#matthew: 2045

[judassamara]

2045 (and thereafter) | judas & matthew

with: @matthew-alexander

It had been a good few months since Matthew returned to his penthouse in the Hereafter. Working with the P.S. Group had taken up so much of his time, but the recent and very public reveal of his involvement with them had sent the fallen deity into a slight panic, one he hoped he managed to hide from the humans. If he was going to continue down this path on his own, he needed to make sure that they had nothing to hold over him when push came to shove and Matthew's biggest weakness was his pride and joy.

Matthew was still the owner of the Hereafter and a number of supernaturals had moved out because of his tie to the humans. He could not have that, not when the building was supposed to be a sanctuary to their kind. If it could remain that way for them, even if it might not be able to serve that purpose for himself anymore, then so be it.

He entered through the building's main entrance that day and made his way towards the reception. "Where's Mister Samara?" he asked the receptionist. "Tell them to meet me in my office." That was all he said before sweeping away to wait for Judas.

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Though Judas continuously offered every reassurance, there were still many people who saw what Matthew was doing and left the Hereafter. There was nothing they could do but help them move and wish them safe travels, but it made his heart ache every time. Each newly vacated room felt like an omen. They were finishing up cleaning one such room, sweeping up the floors and making sure everything was in perfect order, when they got a message that surprised them. Was Matthew actually there? It felt like he hadn't seen the man in forever, but he was busy, after all. They'd seen him on the news with the P.S. Group. He was far too busy for the likes of them.

Still, he made his way quickly downstairs, trying not to look excited by any means. They checked their shirt, adjusting the collar and making sure they didn't have any dirt on them before they knocked and stepped into the office. Matthew was actually there. Despite how much he hated the P.S. Group and what they were doing, they had never found it in themselves to hate Matt. Perhaps that was why they gave him a small yet warm smile.

"Hello, Matthew. What can I do for you?"

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Matthew was standing and looking out the window when he heard the door open and Judas entered the office. It had been awhile since they had last met, but Matthew remembered how seriously the vampire took his job and continued to do so to the point where he entrusted him to handle anything related to the Hereafter. And that was already how things were being run for the last few years.

"Judas," Matthew greeted him with a smile and gestured for them to take a seat. "It's been awhile. How have you been? I see that the Hereafter continues to be in safe hands under your watch."

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The last time Matthew called him to his office like this, it was to tell him about some big issue that needed fixing. This time, that certainly didn't appear to be the case. They took a seat, happy to get to see the man at least. It wasn't often he saw his old friends lately.

"It has been a while. I've been good, keeping busy and making sure everything is in perfect working order." Over the years, the Hereafter had become almost like a younger sibling that he had to protect and take care of. They had made relatively good friends with a majority of the residents, though many had left by this point. "What brings you our way? You've obviously had your hands full with your work."

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The way Judas was not casting any aspersions on what he was doing with the P.S. Group was certainly refreshing because he knew that there were a good number of residents in the Hereafter who would have spat on him already. Although those residents were probably all gone by now. Matthew had noticed the number of tenants dwindling in recent months and he knew exactly why. And that was exactly why he had returned that day.

"Yes. And I fear it's only going to increase from now. You've seen the news. I've become some sort of poster child for the P.S. Group..." he chuckled darkly. "Anyway, that means that I will be returning even less, meaning I won't have time to keep an eye on this place and also meaning that I will be handing the Hereafter over to someone else." Matthew thought he had braced himself for this but saying the words still hurt and he could feel his heart momentarily seize in his chest. "How would you like to own this building, Judas?"

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A part of him wanted to be happy that Matthew was doing well for himself but it was difficult. He'd seen the hateful things the P.S. Group inspired and they assumed Matt was with them for his own personal gain. It was disappointing that he wouldn't see the demon anymore, or probably ever, but what he said next surprised them, their eyes widening slightly. He was going to hand the Hereafter over to someone else? Judas wanted to speak up, say that he really didn't need to do that, it was still being well taken care of even if he wasn't there, but they held their tongue, seeing something in Matthew's expression.

"What?" they blurted softly, momentarily stunned. It took a few seconds for his mind to kick into gear again. "I - I can't afford to even rent a unit here. I can't buy the whole building from you." Even so, Judas had come to love this place dearly and he hated to think what kind of person might take over and what changes they would make. "Whoever owns it next, I promise to make sure it's still well taken care of."

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"You don't need to buy it. I will sign it over to you." If that was not indication enough that Matthew really wanted this to happen then the fallen deity did not know what else he could do. Judas was really the only person Matthew trusted to own and run the place properly since Luke decided that he wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Dear, sweet Judas who continued to look at Matthew the same way he did when the fallen deity first offered him a job out of prison. Matthew knew when he had earned someone's loyalty and he was not fool enough not to take advantage of it. Or at least that was what Matthew told himself as he steeled himself for his own future. 

"I've seen how much you love this dreadful place, so why not just take it? You'd be doing me a huge favour. Truly." 

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The clarification was a surprise, certainly, but it made his heart beat hard, once or twice, in his chest. Matthew was trusting him so much with the building that he was simply going to sign it over to them and leave it in their care. The words were odd, though. Matthew was acting as if he hated the building, hated that he owned it, and Judas knew that was the furthest thing from the truth.

"You don't have to lie to me," they said, though the tone wasn't accusing, simple stating a fact.

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The way Judas called him out immediately had Matthew stunned momentarily, but he hid it swiftly with a shake of his head. "I'm not. I just want the building off my hands. It's a waste of my time and resources," he said again, wanting Judas to just accept it. Why was the vampire making this more difficult than it should be when Matthew was already having such a hard time. 

"Is it more money you want? Because that can be arranged."

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If Matthew was trying to be convincing with his lies, lying more was not helping him. That skepticism showed on their face as they let the demon dig himself into a deeper hole. Even though Judas knew it was lies, he also knew Matt wasn't going to be honest with them. They'd figured that out years ago.

"No. I will take the Hereafter from you." At least he could do this, for the Matthew that he knew, the one that opened it to be a safe place for supernaturals in the city. "It'd be nice if you were honest with me for once, though."

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Matthew had to be thankful for the small mercies. But Judas giving in so easily while still calling him out posed a problem the fallen deity had not been expecting. Or perhaps Matthew had been expecting this because he knew deep down that Judas would still help him regardless and without asking questions. As much as he wished to tell Judas, to tell someone -- anyone -- so that he did not need to be so lonely in the coming years, it was safer for everyone not to be associated with him and what he might have to do next.

"I'm not required to any such thing," Matthew said instead and drew a folder out from the drawer at his desk. Anything to distract him from looking at the vampire as those dark eyes tried to bore into his soul. "The paperwork. It's all been drawn up. You just need to sign it. Here." He opened it to the front page where Judas' name had already been printed at the bottom of the page. Matthew was going to give the building to them no matter what.

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His comments really were futile and Judas let out a small, resigned sigh. At least that was something that never changed. Matthew still kept him at an arm's distance, if not further now. They didn't argue or question anymore, simply moving to the desk and signing the papers, though the thought did cross his mind that Matthew had all these papers ready, so he must have already thought this choice through.

"I suppose we won't be seeing each other again for a while," if at all, but they didn't add that part. He couldn't help offering his hand in a handshake, though, wanting to touch him just one more time before he disappeared from their life again. "Thank you again, for everything."

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"No, we won't," Matthew said, injecting enough coldness into his voice as he closed the folder and picked it up. It was hurting him doing this, but he knew that putting the Hereafter in Judas' hands was the right choice. He looked down at the outstretched hand, hesitant to take it, but a small voice inside him told him that he needed to take it. For his own sake if anything. 

 The fallen angel reached his hand out and slid in into Judas' waiting one only to be met with that familiar coolness of the vampire's skin and it felt so... safe as it closed around his own. Blue eyes darted up to Judas' face as Matthew allowed himself a small moment of vulnerability and his hand squeezed tight as he silently pleaded with Judas to take proper care of the only thing in this world that he held dear. 

"Thank you, Mister Samara," he said as he drew in a shuddering breath, finding that he did not quite want to let go of Judas' hand even when he sorely needed to.

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The words cut sharper than they thought they could. Maybe it was the tone, or the quick way he said it, without any hesitation. They could only wonder if they had done something to make him hate them, though they didn't think they were that special. The demon was probably just protecting himself and cutting out any loose ends before they became a problem. Judas just wished he wasn't one of the strings being cute.

They gave his hand a squeeze, holding onto it briefly the way he wished they could hold onto him. When their eyes met, it felt like they could see the smallest sliver of truth there and their chest tightened.

"Take care of yourself, Mister Alexander," they replied, the words feeling like a final goodbye. It was probably better that way. They wanted to help the supernatural community and protect who he could, and they couldn't do that when they would so easily give into whatever the fallen deity asked. Maybe this would be enough for them to finally get over their feelings for Matthew, but he doubted it.

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"You too..." Matthew said in return, his hand still closed tightly around Judas', perhaps a bit too much as their eyes held each other's across that space that remained between them. The fallen angel knew that this handshake had already gone on for a bit too long, but he did not want to let go. If he played things right, Judas was going to be the last supernatural he could be himself with before immersing himself in the P.S. Group for the years to come.

The vampire had become his one and only tie back to the life Matthew was discarding for what? His vanity and the need to play heroics? He finally released Judas' hand in that moment and tore his eyes away, his heart had been beating too fast in his chest in the face of those warm, brown eyes and he needed to leave.

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Their hands stayed together for far to long, but Judas decided then and there that it was closure. That when Matthew walked out that door, that was it. They were going to put their feelings for him away on a shelf to collect dust while they moved on with their life.

And they did, for the most part. With that connection severed, people began to see the Hereafter as a safe place again. People returned, thankful for a place to feel safe. People who didn't stay there Judas was able to direct to other places where they could hide. Somehow, he even managed to meet someone who thought he was charming and made him feel wanted and desirable again. Even so, when there was a knock on his door late one evening, Judas heard that familiar heartbeat on the other side and opened it, anyway.

"Matthew? What are you doing here?"

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It had been three years since Matthew returned to the Hereafter, the fallen deity constantly telling himself that he needed to stay far away from the building he did not own anymore. He had his hands full with the P.S. Group anyway, and as he spent more time with them, it became abundantly clear that his initial suspicions about them were correct. The humans meant to destroy them all and they started to test the loyalties of those supernaturals who were working with them. Matthew knew that his time would come eventually and when they did, he did not hesitate in giving them a name. They wanted a prominent figure and Matthew gave them Sipho Dumisani.

When the news broke that Sipho was captured and killed shortly after, it was the first time in a long time that Matthew could feel himself spiralling and he exited the P.S. Building in a mild daze. It did not do well to appear too affected. He wandered the district for awhile, waiting until nightfall when he found his feet taking him to Garond and to that familiar building he once called home. He still knew a few tricks on how to get in without detection, it used to be his building after all, and he found himself knocking on someone's door.

He did not know what he looked like to the vampire when Judas opened that door, but he was certain it was not good, so he mustered up a smile as he looked into a face he had not seen in awhile. "Judas. I'm not interrupting your evening, am I?"

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He had heard the news, he knew one of the witch elders had been killed. Now, to have Matthew at his door, they were suspicious that the demon was only there to use Judas like a mole, to figure out what the side he was helping to eradicate was planning to do. They knew the right thin to do would be to slam the door in his face but they couldn't. Instead, they stepped back.

"Would you like to come in?" At the very least, he couldn't let anyone see him in the building. If someone started questioning Judas's loyalty or, worse, a mob looking for revenge showed up, it wouldn't be a situation they could handle.

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"Yes..." That simple gesture of allowing Matthew into their home was all the fallen deity needed to hear and his shoulders sagged in relief. "Thank you," he said as he took those few tentative steps inside. It felt strange being back in the Hereafter like this and he looked around Judas' space and wondered why the vampire was still living in this one bedroom unit when he quite literally owned the building. 

"I'm alone. I promise," he reassured the other just in case because he knew how the supernaturals perceived him these days and he did not want Judas to get spooked, even though the vampire allowing him into his space so readily already spoke volumes.

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It was strange. They had never see Matthew relax like that before, his shoulders genuinely and visibly dropping. Even his heartbeat sounded strange, different. Alone or not, Matt was a dangerous demon and a dangerous man. Judas was an idiot for even entertaining him but he couldn't stop himself.

"Would you like a drink?" they asked after they closed and locked the door, moving across the dim space. They kept the lighting dim at any given moment, almost atmospheric. In the years since he moved in, they'd slowly collected furniture and decorations, but the walls were still adorn with various paintings he had done. Most were landscapes, some of the city and some of other places nobody but him would recognise. And off to the side, near a shelf filled with well worn books, was a small painting of a man they would both be able to recognise, even with the unusual color palette.

"Why are you here, Matt?" They expected a lie, but they still asked, anyway.

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"Do you have something strong?" the fallen deity asked through a small laugh that threatened to crack until Matthew cleared his throat. Why did it seem to easy to want to just let Judas see him raw and vulnerable?

"I.. Um.. I just needed to get away for a bit," was all Matthew could say. He did not want to implicate himself or admit that he often felt like he might be in over his head doing what he was doing on his own. He shuffled over to look at the larger paintings on the walls. "Are these yours?"

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Judas had already grabbed whatever was left out of the liquor cabinet, something someone else had left there. There wasn't much of it left, so they poured it all into a glass and brought it back to the living room, handing it to him before taking a seat in an arm chair across from the beat up sofa. For once, the answer seemed genuine, though it probably helped when it was so vague. Still, Judas kept his eyes on him, remaining skeptical The question about the paintings did bring his guard down a little bit though.

"Yeah. Kind of the only hobby I kept over the years." He didn't talk about his paintings much. Nobody knew the truth about his past, so it wouldn't make sense to tell them about the cityscapes that weren't of Vievecor City.

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Matthew took the drink gratefully and took a big first sip, feeling the alcohol burn down his throat in a way that was sorely needed before turning his attention back to the paintings before him.

"You're very good..." The fallen deity smiled as his eyes continued to rove over the various canvases. "Where is this?" he asked pointing to one that was clearly not of Vievecor.

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His eyes followed Matthew's as they moved towards the walls. That was the one thing he was proud of in his life, his art. Sure, nobody saw it, but they were still proud of their work.

"Somewhere else," they replied dryly. It was a place somewhere in time, pulled from his memory and recreated on a canvas. It would never be perfect, never close enough to his memory for him to be satisfied. Slowly, after a few moments of silence, Judas spoke again, despite his better judgement.

