#to ''went on a family-vacation that ended with everyone being banned from that US-state for the rest of forever''

[racke7]

It occurred to me recently that there's actually a really funny thing you can do to replace that fun trope of "Harry Potter, Master of Death" (let the fandom die) with someone else who "fits the same mold".

Just use Danny Phantom instead.

Danny Fenton is a socially awkward teenager whose parents can swing wildly between "affectionate/supportive" to "neglectful" to full on "dissection".

His superpower is that he's a ghost (and that he can generally figure out why his parents' crazy inventions don't work), and he's physically unable to sit still and "let someone else deal with the problem".

He's also literally the King of Ghosts, by a technicality, and is on good terms with the Keeper of Time.

Basically? If you want to make something that needs someone with a "death-adjacent" power-set? Just shove Danny into it, and he'll probably have some reason to be there, a bit of trauma to go with it, and "our ghosts are different" can be used to twist his powers into a frickin' pretzel.

[britishassistant]

But I Like One Piece (13)

There’s a lot of adults outside the compound.

There’s Ino’s dad, who’s fussing over her a lot, and Chouji’s dad, who waves at her, and a guy with spiky hair and a white chevron on his nose who leaps down from the roofs with Kiba, Akamaru and Sakura under his arms, placing them down before leaping away again.

Bigger Shikamaru then makes a face and pulls the hand on her back away to reveal spots of blood. “What happened here?”

“A trap got set off.” She says. “It was gonna hurt Chouji, so me and Ino got in the way.”

Bigger Shikamaru glances at her suspiciously. “Right. And how did this trap get set off?”

She decides discretion is the better part of valor and shrugs, wincing at the movement. “Lots of tripwires. Hard to tell.”

Bigger Shikamaru gives a slow nod, like he doesn’t quite believe her. “Uh huh. And why were there so many tripwires?”

“Because Uchiha’s scared.” She says, looking the man dead in the eye. “He’s really, really scared of that man coming back to finish the job. And he has no one to look after him, so he’s trying to protect himself. And us. By fighting us to make us stronger, or something. He didn’t explain it well.”

Bigger Shikamaru appears inscrutable during her tirade, but he looks away when she keeps staring pointedly at him, with another muttered “Troublesome.”

The click of a camera shutter has her looking over to see Lee taking pictures of the spiky haired guy and another guy with floppy hair, who are posing dramatically for photos. Kiba’s attempting to photobomb them with little success as Shikamaru watches.

“Right.” Bigger Shikamaru hitches her higher on his hip, raising his voice. “Chouza, can you get the rest of them home? Inoichi and I need to get these two to the hospital.”

Lee insists on coming along with them.

Once they realize what’s going on, Sakura and Chouji beg to come along too. It sort of snowballs from there, so they end up with a gaggle of children and Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji’s dads causing a bit of a stir when they all enter the hospital’s reception area.

She sees the same nice doctor from when she bit her lip last time, with the blond hair and pink eyes.

The nurse is nowhere to be seen.

She tells the nice doctor she didn’t bite her lip at all, even when it really hurt, while he’s doing something with the green glow to her shoulders that makes them stop hurting.

He pats her head and gives her a lollipop, and then gives extra ones to Kiba, Hinata, Shino, and Sakura with a wink and vague compliments to the mysterious medical experts for their good work.

Kiba doesn’t stop grinning for the rest of the afternoon, Shino’s insects buzz gently which she thinks means he’s happy, and even Hinata seems quietly pleased.

Chouji’s dad walks her, Lee and Sakura home after they get the confirmation that Ino’s going to be fine, while Shikamaru’s dad takes Hinata, Kiba, Shino, and Uchiha.

Sakura’s quiet and subdued the whole way home, lollipop in her cheek, rubbing her fingers together every so often. She gives a weak little “bye” when they drop her off at her house.

Okaa-san looks particularly harried when she opens the door and takes note of the newly-healed marks on her back and the state of her blood-stained and dusty dress.

Her mother sends her upstairs to have a wash and get changed while Chouji’s dad has a talk with her and Otou-san.

By the time she comes back down, Chouji’s dad has gone home and her parents are sitting around the dinner table as Lee shows them his photos.

“Mayu-chan.” Otou-san says, holding up a picture of her and Ino crouched over Chouji with silver streaks soaring past them like deadly shooting stars. “Not that we aren’t proud of you for looking after your friends, but could you work a little harder to avoid getting hurt too please?”

“I’ll try, Otou-san.” She choruses guiltily.

It seems like what happened has become the talk of the village by dinner time.

Though she could be biased because that happens to be the time Gai-sensei bursts in, babbling on about explosions and grievous wounds and youth and her being sick on Anko’s shoes.

This earns her another week-long cooking ban, on the grounds that it might be a bug and not evil chakra that made her throw up.

Even Iruka-sensei brings it up at Ichiraku’s the following night.

“I heard you had an eventful day yesterday.” He says politely while they’re waiting for their noodles. He seems a bit more at ease now Naruto and Lee aren’t there.

“Yeah.” She sighs, tracing the woodgrain with her finger. “It’s just—ugh.”

Iruka-sensei is nice, so he doesn’t chuckle at her little exclamation of disgust and waits for her to explain herself.

“It’s just—” She throws her hands up at not knowing what it “just” is and decides to start over from what she does know. “Uchiha is not a bad person. He’s dumb and awkward and— whatever, but he’s not bad. He’s just scared. And alone. And everyone thinks he knows what he’s doing because the teacher keeps saying he’s a prodigy and that he’s the best at everything—but he has no shi–blooming clue.”

Iruka-sensei nods seriously, brows furrowing, so she continues. “But he doesn’t know that he doesn’t—or he thinks that since everyone’s calling him a prodigy that he’s supposed to. So when he got scared about the man who murdered his clan coming back because of the thieves, he tried to protect himself with the wires and traps, because there’s no adults who’ll defend him. And then he tried to have everyone over to defend us too, because he’s not a bad person, he’s just kinda dumb and paranoid, y’know?”

“I...think I do know, yes.” Iruka-sensei says slowly, like he’s realizing something.

“Yeah—and before me and Naruto went over and cleaned his kitchen, his kitchen was a tip, because he had no idea what to do with all this food people were giving him!” She turns to Teuchi-sama. “I mean, he was just eating white rice and uncooked tomatoes everyday! It was like when I met Naruto, except he had all this food when Naruto had nothing, but he didn’t know what to do with it, so it was all rotting and going to waste!”

Teuchi-sama winces.

“That must’ve stunk something awful!” Ayame-sama chirps.

“Sanji as my witness it did.” She groans, covering her face while Otou-san carefully pats her back.

“Nobody was feeding Naruto?” Iruka-sensei interrupts, brows drawn down.

“Not from what we could see.” Okaa-san replies, daintily sipping at her water. “He’d be chased out of the market. I think Ichiraku’s was the only place he could get a square meal, until Mayu-chan started feeding him.”

Teuchi-sama nods. “He was our favorite customer. Still is, in fact.”

“Mayu with her little lunchboxes.” Otou-sama smiles nostalgically. “Up at the crack of dawn, carrying around those sheets of paper with what he liked and didn’t like on them.”

She squirms, cheeks heating up. “I didn’t know him then.” She complains. “But he was hungry. I couldn’t leave him hungry.”

Teuchi-sama nods approvingly as he slides a bowl of miso ramen in front of her.

Iruka-sensei is quiet while he eats.

“What did you tell him.” Uchiha growls at lunch on Monday.

She blinks in confusion, about to bite into her onigiri. “What did I tell who?”

Uchiha looks pained, his grilled sandwich leaking tomato juice and pesto in his grip.

“The Hokage,” He grits out. “Has determined that I am not suited to living on my own because of something one of you said. So I now have this chunin living in my house and leaving his stupid porn everywhere.”

She winces. “But I haven’t seen the Hokage all weekend. He was with Naruto, and Naruto wasn’t with us.”

“We did hear the explosion.” Naruto pipes up unhelpfully. “It really freaked his mask guys out—we thought the village was under attack or something when we heard it, believe it!”

Sasuke glares at them all, taking a mutinous bite of his sandwich.

“Mayu.” Shikamaru says. “Do you know what my dad does?”

She frowns as she swallows and takes another bite. “Tactician?”

Shikamaru’s smile is slow and spiteful. “He’s the Jounin Squad Leader of Konoha. Second only to the Hokage himself.”

She stops chewing.

Oh. Oh.

Whoops.

Uchiha looks between the two of them, growing redder and redder with each passing second.

“TRAITORS!!!” He howls finally, and flings himself across the table at Shikamaru.

They all get detention again.

She’s really not sure how long the teacher expects to keep justifying things with “you’re friends and supposed to control each other” when he’s the authority figure here.

Though maybe her telling him this wasn’t the best idea.

“Well, you weren’t wrong.” Chouji says loyally.

“Thank you Chouji.” She replies.

“Still a dumb thing to say.” Naruto adds.

She places her hand over his mouth. “Sssh.”

He licks it again.

While they’re wrestling, she hears Sakura ask Uchiha, “Are you gonna be okay, Sasuke-kun?”

Uchiha snorts. “I’ll be fine. I just have to convince the Hokage that I’m strong enough to live on my own. And to do that, I need to get rid of the trespasser in my home.”

“...How are you gonna do that?” Ino asks, sounding a lot more wary than she has in previous Uchiha conversations.

He grunts in a way that conveys indecision, or maybe constipation.

“What if you pranked him?” Naruto suggests from where she’s almost managed to force her spit-contaminated arm to touch his cheek. “I know some pretty good ones that the jerks in the market never saw coming!”

Uchiha pauses.

His lips curl into a slow, cruel smirk.

She’s not privy to all the details, because Naruto is sworn to solemn secrecy by the prankster’s code.

What she does know is that the chunin who leaves his porn everywhere is subjected to potent itching powder in every fabric item he attempts to use, and somehow becomes convinced that the ghosts of the Uchiha clan would curse his family with pimply skin for every generation thereafter if he did not vacate the premises immediately.

Sasuke’s victorious mood is dampened when the Hokage apparently sends a new chunin to live with him the very next day.

This chunin apparently has a bad habit of talking down to children, no matter whether they’re the last remnants of their clan or not, and abusing his new position to bring home “friends”.

Uchiha takes this as a declaration of war.

He ends up mobbed by every cat from here to Kusagakure thanks to a potent mixture of valerian, catnip, and a secret ingredient that Uchiha refuses to divulge which was mixed into his shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in small enough increments to be unnoticeable until it was too late.

The Hokage sends a jounin.

Kiba ends up recruited to the cause.

The jounin somehow ends up ingesting enough laxatives to put a small monkey out of commission, and then has his all-black ensemble and glasses forcibly dyed many colors thanks to the liberal application of industrial-strength paint.

The Hokage sends Anko.

The ensuing carnage results in the statue of the Niidaime losing its nose and has Uchiha lying low for three weeks, alternating between hiding in her and Sakura’s houses and Naruto’s apartment.

A few days before their finals, Uchiha comes in looking oddly...defeated.

“The Hokage and the Council say that unless I accept the next caretaker they provide for me, I’m going to go into the Orphanage and the Uchiha lands will be forfeit.”

Hinata covers her mouth with her hands. Ino and Kiba sit there, silent and slack-jawed. Chouji pushes away his food and Shikamaru actually sits up. Shino’s insects stop buzzing altogether.

“They can’t do that, can they?” Naruto says, looking around for confirmation. “I mean, that’s your home, right? It’s yours.”

“But Sasuke-kun’s technically a ward of state and has to do what they say.” Sakura says slowly. “Until he becomes a genin or comes of age as a civilian.”

“And that’s eighteen or something, right?” She adds with a heavy heart.

Uchiha puts his head down on the table.

“Hey, that’s rough man.” Kiba says, reaching out to pat him on the shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

Akamaru strides down the table and settles himself next to Uchiha’s head, gently licking his cheek until the boy turns and buries his hand in the puppy’s soft fur.

“Did they say who it’ll be?” She asks gently, pushing her BLT over to him.

He shakes his head slowly, lifting the sandwich and taking a bite. “The Hokage only said they’ll be there to greet me after school.”

“Well, whoever they are, they can’t be worse than Anko, right?” Ino says, trying to be upbeat.

Everybody at the table shudders.

They stand with him in solidarity at the end of the Academy day.

The other parents and children look at them strangely, a group of clan kids and a few civilians bunched together around the last Uchiha like a protective barrier, but no one comes forward to try and take him.

It isn’t until the last of them are leaving that someone arrives.

Iruka-sensei comes out of the Academy building, carrying a suitcase.

“Ah, Ketsugi-chan, Lee-kun, Uzumaki-kun!” He says, smiling brightly. “How are you doing?”

“We are well, thank you Iruka-sensei!” Lee says. “We are waiting with Uchiha-kun for his new guardian!”

Iruka-sensei’s eyes soften and he kneels down. “So you’re Sasuke-kun, huh? My name is Umino Iruka. It’s nice to meet you.”

Uchiha averts his eyes and stares stubbornly at the floor.

“I don’t want you in my house.” He says. “But the Hokage says if I don’t I have to go to the Orphanage.”

Iruka-sensei winces. “I heard about that. Do you want me to stay in one of the branch houses then? I just cancelled my apartment contract with my landlord, but I’m sure if I begged hard enough, she’d let me stay there for longer until we sort out what you’re comfortable with.”

Uchiha peers at him suspiciously. “...Okay. Do that.”

Suddenly Iruka-sensei’s stomach gurgles.

He blushes. “Ah, do you mind if we get some food first? There’s a pretty good ramen place I know.”

“Ichiraku’s?” Naruto bursts in eagerly.

“We’re not feeding you.” Uchiha says dismissively, ignoring Naruto’s cry of betrayal.

He begins to stride off down the path, only to turn when the teacher doesn’t follow. “Well? It’s annoying if you’re hungry.”

Iruka-sensei’s mouth quirks into a smile.

Somehow, she thinks as the teacher and boy disappear down the path, discussing one of the pranks that befell his hapless predecessor, this might turn out alright.

It’ll certainly be better than Anko.

[rosemcrys-blog]

            chicago’s  very  own  𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲  𝐤𝐢𝐦  has  been  spotted  on  madison  avenue  driving  a  𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑠 - 𝑟𝑜𝑦𝑐𝑒  𝑤𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑡𝘩  ,  welcome  !  your  resemblance  to  𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑐𝘩𝑎𝑒𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔  is  unreal  .  according  to  tmz  ,  you  just  had  your  𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑦  𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑  birthday  bash  .   your  chance  of  surviving  new  york  is  uncertain  because  you’re  𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠  ,  but  being  𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔  might  help  you  .  i  think  being  a  𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑠  explains  that  .  three  things  that  would  paint  a  better  picture  of  you  would  be  𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠  𝐡𝐞𝐫  𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫  𝐨𝐧𝐞  𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝  𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬  𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞  𝐛𝐞𝐝  ,  𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠  𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞  𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬  𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫  𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥  𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠  ,  𝐚𝐧𝐝  𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬  𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠  𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫  𝐭𝐡𝐞  𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭  .  (  ���𝐲  𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬  𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝  𝐨𝐟𝐟  𝐭𝐡𝐞  𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞  𝐢  𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞  𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐝  𝐭𝐨  𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭  𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦  𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦  𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠  𝐭𝐨  𝐭𝐡𝐞  𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 .  )  

            for  an  accurate  description  of  me  and  the  man  who  essentially  runs  my  life  ,  please  click  here  for  giggles  .  but  hello  everyone  !  i’m  johnny  ,  twenty - two  ,  and  i  go  by  either  𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞  or  𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫  𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥  pronouns  !  i’m  super  excited  to  be  here  and  i’m  really  excited  to  write  with  everyone  ,  so  i  won’t  keep  my  own  introduction  long  so  we  can  go  ahead  and  hop  into  everything  about  rosemary  !  my  discord  is  𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠  𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌  𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙  .#6807  if  that’s  your  preference  for  plotting  over  tumblr  im’s  ,  and  before  i  go  ,  stan  loona  !

𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡  𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞  :  kim  eun - jung  . 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡  𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞  :  rosemary  michelle  kim  . 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞(𝐬)  :  ro  or  romy  ,  only  . 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 / 𝐚𝐠𝐞  :  december  15th  ,  1997  /  22  . 𝐳𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐜  :  sagittarius  . 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐬  :  she / her / hers  . 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫  :  cis - female  . 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥  𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  :  bisexual  . 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜  𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  :  biromantic  . 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭  :  5′5″  (  five  foot  ,  five  inches  ) 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧  :  chicago  ,  illinois  (  click  !  ) 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭  𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  :  new  york  ,  ny  (  click  !  ) 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲  :  korean - american  . 𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲  :  korean  .  𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬  𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧  :  korean  ,  english  ,  and  conversational  portuguese  . 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫  :  ballet  dancer  ;  soloist  with  american  ballet  theater  . 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫  𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬  :  alpha  bitch  ,  royal  brat  ,  bratty  teenage  daughter  ,  socialite  ,  daddy’s  girl  ,  and  wicked  witch  .

          kang  eugene  was  a  nineteen  year  old  and  already  living  in  the  wealthy  district  of  gangnam  in  south  korea  thanks  to  her  career  as  a  drama  actress  .  she  mainly  found  her  claim  to  fame  starring  in  coming - of - age  dramas  that  focused  on  high  school  or  university  aged  students  ,  but  she  had  recently  landed  her  dream  leading  role  as  a  chaebol  heiress  looking  for  love  in  a  ruthless  world  .  she  ends  up  meeting  the  love  of  her  life  that  very  year  ,  and  it’s  purely  by  coincidence  ,  when  she  gets  into  a  minor  fender  bender  with  kim  ho - seok  ,  the  heir  of  a  multi - billion  dollar  real  estate  and  construction  conglomerate  ,  who  was  back  in  korea  while  on  vacation  from  school  in  the  states  . 

          eugene  tried  her  best  to  keep  their  relationship  as  friends  ,  mainly  because  her  contract  with  her  company  put  her  on  a  dating  ban  for  a  few  years  ,  but  it  was  nearly  impossible  for  the  young  woman  to  turn  down  his  attempts  at  wooing  her  .  after  a  few  months  of  sneaking  around  ,  eugene  finally  approached  her  company  about  her  dating  ho -seok  ,  and  surprisingly  ,  they  were  on  board  .  eugene  and  ho - seok  had  a  rather  whirlwind  relationship  ,  making  their  relationship  instagram  official  in  the  matter  of  a  month  and  eugene  was  wearing  a  promise  ring  once  they  hit  their  two  month  anniversary  .

          the  only  downside  was  that  eugene  had  to  stay  in  korea  for  her  career  while  ho - seok  returned  to  the  states  for  school  ,  but  they  promised  and  managed  to  make  it  work  .  during  breaks  ,  and  whenever  she  had  time  ,  eugene  was  traveling  to  the  states  and  whenever  the  summer  months  rolled  around  ,  ho - seok  was  back  in  korea  .  it  came  as  a  surprise  to  now  twenty - two  year  old  eugene  when  ho - seok  got  down  on  bended  knee  and  asked  for  her  to  marry  him  at  his  graduation  from  the  university  of  pennsylvania’s  wharton  school  of  business  .  

