#so everyone but the US can build a border wall/fence I guess

[beardedmrbean]

Finland will not be making Swedish-language high school exams compulsory, newspaper Uutissuomalainen (siirryt toiseen palveluun)reports on Friday morning.

Minister of Education Li Andersson (Left) said that such changes to the requirements of a high school diploma would not be sensible and only make graduating even more demanding for students.

The story is also mentioned by Swedish-speaking Hufvudstadsbladet (siirryt toiseen palveluun)(HBL). HBL writes that the government would like to see the second national language become compulsory eventually, but Andersson worries that the past few years have already hit students' wellbeing hard.

"We are very concerned about the wellbeing of high school students and the pressure they are facing; the change would clearly have a negative impact in that regard," Andersson said.

Fencing the eastern border

Finland is currently making preparations to enhance its border with Russia, tabloid Iltalehti (siirryt toiseen palveluun)(IL) writes. The preparations could even see the construction of a four-metre high fence along a short segment of the border, according to the paper.

For that to happen, however, Finland would need to make amendments to the law, Anne Ihanus, senior legal adviser at the Border Guard Headquarters, told IL. The government indeed submitted a proposal for the amendment of the Border Guard Act to Parliament on 9 June.

"Current fences on the eastern border essentially prevent domestic animals from crossing the border. More robust fences for the border and being able to build on areas other than just the edge of the border opening would require changes in the regulations," Ihanus said.

Iltalehti was informed that the planned fence could extend along some 120 kilometres of the 1300-kilometre border, costing up to two million euros per kilometre. The tabloid was unable to confirm the aforementioned cost estimates with the Finnish Border Guard.

Jussi Napola, head of the Border Guard and Preparedness Unit of the Border Guard Headquarters, did confirm, however, that the fence would be built only in areas where it would strengthen border safety the most, as fencing the entire eastern border was "not cost-effective."

New methods to beach safety

Drowning incidents are on the rise in Finland, but lifeguards at Helsinki's Pikkukoski beach have come up with a simple solution to tackle the problem, Helsingin Sanomat (siirryt toiseen palveluun) writes.

Finland registered its highest figure of drowning for over a decade during the summer of 2021, while some 113 drowning deaths were registered in 2020 -- one of which was a six-year-old child at Pikkukoski.

Beach rescuers have thus taken the initiative to approach every family visiting the beach with children and explain how and where it is safest to swim.

"We mostly tell families with children about the sudden depths of the waters. The right side is safer than the left," Pikkukoski lifeguard Touko Pylkkänen told HS, adding that 95 percent of a lifeguard's job is prevention at the beach.

The active approach has received a lot of positive feedback and no incidents have occurred since its implementation, Jarmo Valtonen, team leader at the City of Helsinki, told the paper.

[echo-three-one]

Whatever It Takes

Sequel to A Forgotten Memory

Roach's stealth skills are put to the test as he sneaks past an alleged Augustus base to capture him and gather intel about the recent EMP based attacks. Will Roach be able to impress Captain Price?

Previous Chapter : Soap - Experiment 001

Chapter 9 to another story made by Ray (echo-three-one) Comments and Reviews appreciated! I hope you enjoy! Love you all ❤️

"A SurPRICE Visit"

Gary 'Roach' Sanderson

Task Force 141

400 meters outside Augustus' Mountain Base

Germany

The winds were picking up when they landed and Roach flew about a few more meters away from Price.

"This EMP blast is messing with my signals. Captain, can you find Roach?" Ghost spoke over comms, his voice crumbled over the static.

"He landed not too far from me. Come on boy, let's get a head on." Price replied to Ghost as he helped Gary get up and untangle himself from his mess. Gary nodded and followed his Captain into the edge of the mountain.

"There it is. Augustus' base." he mused as Gary scoped through his supressed silencer. Trucks were leaving the area filled with armed hostiles.

"Ghost, you see this? They're leaving the hive." Price informed the recon man.

"Aye, sir. Looks like they're headed to Alex's direction. If we time this right you'll have less people inside there." he replied. Gary wondered why they were leaving. It didn't make sense to back-up an already reclaimed base back at Alex's.

"Let's go Roach. I'll take the one on the left tower, you take the one on the right. I'm currently spotting four Tangos by the gate. Fire when ready." Price instructed. Roach took a deep breath to steady his sights, quickly pulling the trigger once the crosshairs aligned with their heads.

"Good kill. Your sniper skills are improving, Sargeant." Price mused as he signaled them to move forward. For a Captain who's left him a solid first impression as a strict angryman, Roach didn't expect the kind words from him. It almost felt overwhelming.

"You go ahead and take what's important inside that guardhouse. I'll cover you from this position." he commanded and Gary sprung safely into action, switching to his suppressed pistol and into the guardhouse.

It was simple, a few cameras, some photos of people who they let in and a few map layouts. Gary quickly snapped all of them for Ghost to see. Roach also grabbed the radio and placed it near his ear. Gary set his sights on an AK-47 lying on the ground.

"Roach, be careful when using unsuppressed weapons. It might reveal our existence." Price muttered to which he nodded. It just made sense.

"Jäeger, kopierst du?" the radio muttered. Roach's German wasn't on point and any non-reply from the other end would result in an investigation.

"Ja, alles klar." he replied, trying to replicate the accent. There was no more reply on the other side which meant Gary actually nailed his reply.

"Captain, behind that door is heavily guarded. I suggest a reroute to the back door just a few meters east of your position. This isn't Augustus' base, it's a remote research facility studying plant life by the border and he seemed to take it over." Ghost informed after gathering the photos, Gary waited on the edge of the wall covering his Captain's six. The duo proceeded as suggested and climbed over an unguarded fence.

"We're at a greenhouse. Labeled 6." Price whispered.

"Do you see any cameras?" Ghost asked.

"Yeah. Looking at the plants." he muttered.

"Circle around it and find cover behind the safehouse labeled 5. If my German is correct, the central area should have 2 scientists on their way in there." Ghost informed.

"Right on schedule." Price nodded to Roach as they both knocked them down quietly and non-lethally as they were civilians. Gary quickly slung his weapon and hid it behind the huge white lab coat the both of them now wore.

"Keep your weapons hidden, until I say so. Okay?" Price said as he pulled the bodies somewhere hidden. Gary nodded as they confidently waltzed inside the base, using their fake ids pinned on their coats for entry.

Gary watched a lot of sci-fi fics and most of them depicted labs as white walled, glass-divided rooms with hundreds of scientists working on some random machineries. Except here, it's plants. It seemed normal as if they infiltrated the wrong base. Price seemed to worry too, his steps were further apart and he seemed to be in a hurry. They were losing hope on a lead, until one armed guard, different from those outside started climbing up the stairs.

"Finally. Some good news." Price muttered as they made their way up the stairs.

"Authorized personnel only." an armed guard stood by the steps blocking the duos way. It was too crowded and too risky to engage him and press through and they both needed a new plan.

"Es tut mir leid." Gary replied as he pulled Price to the restrooms.

"It's no use. We can't go guns ablazing right here." he noted to his Captain.

"Bollocks." he cursed.

"We need a diversion." He added.

"Way ahead of you, Sir." Gary smirked and showed him his c4 trigger, pushed it and an explosion followed.

"Nice. By the guard house?" Price asked while they waited for reinforcements to assist the blast.

"Yeah."

"Quick thinking lad. I like that."

Several armed men came rushing down the stairs, yelling in a different language, all going to the exit. They stomped to the stairs and carefully breached the second floor of the building, shooting armed tangos using suppressed weapons. They had to act fast and stomp on their comms as soon as they're down so that the others outside will not fall back.

Ten guards were left behind to protect the second floor, and with the help of stealth, Gary and Price took them out smoothly. All that's left are the intel waiting to be harvested.

Gary snapped all possible evidence, every nook and cranny was investigated while Price tapped his heavy fingers on the keyboard.

"Looks like they're going large. They're planting something by the major cities cell towers. Here's one in Berlin." he muttered, printing a copy of the blueprints.

"Price! R-ch" Ghost's static crackled across their comms.

"Th- found- guards!

Get. Out. There. NOW." he added.

"Kill every civilian in there. That will let our little friends out of the shadows. I know they're after us…" a menacing voice said over Roach's stolen receiver.

"Shite. They're killing civvies." Gary said, worried.

"I'm sorry Roach. But we can't save them. It's a trap. Now protect that camera and let's get the fuck out of here." Price consoled as they continued pressing on toward the exit.

Screaming people followed by gunshots echoed across the white halls of the research facility, Gary didn't want to look back, Gary didn't want to hear any more screaming but it was all around him. Whoever commanded this act to be done must be eradicated from this world.

LOCAL MILITIA SETTLEMENT

Alex greeted the duo as soon as they stepped inside the village. It felt lively as everyone was celebrating their victory.

"Captain." Alex nodded and Price returned the gesture with a handshake.

"This is Blitz. Their leader." he added, introducing the man to Price.

"Thank you for helping us." Price acknowledged.

"No. Thank you for helping us. You have good men fighting for a good cause." he remarked, nodding at Alex and Gary. Gary also got acquainted with the leader, exchanged a few words and got offered soup.

"Tough day, huh?" Alex nudged over Gary, who's still sad about the situation earlier.

"You and me, both." Gary muttered as Alex patted his shoulder.

"We'll get him soon enough, Roach. Justice will be served." Alex consoled as Gary took a deep sigh.

"They're planting EMP bombs on major cell towers. Maybe incorporating it with them to perform large scale blasts." Gary pondered, taking a sip off the delicious soup.

"Yeah. That's our go signal. It's now a terror activity. Imagine a day without communication. International trade would crumble." Alex explained to which Gary nodded in agreement.

"Global cripple. People's minds get hurt, Economy gets hurt and we aren't focused enough to defend ourselves."

"That's what he's up to." Gary finished.

"And we have to stop it. Whatever It Takes." Alex looked at Gary with determination, that kind of pep talk that makes him a little less sad.

"Yeah." Gary agreed.

~

Another briefing, but this time, it was going somewhere. Operation Burn, the task is to eliminate Nero and all his allies, if possible. Funny enough, the real Nero burned everyone else. Whoever thought of this name was smart enough to connect the dots.

There's another person added to the team, the redhead leather jacket agent, Alexandra Ryder. An interpol agent tasked to destroy all traces of said EMP machinery. She looks tough, acts tough and basically is tough. France seemed to be going along well with her. That's a bonus for alliances such as these.

"So, I heard Price noted your sniper improvement." Ghost nudged.

"Yeah. Thanks Simon. Your training sucks but it helped a lot." Gary complimented.

"Tried talking to France and the new girl today." Ghost reported. Gary turned to him, clearly interested about his story.

"It was actually good. They're both intimidated by the mask and that's why they can't initiate conversation with me. But the talk went pretty well so I guess you needed to update your scoreboard or something." He muttered.

Gary chuckled. "That's one step towards her."

"I'll let the Interpol handle Berlin. Since it involves just the weapon, as for other news. I think it's time to transfer our two hostages back to the USA." Gary quickly turned his head back to the screen. No. It can't be. He had to stop this decision.

"With all due respect sir. I do not agree with this!" Gary stood up and all eyes were on him. He's still concerned about the welfare of the two plus he didn't want Maxine to leave. Not yet.

"I've read the report on their case sir. And it's not that I don't trust the system there but what if there's still another one in there with ties to Nero. He was able to slip by under our noses once or more times than that but let's consider the possibilities here." Gary explained as he looked around. Alex seemed to agree with him.

Shepherd let out a soft sigh.

"We'll discuss this possibility Sgt. Sanderson. You can sit down now." he said and resumed briefing.

"Brave move you did there, soldier." Ghost remarked as Gary let out a sigh. He wasn't sure on he's really concerned, the IP Address being extracted from Samantha or Maxine's smile that he will be missing if she left.

Next Chapter : The Heart Knows what the Brain doesn't

Notification Squad, my beloved

@samatedeansbroccoli @smokeywhalee @whimsywispsblog @enderio @beemybee @ricinbach

[imsatansqueen]

Thought 001

I'm not a psychologist, nor do I have a background in mental related issues so this is all just a theory that I thought of one night.

When I was little, probably about primary school age, every time I imagined a house, I would picture a small wooden cottage in the middle of the woods. The interior would consists of a small bed, a kitchen, and a storage cupboard on the wall to store my things in it. There would also be a small patch of garden where I'd grow vegetables and flowers, occasionally, I'd also picture a well next to it and a small fence.

Now I realized as I get older, my visions changed. I no longer imagien a tiny house for myself. Now I imagine a "stronghold" like building with a maximum security force-field as a border, with thick, impenetrable, towering gray walls that serves as the gate, and not everyone can find it because of it's secluded location.

So maybe like, is this a mentality shift? Does the stronger security in my new home represent my openness towards meeting new people? Well, I don't think I have a problem with meeting new people, but I guess the thought could be a bit jarring, because I'm sometimes scared if people will judge me or not.

What about the size of the house? Does it represent my confidence? I feel like my confidence level has increased way more since middle school.

Those are good things, but what if they also represent bad things? What if the maximum security force-field I put up is because I can appear cold and stand-offish at times, making new people reluctant to appproach me?

The gates too...they are thick so that the ones who live there can enjoy their privacy. So maybe the huge gate-walls of my new house might deter people from trespassing, but really it's just there to ensure that the inhabitants are safe from outside threats and live there without judgement because no one can see what they're doing? So maybe I have this one side of me that I never show to people and that I hid behind my personality because I have a fear of being judged for it.

And also, the inhabitants of the house is not only myself, but I envision a group of people living inside the house. So though the exterior of it looks daunting, the inhabitants managed to make the house "alive" because they are like family there. So what does this say about me?

I guess it's because I'm older now, I've seen and experienced more things and I learned from them too, my point of view turns darker as I have been through more than my past self --- or clearer, because I'm not as naive anymore --- you decide.

This is only a theory because these claims have not been proven yet, but I still find it interesting because what we vision in our heads is the embodiment of us in real life.

And as I finish writing this, I suddenly noticed that I am more of afraid of judgement than I realized.

[grell-writes-stuff]

A Self-Indulgent Second Chapter

Acknowledge me! First Chapter Here

Words: 3588

Genre: Young Adult/Paranormal

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I wake up reluctantly to Ivy poking my face at two o’clock in the morning. She’s already back in leggings and a hoodie, and contains an unwarranted amount of pep for such an early hour. I rub my eyes, grab my own sweatshirt to fight off the chill of the middle of the night, and rise.

“Okay. Let’s do this.”

“That’s what you’re wearing?” Her damning gaze judges my pajamas.

“Ivy, I need you to understand that I’m not putting in more effort than the bare minimum in order to go sit around in a graveyard with you at three a.m.”

Her eyes roll, but she ultimately drops it, and we’re out my bedroom window, walking along the roof over the back porch, and carefully scaling down the trellis at the side of the house. We cut across the unfenced yards of our neighbours. The last house at the corner before we make it to the sidewalk is Ivy’s. We walk under the big beech and shabby treehouse that we used to play in and that is most certainly a deathtrap. It’s intentionally a deathtrap. Ivy literally read the OSHA guidelines to see how many petty requirements she could ignore in one project. Her dad was building it though, so there’s not too many infractions, but I still almost broke multiple extremities on multiple occasions.

The streets of Kinross eventually lead us to Riverview Cemetery, the massive graveyard bordered by the woods near the edge of town just where the houses and other outskirts buildings begin to spread further apart. I know for a fact that the fence out front only extends about halfway around the whole place to decorate the side of the road, so it’s easy to break in, however it still takes me two full minutes to talk Ivy into taking that route and out of her idea to scale the locked, iron gate looming in the darkness. Chances are she’d scurry up it like Spiderman and I’d impale myself on one of the points at the top. We hike through the trees and sneak inside where the stone wall begins to crumble.

“All right,” Ivy huffs triumphantly. “Now we just have to find her.”

“Find her? You said you knew where she was.”

“Yes, I do. In the historical section…somewhere.”

“Ivy!”

“What?”

I’m happy it’s dark so she can’t see my exasperation because I’d get a lecture on optimism otherwise. I slip on what I think it a neutral-feeling face, and pull my phone out for a second. I blink away the blinding brightness while I check. “Okay, well, if you actually want to be at her grave at three, you’ve got, like, under ten minutes.”

That seems to be enough for her because Ivy begins to march ahead between the headstones. I shove my phone in the pocket of my hoodie and trail her with an air of reluctance and a want to get this over with and take my money from her bad bet.

Both Ivy and I come to Riverview what I would consider a normal amount and, more importantly, exclusively – until now – when it is light out. I probably come more than she does though. Ivy will stop by every few years to say hello to her Grandpa Gil who died before she was even born, but my dad and I come twice a year for my mom: once on her birthday, and once on the anniversary of her death. She passed away when I was really little, so I don’t remember her, but everyone who knew her made sure I learned what kind of person she was through stories and stuff. My dad couldn’t speak more highly of her, but his retellings always hold a tinge of hasty justification for their whole relationship because my mom was gay, and so is my dad. Growing up, they’d always been best friends, and so the other person seemed as perfect as could be for a lie that would turn out to be mutual in the end. They only both came out to each other after my mom got sick, and by then they were a few years in to a marriage that was domestically comfortable, but nothing more, and had already had me. I don’t really feel so sentimental when anyone mentions the absence of my mom because I was really young. I end up sadder that she was taken while trapped in the lie of heteronormative narrative and never had the chance to experience the kind of love she wanted to have beyond the platonic and familial feelings she shared with my dad and I.

Ivy and I walk past the sections we’re familiar with toward the back of the graveyard where the stretch of ancient headstones begins. Kinross was founded way back when America was just a group of colonies and Massachusetts was dotted with clumps of communities built by pilgrims and Puritans. They needed a place to put their dead people, and so Riverview was established a couple miles from the Hollins River which runs on the edge of town. Only groundskeepers come back this way as far as I know since the names on most of the rocks have faded into obscurity, and the only ones that are remotely recognizable belong to the people we learn about in school for a week leading up to Founder’s Day.

I slip my phone out again and check the time. “Five minutes.”

“I know, I know. Shut up. She’s around here somewhere.”

“Couldn’t you have just Googled a map of the plots? You read the most obscure documents for fun, but fact-checking this–”

“One lapse in good planning, and I get lectured.”

“Ivy.”

“Okay, okay! This way.”

I’m pretty sure she just picks a random direction. She yanks her phone from the waist of her leggings and the beam of the flashlight cuts through the darkness and starts inspecting epitaphs. I leave her to it, and she doesn’t complain because she must have guessed I wouldn’t be willing to help her when I didn’t want to be here in the first place. I periodically take my phone out to glance at it and count down her time limit in my head when, suddenly, Ivy says:

“Oh, fuck yes.”

I look up and follow her light as it points toward one of the larger monuments, a giant, grey mausoleum with cracks and crumbles and a chained, iron gate as it’s front door. It’s flanked on all sides by overgrowth and tall flowering plants that look rich and purple in the peripheral of the beam. She raises her phone so it illuminates the name carved just below the peak of the roof: Ann-Marie Kelly.

“Okay, Ivy,” I start before I have to take a pause. I feel her gaze land on me while I inhale. “I don’t mean to discredit your apparently strong belief in witches, but would they give an actual accused witch an entire, enormous mausoleum like this if anyone actually believed she was magically terrorizing Kinross?”

“Oh, Sid, she had allies. Have you really not heard this story?”

“No, Ivy. I really don’t care about what was going on in Kinross in seventeen-whatever.”

“Sixteen-whatever,” she corrects before she slides her phone back into her pocket and struts up to the tomb.

