#they were making the deprivation bath while el was getting in the bath in this season

[demadogs]

ok… just noticed something very interesting while rewatching episode 9. when hopper is telling joyce that hes gonna be the bait and he reassures her that he’s not gonna die and they have that unscripted kiss, they play the same track that played when will destroyed castle byers.

i always interpreted will destroying castle byers as him realizing he loves mike and calling himself so stupid for ever thinking anything could happen with him. especially after hearing him say “its not my fault you dont like girls”. ….and now the track that played during that scene is being used in a very romantic context with joyce and hopper???

[jungwonenthusiast]

Friends Don’t Lie Ch. 7, 8, and Epilogue

A/N: This is the end of the series now I hope u guys enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun to write :)

Pairing: Jungwon x reader

Word count: 3.3k

Warnings: major character death

Based on: Stranger Things

Chapter 7

El

“Okay but before we get to the gate, we need to know where in the Upside Down he is.” Jake says then turns to you. “Can you do the radio thingy again?”

“That won’t tell me where he is.” you say. “I need to go to the bath.”

“The bath?” they all say.

After some explaining, Jake finally gets the jist.

“So what the hell is it?” Jay asks.

“It’s a sensory deprivation tank.”

“And why does she need that?” Heeseung says.

“Because it let’s her be alone with just her consciousness. I guess it’ll help her see more in the Void.” Jake explains.

“Well how do we get it to?” Sunghoon asks.

“We can’t,” Jake replies. “We have to make one.”

“Do we do it in an actual bath tub?” Niki asks.

“No,” Jake chuckles. “Heeseung do you still have that kiddie pool we used when we were babies.”

He nods.

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Jungwon puts duct tape over a pair of scuba goggles as the rest of the boys fill up the pool and steal the bags of salt the school keeps in case of a snow storm.

“Is this good?” he hands them to you and you nod.

“I’m gonna get these clothes wet.” you look down at your outfit that Jungwon took from Jooyoung’s closet.

“It’s fine, Heeseung brought some clothes you can change into later.”

You’re sitting together in a classroom and his knees are only an inch away from touching yours.

“You’re very brave, you know?” he says and you tilt your head. “Like way braver than any super hero.”

“Super hero?” you ask. “Didn’t Jake call me that once? Is that a mean name?”

“No no no,” he shakes her name. “It’s a compliment. A super hero is someone who can do things that other humans can’t, and they use their powers to save people. My favorite is Scarlet Witch.”

“Scarlet Witch.” you say and he nods.

“You’re way cooler than her though. We should give you a superhero name.”

“Like what?” you ask.

“Hmm,” he ponders for a moment and then his eyes light up. “How about Bird of the Night.”

“Why bird? Why night?” you frown. “Do I look like a bird?” you touch your face and he laughs.

“No no, you don’t. I chose bird because you remind me of an owl.” he says.

“An owl? Why?”

“Because owls are wise, and you know a lot of things,” he says. “And I chose night because we met at night.”

You nod, understanding his decision.

“What would your superhero name be?” you ask and he looks down.

“I don’t know, normal guy of the normal day.”

“What do you mean? Are you saying that you’re not super?” you frown.

He looks at you. “I don’t have any powers like you do.”

“Yeah you do,” you say and he raises an eyebrow. “You made me laugh, remember? No one has done that before.”

He smiles and looks away.

“Your cheeks are doing that thing again-” you point and he stands up abruptly.

“We should go check up on the other guys.”

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Jungwon holds your hand for leverage as you step into the pool. You sit down in the warm water before pulling the goggles over your eyes.

You relax into the water and allow yourself to float peacefully.

You enter the part of your mind that you haven't visited in a while. It’s completely dark, and it goes on for miles and miles.

You approach a small wooden fort and read off the sign.

“Castle Sunoo.” you say and Heeseung scoots towards you.

“Can you go inside?” he asks frantically. “Is Sunoo there?”

You slowly pull away the white sheet, revealing a boy curled up in a ball and shivering from the cold.

“Sunoo.” you say and Heeseung gasps.

“Tell him- tell him I’m coming for him,” he says. “Tell him to stay put and that I’m coming.”

You kneel down next to Sunoo. He’s so pale and his lips are purple. His blond hair is stuck to his forehead and you gently push it away. His eyes open, but barely.

“You’re hyung, he’s coming for you.” you tell him.

“Heeseung hyung?” he croaks and it comes through the walkie talkie.

Heeseung’s heart twists. “I’m gonna find you Sunoo, just stay put. I- I love you so much.”

“He said that he’s gonna find you, and that he loves you.” you tell him.

“Hurry.” Sunoo whispers.

You begin to hear a low growling and just as you realize what’s happening, Sunoo and the castle begin to disintegrate into the air. You grab onto his hand.

“Sunoo no! Wait!” you cry. “Not yet not yet!”

But it’s too late. You’re alone again. In that deep dark abyss that you thought you left in the bad place. You can never leave it though, it’s a part of you.

You sit up and tug the goggles off your head.

“You okay?” Jungwon scrambles to grab your arm and you lean into him, shaken up from seeing Sunoo just disappear like that.

Heeseung pulls you into his arms, not caring that you’re getting his shirt soaked.

“Thank you,” he whispers. “I know that must’ve been scary, you did so good.”

You rest your forehead on his chest, already feeling tired.

“Here you should get out now.” Jungwon interrupts and grabs your hand.

He pulls you out of the pool and wraps a towel around your shoulders. He hands you a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans.

“Let’s go to the bathroom so you can change.” He takes your hand and leads you to the lockers.

He turns around as you peel wet clothes off your cold body.

“So what’d you see?” he asks quietly.

“I saw him… in his fort.” you reply. “He was curled up on the floor. So blue. So cold.”

You tug the gray crewneck over your head and pull the jeans up your legs.

“Is he… okay?”

“No,” you say. “He doesn’t have much time left.” you tap on his shoulder and he turns around.

Your hair is dripping and pooling wet patches on the sweatshirt.

“Your hair is still wet.” he says and you shrug.

He grabs the towel and places it over your head, scrunching around to soak the water up. He throws the towel onto a bench and then pulls you against him, chest to chest. He rests his cheek on your hair and rubs your back.

“What?” you ask oblivious to his affection.

He pulls away. “I figured you were cold. I was trying to share some body heat.”

“Body heat.” you say and he nods.

You wrap your arms around his waist and embrace him. “I am cold.”

CHAPTER 8

A/N: There's a bit where Jungwon is thinking about how he wants to touch the reader. Please know that this isn’t sexual. I wanted to portray the overwhelming feeling of liking/loving someone so much that you just want to feel them all the time and be connected in a way that isn’t through words. This thought he has is endearing, not sexual.

“Well what do we do now?” Jake asks.

“We need to go to the Upside Down.” Heeseung says.

“How do even do that, we’ve been trying to figure that out forever.” Jay says.

“Okay well we know that the gate would create a lot of power right?” Sunghoon says. “Enough to disturb the electromagnetic field.” Jake nods. “So what if we…”

“Compass.” Jake says. “We need compasses.” he gets up and rushes out of the gym.

“Where are you going?” Niki calls out.

“Come with me!” Jake says and Niki dashes after him.

“So who’s gonna go?” Jungwon asks. “Someone needs to stay with El, she’s too tired.”

You shake your head. “I can go.”

He groans. “We’ve had this argument like three thousand times.

“Well she can be our weapon.” Sunghoon says.

“She’s human you know, not a machine gun.” Jungwon says.

“She’s been low on juice for a whole day now, what if she can’t help us.” Jay says.

“Why do you guys talk about me like I’m not here.” you rolls your eyes. “I can go, I promise.”

Jake and Niki come running into the gym with their hands and pockets full of compasses.

They throw them onto the floor.

“What the hell.” Heeseung sneers.

“Look at this.” Jake points at the arrow. “It’s pointing south.”

“What?” Sunghoon’s brows knit.

“The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, making north that way.” he points behind him. “But all of the compasses are pointing south.”

The group looks at him, confused.

“Remember, the gate is so powerful that it can manipulate the magnetic field. So whatever these compasses are pointing to is where the gate should be.” Jake explains.

“Ohhh,” the group vocalizes.

“Let’s go then.” Heeseung leaps to his feet and pulls his keys out of his pocket.

Jungwon helps you stand up and you link your arm around his as you walk to the car.

El

“Left,” Jake says. “Okay now keep going.”

Five minutes pass when Niki asks. “How are we gonna know when we get there?” And right on que, you all arrive at Hawkins National Laboratory. Jungwon feels your arm tense around his.

“The fuck is this place?” Niki asks, sitting on Jay’s lap.

“The lab, my dad told me it’s a government thing.” Jungwon says.

“We can’t go in there.” You whisper and Jungwon turns to you.

“Why not?”

“Bad place.” you say and he cocks his head.

“This is the bad place? This is where you come from?” he asks and you nod. “We’re probably gonna die if we go in then.”

“I don’t care, Sunoo’s in there, I need to find him.” Heeseung unlocks the door and you drop your head into your hands.

“No no no no no,” you mumble to yourself. Jungwon turns to you and grabs your hands as the boys quietly exit the car, snooping around the building gate.

“We have to go in, we don’t have any other choice.” he says.

“I don’t wanna go back. It’s too scary.” you whimper.

“I know, but we’ll be with you the whole time.” he tries to assure you. He hadn’t styled his hair today and it’s poking into his eyes. “Heeseung is tall, he can be our shield.”

You giggle.

“And once we save Sunoo and this is all over we can listen to my vinyls like I told you we would and I’ll tell my parents about you so that you won’t be a secret anymore and we can hang out all the time and- and I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Snow Ball with me.” he says timidly.

“What’s the Snow Ball?” you ask.

“It’s this stupid dance we have at our school. I’ve only ever been to homecoming but I thought it’d be fun for us to go.” he explains, still bashful.

You touch his cheek and he looks at you. “You should tell me what this is. Is it some kind of condition?”

“Oh,” he looks away and giggles. “It just means that I’m… I’m nervous.”

“Why are you nervous?” you ask him.

Jungwon

He knows what he wants to say.

“BECAUSE YOU’RE SO PRETTY AND COOL AND I NEVER THOUGHT I’D LIKE A GIRL UNTIL I MET YOU. I LOVE YOUR VOICE AND YOUR FACE AND EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU. I WANT TO BE WITH YOU ALL THE TIME I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU. I WANT TO TOUCH YOU AND HOLD YOU. I WANT TO SHOW YOU EVERYTHING I KNOW I THINK I LOVE YOU.”

But of course he doesn’t say that.

Instead he settles with a trembling “Because… I like you.”

You smile. “I like you too.”

His heart leaps but then he realizes that you don’t understand what he’s saying. “Who else do you like?”

“I like a lot of people.” you reply and he squints.

“Like who?”

“Mm, I like Jay and Jake and Sunghoon and Niki and Heeseung.”

He shakes his head. “I don’t like you like that.”

You tilt your head. “What do you mean?”

“Uhmm,” he thinks for a second. “I like you in a different way. Like like like.”

You Sit there, confused.

“Can you close your eyes?” he asks and you giggle.

“Why?”

Your giggle makes him giggle. “Because I can’t do this when you’re looking at me.”

“Okay.” you close them.

He takes a deep breath. You can do it, don’t be a pussy, he thinks. He leans into you and plants a short kiss onto your cheek.

Your eyes fly open and you look so surprised and adorable he could die.

Then he leans in again and pecks you gently on the lips. His heart is basically sprinting now.

You smile and he does too. Your smile is intoxicating. He wants to fall into it.

He doesn’t even get a chance to speak because of the banging on the window.

Jungwon opens the door.

“Come on, we need help!” Niki ushers you two into the lab.

“How’d you guys even get in?!” Jungwon whisper yells and you two run after him.

“Heeseung hyung found a back door. We literally almost died.” Niki says. He opens the door. “Here, go go.”

You guys run through the hallway. There’s two men passed out on the floor. Looks like Heeseung's work, Jungwon thinks.

“Go down the stairs!” Niki orders, leading you to this underground dungeon.

“What the fuck,” Jungwon whispers as he lays his eyes on the casm on the wall, covered in these indescribable vines and drippings of green goop.

He sees Heeseung stepping into a yellow hazmat suit. You run towards him and Jungwon follows.

“Here,” Heeseung hands you and Jungwon each a suit.

Jungwon’s palms are sweaty from all the adrenaline. “O-okay.” He tugs the suit up.

There’s banging and shouting coming from the glass chamber.

“Hurry, they’re coming!” Heeseung rushes everyone as you all get suited up.

You don’t waste a minute walking through the cavity.

El

You hold onto Jungwon’s hand as you and the boys run through the dark and foggy scene, hoping to get far enough that the staff can’t get you.

The Upside Down is just as you imagined. It’s Hawkins, but everything is wrong. It feels like death.

“The castle is this way!” Heeseung points to the dense forest ahead.

You don’t have time to freak out and think about how you’re in an alternate universe. The only thing keeping you tied to reality is Jungwon’s hand in yours.

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You run through branches and leaves and eventually get to the fort.

