#iron ore train

[atlasandacamera]

The iron ore train in Mauritania

[sepiadays]

John Vachon, August 1941.

[supertrainstationh]

Harecastle by Nigel Capelle Via Flickr: London Midland Class 350 No. 350109 crosses the Trent & Mersey Canal at Kidsgrove with the 13:02 Crewe – London Euston service on 29th March 2016. In the distance, under the railway bridge, is the entrance to Harecastle Tunnel which is made up of two separate and parallel tunnels described as Brindley (2,880 yards or 2,633 metres, opened 1777) and the later Telford (2,926 yards or 2,675 metres, opened 1827) after the engineers that constructed them. Today only the Telford tunnel is navigable. The tunnel is only wide enough to carry traffic in one direction at a time and boats are sent through in groups, alternating northbound and southbound.  For alternative railway photography, follow the link: www.phoenix-rpc.co.uk/index.html to the Phoenix Railway Photographic Circle.

[kvadehuken]

kiruna train station during a late spring

[torsamors]

thinking abt the time i went to college and was like ‘wow ive never seen a passenger train before’ and all my friends made fun of me

[phantom-of-the-north]

Rainbow iron ore car 🌈

[afrotumble]

Mauritania Railway – Choum, Mauritania - Atlas Obscura

Operating since 1963, the iron ore train covers 437 miles (704 kilometers) on its journey across the Sahara Desert from Nouadhibou, on the coast, to Zouérat, an iron mine in the center of Mauritania. Consisting of more than 200 carriages and three or four locomotives, the train can reach over a mile (about 2.5 to three kilometers) in length and carry 17,000 tons of iron ore, making it one of the longest and heaviest trains in the world.

[newsbites]

News from NL, Canada, 31 May

Mount Pearl held their first council meeting since Deputy Mayor Nicole Kieley was seriously injured when she was struck by a vehicle which crashed through the front of Shoppers Drug Mart.

2. NL is on track to soon announce who’s moving on to the second phase in the wind-hydrogen Crown land sweepstakes.

Meanwhile, NL Hydro CEO Jennifer Williams told the Energy NL convention that the province will need to double its electricity output by 2032 in order to meet anticipated demand.

She told reporters the current system is not big enough to accommodate the massive shift to electric over the next decade, adding she fully expects hydrogren to be a key consideration.

“We’re going to have to make a series of decisions to double the electricity system over time. But there’s going to be more decisions that are going to be made into the future. And I fully expect that hydriogen will play role in the ability to supply electricity—so it’s not today, but I fully believe it will have to play a role in the future.”

3. 250 volunteer firefighters have descended upon Gander for a firefighting and emergency services training school.

4. An advocate for survivors of child sexual abuse is continuing to press on government the importance of introducing an age-appropriate body safety program in the school curriculum.

5. Catherine Kelly takes the helm at one of the region's largest marketing firms.

6. The RCMP has released surveillance photos taken during a recent break in at Louis Gee's pizza restaurant in Gander.

7. Premier Andrew Furey will attend the opening ceremony for Rio Tinto IOC’s new executive office in St John's, NL, today.

8. The SPCA has been collecting pets left behind in Halifax as their owners complied with an evacuation order. Peppa the [potbellied] Pig was among the first to be reunited with her owner.

9. Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson has announced amendments to the Atlantic Accord to include renewable and other forms of energy.

He says over 50 gigawatts of offshore wind projects have been installed globally, and that number is growing every day, “demonstrated an enormous economic opportunity for provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.”

Premier Andrew Furey and Energy Minister Andrew Parsons have released a joint statement on the matter.

They call the proposed amendments “significant,” noting that they will ensure joint management of the province’s offshore wind resources, as well as the exclusive jurisdiction of certain coastal waters.

10. Fifty-year-old Jeffery Reid of Trinity Bay North was arrested on weapons charges. Police seized a number of firearms and swords.

11. Charlene Johnson, CEO of Energy N.L., opened the company's conference and exhibtion in St John's with enthusiastic remarks on the current state of NL's energy sector.

More than 600 participants and 50 companies registered, split between oil and hydrogen

12. Bernard Davis, NL's Minister of Environment and Climate Change, will speak at the “Recycle My Electronics” program’s 10-year anniversary celebration today.

[pippastrelle]

It's common trivia that the children of the Big Three have ironic fears.

