#tomorrow’s promise 3.07

[topazy]

Tomorrow's promise

Pairing: Daryl Dixon × OC, Rick Grimes × sister OC

Warnings: Swearing, violence, blood

Chapter: 3.07

“Aunt Lily! Aunt Lily!” Carl runs towards you holding a green balloon in the shape of a dog; he shows you it proudly. “Look what my dad made me; it’s so cool.”

Smiling, you ruffle his hair. Being surrounded by screaming kids with sticky hands and zero concept of personal space was your idea of hell, but it was worth it to see Carl enjoying his sixth birthday party. His friends from school and a few from his soccer team had attended the party being held in your brother's backyard, and now that the sugar rush and excitement of new toys were catching up with your nephew, his eyes were becoming a lot heavier as his friends started to be picked up by their parents.

You smile, feeling Shane’s lips brush against the curve of your ear. “You want to bail out soon? The little man looks as if he’s about to crash soon, and Lori will rope us into cleaning up.”

“Hmm, what are you thinking?”

Chucking, he kisses the side of your head and then your cheek. “I’m thinking of taking my pretty girl out for dinner and a late-night movie.”

You motion to the cooler full of ice cubes and bottles of beer sitting on the opposite end of the wooden table you were standing beside. “Do you think we could sneak a few of those with us for the movie?”

“That would be stealing, ma’am.”

“Well, I know a few ways to keep out of trouble, deputy.”

Standing up, you smooth out your yellow sundress just as your brothers walk by with a couple of on-duty cops who had dropped by to suck up to Rick by giving Carl a gift. You smile politely at them before leaning back into Shane’s embrace and quietly asking, “You still don’t like them, huh?”

“Rivers and Young?” He finished the dregs in his cup. “The kids have a lot to learn; I wouldn’t want them answering a call for my mom or my girl.”

You knew Shane wasn’t saying this lightly; he often gave rookies the benefit of the doubt.

Groggily, you stare up at the ceiling, feeling devoid of any real emotion as you think back on old memories. Once you had fought to push to the back of your mind because you found thinking of the chain of events that came from that party so upsetting. Jace’s babbling pulls you from your trail of thought. He crawls up onto you, his saliva drooling onto your top. “Thanks, kid.”

He babbles some more, as if he were communicating in his own way.

“Yeah, yeah.” You tickle Jace’s cheek with his finger. His smile lightens your mood slightly. “You’re the best thing I’ve ever done, you know that?”

You slide your fingers over Jace’s dark hair as he leans his head on your chest. Sighing, you close your eyes again, but the peacefulness only lasts for a few moments. The second you hear the noise of crutches tapping against the prison flooring, you open your eyes and sit upright.

“Is everything okay, Hershel?”

“How’s your leg feeling today?”

When you returned to the prison, Hershel stitched up your leg to stop the bleeding, but there wasn’t anything he gave you to help ease the pain. “It feels as if it’s getting better, thanks.”

The older man leans against the cell doorway, his eyes crinkled with exhaustion. “I just thought you would want to know Glenn took Carl looking for the breach. They’ve just come back.”

—

You stormed to the other side of the cellblock, where most of your group was gathered. Beth was humming to your niece, Judith, while Glenn explained that they didn’t find the breach. Maggie looks up, surprised when she sees you looking so irritated. She forces a smile. “How’s the little stinker doing?”

“Happy to see you,” you hand her Jace before turning to glare at Glenn. “I told you not to take Carl with you.”

Glenn lets out a frustrated sigh. “Lily, we need to find this breach fast. For all we know, our home could be filled up with walkers or the governor's men at any moment.”

“Exactly, which is exactly why you shouldn’t have taken a thirteen-year-old with you. Carl’s just a kid!” You wave your arm between the two of them and say, "Look at how much blood you are covered in. How many walkers did you need to kill just to get out?”

Glenn shakes his head. Instead of bonding over the trauma you had gone through together, the experience was causing friction between you. Your friendship with Glenn meant a great deal to you, but keeping Jace, Carl, and Judith safe was the most important thing.

Hershel tries to intervene and calmly says, “I still think we should go; we still have time.“

“For the last time, we aren’t running!” Glenn snaps, frustrated.

“We should have grabbed things and left last night; this place isn’t worth dying over.” In your mind, the only reason you had to stay was waiting on Daryl coming back, but you had no idea when he would return, and by then you might have all been slaughtered like cattle by the governor. “We survived living on the road before without any transport. This time, we have multiple cars to use.”

“Last time Hershel had two legs, we didn’t have a screaming baby.”

“What are you even talking about? Jace was with us the entire time, and we survived.”