Heeseung throws the curtain open to find Sunoo just as you saw him earlier, curled up and hopeless.

Heeseung drops to his knees and tries to shake him awake. The rest of the boys follow suit.

“Sunoo, Sunoo it’s me, it’s your hyung!” he yelps but Sunoo stays motionless.

“Sunoo? Sunoo man it’s us.” Jay says.

Jake takes his mask off and brings an ear to Sunoo’s face. “He isn’t breathing.”

“Fuck, oh my god-” Heeseung wails.

“It’s fine it’s fine,” Jake leans over Sunoo and holds two hands on his chest, “Just breathe into his mouth when I tell you to.”

Jake begins to pump on the boy’s chest as Heeseung rips his oxygen mask off. Your grip on Jungwon’s hand tightens anxiously.

“Twenty three, twenty four, twenty five, twenty six, okay go!” Jake says and Heeseung blows air into Sunoo’s blue lips.

“Keep going.” Jake says but Sunoo doesn’t wake up. “Please Sunoo,” tears begin to drip down Heeseung’s face. “I love you so much, I need you. You’re all I have.”

You notice Jungwon beginning to hiccup and you lean into him.

“Come one man,” Jake says.

Heeseung breathes one more time into Sunoo’s mouth when he coughs.

“Sunoo?! Sunoo it’s me!” Heeseung says, delighted. The whole group leans forward to get a better look.

Sunoo’s eyes crack open. “Hyung?”

Heeseung pulls the boy into his arms, petting his hair and kissing his forehead. All of the boys bear hug him but he’s too weak to fully understand what’s going on.

You’re still embracing Sunoo when you hear a low growl.

“Wait,” you say as the boys continue to celebrate Sunoo’s survival. “Shut up!” you say louder. “I hear something.”

You slowly stand up try to locate the sound. Your heart drops into your stomach.

“The demogorgon, it’s here.” you can hear them all hold their breath. You take your mask off and unzip your suit before stepping out of it, you feel like it’ll hold you back.

Just as you’re about to walk out, the monster tears at the fort and it comes tumbling down.

You muster some strength and send the thing flying before walking towards it. You know what this will do to you, but it’s the only choice you have. Maybe you’re a fool too, just like Jungwon.

You hold a hand out and muster all of the strength you have left. And as the Demogorgan slowly starts to disintegrate into the dirt, so does your spirit. You drop to the ground.

Jungwon

He runs to you.

He can’t hear anything over the thought of you.

He cradles you in his arms. He can't even imagine you leaving him.

Your eyes are barely open and your fingers are already turning to ash.

“El no! No no no!” he holds you against him, desperate to keep you here. “What about the Snow Ball! What about- what about everything?”

You smile a small smile and his heart shatters like glass, the small fragments puncturing every one of his organs.

He tugs his mask off. “Please no, I-” he holds your face in his hands and kisses you sweetly one last time.

You wipe the tears off his cheeks with your thumb. And just like that, you’re gone. Like you never existed. Just more flecks of dust in this dust filled world.

Jungwon doesn’t realize that he’s being dragged to his feet. He feels deaf like the scenes in war movies where a bomb goes off and they can’t hear anything but ringing. He’s stuck in a haze. It’s like being drunk but being drunk off of acetone and arsenic, not alcohol.

Jooyoung’s arms are around him for the first time in years. There are tears streaming down her face and she’s saying things that Jungwon can’t understand. All he can see is the look on your face before you disappeared. He could tell that you were in pain but you were hiding it with a smile. He cries into Jooyoung's shoulder, wishing that it was yours instead.

EPILOGUE

The police got involved, and then the FBI, then the government, then the president. Jungwon and the boys were on the news at least fifty times.

Sunoo seems fine and things are back to normal. Except for you. Sometimes he’ll catch glances of someone who looks just like you and have to do a triple take. All the clothes you ever borrowed from him are in a box in his closet. Everything reminds him of you: the basement, his walkie talkie, his bed, his posters, the living room, anyone with the same colored hair or eyes as you, even his own face reminds him of you. Every time he looks in the mirror he remembers the places you touched him. His cheeks, his neck, his shoulders, his waist, his hands, his lips.

He went through a phase of being angry about what you did. He hooked up with as many girls as he could, trying to forget you. But all it did was make him feel dirty, and like he was betraying you.

“You have to move on eventually,” Jay said.

But he didn’t think he could.

Know one could compare to you. No matter how smart or how popular or how cool, you were always better.

Jungwon’s washing his face when the light flickers. Then again, and again, and again in a peculiar pattern. He tries to remember the morse code he learned when he was in boy scouts. He stands there, trying to calm his heart as he translates the lights. I, M, I, S, S, Y, O, U.

I miss you.

taglist: @shawkneecaps @wonwoosh @strwberrydinosaur @ferxanda

[newstfionline]

Thursday, May 20, 2021

For Migrant Children in Federal Care, a ‘Sense of Desperation’ (NYT) In a federal shelter in Dallas, migrant children sleep in a windowless convention center room under fluorescent lights that never go dark. At a military base in El Paso, teenagers pile onto bunk cots, and some say they have gone days without bathing. And in Erie, Pa., problems began emerging within days of the shelter’s creation: “Fire safety system is a big concern,” an internal report noted. Some of the hot water heaters were not working, and lice was “a big issue and seems to be increasing.” Early this year, children crossing the southwestern border in record numbers were crammed into Customs and Border Protection’s cold-floored, jail-like detention facilities. They slept side by side on mats with foil blankets, almost always far longer than the legal limit of 72 hours. Republicans declared it a crisis. Democrats and immigration groups denounced the conditions, which erupted into an international embarrassment for President Biden, who had campaigned on a return to compassion in the immigration system. The administration responded by rapidly setting up temporary, emergency shelters, including some that could house thousands of children. But the next potential crisis is coming into view. “I know the administration wants to take a victory lap for moving children out of Border Patrol stations—and they deserve credit for doing that,” said Leecia Welch, a lawyer and the senior director of the legal advocacy and child welfare practice at the National Center for Youth Law, a nonprofit law firm focused on low-income children. “But the truth is, thousands of traumatized children are still lingering in massive detention sites on military bases or convention centers, and many have been relegated to unsafe and unsanitary conditions.”

Ceasefire calls and U.S. credibility (Foreign Policy) As the bombings [in Gaza] continue, the human toll is becoming clearer. More than 52,000 people in Gaza have been displaced by Israel’s aerial assault, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday, with most seeking refuge in U.N.-run schools. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) confirmed that 11 of the more than 60 children killed so far by Israeli airstrikes were participants in an NRC program helping children deal with trauma. Even if hostilities soon end, the Biden administration’s resistance to a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire has tested U.S. credibility. “They pledged to come back and support the U.N. system and multilateralism,” one council diplomat said in a report by Foreign Policy’s Colum Lynch and Robbie Gramer. “We don’t see that happening now in the Security Council.” The episode also encouraged China to carve out a leadership role at the Security Council on Middle East issues, a topic where it usually takes a back seat, while at the same time allowing it to dodge questions on its actions in Xinjiang. Multiple reports appeared on Tuesday, attempting to shine light on Biden’s approach not to call publicly for a cease-fire. They depict an administration wary of getting on the bad side of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The tactic has been criticized as a misreading of U.S. leverage over an ally to which it provides significant military aid and political support. Shibley Telhami, writing in the Boston Globe, voiced some of that criticism on Tuesday. “If an American president cannot leverage this extraordinary and unprecedented support to advance core American values,” Telhami writes, “what hope is there for succeeding anywhere else?”

Spain Sends Troops to African Enclave After Migrant Crossings Jump (NYT) Spain deployed troops, military trucks and helicopters in its North African enclave of Ceuta on Tuesday after thousands of people crossed over from Morocco, one of the largest movements of migrants reported in the area in recent years. More than 8,000 migrants, including nearly 2,000 minors, arrived on the beaches of Ceuta on Monday and Tuesday, mostly swimming or aboard inflatable boats, according to the Spanish authorities, who said that Spain had already sent back 4,000 people. The sudden arrival of thousands of people in Ceuta—more than had attempted the crossing in all the rest of the year so far—comes amid a deepening diplomatic spat between Spain and Morocco over the hospitalization in Spain of the leader of a rebel group that has fought for the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco. Videos broadcast on Spanish television on Tuesday appeared to show Moroccan border guards opening fences to the Spanish enclave. While Morocco has warned of “consequences” for harboring the rebel leader, it was not immediately clear if the spike in migration was linked to the diplomatic dispute.

Grand day for the French: Cafe and bistro terraces reopen (AP) It’s a grand day for the French. Cafe and restaurant terraces reopened Wednesday after a six-month coronavirus shutdown deprived residents of the essence of French “joie de vivre”—sipping coffee and red wine with friends. The French government is lifting restrictions incrementally to stave off a resurgence of COVID-19 and to give citizens back some of their world famous lifestyle. As part of the plan’s first stage, France’s 7 p.m. nightly curfew was pushed back to 9 p.m. and museums, theaters and cinemas reopened along with outdoor cafe terraces. France is not the first European country to start getting back a semblance of social and cultural life. Italy, Belgium, Hungary and other nations already allow outdoor dining while drinking and eating indoors began Monday in Britain.

Indian navy searches for 78 missing from barge sunk by storm (AP) Indian navy ships and helicopters searched in rough weather and seas Wednesday for 78 people still missing from a barge that sank off Mumbai as a deadly cyclone blew ashore this week. Navy Cdr. Alok Anand said 183 people were rescued within 24 hours by three ships and helicopters engaged in the operation. Cyclone Tauktae, the most powerful storm to hit the region in more than two decades, packed sustained winds of up to 210 kilometers (130 miles) per hour when it came ashore in Gujarat state late Monday. The storm left at least 25 dead in Gujarat and Maharashtra states. The Hindu newspaper Wednesday tallied more than 16,000 houses damaged in Gujarat state and trees and power poles uprooted.

How Myanmar's military moved in on the telecoms sector to spy on citizens (Reuters) In the months before the Myanmar military's Feb. 1 coup, the country's telecom and internet service providers were ordered to install intercept spyware that would allow the army to eavesdrop on the communications of citizens, sources with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters. The technology gives the military the power to listen in on calls, view text messages and web traffic including emails, and track the locations of users without the assistance of the telecom and internet firms, the sources said. The directives are part of a sweeping effort by the army to deploy electronic surveillance systems and exert control over the internet with the aim of keeping tabs on political opponents, squashing protests and cutting off channels for any future dissent, they added.

Restrictions reimposed as virus resurges in much of Asia (AP) Taxi drivers are starved for customers, weddings are suddenly canceled, schools are closed, and restaurant service is restricted across much of Asia as the coronavirus makes a resurgence in countries where it had seemed to be well under control. Sparsely populated Mongolia has seen its death toll soar from 15 to 233, while Taiwan, considered a major success in battling the virus, has recorded more than 1,000 cases since last week and placed over 600,000 people in two-week medical isolation. Hong Kong and Singapore have postponed a quarantine-free travel bubble for a second time after an outbreak in Singapore of uncertain origin. China, which has all but stamped out local infections, has seen new cases apparently linked to contact with people arriving from abroad. The resurgence hasn’t come close to the carnage wrought in India and parts of Europe, but it is a keen reminder that the virus remains resilient.

Immigration In Japan Under Pressure (NYT) For months Japanese jailers said they ‘thought’ the young migrant from Sri Lanka was faking her illness, even as she wasted away before their eyes before dying alone in her cell. Wishma Rathayake had a lifelong fascination with Japan. She entered the country in the summer of 2017 to study Japanese at a school in the Tokyo suburbs, hoping eventually to teach English. She met another Sri Lankan student in Japan who became her boyfriend. Sadly, after a series of unwise decisions, unfortunate events, and a now-expired residence permit, she found herself in a detention center a few hours south of Tokyo, awaiting deportation. It was August 2020. While in detention she was threatened by her ex-boyfriend, now back in Sri Lanka. She thought she’d be safer in Japan, and with the encouragement of advisers at START, a local nonprofit, she decided to try to stay. That move irritated officials at the detention center, who demanded she change her mind. In late December Wishma fell ill with a fever. Within weeks she was having trouble eating, standing, and speaking. In late January 2021 a doctor prescribed her vitamins and painkillers, but they made her even sicker, so she filed for a provisional release. Detention centers had already released hundreds of healthy detainees due to coronavirus concerns, but in mid-February Wishma’s request was denied without explanation. She submitted a second request on medical grounds; by this time she was so weak she could barely sign the form. Despite the severity of her symptoms, officials waited until March 4 to take her to a hospital. Two days later the 33-year-old was dead.      Japan has a long history of hostility toward immigration. Despite being the world’s third-largest economy, it settles less than 1% of asylum applicants—just 47 in 2020. Critics of the country’s immigration system say most decisions are made in secret; detainees who have overstayed their visas can be held indefinitely, with little access to courts. Detainees who apply for asylum, as Wishma did, are particularly unwelcome. Critics say Wishma was the victim of an opaque and capricious bureaucracy that has nearly unchecked power over foreigners who run afoul of it. And while there have been other instances of inhumane treatment of foreigners that ended in death, especially for people of color, the particularly egregious circumstances of Wishma’s death have driven national outrage to a whole new level. Protesters have gathered almost daily in front of Parliament, and objections by opposition lawmakers have been unusually fierce.

