#ways to stop malaria

[getgoodlifehacks]

Explore effective measures for curing diseases like malaria fever and find valuable insights and remedies to combat these health challenges and improve well-being.

[stromuprisahat]

Remind me again, why is ~he~ here?!

Siege and Storm- Chapter 9

It's not a team effort, Malyen. Army won't judge you as a couple.

Macho lowly otkazat'sya doesn't get to strike (again).

Please do!

This would work as much more powerful statement, if Mal were genuinely concerned for Alina's well-being and her OWN choice, instead of being pissed he's the one, who called dibs on her.

*whispers* That's exactly what's he gonna do...

For allowing you to keep breathing?!

Yeah, me too...

There's nothing more pathetic than an insecure man shouting.

Perhaps maybe insecure man deciding for "their" woman.

A minute of silence for an alternative universe, where Nikolai isn't so unreasonably accommodating, and has actual guards stationed at door, so they rush in after hearing shouting. They see a deserter attacking their Tsarevich, so they step in...

Is acting like a mindless animal supposed to make him look attractive?!

HoW DaRe You fLiRt WiTh My aCcEsSoRy?!

Because seriously- what's his problem here?!

Really?!

That's what's bothering you, Alina?!

I know Alina has some serious issues regarding self-worth, but I'd be more concerned about him acting as if she were his property, and anyone even suggesting she might have different role in the world deserves to be beaten by fists (because control is overrated and true men make a pub brawl out of anything)...

You're supposed to sit by hearth and warm my soup!

Sorry Malaria, but Alina IS THE Sun Summoner, want it or not. You can't just keep ignoring it and hoping she'll just slip into your shadow AGAIN. ... wait... *war flashbacks from Cofton* At least not as long as there are people capable of finding her and dragging her back into the story.

How can you be so SELFISH, Alina?! What about his soup?!

Just when the heroine moves to assume at least ~some~ responsibility (although for different reasons than you'd expect), she's promptly shamed for not thinking about Maaal for one (1) second... I love how he uses position of honour as an insult, because he's the one with full ownership of a public figure.

I know I'm apparently too demanding, but shouldn't he be overjoyed he didn't get shot on the spot yet? And no one seems too concerned about his desertion...

But hey- gf not discussing her decision to stop hiding from expectations placed upon her is obviously the more pressing matter.

Y'no. if his objection was that she completely forgot to negotiate change of his status in First Army with Nikolai (DESER*gunshot*), I'd cheer and fully support him, but his position in her love life and bedroom is apparently more pressing matter.

Also a huge fan of body language here.

What could crossed arms mean in body language? Rude, angry and insecure?! Sounds about right...

Ordinary deserter ORDERS a Prince and Major of the very same Army he fled...?

Yeah, Alina!

Mal wants his sickly housewife back!

Y'no, I wanted to note how quickly Malyen changed his mind about coming back, but then I re-read the end of previous book to be sure, and it's always been Alina. He wanted to get out, get rid of her amplifier and live his happy life in obscurity consequences be damned:

Shadow and Bone- After

His girl refuses to get rid of all of the stuff that makes her different, so he just has to settle for her fancy clothes...

Wow!

Supportive boyfriend here!

But hey- admitting she IS strong would mean giving up his dreams of watching her trudging after him.

He doesn't even have any idea what the Darkling can or cannot do! It's not some sort of professional opinion!

This one's kinda funny in a way- Alina had very similar thought about him and volcra a chapter earlier...

Siege and Storm- Chapter 8

... ashamed ... given up EVERYTHING to be WITH ME ... Don't tell me, Malyen's so blind he never notices what his (rather pointed) remarks do to Alina?!

I thought we both wanted to help Ravka.

No, Alina. He never did. We've been both wrong. He cares only about himself and his ownership of a small, inconsequential you.

This could offer an interesting view into a mind of a soldier so alienated from his country that offers him zero promises for the future, he cares for nothing... if he weren't such an inconsiderate dick to Alina...

Love this aspect of their relationship! SO empowering!

Like... He'd need to be extremely dull, if I wanted to interpret this as anything but clear fucking MANIPULATION. This is psychological blackmailing 101!

And he's supposed to be the supportive boyfriend SOMEHOW...

[brother-emperors]

THE BROTHERS PAOLO AND VITELLOZZO VITELLI

man. the fucking. cycles of violence going on here. war, condottieri brothers, the execution of paolo vitelli (but the on the matter of guilt: questionable! no proof besides the absence of potential violence, but what conspiracy-betrayal wants to leave behind proof? torture and execute him anyway. maybe machiavelli has a point! unfortunately you left a surviving brother), the congiura della magione, all of it coming together at the strage di senigallia. just blood and gore and war all the way down, never stopping for a breather, already on to it's next battlefield. also malaria is there!

in other news! it turns out if you want to draw a comic about the strage di senigallia, you have to figure out designs for all the people in the room, but if you draw vitellozzo, you also have to draw his brother because he's like. there. in a dead way. something something vitellozzo's desire to avenge his brother manifesting in his desire to brutalize florence for their role in his brother's death.

that said, I did not want to draw military armor for an illustration that was partially designed to test out some splatter brushes. in the future though….I will have to revisit that visual…..