“Yeah, but we got lucky with Jace not being able to hear loud noises.”

“What did you just say?”

Glenn stares at you with his mouth agape. You glance at Carol and Maggie, who both lower their heads. You are in a constant state of denial, refusing to accept the reality of your situation. Jace’s hearing wasn’t what it should be, but hearing Glenn say it so harshly, it feels like a physical blow to the gut, as if he'd punched you.

“Lil-”

You lick at your dry lips, then turn to face Carl and say, “From now on, you only listen to me or your dad.”

Carl looks like he wants to protest, but he nods without saying anything. You take Jace from Maggie, and in a softer tone, you say, “Right, munchkin, let’s get you cleaned up.”

“Lily,” Glenn calls out, “I just meant—”

“Seriously, just leave it.”

—

Standing outside, you lean against one of the cars, watching your brother mumble to himself while wandering outside the prison gates. You had tried to get him to come back inside, but he wasn’t listening. You had left Jace inside to play with the toys Daryl had found under the watchful eyes of Beth. You were well beyond being hacked off; Rick was so damn busy chasing ghosts to even notice how much you needed him; and Daryl was gone. You knew why he was gone, but you were growing tired of feeling so alone.

Hearing voices, you look over your shoulder and see Hershel chasing after Glenn on his crutches. “You’re not going back to Woodbury, are you?”

“No. I’m just going out there.”

“I’ll go with you,” Hershel offers.

“I got it.”

“By yourself? How can you possibly think that’s a good idea?”

“I can’t just sit on my hands,” he resorts defensively. “I’ve got to do something to keep Maggie and everyone else here safe. I’ve already failed once.”

“Glenn, nobody blames you for what happened to you and Lily. There was no way you could have known what would happen; there was no way to prevent it.”

“With Daryl gone and Rick wandering crazy towns, I’m the next in charge.”

“Like hell you are,” you frown, making your presence known. “You want to keep Maggie safe, then be here to do it. I get that you’re mad and frustrated because I’m the exact same, but we can’t be making rash decisions.”

Glenn brushes by you and opens the car door without saying a word.

“We’ve already lost Shane, Lori, T-dog... I don’t want you to be the next person we lose.”

Without even glancing back at you and Hershel, he drives off.

—

You and Rick exchange a look as Hershel tries to talk some sense into him, but you knew from the look in his eyes that he was too far gone to register the advice on grief the older man was giving him. Sighing, you go to the wired-up hole in the fence and start to untie it. You’d be damned if you were leaving him as walker bait any longer; he might not have listened to you before, but now you weren’t giving him a choice.

“Lily, stay behind the fence. It’s dangerous out here.”

“No shit-”

A bullet whizzes past your ear, narrowly missing as it skims the top of your shoulder. The sound of gunfire fills the air as you frantically scan the area for the source. Adrenaline pumping, you grab hold of Hershel and pull him with you as you drop to the ground, heart racing in your chest.

Your brother's pained voice echoes loudly, “Lily!”

You feel the heat from where the bullet grazed your skin, leaving a burning sensation. Your vision blurs momentarily as you struggle to focus amidst the chaos.

“Rick, you need to get back inside the fence!”

Using the long grass of the field in the prison yard as cover, you roll onto your stomach and peak up to see the direction of the shooter and see three different men. The governor is one of them.

Son of a bitch.

Rick was pinned down, and you could hear bullets coming from the opposite side of the courtyard, which meant they had someone right outside the prison. The governor was firing bullets into the air; the way he was wasting bullets meant he had a vast supply. You watch in horror as a van crashes through the fence, and you duck down lower to avoid being seen by hun.

The stench of decay hits your nose, and at the same time, the sound of snarling hits your ears, and you realize the drivers realized walkers into the field.

“Lily, Hershel, get the hell out of there!”

Hershel fires at the undead, trying his best to keep them at bay. Knowing you don’t have many bullets left, you grip the cold, rusted pole that’s lying on the ground and use it to stab Walker in the head. With so many undead people surrounding him, the governor and his men retreat.

“Fuck, there are too many of them!”

More walkers enter the field, attracted by all the noise, their eyes filled with hunger and malice. You can see their twisted limbs and rotting skin as they approach. Another wave of dread courses through you when you hear another vehicle course through, but thankfully it was Glenn returning and not another van full of walkers.

He pulls the truck over, and Michonne, who you didn’t even realize was in the field, jumps inside, then Glenn drives it over to where you are. Hearing a cry for help, watch as Rick backs up against the fence, trying to fight off multiple walkers at once.

“No, no, no!” You try to run to him, but Glenn and Michonne drag you back and force you into the truck. “We need to go back; we can’t leave him!”

“He’s not alone!”