Experts warn shuttered Australia is becoming a ‘hermit nation’ (AFP) Prime Minister Scott Morrison defended his “Fortress Australia” Covid-19 restrictions Tuesday, as experts warned that plans to keep the borders closed for another year will create a “hermit nation”. Last March, Australia took the unprecedented step of closing its borders to foreign visitors and banning its globetrotting citizens from leaving. That prompted the first population decline since World War I, stranded tens of thousands of Australian citizens overseas and separated hundreds of thousands of residents from family members. But the country now has almost no community transmission and life for most is relatively normal. And the government’s recent suggestion that borders could remain closed for another year has sparked fierce debate. Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid on Tuesday warned: “Australia cannot keep its international borders closed indefinitely.” A University of Sydney task force examining how Australia can safely reopen this week went further, warning the country “cannot continue to lock itself off from the world as a hermit nation indefinitely”.

Powerless (NYT) Abeer Ghanem, like many Gazans, long struggled to work around the long blackouts that blighted the besieged Palestinian enclave along the Mediterranean Sea. But with the outbreak of hostilities a week ago between Israel and the Hamas militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, she said, she now gets at best four hours of electricity a day, intermittently. When it comes on, her family scrambles to charge their lights and batteries for the long, sleepless nights punctuated by outgoing Hamas rockets and the thunder of Israeli airstrikes. A combination of fuel shortages, damage to the electricity supply lines running from Israel and an aerial bombardment that has torn apart local power lines means that many families are receiving at most three to four hours of electricity a day, according to Gaza’s power company. “What we have now for fuel will last for two or three days,” said Mohammed Thabet, a spokesman for the Electricity Distribution Co. of Gaza. The power shortages are compounding the daily misery for Gazans and are also taking a toll on the provision of water, sewage treatment and the ability of hospitals, swamped with casualties, to function. Even if supplies resume, the crisis has caused millions of dollars in infrastructure damage.

Palestinians go on strike as Israel-Hamas fighting rages (AP) Palestinians across Israel and the occupied territories went on strike in a rare collective protest Tuesday as Israeli missiles toppled a building in Gaza and militants in the Hamas-ruled territory fired dozens of rockets that killed two people. The general strike was a sign that the war could widen again after a spasm of communal violence in Israel and protests across the occupied West Bank last week. Although the strike was peaceful in many places, with shops in Jerusalem’s usually bustling Old City markets shuttered, violence erupted in cities in the West Bank. Hundreds of Palestinians burned tires in Ramallah and hurled stones at an Israeli military checkpoint. Troops fired tear gas, and protesters picked up some of the canisters and threw them back. Three protesters were killed and more than 140 wounded in clashes with Israeli troops in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron and other cities, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli army said two soldiers were wounded by gunshots to the leg. The general strike was an uncommon show of unity by Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up 20% of its population.

[kaypeace21]

Important things we learned from the ST prequel novel “Suspicious Minds”

What we learned about powers

The ‘potential’ to have powers is (generally) hereditary, however only under certain conditions will these powers manifest (psychological trauma, drugs, or certain psychological conditioning/experimentation is usually how it’s done). If this isn’t done, generally, if any powers still develop they are very weak. An example being Ken who was born with powers along with some of his other family members.

-“I am psychic, always have been ... My family always believed in this stuff... “

-“ He got feelings. Certainty would lodge itself in his chest. He had dreams with snatches of reality mixed in. Flashes of intuition. These came unpredictably—which he always thought was funny—and so he was never surprised if an inkling showed up. Or if it didn’t.” 

-“ I get feelings, sometimes fully formed thoughts, that I have a deep sense are true.”

( Hmm...this intuition-thing sounds very similar to how Joyce insisted she knew Will was alive despite seeing his fake-body.)

The younger the child is when experimented or tortured, the more likely they are to yield stronger powers. Even if the same trauma was done on an adult the results would be weaker and would be dependent on that particular stimulus. Alice could only see visions of the future with lsd and electroshock therapy, Terry had what’d you’d call “perfect recall” (which only happened with lsd)- diving into her memories and remembering them perfectly. While El can channel her powers without such things. 

-“Rare enough these days, especially in adult subjects...potential”

-“His theory had always been that exceptional abilities could be encouraged under the right conditions. But he’d always had to work with available subjects, none of them clean slates. This child—he could start encouraging the development of this child’s abilities now. In utero. Every day of her life. He’d make sure she was special”

There is a high correlation between above average intelligence and having “potential” (i.e capability to develop powers). In the book, Brenner almost used the terms interchangeably”.  

- “genius IQ, potential…limitless.” (El’s ‘potential’ was described as ‘extreme’)

-Terri is described as “above average intelligence”, and “brimming with potential” by Brenner.

-One of Brenner’s nicknames for Kali is “smart girl”.

-Terry’s questioned her roommate Stacy (who got out of the experiment) saying “How she’d fooled anyone into thinking she had average intelligence was beyond Terry—Stacey was obviously the smartest of all.”

-also in other outside cannon material Will is said to be the smartest of all the boys... hmmm...

How the void works

Terry after getting pregnant (temporarily) gains her baby Jane’s/El’s power to tap into the ‘void’. In relation to seeing normal people in the void, Terry learned they will not notice you observing and eavesdropping on them, and they cannot hear or see you (according to the book) ... so we can probably assume they also cannot touch other psychics without fading away, as well (like in the show). 

But the void is different if you try this on another psychic, she accidentally summons Kali- and finds out it’s a way for other psychics and only other psychics to have a private place to talk to one another- without anyone realizing. So yep, Will is psychic- the fact Will could touch, see, hear, and talk to El in the void wasn’t a coincidence! Debate over! XD”

More Proof Will has powers

He can communicate with other psychics using the void (in s1) . If powers are genetic (Joyce probably has Clairvoyance like Ken). And in the show, Joyce’s and Terry’s aunts were both described as “crazy” -which is probably not a coincidence. Also he’s the smartest of all the boys and described by Mr Clarke as  “great student.”

In relation to the adults (with powers) both the Xmen and Lord of the Rings were used in reference to them, multiple times. Will’s password for Castle Byers is “Rhadagast”, a character in Lord of the Rings. And in the 1st ep of the series, before Will goes missing , he asks Dustin for his X-men comic- later in reference to El ,Dustin asks “Do you think El was born with her powers like the X-men?” And when Mike says El is “channeling him (Will)”. Dustin says “like professor x”. clearly hinting that they were both born with powers, like the X-men.

Dr Brenner says there are very few people in the world with ‘potential’- ie the ability to develop powers under certain conditions. He encouraged the numbered-children to draw since it would increase the chances of developing powers. This is why we see a picture that El drew on her bedroom wall in s1. And who else really likes to draw- Will?

-“Art the psychologist here claimed, was vitally important for the creative children. Eight was definitely creative.” (Eight at this time, was the most powerful psychic ever, since El wasn’t born yet.)

when experimenting on the adults, they would take monthly blood tests and monitor their blood pressures. In s2 ep 1 they did the same thing to Will. They drew Will’s blood and put it in a vial ,monitored his blood pressure, and like El, recorded his brainwaves.

 Ken who was born with powers, is not heterosexual. And since many believe Will is queer it’s probably not a coincidence. Plus Will is referenced  to as a “cleric” and a “wizard”. And as a joke his friend says about him, “what wizardry is this?”

Dr Brenner tells a story about an experiment that involves killing rabbits. In the show “Papa” tries to force El to kill a cat. While Lonnie, Will’s dad, forced Jonathan to kill a rabbit, the first time he learned to shoot a gun. And since Will knows how to shoot a gun in s1e1, we can infer he was also forced to kill a rabbit/animal by a father figure-so it’s probably a parallel.

Both Alice and Terry when using their powers had hallucinations of a rainbow, Kali also formed a visual-allusion of sunflowers and a rainbow (implying all 3 have seen this rainbow, as well, when using their powers). And when Will was very young- he drew that ‘rainbow ship’.

-Terri: “Spots bloomed behind her eyelids. Every color ... as the sunlight turned to rainbows” ( p44-45), “The rainbow stayed with Terry for a long while, but eventually it faded and in its place: darkness. A pit.”(p. 48).  “streaks of rainbow appeared (p47)”, “Wavy rainbows seemed to radiate from her hand even once she stilled it. (p. 88). “Her eyelids drifted shut, rainbows and sparks flying behind them. (p. 89). 

-Alice (who sees visions of the future) : “Snarling, snapping monsters, rainbow lights playing in the air around them (p. 121).

-Kali: “field of yellow sunflowers grew up around them. A rainbow arcing over the golden tops.” (p. 139).  “He noticed she’d drawn up there, a rainbow with her colored pencils. Maybe he’d suggest that for the playroom” (the rainbow room we see in s2) (p. 298) 

Interesting things we learned about Kali

- Kali at 5 years old, was the strongest of all 10 numbers- who were called the Indigo children (who are in a separate experiment than the adults, like Terry).

- Brenner purposely isolated her from other people. “Eight wasn’t allowed to know there were other children here. They were all ordinary so far. He worried they’d infect her.” (what a sicko- he did that to El too). He says about Kali “Child shows gifts that require isolation from those who might weaken her…Constantly asks for family and to be called by given name…Has stopped asking for her mother…”

- Brenner put her through sleep deprivation, for 13 hours, when she tried to keep a secret from him.

- In another scene after Kali reveals another secret to Brenner, Terry finds her on the bed “bathed in sweat, soaked through her gown” and “sobbing” “tightly gripping the sheets”. What did Brenner do here... am I reading too much into this? I feel like I missed a page or... y’know maybe he’s even more of a monster than I thought. They never explain this? And I’m still not sure how to interpret it 0-0

-Kali loved Terry (El’s mom) and the other adults even saying “I love you”, and referring to them as “family”. And Kali makes a hallucination in order to help them escape, they promise to come back and free her. So in s2 ep7 the “family” that Kali referred to that Dr. Brenner/the government killed was them.

Dr Brenner probably has powers 

- Ken who was born with powers describes it as a gut feeling of something that will occur or a belief he knows is true.

-Brenner can simply look at a person and his gut feeling tells him whether or not they have ‘potential’ to develop powers or not. It isn’t always correct but the vast majority of the time it is. He does this throughout the whole novel to everyone he meets.

“male, 5′8″, 180 pounds, white, average intelligence, potential…fulfilled by sitting in a guard booth checking IDs”

“Rare enough these days, especially in adult subjects. The way she’d sensed an opportunity and shown up suggested potential...Potential. She was bursting with it.” (about Terri)

“Such lost potential is always sad. There’s so little of it in the world.”(about Alice)

“Funny that his ID contained some of the information Brenner would have wanted if he were looking at himself: male, 6′1″, 195 pounds, white. The rest: genius IQ, potential…limitless.”

What we learned about the Mindflayer

-Well, I was right about the mindflayer having fire powers -so Will will probably get electro-pyrokinesis (along with other powers) like the comic and show hinted at, link here and here. 

Alice who sees visions of the future describes the mindflayer as “A monstrous vortex of fire and energy and darkness, tentacles reaching and growing. Growing so big they could eat the sky. Its mouth had a glowing fire of destruction inside it… (p. 243). 

[schroedingersk8]

15. Let Me Draw You A Pie Chart

Or  Why I Refuse To Date For Free. 

I have written this post as a personal opinion, but I think it would be of tremendous use to my fellow Dommes and International Women of Mystery, as a read and perhaps a thought experiment, too. If you have any questions, please contact me via K8Morgan.com

I have woken up today, and have decided to dedicate my inaugural 2020 dating blog post to what is bound to become a very a prickly subject -- remunerated dating. Thing is, that yesterday, before going to bed, I have posted a three-line response to an anonymous question, and woke up to an anonymous answer in a scandalised line of “how dare I?” :)

And I laughed to myself, but also thought that, in this day and age of #mansplaining and with my work as a Dominatrix shrouded in all kinds of myths, maybe I ought to do a bit of #dommesplaining (I am very proud of this hashtag, btw!) and show exactly how, and why I dare. So, my dear, let me draw you a pie chart: 

This is my pie chart of life. 

Are you with me so far? Am I condescending enough? 

You can read it as a day, month, year, etc -- this is an entire life-flow, and I have organised it, for myself, in in the following manner:

There is “Me time” -- a pleasant tea on a sunny bar terrace, a visit to a SPA, upkeeping my good looks -- manicures, haircuts, meditation, just 20 minutes of quiet nothingness to myself. Then there are “Vanilla Life Obligations”-- doing a food shop, waiting for deliveries, arranging household needs, plumbers, boiler revisions, own health check up, cat health check ups, getting paperwork done, etc. Then we come to “Active Hobbies and Social Obligations” -- things I enjoy doing outside of the house -- maybe an opera visit, a museum stroll, a theatre performance, a gallery opening, gym, walk in the park, an excursion, a friend’s birthday party, or crisis counselling, or just a few beers with gossip et al. We also have “Passive Indoor Hobbies” -- things I usually do in the comfort of my own home -- reading classics by the fireplace, covered in Feline Overlords, watching some telly, taking a bath...you get the drift. And then, there is “WORK”. Want to venture a guess and pick which one is which? 