Percy, son of the sea, fears suffocation.

Hazel, daughter of wealth, fears precious ore.

Nico, son of the underworld, fears the dark.

Bianca, daughter of death, feared dying.

Thalia, daughter of the sky, fears heights.

And though we don't get much screentime with Jason's past, I loved him feeling crushed under the expectations as a son of Jupiter, trained from 2 years old, and volunteered as Praetor.

The son of the king of the gods feared leadership.

[atlasandacamera]

Camels and the iron ore train in the Sahara Desert of Mauritania

[kidlit-queen-competition]

Train fact: the longest* train ever

like all things to do with railways, you can get pretty granular and pedantic with this one, so this is likely to also be the longest post ever. Sorry, but actual facts (and pretty pictures) under the cut!

The longest passenger train in regular service is Australia's 'Ghan, a luxury tourist train that runs between Adelaide and Darwin, and averages 774 m/2,539ft in length. that's twice as long as the Empire State building is tall.

(id in alt)

The reason I say "in regular service" is because the longest passenger train EVER was run by the Rhaetian Railway in Switzerland, to celebrate 175 years of Swiss railways, and that was more than twice that long at 1,910m/6266.4ft. Almost an entire Kentucky Derby worth of train! It had to go incredibly slowly, maxing out at 35km/h, to avoid overloading the electric systems of the railway and local power grids.

[Video desc: a youtube video from CBS news of the recordbreaking passenger train. The train is made up of several red electric trains coupled together, and moves through alpine landscapes of mountainds and coniferous forest. It is so long that it is visible only in coils, like a snake. Some shots show the train leaving one tunnel while entering another, or driving under a viaduct while the tail end crosses it, and several shots show people watching and taking photographs.]

But, the thing with passenger trains is that they have a lot of rules and regulations applied to them that freight doesn't have to follow. So freight trains get HYUGE.

The average American freight train (I consider the USA to be freight trains' natural habitat because there is a whole bunch of wide open space for for them to crawl around) is 5400 feet long, and the standard in Europe is around 3000ft. That's a 10-20 minute walk at average adult walking speed, just to go from end to end. You know when you stop at a level crossing, and a train goes by, and it seems like it's going by forever? That was probably one of these.

But the average frieght train is peanuts to mining trains. Trains came from the mines, and they still dominate there. The biggest trains in the world are consists of ore and coal, run by tiny crews from extraction point to export. This has always been true.

For example, the Datong–Qinhuangdao railway in China runs coal trains daily that are 2.614 km/8576 ft long. That's more than 1.5 miles, or three times as long as the burj khalifa is tall. And that's the standard for that line.

(id in alt)

But that doesn't break any records.

The longest production train, running regularly, is the Sishen–Saldanha railway line's maganese/iron ore train. These trains are four kilometers long. 4,000 meters, almost half the height of the highest peak on earth, in wagons full of metals. Too long to be seen in a single photograph- the one below was stitched together from four separate pictures, taken from the air:

(id in alt)

and that's still not the record!

The record for longest frieght train is held by BHP, an Australian mining company. It was made for the record, but the capacity is still there. This train ran on june 21st 2011, and was 682 wagons long, over seven kilometers. Almost twice the length of the Sishen–Saldanha's, and a quarter the height of Olympus mons. If you stood this train on its end, it would be taller than Mt Denali. If you started at the front of the lead locomotive, and ran as fast as you physically could, you wouldn't reach the last wagon for an hour.

There are entire branch lines shorter than this train.

Unfortunately, there are no good photos, because nobody in space had time for railfanning that day, but there are plenty of pictures of other BHP trains!

(id in alt)

[eretzyisrael]

By Eric Hoffer (LA Times 5/26/68)

The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.

Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russian did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it, Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchman. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese-and no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees.

Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab. Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis.

Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious it must sue for peace. Everyone expects the Jewsto be the only real Christians in this world.

Other nations when they are defeated survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews.

No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Negroes are executed in Rhodesia. But when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him.

The Swedes, who are ready to break of diplomatic relations with America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore, and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.

The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts. And Jewish resources. Yet at this moment Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer had the Arabs and their Russian backers won the war to realize how vital the survival of Israel is toAmerica and the West in general.

I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish the holocaust will be upon us.