"It's a place out West, where I grew up." Even that felt like admitting far too much.

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Matthew had been happy for the silence to keep going if that was what Judas wanted, he was just content to be here in this moment to forget about everything else in his life.

But when Judas spoke again and told him of a place out West, Matthew turned to look at the vampire. "It's beautiful..." he smiled. This seemed somewhat normal, right? Having a drink with a friend while admiring their art. Matthew wanted to believe it even if it was just for awhile.

"You could make a career out of this," the fallen deity suggested before moving on the look at some of the other paintings when a small one that sat near a shelf caught his eye.

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This was strange. Even before everything went to shit, they'd never sat and talked and been in each other's company like this. A skeptical and cynical part of Judas thought this had to be some trick.

"I wanted to, at one point. When I first moved in here, all I had was a bed and a fuckton of canvases." He'd used them all, too, though he hadn't kept very many. They noticed the one Matthew was looking at, but they couldn't bring themselves to say anything, wanting to see if Matt recognised himself or even said anything about it.

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Matthew scanned the painting, finding the colours beautifully blended and chosen and it took him a long moment before he realised who Judas had painted. His heart started beating faster upon that realisation, wanting to say something but finding that he was holding himself back.

"You still can," he said instead, eyes still fixed on the painting of himself as his mind raced with what it implied. "The art world loves supernatural artists..." For now, at least.

-----------------

They heard the way Matthew's heart sped up, and a small part of them hoped he would say something, but of course he didn't.

"I can't," he replied, the dejected tone evident. "I'm a vampire and an ex-con who killed several humans. I'm lucky I haven't been killed already." No, his art was just for himself now.

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"I'm sure you could with some good PR," Matthew turned to Judas with another smile. "Humans are strange. They love a good story." His fingers had fallen on the painting. It seemed like such a precious connection to the vampire and he did not quite want to let it go.

"Can I have this one?" he asked, wondering if he was asking too much even as he left so much unspoken and unacknowledged between them.

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He didn't think PR would help him but he was happy to let Matthew think that if he would smile at him some more. Their eyes followed his fingers as they touched the canvas. A part of them wanted to ask him to tell them why first, but he knew Matthew wouldn't answer. He had never been honest with him. Perhaps it was vanity, seeing how good he looked in Judas's paint style.

"Yes, you can have it," they replied, despite it being the only painting of Matthew they had kept, even though he had painted quite a few over the years. Perhaps it could be closure, for Matthew to truly be out of his home and life.

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"Thank you..." the fallen deity said softly. "I... I shouldn't take up too much of your time anymore. I'm sure you have things you need to get to." He curled the painting in towards his chest as if it were the most precious thing and moved to place his empty glass on the table. Matthew did not want to leave but it was not like he could keep imposing on Judas either.

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Somehow, he was disappointed when he started to talk about leaving. It wasn't exactly as if Judas was being the kindest host in the world but they had still missed him, despite his attempts to hate him. Judas stood from their seat, walking Matt to the door. They didn't know what to say, but they opened their mouth anyway.

"It was good to see you," they murmured awkwardly as they held the door open for him. They watched as he stepped out into the hallway and disappeared before closing the door and turning to lean back against it as he started to slump down. His hand lifted to press to his face, soon dragging down. "Fuck."

One little visit and Judas was in love with him all over again.

Days turned to weeks, turned to months, and they didn't see Matthew again. But that didn't mean the demon wasn't constantly on his mind. It made them a little more sullen than usual, irritated at themselves. All their progress of getting over their unrequited feelings had come undone with one visit, one meaningless visit.

As another boring, uneventful day turned into evening, Judas found himself with company once more, this time the woman he'd been seeing casually. If anyone could take his mind off Matthew, they hoped it was her.

And yet, as his lips traveled over her torso, peppering kisses to her smooth skin, there was a knock at the door. And, once again, he knew exactly who it was and should have ignored it. But, instead, with an annoyed groan, they pulled their shorts back on and grumbled their way to the door, opening it and leaning in the doorframe as they met eyes with Matthew's radiant blue ones.

"What is it this time?"

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More time had passed again with Matthew keeping himself away from everyone he cared about so that he could do his job. The painting Judas gave him had been placed on his bookshelf in his suite in the P.S Building, given pride of place so that he could gaze upon it each time he retreated to be by himself. He thought about that night often, replaying each moment as if it were some sort of lifeline he could cling to to help him get through the days, and unbeknownst to him, his constant thoughts of Judas found him at the vampire's door again that night.

He had been asked to give up some names again, especially those he might know of who were rescuing captured supernaturals. Matthew had given them a name, a vampire this time whom they brought in and Matthew was forced to watch them turn a new weapon on the poor soul. One that killed the vampire instantly with just one blast.

Matthew felt sick standing in front of Judas' door, but when the vampire opened it to stand in front of him looking just like that and very much alive, his fears seemed to wash away. They looked and felt so welcoming just standing there and Matthew could almost believe for a moment as if they were welcoming him home...

"I'm sorry..." he said, never had he ever apologised like this before until he realised that Judas might be having company. The annoyance in the vampire's voice was evident with the way they asked that question. "I shouldn't have come... I..." didn't know where else to go.

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The apology surprised them and their eyes widened slightly as they gazed down at him. Their annoyed expression softened with a sigh, one of resignation perhaps mixed with some annoyance, though that annoyance was at himself and how easily he gave into Matt every time.

"No, please. Come in." They put a hand on his shoulder to gently guide him into the apartment. They led him to the sofa and had him take a seat but, in that time, his guest had fully dressed and marched through the living space with clear annoyance, slamming the door on her way out. Judas took a brief moment to feel horrible about ruining the budding relationship they'd had, but they would always choose Matthew in the end, even if he never picked them.

"Do you want something to drink?" they asked, ready to offer him alcohol again. The apartment was much the same as last time, except for a spot on the wall empty from the painting Matt had taken with him last time. There was also an easel sitting in the corner, with some painting supplies collected in a box beneath it. The canvas was covered by a sheet he had tossed over it, unable to look at it himself and definitely not wanting anyone else to see it.

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It was only when Matthew stepped into the apartment to see a woman leave in a huff that he knew what Judas had done for him. "I'm really... I'm so sorry," he said again after the door slammed behind her. Again with the apologising... Why had Judas allowed him to interrupt in the first place? Matthew was wondering.

"Yes. Sure. Thank you..." And yet there was a small part of of him that was also slightly glad and relieved for it. The fallen deity looked around the room again, taking in how it had changed since he was last here, but only in small ways. Most notably the easel that was sitting in the corner. He moved towards it while Judas was preparing their drinks and curiously lifted the corner of the sheet.

What he saw painted on the canvas had his cheeks warming. Why was Judas drawing...? "Is this..." he cleared his throat. "Yours?"

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Moving back into the kitchen, Judas dug out whatever alcohol he had sitting around and poured it into a glass. When he heard Matthew speak, he was momentarily until he realised what the must have been looking at.

"Seriously?! I leave you alone for 2 seconds and you're already..." Judas was grumbling and cursing under their breath as they made their way back into the living room, their face flushed red with an intense blush. Nobody was supposed to see that, especially not Matthew. They really should have thrown it out when they had the chance.

"It's yours." 

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Matthew's face turned more red at Judas' words. Why were they..? When he saw the vampire return, their face flushed red in a way Matthew had never seen before, the fallen deity could not help lifting a hand up to cover the smile that was threatening to break across his face.

He cleared his throat, the tension he had felt upon coming back here seemed to have dissipated completely in that moment and he could not help saying. "I don't recall ever giving you any pictorial references..." Matthew was not the sort to send others such photos. The words were said in half jest as he lifted the sheet again to take a proper look as if he wanted to be certain that this rather beautiful painting of a dick was that of his own.

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Judas set the drink down on the coffee table before taking a seat and specifically sitting with his back towards the painting so he didn't have to watch Matthew in all his vanity.

"I don't paint from references. It's from memory," they murmured, wishing so badly that they could get drunk in this moment. Now, not only was he sexually frustrated from painting it in the first place, the muse of the painting was in his home, cockblocking him from dealing with that frustration. "Since you love it so much, why don't you take that one home, too." 

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Oh. It took a few moments for those words to sink in. The last time they had fallen into bed together was years and years ago and Matthew was certainly wondering what possessed the vampire to make a painting of this now.

He turned to look at Judas, but they had their back resolutely turned to him, clearly still embarrassed by what Matthew had discovered. "I do love it... But it's not finished yet, is it? I'll only take finished paintings..." he teased wanting to see more of Judas' adorable reactions.

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Judas looked at him then, but only to shoot the man a glare.

"I have zero plans to finish that. I didn't even intend to start it in the first place." Honestly, if Matthew didn't take it, they were likely to smash it when he left. They didn't want another constant reminder of Matthew in his house when they already couldn't get him out of their head.

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There were so many questions he wanted to ask, about this painting and also about the one Matthew took home, but the fallen deity was afraid of what Judas might say.

Matthew dropped the sheet back in its place and turned to walk over to where Judas was seated to slide into the seat next to him. The vampire was clearly agitated and that had not been Matthew's intention. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have teased you," he said, reaching out to place a hand on Judas' arm instead.

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Judas watched him for a few moments before looking away as he moved closer. Their face was still heated and flushed pink, getting worse now that Matthew was next to him. The apology sounded genuine, far too genuine, and that made the vampire's dormant heart thump in his chest.

"Don't worry about it," they mumbled, feeling guilty for getting upset. It was unusual for them to feel so sheepish, except when he was around Matthew.

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They stayed staring at one another for a few moments, the fallen deity taking in the look on Judas' face and those warm brown eyes again...

"You were just so..." Matthew started, many different words sitting just on the tip of his tongue that he could say to take this different ways, but against his better judgement, he ended up leaning in instead and their lips met for the first time in a very long time.

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"Just so what?" he asked softly, still caught in his eyes. They couldn't look away, always drawn in by those beautiful blue eyes, the same blues he was drawn to when he set out paint colors. Everything always came back to Matthew, one way or another. When their lips met, their heart thumped again, stomach fluttering like crazy. How was he ever meant to be with anyone else when Matt kept showing up at his door being all beautiful and kissing him like this. Their hands slowly reached out for him, just wanting to hold him.

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Kissing Judas was clearly a mistake in Matthew's mind, but he kept going anyway. The vampire was the one person in the entire city who saw him like his each scant few times he appeared at their apartment. No one else did Matthew allow himself to lower his guard around these days and it was so tiring. Being here in this space with Judas meant everything to Matthew and he found himself trying to show that all in this kiss.

"Adorable.." the fallen deity breathed in between kisses and took the moment to move closer until he was practically in Judas' lap, just so that he could feel the vampire's arms close around him.

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The answer did not make it any better. Now his heart was thumping wildly and his face was heating up and they were kissing again and... Judas's mind was running away with him, overwhelmed by everything that was Matthew. As the demon moved, their arms slipped around him, helping to pull him into their lap and hold onto him as they kissed. They never wanted this kiss to end, knowing Matt would leave and probably shatter his heart again and not show his face for another several months, if not longer. His desperation to not let him go was probably clear in the way they held onto him, kissing him harder.

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"Judas..." he breathed, their bodies were pressed together in a way that made him feel so safe. Matthew did not want this to end either. It was a realisation that hit him when a small voice inside him told him that he needed to leave. A small noise escaped him as he shoved that voice aside, wanting nothing more than to lose himself in this -- in Judas. Perhaps it was selfish of Matthew as he thought that he was probably using the vampire to feel better about himself, but he did not want to stop.

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Hearing Matthew moan only encouraged him on more, pulling his hips closer as they deepened the kiss, their tongue dragging again his lips, asking permission for more. They would take anything and everything Matthew was willing to give him. Fingers dragged up Matthew's back, wanting to touch him everywhere he could.

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Matthew's lips parted on instinct to allow Judas' tongue inside, his hands were roving over their firm body as he shuddered with that newfound contact. It felt so good and Matthew had not felt this good in such a long time.

It would have been so easy for the fallen deity to give in to his desires -- their desires -- to keep going, but that voice inside him sharply reminded him again that this was dangerous. For himself and for Judas.

"S-stop..." he breathed against the vampire's lips even has he kept kissing Judas a few more times. "Stop!" Matthew said sharply, more for himself than anything and he pulled himself away and off Judas' lap.

"I'm sorry..." he said again. He really was apologising a bit too many times that evening. "I should go."

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The kiss felt so good, far too good, like something out of a daydream. And, just as quickly as it had started, Matthew was pulling away, telling him to stop. They couldn't help the way their heart sank. It really felt like Matthew was toying with him, teasing them until they broke. Either that or Matt had figured out what a terrible mistake Judas was.

"Okay," they replied softly, unable to bring themselves to say anything else. What do you say in this situation? All they knew was that they had been happy for a brief, fleeting moment before it was snatched away again.

-----------------

Matthew was straightening his clothes where he stood, face flushed as he got angry with himself for giving in so easily. This was a weakness that the P. S. Group could exploit and he was putting Judas in danger. But when had Judas become a weakness?

He made it a point to avoid the vampire's eyes as he made his way to the door, cursing himself for making this awkward. There was no way he was going to come back to Judas' place now. "Thank you..." he said as he finally lifted his eyes up to meet Judas' again. Just one last time before he slipped out the door and disappeared.

----------------

This time, Matthew's departure felt so final. Like they would truly never see him again. They watched him as he walked to the door, their eyes meeting briefly.

"Goodbye, Matthew." And then he was gone, like a ghost, like a leaf on the wind. Judas sat there for quite a while before they stood, feeling their frustration and pain and grief overflow as they grabbed their paint supplies and threw it across the room, the tin container clambering against the floor as brushes spilled out and paint tubes burst open, splattering color across the floor. But, as they turned back towards the canvas, any anger turned to sadness and he lost the energy to throw anything else, instead sitting on the floor and cursing themselves, tears dampening his face without their permission in soundless sobs.

----------------

The next time they met was on the year 2051 when the supernaturals decided to hatch a plan to assassinate Park Sung Joon. Matthew had heard about it through his contacts and he decided that it was time he left the P.S. Group for good. He left the building that evening and made his way to where he knew they were having a meeting and appeared at the door, to the surprise and anger of the person standing on guard where they almost killed him on sight. After telling them that he was here to help, they reluctantly brought him into the room to meet with those who were planning this assassination.