When the vehicle approaches the prison yard, Maggie and Carl open the gate to let the truck through. Soon as it stops, you jump and hug Carl. “Are you okay? You hurt?”

“No, but you are.”

“I’m okay, we’re okay.” You look around and notice Axel’s body laying on the ground, he had been shot in the head. “Carl, go back instead and stay with Jace and Judith, okay?”

“I’ll go with him,” Beth says, and the two of them go back inside.

You walk as close as you can to the fence without a walker being able to reach you through the holes, and you watch as Daryl and Merle fight off walkers alongside your brother.

Glenn taps your good shoulder and says, “You should get inside so Hershel can check you over.”

“I’ll wait… Thanks for saving our asses.”

“Always,” he says, giving you a knowing look. “What the hell happened?”

“Whatever this was, it’s only the beginning.”

[questions-within-questions]

Gale Reads Warlocks of the Sigil: Flashforward and Chapter One

I’ve been meaning to read this book for AGES. But, I don’t have a kindle, I fell out of love with novels as a medium, I had too many other things to read, and I hate reading digital copies of texts. But I promised myself I’d start reading at Christmas and here Christmas is, good timing too because I’ve been feeling nostalgic for all the YA Dystopias I was addicted to in my youth, things like the Wind singer and Mortal Engines.  Anyway I’m doing a let’s read.  Warlocks of the Sigil is by Peri Akman and is available for Kindle on Amazon and is currently on sale (!?) for £3.07  Disclaimer: I’m good long time internet friends with Peri, so I’m biased and I like to believe I have some (some?) understanding of how she thinks about literature.  ++++++++++++++++++ Here’s a round up of what I think I know about the book. I’ve spent an agonisingly long time trying to avoid big spoilers, while maintaining a healthy interest.  YA book, part one of three. Non-generic fantasy setting. Non-binary character. The working titles for book two is either Heroes of the Sigil or Monsters of the Sigil, so that tells me something about the sigil? Probably really self aware because Peri started this project for fun to play around with the YA genre.  ++++++++++++++++++ I like good opening lines. I’m a real sucker for them, and “There were many times that Quinn had almost died” is a corker. This preleude is titled Flash Foreward, so I assume this prelude is going to be filled with mentions of events which are not going to happen the way we think they are. One of the times he almost died was when he stared his former hero down? Well the hero’s not named so I’m sure that’ll come up and possibly wont be the most obvious person. But dang, what ever is actually currently happening at the future is BAD. Quinn is pretty much wishing he could have had any one of those nasty horrible deaths and be forgotten.  This is all very eldritch, big twisted impossible monster, two of his friends are dead. There’s a traitor, but it’s left for us to discover who that will be.  And we’re at Chapter one, 