[fantomette22]

Sleepover time part two, tell me your headcanons about Gehrman and Maria

Alright so like we talk about, I will mostly concentrate on a list of headcanons about their relationships. Because if I try to talk about the entirety of *check notes* the 15y? they know each other in my main headcanon/interpretation it’s never going to be over. (ok this is really long help)

So that we're clear their relationship is kinda mostly platonic especially when Maria is a student at Byrgenwerth. Gehrman’s view & feelings on her as well as maybe her view on him, began to change some times after she graduate and become a hunter so they already knew each other for a few years already. After well they were kinda too oblivious to figure things out 😅 (their poor friends were becoming crazy). But they did talk and well if the huge problems around hamlet & afterwards didn't happen… they could have built and planned seriously something together eventually…

So basically, he saw Maria at first and was like omg she’s just like me fr. She really reminded him of himself a few years back when he was kinda lost in his life and mostly alone so yeah must protect.

Maria didn’t get many friends at Byrgenwerth at first. She couldn’t stand most of the rich/noble kids and the ones who were not were not very kind to her + she didn’t really know the others. Laurence noticed it and asked Gehrman to check on his students sometimes (on Caryll & Rom too). SO yeah, they ended up talking. A LOT

They can talk about so many subjects for hours! History, culture, art, weapons, fighting technique, literature, freaking flowers, sewing etc and they both like to be able to talk with someone who will listen and engage in those convos as well. But sometimes just being in other other silence & presence is really great as well.

During springtime and planting plants season he asked her opinion on which flowers to plant where. And by knowing when each variety bloom & their colors it really helped him to organize beautiful flower beds.

Speaking of flowers & plants: Gehrman helped her cultivated the first lumen flowers in Yharnam, (that I headcanon they bring back from Loran). + they planted together most of the flowers and trees at the workshop. The trees seem to have a few decades, I guess? Well they planted little / young trees that grow up ;-; (sorry that wasn't supposed to be sad).

Gehrman teach her how to cook several basic meals and make tea. She did teach him how to make Asian noodles too. But yeah, trust only Gehrman to cook in the old Byrgenwerth squad. Also, he taught her a few homemade remedies! (you except him to go to the pharmacy and bring you back medicine? No, he just takes a few dry plants (like raspberry branches or smt!) from a drawer and make the most useful infusion against chronic/stomach or period pain boom! What a gentleman!)

They like to go on walk in the forest together. Either just walk or for training or to found cool rocks I mean iron ore & meteorite

They love stargazing and looking at the moon ^^

He made her an old hunter badge out of siderite of course! (haven't figure out exactly when but hm not too important)

While at Byrgenwerth he made her a lil white wolf figure out of wood for one of her birthdays 🥺 (yeah he made those types of figures for all his friends XD)

He taught her many hunting techniques then fighting/ fencing techniques etc it did really help her and she made him learn a few things as well! (Like proper fencing and Cainhurst semi fencing/dance choreography they have). They trained together a lot.

One of the reasons, he made the mercy blade (beside to have a smaller secondary weapon) was to be able to train properly with her when she got the Rakuyo, so they could both dual wield.

He made her learned how to sew basic things and in exchange she taught him how to do refined embroidery.

I'm still unsure but either she made his red scarf alone or with the help of others, but anyway they gave it to him as a present. He might have done her red neckerchief and a few of her clothes as well (basically a beta of the doll clothes). 

He also sews back her clothes when she damaged them (he did that for many people too XD). They also sew back each other skins when needed…

Gehrman realized he was in love with her at quite a weird timing. You see he was kinda in denied since a few months of his feelings already (poor guy is not sure he had that intense crush before in his life so he was quite confused) and then they went on a dangerous mission. They're both covered in blood at the end, she just overcome a big trauma and "oh ok I think I love her for real actually 😳. Ok I accepted and acknowledge to myself the fact! I'm going to try to be sure she's happy and safe! But I'm not gonna do anything else about it because I value our friendship first!" jkdjùldjnjknnndq bro! JUST TALK TOGETHER!!! I swear it would have go well you guys are dumbasses! 

Also poor Laurence who had to support Gehrman ranting to him about how his dreams are sinful because "oh no I I held her hand 😭" yeah that was just that, at first. And Laurence was already tired of it: « bro that's just a dream🙄calm down it's 8am what are you talking about?! »

Ok so maria maybe was a bit too oblivious to his feelings like "nah that can't be that I'm dumb" but it wasn't oblivious for lots of other people 😅 their friends tried to do smt about it but oh boy…

I mean they did dance with each other a few times! :3 but everyone danced with each other too so.. ok maybe they did once or twice while completely alone..