I groan loud enough for her to hear it and follow, but I barely make it onto the concrete step just outside the door before Ivy’s foot connects with the gate and makes the chains rattle.

“Oh, my God, Ivy.”

She ignores me and kicks again. “Wake up, Annie! Sid’s gonna owe me money!”

“Ivy, stop.”

“Okay, but one more.” I don’t have a chance to object because she quickly lines herself up and swings her leg, and delivers one massive blow directly to the center of the barrier and –

The chains and padlock clatter onto the stone at our feet, and we both jump at the sudden noise. Our eyes are both wide, but in very different ways. I’m shocked. As old as this building seems to be, I did not expect that.

“Holy shit. Completely rusted through,” Ivy observes with glee. From the corner of my eye I catch a particular sparkle of something that I don’t like a split second before she suggests, “Dude, we’re going in.”

“No, we are not.”

She’s already pulling open the gate, and the sound it makes reverberates through the silent night, the squeal of something dying in agony. While I’m recovering from the assault to my ears, she’s stepped inside the structure and disappeared into the blackness. I call her name, but there isn’t a response, and when I try again, there’s a pause and a begging, “Sid, come on!”

I hesitate for a moment, like I’m sure anybody standing outside of a mausoleum at three in the morning would, before I trail her in. Then something clamps around my arm, and a noise catches in my throat while I leap out of my skin.

“Jesus, Sid! It’s just me!” Ivy turns her phone’s flashlight back on and we can see each other yet again, her smug, me only slightly less terrified than I was a beat ago.

“Don’t do that!”

“Sorry.” She sounds only half-sorry as she releases my arm, and then she sits on the filthy, hard floor right in front of a big, long box, the sight of which forms a pit in my stomach. She sets her phone before her, face down so the flashlight beams up at the ceiling, and reaches to pat the spot across from her. “Sit. I’ll tell you the age-old tale of Ann Kelly, Kinross’ first and last witch.”

“Ivy, I will pay you if we can leave right now.”

“No, sit.”

I put everything inside of my lungs into my sigh before I sit and kick up dust and cough. I pull my inhaler from my sweatpants’ pocket to take a puff so I can ensure I don’t suffocate on the grime in this horrible place, while Ivy launches into her story with a shit-eating grin and exaggerated, formal diction.

“In fair Kinross of the sixteen-nineties where everyone was farming, religious, and paranoid is where we lay our scene. In the other corners of our state, pointed fingers were frantically flying to women of questionable affairs in order to defame them with accusations of witchcraft, and Ann Kelly was no exception. She was accused by some guy of blasphemy, of murder, and of bewitching her young niece who was visiting town. She was ultimately arrested and brought to trial.

“The trial lasted I-don’t-know-how-long, with a verdict of guilty-as-hell, and Ann Kelly was sentenced to be hung. Perhaps, dear Sid, perhaps, as you suggest, she was just some unfortunate woman, but on the day of Ann Kelly’s execution, when the rope was placed around her at the gallows erected in town square, when she was asked to say her final words before the platform dropped, her neck snapped, and she slowly and painfully died, Ann Kelly secured her title as ‘The Witch of Kinross.’ For, you see, Ann Kelly, in front of eye witnesses and all the divine people watching Upstairs, placed a curse upon the executioner” – she slips into a gravelly, spooky voice – “‘An eye for an eye, a claw for a claw, thou accuseth a false Devil, thou art the beast he hath saw–!’”

“Are you done?” I interrupt her theatrics.

Her voice turns to normal again with the volume cranked up. “Blah, blah, blah, they hung her. But her niece contacted her brother and nephew. They came down to Kinross and Ann Kelly’s husband and brother murdered the executioner as revenge. I mean, it wasn’t well-thought-out revenge because then they were hanged, but yeah. That’s the Ann Kelly story.”

“Awesome. Great. So worth breaking into a graveyard at three in the–”

Bang!

The tomb seems to shudder with the noise, the sound of something rock-solid slamming against the back wall, resonating through the floor beneath us and travelling up my spine as a striking chill. My mouth hangs wide open, stopped mid-thought, and Ivy’s brows abruptly rise and then knit together. For a long time, it’s completely silent in the cold darkness inside the mausoleum and we sit like statues.

When I can speak again, I only just stop myself from using one of Ivy’s favourite swears, and find a substitute. “Ivy, what the hell?!”

She looks up at me like soon-to-be roadkill.

For a moment, I can’t keep the anger and accusation out of my voice, masking the constricting grip clamping around my heart and throat. “Who’s out there?! Who’d you get to help prank me?! Someone from the soccer team? Julia? Abby?”

I cut off my demands when I really see her face angled by the shadows. Her lips are hanging parted and mouth the word “no” like she can’t get it out. Her eyes are twinkling with worry emphasized by her crumpled brows. Fear. The quiet stretches between us for a too-long pause this time. Only our tandem, careful breaths echo in the chamber as we wait for…for something.

Snap!

The small crunch of a twig, soft as it travels through the open doorway from the direction of the east wall of the mausoleum. It reverberates up my spine like it’s tangible. A branch could break beneath anything, but after the loud hammer to the side of the structure… My gut churns with an uneasy vibe. Ivy vocalizes her own unwanted feeling to herself before turning to me again.

“Run for it?” Ivy’s voice is tiny enclosed by the darkness.

“Brisk walk?” I suggest.

“You have your inhaler,” she states pointedly, getting up. “We run.”

I curse under my breath, but give in because she’s right. If we get caught after breaking into somebody’s grave, our parents find out, and we are in an unfathomable amount of trouble. Ivy pushes past me with a quickened stride that I match until we’ve both stepped off the concrete slab just outside the door and into the overgrown grass and purple flowers. Then we’re scrambling into a run toward the night, dashing ahead in a straight line to dodge the headstones sticking out of the ground like blunt fingertips ready to grab us. Two sets of footsteps violently stomp on the earth…until we break into the treeline, and the third joins the noise of our escape and my desperate pants rising in volume.

My chest has been lit on fire. I gasp, “Ivy!”

“Don’t use names!” she yells back to me. “Just keep going! Just keep going!”

I try, and I push myself like I’ve never had to before, placing one foot before the other, taking in what air I can and holding it so I have something in my screaming lungs at least for a moment. But my feet are starting to stumble and my clenched hands begin trembling because I can’t breathe. My heart is overclocking from exertion and panic. I fall behind Ivy, the silhouette of her auburn ponytail disappearing into the blackness ahead while a pain flares in my side.

I yank my inhaler from my pocket again and take a puff, but it’s impossible to hold it in long enough while running and suffocating at the same time. My steps have to slow down more and more so I can actually let my crap lungs jumpstart again. What I’m doing can just barely be defined as jogging, and even that’s pushing it. My chest wants to explode!

Slam!

Gasp!

My shoulder hits the earth hard and the air escapes from me instantly in one forced exhale. Something heavy lands on top of me, pinning me down, and I want to yell at Ivy and threaten that she’d better stop this stupid prank or else, but I can’t speak with empty lungs.

But neither can I scream with empty lungs, and yet I manage to because I am offered no other choice. The skin of my thigh breaks open. Sharp hands support themselves on my chest for just a moment, though I only barely register their weight before it leaves all together. My leg feels like it took fourteen different knives to it, and it’s wet and hot. I scream more.

I keep gasping in what I can and it just comes out as weak noises of pain – agony – shooting up my body. I feel my heartbeat pulsing in the wound. And through it all, I hear from the trees, “Sid! Sid!”

Ivy.

She catches up with her voice calling my name, and her feet trample through the brambles, but…but from the opposite direction my attacker had flown in. A light blinds me for a second while she drops down onto her knees at my side and I hear her tone quivering as she uses her favourite swears over and over again. My eyes follow her flashlight.

There are uneven tears in my pants, the fabric already soaked through in a deep red. Blood. My own blackening blood pouring out of me. Immediately, my stomach lurches, and I have just enough time to get myself up on my elbows, and turn away from Ivy before everything inside of me comes up. I can not handle blood. Any blood. But my blood is so much worse. My stomach convulses and my throat burns.

“Sid? Sid, it’s okay. It’s okay. Just…just don’t think about it. It’s okay.” Ivy’s speaking so fast, and it sounds like she’s trying to convince herself and not me. She shrugs off her hoodie. I’m just getting back my breaths after losing my dinner on the forest floor, but they’re all shaky.

Ivy attempts to bend my leg at the knee, but I yelp when the sting abruptly travels from my leg through the rest of me like a bullet train. She hums something softly, but I have a moment of seeing stars, and everything sounds garbled. Then there’s pressure on my thigh. She’s tied her sweater around it as a makeshift tourniquet.

“Come on,” she says quickly. “We have to get out of here. We need to leave.”

Before I can protest, she grabs my arm and throws it over her shoulders before managing to haul me up to my one leg. I can’t bring myself to say much because that image is burned into my brain, and my raw throat tastes bile down at the base already. I can’t look down. Ivy is seven inches shorter than me – she is down and I tower above her – and she somehow has it in herself to be my support. I wince trying to put any pressure on that limb because the result is blinding pain.

“Stay with me, Sid,” she coaxes, and I find her repeating that as she limps me out of the woods. She doesn’t stop talking, or saying those things to me. The trees all look like blurs and dancing, random lines, but Ivy is something I can grasp. When I feel like I’m about to trip and fall off of the face of the earth, Ivy is what grounds me to reality.

 ***

Ivy announces there’s no way I’m climbing through my bedroom window, and I don’t have to be a genius to agree with her. She hobbles me up onto the porch, we use the spare key, and we try to hop upstairs as quiet as we possibly can so we don’t wake my dad. Ivy sits me on my bed and disappears to grab something more reliable than her sweater which I am certain is absolutely ruined now – I don’t have the stomach to check, or anything left in my stomach to throw back up if I check.

When she comes back with a wet cloth, she cleans my wound while my eyes stay firmly fixed on my ceiling. I decide to screw it and liberally use Ivy’s entire dictionary of swears as whispers, grunts, and groans each time the sting intensifies.

“It looks really, really bad, Sid,” she tells me. “It’s like something big bit you. You need a doctor, like, right now.”

“No!” – a muttered curse injects itself between my thoughts – “No doctors, Ivy. Your parents and my dad will be pissed.”

“Your dad will be more pissed at me if you die.”

I catch her gaze and ignore everything in my peripheral. I think we’re giving each other the same look on our tear-streaked faces: eyes that are shiny, lips in straight lines threatening to turn down at any moment. We hold that for a few seconds, neither of us saying anything because she’s right – she is – but I tell myself the opposite. I tell myself that “It can’t be that bad.”

“Ivy–”

“Will you stop being such a man?!” she demands with some fire in her tone. There’s a pause, and then she pulls the washcloth away. “Fine, okay. We’ll give it a week, but that’s it. If it still looks… One week. I mean it.”

I relent and breathe, “Okay.”

She nods and grabs the spool of bandages she managed to dig out. She proceeds to wrap them tight around my thigh while I hiss complaints, fingernails digging into my sheets. She secures it and sniffs something away, like trying to banish this night from her memory.

“You know, if you go rabid, I’ll have to be the one to shoot you,” she jokes flatly, even though neither of us have the energy to appreciate it.

[youllallriseintheink]

Early Ink Hell, chapter 4: the birth of a religion

I know I told some of you that a butcher gang chapter was going to be next. Sorry, but I’ve realized that there’s just no elegant way to slip that in, pacing-wise. As a result, I’m going to upload the last “main series” chapter next, and give you the butcher gang chapter after that. Anyhow, enjoy.

---Sammy Lawrence---

Days passed, forcing me to realize that my pleads to Bendy were not being answered. The boredom was also driving me mad. One trip, I decided. To head down to the ink machine and try to go to find my lord and speak to him in person. Anything was better than this useless routine.

Getting down to the giant ink machine proved more difficult than I expected. Before the sealing of the studio, it would have been easy to get to the elevator and take it down to the very basement, where I'd use the key Joey had given me to unlock the massive machine. Now, the building’s new configuration had me going in circles a dozen times before I finally found the elevator. The buttons were very different than I remembered them, but I nonetheless pushed the button for the bottom floor. The place it let me out looked nothing like the giant ink machine. I cursed the shifting studio under my breath. How many more complications was this studio going to throw at me for such a simple task?

As it turned out, many. The studio (lord, I speak as though it were alive) seemed intent on proving as much. My journey started off simply enough, although he had to smack my way through a set of butcher gang members just to clear the first hallway. After that, it was one emotionally draining scene after another. First, Grant Cohen’s office, whose walls had been coated with money-related gibberish messages that the man had left the day before his disappearance. Playing the tape of his, Lacie's, and Shawn's gruesome murder- one I'd participated in- brought a wave of guilt upon me. But, at least they'd been strangers. Next, I ran into an audio log left by Susie Campbell detailing her feelings of anger and betrayal by Joey Drew. That had been the mindset she was in when she’d agreed to become Alice Angel. Both audio logs I left behind. Best to put it out of my mind, although the studio was beginning to feel like a museum of all the twisted things that had happened here. Yet I couldn’t find a staircase down to the cause of so many of them.

Finally, I wandered into Bendyland and came upon a horrid sight: the giant, severed head of Bertrum Piedmont, resting in an octopus ride. It was cocked to its side, unwilling to do more than stare at me listlessly. I hadn’t known Bertrum at all, but with the resignation written all over his face and the immobile state of his body, I couldn’t help but feel bad for him.

I was about to tell him the good news about my lord when I heard the familiar cackling of the Butcher Gang. In sheer instinct, I ran and hid under a bench. Even curled up and facing away as I was, I could hear the carnage as the chatter turned to angry grunts. At the same time, ominous theme park music began to play.

“Enough! Get away!” A booming British voice yelled through the speakers. I peeked out.

The piper was striking at Bertrum’s face, leaving cuts that resembled ink smears. Bertrum swung at them, hitting his own side and smushing the fisher. Meanwhile, the striker attempted to hit his mouth, only to have his front leg bitten off with a sickening snap.

I fought the urge to vomit, and prayed to the forces that be that Bendy would let me out of here. Bertrum smacked down his arm and narrowly missed the fleeing piper and striker, crushing my axe instead. For whatever reason, that was the final straw. I laid back down behind the bench and stayed down, even as the carnival music stopped and the chatter of the two butcher gang members faded.

Then came the booming British voice again. "Lacie?"

Sammy peeked out. The fisher said something indiscernible.

"Oh. I'm sorry. You three come here. I'll never hurt you again."

The butcher gang closed in on the man's face.

"YOU! Behind the table!" the voice yelled. "Did you hurt Lacie and her family while they were in this state? Shame on you. Go to the human village where you belong!"

I tried to say something, but was cut off after the first syllable.

"NOW!"

"...Where?"

Bertrum seemed genuinely surprised. "Oh, you don't know. Right this way."

With that, a metal door clanged open, and I stepped through it. inside was a hole in the floor with a metal platform hanging just above it, held up by rope attached to a pulley system. Hanging on the bottom of it was a bell. I stepped on, and the bell rang. The platform began to lower. Downwards, I saw a man I didn't recognize and a familiar woman in black and white.

---Susie Campbell---

The platform stopped a good five feet or so above my head- high enough that he'd think twice about jumping.

"Recognize this one, miss Campbell? Do we keep him?" Gary asked. The village has appointed me as an expert on the ink creatures, which, considering how little they know about them, is appropriate.

I narrowed my eyes. Sammy obviously recognized me, because he was shrinking into himself. "Absolutely not. He worked with Joey Drew. Don't even bring him down here so we can throw him into the ink river! Put him back!" I could hear my voice growing demonic. I didn't care.

Gary looked over to me. "He worked with Joey Drew, you say?" he said. Then, he turned to Sammy. "Do you know anything about what's going on right now?"

Sammy eased up. "Yes! I know how we can escape! Please- is Jack Fain here? He'll back me up, I promise it."

"Alright. Alice, hold the rope. I'll go get Jack."

I did as I was told, and glared up at Sammy. "What the hell are you doing?" I yelled to him, "You told me you didn't know anything. Which is it?"

"I have... developed certain theories," he replied calmly. But I knew that he was just making that up so that we'd let him down.

That's when Jack arrived. "Sammy! Yes, let him down. He told me all about how if we can summon the ink demon and get him to do what we want, he'll set us free."

"Well, go on, Alice-" Gary started.

"Susie!" I snapped.

"Right. Susie. Let him down."

Grumbling, I obeyed.

---Sammy Lawrence---

Jack and the other man, who introduced himself as Gary, proceeded to show me around the village. It wasn’t much, at the time, but it was still evident that the people here had come together and were making the best of things. The area was bordered on two sides by walls, by an ink river on another, and the final side was blocked off by a massive wooden fence that they must have built themselves, providing full protection, as Jack explained it, from ink creatures. Bad ink creatures that was- they did have Susie and a pair of Boris clones living within their walls. A man in a GENT uniform was building a structure of some sort over an area where a large number of cots had been gathered. Other supplies had been gathered, too, such as bacon soup, rope, and even a few axes. The area even contained a bathroom, which would allow for any members of the area to quickly wash off the corruptive ink. That must have been why the members of this community were so undamaged. There were many amputees- Jack among them- but in terms of ink poisoning, the group was surprisingly healthy.

After their little tour, my guides asked me for my story. I told them everything.

To my relief and disbelief, they believed every word of it, and were happy to hear that someone, anyone, had a clue about the supernatural forces at play and how to escape them. That night, I was given a platform to tell the whole village about my faith. The next day, a group of scouts were sent out alongside me to find the giant ink machine. Every axe was in the arms of a strong man, and we went all throughout the studio in search of my lord. After hours of searching, we finally came upon him, holding down a Boris, who was squirming and yelping in his grasp. I fell to me knees, waiting for him to finish so that I could make my plea. Once the Boris disintegrated, Bendy turned his head towards us, and the words, “I can free you,” appeared on a wall, written in ink.

The group of men had come down to this place thinking of the ink demon as a concrete solution to their problems. They came up as Bendy’s disciples, thinking him a God. And I, their resident expert on the occult, was their advisor on how to please him. Having seen Bendy devour ink creatures on more than one occaision, my best guess on the matter was to gather as many ink creatures as possible.

Over the next number of days, small groups were sent out with axes to bring back ink creatures and cages in which to keep them. Susie made several pleas to me to stop. I loathe her selfishness- everyone in this town was putting themselves in danger for this-three people had become infected and required amputation while on their quests. One had been mauled to death by a Barley and had become an ink creature, like me. Yes, the ink demon might devour her, but he was just as likely to devour me. She even began locking herself in one of the cages to sleep at night, which was actively working against our goals. I was appalled, and one day I lost it and began shouting at her for it. It was quite out of the pastorly character I'd set for myself, but it had to be done. Although, I think I only succeeded in turning her further against me.

Eventually, we had mapped out the entire studio. Unfortunately, there weren't a lot of ink creatures that could be captured. Most were very good at defending themselves. And that is when I proposed sacrifice- to turn more of us into ink creatures. The amputees were the first to volunteer, hoping that they'd get their limbs back, at least. I proposed that we make a sacrifice every three days, spacing them out so that we would not do more than necessary.

Finally, after two weeks and four sacrifices, the demon came.

[nexthecryptid]

This is Home Ch. 4

Summary:

A pack called the Galra are up to something, and it’s somehow tied to the disappearances of creatures, and the increase of demonic activity. Keith had somehow stumbled into the danger when he found his mother, making the choice to stay away from his friends to keep them safe. But in the end it didn’t even matter. They’ve got targets on their heads, and the Galra are slowly closing in on his home town Arus. He isn’t sure how to face his friends… Two years was a long time to be gone. … There are rumors that are floating around VLD University, crazy ones. While some of them Lance could tell was him or his friends, there are others that were… inexplicable. To make matters worse, he’s having dreams again, dreams about someone who just vanished. It felt like he was being haunted. Lance didn’t know he was going to have other things to worry about until the ghost revealed himself.