Holy shit it’s less than a year earlier? Quinn might have been younger in that prelude than I pictured. “I dunno, what are you afraid of? Bears? Is it bears?” Mackie, I like you already, on the condition that you’re being silly on purpose.  Kay is the coolest though. They’re sneaking out of school under pain of being a criminal, Quinn’s never left the school in a decade. And honestly, seeing kids escape their world for the first time ever is a pretty cool way to introduce me to their world. Things tell me that this school and it’s government is really messed up by how regulated these kid’s lives are.  I bet none of the towns folk care. I bet warlock kids sneak out all the time and the muggles just don’t have any reason to wish punishment on them. Take that government with you’re stupid laws.  Quinn really hates personal freedom, even if he clearly wants it, this school has messed him up. I don’t hate him though, how can I hate someone who just wants to go back to bed rather than start the story they’re staring in? Quinn you capture the spirit of our generation. So school system, nasty as it is, seems cool. Kid shows magic some how, gets sent to school and looses all ability for independence, even gets branded with a hyper visible tattoo, your latent magic will try and express what kind of domain your magic is about in your tattoo shape, but everyone’s bad at interpretation tattoos. (I get magic looks at this human race says “Are, they have language, let’s use this language to tell this kid they have door magic.” Magic types door into human language, and gets five thousand results and no frame of reference, has no frame of reference to understand them and pics one at random. Kid ends up with a pictograph of a character named “Duhr” from a book that no longer exists from a civilisation no one remembers. I bet one kid ever actually gets “Can summon cats” on their face and all the warlocks decide to take the rest of the week off.   Anyway, once they reach a certain point in puberty (?) the kids can start testing to be accepted as an apprentice by a Warlock from where ever, and the Warlock has until the kid becomes an adult to teach the kid stuff, and then the government allocates the kid a job. Probably a job the kid is very poorly equipped for because they have limited knowledge for how other humans experience life. If you don’t get yourself an apprenticeship in time you are banned from magic forever and Quinn is terrified for this idea.  The kids do a really poor job of sneaking around and instantly bump into the most Warlock-y Warlock ever. Asim. Gosh I’m fascinated by this guy.  First off he wears his “I’m a government sanctioned warlock” brand on his face. But apparently in protest? Wonder what context exists that putting a brand on your face is protest. Apparently a culture exists where it’s rude to ask about it? Makes me wonder if he received the brand willingly. He clearly has no love for the governments rules. At no point did I feel like he’s going to turn these kids in. At one point he’s juggling the kids through the air, and he’s just “Guys this is super illegal, so you’re only allowed to scream bloody murder a maximum of three times or else the townsfolk will tell on me.” His boots are clean because I bet he walks in an inch of air all the time. He says that being a farmer is just as noble as being a war hero like him. Instantly tells loads of kids that this job they’ve been sold into is going to be hard and they’ve been sold a pack of lies. But, he scares me a little bit. It’s a little early to say “He’s the traitor from the prelude!” or “He’s the former hero who Quinn has to face down!” but adults asking so many questions of kids puts me edge, especially when the power dynamic is so imbalanced by this guy being really very respected and these kids being on the wrong side of the law. His eyes glint strangely when Kay mentions something to do with her fantasy puberty.  Speaking of the kids, I imagine this group are characters worth remembering. We know two of Quinn’s friends are dead in the Prelude. Really I hope a fair few of the kids survive, and or we meet the other kids Quinn graduates with. Something that’s been on my mind recently is that mild horror of growing up and seeing people you went to school with now running the country. Not sure if the future books time skip or not. I hope so. I like it when I see YA protagonists age. Anyway that’s all I’m reading for tonight. Quinn has his testing tomorrow, and I kind of hope he’ll find himself in the ward of a warlock other than Asim. If only because that means he’ll have two adult contacts in the world rather than one. This kid has spent his entire life under a single administration, I’m not keen for him to swap one administration for the next. Asim would be more useful to Quinn as someone he could maybe contact in times of need than an actual supporter.  Oh wow I have protagonist focused morality already. I guess I should care about who these other kids get as their warlock, and I guess I’d rather they all got not-Asims and kept Asim as a contact, but at the same time, I’m afraid any alternative to Asim isn’t going to be as clearly critical of this government. ++++++++++ Find my let’s read of Chapter Two here

[clwalcott]

Best Since Bradman?

I think we can all agree that 2018 will be another big year for Test cricket.

Joe Root will be trying to put the pieces together of his once promising team, blown apart by Australia, humbled at home by the juvenile West Indies, punch drunk and stumbling into New Zealand (who have lost just one of their last nine Tests at home).  Star all-rounder Ben Stokes will somehow have to mend this most crucial of relationships of English cricket after his unscheduled leave of absence during these fledging, dark days of Root’s captaincy.

The great Dale Steyn – who has played just 9 Test matches since Jan 1 2015 and will not be featuring in the rest of the Indian series – must prove he has any sort of future left in the game.  Nathan Lyon must back up a magnificent 2017 (5.7wpm@23.55).  He certainly wasn’t magnificent in the previous seven (3.6wpm@33.87) and his career numbers remain ambivalent at best (3.9wpm@31.64, 3.07 econ).  He still has much to prove.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan, combatants in a late 2017 series will look to put a disaster year behind them with a surge of youth.  The Windies will look to build on a year when they won not just one, but two Test matches away from home against relevant opposition – 2017 was the brightest year for them in perhaps twenty.  Bangladesh take their first confident steps into a new “Big Nine”.  India look to silence the doubters by embarking on their now familiar round the world expedition (which began brightly enough at Newlands).

But there’s one man who, presumably, has no pressure entering 2018.  One man who can kick his feet up and enjoy the fact that even if his hands were amputated tomorrow, would comfortably find himself enshrined in cricket’s hall of fame at just 28.

Of course I’m talking about Steve Smith.

But this image is wrong, Steve Smith is poised in front of a gargantuan 2018.  Smith has a chance to do what no cricketer in my lifetime has done – this could be the year Steve Smith leaves orbit.  And it’s remarkable enough for me to post for the first time in two years – this is truly historic stuff.

Cricket has always featured virtuoso, attention grabbing batsmen.  Batsmen with cult like followings of the faithful.  I’ve seen them come and go, Lara, Tendulkar, Dravid, Sangakkara, Ponting, Steve Waugh, Hayden – the list goes on and on.  And we love to discuss them, advocate our favourites, cherry pick the most dazzling stats, downplay the weaknesses, provide apologies for that down year or that particular bowling attack or country which they just couldn’t solve.  In the final analysis, we have to (perhaps silently) conclude that these discussions just don’t amount to much.  All of the above players average above fifty and a half.  None average fifty seven and a half or higher.  Sure, there is better and worse, but we’re all in roughly the same postcode here.