          both  american  and  korean  media  outlets  were  floored  when  they  discovered  the  couple’s  engagement  ,  and  it  was  hard  to  ignore  the  sizable  ring  that  sat  perched  on  eugene’s  hand  .  so  ,  the  couple  marries  after  six  months  of  planning  in  a  lavish  ceremony  in  bali  ,  indonesia  .  eugene’s  contract  with  her  company  was  up  ,  and  while  she  had  the  chance  to  renew  ,  the  young  actress  decided  that  she  would  take  her  chances  in  america’s  scene  .  the  couple  decide  to  settle  in  chicago  ,  where  ho - seok  was  taking  over  the  new  headquarters  of  his  family’s  company  .  about  eight  months  after  settling  in  their  new  home  ,  eugene  had  exciting  news  :  she  was  pregnant  .

          after  an  instagram  pregnancy  announcement  ,  photoshoot  ,  and  red  carpet  appearances  with  a  protruding  belly  ,  eugene  finally  had  their  first  and  only  baby  girl  ten  days  before  christmas  in  1997  ,  who  they  affectionately  named  eun - jung  .  being  their  only  daughter  ,  eugene  and  ho - seok  smothered  their  daughter  with  the  finest  things  .  if  you  thought  kylie  got  a  lot  for  stormi  ...  that  had  nothing  on  the  kims  .  growing  up  ,  eun - jung  who’s  name  was  assimilated  to  rosemary  ,  attended  the  francis  w.  parker  school  in  chicago  (  they  don’t  wear  uniforms  there  but  i’m  gonna  pretend  that  they  did  because  plaid  pleated  skirts  ?  chef’s  kiss  !  )  for  the  first  few  years  ,  rosemary  seemed  to  not  have  any  interests  in  extracurriculars  ,  only  focusing  on  her  academics  .

          it  wasn’t  until  she  was  around  thirteen  years  old  when  her  parents  took  her  to  see  the  nutcracker  for  her  birthday  that  year  when  she  decided  that  she  wanted  to  be  a  ballerina  .  eugene  and  ho - seok  would  do  anything  for  their  daughter  ,  so  despite  the  people  who  would  laugh  in  their  faces  because  their  thirteen  year  old  daughter  was  just  starting  ballet  ,  they  made  sure  that  she  would  get  whatever  she  wanted  .  the  people  who  laughed  soon  found  themselves  with  egg  on  their  faces  as  rosemary  had  the  natural  ability  to  embrace  the  fine  art  ,  winning  a  top  prize  after  only  a  year  of  training  .  soon  after  ,  she  had  grown  out  of  her  dance  company  and  was  soon  training  with  the  top  coaches  in  chicago  .

          the  sudden  thrust  into  the  dance  circuit  went  straight  to  rosemary’s  head  which  of  course  ,  changed  her  personality  as  a  whole  .  she  entered  the  upper  school  with  her  head  held  high  and  her  posture  straight  ,  never  letting  those  around  them  forget  who  she  was  .  rosemary  often  found  herself  meddling  and  treating  others  without  kindness  ,  bullying  those  around  her  especially  when  she  wanted  something  .  when  it  came  to  yearbook  superlatives  ,  rosemary  got  whatever  she  wanted  because  she  used  her  parents’  donations  over  them  and  promised  things  that  she  had  no  interest  in  fulfilling  .  rosemary  was  quite  the  bitch  throughout  her  high  school  career  ,  and  she  only  ever  really  had  superficial  friends  who  only  stuck  close  because  of  her  father’s  billion  dollar  net  worth  .  

          during  her  high  school  years  ,  rosemary’s  bullying  had  never  gotten  the  physical  realm  ,  but  she  had  definitely  done  a  number  on  those  of  a  lower  social  status  (  yuck  )  .  however  ,  rosemary  was  able  to  continue  with  her  ballet  (  and  even  managed  to  have  a  completely  different  personality  when  around  her  ballerina  ‘  friends  ’  )  .  during  her  summers  before  her  junior  and  senior  years  ,  rosemary  traveled  to  new  york  where  she  spent  summers  training  with  the  american  ballet  theatre  .  come  her  graduation  from  high  school  when  she  was  only  eighteen  years  old  ,  rosemary  moved  out  of  her  parents’  home  in  chicago  to  her  current  apartment  in  the  plaza  hotel  ,  as  she  was  invited  to  become  a  member  of  abt’s  corps  de  ballet  .  she  participated  in  a  number  of  performances  ,  ranging  from  romeo  &  juliet  to  swan  lake  to  the  sleeping  beauty  .  after  four  years  ,  rosemary  was  promoted  to  soloist  ,  and  she  made  full  circle  when  she  made  her  soloist  debut  as  clara  in  abt’s  production  of  the  nutcracker  .  her  all  time  dream  is  to  become  a  principal  dancer  within  the  company  .

          outside  of  her  career  in  dance  ,  rosemary  is  a  brand  spokeswoman  and  stage  performer  ,  often  participating  in  broadway  productions  during  the  off - season  of  abt  .  

          when  it  comes  to  her  personality  ,  rosemary  is  every  inch  the  girl  that’s  clearly  had  a  silver  spoon  in  her  mouth  since  birth  .  she  was  always  one  of  the  popular  girls  in  her  grade  ,  so  naturally  that  went  to  her  head  .  of  course  she’s  used  to  being  amongst  the  richest  in  her  school  ,  but  rosemary  still  rides  on  an  extremely  high  horse  .  she’s  ridiculously  petty  and  can  be  quite  manipulative  at  times  ,  also  pulling  out  her  bratty  side  whenever  she  feels  like  she  needs  to  use  it  .  she’s  mean  and  vindictive  ,  especially  when  she  feels  like  someone  has  done  something  wrong  to  her  (  no  matter  how  small  it  may  be  )  .  she  can  be  nice  when  she  wants  to  be  and  it  all  depends  on  if  people  are  gonna  challenge  her  or  not  .  for  the  most  part  ,  she  can  be  chill  but  she  100000%  believes  in  the  philosophy  of  if  you  can’t  take  it  ,  don’t  dish  it  out  .

          i  ...  would  put  a  list  of  wanted  connections  here  ,  but  i  kind  of  prefer  brainstorming  or  going  based  on  chemistry  !  that  being  said  ,  i  do  have  a  wanted  connections  tag  that  can  be  found  on  my  page  (  for  whatever  reason  tumblr  is  saying  it  doesn’t  exist  but  i  promise  ,  the  posts  are  there >:/  )  !

[sydswritings]

The Refinery (Chapter 16)

Twenty minutes later, after some back and forth deliberation, we finally decided on a cab. The Refinery Hotel was nice, I mean like take one wrong step and you break something nice. We quickly found the elevator, pushing the button that would take us straight to the roof where the bar and the much needed drinks were located. As soon as the doors opened, I could hear the music flowing across the rooftop and feel the grin forming on my lips. Okay, I’ll admit it, I missed this, going out with my friends-my family, having a few drinks. I honestly couldn’t wait to see how this night unfolded, how Shannon, Jared and Tomo took to our little family.

    “It seems kind of empty, is it just the bands tonight?” Ace asked from beside me.

She was right this first section of the roof was completely empty. I looked around the brick and wood enclosed patio, chairs vacated, not a soul in sight. To the right, three floor to ceiling double doors were open, curtains hanging to the side to show the night sky, to my left, three massive brick arches, leading to the next section. Charlie was the first off the elevator, followed quickly by Brook. They passed through one of the arches, bypassing a few people at the huge bar and headed straight for a group of people seated outside. Ace and Jared looked at each other before shrugging and following our guitarist and bassist.

Shannon, Tomo and I decided to stop at the bar instead of following the rest of our group out, giving me time to look around the middle room. On the far side, sat a room length half booth, covered in what looked to be red velvet, with little pub tables set in front of it, leaving the other side of the tables with little chairs for guests. I caught sight of some of the bands we were on tour with lounging around the tables, talking amongst themselves. In the middle of the room, separating the bar and pub tables was a 16 seater long table, looking up I noticed that the glass roof had been retracted, leaving the wide black beams open and the night sky available without restriction.

    “SYDNEY!” A voice yelled, causing me to yank my eyes away from the bright lights of the Empire State Building and towards the direction the voice came.

I had enough time to turn away from the bar, before a solid body slammed into mine, my vision was quickly turned upside down when I found myself thrown over Vic’s shoulder as he toted me past the opened sliding glass doors and into the night air. The final section of the rooftop was, for lack of a better word, a gorgeous deck. There were two U shaped grey couches placed at each end of the patio, in the middle of those sat 2 two seater swings with lounge chairs and small tables spread sporadically around. Vic managed to carry me to the opposite end where one of the U shaped couches was located.

    “VICTOR FUENTES PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW!” I yelled, beating his back. I could hear Charlie’s laughter getting closer, before my world tilted right side up again.

    “Jeez Syd you could rival Charlie with those lungs.” Kellin laughed out.

    “I didn’t even get my damn drink thanks to you!” I pushed Vic causing him to stumble into Kellin harshly, before spinning around to take in my surroundings.

Charlie was sprawled out against Trevor on one section of the couch, with Matt beside them talking to Brook and Pete. Across from them, Jared and Ace were wrapped up in each other, talking about god knows what, but clearly they were the only two that existed in that little world. In the middle of the wrap around couch, Vic’s brother and bandmate Mike sat with Karah and Brendon, laughing at my outburst. An annoying high pitched laughter had my eyes traveling to one of the two seater swings, where Juliet and Andy were cuddled up.

    “Ignore them.” Vic’s voice chimed beside me.

    “I’ll do my best,” I said, plastering on a fake grin, “now can I go back to the bar and get my drink?”

    “I got it for you.” Shannon’s low drawl sounded from behind me.

    “You are my savior!” I exclaimed excitedly, grabbing my drink from his extended hand. “So did y’all just decide to kick everyone out or what?”

    “We all pitched in, rented the place out, the only people allowed in are bands on the tour or whoever we let in.” Kellin said from the other side of Vic.

    “Did your wife ever make it in?” I asked after taking a sip of my beer.

    “Yeah she’ll be here a little later with Vic’s girlfriend.” He laughed at Vic’s goofy smile.

    “Awesome I haven’t seen Danielle since Florida, I miss her!” Brook said from her spot beside Pete.

    “I’m going to walk around,” I had been still for too long and I really wanted to see who else was up here, “anyone want to join me?”

    “I’ll go,” I grinned over at Shannon, who’s answering smirk had my knees trembling and threatening to buckle at any second, god I was so screwed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After about an hour and a half of mingling and catching up with everyone, Shannon and I found ourselves on the other U shaped couch, laughing and talking, just taking the time to get to know one another.

    “Seriously? Country?” He laughed, hazel eyes hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses. “Out of all things?”

    “Hey I’m from North Carolina, it’s like a requirement to love country.” I said grinning at his outright disbelief. I shifted so my short legs rested across his thighs.

    “I’m from Louisiana, you don’t hear me talking about swamp-pop,” he countered, nose crinkling slightly at the thought.

    “Please god don’t ever say swamp-pop again,” my ribs were already tender from all the laughing, “Oh my god, I can’t breathe.”

    “It’s a really simple concept, you pull air in through your mouth, fill your lungs then push it back out.” He shifted his left arm from the back of the couch to prop his head on his hand, elbow still resting by my head.

    “Smart ass,” I quipped before pushing his bare side, god it should be illegal for a man to look so good in a cut off t-shirt. “Why do you wear these things? It’s dark out here,” I pulled the sunglasses off his face and placed them over my eyes, “I mean, I can still see your eyes moving behind them.”

    “I don’t know kind of a way for me to watch people without being caught,” he shrugged slightly before taking a sip of his drink.

    “I think your eyes are too gorgeous to keep them hidden behind such dark lenses.” I said sticking my tongue out. I slid the dark Ray Bans off my face to hand them back to Shannon.

    “Keep them, they look good on you.” I grinned goofily as I placed them on top of my head.

    “Of course they do, everything looks good on me.” I said before laughing at the face he pulled, “I tried, oh my god, I tried to keep a straight face after saying that, but you should have seen your facial expression, holy shit.” I leaned over my legs, pulling in as much air as my lung would allow.

    “Keep it up and I’ll push you off this couch.” He responded while poking me in my ribs.

    “Yeah, yeah, you don’t scare me.” I laughed out.

That was a lie, I was scared of him. I was scared of the way he was making me feel, the butterflies knocking around my stomach. How easy it was to talk to him, how much we had in common, how badly I wanted to kiss him. Listening to his deep voice made me wonder what it would sound like after waking up, would it be thick with sleep? How would it sound lust filled, would it be deeper? Huskier? Would those beautiful hazel green eyes darken? My laughs sobered up quickly at the thoughts going through my head about the gorgeous drummer next to me.

    “So was it always music?” Shannon asked, sensing my inner thoughts turning heavier.

    “Actually no. Me and Charlie, we played all through high school, then we thought it was never going to happen so we took a break, went to college.” I leaned back against the couch, head falling against the back, legs still in his lap as I thought back to old times.

    “What were you going for?” The smooth timber of his voice made me roll my head towards him, meeting his yellow-green gaze straight on.

    “Psychology, I wanted to help people. I figured if I couldn’t help with my music anymore, I would help in another way.” I sighed out. “But after a couple of semesters we realized we needed the music, I loved my classes, but it was too much, I needed to play, to sing.” He nodded his head, understanding clear in his eyes.

    “If it weren’t for Jared and music,” his voice deepened with emotion, “I don’t know where I would be, probably in jail or dead.” I closed my eyes to keep the tears in them from showing. The world would have missed out on a beautiful soul if he hadn’t turned to music. “Though, I thought about being a therapist at one point.”

    “Really?” He nodded, “I think you would be good at that.” His soft smile had my heart jumping to my throat and the need for my drink great, only to find my glass empty.

    “Need another?” I looked over to see him watching me intently, “I was about to get up and grab one for myself, I can get you one while I’m up.”

    “Sounds good, I’m just going to run to the bathroom real quick.” I dropped my legs from his lap and quickly stood. Letting the dizzy spell pass, I stepped around Shannon before heading towards the bathroom in the first section of the roof.

Stepping into the empty bathroom, I made a beeline for the sinks to splash cool water on my face. After a few dips, I glance at my reflection. My cheeks were flushed, whether from the drinks or how Shannon was making me feel, I didn’t honestly know. I needed to pull myself together, getting involved with him would be a bad idea right now. I was a mess, things with Andy had put my emotions through the ringer and Shannon didn’t need someone like me fucking up his life.

Chapter 17

[fillintheprompts]

           My father was head of a mob run by the meanest “mythical” creatures to ever step foot on non-magical land. My mother was a water fairy and beloved by all, including my father. My dad, however, was a shape-shifter who was hated by most. He and his gang of “shades” as they were called for being the only group talented enough to form to shadows, went around town murdering magical creatures who got out of line. Usually, it was other shape-shifters and the normal junkie wizard that owed him money for their last hit of fairy dust, but occasionally, he’d go against one of the council heads of the Seventeen Migrant Mystic Tribes. I was a child when he retired, but he loves to tell stories about his glory days.

           It was always in the cards for me to marry a mystic, but my dad always said, “If it ends up being a butter baby, I’d rather you sleep with a mortal.” Butter babies are what he called the sun fairies that communicated with insects and arachnids. Their job was to facilitate peace between the groups so that less spiders were responsible for insect species extinction. They had butterfly wings. The point is, when I found love, I was relieved to find it in a handsome hybrid named Destan. His father was a water fairy and his mother was a siren, so we were both water/deception types and outcasts by our aquatic sides. The water types were always snobs about laying with deception types, even sirens, and our parents had disobeyed that rule.

           We met in college and bonded at night when we could use our abilities without tipping the mortals off to our existence. Of course, we broke that rule often by passing notes in spheres of water. We were caught by mystic professors, but mortal professors were constantly confused by the water left on their floors when class was over. Some even banned water bottles for a few weeks. On graduation day, as they called my name to get my diploma, I was met on the other side of the stage by Destan, who got on one knee, opened a box to reveal a ring covered with diamonds and aquamarines, and said, “Anahita, would you do me the honor of being my wife?” I said yes, and we started planning our wedding and looking for jobs in our fields.

           Finally, the day came for us to be wed at my father’s vacation house near the water. The water fairies, sirens, and shapeshifters came from the Advanced Mystic Plane to see our union, and my father, being the man he is, took the opportunity to unite with Destan’s mom to rub it in the faces of the water fairies. My mortal wedding would be later, to be legally wed by non-magical law, but this ceremony was about traditions and letting our mystic traits be present. Tradition states that when the bride and groom are on the altar, each shows their traits after saying “I do”.

           I walked down the aisle in the dress my mom made for me. It was woven with the dust of affection fairies and the purest water that came from the lake off the shore where the wish-making nymphs played with their children. It flowed from the shoulders to the tips of my toes, which hovered off the ground as I approached the altar. The High Priestess took her bowl and poured the infinite waters over our heads until our hair was completely wet to symbolize the union to two minds. Then she went into the promising. When it came to be my turn, I said, “I do,” and let my wings up. I hadn’t seen them in so long, I’d almost forgotten the light blue color and the elegant spiral designs that carried the darkened gold color of the shapeshifter. I zoned out for his part of the promising, since it was just a repetition of what I’d just heard. He smiled at me before squinting to see something above my head. I didn’t turn to look because of the ceremony, but as he said, “I do,” the life left his eyes and screams could be heard in the crowd.

           Destan fell, and I stood over him, trying to make sense of what I was looking at. Below me, the face of my beautiful hybrid Destan was illuminated by the greenish-blue of the sirens and the swirling of red and orange that could only belong to a sun fairy with communicative abilities. In the center of his chest, where mystical hearts are placed, was a familiar arrow. I thought back to my eighteenth birthday in the dead of winter when the newest water fairy babies were being born on the frozen lakes. My godmother, Aislinn, gave me a special gift. She was council head of the guardian angels’ mystic tribe, but also my mother’s guardian angel and best friend. For being head of a tribe, she had the ability to grant her own wishes, and as my present, she granted herself an arrow for me to shoot, which would land in the heart of my killer, three seconds before they’re supposed to create my demise.

           As I pieced it all together and saw the giant bee stinger that was slowly falling out of the sleeve of Destan’s ceremonious jacket, I was pulled away from the altar by my mother and brought inside with the rest of the bridal party, guests, and catering staff. There were words coming from all directions as I sat silently. Everything that led to this point felt like a blur, and everyone was trying to figure out what I already knew by yelling hurtful words and accusations at each other. I couldn’t make any of them out until my mother rested her hand lightly on my arm and said, “Ana, my sweet Anahita, are you okay?”

           “Ask Destan’s father to please extend his wings,” I said quietly.

           “What,” my mother replied. “Anahita, I don’t understand.” This made me angry. How could she not have glanced at my fallen groom long enough to see what I saw. I stood and looked at Destan’s father.

           “When I saw Destan on the ground, I looked carefully at him and at his wings, and they resembled a man who was half-sun fairy instead of water, so I ask again, Mr. Gonzalez, for you to extend your wings.” As I finished my sentence, I found myself only inches from his face. “Mr. Gonzalez, you are a mute man, but you are not hard of hearing. Destan’s mother make be gone from this world, but you are still hearing, so it is you that I’ll check.”

