Good Omens BDSM content, that is!

[queenmarytudor]

Draft of a letter Mary I sent to her husband Philip II of Spain regarding her sister Elizabeth’s betrothal to Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, 1557

^words added above or to the right of text^

words underlined in text

“My lord,

I received the letters of your highness by Francisco [the courier] on the eighteenth of this present [month], thanking you most humbly for them; and especially that it pleased you to write your highness took mine in good part. I assure your highness that they were written with good intent. And seeing that these [letters] of your highness were written with the same [intent], I cannot say anything else here than to ^beg most humbly^ to ask permission of your highness (seeing that is seems good to you to that I should examine my conscience to understand if it should conform with the truth or not) to appoint and name for me those persons whom your highness will deem most suitable for me to discuss this affair ^and whoever they may be, I will hear them sincerely with an open mind^ ^for once your highness remembers^ because the scruple that I have [about this matter] I have had for the past twenty four years. Nevertheless, in my last letters to your highness I made an offer to your highness that I would agree to this marriage if I have the consent of the kingdom, and this I will do with God’s help; [but] without this ^consent^ I fear that in ^the^ end neither your highness nor this kingdom will be well served in this matter. And one thing I promise to your highness I confess to your highness that, on my own initiative, I listened to your highness’s friars ^about this matter^ but then [they] and above all  Alfonses [Alfonso de Castro] put such obscure questions to me that my simple mind could not ^understand^ them: for example, ^he asked me^ who was king in Adam’s time and ^said^ that I was obliged to make this marriage happen because of an article of my faith; but he explained it to me with other things too difficult for me to understand, so that it was impossible in so short a time to overcome my conscience direct ^my conscience^ after twenty four years.  ^But^ one thing I promise your highness most faithfully to you, that whichever men it may please you to appoint for me, they will not (I hope) find me stubborn or unreasonable.

But seeing that your highness writes in his said letters that if the consent of this kingdom ^a parliament^ should go against [the marriage], ^your highness^ will lay the blame on me, I beg your highness in all humility to delay this matter until ^your^ return; and then your highness will be the judge of whether I will be blameworthy or not. Because otherwise I shall find myself resenting your highness, which will be worse to me than death, for I have ^having^ already begun to feel this too much, to my great sorrow.

And to tell the truth, in my simple judgement ^subject to your highness’s correction^, seeing that the Duke of Savoy will be on campaign at the moment, and that some ^of the council^ and of the nobility ^of this Realm^ are with your highness, I cannot see how this matter can be ^properly^ considered in the meantime; nor, in my opinion, ^how^, even if I could satisfy my conscience as your highness has done with yours, the matter might reach the conclusion that your highness would like it to have, without your presence here.

Wherefore, my lord, as humbly as it is possible for a woman me, ^being^ your very loyal and ^very^ obedient wife to your highness (which I confess, I am justly obliged to be, and in my opinion more than all other wives, having such a husband as is your highness, without mentioning the multitude of your kingdoms, for they are not what matter most to me) I beg your highness that in the meantime we should both pray ^to God^, and that we should put our firm trust in him that we may live and find ourselves together, and that the same God, who holds in his hand the conduct of the ^hearts of Christian monarchs^, will (I have no doubt) enlighten us in such a way that it will redound to His glory and your satisfaction. 

But meanwhile, I beg your highness to pardon my presumption of God’s goodness in this matter, because although I have not deserved it, nevertheless I have certainly experienced it, beyond the expectation of almost all the world; and I have the same hope in Him that I always have.”

“The letter contains striking evidence of the Queen’s intransigence, her confidence in divine favour, and above all, her editorial skills - giving fascinating insight into her thought processes. Mary wrote to Philip to inform him of some news that she knew would infuriate him: although she had initially agreed to support ‘this marriage’ she had now changed her mind. Many of her corrections clearly aimed to soften the tone (for example ‘demand’ is changed to ‘beg most humbly’) while her repeatedly underlined references to ‘conscience’ reveal her determination to insist on the moral grounds of her decision. She decided to target Philip’s most vulnerable spots: his reluctance to return to England, his belief that prayer would reveal the correct policy, and a conviction that both of them enjoyed divine favour. Mary’s numerous changes reflect an astute awareness of rhetorical tropes, and a practised skill in manipulating language to achieve her desired goals. Her decision to draft the letter herself instead of dictating it to a secretary reflects the deeply personal nature of the contents.”

Image, translation and quote as found in A King and Two Queens: The Holograph Correspondence of Philip II with Mary I and Elizabeth I by Rayne Allinson and Geoffrey Parker in Early Modern Exchanges: Dialogues Between Nations and Cultures, 1550-1750, by Helen Hackett, 2016

[anangelicday-mrwolf]

Wolfsbane : Noblesse Fanfic (post-ending)

(previous chapter)

Chapter 52 – How Come You Did Nothing?!

“We’re here.”

As a werewolf’s resolute howl was resonating in a deserted isle across the sea, Yuhyung’s eyes incandesced even before Rael’s words were met with a period.

He had kept his eyes open, unlike his previous trips upon Rael’s back.

With that moment just about few steps away from him, his heart did not allow his eyes to close.

“...Now what should I do?”

“Hide, of course. I...”

That was when concern smeared over Rael’s face as he looked around, and Yuhyung could imagine why.

The zone they had sought now remained completely desolate, following the visit from Lunark, Zarga, Urokai, and the 8th Elder.

Nobody would believe that this place once used to be as thick as Amazon rainforest with skyscrapers, just like any other spot in Seoul.

Being a deserted, uncluttered space, it appeared no different from the surface of the moon.

In other words, there was no place at all for Yuhyung to take refuge, except for one thing: a body of concrete that surely would have constituted a wall or a pillar of a building, stranded out in the open for some reason.

“I can stay behind this thing if you could raise it for me.”

Rael fell into awkward silence at the human’s suggestion.

Knowing that nobles can completely powder a telephone pole with a punch, Rael could tell that this chunk of concrete would be as good as nothing.

Nonetheless, he decided that it would be better than nothing. And Yuhyung had foreseen that Rael would decide so.

“One moment, please.”

Rael erected the pile, much bigger than his entire physique, with a single hand.

Behind him, Yuhyung rolled his eyes to watch whether Rael spies what is beneath his shoes.

And he was contented at the fact that Rael never once shifted his attention from the artificial rock.

In truth, this piece of concrete did not belong there; it was stationed after KSA’s cleanup of the war zone.

Its purpose was to serve as a cairn and a veil that signs and hides the equipment he entrusted Helga’s teammate with.

It worked in his favor that it happened to be Rael who accompanied him; had he been with anybody from KSA or RK, he would have faced accusation right away.

‘And now, I’ll have to distract him. But damn, what’s taking him so long?’

Yuhyung scanned his perimeter, scowling as inconspicuously as possible.

“...Here he comes.”

Yuhyung inwardly questioned whom Rael is talking about, before he reminded himself of the man both of them were expecting and made an inaudible “ah” with his lips.

With the sound of an object slicing through the air, something quite bulky stomped the earth.

“Oh, dear. That trip was meant to be elusive.”

Rael had not seen him for a while, but his smile was not at all like what was in his memories.

The noble was grinning in a cautious manner, not much discrepancy for them to see from his usual servile, overtly polite semblance.

However, Rael could see through what lay underneath: animosity, jealousy, and hostility towards him.

“Were you waiting for me? Or does this mean...”

Deneb eyed the human standing behind Rael.

Yuhyung, being truthful to his performance until the last moment, sluggishly moved for shelter behind Rael’s black robe.

“Well, not that it matters. I was bound to be caught as soon as I hit this country.”

“...So, are you actually planning on fighting me, Deneb Illiness?”

“Fight you? No, sir. I’m not here to fight you. I’m here to eliminate you.”

“...You know that making an enemy out of your own kind with no appropriate reason is an act of rejection of the lord’s laws, established by our ancestors and rooted deeply upon our motherland. You don’t have to be a head of a clan to be aware of this must-know rule. Not to mention attempt of disconnecting my path for good at this point is equal to sabotaging the QuadraNet project. Am I going too far to say that you have no interest or loyalty for the said project?”

“No, sir. I’m more than well-aware of the meaning of my actions. Of course I do. However, there is this golden teaching that applies to every era and race: dead men tell no tales.”

He must be out of his mind, thought Rael.

Even with the question of possession of soul weapon put aside, those from non-octaclans are inferior to those from octaclans in terms of combat competence.

Rael could bet Deneb would not even last a minute against Regis – the weakest of current heads of octaclans due to his age – or Seira – defined the weakest of heads of octaclans before Regis’s official appointment – even if they are to bench either one of their hands.

‘Looks like his obsession with Seira and jealousy against me have fatally clouded his judgment.’

On the other hand, Rael could not ignore the tug at his chest, for he flaunts a history of troubles he brewed out of his obsessional affection for Seira.

The prickly sensation in his heart was replaced with frigid heat.

As regrettable as it was that he was to exercise his power against his own kind at a time like this, when unity is the key, what Deneb was carrying out was a violation of the laws of noblekind.

Something that Rael, as the head of a Lukedonian clan, must not oversee.

Rael in turn handed something to Yuhyung.

“Here – I’ll need maximum concentration to wrap this up as quickly as possible. So I must ask you to please tend to any communication we may receive.”

What Rael offered to Yuhyung was an in-ear communicator he saved from Tao just in case he needs assistance from the RK, which he had picked up upon his visit to Korea as the Lukedonian ambassador.

However, his intention was to make this battle quick, one-time, and unnoticed, which means he will be unable to reply to any message from KSA or RK, if they are to ask where he and Yuhyung are.

Although he was not sure if it would be possible for him to finish a battle against a noble unnoticed, he was determined to do his best.

And that was when with a swish something flew towards Deneb in an arc that was barely visible.

Deneb snatched the object and rotated his hand, and Rael’s countenance grew as cold as ice upon recognizing that he was holding the communicator he just yielded.

“I can see that you have changed for sure. Before I wouldn’t have even imagined you’d be carrying human inventions.”

With a piece of bicker and a noise of something crashing, the communicator was shattered to dozen bits.

“What did you just...?!”

Rael shifted his off-balanced gaze towards the one who caused such rapid turnout; he paid no attention and strode as if he were out on a walk, towards Deneb.

Rael’s cognition blacked out for a second at the flow of events that was improbable and expected to be impossible.

“...What is the meaning of this?”

“...Isn’t it obvious?”

“No, it’s not! You said Deneb Illiness forced you to...”

“Yes, at first it was forced. So he did not tell you that what was forced was later coined into an agreement.”

Agreement? What agreement?

“He asked for protection during what he is about to unfold here. And part of my plan was to one day take you out if I must, so I deemed an extension of our relation necessary.”

As Rael was petrified at the revelation he could not and did not want to believe, Yuhyung was digging the spot where the concrete used to be.

As he was quietly stabbing the earth like a dog scavenging for a bone, Rael shouted out to him, “How could you?! Do you have any idea what meaning your actions hold?! He has forsaken the laws of Lukedonia! If you are to take his side...”

“It can be understood as rebellion against the QuadraNet project and Lukedonia and KSA, as well as rebellion against the alliance of Lukedonia, KSA, and wolfkind. Yes, I know. That’s exactly what I have in mind.”

His mouth open halfway, Rael posed shaky, distraught eyes at how Yuhyung’s speech became aggressive, his eyes vindictive, good enough to bewilder him.

‘Is this what he is really like?’

But why?

Rael’s last words failed to keep themselves tucked behind his lips, and in response Yuhyung straightened up and shoved his filthy hands into his collar, to bring out a bunch of silver chain necklaces with thin metal plates attached.

“This is what is left of my colleagues who were sacrificed back then. Yes, I’m talking about the incident that turned this place into a graveyard with no tombstones.”

Yuhyung snapped, having read what Rael’s eyes were asking.

“Am I doing this for vengeance? Yes, that’s the initial purpose. But what I am aiming for is to pioneer the power for vengeance. Had things worked out as originally outlined, I would have ended up with enough data at KSA, to build a bridge that will lead us to the power that can put us on par with your kind and werewolves. Though we would have needed a lot of time to as well.”

“...What are you talking about? Are you saying you consider nobles AND werewolves the subject of your vengeance? But... It’s true that nobles and a werewolf were affiliated in that incident, but...”

“The Union is to truly blame. Yes, it was Union that commanded the incident. But don’t you dare tell yourself that nobles and werewolves can avoid the blame.”

Yuhyung spat out through grinding teeth, back to his job of unearthing something.

“I know how elevated were the seats that Union once used to occupy on a global scale. Even with science and technology omitted from discussion, there is no field or area on this planet that is free from Union’s monstrous spider web. Which was why we couldn’t even dream of officially complaining to them of the destruction they wrought in this country.”

In the meantime, something finally came to reveal itself under his hands.

“But where were you while the Union had been cultivating its power all this time?”

Rael’s entire body froze, as he was trying to peek at the object about to show itself.

“I once heard from this Tao guy the origin of the term noblesse oblige. But if your lot valued nobleness and the balance of the world so much, how come you never stood out whenever Union butchered and thrashed about in this world? Huh?! I was powerless... We were powerless. Too powerless to protect our beloved. But you do have power. So how come you never stopped them?! How come you did nothing?!”

Yuhyung’s voice freed from its rein mercilessly speared Rael’s ears, to puncture his heart.

Rael could think of several counters, but for some reason he could not vocalize any of them.

“But now things will change. Now we will have the power to protect. But since we can never reach there if we stick to the humane method as we have... This is the only way.”

Yuhyung lowered his body, and his hands drew out a sort of a device.

As unfamiliar as he was with human technology, Rael could not ascertain what exactly was the purpose of the device.

If any of the ex-Union RK were there, he would have learned that the device was designed to launch something.

Without sparing a second for Rael to enlarge his eyes, Yuhyung stuck inside the device something that was safekept along with it.

“Now... All humans within KSA will get the powers we need.”

Leaving a smirk, Yuhyung violently jabbed the button that was bulging out from the device.

(next chapter)

At last Yuhyung has revealed what he was planning all this time. As you can see, his goal is to have his vengeance, but not simply on Union - he seeks vengeance upon wolfkind and noblekind alike.