Those looking to downplay the Smith phenomenon might point to the fact that what we’re talking about here amounts to essentially four years – 2014 to the present day.  Forty five Test matches.  In those Test matches (deep breath) Smith has scored over five thousand runs.  Such a pace has him poised to approach 10,500 runs by his hundredth Test.  By his 150th Test, becoming a routine landmark for great contemporary batsmen (Ponting, Tendulkar, Kallis, Sangakkara, Dravid, Cook, Chanderpaul, Waugh and Border have all hop, skipped and jumped over it), he will have scored over sixteen thousand runs and left Tendulkar in his dust.

Consider, Tendulkar played 200 Tests.

And that’s not even getting to the rate numbers.  Smith hasn’t averaged below 71.93 in a year (including the infant 2018) since 2013.  He averages 75.92 over this period.  He’s knocked 21 centuries in these four years, coming at better than once every four innings (3.8).  He averages 50+ in every continent except Asia, where he averages 49.47 and has centuries in four of his last five matches.  He averages 94.00 in 22 home Test matches.  Ninety four. Even in the humiliating 3-0 loss in Sri Lanka, he averaged north of 41.  Smith has not averaged less than 40 in a series of at least three Test matches since the 2013 tour of England.

And everything seems to be speeding up – in no year did he pile up the centuries as quickly as last year, slamming six in just twenty innings.  He has fourteen single figure scores against twenty one centuries, but only one single figure score in his last ten innings and three centuries.  He’s been dismissed in single figures five times since Jan 1 2016 (against eleven centuries).

The undefeated century is becoming a feature of Smith’s resume (and taking his average to ever more dizzying heights).  Four of his last seven centuries have been undefeated and his not out rate of 14.4% is unusually high historically (the king of this trick, Chanderpaul, averaged 17.5% for comparison).  During the four year Reign of Terror, Smith is being dismissed  less than 84% of the time – we’re approaching a point where one in five times, you don’t get Smith at all, for any price.

But it’s still just four years.  Let’s take a tour around Smith’s peers and see if we can find similar patterns over four years.  Our yardstick is Smith’s 2014-present day – 5,087 runs@75.92, 48.8% score percentage and 3.8 century rate.

Brian Lara finished his career with a wet sail, and even accounting for a down 2002, his best five year period went 5,134 runs@61.85/37.6%/5.3 between 2001-2005.  Alternatively, his early career burst from 1992-1995 went 2,999 runs@62.47/46.0%/7.1.  Whichever you choose, both are manifestly weaker than Smith’s record.

But Lara famously played in weak teams (even when he debuted the West Indies had begun declining and by mid-career were in crisis).  What about Ricky Ponting? Surely with Ponting’s notorious late career train derailment, there must have been some juicy years there in the middle?  And there was.   From 2002-2006 (split by a middling 2004) Ponting piled on 6,141 runs@72.24/45.4%/4.1 and this is indeed close to Smith.

Close, but no cigar.  All metrics remain weaker than Smith (albeit over an extra year and 12 Tests) and it’s worth noting these were the 28-33 years in Ponting’s career – the peak years of a batting career.  Smith, on the other hand, has performed this in his 25-28 years, usually good, but developing years of a batsman’s career.

I have profiled Tendulkar and Sangakkara previously.  For Tendulkar, the closest comparison is either 2,694 runs@70.89/55.6%/3.8 (1997-1999, three years) or 3,658 runs@57.16/39.4%/6.0 (2008-2011, four years).  Sangakkara had a much flatter career and his “peak” (such as it was) was 2009-2012; 3,520 runs@58.68/40.0%/5.2. He actually had an eleven year period averaging north of sixty, but still, we’re looking at 75 for Smith here with no idea how high it might conceivably go.

And that makes 2018 a huge year for Steve Smith.  As the above demonstrates, what Smith is doing so far is not quite unprecidented and while it’s tempting to say that it is to open a career, we must remember that Smith actually has been playing for eight years now, debuting in 2010 (as you have probably heard ad-nauseum by self satisfied commentators – as an all-rounder).

But another year averaging above seventy and this really will be unprecidented.  The greats strain to keep up with this four year run of Smith savagery, but they can – just barely.  Add another year and this not only will be a horrifying new normal for fielding teams against Australia, it will put Smith truly in a class with Bradman alone.  Australia are scheduled to play ten Tests this coming year (ominously, one in Zimbabwe and two against Bangladesh in Australia).  Averaging his last four years, we can expect a year something like 1,130 runs@75.92. If Smith continues at this pace, this time next year we will look at a player averaging not 63.75, but 65.33 after 71 Test matches.

