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smilingformoney · 7 months

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The Eternal Summer | Elliott Marston/Reader

II. Obsession

Summary: It's your first day at the station and Elliott's growing attached to you… maybe too attached.

Read on Ao3 or below the cut:

When you woke the first morning, for a few moments you forgot where you were. You thought you were still on the ship and that the man holding you against his chest, his erection pressing up against your bum, was your husband.

You opened your eyes and your heart skipped a beat in panic when you didn’t recognise your surroundings, then your mind caught up with you and you remembered where you were: in Australia, in Elliott’s house, in Elliott’s bed… with Elliott.

You shifted slightly in the bed, and Elliott’s arm around you tightened slightly.

“There she is,” he said softly. “Thought you were gonna sleep all day.”

“Whassa time?” you mumbled sleepily as you turned around to face him.

“Aout half ten. I didn’t wanna wake you.”

You were surprised not to have been woken by Elliott taking his pleasure from you, since he’d seemed so excited by the idea… was it possible he’d done so and you’d slept through the whole thing? You were a deep sleeper, but you always awoke when your husband slipped inside you during sleep, his lovemaking being passionate as it was, even so early in the morning.

But you felt dry, Elliott was still erect, and he seemed to be quite sleepy too. Perhaps he’d changed his mind…

“You’re such a pretty sight when you’re sleeping,” Elliott said. He traced a line down your body with his finger, as if trying to paint a silhouette of your figure. “And awake too, of course… but there’s something so innocent about the way you sleep. I couldn’t bring myself to disturb you.”

“I’m awake now,” you replied, hoping your voice didn’t give away your nerves as you tried to be seductive. You tentatively reached out and took his cock in your hand with a light touch. “You can do whatever you want to me…”

Elliott screwed his eyes shut and groaned with relief at the feel of your touch, but he seemed to be holding back. Usually when you took William’s cock into your hand he would thrust forward, desperate to feel some friction, but Elliott did no such thing; in fact, he moved his hips back slightly, away from your touch.

“No… it’s whatever you want, [Y/n]. Tell me what you want.”

“I, erm…” You hesitated. You hadn’t even thought about what you wanted. You just knew that he was erect, and it was your responsibility to give him his morning pleasure. Your husband had given you to Elliott for exactly this reason, after all.

“I… want to help you with this,” you said, wrapping your fingers around him again and giving him a small tug.

“Mhm… is that what you want, [Y/n]? Or is it what you think I want?”

You frowned, confused. It was too early in the morning for all these questions. Elliott’s cock was throbbing with desire, and you had to relieve it. Why was he asking you all these questions?

“I… I want to ride you,” you admitted with a blush.

Elliott smirked. Whatever had had him resisting fell away at your offer, and he rolled onto his back.

“By all means, darling… use my cock for your pleasure. I’d love nothing more than to see the look on your face as you bounce on my cock.”

You threw a leg over his waist to straddle him, and he held your hips in his strong hands to help you guide yourself onto him, a small whine escaping your lips as his cock stretched you out, your walls stretching and expanding to accommodate his size.

“Fuck, your pussy’s so tight,” Elliott groaned. “It almost feels like you’re a virgin. Does William really take you three times a day?”

“Yes, I… I do yoga exercises every day and it helps to keep my walls tight even though my husband stretches them out every day. It feels better for him when I’m tight.”

Elliott ran his hands up your thighs thoughtfully, his large hands rough and calloused from manual labour, so different to William’s softer hands that had seen little more exertion than the movement of a quill.

“And what about you? Does it feel better for you when you’re tight?”

“Yes,” you admitted. “I like the stretch… I can feel it now, the way you’re filling me up…”

“Hmm… good. Well, then, I hope you continue your exercises while you’re here.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I told you, [Y/n]… I’m no knight. It’s Elliott.”

“Sorry… Elliott. Would you like me to ride you now?”

“Fuck yes,” Elliott groaned.

He was skinnier than William, which meant your legs weren’t spread as wide as they usually were, and it took you some adjusting to find the right position. You ended up leaning back slightly, your head tilted back in pleasure, and Elliott marvelled at the sight of you, letting the pleasure take over, all sense of propriety dissipated. He watched your breasts bouncing, your jaw twitching as you moaned, your fingers digging into his flesh as you moved further and further towards your climax. He could feel his own building up too, but he wanted to see you make yourself cum on his cock first, so he pressed his thumb against your clit and, if your increased moans were anything to go by, your pleasure wound up further as he circled the sensitive nub in rhythm with your thrusts.

He felt your orgasm before you made it heard - your walls clenched tighter around him, your thrusts became more erratic, and when he began thrusting up into you to make up for it, the friction plus his fingers sent you over the edge, a delectable moan tumbling from your lips, and he was grateful you didn’t moan his name because that might well have sent him tumbling over the edge too, and he didn’t want to pull out before your climax had completely washed over you.

When your moans faded into sighs, Elliott grabbed your waist and pulled you off him with one strong hand, and the other tugged his cock until his seed came shooting out, splattering you, him and the bedsheets with his seed in a delectably deranged fashion.

Elliott pulled you close to him and kissed you gently. You giggled at the way his moustache tickled your nose, which led to both of you laughing, slightly delirious in your respective post-orgasm hazes.

“You’re certainly a skilled young lady,” Elliott murmured in your ear, and you blushed. “Go get yourself washed up, I’ll have breakfast made for us out on the front porch.”

You joined Elliott on the front porch some time later, both of you washed and dressed, looking nowhere near as sinful as you had earlier. Elliott had his hat on and was looking out at the ranch, watching his workers in their morning routines. From the corner of your eye, you saw the glisten of the gun sitting in his holster.

Elliott smiled at you warmly as you sat next to him, and he took no shame in placing a hand on your knee. If you were in private, he’d have lifted your skirt to do so, but since his workers were about and he knew you were shy, the fabric of your skirt stayed between your knee and his hand.

The Aborigine manservant followed you out and placed a plate of fresh fruits in front of you both. You thanked him as he bowed his head respectfully and retreated back into the house.

“Do you normally thank the servants in London?” Elliott scoffed as he speared a berry on his knife and popped it in his mouth.

“I do. William doesn’t. He says their pay is thanks enough.”

“And you don’t agree?”

You gave a small shrug. “A ‘thank you’ costs no extra.”

Elliott smiled and shook his head. “You are a fascinating creature, [Y/n]. Do be careful talking to him, won’t you? I wouldn’t want his base instinct to take over and he tries to rape you. I have him tamed, of course, but he’s an animal at heart, and you’re a beautiful woman.”

You frowned as you cut your fruit up into small chunks. “Why is he more likely to rape me than any of your other men?”

“Well, because of what he is,” Elliott explained casually.

“But I don’t understand why that means he’s likely to rape me. I mean, William did and he’s nothing like him.”

You continued eating, oblivious to the way Elliott frowned at you.

He leaned forward and said softly, “[Y/n]… do you mean to tell me William’s raped you in the past? Before you were married, I mean?”

You looked up at him and blushed, realising suddenly that Elliott appeared disturbed.

“Well… yes. It took me some time to understand the gift he was giving me by taking me in, so for a while I resisted. But I learned my place eventually… and I came to love him.”

Elliott leaned back again, his lips thinning, and the hand that lay on his lap near his gun twitched.

“Oh, please don’t tell him I told you!” you said quickly, your eyes widening with alarm when you sensed Elliott’s disapproval. “Yes, we had sex before marriage, but I was little more than a whore —”

Elliott shook his head, and you stopped talking. He sighed, looking thoughtfully out at the horizon.

“I always thought my cousin to be so stoic, so law-abiding,” he said eventually. “I suppose you never really know someone, do you?”

You didn’t really know how to respond, so you focused your attention on your plate of food. It was diminishing fast, as you were always quite hungry after sex, and you wondered if Elliott would allow you to ask the servant to bring you some more.

“My next lot of hires should be here this afternoon,” Elliott said eventually once both your plates were cleared. “I’ve gone to great lengths to hire a new sharpshooter, so he’ll be dining with us tonight, then I’ll talk business with him after we’ve eaten so that you can excuse yourself from any boring men’s talk.”

You nodded your understanding. “Who else have you hired?” you enquired curiously.

“I’ve asked the men to find a boy to sweep the chimneys and help out around the farms. Boys can be hard to find here, as they rarely get sentenced to transportation, but hopefully they were able to find one. We still have some time before they arrive - would you like to go out and see the sheep?”

Your eyes lit up, which Elliott thought very endearing. “Oh, yes, please! Do you have many?”

“A few dozen, providing the Aborigines haven’t stolen any more. We have some pregnant ewes, so perhaps you’ll be lucky enough to see a lamb being born.”

Lady Luck must have been smiling on you, because you saw not one but three lambs being born. It was certainly not the prettiest sight to watch the shepherd pulling the lambs out of the ewe, but the sight of the mother ewe licking her babies clean while they shook the gunk from their faces was adorable.

“You handled that well,” Elliott said as you rode back towards the station, you sitting behind him on his horse with your arms wrapped around his waist.

“I’ve seen childbirth, that wasn’t dissimilar,” you replied. “I wasn’t expecting the shepherd to put his arm in the sheep, though. Or that there would be three!”

“When did a lady like you see childbirth?”

“When my brother was born.”

Elliott didn’t question you any further. When you were nearly at the station, he veered slightly from the path and helped you dismount at a treeline. He tied the horse to a secure branch, and before you could ask why you’d stopped, Elliott pushed you up against a tree and kissed you. The sun was hot, even in the shade of the trees, but his body was hotter, the heat of his desire radiating from him.

“Does watching a lamb’s birth arouse you, Elliott?” you giggled when he pulled back slightly to look down as he unbuckled his trousers.

“No, but you do,” Elliott growled. “I’ve always wanted to take a woman against a tree, spill my seed into the very ground of Australia… and I just can’t resist you any longer.”

He pulled up your skirt, pushed your bloomers past your knees, then pushed his body against yours as he slipped inside you.

Elliott was lost in the fog of his arousal, not caring much for anything but the pleasure he felt from fucking you against the rough bark of the tree. He knew your back would be red and sore later, but the thought only turned him on further. He knew that you were close enough to the path that if anyone were to travel down it, they’d hear his fierce grunts from between the trees, though you were hidden from sight. But he didn’t care about that - even if someone were to pass by, what would it matter? This land was his, and for the next week, your cunt was his too and if he wanted to fuck you on his land, there was nothing anybody could do to stop him.

He was just about aware enough to pull out of you before he came, and he thought all his Christmases must have come at once when you reached out and finished him off with your hand, even making sure to aim his cockhead towards the earth so that his seed splattered on the ground, just as he’d told you he always wanted to do.

Back at the station, you sat in the lounge of Elliott’s house with a book while he got some jobs done. Some time in the afternoon, you heard a commotion outside, and you peered through the curtains to see that a wagon had arrived from town.

You put your book down and stepped out onto the porch, securing a bonnet on your head to protect yourself from the sun, and watched as the men unloaded themselves and some luggage from the wagon. Elliott approached the men and started talking to a man who was holding a very long gun - the gunman he’d been expecting, you surmised.

“We found a boy too, sir,” said one of the men. He gave a hand to a boy who was still in the wagon and helped him down. “Got him cheap off some fella from Sydney.”

“Good news all round!” Elliott replied, tipping his hat to the boy. “Welcome to my station, kid. My name’s Elliott Marston, I run this place. What’s your name?”

“Tommy, sir. Tommy [L/n].”

Your heart skipped a beat. The last time you’d heard that name was in your husband’s courtroom, summoning him to the dock for sentence…

You hurried around the wagon to get a better look. He was a few inches taller, and leaner too, but you’d recognise your baby brother anywhere.

“Tommy!” you called out.

He turned, surprised to hear someone call his name, and it took him a few moments to recognise you - after all, you were older too, and looking like a lady rather than a street urchin - but your brother’s eyes lit up all the same.

“[Y/n]!”

With a grin, and all sense of propriety thrown out the door, you ran forward and scooped your baby brother up in your arms, spinning him in the air as you both laughed with relief at seeing each other again.

You placed him down on the ground again to get a good look at him.

“Look at you, you’re so big! And strong too, look at those arms —”

“I almost didn’t recognise you! You look so fancy! Why are you out here?”

The story of how you’d come to marry the man who’d sent Tommy here, who also happened to be the cousin of his new boss, you decided would have to come later, when you were alone. Instead, you looked up at Elliott and explained with a grin, “Elliott, this is my brother!”

Elliott raised his eyebrows in surprise, looking between the two of you. You’d never looked much alike, and now with the differences in class between you, you looked even less like siblings than ever.

“Is he now? Well, that’s a coincidence and a half. How about you two run along and have a catch up? I’ve got a few questions to ask of Mr Quigley here, then I’ll come see you about what you’ll be doing for me, Tommy.”

“Yes, sir,” said Tommy.

“Thank you, Elliott!” you said with a grin. You kissed him on the cheek, then took Tommy’s hand and ushered him inside, eager to hear all about what your baby brother had been up to for the last two years.

“Are you married to Mr Marston now?” Tommy asked as you closed the door behind you and set about grabbing the two of you some water to stay hydrated while you caught up.

“No, I’m married to his cousin. My husband’s in town, he’ll be here in a few days.”

“Can I meet him?”

You hesitated. “…Maybe.”

You handed Tommy some water, which he gulped down gratefully, then you turned the conversation to him, anxious to hear about how he’d been for the last two years. He told you about the last farm he’d worked on, which by the sounds of it had gone well until it was destroyed in a fire. The pastoralist had brought Tommy and the rest of his men who hadn’t died in the fire to Melbourne to sell them off in an attempt to recoup some of the money he’d lost, and that was where Elliott’s men had bought him.

“Does your husband have money? Do you think he could buy me from Mr Marston, then I could come live with you?” Tommy asked eagerly.

“I - I don’t know,” you replied hesitantly. “We’re only here temporarily and I don’t know if you’d be allowed to leave Australia, even if he paid for you. That’s something you’d have to ask him.”

You knew William would do most anything for you, but allowing a criminal to come back from Australia early - even if he was your brother - would be a lot to ask of him.

Just then, Elliott poked his head through the door.