What he had not expected was seeing Judas there. But then again, he probably should not have been. The plans were set in stone that night with Matthew volunteering to break them all into Park's residence. He knew the man best out of everyone in the room after all but was still met with many looks of derision and distrust.

By the time the meeting was adjourned, Matthew was starting to wonder if he would perhaps die by the hands of his own kind when the assassination was over.

----------------

Life went on, just like it had before, just like it always would. Things were the same as before, and Judas continued to do what he could, helping people get to safety and getting the supplies they needed. As the plan started to come together, of course they were a part of it, even volunteering to go until he and Isabelle talked and she took that spot, instead. Besides, Judas knew he wouldn't be able to focus with Matthew there. Still unable to resolve their feelings for him, they had pushed them to the back of his mind, but they threatened to resurface when he saw the demon again, especially when he was so surprised he was there. As the meeting ended, they made their way over to Matthew, unable to keep themselves from saying something.

"You being here is going to make a big difference," they said, briefly patting Matt's shoulder. "Thanks." That was all they had to say, but they lingered for a moment, looking over his face and taking note of the small changes.

----------------

Matthew had been waiting for the moment that he would be alone with Judas again. And they had to wait for the meeting to be over for that to happen. When the vampire came over to him when they were finally left alone and that hand moved to pat his shoulder, Matthew felt some of the tension he was carrying melt away. But he was still wondering...

"Don't you hate me? Everyone else seems to..." It would only be natural that Judas did too. After everything he put them through.

-----------------

Their eyes widened slightly, surprised that Matthew would worry about something like that.

"I could never hate you," they replied. They had certainly tried, from Matthew siding with the enemy to him constantly showing up and breaking his heart for the fun of it, it seemed. "If I did, I certainly wouldn't have kept letting you into my home," he added in a teasing tone, hoping to light the mood a bit.

----------------

Matthew caught on to that teasing tone like it was a lifeline and he turned a warm smile on Judas. "Of course..." The last time he was at that place they had left on rather shaky terms, but Judas seemed to have swept that all under the rug.

"Are you still painting?" he asked as his cheeks warmed when he remembered what Judas painted last. "I mean... Landscapes?"

----------------

Seeing him smile helped Judas to relax a little. Their chest still tightened uncomfortable and they wanted to run away, but they seemed to be the only one who didn't want to stab Matthew at the first given chance. The question made their smile fall slightly, their eyes dropping his gaze.

"No, not anymore." Considering the last time, Judas had avoided painting to give them a chance to not be overwhelmed by thoughts of Matt, and missing him. Focusing on the day to day and not dwelling on his feelings made it easier to wake up and keep going.

-----------------

"Oh," Matthew said feeling a little disappointed by that answer even when he did not know why, or perhaps he just did not want to admit that he loved the fact that Judas had been painting him. "I suppose you must've been busy. I wasn't expecting to see you here today... Doing this. Saving people. It suits you..."

----------------

It was difficult for him to paint when Matthew had been his muse off and on for years. It was easier to avoid it and not stir up feelings he was trying to ignore. Judas didn't know how to deal with this conversation, it felt too genuine considering who he was talking to and they easily reverted back to the persona they had used off and on through their life, flashing Matthew a smile. "Don't worry, I'll come save you if you get caught." 

----------------

"Really?" Matthew's brows rose in mild surprise as he felt something in his chest tighten. He was certain the vampire was teasing him, but he wanted to hope it was true. "Then I'll hold you to that..." he chuckled, wanting to stay in his little fantasy even if it was just for awhile.

---------------

They hadn't expected that reaction from Matthew, like he was actually surprised that Judas would rescue him. It was their role in the assassination, after all, making sure those who were captured were rescued, but of course he would do that for Matt even if it wasn't their job. Still, the way Matthew chuckled and looked almost at ease was far too much, their heart thumping and they cursed internally. All it took was one moment his progress was undone, again. "Just try to be safe out there, okay?" they replied so their reaction wasn't as obvious.

----------------

The next time they meet again would be after Park Sung Joon's assassination. It went swimmingly, if it meant successfully killing the human, but Isabelle and Elio were caught in the process and Matthew was depowered for the first time in his life. It had happened as he was trying to get Elio out of the complex, the deity had been in a daze after accidentally killing a number of humans and they were almost surely to get caught until the man opened a portal and shoved a depowered Matthew through.

Where he found himself next was in a thankfully empty alleyway just outside Park's complex, collapsed on the ground as he tried fighting against the effects of the depowering ray. This was not where the extraction team were going to be and Matthew vaguely wondered if Elio had sent him here to separate him on purpose. But no, the deity would not do that...

He tried pushing himself up off the ground on shaky legs and tried to make his way out. If he could get to the extraction point, he would be able to see Judas again and everything would work out just fine... That was Matthew's thought at least until one of Park's guards standing guard outside the building spotted him!

----------------

While the assassination took place, it was up to Judas to make sure anyone that got injured was quickly escorted away. Rescuing would be a later problem. They were waiting, listening. When he recognised people, he was able to direct others. At this point, there were three left missing, and they got more anxious as time went on. Deciding to check around, Judas began to move when he finally heard a recognizable heartbeat, along with another.

They took off running, not caring about being spotted or followed. The fact that Matthew's heart rate was irregular and quick, the the other person was still alive, meant something was wrong and they had to get there quickly. He saw the guard entering the alleyway and their eyes narrowed as they closed the space between them, lunging at the guard with fangs bared.

Their fangs sunk into the human's throat and tore it out without a second thought before their mind returned to them and they looked up to see Matt. They immediately moved to his side. "Are you alright?" 

----------------

The human was advancing on him in one moment and in the next, Matthew saw Judas appear in a flash, fangs bare before they tore through the guard like he was paper. Matthew had never seen Judas like this before and he could not help looking on in awe while the whole thing happened, blue eyes were still trained on the vampire when the attack was over and that familiar face appeared next to his own.

"You saved me..." The fallen deity said, voice hushed as he reached a shaky hand out towards the other. This entire day had been an ordeal but he was so glad to see Judas again.

Their moment did not last long however as the sound of more guards made themselves known around them. An alarm had been sounded and the entire building had been put on lockdown.

----------------

Their eyes were filled with concern as hands went to either side of the fallen deity, ready to catch him if he was unsteady on his feet. Unfortunately there was no time to check his wounds, more guards rushing to surround them. Judas glared at some over Matthew's shoulder, counting the number of heartbeats to know how many there was. He could take them, but not without risking Matthew's safety.

Deciding protecting Matt was more important, they pulled him close, lifting him in their arms before barreling forward, slamming into the guards blocking their way with his shoulder to knock them back. With a path cleared, they ran, holding on tightly to him. He didn't stop until they were back at the extraction point with others, far enough that they knew the humans wouldn't have been able to keep up.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" 

----------------

And Judas saved him again. Keeping to the promise he made in jest just the day before. Matthew was still clinging to them when they got back to the extraction point, one arm stayed looped around him even when he was set back down on the ground, not wanting to let Judas go lest he fall over.

"Depowered... But I'm fine," he gritted out as he looked at the rest of the team who managed to make it out. Isabelle was missing too. "Elio and Isabelle... We can't let the P.S. Group take them.." 

----------------

When he noticed Matthew still holding onto them, they kept an arm around his waist, letting him lean again Judas as a support. It was good to see how may people they had managed to get out, but they felt a pang of guilt knowing that Isabelle hadn't escaped.

"I don't think we can rescue them, we don't have the advantage of surprised anymore. They're going to be ready for us." Considering what had gone down today, the P.S. Group would have to organise themselves before they could do anything to either of their captives. "We'll get them back, Matt, I promise." It just might not be tonight.

----------------

Matthew knew that Judas was speaking sense. They could not go back in now. Not with their dwindled numbers and the humans on full alert. The rest of the group were in agreement as well and began making plans to head back and regroup.

Matthew nodded at last, looking defeated but this was a group decision and he was too weak to fight back. "Okay..." he said. They had made plans to put each of the assassins in different safe houses after the mission and that was going to be the next step.

"OK. Let's go..." 

----------------

He could practically feel Matthew's disappointment, it was clear how upset he was from his expression. Holding him carefully, Judas led him away. It wasn't long before they were at the safehouse, the one he had made sure was well stocked, and protected with some magic. They guided Matthew to the bed to rest.

"Can I get your anything? Water? Bandages? We should probably look at your wounds, they won't heal right now that you're depowered." Luckily, they had all sorts of things stored away in a back room.

----------------

Matthew shook his head, finding that he did not particularly want anything as he was seated on the bed in the back of the safe house. He had not even realised how beaten up if he was as his gaze remained on the floor before him.

"Wounds..." he said and felt a sudden pain blossom on his side and he winced from it. "Ow..." was all he said as he lifted a hand. It felt so weird that it was still there when something like this would normally have healed by now. "Are you sure we can't go back?" 

----------------

Judas moved to dig out the first aid kit, though it definitely felt odd to need it for Matthew of all people. As he spoke, they sighed, stopping to turn to him.

"If you want us to go after them so badly, I will, but I can't guarantee I'll come back." There was no way the P.S. Group would take any chances in the near future. Their guards would likely double, each equipped with weapons to depower and kill supernaturals. The vampires had already been all but wiped out and they didn't doubt the humans would be happy for them to make themselves an easy target.

----------------

"No!" Matthew said immediately when Judas offered. He did not want Judas anywhere near the P.S. Group, not like this when he was depowered and weak himself.

"You're never allowed to go to the P.S. Group yourself!" he snapped, suddenly angry at Judas for even suggesting it.

----------------

The sudden outburst made Judas's eyes go wide with surprise. They had hoped he cared enough to not want him to go out on a suicide mission, but the reaction he was receiving now was far from what they had expected.

"Okay!" they said quickly, moving to the bedside to take Matt's hand in his. "Okay. I won't." 

----------------

His hand closed tightly around Judas as if he would be able to hold him there always. The sudden thought of losing the vampire when he did not have anymore power at the P.S. Group was terrifying to Matthew and he had lashed out.

"Good..." he nodded, shoulders relaxing slowly. "Good..." Matthew said again as the weight of the entire day came crashing down on him and he lunged forward to pull Judas into a tight hug. "Thank you for saving me today..." 

----------------

As they were pulled in, they practically scooped Mathew into their arms, pulling him into their lap as he sat on the bed, holding him close.

"You don't have to thank you. I'm just happy I made it in time." If they hadn't, and something had happened to Matt, their heart would have been shattered beyond repair. "I just need you to rest and get better, okay?" 

----------------

"Just take the thanks, Judas..." Matthew huffed lightly from where he was cradled in Judas' arms, his face pressed to the vampire's neck and he sniffed, feeling a wetness in his eyes that he had not felt in a very long time.

"Can you stay here with me?" he asked in a hushed voice, one that wavered slightly as he did not dare to look Judas in the face when he asked the question, afraid that he might be rejected.

----------------

"Okay. You're welcome," they replied as they chuckled softly. He didn't need to be so cute and huffy. Feeling wetness again his neck, Judas smoothed his hand over his back, trying to comfort him.

"Of course," they replied, pressing their face against Matthew's neck as he hugged him a little tighter. "I'm not going anywhere." 

----------------

"Okay..." Matthew nodded, glad to have Judas' reassurance that they were not going anywhere. This was all the fallen deity needed for now and he continued to hold Judas while he gently wept for those they lost that night and all the years before...

Days and weeks would pass by with Matthew living in that safe house, unable to leave because the whole city was looking out for his face and the faces of those who assassinated Park Sung Joon. It was safer for him this way given how no one knew how long he would be depowered for and feeling helpless, Matthew threw many fits out of distress, occasionally yelling at Judas whenever the vampire came to check on him and yet, they still kept coming, never thinking to send anyone else to check on him instead.

"I don't know why it's you who keeps coming to check on me... Did they force you?" Matthew asked bitterly one day from where he had curled himself up on the bed. He was glad that it was Judas, he really was, but he could never quite stop the small voice in his head that told him the vampire was simply doing this out of a sense of obligation. Why else would anyone want to help or care for a duplicitous, useless thing like Matthew in the first place?

----------------

Judas stayed by Matthew's side until he seemed to be irritated with him and, even then, he came back to check on him frequently, wanting to make sure he wasn't lonely and he had everything he needed. Even when he was getting yelled at, they still came back. They knew Matthew would never admit what he was really feeling, perhaps even to himself. Today, however, his words felt even more cutting than usual.

"If you really hate seeing me that much, then I'll stop coming," he replied, huffing softly but it was only a small one, his attempt to mask the ache in his chest with whatever annoyance he could muster.

----------------

"I didn't say that I hate seeing you. Why are you being so dramatic?" Matthew frowned, not liking the way Judas suggested to not come anymore, but he was still hurting and frustrated about everything and being cooped up in this safe house was driving the fallen deity just a bit mad.

"I just... I feel so trapped. I feel like a prisoner. And rightly so, I suppose. After all I've done. And you... The poor thing who has to keep coming to see me. Aren't you sick of me yet? Because you should be..." Matthew was pretty sick of himself and his own thoughts.

-----------------

The response he received was not a comfort, not when he knew Matthew to not be honest with them, ever. He probably did hate seeing Judas, a constant reminder of the night they couldn't save two of their friends and allies.

"You don't have to stay here anymore. There's a place for you in Remington tower." As for the rest of it, Judas looked away. Why would he be sick of making sure Matthew was okay? Did the demon really not see how much he mattered to them? "If I was sick of you, I wouldn't be here. I don't check on you because I have to. I want to. I want to make sure you're okay." 

----------------

The thought of going to Remington Tower scared Matthew more than he cared to admit. There were more supernaturals living there, more judgmental eyes to turn on him as he walked the halls of his rival. Matthew did not know how he was going to fare if he ever went to stay there.

"Do you? Really? You're not annoyed at me for the way I treated you over the years too? I kept turning up at your place when you least expected it and then disappeared into the night once I was done with you... Must've been annoying, especially given how you..." Matthew stopped himself then. He always had a feeling that Judas liked him a lot more than normal, it had been what kept him sane for many years in the P.S. Group, but now that he was out, Matthew had begun to wonder if it was all in his head. Something he had made up because he desperately needed someone to keep him sane. "How you..." he said again, still unable to finish the sentence because what if Judas rejected him at last?

------------------

"Annoyed isn't the word I'd choose," they mumbled, though that wasn't the point. He was starting to see why Matthew had been so upset. Did he think Judas hated him? Or that they pitied him? Or maybe it was guilt that Matthew was feeling after all these years.