As I was composing this chapter, I realized that it's been a year since I've been writing this fic (well, not exactly a year; the very first chapter was uploaded on 28th of April, 2020). The finale of this fic draws near, so I shall do my best for the remaining chapters as well. :)

[dawnwave16]

Not what I Expected

One chapter left!  I’m going to put a “Keep Reading thing at the bottom of the actual chapter as I name-dropped four celebs and I don’t know how many people know of them so I figured it would be better to at least let people know who they are :)

Start; 11; 12(here); 13(Last)

  Chapter 12:

For now, though all she could do was have a good night's sleep.

In theory, the plan was simple, in actuality, it was much more complicated to pull off then one would think. They had all the evidence they needed, as did the Italian embassy, who had deemed it appropriate to revoke their diplomatic immunity. As soon as everything started Mrs Kelly would be arrested for conspiracy to commit murder and for aiding a terrorist. That was the easy part. The hard part was going to catch Hawkmoth and Nekane.

The Parisian police had set up a very discrete perimeter around their prim suspect's residence with camera's trained on every window and door to catch any butterflies that left. They had a special camera focused on a window that looked like a butterfly and had what looked to be blast shields that would slide open or close depending on what the operator wanted. They had seen movement within on their infrared camera earlier but they needed more than circumstantial evidence to move in and make an arrest. If necessary, Commissaire Clement had the turtle miraculous and would move in to do the arrest, but that was the last resort only. 

Nekane's takedown was where things would get complicated. Essentially it would be announced to the school as a careers day. Marinette had organised for the school to be called into the main courtyard at 10 am. There was a stage set up at one end of it where the various guest speakers would be speaking from there were chairs for them to sit in once they were done. There had been an announcement on Monday to let everyone know that they would be hosting guest speakers for the careers day and Nekane, although she was still known as Lila to the rest of the students, had claimed she had organised everything. She even claimed that Marinette had tried to talk her out of it.

Everything proceeded well, Prince Ali had spoken about his work with children's hospitals and how he wished he could do more. When they allowed questions, Nathaniel had pointedly asked about his go-green projects to which Ali had replied that although he supported the idea, he didn't have any projects like that as otherwise, he would be too busy.

Jagged Stone had gone next and spoken about life as a rock star and being on the road. He spoke of how Penny had been such a big help and as a result, he emphasized the idea of having reliable people to support them when they were busy. This time it was Luka who spoke up and he asked about Jagged's kitten and despite knowing the question was coming, Jagged had looked highly offended and declared he'd never had one. He wasn't allergic nor did he have anything against them, he just didn't think it would handle the travelling lifestyle.

The next few speakers continued in much the same way. As they all had roughly 30 minutes to talk, plus 10 minutes extra for questions if they so wished, it seemed like everything was going well. They had talks from Steven Spielberg, Michael Houlie, Diane Sawyer, Shinya Yamanaka* and a few more. Each one of them got asked a question by a member of Marinette's class or group about one of Lila's lies about them only for those questions to be answered in such a way that it showed Lila had lied. With each lie that was exposed Lila got angrier and angrier so the team was on high alert for an Akuma. 

By this stage, the whole class had realised she was lying and they were subtly trying to shift away from Lila. It was the perfect time for their last two speakers. First Reid stepped onto the stage. He didn't like being a public speaker but he was good at it when he needed to be. He spoke about what it was like to gain multiple doctorates and to be the youngest person in your workforce. He also spoke very briefly about bullying and what it could do to someone. His main topic, however, was about teaching and how you should make sure to look at all sides of an argument within your class before calling anyone out. As he could quote anything he had read he used their school's code of conduct to do this effectively calling out Mlle Bustier on her behaviour. When he finished his talk he could see several teachers glaring at her and at M. Damocles, both of whom were trying to make themselves look invisible.

Finally, it was time for the final person to speak. Lila watched in horror as David Rossi walked onto the stage and started talking about the work the BAU did and about criminal psychology in general. He spoke about some of the different unsubs they had convicted and what lead to those convictions. He didn't give all the details but enough for everyone to be able to understand the cases. When the time came for the questions and Lila's lie about him came out, Lila's temper finally exploded.

“Oh, I see what this whole thing was. Let's make everyone humiliate Lila in the worst possible manner! Let's make Lila the bad guy!” As she shouted they kept an extra careful eye out for the Akuma they were sure would come. They were so focused on Lila however that they missed it taking over someone who had an even better reason to be angry, Jack.

Jack had been sitting quietly next to Mireille and had been content to simply watch everything but he had slowly been realising that there was more going on then what had met the eye. Although he was generally slow to anger he was still his father's son and the person that the whole day was aimed at taking down had been attacking his big sister. A big sister he thought the world of. A big sister who he had come to love wholeheartedly.

He hadn't realised that his temper had attracted a different villans attention but when he heard the voice inside his head he still tried to fight it, knowing that these were not his thoughts. Unfortunately, Hawkmoth knew just which buttons to push to make Jack give in. Due to nobody suspecting that Jack would be Akumatised, Candid was able to strike hard and fast. Where had once been a bubbly 9-year-old boy who loved his sister now stood an Akuma that they knew they would have to be careful facing. He wore what looked to be Captain America's costume, however, it was done in shades of blacks and blues mixed together as a camouflage pattern that made it hard to tell if he was solid or liquid or even if he was really there at all. His weapon was another nod to his favourite hero as it was in the form of a utility belt that he could draw pellets from, with each pellet having a different effect based on what he needed it to do.

The first they knew of him was when he made his first move which was to hit Lila with a pellet that contained a sort of truth serum. This made her start bragging about everything she had done. As the cameras were still on her from when she stood up after Rossi's talk, they decided to keep recording her but to not let anyone know as they didn't know if they would be able to use the knowledge in court. Even if it couldn't be used it would give them a surefire way to be able to pull her lies apart later.

As Lila was currently the centre of attention, Marinette signalled to the other's to get away and transform, then come back. She wouldn't be leaving to transform. Kitsune would make a mirage of ladybug purifying the Akuma and she would do so after everything had settled slightly. Chat could catch it in his bell to keep it contained for the meantime. She had let them know that she thought that the Akuma was in his belt so they had that going for them at least. The battle strategy that she had come up with on the fly didn't work out as she hoped though.

Candid hit several people with a different type of pellet that turned them into his own version of the Howling Commandos who worked together to stop people getting away. The Miraculous team had thankfully already transformed when Candid did this but it also meant they couldn't leave if they needed to. Marinette finally managed to get away and transform, using her Dragonbug form, and rejoin the group. She sighed softly then called for her team to listen carefully, as much as she didn't want to do it, she would have to use the dragons lightning body against Candid. She knew he would be healed when she used the miraculous cure but this was still her little brother and she hated hurting him. 

“Right, Viperion, be ready in case everything goes wrong. Kitsune see if you can get out to recharge if not just make sure no-one can see you as you drop the illusion. Akira I need you to be ready to use howl to distract him long enough for me to immobilise him. Tigris I'll need you to use your claws on his belt so that we can get rid of his belt, if the Akuma isn't in the belt, it'll be the shield so Chat be ready to use cataclysm on it. Honey, Oilarrak keep the commandos away from us as long as you can.”

Once she got nods from everyone, she motioned for them to move and they all sprang into action. A mild shock had Candid unable to move and a broken belt later the Akuma was free. She purified it quickly, used her cure and dashed away to detransform, making sure to run in from a different direction when she scoped Jack up into her arms. Soon they were surrounded by everyone wanting to make sure Jack was okay. Police had arrested Nekane, who had revealed her true name while under the effects of the pellets. 

She looked to Hotch and Quietly asked, “Did Commassaire Clement...?” She couldn't finish her question, nor did she have to as Hotch nodded. She looked down and swallowed. Gabriel Agreste had been caught as Hawkmoth while transformed and had been arrested. Nathalie hadn't had the chance to transform before she had been taken into custody as well. She sighed and moved away from her family, she had to go take possession of the two broaches and check for any other Miraculous related objects within the mansion. This was not going to be pleasant. 

This is the camo used:

Shinya Yamanaka

Yamanaka is a Japanese Nobel Prize-winning stem cell researcher. He received the prize in 2012 for his co-discovery that existing cells of the body can be converted to stem cells. He also received the 2013 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, worth $3 million.

Extract taken from:https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/top-ten-greatest-scientists-alive-today

Diane Sawyer

Sawyer is an American journalist who was the first female 60 Minutes correspondent and most recently anchored for ABC World News until September 2014. She currently does high-profile interviews and specials for ABC News. Beginning her career at the local news station and then the White House press office in 1970 at a time where there were very few female journalists, she was considered a great pioneer for the women who followed in her footsteps. During her long-standing career, Sawyer has co-anchored Primetime Live, 20/20 as well as ABC’s morning show Good Morning America, which she held for much longer than anticipated due to her popularity in the position; one she also received an Emmy Award for in 2000. She also won an Emmy in 2007 for her reporting on ABC World News, along with numerous others like the Peabody Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award during her time on the show. Sawyer has also frequented the annual Forbes Magazine’s List of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women since 2004.

extract taken from here:https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/top-12-influential-journalists-today/

A little of my heratige pushed it's way forward for this choice!  For future refrence I was born in South Africa but currently live in New Zealand

Michael Houlie

, South Africa

Michael Houlie turned a ton of heads last year at the Youth Olympic Games. His unabashed front-half speed on the 100 breaststroke is something that few elite internationals (Adam Peaty comes to mind) have the turnover to put in. Houlie moved to the US and started at the University of Tennessee (Molly Hannis, PJ Stevens) in the spring semester. After just a few short months with his new team, his NCAA Championship results didn’t quite match the hype – he was 23rd in the 100 breaststroke and skipped his other individual, the 200 breaststroke. But, that wasn’t really a fair data point – we don’t know how good he is in short course, and it was such a short turnaround after arrival, all while adapting to college and a new country. This week, Houlie is the top seed in the 50 and the 12th seed in the 100. He’s the youngest #1 seed in the meet on the men’s side.

Extract taken from:https://swimswam.com/top-10-male-swimmers-to-watch-at-the-2019-world-university-games/

Steven Spielberg

Producer | Schindler's List

One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He has an extraordinary number of commercially successful and critically acclaimed credits to his name, either as a director, ...

Extract from:https://www.imdb.com/list/ls056848274/

@moonlightstar64​; @northernbluetongue​; @wargraymon0709​; @winter-gardenflower​; @bee-wrecker​; @starsshineandgivehope​; @goggles-mcgee​; @vivilakitty​

[theeggnoodlet]

Devlog 7.1: Ramble and General Updates (Part 1)

Date: 26 June 2020

A note before I begin: This devlog is quite different from my usual style of devlogs. Not everything I’m talking about is directly related to the development of Yi’s Eatery, so I understand if you’re not particularly interested. With that aside...

Where I’ve been

Hihi! Sorry I’ve been MIA for a while.

I was in charge of creating content for a social media assignment for two weeks, so all my energy went into that for a while. I developed a chicken-themed Snake game and crafted a tutorial series you can follow to produce the same game as me. You can check out the tutorial series here!

It was exhausting to do. Half my time went into taking and editing screenshots of the development process. Making easy-to-understand and high-quality content is really tough. I had a lot of respect for educational content creators like Brackeys, VR with Andrew, and Cyan before, but my experience has caused my admiration for their efforts to skyrocket.

So many pictures...

Style of Devlogs

I went on a bit of a tangent there. Putting all that aside, I’ve decided to take a different approach to my devlogs.

I like to keep as quiet about my struggles as possible during development because I do not want to be looked down upon and seen as incompetent. I recognise, however, that it is through being open about one’s struggles and sharing one’s progress honestly that humans can lean on one another and grow together. As such, I’m going to use my devlogs as a chance to reflect on all that I’ve learnt each step of my development journey.

On top of that, my teachers are using our Jira board and devlogs to monitor our progress on this assignment. I personally hop around a bunch and make small bits of progress everywhere, so it often looks like I haven’t made much progress during each sprint because I can’t mark any issues as complete on the Jira board. I’m still discovering my working style and how to best make use of the scrum methodology, so I’m sure I’ll eventually figure out how to keep going. Progress on Yi’s Eatery

I’ve finally gotten my hands on the VR headset, so I can finally jump fully into VR development! ... Or so I thought. I’m having a harder time figuring out how I should go about testing my builds on the headset than I anticipated. My computer has always had strange issues with connecting to android devices. That’s exacerbated my confusion regarding setting up the Oculus Quest.

I got so frustrated just trying to figure out how to set up the device that I gave up and went back to working on the mobile version of our game. I’m aiming to return to VR development next week. 

In the meantime, I’ve been working on customer-related mechanics and other miscellaneous mobile mechanics.

This post has gotten rather long, so I will be uploading a second part detailing all the progress and design decisions I’ve made.

[alsolfu]

Pink Skies (Part Three)

(Part One & Two) (AO3)

After enduring the entirety of a war, Lorenz was hard pressed to be intimidated. He knew his worth after painstakingly long years of learning that confidence didn’t entirely make up for a lack of competence. There had been so much trial and error, leagues of missteps that he’d gotten through to be where he was now.

So it was with a peculiar edge of wariness that he accepted the cup of tea from Rhea. He wasn’t going to be intimidated by a woman still recovering from imprisonment. He respected her greatly, but to feel intimidation right now would be preposterous.

Still, he found it difficult to keep her gaze.

“Lorenz Hellman Gloucester. You’ve stuck by Byleth’s side throughout everything, and you’ve sought a wife long before needing one. What exactly is your objection to this proposal?”

He lifted the teacup from its saucer delicately and blew on the surface of the tea. An urge for pleasantries and small talk came to him as he took a sip. He fought it down, an easy task to accomplish with Rhea’s intense gaze locked onto him.

“I’ve learned well that it’s bad practice to coerce someone into marriage.” Despite the situation, the intimidation, and the too hot tea, he felt in his element. “Spending your life with someone isn’t a decision to be made impetuously.”