How well did you do? It is, of course, a very rough estimate. But this is how I have arranged my life. 

As you notice, there is no pie slice for “romantic relationship” because for me it is not a necessity. I am very happy with my current life, and 2020 will mark 9 years of me being “emotionally single” and “self-partnered”. Would it be nice to have a relationship? Maybe. But at this point it will be coming at the cost of other things. And I am not willing to surrender those things. Should I skip a visit to El Prado because you want your knob polished for free? Should I stop seeing my friends and family, who have been with me for years, because your ego needs continuous attention for the following 3 weeks, every time you come home from work? Should I banish my cats to an animal shelter because your balls need free shining? No? Then the only thing that has to give is my work time allocation.

“Pah, you dedicate too much time to work!” -- I hear you scoff. Now, have you met many self-employed/entrepreneurial people? Do they spend 30 min a day, only, on their projects? Let me remind you that DOMMEWORK IS WORK. S#X WORK IS WORK. If I were doing a PhD, would you whinge about my time allocation to studying? 

My work is something that brings me joy, my work is something that I find challenging, stimulating and fun. My work is something that pays my bills. All those things are already more than what I can say about your contribution to my life so far. 

And, as any work, it gets even more detailed:

I do not know if you can see it well in the picture, but my work currently consists of seven parts:

Research and Development -- studying marketing and pricing trends, consumer behaviour, strategies, new BDSM fabs, new media tendencies.

Implementation -- with the results of research and development in mind, making website updates, skill updates, new inventory and alike.

Analytics -- establishing what worked, what worked best, and what did not work at all, and changing things accordingly.

Work Admin -- reading and answering all your emails and inquiries, about sessions, pricing, availability, and about chances to date me for free.

Business Admin -- taxes, forms, rebates, etc etc etc.

Social Media Maintenance -- social media is the pipeline from where I get my clients, and no maintenance = no new clients.

Actual Sessions or Tours -- the time actually spent in sessions or preparing for sessions.

This, above, is a VERY rough estimate of what currently goes into my work. This does not even include the work I do for my fan sites. This is just the most basic task allocation in the most basic idea that you might have of my work. 

Yes, I am self employed, but the world these days places same requirements on the one-person-flying-circus as they do on corporations. Everybody expects me to post pretty pictures a few times a day. Everybody expects me to provide customer service. Government expects me to pay taxes. Anyone with a New Year’s Resolution to “date me this year” expects a reply, and then an even longer reply of “why not?” Clients expect me to look my best. To succeed in industry I need to be on top of the tendencies. And to be proud of my work I expect myself to do my absolute best. 

And yes, I HAVE to do everything myself. As such, I employ a cat nanny/cleaner so I can spend few more hours per week learning and studying. Yes, I do as well as I do because I DELIVER on most expectations. And I am able to DELIVER on them because of meticulous hard work that I put in, today and every day, into my business. (Tumblr is part of my Business Profile, by the way, otherwise I wouldn’t be spending time on it. For example, I deemed Instagram no longer cost effective after 3 years as it was not worth the time I had to put into it in terms of prospective client growth, so I stopped using it, at 50K+ followers.) 

As I hope you understand (I simply cannot draw a more basic pie chart!), any reduction in time I spend doing my work results in less income for me. Now, DommeWork, in terms of my age, and in terms of my looks, is an enterprise limited in time. Whatever I save is my future pension, it is my future cash flow, it is my nest egg, for when I retire. Why should I deprive myself of that, so that you could get your knob polished for free? Why SHOULD I make less money for myself just so you can save YOUR money??? 

“Oh, you only have dollar signs in your eyes, you do not value me as a person and as just an cash machine!” -- No, my dear, my stance on “free dating” has absolutely NOTHING to do with you, or how I view or value YOU. But it has EVERYTHING to do with how I view MYSELF, how I VALUE MYSELF, and how I VALUE MY TIME.  Even to give you, a man from the Internet who thinks I owe him free dating, a try for a month, and dedicate 20% of my work time, to you, instead of work, will result in a 20% reduction in MY income the following month. Now, 20% of my average monthly income is roughly my monthly rent. So, I should give up my ENTIRE month’s rent in order to see whether you are worth it? While you do not think you should be paying for dating?

And, what exactly is “it”? The funny thing is that in the “best case scenario” of us moving in together and living happily ever after, you would occupy at least half of my time, ever pushing for more, costing me a 50% reduction of income (that’s TWO ENTIRE RENTS) to then just have to contribute “your fair share” of HALF THE RENT!!! 

So, you are down HALF the rent, while I am down TWO RENTS AND A HALF! And when you yelp “but what about love, love should be free, it is priceless, a relationship should be about two equals!” this is exactly how much YOUR priceless love, by the roughest estimate of the projected loss of earnings based on time allocation is going to cost ME, per month. TWO AND A HALF RENTS. While you insist it should be FREE for you because it is priceless! Show me the equality in that relationship, you equal rights champion you! Where is it? Or is it like in Orwell’s “Animal Farm”, some pigs should be more “equal” than the others? I mean, really???

Do we need another chart to explain to you the “bigger-smaller, up-close or far-away” concepts? Because your parents should have explained it to you when you were about 4 years old... 

“Yeah, well, other women do not expect me to pay them to date them!” -- I do not know what to say to that  -- maybe they value themselves less. Maybe they have too much free time on their hands and are bored. Maybe they cannot entertain themselves. Maybe they need help watching Netflix. Maybe their rents are so high in relation to their overall income that half a rent or half the mortgage for them is worth the trouble. Maybe the contribution they think you will make to their life is worth it for them. Or maybe they need to take a look at my pie charts themselves? In any case, if free dating is what you want, you should address your needs towards them, not me. 

So, my dear, as I dash to my drinks and tapas with friends, as it is a beautiful Sunday afternoon -- and I had to push back my attendance by an hour to finish writing my work blog post to address the topic raised too many times this week alone -- let me give you a word of advice. Before you get your panties in a knot and get thinking of what you can get from me for free -- ask yourself a very hard question: what can you really contribute?

No one, under the penalty of the EU copyright laws, is allowed to use or reproduce my blog or individual posts, or even passages, in any way, shape or form, be it for Netflix series, Amazon books, or anything of the kind, regardless of the credit given. If you have any questions, you may contact me via K8Morgan.com

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

S.T REWRITE - S1:E7; Chapter Seven, The Bathtub - [Pt. 3 - FINAL PART]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

While on the run, Y/n uncovers a startling truth. Eleven struggles to contact Will and the party joins forces with Joyce and Hopper.

Warnings: unedited (kinda?)

||Reader's POV||

The sun had set behind the trees by the time the chief's car pulled up in front of the Byers home. Strangely, it feels like years since we were last here when it had only been three days ago. As we all exited the vehicle, three figures emerged from the house; Nancy, Jonathan, and Ms. Byers.

"Mike. Oh, my God. Mike!" Nancy exclaimed, running towards Mike.

He stepped forward and she engulfed him in a hug.

Grabbing him by the shoulders, she pulled away. "I was so worried about you." She scolded.

"Yeah, uh... me, too." He said awkwardly.

Nancy's eyes trailed over to El and an odd look crossed her face and she tilted her head slightly.

"Is that my dress?"

El looked to me not knowing what to do and then back at the older girl. For some reason, and what I can only assume to be my state of mind and being under so much stress i begin to chuckle, finding the whole situation kinda funny.

+++

"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat."

We had all made it inside and currently, we were all gathered around the living room. The boys, El and I were sitting on the floor surrounding the coffee table while the others were seated on the furniture. Mike had drawn up Mr. Clark's diagram of the flea and the acrobat and was catching everybody else up with what we've learned so far. They all stayed quiet for the most part -occasionally jumping in to ask clarifying questions which we were more than happy to answer - and listened intently. I, however, remained quiet. I was still trying to process what had happened during my encounter with the men. I was also transfixed in the living room around me. Wondering how the once welcoming and cozy second home had changed so drastically.

"Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea. And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said that the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space,"

"A gate," Dustin interjected.

"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab"

"With our compasses,"

"And El's help of course," I added, smiling at El who shyly returned it.

The others exchanged confused glances.

Dustin took this as his cue to talk.

"Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle.

Hopper spoke up for the first time in a while.

"Is this gate underground?"

Surprising us all, El answered almost immediately. "Yes."

The two made eye contact. "Near a large water tank?" He asked.

She nodded and her gaze dropped to the floor. "Yes."

Beginning to feel more on edge, I spoke up, my voice faltering. "H-How do you know all that?"

The man said nothing and only kept his gaze. Mike looked to the drawing. "He's seen it."

I frowned at his odd behavior and I didn't try to hide my confusion and anxiety from him, I then dropped my gaze to my hands, growing tenser at the thought that these horrible people could be out to get me.

Ms. Byers spoke up, addressing El. "Is there any way that you could... that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this--"

"The Upside Down." El finished.

Joyce's voice fell into a whisper. "Down. Yeah."

El nodded her head yes.

"And my friend Barbara?" Nancy spoke up hesitantly. "Can you find her, too?"

I could see the confidence build in El and it was then that I knew she was willing do everything she could to help us.

+++

We were all gathered around the dining room table, watching with bated breath as El attempted to find Will and Barb. She had breifly explained that she could sometimes find people telepathically somehow. She required white noise, hence Will's walkie was on the table, switched to a blank station so static filled the silence and she had her eyes closed.

Nancy had offered a once torn up photo of Barb sitting on the edge of a pool as a reference for El. What felt like minutes passed and suddenly the lamp overhead flickered and El opened her eyes. Her voice was hoarse.

"I'm sorry."

"What? What's wrong? What's happened?" Mrs. Byers stuttered.

El was blinking back tears and her voice broke. "I can't find them."

+++

El had excused herself to the bathroom, probably to catch her breath. I just hope she wasn't blaming herself. The rest of us are still at the kitchen table, processing everything. My attention was pulled to the boys when they began elaborating more on her powers.

"Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak." Mike said.

My head perked up at this.

"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets," Dustin added.

I've had a lot of time to think about what had happened and what I had done earlier today and in that time I could never help but assume that however, whenever El got her powers, I got mine. Whatever it may be, we must be connected somehow.

I recalled that in the short time I've known her and seen her use her powers, I've seen the toll it takes on her.

If it makes her weak, that must have been why I passed out earlier... my body had never grown accustomed to the exertion.

"Like, she flipped a van earlier."

"It was awesome."

"But she's drained."

"Like a bad battery."

I sat there, my eyes glued to the floor as I listened to the boys unknowingly talk about the similarities between me and El.

I felt a pair of eyes on me and I hesitantly lifted my head and briefly made eye contact with the chief who seemed the slightest bit suspicious of me. I quickly looked away and tried to focus back on the group.

"Well..." Ms. Byers stuttered. "How do we make her better?"

"We don't. We just have to wait and try again." Mike said.

"Well, how long?" Nancy asked.

Mike shrugged his shoulders weakly. "I don't know."

"The bath." El's quiet voice grabbed everyone's attention and we all turned to see her standing just outside the kitchen.

"What?" I asked.

"I can find them." She seemed very hesitant, almost afraid of what she was going to say next. "In the bath."

+++

Well, this is happening.

We really are calling our science teacher at ten o'clock on a Saturday and asking about sensory deprivation tanks and how to build them.

That won't be weird at all.

Nevertheless, we all watched nervously as Dustin stood by the phone and made the call.

"Mr. Clarke? It's Dustin."

"..."

"Yeah, yeah. I just, I... I have a science question,"

I cringed, unable to imagine any scenario in which this would pan out.

"..."

"Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one?"

I run my hands through my hair.

"..."

"Fun."

I furrowed my brows and then sighed defeatedly before putting my face in my hands.

"..."

"You always say we should never stop being curious. To always open any curiosity door we find. Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?"

I couldn't help but let a small chuckle escape, slightly impressed he threw Mr. Clarke's words back in his face and I looked back up.

"..."

All of the sudden Dustin motioned for something to write on and with and Jonathan grabbed a spare notepad and a pencil and Dustin sat at the table, listening to the instructions and writing them down.

"Uh-huh... uh-huh. How much? Uh-huh. Yep, all right. Yeah, we'll be careful. Definitely. All right, Mr. Clarke. Yeah, I'll see you on Monday. I'll see you on Monday, Mr. Clarke bye." Dustin quickly trailed off and was quick to hang up the phone.

"Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" Dustin asked Ms. Byers almost immediately after hanging up.

"Uhh, I think so, yeah."

"Good. Then we just need salt. Lots of it."

"How much is 'lots'?" The chief asked.

Dustin took a look at the notepad and looked back at the chief.

"1,500 pounds."

"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy asked the question everybody seemed to be wondering.