"How I have feelings for you?" They said, finishing his thought for him. "Yeah, well. I knew you were just showing up to manipulate me, but I couldn't stop myself from missing you and wanting to see you." It felt easy to admit it now, now that he didn't think Matthew was going to try to manipulate him anymore.

"I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment," they mused with a small shrug of his shoulders. "Now, do you want to go to the tower, or should I just leave you alone here?" 

----------------

The way Judas said what he had wanted to say so easily shocked him and Matthew could not help staring at them. Laying it out in the open for them both and so casually admitting to it had the fallen deity at a loss for words.

"Did you think I was manipulating you?" he asked softly, his heart aching because that had not been his intention at all with Judas over the years. Yes, he had gone to Judas for rather self-serving purposes, but every time he did, it had never been to manipulate. "I never... I wasn't..." But that was how everyone saw him, wasn't it? And that was the problem and the reason that led Matthew to where he was today.

----------------

Judas watched him, confused by his reaction. Was he acting to try to save face? It was okay, they didn't care about that anymore. That was one of the few things he was actually able to come to terms with when it came to his love for Matthew.

"Why else would you show up at my place, while working for P.S. Group, while I was actively hiding supernaturals? I always thought you were waiting for the right time to use me to get access to the hiding places, or names of people you could up. I was waiting for the day they came to round me up, honestly." Judas shrugged from his spot where he was leaning against the wall watching him.

"Why didn't they?" Since they were being honest, they meaning Judas so far, what was the harm in asking? They had always been curious, after all.

-----------------

While Matthew had known of Judas' work with the supernaturals, he never once thought to give the vampire up. He never could. Not even when the P.S. Group continued to come to him asking for names and he would have exhausted everyone he could think of before ever giving them Judas.

"I couldn't give them your name..." Matthew said, the look on his face turning to one of sadness and disappointment as he despaired over the fact that Judas had thought that about him the entire time. He had not given Judas any indication otherwise though and the realisation of that hurt a lot more than he imagined it would.

"You were... You were the only part of my life that I wanted to keep away from them. To keep safe. I didn't want them to sully what we had between us." Those moments had been too precious to him. Though it was clear now that perhaps there had been nothing between them and it had all been in Matthew's head.

-----------------

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. Hearing that Matthew hadn't given him up, couldn't give them up, it stirred up every emotion he had managed to bury and they had to look away, feeling their face warming slightly and their heart beginning to thump in his chest again. He wanted to be what the fallen deity cared about and wanted to protect, desperately so.

“What did we have between us, Matt? Because it was hard to tell when you kept rushing out like you regretted ever kissing me." That had definitely hurt, badly. "There is a reason that when I finally sat down to paint again, the only thing I could paint was you." And that damned painting. He still had it. Hell, he'd even finished it.

-----------------

What did they have between them indeed. That was the question and Matthew still did not know the answer. Clandestine meetings and stolen kisses across the span of a near decade would've meant nothing to the regular person, but they had been under highly irregular circumstances and thus Matthew had perceived them as something more.

"I don't know..." he said softly. "I did regret kissing you, but only because I knew it would be a mistake getting too close. You were a liability. One they could have exploited if they looked hard enough... Every time I went to you, I was terrified I was followed and every time I went back to them, I kept thinking that I would see them throw you into one of the experimental facilities. You don't know how terrified I was every time!" This was the first time Matthew had ever told anyone about this. He never had the chance to before and it seemed right that it would be Judas he told this to now.

"I didn't want them to destroy the only thing in the last few years that was keeping me sane... I'm sorry you thought otherwise. It was never my intention to lead you on..." He could understand if Judas wanted nothing to do with him now.

----------------

Judas watched him, listening to him speak and feeling their chest ache. As Matthew spoke, it was almost as if he could hear the sincerity in his voice. First perhaps the first time ever, Matt was being honest with them. That, coupled with the topic at hand, made it impossible for his heart to resist.

They didn't know what to say, how to respond or how to tell him that his heart, his long still heart, was racing for him. There were no words that would suffice. Instead, Judas quickly crossed the space between them and held Matthew's face gently in his hands as he kissed him.

They wanted to put all their emotions into this kiss. The longing, especially, but also the heartache, the frustration and the desire, all of it. Otherwise, how could he ever tell him?

---------------

Matthew was still fretting and bracing himself for this to be the last times Judas came to check in on him when he heard the vampire come over and felt cool hands on his face. The touch was gentle as those hands angled his face up towards Judas' own and they leaned in for a kiss.

The fallen deity's heart was threatening to beat out of his chest as he froze for a moment, not quite daring to move until it became evident that Judas was not going to pull away. His shoulders sagged and he leaned into the kiss, eyes closing as he tilted his head to deepen it. This kiss was so different to the ones before. Firstly, because Judas had initiated it and secondly, because their kisses were never so gentle, so tender, as if what they were doing in that moment was such a precious thing.

"Oh, Judas..." Matthew sighed against the vampire's lips and he felt a warmth flood his chest as he melted into the kiss.

----------------

Matthew was kissing him back and they immediately shuffled onto the bed, holding onto him as they continued to kiss him. It felt like, if they looked away, he would change his mind and push Judas away, so they didn't want to give him the chance. One arm moved down to loop around his waist, pulling him closer.

"Please don't push me away again," they murmured softly between kisses, their eyes stayed squeezed shut, their chest aching.

----------------

Judas was on the bed with him in the next moment and Matthew eagerly welcomed him. This was not how the fallen deity had expected the conversation to turn out and he welcomed them with open arms to pull Judas close and on top of him.

"I've never wanted to..." he confessed, his own heart aching in a way he never realised it could in a very long time. Matthew was not sure when the sentiment changed and all he wished was to tell Judas everything, but he was sure he would not have it any other way. Not again.

-----------------

Judas rested his body against Matthew's, not wanting to be anything but gentle and affectionate with him. They held him with such reverence, scared of hurting him or upsetting him. 

"Don't leave me again," they mumbled unintentionally, pressing his lips to his again softly.

----------------

There were so many things that were still being left unsaid between them, but when Judas leaned in again to press their lips together, it was almost as if they were discovering this part of their relationship for the first time and Matthew wanted to take his time with it.

"I won't..." he promised, returning the kiss with something equally tender and just as slow. It did not seem like they were going to leave the bed anytime soon and if they were going to stay in this safe house, Matthew planned on making the most of it.

The next years passed with the world turning to even more shit around them. With the death of Park Sung Joon, his son rose in his place and was even worse than his father. Siwoo made is it his life's mission to eradicate the supernaturals and introduced measures that escalated in ruthlessness as time went by.

Judas' name was still tied to the Hereafter after all those years, but his involvement with the building and what it represented to the supernatural community became an increasing problem as time went by. Until one day, they got wind of a bomb plot. Some human factions were planning to destroy some supernatural owned buildings in the city and the Hereafter was a target.

Fretting for his building and Judas' safety, Matthew decided that he would risk himself and return. His powers had returned to him for a few months by then and any help they could have, Matthew was willing to give. Little did they know that the bombing of the Hereafter would also serve as a way to drive Matthew out of hiding... And when he building came down around them that night, Matthew was cursing himself for his stupidity in falling for this much too obvious trap.

to be continued....

[naturalrights-retard]

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

Infertility is skyrocketing and if the trend continues, most couples may require reproductive services to conceive by 2045

Potential reasons for this trend include vaccines that impair fertility, endocrine-disrupting chemicals and electromagnetic field (EMF) exposures

The number of children born worldwide dropped 50% between 1960 and 2018. Many countries also saw shocking birth rate decreases following the rollout of the COVID shots

Infertility affects 1 in 6 people globally. In the U.S., fertility problems affect 9% of men and 11% of women

A single in vitro fertilization cycle can cost between $15,000 and $30,000, and since your chances of conceiving is only 29% after the first cycle and 43% after six cycles, it can get very expensive. As a result, we may be moving into a future where only the rich will have the means to reproduce

While the propaganda machine insists the world will face dire consequences due to overpopulation, the data actually point us in the opposite direction, as infertility among both sexes is skyrocketing.

There are many potential reasons for that, from vaccines that impair fertility and endocrine-disrupting chemicals, to electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure. The the promotion of transgender ideology doesn’t help either, as children and young adults are literally having their reproductive organs surgically removed and/or made permanently dysfunctional with hormone therapies.

Soon enough population growth will plateau and begin to slide backward. Already, global birth rates are at a record low. According to World Bank data, the number of children born dropped 50% between 1960 and 2018.1 Many countries also saw shocking birth rate decreases following the rollout of the COVID shots.

The Global Fertility Crisis No One Is Talking About

According to an April 2023 report2 by the World Health Organization, infertility now affects 1 in 6 people globally. In the U.S., fertility problems affect 9% of men and 11% of women. Even among healthy couples under the age of 30, 40% to 60% fail to conceive in the first three months of having unprotected sex.3

A single in vitro fertilization cycle can cost between $15,000 and $30,000, and since your chances of conceiving is only 29% after the first cycle and 43% after six cycles, it can get very expensive. As a result, we may be moving into a future where only the rich will have the means to reproduce.

It’s not surprising, then, that one-third of American adults say they’ve used fertility treatments, or know someone who has.4 The problem, of course, is that infertility treatments are expensive. A single in vitro fertilization cycle can cost between $15,000 and $30,000.5

However, since your chances of conceiving is only 29% after the first cycle and 43% after six cycles,6,7 the cost can rack up. As noted by Salon staff writer Matthew Rozsa,8 “I believe our species faces a future in which only the rich will be able to reproduce.”

Sperm Counts Are Plummeting Around the World

Sperm counts in men have trended downward for several decades already. According to environmental and reproductive epidemiologist Shanna Swan, Ph.D., author of the 2021 book "Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race," average sperm counts among Western men in 2011 were less than half of what they were in 1973 (47 million per milliliter, down from 99 million/mL).9

According to Swan, if the curve of declining sperm counts continues, by 2045 the median sperm count will be zero,10 and couples desiring children will have no choice but to seek reproductive help.

Similarly, research11 by Hagai Levine, professor of epidemiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, shows sperm counts declined an average of 1.2% annually between 1973 to 2018, and the pace of decline is speeding up.

As of 2000, the annual rate of decline is 2.64%.12 “We are facing a public health crisis and we don't know if it's reversible,” Levine told BBC news in a March 2023 interview.13 And to quote Rozsa again:14

“... once our average sperm count reaches less than 15 million per milliliter, the only people able to reproduce will be those who can afford expensive medical technology like in vitro fertilization (IVF) ... (Levine places the threshold sperm count number at 40 million per milliliter.)”

Indeed, the emergence of a new class difference, where only the wealthy can afford to bear the cost of reproductive technologies, seems unavoidable at this point. As such, this trend will eventually have massive social justice implications.

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Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Impair Fertility

Swan believes endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are among the key culprits behind the infertility trend, as they directly interfere with the functioning of our steroid hormones, which are crucial for pregnancy and fetal development. Top offenders include phthalates and bisphenols found in plastics, personal care products, cosmetics, and processed and packaged food.

Many EDCs mimic hormones, effectively taking their place. But, of course, the chemical doesn’t function the way the natural hormone does, so whatever that hormone controls won’t function well either. As explained in the 2019 report, “Male Infertility and Environmental Factors”:15

“Classically the EDCs bind to the androgen or estrogen receptor triggering an agonist or antagonist action. These in turn lead to increased or decreased gene expression of sex-specific genes.

In addition, EDCs act on steroidogenic enzymes and the metabolism of hormones, for example, inhibit the activity of 5-α reductase, which is the most important enzyme in the production of dihydrotestosterone and hence the regulation of the masculinization of the external genitalia and the prostate. Furthermore, P450 enzymes in the liver that metabolize steroid hormones may be affected.”

As Swan told Salon magazine in April 2021,16 if there’s insufficient testosterone during the development of a male fetus, several problems may arise. For starters, his genitals may not develop properly. As he grows older, he may also not have sufficient sperm counts to be fertile. He’s also at increased risk for testicular cancer. Evidence of these ill effects are all around us. As noted by Swan:17

“We also see declines in testosterone in several studies around the world. We see increases in erectile dysfunction. We see increases in rates of genital abnormalities ... We see increases in testicular cancer rates.”

EDCs can also fragment the DNA in sperm, which is a factor that can contribute to early-term miscarriages.18 Of course, women are also being adversely affected. Importantly, rates of diminished ovarian reserve are on the rise, which means a woman may not have enough eggs left to conceive when she gets older.19

‘Forever Chemicals’ Impair Reproductive Health

Another class of chemicals linked to lower sperm counts are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), colloquially known as “forever chemicals,” found in grease- and stain-resistant products, including food packaging, clothing, personal care products and household items.

A 2022 study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found “a statistically significant association between exposure to a mixture of PFAS in early pregnancy and lower sperm concentration and total sperm count and higher proportion of non-progressive and immotile sperm" in male offspring.20

PFAS have also been shown to disrupt reproductive hormones, delay the onset of puberty, and increase the risk of endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome in women.21

Pesticides Take a Toll on Fertility

Pesticides are another contributor. According to a November 2023 scientific review22,23 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, organophosphates and N-methyl carbamates — two common classes of insecticides — lower sperm counts. As reported in this paper:24

“Across 20 studies, 21 study populations, 42 effect sizes, and 1,774 adult men, the pooled bias-adjusted standardized mean difference in sperm concentration between adult men more- and less-exposed to OP and NMC insecticides was -0.30 ...

Although the pooled effect estimate was modified by risk of bias, insecticide class, exposure setting, and recruitment setting, it remained negative in direction across all meta-analyses. The body of evidence was rated to be of moderate quality, with sufficient evidence of an association between higher adult OP and NMC insecticide exposure and lower sperm concentration.”

Pesticides have also been linked to decreased fertility in women, as well as ovarian disorders, stillbirths, premature births and developmental abnormalities.25

Are Vaccines Being Used to Reduce Fertility?

Vaccines may also be contributing to the infertility trend. As detailed in “Infertility: A Diabolical Agenda,” which features a documentary by the same name, the World Health Organization has been working on anti-fertility vaccines since the 1970s, and a UNICEF tetanus program was in the mid-1990s found to have used a tetanus vaccine laced with hCG.

HCG is the first signal that tells the woman’s body she’s pregnant. In response to this signal, her ovaries then produce progesterone, which maintains the pregnancy to term. By combining hCG with tetanus toxoid, it causes this crucial pregnancy hormone to be attacked and destroyed by the woman’s own immune system.