…

Prefer to read it on A03?  Read it Here!

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A/N: I'd like to give a warning to readers that at the beginning of this chapter is a little graphic.  It contains fire and graphic burns so please read carefully.  

If you are uncomfortable and would like to skip it, please start reading after "He was too late".  

Keith is having a nightmare.  He finds that the house he had went to first is on fire, and then later finds that all of his friends had been inside and had been caught in it.  He wakes up after hearing one of his friends call out for him.  

...

It was too late.  They were too late.  

He stared in horror at the house in front of them, engulfed in flames as the smoke blanketed neighboring buildings, blocking the light of the moon.  The glow of the fire lit up the night instead, flickering ashes floating through the air as if they were fireflies.  He didn’t wait for the car to come to a full stop before getting out, swinging the door open violently and stumbling over his feet onto the street.  The heat felt like a smack as he rushed to the sidewalk, wanting nothing more than to rush inside but he hesitated.  Fear stopped him.  

Fear of finding out what he had lost.  

Things were collapsing inside, the glass shattering from the heat and spraying the yard with shards.  Instinctively he took a step back, covering his face to avoid getting hit.  He thought he heard something then, someone calling out, someone screaming.  He couldn’t tell if it was coming from inside or not, but it didn’t matter.  That was the only thing he needed.  

There was a chance.  A chance that they were still alive.  

He barreled through the door, hissing when he felt the flames lick at his arms.  He didn’t waste time though, quickly rushing around the debris to find something.  To find nothing.  To find anything.  He could hear people shouting, the sirens blaring closer and closer as he continued his search.  But they still sounded too far away, and time wasn’t on anyone’s side.

He froze as he came across what he had been hoping against, a sense of numbness slowly creeping through his body..  His eyes spotted them through the smoke, through the flames, widening with realization, widening with fear.  Only…  it was much worse than he had imagined.  

There were bodies.  Not a body.  Bodies.  No…  Corpses...  Six.  There were six…  All huddled together, all burned beyond recognition.  But he knew who they were…  

He flinched when one of them moved, their bodies moving in such an impossible and gruesome way.  He could feel bile at the back of his throat as he watched pieces of them fall off, could smell the scent of burnt human skin.  They were slowly crumbling, but they continued to move despite the pained sounds coming from them.  He clenched his jaw, watching their head turn to him, watching their arm reach out for him.  

“Keith…” 

Hearing the voice, hearing his voice, felt as if all the air was sucked from his lungs, his desperate cries going unheard as he reached out desperately for him.  Their fingers brushed, and in an instant his cries were drowned by a pained wail.  

Keith could only watch as his friend crumbled, falling back towards the others until their pained screams died out under the roar of the flames.  He stumbled back, numb from shock, and stared.  Stared until reality hit him.  His emotions ripped through his throat with enough force to make his body tremble and collapse with the building.  

He was too late.

…

Keith felt himself startle awake, hissing when his knee knocked into the dashboard in front of him.  He growled in annoyance as he gently rubbed the pain away, sitting back and sighing a bit.  They were still in the car, sunlight flickering through the trees inside.  He did his best to stretch in the cramped space of the passenger seat, already feeling the way his body berated him for sleeping the way he did.  He rubbed at his neck a few times before letting his hand fall back into his lap, sitting back and taking a quick look around.  He needed to distract himself, the image still fresh in his mind as he frowned at the unwanted nightmare.

“Are you alright?” Krolia asked.

“M’ Fine.  Where are we?” He asked, not really in the mood to talk about it.  

“We’re just about to pull onto the university grounds.  I was unsure when you had wanted to take over, but I figured you could use the rest and was going to wait till we got there before waking you.” She explained.  

He took a look out the window again, this time recognizing the buildings they were passing.  It felt odd.  While everything seemed familiar and unchanged, he couldn’t help but feel like he was seeing everything for the first time again.  The further they went in, the more he remembered, the more he recognized.  He shifted slightly, the thought of actually being in the city making him antsy. 

“Thanks.  Do you mind if I just direct you?” He asked.  

“Not at all.” She said softly, and she seemed to know what exactly he was thinking.  If he got out of the car, he didn’t think he’d be able to hold himself from running.  Worse if he actually took over driving.  With Krolia at the wheel though, his impatience couldn’t lead to any reckless actions.

He thought back to his nightmare for a second, desperation filling his gut as Krolia slowed to a stop at the light. 

...

“This is it.” Keith said, looking up to a small white house, wind chimes hanging from the porch’s roof.  There was a distinct smell to the house, plants grown and placed specifically in the yard to ward off anything unwelcomed, small symbols carved into their pots as well as the fence that bordered around it.  While these details were hidden from any passerby, Keith knew they were there, had even helped set some of them up.  The house itself blended in well with the others, and wasn’t isolated.  It was also just down the street from the main campus’ main buildings.  

Meaning it would be hard to attack without witnesses.  

When he stepped out of the car, he took a deep breath, humming at the comforting scents that mingled through the air.  He had no doubt that some of the flowers had already begun to act, feeling himself relax almost immediately.  He took a moment to stretch, hearing and feeling the satisfying pops and cracks that came from his bones.  Krolia had done the same, taking a look around the property before stepping onto the sidewalk.  Keith motioned her to follow him as he started walking up the path, noting the cars that were parked in the driveway.

“Is this your home?” She asked, looking around curiously at some of the plants.  

“No.  We’ll probably head there last, depending on where everyone might be.  Shiro is probably working right now, so there wouldn’t be a point to go there now.” He explained, pausing at the steps to watch her.  

“I see.  So is this-” 

Before Krolia could take a guess at whose house they were at, the door had been thrown open, the noise of the door smacking the wall startling both shifters.  He let out a yell when they slammed into him, stumbling a bit before finding his balance and kept the both of them from falling down the steps.  The smell of chamomile and lemon hit his nose, vanilla lingering from inside the home, and he sighed, unable to hold the smile as he wrapped his arms around her.  He knew for a fact that it was her, a pang of guilt hitting him when he felt the other shake.  Small sniffles could be heard, and her grip only tightened.

“Hey Allura.” He said softly, rubbing her back a bit.  

“Don’t you ‘Hey Allura’ me!” She snapped, roughly pulling away to glare at him.  

“I’m sorry…” 

“You better be!  Do you have any idea of how worried we were?  How scared?  Does Shiro know you’re back?  Please tell me he does, or so help me Keith!” She spat, rubbing the tears from her eyes.  

“I haven’t seen him yet.” He admitted.  

“Keith!”

“I can explain!  We-” 

“You have a lot of explaining to do!” She snapped once again, making him wince when she jabbed his chest with her finger.

“I’m sorry.” He repeated.  

“I know.  But Gods Keith...  I’m glad that you’re back.” She said, the relief evident in her voice.  He offered an apologetic smile, Allura smiling back with a sigh, shaking her head a bit.  Her hair had been cut shorter, bangs being swooped to the side and the length falling just above her shoulders and curling around her cheeks.  She looked more mature if possible, her posture never losing her confidence.  But he could tell not much else has changed, based on the mother-like reaction he got.  

“She is just as you described her.” Krolia chuckled, gaining both of their attention.  Allura raised a brow, glancing at Keith before stepping forward.  She cleared her throat before holding a hand out.  

“My name’s Allura.  Though I suppose you already knew that.” She said, smiling politely.  

“Yes.  Keith has spoken of you all on several occasions.  My name is Krolia.  It is a pleasure to meet you.” 

“Krolia is my mother.” He added.  Allura looked conflicted then, her hand retreating a bit and nodding.  

“I see.  I’m beginning to understand why you’ve been gone for so long.  But, I’m sensing that there is something more to it then reuniting with your mother.” She mused, looking to Keith for confirmation.  

“Yeah.  There’s a lot more Allura.  That’s why we came to you first.  But I’d feel better if we had the others here.” He explained, crossing his arms.  

“I have… several questions I’d like to ask.  But seeing as you’re anxious to see the rest of our friends, I’ll wait until then. I can imagine that it will be easier for you to give us all an explanation at the same time rather than repeating yourself as well.”

“I think with the situation we’ve got on our hands, it’ll be better if they knew what we were too.  I think…  I think we should tell them.” Keith suggested quickly. 

Keith knew he sounded crazy then, knew the suggestion came off as unordinary coming from him.  Out of Shiro, Allura, and himself, he had been against the very idea the most.  To Keith, the less people who knew he was a shifter, the better.  It wasn’t because he couldn’t trust his friends or thought they would let the information slip, he had total confidence that they would keep their secrets.  He just didn’t know how they would react to it.  And that part scared him, no matter how much Allura and Shiro had assured him that everything would be fine.  In the end, they had agreed to keep their own abilities a secret as well, not wanting Keith to be suspected or make him uncomfortable.  But now…  With the Galra on his mind, he was willing to face whatever reaction they would have, even if it meant they would be uncomfortable or even scared of them.

“Well…  I certainly was not expecting... that.  But it does make me more concerned about the situation at hand.  Let me grab my things.” She said, turning on her heel and quickly entering her house.  

“While you go and find your friends, I believe it will be best if I take a look around to scout the area.  I’d also like to make certain that we weren’t followed and contact the others.” Krolia said quietly.

“Alright…  Just…  Be careful.” 

“You as well.”

…

“Where are we going first?” Keith asked, Allura driving them towards campus.

“We’re on our way to the school’s library.  Pidge said that they would be there to get some work done, and Shiro is currently having a meeting in one of the nearby buildings.  The others haven’t responded yet, so we’ll go and get those two first.” She explained.  

Keith’s knee started bouncing, anxiety pooling in his gut at the information.  He had to remind himself that his friends could be working, or maybe busy with their own school work.  They could stop by their places to see them and everything would be fine, everyone would be fine.  It was funny how before they had made it to the city, he had been tempted to turn back.  But now all he wanted to do was get everything over with and see all of them again.  

He caught Allura looking at him through the mirror, an almost amused smile on her face and he quickly went back to glaring out the window.  She could tell what he was thinking.

When they finally got to the library, Keith had practically jumped out of the car, waiting as patiently as he could for Allura to join him.  He looked at the large building in front of him, growing antsy as he tried to think where Pidge would most likely be.  They were probably going to spend a while hunting their friend down, so Keith just wanted to get started already.  Before he could even go in though, Allura quickly grabbed his arm and laughed.

“Still impatient as ever!  I’ve already messaged Pidge to meet us out front, so relax.” She teased.  

He only huffed in response, crossing his arms as he turned to watch the door.  It only made her laugh.  He relaxed though, waiting until he could spot a familiar mop of hair.  He nearly missed when Pidge came out though, not expecting them to have a completely different look.  He blinked a few times, a smirk forming quickly when the two of them made eye contact.

“No fucking way!” Pidge yelled, not wasting a second before running over.  He was prepared this time, catching the other in his arms and pulling them in tight.  The familiar smell of old books and coffee clung to them, a hint of oil and wiring mingling in, telling him that they had been working on something recently.  It was definitely Pidge.

“Did you get shorter while I was gone?!” He teased, grinning when Pidge returned the hug.

“I got taller, asshole!” They laughed, pulling back and quickly wiping tears from their eyes.  

“Taller?  I don’t see it.” He shot back, ruffling their hair a bit.  It wasn’t the mop of hair that he had grown accustomed to, now cut in an undercut fashion with hair that spiked out.  It suited them more than the one they had gotten to match their brother, though they still had the glasses.  And even though he had teased them, Pidge had definitely gotten taller, and he could tell they had grown stronger too.  

“Where have you been?!  We all thought you had died or something!” They snapped, quickly punching his arm.  It hadn’t hurt, but he said ‘ow’ anyway, rubbing his arm.  

“Yeah…  I’m sorry about that.” He said, putting all jokes aside.  

“You fucking better be!  I looked everywhere I could for you!  I couldn’t find you, I couldn’t even find a trace!  I thought…  I thought you had disappeared like my Dad had.  Like Matt!” They started sobbing, glaring at him through tears.  He could see the circles under their eyes, dark and noticeable even under the glasses.

“I’m sorry.” He repeated softly, guilt eating away at him. 

He frowned when Pidge just kept rubbing at their eyes, their glasses falling when they pushed them too far out.  He quickly caught it, handing it to Allura before pulling Pidge back into a hug, rubbing their back.  They clung to him then, Keith letting them cry for as long as they needed.  

“I’m so glad you’re back.” They murmured eventually, pulling back and using their shirt to clean their face. 

“Me too.” 

“You better not be going anywhere either.  I will kick your ass if you leave again.” They threatened.  

“I won’t.  I promise.” He laughed, ruffling their hair again.  This time they swatted his hand away.  

“Here.” Allura  held their glasses out, Pidge squinting a bit as they took it from her.  

“Thanks.  ‘Llura’” They mumbled, cleaning the lenses before putting them on.  They blinked a few times, adjusting them a bit before looking to their hands in disgust.  

“Yeah, please don’t touch me with your snot hands.” Keith teased.  

“I will if you don’t shut up.  I’m still mad at you.” They huffed, but Keith could see them smiling.  

“Hold on.  You can use this.” Allura pulled a small bottle of hand sanitizer out from her purse, squeezing some into Pidge’s hands.  

“How are you always prepared?” 

…

“Shiro says he’s getting out of the meeting now.” Allura informed, the conversation they had been in dying down.  Keith felt their eyes on him, the pressure enough to kill him as his nerves began to buzz.  He took a deep breath then, feeling someone place a hand on his shoulder to give him a comforting squeeze.  

“Okay…  You guys…  You guys stay here.” He cursed inwardly over how shaky his voice was.

“Are you gonna be alright?” Allura asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.   

“Yeah.  Just…  going to go face my brother who I’ve never contacted once in the last two years to let him know where I’ve been…” He forced out, the laugh so awkward it made him cringe.     

“Worst case scenario is that he’ll kill you.” Pidge offered, and Keith immediately turned to glare at them.

“Technically Shiro does have first dibs on taking your life.  He is your brother after all.  Though to be fair, we all agreed to end your life together and then revive you.  I’m sure I could find a way to do so without going into the dark arts.” Allura added.  He blanched.  Pidge cackled but had no idea that Allura probably could.

“You guys are the worst.” He mumbled. 

“Go!” They both yelled and he grumbled, quickly walking away.  

He looked up to the building Allura had said that Shiro had been in, nibbling his lip as he tried to work himself up to actually go inside.  Theoretically, he didn’t have to go in, he could just wait outside the door in hopes it would be the one he took.  But realistically, Shiro might go out through a completely different door depending on what Allura said to him, so he could miss him and it would only frustrate him.  But his nerves were starting to get to him, the thoughts of unpredictable reactions rushing through his mind and freezing him in place.  This was only one of the two hardests reunions he was going to have today, and he wasn’t sure if he could handle it, let alone both.  What was he going to say?  A simple ‘I’m sorry’ didn’t feel enough when he said it to Allura and Pidge, so it definitely wouldn’t feel enough now.  What was he going to do?  What should he do?  What-

“Keith?” The voice was quiet, but the desperation in his voice was so loud.  He swallowed and turned toward the voice, already feeling tears well in his eyes.  Like Pidge, the smell of old books and coffee had stuck to him, but there was a hint of pine and fallen leaves, something so very Shiro.  There was another smell that mingled with his and it threw him off, but he had doubt that it was Shiro, and he could worry about that later.  

Shiro stared in disbelief, mouth hanging open as eyes studied what he was seeing in front of him.   He looked older, dark circles nearly hidden by the glasses he was wearing.  His hair still had the weird patch of white in the front, but he could see more whites growing into the rest of his hair.  He looked a bit thinner, but not enough to concern him too much.  But it was enough to add to the guilt that consumed him.  The look of relief that washed over Shiro’s face made it feel like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders, tears already pouring out as he moved closer. Keith couldn’t stand still anymore, rushing over to meet him, the hug crushing.  

“I’m so sorry Shiro.” He whispered, afraid of the sobs that would escape if he spoke any louder.  

“I know Keith.”

…

Keith quickly composed himself as they headed back towards the library, running a hand through his hair a couple of times as well as rubbing at his eyes a bit.  He heard Shiro snort and shot a glare at him before walking faster.  Shiro stuck close though, not letting Keith stray too far.  He couldn’t blame him, and he knew the rest of his friends would probably be like that after they had gathered.  He was sure the only reason Allura and Pidge had stuck behind was because they had already slipped some way of tracking him onto his being without him noticing.  

He shivered.

“Why did you wait so long before coming back?” Shiro asked, his voice quiet.  He glanced back at him, feeling himself shrink a bit with the sad look that Shiro had on his face.  

“I thought it would be for the best.  But I was wrong.” He admitted.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” 

“I will.  I’m going to tell you all what happened and what’s going on and why I came back.  And what I am.” He assured, pausing to look Shiro in the eye.  As he expected, Shiro was caught off guard, but instead of saying anything, he nodded.  They started walking again, something uncomfortable twisting in his gut. 

“Hey look!  You’re still alive!” Pidge yelled, hopping up as they walked up.  

“Ha ha.” He huffed, crossing his arms.

“I still haven’t gotten a response from Adam, Hunk or Lance.” Allura said, frowning a bit as she checked her phone again.  

Lance.  He felt his chest tightened.

“They probably don’t have any service right now.” Shiro mumbled, pulling his own phone out.  

“What do you mean?” Keith asked.  

“Adam texted me earlier saying that he and the others would be going into the forest.  They’re probably still there.” Keith could hear the concern that laced itself into Shiro’s voice, making his hair rise.  The article that he read a few nights ago came to mind.  

“I understand that they enjoy hiking, but with the rumours that have been circulating, I would think they would try to avoid it.” Allura looked worried, her frown only deepening.  

“I think the only reason they’ve gone is because of what happened the other night with Lance.” Pidge cut in, and realization dawned on Allura and Shiro, the three of them exchanging a look that he couldn’t interpret.  

Lance.  What happened with Lance?  His chest tightened again.

He would have asked about it, but the fact that their friends were still in the forest, maybe, made him anxious.  Someone from the Galra was able to find pictures of them.  Hell, maybe they had even taken them.  And it just so happened that there were strange phenomenons happening in the forest around the same time?  The only reasonable explanation in his mind was that maybe someone from the Galra pack was there, using it as a way to hide, but also doing just enough to keep most of the humans away.  Which meant his friends could be in serious danger. 

Which meant Lance could be in danger.

“We have to find them and get them out of there.  Now.” Keith said urgently, quickly walking to the car.  The others quickly followed, Allura unlocking the car before they piled in.

“Keith-”

“I’ll explain everything later on.  But we need to go now!” He felt bad for raising his voice out of frustration, but Allura seemed to understand.  

“Okay.  We’ll find them Keith.  Don’t worry.” She said reassuringly. 

…

He was extremely worried.  

The place Allura had taken them was the same place the others had also gone, Hunk’s car parked under the shade of the trees at the start of the parking lot.  It was easy to miss, the street being a one way and the trees blocking any driver’s view of the vehicle.  If it weren’t for the fact that Allura had planned to park where they were, they would have missed it.  She pulled in next to them, frowning a bit as she got out.  Her frown grew puzzled as she inspected the car further, bringing her arms up to indicate that she was thinking. 

“What is it?” He asked, coming up next to her. 

“Can you smell anything from their car?” She whispered, glancing behind them as Pidge and Shiro got out of the other side of her car.  