Ah yeah Gehrman got vibe check by a part of Maria's family too XD at the Queen's wedding 🤣 poor guy. But well he did pass the vibe check!!! (Maria didn't knew. Laurence, Caryll & maybe Ludwig knew "omg he's getting vibe check?" " he's getting vibe check…"

Actually, they did talk a bit about their relationship (finally it just took what 5-10 years!) just before the fishing hamlet 💀 But it was mostly like "hey after our next big mission could we perhaps hm talk about or future life projects? Maybe we could hm… perhaps think of smt to envision together? If that's alright of course…👉👈" "Oh ok sure 😳 yeah we'll talk about it later!" WELL i let guess how that ended up! ( ;-; the mood was kinda ruined yeah).

Anyway, Maria only trusts Ludwig and Gehrman with her horses + Maria's crows like him enough.

Ok there's maybe ONCE when they passed time together that could be consider as a "date". They were supposed to go to the theater. Just the two of them. Day ruined when some old hunters show up by pure coincidence and didn't leave them alone XD

They practice violin & cello together a bit! They learned a few lullabies from each others as well.

They are both quite good with kids normally (more Maria too) but one day they both had to babysit 1 kid and they panicked because they lost the toddler for like 2 mins💀worst babysitter together pffff (that was baby crow lmao)

They are either the biggest idiots together, balance each other perfectly or are super serious (in mission/fight). Yeah i know x)

Also, if they could, this 2 would be the kind of idiots to go visits far cities, museum, famous places, and all sorts of locations. Like the top 10 of the most haunted castles, frightening forests & weird creepy places! oh you can be sure they would go XD (old hunters vlog when?? Yes of course they would take a daguerreotype with them to take pictures!)

If the 2 are send on mission together at the exterior of Yharnam (for exemple). You know it's really serious a really big deal. Usually, they go alone or with a few hunters but separated. In Yharnam+ labyrinth they either hunt together/ alone or with others. But this two are super powerful and really complementary together.

They fight well alone and they can very well fenced against each other, even better fighting side by side but against a common foe? They are at their best!

They already save each other's life a few times.

The day they did arm wrestling together in front of the old hunters was quite the event! Match of the decade ladies and gentlemen! Sadly, someone interrupt because "euh guys beasts are attacking people…😓" "O_O" so they stop and got ready. So, no one won 😅 they were like 5mins in…

You know tv don’t exist so sometimes they read books together at the workshop. Like the how to pick up fair maiden book (still not sure what type of book it's… could be just a series of super action oriented & dramatic novels who knows lol)

Those two are also the champions to have nap at the workshop. On mission they either don’t sleep a lot or have light sleep and always have a 6th sense (they often sleep next to each other too in those case) but at the workshop on day off? Oh dear good luck if you need smt and the 2 are asleep at the SAME TIME! (you can have Maria having a lil nap at the exterior and Gehrman in the interior)

One of them either found/buy or repaired the chairs they have. You know Maria's chair and before it turned into a wheelchair, I imagined it was really Gehrman's chair too. (So yeah, they have both their own fancy chair XD)

He completely trusts Maria to take back the workshop & trained hunters if smt was to happen to him.

She helped him with his chronic/phantom pains in his right leg/foot 😢 (yes besides giving him a few meds holding his hand kinda help a bit)

Even if they tried to be strong and without weakness to show each other and to others, they did share their insecurities and cheer the other up at times. Just a couple of months/years into their friendship they were comfortable enough to share their story, past, fears, "trauma" and insecurities with each other. Especially recent ones… so yeah that was really emotional…. But it's what create such a strong and powerful bound between them for the years to come. And explain how they become so close too.

Ok many books at the workshop belongs to Gehrman but the majority are from Laurence & Maria.

I imagined the picture Maria have (found in the astral clocktower) is well this one I drew. They took It after coming back to the church expedition at Loran. (Alternatively it had Laurence too). For the pics at the workshop Maria is still in a couple of them.

Years after the fishing hamlet, Gehrman gifted her the small hair ornament to cheer her when she wasn't feeling well. (Even if originally, it was supposed to be a proposal gift but hm… things got complicate… he also was looking at designs to do it just before going to the hamlet). She did gift him a pocket watch in return who look like the astral clocktower.