“[Y/n]! We’ll be having dinner with Mr Quigley soon, so get yourself ready. Tommy, come with me, I’ll give you a quick tour of the station.”

You knew that it was important to Elliott that the dinner with Quigley went right, so you made sure to wash yourself up and wear the nicest dress you had with you. Sometimes William had people over for dinner, usually higher up judges and ministers that he wanted to impress, and he always kept you out of sight. He said it was because he didn’t want any of them to look at you hungrily, but you thought perhaps it was so you didn’t embarrass him with your lesser education.

You were flattered, then, that Elliott wanted you at this dinner and you wanted to do your best for him, to prove that you weren’t an embarrassment. You entered the dining room just as Elliott and Quigley were sitting down, and Elliott smiled when he saw you enter, his eyes lighting up when he saw the effort you’d made.

“Ah, and here’s our dinner companion now. [Y/n], this is Matthew Quigley, my new sharpshooter. Mr Quigley, this is Lady [Y/n] Turpin.”

Quigley looked at you in surprise. “A Lady? Forgive me, my Lady, we don’t have your sort where I come from. Am I supposed to bow?”

You smiled good-naturedly as you took your seat to Elliott’s left. “Of course not. And just [Y/n] is fine.”

Elliott reached over and gave your hand a squeeze. “[Y/n] here’s staying with me for a few days while her husband sorts some business out back in Melbourne. I’ll be sad to see her go, she’s been excellent company.”

You blushed, and fortunately Elliott’s manservant chose that moment to enter with the food, otherwise you might have had to answer some very awkward questions about the nature of your relationship with Elliott.

You were mostly quiet during the dinner, but you listened as Elliott talked about his passion for the American West, his guns, and the mint jelly he’d made himself. You loved how passionate he was, and you blushed when he put his hand over yours and squeezed as he talked. At one point, he paused eating his own dinner to help you cut a particularly tough piece of your lamb steak.

“Tell me about the dingoes,” Quigley said once the three of you had finished eating. “Ten pound a month shooting wild dogs seems like a whole lot for not much.”

Elliott turned to you and rested his hand on yours. “[Y/n], darling, would you excuse us? It seems it’s time to talk business.”

“Of course.”

You stood, gave Quigley a polite curtsy, and kissed Elliott on the cheek before heading outside.

You found Tommy sitting outside with the men, finishing up a dinner of their own, and they fell quiet when you approached. Elliott had warned them not to treat you like a whore, and they apparently knew no other way to treat a woman, so they opted for not talking to you at all. Tommy, however, grinned when he saw you approaching.

“Hey [Y/n]! How’s it going in there?”

“I wouldn’t know, they saved their business talk for after I left. He seemed nice enough, though. What’ve you had for dinner?”

“I think it’s rabbit,” Tommy replied thoughtfully, looking at the bones left on his plate. “What’d you have?”

“Lamb. I think —”

You were interrupted by a sudden smash, and everyone whipped their heads around towards the source of the sound just in time to see Elliott hit the ground, having apparently been thrown through the door.

Everyone ran towards him, the men pulling out their guns to apprehend the assailant and you running to Elliott’s aid.

Elliott pushed himself to his feet and raised a hand to keep everyone back.

“No, stay right where you are!”

He locked eyes with you, your brow creased with concern, and he shook his head.

“I’m fine,” he insisted before turning back towards the house. “No man knocks me out of my own house.”

He stormed back in, but a few moments later, he came out again in the exact same way, landing hard on the ground.

Elliott looked back at the gathered crowd. For a long moment, nobody moved. Elliott looked around at his men with exasperation then said, “Don’t just stand there. Get him!”

He pushed himself to his feet, leaning against the beam for support and you ran to his side to examine his wounds.

“Has he got the rifle with him?” asked one man cautiously.

“He keeps it right beside him,” said another.

Elliot grabbed the first man and threw him towards the hole that was once the door. “I said, get him!”

The man crouched by the opening, listening for movement. Inside, a candle was extinguished, leaving Quigley in the dark.

“He’s just sitting in there with that big gun,” said the man from his vantage point.

Another smash came from within the house as Quigley turned the table on its side to use as a barricade. The men spread out, more emerged from buildings with guns in hand, and Elliott pulled you away from the house.

“Elliott, what happened?”

“Man’s a lunatic, that’s what happened! You need to get yourself to safety,” Elliott insisted, but you shook your head.

“But Elliott, you’re bleeding —”

“And you’ll be bleeding worse if you get shot! Go, hide in one of the buildings, and get Tommy safe too.”

You still hesitated. You didn’t want to leave him, not just because he was injured, but because he was the only safety you had in this place.

“Go, [Y/n]. That’s an order.” He stroked the side of your face affectionately. “Let me keep you safe.”

You finally conceded and left, grabbing Tommy by the hand and pulling him behind one of the buildings.

You winced, waiting for the sound of gunfire, but it never came. There was another smash from inside the house, quieter this time, and you peeked around the side of the building to see Elliott’s manservant dragging an unconscious Quigley out into the open.

“What shall we do with him, Mr Marston?” asked one of the men.

“Shall we shoot him?” asked another.

You watched as Elliott walked up to Quigley and nudged him with his foot. Quigley rolled onto his back, apparently just about still conscious.

“Show him some of that hospitality you showed him in Melbourne, Coogan,” Elliott declared. The men clapped each other on the backs in excitement and Elliott retreated to his porch and watched as his men circled Quigley and began laughing and kicking him.

You ran up to Elliott, keeping a careful distance from his hollering men.

“Elliott, what are they doing?”

The look in Elliott’s eyes frightened you. He looked just about ready to kill Quigley himself, but when he turned his attention to you, his eyes softened. He wrapped an arm around your shoulder and pulled you in close. You instinctively buried your head in his shoulder, as if the closer you were to him, the safer you’d be.

“They’re teaching him a lesson, [Y/n],” Elliott said in a low voice. “No one disobeys me.”

“They’re not gonna kill him, are they?”

Just then, one of the women who’d arrived in the wagon earlier ran into the circle and jumped, screaming, onto one of the men, who easily knocked her out and threw her on top of Quigley’s unconscious body.

“Wait here, sweetheart.”

Elliott kissed the top of your head then approached the men, who parted to let him through.

“Throw him in the wagon,” you heard him decide. “Haul him two days from here and dump him. Let Australia kill him.”

As the men hurried to obey Elliott’s orders, he stormed back towards the house, where you were anxiously waiting for him on the porch. The glass crunched beneath his feet and he turned back to his men.

“And get this glass cleaned up! If [Y/n] gets even a sliver of a cut it’ll be half portion dinners for all of you!”

He beckoned you inside and you followed, treading carefully over the broken glass. Inside, the manservant was cleaning up the mess Quigley had made when he turned the table over. Elliott walked past him without acknowledgment, then headed into the lounge to sit himself on the sofa with a sigh.

You went into the kitchen, and when you emerged with a cloth and a bowl of water to clean him up, the frown on Elliott’s face melted into a smile.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said with a weary sigh. “A beautiful woman like you shouldn’t be exposed to the ugliness of men like Quigley. If I’d known what kind of man he is…”

“I’ve seen worse,” you said truthfully as you began gently dabbing the wet cloth on his face to wash away the blood.

“You are a peculiar woman, [Y/n],” Elliott commented with mild amusement. “Lady Turpin, wife to the formidable Judge Turpin… who’s seen blood and brawls, rats and childbirth. Is London really so bad these days that even the gentry are exposed to the scum of the world?”

“I told you why my brother was transported,” you said quietly. You washed out the cloth, gave Elliott’s face one last wipe for good measure, then set to examining the tears in the cloth of his shirt. “I’ll need to take this off so I can see if you’ve got cuts on your arms.”

Elliott smirked. “You just want me to take my shirt off, don’t you?”

“You fell onto broken glass!” you insisted.

“Relax, [Y/n], I’m joking. Here.”

He pulled his waistcoat off, then let you unbutton his shirt.

“Remind me about your brother.”

You glanced up at him. You’d hoped to distract him from the topic by taking his shirt off, but no such luck.

“He stole a loaf of bread. We were starving. I - we…” You paused, sighing. “I wasn’t always a Lady, Elliott. I climbed the ranks of society when I married William. When we met, I was nothing. Just a - a seamstress’s assistant, begging Lord Turpin for my brother’s life. He’d have been sent to the gallows otherwise.”

“And so he married you?”

“Well, at first he… kept me. As a - a personal whore.” You blushed, unable to look Elliott in the eye as you dispelled the image he had in his mind of you as an innocent Lady. “But over time… we fell in love. He was going to marry his ward, Johanna, but she betrayed him for a sailor and he wanted a wife who loved him. So he married me.”

You bit your lip anxiously and finally looked up at Elliott, who was looking at you with a curious look on his face, and you weren’t sure if he was going to throw you out into the Australian wilderness along with Quigley.

“You gave yourself to a man you didn’t know… in order to save your brother’s life?”

“Well… yes. Although if he’d promised me nothing in return, only taken me because he wanted to, I’d have not had much choice. He takes what he wants, just as you do. I’m very grateful I was able to at least save Tommy at the same time.”

Elliott raised a hand to cup your cheek, his thumb gently tracing your cheekbone as if to check you were real.

“You are… remarkably brave.”

You blushed. You hadn’t been sure how Elliott would react to knowing the truth, but that certainly wasn’t what you’d have expected.

You were about to speak when Elliott laughed.

“I’m sorry, I seem to have smudged some blood on your cheek.”

He took the wet cloth from you, washed the blood from his hands, then gently wiped the smudge from your cheek.

“There. All better. It should be my seed on your face, not my blood.”

You blushed, which made him laugh again.

“I believe you were taking my shirt off.”

“I - yes,” you stammered. You helped him ease the shirt from his shoulders, trying not to get too distracted by his chest as you examined him for cuts.

His chest and arms seemed fine, but when you asked him to lean forward, you saw he had an array of cuts on his back.

“It’s pretty nasty back here. You might be best off getting in the bath if you have the water.”

“First my shirt comes off, now you want me naked and wet. You needn’t make excuses, [Y/n].”

All the same, Elliott stood, poked his head into the dining room and instructed the manservant to draw him a bath. You sat yourself on the sofa and pointed to the floor in front of you.

“You’ve got some glass still in your skin. Sit here facing away, I’ll get it out.”

“Facing away? Are you sure?” Elliott said with a glint in his eye as he followed your instructions. “If I face you, it’ll be much easier to lick your gorgeous cunt.”

“That’s no way to speak to me when I’m picking glass out of your skin,” you said, glad he couldn’t see you blushing as you carefully pulled out the first shard. “If you distract me, I might push it back in by accident.”

“That’s true, and we don’t want you to take longer than necessary. I really do fancy that bath actually, and I’d like you to join me. I’m sure your back must be pretty beaten up too after our little escapade in the trees earlier.”

“I think my dress took most of it. I appreciate your concern, though, and I’ll gladly join you. I haven’t had a bath in months. Some people bathed in the sea during the journey but you need to be able to swim. William can swim, of course, so I just watched him.” You smiled, remembering the sight of your husband in his striped swimwear, soaking wet, climbing back onto the ship. One would almost be forgiven for thinking he was an ordinary man.

Elliott turned slightly to look over his shoulder at you.

“Do you truly love him?”

Your hand almost slipped in surprise at the audacity of the question.

“Of course I do! I love my husband more than anything! Serving him is the only thing that matters in my life.” You huffed. “Now stay still, I need to get the rest of this glass out.”

Elliott didn’t ask you anything more about William, and when the bath was ready and the glass picked from Elliott’s back, he led you into the bathroom and helped you unlace your dress.

“Mmm… the chance to see that beautiful body of yours all wet and shining, pressed up against me… it’s worth any number of cuts on my back.”

“You don’t need to get yourself cut up to get my clothes off, Elliott,” you said coyly.

Elliott grabbed the loosened neckline of your dress and pulled it down. He groaned with desire when your breasts popped out, his hands immediately wrapping around your chest to fondle them.

“‘I love my husband more than anything,’” he quoted at you mockingly. “Yet here you are getting your tits out for me.”

You turned your head away from him, not wanting him to see the upset on your face.

“I’m here because he told me to. If I had my choice, I’d still be in Melbourne with him.”

“Mmm, and what sort of husband does that make him, huh?” Elliott taunted, his hand leaving your breast to push your skirt down further and slide underneath your bloomers. “Getting you out the way, keeping you busy by offering up your most skilful services… how many whores do you think he’s had since we left Melbourne?”

Elliott was lucky he had you trapped in his arms, or else you might have slapped him.

“I’ve changed my mind. Perhaps you ought to have your bath alone.”

You tried to extract yourself from Elliott’s grip, but he was stronger than you, and he just held you tighter.

“Ah-ah-ah. I don’t think so. You said it yourself - you give me your body because your husband ordered it. And you wouldn’t want to disobey him, now, would you? No… no, I think I’ll take you right here, over the bathtub.”

He pushed you forward, forcing you to bend over the bathtub, your arse in the air while you grabbed onto the opposite edge to stop yourself from going head-first into the steaming water.

You braced yourself for the inevitable intrusion between your legs, but it never came. Elliott just stood behind you, breathing heavily, and you had no idea what he was doing or what he was thinking. Moments dragged, then finally Elliott groaned in frustration and, to your surprise, pulled you up straight again.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered against your ear, his breath hot on your cheek. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t…”

He sighed, apparently lost for words.

“You’re not a whore. Nor are you my wife. I promised I’d only take what’s freely given, and I’m a man of my word. I won’t… I won’t do that to you.”

He took a step back, freeing you from the enclosure he’d locked you in between his body and the bathtub.

“Go on, you can go…”

You turned around, and to your surprise Elliott seemed embarrassed, avoiding eye contact with you.

“Who’s gonna clean the blood off your back?”

He shrugged, as if the answer was unimportant. You shook your head and pushed your skirt and bloomers to the floor, followed quickly by your shoes. Elliott watched, confused, as you undressed yourself then slid into the bath, sitting at the end with your legs open for him to climb in with you.

“Come on, then,” you said.

Elliott stripped, then climbed into the bath with you, fitting neatly between your legs with his back to you so you could begin gently sponging down his back.

“You’re a very compassionate person, [Y/n],” Elliott said quietly. “Has anyone ever told you that?”