Rhea tilted her head in a long stare at him, saying nothing for a stretch. Like intimidation, Lorenz never felt unnerved. He didn’t! And he certainly didn’t feel it now. When Rhea smiled, it did nothing to settle him; he took a large drink of tea in an attempt to remedy that but ended up with a burning throat and chest. He swallowed hard and returned the smile.

“Tell me how you met Byleth. Was it during her first lesson, or perhaps she introduced herself before then?”

Lorenz relaxed at this hint of small talk, lowering his hands and the teacup in them to the table between them. “She wasn’t one for introductions. I heard tell of the mercenary who’d saved Claude and saw her around the monastery with him when she first arrived. I thought she would be another student and made it a point to make myself known.”

A slow nod from Rhea relaxed him further. She seemed to be understanding; maybe all she required was a sensible explanation to let go of the potential fiasco that this arranged marriage was sure to be.

“Any point of contention?” Rhea finally picked up her own teacup, one of her eyebrows arching carefully. “I recall her addressing complaints about you. Are there possible lingering resentments over this?”

The teacup in Lorenz’s hand clattered against its saucer when he placed it down. “Resent― Of course not.”

He’d been a different person then. He’d thought her shutting down his romantic pursuits to be a misguided attempt to keep him tamed. The ladies were honored to have his attention, he’d thought. He looked down into his teacup, now nearly empty. Right. What a person he’d been. It was no wonder Byleth was so adamant against marrying him.

A frown pulled at his mouth, and he brushed his hair over a shoulder in one quick flip. “It’s not as if she was so perfect. For someone who rarely spoke outside of lessons, she was loud, dirty, and―” He cut himself off, his eyes widening in realization at what he was saying about his professor. His friend.

Rhea’s smile broadened, and she nodded in invitation for him to continue.

Lorenz sipped the last of his tea and placed the cup and saucer back onto the table. He didn’t especially want to divulge his old perceptions of Byleth, but it could be just the thing to end this.

“Common. She was proudly common.”

⁂

He missed the school of sorcery in Fhirdiad. The studies had been far more focused. The new professor wanted him to give the lance a try. He couldn’t sense any progress being made, but if he had to give Byleth credit for anything, it would be her consistency. She had a feeling about him, she’d said. Sure. Regardless of her feeling, Lorenz excelled in everything he saw worth pursuing. This would be no different… once he grasped the concept.

Fingers and hands sore from the new training, he held his teacup gingerly. Across the table from him sat Ferdinand, who spoke at length about a particularly heart-racing experience he’d had before coming to the monastery. Lorenz would normally cut in with his own thoughts, but the ache in his hands distracted. The professor had actually brought this bit of culture in the form of Ferdinand into his circle, giving him a reprieve from the constant buffoonery Claude loved to indulge in. So that was two things he had to credit her: consistency and understanding his need for decent conversation.

“Professor!”

Lorenz nearly dropped his teacup at Ferdinand’s sudden call. He followed the other man’s line of sight to find his professor standing on the edge of the courtyard. The day was sunny, lighting up her face and brightening the shades of green in her hair. She approached their gazebo with a curious look, glancing between Ferdinand and Lorenz as if she wasn’t sure which one had called her over. She never smiled, and it was frankly off-putting.

The closer she became, the more Lorenz wished she wouldn’t. In one hand, she held a fishing rod. That had been clear from a distance. Now, though, he couldn’t keep from curling his lip at the squirming mass of… He put his teacup down and quickly tugged a handkerchief from a pocket to cover his mouth.

“Indulging in an outdoor activity on such a nice day?” Ferdinand asked with a small nod toward her fishing pole. “That’s a brilliant idea, professor.”

Lorenz fought an eye roll. Minding manners was an utmost importance, but was Ferdinand always so overly polite to people who weren’t… noble? There was a time and place for niceties, and this wasn’t it. Just let her continue on her way. She had pockets spilling over with live insect larva. Lorenz felt his stomach clench when a few of the tiny, squirming things fell to the ground as she shifted the pole from one arm to the other, propping it on her shoulder.

“I’m relieved to see you enjoying each other’s company,” she said, still looking between them. She must’ve been out in the sun for a while; it showed on her skin, twinged pink along her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose. “I had a feeling you’d be fast friends.”

“Professor,” Lorenz spoke up, lowering the handkerchief. “Try not to overuse that turn of phrase.”

Byleth cocked her head and stared at him. More larva tumbled out of her overly stuffed pockets. “Hm?”

Lorenz returned the handkerchief to his mouth and closed his eyes. For a person who didn’t give much in terms of facial or bodily expression, Byleth seemed to always have a feeling about things, about Ferdinand’s friendship, about Lorenz himself.

Well, Lorenz had a feeling about her in return, and it wasn’t one that should be mentioned in polite company.

⁂

Lorenz had been proven wrong. He was remiss to assume Byleth incapable of genuine feeling. She was the one in the wrong regarding his expression of romantic interest in the young women he deemed suitable, but he trusted that she’d recognize that someday. In the meantime, he decided to listen to her advice. It wouldn’t hurt to hone his skill in wooing before exercising it on the right person.

To be so incorrect himself, though, was a new concept. Byleth could indeed smile; more than, where he was concerned. As if by an accidental miracle, he’d made her laugh. Part of him was curious enough to want to do it again. He just… wasn’t certain as to how.

Opportunity struck when she caught him outside the gardens, her hands covered in dirt from Sothis knew what she’d been up to in the greenhouse. She invited him to share a meal with her. He considered her approach with caution. She must’ve been entertaining someone important, a nobleman in all likelihood, and needed him as a buffer. It was a wise choice, and he wouldn’t turn down someone so clearly in need of his aid.

He realized his mistake when sitting across from her at one of the tables in the galley. In the seat next to him sat Ignatz, smiling and blinking at him from behind his round spectacles. Rather than showing the uncertainty he felt, he lifted his chin and greeted them both. The plate waiting for him on the table was― oh.

He allowed an easy smile to cross his face, aimed at Byleth. “I did not expect such a delicacy to come from the dining hall.”

Ignatz echoed a similar praise before they tucked in. It was a shock to Lorenz that they could share a favorite food. Of course not all commoners were the same; Lorenz knew that. But it was a surprise all the same.

Byleth held her fork like a knife, the same way Felix Fraldarious did the one time Lorenz was so unfortunate to eat near him. She stabbed a bite of the fish on her plate and held the fork up as she said, “I caught a ton of fish this week.” She punctuated the statement by eating the entire bite in one go.

Lorenz endured the meal, deeply conflicted. It had to have been pure chance that she’d invite him to share in one of his favorite meals―two-fish saute was a rare thing in Garreg Mach―and he was thoroughly enjoying every single bite. But he couldn’t say, despite his budding curiosity, that he enjoyed her ghastly presence.

Rather than himself taking the role, Lorenz was grateful for Ignatz being present as a buffer of sorts between himself and the professor. Her table etiquette was horrendous, her words often vulgar, and she couldn’t seem to refrain from holding eye contact with him for far too long. It was impolite, to say the least.

Good thing she hadn’t been meeting with anyone important. Lorenz wasn’t sure keeping her from looking foolish was within even his realm of great capability. A shame, though, that he didn’t get the chance to make her laugh again.

⁂

“Again!”

Lorenz grit his teeth, wishing wholly that looks could kill. The professor hit the floor of the training grounds with her sword, urging him to repeat his recent manoeuvre. The tempo of it irritated him. Thwap, thwap, between her yelling, it was a countdown to his next move. He didn’t want to do it again and glared across the room at her. Sweat prickled at the back of his neck uncomfortably. This must’ve been the definition of misery, surely.

“Let’s go, string bean!”

He went into action at her insistence on using that awful nickname. She’d said during their first training session that he was too thin. Waifish. A freakishly tall skeleton with pale skin stretched over it. His appearance, like everything, mattered greatly, and he genuinely hoped she only meant to tease. Regardless, it worked to anger him, which drove their sessions for longer.

She was either terribly rude or an evil genius. He strongly believed it to be the former.

His grip on the lance tightened. Don’t just jab with it, she’d said. Worry about finesse later. Strike to kill every time. He moved through the motions with a mind aflame, rushing toward her through the ringing in his ears. She always went easy on him. He could tell, and he hated it. The thought pushed him forward harder.

Handling a lance required such a different way of thinking; not less thought than magic, just a complete wipe of what he knew about approaching an opponent. This, beyond the wildly different physical focus, should’ve been easier than his magic studies, in which he excelled. Yet he struggled. She was going to point out his shortcomings with the lance during their next lesson, just like she had the last time. And the time before that.

She swore loudly, the hard F―“Fuck!”―startling him out of his thoughts. He blinked, looking down at where she lay below him. With a foot planted on each side of her waist, he stood above, the tip of his lance piercing the floor next to her left arm. A long line in her skin, cut cleanly over her arm, began to drip blood.

His irritation subsided, and he met her wide eyes with concern. When had he overpowered her? He was larger, sure, but she’d always proven to be faster.

“Great job!” She was close enough that yelling was unnecessary, but it seemed to be more of a cheer this time. He withdrew the lance and stepped away from her to offer a hand. She took it with one of her rare smiles. On her feet, she let go of his hand to touch the cut. “I should go see Manuela. Excellent work, Lorenz.”

“It was only a trifle.” He watched her leave before putting away the lance and making his own exit. He supposed the lance training was actually working. His frustration faded into a soft pride.

Excellent work, Lorenz.

He smiled to himself on the way to the sauna, envisioning himself riding gallantly on a steed into battle. Perhaps her feeling about him had been right all along.

⁂

Silence followed the end of his explanation. It rested between him and Rhea, filling up the advisory room until Lorenz thought he could suffocate. Then, finally, Rhea frowned, her fingertips tracing the rim of her teacup delicately.

“I had no idea you disliked her so thoroughly.” Her fingers stopped, lingering above the cup. “If the hatred is this deep―”

“Archbishop, you misunderstand.” Lorenz touched the rose at his lapel and looked up to meet her eyes for the first time since beginning his story. “I could never hate her. She was our professor, and she led us to victory. We all care for her a great deal.”

Rhea lowered her hands, laying them one atop the other behind her teacup. “We are not asking Ignatz to marry her. Nor Ferdinand or Felix.” She paused, as if to think. “Do you think they are better candidates?”

If Lorenz were the type to snort, he’d be doing it now. Fodlan was beginning to rebuild itself, most of the others were off tending to their responsibilities, assuring their people and stamping down on all remaining enemies. Claude had left Fodlan entirely. The rest, between their duties and amidst the cleanup, were pairing off with those they’d grown closest to throughout the conflict.

It would take weeks to send for any one person who’d once stayed in Garreg Mach and weeks more to receive the refusal because I’m proposing to someone special when things settle more or I haven’t gotten over the person I lost in the war. I’m sorry, Archbishop. Sure, these could be gross assumptions, but Lorenz knew the others almost as well as he knew himself.

The crux of it lay in the fact that Byleth didn’t seem to want to get married, whatever her reasons may’ve been, and what they’d all learned, in spite of everything, was to trust the judgement of their professor.

[shooter-nobunagun]

Quarantine UST 7

//About to reach the climax (hah)...Apologies for the delay (gasp) but I took some time off and then when I came back work piled up so...this chapter took longer. Also, it went very differently than what I’d originally planned, so...I’m not sure if I’m 100% satisfied with the direction, but when the muses want something, there’s not much I can do about that. I think it turned out all right, I hope it feels natural and not too...’perfect fantasy’ scenario.

Warning, some mature content this chapter (masturbation) but not super explicit.

She stared at the text on her screen, debating if she really wanted to send the message, or simply relegate it to her ‘unsent drafts’; where it would join the hundreds of other ramblings that never made it to Asao.

[Sio]: I’m screwed; I seriously think I’ve got more than just a ‘crush’ on Adam...like, I literally spend all my time obsessing over whether or not he LIKE likes me ??? and even if he does, what if we get in trouble? >__<||||

“Ugh...mendoukusai...why do I always make things more complicated than they need to be...” Sighing, the sniper looked mournfully at the message, wondering if it was a good idea to spill the beans. Even though Asao was her best friend and had been a godsend this entire time, somehow just declaring it—even in text form—seemed to cement it somehow, instead of remaining this nebulous fantasy that she could always dismiss if things got too tricky.

For sure though, as the third week passed through, Sio noticed a definite change in Adam’s attitude towards her. He rarely made sarcastic or snide remarks anymore, and even his quips about her inexperience felt more like gentle teasing instead. No, there was something there, for sure...the real question now was whether it was a cozy, platonic friendship, or the stirrings of something deeper and more passionate. Shaking her head, she took one last look at the message, then hit ‘send’ before she could change her mind. She half-hoped Asao wouldn’t see it until the next day; if she responded now, Sio wasn’t sure she could sleep without another all-night rant session.

In the meantime, if she needed a way to wind down and get sleepy... Sio glanced at the phone one more time, before turning off the lights and pulling the covers up. With a practiced hand she casually slipped off her panties, preferring to touch herself directly. If she was feeling particularly horny and wanted to spend a little extra time stretching it out, then she kept them on, teasing herself through the fabric until she couldn’t stand it anymore and then plunged her fingers straight into her core. This time though, it was more a nightly habit than anything else; a little ‘me time’ and a good way to relax before bed.

She sighed as her fingers slipped through her curls, reaching that warm, secret spot. It usually took a bit of friction to coax her sensitive little pearl out from its hiding place, but that could definitely be helped along by just thinking about a certain tall, white-haired e-gene holder. “Mmn...A-Adam...I bet, your hands would feel pretty good, t, touching me down there...” Just the other day he’d put his hand over hers while helping her lift correctly, and the difference in size, along with those calloused, but gentle fingers, did not go unnoticed. Her own slim digits rubbed the outer hood, Sio shivering as she felt her folds getting moist from the stimulation.

‘Seriously, I don’t know how much longer I can keep it a secret...’ There was only about another week left on their quarantine, and Sio was simultaneously excited and depressed about it. On one hand, she couldn’t wait to return to some semblance of normalcy, but on the other, what if they went back to acting as if this time never happened? Boring as it was (save for a minor skirmish that did occur, and where Adam actually admitted her aim had vastly improved), a part of her was genuinely sad that there might never be another time where they would all be like this: acting like close friends and maybe even a family.