Keith raised a brow, but took a second to actually smell the area.  He could smell the different scents from the forest, his friends that were present, Allura’s car as it cooled down.  His eyebrows knitted together then.  He could smell water.  But there weren't any rivers or ponds nearby, and it hadn’t rained either.  Strangely though, it was coming from the car, as if a large amount of water had been dumped on it to wash all other smells away.  But the car was completely dry, and so was the asphalt it was parked on.  He tried to find anything else, but found nothing and it was troubling. 

“Just water.  I can’t pick up anything else.” He mumbled, crossing his arms.  

“What’s wrong?” Pidge asked, walking up and peering into the car.  He shot a look to Shiro, tapping his nose to see if maybe he could pick anything up.   

“Nothing.  I was just checking to see if they had left anything behind.” Allura lied, curling a finger around her hair nervously.  

“Pidge, why don’t you stay behind in case they come back.” Shiro suggested.

“Sure.  I’ve got a lot of equipment in my bag so I’d feel better staying with them anyway.  I could probably use my laptop to contact you if they do come back while you’re still looking.  Let me see your phones?” They asked, Shiro handed his phone over, Keith doing the same.  Pidge looked to Allura expectantly.  

“I’ll actually be staying behind with you so you won’t be on your own.” She said, and Pidge nodded.  

“Alright.  Let me get  these setup then.” They went back into the car, starting to pull out their laptop to do what Keith called ‘their’ magic.  

“There’s magic around the car.  It’s like a cloak, almost as if the person who did this was expecting someone to go looking for them.” Allura whispered to him and Shiro once Pidge were out of earshot.  Keith gritted his teeth.  

“We’ll be quick.  Contact us immediately if anyone shows up or if anything happens.” It wasn’t a request, and Allura knew it.  

“I will.” 

“Okay.  I’ve connected your phones to my laptop.  I’ve also plugged in my own signal booster into your phones, so you should be able to get my messages and send them while in there.” Pidge called, hopping out of the car and handing their phones back.  

“Thanks Pidge.  We’ll let you know if we find them.” Shiro promised.

“You two stay safe.”

“We will.” 

…

[creator-zee]

39

        I darted through the trees, silent under the moonlight. I followed the scent of the bloodsuckers who had chased me away from the town last night. I had lost them, after a chase that lasted several days, but I was ready to strike again. I had to constantly change my attack patterns. Sometimes I would attack the same town twice in quick succession, other times I would wait days, sometimes different towns close together, sometimes the same town for a while at different times. It kept the bloodsuckers from guessing my next move and preparing in advance. 

          As the city lights came into view I paused at the edge of the forest. I had a good 50 meters of open grass to cross before the first buildings. I needed to be sure that there were no Bloodsuckers around. I glanced around my improved vision allowing me to easily see through the night, despite the lack of light. No vamps anywhere in sight. I darted across the open ground to the building. I leaned against it, blending into the shadow.

           I weaved through alleyways avoiding lamp light until I reached the mansion of the noble family that governed this town. I easily climbed the security fence avoiding the guards patrolling the front entrance. Silly vamps always assumed that their walls were unclimbable. I called upon my wolf’s blood and my teeth elongated, nails turned to claws, and my senses heightened. I used my increased agility to scale the wall of the manor, until I reached a window ledge. I eased open the window, it wasn’t even locked, and slipped inside. An empty room. I listened carefully, as I quelled my wolf’s blood and returned to an ordinary human form. I slipped through the halls of the sleeping manor and into the basement, where the slaves were. I grabbed the keys and quickly unlocked the cell-like rooms. I carefully woke the sleeping slaves, covering their mouths so they wouldn’t scream. I looked over their weakened forms, they were malnourished and scrawny, they wouldn’t be able to climb down. I repressed a growl of anger at the cruelty of vampires, before leading the slaves through the house. At least they were good at being silent. We escaped through the back door, and I used a stolen key to open the gate. 

        I flinched as the gate squealed on its unoiled hinges. I hurriedly shoved it open, stealth gone.

         “Run!” I whisper shouted at the slaves, who didn’t hesitate.

         As their forms disappeared, I called upon the wolf’s blood again. If they were to get anywhere I would have to distract the guards. I quickly scaled a nearby house, running along the roof, and jumping onto the mansions. I slid down the front of the house scraping my claws against the stone to both slow my fall, and get the guards attention.

        Four pairs of golden eyes shot to me. The swishing sounds of swords being drawn had me launching myself over the guards and dashing through the streets. 

         “Wolf! Wolf in the streets! Wolf!” The shouts followed me through the town as half-asleep vamps were awoken. Metal boots on stone roads. Shouting in my ears. Same old same old. Not easy being a rebel in a world ruled by vampires who kill or enslave all who disobey, or even those who don’t. Simply exist and you’re free game as far as the bloodsuckers are concerned. 

          The number of guards had doubled, joined by the city guard. I wasn’t concerned. I could lose them in the forest, I always did. I was about to enter the grassy border around the town when a dark figure shot out in front of me. Golden eyes. A vampire. I growled. Shit. I couldn’t lose them in the forest if I couldn’t get there. I skidded to a halt and jumped onto a nearby building scrambling onto the thatch roof. I ran along it, jumping from house to house. I heard the softer, padded footsteps of the guards as they followed me. A blur, the figure was back. Without hesitating, this time, I launched myself off the building, rolling to break my fall. 

         I sprinted across the grass. A swish of grass, behind me. A vamp was right on my tail. I pushed myself to run faster, we were already going much faster than any human, but, unfortunately, I knew that the vampires had the advantage. The one right on my tail was a full-blood no doubt, by the scent. I had barely any wolf-blood compared to my ancestors. I needed to hide, to get away.

         The river. I could disappear beneath the rapids. The vamps would assume me dead, but I had swam through that river countless times. I wouldn’t die. I cut through the brush heading towards the sound of the river. Branches slapped a giant my face and bushes rubbed at my clothes. I ignored it, beating back the worst of it with my arms. The sound of rushing waves grew louder. Thud. My boot hit rock instead of soft dirt. I launched myself forwards past the last trees, diving into the rushing waves of the river below. I was immediately pulled under, but I fought the urge to panic. I let the currents pull me downstream. Only when my lungs began to burn did I fight to the surface of the river. I quickly grabbed a breath of fresh air, and let the water carry me again. I repeated this several times, until I was sure I was miles away from where I had jumped. The next time I fought the currents to get to the surface I looked around searching for a place where the river eddied out. I found one. I swam over, and the current no longer fought to pull me downstream. I turned to face the rock wall I was against. I gripped the slippery stones and began climbing. Luckily, the bank wasn’t too high here. 

         Risky foothold and handholds carries me to the bank of the river. My arms, lungs and legs burned. I lay exhausted on the forest floor, but the river, when I heard a splash that was different from the ordinary sounds of the river. I stood up quickly looking back down at the river. A black shape was gripping onto the wall I had just climbed. Shit a vamp had followed me. I quickly dashed back into the forest. I didn’t know where I was. I was really running out of options. Maybe this was it. My tired legs protested with my burning lungs as I forced myself to sprint through the untamed wilds. I caught another smell. Wolf, no not Wolf, wolf-blood. And strong too. A pack was near. A pack of full-blooded werewolves that could easily defeat one vampire. I followed the scent as it grew. The water disguised the vampires scent somewhat, but it was quickly growing stronger as they gained ground. The pack’s scent was also going stronger. If I could just last a little bit longer. 

        Pain shooting up my foot. I fell to the forest floor. My tired body was done. I had tripped. I struggled to my feet, but a weight on my back pushed me down. 

        “You’re done wolf. The queen wants to see you, and she gets what she wants.” The ivy voice of the vampire washed over me.

          I struggled pointlessly against the iron grip of the vamp. I gave up. The forest had been my only advantage, but this vamp had taken that away and now I was terrifyingly outmatched. I was being taken to the queen. The master of masters. What the hell did she have in store for me?

39.1

        Heavy iron restraints around my ankles and wrists. A guard on either side of me. No hope of escape. A rough shove and I stumbled into a, a bedroom? What the hell? The door slammed shut behind me and I rapidly scanned the white walls and large bed with white sheets for the owner of this room. My eyes landed on a tall figure wearing a golden dress. She turned and her golden eyes landed on me. 

          Silver eyes met gold. Warmth exploded from my core around my body. My claws and fangs were pushed out as my wolf-blood rose without my command. 

        “Mate.” The word was whispered, barely spoken, barely leaving the lips of the vampire who stared at me. She strode towards me. She stopped in front of me. Her hand rose as if to stroke my cheek, but it stopped and returned to her side.

        I managed to tear my eyes away from hers, and I pushed my wolf-blood away. The claws and fangs receded. This couldn’t be. I shouldn’t have enough wolf-blood to have a mate. I wasn’t strong enough to be the queens mate. Everyone knew that vampire’s mates were determined based off of strength, or so I thought. 

        The queen's hand moved, and I tensed, fearing attack. I instinctively tried to step back, but my bound feet led me only to stumbling back ungracefully. An arm shot around my waist catching me and pulling me back to my feet. The queen had caught me. 

        “Be careful.” She muttered. Flashing the golden key in her hand, that was why she had moved. She crouched. “Let me get these off.”

       She worked quickly and smoothly removing my restraints and setting them aside along with the key. Once the last cuff clicked open, I stepped back. I didn’t dare to meet her gaze again, but I did look up slightly, staring steadfastly at her neck. 

       “Why did you bring me here?” I asked. “Why did you remove my chains?”

       “I brought you here because you were a highly dangerous prisoner that I didn’t trust my guards to handle.” She replied in a business like manner, but her tone softened as she continued. “But, I let you go because you’re my mate. I will not harm you, or hold you captive.”

        “Then why have your guard chase me down in the woods, risking death?” I pressed. I didn’t believe this kindness. There had to be a trick, some catch. Something that the queen wanted. 

          “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that you were my mate then. I only knew that you were a dangerous renegade who had been stealing noble families property.” She answered calmly. 

          I snorted. “Stealing property? I was freeing slaves.”

       “Not in the eye of the law.”

       I sighed. “So what now? What are you going to do with me? Throw me in a cell? Kill me? Torture me?”

        I couldn’t read her expression as I didn’t dare look at her face, but her astonishment was clear in her tone. 

        “What? No? I said I wouldn’t hurt you or hold you captive.” She asserted. “I meant it. No, what I am going to do is let you go. You can stay if you want and I would like that, but I won’t force you.” She paused before adding. “But please, keep a low profile if you do leave, or make sure you aren’t caught again. If I have to let you go again, and you’re a wanted criminal with a giant bounty then the other Vampires will think I’m weak and I could lose my throne and anarchy could ensue.”

        I still didn’t respond, so she continued. “I would like to at least know your name first, before you go. And maybe what could convince you to stay and be my mate?” She added the last part in a quiet whisper, but I heard it quickly. 

         “Rory.” I replied. “I go by Rory, and the only way I would stand by your side is if you were no longer a monarch who condoned and protected slavery and the abuse and exploitation of humans.”

          “I’m Val, and I will work on it, but hierarchy is the culture of the vampires, I can’t just remove it all.”

        I stared in shock my gaze finally drifting to meet hers again. “Really? I thought you would immediately deny it.”

          She nodded. “Really. I’m willing to work to be worthy of my mate.”

        I couldn’t help laughing. “Worthy of me? You’re the vampire queen. You are ten times stronger than me, and faster than me. I have barely enough wolf-blood to change my nails to claws. You are far superior to me in any way, if anyone isn’t worthy it’s me.”

          “Yet you have managed to inflict more damage for more time than any full blooded werewolf or pack. And you’re alone. You don’t smell of any pack.” She provided, calmly. “I may have brute strength and speed, but you have stealth and cunning. It took my finest tracker to hunt you down. You are a force to be reckoned with, and don’t you forget it.”

        I was stunned. I didn’t expect this in a million years. The Queen of all Vampires was complimenting me, and being genuine, and trying to change. I lowered my gaze again. I couldn’t fall for it. It had to be a trick. Even as I forced the thoughts, I couldn’t ignore the undeniable pull I had towards her. Or the way her scent was delicious. Or her beauty.

           “Thanks.” I mumbled before walking around the queen to the window, still facing her. I unlatched the window and slid it open, preparing to jump out. Luckily, her room was on the first floor and facing the forest, so my escape would be easy.

          She didn’t move, watching me prepare to leave. “Will you return?”

        I shrugged. “Maybe.”

         I ducked and slid through the window, shutting it behind me. I scampered off into the woods. I doubted I could resist the mate pull for that long, but I wasn’t going to stand by a tyrant. For now I would go back to my fight, against the tyranny, but with more precautions. After all, the Queen was right, I couldn’t get captured again.

39.2

       I stood in the forest with an ache in my heart. I stared at the castle in front of me. I had scaled steep rocky cliffs to get to the back side of the mountain where the palace was home. There was no moonlight tonight, only cloudy skies. Even with my improved vision I struggled to see, but I could still make out the windows that I knew led to the queen's bedroom, Val’s bedroom, my mate’s bedroom. It had been three months since she had let me go, and I had successfully released many more slaves. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t been seen, that every rescue had been flawless. I had found myself drawn back to this forest, back to this palace, back to this room, back to this person.

         I crept forward in the dark, melding the shadows of my clothes with the darkness of the wall. I reached up and tested the window. It slid open easily. I pulled myself up to the ledge, perching as I slid the window up. I slipped inside the dark room, closing the window silently behind me. My eyes fell on the sleeping form of the Queen. What was I doing? What did I expect to happen? This was stupid. I reached back for the window, to leave again, but I shifted my weight wrong and a floorboard creaked. I froze, but it was too late the damage had been done. 

        A blur of motion and I was pinned against the wall. 

        “Who are you?” The queen growled. Then she relaxed her hold suddenly. “Rory? You came back?”

         I nodded.

        “Why?”

          I shrugged.

         She stepped back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

          “I’m fine.” I assured her. “Besides I’m the one who snuck into your bedroom in the middle of the night.” I laughed uneasily. “I’m not exactly blameless either.”

           My unease and nervousness was replaced by suspicion and fear. “You smell different. You smell like a human.” I glared at the dark figure of the queen. “What did you do?”

       “I can explain, Rory.” She began. 

       I snorted derisively. “Of course you can. Well? I’m listening.”

        “I’m working on changing the laws about humans, but it’s slow progress as most vampires don’t see a reason to change. In the meantime I was trying to uphold your beliefs, and not take blood by force, but the only way the slave agreed was if we had sex.” Val explained. 

          I growled. “You shouldn’t have to do that just to eat. Isn’t there some understanding you can reach with humans? Some mutually beneficial arrangement?”

          “I’m working on it.” She insisted. “In a few more months, hopefully new laws will be passed.” She paused. “Do you forgive me?”

          “Of course.”

          Silence grew between us, but I was in no hurry to break it. Val didn’t seem eager to break it either. She returned to her bed and laid back down. I climbed onto the window ledge, sliding the window open. I heard her shift in her bed. 

           “Come back again?” She asked silently. 

        “Eventually. I can’t stay away.” I admitted as I disappeared into the night.

39.3

         Another three months passed and I found myself back in the woods by the palace, this time guided by a full moon, and treading through snow. I had come not only because of the ache in my heart, but because I no longer needed to free slaves. Val had succeeded, slavery was gone. In its place, servitude. Humans could sign contracts with vampires, to work as servants of some kind, or as a blood servant. The human would be provided with food, water, and shelter in return for their services. A vampire was only allowed to take blood from a blood servant who had signed a contract giving consent, or with spoken consent from another human. Punishments hadn’t been outlawed for misbehaving servants, but they were restricted to matching the punishments that vampires would receive for misbehavior. Of course, some vampires broke the law and progress was slow, but it was happening. Support for the equality movement was growing and with it more funding was able to be directed towards enforcing the new laws. 

        I took a deep breath, pressed against the wall next to the window. Val has upheld her end of the bargain, now I had nothing stopping me from at least giving her a chance. My fingers found the cold stone ledge and I brushed the light dusting of snow away. I pulled myself up I to the ledge. I grabbed the edge of the window, but it didn’t budge. Well that was awkward. I brushed more snow away, the window was frozen. Well crap. I couldn’t exactly go in the front door. I may no longer be wanted number one but I was still a wolf. I slipped down and jumped up on the next window, also frozen. The third as well. I returned to the first and gave it a good yank. It thudded open with a crack as the ice broke.

         A figure tackled me from my precarious position. I slid back on the snowy ground looking up into golden eyes. Val’s hot breathe was against my face and I squirmed under her grip. 

       “Sorry, it was frozen.” I tried. 

       Val just stared at me. “Are you going to stay this time?”

        I nodded. “I’m going to give it a chance.”

        “Thank you.” She breathed and stood up, offering me a hand. I accepted it, noticing that hers was much warmer than mine. I really should’ve invested in gloves. 

       “Your hand is freezing.” She commented, concerned. 

       “That’s what snow does.” I shrugged. 

        She pulled me through the window and into her room. “You don’t have a home, do you?”

         “Just the forest.” I admitted.

        “That sounds awful. All alone.”

          I feared her concern turning into pity, so I waved it away. “I survived.”

         “Hopefully, you can survive here.” She was only half-joking. 

          “How do you plan for me to live in a palace full of vampires? They hate my kind, and me.”

        “Everyone in the palace knows not to bother you.”

         “So I could’ve come in the front door.” I complained. “Do you know how hard it is to climb the cliff that you call a back door?”

         She shrugged. “That is kinda the point.”

         “I know, but still.” I argued futilely.

         “I’m sorry.” She apologized. “I should have told you.”

         “It’s okay. I probably wouldn’t have used the front door anyways.” I grinned sheepishly. 

         She laughed. “Wanted the mysterious aspect of breaking into the Queen’s bedroom?”

         “No.” I admitted. “In truth I would be avoiding all the people.”

        She raised her eyebrows. “Really?”

       I shrugged. “Yeah, I’ve never gotten along with anyone, much less Vampires. I haven’t had a friend since.” My voice faltered as the memory came back. “Since.” I forced back tears. “Since I was a kid.”

         Val engulfed me in a warm hug, and I accepted it. “You have me now, Rory. I can be your friend and more.”

        “Thank you.” I muttered into her shoulder.

        She pulled back and pointed to the bed. “Care to sleep?”

       I scratched the back of my neck sheepishly. “I’m actually not tired.”

       “You’re not? It’s like 2am?” She asked, surprised.

        “I’m nocturnal.” I admitted. “Due to needing the cover of darkness for stealth I have taken to sleeping in the day. 2 am for me is your 2pm.”

        “Well, we will have to work on fixing that.” I would like to see you more than just in the morning and at night.

         “Of course, but it may take a while.”

        “I know.”

[familiarlyfrigid]

Ruin or Redemption Chapter 5: Rescue

[Part 1]

Bhir walked outside to scan the city for alien animals. Her metal body reflected the light of the rising sun in white sparks of light. She activated the jet boosters in her legs and rocketed into the sky, leaving a cloud of dust on the ground. She flew above the city, too high for anyone to see more than a blur in the sky. She landed at the edge of the city and hid herself in a patch of trees.

Bhir walked through the trees along the city's border, scanning for alien life. When she reached the end, she started down an alley. This section of the city was mostly empty clearings and storefronts that never had anything in them. While she walked along a fence enclosing an abandoned building, she found a long, thick thorn stuck in the fence wiring. Bhir picked it up, recognizing it as a quill from one of the animals that attacked her. She quickly flew back to the base to analyze it.

When she went inside the house, Gir was sitting in front of the TV. She rushed past him and went down to the lair. Zim and Kay were at the computer.