There’s reason to suspect the COVID shots can impair infertility as well. Doctors and scientists have warned the shots may cross-react with syncytin and reproductive genes in sperm, ova and placenta in ways that might impair reproduction.

At least one study26,27 has confirmed that Pfizer’s mRNA shot impairs semen concentration and motile count in men for about three months. Women of all ages have also reported menstrual changes after getting the jab, which could have an effect on fertility.

Shocking declines in birth rates around the world after the rollout of the COVID shots seem to confirm there’s a problem. For example, German data showed a 10% decline in birth rate during the first quarter of 2022.28 Between January and April 2022, Switzerland’s birth rate was 15% lower than expected; the U.K.’s was down by 10%; and Taiwan’s was down 23%.29,30,31

In a July 5, 2022, Counter Signal article, Mike Campbell reported that in the five countries with the highest COVID jab uptake, fertility dropped by an average of 15.2%, whereas the five countries with the lowest COVID jab uptake saw an average reduction of just 4.66%.

U.S. data have also revealed a drop in live births. For example, provisional data from North Dakota showed a 10% decline in February 2022, 13% reduction in March and an 11% reduction in April, compared to the corresponding months in 2021.32

EMFs May Also Be Involved

I believe EMF exposures are another significant factor for the observed decrease in male sperm count. Martin Pall, Ph.D., discovered a previously unknown mechanism of biological harm from microwaves emitted by cellphones and other wireless technologies via voltage gated calcium channels (VGCCs) embedded in your cell membranes.33

VGCCs are activated by microwaves, and when that happens, about 1 million calcium ions per second are released. This massive excess of intracellular calcium then stimulates the release of nitric oxide (NO) inside your cell and mitochondria, which combines with superoxide to form peroxynitrite.

Not only do peroxynitrites cause oxidative damage, but they also create hydroxyl free radicals — the most destructive free radicals known. Hydroxyl free radicals decimate mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, their membranes and proteins, resulting in mitochondrial dysfunction.

During a 2013 children’s health expert panel on cellphone and Wi-Fi exposures, it was noted that “The testicular barrier, that protects sperm, is the most sensitive of tissues in the body … Besides sperm count and function, the mitochondrial DNA of sperm are damaged three times more if exposed to cellphone radiation.”34

Writing in Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine, researchers also noted that many in vivo and in vitro studies have revealed the EMF exposure can alter reproductive function, including sperm motility, with effects varying according to the frequency, duration of exposure and strength of EMFs.35

How to Protect Your Reproductive Health

While many of the key culprits may seem near-impossible to avoid, it would behoove you to give it your best shot if you want to have children, or want your children to be able to bear children:

•Avoid chemical exposures of all kinds, but EDCs and PFAS in particular. Examples of items that can contain these chemicals include canned goods, dental sealants, nonstick food wrappers, hard plastic cups and bottles, grease- and stain-resistant products and clothing, personal care products, shampoos, lotions and cosmetics.

Ideally, eat whole unprocessed foods that you cook yourself as much as possible, and use all-natural unscented personal care and household products.

•Avoid pesticides by buying organic foods whenever possible.

•Avoid COVID shots, and for safe measure, any other gene-based “vaccines” as well.

•Limit your EMF exposure by connecting your desktop computer to the internet via a wired connection (remember to put it in airplane mode once hardwired), shutting off your home’s Wi-Fi when not in use (especially at night when you are sleeping), and minimizing your cellphone use. Ideally, work toward hardwiring your house so you can turn off the Wi-Fi at all times.

[matthew-alexander]

MATTHEW ALEXANDER - A NEW WORLD BIO

Matthew Alexander lived in relative normalcy after the global hack in 2030 albeit just becoming more popular. He took advantage of human curiosity for the supernatural world and remained in high society. Many of his human ‘friends’ in that circle were extremely fascinated and sought him out for what he could do for them with his demonic magic. He continued life as normal where he even amassed a number of extremely wealthy admirers and met even more influential humans from around the world.

Matthew was introduced to the P.S. Group in 2035, just a few years before magic technology started becoming mainstream. By 2041, he had already begun to aid in a few of Park’s experimental creations and continued helping the P.S. Group out of fascination and his need to find out what else these humans could achieve. In the years that followed, his nagging suspicions of what the P.S. Group was up to were confirmed when he bore witness to a very private tech demonstration where a captive supernatural was brought out to test one of the pieces of experimental technology used to destroy spirits and depower deities and demons. This piece of tech was then revealed to the world in 2045 and Matthew was publicly thanked for his contributions. 

Upon realising that the situation might be much worse than he imagined, Matthew signed the Hereafter over to Judas Samara in that same year and decided to maintain his relationship with the P.S. Group even as more and more members of the supernatural community began to disappear and die around him. To the public, Matthew was aiding the P.S.Group in technological advancements, but underneath it all, he was doing what he could to disrupt them and even managed to anonymously aid in the escape of a small number of captive supernaturals.

As the tide against the supernaturals grew stronger, Matthew was asked to give up the names of some prominent members in the supernatural community who had gone into hiding and he did so while asking for the safety of those who lived in the Hereafter in return.

The supernatural community had already begun to very publicly despise the demon by 2050 and it was a great surprise to everyone involved when he appeared and volunteered to aid in the assassination of Park Sung Joon in 2051. He had the intel and the means to get close to Sung Joon after all. Following the assassination, the group’s capture and eventual escape for some of them, Matthew was depowered for the first time and had to go into hiding for a few years. He was offered a place to stay in Remington Tower and his relationship with Elijah Remington has managed to turn itself around ever since.

Matthew was caught in the bombing of the Hereafter on the one day he decided to return to his old home. He was depowered again and he was driven into hiding once more.

Matthew tried his best to lay low, but would resurface when his magic returned so that he could start looking for and rescuing supernaturals. He was recently depowered in a skirmish that took place in 2057 and is waiting for his magic to return...

[thegrapewizard]

Billecart Sous Bois

Billecart Salmon : Clos St Hilaire PRODUCER: Billecart Salmon BRUT SOUS BOIS GRAPE: Chardonnay,Pinot Noir & Pinot Meunier YEAR: 2015 (W)inemaker/ (O)wner : O: Matthew Billecart FRANCE REGION : CHAMPAGNE DRINKING WINDOW : 2023-2045 WINE REVIEW Over recent years you would find it difficult to get anywhere near Lebanon and Israel in the wine shops.  Chateau Musar changed that and put…

[mildew-dread-mold]

comprehensive list of excellent ways to name your pet @the-internet-cannot-stop-me and i discussed

long and official name and title (Rutherford H. Carmichael, Duke of Cambridge)

average human name with surname, followed by a position at a preexisting company or organization (Matthew Joneson, CEO of Staples; Nathaniel Hanes, President of the World Health Organization)

average ridiculous pet name with similar titles mentioned above (Cucumber, CEO of Twitter; Tiger, Ambassador of Cambodia; Buttertoast, Prime Minister of Canada)

celebrity name or historical figure and ridiculous title or descriptor (Mariah Carey, Harbringer of Doom; Oprah Winfrey, 5th Horsman; Ryan Reynolds, known for his portrayal of Buttercup in the 2051 remake of The Princess Bride, dir. Vin Diesel; Michael Buble, Prince-Consort of France; Queen Elizabeth II, fashion disaster, CEO of Minecraft, lead guitarist of famous American band, “5 Seconds of Summer”, author of the renowned Harry Potter series; Dwayne Johnson, husband of Will Smith; Julius Caesar, K-pop idol; Det. Lindsey Lohan, NYPD; Michelangelo, wife of Gerard Way; Leonardo Da Vinci, manager of Fall Out Boy)

well known fictional character with similar titles (Wario, CEO of Amazon; Sans from Undertale, the Antichrist)

mascots, same concept (Mr. Clean, Duchess of Wales; Pillsbury Doughboy, Queen of England; Ronald McDonald, founding father; Carl Jr., inventor of the wheel)

any of the above, followed by their presumed birth and death date (Plato (1987-2045))

[quhaqebam]

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[obarqueiro]

Untitled

    Olho para trás, há muito tempo já não vejo mais a base, sinto-me exausto mesmo não tendo caminhado uma tarde, sei que é apenas o calor fazendo efeito. De farda vestida e arma na mão sigo meu caminho determinado, esta foi a última vez que olho para trás, se não vieram antes não viram agora. Prazer, sargento Gregory ao seu dispor! Sou do vigésimo quarto batalhão do rei Adriano da Amazônia. Data para identificação da gravação: Janeiro de 2045. Sim, o ano é 2045 e voltamos para a monarquia, que ironia hein? Alguns chamam de progresso, outros de retrocesso mas de nada me importa esta discussão, se não posso mudar os fatos então prefiro nem discutir, o único tipo de discussão que eu gosto de ter é aquela que eu posso resolver na bala. Bom, não vou perder meu tempo te contando isso, até porque está no livro de história e provavelmente essa será minha última gravação já que não pretendo retornar com vida do campo de batalha. Hoje, dia 29, dou minhas despedidas para o país, para meus amigos e para meus familiares. A todos que eu defendi, saibam que eu morri atirando até a última bala na cabeça desses filhos da p@#$ e não vai ser hoje que eles vão invadir a Amazônia não, o que é nosso é nosso e o resto do que sobrou do rio Amazonas é nosso! O que esses colombianos estão pensando? Agora que secou de vez a parte deles do Amazonas querem a nossa? Sem chance.     O sol  tá intenso hoje, chuto uns 40 graus. O processo de desertificação foi intenso por aqui a partir de 2030, minha Amazônia não é nem mais um por cento do que já foi um dia, mas ainda é bela! Bela como floresta, bela como deserto, ainda te amo minha casa e te defenderei até o fim. O que um dia foi um rio, hoje nós o consideramos um oásis, já que o que sobrou do rio está tudo restrito num enorme lago artificial aos arredores de Manaus, mas é O oásis! Já que a vida de milhares depende do resto de água que ali está. Milhares, e não só dos nossos, como eu falei antes, os colombianos também estão dependendo disso e faz mais ou menos um ano em que estamos em guerra contra a Colômbia por causa disso… mas eu não tenho dó não, quem mandou não saber racionar a água direito?     O fato é que neste exato instante estou marchando sozinho em direção a divisa da Colômbia com a nossa querida Amazônia, estou indo encontrar os que sobraram do vigésimo quinto batalhão, poucos, quase zero provavelmente já que faz mais de 6 horas que emitiram o pedido de socorro. Mas se já estão quase todos mortos, a água toda está em Manaus e eu estou sozinho, então porque eu estou indo? Porque enquanto tiver a vida de um Amazonense em jogo, eu farei tudo em meu alcance para salvá-lo, nem que eu tenha que morrer para isso, e pelo que me parece a chance disso acontecer é enorme.     Me chamaram de louco, de doente, de suicida, mas quer saber de uma coisa? Fui o único que me dispus a fazer essa viagem toda para salvar os irmãos que sobraram e não me arrependo da minha decisão, se me arrependi de algo foi de não ter saído mais cedo.     Era responsável pela minha equipe: solado Gustav, o Gordo, este é o apelido carinhoso que eu dei para ele. Era gordo sim, mas era musculoso, o mais musculoso da equipe, na mesma medida que se enchia de comida ele se exercitava. sempre que tinha uma missão ele levava a Bertha, sua metralhadora de estimação, ele não largava ela por nada e num combate, vish! Quem se arriscasse chegar perto dele durante uma luta, não importa de que lado estava, tomava chumbo na boca! E se não bastasse assim que metia bala em alguém começava a rir e aquele charutão que ele sempre tava fumando dançava em sua boca; soldado Magras, o contador, descendência pura de japonês era tão fascinado por número que contava a cabeça de cada um que caia em campo. Gênio da matemática e da engenharia, construiu seus próprios drones e ficava de dentro da base monitorando a situação em campo e registrando cada movimento, de ambos os lados. Assim que uma disputa de território era finalizada ele já tinha todos os dados, todas as baixas, quanto de suprimento utilizamos, quantas balas gastamos, quantos matamos, seus olhos eram um ábaco; soldado Matthew, o violinista, loiro de olho azul, alto de 1,90 no auge dos seus 18 anos, corpo atlético, era o mais belo da equipe, era capaz de encantar qualquer garota, mas mesmo assim nunca o vi com nenhuma, e também nem gostava muito de comentar sobre, porque será? Violinista não é só porque ele tocava violino, mas porque de alguma forma a mesma perfeição que ele usava para tocar seu violino era a mesma que ele usava durante um combate. Era tão ágil e tão suave seus movimentos com suas facas e executados com tanta perfeição e precisão que ele parecia estar tocando seu violino, cada movimento seu era pensado, sempre depois de uma luta ele vinha com um sorriso no rosto dizendo que estava só aquecendo para poder tocar seu violino; e por fim temos a cabo Berta, a amazona, amor incorrespondido de Gustav ( Daí que veio o nome de sua metralhadora), descendente de indígenas, pele bronzeada cor de mel e longos cabelos lisos mais negros que uma turmalina negra. Veio de uma família em que todas as mulheres foram militares e ela seguiu pelo mesmo caminho. Aparentava ser sensível, uma delicadeza quase de princesa, realmente no corpo a corpo não tem chance alguma… é o que os adversários pensam, mas seu cordão branco e azul de contra-mestre em capoeira diz o contrário. Sua ginga era invejável, tinha tanto malemolejo que parecia brincar com seus inimigos e se destacava no pelotão por ser muito corajosa, era a primeira a entrar na luta e a última a sair, valente que não tinha igual, por isso a amazona. Mestre no corpo a corpo ela dizia que se garantia na porrada, por isso ela ia só nas mãos, mas além disso era ágil como um guepardo, os inimigos que sobreviviam voltavam correndo para sua base e traumatizados diziam para os próximos soldados que estavam indo para a luta que tinha um fantasma do lado contrário e muitos dos que voltavam, não voltavam inteiros! Tinha um magnetismo pessoal fabuloso, todos queriam estar perto, mas não tão perto assim porque ela conseguia ser muito dura quando queria, mas sempre conseguia colocar os soldados para cima. Esta é minha equipe.      Você acha mesmo que eles chegariam em mim e me diriam que eu sou louco por estar fazendo o que estou fazendo? Me chamariam de doente? De suicida? Vocês acham mesmo que esses psicopatas fariam isso? Claro que não! Eles iriam comigo e iriam lutar com gosto, e não gosto por estar matando, mas gosto por estarem ao lado um do outro juntos na mesma batalha pelo mesmo propósito, lutar pelo o que é justo! Apesar dos pesares, nossa única motivação era a justiça, feita com as nossas próprias mãos, porque se a gente não fizer quem vai fazer? Vi todo o reino se transformar no que é hoje e não vou permitir que piore. Mas afinal, que justiça é essa em que matamos outras pessoas para alcançá-la? É uma justiça partidária, que está do nosso lado, lutamos para manter a nossa sociedade viva, enquanto vocês vivem a vida de vocês ai na boa quem você acha que tá lá no campo de batalha? Prazer, somos nós. Mas eu não sou a porra de um filósofo pra ficar falando de justiça e falar sobre o real sentido de justiça não, sai fora. Enfim, se eles lutariam com garras e dentes, então porque não vieram comigo? É simples… estão mortos. Numa tarde eu tinha saído junto a outro a outra equipe do pelotão para fazer reconhecimento de área, estávamos muito perto de território dominado pelos inimigos por isso qualquer precaução era pouca. Quando voltei para a base, nosso comandante me informou que minha equipe tinha sido convocada pelo tenente do vigésimo terceiro batalhão para trazer crianças indígenas que haviam sido sequestradas, porém, salvas pelo vigésimo terceiro batalhão, da base deles até a nossa. Como eu falei antes, qualquer precaução é pouca, e eles não tiveram o suficiente. Chegando perto do lugar indicado descobriram que era uma armadilha, a base do vigésimo terceiro batalhão inteira estava destruída, queimada, caindo aos pedaços e a única coisa que os esperava lá era a morte, caíram numa emboscada e foram fuzilados por Colombianos que estavam só esperando a chegada deles. Nem tivemos a chance de pegar os corpos deles de volta, haviam sido queimados.     Por isso, hoje quando eu ouvi o pedido de ajuda sabia que era isso que eu tinha que fazer, não podia negar, haviam pessoas a serem salvas e com ou sem minha equipe eu tinha de ir, era o certo a se fazer, e eu fiz. Talvez eu ganhe algum tempo para o pessoal do vigésimo quarto batalhão decidir o que fazer… talvez não seja totalmente em vão. Não me arrependo disso, sei que esse meu ato será mais um ato simbólico de coragem e bravura, porque se lá já estiver sido tomado, então já sou um homem morto. Não dei para trás em momento algum e espero que este ato seja lembrado. Mas quero que saibam que além de fazer isso pelas vidas dessas pessoas fiz também pela vida dos meus companheiros que se foram, mortos na intenção de fazer o bem. Se for para morrer, que seja igual a eles.      E se eu não conseguir resgatar ninguém pelo menos levo uns putos comigo para a vala. Encerro minha transmissão por aqui, cada vez mais estou entrando em lugares mais perigosos, minha única companhia só pode ser minha arma de agora em diante. Tenho de ficar cada vez mais atento e em alerta e não posso deixar que uma caméra dívida minha atenção. Por isso,