           He looked shocked, but a look of embarrassment soon spread over his face. With his hands, he said, “Since he first called himself by that name in front of me, I’ve despised it. It is sun tradition for the father to name the child a name worthy of our tribe, and I chose Arun, not Destan. Arun is a good boy. I raised him to be a good boy, but after his mother was murdered, he got angry. He didn’t handle it well. So, he made this plan in his mind to get back at the man who did it. Nouvel Price. He went to him one day as a child and told him what he had done to us. He said he did it to protect his daughter, Anahita. So, Arun found you. He got close to you and played the long game. He was going to kill you in from of your father so that Nouvel would know what it was like to lose someone. He told me this morning right before the ceremony and placed a charged heat charm around my wrists so I couldn’t tell. Now that he has died, the charm doesn’t work. I am so sorry for Arun’s behavior. I know your feelings are real and I’m sorry for that too. I wish no harm on your family.”

           “Thank you for the truth,” I told him. “You are always welcome among us.” I turned to my father who was holding my mom, as to shield her from the danger. She looked at him with shock and betrayal. Deception types are born with the ability to translate, but it is stripped away by the guardian angels, so that they have a chance at telling the originals from imposters without too much trouble. Water types, however, are able to keep their translation ability, since they can connect to the world through oceans without making trouble.

           “Did you murder Destan’s mom,” I spoke quietly. He wrinkled his brow in confusion.

           “What,” he asked, surprised. “Why would I do that?”

           “Destan’s name is Arun,” I said. “He was half-sun fairy and you killed his mother. That’s why he wanted to marry me and that’s why Aislinn’s bow went through his chest. Tell me the truth.” He sighed heavily.

           “I had to,” he said. “His mother was council head of the sirens. She was creating a case against me so I would be handed over to the nightmare realm. That would’ve left you and your mother alone. I have enemies, Ana. I couldn’t let them get to you.” My mom pulled away from him.

           “I knew it,” she said. “You are nothing but a shape-shifting monster. That day you came in and your eyes weren’t right, I knew something had happened. You never shift to green unless you’re doing dirty work in public.” Tears fell down her face and wrapped neatly around her chin before falling to the ground. “My council head is here, Nouvel. She can’t let this slide.”

           “Loire, my love,” he said, trying to hold on to my mother as she tried to put distance between them. “Don’t do this.”

           “I, Loire Jameson, and my daughter, Anahita Jameson, hereby strip ourselves of the Price name and return to the good graces of the water fairy tribe.” Just like that, my mother and I held each other tight as we watched the council head step forward and take away the only man who ever truly loved me.

[fictionfromgames]

Routine Concerns (ATLA/LOK fluff)

“Gran, you’re not gonna get arrested!”

Hiyara balled her fists as her grandmother continued packing a bag. The elder didn’t stop.

“Soon enough,” she stated matter-of-factly, “Remember a few years ago when I ‘went to the North’ for a week? When the Avatar was visiting?”

“Yeah,” Hiyara looked skeptical, “Your first vacation in two years at that point. Are you saying you went to jail?”

“Yep,” gran smiled, “Well, sort of a house arrest, wherein they lent me a lush mansion on the other side of the world while Avatar Weiyong was in Harbor City.”

“What could they possibly have against you, gran? You’re a healer.”

Gran turned and looked at Hiyara with a professional smile. She was always good at dealing with belligerent people, patients or otherwise, so she was practiced well enough by the time she had a family. Still, it annoyed Hiyara.

“You know my illustrious career, of course, but do you know much about history?” gran asked. At least she’d stopped packing.

“History is a broad term, gran, what kind of history?”

Gran shrugged, “Oh, like Avatar Korra, Amon. Bloodbending?”

“Some, iittle, and none, in descending according to the legality of each subject,” Hiyara started to frown, “You’re not a bloodbender, are you?”

“Not really?” gran shrugged, though she sounded unsure, “But my thesis on Amon’s ability to take away people’s bending is the theoretical foundation of my practice today.”

“You’re a bloodbender,” Hiyara was stunned.

“No, not really, I promise!” Gran moved closer, “I just... I was fascinated with Avatar Korra since I was little, all the things she achieved and survived even by your age now. But one of the things we’d always hear about in the healing huts was Amon. born Noatak in the Northern Tribe. Bloodbender, bending stealer, everyone knows that part, But no doctor, and no waterbender had figured out exactly how he’d stolen people’s powers. The standing, unimpeachable answer was always “vascular and/or neurological damage caused by bloodbending,” and was not subject to question due to the ethics and, yeah, legality involved. It was generally supported by head wounds that rendered much more than bending unusable, and wasn’t to be investigated otherwise.”

“Can you take bending away??” Hiyara was starting to feel a little horrified.

“Only theoretically!” Gran pointed enthusiastically, “There are a lot of things I wanted to avoid-- being stuck in the healing huts with all the old women back home, being called a ‘guru’, or a ‘mad scientist,’ and most definitely charges of bloodblending. I wanted nothing except to be Doctor Kayada. But... for as much as I wanted to get away from home, I remembered two things. The way Amon would access bending through the forehead, and the old healing dummies I was started on. He was using the meridians we used for water healing, just as conduits to the appropriate chakras through the Light chakra itself!”

“Gran you still haven’t said how this isn’t bloodbending!”

“Oh, that’s easy, I used a saline solution and sort of push that around,” Gran continued, almost ignoring the conflict in the conversation, “It somehow satisfies their strictures. But chakras, Hiyara, they’re opened and closed through emotion, and what emotions govern the Light chakra?”

Gran pointed again, waiting for the answer, but Hiyara just shook her head. She wasn’t in school for religious studies or medicine.

“Insight and illusion!” Gran cried, “Amon created illusory wounds to those areas through the chakra most susceptible to them, which is why no one but the Avatar figured out how to fix them! Lies they and their bodies believed! And he used water healing principles to accomplish it!”

At this point gran’s arms were in the air, as if reliving the revelatory moment. Hiyara just looked at her normally reserved grandmother with confusion and a little fear.

“But why would they arrest you?” she asked quietly.

“Oh, the White Lotus just thinks your genius gran could be a threat to the current Avatar because of the one time I stopped him.”

Kayada returned to packing. It was maybe a bit too hopeful to assume she could have gone to see the rocket launch if Weiyong was going to be there.

“Stopped him from what, gran?!”

******************

Kayada M.D.

Kayada’s theory is not mine, I stole it in whatever form I internalized it from Hello Future Me’s video in this link, but I wanted to have someone in the setting to realize that, as a potential conflict from either Kayada herself or an a new external threat. I imagine Kayada as generally genial, well-meaning, and not as invested in mysticism UNTIL it intersects with medical science. She has a practice in Shaomen, a newer United Republic City in the Hu Xin provinces. Shaomen is not canon except to this setting, and because I am running out of United Republic place names.  Kayada’s clinic is like, 1/3 general practice (water healing is generally very useful), 1/3 sports medicine (pro-benders seek her out in particular because what if their loss was bending related rather than injury or skill related????? Big money there), and 1/3 “psychiatry” (because manipulating positive emotions through waterbending is at least palliative therapy, and at best, an actual ATLA-unique version of psychiatric medicine).

Kayada vs. Weiyong

Why would someone who’s only ever trying to help cross the Avatar and be subsequently banned from any and all contact within a number of miles?

Political Differences

In one scenario, I think of Kayada as having been a witness to some massive infrastructural damage to Shaomen, and going out personally to close off some bending to make it stop, getting mixed up about who’s who and accidentally closing off some of Weiyong’s bending until things are cleared up. This one incident meshes with her standard do-gooding persona, and explains why her family doesn’t always know why she keeps avoiding the Avatar (willingly or by state order). The realization of her abilities by the White Lotus with regards to Weiyong have placed her on a watchlist.

Trade Secrets

A colleague or academic rival has learned Kayada’s methods and has used it to profitable and definitely unethical ends. I am leaving a lot of details ambiguous in this scenario, just because a new bending-stealer could easily be used in “present day.” You could still have Kayada and Weiyong’s now-genial relationship as a background distance between them, and calling off the minimum distance order she has to keep in order to help hunt down your new antagonist. However. I envision this as being Kayada’s “real” backstory. Tesroq, a water bender and Kayada’s number one at her practice, was taught how to heal her way and fill in for her while she was on Team Avatar during the Deep Spirit crises. And rather than open abuse, he’d covertly mess with pro-benders in order to help fix matches, which drew the considerable attention of Boss Shai and the Agni Kai Triad. The technical prowess of Kayada being passed on to someone less incorruptible also drew notice from the Dai Li, who had hoped to recruit Tesroq for some super shady shit regarding the situation of the Earth States, but Tesroq himself was enamored with the metropolitan lifestyle in the United Republic, and refused. Of course, the Deep Spirits crises weren’t constant or all at once, and Team Avatar started heading home, first visiting Shaomen, since Kayada was less combat oriented than the rest. The timing for Tesroq couldn’t have gone better-- with the Dai Li sending alternating offers and threats, the Agni Kais thoroughly pissed regarding an undefeated pro bending team, and Kayada starting to wonder what was amiss, his escape was provided by the threeway battle over his capture. Even with help from the White Lotus, Tesroq was never caught. Weiyong did get some of his bending blocked, but the White Lotus arranged a cover story and confiscated all scholastic papers regarding Kayada’s methods. She was still allowed to practice on the condition that she would be portrayed as the danger to the Avatar, avoiding all mention of Tesroq. She and Weiyong still correspond though, since they were close as comrades and confidants, and Weiyong always sends photos of an event related to his latest obligations. She’s Definitely a Mad Scientist

In this scenario, I kind of see her as morally ambivalent and always chasing the goal of learning more, kinda like Entrapta in She Ra, where the sides don’t matter as long as she keeps Doing the Thing, that maybe she’ll finally unlock something amazing. Her practice is more or less a front for capital, and while she may only take willing subjects, it’s still fucking sketchy, and requires a stronger synthesis between bloodbending and water healing. Perhaps here she’s looking for a way to actually produce bending in subjects that never had it, or add new elements to existing benders, since they already possess energy bending of any kind and it’s just easier or something. I like Kayada as a friend and ally but there are seeds for so much mischief.

Mechanically Speaking

No player character should have the ability to block bending beyond Ty Lee levels, which exists in the game already. But, should your characters have their bending blocked, it should be a several Chi-cost adventure to regain it. It’s also hard to manage since you don’t need bending to access every move in a playbook, so it’s more of a GM fiat move than systematic usage.

You can check out Legend of the Elements on DriveThru RPG and their page full of extra resources, Actual Play links, and essays at the Logbook Project!

[sapphired17]

It feels surreal to me that we have passed the 2010s already. Time went ahead like an express train without a single stop. What’s more shocking, the first half of 2020 hasn’t  even come to an end but the hassles have been getting out of hand. It was peaked with the news of corona virus (COVID-19) outbreak since the beginning of January 2020 and is still an ongoing issue up to the present time, albeit, thankfully, we have also seen a lot of recovered cases. One of the biggest aftermaths of the outbreak is in the tourism department, in which most governments would put a temporary travel ban as a means of preventive measures.

And have I told you about my yearn of traveling, haven’t I? I wrote a post about my first-time-backpacking-experience in Singapore last year, and my journey didn’t stop there. I’m making my itineraries for my upcoming trips to Japan and South Korea already just to showcase my utmost excitement upon discovering brand new things. Unfortunately, the trip schedules are still on hold as I’m waiting until the whole pandemic comes to an end. As an self-comforting attempt, I decided to write about my previous one-week vacation in Malaysia last December 2019 so that I could reminisce a bit about the lingering feelings.

Day 1: Mind-cleansing and peace-making attempts

By the time one enters the pit of adulthood, there are endless things to do, and I really mean my words. Working earnestly, either to fulfill your or your parents’ desire; adjusting with the workplace and making sure to get along well with everyone; getting the work done without skipping meals or sleeps; socializing with friends even if it requires you to be present in tame parties or gatherings; building new meaningful connections while maintaining the existing ones; finding a lover and deliberating whether you both will make a great match, then proceeding to marriage if it is, or starting over if you are doomed; and also making more money; not to forget about looking after your family and attending family occasions to meet with relatives who might shower you with ruthless curiosities; also taking part in side volunteering activities in case you are a social person; then definitely making sure that everything goes well in between. Whoa, being a social being is surely busy, isn’t it?

Just like how humans need sleep everyday in order to stay alive, breaks are also needed so that we may keep living. I didn’t think too much on my way to Malaysia, only overwhelming excitement within. And my crazy journey slowly began.

I booked a direct morning flight with AirAsia without extra-baggage to save cost, then went straight to my friend’s apartment from KLIA2. There is a Skybus service that departs every 30 minutes on weekdays (and 60 minutes on weekends) from KLIA2 to various routes available daily, and I left for One Utama stop for MYR 15. It’s one of the biggest and most popular shopping centres in Klang Valley. My friend stays in a condominium nearby along with her co-worker, leaving a one-room space for me to sleep for the next three nights. Later that evening, another Malaysian friend took me to Tanjung Bungah Nyonya in Petaling Jaya’s SS2 area, known as an authentic restaurant to grab essential Nyonya dishes.

As for the public transport, Malaysians mostly use Touch n Go card to commute with train or bus services. You need to buy the card for MYR 15 with a purse value of MYR 9.80. This reusable card can easily be topped-up in convenience stores.

We had sweet fried chicken, fried tofu and sayur Paku, a vegetable dish known in English as wild fern shoots. I didn’t think I had ever had one in Indonesia but that one was pretty pleasant to my tongue. They all reminded me to my mom’s home-cooked meals.

We stopped by at Restoran Kayu Nasi Kandar SS2 nearby for this delicate roti canai and roasted chicken with dip-in curry sauce, not to mention this sweet roti tissue. Thanks to her, I went home with happy tummy and smiley face. 

Day 2: Fun trip, group trip

Haven’t I told you about the superb Couchsurfing app, have I? So basically I managed to gather more people for a one-day trip. Long story short, there were five of us going to popular tourist attractions like Batu Caves and Genting Highlands.

The history of Batu Caves is affiliated with Hinduism, and this is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, which was built in honor of Lord Murugan. If you are familiar with a huge statue at the entrance of Batu Caves, yes, that is the statue of Lord Murugan. Batu Caves itself is always swarmed with visiting tourists.

It cost me my bloody sweaty t-shirts and tanned complexion to reach the huge cave on top of the stairs.

The next destination was Genting Highlands. With the entrance fee of MYR 16, you can roam around the French village, Japanese village and also many other awaiting attractions. We stopped by Colmar Tropicale, a gorgeous Medieval French Village in Berjaya Hills. The cold wind was mild but humid and I indeed felt like leaving for a far far place.

One of the most fascinating experiences was visiting Amber Court, a 23-story apartment building known more as a haunted hotel in Genting. Legend said, a lot of gamblers committed suicide there after losing everything in the casino. If you look up on Google, you might find several interesting testimonies from people who once visited Amber Court. We, too, entered one empty room once and felt something creepy inside. It definitely isn’t a place you’d be comfortable roaming around.

To wrap up the visit, I visited Sky Avenue Shopping Mall and entered the Sky Casino, known as the largest casino in Genting Highlands. In order to make an entrance, you need to register the membership to receive a membership card. As part of the regulations, you are allowed to enter the gate unless you are underage, a Muslim or wear slippers. Photo-taking is also forbidden inside the casino, but it is definitely a huge-scaled casino. You can top-up the balance of the card in order to play the game. Machines are everywhere and people are busy gaining money under the supervision of CCTV cameras and security guards.

Later that night, my local friend took us to Restoran Tiong Hokkien Mee (non-halal) located around Damansara Utama to try the oriental Hokkien Mee there. The texture of the noodle is thick and coated with greasy seasoning, also added with seafood and samcan chops. Definitely a great meal to end day for only MYR 45 (a big portion for 3-4 moderate servings).

Day 3: Lone wanderer in Malacca

The days ahead were pure solo traveling for me. I took off at 7 in the morning to catch the bus to Malacca, a historic state located in the southern part of Malay Peninsula. There is a plenty of bus services that depart from TBS (Terminal Bersepadu Selatan) every 30 minutes with particular operating hours. I bought a TBS – Melaka Sentral bus ticket for MYR 11.4 (including TBS Passenger Insurance Protection for MYR 0.40). The trip approximately lasts for two hours, but the seats were comfortable to sleep on so it didn’t matter. December is still on the rainy season so I was told to bring an umbrella with me in case of any drizzles, which did happen upon my arrival there.

One of the most popular tourism spots in Malacca is Jonker Street, known also as the centre of Chinatown. Although it is mostly packed in the evening for the fabulous Night Market, some shops are also open during the day to welcome local or foreign visitors. Snacks, full meals, handicrafts and souvenirs are available along the long wide alley.

This is the widely-known chicken rice ball that I tried at Famosa Chicken Rice Ball outlet. the savory rice ball cost MYR 1.20 each and tasted like the Japanese onigiri. Added with a steam otak-otak for MYR 13, they made a mouth-watering palatable lunch menu to my mouth. 

In Malacca, you may discover gorgeous ancient landmarks and fortresses that spark British, Dutch and Portuguese vibes. It is a relatively small city but I only had half a day to roam around. Thus, I managed to witness several ancient churches and other buildings upon walking down the road from Jonker Street. Some buildings of walkable distance are Christ Church Melaka, St. Paul’s Church and A’Famosa Fort. No entrance fee required.

I ended my solo trip in Malacca at around 5 and went back to KL using the same means of transportation and the same bus fare as well. Upon my arrival, my local friend took me to Big Big Wantan in Damansara Uptown, Petaling Jaya for a bowl of warm wantan mee for MYR 6.5. I would say that it was one of the best wantan mee I have ever tasted with great thin mee’s texture and yummy pork dumplings, 10/10 lah.

*Not exactly a photogenic angle, if not an atrocious one, but yeah.

Day 4: A fresh start in Penang

I wanted to experience another side of Malaysia after spending some days in KL, and my choice fell on Penang, or known also as Pulau Pinang. It is a state located in the northwest coast of Malaysia Peninsula. Many people, including myself, probably have heard of Penang because of the prominent advanced hospitals. You can ride a bus, take a train or fly with a plane from KL to Penang. I flew with AirAsia airline for around MYR 80 and stayed with a host from AirBnB. It was a cozy room in an apartment located in Bayan Lepas, about 5-minute distance (by car) from Penang Airport. The rent cost about MYR 13 (including the service fee) per day. I think AirBnB does a great job in accommodating single or group travelers with clean cozy budget rooms in strategic locations of the town.

The capital city of Penang state is a city named George Town, or officially the City of Penang Island. It has it all; good signature cuisines, entertainments, night markets, malls and cultural heritages. Bayan Lepas, however, is a free industrial zone that contributes to the financial improvement of Penang as the financial centre of the northern part of Malaysia. It roughly takes around an hour or more to reach George Town from Bayan Lepas by bus. I had to go past more than 30 bus stops in order to get there, but staying close to the airport surely has its own perks.

The astounding breath-taking view from the window of my AirBnB room during the day.

And the rest of day was all about food-tasting experience.

This is the authentic hokkien mee from the Three Road 888 Hokkien Mee at Presgrave Street, George Town, and dawet cendol from the stall in front of the store. It comes with yellow noodles, bean sprouts, half a boiled egg and pork. The soup is thick and robust and everything else perfectly fits into places. 8.5/10 for me. And the dawet cendol makes an awesome fresh dessert.