But most of all, what if these feelings she was developing for Adam never went anywhere? Or what if they faded, after things went back to normal? The twinge in her heart hit harder than expected, and her arousal dropped a little, to Sio’s frustration. ‘Ugh, just stop overthinking things, Sio...now’s not the time for it, anyway.’

She focused on her fingers instead, on the physical sensations this time rather than her mental fantasies. It was surprising how quickly she’d become familiar with her own body, and where it felt good for her. Her breasts, for instance, weren’t as sensitive, but it was still nice to massage them gently, and when she got really horny her nipples were nice to tweak with. Given that she was masturbating on a near-daily basis (and sometimes more than once a day), it was easy to experiment with different areas and techniques. After a while, she’d even worked up the courage to stick a finger inside, which wasn’t nearly as difficult or even painful, unlike most of the gossip she heard. It just felt a little weird, except the few times her fingers managed to brush a particular spot—though it hadn’t happened very often. Mostly she just like rubbing her clit, and it usually only took her a couple minutes to reach a satisfying climax.

“Nng...” Sio bit her lips; for some reason it seemed like she wasn’t really in the mood today. It was taking her longer than usual to reach an orgasm, and despite her fingers it felt like she was stuck at the plateau phase. ‘Maybe I should just call it quits and go to sleep...but argh, I’m already more than halfway there...’ She couldn’t decide which was worse: working towards a half-hearted orgasm, or trying to sleep while still tense and aroused. Taking a break she laid on the cool sheets, running a hand up and down her thigh, enjoying how smooth and soft the skin felt. 

Funny how she couldn’t really remember when or what cause her feelings for Adam to change. Since the beginning, they’d always had this weird, almost love/hate thing going on, possibly since their first encounter in Taiwan. Sio knew she respected his skills on the battlefield, though his manners towards her could’ve used a lot of work. Even then, even back when he was all sorts of abrasive and prickly at her, she still couldn’t outright hate him. Be annoyed and upset, sure, but there was always a part of her that wished she could know him better, to find out what kind of a person he really was.

‘Adam...’ Just thinking about him, whether it was his physique or his interactions with her, filled her heart with a sense of longing. What kind of person was he like before DOGOO? Who were his friends? Was his ‘tsundere’ attitude just a facade to protect his true self? She wished she could just work up the courage and confess her feelings, consequences be damned, but she knew it’d probably never happen in a million years. But oh, how strong those feelings were, sometimes...to know him beyond his e-gene and touch his true soul... Slowly, her finger gently prodded her insides, Sio imagining what it would be like if he held her tight in those strong arms; whispering sweet nothings into her ear while brushing her hair soothingly, telling her how much he cared about her and admired her, how cute she was...

“Hnn...! Oh!” To her surprise her body started jerking, Sio so caught up in her romantic fantasies that she didn’t notice her orgasm until it literally shook her out of her reverie. “Hah, hah...A-Adam...I wish, I wish we were real...” Suddenly reality came back, and the sniper remembered where she was: in her own room in a borrowed house, in the middle of a foreign city, waiting out a quarantine with her teammates in the hopes that they wouldn’t get infected and die. Panting, she pulled her sticky fingers out, wiping them down before putting her panties back on again. Now that the euphoria was fading, she felt an almost crushing sense of defeat. 

‘Hah, who am I kidding; there’s no way I can ever tell him...I just can’t! Not to mention, what if he...really doesn’t feel the same way? I don’t wanna make him feel awkward, not when we’ve finally established some kind of friendship...’ Yet the thought of taking this secret to the grave made her heart feel even heavier, and despite being physically exhausted, Sio sensed the beginnings of insomnia—and groaned.

Suddenly her phone lit up. She must’ve forgotten to silence it—but the sniper immediately snatched it up, scanned Asao’s reply, and hit ‘call’ without even bothering to text first.

“Moshi moshi? Sio-chan? Is everything alright?”

“Asao-san! I’m sorry for calling you so suddenly, but...I really need to talk to you!” Sio half-wailed into the phone, trying to keep her voice down.

“Oh my, of course Sio-chan. But calm down first, what’s going on? Aren’t you supposed to be asleep now?”

“Well, I was...but I just can’t fall asleep.” She heaved a sigh. “It’s about...Adam. And well, you probably already saw my text, but...” her friend hummed in understanding on the other end, “and well, you know! I just don’t know...what to do about this!”

“I see...” Her friend replied seriously, Sio so worked up she was on the verge of tears at this point. “How do you know it’s forbidden? Do you know for sure that fraternization among DOGOO members is illegal?”

“W-Well, no...I mean, I don’t know for sure...if it is, then I haven’t heard of it,” Sio admitted, “b-but even then, like, what if...what if he, doesn’t like me back...!”

“Okay, let’s take this one at a time,” said Asao gently, trying to get Sio to calm down. “Let’s not worry about whether or not it’s against the rules or whatever— I’m pretty sure even if it is, it wouldn’t stop your feelings.” Sio grunted in response. “As for whether or not Adam feels the same...I mean, what do you think? What’s your instinct tell you? I’m not there, so I can’t say anything aside from what I’ve heard from you—but it doesn’t seem like it’s completely impossible, right?”

“I...well, I mean...” Her instincts, huh? More than once the others had pointed out how Sio sometimes just seemed to know things, yet be unable to explain how she knew afterwards—except that it just came to her, like an instinctive pull. “I...feel like he’s aware that there’s something more than just, friendly camaraderie between us...I-I mean for sure, I’ve noticed he’s changed how he acts towards me and speaks to me...s, so, that’s a positive sign, I guess...”

“Mm hmm, that’s good.” Asao encouraged from the other end. “So he’s definitely not avoiding you or anything.”

Sio shook her head. “No, if anything we’ve actually been spending a lot of time together, lately...heh, who would’ve guessed,” she gave a small laugh. “But, I guess it’s just...I just can’t be sure, right? Who knows if he likes me like, that, or what if it turns out he’s just a really nice guy, underneath all that Jack the Ripper e-gene crap?”

“...Well, that wouldn’t be so bad, would it? At least you know he’s a decent guy then,” offered Asao, but that didn’t seem to console the sniper much, if at all.

“I know, but that’s not what I want!” She lamented, even though she knew how lame it sounded. “I know I know, at least he is a good person, and for sure, I am really glad that he’s not the asshole I thought he was. Trust me, if all we did end up becoming was just good friends, then I guess I’ll accept it, but...” Sio sighed heavily, scrunching up on the sheets.

“...I really like him. Like, I...want to be with him, for real,” she whispered, surprised at the sudden wave of emotions it triggered in her. “I-I mean, maybe it’s too early to say this, but...i-is this, what it means to...fall in love?”

“Ah...Sio-chan...” Even Asao seemed to be at a loss for words, Sio clutching the pillow to her chest as she tried to get rid of this heavy ache. “...If you have such strong feelings for him, then, I think there’s really only one thing to do.”

“What?”

“You should tell him,” was Asao’s response, Sio having frozen at the blunt suggestion. “I’m serious, Sio-chan. I know you, and the longer you keep holding it in, the worse you’ll feel.”

“B-But, but...what if he—argh—doesn’t...like me back?!” The poor girl nearly sobbed into the phone, still caught up in her emotions. “I just don’t know if I could handle that kind of rejection...”

“Now Sio-chan, you’re stronger than that,” her friend’s voice took on a stern tone. “Even if he rejects you, so what? Life goes on; trust me, if that happens it won’t be the end of the world. You’ll encounter a lot more challenges later on, after this. You can’t let this one thing dictate the rest of your life.”

Sio sniffed and wiped her tears, knowing Asao was right. “...I, I know... You’re right, Asao-san...I-I mean, I’m already half-resigned to just remaining friends anyway, so...” She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “...You’re right. The worst part about this is just not knowing the truth. If he really isn’t interested in me, then fine; at least I can say I tried, and hopefully we’ll still be friends.”

“Sasuga, Shio-chan. I know you can do it.” Sio smiled at her friend’s encouragement. “Now you should be getting some rest. Tomorrow’ll look a lot better through fresh eyes.”

“Hai...oyasumi, Asao-san.”

“Oyasumi nasai, Shio-chan.” --------- “Mornin’ Ogura. You sleep alright?” Adam greeted the girl as she came down the stairs, a huge yawn tearing from her mouth. 

“Hnn...ohayou, Adam-san...” She rubbed her eyes, Asao’s words from last night still turning themselves over in her mind. Tell him... hah, as if she could just blurt it out. If only she could plan it out beforehand, but no; experience told her that whenever it involved her and Adam, nothing ever went according to plan.

“Sunny-side up eggs alright with you?” The sniper nodded in thanks, before wandering over to the cupboards to fix herself some tea. “...Everything alright?”

“H-Huh? Wh, what do you mean...” She nearly dropped the cup, but caught it just in time. “I’m just, tired...stayed up too late talking to Asao-san again...” Adam’s perception was incredibly sharp; she’d have to watch herself to make sure she didn’t give anything away.

“...I see. How’s she doing, by the way?”

“Eh. Same as usual...from the sound of it, Japan’s doing okay, except they’re not in school right now so she says it’s kind of boring staying inside all day.” Before she knew it, she had somehow automatically made two cups of tea, even though Adam usually drank coffee in the morning. “Oh, ah...I forgot, you usually drink coffee, don’t you, Adam-san?”

He glanced over at the mugs just as the eggs finished and he slid them onto a plate, alongside the bacon, toast, and other trimmings. “Sure, but I don’t mind tea, either. Remember, I’m British,” he winked at her, “and we take tea very seriously.”

Sio found herself blushing at that playful wink, and before she knew it her lips curled into a small smile. Every time he did one of those little quirks towards her, she felt herself growing warm. As they ate their breakfast in a now-comfortable silence, she thought back to what she’d told Asao last night. About how she was resigned to just remaining friends, and accepting it, if he didn’t feel the same...

‘...But is that really true? Could I really be satisfied with just staying friends?’ That was what she’d claimed, but thinking on it now, and especially with the two of them like this already... Biting her fork, Sio was beginning to think she wouldn’t be able to settle for anything less than going all in. If she was rejected, then fine--that would be something out of her control, but to not even try...

“Say. You got any plans today?” She looked up with a start at Adam’s question. Why would he be asking her this now... Pretending everything was fine (when it was definitely not), she gave a casual shrug.

“Not really. I-I mean, aside from the usual stuff...was probably just gonna try and finish my FF7 file, since we’ve only got like, a week left...”

He nodded. “Yeh; seems like time was slow and fast all at the same time, didn’t it?”

“Heh, yeah it did; oh man, I remember when we first got here, and I was complaining about how I was gonna survive a month with everyone...but, now that we’re almost at the end, I’m actually gonna miss it...” She gave a melancholy smile, stirring the leftover bits of eggs.

“Well, I was thinking of just going for a drive along the shoreline. Maybe get out and walk along the beach...” For a few seconds there was only the sound of forks scraping the plates, as Sio’s heart started to pound in nervous anticipation, while Adam turned away so she couldn’t see his blush.

“...Is it, just...you?”

“...Well, that depends; you wanna come with?”

Their eyes met for a second, and Sio was sure she was probably redder than a tomato—but the strange thing was, Adam was also oddly pink, with an expression she’d never seen before. Later on, she would realize it was a sign that he’d been just as nervous as her, but in the heat of the moment, all she could think of was how to not make a fool of herself.

“U-Uh, I—I um, I...I’d like that,” she heard herself saying, though the voice seemed to come from somewhere outside her body. “If it’s...okay...”

“Of course; it’s definitely more than ‘okay’.” He got up to clear their plates, Sio grateful he couldn’t see her smile. 

‘He’s actually taking me somewhere...just the two of us...! Wait, is this like a...date?!’ Her excitement was suddenly replaced with a bolt of fear, as Sio’s mind finally realized the possible implications of this. ‘Oh no, what do I do...! Maybe I should change—but into what? It’s not like I packed anything nice since all we’d be doing was lounging, not going out—’

Luckily she was saved from indecision by Adam announcing that he’d already written a note for the other two, and it would be easier if they left now before they woke up. They packed some water and of course, the usual masks and hand sanitizer; then Adam was easing them out of the driveway and onto the hilly streets, Sio finally sitting shotgun for once.

The car was awkwardly silent, Sio wrestling internally with wanting to start a conversation but not knowing what to talk about. In the end, she simply turned on the radio, and the two listened to whatever the latest hits were as the car wound its way out to the coast. At least the breeze was nice, Sio enjoying the fresh air while she subtly watched Adam shifting the gears; somehow, just watching his fluid actions, and trying to understand how everything worked, was quite interesting.

“Huh...so you have to shift in order...” she muttered to herself, unaware of actually speaking it out loud.

“Eh? You interested in drivin’, squirt?”

‘Ah! I did it again...speaking my thoughts...!’ The sniper tried not to panic, instead pointedly looking out the window.

“N, No, it’s just...I’m curious as to how you, uh, drive. Y’know, with the gears and all.”

Adam shrugged, navigating with one hand as they drove along the highway. “Mm, you learn it with practice, like everything else. Why, you want a driving lesson before this is all over?” He teased, shooting the girl a small grin. “Personally I’d recommend starting with an automatic, if you’ve never driven before...”

“No no, it’s fine; I highly doubt I’d need to right now, anyway...” Sio commented dryly. “...By the way, is it true? What Jess-san said...”

“About what?”

“That, you...also owned a motorcycle.”

So. She remembered. “...Yeh, it’s true. I do have a bike; it’s not here right now, though DOGOO has offered to ship it to one of their bases...” The sniper’s maroons grew wide at this piece of news, and inwardly Adam cursed at not having the foresight to having it shipped over. ‘Perhaps we could’ve gone for a ride on that instead...’

“Whoa...that’s so cool...” Sio mumbled, cheeks flushing. “Man, you’re like, perfect...you can do so many things, like—how do you even know all this stuff? And be good at them?”

To her surprise Adam started laughing. “Oh ho, perfect now, am I? That is definitely not the case...and if I really were perfect, then how come I still have trouble with speaking my mind or not being an arse?” He eyed her with a glance and the sniper’s cheeks turned pink, to his pleasure. “Besides, I’m pretty sure that was not your impression of me when we first met.”