Even the short career novelties of Voges, Graeme Pollock, Headley and Eddie Paynter will be firmly in the rear view mirror at that point (the nearest, Voges, averaged 61.87 in his West Indian fueled batting career).   Sutcliffe, generally considered the most legitimate claim (54 Tests) for historical second place, will be nearly five runs adrift (60.73).   Smith’s career will then be nearly 50% longer than Bradman’s when measured in Test matches and approaching the level of the pre-1980 greats entire careers.  He would need to score nine ducks in a row to be reduced to the level of Sutcliffe.  There will be no dismissing him then: he will have a completely unrivalled case as the second greatest batsman of all time.

The only argument remaining will be the Bradman argument, for those who wish to make it.   This will require the opening of a dusty old book thought closed seventy years ago, Smith will remain an eccentric choice in such an argument but then, who’s to say what the future holds?

2018 will decide whether that argument will be possible at all.  The stakes for cricket history could not possibly be higher.

[margsld]

Outlander Epi 3.07 Recap

Crème de Menthe mixed with lemonade is dreadful.

This week's episode saw an unfamiliar writers name on the title cards, for fans.  Karen Campbell is credited and by the surname, sounds like she comes from good Scottish stock!  We like her already.  It was another difficult part of the books to cover which drew mixed reviews but I actually enjoyed this episode. 

We start in the middle of the previous episode’s cliff hanger which had our fresh-from-the-clouds lass Dr Claire, in da house or kittle hoosey to be exact.  She was scarily caffeine deficient and fighting that accountant thug for her life!  To distract him she asked what Pi times 3,562 was and while he couldn’t resist such a juicy random calculation, she grabbed the nearest knife.  Go Claire!

No caffeine makes Claire very nasty so he had to dodge her viper-like advances which sent him tripping, smashing into the fireplace’s stone hearth like a pumpkin falling from a great height.  The resulting thunk meant Mr H&R Block was not going to be lodging any returns anytime soon. 

The cavalry arrive too late as usual.  Jamie, Fergus and Madame Jean/Jan burst into the room after hearing the kerfuffle. Claire was sipping her cup of Joe by then calmly declaring "He’s dead, chillax!"

Suddendly Mr H&R Block aka Blockhead stirs on the hearth and Claire rejoices that he hasn’t died.  She's like a cat playing with a half-dead mousey.  

Now fully caffeinated and firmly under the Hipocratic Oath, examines him and diagnoses a severe swelling on the brain.  Hitting stone from a height will do that to a head, Claire.  Much to Jamie's chagrin, she's determined to give him a second chance and knows it will kill him if she doesn’t do something fast. 

#AccountantLivesMatter!

Jamie can’t hang about and watch though as the excisemen who hired Mr Blockhead, will be looking for him soon.  He organizes the last of their smuggled casks & barrels hidden in the basement to be moved.  He then sends Fergus and Young Ian to negotiate their sale on his behalf so that he can pretend nothing is going on if/when they are raided.

Claire races to the local apocothary for brain surgery supplies and pushes in like a two year old waiting to get on the jumpy castle.  Another customer, a Mr Archie Campbell takes opposition to her impatience and she offers to pacify him by visiting his sick sister (as an experienced healer or killer in the next few minutes, if you don’t move). He accepts this offer and Claire leaves with her supplies, keen to dig her scalpel into Mr Blockhead’s smashed-in noggin. Party on!

Ian (all of 16, making him a master negotiator) talks their customer into buying all the barrels for a good price and throws in 3 Crème de Menthe barrels to sweeten the deal. As you do.  Nothing dodgy about Crème de Menthe sold by a 16 year old. Nope.

Back in the Brothel, Claire is prepping for building a shed.  Errh sorry, saw a drill and jumped to conclusions.  No.... she’s drilling a massive hole in her assailants head. Mayhap so he can get better Wifi or you know...live.  Same same. 

Downstairs Madame Jean is pulling out her hair and all her charm school knowledge as the shifty Sir Percival arrives with his henchman, the freaky Mad Eye Moody doppleganger. Creepy much?

Claire is like a ghoulish kid in the candy store and is soon drilling a hole in Mr Blockhead’s block head.  Yi Tien Cho is her surgical assistant/cheer squad through the process. Eventually and after some classic grinding/sucking sounds, blood gushes out and we assume Mr Blockhead will live to ride the excise wagon again. *Cheer!

In the basement, Sir Percival is unhappy to find the floor is bare apart from some spilled water.  At least we hope it was water.  I'm not touching it.