“No. What does that word mean?”

“It means you’re kind. Even to those who don’t deserve it.”

“Everyone deserves kindness. Even those who don’t believe they deserve it. Perhaps especially them.”

Elliott wished he could embrace you, but he settled for placing his hand on your knee. He was glad you couldn’t see his face, because you might have seen the anguish on his furrowed brow, his desperate attempt to stop himself falling in love with you. But how could he not, when he almost lost control and your response was to wash his back? The joy he’d seen in your eyes when you saw the lambs’ birth, the devilish smile you gave him when you tried to be shy even as lust coursed through you, the joy on your face when you saw your brother again and the kindness with which you treated everyone you came across, even him. You’d seen him be thrown out of his own house and sentence men to their deaths, he’d almost forced himself on you over the bathtub, and yet… here you were, cleaning the wounds on his back.

As far as he was concerned, you were an angel sent to him, and by god he was going to treasure you for the rest of his life.

He just had to get your pesky husband out of the way first.

#alan rickman #elliott marston #quigley down under #elliott marston x reader #the eternal summer

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paulagnewart · 8 months

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Sonic the Oz-Hog: The Unfortunately Obligatory Self-Aggrandizing Introductory Post-a-Roony.

Some of humanity's finest and beloved stories are built on myths. Tales of grandeur passed down through generations, further embellished with each storyteller's spin. Unequivocal, unquestionable, and under no uncertain terms the real deal. At least until something strides along to suggest otherwise.

Modern fandoms are hardly different. Be it trying to reconcile conflicting facts or pushing their own biased agendas to win worthless arguments, the myths automatically evolve into facts. Conventional wisdom dictates Thunderbirds co-creator Gerry Anderson always hated puppets, an opinion he expressed later in life yet was quite the opposite in its heyday. The warehouse in Toronto intentionally hoarding dozens of missing Doctor Who episodes omni rumour which plagued fans through the early 90's. Or the established "truth" Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman loathes Venus DeMilo, when he has gone on public record multiple times how proud he is of the character.

Hardly equivocal to the above examples, let alone important in the grander scheme of life, is the purported "fact" the former Sonic the Hedgehog comics produced by Archie were purely a United States product and never made available to anybody living elsewhere around the globe.

A bizarre patriotism effort? Cheap shots trying to downplay the comic for one reason or another? Who's to say? If only Archie had printed some type of page in each issue which fans could skim hoping to find their names. And were such a mythical page to exist, it may furthermore list which countries their monthly stack of letters originate. Diverse cultures spanning through the lands such as Canada, The Bahamas, Brazil, Trinidad, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Norway, Germany, Qatar, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore or New Zealand.

And maybe, just maybe, the majority of those budding fan letters and art beyond the US and Canada could be traced back to… Australia?

Farfetched to be sure, but no more than anything the writers and editors used to conjure up.

It astounds to think how Archie Sonic is culturally dead and buried, has been for years and will never see the light of day again beyond a miracle, yet continues drawing an active fanbase. Much as it goes against my sensibilities and would rather never think about this series again, it's sad seeing myths such as above persist among new and old fans as irrefutable gospel. They will continue so long as nobody sets the records straight, and when some bright spark in the future writes an extensive history of the comic, will repeat those same past mistakes.

Which brings to the whole point of this post. Sonic the Oz-Hog is an experimental monthly series reflecting on the comic's long history in Australia; how readily available they were, which issues were skipped, and its enduring survival while other books crashed and burned. Twelve notable issues have been selected, each representing a different month and year (so issue 82 would cover April 2000, 163 is August 2006 etc.). Four from each decade the comic was available, and with luck intended to be posted on their original publication dates. To sweeten the deal, one issue of Sonic Super Special, Sonic X, Sonic Universe, Super Special Magazine, and yes even Knuckles will round off this randomised roster.

This isn't an in-depth analytical overview of the comics or their cast. If that's what you seek, they've already been covered many times by many better blogs, some of which can be found on this site. Instead the intent is to provide a local experience from someone who lived it first-hand. Where Australia was at the time, what rocked (or flopped) popular culture, how Sonic as a franchise was felt by the public, online fan reactions, and the gradual self-destruction of the local comic industry. Then maybe a smattering of trivia about the stories.

We live in an ever-increasingly disposable society where the old phrase of "When it's out there on the Internet, it's out there forever" fades further into irrelevance. With luck, and assuming anyone out there cares for such stuff, this information once completed can remain accessible to the next generation of fans long after I'm dead and gone. Who knows? Maybe they'll have moved on from debating the events of Say You Will by then, but I doubt it. :P

Handy-Dandy Chapter Linky List

JAN: Never Forget Your Firsts! (Sonic Super Special 3) FEB: All My Friends are Echidnapped! (StH issue 244) MAR: Maximum Khanage! (StH issue 92) APR: Knux Readux! (Knuckles: The Dark Legion 1) MAY: Best Laid Schemes (of Mikes and Mobians)! (StH issue 134) JUN: Four Score and Three Games Ago! (TBA) JUL: Rodents in Disguise! (TBA) AUG: Journey's End! (TBA) SEP: Livin' on the Hedge! (TBA) OCT: The Price of Frame! (TBA) NOV: Future Done Certain! (TBA) DEC: Carry On, My Wayward Sonic! (TBA)

< Previous | Index | Next >

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Archie Sonic #Sonic the Hedgehog Comics #Archie Comics #Comic Books #Australia #Musings #Myth and Urban Legends

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thoroughbredrecoveries · 1 year

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Equine Credit Management Services Australia

An equine debt recovery agency is a company that specializes in recovering unpaid debts owed by individuals or businesses in the equine industry. This may include breeders, trainers, veterinarians, or other equine professionals who have provided goods or services to clients who have not paid their bills.

Equine debt recovery agencies typically have experience and expertise in dealing with the unique challenges of debt recovery in the equine industry, such as navigating the complex legal and regulatory environment and dealing with clients who may be emotionally invested in their animals.

Services offered by equine debt recovery agencies may include debt collection, litigation, skip tracing (finding debtors who have moved or changed their contact information), credit reporting, and debt counseling.

If you are an equine professional and are struggling with unpaid debts, working with an Equine debt recovery agency may be a viable option to recover the money you are owed. However, it is important to do your research and choose a reputable and experienced agency to work with.

#Equine Debt Recovery Agency #Debt Solution providers #Thoroughbred Recoveries #thoroughbred industry specialists #Australian Equine debt collection services

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bendigoscamwatch · 2 years

Photo

Pet related alleged scammer: Shaunny Harris / Shaun Harris

AKA:

Shaun Paul Harris

Paul Stone

Shaun Stoneymonkey

Stone Paul

Paul Stone

Shauuny Monkey

Mrs Kerry Anne-Smith [using stock photo]

Bendigo animal rescue

Animal Ambulance Victoria

Bendigo Vet Ambulance Services

Cyber Security Australia Inc

Skip Tracing Australia

Webnut Technologies Incorporated

ANIMAL AMBULANCE VICTORIA INCORPORATED

Links to evidence from other sources:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=5416757445045292&id=118599491527807&sfnsn=mo&mibextid=6aamW6

https://www.facebook.com/FakeEmergencyServicesOfAustralia/posts/pfbid02aymaCKgwaBxqpJLSYkAWMyAvXS62HEzbtafNqmc1yZYySAaYzXxa8hAkPWKnyBtnl

https://www.facebook.com/profile/100083269274516/search/?q=shaun%20harris

https://abr.business.gov.au/AbnHistory/View?id=68322446561

https://abr.business.gov.au/ABN/View?abn=68322446561

Links to some of his social media [names and URLs likely to change frequently]:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaun-harris-1532b2252/?originalSubdomain=au

https://au.linkedin.com/in/shaun-harris-3982191b8

https://www.facebook.com/petfoodbankvic

https://www.facebook.com/groups/petfoodbank/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/867650527731579/user/100077514976008/

https://www.facebook.com/paulstone202/

https://twitter.com/PETFOODBANKVIC

Current and previous ways he is allegedly currently trying to gain through deception (both monetary and sensitive info/data):

https://forms.monday.com/forms/f2a4c0872b5c439a88dab9b6d16bccc2

webnut.com.au

services.webnut.com.au

Memberships to Bendigo pet food bank

Donations to Bendigo pet food bank, via bank deposit and paypal

Advertising for jobs for his various businesses, allegedly does not pay these “employees”.

Phone numbers & address listed:

0485 880 891

1800 935 964

0432 268 914

Unit 2 / 32-34 Lobb Street North Bendigo

#Bendigo #Scam #ScamWatch

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brown-little-robin · 3 years

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10: The Zoo (part two)

part one | previous | next | ao3

The Barnett Zoo of Alabama has a single entrance at the south end. It’s a cloudy day, which Helen said meant there would be fewer people than normal, but Thad isn’t sure she was right. There are an awful lot of people in the entrance area, milling about looking at the posters and the coin-flattening machine and the loud televisions and in line to present or buy their tickets. And not just adults, but also a ton of children. Small children, alarmingly messy and prone to run randomly. It smells like popcorn.

He sticks close to Max, a step beside and behind him, and fidgets with his shorts pockets. He’d chosen a t-shirt and shorts, since Max said zoos were mostly outdoor experiences, but it’s cold in the entrance and he feels irrationally like everyone is staring at him. His bare arms prickle. He should have brought a sweater.

Finally, Helen finishes with the tickets. Thankfully, the plaza is much less crowded; it seems that people disperse through the zoo after leaving the entrance. Max goes and gets a map from a box that says FREE MAPS.

Max unfolds the map and displays it to Thad and Helen. There are six areas of the zoo, each corresponding to a continent; the Arctic and Antarctic continents are merged into one area called “Polar Adventure”. There’s also a separate Reptile House, a Non-Natural Creatures House, and an aquarium section.

“Do we want to head towards South America or Australia first?” Helen asks.

“We won’t have time for everything today,” Max says. “Maybe two or three continents. They close at five, and it’s already one. What animals do you want to make sure you see today, Thad?”

“The tigers and giraffes,” Thad says immediately. “South America looks interesting, but I really want to see the tigers if we can’t do both. We can skip Australia and America, I don’t care about those.”

Helen laughs. “Fair enough.”

“What about you, Helen?” Max asks. “Anything you’d like to hit today?”

“The aquarium,” Helen says. “It’s at the bottom of South America, though, and that’s pretty much across the map from Africa.”

“I think we can reach both places,” Max says.

“Let’s go to Africa first, then, to make sure we see the tigers and giraffes,” Helen says. “But, Max, is there anywhere you want to go?”

“Actually, I helped to build the Polar Adventure section,” Max says. “I’d like to show Thad someday. But I’m sure we’ll come back to the zoo another day.”

Thad reaches out and traces a path on the map, up and left to Africa and then down to the aquarium and back again. Hmm. It is a long way, and they’re on opposite sides of the zoo; they’d have to pass back along the same path to get to Africa and South America most efficiently. But—

“That’s not so hard. We’ll have to loop through North America to get to South America anyway if we don’t want to pass the same places twice, and it would hardly take us out of our way to go a little north to the Polar section.”

“Smart kid,” Max remarks. “All right. Africa, then Polar Adventure, then we’ll skirt the edge of North America and go straight through South America to the aquarium, and I believe that’ll take up all our time.”

Max called him smart!

They head left, towards Africa. Thad’s glad to leave the Non-Natural Creatures House behind. He doesn't know exactly what that means, but the icon is a winged snake, so he suspects mutants and genetic experiments. And given that technically he was a genetic experiment… he’s glad to put it behind him, is all.

The Africa section has facsimiles of animal tracks in the concrete paths—condor, red river hog, zebra, and so on, corresponding with the animals nearest that section of path. Thad quells the urge to place his feet only on the animal tracks. The hogs have interesting rust-red, black, and yellow markings and long hairs dangling from the tips of their ears, which they flick every so often. There’s a large pile of hay in their enclosure. What do they eat? Aren’t all hogs omnivores? Thad reads the educational sign about them. Yes, they’re omnivores. The zoo feeds them a balanced diet, but in the wild they’d eat anything from berries to eggs to lion carcasses. Fascinating. But Max and Helen are looking a bit impatient, so Thad pushes himself off from the fence. He’ll try to find out more about red river hogs later.

The zebras are temperamental and eye-boggling. Thad gets tired of them sooner than Max does, and Max notices and walks on.

They watch the siamangs and pygmy hippo the same way—quietly, Max and Helen exchanging a few comments, moving on when they seem ready. It’s almost like browsing in a thrift store, but with less pressure to make choices. The strangers don’t interact with them, thank goodness.

The chimpanzees are more energetic and intelligent than the other animals so far. Most of them are walking around or eating; one is scratching her butt, and another is bouncing idiotically on the net across the top of their cage. It reminds him of Bart.

“These are stupid,” Thad remarks.

Helen raises her eyebrows.

“Want to move on?”

“Yeah.”

“I think the elephants are next,” she says. She’s right, because she has the map, but Thad could have guessed that. There are elephant tracks going around the next corner.

The elephants are massive. SO massive. Nearly as big as CRAYDL, but made of flesh and bone. They’re more impressive than CRAYDL, somehow, more… organic. They have a weight to them as they move. Thad can imagine their bones creaking as their weight settles on their feet.

“Wow,” Thad says.

Max and Helen make admiring noises that Thad doesn't quite catch because the big female in the middle is huffing and lumbering over to a younger female with a calf and giving her a little smack with her trunk.

“That’s the matriarch,” he informs them. “She’s reinforcing the discipline of the group. That younger female probably just did something insubordinate.”

“How do you know that one is younger?” Helen asks.

“Oh, she’s less wrinkled and her teeth are further back in her mouth and her tusk is slimmer. As elephants age, the position of their teeth changes. I learned about African animals one time for ‘research’. Oh—CRAYDL and I used to sneak files that didn’t have anything to do with the mission and claim it was research.”

After the elephants, the path leads to the giraffes. They’re tall, all right, and just as funny-looking as Thad expected; they have agile purple tongues and odd knobby horns and hunched-up shoulders, and they come right up to the path expecting to be fed.

The tigers are disappointing. It’s the middle of the day, so Thad should have expected it, but they’re asleep. He can see one of them pretty well, though, and the coat is gorgeous. The orange shines in the sun. The black is deep and cunningly striped for camouflage, and the white fur is shaggy. It breathes deeply. Its ear flicks.