[idontknowreallywhy]

Resurface 8 - Remain

Last bit for today… thanks for the encouragement :)

(Scott and Virgil and now John would like it to be known they do not appreciate the encouragement)

First bit, second bit, third bit, fourth bit, fifth bit, sixth bit, seventh bit…

(previous story)

💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚

Scott paced the length of the infirmary, kicked the wall ever so lightly with the toe of his left shoe then paced back towards the door, tapped the doorframe with the back of the knuckle of his right index finger, spun on his heel and repeated the journey. He had shortened his natural pace slightly to fit in eight steps in each direction. A quiet unused part of his brain kept count, while the rest raced. Thirty seven-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight, thirty-eight-two-three-four…

“Would you please sit down? You’re supposed to be keeping off those feet.”

“They’re fine.”

“You’re making me dizzy.”

“Look the other way.”

“Scott…”

“Sorry.”

There was a pause. He kept pacing.

“You know this wasn’t your fault?”

“Yep. But I need to wait for him to wake up anyway. And if I’m waiting I need to move so… Sorry.” He spun on his heel. Forty-two-two-three…

“He’s not going to wake for a while yet. It was a pretty hefty dose and he doesn’t metabolise it at the rate you do.”

Scott paused.

“Why do we keep it in such large doses?”

“Always have. Ever since… uh… before we moved here.”

For him then. Right. Well. That was… something to probe later. He started pacing again.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me? I should have been made aware of any potential vulnerability in my team.” He would stick to calm, logical arguments.

“There was a strong likelihood it was a one-off episode triggered by the extreme circumstances and would never reoccur.”

“I should have been told.” He was the Commander after all. It was a simple matter of good leadership. Nothing at all to do with any silly feelings of hurt at being kept in the dark. At not being trusted.

“Dad decided not to.”

“Dad’s not here!” Ok, calm. Calm down. Calm and logical.

“Maybe not but it’s Virgil’s medical history, it’s not my place to tell you!”

“We should all know about anything like this that we need to be ready for, that we might need to know how to deal with!” Scott stopped and swivelled to face his brother.

“Right, like we were all forewarned about the malaria, Scott?”

Ouch. John had clearly reached the level of stressed out where he started biting.

“That’s different.” He started pacing again.

“Sure it is. Because you knew there was a strong chance that would come back. For Virgil, we thought not.”

Scott reached the wall, counted forty-three and kicked it slightly harder than he intended, adding a slightly squashed toe to the list of objections his feet had about the quality of the brain they were distantly connected to. He stopped and rested his forehead against the cool surface. His heart was pounding as if he’d done three laps of the island.

“Before you say it, no, it’s not different because it’s you.”

“But if I’d known… I could have stopped it happening again. This was my doing. I should have thought… I was so wrapped up in my own feelings about it I never even considered how he might react.”

“We don’t know that the uniform was the trigger, Scott.”

Scott didn’t dignify that with a response.

“Alright, it does seem likely I will give you that.”

Silence fell for a few minutes, Scott focussed on the unfamiliar pace of his sedated brother’s breathing.

“What happened, John?”

“He developed Brief Psychotic Disorder and had a number of episodes within the space of a few weeks. After the first he was sectioned.”

“Grandma’s already told me that. I mean WHAT HAPPENED? What made it so bad he had to be hospitalised?”

“It was a long time ago and I don’t remember precisely.”

Scott turned to face John again and saw his usually unintimidatable brother quail slightly at his expression. 

“I’ve… spent a long time trying not to remember precisely.”

“I’m sorry but I need to know so we can work out how to manage this. It’s not like Virgil’s in a position to tell me.”

“No, and even if he could he probably doesn’t actually know.” John’s voice had slipped to barely audible. 

Scott walked over to where his brother sat, hugging his tablet to himself, legs wrapped tightly around the chair legs. He crouched beside him, wincing as the skin on the soles of his feet pulled at the steristrips. Rethinking, he got up and dragged a chair over and they sat side by side watching Virgil’s chest rise and fall.

Leaning to the side, Scott gently laid his head on John’s shoulder and John tilted his head to rest on top of his brother’s. Scott waited until he could feel him relax, just a little, then tried again.

“Please tell me, John.”

[realjaysumlin]

I do my best to post my views as a scientist, not one who is indoctrinated into believing in pseudoscience, the false ideology that skin colors represent race for humans. The very word negro irks me because negro is demeaned in such a negative way, instead of blanco in Spanish.

Negro means "Black" in the Latin language and blanco means "white" in the same language, so why isn't blanco demeaned the same way as the word negro? Dark skin humans need to start defining themselves and stop following the narratives and the negative stereotypes of people who identify themselves as white.

Dark skin humans are a product of natural selection, a process better understood by the meaning of photosynthesis. Which means how every living thing on earth interacts with our sun.

Pale or fair skin humans are a mutation from dark skin where the UV-Radiation level is low. The same can be said about Sickle Cell Anemia, which I hear as being called out as a Black people's disease, when skin color again don't have a damn thing to do with the cause of Sickle Cell Anemia.

Evolution is a wonderful thing and how all living these adapts to our environment to protect itself from deadly diseases like Sickle Cell Anemia. Sickle Cell Amenia is associated with malaria, which is caused by a heavy population of mosquitoes, particularly a specific type of a female mosquito, in theory.

The human body protects itself from malaria by the cells becoming sickle to prevent malaria; therefore, people with Sickel Cell Anemia is immune to malaria.

[every-aj-needs-an-angel]

Part 6!! Steddie Vegas AU. This one is long and so so stupid. Apologies in advance.

Part 1 -- Part 2 -- Part 3 -- Part 4 -- Part 5

The drive to Rachel was perfect. Minimal traffic, clear blue skies, the wind flowing through his hair and Eddie's hand in his. Thrilling in the way Eddie played with his fingers tapping out the beat of the songs and absentmindedly twisting his wedding band as he crooned along with the gentle jazz, soul and blues of the fifties that drifted through the speakers; seemingly unaware he was even doing it until the girls joined in. 