With the coast clear, Jamie heads back to check on Claire.  Unfortunately, Mr Blockhead will not be lodging his tax next year and has died.  That bed needs to be burned now surely?

Claire is unhappy to lose her patient because her God complex is firmly ingrained after saving people for 14 years.  Jamie is his usual supportive self and says she can save someone else another time.  Moving on. Whisky anyone?

To celebrate their successful barrel clearance sale, Fergus and Ian chug a few coldies down at the pub.  Soon it’s clear that Young Ian has goo-goo eyes for the barmaid Brighid.  Fergus calls her over and leaves Ian with her to get cosy. Fergilicious is the best wingman ever! 

Ian is a virgin and inexperienced with women but followed Fergus' advice even though he was nervous af.  Bridhid is taken with his cuteness so agrees to have a drink with him.  In the background Mad Eye Moody quietly watches on giving Ian serious side-eye.  Not the good sort either.  Ominous music alert.

Claire is still sulking about the dead guy in her bed.  Building a bridge, she decides to go find another patient that needs her and is not likely to pop their clogs before sunset. She goes to visit Archie Campbell and his ailing sister Margaret. 

Like my husband in his cave on a Wednesday night, Margaret isn’t in the mood for company.  Archie introduces Claire to Margaret and Margaret unexpectedly springs to life, ranting wildly about blood and Abandawe. I love her, she's fun. 

Archie explains she is known as a Seer and people pay well to hear her visions.  Seems Scotland had a lot of cray crays errhh, I mean Seers in this era.

Claire provides the recipe for some wicked herbal teas before suggesting another visit tomorrow.  Archie declines her self-invite explaining they are catching the red-eye to the West Indies on the ‘morrow, to see a rich client.  Oooh la lah!

Young Ian has turned the Printshop into his private Love Shack and is wooing his new GF with songs and kisses.  Stop!  You are killing us with cute. 

Claire returns to the Brothel to find Jamie at the table.  The king was in his counting house, counting out his money.... along came a frustrated Claire and said it’s time to move.  Burning the bed wouldn’t be enough for me either, Claire. 

As always, they are interrupted by a knock at the door announcing Ian Murray Senior is down stairs.  Stuff a duck, it's peg leg!  I've missed him so much.

Ian is very happy to see Claire but he’s frantically looking for Young Ian. He’d run away from home again, the wee pest.  Jamie lies to him and Claire is trying to think of England so Ian can't see she knows something. Ian is really distraught and it tugs at all our heartstrings.  Jamie promises to bring him to Lallybroch if he turns up.

On the way out Ian asks Jamie if Claire knows the big SECRET.  She doesn’t.  OMG to the max.  Ian runs/hobbles all the way home to share the gossip with Jenny McHappypants.

Over in the Love Shack, Ian’s cherry has been carefully popped, stuffed and mounted on the mantelpiece for prosperity.  They have company though and hear someone breaking into the shop. 

Ian sends Brighid scarpering and goes to confront the intruder - Mad Eye Moody.  MEM is looking for the smuggled barrels and is searching high and low.  Ian tells him there is nothing to find and to leave but as happens, a fight breaks out.  After a bit of shovey-lovey, MEM bumps a secret door and out pops some hot-off-the-press seditious pamphlets.  Bugger.

Ian struggles to grab the pamphlets off him.  MEM pushes Ian off, pulls out his pistol and shoots at Ian, missing him but accidentally starting a fire.  Things soon escalate into a scene from a Burning Man festival in Carfax Close.  Oh Lordy there's a fire!  *pass the marshmallows  Young Ian finding himself trapped, waits for help.

After Ian has left, Claire confronts Jamie about lying to his family. She's upset that Jamie thinks he knows what’s best for Ian Jnr instead of letting his parents know he's ok.  Claire tries to reason with the stubborn gingernut but he thinks she should be used to lying, having lied their way around Paris.  Typical bloke logic to bring up something that happened 20 years ago.  Ugh.

Claire throws the “you aren’t his parent” line at him and he returns a volley of bitterness for having missed Bree’s upbringing.  Turns out Jamie is jealous of Frank too. Duh, Frank was a sexy spy! 

Before they can throw ashtrays and start slamming doors, Jamie is alerted to the fire and races to the Printshop with Claire close behind.  

On arrival at the Printshop and finding it ablaze, Jamie realises Ian is still inside and goes to his rescue.  We all love the nod to Batman as Jamie jumps from the top level down to young Ian with full super hero drop slow mo. Rounds of applause please.