During those hm complicated and gray times (when they were both a mess and didn't tell each other everything!) they were still a source of comfort to each other. Just seeing, talking, and passed time together when they could did help a bit… before well…you know…

He made a mini doll before well... the Doll.

Few years after Maria passed away, he adopted one of the first irish/wolfhound of Yharnam. (Yeah he helped a young Paarl trained them and he got the opportunity to adopted a young pup.) He took the lighter fur one of the litter. Maria would have love her ;-;

(in one of my AU they got a little dog with their cottage house before the wolf hound hehe)

In the end they just both wanted a companion to stick out with and live their life and go on adventures! Similar to some couple of birds like well crows or other animals like wolves… etc

Ok I think that's a good list I will stop here 😅 I probably forgot a few things and there's a few things I didn't talk about but I tried to stay focus on just the most positive part. Thanks for the asks I hope you like it! (I really like it! Even if iit was longer than expected).

[greatwyrmgold]

More updates on the factory!

First, a weird problem I was having: Attacks from the rear. Allow me to diagram how I expected things to go with my iron outpost.

("Rockup" is the stone brick pick-up station for that stone outpost I mentioned needing to build.)

Here's how it actually went.

Experienced Factorio players can probably guess where this is going, but I didn't see it coming.

It turns out, Problems will just path to whatever machines caused the pollution they're reacting to, instead of attacking whatever miners or pumpjacks they come across. If I'd figured that out before covering the backside of the iron outpost with turrets, I could have just fortified that path Problems would need to take, which would have been a more elegant solution. But I had other problems.

First, power outages. Second, plastic shortages. Third, copper smelting. Fourth, grenades (for military science). What do all of these have in common? Coal.

Part of the problem is, unsurprisingly, power. The power outages came shortly after I expanded power production, ironically enough. And since I did so in a slightly spaghetti-ish manner...might as well share.

Anyways, the coal outpost is simple. Miners, laser turrets, a few gun turrets I slapped down in case biters came before I plugged in the laser turrets, train station. The interesting bit there is that I ran out of rails before I could finish the train.

I had some semi-automated rail production at the old stone mine; I had to feed it steel and iron manually, but it handled the rest while I wandered around doing other stuff. That was fine for a while, but I'll need to automate rails soon for purple science anyway, so I might as well set up a proper solution. Especially since stone and iron products are so far from each other.

I was going to set up a train car to deliver iron and steel to the stone outpost, when I noticed something.

There's iron on-site. And an advantage of using this iron ore instead of shipping in metal is that I can put aside some iron ore and stone to make concrete! Of course, for the actual rails I'll need to smelt a lot of that iron ore into iron (and most of that iron into steel), and concrete needs water, and this is quickly turning into a big project that will bring me even closer to biter territory...

...but before I think of setting up a decent defensive perimeter of some kind, I need to remind myself why I'm doing this. I need to make rails, so that I can connect the coal to the main base, which has barely enough coal to maintain its power supply but not enough for production.

I don't need to set up a big defensive line to protect a multi-product outpost to support large-scale rail production. Right now, what I need is enough rails to fix the coal supply, and feeding a temporary assembler array with all the steel in my inventory and half the iron makes more than enough.

Though feeding it all my steel and not returning to the main base to resupply has consequences. Like not being able to put chests in the coal loading station.

The inserters are doing fine for now, I guess. I can fill in the chests once I've finished the dropoff station.

To the left is the preexisting coal dropoff system, to the right is iron. In the middle is the old copper patch, still supplying the base with more copper than it needs. Certainly more than it could smelt!

With these basic resources, plus oil and bricks (not displayed), the base has everything it needs to produce the first four tiers of science pack. And while I'm sure I could bolt the last three into the spaghetti somewhere, this spaghetti was supposed to be a starter base.

And blue science unlocks most of the basic production stuff. There's still Kovarex enrichment and better modules and weapons and power armor and numerical bonuses and space, but for the core factory-designing stuff? I've got it all.

So I guess I need to start designing a real base.

[afrotumble]

Mauritania Railway – Choum, Mauritania - Atlas Obscura

Operating since 1963, the iron ore train covers 437 miles (704 kilometers) on its journey across the Sahara Desert from Nouadhibou, on the coast, to Zouérat, an iron mine in the center of Mauritania. Consisting of more than 200 carriages and three or four locomotives, the train can reach over a mile (about 2.5 to three kilometers) in length and carry 17,000 tons of iron ore, making it one of the longest and heaviest trains in the world.