Steve knew better than to get involved, he'd never been able to hold a tune, but good ol' Frank was infectious, and by the fourth verse all four of them were belting out My Way. He knew he must have sounded awful but his carmates didn't seem to mind, they were all beaming with unadulterated joy, the girls collapsing into the backseat giggling together at the silly car insurance advert that was on its twelfth circulation, their elation contagious. 

He couldn't help but wonder how he'd ever made it this far in life without having this kind of moment every day, couldn't stop himself from pondering how he'd ever manage to live without it because he couldn't remember ever having a more wonderful morning, and he couldn't imagine ever having one again without these beautiful people to brighten his every moment, but he couldn't stop thinking that he had to keep grounding himself; couldn't keep from reminding himself that they were on holiday that this would eventually end, and he'd have to remember how to smile without it being because Chris was making Robin's eyes light up or because Eddie's voice was floating through the air, close enough to reach his ears.

The drive felt like it took no time at all, between the tinkling of pianos and laughter and the endless beauty of landscapes, the sun was already high in the sky by the time they arrived. They hadn't been out of the car for long before he was thanking his lucky stars that he'd chosen to wear his white linen trousers and pale blue cotton shirt because it was at least doing something to stave off the blistering heat, but Robin had definitely regretted her decision to wear all black. He wasn't sure whether it just felt hotter than on The Strip or whether the temperature was actually higher, but it was definitely warmer than either he or Robin had expected it to be; he couldn't believe he'd packed jackets, he didn't think even the darkest clouds could stifle the heat of the sun scorching the desert.

She didn't last more than half an hour before she was begging Steve to "do something!" The only thing he could think to do in the middle of nowhere was to borrow Eddie's penknife to turn her dark jeans into shorts. Of course, she then bemoaned that they had been brand new and "did they not know about malaria?!" even as he spread sunscreen liberally over her pasty calves, wordlessly handing her the bug spray out of the backpack, returning her grateful smile with a reassuring one of his own.

Chrissy, as it turned out, knew a lot about malaria; her stepdad had actually had it along with a myriad of other tropical diseases from his stint in the military before he'd met Chrissy's mum and when he learned of Chrissy's desire to go into medicine he'd told her all about it. It'd swung her career path toward pathology, then to biomed, but her mother wouldn't hear of it, telling her that girls didn't belong in science. Chrissy had ended up waitressing at the country club while she was waiting to pick a career path, then like Eddie had gone into the Carver family business, selling silverware because godforbid the snooty bastards have a waitress and a mechanic in their family.

The detour conversation seemed to have its desired effect, Robin was officially distracted from her spiral down tropical disease lane and Eddie and Chrissy earned themselves some much-desired and much-deserved PDA for their hardship, not that it could actually qualify as PDA when there wasn't another soul to be seen for miles around, not a human soul anyway, although Steve was sure the local reptiles had bigger problems than four queers canoodling.

So despite the mishap with her brand-new jeans, Robin did end up having the time of her life like Steve had hoped, really getting into the Area 51 atmosphere and treating the three of them like she was their personal tour guide, taking them to rarer sights, rattling off facts and telling endless stories. In all the time they'd known each other, Steve had never seen her smile so much, especially the few times she refused to stop for breath, when Chrissy would stop her rambling with a kiss that Robin pulling away from with a dreamy far off look, completely forgetting what it was that she'd been telling them.

He was actually quite impressed with himself when he'd actually managed to capture the moment on camera, immortalising Robin's "sorry this person is unavailable, please leave a message" look on film. That, as well as a couple of hundred other photos, the many opportunities to capture their adventure permanently being a major highlight of the trip because as beautiful as Rachel was, it didn't hold a candle to his three companions; Robin overjoyed with her destination, Chrissy overjoyed with Robin and Eddie, well, Steve didn't want to presume, but he liked to hope he'd had an enjoyable experience, the beaming smile on his face suggested he did.

Steve knew his luck wouldn't last, though, and it wasn't long before Robin insisted on taking his photo; they were standing on an obscure bit of road, signposted by a random boulder that was apparently distinguishable from all the other random boulders surrounding them. Robin demanded Steve was in the photo with said boulder, and as much as he was panicking, who was he to dampen her enthusiasm? Except he quickly realised he didn't really know what to do with himself because other than school portrait photos or the odd family-style holiday-card kind his mother organised, no one had ever really taken his picture before.

He'd felt incredibly lost as he'd stood awkwardly by the rock, but his sweet Eddie, his wonderful mind-reading Eddie, quickly came to his rescue. He and Chris had been dorking around cha cha chaing on the tarmac singing to Love Is Strange, which had been the last song they'd heard on the radio before Steve had cut the Cadillac's engine. Not even breaking character or their bit, Eddie telepathically checked with Robin that it was okay, boxstepping towards Steve as Chrissy called "Sylvia!" 

Eddie paused, looking coyly over his shoulder at his best friend, "Yes, Mickey?" he asked, resuming his slow movement toward Steve.

"How'd you call your loverboy?" Chris asked, waggling her eyebrows at Steve.

Eddie paused and pretended to think of an answer before shouting, "C'mere loverboy!" grinning smugly at Steve and beckoning him with a curled finger.

"And if he doesn't answer?" Chrissy asked.

Eddie put both his hands over his heart, fluttering his eyelashes, "Oh, loverboy!" he called flirtatiously.

Chrissy was grinning so widely and so indelibly, she had to bite her lip in order to ask, "And if he still doesn't answer?"