“Kay!” she yelled, “I found evidence of one of the animals!”

Kay turned to face her robot.

“What did you find?” she asked.

Bhir held up the large quill.

“Put it in the DNA analyzer,” Zim ordered.

She went over to a machine, put the quill in one end, and turned it on.

“While that’s analyzing,” said Zim, “let’s go explore that planet I was talking about yesterday. I found out its name is TS-43. It’ll take a while to get there.”

Kay thought about it for a moment and said, “I guess I have nothing better to do. And I wanna be there to laugh at you for trusting internet rumors.”

They went to Kay’s ship, which used the same holographic technology as her disguise to make it invisible, and brought it to the backyard. The Ripper was bigger, faster, and controlled better than Zim’s Cruiser.

“Since you’re not going to help, I’m piloting,” Zim said snarkily.

Kay glared at him. “If anything happens to my ship, you’re fixing it.”

After gathering everything they needed, they called for their robots and got in the ship. Zim entered the planet’s coordinates into the ship’s version of a GPS. Then, he started the engine, and the cloaked ship blasted off into the sky.

It took nearly two hours to reach TS-43, with Kay apprehensively telling Zim how to pilot for most of the way. The planet looked a lot like Earth, only smaller, with smaller oceans, and large bodies of water scattered across the continents.

They landed in the Northern Hemisphere, at the base of a towering mountain range. A white haze of snow fell from the sky, making it impossible to see into the distance. The Irkens came out of the ship in heavy coats and snow boots. Zim took out a device that looked like a remote and scanned the ground with it.

“I’m picking up traces of energy,” Zim said, grinning. “It’s close.”

They walked towards a valley between two mountains. Anything that wasn’t buried in snow was coated in ice. Gir ran around the others, throwing snow in the air and jumping in mounds of it. Bhir flew above the ground so she wouldn’t sink into the snow.

“It doesn’t look like there’s any ancient ruins around here,” Kay teased Zim.

“Well maybe they were destroyed by the weather.”

They stopped as they heard a muffled crash ahead of them. They looked up a mountain to see chunks of rock rolling down the mountain, pulling sheets of snow down with them. The rocks crashed to the ground, and they heard a loud crack.

The ground around them suddenly started to shift. They didn’t realize they were standing on unstable ground, now knocked loose by the rockslide. The land beneath Kay started to sink, the snow dragging her down. At the bottom was a cave, partially flooded by the snow.

[Part 2]

Kay brushed the snow off herclothes. It didn’t burn like the water on Earth did.

Bhir hovered above the slope. She called out, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she answered.

“I’m gonna go look for the source of this energy reading,” Zim said, holding up the tracking device he was using. A red light was blinking on the small screen on it.

“Ok... I’m going to look around this cave. Bhir, watch Gir.”

Zim wandered into the valley and Gir ran off to play in the snow. Bhir followed him.

Kay looked down the dark, monochrome tunnel ahead of her. Instead of climbing up the pile of snow she slid down, she decided to see where the cave led to. The cave was wide, but natural walls of stone split it into narrow pathways that often crossed each other. When light from the surface faded, she took a flashlight out of her coat pocket and turned it on. The cave system looked longer than it really was with all the twisting paths.

She wandered in silence through the cave for a few minutes before seeing sunlight filtering in from the other end. Kay could barely see the snowy surface in the distance between the walls of stone that blocked her path. She turned off her flashlight, put it away, and started climbing over a chunk of rock. After she climbed over it, she stopped. Slow footsteps faintly echoed ahead of her.

Kay slowly and quietly stepped towards the sound.

She thought, “It can’t be Zim... Who else— or what else— would be down here?”

The footsteps stopped. Kay slowly walked around a pillar of rock. Then, she froze, staring in total shock at what stood before her.

“That sound,” she thought, “the footsteps... it was... another Irken!?”

She stared at the Irken for a moment, awestruck. It felt as if time had stopped. He was quite short and thin, and looked surprisingly young, only seeming to be a teenager. He wore a torn black coat with a fur hood that was once white, black gloves, worn black pants, and dirty black hiking boots. His eyes were jet black, and Kay just barely noticed that he had pointed teeth—the same defective traits she had. He stared back at her, wide-eyed and exhausted, shivering in his tattered clothes that were soaked from melted snow.

The young Irken staggered back, uncertain if this new stranger was a threat or not. His antennae were flattened under his hood. He quickly noticed her unnaturally dark eyes, though. She was a Defective, like him.

“Who... are you?” Kay finally asked.

“K-K-Krest,” he stuttered, his voice hoarse and shaky. It had been so long since he’d spoken to anyone that it felt strange to hear his own voice.

“How’d you get in here? And why are you on this planet?” She asked, although she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

He said nothing, but pointed at the other end of the cave where the ground had collapsed. A slope of snow and rocks led up to the surface.

“What are you doing on this planet?” Kay asked again.

“I was e-exiled...” he said quietly, ashamed to admit he was kicked out of his home.

Kay stepped closer to him. She expected him to have been exiled, since he was defective. She asked, “What happened?”

He leaned against the hard wall, shifting his gaze to the ground. “I-I wouldn’t fight... I d-didn’t want to be a soldier l-like they wanted. I said Irkens sh-shouldn’t fight with everyone... they w-wouldn’t listen...”

His voice became more strained as he nervously glanced up to see her reaction. She just stared, shocked. Krest avoided making eye contact and wouldn’t say more.

Kay suddenly remembered the times in her training when she’d avoided fighting because she thought it was unnecessary.

“You... wanted to be peaceful?” She asked.

“Yes...”

She thought, “I used to say Irkens should only fight when we don’t have any other options. I’ve handled missions peacefully before... It’s part of strategizing. Why did Krest get exiled for trying to do the same thing I did?”

“I’ll get you out of here,” she said. She wanted to help him—she felt like she had to. What Krest said was genuine. Kay was going to give him a chance.

“My ship isn’t far from here. I’m living on a planet called Earth. I’ll take you there.”

“R-Really?” He looked up at her, a faint flicker of hope in his dark eyes. He started to relax. He had to trust her if he wanted any chance of survival.

“Come on,” she said, walking towards the snow-covered exit of the cave. He slowly followed behind her.

Kay climbed up the mound of snow to the surface and waited for Krest. He used his PAK’s spider-like legs to pull himself up. Their pointed ends needed to be sharpened. It wasn’t snowing as hard anymore and Kay could see the other hole where she had entered the cave. She headed towards her ship, Krest stumbling through the snow beside her.

They got to the Ripper and went inside. Kay turned the ship on and got it ready to take off. It was much warmer inside.

“I came here with someone else, so we have to wait for him to get back,” Kay said. She wanted to know more about Krest, so she asked him, “How long have you been on this planet?”

He answered, “About... two years. This planet’s years.”

After talking to him for a little while, she found out that he’d studied survival techniques for a few years and that he was afraid of being forced to be a soldier. He couldn’t say much before he was too tired to keep talking. Kay looked at the ship’s screen and saw the SIRs approaching, followed by Zim. She told Krest to wait in another room. They came into the ship, Bhir carrying a cluster of light green crystals.

“You found something?” Kay asked. She was admittedly surprised they brought back that much of anything.

“Yes,” Zim answered arrogantly. “I found a vein of these crystals that can store energy,” he paused, “but they’re not that strong on their own. I’ll have to combine them with something else.”

“I told you not to trust everything on the Internet. Anyways, I need to tell you something,” her tone was suddenly serious. “In the cave... I met an exiled Irken.”

Krest hesitantly showed himself, staying behind Kay.

“HI!” Gir shouted and waved.

“What?! What’re you planning to do with him?” Zim snapped, glaring at Krest, who shuffled closer to Kay.

“I’m bringing him back to our base. He’ll stay with us until I find him a place to live.” Kay decided Zim didn’t have a choice.

“Letting an exiled Irken live with us?! What if the Tallests call and find out?” he retorted. “What use is he, anyways? He was exiled for a reason!”

“He’s still a kid. I can’t just leave him to survive on his own,” she said sternly. “He doesn’t have to stay for long.”

Zim continued arguing about there not being enough space for someone else to live with them, and that they’d get in trouble with the Tallests, but Kay ignored him. She started piloting the ship.

During the long flight back to Earth, Kay told Bhir everything she knew about Krest and told her to keep his information a secret. She only told Zim that his name was Krest and he was a skilled survivalist.

Bhir set the pile of crystals down and walked up to Krest, who was sitting on the floor of the ship. He could barely stay awake, even though Irkens don’t normally need to sleep.

“Will you let me take a look at

your PAK?” she asked.

He nodded weakly, too tired to be afraid of her. Bhir examined his PAK, which had dark grey ovals on it instead of the usual pink. She checked for any damage, and opened one of the panels to examine the inside. She took a chord out of her head, with one end plugged into her, and plugged the other end into Krest’s PAK. She read all the information she could, then disconnected herself.

The ship reached Kay and Zim’s house and landed, disguised to be completely invisible from the outside. It was midday on a weekend and there were a lot of people outside. They made sure nobody was around before getting out of the ship and entering the house.

Zim put on his disguise went back outside to unload the ship and bring in the crystals he’d collected. Krest took off his coat and boots and practically collapsed onto one end of the couch. He grabbed a blanket that was draped over the back of the couch and covered himself with it. Kay sat on the other end and turned the TV on. It was only a few minutes before Krest fell asleep.

[wndamaximov]

Our Worst Enemies

Chapter 6- The Accords

Masterlist

Pairings - None

Warnings- Language

“Five years ago, I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my backswing. Turned out it was the best round of my life, because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass… I found something 40 years in the Army had never taught me: Perspective. The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives… but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some… who would prefer the word vigilantes.” 

“And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?” I asked.

“ How about "dangerous"? What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?” Well, he wasn’t wrong. The Avengers had helped save so many people... but in doing so, we’d hurt so many others too. Maybe we were just as bad as the villains we fought. Hell, maybe we were worse. The Secretary started displaying images of New York, DC, Sokovia, and Lagos. Pictures of the people that were killed, or worse. After seeing the eyes of a girl whose death I could have prevented, I looked away, ashamed. No matter what anyone else said, it was my fault. Wanda is new to this, so I shouldn’t have expected her to be able to take the detonated bomb out by herself.

“ Okay. That's enough.” Steve commanded the Secretary to stop. Ross nodded to his aide who turned it off and handed him a book.

“ For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution.”

“Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have.” Rhodey and Sam were arguing about the validity of the Accords. To be honest, I agreed with Rhodey. Although we would be giving up some freedoms, The Avengers would be better trusted by the public, and hopefully further casualties could be prevented.

“So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?” Sam argued back.

“A 117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, No, that's cool. We got it.” Rhodey yelled.

“ How long are you going to play both sides?” he retaliated.

“ I have an equation,” Vision started.

“Oh this will clear it up.” Sam was clearly pissed. We all were.

Vis continued, “In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate.”

“Are you saying it's our fault?” Steve countered. This wasn’t good. None of us could agree on anything.

“I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict… breeds catastrophe. Oversight… Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.” Vision finished what he had to say.

“Boom.” Rhodey said triumphantly. Tony was, abnormally quiet, sitting on a couch, glancing at Steve occasionally.

I pointed it out. “Tony. You are being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal.”

“It's because he's already made up his mind.” Steve explained.

“Boy you know me so well.” Tony groaned, and got up and winced, rubbing the back of his head.

“Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache.” He walked to the kitchen and got a cup of coffee.

“That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort.” Upon noticing what was in the sink he complained, “Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?”

He put his phone in a basket and tapped it.The phone projected an image of a smiling young man. He looked down, then back up, and pretended to notice the picture for the first time. 

“ Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where, Sokovia.”

Shit.

“Ummmm, if we’re going against people who can, and are trying to destroy the universe, wouldn’t having a powerful group, such as The Avengers, help? I mean, no offense Phoenix, but I don’t think even a badass like you could take on a bunch of villains like Katherine. Not to mention, like a million more baddies.” Damon was starting to get on my nerves.

“Remember when One Direction got together again? I don’t. Same thing goes for The Avengers. We’re done. People got hurt. We got hurt. We hurt each other. Nobody can take that back.” I replied. 

There was an awkward silence, as Damon and I glared at each other.

“Message received. No Avengers. That’s fine. But we do need to make one quick stop in London.” the Doctor intervened. I turned to look at him, getting flashbacks of what had happened the last time I was there.

After Peggy’s funeral, Steve stood alone in the aisle of the church where her service had taken place. I started walking up to him.

“When I came out of the ice, I thought everyone I had known was gone. Then I found out that she was alive. I was just lucky to have her.”

“She had you back, too,” I replied.

“Who else signed?”

“Tony. Rhodey. Vision.”

“Clint?”

“Says he’s retired.” I smiled, just a little bit, thinking of Clint with his wife and kids. He had what many of us could never have.

“Wanda?”

“TBD. I'm off to Vienna for the signing of the Accords. There's plenty of room on the jet.” I looked at him hopefully, thinking “please don’t be stupid Steve.”

He sighed and bowed his head.

“Just because it's the path of least resistance doesn't mean it's the wrong path. Staying together is more important than how we stay together.”

He shook his head. “What are we giving up to do it? I'm sorry, Aegis. I can't sign it.”

“I know.” I smiled, a little bit sad that he was really going down this path. Part of me had hoped he wouldn’t, just so that we could stay together. Have the whit-picket fence life just like Clint.

“Then what are you doing here?”

“I didn’t want you to be alone.” I kissed him, hoping this wouldn’t be the last time I would get to see him under normal circumstances.

When the TARDIS stopped whooshing, the Doctor walked away from the control panel and threw open the doors to reveal a small, cluttered apartment with a smiley face graffitied on one of the walls.

“This totally looks like the digs of a superhero,” Dean sarcastically whispered in my ear.

“Mine are worse.” I replied walking out to see two men sitting on couches facing opposite each other.

“Well, Doctor, aren’t you going to introduce me? No matter.” He looked up at us. “The name is Sherlock Holmes, and this is my short friend, John Watson. Do wipe your feet before properly entering my flat.”

[iiirenxcc]

to whom it may concern America is in distress with our future on the line, look around it's a mess. we have to watch what we say cause it's now considered offensive. take a look around we are slowly loosing our freedom. try to silence my voice, and taking my amendments away. When Trump left everything was perfect and Sleepy Joe killed thousands of jobs on his first day. and i don't know if you heard but china's ships all over our coast. pushing vaccines on us feels like population control side effects -cerebral palsy, blood clots and death. but they preach to us to go ahead and inject. i say americas been stolen but you laugh like it's a joke. hate is so invited our states are not united , our races are divided. there's a lot of opinions floating around these days. but when i speak they try to block me or censor what i have to say. now i might just get reported for going against community guidelines but it's not as worse as what they did to our president who couldn't even tweet a tweet.

only like minds on my timeline they see it's all anti- this and anti -that so close minded really, they are just anti-facts. your just obeying and getting along but i can see through your glass house just what kind of person you truly are. you got black lives sign hanging on your front porch but never had a black person in your home. i guess i'm the one that's got to call you out cause all you want to do is run your mouth.

they even signed a petition for equal rights for transgenders talking like it's their fight. and if a man wears a dress they call him beautiful and courageous and give him a whole pride month. god created two genders i don't care about the rest. if a dude has a beard and some fake breast don't try to convince my kids that they should do the same.

trigger warnings used to be on Tv for seizures and now they are everywhere for protecting millennials feelings. He, She, His, Hers, Them, They screw the pronouns cause everyone is a retard these days. you see them preaching at protest that hatred is the problem but hating straight men, white folks, and christians is common.

i don't know if you noticed there's a race war here, and the electrics are all based on fear. we're all triggered and defensive, everyone is a racist and we're all sexist. it's my race, weight, and because i'm christian they hate the internet cause every one has an opinion. and they call wyatt a hater cause he can't relate to gay pride and call him homophonic cause he don't want to date guys. and the saying if your white your privileged and you have more rights than your neighbor. what is all this division for?

i don't know if you see the big picture here, but i see it , and the news isn't telling you the whole truth , the government is brainwashing you. time to wake up america and see the truth. if we stand hand in hand and come united as one we all bleed the same color and fight red white and blue. they divide us cause they know we can over power them and go against them. can't you see they divided us with race, religion, color and class and stripping our right away and it's all about who does and doesn't and who is wearing a mask. i'm just shooting my rights of freedom of speech

and let's not for get of a father doesn't care for his kids they call him a deadbeat but if a mother gets an abortion they call it pro choice. it shouldn't matter who's lives matters most we are still in slaved by the device's we hold. last i knew we were all created equal do good and love thy neighbor but they took god out of school now school shootings happen daily. don't build the wall and now our borders are weak. but i can't mention that you have a fence around your premises.

why can't you see the system hates all people. people tell you to be yourself but you don't fit in the internet's requirements they tell you to be like cardi b and kim kardashian. if Jesus was alive you would all try to cancel him. when you forgot he died for our sins.

the truth hurts, but ignorance is worse even google is on it can't even trust my own search! and they attack you if you like trump. you're redneck, white trash, and a racist, but i say every politician is just a pawn on the board. they treat us like sheep and they are wolves in the dark playing with our minds, lives and heart. it's been on my mind for so long so i decided to process it and post it on my wall.

and if you say you hate america then that's fine too cause honestly im sick of you.

[dfnews]

Episode Recap of "An Explosive Reveal"

First Aired August 20, 2018

1. The show opens up in Laredo with shots of Jeremy throwing darts at a photo of Trump (I wish) and of a small barbed wire border fence that is symbolic of Jinger's cultish upbringing. She may look more free but looks can be deceiving. Jeremy has two surprises for Jinger on their first anniversary, one good and one bad. She's getting a piano and a visit from some of her family. This show is getting less and less about the boring married couples and more about how to sneak the sexual predator's parents back on. Jeremy makes the lame excuse that sneaking Jim Bob and Michelle back onto the show is because Jinger is homesick. Ummm, if this was filmed last November, their anniversary, that was only a few weeks after Jinger went home for Joseph's wedding. PLUS, Jinger was just in Arkansas taking the little girls' photo for their album where she announced her pregnancy. That must have been only days before this was filmed. It's like they think no one follows this family.

2. Jim Bob and Michelle jump on the family's big plane with most of their sons and Tyler. I guess Jim Bob has to keep an eye on his male servants. I don't know why the brothers came. They didn't even help move the piano.  I'm still amazed that the media doesn't make more of a fuss about how Jim Bob has every one of his adult sons working for him. Josh, Josiah, Joseph in the family used car lot. John as the family's pilot and construction worker. Joe and Josiah also dabbling in the family real estate and house flipping businesses for their dad and Jeer, Jed and Jason also helping in all of those businesses. Not one of them in college or getting any kind of training. Jed is said to be dabbling in politics but that is also a family business venture. I just hope these young men will be able to care for themselves and a large family once the overseer is gone.

3. As JinJer go out on a date, the Duggars invade their little house snooping into everything. Jeremy digs into his dish and dishes out compliments to an insecure Jinger. I really hope the side he shows on TV is the same as in real life. He just seems kind of slick to me. Back at JinJer's house the guys and Michelle sneak into the bedroom where a long cable cord is hanging down the wall and attached to a cable box sitting on the floor. It looks like Jeremy removed a TV from the wall. Can't be caught by the cameras having a TV in your bedroom after Jim Bob and Michelle spent years preaching about the hazards of TV watching. Jim Bob whispers, "Don't squeak the bed." to the boys and I feel dirty. JinJer arrive at home. Jinger is led to her surprise new piano that she picked out herself in an earlier episode. I'm pretty sure she knew she would get it because she knows how TLC gifting goes. Jinger acts all appreciative like Jeremy actually bought the piano but we all know he can't afford that on a small town pastor's tithing lifestyle. Then the second surprise pops up and Jinger meets her family again like it's been years instead of days. Jinger is a better actress than I ever dreamed. She cries her eyes out as she hugs Michelle. What the heck? It's actually pretty concerning how she acts when seeing her parents after only a short time away. Is Jeremy treating her okay? Michelle says she cried too but I think she was just faking it as she usually does. Luckily, Jim Bob says they're there for a short time. I hope they left that night and allowed the anniversary birds to have some privacy that night but I bet Jim Bob slept in JinJer's bed as the lovebirds napped on the piano stool.