Thad soaks it in, committing it all to long-term memory. Unlike Bart, he doesn't have perfect memory, especially not since the speed force. But even before that, the manipulation of his genetics must have taken the eidetic visual memory. Thad does better with what he has, though, and anyway his memory is leagues better than a normal human’s. No one ever learned that dirty little secret. Not even CRAYDL.

As they approach the gates of “Polar Adventure”, Max smiles his rare genuine smile.

“I helped build this. Or rather, I helped in the planning of it.”

“Mm?”

“I had a friend, a Siberian Yupik woman named Cora Sam, and I also had a friend at the Barnett Zoo,” Max says. “When the zoo was planning to expand into polar bears, my friend from the zoo told me, and I connected him to Cora. I ended up bringing Cora back and forth from St. Lawrence Island so she could advise the zoo.”

“I never heard about that,” Helen says. “How did the man from the zoo get ahold of you?”

“Oh, I was meeting with him fairly regularly at that point to help wrangle the Non-Natural Creatures,” Max says. “They had a hyper-accelerated iguana.”

“A hyper-accelerated… that can happen?” Helen asks.

And then Thad’s too busy looking at the polar bears to follow the conversation. Thad walks ahead of Max and Helen. Two polar bears are lumbering in a line across the hill in the back of the enclosure, and one of them is diving into the water. There’s a lot of water in this section; they have seals, puffins, the polar bears, and… Thad rounds the corner of the polar bear enclosure and laughs out loud. Penguins, waddling comically about the rocks, sleeping in a group, little wings out for balance. They look so serious!

He leans over the railing, getting as close as possible to the glass. Their color scheme is elegant, black and white with a dynamic hint of peachy pink at the feet. But their shape! They’re ridiculous! They can barely move! How is this effective at all? And—one of them is following a smaller one around, a male trying to get a female’s attention, Thad supposes. Perhaps they’ll mate. But the female isn’t interested, and the male doesn't try anything; in fact, when she finally stops and turns around, the male nearly falls backwards in his surprise. She gives him an affectionate sort of peck, then pulls at his back feathers. Both of them start grooming their feathers, going back and forth between their tails and sides. Their necks can bend surprisingly far! Meanwhile, the sleeping penguins have woken up and moved all together and are falling back asleep—about one foot to the right, for no reason Thad can discern.

The penguins are great. The penguins are his favorites. Thad moves around to get a better view of the pair and is dismayed to see them stop grooming and slip into the water. But wait—there’s a hole in the fake stone wall, a sign saying “UNDERWATER EXPERIENCE”.

He descends the stairs and enters the UNDERWATER EXPERIENCE. It’s pleasantly dark until he turns the corner. He’d been hoping for a window to see the penguins swim. This is not a window. It’s a glass tunnel.

Oh. Oh, this is something. He wanders the length of the tunnel and back again. The green-blue light shifts and sparkles, and the penguins! The penguins! Underwater, they’re no longer awkward, but graceful, powerful, elegant, lithe. Their bodies no longer seem lumpy but agile; they’re all muscle, Thad thinks, until he reads the signs on his third pass through the tunnel and finds out that they actually have a significant amount of fat, which streamlines their bodies and nourishes them during incubating eggs and therefore not hunting. And he’s surprised to find out that they’re predators; he thought the harmless-looking birds would be herbivores. But with that strong sharp beak and the strength they’re displaying—yes. It makes sense.

He’ll never grow tired of watching the penguins dance.

“Thad!”

He startles, but gets himself under control in time that he thinks none of the strangers notice anything wrong. Max and Helen are rushing towards him wearing identical relieved expressions.

“What?” Thad asks, before he realizes that he can’t remember seeing Max or Helen since he noticed the penguins.

“We lost you!” Helen says. “We were just talking and then Max looked up and you were gone and we had heart attacks! Oh my goodness! You’re okay?”

“Yes, fine.”

“Don’t do that,” Max says severely.

The promise! Thad wasn’t supposed to—wait. The agreement was that he wouldn’t use his speed outside of Max’s ability to sense. He didn’t use his speed at all, so he didn’t break his promise, so Max shouldn’t be yelling at him.

He snarls, “That’s not fair. I didn’t use my speed, I just got interested in the penguins. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Max opens his mouth and pauses.

“Yes. You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Thad opens and closes his fists. No fight, he tells his body. There’s no fight.

“I didn’t even realize I’d lost you,” he says, half-defiant.

“Well, neither did we,” Max says. “Let’s call it even.”

“Sure.”

“South America next, I think?” Helen asks.

“Yeah. If you’ve seen enough of the Polar exhibit?”

“Are there more tunnels?” Thad asks. “The door over there, says SEALS, is that to another tunnel?”

“That’s right.”

“Then I haven’t seen enough.”

“Do you like the tunnels?” Helen asks.

They’re the best thing he’s ever seen.

“Yeah,” he says.

“Me too. They’re my favorite. The Barnett Zoo kind of specializes in them; it has the most tunnels of any zoo within three states. The aquarium has quite a few tunnels, too.”

“Oh.”

Thad glances at Max. He’s looking up, tracking a penguin’s ‘flight’ overhead.

“What’s your favorite tunnel here?”

They skirt the very edge of North America. Helen talks to him about her favorite fish and things—she likes the coastal ones, which you can actually see while scuba diving, and anything brightly colored. Her favorite tunnel is the Coral Reef one. Max interrupts to point out the bison. Apparently Max saw herds of millions of these things back when he was a young man. Thad doesn't think he’d want to see that many. They look likely to hold a grudge, somehow.

They stop for a snack at the open area between North and South America. It’s lined with shops selling things like stuffed animals and caricatures and face paint and, of course, lots of little terrible plastic-y food shops. Most of the shops are dull. Face paint would be interesting, though. Thad likes the look of the dramatic blue butterfly one little girl has, and the tiger face is nicely realistic, but it costs money so he doesn't ask. The Thawnes’ resources were practically infinite; the Crandalls’… he’d guess not.

They decide on burgers. Thad fidgets beside Max, listening to another story about a bison hunt, as Helen goes and buys them. As they sit down at a plastic-y green table, a very small girl in tiny overalls comes up to him. She can’t be more than… oh… Thad realizes he has no idea how to tell age, but she’s very small and she’s looking at him like she’s going to say something.

“Your hair is pretty,” she informs him.

Uh.

His hair?

His hair is… pretty?

She probably expects a response.

“Uh, thank you,” he stammers.

“Your overalls are pretty, too,” Helen says, mercifully taking over the conversation for him, and then the girl’s mother hurries up and apologizes, and Thad manages to say “It’s okay,” and the girl is hurried away.

Thad stares up at the clouds, mind whirling. An exact duplicate of Bart’s stupid-long mane except for being Thawne-blond, pretty? His messy mass of hair, so bright blond it looks almost yellow in harsh lighting, pretty?

Helen says, “I don’t know that I’d call your hair ‘pretty’, but it is gorgeous.”

“Striking,” Max agrees.

Thad takes a bite of his burger. He can’t think of anything to say to that.

The South America section is amazing, with the rainforest flora and fauna and occasional sprays of mist, but Thad feels almost overwhelmed with new sights. He appreciates the jaguar, with its enormous yawn, and the anteater with its fluffy ankles and the powerful stride of the Komodo dragon, but he doesn't really engage with the zoo again. Maybe next time they can come back and he can have a proper look at things. In the aquarium section, he enjoys the tunnels, but he has more fun watching Helen gasp and smile and point out her favorite things. He catches Max looking at him a few times, his eyes wrinkled like he finds it funny, the way Thad’s watching Helen watch the fish. Well, that’s all right. Better to be amusing than threatening, Thad supposes.

The last tunnel leads them out to the plaza at 4:52 according to Helen’s watch. Thad suddenly feels bad. Just a minute ago he was so ready to be done and go home and sleep, and now he’s upset to be so close to the end. He doesn't want to leave.

“Time for our last stop,” Max says.

Last stop? Oh no. Not the Non-Natural Creatures House. Please not the Non-Natural Creatures House, Thad prays to the universe.

“The gift shop?” Helen asks.

“The gift shop,” Max confirms. “It’s open until six.”

Thank God. Anything is better than the Non-Natural Creatures House.

The gift shop is crowded. He’d probably find it interesting to look at all the things if he wasn’t so tired. Thad hopes they’ll find their knick-knacks or whatever and leave quickly. He just wants to sleep.

“Well, pick some things, Thad,” Max says.

They want him to buy things?

“I haven’t got any money,” he points out.

“You don’t need to earn your keep, remember?” Max asks.

“My keep, sure,” Thad says. “But I don’t need any of this stuff.”

“You deserve to have nice things,” Max says firmly.

“No I don’t.”

Thad regrets that instantly. Helen’s eyes widen, and Max goes very still. He didn’t mean to say that, it just slipped out because he’s tired and… prickly.

“Thad, honey,” Helen says, soft, like she’s talking to a scared animal.

“Don’t make a big deal out of it,” he says hastily. “I just want to go home.”

“Thad,” Max says, and his serious tone of voice makes Thad’s gut lurch in a nasty despairing way.

“I want you to do something for me.”

“What?”

“I want you to pick out seven things. One for each year you spent in the speed force. Does that sound fair?”

Actually… it does. Max should pay for those years.

“Yes,” Thad says.

He turns away abruptly so as not to look at Helen’s stricken face. Now that he’s looking for himself, the gift shop seems more like a treasure trove, less like a stuffy little space. He’s attracted to the glass things first. He hefts a blown-glass ball with dark manta rays swimming in a translucent blue sea. It has a delightful sheeny smooth texture. He hands it to Max. His first year in the speed force. The year he discovered he couldn’t leave. The eternally travelling manta rays in their glass prison are… ironically perfect.

He picks a deep blue shirt next. It has a stylized elephant family and leaves surrounding a Barnett Zoo logo. It will be an excellent addition to his wardrobe. His second year in the speed force, the year of the seventeen-day storm. A notebook with a tiger on the front is his next year, his third year in the speed force. They blurred together by that point; his strict determination to count the time failed in the second month of the third year. It says it’s 100% Recycled; the paper is smooth, but the covers are coarse in a way that normally would bother him but somehow doesn't. Then he discovers a box of rocks, which you can pick from and gather into a small bag that counts as one item. He sifts his fingers through the rocks. They make a pleasant clacking sound. He picks a few bumpy green-and-blue specimens that look like jungles or views of Earth from above, a shiny black one, two stones with shimmering bands of yellow and orange that shine from the deep brown at certain angles like the iris of an eye, a spiky purple crystal, a stone that looks like jade, and barely squeezes in another blue one. His fourth year in the speed force. He takes a wooden box, too, with a little lock. That will be good to keep the rocks in, and maybe he could put his letter in it too when he’s out of Max’s house. His fifth year.

He looks up from the box and hesitates.

All this time, he’s been skirting around the central section of the gift shop: the shelves and shelves of stuffed animals. He wants a penguin. But stuffed animals are little-kid toys, and he’s… fourteen or twenty-one or six hundred-odd, depending. Anything but a little kid.

A couple emerges from the row next to him, play-fighting over a stuffed koala. Thad waits, but no child toddles after them. They’re adults and they’re buying a stuffed koala. It must be all right.

He reaches up and grabs a penguin.

It’s the softest thing he’s ever touched.

He closes his eyes in bliss, holds it for a minute, loath to give it to Max. He tucks it into his elbow instead. He wants another stuffed animal. He takes a sloth with velcro on its paws so it can hang from things. And then… he really wants one of the snow leopards with the long soft tails, but he’s at seven… but he wants it… so he takes the snow leopard too.

“That’s for not noticing I wasn’t Bart,” he informs them, and laughs at their expressions.

#The Zoo Part Two... Electric Boogaloo?#The Strange Redemption of Thaddeus Thawne #Thad Thawne #Thaddeus Thawne #Max Mercury #Max Crandall #Helen Claiborne #flashfam #long post #shoutout to ZOOS #especially the saint louis zoo in illinois #which actually did work with Alaskan native people on their polar exhibit #okay in my defense #this is very long #but it's still within the typical length of a novel chapter #and trips to the zoo make a Long Day full of Lots of Experiences

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mgminvestigations7 · 3 months

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demi-shoggoth · 3 years

Text

2022 Reading Log, pt 5

21. How to Slay a Dragon: A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages by Cait Stevenson. This is a fun one. Stevenson lays out the basics of the hero’s journey, from choosing the right mentor to the feast to celebrate your accomplishments, through the eyes of actual people living in the medieval period. There’s a good mix of legendry appropriate to the era along with real facts. For example, when talking about dragons, the book discusses Saints George and Margaret, along with St. Margaret’s role as protector of women in childbirth and the real threat of air pollution in London. I also like her definition of what “counts” as the Middle Ages. Her Middle Ages starts with the origin of Islam and ends with the Protestant Reformation, which makes sense to me as what would have affected the most people throughout Europe and the Mediterranean world.

22. Apples of North America by Tom Burford. Burford was one of the leading lights in the revival of heritage apples in the US in the 1980s and 90s, and this book is partially a reflection on a long career and partially a guide to some varieties of note. “Some” is the operative word here: living in Virginia, Burford focuses on East Coast varieties, and the apples covered are those that he could get his hands on to photograph and eat during the writing process. I would have liked a glossary; words like “lenticels”, “russetting” and “scarfskin” are used casually, when for someone who is not immersed in apple culture (like myself) they are somewhat baffling.

23. Monsters of Porphyra 2 by Perry Fehr and Mark Gedak. I don’t think I’ve read Monsters of Porphyra 1. This is a bestiary for Pathfinder 1st edition, put out by a 3rd party company, Purple Duck Games. For the size of the company, the production values are very high—full color, all original art for 150+ monsters. The monsters themselves are a mix of original creatures and conversions of 3.x monsters that are OGL compatible. I recognize some creatures from the Creature Collection series by White Wolf, and Green Ronin’s Book of Fiends. The mechanics are a mixed bag; the monsters follow the rules and are decently well built for the most part, but use a lot of spells and feats from 3rd party sources, and don’t say what those sources are. There’s a reference to the Purple Duck Wiki collecting these for reference, but I can see this book being somewhat frustrating to use at the table.