Eddie skipped the rest of the way to Steve, wrapping his arms around Steve's waist, looking up at him through his lashes, "I simply say. Baby!" Eddie sang, wiggling his hips to the guitar only Eddie could hear, trailing his way around Steve, sticking his chin over his shoulder, "Oh baby!" he crooned. Switching to his other shoulder and kissing his flushed cheek, "My sweet baby! You're the one," Eddie finished, snuggling into Steve's back like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Like he was just waiting for Robin to take their photograph, like he hadn't just serenaded him and rocked Steve's world, like Steve wasn't grinning like a buffoon, like he wasn't blushing from head to toe, like Steve's heart wasn't racing faster than was probably wise out in the desert and all Steve could do was shake his head, sharing a look with a bewildered Robin that said, did that really just happen?

And Steve might've been in a state of shock, but he still couldn't help relaxing into Eddie's grasp, interlinking their fingers around his waist, because Eddie may be a ridiculous man who did weird enactments of songs that no one else could hear, but he was Steve's ridiculous man. 

Robin finally managed to come back to herself enough to bring the camera back up to her eyes, Eddie smiling infectiously in Robin's direction, yelling a drawn out "Cheeeeeese!" 

Steve heard more than saw Robin snap the picture because he was too busy just staring at the awe at the crazy, goofy man that was his husband, and he knew he must've had the gooiest eyes in the photo because Robin snapped out of her stupor enough to start faux gagging, demanding they take another she could actually stand to look at.

Of course, the next one Eddie kissed him on the cheek causing Robin to complain loudly, then he'd spun Steve around to stare lovingly into his eyes and the next one getting ruined was Steve's fault because Eddie couldn't just act like that and look at him with that look in his eyes without getting kissed senseless, Steve feeling slightly better about his reaction to Eddie's performance when Eddie looked rather dazed as Steve eventually pulled away. 

Chrissy, probably sensing Robin's frustration, stepped in at that point, before the camera got thrown at the newlyweds or Robin's head actually exploded, yelled a sharp "Eddie!" which seemed to bring him crashing back down to earth. He looked over at the girls then down at the rock and suggested, "Piggyback?" Steve shrugged and spun around, so Eddie could climb onto his back, but Eddie just called him a silly goose in the gentlest tone, hoisting Steve into his arms, holding Steve bridal style, and Steve had never in his life been so thankful to be a Disney Princess.

He spent the whole day in a general state of bafflement, Steve had never been with someone so openly affectionate before, not just in a physical sense, meaning that Steve and the girls were often covered in flurries of hugs and kisses whenever the mood seemed to strike him. But Eddie was emotionally affectionate as well, and not just with him and the girls but with perfect strangers, too. There were times throughout the day when Steve just couldn't tear his eyes away, his heart soaring, his cheeks aching with the effort of smiling for so long because Eddie was just like a walking ray of sunshine, exuding a joy that made everyone around him feel warm and elated.

Steve knew they must've taken hundreds of pictures, each of them taking their turn behind and in front of the lens, photographs taken with landscapes and bits of debris and a lizard Eddie had named Chico who Steve had to admit was a pretty cool dude; he didn't try to eat anyone's toes and when he flicked his tongue out to lick the tattoo on the back of Eddie's ear (that Steve could only assume Chico thought was a fly) Eddie pulled the cutest face Steve had ever seen. It was the same face little kids pull when a puppy licks them for the first time, and honestly, he could only hope the picture came out clear, because if not he would be buying Eddie a lizard when they got home, so they could replicate the experience.

They all took plenty of candids too, especially given Robin's hatred of posed photos, despite her forcing the other three into a mix of terrible stock photo poses, there were photos of laughter when someone said something funny, and the adorable face Chrissy pulled whenever she was listening to Robin talk, pictures of Eddie attempting a cartwheel when Chrissy inadvertently started a competition, Robin sticking her tongue out in concentration as she attempted to follow the white line in the road perfectly, the look of adoration on her face when she inevitably fell and Chrissy knelt by her side to check she was okay, photos covered in sunscreen when Steve had accidentally got a blob on Robin's cheek while he'd been rubbing it into Eddie's neck, inadvertently causing a sun lotion war.

They took best friend photos and coupley shots, Eddie even managed to get a couple of professionally posed photographs of Robin and Chrissy with both of them actually grinning or laughing down the lens. And the more Eddie made them laugh and smile, the more he used his natural ability to capture it forever without making Robin pull her grimace photo face, the more endeared Steve became. Chrissy of course took one look at Steve watching Eddie and insisted on taking their picture, and honestly, wrapped around his husband or having Eddie wrapped around him made being in front of the camera a lot less painful than it'd once been.

In the end, they ran out of films for the camera, Area 51 ran out of attractions and Robin ran out of stories to tell, and suddenly they were all just kinda hungry, Chrissy emphasising the point when her stomach rumbled loudly. And as luck would have it, the closest place was a diner that happened to be run by believers. 

Fascination was always a good look on Robin, and amazingly the owners, Betty and her husband John, had a few stories she hadn't heard before. Just the fact that she was actually sitting still told Steve she was listening intently, long before she started asking more questions than either Betty or John had time to answer.

Chrissy seemed to just be basking in the glow of a captivated Robin, only snatching her eyes away when they were joined by other people, other believers who'd heard their conversation and wanted to join in. Steve marvelled at his three companions' ability to hold three separate conversations from the same table. He knew he personally had nothing to contribute, but that was fine with him, that just meant he could sit and listen and watch their brilliance in awe. 