Fim de transm….    

[hunterguyveriv]

Gridman anime...

So a Kaiju enthusiast like me, just discovered that there is an anime series to the Toku Series Gridman on Amazon. I became interested in it because I remember the Americanized Live Action series back in the 90s with Matthew Lawrence and Tim Curry voiced the evil Kilokhan - the same Tim Curry who voiced Lotor in Voltron-3D back in 1998.

So I am wondering is the series worth my money and time as a of Kaiju movies and a fan of, and I can’t stress this enough, SELECT (Guyver, Ghost in the Shell, Voltron, Battle Angel, Iria, Gundam 08th MS team, Witchblade, Ninja Scroll, Elfen Lied, Outlaw Star, Tenchi in Tokyo, Blade to name all my favorites) anime series? How would you rate the...

Story

Character Development 

Character interactions 

Action

Music

Message of the series

Voice Dubbing compared to original Japanese

See, I am asking because, even though it is an anime adaptation of a series I enjoyed in my youth, does not mean I will enjoy it. Cases in point Voltron: Legendary Defender and the Godzilla Planet of the Monsters series and most recently Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2045. Both Voltron and Godzilla started off with great potential, but went to shit fast (Voltron Season 4-halfway of Season 6 then back to shit again Season 8 and Godzilla City on the Edge of Battle & Planet Eater) and GitS:SAC2045 just did not feel like it was GitS.

So I am asking everyone who has seen it, is it worth my time? I’ve had many series suggested from friends, co-workers, even nieces and nephews and every one has disappointed me.

[hitchell-mope]

Hypothetical titles for season five of 88

Farcical history tour. Part one. An agriculturalists nightmare and a deputisation. Six months after season four. Findlay, Sidney and Drummond finally discover a way to leave the garden of Eden. By razing it to the ground. In 2045. The new commissioner officially deputies Jones as a venerated figure from Findlay’s past arrives to help her and her family move on from the events between seasons. Guest starring Lucy Lawless as the new Commissioner Aisling O’Neil and Deniz Akdeniz as Jesse Christensen.

Farcical history tour. Part two. St. Albans and snake skin lawyers. In the past. The three Sullivan’s must keep history on track. Which means delivering poison to Boudicca. In the present. Findlay is willingly in jail as penance for what she did to try and get back. But her family’s hired Jacob as her defence attorney. Guest starring Olivia Cooke as queen Boudicca

Farcical history tour. Part three. Hastings and harrowing decisions. The Sullivan’s are dropped right into the battle of Hastings at its most crucial moment. The reveal of magic to the world. In the present. Findlay must decide wether to accept Jacob’s council or not. Guest starring Bradley James as William of Normandy.

Farcical history tour. Part four. Kismet and co captaincy. Dropped into the battle of Trafalgar. On opposite sides of the conflict. Findlay tries to make sure Nelson’s last words are “kismet” and Sidney and Drummond try to evade Napoleon’s forces. In the present. Thornton readies to welcome the Captains of the 87&89 precincts. Guest starring Matthew Rhys as Admiral Nelson, Josh Gad as Napoleon Bonaparte, Jennifer Morrison as the 87th’s captain, Una Galbraith and Paul Rudd as the 89th’s captain, Conrad Rhys

Farcical history tour. Part five. The tag and Al Capone. In 1921. The Sullivan’s once again run into Hollis Carothers. This time in the company of a young Al Capone. In 2045. Findlay is represented by Jacob in court as she finally comes to terms with the fact she is not culpable for what transpired when she was trying to get back home. Guest starring Lucas Jade Zumann as Al Capone and Colin Ford as young Hollis Carothers.

Farcical history tour. Part six. Repercussions and return. A full on “how we got here” flashback episode. In 1921 the Sullivan’s finally find a way to make the return trip. In 2045 we see how and why Findlay, Sidney and Drummond took the consequences that weren’t needed.

The Bergerac killings. Findlay and Sydney’s first case back on the job is a batch of serial killing committed by women who’ve been stood up by their dates. Guest starring Bailee Madison as Shane Galbraith. Final appearance of Jennifer Morrison as Captain Una Galbraith.

Fifth Avenue vs Greenwich. As Golden Brick Road is fumigated for pixies, Skipper and Oswald move into the Wilmington estate on Fifth Avenue , putting even more stress on the household since Findlay’s family moved back in after their apartment in Greenwich was sold during their disappearance.

Ill repute. A male prostitute is murdered at a ladies club. And it might end up implicating mayor Hale’s ex sister in law.

Cop killer. The 100th episode. One Police Plaza is blown up, killing Commissioner O’Neil and sending all the cops in New York on high alert. Final appearance of Lucy Lawless as Commissioner Aisling O’Neil.

Fitting. Findlay witnesses a jewel theft at Saks Fifth Avenue during her dress fitting for the Birch-Spratt wedding.

The best ma’am. Midseason finale. Part one. Findlay fights with her instincts as she she tries to support Thornton when the Birch-Spratt wedding is interrupted by a string of brownie led home invasions.

The man of honour. Midseason premier. Part two. As Findlay and Thornton question the ring leader. Sidney tries to ward off Jacob’s cold feet.

The granny from flushing. Hollis’s parents want to take over guardianship of Drummond. Guest starring Ted Danson and Fran Drescher as Franklin and Esther Carothers.

Morningstar. Godfrey Christensen’s only daughter arrives just as Findlay’s ptsd therapist advises her to try and make friends away from her family. Guest starring Bella Heathcote as Lucia Christensen.

Mother’s Day. Findlay finds herself trapped in an escape room with Delaney, Winifred, Clementine, Lilith, Celestine and Sonya when a well intentioned Mother’s Day gift for Delaney gets gate crashed and goes horribly wrong.

Family reunion. It’s a day in the limelight for the Christensen’s as Godfrey orders them all into family therapy. Lilith included.

SASD. Godfrey is moved and disturbed when the 88 enlists his omnipotence to help with a case for the sexual assault survivors division.

Water into wine. Several dead child traffickers turn up. And all signs point to an unapologetic and self righteous Godfrey.

The almighty. Alec Moynihan (Dan Stevens) returns as Godfrey is brought in for questioning on ten counts of the righteous murder of child traffickers.

They’re still using that word? Drummond is frivolously sued by a fellow student at Van Buren after unknowingly using a recently banned Satyr cuss word in her presence. Which puts Jacob up against his old, and disturbingly misandristic, law school rival. Guest starring Hilary Duff as Phaedra Wilkins.

Recommissioned. Jones sends out an APB on the Plaza Bomber as his first act back on the job as commissioner. Findlay finds out a slightly blasphemous secret about Skipper and Oswald

The casket of amontillado. Season finale. Part one. The 88 are hot on the trail of a serial killer whose methods are directly based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe.

The telltale heart. Season finale. Part two. Lucia assists Findlay when Sidney is held hostage by the Casket Killer. Guest starring Melissa Fumero as Edina Poe Gauthier.

[judassamara]

new world au bio

overview:

When the world was let in on the secrets lurking all around them in 2030, Judas was highly skeptical of where it would go. They are ostracized almost immediately due to their criminal record and species being released. They pulled away from society, spending more time within the Hereafter. Many of his friends and loved ones either go missing or die over the years, leaving them feelings as isolated as they did in Zamok. As things slowly began to crumble, Judas was setting up various hideouts. The things he had learned from being in Zamok, how to lie low and how to survive, were the things they leaned in to. 

key points:

Created several hideout locations through the city in the early years (2030 - 2045), some of which were discovered and others that are still hidden to present day.

Lost Naz in the 2032, a heartbreaking loss of his closest friend though the money she gave them helped to feed, home, and protect many people.

Took over ownership of the Hereafter in 2045, doing what they could to ensure that everyone within its walls are safe which has included getting modern weapons.

Helped plan the assassination in 2051and lead the charge to break Isabelle out of prison. Gloria is involved in this effort. 

The Hereafter is partially destroyed in 2053 and Judas tries to get as many people to safety as possible.

Made connections with Elijah and Caleb, and now works with them in an official capacity to protect other supes. Judas provides them with whatever supplies they need.

Hid Matthew in one of his safehouses until he regained his powers and left

Met a cute human named Tuzi by accident on one of the few times they left their safehouse for supplies, he reminded them of someone so they kept in contact. Tuzi has since aided in their efforts.

Goes out at nighttime on missions to steal supplies every few months, ranging from food to clothes, medicine to assorted goods. Whatever they need, he finds. 

[m2004ew]

Abandoned, Contaminated, Crumbling

By Matthew Alexander

It was mid-June 2045, and a bushy-haired man was walking through a field of dead grass, with a grey sky overhead. The man, who stood at five foot eleven inches, was reflecting on the events of years prior. Only ten years ago, the calm of the world was disrupted when a coup in Russia had resulted in the creation of the NUSSR, causing the world to descend into a chaotic cold war as tensions between the communist-ultranationalist NUSSR and the capitalist USA flared up. Three years ago, these tensions finally boiled over into a third world war, and the collapse of global civilization. Now people like this man, named Derek Westfield, who were all that remained of humanity, were left to scavenge and fight for their survival in the remains of the world.

Sadly, looking for ways to survive was difficult, as many cities were still shrouded in lethal levels of radiation, large swaths of once arable land had been rendered infertile by chemical weapons, and lots of fresh water had also been contaminated by chemicals. The countryside and even some towns were plagued by both Neo-Soviet bioweapons and escaped American bioweapons which prowled the land, hunting both humans and wildlife alike. The atmosphere had become choked with smog and ash, causing the planet to cool by several degrees, making farming most crops difficult or even downright impossible. Even other humans were a threat to survival, as many were willing to kill anyone they encountered if it meant extending their own lives.

Derek stopped his personal reflections as he came across something up ahead; only nine and a half yards away from him was some sort of severely damaged abandoned building, with broken out windows, bullet riddled walls, and the entire front entrance blown out like as if an explosive planted inside the building had torn if off. The building was large as well, having very clearly been some sort of government facility or corporate building before the apocalypse. Under normal circumstances, Derek would avoid entering such a building for fear of what he may encounter inside, but there were no other visible buildings anywhere nearby, and the sun had begun setting; traveling by foot at night was extremely dangerous, as many bioweapons would come out at night. He knew he would need to take refuge inside for the night, and so, Derek grabbed the shotgun which had been slung around his left shoulder, made sure it was fully loaded, turned off the safety, and hesitantly entered the building.

Derek could tell that he was in the lobby of the building when he first entered, and he could see that the damage was more than just outside; there was a massive hole in the ceiling where part of the roof had collapsed, and there were more bullet holes in the walls, along with many old bullet casings on the ground. However, there were some things which Derek noticed which made him greatly uncomfortable; for as much bullet holes, bullet casings, and even dried blood there was, there were no corpses or skeletons anywhere in sight, and while the front entrance looked like it had been blown off in an explosion, there were no signs of an explosion having occurred anywhere in sight. Everyone of Derek's senses were screaming for him to leave the building and find somewhere else to rest for the night, but he knew that doing so was not an option, as it was already so late in the day that, by time he would reach the next nearest building, it would have been dark for a few hours, and spending even an hour outside in the dark in the middle of nowhere would likely be a death sentence. Due to this, Derek decided to stay within the building, but to use extreme caution as he was moving around.

He began moving deeper into the building, making sure to check every room and corner as best he could to ensure his safety. He also made sure to stay as quiet as possible, so that he could more easily hear anything moving around or entering the building. As he made his way deeper into the building, he began to detect a faint, disgusting smell which got stronger as he continued to move through the building. Also, as Derek moved from room to room, he was able to determine that the building had originally been some kind of military facility, with this revelation only making him more uncomfortable.