4. JoyStin assemble a crib and get the baby's room ready. Good to see they bought their own instead of using a chewed up Duggar crib. Austin is offended by instruction manuals. Joe agrees. He'd rather just look at the pictures and Kendra chimes in with a hilarious, "He doesn't like to read." Ain't that true. I've never seen a Duggar man with a book other than the Bible and I know they can't read that right. Jessa says she's a stereotypical man in that she throws away the manual and Ben reads it. Good for gender breaking, Seewalds! I've learned through too many mistakes to read the manual with a fine tooth comb because I AIN'T DOING IT TWICE! Joy teases Austin about his building skills and they talk about not knowing the sex of the baby. I'm glad they broke the mold in that area of not wanting to know. Most Duggars want to know so they can begin gender stereotyping before the child even takes its first breath.

5. Oh, geez...they didn't go home. They did sleep on the piano bench. Michelle and Jinger discuss food aversions. Jinger says she had an aversion to the smell of coffee but I think she actually was going through caffeine withdrawal. Jinger was totally addicted for years. Jinger mentions using the birth center in San Antonio which is a two and a half hour drive. They decided on that pretty early in the pregnancy. In the meantime, the Duggar boys and Jeremy go grocery shopping in order to buy the ingredients of some infamous Duggar meals they want Jeremy to try. Poor Jeremy. First up is barbecue sauce and tuna fish sandwiches. I actually tried this once. Just a small bite and I give it a thumbs down. Jeremy tries it and says he likes it but we don't see him take more than one bite and he has a drink in his hand pretty quickly after that. Jim Bob jokes about never having had to cook before when he starts to help in the making of tater tot casserole. Many men love to cook but Jim Bob thinks the job is only for girls. He's missed out on a great joy in life by being a sexist pig.  The meal is tossed together and baked and everyone eats it, carbs and sodium overdose and all.

6. Joe and Kendra and John have an ultrasound to find out the sex of their baby. John gets the secret note from the doctor. He says the note will determine if the room will be painted pink or blue. Sigh... I always hated pink and I'm a girl. What the hell does a color have to do with anything?

7. Josiah walks out of daddy's house, gets in a daddy owned car and goes to the home of a girl daddy picked out. He's going to formally ask for Lauren's hand. He's a grown man why does he need to ask....oh yeah, he doesn't own anything of his own so I guess that means he's not quite a grown man yet. Dwain has three questions for Josiah. 1. Does he know Lauren's love language? I'm guessing this was a slide show presentation at homechurch that they recently had. Si says he does.  2. Don't go to be with wrath. Will Josiah be diligent to not wrath in bed? He says he won't. He had a lot of practice with his siblings. 3. What are your plans as far as life's work? Si says, to continue working for daddy. So no real plans except to slave for the master. He better hope the economy holds up. Businesses can fall mighty quickly. Dwain gives his blessing of course. Maybe Josiah can go work for Dwain and his business. Dwain has the better house and property.

8. Another party at the Duggar house. It's sex reveal day for JoKen's baby. The boys are back in town because this happened months later in February. John sets up a powder target in the shooting fields they own across the street from the penitentiary. He will shoot a box and send blue powder flying. I hope the fetus was wearing ear protection. Blue powder flies. It's a boy named Garrett David. Jill and Derick are hidden in this scene but Jim Bob is holding Izzy. Derick!!! You said you wouldn't allow your family to participate in the show anymore. Liar!  

That's it. Nothing new. Anniversaries, babies, engagements, bad food and trapped kidults. Next week, more of the same. Unless there is another scandal to break up the boredom. Please let there be another scandal!

[alliswell21]

I wish you would write a fic where Katniss and Peeta take the toast babies roller skating

Thank you for the prompt @jroseley! Sorry it took me so long to write the fic. I hope you like it, since I changed it a bit, from rolling skating... since is still winter and all. Enjoy!

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

Winter has been on the bitter side this year. We’ve been by snowstorm after snowstorm unrelentingly for four days, until the District was buried under a wall of snow.

One good thing about New Panem is that all districts now have access to all sorts of machinery and vehicles; 12 got plows and salt trucks a few years back, and when the sun finally made its appearance two days ago, and it’s heat started to steadily melt some of the powder away, the shoveling and clearing got a smidge easier. The snow on the streets soon gets replaced by slush, but that too starts to clear up.

By the the sixth day, I’m done being caged inside the house. Everyone home is getting claustrophobia attacks, really, starting from Peeta, who finally ran out of baking ingredients and is going insane with worry about the rest of our neighbors also running out of food.

The children are so bored, that they even stopped running around the house, being loud and unruly and funny. They just drop on random places like rag dolls and fall asleep on the spot if we don’t come and tickle them.

Enough is enough!

“What are you doing?” Peeta asks from the archway watching me pull on my boots.

“I’m going on a hike, and so are you.” I answer, throwing his favorite scarf and hat at him.

He catches them easily with one hand, and I have to avert my eyes from his muscular form before I do something stupid, like climb him like a tree and demand he takes me hard and fast, while the children are awake and roaming around. I could blame my libido spike on the snow-in, but honestly it’s just him, sometimes I can’t believe I resisted my attraction to him so long.

“Okay,” He drags the word, breaking me from my lustful spell, “And where exactly are we hiking to?“

“We’re going to the lake,” I say firmly. “We’re going skating.” I inform him. “I promised the children at the beginning of the season, that I would take them there as soon as the lake had frozen, and I figure this is a good time as any to uphold my word to them.” I stand and smooth down my flannel shirt.

I look up in time to see him shrug his consent, and turn away from me. He curls his hand next his mouth and calls on the children, telling them to go to their rooms and put on their thermal underwear, in a minute, the house is a flurry of tiny running feet and excited hooting, my babies don’t disappoint, their enthusiasm is contagious.

Between the two of us, we get the kids ready in ten minutes. Everyone has at least three layers of clothing on, mittens, hats, boots and Peeta has packed the last of the apples and rolls into a knapsack and I’ve gathered some drinking water in a couple of bottles. Lastly, we take our skates from the coat closet on the hall, and leave for the lake.

District 12 has expanded outward towards what used to my woods. At first I was outraged they would build stuff past the old fence, and into what used to be my hunting grounds, but the alternative was disturb the meadow and no one was willing to do that. I’m still unhappy they’ve eroded so much of my sanctuary, displacing my prey, but finally they’ve come up with plans to save the wilderness.

The only silver lining to this ‘progress’ is that the lake where Gale and I used to fish and hunt for waterfowl, is now easier to access. And so we reach the lake in half the time, even snowy as it is, than it would’ve taken me alone back in the day when my survival depended on the woods.

The children are beside themselves!

As we track through town and past the neighborhoods bordering the forest, people start to emerge from the warmth of their homes, just to see the four of us walk by. We’re still recognizable people to some degree, some of the newer residents of 12 still watch us curiously, although not with the same same celebrity craze as 20 years ago. But they still watch sometimes.

We stop at the bakery at Peeta’s insistence, he makes a couple of calls, since the phone lines are back to work, and soon a handful of his employees agree to come in tomorrow to open up the shop and start serving bread again.

“Honestly, most of them sounded excited about coming to work,” he comments with a small smile once we’re on the road again.

When we arrive to the lake, the children find a big rock to sit on and start pulling on their laces, the faster they can get their skates on, the better. I don’t blame them.

Peeta hags our bag of food on a tree branch close by, and then join me and the children on the boulder to change into skates.

The first time we wore skates I didn’t anticipated him being so graceful and nimble on the ice, but my man is artist skater! He can move and glide so effortlessly is unbelievable. The way he turns and spins and skates backwards is just beautiful. Most impressive, just like swimming, he had never had the chance, occasion or place to learn it, but he did and it’s been one of our favorite winter activities from the get go. When the children finally came into our lives, and we’re old enough to join us in the ice, they just fell in love with it as well.

Once our footgear is safely on, we check on mittens, hats and coat fastenings again, and we each take one little hand in ours, and reach the edge of the frozen lake. It takes some maneuvering to get into the solid slab, but we finally do, and in no time Peeta is off, making a warming lap, while the two children get used to standing on their skates. It takes me and them a few minutes longer than Peeta to get acclimated but the girl joins her daddy soon enough, while the boy clings to my hand in unsure legs still.

We go around the ring once, slowly, so we can get confident, it’s more for my benefit than my toddler son’s, he’s ready to take off and start on his attempt at a pirouette, just like his sister is showing off to her father, but I can’t let go of his hand just yet. I want to feel his tiny fingers around mine just a minute longer, and then let him free to enjoy his time out here. And then his mittened hand slips away when Peeta and the girl pass us by, he goes chasing after them, laughing the whole time, while the girl throws her arm to catch him.

They hold hands, and start spinning in place. The girl calls for her dad to join them, and he obliges happily. The boy squeals in delight, and then his Seam eyes find me.

“Mama! Come play!” He calls in his tiny boy voice, and come readily, laughing as they swing around me and finally the three of them circle around me.

At one point, another family descends onto the icy lake, stepping gingerly on the ice. They aren’t as graceful on their skates, but they seem to be having a nice time too, so we wave and smile politely, and keep on playing with our children. The lake is big enough.

“The more, the merrier!” Peeta says.

When the children tire of our spinning and pirouette game, we start a competition, to see who reaches the edge faster, Peeta looses to the girl many times, and she looks Please with herself. Then he looses to the boy, and she protests that he lost on purpose. Peeta claims he’s old and tired, and then he says he’s also hungry, and the little ones quickly agree.

We come to the rock just as a group of teenagers slip on the ice. I get our picnic ready, while Peeta helps the children out of the lake. The boy announces his need to go potty, and the girl joins in as well, I offer to take them to a secluded patch of bushes, so Peeta can rest his bad leg, and he smiles at me with gratitud.

By the time we’ve eaten our meal the kids are yawning, and more people have come to skate or lounge around under the warming sun. It’s been a good day, and I’m glad so many people has the chance to enjoy it as much as we do.

Peeta puts his arm around me and leans down to kiss my cheek. “Thank you, Katniss. Coming here today was a good idea.”

“I know it was,” I tell him humorously. “I’m always right!” I kiss his lips quickly. For the longest time I refused to share any public physical affection, on principle alone, but now I don’t care if people see us. We love each other and we are free to express it.

The boy changed into shoes a minute ago, and comes to climb on my lap, he wraps his little arms around my neck and yawns widely. He’s out like a candle in no time.

“I guess we should get home,” Peeta laughs.

“I don’t wanna go home!” Our daughter cries out.

“But your brother is asleep, and I saw you yawning too a moment ago. We should get you home so you can rest, sweet pea,” Peeta tells her, caressing her cheeks.

She scowls and crosses her arms over her chest, “I’m not tired!” She says.

“I am. And daddy needs to rest too, since has to work tomorrow,” i reason with her.

She wavers for a second, then nods rolling her eyes. “Fine… we can go home, but I’m not taking a nap!” She announces.

We gather our stuff, and Peeta reaches out to the take our son from my arms. But I point at the little girl, slouching as she shuffled her feet, and he smiles knowingly. “Hey, you wanna ride in my shoulders?” He asks her with a caring hand to her tiny shoulders, she nods and smiles at him.

We haven’t reached the cobblestone path to town when she’s snoring on top of Peeta’s head. Gently, he shifts her slowly, so she’s securely in his arms instead, and we walk home, leaving behind the lake, now full of laughing and squealing and merrily shouting people.

I guess sharing my woods with my District is not so terrible after all.

[zrtranscripts]

Season 6, Mission 29: Drop it Like it’s Hot

Collateral damage

[briefcase beeps]

SAM YAO: All right... all right. You're in the house of one of Sigrid's generals, and he's due back any minute, and you need to get a look at those invasion plans, and the briefcase is going to explode. 

But okay, I have an idea. Can't we just - get this - take the plans out of the briefcase and leave the case there? Run home with the plan, job done.

BRENT VALMONT: If we let this case be discovered here, they'll come looking for whoever tripped the security. Did you use counter-surveillance techniques getting here?

SAM YAO: Um... we might have been accompanied by a salty Scottish woman on a custom bike. There could have been a flock of sheep involved.

BRENT VALMONT: Right... and for this to be useful, you need her to think you haven't seen the plans, don't you?

SAM YAO: I mean, yeah. But look, if we take it away, won't they know we - well, you know - took it away?

BRENT VALMONT: They'll definitely know if we leave it here. Anyway, we can't let this thing go off while we're in the neighborhood. Or at least, I can't. I have a reputation to maintain.

SAM YAO: Yeah, sometimes I can believe you're married to Amelia, actually.

BRENT VALMONT: Flatterer!

SAM YAO: Right. Well, I presume ANNIE has a plan.

BRENT VALMONT: Partial one. Still working out the kinks.

SAM YAO: Where's it start?

BRENT VALMONT: Five, we need to be down in the village square by the [ompah band before they finish their next song. We'll go across the roof and climb down. Come on, run!

[oompah band music plays, audience cheers and applauds]

NADIA AL HANAKI: Five, Valmont, over here! Hide with me behind this floral float.

BRENT VALMONT: Nadia Al Hanaki, what a delight! I don't believe we've met. I'm Brent Valmont, the UK's last remaining billionaire. And may I say how lovely you're looking?

NADIA AL HANAKI: Yeah, well, my last two boyfriends got killed, so be warned before you get any ideas.

BRENT VALMONT: Fair enough. ANNIE says we're looking for one person in particular: a man in a blue hat who is with General Victory. They're both judging part of the - what's that? - the well dressing. Um, ANNIE, old girl, check that again. Oh, no, I see it over there. English people covering a well in garlands of flowers and ribbons.

NADIA AL HANAKI: What's this bloke in a blue hat to us?

BRENT VALMONT: He's senior to the general, and if we play our cards right, he'll get us over the border. But we have a few assignments! I need to shake General Victory's hand and slip something into his pocket -

NADIA AL HANAKI: I can do that.

BRENT VALMONT: Can you?

NADIA AL HANAKI: He's less likely to recognize me than he is the world's last remaining billionaire, isn't he? I'll just pretend to topple off my bike and drop that - what is it? A transmitter? - into his pocket.

BRENT VALMONT: Fair enough! Five, we need to get a clear picture of that man in a blue hat for ANNIE. The brim is blocking her satellite images. ANNIE says we have no more than four minutes to get that picture if this is going to work. Run!

[crowd applauds]

SAM YAO: [laughs] Oh, look! Someone's won the Pin the Tail on the Donkey. [sighs] I actually love all this stuff, you know. Yeah, Olde England. I mean, if the people who were into it as well weren't so awful, I could be mates with them. We could do crown green bowls and dance around a maypole and stuff. Probably really enjoy dancing around a maypole. Well, get tangled up in the ribbon, to be honest. I'd enjoy that.

Right, Five! You're in position. If you duck out from behind that fence now, he's too distracted by judging the largest marrows to notice you taking his pic. [camera clicks] That's it, got him!

BRENT VALMONT: Good. ANNIE's got the pic, now. Identified the blue hat man. It's Denton, Sigrid's current chief of staff. And Nadia's planted the transmitter in General Victory's pocket. We need to get out of this village before anyone finds the hole in the wall of the general's house. Let's rendezvous at the checkpoint into Ministry territory over that hill. We're on the clock. Run!

[motor rumbles]

NADIA AL HANAKI: Are you sure this will work, Valmont?

BRENT VALMONT: You can call me Brent, you know. And no, you can never be sure. That's what makes it so much fun! [sighs] I can't believe I haven't given you a nickname yet.

NADIA AL HANAKI: My name's Nadia. In terms of nicknames, if I were you, I'd go with Nadia.

BRENT VALMONT: Nadia "Hot Stuff" Al Hanaki! Well, uh, you've got a face on you that could down a Learjet there, uh, Hot - uh, Nadia.

NADIA AL HANAKI: That's right. Look, we're coming up on the checkpoint now. Do your thing, Mr. Smooth.

BRENT VALMONT: Did you just give me a nickname? No one ever does that!

NADIA AL HANAKI: Just get on with it.

BRENT VALMONT: Uh, hello? [taps on glass] Hello? Guardsperson? [door opens] Hello, hi, yes -

GUARD: No one gets through here without ID. This is Ministry-controlled territory.

BRENT VALMONT: Yes, only this is rather urgent. It's on the strict orders of Admiral Denton. You remember Admiral Denton? Sigrid promoted him, her chief of staff. Wears a natty blue hat. Never actually was in the Navy, but what does experience matter these days? Known for stringing up subordinates by their toes.

GUARD: I know Denton.

BRENT VALMONT: Yes, well, if you do know Denton, you'll know that his one little problem is, well... stomach trouble. [whispers] Excessive farting. [out loud] Famous for it on the parade ground, I believe.

GUARD: I've heard that, yes.

BRENT VALMONT: Well, so, look. Admiral Denton's in a bit of a sticky situation, [laughs] as it were. I'm his, uh, head of wardrobe. Lady on the bike is his housekeeper. This is his personal physician, Dr., uh, Five. 

We are - look, I'm terribly sorry, but we're on a very urgent mission. There's been a... fart and follow through situation, do you get my drift?

GUARD: [laughs] Is that true?

BRENT VALMONT: 'Fraid so.

GUARD: Ventin' Denton's crapped his pants? [laughs] Oh, bloody hell, I've got about eight people I need to tell about this right now.

BRENT VALMONT: Oh no, no, no. Please don't! That would be a breach of a sacred trust! You can't tell anyone I told you, all right?

[security system buzzes]

GUARD: I'm buzzing you through. You were never here. I won't record you on the log. But is it really true?

BRENT VALMONT: It is really true.

GUARD: [laughs] This is the best thing that had ever happened to me! Please, go where you need, just get out of here.

[motor rumbles]

NADIA AL HANAKI: That the place, Mr. Smooth?

BRENT VALMONT: You're really going for it on this nickname, aren't you?

NADIA AL HANAKI: Don't dish it out if you can't take it, Smooth. I asked you a question. Is that gray, forbidding, almost Stasi-like building at the top of this hill our target?

BRENT VALMONT: It is, yes. My intel says that the guard on the front gate is allergic to peanuts, and that there's a jar of Skippy we could pick up in the kitchen half a mile -

NADIA AL HANAKI: We've no time for that, Smooth. I've a better idea. Five, Valmont, you hide behind those bushes. [foliage rustles, motor rumbles and backfires] Excuse me! Excuse me! Could you help me, please? I think there's something wrong with my bike!

SAM YAO: Nadia, what did you do?

NADIA AL HANAKI: [whispers] Yeah, they won't be able to work it out, either. [out loud] Help! Please! Something's gone wrong with my bike! I'll be stranded here if I can't get it started again!

GUARD: Aw, we'll get it going for you. Just let me take a look.

SAM YAO: Five, Valmont, the coast's clear. There's a window open on the ground floor of that building. Run!

[door opens]

SAM YAO: All right. I haven't got many cams in that building, but I've managed to access one outside the door of that office and one inside. [sighs] I think you're okay for now. 