“W, Well, still...I just feel so...I dunno, useless next to you—and everyone else, for that matter, sometimes...”

Adam didn’t respond, instead pulling the car into a space as they finally made it to their destination. Sio wasn’t sure if he was exasperated at her whining, or something else.

“C’mon Ogura, let’s go for a walk, yeh? Think that’ll clear your head a bit.”

“Ah...” She put her mask and silently followed him, right along the waves crashing against the rocks. The day had been cloudy for a change, and Sio shivered slightly, even with a jacket. It seemed San Francisco’s weather changed as often as her moods; sunny one day, and chilly with fog the next, sometimes in the same day. 

“Brr...it sure is cold here,” she rubbed her arms, the wind piercing through her thin sweater. “Isn’t it supposed to almost be summer?”

“Hmm, reminds me a lot of home, actually. Well, granted it’s not nearly as cool, but, the overcast fog...” Before she could say anything else, Adam was shedding his jacket and gently laying it across her shoulders. “Here, this better?”

“Ah, uh...th-thanks...” There wasn’t much she could say, without revealing her true feelings—instead Sio simply nodded, hugging herself as she slipped her arms through, the fabric still warm from his heat. ‘Mmm...of course it smells like him...it’s comforting, somehow...’

“Don’t worry about me, squirt,” Adam answered before she could even ask. “The cold doesn’t bother me much; in fact, I find it rather refreshing.”

“O-Oh...w, well, if you say so...” She didn’t even need a mirror to know her cheeks were pink at this point—in fact her entire head felt like it was on fire as they walked in silence along the trail, despite the sea breeze. In an effort to distract herself, Sio took in the sights: the grey-tinged clouds, waves that broke along the rocks, and the occasional seagull brave enough to dive into the water. The air smelled briny and cold, similar to Tokyo Bay—but again different. It was mesmerizing to stare out at the waves, how they grew, then crashed, receded and then it started all over again. A few joggers and bikers were out, but it seemed most folks chose to stay indoors when the weather turned.

They hiked to an outlook with a few benches, Sio taking a water break as Adam leaned over the railing, taking in the view himself. She desperately wanted to break the silence, but at the same time, she didn’t know what to say. Even if Adam had other reasons for asking her to come with, somehow, it felt wrong to force the question.

“You doin’ alright, Ogura?” Adam turned around, nodding at her newly-acquired jacket. “Let me know if you’d rather head back. Wouldn’t want you t’ get sick.”

“I’m okay, thanks to you...” She hugged herself again, as if to remind herself this was real. “U-Um, A-Adam...” he turned around slightly, and Sio felt her heart rate speed up, but she couldn’t stop now. “Th, this place...um, s-so...why did you ask me to...come with you...”

“...Hn. That is a good question.” He wasn’t looking at her directly, but she knew he was paying close attention. “I can’t say I really know why, myself...just, I thought you might like some fresh air, for a change.” He shrugged casually, and Sio felt her heart drop a bit, even though a part of her was also relieved.

“And, well...truthfully it’s because, I guess I’ve come to enjoy spending time with you, is all.”

The sniper froze again, at that comment. ‘No way...it can’t be, is he really serious...is he, really saying what I think he is...!’ She wasn’t even sure what to respond, how to respond—to anybody else perhaps, it would’ve been plain as day that Adam was admitting he liked her, and yet, her insecurities wouldn’t let her believe it.

“A-Ah, y-yeah...um, I, I do...like being out of the house, once in a while...” She was stuttering and trembling, all limbs going numb because there was just no way this could be real, it couldn’t be what she’d really wanted, all along...

“Well, that’s...good to know.” He was coming over now, hands tucked inside his pockets as he sat down next to her. “By the way, I apologise for being blunt, but...I hope I’m not botherin’ you, dragging you out like this. It’s just...well, you often seem so glum about your inexperience and such, I...wanted to see if I could take your mind off that. Y’know, you’re doing quite well, for a rookie. ”

“Eh? N, no, not at all...” Sio wasn’t quite sure what to make of his words; of how he wanted to try and cheer her up, and to know she wasn’t doing as poorly as she constantly thought... “I’m, glad to hear that...b-but, if I’m doing so well, then how come you’re still teasing me about messing stuff up? And don’t even get me started on before...you used to yell at me all the time, or complain about this or that...”

To her surprise he began to laugh slightly, Sio feeling her cheeks burning in a mix of indignation and embarrassment. “Heh, you aren’t wrong; I admit communication isn’t exactly one of my better skills...and here you were saying how I was perfect,” he turned towards her at last, a small smile on his face. “But spending time with you, like this...has changed my mind.”

“Um...” Her voice quivered before she knew it, Adam quirking a brow at her sudden nervousness. “U-Um, I, y, you...” There was no way she could weasel out of this one, now. They were literally sitting next to each other, Adam had all but confirmed that he liked her and didn’t think she was a mere ‘half-baked squirt’; so why was she still trying to deny it?

“Y, You...probably shouldn’t say things like that,” she uttered quietly, picking at the sleeves of her borrowed jacket. “You don’t have to baby me, you know...I can handle the truth...”

Now it was Adam’s turn to look astonished. “...Beg pardon? You think I’m just buttering you up for something?” There was slight cough, as if he couldn’t quite grasp her logic. “I meant what I said, Ogura. I wasn’t joking around or talking shit just to make you feel better,” she winced slightly at his words. “If there is one thing I wish you would improve, it’s your confidence. And I’ll admit, I haven’t been conducive to that, especially in the beginning...but surely you don’t have that low of an opinion of yourself? After all you’ve accomplished in such a short time?”

“B, But, I...it can’t...” The sniper shook her head, frustrated because she knew Adam was right. Even before DOGOO, speaking up for herself and having self-confidence was always hard for her. Even if it caused her loneliness, it was easier than stepping out of her comfort zone, dealing with those awkward looks and moments where people never seemed to know what to do with her. “I...how, how can someone like you see that in me?”

“...What exactly do you mean by that?” His gaze was piercing, but not cruel. “What do you mean, ‘someone like me’?”

“Y-You, you’re...you’re the leader of the Second Platoon, you can do pretty much anything you want—cooking, cleaning, killing EIOs without breaking a sweat, driving, riding a bike, video games, keeping us on track...” She was rambling now, she knew, but Sio couldn’t stop. “How can I...possibly be good enough?”

“‘Good enough?’ For what? To be a part of this platoon?” She didn’t need to see his face to know Adam was upset. “That’s certainly not the case—you really think you’d still be here if you weren’t good enough—”

“—I know that! That’s...not what I’m talking about...” How was it that someone who was so smart could also be so dense? Did she really have to spell it out for him...!

“Then what are you talking about?” Adam sighed, starting to become irritated with her half-answers and nonsensical words. “Can you not just say it straight, Ogura, for once?

“—How can a hanninmae like me possibly be good enough for you?!” She burst out at last, not even thinking about anything else other than what she had to say, at the moment. She felt the man next to her instantly stiffen at her words, the sniper herself too emotional to look. 

There was a seemingly endless stretch of silence after that, Sio squirming with embarrassment but knew she couldn’t turn away, not after all those words. It seemed like forever before the man next to her moved, Sio staying frozen in her spot.

“...Y’know, you really are something else, Ogura Sio.” She didn’t dare look at him in the face, not yet. “It’s funny that you say that...feeling that you’re not good enough for me...when I’ve...been wonderin’ the same about myself.”

“Eh...?” In one moment she forgot she was supposed to be avoiding his eyes and turned around, only to be met with a strangely bashful and...nervous Adam? “What, you...about me?”

Huh? Huuuh? The sniper’s mind flew into a frenzy, suddenly overwhelmed by the revelations—namely that Adam actually ‘like’ liked her, and he was insecure about himself? “A-Ano...wha, but you, I...”

“Need me to spell it out for you, squirt? Alright then, I’ll just say it straight: I like you, Ogura; a lot. And it’s not just friendship. You’re no fool, you know what I’m talking about. But I don’t want to force you into something if you don’t feel the same way. Least of all if you’re uncomfortable with the fact that we’ll be continuing to work together after all this.”

He was right. Technically, as members of DOGOO they still had a duty to work together, professionally. Rules aside, she knew that if they committed to a relationship with each other, it could potentially make things very messy. And yet...

“...I, I...don’t care about that. I-I mean, yes, I know it’s probably not the smartest or most logical idea, but...” She finally glanced up, trying not to let her tears fall. “I can’t change my feelings...heh, I think even if there were some kind of rule in place...it wouldn’t change my heart. ‘Cause I, I...really like you, Adam...a lot...”

“...Well, let’s be real, since when were either of us good about following the rules, anyway?” With that one statement, the tension seemed to crack, and Sio couldn’t help but burst into giggles, Adam following suit as the two just laughed.

“You’re pretty when you smile, you know that?” 

“Ah—I, uh, mmm...” She blushed as Adam wiped her tears with a tissue. “Y, You should smile more, too...you’re much less scary when you do...”

Adam quirked a white eyebrow.  “Oh? You found me to be intimidating? Well, I guess that’s another thing I’ll have to work on, huh?” 

“We should both work on it. How to smile better.” The sniper screwed her mouth into a smile-grimace, which only caused the white-haired holder to laugh harder. “H-Hey, I’m trying...!” But she couldn’t help but laugh, too.

It felt like forever since they’d come here for their original purpose of hiking, but as Sio checked her watch, in reality it’d only been about half an hour. And yet everything before that point was now completely different; her feelings, perspective, and most of all what she and Adam were to each other, now...

“U-Uh...Adam-san...? Does, does this mean...well, what are we, now? Does this mean we’re...going out? Like dating?” Her face still flushed as she stumbled over those words, unused to saying them out loud.

He smiled at her, before gently taking her hand for the first time, Sio squeaking in surprise as his fingers closed around hers. “Sure, I suppose...I mean, I don’t really know much myself...but if that’s what you want, then I’m fine with it. Which means...guess I’ll be your boyfriend, from now on. Or lover, partner...” Those fingers brushed against her palm and she shivered; at last she could feel him in an intimate manner, but when it actually happened suddenly she felt very shy, even though it was nothing close to what she fantasized about.

“Mmm...I, I want that. Th-then, I’m...your girl...friend, now,” she nodded to reassure herself, squeezing his hand tightly in return. “Though, I’m not sure I want to tell everybody about it, yet...you know, like Newton and Gandhi...I, I’m sure eventually I’ll be okay, but just, for now...”

Adam nodded, rubbing her shoulder in a reassuring manner. “Same; frankly, it’s none of their business, and knowing what gossips those two are...” He rolled his eyes. “I’m sure it’s bound to come up, sooner or later...but for now, let’s just have this be our little secret, yeh?”

Sio couldn’t help but smile as they walked back to the car. “Hai! Oh, and uh, one last thing...” Adam gave a quizzical look as they got in. “U-Um, it’s okay to call me...’Sio’ now. Just ‘Sio’.” 

Something warm bloomed inside her chest as she said that, more so when Adam’s cheeks turned pink (he was so cute when he blushed), before he nodded. “Of course...Sio. But that means, from now on...I’m just ‘Adam’, too.”

“Okay...Adam.”

[tvdversefanfiction]

Canary Carnage

Fandom’s: The Originals, Arrowverse, TVDverse and DC Universe.

Chapter One: Earth Blood

Warnings: I don’t own any of the rights, content or characters belonging to any of the DC content I use within the story along with not owning any rights, content or characters within The Vampire Diaries, Originals or Legacies.

15+ Rating: Moderate/Graphic displays of violence, sexual innuendos, sexually charged scenes, strong language and potentially triggering scenes.

Pairings: M/M, F/F, M/F.

Laurel Lance was a powerful district attorney within Star City, a job she had well and truly earned through dedicating her life to her work but something which wasn’t very well known as Star City’s D.A. was that by night she was someone else entirely Black Canary.

Laurel had been a meta-human her entire life without knowledge of her special DNA until the day she learned her first love Oliver Queen and her sister Sara Lance died the day the Queen family’s boat Gambit crash and sunk within the sea which is when she released her first canary cry.

The joint death and betrayals from her lover and her sister could’ve sent Laurel down a wayward path but instead she chose a path of heroism as she became the Black Canary vowing to make sure her city was safe from any further tragedies knowing her city needed saving from its dark underworld.

Laurel’s younger brother chose a very different path to his sister following the deaths of Oliver Queen and Sara Lance. Laurel’s brother Lucas Lance struggled to cope with his sister Sara’s death especially after their father Quentin Lance passed away and decided to start impacting suffering on others instead of having to feel it himself therefore becoming Red Canary.

After one too many run ins with his older sister Lucas moved to Gotham City knowing he’d have more fun there torturing the bat family and making alliances with the likes of The Joker, Harley Quinn and Bane before being ran out of the city by the bat family not long after a brief stint in Arkham Asylum pushing him towards a reunion with his sister back in Star City where a years long feud would conclude in a very unexpected way forcing both Lucas and his sister Laurel to become allies in a very different world to which they were used to.

“Why couldn’t you just stay away?” The Black Canary asked her brother the Red Canary while the two stood in an alleyway within Star City as Red Canary snapped the neck of a random man before throwing his lifeless body to the ground.

“Gotham was fun and everything I just missed my big sister I mean sure Bats and his family of do goodies are a good challenge and everything, but nothing quite beats your own family you know what I mean.” Red Canary explained to his sister while walking towards her.

“I see you’re just as psychopathic as the last time I saw your crazy ass!” Black Canary snapped at her brother while the two began walking closer and closer towards each other. “I know my brother is still in there somewhere and I know you’re the last of my family, but I can’t let you harm anymore people.”

“I had a feeling you’d say that.” Red Canary replied as the brother and sister stopped walked as the brother and sister now stood in front of each other.

At the exact same time both Black Canary and Red Canary began to shriek releasing their sonic screams at the same time both screams in the direction of the others forcing windows, buildings and the earth itself to begin shaking underneath their feet as their screams grew louder and louder until they ripped open a dark red portal appearing in between the two of them much to their own shock as each found themselves stopping their canary cries to look on in shock.