Eddie was grinning wildly as he chatted with an older man who looked a little like a thin Santa named Phil, and Steve couldn't tear his eyes away, he didn't think he'd seen Eddie stop smiling once all day, not that Steve was complaining of course, he was ecstatic he was having a good time and was delighted to learn that the uncle who raised him was a believer as well and that Eddie was excited to take all their new stories home to him as Phil regaled Eddie with his own personal experience with Martians.

They'd stayed late, mainly because Chrissy had this uncanny ability to make friends with anyone and everyone. Steve could've sworn they must've got to know everyone in a fifty mile radius by the time the summer sun fell below the blinds, lighting the diner in golden hues. They'd heard and shared so many stories, that these people who'd been strangers just a few short hours before suddenly felt like friends, so much so, it felt hard to leave them. 

The foursome had to be literally ushered out the door by Betty, insisting that they take the picnic she'd made for them and go down to the summit to enjoy the sunset. Steve smiled as he waved goodbye as he drove them out of the parking lot even though it brought with it an intense feeling of sadness; a few hours in the grand scheme of things was no time at all but the diner patrons had made them feel like part of the family and the fact that he knew deep down that he'd probably never see any of them ever again just dug a hole in his heart.

The drive down to Coyote Summit was as short as Betty had promised, but she had been absolutely right, it was definitely worth it. The climb to the top wasn't difficult, even laden with enough food to feed a small army and the view from the top, honestly, it was nothing short of spectacular. Just a vast nothingness for as far as the eye could see all around them, it felt like being the only people in the universe, just them and the slowly setting sun. 

Between the four of them they got organised pretty quickly, the girls had pulled the beach towel out of the backpack and laid it out on the rough surface for them to sit on, Eddie lounged against the formation, leaving room for Steve to settle into the v of his legs, the bags of food between him and Robin within easy reach for all of them. Resting his head on Eddie's shoulder, Steve sighed contentedly, it'd been a long but glorious day, and he hadn't felt peace like this in a long time, especially when Eddie wrapped his arms around his middle, pressing a distracted kiss into his temple. 

Chrissy was happily curled under Robin's arm, the two of them chatting animatedly with Eddie, retelling the stories from the diner that the other two had missed, but Steve had already heard them and between the vibration of Eddie voice and laugh, and the serenity of their surroundings, Steve's body was being lulled into a deep sense of relaxation he hadn't felt since his last spa day.

A tranquil silence settled over the four of them, as the sky lit up in stunning pastel colours, leaving them to merely observe the beauty of nature. He'd taken Nancy up Weathertop once upon a time because he thought she'd find the sunset romantic, and she had, it was one of the few times a date with her hadn't ended in a raging argument, and it was nice, but it could never compare to a Nervada desert evening. Weathertop had been like puppy love, but the Summit was something indescribable, something like joy, like peace, like love.

Steve sighed contentedly and laced his fingers with Eddie's, pulling his arms tighter around himself, Eddie quickly taking the hint and dragging Steve closer. So close, he could feel Eddie's heartbeat against his back, the steady rhythm matching his own. So close, Eddie could tuck his chin over Steve's shoulder, the bits of Eddie's hair that had strayed from their tie tickling his face and neck. So close, all he could hear and smell and taste and touch was Eddie, all intermingled with something so ordinary yet extraordinary as the setting sun. 

He knew that it was a moment he'd never be able to forget, that from then on every time he saw the sun he'd think of sitting under the desert sky with his husband.

Husband! Steve thought gleefully, distractedly kissing Eddie's cheek.

It got dark faster than Steve had expected it to, but it was a night of a new moon, so the soft pastels turned quickly to a deep indigo and then an inky black interspersed by the blanket of stars, tiny diamonds twinkling for as far as the eye could see. The majesty of the universe sat before their very eyes, making him feel simultaneously like a giant in the silence of an empty desert and like he was no bigger than a speck of dust. 

It wasn't like it didn't get dark enough in Hawkins to see the stars, he just couldn't honestly say he'd ever bothered to take the time to look, not like this. And seeing it, really seeing it, for the first time, safe in Eddie's arms, felt as close to heaven as he thought he'd ever get.

Steve wasn't sure how long they stayed there staring at the sky. They had talked for a while, Eddie pointing out constellations, murmuring mythical legends into Steve's ear. Robin eventually dragging the two boys into their quiet discussion of what the world would be like in five years time; a philosophical discussion that turned into hushed admissions of hopes and dreams for their own futures, of childhood career aspirations, of growing up with the two-point-four ideal and the realisation that that wasn't their destiny, of first kisses and heartbreaks and gay awakenings.

It was only when something howled too close for any of their liking that they gathered their things and headed home. Steve as thrilled as he was the first time to be back behind the wheel of the Cadillac with Eddie, wrapped in Steve’s hoodie, his hand grasped in his own. They were barely ten minutes into their journey, when Steve glanced in the rearview mirror to see Chrissy fast asleep on Robin's shoulder, only the depths of the darkened landscape keeping Robin alert, her hopes of seeing something stronger than her desire to nap, her denim jacket draped over them both.

He couldn't help smiling to himself, he knew his best friend was in love, there was no other explanation for her behaviour because as much as she enjoyed affectionate she also liked her own personal space, normally Robin would’ve laid her girlfriend gently against the window of the car or the arm of the couch if they fell asleep on her, but she was perfectly content with Chris curled into her side, drooling on her new Metallica t-shirt that she'd got from the concert the night before. 