There is this popular place to eat Nasi Kandar, a northern Malaysian dish that comes with well-spiced curry broth. Nasi Kandar is originally brought by Tamil Muslim traders from India that settled in Malaysia. Restoran Deen Nasi Kandar is quite well-known in George Town and the queue is crazy. I waited for around 20 minutes before being able to finally sit down and have a proper dinner. It is somewhat similar to Nasi Padang, one of Indonesia’s signature food from Minangkabau, North Sumatera. Regardless, if I have to compare the taste between Nasi Kandar and Nasi Padang, I’d say that Nasi Padang is more on the spicy side and Nasi Kandar is richer in spices. Both are delicious in their own ways. Prices are affordable depending on your choice of add-ons.

Lastly, my final culinary experience ended with a koay chap from a regular street stall in George Town’s night market. Made of hard-boiled egg, mushrooms, pork belly, pig intestines, pig skin, this is not a kind of food I would like to eat on a daily basis, but still acceptable as a culinary choice. It probably cost around MYR 10.

Day 5: A lost day in George Town

The next day was another solo adventure to George Town. Penang isn’t as advanced as Kuala Lumpur in terms of public transport, but they surely provide a lot of buses to hep people commute from here to there. However, the biggest downside of public transports in Penang is that they accept cash but do not give change.  I only  had the RapidKL  card with me, surely non-usable to tap in the buses in Penang. There is this Mutiara card which local people use as a top-up card, just like the RapidKL card. However, I believe that it’s only applicable for locals because you need to register with your identification card. Thus, I spent lots of coins and banknotes more than I should have done because they offer no change.

Another point to note if you are about to travel around Penang by bus is to pay serious attention to the bus stops mentioned by the loud speaker or written on the screen because there slight differences might occur with the guideline written in Google Maps. One time I received quite a backlash from a bus driver for being accused as a free-loader. I initially planned to visit Snake Temple so I checked the location via Maps and even memorized the stops. Unfortunately, I missed the stop because the names of the bus stops were unfamiliar (I was sure I did check the route of the correct bus number, though). I wanted to get off soon but the driver saw my bus ticket and he thought I purposefully checked in for Snake Temple for a cheaper fare. It was indeed a baffling situation for me and I ended up putting in more coins and got off in George Town. Nonetheless, that experience left a bitter taste in my mouth.

George Town is a beautiful town surrounded by classic yet historical buildings and polished by modern infrastructures. The weather was relatively hot but also quite windy, so walking down the long street is not exactly devastating. The sky and floating clouds offered a marvelous view along the horizon. And my first quest was all about food.

I found Yeap Noodles Cafe by accident while walking down Lebuh Chulia street. This is Yeap Noodles in Herbal Soup with pork slice, crab sticks, fish ball and beancurd skin for MYR 11.9. Not aesthetically pleasing, I would say, and it tasted quite bland in my opinion. Maybe I should’ve ordered different menu like the ones with thicker broth or the fried noodles. 7/10 since I was starving at that time, but I believe that the price was quite overrated.

And of course I didn’t want to miss the view of Batu Ferringhi Beach while in Penang. It took around an hour to reach the beach from George Town by bus (I took the bus from Komtar Terminal, where nearly all local Penang buses make a regular stop). Sky was disgustingly bright and clear at that moment, definitely a great place to clear your mind and rest for a bit. They offer banana boat and parasailing activities too!

If I had to mention a recommended noodle place in Penang, this is it. Hong Kee Wan Thun Mee (also known as Hong Kee Bamboo Noodle) in Lebuh Campbell, George Town. They seriously serve one of the most authentic Chinese mee in town. Thick and chewy in texture, added with yummy dumplings on the plate. I’d give 9.5/10 on this one, really. Spent MYR 8.3 and it’s really worth-it.

In the end, my lost day was impressive enough albeit I did spend hours roaming from here to there even with the guide of helpless Google Maps, or helpless me. I walked from here to there, even went as far as visiting Batu Ferringhi Beach by myself and made an entrance only to sit on the sand for hours with blank thoughts. I was exhausted and my legs almost gave in but somehow I managed to catch the bus and rest my body for an hour before I reached the apartment by 10 PM local time. It marked my last day in Penang and I felt that time flew too fast but I was fortuitous to have seen good things, eaten good food and met good people. I believe that I have found the true joy of traveling, which is all about good experience. And although getting lost was not exactly a pleasant experience, it has told me that as alone as I might have been, I still have myself and this self will never leave me in whatever mess I have gotten myself into. And that being said, I should take a really really good care of myself, and so do you.

Day 6: A Medan day

I didn’t have a particular reason for visiting Medan other than a short escape in an unfamiliar place. Medan is merely an hour away from Penang by air transportation, so why not? Coming back to place where people speak the same language as I do after quite a long time was finally breathing a fresh air after suffocation. There weren’t many things to do other than eating good food and sight-seeing good things. I booked a room for a night with a cool budget price from AirBnB.

I found Rumah Makan Tabona upon surfing on the internet to look up iconic food and places in Medan. It was established in 1983 with curry bihun as their signature dish. I ordered curry mee and it’s heavenly-tempting and rich in taste. The curry broth surprisingly matched well with the mee and I was really in awe. 9.5/10 and I believe everyone should have a try!

In the evening, I was recommended to try Kwetiau Ateng by a friend, to which I welcomed with an open hand. I mean, who doesn’t like kwetiau and the chewy texture that digests well in your stomach?

The complete set of kwetiau dish includes fishball, lapcheong, chasio, shrimp and egg. It’s inarguably 10/10.

Indeed one of the best kwetiau I have ever had in my life. A legit 10/10!!

Day 7: A night at KLIA2

In order to fly back to my hometown, I took multiple flights as following; from Medan back to KLIA2, then KLIA2 straight to my hometown. It had been planned beforehand as I had calculated lots of different options and this one was the cheapest, if not counting the extra-baggage cost that I paid later.

I woke up quite early in the morning and prepared myself for a brief adventure before an evening flight to KLIA2. The weather was great and the sky was as clear as crystals, so there wasn’t any reason to be dispirited.

As a choice of breakfast, I tried Soto Kesawan Medan, another prominent culinary option for tourists and locals. Usually soto is served as clear chicken soup, but soto kesawan comes with thicker broth (but different from curry broth) and is served with shrimp as the main menu (but chicken is also available so you can choose anything that goes better in your mouth). Personally, I don’t find soto kesawan mouth-watering enough to be willing to come over for the second attempt. 7.5/10 is enough. Not my cup of tea, I guess.

Before my flight back, I visited a historical place named Tjong A Fie Mansion, a classic residence located in a neighborhood called Kesawan, West Medan. It is registered as a historical landmark as well as one of Medan’s cultural heritage. Entrance fee is IDR 35k including tour guide-service to go sightseeing around the two-storey mansion. Tjong A Fie is a successful Chinese entrepreneur who literally built an empire in Medan that employed over 10,000 workers at that time. He became a prominent figure of Chinese leader respected by the people.

When the time was close to a farewell, I got back to the airport and waited for my upcoming flight. It was only like a short two-hour flight that I was already back in KLIA2 at around 5 PM local time. The upcoming flight to my final destination was early in the next morning, which marked my first attempt staying out in the airport. It was bothersome, anyway, to leave the airport and commute again so early, so I’d rather hold out until the final straw. It was a brand new experience beyond shadow of a doubt. I kept walking here and there without direction like a lost puppy.

The stores inside KLIA2 generally close at midnight and reopen at dawn, but there are a few food shops that open 24/7. When I was extremely used up after a long walk, I sat down on the floor near a charging outlet so that I may recharge my smartphone. There were also people beside me who did the same so it didn’t feel weird at all. I waited for a long time trying to stay awake amidst the fatigue and cold room temperature. Finally, I visited a food shop at 3 AM named Ah Cheng Laksa to digest something warm to my stomach. The one i ordered was Asam Laksa without any meat, and it turned out to be one of the worst food I had ever had all my life.

The distateful laksa that burned down my MYR 21 huft

Didn’t know exactly how an Asam Laksa is supposed to taste, but this one definitely made me lose my appetite. Thin soup with highly sour taste, bland laksa and fresh-looking veggies. Not gonna give any score because of how bad it was, sorry.

It’s an unfortunate thing that I haven’t been able to experience the real Malaysian laksa (that fits well to my appetite) during my visit to Malaysia.

Some traveling tips which might be useful for beginners (like myself lol)

Budget airlines are not exactly budget-saving if you plan on buying souvenirs, this is the most important thing I realized after I spent extra cost on over-baggage fee on the spot, which was almost twice the regular fee. AirAsia, for example, offers super affordable airfares compared to fellow airlines. However, they don’t come with baggage facility unless you add baggage to cart during the purchase. Not necessarily making the airfare pricier, but baggage cost does make a difference, so pay attention more carefully on it.

Bring yourself an umbrella when you travel around the end of the year. It rained occasionally in December when I visited Malacca, and securing an umbrella in the bag is surely much better than spending extra cost on buying one, isn’t it? Frankly speaking, I was lucky that my host was thoughtful enough to remind me to take her umbrella when I went out.

Always prepare extra small-denomination banknotes if you plan on taking public transports. Just like what I experienced in Penang, it would become an utter hassle if you run out of money just because you spend large bill only to be notified that the bus service doesn’t provide change money.

Anyway, let’s pray that the pandemic shall end soon so that traveling and face-to-face interaction no longer become impossible and let’s not take any relationship for granted. Stay safe people!

Total budget spent: around MYR 1,400k to 1,500k

Go Backpacking: 6D5N in Malaysia It feels surreal to me that we have passed the 2010s already. Time went ahead like an express train without a single stop.

[anamnesis-archive]

Bidding Adieu

Upon my return from London, the spread of COVID-19 was gaining de l’ampleur in France. My mom was consumed with worry as she was keeping up to date with news reports, statistics, announcements, etc. and kept asking if I was okay. There was this complete dissociation between what my mom was reading and what I was living (at least from what I could see). From Charles de Gaulle airport to the bus that took me back to Tours, people weren’t wearing masks and continued on living as they normally would, completely unfazed. At that point, France was still in a ‘stage 2’ of the ‘pre’ epidemic: there were ‘cluster’ regions of COVID cases, gatherings of more than a certain number of people were prohibited, and people were encouraged to do their own part by washing their hands frequently, staying at home if you feel ill and coughing into elbows (common sense measures).

Monday March 9th: France was still in a stage 2, but things were only escalating. President Emmanuel Macron was set to make an announcement at 8pm that Thursday, which everyone assumed would set the country into stage 3, being the final stage. The President of l’Université de Tours sent out an email addressing the situation at hand and it was upon this that my mom and I made the decision that it would be best to come home. He stated that all of their exchange departures (so Tours students going abroad) would be suspended on the basis of these three points:

1 – Comme vous le savez, les universités Italiennes sont actuellement fermées. Or, il est probable que d’autres universités fermeront dans d’autres pays. Prévoir un déplacement dans les semaines prochaines représente donc un risque car nous n’avons aucune garantie de pouvoir effectuer notre mission.

2 – Les personnes en déplacement à l’étranger peuvent également être contaminées et tomber malade sur place. Dans cette hypothèse, il faut avoir conscience qu’il ne sera pas possible d’assurer leur rapatriement si les recommandations que nous recevons se renforcent. On peut également craindre qu’une personne de notre entourage tombe malade (conjoint.e – parents etc...), alors que nous sommes à l’étranger. Dans cette hypothèse, comme dans la précédente, notre retour n’est pas assuré.

3 – Certains pays obligent désormais les Français à être placés en quarantaine à leur arrivée. D’autres encore envisagent le rapatriement des personnes originaires des pays à risque, dont la France. Là encore, les conditions de nos missions ne sont pas assurées et il n’est pas raisonnable de prendre le risque de partir. (Vendrix, 2020).

Although designated for their native students wanting to study in a foreign country, I found that the points made could inversely be interpreted by us, who were studying abroad in France. If they thought it best to have their students remain in France, it implies that the home country is the place to be during this pandemic.

Tuesday & Wednesday didn’t seem real. I went to talk to the exchange coordinator at l’Université de Tours, where he tried to differ my decision to go back home claiming that Tours was incredibly safe and untouched by coronavirus. His words offered no reassurance. Nowhere is impenetrable; it’s only a matter of time before the lovely little city of Tours falls victim to COVID-19. I wasn’t afraid of catching the virus, but more of being stuck and unable to leave Tours when needed.

Thursday March 12th: All my friends congregated in my little dorm room knowing that our time together was coming to an end. We sulked, we laughed, we cried, we ate my children’s multivitamins as if they could boost our immune systems. My friend Anne- Marie had booked her flight to return home to Denmark as they were closing their borders; my friend Everley, from Texas, was frantically calling her parents not knowing what to make of Trump’s statement that “[t]he European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hotspots. As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe” (Wilmer and Chambers, 2020), ultimately closing the USA’s borders to Europe (to non- U.S. citizens).

Remaining cooped up inside was a real morale downer, we were festering upon each other’s anxieties and media propaganda. Putting aside all these fears, Thursdays were THE night to go out in Tours and we wanted to have one last hurrah. Quite frankly, the French did not give a shit (pardon my French) about the presidential announcement from that evening which stated, “that nurseries, schools and colleges were being shut down” (Kauffmann, 2020) in the attempt to minimize large assemblies of people. The evolution into Stage 3, or actual epidemic, was never mentioned. Place Plumereau, the epicenter of Tours nightlife, was busier than ever with people out at bars, congregating over drinks and cigarettes, and embracing that joie de vivre. I stayed out until 5 am, returned quickly to my dorm to shower and left to take Everley to la gare for 6. On our way to the station, I got ticketed by public transport enforcement for not having a billet on the tram. I was in this trance, where nothing seemed real, so I embraced this delinquent action (which in a normal setting, I would have been in a major panic). Seeing Everley off, we ran after the train, like something from a movie. That night, I had never felt more alive.

Amidst all this, my dad and two of my brothers were set to arrive for a partial family trip to visit me that Thursday. It quickly evolved from a two week vacation into a ‘rescue mission’ from my dad, who came for the weekend to help me pack up my dorm and get to the airport. He was absolutely stupefied by the carefree attitude that the French embraced towards this situation. I really questioned my decision to come home based on this lacklustre demeanour that surrounded me. I left Tours Saturday morning for Charles de Gaulle airport. That night, Emmanuel Macron decreed a lockdown of all non-essential businesses: bars, stores, etc. would be closed until further notice. Some of my friends decided to stay in France and remain there to this day. They are basically confined to their dorm rooms as almost war time measures have been implemented. They are required to stay at home and avoid contact with others. If they decide to go out, they must fill une attestation de déplacement dérogatoire (I’ve included a screenshot of what it looks like) that justifies the excursion outdoors. If they are stopped by officials without the paperwork filled out, they will get fined. Morale is low for them.

All in all, I really valued my time abroad. I was instructed in new ways to approach, critique and view art; I made great friends; my wanderlust only expanded, and I was able to do/see some pretty cool things despite my time in Europe being cut short. It is rather bittersweet to be back in Windsor, but I am glad to be home and with my family during these troubling times.

Through this all, I couldn’t help but think of Albert Camus’ La peste and the medieval plague doctor outfits. Camus is an author who believed life had no meaning, and thus contemplated life as absurd. There are definitely levels of absurdity in the situation we are currently living. Laura Maguire uses Camus’ philosophical approach to the absurd when making this example:

Think of our relations to other people—our family, our friends, our communities. We love and care for others in this cruel world, and perhaps that’s why we continue to live. That’s what gives existence meaning. The problem here is that everyone we know and love will die some day, and some of them will suffer tremendously before that happens. How is that anything but absurd? (2015)

Whether it be Camus’ bubonic plague, or the coronavirus, people that are cared for and loved are dying, despite being cared for and loved. To further the present absurdity (less philosophically, more of a critique on society): people’s inability to abide by the simple rule of staying at home/minimize social interactions. I understand that it can be difficult, but as long as people continue to go against what is asked and continue interacting with others (and possibly spreading the virus), the longer the need for confinement will be required. It is counterproductive. Furthermore, the fact that the world needed a global pandemic to see pollution levels alleviating is ABSURD. We can see through the reduction of human travel and industry an improvement in air and water quality around the world. But the realization that once travel bans and ‘normal’ life resumes, all hopes of environmental changes will be cast aside to make up for lost time in terms of production, etc. TIME issued an article on this subject where they stated that:

environmental science and policy experts warn not to call this a silver lining; any sustainable reduction in emissions and pollution will need to happen in a way that doesn’t totally splinter society. And, moreover, they expect that pollution levels will return when the coronavirus ebbs—and in some cases may come back with a vengeance. (Worland, 2020)

I’m also seeing a lot of memes on Twitter, where a part of a Los Angeles Times article, titled “Bubonic plague in Europe changed art history. Why coronavirus could do the same”, is used and some random (+ rather bizarre) piece of contemporary art is juxtaposed with it. Maybe meant to show the devolution or the degradation of the state of art post mass pandemic or to showcase the ‘creativity’ brought about by ample time on our hands, I think they’re funny. On a more serious note, it does bring about the question of how art, and its whole market will be changed due to this historical event. I personally am concerned in terms of finding a job in the future. What if situations like this arise more often? Will careers in the art industry be obsolete? Yoon Ahn, @yoon_ambush on Instagram, posted a snapshot of a 1998 Japanese magazine which featured a quote by Martin Margiela. He was asked in an interview what could designers offer in a time of war, and Margiela answered with “[t]he easy answer would be to keep them dreaming. Creation is the oxygen of life. We would probably want to help the reconstruction, by building the dreams and hope, the will to come back to a ‘normal’ life” (2020). I found some solace in the quote.

Works Cited @psybermonkey. “Bubonic plague in Europe changed art history. Why coronavirus

could do the same” Twitter, 4 April 2020, 8:24 a.m., https://twitter.com/psyber

monkey/status/1246413353238528001 Kauffmann, Sylvie. "Opinion | A French Call to Arms Against the Virus". Nytimes.Com,

2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/opinion/france-coronavirus-macron.html Maguire, Laura. "Camus And Absurdity". Philosophy Talk, 2015, https://www.philosophy

talk.org/blog/camus-and-absurdity.

Vendrix, Phillipe. “[etu] Message Président du 09/03/2020 : Coronavirus.” Received by Inès Mastellotto-Lesny, 9 Mar. 2020.

Wilner, Michael, and Francesca Chambers. "Trump Shuts U.S. Borders to Most of Europe, Bans Travel to Stop Coronavirus Spread". IMPACT 2020, 2020,

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article241115986.html.

Worland, Justin. “Coronavirus Drives Pollution Dip but it Won't Last.” Time, Time, 1 Apr. 2020, time.com/5812741/air-pollution-coronavirus/.

yoon_ambush. “Q&A with #MartinMargiela, 1998 from unknown Japanese magazine 🖤 This made my day”. Instagram, 5 April 2020, https://www.instagram.com/p/B-

mMZuuJJ7_/

[nextgennews-blog1]

Knowing My Limits by Elizabeth Scher

The greatest gift I ever received was getting fired for the first time. I, like so many in the restaurant industry, am a struggling performer. I had been making my way through the ebb and flow of constant rejection, and not necessarily handling it well.

For the past few years at this point, I had been bouncing around from restaurant to restaurant. I had just moved to New York in 2013 and was having difficulty finding my footing. Wherever I worked was filled with a myriad of issues. I never made enough money, there were never enough shifts, the managers were terrible, etc. There was rampant sexual harassment everywhere I worked. This, unfortunately, was to be expected.