They had each seen portals before to other worlds within the multiverse which they both knew existed but none quite like this but before they could properly examine the mysterious portal they both found themselves pulled flying into the red portal from different directions before the portal closed itself taking the Black Canary and the Red Canary to somewhere totally different to where either had ever been before.

The Black Canary and the Red Canary found themselves falling from the sky before crashing through a series of branches before eventually crash landing onto the grounds of the bayou within the city limits of New Orleans, as the two slowly raised to their feet they had no idea where they were world or city.

“What the hell just happened?” Black Canary asked her brother.

“I think we must’ve screamed ourselves a portal to somewhere...although I have no idea where.” Red Canary replied while looking around the bayou.

“Typical I tried to get rid of you once and for all and you pull me into another earth.” Black Canary snapped at him.

“Oh, please Dinah it took two cries for this to happen not just one.” Red Canary told her. “I know it’s easier for you to blame everything on me, but you fuck up just as me sis.”

“My name is Laurel.” Black Canary reminded her brother as she punched him across the face. “But it’s Black Canary to you jackass and I’m not your sister…not anymore!”

“Fine then get your own way home or not…Star City would be much more fun without you.” Red Canary replied before super speeding out of sight only to super speed back onto the same spot. “Okay that’s new…what the hell was that?”

“I guess this earth has different rules to the others.” Black Canary said before she super sped out of sight for a moment before returning to the same spot just like her brother just did. “I guess our meta-human abilities are different on this earth.”

“Cool,” Red Canary said with an excited smile on his face. “I wonder what else this earth has to offer.”

The Red Canary looked around the bayou for a moment before releasing his shriek causing his sonic scream in the process as his Black Canary cry grew louder and louder before the entire earth began shaking viciously as the wind grow more chaotic and trees began being pulled from their roots before flying and crashing into other trees the very earth itself rising as this part of bayou was left completely destroyed by his scream unearthing all dirt and destroying everything within distance before Red Canary stopped his scream.

“I guess we’re stronger in every way in this earth.” Black Canary stated while being left in shock by the carnage her brother had just created before the Red Canary super sped out of sight. “Which isn’t good for anyone on this earth with you on the loose.”

Laurel found herself back in normal clothes thanks to a quick stop/break in to a closed down clothes store on the outskirts of New Orleans managing to find something acceptable to wear before stealing a car and driving her way towards New Orleans.

She didn’t know much about this earth, but she knew if she could get to a city she could hold tight there why trying to work out if this earth’s versions of her allies could be trusted and if they couldn’t then she would just have to make New Orleans her base of operations until she worked out how to get home choosing not to think about the carnage her brother would cause in the meantime and Lucas was definitely living up to his reputation.

Just like his sister Lucas had found himself a change of clothes although he chose a much more violent approach in doing so as he attacked a man in a nearby bikers themed dive bar parking lot located within the outskirts of New Orleans knocking the man unconscious and stealing his clothes before walking into the bar for a drink expecting plenty of carnage to follow knowing by the end of first drink he was going to blow the roof of the dive bar.

It didn’t take Lucas long upon walking into this dive bar to notice that most of the people in there already didn’t like the look of him but it’s not like he cared in fact it just gave him more reason to kill them all not like he needed a reason.

“I’ll have a Pina Colada please,” Lucas ordered from the tall body builder-built bartender who laughed at his choice of drink. “Maybe you didn’t hear me the first time around…so I’ll get a little louder.”

Lucas released a canary cry aimed directly at the bartender’s forcing the bartender backwards before his entire head exploded with an explosion of blood which found itself falling on the counter and Lucas himself before the headless bartender’s body fell to the ground gushing out more blood onto the floor.

“Now is someone going to make me a god damn Pina Colada or am I going to have to kill every last one of use?” Lucas shouted to the entire bar who were shocked by his act of inhuman violence, demanding their attention. “Because honestly I do love my Pina Colada’s but killing everyone in here would give me just as much joy.”

Lucas did get his Pina Colada after a few more canary cries killing half of the people in the bar only to thank the survivors by using his enhanced canary cry to turn the bar into nothing but rubble after finishing his drink only to walk out of the rubble beyond happy with himself knowing the carnage he created as he began to love this new world he had found himself in and began feeling invincible even to the likes of a certain bat family.

Several Days Later

Rebekah Mikaelson had agreed to accompany Marcel Gerard back to New Orleans as she tried her best to convince him to give up his ties to the city forever so the two could start a new life together knowing her family couldn’t intervene due to the fact neither Rebekah, Klaus, Elijah or Kol could be anywhere near each other without the hollow which was within the four original vampires trying to escape and find it’s way back to possessing Rebekah’s niece Hope which neither she, her brothers Kol or Elijah, her mother Hayley Marshall and especially her father Klaus would dread.

So with her brothers especially Klaus no longer having control over her life or threatening to murder yet another lover Rebekah was determined it was time for her to finally have the life she had always dreamed of one filled with love, laughter and the possibility of children however she knew if she was to have it with the upgraded original Marcel then he had to give up on New Orleans a city she was once it’s queen.

This particular visit to New Orleans didn’t end well for her as the girl who fell in love too easily once again found herself drowning her sorrows within Rousseau's following heartbreak as she called time on her relationship with Marcel following his refusal to give up on New Orleans and her refusal to give up on getting him to give up on the city.

“Well if it isn’t Rebekah Mikaelson what has it been 5, 6 years since you came anywhere near New Orleans?” Hayley said after vamp speeding herself into the bar to stand next to the original woman vampire.

“Well if it isn’t my brother’s baby mama Hayley Marshall.” Rebekah replied as she stood up and hugged her friend. “What can I say New Orleans just doesn’t have the same appeal as it used to.”

“Yeah I must admit it’s a lot quieter in this city since you and your siblings left…how is Elijah?” Hayley asked her.

“Last time I heard he was a pianist in a delightful bar somewhere in France I may have visited him once or twice from a distant of course over the years. He seems happy the lucky sod doesn’t remember any of us.” Rebekah revealed to the mother of her niece.

“I hope he gets to live a peaceful life at least one of us should.” Hayley told Rebekah. “I guess by the fact you’re here means Marcel’s back in town too?”

“Yeah and he’s going to be staying here.” Rebekah admitted as she sat back down at the bar and ushered the bartender to fill up her glass. “I however intend to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

“Oh, I see I guess he made the wrong choice then if it helps any, I’d choose you over a city any day.” Hayley said, trying to reassure her friend as she sat down at the bar next to her. “Anybody not willing to give up everything to be by your side is a fool and we’ve both been with too many fools to suffer any more of them.”

“You are as always correct,” Rebekah laughed as she downed her drink in one go. “Tell me where I can find my sister Freya is, she still staying at the compound with you?”

“Yes and she’s still pretty relentless in finding a way of removing the hollow but getting nowhere although she’s getting somewhere in her personal life as Keelin’s moved in too between them and Hope when she’s on holiday from the Salvatore Boarding School the compound still has some life left in it.” Hayley replied while ushering the bartender to get her and Rebekah drinks. “Have you heard from Klaus? Hope really hears from him and even when she does it’s a card or present on special occasions and I’m growing quite sick of him not being a part of her life I mean sure he can’t be in the same place as here but picking up a phone isn’t the hardest thing in the world I mean at this point even Kol keeps in contact with Hope more.”

“Niklaus is a stubborn old fool at the best of times I don’t think he’s taken this whole separation thing too well I’ve not heard from him or seen him since the day we took in the hollow he’s cut off ties from us all.” Rebekah told Hayley. “Kol’s the only brother I actually hear from and all he ever wants to talk about is his broken heart over Davina…I guess she really is Marcel’s daughter after all.”

After a few drinks in Rousseau’s with Hayley, Rebekah decided to take it to the streets to get her next drink although this one was admittedly bloodier as she found herself in a nearby alleyway fangs deep into a compelled woman until suddenly she heard a piercing scream which was met by a gust of wind sending the original female vampire flying across the air before hitting the ground breaking her compulsion on her victim at the same time who began running away as Black Canary dropped from the sky landing on both feet.

“Since when did witches start wearing masks?” Rebekah asked her as she rose back to her feet. “Oh well that doesn’t really matter since I’m about to kill you.”

Rebekah vamp sped hallway towards the Black Canary before the Black Canary let out her canary cry once more causing the entire alleyway to shake by the vibration of her powerful scream as Rebekah was put to a halt unable to move further as the scream grew louder in her ears until the force of it made her drop to her knees as blood began pouring from her eyes and ears before the Black Canary stop her canary cry and began to walk towards the original female vampire.

“Vampires are different here although it makes sense considering I’m different here too.” The Black Canary told Rebekah as she continued walking towards the original female vampire who was severely weakened by her canary cry. “Doesn’t seem to be any heroes around here however, maybe that’s why I’m here.”

“Who the bloody hell are you?” Rebekah asked the masked vigilante in between her groans of pain.

“I’m the Black Canary and I’m here to save this city heck I’m here to save this world.” Black Canary declared before releasing another canary cry this time directly aimed at the original female vampire’s head, her cry growing louder and louder until Rebekah’s head exploded in a burst of blood and guts which is when the canary cry ended. “Guess decapitation still works for vampirism in this bloody earth…hmm Earth Blood welcome to Earth Blood Laurel Lance.”

The Black Canary wasn’t the only Canary who had worked out this world played by different rules bloodier rules than any earth he had been to before but unlike the Black Canary the Red Canary loved the violence in this world with no heroes to get in his way or at least that’s what he thought until his latest act of terrorism on a little magic shop had him coming face to face with the self-proclaimed king of New Orleans himself Marcel Gerard.

“You’re going to want to let that witch go before you piss me right off!” Marcel warned the Red Canary after vamp speeding his way into the magic shop within the French Quarter of New Orleans to find the Red Canary choking the store owner.

“And just when I was starting to have my fun.” The Red Canary replied before snapping the store owner’s neck, throwing her body to the ground and turning to face the upgraded original. “Please don’t tell me you’re this city’s hero where’s your mask?”

“I think the better question is why are you dressed up like some bad BDSM Halloween combo?” Marcel asked the Red Canary while looking his red leather jacket, trousers and mask up and down before laughing at his look.

“Okay now you’ve pissed me off.” The Red Canary stated before super speeding over to Marcel and punching him across the face.

Marcel vamp sped a punch in the canary’s direction only for the Red Canary to block his punch before kneeing Marcel in the stomach and headbutting the vampire once more before kicking him to the ground.

“This city’s answer to a hero is a vampire,” The Red Canary scoffed. “I guess I’ll call this earth: Earth Blood.”

Marcel vamp sped his leg to trip the Canary up before throwing himself on top of The Red Canary and pinning him to the ground.

“What the hell are you?” Marcel shouted at him, while keeping the canary trapped under him.

The Red Canary released his canary cry straight upwards towards Marcel who due to him being so close to the canary felt the full pain of the canary’s cry as it grew louder and louder until Marcel’s head exploded within a burst of blood that completely covered the Red Canary’s face and body.

“Ugh, yup Earth Blood really does fit this place.” The Red Canary mumbled to himself as he threw Marcel’s headless body of him, throwing it across the shop floor and getting back to his feet. “I guess this means this city’s mine now.”

“Yeah I wouldn’t get too ahead of yourself there his head grows back and when it does, he’s going to be super pissed.” Hayley revealed to him after vamp speeding into the store. “No matter how cool it was your days are now limited after pissing off my friend the only reason I’m even here to warn you is because I really want to know what the hell is with your red leather style?”

“Why do people keep asking me that?” The Red Canary snapped at her. “Does nobody hide their identity in this world? Seems highly idiotic to me but hey that’s not my business.”

“What do you mean by this world?” Hayley asked him.

“What do you mean by his head grows back I thought he was a vampire? Only person I know whose head grows back is clay face and this really annoying elongated guy.” The Red Canary replied with another question.

“Okay you’re just giving me more questions, why don’t you try answering some before his head grows back and your too dead to talk to me.” Hayley snapped at the Red Canary.

“Hmm so this guy is really hard to stay dead you say?” The Red Canary said with a twisted sense of intrigue while walking towards the headless body of Marcel Gerard. “Means I get to keep killing him over and over again.”

“What have you got against him anyway? I know he has a thing for pissing people but the same could be said about anyone from around here.” Hayley asked, determined to get some answer from the mysterious masked vigilante.

“He just got in my way is all kind of like you are now.” The Red Canary replied before turning to walk towards Hayley only to be stopped by The Black Canary who super sped her way into the store and in between her brother and the original baby mama.

“We need to talk now!” The Black Canary snapped at her little brother before grabbing him and super speeding out of sight with him.

“Oh, great there’s two of them,” Hayley sighed as she pulled out her phone and dialed Rebekah’s number only for it to go to the answer machine leaving her no choice but to call Klaus whose phone also went to the answer machine but this time she decided to leave a message. “Klaus I know you listen to these so listen up there’s two god knows what arrived in New Orleans and one of them alone took down Marcel without any trouble I don’t know who they are or what they want but my guess is probably you so you should get to New Orleans and fix this mess before Hope comes home for the holidays.”

“So, I’ve got myself a bloody sore headache thanks to some bitch witch in a mask, but I think she did something else and I need you to check for me.” Rebekah told Freya after vamp speeding into her room in the compound to find her sister sitting on the edge of her bed reading a book.

“Hello sister nice to see you again too.” Freya greeted her younger sister as she placed the book on her bed and stood up to face the original female vampire.

“Sorry sister I’m beyond happy to get to see you again.” Rebekah said as she walked over and briefly hugged Freya. “Now can we get to this masked witch who blew my head up.”

“There’s two of them.” Hayley revealed after vamp speeding into the room. “One man and one woman but I don’t think their witches or at least not just witches.”

“I guess you encountered them too but here’s the thing despite the rudeness of having my head explode on me and having to grow it back giving me one hell of a headache they could come in useful.” Rebekah replied to Hayley.

“I’m glad we’re not jumping straight to bloodshed well more confused than glad how can these maybe witches come in useful?” Freya asked her sister.