[stupidgtblog]

Trying writing

just a disclaimer that I have never written before - EVER! so don't expect this to be some life-changing top-tier literature. It's mostly self-indulgent, about 1.6k words, got a bit of cursing, and elements of fear, but that's about it. I don't really have a title hope u like it pls give criticism but b nice abt it <3

...

Mira had always found stories and folktales interesting. She liked humming the tunes, thinking about the morals they taught. She'd even (much to her parent's dismay,) decided to pursue a career in cultural studies, opting to focus less on the gift of her magic. Her parents always told her that magic was something that gave her endless possibilities, and she was lucky to have a supportive family, and not one that decided they'd rather burn her at the stake. She'd learned to ride a broom to cut on cost-of-travel, and a bit of minor healing spells for first-aid, but, her training had stopped there.

Her interest had been piqued by a new character popping up in some folklore in some mining regions. These places weren't the best to witches, so she'd be going a bit undercover. She'd come in, write as much of the oral stories as she could, translate, and then publish them for the general public, so more people could experience the stories. That was her mission.

She hadn't known much about the character yet, but descriptions had been inconsistent to say the least. Some swore by the figure being a cruel, powerful witch, others claimed the figure was clearly a horrible, evil wizard.

the only snippet of undisputed lore was a poem called “Titan of Ore”, that went as follows:

Skin of Bronze,

Hair of Silver,

Eyes of Gold,,

Axe of Iron,

Heart of Stone.

Mira was interested in such a character, popping up in only the last 5 years or so in the culture, with so much mystery surrounding it. In Mira's own experience, cases like these would just end up being stories around a new species of animal, or even weather phenomena. (Mira had gotten her hopes up in a previous case of a giant, twirling lady, just to find out they were talking about some dust storms that had been recently passing the area.)

Mira knew it was stupid, but one day, just once, she wanted these folktales to lead to something. She wanted - at least once, for them to be real.

Mira's travel plan was to fly as far as she could, then rent a horse for the cheapest she could to go the rest of the way. Sure, it'd be annoying, but far less annoying than being burnt alive. After she'd taken down everything, she'd fly as far away from those witch-roasters as her broom would take her.

...

The town was very quiet. Nothing really happening, just people doing their errands, buying goods, coughing (a lot), and going about their day.

Mira didn't really know where to start, But found a hopeful lead as a group of children gathered around, hearing a story from a woman standing in the middle. It was a nice thing to see.

As Mira sat a little farther and listened, after she wrote down as much as she could, she tried to ask the woman some questions.

She started to introduce herself.

“Hi! Hello- I'm Mira, I study culture, folklore, y'know, the stories? I noticed you were-”

“Where are you from?” The woman didn't let her finish. Rude, but Mira didn't want to give a bad first impression.

“Oh- I'm from Willowstead, It's pretty far, but - I came to study some particularly interesting stories that've-”

“You come all the way from Willowstead, for children's stories?” OK, that's just mean.

“Well, uh, you could say that, but to me, they're just so much more than that- They're magical, they're wonderful-”

The woman cut her off, “Witch!”

Was she seriously only talking to her to accuse her of witchcraft? Ok. These people might've had interesting folktales, but unfortunately, they were also crazy.

“What? Why would you say that about me?”

Turns out this wasn't too good of an idea. Turns out the townspeople were very keen of accusing her of witchcraft. (They weren't really wrong, but, y'know.)

“Listen, listen, hear me out, I'm just here to listen to your folklore! I've done nothing wrong!”

“Quiet!” Now they were getting mad.

“But- What did I even do?!”

Mira felt someone grip her hand, tight. Maybe she was actually about to get burned at the stake. For real.

“No! NO! Let me go, let me go right now!”

“You can't do this to me! I didn't do anything!”

...

They'd put her in the jail. It was a cold, single cell, with nothing but brick walls and a cold, dirty floor. She had not but one conversation in this town, and they already wanted to kill her. The walls were covered in all types of written curses, some names.

“MINERVA DIED GRACEFUL” was scratched into the corner wall.

“KIMARI, FOREVER SERVANT OF THE DARK” was written with some ink-like substance Mira didn't want to touch.