24. Underground by Will Hunt. This is a book about human relationships with caves, tunnels and other underground spaces. It is a mix of anthropology, history and memoir, and leans heavily into memoir. It helps that Hunt has had a lot of interesting experiences, such as getting lost in the catacombs of Paris with two clowns, being invited into a sacred ochre mine by a Wajarri family in western Australia, and meeting REVS, one of the most prominent graffiti artists of the New York subway system. The book has a decidedly mystical bent. Hunt’s thesis is that the original religion of humanity involved the underground as an otherworld, and that traces of this veneration and mystery percolate into even the modern secular consciousness. He also suggests that this has evolutionary roots in the burrowing animals of the Ediacaran or the microbes living in the Earth’s crust during the Archaean eon. It’s very Jungian, so if you’re annoyed by philosophizing, this might be a book to skip.

25. Eloquence of the Sardine by Bill François, translated by Antony Shugarr. This book also blends philosophizing with science, in this case marine biology. The chapters mix dreamy reminiscing about childhood with information on fish, crustaceans, mollusks and marine mammals; the author is both a scientist and a poet, and you can tell from the prose style. Attention is given to less charismatic species than usual for books about marine biology for general audiences—lots of talk about baitfish, like anchovy and sardines, and freshwater fish, which also tend to be neglected. I feel like this is more successful than Underground, above, at saying something about human connections to nature. It’s also shorter.

#books #reading log #monster book #pathfinder 1e #fish #marine biology #caves #apples #agriculture #medieval europe

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newtonsheffield · 3 years

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Hellooooo hope you’re doing good! Basically I went to London today and I really wanted to go to the Natural History Museum so I could find myself a Goose- alas I didn’t end up going to the museum, thus not finding a Goose on my travels. Sigh. So I was wondering if instead I could request some Eddie & Goose content? Thank youuuu ✨

Ohhhhh Man! I tell you what, I need to start walking quickly round corners in Museums and see what shakes out! If anyone tries this method of securing a husband, please let me know. Enquiring minds and all that! Aaaaand I hope you had fun in London even without getting to meet a handsome Gander. Man, I miss going to big cities. I live in a small town (Pop.5000) which is probably an hour and a half from a regional city (Cairns, QLD if anyone is curious, Right off the Great Barrier Reef) but the next like... Capital (Big) city is a two day drive from me or a 3 hour plane ride so... Australia is a behemoth country and there's nothing there!

ANYWAY! Eddie and Goose, Beautiful little beans. Do you wanna see Goose's birthday?

Play the theme song 🎶 Eddie and Goose, Eddie and Goose, two little sunshine kiiiids 🎶

As embarrassing as it was to say, none of Edwina's ex boyfriends had ever celebrated her birthday, she honestly hadn't even wanted them too which certainly should have been a sign that they'd had so many red flags they were practically wearing a red poncho, which meant, in turn, she'd actually never celebrated a boyfriend's birthday. So maybe it was stupid but when her fiancé had smiled happily and said "I don't usually do anything for birthdays, I just buy a cupcake and call it a day if I can't get out to my mum's." She'd been a little disappointed. She knew he didn't mean it as a rejection, but even so it stung a little.

But even so she'd spent weeks trying to decide on the perfect gift for Matthew. She'd asked Kate's advice, nervously hovering in her kitchen as Anthony flitted around his pregnant wife, in full mother hen mode once more. "I got Anthony engraved cufflinks the first Valentines we were together." Kate said, humming happily, kissing her husband's cheek when he placed a muffin in front of her. Edwina scoffed. "Cufflinks?! Jesus Kate, you two are so boring!" She said a little irritatedly "Hey!" Kate said indignantly, "He needed them, his broke!" Anthony nodded, a little indignantly at her. Edwina rolled her eyes, "Sorry, you didn't tell me they were a practical gift. How romantic." "I wear them every day, and I like looking at them knowing Kate picked them for me." Anthony said pointedly, rolling his own eyes in response before scooping a wriggling Edmund up. "Here's an idea Eddie, why don't you give Goose back your engagement ring for his birthday?" Anthony chuckled to himself as Kate rolled her eyes, and Edwina swept from the room with a "You two are useless!" and a rude hand gesture.

Even so, something about what Anthony had said had stuck in her mind, and now she was left hovering nervously in the doorway of her bedroom, The sandwich cake she'd made from Anthony's recipe balanced on a plate, the wrapped box burning against her hand. He was just stirring when she entered the room, his eyelids flickering open slowly, scanning the room for her, the soft crooked smile that had first made her heart skip slowly dawning on his face as his hand groped around for his glasses.

"Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Matty, Happy birthday to you." Edwina sung lightly as she made her way through the bedroom, crouching slightly as she held the cake out to him, his sleepy smile causing the butterflies in her stomach to beat more furiously. "Make a wish." she whispered softly as he blew out the candles leaving a soft kiss on her cheek. "You really didn't have to go to all the trouble." he said, leaving the cake on the bedside table in favour of tugging her down to sit across his legs. "That's a bake off winning cake thank you very much Matthew Bagwell. Paul Hollywood gave me a handshake for that cake. Many a man would think themself very lucky to have me back that cake for them." she said teasingly, unable to stop the smile on her face. "I don't doubt that at all." Silence echoing softly through the room as their eyes caught softly.

And then, "I got you this as well." Edwina said awkwardly, forcing the box into his hand before she could lose her nerve. He stared curiously down at it "Eddie I said you didn't have to get me anything." He said softly, something like disbelief in his voice. Edwina scoffed, "Can you just open it and tell me if you want me to return it before I lose my nerve entirely?" Matthew stared curiously at her for a second before he tugged lightly on the bow unwrapping it painfully slowly, his hand smoothing over the box before he finally opened it. He stared down at the watch silently, his finger tracing the engraving on the bezel From Edwina to Matthew Forever and Always. Edwina could feel her her teeth cutting into her bottom lip as the silence stretched on.

"It's okay if you don't like it." She said softly, nerves clawing at her chest, "I can take it back and get another one, or maybe something else? I just... I know you don't wear a watch and I thought maybe it's because you didn't have one, but if it's because you don't like them them-" Matthew cut off her rambling with a soft kiss, and she felt herself relax instantly against him. His voice shook slightly when he pulled back. "How could I not love this?" His eyes were shining behind his glasses, "I was just a little taken aback because honestly... I think this watch probably cost more than I make in six months." Edwina started to protest but he shook his head softly. "I'm not rejecting it, Honey I love it. And I'm going to wear this so much you'll be sick of the sight of it."

But honestly every time she saw it clasped firmly on his wrist she got a little thrill. Even more so when Anthony begrudgingly said the next week. "That's a nice watch, Goose." and Matthew grinned brightly, his arm around her waist. "Thanks! Eddie got it for my birthday!" Kate's head shot up. "Oh? A practical gift, Edwina. How romantic!" She said laughing at Matthew's perplexed expression, as Edwina shot her sister a rude hand gesture.

#bridgerton and sons au #edwina x matthew #edwina x goose #edwina sheffield #edwina sharma #matthew goose bagwell #goose's little birthday #some anthony and kate clown action #molly's asks and answers

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pelman · 2 years

Note

what are your thoughts on flat zone?

OKAY THANKS ANON I LOVE U FIRST OF ALL BUT SECOND OF ALL THIS IS GOING TO BE A VERY LONG POST AND NO YOU DO NOT GET TO SKIP IT. IT WILL NOT BE UNDER A CUT BECAUSE FUCK YOU IM TOO EXCITED

SO. flat zone is the name of a massive city, about the same size as sydney, australia, if not bigger, and it is also the name of the country it is located in, since the city is the only city in its locale. it houses at least several hundred thousand people, if not millions, and is a bustling hub for trade and commerce..... at its center.

the city of flat zone can basically be cut up into three separate "rings" with a center; the center of flat zone is a very good place to live, with a wonderous economy and just about anything you could ever want easily accessible. the first ring is still quite well off, but not nearly as much as the center. one could still live quite comfortably here, and many people do. the second ring is the border between the "suburbs" and the "slums" and is already a significantly more dangerous and less comfortable place to live. most people who live in flat zone live here, including most of the flat zone, fz cast. city runners already begin to show that they really dont care about the city this far out. crime is noticeable but not rampant. the third ring is the slums, and takes up the majority of the city. the infrastructure of the city this far out is absolutely horrible, and there are almost no traces of the economical success or accessibility available in the center. crime is everywhere, and safety is not guaranteed by any stretch. living here is a gamble, and anybody who must live there is already aiming to get out by the time they step foot there even once.

flat zones economy is mostly dictated by manual labor. most of the workforce is doing some type of intensive work where they have to be moving constantly; emergency service workers like the firemen and the person catching the parachuters, couriers like the turtle bridge kid, factory workers like mario and luigi, service workers like chef or oil panic, or pest eliminators like stanley or vermin, and even jobs one wouldnt consider in the first place, like manny holding up the manholes so people can cross those bridges safely. we dont see a single job where someone can rest for more than a second. even in games where it doesnt surround an actual job, life is dictated largely by its hustle and bustle.

leisure in flat zone is hard to come across, but we do get to see some leisure activities. it seems like even then, though, quick reaction times are favored, if not necessary. assuming that the judges are doing what theyre doing for fun, their game centers around processing whatever sign your opponent holds up as fast as you can, and then either hitting first or dodging their hit as soon as you can react. flagman plays a couple games with people, either simon says- a game centering on rote memorization and quick recall- or just a game where you, once again, have to process and react to whatever number is being held up as fast as you can. even with people just having fun on their own, like the juggler, hes still juggling, which is an activity that requires you to pay attention to multiple things at once as best as you can. if someone isnt working in flat zone, theyre practicing for it. true breaks are small and fleeting.

if were talking about flatzone, and not flat zone, then flatzone is both the name of the planet that flatzoners live on and the name of the dimension said planet is located in. these are both according to people outside of flatzone, and it seems as though this choice is just to make things extra confusing. flatzone is a pretty odd dimension since to those outside of it, its... well, missing a dimension! when someone from outside of flatzone enters it, however, they will experience it as native flatzoners do, which is as a fully 3d world that functions largely the same as most others. flatzoners exiting flatzone, however, experience a litany of negative effects. their bodies arent used to the rules of any other dimension, and so at best, they will experience great discomfort-bordering-on-pain for several months as they adjust to the experience of existing within rules not made for them, a process which involves a major restructuring of their entire body, as well as a change in mental processing to go with it. not fun! i feel as though game and watch ended up getting closer to the worse end, but not too far down the ladder. he could have just up and died, which is not unheard of! death by shock is not that rare an experience. especially when it basically involves your bones inflating. again, not fun! flatzoners mostly experience their dimension like we experience ours, though no matter what, they dont look very complex, and arent structured to be, either. overall, they resemble miis more than they resemble humans.

anyways thanks for coming to my... uhhh... whats a good silly way of saying ted talk? whatever thanks for reading post bye

#game and watch #long post #i hope the game and watch tag does not hate my headcanons so so so so so bad

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bangtann-bangdamn · 3 years

Text

Summary: A year after you broke up your engagement, you find yourself face to face with your ex.

Pairing: Jimin x female reader

Genre: break-ups, angst, a hint of a happy ending.

Prompt: “Because all of this is not coincidence.” (DNA)

Word Count: 1.2k

AN: This is for the @btsghostiewritersnet drabble marathon.

“Coincidence - defined by Merriam-Webster as the occurrence of events that happen at the same time but seem to have a connection,” Namjoon read slowly aloud, squinting down at the text on his phone before looking up at you. “That’s all it was, a coincidence.”

You shook your head as you paced Namjoon’s living room floor. “So you’re telling me that the job I decided to keep over my loving fiance suddenly making me redundant, Yoongi deciding to move in with his boyfriend and leaving me last minute needing to find a new roommate, and said new roommate being best friends with the guy I dumped to keep my dream job is all a coincidence?” It sounded absolutely ridiculous, even to your own ears. And, had it not been for Jimin standing in your kitchen that morning and thus causing you to haul ass to Namjoon’s, you probably wouldn’t have believed it.

“Of course it’s a coincidence! There’s no such thing as fate.”

“Namjoon.” You stopped pacing to place your hands heavily onto his shoulder and looked him directly in the eyes as you said, “Jimin moved halfway across the world to dance. All of this is not a coincidence.” You let go of Namjoon’s shoulders and sank down on the chair beside him with a groan. “This is fate’s cruel, cruel way of reminding me that I should still be engaged right now. Heck, I should be married. Maybe even pregnant,” You lamented.

“Okay, one. You wouldn’t be married. This is you and Jimin we’re talking about and with the size and production you wanted for the wedding, it would have taken you at least ten years to save for it.”

“It wasn’t that big…” You muttered, pursing your lips slightly. Okay, who didn’t want to have a gorgeous wedding on the beach at sunset with a million twinkling lights and a professional photo shoot to capture the moment. You only got married once?

“Two,” Namjoon continued with a roll of his eyes. “You weren’t even living with the guy! Trust me, it wouldn’t have lasted anyway.”

You traced the patterns on the couch as you thought about Namjoon’s words. “We talked about it…” you admitted softly. It was kind of the catalyst that started the whole self-destruction of your relationship.

When Jimin had asked you to marry him, you were practically living together anyway. You had a key to his apartment and he had one to yours. You kept a toothbrush in his bathroom and a variety of clothes in his closet. Yet neither of you had spoken about making things official, not even after you were engaged. The only times you went back to your apartment were when Jimin went away for work or if you had an early meeting on the other side of town and leaving from your apartment was easier. And really, you didn’t think about how weird it was that you were engaged and still technically living in two apartments.

“So when are we making this official?” He asked from where he was lying on the couch. The TV was on, but he was paying more attention to his phone than anything else.

“I mean, getting engaged is pretty official,” You joked. You were sitting at the dining table behind him with your laptop out, researching a topic for your next assignment; whether video games were really damaging the youth’s perspective of the world. It wasn’t something you wanted to write, but your editor was adamant that his children were spending too much time fighting virtual wars for it to be healthy and you were the only one stupid enough to agree to take on his crusade.

“What?” Jimin sat up and peered at you from over the back of the couch. “That’s not what I’m talking about?”