“Well that’s where I need you to check for me the thing is after the literal scream from hell which blew my head right off the bloody witch may have done something right.” Rebekah revealed to them both. “I think that scream destroyed the part of the hollow inside of me which means if it did…”

“Then we have just got to make one of them do the same three more times and we finally get rid of the hollow pending of course if we can convince Marcel not to kill one or both of them beforehand.” Haley answered.

“Pending of course if the part of the hollow inside you has been destroyed which seems unlikely considering we’ve literally tried everything.” Freya stated, making clear her disbelief of a sudden cure to her family’s dire situation.

“That’s exactly why you’re going to get your witch on and tell me if I’m finally free from this bloody witch or not because if I am I’m heading to Mystic Falls to see a certain niece of mine face to face for the first time in half a decade.” Rebekah demanded.

“Look my darling sister I get this world is new and anything but I’m still playing by the same rules.” The Red Canary told his sister as the two of them stood within an abandoned building near the docks of New Orleans.

“If you put your stupid pride to one side for a minute then you would realize this earth is unlike any other there’s no doppelgangers no Star City no Gotham City nothing that is on any other earth it’s like we along with everybody we ever knew doesn’t exist here.” The Black Canary informed her brother.

“This world just keeps getting better,” The Red Canary said with a sinister smirk. “No Batman or bat family no Joker or Harley nobody gunning for me except a restorative vampire and you.”

“Okay you realize that’s not a good thing, right? We have no ideas of the dangers of this world…what do you mean by restorative vampire?” The Black Canary questioned him.

“Apparently the vampire I took down today can grow back his own head which I was about to see for myself until you took me to this hell hole which is so like you always going out of your way to spoil my fun!” The Red Canary moaned at his sister.

“Listen you idiot if we don’t tackle this cautiously then we could wind up dead very quickly now what the hell do you mean by restorative vampire?” She snapped at her brother, sick of him not taking their situation seriously.

“Wow you’re really scared, aren’t you?” The Red Canary scoffed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you scared before. That vampire I left headless back at the store according to the she-vamp who was also there his head’s going to grow back.”

“How many special vampires are there in this city because I may have blown a head or two off myself?” The Black Canary wondered.

“Who knows probably a few…you’re really worried about not getting out of here aren’t you?” The Red Canary questioned his sister.

“I guess she’s the brains of this little two masked vigilante operation.” Marcel said to the Red Canary after vamp speeding into the abandoned warehouse. “Unlike you.”

“I don’t know if we’re calling anyone stupid it should be the one who came to find two canaries alone when one canary already took them down by themselves.” The Red Canary tormented the upgraded original.

“Speak for yourself I’m not helping you for all I know this guy could be innocent and has every right of killing you!” Black Canary snapped at her brother.

“Two canaries got us here maybe only two canaries can get us home.” Red Canary replied to his sister, twisting her arm to convince her to help him

“What the hell is a canary other than the bird of course?” Marcel asked them both as The Black Canary looked at her brother, clearly frustrated to be forced into taking her brother’s side before the Black Canary and the Red Canary released their canary cries at the same time forcing the whole building to shake viciously before the ground beneath them and the roof above them began to collapse into itself.

Marcel tried to vamp speed towards them both but it was taking at his strength just to stand still where he was without being thrown across the warehouse as his ears and eyes began to bleed as he began coughing up blood and fell to his knees as the canary cries grew louder and louder.

“Stop!” Rebekah screamed as she sped into the crumbling warehouse vamp style, stopping the two canaries crying at the same time. “We want to offer you both a deal pending of course you stop trying to kill us both.”

“Yeah not interested.” The Red Canary stated before super speeding out of the still crumbling warehouse, as Rebekah helped an injured Marcel to his feet.

“What kind of deal?” The Black Canary asked the original female vampire, eager to find any ally she could trust more than her brother.

Klaus Mikaelson hadn’t been back to the city he called home since he was forced to say goodbye to the hollow following the spell Vincent Griffiths cast to expel the hollow from his daughter Hope and store parts of it in him, his sister Rebekah and his brothers Elijah and Kol and a part of him wondered if he’d ever return to New Orleans over the years but all that changed when he listened to his baby mother Hayley Marshall’s voice message and the several later left by Rebekah who promised a way to get rid of the hollow forever.

For over half a decade Klaus had lost hope in ever seeing his sisters, brothers or daughter even again but now he had finally been given a chance at reuniting his beloved family and he was heading home to do just that not allowing anything to get in his way and god help anyone who wasn’t cooperative with the original hybrid’s plan.

[sciencespies]

How Scientists Are Keeping Irreplaceable Research Going During the COVID-19 Pandemic

https://sciencespies.com/nature/how-scientists-are-keeping-irreplaceable-research-going-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/

How Scientists Are Keeping Irreplaceable Research Going During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Every year for the last half-century, scientists have gone to sea to collect ocean data as part of the Northern Gulf of Alaska Long Term Ecological Research Project. Now, because of the novel coronavirus, the five-decade-long project faces potential data gaps.

Russell Hopcroft, project leader and oceanography professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, says the status of three research cruises planned for 2020 is unclear even as the first is scheduled to depart in five weeks. The research team already decided to replace non-Alaskan team members with Alaskan scientists to reduce the amount of travel involved and drive, rather than fly, to the vessel’s launch point in Seward.

If they can continue, all team members will actively monitor their health for 14 days before boarding, self-quarantining and taking their temperatures regularly. But if the vessel doesn’t sail, the project will see gaps in the physical and biological data scientists have been carefully collecting for decades. “You hate to miss a data point because you never know what any given year is going to look like and whether it’s going to be an important year where something odd has happened,” Hopcroft says.

Hopcroft is one of many researchers scrambling to find ways to continue their research in a rapidly changing world where travel is difficult if not impossible and many university campuses are closing. The National Science Foundation and other agencies are working with scientists to adapt research plans and funding schedules, but many questions remain unanswered.

The village of Qaanaaq, Greenland, sits on the edge of a fjord that is ice-covered in winter.

(Mary Albert)

The Ends of the Earth

NSF has halted deployments to Antarctica, for example. A mid-March flight to bring construction crews to work on projects including the Antarctic Infrastructure Modernization for Science (AIMS) initiative has been delayed for at least a month.

On the other side of the world, Polar Bears International scrambles to continue its remote Arctic fieldwork. Geoff York, the organization’s senior director of conservation, spoke to Smithsonian from self-isolation at his Bozeman, Montana, home after returning from Europe. Much of the team’s upcoming fieldwork to places like Canada’s Western Hudson Bay and Norway has been canceled or put on hold. He says the complex and expensive logistics involved means rescheduling may not be possible.

York says researchers spend years preparing for such projects, including spending the last year on logistics such as caching fuel and food in remote locations. “Some of these are kind of opportunities that are windows in time,” York says. “If they’re missed, trying to come back to do them again can be quite difficult.” York says the nature of the work leaves researchers with few options for alternative arrangements.

“In most of these, there is no Plan B,” he says. Such an endeavor requires “specialized training to do the work of getting out, and most of the cases involve live capture of polar bears out on the sea ice, so definitely not anyone can step in and do that.”

Some scientists bridge the gaps with technology. When the COVID-19 crisis began, Mary Albert, professor of engineering at Dartmouth College, had just begun a four-year project to collaborate with the 600-person community of Qaanaaq, Greenland, to create sustainable energy solutions. The NSF-funded project is slated to begin in April when Albert and her team were set to visit Qaanaaq to learn about the community’s goals and vision.

Because of the remote area’s limited medical resources, however, Albert and her Greenlandic colleagues were concerned about the chance of inadvertently introducing the coronavirus to the community and agreed to postpone the trip to late August or September. In the meantime, the team focuses on emails, phone calls, and teleconferencing to exchange information and gather preliminary data. The researchers had hoped in April to install meteorological stations with sensors and instrumentation to chart soil temperature, wind speed and solar radiation, but that component will have to wait.

“We’ll lose the summer data from that and so it will put us back that way… but it’s definitely not a show-stopper,” Albert says.

​Åsa Rennermalm, associate professor of geography at Rutgers University, is also assessing her data-collecting options. She planned fieldwork for June and August in Greenland, where she is working on a decade-long data project monitoring meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet as it flows through the tundra. If she can’t travel, she will have to hope the instruments she left in place remain and continue to function. The sensors are programmed to collect data every 30 minutes and have a capacity of 40,000 data points, so they should continue to collect throughout the summer. However, when she visits her stations, she performs important calculations to ensure accurate data and troubleshoots any technical issues, which is now impossible.

“To do high-quality observations, you should go and do the discharge measurements once a year at least,” Rennermalm says. “Even if the instrument is running, if we can’t go it will reduce the quality of the data.”

Elizabeth Thomas in Greenland

(Kristen Pope)

Careers in Limbo

One of Rennermalm’s biggest concerns is the impact canceled fieldwork would have on her graduate students. She hopes to bring two graduate students to Greenland to collect data for their PhDs this year.

Elizabeth Thomas, assistant professor of geology at the University of Buffalo, shares those worries. Losing a summer’s worth of fieldwork could be detrimental to a graduate student’s ability to complete their projects and graduate on time—before their funding runs out. Fieldwork is also one of the most sought-after graduate school experiences.

“I’ve had graduate students ask me, ‘So are we going into the field?’” Thomas says. “Because it’s a highlight of their graduate careers to get to do stuff like that, and it’s totally up in the air right now, which is really sad.”

Research in Thomas’s lab also could grind to a halt if her school orders its labs to close, a possibility many colleges and universities must consider. For now, her lab has enacted strict cleaning, hygiene and social distancing protocols, and its members hope to work as long as possible.

Thomas, too, has fieldwork planned in the far north this year. She was to visit Alaska in July and Baffin Island, Canada, in August. While her team didn’t buy plane tickets yet, they already scheduled helicopter time. Overall, she worries about bringing students into the field when so much remains uncertain. “We understand and accept the regular risks related to fieldwork, but this is a whole new thing that we’ve never even considered,” Thomas says. “The nice thing is the science can still happen. It will eventually happen whether we go up this summer or next summer.”

Science in Danger

Despite the challenges, scientists aren’t worried about only their work—they are concerned about the pandemic’s toll on the world. While Hopcroft is in Alaska preparing for three cruises that may or may not happen, gathering equipment and supplies, he emphasizes that whether or not he can collect data this year, safety is everyone’s priority.

“There is the balance to be found between our desire to maintain our scientific work and the health [and] safety of those involved,” Hopcroft says. “At this point, I just keep making contingency plans, but the ultimate decision just before the cruise will be made based on everyone’s safety and the perception of risk.”

Says York: “In the short term, [COVID-19] could have significant impacts on research globally that range from delay to cancelation, from disappointing postponement to significant expense, lost data, and disruption of long-term data sets. Of these, lost data and disruption of long-term data are the most concerning, especially in a time of rapid environmental change and for projects where timing is critical to policy actions. International collaboration will be significantly curtailed as well, across disciplines, as travel restrictions fall into place and borders close.”

Editor’s note, March 20, 2020: This story has been updated to clarify that the Polar Bears International organization does not currently work in Greenland.

#Nature

[ghostmartyr]

SnK 116 Thoughts

tfw all of Yelena’s problems can be solved with murder.

So another chapter, another month of having zero clue how any of this could possibly be fixed. You’ve got Marley, you’ve got Paradis, you’ve got unhappy Eldians on both sides, you’ve got a century of brain washing going without an answer, you’ve...

Ugh.

Let’s just... let’s do this by character, I guess?

Pieck gets first billing as Best Girl.

Wants her father to have a bright future.

Holds Gabi’s hand.

good, pure

Knows Marley’s fucked up.

Knows Zeke’s fucked up.

Does not approve of Falco’s underage drinking.

Probably should have just shot Eren.

Wants happy Eldians.

Trusts her comrades.

Eren.

Make everyone in the world angry.

Especially his friends.

If they aren’t angry enough, try harder.

If anger isn’t an option, despair is good too.

Do punch them in the face once optimal anger achieved.

Do not trust literally anyone.

Do not use Gabi’s name.

ever

her name’s brat now

Do get along with cult.

Do search for brother.

Do lock up all best friends in the world so that in the event of an airstrike they’re all extraordinarily screwed.

Profit.

(Eren, until further plot developments explain what is going on in that head of yours, your plans are stupid.)

Yelena:

“You would all be much happier if you just accepted that the world would be better off without your bloodline and helped out with us eradicating it.”

“Also I have found God and he’s a baseball furry and his little brother.”

Zeke:

Thinks everyone should die.

just everyone

him too

a lot

To which Paradis has responded:

CAPTAIN ELDIA: CIVIL WAR

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?

Further alcoholism can’t make this worse.

“How could we have known that putting all of our eggs in the basket of this woman who keeps shooting bad eggs with her boss who makes a habit of throwing eggs would end badly?”

What I keep coming back to, and keep not having a good answer for, is why in the fuck is this all such a mess? I have made Code Geass and Madoka comments largely in jest, but considering how reckless Eren is being with his public face and international politics, it starts to feel either intentional or careless.

None of his friends are backing him at the moment, barring Jean’s confusion. He’s broken Mikasa’s heart, and Armin and Connie’s trust.

He’s nominally allied with the Yeagerists, but he’s gone to zero effort to be friendly with them. He goes along with Floch’s ticking clock of a schedule, but since leaving his jail cell, he’s been very clear that his only allegiance is to his aim of finding Zeke.

Yelena offers up the rumbling as a way to continue to defend the island before all the Eldians expire, but Eren and Zeke have made the entire world remember the terror of titans. If they ever were willing to forget that one little island, no one is anymore.

Zeke himself believes that the forces of the rest of the world will be at their doorstep soon. Marley’s come first, but the world Yelena describes, where the rumbling deters all further violence against Eldians while their lives slowly end, is a fantasy. There are too many angry voices inside and outside the walls now. One dominant display of force is going to convince the world to leave Paradis alone?

The last time everyone chose to forget Paradis, Paradis came to them and murdered people indiscriminately.

Sure, no more children will be born to become titans.

Eventually.

In the meantime... at absolute best, the Eldians inside the walls go back to being unable to leave the safety of the walls. The titans continue to keep the rest of the world out, and them in.