I have been battling severe anxiety for years, which, at this point, been repressed to dangerous degrees. In July 2016 I reached a point where it could no longer be ignored. Realizing I could not safely live on my own, I went back home. I let my job know, and they were incredibly supportive. At no point did they show annoyance or belittle my experience, and I will forever be grateful for that. In fact, many of my coworkers and bosses could empathize seeing as how many have gone through similar issues themselves. Working in restaurants, you are bound to find people who have gone through what are patronizingly referred to as “imaginary problems”. Issues such as addiction, depression, anxiety, extreme anger, etc. Ailments where ignorant advice is given such as “just learn to smile more,” or “it’s all in your head.”

I eventually got to the point where I could live on my own and go back to work. I insisted that working in a restaurant was not contributing to my anxiety. In spite of the following events  I still believe this to be true. The types of problems that arise in a restaurant are often immediately resolved. My anxiety is generally concerned with the abstract and/or long term. In a restaurant you have many problems at once, but there is often a clear solution. That being said, I did not go back to work full time. I felt, as did my doctor, that I needed to ease into normalcy. My wallet disagreed, but my body felt it necessary to listen. My job was very cooperative, yet again, and I was allowed to come back on a part-time basis. Based on how I have been talking about this place is seems like the ideal serving experience. It is, however, by far the most dramatic place I have ever worked. I have seen drunk servers fight customers. I, myself, pulled a knife out of a cook’s hands to stop him from cutting himself. One time a manager was fired for literally stalking another manager. This place made Maury seem like a lovely family reunion.

There is one important character that is integral to much of the drama that took place. His name is Jake. Jake was the bane of everyone’s existence. He was an annoyingly loud regular who was crude, young, rich, traditionally handsome, and had a hoard of fake friends at his disposal. The main bartender, Evan, who was also good friend of mine, happened to be rather fond of Jake. Jake essentially paid Evan’s entire salary so it’s hard not to see why Evan had his back. Jake is a truly disgusting person. He would sexually harass every woman, but that is to be expected. He manipulated a host into sending what I’ll politely call “suggestive” videos, and then showed them to all of his friends. He would hand out cocaine like it was candy as though we were some sort of drug Santa. He called one of my friends, a fellow server named Brittany, a “miserable cunt” and was subsequently “banned” for 10 days. He tried to go back the next day as if nothing happened. The only reason he even got reprimanded was because Brittany was leaving for graduate school at the end of the week. The minute she left he was back to his old antics with full force. He has done, and continues to do, terrible things with no punishment. The final straw for me was when he exposed himself to a coworker and a female manager. I personally witnessed the female manager reporting it to the the higher ups and nothing was done. Jake didn’t even so much get a slap on the wrist.

Jake started to weigh on my mind more than I care to admit. Before he was just a slimy irritation, but I never thought he actually would effect me in the way that he did. I started to have panic attacks about possible scenarios involving him. They were only in my imagination, but there was something different about them than my other panic induced downward spirals. Although these events were fabricated, they were not out of the realm of possibility. Jake’s money made him very appealing to the higher ups. He was even being courted as an investor for a future location. He was untouchable. I was starting to think that he could literally rape us and the owner would just say we shouldn’t have been in his way. Unrealistic, yes, but given the way rape is treated these days, that idea is more realistic than I wish it was.. At one point I literally broke down crying about this in the middle of Union Square. There I was, sitting on the sidewalk on a Saturday night, crying about a piece of shit who, frankly, had already mostly decided not to mess with me. I wasn’t exactly nice to him after he called Brittany a cunt.

One of the main lessons I took away from my mental breakdown was to stop repressing stress. I decided I needed to confront this issue. I couldn’t go to management because that had already proven to be futile. At best we were ignored and at worst we were openly mocked. What I decided to do was talk to Evan, the bartender, and my friend. Evan and I grew close because we would commute together. We would rant to each other, talk about our fears and frustrations, and confide in each other. He has fought and won many battles that I won’t go into out of respect for his privacy. He helped me while I was struggling and I will always love him for that. What I thought I could do is go to Evan, as a friend, with my fears about Jake seeing as he actually has some influence. Evan isn’t a manager, but he could deny service. Another thing to mention about Evan is that he is incredibly defensive and stubborn. He has alienated a lot of people who have confronted him about similar issues. I knew that if I confronted him there was a possibility that I could lose a friend. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, but I had no choice. The conversation went exactly as I expected. I was crying, he was yelling, I was saying we don’t feel safe, he said I should have gone to management and not him. I said that these were panic induced thoughts, but felt they were still legitimate worries. I suggested that Jake not be given so many “perks” which, I felt, validated his behavior. I also said that Evan encouraged this behavior. He did not take kindly to that. Both of us were emotional and probably not as articulate as we could have been. I had to go to work as he was leaving for the day. I went to cry before my shift, he went right to management.

I left for a little while because I was already scheduled to go on vacation with my family. I came back after about ten days where I learned I was no longer allowed to work shifts until I have a talk with the general manager. My coworkers agreed that I was probably going to be fired in this “talk.” We all agreed that this was, in fact, probably what I needed. This place was making me miserable and the environment was toxic. Lo and behold, I come in the next morning and I have the “talk.” The general manager said I was “causing unnecessary drama.” and they can’t have that, especially from a part-time employee. I then asked him if I could explain why I did what I did. I did not hold back. I explained how I was coming to Evan as a friend, how going to management was futile, and how genuinely terrified we all are around Jake at times. I also made a point to tell him about how Brittany, the aforementioned “miserable cunt,” had gone to the owner the day before that incident occurred. She went to the owner, with another manager, and raised her concerns about Jake. She stated that he is always condescending and sexually harasses her. She had also said that she was afraid to go to the owner about this because she was scared to talk negatively about his friend. The owner’s response to these concerns was “well next time they do that say ‘yeah, well Evan doesn’t have these,’” and made fake breast gestures. It bears repeating that this was in front of another manager; the general manager apparently never knew about that incident. I also thanked the general manager for treating me so well when I needed the time off. It is a rare thing, and I still wanted to show appreciation.

I am not happy about how the confrontation went down, but I am happy I did it. If I had to get fired for anything I’m happy it was for standing up for myself and my coworkers. The whole experience made me realize that I never want to work in restaurants ever again. I wish I could say this type of incident is uncommon. I can’t count how many times a female coworker, at any restaurant I’ve worked, has encountered sexual harassment that has made them feel genuinely unsafe. At one point or another, at this place, every single female staff member had to be talked out of quitting over the sexism. We all said the same line: “it’s just part of the job.”

I learned that I can be a commanding force if I need to be. The whole experience has made me stronger. I still battle with anxiety daily and I am adjusting to the treatment I receive for it, but it has made me a better person. I’ve realized that learning how to get rid of unnecessary stress is difficult, but crucial. The second I walked out of that restaurant after being fired a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders, as cliche as that sounds. I mean that in a very real sense; I feel lighter. Job searching is awful, but I will take that any day over forcing myself to suppress more anxiety. I know my limits. More importantly, I know how to properly expand my limits without causing more stress. Baby steps are crucial and not a sign of weakness. I always thought that getting fired would be humiliating. I never considered that it could be the most empowering thing that has happened to me. I will be forever grateful.

[papipopsicle]

MERCENARY PART ONE

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X SuperSoldier!Reader

Genre: angst, fluff

Summary: In which Bucky finds a ghost from his past, and is determined to keep the promise he made so many years ago. In which he chooses to protect someone dangerous when nobody else will.

Song: Attack by Thirty Seconds To Mars

Warnings: none

Words: 2K

MASTERLIST

feedback is always appreciated

   Hydra had a knack for the excessive and extravagant. The not so secret organisation lacked subtlety. Which is probably why, after a little help from Fury to decode several corrupted files, finding their 'hidden' bases was as easy as one two three. How they managed to lurk in the shadows of Shield for seventy years was a mystery to everyone. Throughout the last two years, Earth's Mightiest Heroes have taken on a slew of missions in order to take down Hydra for good.

A whole lot of bad karma was finally catching up with them, and the destruction of everything they'd worked for was slowly being crossed off Steve's list.

James Buchanan Barnes spent six months attempting to learn how to be the man he was before the war. After seventy years of horror and atrocities forced upon his shoulders, he was finally a free man. But life alone came at the cost of constantly looking over his shoulder, and feeling non-existent eyes watching with each corner turned. The routine tired him, finding a new place to lay low every couple of weeks, and so he decided to do something about it.

The soldier took a trip to The Smithsonian, examining each exhibit in the Captain America wing to the very last detail before leaving just as quickly as he came. He'd gone there a few times before, using the stealth of his super soldier abilities to his advantage and managing to stay away from security cameras.

But this last time was different, he didn't bother sinking into the shadows, even going as far to angle himself in the perfect way for CCTV to see his arm on multiple occasions. He was done hiding.

It took Steve twelve hours to show up at the bolt hole that a whole load of security footage had led him to, and that was only because he came back late from a mission with Scott Lang and Jean Grey.

Well, the how's and why's of Bucky joining the Avengers Facility are stories for another day.

For the first year of his new life at the Avengers Facility, he picked up on a certain dynamic within the group of its twenty or so occupants. Nothing was forced. Sure, if someone attempted to stay in bed for a month without medical clearance, then Bruce or Helen would probably give them an evaluation of sorts. But there was no expectation to socialise or go on missions; there was a standing offer at all times though.

People from all walks of life came and went from the accommodation; Clint would often go visit his family or vice versa, Tony lived mostly in the tower with Pepper, Wade and Peter came over as a sort of vacation from their normal lives every now and again. Thor would scorch the grass while landing fortnightly, and the Defenders currently had a three month ban held over them after somehow setting fire to the swimming pool and breaking four large glass wall panels in one night. In their defence, Hunter and Bobbi had bet that they wouldn't do it, and were subsequently under a one month ban for goading them.

It was a madhouse, but strangely enough, Bucky enjoyed this atmosphere most of the time, even if he hadn't interacted with many of them unless it was mission based.

James promised himself he'd never set foot inside another Hydra base; and up until now, he kept that promise. The ex-assassin chose to give any information he could provide for these missions, anything he remembered about a particular base, who they may be keeping captive there and the like. In that year, he had helped whenever possible, but never went on any field missions, especially those having anything to do with Hydra.

He no longer held the mantle of 'The Winter Soldier', or at least that's what he tried to believe. This was a new life as James Buchanan Barnes, but the past has a horrible way of sneaking up on him.

For eighteen months he was able to keep that little promise, but it now lay shattered on the ground as he stormed to the front of the large meeting room. Each Avenger, with the additions of Blink and Mystique, sat in their usual chairs watching in utter disbelief as the super soldier cut off Tony's debriefing speech.

He needed a better look at the projection of the base, that's what had Steve guessed anyway, deliberately trying to ignore the sadness and anger emitting from his friend.

Like every mission presentation Tony and Friday created, to the side of these projections were profiles on the known Hydra agents who worked at or inhabited this particular base, along with the assets it housed. Instead of handing out paper copies of the presentation, tablets lay in front of each respective seats, which Bucky ultimately decided to ignore.

"Stop." He ordered gruffly, an overwhelming sense of confusion encasing that one word. His entire body turned to the monitor Tony had been controlling the presentation from. Brows scrunched together, he attempted to scroll back to a past file, but the machine didn't do what he wanted. Instead of trying a second time or getting agitated, Bucky turned to the man beside him with a look that meant he needed assistance.

Tony scoffed and shook his head, "Come on, Vakulinchuk, use your words."

"I need it to go to a previous file." He huffed, slightly embarrassed that the entire conference room of his colleagues were watching him fumble about with technology. The mechanics in his metal arm whirred as he clenched and unclenched his fist; Natasha noticed this and sat up straighter, now eagerly paying attention to the scene in front of her.

Bucky had never done this before, he always observed meetings from the back of the room silently, offering up any unsaid information at the very end. It was out of character, and now everyone was curious as to what caused it.

"You got it, buddy, just tell me when to stop." Tony encouraged, scrolling through the profiles until the soldier did just that. It was a young woman, with three other profiles linked to hers. Almost all of the information on the four was missing, only code-names and skill sets listed.

In that moment, the world seemed to stop. A man who easily showed no emotion in front of others now found himself visibly shaken, frozen in his spot with wide eyes staring at the monitor. "They died," he trailed off, scanning the words over and over again like his own mind was trying to deceive him.

NAME: ████████ ███████ ████████████

ALIAS: The Phoenix

AGE: ███

IDENTIFIABLE MARKINGS: '█' ███ █ ██ ███, █ ███ ████ ███ ██ ███ ██████, █ ███ ███ ██ ██ ███

FAMILY: ████, ██████. ████, ██████. ████, ██████.

ABILITIES: Highly trained in judo, karate, aikido, boxing, and multiple styles of kung fu. Expert acrobat, Olympic level gymnast, athlete and aerialist. Master manipulator, seductress and interrogator. Perfect marksmanship in sharpshooting and knife throwing. All natural abilities amplified by Zola's SS serum which triggered terrigenesis and gave her naturakinesis alike PHHT4, PHHT7 and PHHT13.

STATUS: ALIVE

"I'm going on this mission." Bucky stated monotonously, and an uproar of animosity began. Steve stalked to where he stood, the back of his chair clanging against the glass panel behind him.

"Like hell you are!" The original super soldier gritted his teeth, and he relaxed slightly when the redhead chimed in, "You really think that's a good idea?"

He ran his metal arm through his hair roughly and began pacing, "Vy ne ponimayete! Chto-to ne tak, ona dolzhna byt' mertva. Vse oni umerli!"

"Well," the once blonde haired, now blue-skinned woman propped her feet up on the large table they all sat around. She leant back and sent Bucky an unyielding, unblinking look of amusement, "either that document's wrong, or, more feasibly, you were lied to by a super secret organisation. They do that, get over it."

Clarice, the young girl sat beside her fellow mutant with the most beautiful green eyes, slapped said friend's arm and scolded her, "Raven! Play nice."

Maria, who'd just about had enough with the diversion from talk of the mission, stood from her spot and leant against the table top with an eyebrow raised pointedly, "Will someone please explain what's going on? In English, preferably."

"Buck?" Steve asked and the chatter died down when he nodded, complying with the request of his friend.

"The Wolf, The Witch, The Phoenix, and The Dragon. Earth and conquest, wind and famine, water and death, and fire and war. They were known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse. I only trained two groups while under... Hydra's control, and these were the last. They were done waging wars with super soldiers, and instead used the serum to unlock a biological code, mutating their DNA to mimic terrigenesis. They created a new brand of-"

"Inhumans." Bruce cut the soldier off, lowering his glasses to fully study the profile in front of him. Bucky simply nodded, but the heavy atmosphere earned a scoff from the woman who now resembled Wanda. Mystique rolled her eyes, strutting down the side of the room while swapping her appearance out as everyone currently watching her. Once she stood in front of Tony and James, she returned to the blonde haired woman known as Raven.

"The word you're looking for is mutant, don't change history, that's what they called us whether we liked it or not." She sneered, but the millionaire rolled his eyes at her misunderstanding.

"Since when did mutants go through terri-whatever?" He asked, not maliciously but rather in a quizzical manner, "You don't need to waste your time criticising us, Bubble Gum, alright? Inhumans need to be exposed to something called Terragen mist before having their abilities, but mutants are born with them. That's the only difference. Now, From Russia With Love, you were saying..?"

"Nu naher." he rolled his eyes at the younger man's nicknames, "The Horsemen, or 'Havoc', are not only Inhuman, but specifically each able to control a different element. Together, they could rip the planet apart in a second. It started in the 90s, taking young children and experimenting on them; they were wiped of any memories only once, but they never came back. The four successful candidates were forced into a ruthless routine from that day, and were manipulated to commit unimaginable crimes. Sixteen years after Project Havoc started, I was told a mission of theirs had gone wrong and that they were no longer a priority. In Hydra terms, a mistake was made and to cover it up they were murdered. That's what I thought for the last four years, at least."

The room was silent for a good few moments, with the Captain finally understanding why his best friend was so willing to go back to a place he vowed to never go again. During those horrific years of his life, people he could trust or even talk to were few and far between. Being able to interact with those there against their will restored a flame of hope that had burnt-out long ago. Bucky remembered these people more clearly than he remembered Steve at first. This man's memory's were a mess of grayscale blurs normally, but the four Hydra protégés were in gorgeous technicolour.

"That girl, Phoenix, Y/N, whatever you want to call her, we have to save her. Mne nuzhno spasti yeye."

Clearly, there was no way in hell James wasn't going on this mission.

PART TWO

[robbyrobinson]

Forgettable Episodes of the Loud House

Now, as I have said, these episodes are by no means bad nor good, but they don't even come off as "meh" for me as even with the most boring of episodes, there was still something salvageable to be had. Here, though, they hardly offer this; these episodes are either simplistic in their narratives, or they just don't cross my mind whenever I think of an episode of the series, here is my list of what I consider the Top Forgettable Episodes of the Loud House. Please do not take offense if one of your favorite episodes appears on my list.

The Top Forgettable Episodes of the Loud House

"It's a Loud, Loud, Loud, Loud, House": My god, that's a long title. In this episode, the kids are made to clean the attic as punishment for fighting over pocket change. While cleaning, Lincoln discovers a letter - apparently from the former owner of the house - claiming that she left a good sum of money somewhere in the house, but she advises whoever reads her letter that her family always fought over money, so it'd be in their interest to work together. But naturally, in a house of eleven kids, it's every Loud for themselves! Okay, I wasn't personally too bothered by the kids fighting each other to acquire the money, but I do agree that it does go a little too far in some places one in particular being Luna blasting Lincoln out of her and Luan's room with her amp. Admittedly, there are a few things that I liked about the episode. For one, the running gag wherein Lincoln would continually hit his face on the loose floorboard actually made me chuckle a bit, and I also liked how Lynn Sr. stages the whole thing to get his kids to work together for once. But other than that, a pretty bland episode.

"Cereal Offender": Tired of eating the same old cereal, Lincoln convinces his mother to let him do the grocery shopping, aiming to use any left over money to buy a brand of cereal simply called Zombie Brand. Naturally, his sisters tag along, and chaos ensues. Now, I initially hated this episode for a few reasons. For starters, the sisters had absolutely no reason to want to accompany Lincoln to the store. Yes, they do state their demands later on, but that's only because Lincoln lets it slip that he made a deal with his mom. Before that, they had no reason whatsoever to come along; they only make a wreck of the store, they selfishly ruin Lincoln's chances at getting the cereal, they were banned because of their behavior, thus making Rita have to shop at another store, etc. Also, I didn't hate the Manager: yes, he was a jerk, but come on, the kids were making a mess in the grocery store, so of course he kicked them out. The only saving grace is that Lincoln's sisters realize how selfish they were acting and pinch in to buy Lincoln the Zombie Brand (though did they ever say which grocery store they went to).

"Intern for the Worse": Lincoln and Clyde decide to compete with each other to become manager at Flip's Food & Fuel so that they could gain access to unlimited Flippies. Naturally, Mr. Flip takes advantage of this and encourages their competitiveness while he lazily watches. There wasn't that many humorous moments, and I actually felt somewhat nauseous with Flip's tendencies to put his feet in the nacho cheese. Ew..