“Then what are you talking about?” You distractedly replied as you scrolled through yet another article arguing that video games were making teenage boys more likely to commit violent crimes with no real studies to back up the claims.

“This,” Jimin gestured to the apartments. “You know, living under one roof. In Australia”

“I don’t think we’re there yet,” you replied.

“YN.” Jimin called out, startling you from the article you were reading.

“What?” You stopped reading to look over at him.

“We’re engaged.”

You frowned. “Yes, I know that. What are you on about?”

Jimin closed his eyes as his whole body sagged. “You weren’t listening, were you?”

“Of course I was listening!” You bluffed because you really hadn’t been. You weren’t great at trying to do two things at once, especially when both required your attention.

“So you’re okay with moving to Australia with me?”

“Why would we be moving to Australia?”

Jimin sent you a look that said ‘I knew you weren’t listening’.

“Sorry, I’m just trying to research this article. I’m listening now. What’s this about Australia?”

And really, that was the beginning of the end. From then until you both decided to call it quits, you could barely be in the same room without an argument erupting. He wanted to move to Australia and perform with one of the best ballet companies in the world. And you wanted to stay and continue writing articles for your favourite publication.

When it was all over and done with, you were grateful that you hadn’t given up your lease. You placed the last box of your stuff from Jimin’s down onto your bed and sank down onto your mattress.

That had been an entire year ago.

“He asked me to move to Australia with him and well…” You shrugged, moving your hand away from the couch’s fabric to pick at your already flaking nail polish.

“So he’s at your apartment right now?” Namjoon asked softly. You could feel his gaze on you from the corner of his eyes. You barely moved your head in a nod before he sighed. “Why are you here, YN?”

You could feel the tingle in your nose begin, warning you of your impending tears. “What if he’s moved on?” You sniffed. “What if he’s met someone in Australia?”

Namjoon was quiet as he thought. “Maybe. Or maybe not. If you want to believe this is fate, you have to go and talk to him. He would have known it was your apartment before Taehyung moved in. So go.” He moved his head towards the door. “Go talk to your man.”

You rose from the couch, determination coursing through your veins. You were going to fix the biggest mistake of your life. You were going to talk to Jimin. “Yeah. I’ll talk to him.”

“Great!” Namjoon cheerfully called as you made your way to the door. “And I want to hear all about it after!”

You paused at the door “If things go well, you might not hear from me for a few days.” You let the door close behind you quickly, not wanting to hear Namjoon’s disgust at your proclamation as you practically skipped down the corridor.

Coincidence or not, the truth was still there. Jimin was in your apartment right now and you had a chance to fix things. You had a chance to get him back.

BGW Drabble Master List

Master List

#btsghostiemarathon #btsghostie #jimin #bts #bts au #bts jimin #park jimin #jimin x you #jimin x reader #bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #bts drabbles

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corona-extra-newsletter · 5 years

Text

3/15/20 corona extra: cracking open cold covid facts

Announcements & Thank Yous

“About This Newsletter” has been moved to the bottom so it’s easier to skip if you’ve seen the other ones.

Some institutions do not update on Sundays. I have included the date of everything that is in question. That is also why this update is early :)

Thank you to @hysterical-random-things for letting me know about the first death in NYC and where to find that news, to @nanook2000 for information and links about KY’s response, and to @akashicsage for all of the good deets on San Diego county. If you have reliable information from a good source that I don’t seem to have, please shoot me a message/ask/pigeon!

Places now included in the newsletter are: Utah, Oregon, Washington, the Netherlands, Minnesota, Kentucky, Georgia, Nebraska, the UK, and possibly some others I missed here but included in the newsletter. Please send an ask or a message if you would like a place included!

A word on mortality rates: they look very high in some places in the US right now because testing is limited to the sickest patients. People who have mild illness and are well enough to go or stay home may not have been tested until very recently when several states started mass testing/drive through testing. Testing is still limited in a lot of states, so this will be a rolling increase situation, I anticipate.

A word on case numbers: due to the aforementioned expansion of testing capacity in the US (thank fuck), case numbers are gonna grow in a really, really scary-looking way this week. This is not actually as scary as it seems, because it means we are catching more of the cases that would have gone unnoticed and have better information to help more people.

Just The Numbers

Case numbers

Total cases: 153,517 (10,982 new)

Total deaths: 5,735 (343 new)

China: 81,048 cases (27 new!!), 3204 deaths (10 new)

This gives us a mortality rate of ~3.95%

Excluding China: 72,469 cases (10,955 new), 2531 deaths (333 new)

143 countries/territories reporting cases, 9 are new today including:

Kazakhstan: 6 cases

Curacao: 2 cases

Namibia: 2 cases

Central African Republic: 1 case

Congo: 1 case

Equatorial Guinea: 1 case

Eswatini: 1 case

Mauritania: 1 case

Mayotte: 1 case

Italy is reporting over 20,000 cases with over 1400 deaths

Iran is reporting over 10,000 cases with over 700 deaths

South Korea, Spain, and Germany are reporting over 5,000 cases

SK reports 75 deaths

Spain reports 289 deaths

Germany reports 11 deaths

International/General News

Many places experiencing a worsening epidemic are following the lead of countries including South Korea and instituting drive-through testing and high-throughput testing. Some tests (like the ones being used in Vietnam) can have a result in as soon as an hour, enabling people to be quickly cleared or quarantined. (This is super cool science! Yay, science!)

Johns Hopkins University is putting on a webinar on Tuesday, 3/17. If you are interested, you can sign up/check it out here: https://www.jhsph.edu/events/2020/covid-19/

South Korea’s epidemic is currently being driven by a fringe religious group, which represents approximately 60% of all cases.

Italy’s health system is overwhelmed, which is likely why their case-fatality rate is so high. Doctors, nurses, respiratory techs, first responders, lab personnel, and everyone else involved in hospitals/health care are working their butts off and doing some frankly heroic shit to help people.

Singapore has instituted strict travel restrictions on visitors/transiting people from European countries, including Italy, France, Spain, and Germany; this is in addition to restrictions on visitors from Iran, China, and South Korea.

Some doctors from Washington state, USA (the ones seeing the most cases) are noticing that myocarditis (viral infection & inflammation of the heart) seems to be what kills patients, not the ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) that requires ventilation. This is obviously in early stages and more research is ongoing.

The World Health Organization is setting up three hospitals with advanced respiratory care capabilities in Erbil, Baghdad, and Basra, Iraq.

Virology Corner

Today’s topic: where did SARS-CoV-2 come from?

SARS-CoV-2 is what’s known as a zoonotic virus. This means that it spread from animals to humans, and then gained the ability (through mutations) to pass from human to human.

We think that SARS-CoV-2 came from bats (Rhinopholus) or pangolins- which doesn’t mean we need to blame bats or pangolins for this, they’re innocent bystanders in the game of cat-and-mouse viruses and animals are constantly playing over evolutionary timescales. Also they’re pretty ding dang cute.

(Not to get much more depressing, but here goes, as humans encroach on more and more land and as climate change progresses, more zoonoses will affect humans. Sorry to be a mega-bummer.)

Question Tuesday

Today’s question comes from @adventurecalls! They ask (paraphrased because the ask got eaten): “If I do get sick, how do I know when it’s ok to go back to doing stuff?”

This is a really good question, and one that’s rapidly being worked out by public health people as we speak (whoa)!

In general, the thought is that once you’re totally recovered you’re not able to spread the virus, but there’s not concrete data on this. The best we have is this recent study in the Lancet (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30566-3/fulltext) which indicates that people who recover shed virus for 20 days from symptom onset, whereas those who die shed virus continuously until their death, a maximum course of 37 days.

I obviously can’t give individual medical advice, which this is not, but the guidance from the WHO is excellent in general, and I will keep readers posted when there’s more information.

If you have questions, ask them and they’ll appear here in the next issue of corona extra!

Regional News (if you want somewhere added just let me know. Don’t be shy!! I highly recommend you just skip to your area if you don’t wanna be overwhelmed.)

Canada: last updated 9:00 AM EST 3/15/20

Total cases: 249 confirmed (+5), 4 presumed (-1), 1 death (3/9/20, no change)

All current cases had symptoms starting between 1/17/20 and 3/9/20

One of these cases is the PM’s wife (mild case); the couple are in quarantine for 14 days now. This is not expected to affect Canada’s management, but is definitely a reminder that being a political leader does not grant one immunity to COVID-19.

12% of cases have required hospitalization

79% of cases are in travellers, and a further 8% in their close contacts

Affected provinces include (both confirmed and presumptive cases): BC (73, +0), Alberta (39, -2), Saskatchewan (2, +0), Manitoba (4, +0), Ontario (103, +2), Quebec (24, +3), Newfoundland and Labrador (1) New Brunswick (2, +0), and PEI (1).

Newly affected provinces include: Newfoundland and Labrador

4 cases in repatriated travellers

The Netherlands

I do not speak Dutch so please correct me if I’ve fucked something up royally

1135 confirmed cases, 20 deaths

176 new cases, 8 new deaths

Provinces (?) affected include: Drenthe (15), Flevoland (19), Friesland (10), Gelderland (100), Groningen (9), Limburg (129), North Brabant (446), North Holland (90), Overijssel (28), Utrecht (109), South Holland (110), and Zeeland (12).

I think this is all of them based on a quick Wikipedia investigation?

Interestingly they tested a bunch of people who work in a hospital and found a pretty high (4%) rate of asymptomatic infection. This seems like bad news (are these people spreading, etc) but it’s actually pretty good news because it means the mortality rate is lower than we think. I’ll update here as I find out more, which is hampered by my inability to speak Dutch.

New Zealand

8 confirmed cases, 2 probable cases

2 new cases, one of which was diagnosed in Australia

Both patients were on international flights and there is extensive contact tracing underway

2 patients have required hospitalization but both have been discharged

6700 people have completed self-isolation, 3015 people continue to be isolated

These people all deserve a medal, thank you for protecting your communities!

Golden Princess cruise berthed in Akaroa has one confirmed and two potential cases. The ship is quarantined now.

Norway

1077 cases, 166 of which are new

I still don’t speak Norwegian so if I screwed up lemme know

Only 1 confirmed death, possibly one more to be confirmed 3/16 but only official numbers go here

Also possible that it’s been confirmed and I don’t know because I don’t speak Norwegian

287 cases are due to community transmission, 710 acquired outside of Norway, the rest are undetermined

Locations where people became infected include Austria (491), Italy (144), Switzerland (14), UK (12), Spain (9), France (8), USA (7), Iran (5), China (1), Hong Kong (1), other countries with more than 3 cases (80), and other countries with less than 3 cases (20).

Breakdown of cases by area: Agder (55, +3), Innlandet (72, +16), Møre og Romsdal (20, +4), Nordland (8, +0), Oslo (281, +59), Rogaland (127, +9), Troms og Finnmark (20, +4), Trøndelag (50, +4), Vestfold og Telemark (48, +9), Vestland (118, +9), and Viken (278, +47)

Good job Nordland! No new cases today! :D

United Kingdom in general: this is pretty rough because apparently the public health strategy coming from Boris is “herd immunity” aka let everyone get sick and then they’ll all be immune, since the only other way to get herd immunity is a vaccine that…..we don’t have yet. Boris does not understand how to medicine.

Fuck you, Boris.

1372 total cases (+20%), 232 are new today

35 total deaths, 14 new today

England

1099 total cases

Affected NHS regions are as follows: London (407), South East (175), Midlands (94), North East and Yorkshire (91), North West (76), East of England (71), and South West (61).

Deaths are not being reported by the PHS but I will do my best to split these out in the next few editions using news reports etc

Scotland

153 cases total and 1 death

Affected health boards are as follows: Ayrshire and Arran (6), Borders (7), Fife (7), Forth Valley (10), Grampian (12), Greater Glasgow and Clyde (39), Highland (2), Lanarkshire (16), Lothian (28), Shetland (11), and Tayside (15).

I don’t know if this is all of the health boards in Scotland but it sure is the ones that have confirmed covid19.

Wales

94 cases, 34 new

Welsh authorities are now recommending that anyone who develops a persistent cough and/or fever self-isolate, and only call 111 if they are unable to cope with their symptoms at home

Affected areas include: Blaenau Gwent County (3, +2), Bridgend County (1, +0), Caerphilly County (11, +4), Carmarthenshire County (7, +3), City & County of Swansea (18, +4), City of Cardiff (8, +3), Conwy County (1, +0), Flintshire County (1, +0), Isle of Anglesey (1, +0), Monmouthshire County (5, +1), Neath Port Talbot (11, +0), Newport City (5, +3), Pembrokeshire (2, +0), Powys County (5, +0), and Wrexham County (1, +0).

Newly affected areas include: Ceredigion County (1), Rhondda Cynon Taf County (2), Torfaen County (2), and Vale of Glamorgan (1).

Northern Ireland

45 cases, 11 new

This is all the data I have, sorry

This may actually be a thing that makes northern/southern Ireland cooperate, which is a small spark of hope in the raging dumpster fire that is this pandemic (I hyperbolize, but only slightly)

US in general: All this info is from the state & county health departments unless I say otherwise. The national response is a trash fire (but maybe hopefully improving this week??) CDC information is updated weekdays; total US cases are from 3/13 at 4 PM

1629 total cases, 41 deaths (2.5% mortality rate), with 46 states and DC reporting cases.

CDC is now recommending all in person gatherings with more than 50 people be canceled for the next 8 weeks. This sucks for me personally and probably a lot of you all too. Hang in there.

California: updated around 10 AM PST, 3/15/20

The state dept of health is not providing a ton of info right now, so all of this is coming from county health departments, which are doing really excellent work btw. Love local public health departments <3

My official take is that the higher level government orgs in the US are muzzled from above and therefore totally shitting the bed and the county-level public health officials are really stepping up to the plate

Total cases not including the ones at Miramar (discussed below): 363, with 4 total deaths

Affected counties include: Alameda (7), Calaveras (2), Contra Costa (29), Fresno (2), Humboldt (1 - recovered), Imperial (2), Los Angeles (53, +11), Madera (1), Marin (5), Orange (14), Placer (8), Riverside (10), Sacramento (29) San Benito (3 - 2 recovered), San Diego (8), San Francisco (28), San Joaquin (8), San Luis Obispo (1), San Mateo (32), Santa Clara (91), Santa Cruz (7), Shasta (1), Solano (6), Sonoma (4), Stanislaus (2), Tulare (2), Ventura (5), Yolo (2)

San Diego: My numbers are not gonna include the federal quarantine situations at Miramar (for repatriated people and the Diamond Princess passengers) because that’s what makes sense right now regarding community transmission. If this changes I will say so.