+++

The school. It was the chiefs idea. We all headed to the school, taking separate cars.

The chief and Jonathan went to the shed to grab the bags of salt, Mike and Nancy were getting the hoses while Dustin, Lucas and I set up the pool in the gym.

"Damn, this thing is heavy." Dustin panted as we both rolled the folded up kiddie pool to the center of the gym.

Together we undid the ropes holding it together and attempted to unfold it. After much trial and error we finally were able to get the pool set up. The water temperature had been tested just as much as the bouncy of the egg to determine if there was enough salt.

The finishing touch; Will's walkie switched on to static nearby. Finally, we were ready.

Ms. Byers and and I had helped El into the bath. She had just taken off her shoes and socks as well as the digital watch Mike had given her almost a week ago. Ms. Byers and her seemed to have constructed a waterproof blindfold with ducttape and goggles from the science lab.

We all sat nearby, ready in case she needed anything and it was almost chilling to watch her float on her back. Suddenly, the lights in the gym flickered accompanied by the sounds of the electricity surging and lights went out. We all looked cautiously towards the ceiling before looking back to El.

Seconds felt like hours when suddenly, El spoke. Her voice broke, she sounded fearful.

"Barbara?"

My heart began to faster once more.

El's breathing became frantic and the lights flickered once more.

"What's going on?" Nancy asked worriedly towards us.

"I don't know." Mike said, just as panicked.

"Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy asked frantically to El.

El began whimpering.

"Gone. Gone. Gone."

I looked to Nancy, who brought a hand to her mouth to mask her sobs. My heart ached for her.

My heart was pounding by now. My hands were shaking.

Ms. Byers immediately reached a hand out to El and held her hand, and rubbed her arm comfortingly.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." She cooed.

"Gone. Gone!"

I felt like I was stuck in the middle of a storm, unable to move. Unable to help. Useless. Waiting for the worst.

"It's okay. It's okay. Hey. It's okay." Ms. Byers was doing everything in her power to calm the girl.

Even the chief gently grabbed her other hand to try and soothe her.

"It's okay, we're right here. We're right here, honey. It's okay. I got you. Don't be afraid. I'm right here with you. It's okay. You're safe."

||3rd Person POV||

Eleven found the wave of panic dissolve into nothing as she heard the distant echo of Joyce's voice reassuring her.

For the first time she felt somewhat calm in this horrifying place. Suddenly she saw something the distance.

It was a small hit roughly her height, made from large sticks and branches. It was decorated with flags and a painted sign that read

《•••》

"Castle Byers." El muttered.

My eyes widen in shock and my eyes were glued to the girl in front of me. Terrified of hearing the word "gone".

My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. My fingers grasped the edge of the pool and my knuckles began to turn white.

《•••》

Eleven slowly approached the fort, scared of what she might find. But she knew she had to. She needed to.

After everything everyone had done for her. How kind Mike and [Y/N] had been. She felt she owed it to them. Facing her fears she brought her hand up to the blanket entrance and brushed it aside as she stepped inside.

There he was. Drenched in sweat and slime and shivering from the cold conditions, laid Will Byers unconscious, but clinging to life.

She lowered herself to the ground and sat on her knees.

"Will."

《•••》

"Will?" El asked hopefully.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and everyone around us gasped.

《•••》

In his life-threatening state, he saw the girl kneeling before him and like a mirage, his mind chose to see the girl he grew so fond of.

《•••》

"[Y/N]?" The voice over the walkie talkie echoed all throughout the gym.

My heart stopped and I felt everyone's eyes on me and everyone gasped.

The voice, the sad and broken voice of Will Byers crackled over the radio saying my name causing me to stare at the walkie talkie.

My eyes became glassy and my vision blurred.

He's alive. He's alive and that all that matters.

"That's Will! Tell- You tell him... tell him I'm coming."

《•••》

Eleven spoke the words that echoed in her brain. She grasped the boys hand shook it ever so slightly.

"No, but she's looking for you. Your mom... she's coming for you. Everybody is looking for you."

Finally gathering enough strength to open his eyes, he looked to her and spoke.

||Reader's POV||

"Hurry."

His voice echoed through the gym once more and we all watched feeling helpless.

Ms. Byers began feeding words to El once more.

"Okay. Listen, you tell him to... to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey."

We heard whimpering on the radio and suddenly El shot up, gasping for air making us all jump back. She scrambled backward into Ms. Byers arms and she softly calmed the girl down.

Tears were now freely falling down my cheeks as I try to process everything that just happened.

"Oh, okay, okay. I've got you. It's okay. I got you. I got you. I got you, honey. You did so good. Are you okay?"

I quickly attempt to wipe my tears away with the back of my sleeve as I watch everything unfold. I wanted to be strong for El.

For Will.

+++

Tag List: @fuckwaad @aimee-lucass @iblesstherainsdown-in-africa@miscellaneoustoasts

DM me if you want to be added!

[orphicdawn]

season one. fall of ‘83, start of sophomore year, age sixteen.

chapter one.

caroline is waiting by the door when dustin returns from d&d. she shakes her head and teases, "you trying to give mom a heartache?" he tells her game ran long, and to help him sneak in. "yeah, yeah come on dustpan man."

caroline rolls her eyes at the sight of steve and nancy sneaking into the bathroom. she can't believe nancy would even go there with him ; he is a grade a dick. she heads to class.

caroline is devastated to hear will is missing. she knows how good of friends he is with dustin. she tries to comfort him, but she knows it's not working. she doesn't know he snuck out to meet the others to search for will.

chapter two.

caroline over hears steve and his stooges being disrespectful about jonathan's feelings about will as he hangs posters. she walks through the group purposely bumping into steve and tommy. "pigs," she mutters loud enough for them to hear. she walks up to jonathan and gives him a hug. "i am joining them after school to search for him," she squeezes his shoulder. "let me know if you need anything." she tries to seem civil when nancy approaches; she knows jonathan has always had a crush on her.

she spends the evening with the search party, but returns to her house for dinner. she learns dustin is at the wheelers' for the evening.

chapter three.

caroline notices barbara isn't at school the next day while everyone is spreading rumors regarding nancy and steve hooking up.

caroline sees the tail end of the confrontation between steve and his stooges and jonathan. she's leaving the school when she sees steve drop his camera on the ground. running over to where they were, she gets in a handful of comments before they are too far away. "you trolls are complete garbage!" leaning down she helps him pick up his stuff, but jonathan snatches everything from her and gets in his car.

chapter four.

news of will's body being found spread quickly in the small town. her heart sinks at the loss of not only a good kid, but also a close family friend. she worries about dustin and the rest of their friends.

when she can’t find dustin at after the assembly, she finds their mr. clark their science teacher who tells them that him and the boys and mike’s cousin are in the av room on the ham radio. she goes to them to find some girl she’s never met. at first they try to throw her out, but dustin vouches for her and they fill her in on what they’ve been up to and who this el girl is. she doesn’t know what to think, but she hangs out there and hears will’s voice. she can’t believe it.

chapter five.

she goes back to the wheeler’s house with the other kids to try and figure out what happened. caroline still doesn’t know what to think about everything, but the kids start going on about the vale of shadows from their d&d book. “come on guys this sounds crazy,” she exclaims, but they brush her off and ask el if she can go into the upside down; she doesn’t know how.

the next is will byers funeral. she feels strange attending a funeral where she believes the boy is still alive ; in the upside down. she feels crazy just thinking about it like that. she sees that nancy and jonanthan are sitting away from the rest of the people after the funeral. she walks over to them to hear them talking about some thing. “this thing you guys are whispering about . . . could it have taken will?” they pause for a moment contemplating telling her what they were talking about, but they make up some excuse and go off alone.

caroline returns to the wheeler’s house to meet up with the boys. where dustin discovers the compasses are pointing the wrong way and after their discussion with mr. clark they believe the compasses will lead them to the gate; to will.

caroline tells them they aren’t going alone and tags along on their mission to find the gate. she feels like she must be going crazy, but hearing will’s voice on the ham radio and seeing what el can do has got her believing all of this could truly be happening. when they end up looped around, she tries to defuse the arguing, but she can’t stop lucas and mike from fighting, el from throwing him back, or el from running off.

chapter six.

after the boys got in a fight the day before, and el went missing, she spends most of her day at home with her mother; helping around the house and running errands. while she is out, she witnesses the fight between steve and jonathan after they wrote those things about nancy all over the movie theater. she always thought he was a jerk, but even this was below him.

chapter seven.

later that day she is sent out to go get dustin from the wheelers. as she is riding her old bike over that way, she sees the boys fly pass her with vans following quickly behind. she turns around and begins speeding after them down elm when she witnesses el flipping the van behind them. she quickly rides up beside them, “what the hell is going on?!” no one explains until they make it to the old junkyard. 

as they are talking about what lucas discovered at hawkins lab, they hear a helicopter approaching. they quickly hide their bikes and move for cover in an old bus. “come on, hurry up!” she pushes the door closed and sinks to the floor. “get down!”

as they are hiding out on the bus, they hear nancy coming over their walkies. the boys argue over whether or not to answer, but caroline encourages them that they should trust hopper. mike finally responds telling them their location. 

“dustin, stop,” she complains. “can you three stop fighting for five minutes!” caroline was about to lecture them when they hear the cars approaching. they were found by the hawkin’s lab, but thankfully hopper shows up in time to get them out of there safely. they all return to the byers house. 

the boys explain about the gate to the rest of the group. after watching everything el has done recently, she begins to worry about how much using her powers is exhausting her. “yeah, she just needs a few minutes. she is just a little girl.” when she comes back out and says she can do it in the bath, they begin working towards getting all the supplies they need to make the sensory deprivation tank for el at the school. 

chapter eight.

when nancy and jonathan try to sneak off, caroline catches them and insist she goes with them. “the kids will be alright. they’ll stay put for now,” she retorts. they finally agree and she helps set up the byers house for the monster to find them. 

caroline comes back into the living room to see blood everywhere. they explain that it’s attracted to it and they are trying to lure it in. she simply nods her head, and steps back into the kitchen to give them some privacy; it’s clear they like each other now. suddenly,  there is a knock at the door and it is steve harrington. they try to get him to leave, but it’s too late as the monster appears in the living room. they run back into the bedroom to wait for it, but it disappears --- again. 

as they make their way slowly through the house, the monster is no where to be seen. “steve, shut up,” she hollers before nancy kicks him out. it comes back and attacks them again; steve shows up out of no where with the nailed bat and forces it back into the trap they set.  after the fire is extinguished, it is gone.

the following days after everything, the energy is weird. people are suffering their losses and recovering from the craziness. caroline goes to pick up dustin from d&d night and sees jonathan and will leaving. she smiles and waves as she calls for dustin. as they head out, she wishes everyone a merry christmas. 

[howtohero]

*Yawn* good morning world! Who’s ready to start a wonderful and splendiferous day in which we educate the masses on how to respond to some inane situation? Or perhaps we should talk about another kind of supervillain today? Clowns? Should we do clowns? That could be fun. One sec, you guys hang tight, I’m just going to say good morning to all of my livestock. Good morning Horatio the cow! Good morning Chet the chicken! Good morning Azazel the world-eating pelican that for some reason has taken up residence in my birth bath, can I interest you in some toast? Please don’t eat this world. Good morning Ty- Tyrone? Tyrone the goat? Hello? Gosh where is she, do you think she was out partying last night again with the neighbor’s teacup orangutan? (Hey, who are you talking to? People are trying to sleep here.) The fans! The readers! They crave this personal look into our lives, I’ve gotten letters. (I’m sure.) By the way have you see Tyrone? (Tyrone the goat? Nah, maybe she’s in the stables.) The horse stables? (No the one where we keep Brainwave’s half-ghost half-fire horse monster) Uch I hate those stables, all right I’ll go check. (I don’t want to participate in this bit anymore.) All right, sleep tight. Anyway so now I’m at the stable, I’m opening the door, and... Oh good lord! Again? Seriously? This is the fifth Tyrone the goat. I’m going to lose my mind. That’s it. Sorry clowns, you’ll have to wait til another day. I know what we’re talking about today.

El Chupacabra 

The Chupacabra (from the words “chupar” to suck and “cabra” goat) is a tiny evil monster that eats goats and is the bane of my existence!!!! This three foot tall lizard gremlin keeps sneaking into my farm and sucking all of the blood out of my goats. The goats need that blood. You ever look at a goat and wonder “hey, I wonder what makes it go?” it’s the blood. That’s how the goat gets stuff done. Without the blood it’s dead. So this chupacabra is pretty much single handedly ruining my dreams to manage and choreograph a world-famous dancing goat troupe. So I hate it. So today I’m going to finally teach all of you semi-accomplished superheroes how to take care of my problems for me. 

First let us take stock of what we know about the chupacabra:

The chupacabra likes goats. But not in the way you and I like goats. It likes them for food. Disgusting. (Note: if you are a person who enjoys goat meat, please do not be offended. You are not climbing into our backyard and killing our dancing goats. We have no beef with you.) But it is important to note that it seem to only like goats. No people have ever been attacked by the chupacabra.