"Chore and Peace": Lincoln tries to petition to trade chores with one of his sisters. As per usual, the sisters get in on this, and they go on strike as well. The house becomes a pigsty, and the Loud kids are forced to work together when it seemed as though Lily was missing due to their determination to not cease their strike. That's the plot in a nutshell. It also didn't come off as funny to me, and it also came off as somewhat nauseating when the house was beginning to fall apart due to no one keeping it up.

"The Sweet Spot": OK, so while I did joke around when I called "Trash House" "Sweet Spot 2.0," that was mostly me poking fun at some of the fans' hatred for this particular episode, but to be honest, I was actually bored with this episode, but not to the point of putting in on my worst list. There's a special seat in Buszilla that Lincoln wants, but surprise surprise, his sisters catch wind on this, and they battle each other for it, which ends up destroying the vehicle. When comparing it to "Brawl," I don't feel that any of the siblings reached the level of revile that I felt in the latter episode, though I personally found it hilarious that this whole thing was about a seat. I guess it helps that everyone is at fault in this episode unlike that OTHER episode.

"Come Sale Away": Hey, another sibling competition episode! In this episode, Lincoln and his sisters compete to earn the most money in a yard sale, but they kinda go overboard. As I pointed out, this episode employs the "the siblings do something that affects Lily" formula again when they believe that they accidentally sold her blanket, and they try to get it first. There are several aspects of the episode that I genuinely enjoyed. What caught me by surprise was when they had a flashback of a burping contest, and Lola wins it. That's right: little miss cute and prim actually unleashes a gassy belch that puts her siblings to shame. I mean....wow.....Also, there's the fact that they all do a twerking contest at the end. I couldn't keep a straight face when I watched it. And then their parents start to demonstrate their best booty dance, and just.....good god, how was this allowed? So does that mean that they're still grounded ?

"A Tale of Two Tables": Lincoln tries to prove that he can be an adult so that he can get a seat at the adult table. He succeeds, but he sees that he misses being at the kiddie table. A pretty bland episode with a pretty simple plot. I did find a few aspects interesting and/or funny such as Lucy claiming that the broccoli was screaming out to her. Lucy, while you may not like broccoli, it doesn't mean that it's sentient. Love that girl; hope she never changes.

"Along Came a Sister": Lincoln is trusted with the class tarantula, but he must keep it a secret from Leni as she has a deep fear of the eight-legged freaks. Barring the Exterminator - who was actually a good (albeit slightly disturbing) antagonist - I hardly remember anything pertaining to the episode, with the exception of the tarantula being revealed as a female who had recently laid hundreds of eggs. Which were above Leni and Lori's room. And then they hatch......yeah.

"In Tents Debate": In this episode, the sisters try to get Lincoln to choose either of two places to go for vacation; the beach, or Dairy Land. knowing that whatever decision he makes would peeve them off, he decides to sleep on it. So, both opposing sides do several things for him to win them to their side, and you'd probably figure out the rest. Again, an episode with a simple plot that didn't really catch my interest. And then the sisters start to deliberately harm Lincoln in some way so they could force him to decide. I may or may not get around to making a list of the worst Lincoln torture episodes, but if I do, this would no doubt be around #10.

"Picture Perfect": In this episode, Lincoln decides to orchestrate a family photo to give to his parents for their anniversary. Needless to say, when you have 10 sisters, expect some chaos. Basically, he tries to make his sisters into something that they're not, and realizes that he was wrong to do so. Now, as I have stated in my "Best" list, I acknowledge that "Picture Perfect" does employ the "Be yourself" message, but I felt that the message was better written in "Toads and Tiaras" and "Back in Black." While I do get on the show for rehashing morals, at the very least, they can add a new spin to it. With this episode however...I just didn't feel the message at all. The episode also wasn't really hilarious. Yeah, I know, I say that a lot, but the show is a comedy so it should be able to elicit a few chuckles from me. But in this case, it didn't. There were some moments I liked - like Lana playing mud monster with Lola - but it's not an episode that I watch frequently.

"Raw Deal": The Loud family take a trip to a national park, and to pass the time, Lucy reads fortunes. But when she gets to Lincoln, she bluntly tells him that his day would end in tragedy. Now, with this episode....I don't know. I mostly disliked it because Lincoln was so worried about his well-being, that he wasn't able to enjoy the park until the end. And no, I wouldn't blame the episode's conflict primarily on Lucy; if you remember, she did try to avoid reading Lincoln his fortune until she was pushed into doing so. There are a few humorous moments throughout such as Lana eating the bait intended for fishing, only to be too full for hamburgers. I don't get it; normally, I would feel nauseous with some of the more grotesque episodes, but Lana never made me feel nauseous. Weird. Other than not, not really a great episode.

[crimsonblackrose]

Paris exhausted me. There were so many things I wanted to see coupled with the strikes that was the one two punch combination that left me a zombie. After Paris I had a week to regroup and repack for my Seollal (Lunar New Year) trip to Okinawa. A week that pre-Paris me had filled with plans like: hiking, hosting, packing, and cleaning. Pre-Paris me made the worst decisions.

So by the time my flight to Okinawa had come around I was a little wary. All I wanted was a peaceful and relaxing vacation. It’d be the last one until I return to the States.

Like Paris and a couple other trips this year I made a pdf guide to try and organize myself. You can check it out here: Okinawa.

So maybe you’re wondering, where is Okinawa? Okinawa is an island off the coast of Southern Japan. It reminds me a bit of Jeju-do, which is off the southern coast of Korea. In both cases they were originally their own country with their own people and cultures until Japan and Korea took them over. (A bit like Hawaii). Okinawa is actually closer to Taiwan than mainland Japan.

Okinawa, once upon a time was the Ryūkyū islands (though not all of the islands) and due to its location the people who lived on the islands frequently traded and interacted with China and Korea and several other countries in the area. The results of which can be found within the foods and traditions.

At one point in the 17th century swords were banned which led to the creation of several Okinawan martial arts, the arguably most famous of which is karate.

In 1879 Japan decided to annex the Ryūkyū islands. Also after the Battle of Okinawa in World War II the island found itself occupied by the United States army from 1945-1972 and there are active American army bases still on the island which adds a controversial USA style residue.

Something else found around the island are Shisa or シーサー. These creatures are a cross between a lion and a dog and can be found throughout the island in pairs. One will have its mouth open while the others will be closed. The one with an open mouth is said to eat evil spirits while the one with the closed is meant to keep good spirits in. They are from the Ryūkyū period and can even be found in cute but silly looking souvenirs. Or in many souvenir/tourist spots you can make your own set to take home.

This shisa has it’s mouth closed and is keeping the good vibes in. 

Another uniquely Okinawan thing you’ll find often, even just by sound is the Sanshin, or 三線.  It is a three stringed snake skinned banjo. Classes are offered to learn how to play, the instrument is sold as souvenirs, and you’ll see people just chilling and playing them depending where you are. Many old traditional Okinawan songs are played using this instrument.

 Okinawa is also one of the first places within Japan to experience cherry blossoms. This special type of sakura is called Kanhizakura and is a darker color than the cherry blossoms found in the rest of Japan. They start blooming on the northern side of the islands in late January and through early February which is around when Seollal this year was. (January 24th-27th) So I was actually quite excited to see them. I’ve always wanted to attend hanami of some kind but the dates of cherry blossom viewing and my time off never coincided.

My goal was the Nago Cherry Blossom Festival which was due to happen while I was in Okinawa. The cherry blossom festival was scheduled to happen at Nago Central Park (名護城公園) from January 25th-26th. But according to Google maps it was a 2 hour bus ride away from Naha where I was staying and about a 23 minute walk from where the bus would drop me off in Nago city.

Normally I’d do that. I’d get up early, hop on the bus and then just spend the entire day in Nago before catching a bus home. But I just really wasn’t feeling it. I wanted my trip to Okinawa to be an actual vacation and not me running around trying to cram every possible thing I wanted to do into my short time there until I exhausted myself. (see Paris) So I came up with a compromise. I’d check and see where the cherry blossoms generally were popular to visit in Naha and I’d go there. If they weren’t blooming at all then I’d do the bus. If they were blooming even a little I’d take a cooking class.

If you’re curious about other places you can see cherry blossoms in Okinawa during late January/ early February I suggest checking out these posts that I used to decide for myself. Japan also tends to have a cherry blossom forecast you can check. As a general rule the northern side of the island  blooms first and then makes its way down south.

Matcha’s Top 5 Cherry Blossoms 

Gina Bear’s Blog: Alluring Sakura Spots

The weather in Okinawa is tropical. It’s pretty warm. I was visiting in winter and during the time it gets the coldest. Generally from December through February the lowest it might get is around 9.6°C and with highs of 26.9°C (between 49-80°F). While I was there in late January while the forecast called for low 70°F (21°C) it ended up being more on that high end of nearly 80°F for most of the trip. Meaning I had packed for a warm spring and ended up in summer style weather. It did however rain towards the end of my trip which cooled things off a lot.

I highly suggest making sure you take care of yourself and prepare for the heat. In the summer it gets a lot hotter. If you’re curious to read more about the monthly weather, what you should wear or how much rain and typhoons they get on average I suggest checking out this website here.

As you can tell, since I went in winter and it was in the upper 70’s it gets hot in Okinawa. I was expecting from the weather reports I saw before I left for it to be spring like in weather and so I packed accordingly…which wasn’t right. I should’ve packed for summer. Clothing wise this is what I wish I’d packed. If you want to print it you can print a copy of my okinawa packing list by clicking on the link.

I suggest packing for warmer weather that might cool off with a breeze or some rain. The jeans I packed were too hot until it started to rain towards the end of my trip. At which point it was nice and cool. Also definitely take a fan. While for most of my trip I was good.

I, and a lot of people, while leaving Okinawa at the airport were dying while in line to go through security. There were only 4 doors and a lot of people trying to get through and the airport didn’t have any air conditioning on, at least that was noticeable. I whipped out a wooden fan I got in Malaysia and I’m pretty sure it’s the only reason I didn’t pass out. It also let me bond with a family whose grandma had a similar fan and whose grand-kid got excited every time they spotted me with my fan.

Also a side note for people with allergies. Due to the climate there are a lot of flowers in bloom and they’re everywhere.

The connecting platform from the airplane to the actual airport was filled with orchids. There were orchids everywhere in the airport. (It’s lovely) There are also a large amount of well loved stray cats.

I saw many people halting their daily business to stop and check on the cats or feed them and a lot of the cats seemed friendly. However if you have allergies and are extremely sensitive to cats or flowers make sure to pack your most trusty allergy medicine.

Something to note in Okinawa is that the usual transit passes you use in the rest of Japan do not work. There’s are lot of different passes for different regions of Japan. I have two. I have a Pasmo and a Icoca which usually covers where I tend to want to travel. Neither work in Okinawa. Other IC passes also don’t work.

The first thing you should do is decide what you want to do while in Okinawa. I wanted a super chill vacation so I wanted to stay in Naha as much as possible. Especially after seeing that the cherry blossom festival was a two hour bus ride away and there weren’t tours available that I could find in English. I had already booked my hotel in Naha for the entire time I was going to in Okinawa. So I suggest even before booking your hotel decide what you want to do and where you want to go. Then try and figure out logistics. If you want to travel around beyond Naha (the city nearest the airport) then one way to do that is to get an Okinawa bus pass. A 1 day pass is 2,500 yen, a 3 day pass is 5,000 yen. It is 500 yen more to add on the Yui rail. It does not however “include buses that pass the highway such as limousine buses, line No. 111 and No.117, and regular sightseeing buses.” You can pick up or buy the pass in the International arrival terminal at Naha airport.  (These tickets are also available at other locations if you want to buy them later in your trip. You can check out the locations here.)

I had planned to get this ticket because it’s what everyone suggested getting online for getting around while in Okinawa. But because I was mostly staying in Naha it wasn’t worth it for me. Instead they suggested I go to the Domestic arrivals terminal and get the Naha bus pass. (660 yen per day just for the bus. If you want to add the monorail it’s 1,000 yen) After some back and forth in my limited Japanese and the staffs limited English I finally understood why they weren’t selling me a 3 day transit pass. Let alone why they weren’t wanting to sell me any bus pass. The Naha bus pass works for that day. Meaning if you start using it at 5pm it will only work until the last bus of that day. It’s a bit expensive to even do this. My hotel which was the only goal for that day other than eating and going to a nearby park was accessible via the monorail. It was more financially responsible to just go to the monorail and buy a one way pass to my nearest station and walk the ten minutes to my hotel. Due to my hotels location I was also near a ton of popular things to do including a lot of restaurants. And it turned out most of what I wanted to do was arguably within walking distance.

So I bought a one way ticket via the monorail  (Yui Rail) and spent the rest of my vacation walking around the neighborhood my hotel was in.

I’m really grateful that neither bus shop sold me tickets. I’m glad that both booths knew that it wasn’t financially worth it for me to buy a pass with them. Because I’d never been to Naha before and the number 1 suggested way to get around is via a car. So I had assumed everything would be too far away for me to walk. But because I had planned to stay in Naha it was better for me to just walk. Or buy tickets at the station for the monorail.  You can get a one day or two day monorail pass if that will be better for you financially. These run 800 yen for a day pass and 1,400 yen for two days.

  If you want to the local IC card (similar to the Pasmo or Icoca) which is what I was looking for, it is called OKICA pass and can be purchased at the ticket machines. To get the card you must load up in increments of 1,000 yen and you will loose 500 yen as a card deposit when you first get the card. The purchase amounts for the card are 1,000, ￥2,000, ￥3,000, ￥4,000, ￥5,000 and ￥10,000. If you would like to take the bus and trains around Naha often then I suggest getting this card because it will make your commute around Naha faster than buying a ticket one way. The ticket machines have an English option so follow the instructions to get your card.

I did not get one of these cards since I took public transportation a grand total of twice. Once from the airport and again back to the airport. But if you want to explore more of Naha and be able to easily jump between bus and monorail I suggest getting this card. (For me to get to and from the airport those two times I spent a grand total of 600 yen which is why it was not worth it for me, even in retrospect.)

The regular paper pass work via scanning a QR code. Scan when entering the monorail and when leaving. When you’re done with your ticket there is a bucket you can drop it in or you can keep your ticket.

One of my favorite things to do when travel is try the local specialties. It’s become even more of a thing since living in Korea and whenever I mention traveling, even just to a different part of Korea, my coworkers want to know above all else if I ate the foods of the region and if it was good. Food is also a huge part of Okinawan culture, they believe that food is medicine and the proof is in the pudding as they have the longest life spans.

I didn’t manage to try everything they’re famous for but I tried a lot. I’m going to make a quick list for you and then in upcoming posts go more into detail on which places I went to try the foods.

Super special local ingredients!

Goya ( ゴーヤー)– Goya or Momordica charantia is a super healthy food and looks a bit like a bumpy cucumber. It is chock full of vitamin c and is considered the perfect thing to eat when it’s hot out to protect your stomach from the heat. Usually when it gets too hot out the appetite decreases. It’s believed the Goya keeps that from happening.

umi-budō (海ぶどう) – Umi Budo or Caulerpa lentillifera is known as a couple of different things, green caviar and sea grapes are the top two. Umi budo is neither a fruit or an egg but instead a satisfying to eat type of seaweed. Rather than leaves sprouting from the main stem there are a whole bunch of tiny orbs. If you like salty and popping boba in your tea then I suggest giving these a try. They’re a lot of fun, almost an edible equivalent to popping bubble wrap. It’s usually served covered in vinegar at room temperature.

Shiiquasa (シークヮーサー ) – This citrus fruit has various spellings and names in English. Among which include  shiikuwasha, shiiquwasa, or shequasar or the scientific term: the Citrus depressa. It’s is a very sour fruit similar to a lemon or lime and sometimes confused with a calamansi (though it is similar). It can be found in various types of juices on the island as well as as a chip flavoring and in ice creams.

Benni Imo 沖縄の紅芋 – This is a relative to the sweet potato, taro, ube, or yam. However it is dark on the outside and bright purple on the inside. It gets used a lot in Okinawa for various fun desserts with no artificial coloring due to the natural dark purple color.

Maasu 真潮 – Massu or Masshu is very simply salt. There are about 150 types of salt uniquely made in Okinawa. And you’ll find a lot of things have salt to them. Some of these are quite fun like salt ice cream and cookies. As a person who grew up in the United States where salt is arguably over used, living for the last 5 years in South Korea where sugar is grabbed in almost all instances I would have use salt, meant my savory salt taste bud was in absolute heaven in Okinawa.

Aguu あぐー豚 – Aguu is Okinawan pork. Aguu is used commonly in many dishes so if you do not eat pork or meat make sure to double check with the restaurants that this is not used. It is a local special ingredient and every bit of the pig is used in some part of Okinawan cuisine. If you’re sensitive please take care when walking around in Okinawa as pig heads are commonly on display as a showcase to their importance within the culture or as part of souvenirs. I usually did not get too close to see if some of the ones on display were real or fake. Aguu itself is considered a very special type of pork and has become rarer than it use to be. Due to this the pork you eat in Okinawa might not automatically be aguu, and if you do find aguu  it will be expensive.

kokuto 黒糖 – Kokuto is a local type of brown sugar made from a very sturdier type of sugar cane on the island that can withstand typhoons. It’s considered one of the world’s healthiest brown sugars.

peanut tofu– most tofu found in the world is made out of soybeans, but in Okinawa you can buy and try tofu made out of peanuts. Note peanuts is a popular ingredient, if you have allergies make sure to double check before eating things in Okinawa.

pineapple and mango- Pretty sure most people know what these are.

Alcohol and spirits

Awamori– local very strong rice liquor, it has no added sugars and is low in calories. If you want to enjoy it it is highly suggested to add at least ice or water (hot or cold). If you want all the calories then have it in a cocktail. Popular cocktails according to an Okinawan guide are: Mango Harusa (local mango, orange and shiiquasa), Awamori twice (milk and chocolate liquor), and Ryuku tonic (lychee).

Orion– the local beer. If you like this beer then you’re in luck. You will find souvenirs for it everywhere.

wine– due to the large amounts of fruit grown on the island you can try all sorts of fruity wines like pineapple, mango, guava, and shiiquasa.

Foods!

Goya Champuru – you might recognize that first word. Goya is bitter melon and Champuru essentially breaks down to stir fry. Goya Champuru is a great way to try bitter melon. Common ingredients include goya, tofu, egg, pork belly and/or Spam.

Rafute– this dish is a sweet meat. It’s made from pork belly cooked in Awamori and a local type of miso. Depending on who makes it it may be sweet or salty but it will be melt in your mouth soft. For some people that is a textural no-no with meat.

Okinawa soba– Usually soba is quite thin and dark looking, however the Okinawan style looks a bit more like udon with its paler 100% wheat made chewy noodles. It usually comes with some sort of pork. Commonly pork belly or spare ribs.

Taco rice– It’s exactly what it sounds like. Instead of a taco shell either soft or hard you’ve got a taco salad essentially on a bowl of rice. Not everyone’s cup of tea but I loved it.

Mimiga– I didn’t manage to give this a try but it is boiled and steamed pork ears. Note that if you have peanut allergies make sure to let them know because it’s usually covered in a peanut dressing.

Sweets

Santa Andagi– nicknamed Okinawan brown sugar donuts these are not what most would consider a donut. They are instead balls of fried dough. They aren’t super sweet and tend to be very crunchy on the outside. They’re fun to try and they come in other flavors but the traditional old school flavor is brown sugar. 