Checking Ian is breathing and looking for a way out, Jamie finds the miniature of Willie and stuffs it in his pocket.  Sentimental fool, there's a fire!  Get out now!  Throwing Ian over his shoulder like a Santa sack, he climbs a press, squeezes through a window, down the front stairs to safety.  Just in time to see the Edinburgh fire department squirt a tiny water pistol at the inferno.  Good job fellas.

Knowing his life in Edinburgh is now cooked.  *pun intended  Jamie instructs Yi Tien Cho to go pay Leslie and Hayes for their work.  Fergus is sent to try and intercept Mad Eye Moody before he can give the pamphlets to Sir Percival and make Alex Malcolm a very wanted man.  After that, he instructed Fergus to then round up Ned Gowan (Solicitor from Season 1) and get him to Lallybroch.  Jamie wants him to help sort out the fact he has another wife there.  Confucius say WHAT!!!!  That is a pretty yucky Secret Mr Fraser.

The End.

Can't wait for next week!  Thanks for reading.

[hottytoddynews]

James McArthur. Photo by Steven Gagliano

The #11 Rebels road trip continues tonight as they begin a three-game series with the #19 Kentucky Wildcats.

After dropping a mid-week matchup with Memphis 2-1, Ole Miss is still searching for answers at the plate. In their last 13 games, the Rebels have been held to 2 runs or fewer nine times. While they’ve been able to win a few games, this isn’t a recipe for sustained success as conference play heats up. If Ole Miss relies too heavily on their pitching staff (which has been superb) and doesn’t see increased production from the offense, they will get burned later in the season.

The Rebels will have to score runs against this Kentucky team that has managed to score 67 runs over their last seven games. After a 10-run, 10-hit performance in a Sunday win over Vanderbilt, Ole Miss managed just one run on five hits over the Tigers. The Rebels inconsistency will doom them this weekend if they can’t correct the problem. Sometimes, the problem can’t be told through statistics; this is not one of those times. Six of the usual Rebel starters are hitting below .260, and Will Golsan is the only player at the .300 mark.

My prediction for players to have a breakout series are Cole Zabowski, who showed the promise of a talented hitter early on, and Ryan Olenek. Olenek isn’t slumping, but at .270 he certainly can be better. An emotional leader of the team, he can put a jolt in the rest of the lineup if he can put together a strong weekend at the plate.

The trip to Houston last weekend was the first time we’ve seen the Rebel pitching staff get roughed up. Other than a 1-0 gem from David Parkinson, both Brady Feigl and Will Ethridge were unable to shut down the Commodores. James McArthur (0-1, 1.76) will return to the rotation tonight after missing the last two weeks with a forearm injury. Parkinson (4-1, 2.03) will try to bounce back from last weekend’s loss on Friday night. Saturday’s starter has yet to be announced.

In opposition to the Rebels woes at the plate, the Wildcats have plenty of offense to go around. Six Wildcats are hitting above .300, and are hitting a collective .328. In what should be an intriguing matchup, the Rebels lead the SEC in nine pitching categories, and Kentucky leads the conference in 10 different offensive categories. With a 2.68 ERA, the Rebels staff will aim to shut down an offense that has scored 187 so far this season.

The Wildcats’ Thursday starter, Sean Hjelle, is the reigning SEC pitcher of the week, but with a 4.99 ERA on the year, he isn’t unhittable. The Wildcats will put a lefty on the mound tomorrow night, as Zach Logue (3-1, 2.43 ERA) steps on the mound. Justin Lewis (3-1, 3.07) will get the start on Saturday morning for Kentucky.

Tonight’s game will begin at 6 p.m. Tomorrow’s first pitch is set for 5:30 p.m. while Saturday’s matchup will move to the morning at 11 a.m.

The series will be televised on SEC Network and SEC Network+ (app) and will be broadcasted on the Ole Miss Radio Network along with OleMissSports.com. 

Weather forecast  A few clouds will follow the Rebels to Lexington, but rain shouldn’t be an issue with low percentage chances both today and Saturday. 

Steven Gagliano is a writer for HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at steven.gagliano@hottytoddy.com. 

Follow HottyToddy.com on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat @hottytoddynews. Like its Facebook page: If You Love Oxford and Ole Miss…

The post SEC’s Best Pitching Staff Meets SEC’s Best Offense; Ole Miss/Kentucky Preview appeared first on HottyToddy.com.

[topazy]

Tomorrow’s promise

Pairing: Shane Walsh x reader, Daryl Dixon x reader, Rick Grimes x sister reader

Warnings: character deaths, blood & gore, explicit language, mentions of abuse and SA, sexual content

Tomorrow’ promise edits A different tomorrow

S1/2

1.01 1.02 1.03 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12

S3

3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10

S4

4.01