The smell was growing stronger, and Derek had now recognized what it was; the smell of flesh, both fresh and rotten. This only made him want to flee from this place even more, but it was too late for that, as it had grown dark outside. He stopped moving for a few moments, mentally kicking himself, as in his efforts to find a safe place within the building to rest, he may very well have found something that was far from safe. He pondered about what he should do for a moment, before deciding to press on, and as he did so, he began to see streaks of blood on the walls and floor.

Eventually, Derek came across a room from which the smell emanated, having become almost unbearable. After a moment's hesitation, he entered the room, and stopped dead in his tracks as he looked upon the horrific sight before him; a nest made from both fresh and rotting flesh sat in the middle of the room with four black eggs in the middle of it. Derek recognized this kind of nest, and it was something he had hoped he would never see again; it was a nest of a Scorpinok, a red reptilian bioweapon the size of a fully grown man, with a large horn on its snout and claws shaped like sickles, which had been developed and deployed by the NUSSR against the USA. They were notoriously hard to kill, with their only weakness being the inside of their mouths.

He had encountered one two years ago, back before he traveled alone. Derek used to have two brothers named Jean and Austin, and the three had been traveling together, along with two strangers, towards a small settlement named Jaystown. Unfortunately, they passed right by a Scorpinok nest located on an abandoned farm, where they were promptly attacked by a Scorpinok; Derek was the only survivor. Ever since that day, Derek had tried his hardest to avoid Scorpinoks and their nests as he possibly could, though now it would seem that his efforts were in vain.

Derek became paralyzed with fear, with every one of his instincts screaming at him to run, yet his muscles were unwilling to move. However, he was snapped back to reality by the sound of something entering the building through a hole in the roof only a few rooms away. He dashed back into the adjacent hallway with his shotgun raised and looked in the direction of the sound, where his gaze was greeted by the sight of a Scorpinok making its way towards him. Derek immediately began firing at it, and while the buckshot rounds did hit the creature, even causing the beast to begin bleeding slightly, it continued plowing towards him.

The monster slammed into Derek, flinging him to the ground, then it raised its hand in preparation to end his life then and there. However, Derek had become accustomed to combat by now, and he proved to be faster than the beast towering over him, as he managed to point his shotgun up and, with one single shot, sent a load of buckshot into the Scorpinoks mouth, splattering its green blood and brains across the ceiling. The beast tumbled over onto Derek’s legs, dead.

Derek pulled his legs out from under the beast and was overcome with joy over his victory; however, this joy did not last long, as his adrenaline began to wear off and he began to feel a pain in his stomach. He looked down, only to see blood pouring out from a gash in his torso, a wound which he knew would be fatal. However, in one last act of defiance against this harsh, ruined world he found himself in, Derek crawled over the Scorpinoks corpse, reloaded his shotgun, and fired off four shots into the room housing the monster’s eggs, destroying them all. After doing this last task, Derek rolled over onto his back, reflected on his life up until that point, and died.

[thegrapewizard]

MASTER COPY OF WINE REVIEW

Billecart Salmon : Clos St Hilaire PRODUCER: Billecart Salmon BRUT SOUS BOIS GRAPE: Chardonnay,Pinot Noir & Pinot Meunier YEAR: 2015 (W)inemaker/ (O)wner : O: Matthew Billecart FRANCE REGION : CHAMPAGNE DRINKING WINDOW : 2023-2045 WINE REVIEW Over recent years you would find fficult to get anywhere near Lebanon and Israel in the wine shops.  Chateau Musar changed that and put Lebanon…

[diaspora9ja]

The role of business in climate change

In October the FT Future Discussion board assembled a panel to debate the function of enterprise in tackling local weather change. It featured Emmanuel Faber, chief government officer of Danone, the meals firm, and Huw van Steenis, group managing director and chair of sustainable finance at UBS, the monetary providers group. It was moderated by Pilita Clark, a enterprise columnist on the Monetary Instances. 

The difficulty of local weather change has been to the fore because the UN Paris Settlement in 2015, which aimed to restrict the typical rise in international temperatures to 2C above pre-industrial ranges and to attempt to maintain the rise under 1.5C. This goal has been adopted by nearly each nation on earth.

The tempo of presidency exercise has accelerated rapidly. In 2019 the UK, New Zealand and France made legal guidelines that commit them to attaining net-zero emissions by 2050. Sweden has given itself a purpose of 2045. This 12 months China, Japan and South Korea made comparable guarantees, though their targets have but to develop into legislation. 

Based on the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, economies accounting for half of the worldwide gross home product have made a dedication of some type.

Worldwide, insurance policies are being put in place to cope with automobile emissions

Even the US, whose withdrawal from the Paris Settlement took impact in November, is more likely to return to the fold when president-elect Joe Biden replaces Donald Trump on January 20. The “Biden Plan” guarantees to speculate $2tn in an “equitable green-energy future”. The urgency of the difficulty is proven by how rapidly thought has became motion. In November, Rishi Sunak, the UK chancellor, adopted international locations reminiscent of Germany and Sweden when he announced Britain’s first inexperienced authorities bonds to fund low carbon tasks. He additionally mentioned that from 2025 disclosure of local weather threats could be obligatory for listed and huge personal corporations underneath a framework created by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Disclosure is step one however it’s knowledge that can permit corporations and their traders to understand the danger posed by local weather change. 

Matthew Bell, the Asia-Pacific local weather change and sustainability providers chief for EY, the skilled providers consultancy, says: “Not like a number of these different requirements, that are form of point-in-time reporting, TCFD says what’s what you are promoting mannequin and the way is it impacted by these multi-decadal adjustments to the local weather. 

“It will get organisations to consider danger administration and governance, setting metrics and targets and establishing a method to cope with existential threats — and that’s new.”

The problem

The problem to achieve web zero is big, so sensible motion is a precedence. The International Energy Agency says that by 2030 emissions should fall by 45 per cent relative to 2010 to be on monitor to achieve web zero. Speedy progress, it says, is “essential”. Success will depend upon cleansing up power sources, decreasing emissions from home equipment and retrofitting buildings, in addition to making positive factors in effectivity to allow power demand to fall by practically a fifth, again to the extent of 2006, regardless of the bigger international financial system. 

All this can value. A rule of thumb is that one to 2 per cent of world GDP will should be spent to attain local weather targets. The OECD estimates that the mandatory infrastructure will value $7tn a 12 months as much as 2030. 

Different knowledge current an optimistic image. Within the UK, the opposition Labour celebration identified web advantages to the financial system of £800bn if the power sector’s net-zero goal is introduced ahead and reached by 2030. A 2018 Stanford College examine predicted a 60 per cent probability that maintaining international warming inside 1.5C as a substitute of 2C by 2050 would end in collected global benefits of $20tn, though it does make caveats.

Progress to this point

A primary step in direction of decrease emissions has been to scrub up the facility sector, notably coal-fired electrical energy era. This appears to be working. In August, International Power Monitor reported in Carbon Brief that international coal-fired energy capability shrank for the primary time within the first half of 2020, though international locations reminiscent of China proceed to develop.

Within the UK, the impact of insurance policies for greener financial development and cleaner air has been marked. Emissions associated to power provide have declined. Provisional figures for 2019 published in March present that the sector’s CO2 emissions are down by practically two-thirds since 1990, in opposition to an mixture fall of 41 per cent. The transport sector is subsequent. Having barely lowered its emissions since 1990, it ranks as Britain’s worst emissions offender.

Worldwide, insurance policies are being put in place to cope with automobile emissions. In 2019, France grew to become the primary nation to legislate to part out combustion engines, with a goal 12 months of 2040. By June, in keeping with the IEA, 17 international locations had introduced 100 per cent zero-emission targets or the phasing-out of autos powered by inner combustion by 2050. In November, as a part of the UK plan to deal with emissions, the federal government mentioned it could ban gross sales of petrol and diesel vehicles and vans by 2030, bringing that concentrate on ahead by 10 years. 

To this point, within the UK no less than, a discount in emissions has had no impact on financial development. The Clean Growth Strategy of 2017 mentioned Britain’s financial system had expanded by two-thirds since 1990: it outpaced different G7 nations and it additionally did higher at slicing emissions.

The outlook for enterprise

British enterprise won’t be let off the hook. In 2018 the industrial sector was answerable for 18 per cent of CO2 emissions, simply behind properties. In the identical 12 months, US business accounted for greater than a fifth of greenhouse-gas emissions, in keeping with a Senate Democrats’ report. In its 2019 progress report, the UK committee on local weather change mentioned: “It will likely be companies that primarily ship the net-zero goal and supply the overwhelming majority of the required funding”, including that coverage wanted to offer a “clear and secure route”.

The UK, which is because of host the COP26 summit in Glasgow in November 2021, is priming corporations for motion with insurance policies directed at particular sectors. 

On the opening of the COP26 personal finance agenda in February, earlier than Covid struck within the west, Alok Sharma, the COP26 president and UK enterprise secretary, highlighted the necessity for a shift in funding. “Solely decarbonised economies”, he mentioned, “will be capable of develop by the worst impacts of local weather change.”

Speaking later to enterprise leaders, Mr Sharma famous that the battle in opposition to local weather change “needs to be a joint endeavour between nations, civil society and enterprise”. He referred to as on companies to decide to targets reminiscent of sourcing 100 per cent renewable power by 2050 and switching all autos to zero emissions by 2030.

The climate-related shift may very well be as transformational as the appearance of the web. Companies that don’t adapt will probably be in danger, whereas those who embrace change will see higher alternatives. Dr Bell describes local weather change as “the best financial transformation in our lifetime, as a result of it impacts on each single business sector. No person’s immune”. Andy Howard, head of sustainable funding at Schroders, the funding supervisor, agrees. “[Given] the size of disruption we’re speaking about, there received’t be any simple wins,” he says.

The Race to Zero Coalition, a worldwide initiative underneath the UN Framework Conference on Local weather Change, counts amongst its supporters greater than 1,000 corporations, 450 cities, 549 universities and 45 traders. Climate Action 100+, an investor initiative that began in 2017, consists of greater than 500 traders that urge corporations into motion on local weather points. CDP, which runs a disclosure system for environmental results, publishes an annual local weather motion rating of teams, based mostly on a questionnaire; in 2020, 9,600 corporations took half. 

Dangers

■ Bodily

Probably the most tangible danger to belongings lies in areas that local weather change will immediately have an effect on. This consists of these which may be submerged because the seas rise, in addition to belongings affected by the results of excessive climate, together with extra frequent extreme storms, droughts and wildfires.

For current belongings, there are few options apart from insurance coverage. For brand new tasks the danger should be assessed at conception.

■ Existential

Because the shift to a low-carbon world gathers tempo, belongings in a number of sectors face obsolescence: they danger turning into stranded belongings. Extractors of fossil fuels and the producers of power sourced from coal, oil and soiled gasoline are apparent examples.

Carbon offsets are now not thought of a great way to counter emissions

The danger additionally applies to areas together with the auto business and aviation. Building can be affected due to the carbon footprint of concrete and metal. Innovation might create inexperienced options however within the meantime producers must cut back emissions in current processes.

Delivery, which accounts for nine-tenths of world freight by quantity, is answerable for three per cent of greenhouse-gas emissions, in keeping with Climate Action Tracker. Whereas the Worldwide Maritime Organisation has adopted targets, the evaluation means that motion to date is insufficient, with emissions more likely to develop.

Carbon offsets are now not thought of a great way to counter emissions. The Science Based Target initiative, which champions outlined paths to net-zero emissions, says offsets mustn’t rely in direction of targets as they don’t cut back emissions. The consensus is that abatement not offsetting will energy the shift to web zero.

■ Transitional

Enterprise fashions must change. Transport, as an illustration, should shift to zero-emission autos. In June, British Fuel made the most important UK order of electrical autos. Volvo has mentioned it would quickly have fully-electric lorries on sale.

Emissions from places of work additionally should be minimize. A fifth of UK emissions are from industrial property, so the designers of latest tasks must think about the local weather, and previous inventory must be tailored. Schroders highlights improvements in its London premises reminiscent of recycling warmth from refrigeration to the recent water system, whereas Freshfields, the legislation agency, says its transfer to new premises was made with sustainability in thoughts.

The City Land Institute, a think-tank, says landlords that invested in climate-resilient industrial actual property have reaped dividends. Consequently they will cost higher rents to corporations that worth continuity.

The impact of transition will probably be felt all the best way from firm to client. Huawei, the Chinese language know-how group, says its method is twofold: shifting to renewable power in any respect of its premises and dealing to enhance power effectivity and the recycling charges of its merchandise. It says: “These measures usually assist clients cut back whole value of possession, creating a robust financial incentive for local weather motion.”

Through the FT Future Discussion board panel occasion, UBS mentioned that in addition to decreasing its personal impact on the local weather it was making use of capital allocation to carry purchasers right into a low-carbon world. That is important. Even corporations that keep away from setting a goal will probably be affected by selections taken elsewhere. Tesco, amongst others, has made commitments to cut back emissions in its provide chain, forcing its suppliers into motion too.

■ Regulatory

If corporations and customers don’t voluntarily work in direction of low-carbon targets, regulation will pressure the difficulty. This may very well be pricey for these late to make the change.

The UN-backed Rules for Accountable Funding forecasts that “abrupt, forceful and disorderly “coverage change will come by 2025 and will wipe as much as $2.3tn in worth from the world’s largest corporations. A lot of that would be the results of carbon pricing, which Dr Bell describes as “an efficient and truthful mechanism to quickly cut back emissions”. Such a system would penalise any firm that has failed to cut back emissions to nationwide limits.

“First, corporations’ prices will go up as a result of they’re now paying for one thing that they weren’t paying for earlier than”, says Mr Howard. “Second, all of their suppliers’ prices will go up . . . then the value of merchandise can even enhance, as a result of finally that will probably be handed on.” 

Factoring in a corresponding fall in demand, Schroders concludes that this might remove a median 15 per cent of money flows throughout corporations within the MSCI All Nations World Index.

■ Reputational

Regardless of these pressures, for a lot of companies transition should still appear a distant downside. If clients don’t seem to care, performing on emissions can appear to be an pointless expense. That is harmful — and never solely due to the excessive chance of carbon taxes. Younger folks, the customers of the long run, are significantly engaged within the problem and a few have run a “Mock COP” instead of the postponed official COP26.