The chupacabra was first spotted in Puerto Rico in 1995. This teaches us two things. One, the chupacabra is at least 24 years old and is old enough to know that killing other people’s goats is wrong. Two, the chupacabra has a boat, because Puerto Rico and my house are separated by lots of water, among other things.

I am deeply offended by the fact that somebody gave the chupacabra a boat and yet here I am, like a chump, with no boat. What about me tells people that they shouldn’t give me a boat? Is it the way I stand?

The chupacabra is half-reptile, half-demon (probably). We took some mysterious DNA off of the last Tyrone the goat that got chupacabra’d and sent it to Ancestry.com and that’s what we got back. Reptile on its dad’s side, demon on its mom’s side if you were wondering. (It is also completely possible that the fourth Tyrone the goat was the half-reptile, half-demon. We’re not scientists.)

The chupacabra actually is not affiliated with the scoundrel known as El Chad. (Which, again, just means “the Chad” in Spanish, he is without a doubt the worst person we know and we have a bona fide, unrepentant, supervillain living in our basement.) We actually caught El Chad a few months back, and he confessed that he’d never even heard of el chupacabra. Which is perhaps the most baffling part of that episode.

That’s it. That’s all we know. So we’ve got our work cut out for us. We don’t know its likes or dislikes. We don’t even know its gender. We don’t even know if it has gender. It’s half-reptile, all bets are off with this thing. We especially don’t know if it’s specifically targeting us because we’ve got dancing goats and those have yummier blood, or if it’s because we’ve called it out a few times on our very popular blog. We actually don’t know if it’s specifically targeting us at all. That’s a matter of much heated debate at our dinner table and I will not bore you with the specifics. [Look I’m just saying that we have no reason to believe we our personally being targeted.] Oh yeah? Then why haven’t any of the neighbors had any problems with the chupacabra? [Because nobody else in our neighborhood owns goats!] Anyway, I’m sorry you had to see that. 

Yet, even with our limited knowledge, I believe that our best bet in catching this nefarious goat-sucker is to think like a nefarious goat-sucker. In order to get into the mindset I suggest getting a tall glass of goat blood and sipping on it while thinking really hard about things you think the chupacabra might be thinking about. Think about writing your demon-mother a belated Mother’s Day card in which you apologized for missing Mother’s Day because you were apparently too busy easting a soon-to-be-world-famous dancing goat to come to brunch. Think about how much you love having a boat and of all the cool sea activities you can do with it. Think about how delicious the blood you’re drinking tastes. Even if you don’t actually like it. Remember, you need to think like a chupacabra. Once you’ve gotten into the proper mindset I’m sure you’ll know exactly what to do to capture it! Or, you’ll become a goat-sucking monster yourself. In which case, my bad.

You could also try setting an ambush for the chupacabra. Or a sting operation! That could be fun. Camp out in front of your goat pen with a tranquilizer gun and some chips and wait for that sucker to show up on its own accord. Lying in wait is the easiest way to catch any urban legend. So what are you waiting for? Quit your job! Cancel your plans! And catch! That! Chupacabra!

You could also try outsmarting the chupacabra. That shouldn’t be too hard. As far as we know, it has not received any kind of formal education. (We could be completely wrong about this of course, for all we know it graduated top of its class from Harvard Law.) In order to outsmart it we must go back to our list of things we know about the chupacabra, namely, that it has never attacked a human. We can only assume that this is because human blood is poisonous to the chupacabra. We’ve thought long and hard about this, and there’s literally no other explanation. Killing a human is much easier to do than killing a goat. Have you ever tried to fight a goat? They’ll mess you up. So it must be that the chupacabra can only safely ingest goat blood. So, in order to put an end to this menace forever... you need to dress up like a goat and hang out in a goat pen for a bit. Then, when the chupacabra inevitably attacks you and sucks all of the blood out of your body, it will die from poison. Ingenious. Sure, one of you guys are going to die, but you’ll be taking the chupacabra with you! The world will be a much better place, and for that I salute you. 

The evil of the chupacabra has gone unchecked for too long. How many goats must fall before we wake up and take a stand against its menace? I say no more! No more must our goats live in fear! If goats can experience fear! Again, I am not a scientist. No longer will the world be deprived of the majesty of Just Bleat It the all goat dance crew. So go, go my followers, find the chupacabra, do not rest until you do. Only then will I know peace. Only then will the world be safe. (You’re giving off a real scary vibe here dude.) 

[themikewheelers]

In the dark we’ll lay, in your arms I’ll stay

Mike creaked open the door to the nursery, looking for the familiar mess of curls that had been missing from beside him when he woke up. It must’ve been some time past 3AM, but ever since their daughter, Lily, had been born, Mike and El’s sleep schedules had been gradually becoming more and more irregular. 

When El’s side of the bed was empty, Mike knew exactly where she must be. Neither of them had been sleeping all that well lately, taking care of a three-month-old baby made sure of that, but at least Mike had been getting as much rest as he could in the breaks between changing and feeding and bathing her. El, on the other hand, hadn't even been trying to sleep. More and more nights Mike had found her curled up with her back against Lily’s crib, fighting exhaustion while wanting to stay awake in case her daughter needed her.

It made Mike’s heart swell to see. When El had found out she was pregnant a year ago, it didn't take long for the insecurity to drip in. She had so little experience with babies, and she certainly had no idea how to be a mom. Mike spent all those months reassuring her that she’d be amazing at it, and since Lily was born El just proved that, becoming the most dedicated, loving mother around, even when that selflessness had started to hurt her. Mike was worried about his wife. The amount of sleepless nights had been piling up. She’d been wearing herself thin in the effort to make sure Lily was always safe.

El turned around when she heard the nursery door creak. She was cradling her baby in her arms, rocking her back and forth by the window.

“Shhh,” She quieted Mike, and he stopped dead in his tracks, not wanting to move another inch or make any noise, “I just got her to sleep.”

Mike couldn't pretend to ignore the growing bags under her eyes. Darkness from outside came creeping through the windows, making the normally bright and lively room feel a lot more somber. The yellow walls were dimmed, the only light coming from the lamp on the dresser.

Mike stepped towards his wife, wrapping his arms around her from behind. He buried his nose into her curls, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Quiet moments like this were becoming increasingly rare, rather being replaced with the constant sounds of a screaming baby, so the peaceful moments were much appreciated. El leaned her head back against Mike. Her eyes shut as her body relaxed after all the stress of the day.

“She can sleep in her crib, you know. You don't have to stay up yourself to hold her.” Mike leaned away to gesture towards the empty crib across the room, and El struggled to open her eyes as the weights on her eyelids kept pressing down.

“I don't like to leave her,” El whispered back, her voice hushed as not to wake the sleeping child, “You know that.”

Mike did know that. It all came back to one of those fateful nights back before Lily was born. El was about 6 months pregnant at the time, and the realization that in just a few months they would really be parents was starting to sink in. Overwhelmed with nerves, Mike and El found themselves most nights curled up beneath their blankets, venting out their fears to one another in the dark, reassuring the other everything would be fine while simultaneously wondering how they’d ever handle this themselves.

It was on one of those nights they were up late together talking that El came clean about one of her biggest fears about the baby, if they would have her powers, and if they did, how could El protect them. She didn't want to end up like her own mother, her child taken from her and being sent into endless despair for years searching for them, but she had no idea how to prevent that. If somehow the bad men found out she was pregnant, even if El herself wasn't in danger of them coming after her anymore, what if they wanted her child?

Even after Lily was born, those fears remained. She was three months old now, and hadn't yet shown any sign of harboring the same abilities as her mother, and there hadn't been any government workers come to take her away, but El couldn't seem to let her fear go. Mike had told her she was just being protective, those were her mom-instincts kicking in to take care of their daughter, but even if that was the case, El couldn't help the way anxiety flooded throughout her body whenever she was away from Lily. She was scared she would turn her back one day, and then when she turned around, woosh, Lily would be gone, taken to some new lab to be prodded and examined while El was stuck searching for a daughter she'd never find.

She knew her fears were illogical, and they manifested themselves in ridiculous ways, but that knowledge didn't ease them. She knew she shouldn't have any reason to worry, she should be able to go sleep in her own bed for a night while Lily slept alone in her room, but whenever she tried that, the nightmares that came with it weren't worth the rest.

“I wanna apologize to my dad.” She leaned her head further back so it was resting on Mike’s shoulder behind her.

“Hm?”

“For being so mad at him for protecting me when we were kids. For keeping me in the cabin. I get it now.” El lifted her head so she could look down at Lily, “I don't understand how he was as calm as he was. I'd be going out of my mind if that was Lily and I in that situation. Doing everything I could to make sure she’s safe, even if it drove her crazy.”

El had enough fears about someday having to go into hiding with her family to protect Lily, like she had to go into hiding back when she was a kid. The thought terrified her, and as aggravating as it had been when she was younger, she never before realized just how nerve-wracking it all must have been for Hopper. She'd always known he did it to protect her, but now that she had a daughter of her own to protect and could see it from a parent’s perspective, it really began to make sense.

Mike lifted his arms, still wrapped around El, to grab onto one of El’s hands and one of Lily’s. Lily squeezed onto his finger in her sleep, and he couldn't help but break into a doofy grin, the two girls he loved most in the world holding onto him. “We can go visit Hop soon, if you want.”

Mike didn't admit it, but he missed Hopper himself. The two weren't always so close, but when Mike’s relationship with El had become more serious when they were teenagers and he started spending so much time with her and Hopper, they began to bond. They had almost nothing in common besides the fact that they both cared for Eleven, but Hop was quick to induct him into the family. Especially when things got bad at home with his parents, it was nice having someone like Hop to rely on. Not to mention, Hopper was great with Lily. He spoiled his granddaughter like a queen and was always looking forward to seeing her.

El smiled and nodded her head. Her and Mike had been living in their small apartment in Indianapolis for years now, and though it was only an hour drive from Hawkins, El missed everybody back home. They tried to visit as much as they could, but bringing Lily made that a bit more complicated, so their visits had decreased the last few months.

“El?”

“Mhm?”

“You need to sleep.”

El turned around to argue with him that she was fine and she wasn't even tired, that she's used to not getting enough sleep and it doesn't matter. But when she turned to face her husband and looked into his annoyingly omniscient eyes she knew there was no use. He could read her like a book; she couldn't lie to him even if she wanted to.

Those damn eyes she loved so much, staring down at her, knowing exactly what she was thinking. “I just wanna stay here with Lily” El tried to argue, but Mike ignored her.

“Lily doesn't need you hovering over her all the time. What she needs is a mom who's happy and healthy and not sleep-deprived that can take care of her. You're not helping her by wearing yourself thin, you're just hurting the both of you.”

El knew he was right, and she hated that. She knew there was no use in trying to debunk that, but it didn't change the fact that when she looked down at her little girl in her arms, she couldn't imagine leaving her.

“Look at her.” El rocked the baby in her arms, her thumb rubbing back and forth across Lily’s arm, “She's so little and innocent. No one’s ever hurt her yet. I don't want her first time getting hurt to be because I left her alone and couldn't protect her.”

“Hey, hey, hey.” Mike stopped her, grabbing onto her shoulders and pulling her closer to him, “That's not gonna happen. She’s safe, and nothing’s ever gonna hurt her while she’s got the two of us just down the hallway.”

He wrapped her in a loose hug with Lily between them before kissing her forehead and continuing, “She's gonna be a fighter, okay? Just like her mom. And until then, she's got us to fight for her. But we can't take care of her if we're so tired we can't even take care of ourselves.”

El nodded her head, closing her eyes and finally allowing herself to feel all the exhaustion she'd been trying to push away lately. Her whole body felt like lead, a headache was pounding against her forehead. If she hadn't been holding Lily then, she was sure she would have collapsed onto Mike right there and had him carry her back to their room.

Mike seemed to sense this, and scooped Lily from her arms, “Go to bed, alright? I'll sit with Lily for a few minutes, if she wakes up I'll read her a story or something and put her back to sleep.”

El was too tired to form a response, nodding her head slightly before sluggishly dragging herself out of the room. She could barely even open her eyes, making the trip from the nursery to her bedroom by memory instead of relying on her sight to guide her.

Mike set Lily down in her crib, and watched her in awe for a minutes, wondering how he became so lucky for something to have gone so right in his life to bring him to this moment, with the best family he ever could wish for.

And when he made it back his bedroom 10 minutes later, he was glad to find his wife passed out under a hoard of blankets. Smiling, he laid down next to her and pulled her closer to him. If she was going to steal all the blankets, then he would steal her body heat after all. She grumbled in her sleep slightly, but then buried her face deep into his chest.

For once, everybody in the apartment was asleep. Everybody was peaceful, everybody was silent.

Tag List: @bbc-radio-phan @jiwa-de-kutsi @theamiableanachronism @sunflowertozier @littledancersun @justthatfan @el-hoppers @alwaysmebeforeyou @paladin-wheeler @hilolabear @puzzlingsnark @bellstiles @coneygoil @kisu Message me or shoot me an ask if you wanna be added or taken off the tag list !!!