There are five guards trying to help Nadia fix her bike now. I think I saw her pull some little nubbin off some bit of it. Uh, yeah, nubbin's the technical term there. So yeah, might as well get it open and photograph what we can.

[briefcase opens, papers rustle, camera clicks]

BRENT VALMONT: Excellent work there, Five. Meanwhile, we do need a plausible reason that this case has been brought back here. Let's see... ooh! 

[types on keyboard] "Pit Viper assassins captured at border led me to suspect that General Victory is a traitor. I ordered the briefcase returned to sector HQ. Will investigate Gen. Victory further. Signed, Denton."

SAM YAO: But won't Denton tell Sigrid that he didn't send that message?

BRENT VALMONT: Oh, I've left a small incendiary device in Victory's house. I meant just to use it just to cover my own tracks, but uh, ANNIE? Yeah. Denton and Victory just went into the house. We blew it up. Job done.

SAM YAO: That's cold.

BRENT VALMONT: Zombie apocalypse. Also, Denton and Victory were both actual Sigrid loyalists. But now she'll find a transmitter on them, and she'll suspect one or both were traitors.

And they were going into the house alone to review the documents, so no collateral damage among staff and so on. Everyone else is at the well dressing. Win, win, win!

SAM YAO: Right. If you say so. Five, how are the photos coming? Did I see the word Moonchild? Sigrid was friends with Moonchild back in the day, wasn't she? I guess it makes sense that if she wants to get to you, then Moonchild would help her. 

[sighs] I'm sorry, Five. We will work out how to fix this for you. I know it hasn't been easy. We've all... [sighs] heard the nightmares.

BRENT VALMONT: Someone's patrolling the corridor. They're coming closer.

SAM YAO: Yeah. Five, get as many of those photos as you can, and - yeah. Okay. When I say go, you need to climb out the window and run right as fast as you can, okay? Okay... now go!

[motor rumbles]

NADIA AL HANAKI: Look! Suddenly, it's working again! Thanks, everyone! I couldn't have done it without all 11 of you!

GUARD: Bye, Nadia! Nice to meet you.

SAM YAO: Five, if you wait behind that wall for a sec, they'll catch you up.

NADIA AL HANAKI: Well, they were nice, weren't they?

BRENT VALMONT: Really nice... to you. ANNIE said at least three of them should be considered extremely dangerous.

NADIA AL HANAKI: Oh no, they were sweethearts, weren't they?

BRENT VALMONT: To you. You ever considered a career in grifting? If we just head behind that wall, ANNIE's going to arrange a transport to neutral territory for us in a couple of minutes.

[motor rumbles]

NADIA AL HANAKI: Five, you got out okay! Good work! Okay, do you have those photos? 

[camera beeps]

BRENT VALMONT: [whistles] Wow. Sigrid's intelligence is better than I, personally, expected. Look at these. She knows about the Laundry. She's planning to turn the Exmoor Militia against you. 

And this thing here - she says she already has a 'gun' inside Abel, and can pull the trigger whenever she pleases. And the word 'gun' is in inverted commas, which makes it seem even more sinister, somehow! 

Oh, look at this, Legs! You get a whole section to yourself! Apparently, data about you was found on a ship due for demolition which "indicates that Moonchild is alive within the vessel, and will work with us against Abel. We have only to await the moment to summon her, and Runner Five will be ours." 

Yeah. Guys. Sorry to tell you - these aren't plans for an invasion of Abel. These are plans for Abel's annihilation!

[beet-rootesoupevodkabanya]

Post-apocalypse military AU.

Well, dear Feli, next part of our AU is here. One day... One day I promise to gather it all in a decent work. And post on AO3 finally. 😜✨ Actually the day passed as crazy as it began. At first - Yakov with his "love marks", then message from border controllers that blond woman is trying to cross it. Of course it was Miss Nikiforova who lost her way and somehow was managed to walk rather long distance by foot. It caused another stupid mess of calling here and there to make someone to take her to the city finally. Then - walking with Makkachin. And then Snow King simply called his Private Guard to watch the sunset from the wall. Like why not as long as weather is still fine. Walking on the wide path of the wall top and watching Victor cuddling Makka time to time, Yuuri couldn't get rid of the feeling his General is just trying to delay the moment he'll stay alone with his thoughts. Despite of all joyful mood he radiated. But still... When he thought Yuuri didn't see him, his smile faded away uncontrollably. [No, Private Katsuki, U shouldn't. U shouldn't invade into personal emotional space... Fuck it.] Maybe it looked insane and stupid. Or childish. But right in the middle of lazy talk about nothing Yuuri clumsily hugged his commander from behind: - Can I... Please... Stay with U for sleepover. I don't want U to be alone. [How. Pathetic.] But cold fingers covered his hands softly. Burring face into Victor's back Yuuri more felt then saw his slow nod. General stayed still caught off guard by embrace. Didn't move with closed eyes and didn't smile anymore. Only when Makkachin whined tugging Victor's sleeve they both noticed the sunset is already over. - Sorry... - muttered Yuuri, not really knowing what for. Of course he violated all possible subordination and rules during this day. But... He was used to be a disappointment already. (At least as he personally thought...) - Well... As long as we can't move the chair to continue watching the sunset, let's go back. - Snow King snorted again forcing out some joy. Yuuri smiled glancing at dark sky: - U really resemble me of him... - U think so? - commander raised a brow - Well... I don't mind. I always wanted my personal planet. If U'd be a fox, would U go with me? - Fox?.. - Yuuri's voice obviously darkened with sadness - Not a Rose but a Fox. Abandoned friend, not a love of your life... General Nikiforov stopped and turned to him, grabbing both boy's hands, weirdly serious despite of childish theme: - Friends can't abandon each other. Friends could have to go occasionally but they will always return. And honestly the Rose... The one U grew up from the little one and still endure all awful personality. It's called "child", U know. Yuuri raised his head realizing what was just said. Realizing. Realizing... Rea... [WHAT HAVE I JUST ASKED????!!!!] He stormed downstairs with burning face. "Love of your life".... How could it happen at all???!!!! Makkachin barked somewhere behind. Of course on the living floor General caught up with him. - Wait, Yuuri! [He could just order... And I'd have no choice but to stop. But he never uses it in daily life. U're weird General Snow King...] Cold hand grabbed Kaiyo's elbow: - U promised to sleep with me tonight! Boy from Safe Zone frosted on sport chocking with gasps. Not just red but already almost purple. Ice splinters looked puzzled. With soft innocent question. Then some suspect appeared into blue frosted depth... He instinctively pressed hands to the mouth but of course too late... Beautiful face flashed crimson red. Great General Nikiforov gasped helplessly staring into black abyss of Yuuri's eyes. And they both burst into laughter. Of course this left no possible way not to stay for sleep-over. Although it was too early to sleep... Of course it wasn't the first time Yuuri spent the night in General's room. He woke up here recovering from battle damage, being comforted after breakdown or even if he fell asleep in the living room being exhausted after trainings. General brought him here and he always felt revived in the morning. This man could seem airhead and even spoilt sometimes but actually had an amazing ability to comfort and give a new strength. Yuuri sigh. Unlike his commander he was able only to cause more troubles. At least he personally was sure in this. - Yuuri... - Victor's voice was soft - if U have any question - ask. I'll answer everything. They set on the window ledge. General's arm laid on Kaiyo's shoulder. It was dark already and they didn't turn the light on but even in gloomy room it was obvious how icy-blue depth darkened despite of radiant smile. He didn't want to talk. But still some part of him did. To Yuuri. Of course most of all boy from Safe Zone wanted to ask about Victor's past but wasn't sure it won't cause any pain. But still... How to talk about it? He frowned thoughtfully: - Honestly... I want to ask a lot. But the most important... - he raised his eyes on commander. - What can comfort U? What do U need to feel better? [Again just great, Private Katsuki. He can just laugh at your face answering:"Not U!" And he'll be absolutely right after all...] Quiet sound of General's breathing stopped for a moment. In short, almost invisible move he bended to Yuuri, softly kissed his forehead and turned away. With lips tightly shut and closed eyes. He didn't say a word for so long Makkachin already got bored and pecked them both with his wet nose whining. Victor opened eyes and caressed dog's ears. With usual tenderness but his moves and unblinking eyes looking through Makkachin were a kind of mechanical. - U want to know what was with that women. And why Yakov let her in. - His voice sounded weird. Just too normal. Even joyful. Beautiful talking doll from fairytales... - U don't have to...- Kaiyo tried to stop him but General's fingers desperately squeezed his shoulder. - Well... Listen... *************************** Factory on the end of the city had still released gray smoke. It exploded two days ago. But honestly they had no people, or time, or even energy to care of technical objects. And of human's corpses. Weird epidemic took away countless people. Like Black Death hundreds years ago. Problem was similar: Unknown virus. But this time it attacked not flesh but mind. Central neurological system stopped working properly. In a second victim lost all senses and ended up being locked in colorless, soundless prison of own body. Keeping traces of brain activity body still moved for some time. Blindly. Aimlessly. Most of eroded died simply because their uncontrollable moves caused calamitous accidents. Others who were under care of rare healthy ones mostly died from exhaustion. Because they were unable to eat or drink. Or satisfy other life needs. Of course there were hospitals... But lack of non-infected persons made it impossible- to care of all victims. And noone knew why virus didn't touch that rare ones. They had no choice but to leave corpses where they were just ruining buildings to bury them. The priority was - to save some of victims - that lucky (or not) persons who were infected but their bodies still worked. After toughest period health returned to them. But their memories were changed. At first it looked like a form of cryptomnesia. But then it became clear it's something else. ************************ Base of survivors was adapted in hurry to be a kind of hospital. The toughest thing was to guess if victim will survive or not. Or rather to say - if it's logical to spend limited resources on this or that one or not... Especially in a situation when part of non-infected citizens had chosen the way of prowlers. And risk of attack was always high. Their base shared it's list of survivors to other shelters every evening. To count survivors is easier then dead ones now... Every evening silver-haired teen rushes to the connection post to get survivor list. And pensively returns to the wall. Every list stubbornly includes that name. "Miss Nikiforova. Alive. Healthy." Black sky. Cold and distant with countless stars. Silver-haired boy stays on the wall staring into autumn dark world. Darkness is calming. It never causes pain, never hurts eyes. It's easy to hide from everyone. But there's no need to hide tears. The best protector. Best partner-in-crime. Best silent teammate. It's always here, wordlessly. Embraces unavoidably from everywhere but never suffocates. Does the love feels like black abyss?... Boy snorts at own thoughts. One of countless things that shouldn't be voiced out ever. Other teens would try to bully of course. Adults would laugh at. Most of them are dead now. Except Yakov, Lilichka and Her... If to express Her in one phrase it'd be "spinning head". Because of her childish inability to care of herself, because of how easy she lost her mind about new man or new dress, because of lots of men who were after her beauty (but ended up running away from "inadequate bitch" really soon), and because of that feeling of blurry spinning world when air tastes like iron. After skipped slap on the face. - Vitya, get down from there! - old officer shivers from cold wind. Of course his troublesome pupil heard him even before he called. Just ignored as usual. What a kid?!... - C'mon, get down, it's almost time for evening meal. [No, Yakov, don't. I know everything U're gonna say by heart. U're just... Not on time...] - Ok. U can go. I'll join U soon. - silver-haired boy doesn't turn to his teacher. But his voice sounds normal, just a bit ringing. Officer Feltsman sigh: - C'mon, Vitya... I know U check up information about your mother everyday. I know U care an... Something like giggle or snort (or just a sob...) interrupts him: - Who said I care?... Reasons are different. Thin shadow jumps at the fencing of the wall. A bit further from Yakov. Almost disappearing in cold darkness. Only silver hair radiates a kind of misty light. - Vitya, stop this!!! I know U're not as bad boy as U try to pretend! U love your mother. And she loves U. [Yakov... U really are NOT ON TIME.] Silver shadow spins around laughing. Darkness and long, splashing under the wind, hair hide fast gesture of wiping cheeks. Teeth bite through white skin of hand. It's so painful - even distracting. From that burning feeling into chest and head. - U know nothing. - Victor laughs again. [Laugh can cover sobs. Tears from laughter are natural.] - I don't even want to know anything!! - Yakov is almost angry. Why does this kid enjoys playing drama so much?! Silver shadow jumps further again. ["Eyes are the mirror of the soul"?.. Maybe. But usually people see nothing but the reflection of own ideas in that mirrors. Mirrors. Countless icy mirrors are breaking somewhere inside. Breaking and restoring again. Splinters are sharp. Silver-haired teen falls on his knees crying. Sobbing. Screaming. Splinters are everywhere. He breaks mirroring walls with bare hand, stabs the floor with biggest splinters. He screams, shouts. Coughs, choking with sobs. Tears are mixing with blood. Hair. Clothes. Boots. Floor. It all is covered with broken glass and crimson carpet.] Boy clicks the lighter turning to old officer. Breakdown is safely hidden inside. Behind icy mirrors. Of course Yakov jumps on the spot: - What??!!! Stop it right now!!!! U're too young to smoke. Gray cloud covers Victor's face giving a second to force out normal expression. He joyfully giggles again: - Too young to smoke but adult enough to kill people and drag corpses here and there?... Yakov sniffs for some seconds. Not knowing what to say. And finally mutters with apologizing intonation: - Gimme one... Silver-haired boy nods, steps closer and lays a cigarette and a lighter on the fencing. Old teacher stretches a hand and boy jumps back. In one nervous move. - What? - mumbles Yakov - Don't U think U're overplaying it, drama queen? Boy laughs again. Friendly. Joyfully. But stays where he is. - Youngsters... I won't ever understand U... - he doesn't sounds mad. More like confused. [U really won't, commander Feltsman.] [Breakdowns are tiring. Glassy maze is ruined. But mirroring walls are only tougher now. Silver-haired teen lays on the floor right on splinters. Some of them are stuck in white skin. Long wounds on palms are open to the bones. He reaches face to move away soaked in blood lock. But splinter stuck in palm cuts eye and cheek. He closes eyes. Better not to move. Never move anymore.] - Hey! Don't U dare to fall asleep staying there!!!!!! - Yakov's scream makes silver-haired boy jump where he is and drop a cigarette. - Please, Vitya!! - now old teacher is really begging for mercy - Lets go down. If something bothers U, tell me. U can think I understand nothing because I don't have kids. But at least I had parents long time ago. I know what parental love really means. [What if teacher's belief in parental love is the only unshaken thing he has now?... To ruin it just because of Her?.. No way. It's just... Stupid. Right?..] Victor jumps from the fencing near old officer: - Ok, ok, lets go to have a supper. He smiles brightly and reassuringly. And almost hears splinters cracked under boots... ******************** - It all is boring and kinda stupid, U know... - Snow King tried to force out a smile but it turned into a wry grin. - No, it's not! - Yuuri jumped from the window ledge. He didn't even try to wipe tears away. General shivers from sudden loss of warm body that leaned to his side all this time: - I'm sorry, Yuuri, I made U upset... - No! It's not like... - desperate boy's voice cracked. He impulsively seized Victor on his arms despite of perplexed gasp, brought to the bed and hugged him tight, making to lean to his chest instead of a pillow. Just like his General did lulling damaged Yuuri in a van after their first task together. - Tell me. Please. Tell me everything. - boy's fingers softly went through silver locks. - Even if I won't understand something, I still care... I'm always by your side... Victor said nothing. But leaned tighter, stroking Kaiyo's arms. With nervous, tense moves. - Ok, if U wanna some details, ok. - his voice sounded calm, even carefree. But his fingers were icy-cold. And pressed boy's skin too tight. Almost painful. If someone would ask Yuuri his name right now he'd definitely be unable to answer. The whole world compressed to the one person, one moment, one desperate need to cure his pain. He didn't even notice leaning with a cheek to silver hair left them wet from tears. Victor turned around with his usual reassuring smile and softly wiped wet traces away: - C'mon, Yuuri... I'm not saint or something to cry this much. Boy dragged him back into a tight hug stroking cheeks as if searching for invisible tears: - U're not saint. U're my own God. My only God. Gods don't have to be saint. Snow King snorted with a puzzled expression: - Yuuri, малыш/ baby, idolizing someo.. - It's not idolizing!!!! - boy cut him off tightening the embrace again and burring his face into silver hair. He would be happy to explain. But words drifted away leaving only meaningless gasps. But somehow General got it without words. Rested his head on Yuuri's shoulder and began to talk again. Again with that unsuitably indifferent, joyful voice. ****************** It's a deep night but the room isn't dark enough. White nights. Fucking troublesome thing that attracts an endless herd of different visitors to the city. And it'd be ok but She goes out every evening. All glamorous, in clouds of perfume she flies away in her high-heels. Searching for her Prince Charming or at least billionaire. Silver-haired boy of five years old puts a stuffed bear under the blanket covering it all and steps to the wardrobe. When She flies out like this it's better to be prepared and listen. If the lock clicks before the morning then it's time to hide. She is always angry. And it's better not to get under her hand. Boy sits on the floor near the old wardrobe. To get there fast if needed. (Once he already was late to hide. It's still painful to talk. Although... There's noone to talk to anyway... Isn't it good?..) This old furniture is full of her [out of trend?] clothes, including fur coats. It all is in mess. She won't open it, at first because she thinks there's no place to hide, at second - she simply doesn't want to put all that stuff back after searching. Click-clack. Keys over the door. She almost blindly searching for keyway. Sobbing loudly. Drunk again... Boy silently disappears in a dark hole of the wardrobe. Buries under clothes. And habitually leans to the gap between door and wall. To see what she'll do next. Although it's heard pretty well. Slamming the door behind she falls on her knees right there. She cries. - Why?... Why???!! Where are U, Vitya?! Why didn't U meet me??!! Aren't I your mother??!! According to loud noise she almost falls trying to get up. And breaks into son's bedroom. 3a.m.? Who cares... She throws shoes at the small form under the blanket: - U ruined my life! He'd loved me if I didn't have U!!! Sobbing she desperately locks her fingers where must be the neck under cover: - U're no better then your father! U didn't even meet me when I needed U! U'd better die before being born!!! Silver-haired boy doesn't even breath in his hide-out. She won't look here, right?... He knows every her word by heart. It's not the first case. It had happened countless times already... She sobs again. And finally realizes there's no living person under the blanket. How fast, Your Majesty... Bear is desperately kicked to the wall: - Where did U find this shit, U little scum??!!! (Just great. This thing was a gift to her from one of her short-time boyfriends...) - U ran away???!!! U left me, traitor!!!! Go die!! Don't ever return!!! Noone needs U anyway!!! Noone would ever love U!!!! I hate U!!! Die already!!! With tempest of sobs she falls on the bed. After some time her gasps turn into quiet snorts. She's asleep. Boy relaxes a bit moving away from gap. In a morning she'll feel too sick to be seriously mad. It means he can sleep now too. Of course here. In this safe darkness. Adults like to tell scary things about dark places. About monsters under the bed or in wardrobes. Maybe here is a monster too?... He stares in the further corner. If someone is here is he scared by all of that? Boy softly pets a place near soundlessly whispering to the darkness: - Don't be afraid. Lets sleep. She won't find us. ******************* - As U see, it's kinda shameful... - Victor shrugged his shoulders indifferently - Maybe someone else could find a way to deal with her... Maybe it's really my fault... Yuuri gasped from shock. After all he'd just heard this statement sounded beyond any belief. Before he was able to say something, cold fingers stroke his tear-stained face. - God! Yuuri! It's not good at all. Now I'm seriously made U upset. - he cupped boy's cheeks forcing out a puppet smile. - Now let's have a tea and talk about something better. General ruffled Kaiyo's hair, got up from the bed and stepped to the kettle on the small table near the door. [Mirroring splinters. Everywhere. Stuck in hands, face, stabbed into throat, not letting any word out. Glassy dust grits under boots. Although in the corner of his soul Snow King realizes he's bare feet now. But feelings from mirroring maze behind frosted sky are uncontrollable. It was stupid to let Kaiyo touch this glassy mess. Boy had just damaged himself. He is crying now because of it all...] - Hey, Yuuri, would U prefer green or bla... Boy from Safe Zone stormed from the bed. [Is he going to run away? Is he this scared? Of course he is...] Warm body bumped into Victor's back with a desperate, almost suffocating hug. - No! It's not your fault! Don't U ever say it again!!! Please! Please... - Yuuri chocked with sobs. - It's not a shame. Please... U don't have to pretend U're ok. Even if everyone thinks U must be... Please... Victoru... Kaiyo didn't even notice he has called his commander not only by first name but by it's Japanese pronounce. Just like he used to whisper secretly to his photos long (or not so long?...) time ago. - Please... I'm here for U, I'm yours... Please, order me, shout at me, beat me... Do anything... But, please... Don't pretend U're ok and it all doesn't matter... Please!!! [Splinters... Sharp mirroring splinters. Everywhere. And glassy dust. No, Yuuri, don't. U'll hurt yourself...] Snow King turned to his Private Guard. Although it was not so easy to do in that tight grip. - Please... It's a lie - that noone loves U. She knows nothing!!!! General Nikiforov inhaled to say at least something calming to subordinate but coughed chocking with words, buried face into Yuuri's shoulder and bursted into tears. What exactly Yuuri whispered to his crying Snow King even he himself couldn't say for sure later. Every sweet word he kept for years, since the day he first time saw picture of youngest High Officer from Military Elite. Broken ice shaking into black ocean waves. Deadly for any living creature. Black abyss leaned to frosted splinters lulling painlessly. When tight grip on Yuuri's ribs became weaker he softly pulled his General back to the bed. Hugged him, pressing his head to the chest and kissed his temple. More and more tears still dropped from tightly shut lashes. But breath of his commander was more steady now. Only when it became calm and slow showing that Victor dozed off tired from breakdown, Yuuri noticed Makkachin was politely laying on the armchair, entrusting his human to the newbie. Boy from Safe Zone exhaled nervously. Unlike Makkachin he wasn't so sure he really was able to cure General's wounds. Especially if to take in count it all sounded like a nightmare. But he'll do everything to fulfill this task. Yuuri leaned to silver hair with lips: - Aishiteru desu, Снежный Король... Honestly he was sure commander doesn't hear him. And of course can't understand. But for a second relaxed hold on his waist became tighter. Yuuri's face burned... No. He didn't wake up. Boy from safe zone hugged him tighter and kissed his forehead again. This time Kaiyo woke up even before the sunrise. It was the first time he opened eyes before his commander. Too early... It's possible to sleep more... He leaned in tighter covering them both with a blanket. Moved silver locks away from beautiful despite of being swollen from tears face. Kissed temple again and whispered. Almost breathed out inaudibly: - U still didn't answer me... What can comfort U? Cold hand traced boy's back and stopped into dark locks. Warm breath touched his neck with half-asleep husky whisper: - U can...