As seen local weather offenders reminiscent of oil and gasoline are sidelined, customers will shift scrutiny to corporations in sectors which might be regarded as avoiding motion. Elevated transparency makes it simpler to establish lower-carbon options and so empowers customers in making decisions. In September, Amazon introduced a “climate pledge friendly” initiative to flag up sustainable merchandise.

Extra such knowledge may result in stranded belongings or unviable merchandise in sectors that thought they have been secure. 

James Hilburn, director of monetary providers at Carbon Intelligence, believes that the demand for beef and cheese, and out-of-season greens, may shrink. “Because the carbon emission of this stuff turns into extra clear and is ultimately priced into the product, it might speed up a market shift away from them.” 

In higher information for old-world wine drinkers, Mr Hilburn says that “a bottle of wine has a median CO2 footprint of 1.2kg per bottle, however utilizing a pure cork moderately than a screw-top can cut back the emissions by 1 / 4 due to the carbon sequestration of the cork tree”. 

Financing

The function of capital allocators within the local weather transition is increasingly important. Mr Hilburn says 60 monetary establishments have dedicated to science-based targets. He says: “The monetary sector is seen because the conduit into the market. In case you can measure the ESG [environmental, social and governance] implications of capital you’ll be able to really stream all the way down to all sectors, and you’ll obtain change throughout all sectors. That’s actually highly effective.”

Pension funds, as an illustration, now make investments with local weather mitigation and sustainable enterprise in thoughts. Banks, too, think about local weather of their lending practices and direct their fairness investments accordingly. 

In July the UK’s largest pension fund, the government-backed Nationwide Employment Financial savings Belief, introduced that it could divest from fossil gasoline publicity. It won’t be the final, as local weather disclosure underneath TCFD turns into extra frequent. 

A number of massive banks within the UK and US have signed up to the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials, an initiative backed by Mark Carney, the previous Financial institution of England governor. 

Subsequent June the BoE will put monetary establishments by a local weather stress check, which is able to make extra folks and companies conscious about the dangers of local weather publicity.

The shift of capital isn’t solely pushed by ethics. “A rising physique of proof hyperlinks good ESG efficiency with superior market returns”, Mr Hilburn factors out, “and it comes by quite a lot of elements. You’ve got higher value controls, you have got income development alternatives, you have got a extra engaged, productive workforce.”

In debt funding, the transfer from tasks with a restricted shelf-life in a web zero world is feeding into prices. In October Goldman Sachs reckoned that renewables tasks may safe funding at 5 per cent or much less, versus 20 per cent for long-term oil tasks.

Alternatives

Avoiding the draw back of delayed motion is more likely to carry substantial advantages for companies that transfer rapidly to deploy methods based mostly on local weather mitigation. There are additionally tangible positive factors. Mr Carney, who’s the UN particular envoy for local weather motion and finance, calls the transition to net zero the “best industrial alternative of our age”.

Expertise, as an illustration, brings alternatives for builders and customers. Power group Iberdrola and know-how corporations Lenovo and Google have deployed synthetic intelligence to reinforce efficiencies. The machine-learning options that Google created to chill its knowledge centres are being utilized to buildings worldwide. Carrefour, the French retailer, used Google AI to analyse massive knowledge units and cut back meals waste.

The providers sector, together with consultancies and authorized corporations, stands to achieve enterprise in advising purchasers on the easiest way to attain net-zero emissions or, within the worst case, easy methods to keep away from litigation.

In the meantime, US juveniles backed by the Youngsters’s Belief have been advised they’d no legal standing to sue their authorities for jeopardising their futures by ignoring the dangers of local weather change, though marketing campaign teams such because the Centre for Climate Integrity have highlighted how climate-related prices are borne by communities however polluters aren’t held to account.

In its 2017 Clean Growth Strategy, the UK recognized the low-carbon financial system as an space of alternative. In 2017 it forecast that the sector would develop at 11 per cent a 12 months as much as 2030, practically 4 instances the speed of the broader financial system. Within the US, the Biden Plan anticipates that tens of millions of jobs will probably be created in sectors from renewable power to innovation to low carbon-related building. Google says its personal sustainability funding ought to generate greater than 20,000 jobs in clear power and related industries within the subsequent 5 years.

In the meantime, UNPRI has a optimistic outlook for destructive emission applied sciences, or NETs. Only one subset, nature-based applied sciences, may develop to embody belongings value $1.2tn, producing annual revenues of $800bn by 2050, bigger than the present market capitalisation of the oil and gasoline sector.

Constructing Again Greener

Arguably, the coronavirus pandemic has delayed among the extra bold plans to put money into inexperienced targets. Through the panel dialogue, Danone acknowledged that its funding in local weather change initiatives, introduced simply earlier than the pandemic, must be reviewed since tackling local weather change and Covid-19 collectively was onerous. 

Dr Bell, nevertheless, notes that, in opposition to expectation, EY’s survey of traders carried out through the pandemic didn’t point out a return to purely alpha era. “The other was true. They mentioned, ‘Nope. It’s much more necessary for us to deal with ESG now than it has been ever’.”

Nations additionally look to the low-carbon financial system to assist beat the financial impact of the pandemic. In June, Germany allotted €40bn of its €130bn stimulus plan to inexperienced spending. The Just Transition Fund was launched a 12 months in the past to assist EU economies within the transfer to low carbon. Its funds will assist the restoration based mostly on low-carbon rules.

Subsequent Steps

The crucial for enterprise to behave now needs to be evident. Whereas setting targets is important, giving the issue applicable significance and creating constructions to make sure execution are additionally key to success.

Danone exemplifies what consultants reminiscent of EY and PwC advocate when it comes to inserting local weather and sustainability on the coronary heart of technique. In 2008 the corporate shut its company social duty division — an acknowledgment that such points belong in a broader agenda — and pegged the bonuses of 15,000 managers to CO2 targets.

The FT Future Discussion board occasion distilled a three-point motion plan for corporations to ship transformation: take heed to your buyer or purchasers, have interaction the total government group and seek the advice of workers, particularly the subsequent era of leaders who’re impatient for reform and can go away if they don’t see change.

Inserting possession of local weather technique on the proper stage is important. PwC isn’t alone in recommending that this could relaxation with the board after which be communicated to the organisation utilizing clear targets. 

Conclusion

An enormous quantity of labor lies forward. A latest evaluation of 6,000 groups by J Safra Sarasin, the Swiss financial institution, confirmed that their emissions have been on monitor for 3.5C to 4C warming, double the extent set in Paris. 

Dr Bell believes 2030 would be the important second, as a result of that’s the date that the majority international locations’ nationally determined contributions needs to be met.

“We see a crunch coming, partly from the investor neighborhood — inadvertently. We all know quite a lot of main traders search to align their funding portfolios to a 1.5C end result, or to web zero, by 2050. 

“Provided that we haven’t seen mass divestments but, you possibly can predict that if corporations don’t pivot their enterprise fashions and begin to decarbonise in keeping with that 1.5C or 2C, there’s going to be this crunch level when traders say, ‘We have to transfer our funds’.”

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[thephantomcasebook]

Need opinion from the lurkers in the Downton Abbey Tag

So I’m developing this story “Ghost of a Rose” which is basically about Mary and Matthew’s spirits finding each other again in the future.

But there’s a B plot involving their descendant the last Exiled Heir of the Fallen House of Grantham. And he’s in love with a Princess of Britain, but he’s not allowed to Marry her until he can lift the curse on the Heirs of George Crawley put there by an Evil Necromancer from Pre-History (long story) who has taken over Downton Abbey and has haunted its halls for a Century. 

Here’s my question ... should I use Kate Middleton and Prince William in the story or should I make up a fictional King and Queen? Because, I mean, Obviously, in 2045 William and Kate would be King and Queen. But I’ve never, ever, felt comfortable writing real contemporary people into Fan Fiction. But I know that Downton Abbey is Historical Fiction ... 

So what do you think? 

Use William and Kate or make up fictional King and Queen of Britain?    

[kaythacritic]

I give Neon Future IV (ALBUM) - Steve Aoki a 60% (D-) Release Date: April 03, 2020 Features: Julien Marchal (@julienmarchal), Kota Sovee, Icona Pop (@iconapop), Global Dan (@1globaldan), Travis Barker (@travisbarker), Tory Lanez (@torylanez), Slushii (@slushiimusic), AGNEZ MO (@agnezmo), Desiigner (@lifeofdesiigner), Maluma (@maluma), Lights (@lights), Mike Shinoda (@m_shinoda), Lay, will.i.am (@iamwill), Sting (@theofficialsting), SHAED (@shaedband), Backstreet Boys (@backstreetboys), Zooey Deschanel (@zooeydeschanel), Felix Jaehn (@felixjaehn), Jamie Scott, MONSTA X (@official_monsta_x), Darren Criss (@darrencriss), Sydney Sierota (@sydneysierota), Yuval Harari (@yuval_noah_harari), Alan Walker (@alanwalkermusic), Isak, Alok (@alok), Bryan Johnson, Going Deeper (@goingdeeper), Ummet Ozcan (@ummetozcan), Dzeko (@dzeko), Bassjackers (@bassjackers), Timmy Trumpet (@timmytrumpet), Dr. Phunk (@drphunkmusic), Showtek (@showtek), MAKJ (@makj), Kris Kiss, Matthew Koma (@matthewkoma), Kita Sovee MEDIOCRE TRACKS: Love You More, Hava, Rave OKAY TRACKS: Halfway Dead, Daylight, One True Love, Girl, Maldad, Last One to Know, 2 in a Million, Let It Be Me, 1 4 U, Inside Out, Play It Cool, Crash into Me, New Blood, Homo Deus, Are You Lonely, Do It Again, Terra Incognita, 2045, Popcorn, I Wanna Rave, Cut You Loose, Eevos Atik Foes Ireht GREAT TRACKS: Closer to God, I Love My Friends #music #musiccritic #musicreview #critic #review #neonfutureiv #neonfuture4 #neonfuture #steveaoki #album #travisbarker #blink182 #torylanez #desiigner #sting #thepolice #backstreetboys #edm #hiphop #electrohouse #trap #miami #florida #newportbeach #california (at Newport Beach, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CALm9D0gLCU/?igshid=zmowvqtz8qwd

[style-yesnews]

元朗形點｜翡翠拉麵小籠包 + 三巡小廚｜另類三代同堂聚餐之選

先此聲明，甜魔媽媽不是非常支持小店分黃藍，因為很多時都是片面之詞，已聽過太多店家宣稱被誤會。但立場鮮明的富臨集團（並不是富臨飯店）、美心集團，在這特別時期自己會盡量少幫襯，今晚也分享在元朗形點，美心集團以外的用餐選擇。

以前時有幫襯翠園、北京樓等美心中菜，最近則轉到 翡翠拉麵小籠包（有人不滿九龍灣店經理，但罪不及元朗店）或 三巡小廚；雖然未必有圓檯方便三代人團圓，但食物出品不差、定價也更實惠，感覺也不錯～

先講一下 翡翠，其實年初形點店還是 翡翠江南，後來卻換成更平民版的 翡翠拉麵小籠包。其實這也是好事，因為兩兄妹又可以點抵食兒童餐了，印象中$38就有不同點心＋一碗拌麵，賣相可愛、味道也不錯，當然遠不夠大食兩兄妹填肚，所以又加點一份豬扒湯麵讓他們分享。

來到大人的餐點，首先涼菜點了雞絲粉皮，但有一半落在兩兄妹胃中，因為兩人都很喜歡這又香又滑的菜式！鎮江排骨也酸甜開胃不錯吃，但接著上檯的花雕蛋香蒸蝦球的蛋不夠滑，酒也不太香，感覺只是一般。

無論去到那裡，老公都是那麼嚐辣，這晚也點了水煮牛肉及麻婆豆腐。水煮牛肉當然不及對面 霸王川莊 的出品好，但味道也不差，用的牛肉更是靚貨；麻婆豆腐就是估不列到的正宗對辦，害我撈了好多白飯拌來吃！

再加上美味合意的金銀蛋莧菜，十分靚仔的香煎鍋貼，以及每次來到必吃的翡翠小籠包 x 2，嘴巴表示很滿足～

還沒完，最後還有水準不錯的炒飯，以及老公大愛的銀絲卷，蘸點煉奶就當是來吃甜品，吃完連肚子也百分百飽足了～

至於 三巡小廚 正是主打星馬菜，還好大部分菜式老人家都接受得來，也是不錯的聚餐選擇。

先來串燒牛肉，那又香又濃的沙爹醬是重點，雖然微帶辣意，但開始愛辣的 Matthew（以後會與爸爸一式一樣吧....）也受之如飴。

也來了一份小食併盤，中間除了滷水豆腐及滷水蛋，也有小朋友愛吃的魚蛋，以及富泰式風味的泰式魚餅，組合十分有趣。接著是香港較少人吃的燒雞飯，不過在新加坡吃燒雞及白雞的比例可真是一半一半，這也是還原星洲精神啦。

滑溜溜的海南雞當然也沒錯過，不過更愛的還是香濃惹味的海鮮喇沙，真是百吃不厭啊！菜式那麼對胃，老公一度考慮移民到新加坡，不是沒有原因的。

最後再來一碟有鑊氣又不太油的炒通菜，又是滿足的一頓。經過那麼多年的生活，再西餐胃的我，也不得不承認：就算不吃中菜，偶爾真的要吃吃亞洲菜才舒服，可以的話真的不想走啊！

  最後補充一下：每個人／家庭的需要都不盡相同，希望大家能夠做到和而不同，尊重其他人選擇食肆的自由～   翡翠拉麵小籠包 地址：元朗元龍街9號形點一期2樓2045號舖 電話：24551828 Facebook：翡翠餐飲集團 Crystal Jade HK 三巡小廚 Sergeant Kitchen 地址：元朗朗日路8號形點二期3樓A315B號舖 電話：26706038 Facebook：Sergeant Kitchen HK 三巡小廚   ** 想得知最新飲食情報，可追蹤 甜魔媽媽；欲得知甜魔一家消息，就追蹤 Matthew and Chloe 吧~~

飲食資訊由熱新聞提供 原文連結: 元朗形點｜翡翠拉麵小籠包 + 三巡小廚｜另類三代同堂聚餐之選 更多相關內容

尖沙咀｜Harlan’s X 海賀｜十週年週末海鮮自助午餐

Yan Lo 甜魔媽媽的新天地，在這裡與大家分享美食、育兒，以及旅遊資訊~~~24小時為你介紹不同的餐廳，各國美食精選等！