Only now everyone inside the walls knows that there’s a world outside.

It is much easier to keep people contained when they think they have nowhere to go. Lock all of Paradis back behind their walls, and they’ll eat each other. We already see the Yeagerists. That’s just one group of angry people. With Zeke’s spinal fluid being used to manipulate their entire military, there’s the obvious proof that their government is perfectly fallible.

Paradis has spent years trying to spread out of their box.

The rumbling, at best, crams them back in it until they all die, only opening when every last one of them is gone.

Thanks for being the voice of reason, Jean.

Not to mention that the rumbling itself hinges on the continued consent of the royal line, and a future Founding Titan and royal heir not deciding that this is all stupid and maybe they should use their power a different way. If you keep the Founding Titan and someone of royal blood alive to the end of Eldians, there is always going to be some wiggle room.

All it takes is one Founding Titan touching a royal heir somewhere down the line. Eren and Zeke aren’t unique in their roles. Their work can always be undone.

Yelena’s defense is that certainties can’t be counted on in any country, and it’s true, but she’s so enamored with the possibility of Eren and Zeke’s joint power that she seems to overlook how they won’t be the last holders of that power.

That’s the literal text of the plan.

For Eren and Zeke to not be the last people who can wield this power.

...

Well, you’ll probably be dead before you’re directly confronted with all your plan’s problems, so who cares anyway?

Eldians don’t die out peacefully in this strategy. They will die knowing that their existence is such a blight on the world that the only solution anyone could come up with for peace was to wipe them all out.

“I don’t trust Marley. I want Eldians to be free. But... I trust those... I’ve fought alongside.”

One of my primary complaints about the Marley arc was that the things the protagonists of that arc were fighting for were impossible. They could be good people doing bad things. They could be sympathetic. They could have moments of happiness.

They weren’t ever going to win.

That hasn’t really changed, but I like how Pieck puts it. The people who have been in the trenches with her won’t be so quick to abandon her or their people. It isn’t perfect. It’s still horrific and fucked up and an impossible longshot for Eldians to have any kind of future no matter how this pans out.

But Pieck believes in her friends, while Eren’s tossed his in a dungeon.

Somewhere, in the light of that trust, there can be a path to hope. Maybe.

Fuck Marley, though. The fact that they have the tools and the people to derail an atrocious injustice doesn’t change that they have made themselves into monsters and Eldians their slaves. As antagonists, the Warriors are engaging, but Marley as a greater body continues to just be... wrong.

Yelena’s right to say that the end of titans would free Marley from the chain of violence they’ve been perpetuating, and that is so much more noble than I would care to recognize.

Yes, of course it’s much better if people no longer have the ability to turn other people into slaves and set them loose like rabid dogs on the world.

But if you were going to pick a side of the population in need of elimination, the people who have chosen that path seem far more worthy than the people who are abused in its wake.

(I refuse to talk about Marley without saying Fuck Marley. Fuck Marley.)

Going back to the Eren, what we have is a situation where both of the loudest plans are not good. But Eren’s been content enough to follow along with his brother’s Not Good plan, despite everyone around him having permanent question marks over their head at his intentions.

Zeke’s plan is too destructive for it to go the way Yelena describes. For Zeke, who sees death as a release anyway, that isn’t a concern. For anyone who actually wants Eldians to be okay before they die out, and isn’t blinded by their own fanaticism, it is a concern.

Giving Eren the benefit of the doubt, because someone trying this hard to be a dick probably has some kind of reason, and none of the stated ones make sense, this shouldn’t be a plan that aligns with what he wants.

Unless his plan renders what everyone else does irrelevant. Unless the world seeing him as needlessly aggressive and cruel is more meaningful than being kind to the people he loves most in the world.

Look, I’m sure it’s more complicated than that, but until I stop finding it amusing and a more stable idea than half the other stuff my head’s concocted, Eren’s fucking Zero. Of the Code Geass way.

That happy ending was a fairy tale that shouldn’t have worked, too.

My other theory is that Eren’s going to unmake the world in a way that will permanently destroy him, and he needs his besties to not be near enough to fight him on that.

But all I really know

is that I just want an AU where Paradis rejoins the world as people instead of monsters and find allies and solve Ymir’s Curse without sentencing themselves to death.

And none of these idiots with their dramatics come anywhere close to that. The Survey Corps’ been left crying in a corner while Godzilla shoves them into a locker and kicks over their Lego tower. Godzilla, indeed, appears to be going out of its way to destroy as many Lego towers as possible, so whenever the Survey Corps starts moving, they will absolutely step on a Lego while Godzilla tells them it’s for the greater good.

To be fair, this is probably what happens when a handful of people have enormously powerful plot magic that can put the entire world in danger, and they don’t feel like being diplomatic.

It still leaves me in a permanent state of could you have maybe not? with regards to the choices being made. Because at this point so many horrible choices have been made that it’s pretty obvious that other horrible choices are going to get a full commitment to try to dig out of the grave.

Connie wins for the greatest #mood of the chapter.

In a funny way, we’ve wrapped right around back to the initial premise.

Tiny, powerless humans facing impossible odds.

Only this time, the hero of that story might not be on their side.

Fighting titans never worked for any of Eldia’s enemies. Until technology outside the walls started to advance far enough, no one ever could do anything except fall in the face of titans.

But a tiny band of humans locked away inside the walls looked at all these enemies right outside their gates, and decided that they were no reason to stay inside for the rest of their lives.

They decided, even if it got them all killed, these were obstacles worth fighting.

I can’t object to the story landing back here, but it is exhausting. Everything is in disarray. The possibility of a happy ending isn’t in any of the winning outcomes for any of the presented sides.

Also until canon says otherwise, I’m going to interpret the 104th’s reaction to Armin’s tears as all of them wondering why the fuck Armin’s face does that when he tries to lie.

Jean is not impressed.

Maybe just because you’re not supposed to agree with sterilizing everyone you’ve ever known, but for now I choose to believe that Jean, who last used a knife when trying to make friends out of enemies, really thinks Armin should be better at this.

None of you are good at this.

Try not to get bombed.

And because I’m me and can’t let it go, this chapter continues the trend of Historia’s new status of a plot mcguffin instead of an actual person.

You could literally replace her with that rocking chair and the story told so far this arc would not be impacted.

It’s becoming strange enough that I’m very sure something is going on, because Isayama doesn’t treat his characters like furniture, and more to the point, her entire arc that the anime just butchered is a direct answer to the euthanization crap.

Not addressing that feels like a cop-out. Among the other problems with literally everything the story has said about her role. Something’s clearly up, but that doesn’t make the situation any less aggravating. I mean sure, maybe her showing up would ruin the Drama because she already has her answer to someone trying to destroy her but but but

Lastly, I am glad Mikasa gets speech bubbles. I am also glad that Jean and Connie care for their buddies. And that Armin is so blunt about “he made Mikasa sad so I hit him.” And that Connie’s anger has calmed into Connie’s sadness. Even if I do not care for Connie being sad.

Somehow, you four might just live.

...

Please?

[palmoilmillmachine-blog]

Who's using sustainable palm oil?

Who’s using sustainable palm oil? Eco-Business spoke to three companies that use sustainable palm oil. Why did they take the greener path, and what was their experience on the way?

Sustainable palm oil is regarded by some environmentalists as an oxymoron. How can a vegetable oil linked to deforestation, toxic haze pollution and worker exploitation be in any way sustainable?

But sustainably grown plam oil is possible, to varying degrees, and certification bodies such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) work to ensure that what is marketed as sustainable palm oil is not associated with slash-and-burn forestry and starving orangutans.

Some of the world’s biggest consumer goods firms such as Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive and P&G have made public commitments to sourcing sustainable palm oil. To understand the challenges and benefits of using sustainable palm oil, Eco-Business spoke to three multinational companies.

Mewah Group: Planet before profits

If you want milk in future, don’t slaughter the cow today. The same lesson can be applied to companies and their relationship with the environment, said Danny Chua, senior executive, controlling, for Malaysian edible oils firm Mewah Group.

This principle underpins Mewah’s decision to use RSPO-certified sustainable raw materials. The company churns out a hefty 2.5 million tonnes of vegetable and cooking oil each year, of which 2.15 million tonnes is palm oil. This is 3.5 per cent of global palm oil production.

The Singapore-listed agribusiness firm owns four RSPO-certified palm oil refineries and produces 150,000 metric tonnes of segregated and mass balance plam oil, or about 7 per cent of its total palm oil business.

The decision to start producing sustainable palm oil was driven by both external and internal factors, Chua said. Growing awareness of the impact of palm oil cultivation had led to stronger pressure from consumers, non-governmental organisations, and clients looking to source sustainable palm oil in line with their sustainability policies.

“A lot of our palm oil goes to Europe, where companies have more stringent sustainability standards and sustainable palm oil quotas to meet,” Chua told Eco-Business. “In order to continue the business, our mills were certified in 2009.”

At the same time, pressure from the company’s own board members and investors had intensified, particularly during the haze of 2015, when large parts of Southeast Asia were choked by smoke from burning forests, he added.

“Don’t you think it’s pointless for a company to burn itself out to make huge profits with no regard for the future?” he asked, elaborating that for a business to continue to thrive, short-term profits cannot be the only consideration.

The biggest difficulty with sustainable palm oil is making the economics work as demand for it remains low due to the higher prices involved, he said. While Mewah is willing to bear the potential cost of sustainability — seen in how Mewah’s Cabbage brand sustainable palm oil retails at a higher than average price — Chua hoped that consumers would start to understand the true cost of being unsustainable.

“I hope that consumers can be educated [about sustainability] and the government encourages consumers to choose sustainable palm oil. When that happens, supply will align with demand,” he said.

In the meantime, Mewah is aiming to make its palm oil 100 per cent traceable to plantation by 2018, and source 100 per cent of its raw materials from certified sustainable sources by 2020.

Ferrero: Big brands, big responsibility

Ferrero, the maker of much-loved household brands Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, has emerged as a leader and champion of sustainable palm oil in Europe, even as other Italian food manufacturers avoid palm oil altogether.

When the European Food Safety Authority said in May last year that the commodity posed a potential cancer risk to consumers, the company spoke out in defence of palm oil. Ferrero uses palm oil to give its hazelnut-chocolate spread Nutella a smooth texture and extend its shelf life.

Since then, Ferrero has run an advertising campaign in Italy to reassure consumers and dispel concerns about the safety of Nutella and therefore, palm oil. Sales of the popular spread, which had dipped in the year up to August, bounced back by four per cent following the campaign in September.

Ferrero is a pioneer in the use of sustainable palm oil, and is one of a handful of companies in the world to use 100 per cent RSPO-certified segregated palm oil. The company sourced 180,000 tonnes of palm oil or 0.3 per cent of the 62 million tonnes produced globally.

It has been a member of RSPO since 2005, set up the Ferrero Palm Oil Charter in 2013 to monitor its supply chain, and started using 100 per cent sustainable palm oil in 2015.

“Once the first volumes of sustainable palm oil became available, Ferrero started systematically focusing on segregated palm oil,” said a Ferrero spokesperson, who added that while doing so costs more, the company was dedicated to ensuring the sustainability of its supply.

As a result of its efforts, Ferrero has been recognised by consumers and stakeholders as a leader when it comes to using sustainable palm oil. It is one of three companies on WWF’s Palm Oli Buyers Scorecard 2016 to use only segregated sustainable palm oil and has been recognised by Greenpeace as ‘on track’, in helping to end deforestation.

In 2015, Ferrero also became a member of the Palm Oil Innovation Group, which builds on RSPO standards to create a framework to weed out bad practices in the palm oil supply chain and claims to go further than the RSPO approach.

When asked why Ferrero decided to use sustainable palm oil, the spokesperson said: “Ferrero is aware of the responsibility that comes with having leading global brands, and has always been committed to leveraging its position to transform and innovate the palm oil industry.”

Ikea: Swaying the supply chain

A household name for affordable furniture, Ikea is less known for its efforts at sourcing sustainable palm oil.

According to the company's sustainability report 2016, the global retail giant used 41,686 tonnes of palm oil in 2015. The overwhelming majority—96 per cent—is RSPO-certified segregated sustainable palm oil, the second most sustainable form of palm oil. The remaining four per cent Ikea offsets via RSPO book-and-claim credits.

The versatile vegetable oil is used in three areas of its business: candle-making, food production and food preparation. Candles absorb more than 90 per cent of the palm oil purchased by the Swedish manufacturer, and Ikea-brand food products and kitchen operations utilise only sustainable palm oil.

The last piece of the puzzle is the local food supply chains including one-time purchases from vendors or small-scale suppliers. But Lee Hui Mien, head of sustainability, Ikea Southeast Asia told Eco-Business that the Ikea food team is working closely with its suppliers to explain why sustainable palm oil is necessary, and give them a timeline and provide them with references to experts on sustainable palm oil, such as WWF.

As a result, some of Ikea Southeast Asia’s major suppliers have started using sustainable palm oil in their businesses.

“Our biggest achievement is moving our local suppliers towards using sustainable palm oil as well,” Lee told Eco-Business, while acknowledging that it would take a “longer time” to convince all the food suppliers Ikea Southeast Asia works with.

“Hopefully one day sustainable palm oil becomes the norm, then we don’t even have to talk about it because all the oil you buy will be sustainable,” she added.

Ikea Southeast Asia’s food sourcing team replaced conventional palm oil with its sustainable counterpart in the production in 2015. “It took time to find palm oil suppliers who could provide segregated certified sustainable palm oil as the market was not very developed. We only managed after asking current suppliers to source for it,” Lee said. The cost price was not passed on to consumers—despite the premium on sustainable palm oil for cooking being six per cent over conventional palm oil at the time.

When asked how Ikea communicates palm oil policy, Lee said that Ikea’s emphasis is on secondary communication such as in-store messaging, rather than relying on primary labelling or the use of logos on packaging, which is “not the most cost-effective way”.

Furthermore, palm oil tends to form a small percentage of the ingredients that go into foods. “When labelling chocolate, for instance, you’d choose a Fairtrade cocoa logo over the RSPO one due to its content ratio,” said Lee.