The radio was on but at a much lower volume than the drive there, the songs had changed from the fifties to the sixties, sad country songs finding their way into the soulful mix reminding him of quality time with Hop. Eddie had started off the journey singing quietly, almost to himself, which slowly transitioned to humming along, Eddie eventually going silent altogether, Steve glanced over to see why he'd stopped, wondering if he'd nodded off upright, but he was just staring out the window, silent and almost pensive, holding Steve's hand so tightly that Eddie's rings were digging into his skin, effectively cutting off the circulation to his last two fingers. 

What A Wonderful World drifted through the speakers, Steve squeezed Eddie's hand gently and began to mutter the lyrics under his breath along with the music, glad that Louis didn't make him sound too much like a squawking parrot; stealing another quick glance at his husband, pleased to see him smiling and mouthing the lyrics back at him. It didn't last though, the song changed and Steve could feel Eddie staring at the side of his face, almost like there was something on it or like he was trying to imprint it in his memory. He thought about joking that a photo would last longer but thought better of it when he glanced over and saw the look of devastation on Eddie's face, he looked like he was about to cry.

"Y'okay?" Steve murmured, squeezing Eddie's hand twice in quick succession which seemed to snap Eddie out of it because when Steve chanced another glance at him, he was grinning at Steve, but it just didn't quite meet his eyes, and it might've fooled someone else, but Steve knew something was amiss.

"Never better," Eddie muttered, lifting Steve's hand to kiss his knuckles just over his wedding ring. Steve knew it was a lie, but he didn't want to call Eddie out or start an argument after the amazing day they'd had, he just had to hope Eddie would talk to him when he was ready. All Steve could do was cling on, pulling their hands to his lips and kissing the back of his hand, and hope everything would be okay.

The drive back from a destination always seemed shorter for reasons Steve never understood, but it didn't seem to take long before they swapped the light of the stars for the lights of The Strip; the evening just barely starting in Sin City even though it had long since gone dark. Eddie asked if they could eat before heading back to the hotel; they’d enjoyed their picnic, but that had been a few hours ago and when Steve saw a shining golden M lighting up the sky, he had a sudden craving for burgers. 

Upon his carmates agreement, he pulled into the car park, already mourning the loss of driving his beloved Cadillac but enjoying the chance to finally stretch his legs, except the restaurant was loud and hectic, filled with merry revellers and being surrounded by the banality of hen dos and 21st birthday parties just felt wrong. In the fluorescent lights Steve could see how dead on her feet Robin looked, her eyes were red whether from straining or crying, he wasn't sure, but he knew the last thing she needed was idiotic chaos. Eddie didn't look much better, and Chrissy looked like she wanted to tear herself in two to take care of them both.

Crowding the other three back towards the door, Steve said, "Go back to the car, I'll get dinner." Feeling the appreciation of his companions in their grateful smiles, "What does everyone want?" Steve asked, trying his hardest to remember their muttered orders before they disappeared back outside. Steve ordered their dinner then nipped into the bathroom, washing his hands and splashing cold water on his face. He was exhausted and worried about Eddie and Robin but knew getting stressed wouldn't help any of them. Sighing heavily, he waded through the mania, collecting their food and heading back to the car, getting to enjoy the night air, being in the other's company and Elvis' soulful voice floating through the radio. Almost feels like we're back in the sixties.

Steve sat twisted in his seat, tangling his legs with Eddie's in the footwell, his arm thrown over the back of the seat, so he could keep an eye on Robin. Not that she was paying any of them any attention, she was just staring at the food in her lap, deep in thought. Steve knew better than to interrupt her, but Chrissy's concern was written across her features as she tried to stealthily catch his attention. He raised his eyebrows questioningly and when she flicked her eyes at Robin he could tell she was asking if her being so quiet was normal, which was fair, other than sleep, Robin rarely stopped speaking. Steve didn't think he'd ever known her to be quiet for two solid hours before, but they’d shared a lot back at the summit and over the years he'd found that heavier conversations tended to take it out of her. He couldn't know for sure what exactly was going on in Robin’s head, but he knew she'd let him know as soon as she had it figured out.

He smiled as reassuringly as he could at Chrissy, trying to let her know that it'd be fine, that Robin was probably just processing, and she'd be back with them when she was ready. And the spooky thing was Chrissy seemed to understand him, sighing in relief, she sagged back into her seat, letting all the tension out of her body as she glanced around, soaking in the atmosphere. Up until a few days ago the only person Steve had ever been able to wordlessly communicate with was Robin, he always assumed it was because they were soulmates, two halves of a whole, sharing one brain most of the time, but both Chrissy and Eddie had managed to understand Steve and at times he'd been able to understand them too, and it made him wonder if maybe they weren't halves at all but quarters. 

Eddie had noticed their silent conversation and smiled gratefully at Steve, taking his hand to kiss each of his knuckles, then the back of his hand, then up his arm, getting grease and salt all over his skin. Robin finally looking up and giggling at Eddie's antics, some of the sparkle coming back into her eyes, Steve pulling Eddie closer, so he could kiss him on the forehead, smiling appreciatively at the love of his life.

He'd never had a partner who cared as much as Eddie did, who made life fun, who was willing to be silly just to make someone smile, and honestly, Steve couldn't quite believe he was real sometimes. Just the amount of tiny things Eddie had been doing in the short time they'd been together that made Eddie so perfect, he just blew Steve's mind and by this point, he was under no illusions, he was already head over heels in love.

He was on the verge of freaking out about the consequences of that particular realisation when Robin broke his train of thought, "Evie!" she singsonged.

Parking his emotional crisis until later, he gave his best friend his undivided attention, "Yes, Bobs?" he asked.