[freereignastarwarsstory]

Interlude 1: New Heart

 I was drifting about in a dream, I think. There were a lot of explosions going on and people shooting at people and people getting shot.

I reached for the lightsaber I wasn't suppose to have before I felt fire blaze through my leg.

My eyes flew open.

        My body shot up from bed and I was already walking before my mind was totally comprehending that I was awake. I stopped in my path halfway to the door of my room and rubbed my eyes sleepily. Looking around, I noticed the small sunbeam from the hole in my roof as it brought in the sounds of wildlife. I began laughing to myself as I spun around in the warm and fast moving energy of the sun, my bare feet seemingly weightless on the cool stone floor. I don’t why I was laughing, it just felt good.

As for the usual start to my day, I felt something pull at my heartstrings, urging me towards the door of my room.

A smile stretched across my face.

“Hold on a second, at least let me put my clothes on. But thanks for the heads up, I’m glad we have work to do!” My voice spoke, erupting into the peaceful silence as I spoke to my guide.

I looked around my home of five years as I began to throw my clothes on and adjust my armor pieces. Finding this place after the crash hadn’t been easy. My guide’s home was so heavily hidden amongst the forest, the sprawling buildings looked more like a small mountain range covered in grasses and vines.

I had learned a long time ago, from the guide’s home, that it was actually called the Force. It was nice to be on a first name basis with it, but I had yet to be answered on my constant question to it which was ‘what kind of name is the Force? That sounds like a title?’ but we still had time to get to know each other better, after all, five years was nothing to an energy that has always and will always exist.

Slapping the buckles on my boots down, I rose from the floor and reached for my trench coat to start the day off right. Gripping the smooth fabric in my hands, I slipped the comfortable weight onto my shoulders. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in and let my eyes close as I began to walk for the door to my room.

The darkness in my eyelids enveloped the room. Holding my hand out in front of me, I pushed at the Force as I began sensing the little obstacles scattered across the floor of my room. I began to place one foot in front of the other.

Pebble. Another pebble. Some other things- probably a crack, just don’t step there. I tried to identify the objects beyond my closed eyes when my hand came in contact with the smooth door.

I opened my eyes with a smile as I turned to look at how I did.

I knew just from living here long enough that the floor would always be covered in little pebbles and cracks and glass shards, but mixing them up on my floor in the dark every night before I went to bed made for a great sensing practice… I think.

Most of the little boxed up holograms here required students train with a master, and there weren’t too many solo practices I could learn without already being a full blown master, so I made up training exercises for myself.

Shaking myself from my thoughts, I reached for the panel to open the door.

Nothing.

Crouching down in front of it, I began vigorously pressing the button as fast as possible until I decided that it wasn’t working, as usual, and I would have to just pry the door open from the space between the two panels, also as usual.

It annoyed me on a regular basis but I refrained from complaining, after all, this temple was super old. But, it was the Force’s home, so I loved it.

The door finally squeaked open and I stepped out of my room and on the inner courtyard “balcony”. The cool morning sunlight shone down through my “skylight”. In reality, this place was in ruins. My balcony used to have another wall to it, with probably more rooms on the other side, but half of a hallway is probably better identified as a balcony than a hallway. My skylight, on the same note, was actually a huge hole in this wing of the temple’s ceiling that stretched all the way down to the ground floor. From what I can tell from the other “balconies” above and below me, whatever had shot, fallen, or blown through this place had gone through about seven floors and had nearly hollowed out the building. Pipes had blown and now the ground floor was littered with sparkling waterfalls and lively ponds, and with a completely abandoned temple all to yourself, I know for a fact that no one cares if you take a bath in those or just walk around naked in general, not as fun as it had sounded at first though.

Beginning my walk through the guide’s daily path, I smiled and simply enjoyed the small purple and white birds with their long trailing tails flitting around through the sunlight and diving down to the shadowed pools below to pick at the vines and grass holding nearly every part of the temple together by sheer will.

I smiled and laughed again. Skipping once into the air, I broke into a sprint down the half-hall. Feeling my heart beating in my chest, my coattails flying like wings behind me, and my brown hair going up in tangles with the little wind that had picked up through the hollow building, my mind began to race with the stream. I looked next to me in the empty space as I imagined creatures of every color and size racing along with me. Scales, tentacles, fur, all running and flying along with me to who-know-where the Force was guiding me today.

“Kar-ab!” I shouted in joy as I tumbled forward doing a somersault across the floor before springing to my feet pretending to extend my hand and send an enemy flying with the help of my guide.

My feet and hands began to imitate the motions of the Jedi I had watched on in the holograms.

Duck! Tumble! Punch! Jab!

“Force jump!” I yelled in excitement as I lept into the air.

Of course, I felt the Force surrounding me, but I didn’t jump any higher than usual. That had never worked before, but everyday was worth a shot! Every moment here was worth a shot.

My feet slowed to a jog.

I became aware of the trinkets lying heavy in my pocket. All six.

I sighed and closed my eyes.

When I opened them, there they were.

“Hey guys! How are you?” I spoke to my family.

“We’re fine as always Vis, where are you off to today?” Gu-el, a Twi’lek and the co-pilot/my honorary brother asked with a smile.

“Oh I’m not sure yet! I think my guide wants me to go reset one of my traps which might mean someone’s breaking in today but I’m still not sure.” I said with a smile.

“Well your instincts have never been wrong before so be sure of yourself!” Abedmalech, our captain spoke firmly.

“Ok, I will!”

I watched my mother step forward.

Her human face standing out among the rest of my family.

“How are you doing my dear?” She asked coming up and placing her hand on my almost human face.

I closed my eyes at her touch and smiled.

“I’m doing fine. I love it here, even though I don’t know where here is. But my guide loves it, so I love it!” I smiled up at her hanging my hand on her arm.

“Don’t you ever get lonely here all by yourself?” she asked with worry in her eyes.

“Oh course not! I have my guide, and the birds, and whatever I imagine to talk to! And you guys of course!”

“Oh my darling…” she bit her lip, “We love you so much.”

“I love you guys too.”

“Well we’re holding you up so we’ll let you be on your way then!” My mom said with a smile as she began backing up to the rest of the group.

“What are you talking about!? I ALWAYS have time for you guys! You don’t have to go yet!” I smile desperately as I began to walk towards them my hand out stretched.

But they were gone.

I lowered my hand and looked around the ruins of the temple.

I laughed a little under my breath, squeezing my eyes shut.

My imagination is always an amazing thing to keep around.

And as always, the Force pulled at me to keep going forward. I sighed and wiped my nose on my sleeve.

“Don’t worry guys… I’ll protect this place no matter what! I have a job to do!” I nearly screamed as I pulled myself out of it.

Lying around feeling sad never got me anywhere with my day and that always made my guide sad too. Jogging down the hallway, I made it to the end and turned to the sheer drop leading down to the ground floor. The old ladder that might’ve been apart of a service tunnel still clung to the wall. Reaching for it, my fingers clung to the rails as I made my way down step by step.

I had made it a game quite a while ago to move one level up once a month and make it an effort to sleep in every room in the temple. I mean, why not? Plus, I’ve made so many bunk beds at this point I don't feel even the slightest bit deprived.

I reached the bottom rungs as I felt a draft of cool forest air flowing in from outside. I let go of the rung and let myself fall the remaining inches down. For the moment I was airborne, I let my sense flare out as I sensed the stones and pebbles below. Maneuvering my legs I tried to land where the stones were not. My boot hit the floor and went sliding out from under me causing me to land on my butt. I looked across the cracked beige stone that made up the debilitated floor and saw the patch of moss my foot had slid on, completely smushed.

“Come on Vis, moss is alive that should’ve been easy.” I mumbled to myself as I wiggled up off the floor.

I looked across the lower level floor that seemed to stretch on endlessly, then to the gaping opening I assumed had once been a “grand entrance” of some kind, now vines had overtaken the opening and the sunlight streaming through was the temple’s only guests.

I closed my eyes.

I took a deep breath.

I raised my hand in front of me.

The force flowing through me began to wrap itself through my veins, flowing into my wrists, then my hand, and connected with the energy outside myself.

It jolted through my body.

The vibrating life moving through everyone, everything. The stones, the vines, the sunlight, the birds, their movement moved the air. Expending energy and gaining energy all at once. Nothing ever dying, just moving.

My breath was heavy as I stretched myself thin through the paths. The movements and possible outcomes of futures waiting for me to create. Things the Force wanted me to find or do that would benefit myself and its cause.

This was my purpose.

This was my strength.

I am a servant of the Force, the one protecting this temple and its knowledge, the one being protected by its master.

My eyes opened.

“Reset my traps then go to the library. Got it!”

I sprinted towards the right hand side of the temple to a small opening in the ground and jumped through to the dark passages below.

I laid my hand along the mossy wall and the veins of the temple began to glow. I ran along with them, as they vibrated and flowed with the blue light of a content and calm spirit.

Regarding my path for the day, I knew nothing was happening yet, but that didn't mean it wouldn’t. I was guessing more bandits were to be the culprit. Different groups had come snooping around in the past, what they were looking for I didn’t know, but I also didn’t care. This temple was for me and my guide.

I came to the crossroads of the passageways, without hesitation I went to the left, my legs telling me where to go. I saw up ahead one of the openings to the sky letting sunlight pour in. My guide pushing me forward I came to the opening and jumped to grab onto the edges of the dirt and grass making up the surface above. Wiggling my way out of the ground like a locust, I looked around for my boobie traps.

“Heh, boobie trap.” I laughed to myself as I walk carefully towards the net in the grass. It had been sprung, but no person was inside. “I wonder what walked across this thing…”

Shrugging, because I only had the nagging sense this was important but the feeling wasn’t screaming in my face, so I went about just trying to reset it without the sleeping darts nicking me in the process.

I went and climbed the tree I had attached it to. Every heart shaped leaf was tipped with the fainted purple and smelled like a million bottles of perfume. My nose always burned at the scent of them, so I can’t even imagine having allergies. Luckily for me the strong smell hid the equally powerful smell of the sleep poison loaded in the dart sticks glued to the trees to pierce the ones that got trapped in the net.

Shimmying along the huge branch, I go to the ropes wound up in the spring loaded gears and grabbed on. I slid off and the net came down with me, lowering me to the floor until I heard a satisfying click when the ropes were relocked into place. I looked up at the dart sticks hidden in the branches.

“Note to self: review hologram box on blow darts, those would be way better if you can figure them out.” With that I felt my path here clear, my mission was completed. Time for breakfast!

I skipped over to the opening in the grass and jumped through, back into the passage.

Walking this time, my eyes followed the beautiful blue veins that flowed through the entire temple from head to toe whenever I reached out with the Force to touch the inside of the walls, or laid my hand to the cracking stones like an old friend. I think the temple appreciated my friendly touch.

For the longest time I wondered where the veins came from and how they worked. And as always, my guide would take me by my hand and we would go explore the library for answers. Besides setting up traps and defending the temple from future intruders and practicing my connections, I read about everything there is to read about.

Holocrons, which I call hologram boxes or (hologram triangles if they were the angry ones), they held most of my answers but they didn’t have the same feel to them as scrolls. The scrolls were as old as dirt with more questions about the Force than answers, they almost fall apart in my hands, but they’re so beautiful. They don’t just give me answers, the give me questions to drift about in, and history in which to reenact and finish. They leave me with something to question and I think that’s way more important. If we didn’t question anything, then how would new information ever be made? How would new information ever be discovered if someone wasn’t brave enough to question the right things. They may sound stupid, maybe they sound crazy, but it might make someone think in a good way about the universe, then a story can begin and they can be guided too. If I can do that someday, just speak the truth and inspire someone to think, I think I might complete some kind of other purpose the Force wants for me, though who can tell really? We are all connected to so many threads.

I found myself having wandered to the passage hole beneath the library. I smiled and ran to the stairs this passage hole still clung onto. Emerging into the light, I spun about in place as I watched the transparent energy in between the air swirling about about before my eyes and clustered about the cases of holoboxes and holotriangles and scrolls.

“Show me the way.” I laughed to my guide and I quickly bent down to touched the floor with as much flare as possible.

The veins light up below my touch run along the floor moving up the the cases. The contents bursting to life with their own respective lighting and shifting colors.

I looked around as I dusted my hands off.

From what I learned about the veins from the corrupted holofiles I got my hands on and what I half theorized was that, they were built to respond to the touch of a force wielder. From what I could tell, they were made from the same sort of crystal material as the holocrons. When I had first gotten here, nothing glowed like this. I hadn’t really noticed with all the fear and anger churning me up, but things did glow, but in a different light. Mostly red, sometimes purple, sometimes yellow. It was like I was fueling the temple with one emotion and it was depicting every hue that I felt. It reminded me of the freckles on my face actually.

My mainly human appearance blocked up with the spinal ridges along my nose and forehead, and the color shifting freckles on my face.

The temple seemed to have the same blood running through its veins, but the veins, of course, only pump when they have a heart to fuel it.

I grabbed a hologram box and threw it to the Force.