Salt ice cream– exactly as it sounds. Also depending on location you can try flavored salts on top of your ice cream.

Okinawan salt cookies

Chinsuko– a cookie similar to a short bread cookie that comes in a lot of different flavors. They’re quite good. When it comes to souvenirs though you may notice that they’re being sold in joke boxes because Chinsuko is similar to a slang word for penis,  “chinko”.

Beni Imo Tart– a bright purple sweet potato tart which can be found at almost any souvenir shop. You should also be able to sample these at many of the shops to see if you like it.

Beni imo soft serve– if the tart isn’t up your alley you can also try beni imo in the form of bright purple ice cream in many locations.

This of course isn’t everything that is exclusive to Okinawa or all they have to offer but this is a lot of the main ones I ran into and ran into often.

While Japanese is spoken in Okinawa and they’ll understand you if you say the basics, Okinawa has its own language that predates even the Ryūkyū Kingdom.

Languages are confusing and I am no expert. I only learned two phrases, one on a tour and the other at a show, but I figure if I share them so you’ll pleasantly surprise those you meet.

First up is hello. But as a note the language is gendered. So from my understanding what you say depending on the gender you identify as.

Since I identify as female I would say Haitai はいたい as a greeting to the people around me.

For those who identify as male you say Haisai はいさい . 

Thank you is nifee deebiru 御拝でーびーる. It is not a gendered phrase.

If you want to memorize hello in Okinawan there is a song that is played practically everywhere, even if it’s just a little jingle on the Yui rail or at the airport called Haisai ojisan (ハイサイおじさん). If you want to hear the song a version of it can be heard here. If you go to any traditional performance there’s a good chance this song will be played accompanied by the sanshin.

  Okinawa Paris exhausted me. There were so many things I wanted to see coupled with the strikes that was the one two punch combination that left me a zombie.

[itsfinancethings]

(WASHINGTON) — An American jailed for months in Lebanon was released from custody Thursday, while a Navy veteran was granted medical furlough from an Iran prison as the country struggles to curb the spread of coronavirus, U.S. officials said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Michael White, imprisoned more than a year ago for insulting Iran’s supreme leader, was released to the Swiss Embassy as part of a furlough that will require him to remain in Iran. The U.S. will work for his full release, Pompeo said.

The other American was Amer Fakhoury, a New Hampshire restaurant owner who had faced decades-old murder and torture charges in Lebanon that he denies. He was ordered released by a judge because more than 10 years had passed since the crimes he was accused of committing.

The Trump administration trumpeted the twin releases, though done in different countries and for different reasons, as part of its efforts to secure the release of Americans held hostage or imprisoned abroad. Officials including President Donald Trump used the occasion to name additional Americans they want released, including journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012.

“I want to let everyone know that recovering Americans held captive and imprisoned abroad continues to be a top priority for my administration,” Trump said at a news conference.

White’s release, though temporary for the moment, came as Iran has furloughed tens of thousands of prisoners while struggling with a coronavirus that Iranian officials fear could kill millions.

White, of Imperial Beach, California, was detained in Iran while visiting a girlfriend there in July 2018. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for insulting Iran’s supreme leader and posting private information; the State Department said he was serving a 13-year sentence. His mother had called for White’s immediate release in an interview with The Associated Press this month, saying she was concerned about the well-being of her son and that he had been battling cancer.

“He is in very good spirits, but has some pretty sustained health conditions that are going to require some attention,” Brian Hook, the U.S. special envoy for Iran, said on a conference call. Hook said White would be evaluated by doctors.

Fakhoury was on his way back to the U.S. after a judge in Lebanon ordered him released. Fakhoury had been accused of torturing prisoners at a jail run by an Israeli-backed militia two-decades ago. He had been imprisoned since September after returning to Lebanon to visit family.

His case had put a significant strain on already troubled ties between the U.S. and Lebanon. Lawmakers in Washington had threatened to withhold critical aid to the country and impose sanctions on the Lebanese military, which is seen by the Trump administration as a bulwark against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement.

“Anytime a U.S citizen is wrongfully detained by a foreign government, we must use every tool at our disposal to free them,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H, who had worked for his release. “I’m very glad that Amer is finally coming home and will be reunited with his family. No family should have to go through what the Fakhoury family has gone through.”

His oldest daughter, Guila Fakhoury, told the AP by phone, “We are so happy. It’s a dream.”

Fakhoury was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma and had been hospitalized in Lebanon. Trump said Fakhoury “will now be able to receive the much needed care and treatment in the United States.”

“We’ve been working very hard to get him freed, and he’s finally able to have his entire family at his side,” Trump said.

Fakhoury was ordered to be released Monday because more than 10 years had passed since he allegedly tortured prisoners at a jail run by the South Lebanon Army militia. But he was not immediately allowed to leave the country after a Lebanese military judge on Tuesday appealed the decision, asking a military tribunal to strike down the decision to free Fakhoury.

The parliamentary bloc of Hezbollah criticized the military tribunal for what it called “succumbing” to U.S. demands to release Fakhoury, describing him as “an agent who betrayed his country.” Hezbollah lawmakers called on concerned authorities to hold the tribunal accountable.

Hours before Shaheen announced Fakhoury’s release, a U.S. Marine Osprey was seen taking off from the U.S. Embassy compound northeast of Beirut. He was being returned to the U.S. in a State Department medical plane, said Assistant Secretary of State David Schenker.

Separately, hours after the release, the U.S. embassy announced that all of its non-essential personnel had been ordered to leave Lebanon. An official in Washington said the decision to move to ordered departure was not connected to the release and was instead made due to the spread of the coronavirus and the uncertainty of transportation. The embassy will be operating with only emergency consular services available for American citizens for the foreseeable future.

Fakhoury is a former SLA member who became a U.S. citizen last year. His case has been closely followed in New Hampshire, where Shaheen and other officials have called for imposing sanctions on Lebanon to pressure Beirut to release him.

Fakhoury was jailed last year after returning to Lebanon on vacation to visit family. Lebanon’s intelligence service said he confessed during questioning to being a warden at Khiam Prison, which was run by the SLA during Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.

Human rights groups have described the prison as a center for torture.

Fakhoury’s family and lawyer, however, said he had no direct contact with inmates and was never involved in any interrogation or torture.

Fakhoury’s family said in a statement said they have been through a nightmare “that we would never wish on anyone.” They thanked Trump and members of his administration and said Fakhoury “considers Shaheen his hero.”

Lebanon and Israel have been officially at war since Israel’s creation in 1948. Lebanon bans its citizens from traveling to Israel or having contact with Israelis.

Fakhoury’s lawyer and family say he fled Lebanon in 2001 through Israel and eventually to the United States because of death threats he and many other SLA members received after Israel ended its occupation of Lebanon in 2000.

Fakhoury was formally charged in February by a military judge with the murder and torture of inmates at Khiam Prison.

___

McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Washington and Bassem Mroue and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

[bffhhoneymoon]

Entry 56

 “Alma, what are you doing?” questioned James.

 We had been waiting on Toy Thirteen while James was on a short trip to the molten planet a couple hundred million miles away for business.  Despite the bountiful hazards on the planet capable of killing our daughter, she had still been interested in visiting, even knowing that she wouldn’t be allowed to see the natives in person.  Having a business trip during our daughter’s vacation seemed like a waste, but I enjoyed the time alone with her.  Well, relatively alone.

 “Venting!” I replied with a smile as I shattered another asteroid.  I then used a spell to collect the pieces into small enough groups for Mila to collect with the shuttle.

 “Mom’s emotions are chaotic!” added Dani, grinning up at him.

 James frowned.

 There was a pang of anger, but I fought it down, wishing that I wasn’t feeling sad the moment I did.  “Don’t worry.  None of these are valuable for harvest, and Aaliyah claimed I’d even save some lives by clearing this part of the belt.”

 Despite the hundreds of thousands of miles between the asteroids here, some of these would eventually be knocked out of orbit due to a large rock tumbling through the system in another fifty years, which would have caused an asteroid I already destroyed to eventually hit the planet.

 “I was only wishing that I could do something to help with the…” he paused, probably searching for some nice way to state his intent.

 “Pregnancy?  I’m perfectly fine, my love.” I replied, forcing my smile to remain and wishing Dani wasn’t right about my emotions being chaotic.

 James’ head jerked to the side, having noticed our daughter’s work covering a wall.  “These are great, Dani.  Any plans for them yet?”

 “I was actually thinking of setting up an art exhibit with some, so our daughter’s sculptures could be displayed.” I replied.

 “Some of them aren’t very good.” complained Dani as she went back to sculpting a small piece of an asteroid into a bird.  The standards of her people were very high, but Dani had won numerous awards at her school.  Her travels had inspired pieces depicting creatures her species had never seen, and Dani captured them in exquisite paintings, drawings, and sculptures.  Some of her music had been banned, such as the song she composed for the long lost Chritellions after spending a month cataloguing a dig site with her father and me.  She had used a replica of an instrument we found to create a hauntingly beautiful melody, but her people felt the sadness of the song too deeply.

 “I’d like to display some at our homes if you don’t mind me claiming what you two don’t want.” he told us.

 I didn’t argue, following his gaze well enough to guess which ones he was after.  One of them needed to be publicly displayed, being one of her most lifelike portrayals of our family in battle, but I could part with the others.  Museums would care for her work for centuries at least, where we were likely to visit a given home rarely at best.

 “Any idea what you want to eat?” questioned James when he finished studying the sculptures.

 “Auntie Aaliyah’s cooking.  She had her work goggles and lab coat on again, so we’re having something interesting!”

 James nodded, smiling at the thought.  “Well, can I join you two then?”

 “Of course!” exclaimed Dani, using a spell to lift a couple chunks of unworked asteroid before sending one to her father.  “What do you think this could be?”

 “Uh… a ball?” he questioned, eyeballing the piece dubiously.

 Dani rolled her eyes, smiling and shaking her head.  “You can make something cooler than that.”

 “He’s going to design another spaceship.  He always ends up making a ship.” I told her.

 Dani sighed.  “I know, but he cheats on them.”

 “Hey now.  Not everyone can be a brilliant artist like you two.  Besides, I like ships.” he told her.  After glancing between us, he said, “Fine.  I’ll do something else.”  He easily cracked the rock in three pieces  with a quick tap from his knuckle, and then started using spells to sculpt, absently matching his timing to the tune Dani hummed.

 Not even an hour had passed before James had sent off the pieces to be analyzed by Mila.  He always ended up transmuting at least part of the substance when he was convinced to sculpt.

 “Dinner’s prepared!” exclaimed Aaliyah as she stepped into the room, looking as if something had exploded and left soot all over her.

 I cleaned her with a few spells as I stood, following James and Dani behind Aaliyah as she headed back toward the dining room.  Despite how she looked, Aaliyah had prepared a delicious meal with several chilled dishes and a few at room temperature.  The drinks were the only part with any heat to them, a spicy one as well as pleasant fifty-eight degrees Celsius, which left me wondering if she was simply messing with us or created a blast as part of the preparation process.

 After we finished, Aaliyah joined us in sculpting, though she used a hammers and chisels of various sizes instead of obvious magic.  Dani moved on to painting her latest piece while I put the finishing touches on my representation of Mila and a young-looking Hecate walking hand-in-hand.  I planned on burying it somewhere Hecate would find it.

 “Daddy!” complained Dani as James started creating a number of very complicated spells.  Her paint splashed against the floor as she lost concentration on it.

 He smiled and continued.  To my surprise, he wasn’t actually changing anything to metal.  He was adding uniformity to his piece’s structure and doing some intricate carving.  I smiled as I examined what he had made, fighting back the tears that had started forming in my eyes..

 Cleaning and lifting her paint again as she sang, Dani’s spells placed paint over her sculpture with incredible precision.  Watching and listening to her work was always a pleasure.  Finishing, James made a pair of earrings float over to me while a new charm for Dani’s bracelet was sent to her.

 Dani guided her paint back to the containers as she reached up to grab the charm, a worm-like creature we had seen in the briefing on the nearby world.  Grinning, she said, “Daddy, it’s hideous!  Thank you!”

 “And thank you for not making my earrings look like one of those.” I told him, admiring the lace-like design of the stone.

 “Now what are you going to do with the rest of it!?” asked Dani excitedly.

 “A gift for me!?” asked Aaliyah.

 “Yes.  Exactly.” replied James, having obviously decided in that moment.  “She doesn’t mind if I use something other than rock.”

 Dani attached the new charm to her bracelet and went back to work, still smiling.  As I did a few little adjustments on my piece, I wondered if we’d still have days like this back on Earth.  The world would be so strange to Dani, especially having to live there for years.  I was certain she’d get along with our friends, but…  I kept myself from sighing as I fought to keep my emotions in check.  I knew she’d travel the stars over many lifetimes.  My daughter would be fine with her new home.

[numberonetrashcollectorus-blog]

I need help health insurance help???

"I need help health insurance help???

ok so i went to the doctor and found out i was pregnant. i live in california and have no health insurance. they gave me temperary medi cal for 30 days and i have to go apply at the cal works office. well i went and they told me i couldnt apply on my own im 19 that since i live with my mom she has to go in. she works alot though and its kinda harg for her to go. so is there any other way i can do it like online and mail in an application?? or do u guys know of any insurance i can get on my own??? please help??

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://averageinsurancecosts.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

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My husband is 41 years old and in perfect health but he won't get life insurance because he thinks nothing is going to happen to him. Is it legal for me as his spouse to purchase a reasonable policy of $50,000 without his signature from a company that doesn't require medical questions?""

Health insurance just for the baby?

What health insurance is out there that i can just get for the baby? My current job offers family coverage to what i have now but it will be $83 EXTRA per WEEK for family...thats over $300 per month! i was wondering if there was a health insurance program that would do just the baby. THOUGHTS ANYONE?

How soon do I need auto insurance after getting my Driver's License?

I'm going to be getting my Drivers License for the first time in a week (I am 16), and I was wondering how soon after I get my license do I need to have auto insurance to drive legally? I'd like to be able to drive the day I get my license, but my parents don't want to add me to their insurance plan beforehand with the possibility of me failing the exam. Is their any kind of grace period that allows me to drive the day I get my license so I can wait until after I complete the test to purchase insurance?""

Why is michigan car insurance so high?

I am a 21 year old female with no little credit but I have no bad credit. I rent an apartment and pay all my bills on time. I have a 2004 monte carlo ss that I paid 3500 for. This is ...show more

How long before insurance goes down?

I know teenage insurance is really high so when does it finally go down? After an accident ur insurance goes up, how long will it take for it to go back down?""

No car insurance automatically suspends CA driver's license?

So apparently in CA, if you stop paying your car insurance (I had to), your vehicle registration is revoked and your license is suspended automatically, and you get a notice in the ...show more""

I need help health insurance help???

ok so i went to the doctor and found out i was pregnant. i live in california and have no health insurance. they gave me temperary medi cal for 30 days and i have to go apply at the cal works office. well i went and they told me i couldnt apply on my own im 19 that since i live with my mom she has to go in. she works alot though and its kinda harg for her to go. so is there any other way i can do it like online and mail in an application?? or do u guys know of any insurance i can get on my own??? please help??

Where do I find Cheap Car Insurance When I have Epilepsy?

I'm 19, and I haven't had a fit since I was 16 (I believe I've done the teenage growing out of it ), The DVLA are fine and are issuing me a provisional, but finding insurance is a pain in the ***. Is there anywhere that does cheap insurance that doesn't care if I have Epilepsy? OR just does it cheap anyway?""

Just got in a car accident...I'm 16 we have USAA. How much will my insurance go up?

I was being stupid and driving too fast on a wet day. I spun out and hit a wall (thank god I'm okay) and damaged the back right on my car pretty bad. I know our deductible is either $500 or $1000 but my question is about my much will my insurance go up? I know its not going to be pretty since I've only had my lisense for 10 months...

How much will motorcycle insurance cost for me?

I'm 18, i live in austin, texas, and i plan on getting a kawasaki ninja 250 for my first bike""

Looking for a insurance rider policy?

I am looking for some info on insurance rider policy, also want to get a good one.""

Who has cheapest car insurance in florida?

Who has cheapest car insurance in florida?

How can I get health insurance?

I live in Chicago, IL. I don't have health health insurance because my mom can't afford it. Im 19 years old and I need health insurance.What does everyone else do who's under 21? Do any of you under 21 have any health insurance? If so, what company? I don't have a job, (been trying to find a job for three years). I need to see a dermatologist really bad, and I have no idea what to do.""

Business Insurance - Car?

Basically, I have an internet business, and Im wondering if there is a way that I can have business car insurance? I would like to know the as much as I can. I am looking at a rather fast, expensive car, that will partly be used for Business. So Im wondering if I can get a business insurance policy, and cover it on that? Anyone in the know - please help, and offer advice. Thanks.""

Why is my car insurance so high?

I have full coverage insurance on my 2005 Honda civic and I am paying a little over $850 every six months. Every quote I get isn't much better. Why is it so expensive? My insurance lady says that it's because I am a young driver with a newer car. But my YOUNGER sister has a car 2 years newer than mine and she pays about $350 less every six months. I have no tickets on my record. I did have my license suspended about 5 years ago. Why is it so expensive and how can I get it down? I can't afford this sh* t. Thank you!

Do you have to buy insurance for your car?

Im planning to buy a 1968 Chrystler Newport. This will be my first car. I live in BC. What should I expect to have to pay monthly for insurance? or do I need to buy insurance at all for my car?

Does anyone have car insurance through Wawanesa Insurance?

http://www.wawanesa.com/ I got a quote that is very, very good!! Looking for any feedback, good or bad. Thanks Note: Currently it is only available in California and Oregon (And Canada)""

Do I have to insure my son when he turns 16?

My auto insurance company called me yesterday asking for the names and birthdays of my children. I refused to tell them anything. My oldest son will turn 16 in November, and I was not planning on adding him as a driver, because we have full coverage insurance and I thought that would cover anyone.""

""Have a question for all those knowledgeable about cars, insurance, etc.? Is this true?""

Is it true that two door vehicles are more costly, insurance wise, than four door vehicles? I ask because I am considering purchasing a certain vehicle; however, i'd rather have the coupe than the sedan. Someone told me that any vehicle with two doors is considered a sports car, and therefore, more costly to insure, than a sedan would be. Is this true? Or does it just depend on the car?""

How much does a Triple AAA insurance agent make on average?

How does Triple AAA pay their agents? Their agents don't sell Life Insurance right? What all do they sell? How does this job compare to...say a State Farm agent?

Do any one know where to get a business vehicle insurance?

hey anyone i am try and look for a business vehicle insurance for me to have 4 car's and vans on the same insurance so all i do call up and add my staff to the insurance there than can Driver any vehicle on this one insurance. ? please help me out

NEED CAR INSURENCE ADVISE!!?

I got a quote on a Citron c2 it's. A 1.1lt and. The quote I got was 3rd party under my dad insurance my best quote was 6000 and that was direct to Adrian flux so I need advise ...show more

Can someone help me find car insurance for my dad?

my dad is looking for a car insurance company that insures anyone who drives his car, ie. his children. is this possible? what insurance companies offer this type of insurance?""

What are full time jobs that have full health coverage?

I am looking for jobs that have full health coverage, being I have MS and need my medicine and could not afford it on a normal insurance, what are some jobs that have medical coverage?""