Robin looked so serious, he assumed she was about to tell a joke. It was just what she did, like she had to think hard about something awful in order to get through the whole joke without bursting into hysterics. "I want a tattoo!" she declared, throwing Steve completely.

He wasn't sure where she was going, if she was joking or not, it was disconcerting. He blinked owlishly and with a nervous giggle said, "Okay?"

Of course, Robin didn't appreciate that, she scowled at Steve, "I mean now," she insisted.

Steve was surprised, it wasn't something she'd ever mentioned, and over the years they'd talked about near enough everything there was to talk about. The last thing he wanted her to do was to make a spontaneous decision on something so permanent, "Oh! Don't you have to research that kinda thing?" he asked, trying to make sure he sounded curious and not judgemental.

Robin wasn't fazed though, she just snorted, "Like you should research wedding venues?" she snarked.

Chrissy and Eddie burst into hysterics and all Steve could do was blush, fair point, "Touché!" he chuckled.

Eddie smiled gently at him, putting his hand on Steve's knee and reassuringly rubbing his thumb back and forth, "What're you after, Songbird?" he asked her.

Robin shrugged, "I dunno, lights? Stars? I want it here," she explained, showing Eddie the inside of her middle finger, "So something small, y'know?"

-----------------------------

Eddie nodded intrigued, looked excitedly at Chrissy and exclaimed, "Don't worry, I know just the place!"

Part 7

Tag list @estrellami-1 @gregre369 @adhdsummer @nerdfighteratheart @anaibis @hbyrde36 @dolphincliffs @marinarasarah @deadflowercollector @lunabookworm @a-couchpotato @wonderland-girl143-blog @ddharrington feel free to lmk if you want removing 💖

[naturalrights-retard]

Bill Gates is still on what appears to be his never-ending quest to inject the global human population with as many “vaccines” as possible.

The Covid pandemic may be old news at the World Economic Forum, but that hasn’t stopped the American billionaire from peddling his vaccinations at this years meeting in Davos.

He told his fellow globalists: “We will have new vaccines. We’ll have a TB vaccine, malaria vaccine, HIV vaccine” and even new COVID-19 vaccines.

He also praised the efforts of the ruling class using artificial intelligence to help create these new injections.

SHTF reports: The question that immediately springs to mind is this: will the new HIV “vaccine” be helpful for those who get VAIDS from other “vaccines”? Remember, Gates developed a “vaccine” to protect against vaccine-induced polio. If that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about this sociopath and vaccines, then nothing will.

Sadly, despite their ineffectiveness, almost 30 million doses of Gates’ malaria vaccine will be dispatched to Africans over the next few months as Cameroon launched the world’s first malaria vaccination program. The malaria vaccine is only 13% effective at preventing malaria. Nets and malaria tablets have proven to be better either way and yet these injections are still being used on human beings.

Not to mention that the malaria “vaccine” is so effective that four doses are required, with all four to be completed within two years of birth. A fifth dose will be considered after one year in areas of high risk and then maybe you’ll get 13% effectiveness.

Using a prophylactic dose, malaria tablets on their own are 90% effective at preventing malaria, and that really beats the “vaccine” by a wide margin!

[casketjones]

I'm not sure how to info dump for a bunch of character concepts in a way that's digestible but eh whatever

Concept work for a group of mafia hitwomen and their long suffering handler. They're likely going to be used in a underground illegal wrestling ring arc because that's all I really want in my media.

This post plus additional sketches and more background info will be going up on my patreon and kofi tomorrow.

more under the cut,

They're all vampires that I really cooked up to test a concept for vamps for my comic project. Based on a blood sucking animal and a historical anti-vampire burial method, some of the burial methods are gonna be pushed and fibbed because there's not that many of them. so yeah incidental vampires will have a cage motif even tho I know good and well that cages were to prevent resurrection men getting in not vampires getting out. I feel that's thematically close enough. There's so many really good sanguivore animals out there these are maybe too safe even.

The other thing I really wanted to accomplish with these designs is targeting lesbians, hey ladies these are for you. How am I doing?

going left to right here we got

Flea- She's a Flea I tried taking a lot from Blake's Ghost of a Flea but I don't think it comes through. Her grave-shackle is that scythe coming out her shoulder, it's maybe a bit of a stretch, the real thing was buried in the ground next to the corpse so if it rose it would decapitate itself but I didn't really want to complicate the design with a bunch of dirt or something. Regardless I like her design a lot. Short hairy goblin of a woman, someone stop me from naming her Puce.

Mosquito- Her hair took a little bit to sort out, it used to be real bad but this mess is perfect. Horrible 90's stylized part call back, reminiscent of boxer braids while being ostentatious enough to work in any setting. That cool bangle is her grave-shackle, an actual shackle this time. Her build was immediate, huge arms, weird long butt, perfection. She's the easiest to dress which isn't that surprising considering shes thinner but usually big arms are really difficult in women's wear. Flea is actually the second easiest to dress. There's gotta be a better name than Malaria, but i could call her Mal.

Geo(?)- small mafia man, constantly put upon, constantly behind the 8-ball with upper management; you know the type. The other guys definitely tell him he's lucky all the time but they'd never switch assignments with him. Why is he so small? because I can do whatever i want. His name might be Geoffrey.

Lamprey- Went through the most iterations, was very hard to piece together a woman this disaster lesbian. The spike through the heart, traditionally meant to keep the alleged vampire pinned to the ground was always part of the design, so was the long neck and heart lipstick, the hook earring came and went. Everything else was difficult; general build was pretty similar but i didn't actually work until I gave her a gut and dropped her waist. I used to have gill markings on her neck that looked like vampire bite marks and that took a while to give up but that hair is too good. She probably will end up being named Nakkila, it's a Finnish town with lamprey on their crest.