Unaffected counties include: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Colusa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Plumas, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yuba

Counties with confirmed community transmission include: Los Angeles, Marin, Orange, Riverside, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Sonoma

Newly affected counties include San Luis Obispo (3/14)

Colorado - last updated 3/14 at 3 PM

Colorado Springs Bridge Center is under an advisory for possible exposure

Drive-up testing is available now, in Denver and Lowry and possibly other places

1 death, 3/13/20, in El Paso County, a female in her 80s

Community spread has been confirmed

101 confirmed cases, 1 death

Affected counties include: Adams (6), Arapahoe (10), Denver (20), Douglas (4), Eagle (18), El Paso (3), Gunnison (6), Jefferson (9), Larimer (1), Mesa (1), Pitkin (2), Pueblo (1), Summit (2), Weld (3)

Out of state visitors who have tested positive are tallied separately. They are located in the following counties: Pitkin (9), Eagle (2), Routt (1), Denver (1), unknown (2 - wtf??)

Florida - last updated 145 AM EST 3/15/20

115 (+45) cases and 4 deaths (+0)

Florida has not yet confirmed community transmission but it’s almost certainly happening. I’m no longer separating counties with and without confirmed community transmission because of that.

Also, the numbers by county do not add up to the same total because locations are updated less frequently by FLDPH than the total number of cases.

Affected counties include: Alachua (1, +0), Broward (36, +16), Charlotte (1, +0), Clay (3, +2), Collier (5, +2), Duval (4, +3), Hillsborough (4, +2), Lee (5, +1), Manatee (4, +0), Miami-Dade (13, +5), Nassau (1, +0) Okaloosa (1, +0), Orange (2, +1), Osceola (1), Palm Beach (5, +0), Pasco (2, +1) Pinellas (2, +0), Santa Rosa (1, +0), Sarasota (1, +0) Seminole (1, +0), Volusia (5, +1)

Newly affected counties include: Citrus (1), St. John’s (1)

Port Everglades is under an advisory due to several cases connected to a cruise company based there.

Georgia: last updated 3/15 at 11:43 AM

Y’ALL THEY MADE A HASHTAG. I am NOT making this up. It’s #covid19ga if you want to use that, I guess???

99 cases, 1 death

Affected counties include: Bartow (9), Charlton (1), Cherokee (6), Clayton (2), Clarke (2), Cobb (19), Coweta (2), Dekalb (10), Dougherty (6), Fayette (5), Floyd (4), Fulton (20), Gordon (2), Gwinnett (4), Henry (1), Lowndes (2), Lee (2), Newton (1), and Polk (1).

Illinois: last updated 3/14/20

64 confirmed cases, 16 new, with confirmed community spread

New cases: Chicago (7), Cook not Chicago (4), Kane (1), Lake (1)

195 pending persons under investigation

Affected counties include Cook, Kane, McHenry

Newly affected counties include: Woodford (1), Cumberland (1), St. Clair (2), DuPage (1, first long-term care facility case)

Iowa: last updated 3/14/20

Total cases: 18, 1 new 3/14

Affected counties include: Carroll (1), Dallas (1), Harrison (1), Johnson (14), and Pottawattamie (1)

Community spread confirmed on 3/14/2020

Kansas: last updated 3/14/20

8 confirmed cases

Affected counties include: Johnson (5), Wyandotte (1), Butler (1), Franklin (1)

Kentucky: last updated 3/14 at 6 pm local time

18 confirmed cases

2 new cases, both in Fayette County

One patient in Nelson County tested positive but left the hospital and refused to quarantine himself. Don’t be like this guy. Please. I’m expecting a lot more cases to pop up in Nelson county over the next couple weeks all connected to this one patient.

Apparently there’s now a bunch of cops sitting outside his house to make sure he stays there. Ffs.

Affected counties include: Harrison (6), Fayette (7), Jefferson (3 or 4, possible repeat test), Bourbon (1), Nelson (1), and Montgomery (1)

Governor is recommending hospitals stop elective procedures and childcare centers plan for closure by 3/17/20. Also put in place a bunch of important protections for people who don’t have insurance and stuff. Good job, KY!

First patient has fully recovered! Yay!

Louisiana: last updated 9:30 am 3/15/20

91 cases reported, 14 new

2 deaths, 1 new

Parishes affected: Jefferson (12, +1), Lafourche (1, +0), Orleans (65, +12), St. Charles (2, +0), St. John the Baptist (1, +0), St. Tammany (4, +2), and Terrebonne (2, +1)

New parishes affected: Bossier (1), Caddo (1), St. Bernard (1)

Massachusetts: last updated 4 pm 3/14/20

138 cases (19 lab confirmed, 119 presumptive positives)

1 new lab confirmed case, 14 new presumptive positives

1083 people in quarantine

Affected counties include: Berkshire (9, 0% change), Essex (5, +150%), Middlesex (65, +8%), Norfolk (28, +16%), Suffolk (27, +3%), and Worcester (2, 0% change)

Newly affected counties include: Barnstable (1) and Bristol (1)

5 cases travel related, 104 (+10%) in one community transmission cluster, others unknown

11 hospitalized, 105 not hospitalized, the rest pending (22)

1 new hospitalization

Michigan: last updated 3/14/20 in the evening

33 cases, 8 new, 0 deaths

Affected counties include: Bay (1), Charlevoix (1), Ingham (1), Kent (3), Macomb (2), Monroe (1), Montcalm (1), Oakland (9), St. Clair (1), Wayne (8), and Washtenaw (4)

Likely community transmission

Minnesota: last updated 3/15

35 cases, community transmission confirmed

Affected counties include: Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Olmstead, Ramsey, Renville, Stearns, Waseca, Washington, and Wright

County numbers are not currently being provided by MN dept of health, just ranges. Hennepin and Ramsey counties have 6-20 cases each.

Hopefully they’ll pull an Ohio and help a girl out soon

Drive through testing available in Olivia

Nebraska: last updated 3/15

Community transmission confirmed: many locations in Douglas County are potential places where transmission has occurred; if you live or have traveled to Douglas County (Omaha), please check the Douglas County COVID-19 monitoring site.

There were also two exposures in Knox County on March 5, at basketball games at Lincoln Southwest HS and North Star HS.

17 cases, no deaths

Affected counties include: Cass (1), Douglas (15) and Knox (1)

New Jersey : last updated 3/14 at 2 pm

69 cases (+38%), 1 death (none new)

Affected counties include: Bergen (25, +47%), Burlington (3, no change), Camden (2, +1), Essex (7, +1), Hudson (5, +2), Middlesex (10, +6), Monmouth (8, +1), Morris (3, no change), Ocean (1, no change), Passaic (2, -1 apparently?), Somerset (1, no change), and Union (1, no change)

Newly affected counties include: Mercer (1)

I dread updating NJ just because the website sucks so bad

Thank you to the commenter who noted that the help line apparently rules and they’ve been advertising it heavily, that’s awesome public health work by NJ!

So that’s a bright spot, eh?

New York: last updated 3/14 at 8 PM

613 cases, 192 new, 1 new death

Affected counties include: Westchester (178, +12%), Nassau (79, +54%), Suffolk (41, +13), Rockland (12, +3), Ulster (5, +0), Dutchess (4, +1), Orange (6, +3), Saratoga (3), Albany (5, +3), Broom (1, +0), Delaware (1, +0), Herkimer (1, +0), Monroe (2, +1), and Schenectady (1, +0).

NYC has 269 cases (+75%) as of 3/15 at noon

Newly affected counties include: Erie (3), Tioga (1), and Tompkins (1)

Drive through testing in New Rochelle and Long Island

All public places are closed in New Rochelle through March 25.

Ohio: last updated 3/15 at 2 pm

36 confirmed cases, 10 new

350 people under investigation

Affected counties include: Belmont (2), Butler (6), Cuyahoga (14), Franklin (3), Lorain (2), Lucas (1), Medina (1), Stark (2), Summit (2), Trumbull (2), Tuscarawas (1)

THEY STARTED GIVING COUNTY BY COUNTY INFO, PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Oregon: last updated 3/14 at 11:00 AM

36 cases, 13 hospitalized at time of positive test, 1 death (3/14)

The following counties are affected: Clackamas (1), Deschutes (3), Douglas (1), Jackson (2), Klamath (1), Linn (9), Marion (2), Multnomah (1), Polk (1), Umatilla (2), and Washington (13).

Pennsylvania: last updated 3/15 at noon

Gritty is now loose and is singlehandedly responsible for all cases in Philadelphia, if you see the orange monster, RUN

63 total cases, 16 new today

No deaths, Gritty is thankfully failing in his mission to murder

Counties affected include: Allegheny (3, +1) Bucks (4, +1), Chester (2, +0), Cumberland (5, +2), Delaware (7, +1), Monroe (6, +3), Montgomery (24, +4), Northampton (1, +0), Philadelphia (6, +2), Pike (1, +0), Washington (1, +0), Wayne (1, +0)

Newly affected counties include: Lehigh (1) and Luzerne (1)

446 people under investigation pending test results

Rhode Island: last updated 3/13/20

~500 people in quarantine for close contact situations

57 pending people under investigation

20 confirmed cases, no deaths

Next expected update 3/16 in the AM

South Dakota: last updated 3/15

9 confirmed cases, no new cases since 3/14

6 pending cases under investigation

Affected counties include: Beadle (1), Bon Homme (1), Charles Mix (1), Davison (1), McCook (1), Minnehaha (3), and Pennington (1)

No community transmission

Texas: last updated 3/15

56 total cases, 5 new.

Highly likely that there has been community transmission, unconfirmed currently

Affected counties include: Bell (1, +0), Bexar (3, +2), Brazoria (2, +0), Collin (6, +1), Dallas (8, +0), El Paso (1, +0), Fort Bend (9, +0), Galveston (1, +0), Gregg (1, +0), Harris (10, +0), Hays (1, +0), Lavaca (1, +0), Montgomery (3, +0), Smith (4, +1), Tarrant (3, +0), and Travis (1, +0)

Newly affected counties include: Matagorda (1)

The Texas DPH has corrected a tabulation error that affected Gregg and Travis counties.

Utah: last updated 3/15

21 total cases, 14 cases in Utah residents

Affected health districts include: Davis County (3), Salt Lake county (14), Southwest Utah (1), Summit County (2), and Weber-Morgan (1)

The Utah Jazz managed to get more testing than the rest of the country for awhile there, so that’s great for them

Whoever does your graphic design, *greatjob* (the little virus instead of the UDPH logo is CHOICE)

Also, the website is super useful and readable, 10/10 good job Utah

First case of community spread identified on 3/14/20, in Summit County

Schools and universities are closed starting 3/16/20, Mormonism is closed until further notice, and skiing is canceled in Park City and Cottonwood Canyon for a minimum of a week. If you are interested in skiing in Utah, check Ski Utah for a list of closures.

Virginia: last updated 3/15

45 cases total, 4 new

Affected counties/cities include: Arlington (8, +1), Chesterfield (1, +0), Fairfax (10, +0) James City (8, +1), Loudoun (5, +0), Virginia Beach City (4, +1), Prince William (3, +1), Spotsylvania (1, +0), Prince Edward (1, +0), Hanover (1, +0), Harrisonburg City (1, +0), and Alexandria City (1, +0)

No newly affected areas today.

Washington: last updated 3/14 at 2:45 PM

Godspeed, y’all are having a real rough time right now. Yipes. Washington is really hard hit right now, especially King County. Look to Washington State and how they’re coping for a preview of how things are gonna go as the cases develop elsewhere.

642 total cases, 40 deaths (6.2% mortality)

Affected counties include: Clark (3), Columbia (1), Grant (2), Grays Harbor (1), Island (6), Jefferson (1), King (387), Kitsap (3), Kittitas (3), Pierce (26), Skagit (4), Snohomish (154), Spokane (3), Thurston (3), Whatcom (2), and Yakima (4).

39 cases are currently unassigned to a county. These are expected to resolve in the coming days, hopefully.

Deaths have occurred in the following counties: Grant (1), King (35), Snohomish (4),

Wisconsin: last updated 3/15 at 2 PM

33 total cases (6 new), 1 recovered, 0 deaths

Affected counties include: Dane (6, +0), Fond du Lac (11, +5), Milwaukee (7, +1), Pierce (1, +0), Racine (1, +0), Sheboygan (3, +0), Waukesha (3, +0), and Winnebago (1, +0)

Today’s Hot Tips

Make sure you have ibuprofen and tylenol/acetaminophen/APAP/paracetamol at home before you get sick. This isn’t just covid advice, this is life advice in general. (Obvs, ask your doctor about what’s safe to take if you have chronic health conditions etc but this is a general recommendation, not medical advice. As I said, life advice.)

As far as I know, ibuprofen and tylenol are ok, but research may change this. Current research indicates that steroids, which are used in other severe respiratory conditions, may make COVID-19 associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) worse. More on this later.

It still can’t hurt to have some tylenol around, though, ya know?

Hand Washing Song of the Day

If you hate singing happy birthday while you wash your hands, I certainly do, try Good as Hell by Lizzo instead!

Sing from “I do my hair toss” to “If he don’t love you anymore” at minimum (if you’re like me and can’t leave a lyric unfinished, go ahead and dry your hands while making your brain happy.) to follow CDC handwashing guidelines! Use soap and water for maximum virus-murdering.

Chill Cat Otter Corner

https://gfycat.com/pastjovialalligatorgar-otter

Please watch these otters sproing and chase!

About this newsletter

I’m Emily, I’m a 4th year med student w/ a degree in molecular biology. I wrote this because I’m an infectious disease and epidemiology nerd and also all my friends have questions & anxiety. Hi internet!

All this info is sourced from regional & national public health organizations, plus the WHO. It’s as up to date as humanly possible. I’ve been beaming information about this outbreak directly into my brain 24/7 but I still miss stuff. Please let me know if I miss something!