My guide caught it and opened the box for me. As it opened, I walked along one of the veins and the box followed the path over to my table and chair. Hovering over the large metal table with its own glass center; it connected to the temple systems and showed me the individual files within the holocron. A Vahla woman appear from the box, she wore a simple smile on her face and her robe and garments underneath followed a similar pattern.

“Hello, I am Master Ghare and welcome to my lesson for alternatives to fighting and violence.”

The holocron woman continued on in the background with something about importance of composer and peace and all that good stuff while my eyes danced about busily through the uncorrupted files for anything on blow darts and non lethal poisons.

In the back on my mind, I heard the stone walls groan ever so slightly.

Without warning I felt power go out of me and run through one of the veins.

I gasped a little and turned around as the Force began to whisper to me.

The walls groaned and cracked as they split apart and opened up.

I felt my heart racing as I stared at the new opening in the library walls leading down to where it seemed even the veins couldn’t light up.

I felt fear claw at my spirit as the holocron fell silent.

The Force pushed me forward and for the first time in a long time, I refused to move.

“I think I might miss breakfast today.”

[mariaclaragomez276]

Where the SLH Team are dreaming of spending Christmas

We’ve had to use our imaginations for most of 2020 when it comes to travel, stocking up on inspiration for when we can explore the world again. While we’re planning to stay closer to home this holiday season, the most magical time of the year has us dreaming of snowy or sunnier settings – here’s the SLH Team’s Christmas wish list.

We’re dreaming of a White Christmas…

Daniel Luddington – Vice President of Development

I would head to Swedish Lapland for a Scandinavian Christmas beneath the Northern Lights at Arctic Bath, one of our newest and coolest additions to the SLH portfolio – think floating cabins, star-gazing decks and real life reindeer with a traditional Sámi herder.

Christopher Grime – Head of Product Integration

The romantic in me likes a cold and perhaps also snowy Christmas. Carol and I spent a few days in the Cotswolds in late November last year at Dormy House and whilst there was no snow, the Christmas trees were up, the smell of open log fires pervaded the air and hot chocolate or hot toddies were the order of the day. It would be lovely to go back there.

My other choices would be El Lodge Ski and Spa as I have never skied in Spain before; Hotel Rangá in Iceland for the Northern Lights and hot tub under the stars; Storfjord Hotel in Norway for those views of the fjord by the patio fire pan…and perhaps some Storfjordbrygg – an ale produced for the hotel and served nowhere else – what’s not to like; Dorsia Hotel & Restaurant in Gothenburg – I have only been to Stockholm in Sweden and I loved that, so I would love to give Gothenburg a try; and finally Hotel Lilla Roberts in Finland – I love the Art deco style and for some reason I am strangely drawn to the concept of a traditional Finnish sauna followed by ice swimming!

Rafael Pirassinunga – Operations Manager – World of Hyatt Partnership

I’d love to spend Christmas at Terelj Hotel, just outside of Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia has always fascinated me and as a proper Grinch I’d like to spend Christmas in a non-Christmassy location, social distancing from the world. It combines all the wild beauty and serenity of the steppe with comfort and services of a luxury hotel –  what’s not to like? Plus, winter is also the season for eagle hunting which is one of the coolest things in the world I’d like to experience.

Abi Tottenham-Smith – Head of Social Media

I am a big lover of a cold, snowy Christmas. I have only ever been abroad somewhere hot over Christmas once in Vietnam, and it was pretty miserable to be honest – for me, Christmas just isn’t the same in the heat, and away from family! Therefore, I would love to spend Christmas with my family at one of the SLH ski hotels. Miramonti Boutique Hotel has been on my list for a while, purely for the photos of the swimming pool and the ‘relaxation room’ but it looks even cosier in the winter, and the perfect place to spend the holiday season!

Jemima O’Lone – Digital Content and Design Manager

My travel plans have been thin on the ground this year, like everyone else, and I have longed for a hot weather holiday! However, I just can’t tear myself away from mountains, snow and open fires in the winter! So it would have to be Storfjord Hotel in Norway or any one of our beautiful ski hotels.

Chloe Frost-Smith – Digital Image & Content Executive

Although I am almost certainly Vitamin-D deprived after this year, I would always still opt for a white Christmas on the slopes – it’s hard to beat a Christmas Day ski! Le Coucou Méribel looks incredibly stylish as well as cosy, and the French really know how to celebrate when it comes to festive food. Thinking closer to home, retreating to Inverlochy Castle in the wilderness of the Scottish Highlands for the holiday season would be top of my list, for both Christmas and Hogmanay.

Gabor Toth – Global Training and EMEA Revenue Account Manager

I would like to spend the holiday season at Le Grand Bellevue, Gstaad – you have pretty much everything you want on your doorstep. Apart from being surrounded by hundreds of kilometres of ski pistes, the location offers you everything from restaurants to shops, to events for all ages. I would also enjoy the hotel’s own spa after skiing all day and in case you’re too tired or lazy, you can dine in at the hotel, where you can choose from their Michelin-starred menu, featuring amazing sushi or traditional Swiss cuisine.

Patrick Pieters – Senior Revenue Account Manager – EMEA

It would have to be Nimb Hotel in Copenhagen for me – the Christmas lights in the Tivoli Gardens are a must see!

Floriana Cosentino – Revenue Account Manager EMEA

I would love to stay at Crossbasket Castle in Scotland. I have never been yet unfortunately, and love the idea of staying in a traditional Scottish castle. Their rooms look so spacious, warm and full of character. It has lovely grounds and a river just by it, with a little terrace where I would love to have my tea. I can imagine it all “Christmassy” with their special festive package –  this would make me feel it is Christmas at its best.

Crystal Davies – Senior Revenue Account Manager – APAC

I would like to spend Christmas in Eichardt’s Private Hotel in Queenstown, New Zealand. The hotel is located right in front of Lake Wakatipu, the longest lake in New Zealand which is 380m deep. The water temperature is about 15 degrees even in summer, it is so deep that it never gets warmed up! Christmas is rather hot in Australia where I live, so it would be the perfect place to escape the heat.

The hotel main building has mountain and lake view suites, and the Penthouse is on the top floor with the most amazing bathtub overlooking the lake. The hotel has a fine dining restaurant, a recently opened spa, and is in a superb location, with many shops, high end and casual dining options available within walking distance.

The amount of activities I would be able to do nearby the hotel is impressive. Many water sports and sky diving can be arranged, along with the longest bungy jump (134m) in New Zealand which also happens to be in Queenstown. If you are not so extreme, walking by the lake is just lovely. The hotel has a luxury yacht, Pacific Jemm, which takes you out for a day tour or sunset cruise – a nice way to spend Christmas with family and friends. You can be very active or relaxed during your stay, I highly recommend it.

Anna-Lisa Hafgren-Willis – Regional Manager – Americas & Travel Trade Relations Manager

I would love to experience a European Christmas market and doing so amidst the medieval walls of Tallinn would be a double treat. Returning to the lovely Hotel St. Petersbourg for a sauna and cocktail by a fireplace would be magical.

Lita Moreno – Sales Manager, Southeast USA

I would love to spend Christmas anywhere where there is snow – Stein Eriksen Residences in Utah, Le Grand Bellevue in Gstaad or Le Coucou Méribel. I don’t really ski but would love to do other activities, explore the towns nearby and get cosy in front of a fire place at night. I live in Florida so it’s quite hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it’s warm!

Katrin Holtkott – Barter Room Co-ordinator

Please put me down for Storfjord Hotel in Norway (happy to share it with any of my colleagues!) I love the Nordic design and décor, I will feel even closer to Santa Claus, and the idea of long hikes through the snow and forests with an open fire and cosy blankets waiting on my return, a good book and a glass of wine or hot chocolate (or both!) – what could be better for a Christmas break?

April Lee Smith – Group Accounts Assistant

I would stay at the Stein Eriksen Residences in the USA. The mountainous snow and wooded exterior give it an old school American Christmas movie feel. I can just imagine spending a few days here with the family.

Sunny Season’s Greetings…

Barbara Levedag – Vice President Business Development EMEA

Regarding Christmas wishes, I shall be joining the sun seekers amongst us – and my choice would be The Plettenberg by The Liz McGrath Collection. I’ve been lucky enough to have visited ‘The Plett’ once in June 2019 – a stay too short. My heart beats for the stellar beauty that is South Africa.

Situated along one of the country’s many incredible sights – the Garden Route – the hotel enjoys a prime position right on one of the many beautiful white sandy beaches around the small town of Plettenberg. Watch the Indian and the Atlantic Ocean meet – including whales (seasonally) and dolphins if you’re lucky from the hotel’s beautiful terrace or from one of their delightful Corner Suites.

The property’s feel good vibes coupled with a genuine friendliness of a wonderful team invite instant relaxation in a picture-perfect beachfront setting.

Oswaldo Sampaio – Head of Quality Assurance

Whilst all of our SLH hotels would make a wonderful home-from-home during the holiday season, given the opportunity there is one hotel in our portfolio where I would spend my annual leave – at Baros Maldives. Despite the isolation in the middle of the Indian Ocean they have very strong Wi-Fi so one could even stay there to WFM – ‘work from Maldives!’

The property opened in 1973 – it is a grand dame that has stood the test of time and aged truly gracefully by renovating, adding new facilities and staying on trend with the latest features in modern hospitality. Their facilities are second to none and the service, provided by their long-standing staff, is unforgettable. Our best senior inspectors left Baros Maldives in awe: awarded the 2017 Resort Hotel of the Year by SLH, I came to Baros with pretty high expectations. My experience at this hotel sets the benchmark of what an SLH experience should be – it was nothing short of amazing. Very proper, traditional hospitality in paradise, a well-oiled operation that I can’t wait to experience again one day.

Suzanne Drew – Director SLH Finance and Data Protection Officer

I would like to spend Christmas at The Sandpiper, after a year of feeling trapped inside and seeing very little sun, Barbados would provide a welcome respite from the gloomy UK winter.  The smell and sound of the Caribbean Sea, a Rum Sour from Harold’s Bar and the sunshine on my skin are what I need.

Joanna Renwick – Executive PA to CEO

I would love to spend the holiday season on Petit St. Vincent Island with my family. I grew up in the West Indies on the island of Grenada and Christmas for me was always a huge family occasion – my favourite part was always Boxing Day on the beach with all of our family and friends. You’d often see Santa whizzing past on water skis!

This year has been really hard not being able to see my family because of COVID-19 and it has me craving the beautiful white beaches, warm sunshine and the scent of spices in the air.

Maddy Morgan – Director of PR Worldwide

I have never spent Christmas somewhere hot and having missed out on all my holidays this year a tropical Christmas is definitely on the cards. I would love to go to Calala Island in NiCaribbean and completely switch off in one of the four suites at this ultra all-inclusive hideaway while my kids are entertained by pirate treasure hunts. Maybe I’d take over the whole island for the ultimate festive reunion!

Jessica Sparkes – Head Of Digital Performance

A usual Christmas for me is always a big family occasion, so it would need to be at a UK country house with beautiful grounds for walking off all the turkey and trimmings. However, as with everyone else this year, I am seriously craving some holiday sunshine. I would love to do something a bit different and escape the UK, traveling far, far away to the Cook Islands – staying at the Pacific Resort Aitutaki, swapping mulled wine for beach cocktails!

Laura Bizayi – Senior Digital Campaign Manager

Huvafen Fushi Maldives – because we have just been speaking about where we’d love to be right now! Maldives is on my hit-list anyway, but after the past year – the lockdowns, the current gloomy UK weather – I’d love to take isolation to a whole new level by lounging in my lagoon bungalow with 360 degree views of the ocean, basking in all of the sunshine I am so yearning for.

Viola Azzolini – Revenue Account Management Team Director

I would love to spend the holidays at The Norman Tel Aviv because it is pure luxury but not pretentious, small but with all the ‘essential’ services (a rooftop terrace with swimming pool, restaurant in an elegant outdoor terrace), just a stroll away from the lovely Neve Tzedek neighbourhood. Not my typical Christmas because normally it would be in the cold mountains of northern Italy but I think that we all need a change to our routine after this year.

Chloe Musumeci – Senior Revenue Account Manager – EMEA

During the Christmas time I dream of being in one of the suites at Le Barthélemy Hotel and Spa, ideally in the beautiful La Suite Plage with walk-out access to the beach. There is nowhere I’d rather be!

Isabel Urdiales – Senior Revenue Account Manager – EMEA

I would like to enjoy some winter sun at La Sultana Marrakech, and experience their one-of-a-kind festive programme, which includes a 50-minute massage and lots of other treats. They also offer bespoke experiences during the holidays like hiking or e-biking in the Atlas mountains or discovering the Agafay desert. Apparently you can also book to have a Christmas tree in your room!

Jill Liu – Sales Manager, China

I would like to stay in one of our Maldives hotels, for example Milaidhoo Island Maldives, just purely to enjoy the sunshine, blue skies, and white sandy beaches. I would also like to stay in one of our hotels with a cosy fireplace like Hotel Haven or Ariana Sustainable Luxury Lodge, with a simple blanket and a book close being warmed by the fire.

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