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Recently decided I'd like to change my car from a 2006 Vauxhall Vectra 2.0 Turbo Petrol to a 2006 Leon 2.0 TDi FR Diesel.. But it all depends on Insurance.. They both fall into group 12 and the vectra has 175BHP where as the Leon has 170 BHP will the insurance be cheaper or more?

Where to get online insurance quotes for health?

Where to get online insurance quotes for health? I should compare plans from major insurance company.

What car insurance company has the policy that you insure on person but anyone can drive it and be insured?

What car insurance company has the policy that you insure on person but anyone can drive it and be insured?

How much will I pay for car insurance? Estimate.?

I am looking to buy a car this Spring (new, from a dealership). When I do, I will be 24, female, and have had my license for just under a year. Since I passed my road test, I have not been driving or on any insurance at all. I will be the main driver on this vehicle, though there might be a secondary driver. I will probably by a small car, like a Yaris, or a Hyundai Elentra. Something cheap, good on gas, safe, and not fast or sporty. It will be automatic. I am a university graduate (not sure if that matters but I heard it does). I will live in a town with about 100,000 people. About how much am I looking at car insurance/month? I have tried the online sites but find them confusing. Some people tell me $100, but the online estimates can be $300-400.""

How much do health insurance cost?

my bf and i both 20yrs old are both still insured by our parents but ever since he had a brain anyeruism his parents of course took him over n moved him back 2 their home town and we didnt like that cuz he wanted me 2 take care of him & we dont get along with them anyway & because of that we didnt see each other for a long time so to prevent this from happening again we figured we would get our own insurance that covers us. i would like to know who is the best carrier and whats the average price and where could i get more info thats legit?

Can I drive my friends car without insurance?

I don't own a car. I don't have auto insurance. If I borrow a friends car, am I covered under his insurance? is there a special type of insurance for people like me?""

How much will having a body kit on a car raise your car insurance for a 17year old?

automotive, insurance""

Do I need insurance for my license?

I live in North Carolina, and I just got my license a few months ago. I don't have a car yet, but I was told that I needed insurance in order to have a license. So, I'm paying $80 a month for insurance, just for holding a license. My car savings aren't looking too good at this rate, so I was wondering if anyone knew of any cheaper insurance companies I could go with?""

I need help health insurance help???

ok so i went to the doctor and found out i was pregnant. i live in california and have no health insurance. they gave me temperary medi cal for 30 days and i have to go apply at the cal works office. well i went and they told me i couldnt apply on my own im 19 that since i live with my mom she has to go in. she works alot though and its kinda harg for her to go. so is there any other way i can do it like online and mail in an application?? or do u guys know of any insurance i can get on my own??? please help??

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/insurance-1998-toyota-camry-16-yold-17-audrey-barksdale"

[gossipnetwork-blog]

Eminem's 'Revival': Track-by-Track Guide to New Album

New Post has been published on http://gossip.network/eminems-revival-track-by-track-guide-to-new-album/

Eminem's 'Revival': Track-by-Track Guide to New Album

Craig McDean

Eminem, the best-selling rapper of all time, returned at midnight with Revival, his first album in four years. The new LP sprawls across 19 tracks, touching on rock, gospel, pop and, of course, hard-bitten hip-hop. Eminem veers from sassy to self-deprecating, dependent to dismissive, murderous to politically conscious, uncontrollably lusty to borderline repentant, sometimes all within the same song. He raps over skeletal, golden-age beats courtesy of Rick Rubin and stirring piano ballads from longtime collaborator Alex da Kid; he teams up with locally known artists like Phresher as well as global stars like Beyoncé, Pink and Alicia Keys. Across it all, Eminem remains intent on convincing listeners that he’s still at the top of his game: “Will I ever fall off/That day’ll never come.” Here’s a guide to understanding the album’s producers, songwriters, guests and key themes.

1. “Walk On Water” feat. Beyoncé Back in 2000, Eminem opened The Marshall Mathers LP with a sarcastic public service announcement: “Slim Shady does not give a fuck what you think!” It got nastier (and funnier) from there. But that was the old Marshall, and it turns out the new Marshall really does give a fuck what you think. Revival starts in a way that would have been unimaginable in the old days, with solemn piano chords, an honest-to-god gospel chorus from Beyoncé, and Eminem earnestly asking, “Why are expectations so high? Is it the bar I set?”

There’s no punchline. This is a serious, vulnerable track about the doubts that nag at a rap god late at night. He’s heard your criticisms of his latter-day work, and they hit home. In the second verse, he makes the stakes he’s chosen for Revival explicit, referencing the critical and commercial high-water mark of the original MMLP (“It’s the curse of the standard/That the first of the Mathers discs set”) and describing his writing process in relatable terms: “It always feels like I’m hitting the mark /Til I go sit in the car, listen and pick it apart/Like, this shit is garbage!”

Beyoncé comes through with humility and grace, and storied producer Rick Rubin (along with co-producer Skylar Grey) provides a sound that’s closer to the albums he made with Johnny Cash than the tougher-than-leather Run-DMC/Beasties beat he served up for “Berzerk” on Em’s last album. Mathers plays along, bringing a thoughtful tone and flow to match.

Then he snaps out of it in the track’s final seconds: “Me and you are not alike/Bitch, I wrote ‘Stan’!”

2. “Believe” Trappish snares and a minimal piano line courtesy of frequent foil Alex da Kid (“Love The Way You Lie,” Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive”) give Revival‘s second track a more contemporary feel – this is the sound of a rapper in his mid-40s doing his best to keep up with the kids. He’s pretty comfortable in this new setting, even sneaking a not-groanworthy use of the word “lit” into his first verse. A bit later, he gets off some great internal-rhyme runs in a thuggish-ruggish Midwestern cadence: “But I still remember the days of/Minimum wage for/General labor/Welfare recipient as a minor/Look how government assistance has made you!” That verse builds up to one of his more memorable recent solo choruses, with shades of “The Way I Am” and “Cleaning Out My Closet.” The lingering questions that he emphasized on “Walk on Water” are still in the picture here (“Man, in my younger days, that dream was so much fun to chase….But how do you keep up the pace and the hunger pangs once you’ve won the race?”). But he’s off and running now.

3. “Chloraseptic” feat. Phresher Fans flipped out when they saw that the only guest MC featured on Revival‘s tracklist was Brooklyn’s own Phresher, best known for his street hit “Wait a Minute,” which blew up about a year ago and subsequently got remixed by everyone from Remy Ma to Riff Raff to 50 Cent to Royce da 5’9″. The latter connection likely explains how Eminem ended up calling in a hook from the NYC up-and-comer. “The record is about just spitting, man…Just cutthroat, at your throat music,” Phresher told Complex, adding, “It’s raw as fuck.”

True enough, Eminem gives a revved-up performance, dubbing himself the “Simon Cowell of rhyming foul,” memorably declaring “I’m Schoolly D, you’re Spoonie Gee” and providing a detailed description of how he plans to murder you using the wire from a notebook full of your weak-ass rhymes. The rumbling beat from his old friend Denaun Porter (a.k.a. Kon Artis from D-12) brings out his energetic, mischievous side.

4. “Untouchable” If any alt-right Eminem fans out there were hoping to forget about his Trump dis at the BET Hip Hop Awards, here he comes with even more vitriol. This six-minute song is Em’s most ambitious political statement ever, expanding and deepening the critique of American racism that he started outlining 15 years ago on “White America.” He spends the first half of “Untouchable” rapping from the perspective of a racist white cop, laying out exactly how he profiles and terrorizes black communities. The guitar-sampling beat from longtime cohorts Mr. Porter, Emile and Mark Batson makes this part of the song feel something like verse two of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” with the viewpoint shifted to the state trooper’s side.

Then the beat switches to a moody piano loop, and Eminem raps from the perspective of a black American man in 2017. He gets fired up denouncing police brutality, segregation, hiring discrimination, flag-waving hypocrisy and other forms of systemic racism: “Fuck your Republican views/Pull ourselves up by the bootstraps, where the fuck are the boots?” It’s a lot to take in, and early reactions to “Untouchable” from within the rap world have been divided.

5. “River” feat. Ed Sheeran According to Ed Sheeran, much of “River” was recorded in March 2016 while he vacationed at actor Russell Crowe’s farm in Australia. “I used the studio at Russell’s house,” Sheeran told Billboard. “Played the drums on it, and then played the guitar, and then recorded the thing and wrote the chorus and did the piano on it, and then sent it off and then didn’t hear anything back.” Produced by Emile Haynie, the final version of “River” opens with Sheeran’s lament about being “a liar and a cheat,” then flows into Eminem’s lyrics about one-night stands, and the guilt and recriminations that follow. “Now that I got you I don’t want you/Took advantage and my thirst to pursue/Why do I do this dirt that I do?” he asks.

6. “Remind Me” (Intro) 7. “Remind Me” The cheeky hard rock of “Remind Me” is reminiscent of his 2013 single “Berzerk”: Both rely heavily on a sample of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock & Roll.” And just like that Billboard top 3 hit, he uses “Remind Me” to unleash his horndog id, crowing about a big-booty woman with silicone breasts as big as the late Anna Nicole Smith’s. “Excuse me ma, I’m just too raw,” he raps. Still, he avoids referring to his conquest in derogatory terms, and the track seems more fun-loving than an expression of Slim Shady’s misogynist impulses. In a conversation with Elton John for Interview magazine, he talked about his relationship with the track’s producer, Rick Rubin. “[Rubin and I] were talking about a song or something, and he said, ‘I don’t really consider myself smart enough to know what everybody’s going to think, so I just do what feels right for me,'” Eminem remembered.

8. Revival (Interlude) 9. “Like Home” feat. Alicia Keys With a soaring chorus from Alicia Keys and production from Alex da Kid, “Like Home” continues the anti-Trump war that Eminem kicked off on last year’s single “Campaign Speech,” and reignited during the BET Hip-Hop Awards. “This chump barely even sleeps/All he does is watch Fox News like a parrot and repeats/While he looks like a canary with a beak/Why you think he banned transgenders from the military with a tweet?” he raps. (Critics of Eminem’s past lyrics about LGBTQ people may be surprised at his implicit support for transgender soldiers.) 

Eminem also takes some blame for Trump’s past appearance in “Shady Convention,” a mock political video ad that promoted his then-new Shade45 satellite channel. “Take it back to the Shady national convention/Wish I had spit on it before I went to shake his hand at the event/Or maybe had the wherewithal/To know that he was going to try to tear apart/Our sacred land we cherish and stand for.” When he spoke to Elton John for Interview, he elaborated on his antipathy towards Trump. “As long as he’s got his base, he does not give a fuck about anybody else in America. But guess what? There’s more of us than there are of them. I still feel like America is the greatest country to live in. This is my opinion. But we have issues that we need to work on and we need to do better.”

10. “Bad Husband” feat. X Ambassadors Eminem has often picked at the volatility of male-female relationships in uncomfortably scabrous terms, most memorably on his 2010 hit “Love the Way You Lie.” But the Alex da Kid-produced “Bad Husband” has a disturbing ring of truth, if only because it mentions Hailie Jade Mathers, Eminem’s daughter with his ex-wife Kim Scott. “We carry on with our public spats,” he raps, perhaps referencing to the avalanche of tabloid press that chronicled Eminem and Scott’s tumultuous relationship in the late Nineties and early Aughts. “You hit me once, and that I would use/To continue the pattern of abuse/Why did I punch back?/Girl, your dad is a scumbag,” he raps as he alternates between addressing Hailie and Kim. Then he continues a pattern of repentance for using his family as artistic fodder that started with 2013’s “Headlights,” his memorable apology to his mother. “But I’m sorry Kim/More than you can ever comprehend/Leaving you was fucking harder than/Sawing off a fucking body limb.” A chorus and backing arrangement from X Ambassadors, the “Renegades” rock band that first worked with Em on “Wicked Ways,” conjures a melancholy sound of redemption.

11. “Tragic Endings” feat. Skylar Grey Eminem remains in his comfort zone – exploring a vicious codependent romance – on the arena-rap ballad “Tragic Endings.” “There’s just something ’bout her/ That makes me not able to function without her,” Eminem admits. But don’t think this is happily-ever-after: “The idea of seeing me happy destroys her in itself,” he raps. “To see me falling to pieces brings her joy.”

The claustrophobic hook of “Tragic Endings” is provided by Grey, a frequent Eminem collaborator. She helped write the rapper’s Number One smash “Love the Way You Lie” along with “Tragic Endings” producer Alex da Kid; she also penned Revival blockbuster Beyoncé collaboration “Walk on Water.” She works in lockstep with Eminem on “Tragic Endings” to drive home the suffocating nature of this relationship. “I’m dying to breathe and all you do is strangle me,” she sings. “What a relief.”

12. “Framed” For “Framed,” Eminem reaches back to early tracks like “’97 Bonnie & Clyde” in both sound – relying on the simplest of beats, just two guitar licks and an unchanging drum loop – and violent content: The rapper offers advice here on how to get away with homicide. “When murdering females better pay attention to these details or you could be derailed,” he warns. “Better wear at least three layers of clothing or be in jail.”

Back in “’97 Bonnie & Clyde,” Eminem was driving through the night with his longtime antagonist – and ex-wife – Kim dead in the back, but this time he envisions tangling with Eighties supermodel Christie Brinkley and the President’s daughter: “Dog, how the fuck is Ivanka Trump in the trunk of my car?” “Framed” wraps up with a half-hearted declaration of innocence. “There’s a missing person, so what? He’s got nothing to do with me/ I’m almost certain I was framed.”

13. “Nowhere Fast” feat. Kehlani Eminem faces off with a frantic string section, agitated hi-hats and the apocalypse on “Nowhere Fast,” defying terrorist attacks at one moment and his rap competition the next: “For MCs it’s a funeral when I’m devising this rhyme/ Cause I’m awake and you’re mourning, that’s why I rise and I shine.” Eminem may be 45 years old, but he has little interest in reflecting on his own mortality. “To the pine box: Bitch, fuck you,” he raps. “I’m better than I ever was.”

Kehlani joins Eminem to provide the atmospheric melodic accompaniment that he appears to favor everywhere on Revival. She sings sentimental lines about living fast and dying young: “Never looking back and we’re never getting old/ ‘Cause the skies are black but our hearts made of gold.” “Honored to be on this album, and in such amazing company,” she wrote on Instagram when Eminem shared the Revival track list earlier this month. “I can’t wait for the world to hear this.”

14. “Heat” After slamming President Trump throughout Revival, Eminem finds surprising common ground with him in “Heat,” one of the album’s lustiest songs. “Grab you by the [meow sound effect], hope it’s not a problem, in fact,” he raps. “About the only fact I agree on with Donald is that.” Eminem is single-mindedly priapic here, so even when he takes a moment to shout out this track’s producer, Rick Rubin, he twists the tribute into a pick-up line: “Come on, little mama, you’re hot enough to melt Rick’s beat.”

Rubin provides the sort of skeletal rap-rock accompaniment he served Eminem four years ago on The Marshall Mathers LP 2 track “Berserk” – distorted guitar and scratching vinyl sputter high in the mix. The primary riff is pulled from the Boogie Nights soundtrack’s “Intro (Feel the Heat),” a song performed in the film by John C. Reilly and Mark Wahlberg. “Heat” also ends with a brief snippet of Boogie Nights dialog from Wahlberg’s character that fits easily next to Eminem’s verses: “It’s my big dick, so everybody get ready right fucking now.”

15. “Offended” “Offended” features Revival‘s most technically impressive passage, a blistering display of speed near the end of the song– countless syllables crammed into 12 or 13 seconds – that aims for the record books. The rest of the track rises from the same fertile ground as “Just Don’t Give a Fuck” and “Bad Influence,” old songs in which Eminem turns listeners’ hatred of him into a badge of honor – or maybe a suit of armor.

As always, antipathy spurs him to cross even more lines and break even more taboos; here he describes himself with allusions to men accused of sexual assault (Bill Cosby, R. Kelly) and child murder (Justin Ross Harris). And yet again, Eminem guns for Trump, still annoyed that the President did not reply to his BET freestyle. He also goes after Ivanka and Melania. “Shit’s on, bruh,” Eminem declares. “… Ivanka, stiff arm her/While I’m hittin’ on Melania/And this song’s for all ya.”

The MC alternates between hard, low rapping and nursery-rhyme sing-song on “Offended,” borrowing his hook from a bleak source – “The Knife Game Song.” The taut, jumpy, brassy “Offended” instrumental was crafted by Illa da Producer, who also helmed Lil Pump’s “Pinky Ring” and French Montana’s “Have Mercy.” Eminem takes a moment to compliment the beat-maker’s work, noting that, “These drums and hard snares bring out the worst in me.” “I’m so narcissistic, when I fart, I sniff it,” he adds a few lines later. “Do a fake dab to smell my armpits with it.”

16. “Need Me” feat. Pink “Need Me” is Eminem’s second collaboration with Pink. But in contrast to the playful “Revenge,” off of her October album Beautiful Trauma, “Need Me” is a bombastic power ballad dominated by Alex da Kid’s cavernous percussion. Pink sings two verses and choruses before Eminem comes in for the song’s one lengthy, intense rap verse. But something happens in the first half of “Need Me” that’s rarely been heard in Eminem’s many collaborations with female singers: he harmonizes with Pink, his voice gradually appearing during her second verse. Darting in and out of the track’s lurching waltz rhythm, Marshall vents about a dysfunctional relationship: “Starting to think we were made for each other/ But one of us in this relationship is raising the other/ You remind me of my mother.”

17. “In Your Head” “In Your Head” opens with Dolores O’Riordan’s voice beamed in from 1994 as a sample of the Cranberries hit “Zombie,” and runs underneath the entirety of the track. The song is produced by Scram Jones, a New York-based MC/producer who’s been chopping samples for Jadakiss, Ghostface Killah, and others since the early 2000s, but has never worked with Eminem before.

Em spends most of “In Your Head” castigating himself over career missteps: “Fuck it, I’ve done enough in this rap shit, Recovery brought me nothing but back to where I was/ And perhaps this could’ve been my victory lap if I wasn’t on the verge of Relapse.”

18. “Castle” feat. Skylar Grey “I built this castle, now we are trapped on the throne,” Skylar Grey sings at the opening of “Castle.” Each verse of the song is a letter, complete with pencil and paper sound effects echoing “Stan.” But this time, the letters are from Marshall Mathers to his daughter Hailie; the first letter is a few weeks before her 1995 birth, the second is a year later, and the third is on her 12th birthday. The third verse ends with Eminem at a low point in 2007, overdosing on methadone and nearly dying. “Your dad’s at the end of his rope/I’m sliding down a slippery slope/Anyway, sweetie, I better go, I’m getting sleepy…Love, Dad, shit, I don’t know.”

19. “Arose” “Arose” opens with a loop of a young LeAnn Rimes’s 1997 recording of “The Rose,” best known as the title song from Bette Midler’s 1979 album and film of the same name. Picking up where the narrative of “Castle,” ended, Eminem is recounting his 2007 overdose, speaking to his family and to his longtime D12 groupmate Proof, whose 2006 death “tore me in two.” Four minutes into “Arose,” Eminem declares “To rewrite a mistake, I’m rewinding the tape” and the song abruptly stops, and the third verse of “Castle” begins again. But this time it ends differently, “I’m pledging to throw this methadone in the toilet.” The album concludes with a new day dawning, and the sound of a toilet flushing. 

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