Most public health departments stop updating their information around 4-5 PM local time on weekdays. That means that the earliest this will come out is around 6 PM Pacific time on weekdays going forward. On weekends things update more sporadically and earlier, so who knows what I’ll do then, but I’ll do my best.

Thank you to @marywhal for the excellent title!

For More Information

JHU COVID-19 data center: https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

List of peer-reviewed publications: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/publications.html

WHO daily sitrep: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200315-sitrep-55-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=33daa5cb_6

WHO FAQ: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses

CDC cases in the US (take w/ a grain of salt due to Political Garbage, as detailed above): https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html, this also has links to each state’s health dept which may or may not be more up to date than the CDC

#corona extra #covid corner #covid19 #coronavirus #pandemic #information without anxiety #my pledge is to only give you the straight dope #social distancing #coronavirus pandemic #long post

517 notes · View notes

skippyv20 · 4 years

Note

Skip, Julie here. Australia and China. Our Prime Minister has been very clear in that we won’t be bullied but will stand firm when right is right. China was offended because our PM called for an investigation into how Covid started. The world needs to be able trace the origin to ensure it never happens again. Google. Well Google is profit before equity and using others Intellectual Property without payment to grow your own business is not right. Don’t underestimate how much your support means.

Thank you Julie! This world....what is going on!😔❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

1/24/21

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chickensarentcheap · 4 years

Text

Never Gonna Be Alone

A Tyler Rake/Established Female OC fic

Summary: A lot changes in five years. Now a family of nine, the Rakes are splitting their time between Australia and New York City. With Dhaka nothing but a distant yet still painful memory and the dirty work mostly behind him, Tyler is healthy and thriving. Not only as a husband and father, but as the acting founder and boss of his own mercenary business and co-owner of his wife's well loved and flourishing bookstore. But while love and domestic happiness abound, the past and its secrets are never far behind.

Huge thanks and tons of love to @tragiclyhip for never letting me give up! It’s thanks to her I ever actually finished off the last fic, or started this one. And she also made my incredible banner! <3 <3 <3

Warnings: none

Tagging: @c-a-v-a-l-r-y, @alievans007, @innerpaperexpertcloud, @tragiclyhip

Prologue

FIVE YEARS LATER

******

The stand sits fifteen feet above ground and wraps halfway around the gnarled and twisted trunk of a centuries old Kapok tree. No hunter has made use of it in years; the stairs leading upwards weakened by harsh weather and neglect, wood cracking and bowing under the soles of well worn combat boots. Despite the added weight of gear and a kevlar utility vest, long legs and a wide stride make it easy to navigate the missing steps. His movements are purposeful and quiet; careful to avoid even the slightest snap of a twig or the rustle of dried and fallen leaves or the scratch of dirt and pebbles against the pitted and fragile wood. Any sound is a detriment in this environment; the lush and dense landscape so eerily still and silent that even a hint of noise would seem deafening. The slightest of movement has the potential to stir up the wildlife, which in turn would draw unwanted attention upwards from the banks of the Mekong River.

Even under the thick and expansive umbrella of the forest the heat is stifling. Humidity oppressive and choking. A thin layer of sweat gathers on his brow; errants droplets burning his eyes and gathering on the ends of his lashes. His shirt -long sleeved to not only provide cover in the jungle but protect from scrapes and cuts and the burn of the sun- nearly soaked right through; darkened patches under the arms and at the small of the back, the fabric clinging to dampened and slick skin. Fine beads settle around his mouth, and when he drops into a crouch at the top of the stand, he swipes his tongue over his top lip in an effort to clear away the sweat. It had been an hour hike through the jungle; moving swiftly and silently as he listened to directions being given through a transmitter he sports in his left ear. It’s sweltering and he’s thirsty; head pounding and his hands begin to tremble as the beginning stages of dehydration begin to settle in. He takes the time to remedy the situation. Shrugging off the rucksack slung over his left shoulder and dropping it onto the floor of the stand; hands shaking yet able to tear open the zipper. There’s two bottles of water packed in amongst the gear; extra pairs of socks in case of treks through swamps and marshes, two full clips of ammo that will only be used if someone on the other side is able to pinpoint his location and launch a full scale and fully armed search.

He hopes it doesn’t come to that.

Downing half a bottle of water, he uses the remains to cool himself down; splashing a handful of the liquid against his face and then dumping the rest over his head. Ten years ago, the elements wouldn’t have bothered him as much; he would have been thirty seven years old and still in relatively good shape. Physically AND mentally. And despite a consistent and punishing routine of heavy lifting, core training, and cardio, he’s definitely feeling the effects of both age and decades of hard and often dangerous living. Knees stiff and aching from the brisk hike over rough terrain and then through mud and thick brush; the arthritis that takes up residence in the small of his back and the right hip making its presence known. He’ll be sore tomorrow; every step he takes will send pain shooting through him, and for the next week he’ll wonder just why the hell he ever said ‘yes’ in the first place. Each stiff movement and slow step and aching muscle will remind him of just how things HAVE changed over the years. Gone are the days when he could skip a few days sleep; able to function on both little rest and minuscule amounts of food and drink. There’s no way he’d be able to do THAT now; push his body to the limits he’d been testing for so long. That man no longer exists. The one that would take the most dangerous and unpredictable jobs in hopes of catching a bullet. Who’d almost pray, beg and plead each and every time he went out that it would be his last; one sniper’s shot away from finally being put out of his miserable existence.

Things changed, of course. When he’d been least expecting them to. There’s way too much to lose now. It’s why every decision he makes now...every movement...matters so much. Even the smallest of mistakes can change the course of the future; one misstep potentially blowing his cover and leading to his untimely -and likely extremely brutal and bloody- demise. An hour away a helicopter waits for him; on standby to whisk him back to Vietnam and that little ‘hole in the wall’ hotel he’d been staying in. A quick shower and he’d back in the air; rushed to the nearest backwoods airport where a private jet would take him home. It’s been four days now; two spent in the planning stages before his first ‘hit’ in Laos and then the trek to Cambodia. Two for the price of one, Anil had said, although money matters very little now. These kinds of gigs are more a service; wiping out the dregs of society more of a gift to humanity than anything else.

He normally doesn’t take on jobs. A total of three in the past five years. This is the fourth AND fifth. The skills and the mindset quickly and effortlessly returning, the first kill a lot easier than he’d thought it would be. It’s like riding a bike; once the gun is in your hand and you’re peering through that scope, your finger easily finds and pulls the trigger. And this job had been impossible to turn down; the dirty and vile details hitting home and preying on his ‘human side’. Anyone in his position as a husband and father would have been enraged and disgusted. Drug runners and weapons smugglers that moonlight in abusing and torturing their wives and exploiting children. Sometimes even their own. People that evil don’t deserve to live; even a bullet between the eyes considered too kind. But it’s all he has time for. No ‘face to face’ meetings. He can’t be seen or even identified by name in order to protect his OWN family. He has to remain a ghost. An urban legend of sorts. Talked and gossiped about in drug circles and even among the local police and military who’d either been paid off by the criminals or had been hopeless and hapless when it came to stopping the activity. Nothing will be known about him. No glimpse of his appearance, no chance to hear his voice or even know his name. He’ll be known for just those ‘lucky shots’ he’d gotten in. Turned in to nothing more than rumours and speculation that will continue spreading long after he’s gone.

***

“T...you there?” Yaz’ voice through the earpiece. The reception is spotty; words broken up by heavy static.

He uses a forearm to wipe the mixture of water and sweat from his face, then lays a finger against the transmitter clipped to his vest. “I’m here.”

“Hot out there today, isn’t it.”

He smirks, then begins pulling pieces of a semi automatic rifle from the confines of the rucksack; hands moving quickly and efficiently as they snap and twist the weapon together. “I don’t want to hear your bitching. You’ve got air conditioning. I’m the one out in this shit.” His voice is low and quiet as he speaks. Even the smallest of sounds can travel great distances; echoing through the jungle and making its way down to the banks of the Mekong.

The river sits fifty yards to the south; muddy and heavily polluted and dotted with boats belonging to local fisherman. One vessel stands out from the crowd. A large and expensive houseboat; the chrome that lines the powerful motor and makes up the railings on the top deck sparkling in the sunlight. His mark is inside; meeting with some of Anil’s people acting under the guise of weapons buyers. When the time is right, the man in question will be led out onto the bottom deck and he’ll have one shot to get the job done. It’s another reason Anil had personally sought him out; his marksmanship impeccable, no other employee coming close to possessing that level of skill.

“You good?” Yaz inquires.

“Yeah…” he snaps the magazine in place and then switches off the safety. “...I’m good.”

“I’ll let you know when there’s movement. Going silent for now.”

He tears off the lid of the second bottle of water and takes a single sip before setting it down; using his sleeve to wipe both the opening and every side of the plastic. He can’t leave any trace of himself behind. Not a drop of sweat or a hint of saliva or his fingerprints. He’ll wipe the stand down before he leaves; methodically cleaning anything he may have come in contact with. IF his location is discovered, money talks. Anyone remotely related to his mark will pay to get answers, and the police will take what’s offered and collect every shred of possible evidence. He can’t take that chance. A single, unattached person may not care. Had he still been the guy living in the rundown and beaten up shack in the outback, he wouldn’t have thought twice about covering his tracks. But lives depend on him. A wife and seven beautiful little humans that count on him to protect them and keep them safe.

He CAN’T fuck this up.

Up in the stand he’s well hidden; camouflaged by the abundance of thick, lush greenery. It’ll be a tough shot through twisted and tangled branches; not even a foot of clearance between wood and leaves. Depending on exactly where his mark is led, he’ll compensate for that; pulling to the right or left in order to prevent the bullet from getting too ‘dirty’. He’s made tougher shots; mostly in his SASR days. And there’s no doubt he’ll make this one.

He bunches up the ruck sack and places it near the edge of the stand, facing the river. He’ll use it as both a ledge and a form of cushioning; balancing the long barrel of the rifle will provide stability and muffle the sound of the shot, disguising where it had originated from. He winces as he gingerly lowers himself onto his stomach; the cracking in his hip and the soreness in both knee and shoulder reminding him that he’s not as young as he used to be. Forty-seven is ancient in mercenary years. Most never make it that far. The odd few get to retire peacefully, but the majority are taken out by a bullet; one too many lapses in judgment and the smallest of errors leading to their deaths.

But most never get to have what he does either. A normal life with a family that loves him ; thousands of miles away, anxiously awaiting his return. It’s why he’s so careful; every decision he makes and every action he takes is done with them at the forefront of his mind. And he thinks about them now; warm and safe in the confines of a townhome in New York City. Four days ago they’d travelled from Australia and he’d promised to meet up with them as soon as the job was finished. It’s their third Christmas there; an eight bedroom brownstone in Gramercy Park. The kids especially enjoy spending the holidays there. Quickly falling in love with the idea of a white Christmas and enjoying all of the outdoor activities; sledding and skating and seeing the tree at Rockefeller Centre and visiting Santa and the reindeer in Central Park. And while life in the Big Apple had never appealed to him, the draw of Gramercy had been impossible to resist. Quiet and quaint; tree lined streets and a private park and neighbours that mind their own business and don’t ask too many questions. He’d initially worried about standing out like a sore thumb; tanned skinned and the array of tattoos and scars and the ‘Down Under’ accent. It turned out to be everything he HADN'T expected. The feeling of small town life within an enormous city.

The back of his hand swipes at the locusts and mosquitos that hover close to his face; their buzzing and humming both tickling and irritating his ears. The right isn’t as good as it used to be; hearing slightly muted and distorted thanks to years of both firing and coming in close contact with weapons. It’s another drawback to getting old. Along with his eyesight. Needing glasses to read or to spend anytime staring at a computer screen.

“They’re on the move.”

He blinks sweat from his eyes and wipes his lips and chin on the sleeve of his shirt. Then he settles in; bending his left leg at the knee and wriggling his stomach against the wood beneath him. The latter is mind over matter; as if the simple movement and the way he presses the toes of boots against the stand will improve both shot and stability. His finger hovers over the trigger; other hand lightly supporting the barrel of the gun, allowing the rucksack to bear the majority of the weight. Anil’s people come out first; identified by the tan linen suits he’d been told they’d be sporting. The ‘Mark’ is a middle aged man, clad in casual attire; olive green cargo shorts and a simple white golf shirt. He’s short and stocky with greying hair and a noticeable limp; a run in with a rival drug crew years ago resulting in the amputation of his leg and the acquisition of a prosthetic device.

His jaw clenches and his lips settle into a thin, pursed line. His heart hammers in his chest and both his shoulders and his chest tighten. It’s adrenaline. That unmistakable rush that comes before an imminent strike. He remembers it well. And it’s both surprising and disheartening how much he’s actually missed it.

As they chatter and laugh, one of Anil’s men places a hand on the Mark’s back and ever so slightly turns the other man in Tyler’s direction. It’s all he needs; just enough of the Mark’s forehead to ensure a ‘kill shot’. And he takes it; the sound slightly muffled but still deafening as it echoes through the jungle and stirs birds from their perches and wildlife from the safety of their nests and dens. The bullet easily tears through layers of leaves and bypasses branches; finding its target and sending the Mark sprawling backwards and then down into a pool of brain matter, fragments of skull, and quickly spreading blood.

“Target’s down.”

The words are simple. To the point. And as chaos erupts down by the river, he calmly begins his retreat; pushing himself up onto his feet and slinging the rifle over his shoulder. There’s no pressing need or rush; Anil’s people have made their quick escape and the screams and shouts are coming from startled fisherman and colleagues of the Mark that had been inside the houseboat. He has time; methodically cleaning every inch of both the stand and the stairs and making sure he’s left nothing behind.

“I’m heading back,” he says, shouldering the ruck sack and taking the stairs two at a time. He’s suddenly anxious to get on his way; feeling the relief that sets in as he begins his hour long trek.

A smile tugs at the corners of his mouth. Not from the success of the mission or the satisfaction that comes with ridding the world of yet another monster. It’s one of happiness. One of peace.

The realization that each step he takes brings him closer to home.

#Tyler Rake #Tyler Rake fan fiction #Extraction fan fiction

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