“BELARA WUZ BBQ'D HERE SEE U IN HELL” was funny at first, but then made realized that the message was addressed to her. And that all these people were real deal witches, and they were all dead.

Mira considered writing, but what would she even put down?

She took a rock and scrawled

“I WAS ONLY HERE FOR A DAY!”

It was funny for a second, but then reality hit her. She was going to be killed. Really. Killed. Dead. Would her parents ever know? She told an acquaintance where she was going... but would they remember? It was too much for her.

What was she going to do? She couldn't do anything! Was she supposed to just sit here and die? She didn't want to die!

She started to cry. She cried for a pretty long time, until she got tired and, somehow, slept.

...

It was a couple hours later. She'd woken up, been paraded through town, dark, save for bright, hot torches, some held by children. Jeering and chanting were loud in her ears all the way. Maybe this was where they got their entertainment, not their stories.

They'd bound her up tight to half of a log, and placed that log on top of a bunch of firewood. She was half-expecting them to let her down, But then, a torch was thrown, and the whole thing started to go alight. With Mira still on it.

“Haah... Oh my god. No, nonono!”

It was agony already. Just watching the flames creep up menacingly, heat rising, heart sinking...

“Wait... wait! I'm only 19! I'm still in school! I don't even use my magic! I didn't do anything!”

It was getting to the point where this started to hurt. The flames danced at her ankles, And the smoke was already getting to her head.

The flames grew more gradually, Like a wall of fire had been built all around her, closing in, slowly.

“No! I, my family! I need to talk to them!” It's like everything had gone quiet, but the roaring of the flames.

“I can't breathe!”

She could hear her heart beating in her ears, drowning out everything -

It was almost like the ground was shaking beneath her...

Was she dying?

*WOOOOSH!*

In an instant, she felt the strongest wind she'd ever felt ruffle through her hair, the only thing stopping her from being blown away herself was the formerly-on-fire log. She was back to feeling the cold, night air. It was like someone blew her out like a big birthday candle. She was actually really, really cold.

“...huh?”

She looked down at the once-cheering mob all looking utterly horrified, eyes staring up, At something Mira couldn't see. It was night, but Mira could tell a very, VERY long shadow was being cast behind her... and two, bright golden spotlights shone on the crowd.

Eyes of Gold...

Oh god, If she thought burning to death was bad, what was this thing going to do? This was the worst day EVER-

She felt a rope *snap* behind her. Her hands were still bound, but she was off the pyre.

She tried to move, but she wasn't coordinated enough, shivering and bound, and fell forward. But almost instantly, something closed all around her, firm, but comfortable. Warm. A hand. She was being held in one, huge hand. Moving until she was put up into something. Something almost leathery to the touch, close to the chest.

Whatever this thing was, it was holding her in it's pocket. And, to Mira's shock, it spoke - to defend her.

“I've warned you idiots far more times than you've deserved.”

The voice was deep and rough, but not necessarily masculine or feminine. Its defining trait is that it was angry.

Their apologies were almost inaudible through the fabric - muffled, but desperate. The response was furious and immediate. They clearly didn't want to hear it.

"SHUT UP! If I ever see you fucking weirdos do any of this sadist shit again, I will curse you all to death!”

Mira was scared. Scared of everything. They were true. They were real. Everything was extremely confusing, and she had no idea what this person wanted. She shook like a leaf, she couldn't tell if it was because she was cold, scared, or both.

They must've noticed how shaken she was, because they pulled her out of the pocket, into what could only be described as a big, big hug.

“You're gonna be alright.”

—

The girl was so horribly cold. She'd almost just burnt to death, and now she was freezing. Just wonderful.

Taking her back to the house seemed like a good idea, but she guessed she'd be scared half to death - but wasn't she already?

Well, didn't matter now. They'd started on the path already.

...shit. Is she crying? Yeah - she's definitely crying.

“Hey, calm down, you're alright, ok? I'm just gonna take you inside.”

”I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.”

“Don't apologize. You haven't done anything.”

”I was really stupid.”

“If you're stupid, I'm a complete idiot.”

That made her laugh. It was cute.

She liked her.

“You have a name?”

”Mira.”

“...Mira.”

What a sweet name.~

I actually found writing this pretty fun even though it's not the best I think it's still cool beans radical pls give me all ur criticism pls and thx