[brianjaeger]

2017 Academy Award Best Picture Nominees Guide For Those Who Haven’t Actually Watched Them

America has been riding high on a rainbow made of happiness so far in 2017 and what better way to continue this year of indisputable joy than with the 89th airing of Hollywood’s 3-4 hour humble brag, selfie, circle jerk performed while millions watch on and express sincere emotional feelings and judgments about the character of human beings they have never actually met or interacted with, but oftentimes know more about than members of their immediate family, that’s right..THE OSCARS!

This year, the members of an industry that just one year ago did not let any men or women of color in, will compete to see who can give the most daring and passionate speech against a President who wants all men or women of color out. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a treat that comes but once a year!

But I haven’t had time to see all of the Best Picture nominees yet, Brian! You might be yelling in a panic. Me neither! With real life playing out on a daily basis with more plot twists, intrigue and drama than Streep’s entire film catalog, who has the time to actually go see these films.

I’ve got you covered. I went ahead and didn’t watch any of the films for you HOWEVER I’m here to give you a summary of what I THINK that they MIGHT be about based on the titles of the movies and their posters, as well as some pointers on things to slide into conversation at your Oscar parties so that fellow guests will look at you the same way that Goldie Hawn looks at a vodka on the pills.

Away we go!

La La Land

Ryan Gosling falls for a Raggedy Ann doll who’s in desperate need of a sandwich - but there’s a problem, he stutters. He’d la la like to tell Raggedy Ann that he la la loves her but he’s scared she’ll la la laugh at him. So he decides to try his la la luck by communicating through a different la la language - song and dance. John Legend shows up for a bit, says, “Hey, I acted!” then leaves, and at the end Raggedy Ann actually listens to Gosling “sing” so decides to la la leave him for the drummer from The Wonders. 

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

Damien Chazelle actually intended Whiplash to be a feel good musical too, but J.K. Simmons REALLY hated that boy.

Ryan Gosling trained rigorously with a renowned dance instructor for La La Land, and for his vocal coach he turned a blender on at the lowest speed.

Alright, before this party starts - if anyone says “La La Land is going to win because Hollywood loves movies about itself,” your unoriginal ass will be immediately asked to leave the party and we will all hit you with our shoes on your way out.

Arrival

A giant who lives in the sky loses a contact, which hurtles to earth causing everyone (including Amy Adams and Hawkeye) to absolutely lose their shit. President Trump immediately signs an executive order to get these goddamn illegal aliens out of our country. He then orders the building of a wall in the sky to keep any more from coming in and holds a press conference to confirm that Prime Minister Borgulon Phaltrop of Virgon 12 in the Qualmagon galaxy will 100% pay for that sky wall on the border of America and infinite space. Everyone shrugs and says, “Yeah, this seems about right.” 

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

They originally planned to call this movie Peaceful Departure, but didn’t want to give away the ending.

At the end, you find out that it’s just Amy Adam’s father...who is also Jody Foster’s father. They’re sisters.

In the climactic scene when the door to the spaceship finally opens and a purple animated alien voiced by Jim Parsons hops out and stumbles then laughs, “I thought the TRIP was over!” an entire movie theater committed suicide. 

Lion

Dev Patel is the voice of a lionfish who just lost his son Noil and now he’s off on an adventure as big as the ocean itself where the only thing he cares about is...finding Noil.    

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

A lion’s roar can be heard from as far as 5 miles away.

A lion’s heels don’t touch the ground when it walks.

Oh, Lion? No, I don’t know shit about it. But those are some sweet fucking facts about lions, right?

Hell or High Water

Well them Duke boys really are in a pickle this time! In this gritty and oftentimes haunting movie based on the classic TV show The Dukes of Hazzard, we find Bo and Luke on the run after the gruesome butchering of Boss Hogg with a stone mason’s hammer in a scene that lasts an uncomfortable 17 minutes that includes a bizarrely jarring amount of full frontal male nudity. Well ain’t that a hog’s hide of a tough hand them boys been dealt!

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

This movie has already taken home “Best Picture” at the Dustys.

In post production, they had to use CGI to make Chris Pine look LESS handsome because when looking upon his face audiences thought they were actually in Heaven...or High Water.

Hmmm. After careful consideration. I think I’ll have the high water.

Hidden Figures

It’s the 60′s and these three out of this world NASA secretaries aren’t wearing tight enough dresses to show of those vivacious curves. These dames have hidden figures! Time to get those scientists warm for your forms, gals. Be a little bit more sexy. We’re talking about your jobs here.

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

John Glenn? Yup. Was actually an African American female. Maybe you shouldn’t be so narrow-minded.

NASA celebrated the success of this film by letting other companies come in and blast rockets off on its launch pad - like the cuckold space agency that it now is.

OH! “Figures” is a double entendre that nods to their role in solving mathematical equations as well as their hidden role as important members of NASA’s early success because they were black women! I get it. That’s WAY better than “Hey! Dipshits! Black Women Played A Pivotal Role in America Being Awesome At Space!”

Moonlight

In this next chapter in the Field of Dreams franchise, we learn more about  Archibald "Moonlight" Graham, the baseball player turned doctor turned dead guy turned plucky hitchhiking ghost kid turned ghost Burt Lancaster turned vanishing cornfield ghost Burt Lancaster.

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

President Donald Trump spent the entirety of the movie screaming at the screen and asking it to set up a meeting for him with the Congressional Black Caucus.

Well, you guys do know that the only reason that Moonlight...(look around and gauge facial expressions)...hey, what IS Nicole Kidman wearing?! I mean, (nervous giggle) come on...

Hey guys, look! (Lower pants to reveal bare naked ass while standing next to a lamp.) Moon, light! (Immediately be asked to leave party.)

Hacksaw Ridge

This film from the director who brought you Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ is about a warrior who refuses to use a gun, instead he uses a...2X4! Hoooo-oooooh! USA! USA! USA! Hacksaw Jim Duggan makes his debut in a film from the actor who starred in Lethal Weapon and What Women Want as a soldier who will save dozens of lives through courage under fire. Duggan slobbers through the role in a movie from definitely not the guy recorded spewing racist, sexist, anti-Semitic remarks. Oh. No. That wasn’t another Trump joke, I was making a Mel Gibson joke. But potato, potato I guess.

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

He was able to rescue 75 soldiers but he just couldn’t save Uncle Ben.

I’m not sure if you know this, but Hacksaw Ruffles have Hacksaw Ridges.

The real Desmond Doss was...you guessed it...an African American woman.

Manchester by the Sea

In this movie about a sad guy with a Boston accent, Casey Affleck gives a performance that climbs into your bed and absolutely refuses to leave.  

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

If you think he’s good, you should see Matt Damon’s brother, Casey. Casey Damon.

An argument between supporters of Manchester United and Manchester City over which of the clubs this movie was referring to resulted in the death of hundreds.

Phonetically, the name of this movie could also be what some guy named Chester’s friend tells him to do on Wheel of Fortune while obviously not understanding that you only have to purchase vowels.

Fences

After the backlash from the exclusion of African Americans from the 2016 Oscar nominations, Denzel Washington and Viola Davis gently rock in rocking chairs while chuckling to themselves for an hour and 49 minutes checking their smart phones periodically to see if they’ve gotten their nomination yet. 

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

Denzel actually directed this movie too. He just kept saying, “Keep rocking. It’ll come.”

If you look close, you’ll notice a blooper when one of the fences is actually a railing.

Well, you guys do know that the only reason that Fences...(look around and gauge facial expressions)...hey, what IS Michelle Williams wearing?! I mean, (nervous giggle) come on...

[saxafimedianetwork]

The EU intends to preserve the Laas Geel caves “The Altamira of Somaliland”, discovered in 2002, the best and oldest cave art in Africa

By Xavier Aldekoa, Laas Geel (Somaliland)

Fear of demons saved them. Elderly Moussa Abdi Jama, 77, squints to protect himself from the sun and looks up at the rocks he once feared. “We all thought it was a cursed place, the home of the djin, the evil spirits, we didn’t know it was something valuable.” Moussa was 19 years old when that fear overcame: it was a day of lightning and thunder. He was a goat herder and his flock had taken refuge from the storm in the caves of a rocky and steep elevation in the middle of an arid plain, so he had no choice but to go look for his animals. Then he saw them. On the stone walls of some twenty caves and rock shelters, there were hundreds of brightly colored cave paintings depicting human figures, cows, dogs, and wild animals such as giraffes, antelopes, hyenas, monkeys, or jackals.

A Somalilander man visiting Laas Geel (XAVIER ALDEKOA)

Moussa Abdi Jama: “We all thought it was a cursed place, we did not know it was something valuable”

“It was the first time that I saw those paintings. I was scared, but I was surprised. I liked them. People said that these figures were the work of the devil and were made with human blood, but I spent the night there with my goats and nothing happened.” On that rainy day, Moussa unwittingly witnessed one of the greatest cave gems in Africa: the paintings by Laas Geel. Also one of the last treasures that has arrived practically intact to this day.

Located at an elevation of 950 meters in the middle of a stone desert and dry bushes, halfway between the port of Berbera and Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, the place remained hidden from the international community until November 2002, when a team French archaeologists visited the area and reported a find from yesteryear: the caves contained the oldest known cave paintings in Africa. In total, 350 figures of humans, wild and domestic animals, and enigmatic geometric symbols between 5,000 and 11,000 years old, which are considered the best example of rock art on the African continent due to their variety and their almost miraculous state of preservation.

Detail of Laas Geel’s paintings (XAVIER ALDEKOA)

“People said that these figures were the work of the devil, made with human blood,” says Moussa.

Most of the pieces, very stylized and with light lines, retain an excellent chromatic richness. Old Moussa brushes his graying hair and smiles at the question of whether he knows what the explanation is. It happened, he says, thanks to the devil: that fear of Jinn transmitted for generations kept the inhabitants of the area away from the caves and kept that prehistoric diamond unscathed throughout the centuries.

Climbing the steep hill leading to the first caves, Somalilander Ahmed Ibrahim Awale, founder of the environmental organization Candlelight and one of the greatest experts in Laas Geel, escapes a gesture of pure satisfaction. For Awale, it is a place of undeniable importance, the Somali version of the Lascaux caves in France or Altamira in Spain, as it is the oldest Neolithic art site in the entire Horn of Africa.

Awale is a tall man and must slightly hunch as he enters one of the openings in the rock, the ceiling of which is filled with red and white figures, colored with pigments drawn from root sap, sand, or dust from crushed rocks. Above his head, a human figure dressed in a white robe raises his arms in front of a multicolored cow with exaggerated horns. “This was a place reserved for some kind of spiritual ceremony. A magical place. These cave drawings show us how those people lived in those ancient times and another important thing: how climate change has transformed the ecosystem and the way of life in this area”.

A Somaliland soldier in one of the rocky shelters of Laas Geel (XAVIER ALDEKOA)

The treasure is made up of 350 figures of humans, animals and geometric symbols between 5,000 and 11,000 years old.

The current aridity, with temperatures that touch 40 degrees, was not always the norm and from the height of the caves one can guess two sandy tongues that converge just at the foot of the mountain. “Here before there were two rivers and permanent fresh water,” explains Awale, “it was a green place, full of vegetation, so in the paintings we find wild animals that no longer exist here in our days such as giraffes, antelopes or hyenas, but also domestic ones, like cows or dogs. And yet no camel appears, because its introduction from Arabia was later. “

And it’s not just Laas Geel. In the surroundings there are several more rocks with cave paintings, although not of the same importance or so well preserved, as well as tombs and prehistoric funerary monuments. All of them are vestiges of the nomadic shepherd caravans that sailed the region for millennia and dotted rock art various points of the geography of Northeast Africa such as the basalt engravings in Djibouti, the paintings of Harar in Ethiopia or the rock sculptures of Eritrea. But while that cultural heritage in neighboring countries was studied for decades, the political instability in Somalia relegated the gems of the past within its territory to oblivion.

Awale has visited Laas Geel dozens of times, whose name means camel pit, but he especially remembers the first time. “I came shortly after the French archaeological mission and when I saw them it was truly amazing. I have seen hundreds of archaeological sites but nothing like this, it is wonderful to be able to study such a well-preserved place”. Between the works, there are interactions difficult to observe in cave paintings such as one in which a woman gives her dog a drink. “These are unusual everyday scenes that give us extremely valuable information about what life was like before the arrival of Islam.”

Nicolás Berlanga, ambassador of the European Union in Somaliland/Somalia, during a visit to the caves (XAVIER ALDEKOA)

The 12-month, 200,000-euro EU plan will be implemented by the Red Sea Cultural Center

Awale speaks passionately about caves but also with some relief. For two decades, he called out with the Somali scientific community for efforts to preserve an endangered heritage. He feels that their voices have finally been heard.

Eighteen years after its discovery by the West, an international plan seeks to reactivate a heritage that had also been neglected for political reasons. Although Somaliland, which declared itself independent from Somalia in 1991, is a de facto country, with its own constitution, government or even currency, it is not an internationally recognized state and depends on the Mogadishu executive in the south, most concerned with stabilizing a territory engulfed in chaos and violence for two decades.

Now a multinational effort aims to safeguard Laas Geel. Earlier this month, the European Union announced a 12-month plan, endowed with 200,000 euros, to be implemented by the Red Sea Cultural Center, based in the Somali capital. The project, supported by a report carried out by specialists and archaeologists from the University of Granada, aims to protect the site with the installation of fences – currently anyone can touch the paintings with their hands -, underline its importance at international conferences and improve the access to the caves to turn Laas Geel into a tourist attraction.

A Somaliland soldier drinks water on a hill near Laas Geel (XAVIER ALDEKOA)

Ahmed Ibrahim Awale: “It teaches us how it was lived then and how climate change has transformed the ecosystem”

For the European Union ambassador to Somaliland/Somalia, the Spanish Nicolás Berlanga, the paintings are not only important for the African country, they are a world heritage. “The origin of humanity comes from this area of ​​the Horn of Africa and therefore these vestiges are part of our own history. When we help build roads or a water system, it is for the benefit of local people, but in cultural matters, borders are transcended. The benefit of its conservation is for everyone”.

Culture can also be an element of diplomacy. In the plan promoted by the European community includes the proposal for Laas Geel to be declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and for this, understanding between the governments of Somalia and Somaliland has been essential, since only the first, which refuses to recognize Northern self-determination has legal authority to formally present the report. For Berlanga, “it is difficult to agree Somalia and Somaliland on political or security issues, but culture can be a vehicle to build bridges between the two.”

The director of the Red Sea Cultural Center and author of several books on the history of Somaliland, Dr. Jama Muse Jama, also advocates that the caves be an intergenerational bridge. In addition to taking care of the conservation and conditioning works, your organization will organize events throughout the country to explain the importance of the archaeological site. “It is an awareness project in which we want to involve young people so that they learn about the history and heritage of their country and appreciate the preservation of this world heritage site.”

If the efforts pay off, it will never again be necessary for the fear of Jinn to keep Laas Geel’s treasure safe.

A detail from Laas Geel’s paintings, with a disproportionate cow and a human figure in a white robe. Whites and reddish are the predominant tones (XAVIER ALDEKOA)

A Somalilander man visiting Laas Geel (XAVIER ALDEKOA)

Detail of Laas Geel’s paintings (XAVIER ALDEKOA)

A Somaliland soldier in one of the rocky shelters of Laas Geel (XAVIER ALDEKOA)

Nicolás Berlanga, ambassador of the European Union in Somaliland/Somalia, during a visit to the caves (XAVIER ALDEKOA)

A Somaliland soldier drinks water on a hill near Laas Geel (XAVIER ALDEKOA)

This article was transtlated from Spanish to English by Googletranslater, you can read here for orginal language

Altamira

The Cave of Altamira is a cave complex, located near the historic town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain. It is renowned for prehistoric parietal cave art featuring charcoal drawings and polychrome paintings of contemporary local fauna and human hands. The earliest paintings were applied during the Upper Paleolithic, around 36,000 years ago. The site was discovered in 1868 by Modesto Cubillas.

The @EU_in_Somalia intends to preserve the #LaasGeel #caves “The #Altamira of #Somaliland”, #discovered in 2002, the best and #oldest #CaveArt in #Africa, @aiawaleh @JamaMusse @yyusufd @NBerlangaEU @UNESCOEU @UNESCO @SomaliHeritage @HIPSINSTITUTE