Leech- Took just two stabs to get her hair, body and face where I wanted it. Those bright red eyebrows work so well to subtly mimic leech markings, her hair shapes are perfect and I love drawing them. It's hard to tell at this size but her lips are sewn together which works almost too well for the theming, the cartoon jack'o lantern shape just sits right on a leech. Being built like a brick shithouse with fantastic fat rolls really gives the body diversity in the group the punch it needs. But dear god in heaven she is so hard to dress! I'm liking this dress a moderate amount right now and I really love the shoes but it's not perfect. I've tried suits instead, I've down active wear, all crazy difficult. It's like fashion doesn't want to accentuate horizontal stripes on large bodies or something? I gotta keep trying on it. I've almost convinced myself to name her Annelid.

[socialjusticeinamerica]

“How can you stop people from hating others because of their color?

Crownsville gave me my first clue. It was a cruel relic from an era where the mentally ill were treated as subhuman. The staff chained patients to beds and subjected others to medical experiments, such as injecting unwitting victims with malaria and hepatitis. When it was forced to close several years later, the building was used as the set for a horror movie.

I didn’t know any of this history, but I could feel the despair as soon as I entered Crownsville. I learned from my mom that day that she had been confined to that hellish place for years.

I vividly recall thinking as I looked at my mom: I didn’t know a White person could suffer like this.

Before that meeting, I had absorbed some of the hostility toward White people that was pervasive in my community. I didn’t think any White person could understand what it meant to suffer like Black people—to be ignored, brutalized, or treated with contempt for being born a certain way.

My mother crushed that assumption within 15 minutes of our first meeting.”

☝️

His mom was institutionalized with schizophrenia in one of the worst facilities in the country. After being shut down a horror movie was filmed there. A touching and insightful story about race, family, and forgiveness. Recommended reading.

[nyctibiusgrandis]

I’iwi

Drepanis coccinea

Kula - Kailialinu

May 18, 2023 9:18 a.m.

Photography by me

I’ve decided to start using this blog as a place to put the pictures I’ve taken while birding. And what better way to start that than with possibly the rarest sighting I’ve ever had.

This little guy is an I’iwi and was the main bird I was hoping to find when I visited Maui in May. I remember seeing the flash of scarlet through the trees and the hope that it was an I’iwi. I could’ve stood there and watched it for hours.

Something so small and yet so important. Unfortunately, these guys are one of the 17 remaining species of Hawaiian honeycreepers out of the original 56 species. This rapid extinction has been due to the spread of avian malaria, not to mention habitat loss and predation.

If you ever have the chance to see one of these guys don’t just take one glance. Truly stop to look at them. They’re such a marvel of evolution.

[dragonballnewstar]

Hello!! The break is OVER so WELCOME BACK TO AMP UP YOUR WEEK! Happy 2024, everyone!!

First things first - I hope everyone had a great holiday! Yummy food, fun presents and everyone was responsible! I got a lot of fun skin care stuff from my friend, Circe! I'm so excited to try them out~

Next, it seems that there's some rumblings of another citrus-based assault. Please be careful and if you end up on the receiving end - rinse your eyes thoroughly with clean water! Ideally an eyewash station which are located throughout Conton's academy.

In science news, I found a rundown of discoveries we made in 2023. In no particular order:

- New vaccines got the green light! We saw our first two vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and the World Health Organizations has recommended a second dose of the Malaria vaccine.

- ChatGPT was estimated to have more than 100 million users by January 2023. For an AI, that's an insane amount of users!

- India is the 4th country to successfully put a lander on Earth's moon.

- Astronomers have better code to capture the shape of stars! This is great news for astrophysics who rely on such models.

- In Spring, multiple scientists reported massive vibrations in space and time. Tiny deviations in the timing of observed pulsars (burnt-out stars which emit beams of radio waves) revealed this long-sought background of gravitational waves. Scientists say the waves are being stirred up by supermassive black holes spiraling toward each other or perhaps more exotic phenomena — defects in the fabric of space known as cosmic strings.

- Crispr - a gene editing technique - is the first FDA approved treatment to target and treat Sickle Cell. Let me say that again, we have a way to cure Sickle Cell! It's by no means practical yet - but this is huge!

Okay this is getting long so I'll stop myself there...

We also have a new banner for the show! I..I hope you guys like it!

Okay, finally onto music. It's a simple slow tune this time. I actually found a small coffee shop around the corner from my dorm over the break and it was one that caught my attention. I really enjoyed it, plus it was raining outside with a hot coffee and a muffin~ I hope you guys enjoy the song too!

That's it for me for now! Remember to stay hydrated and enjoy your weekend. If it's nice where you are, take a moment to look at the clouds outside. How fast are they right now? Feel free to send me what shapes you see.

Have a great weekend and I hope to hear from you guys next week!

[matthias-the-tulip]

parts i hope they keep in the red white and royal blue movie: a list.

for @failinginwhatdirection here you go

• "i'm going to throw up on you" at the stables

• "i'd rather be waterboarded" also at the stables

• "i bet he has a secret lovechild," nora says. "or he's gay. or he has a secret gay lovechild." "it's probably in case i see his equerry putting his batteries back in," alex says.

• midnight ice cream on instagram and "i didn't know you wore glasses."

• the awkward fist bump on "this morning"

• "do you mind?" in the cupboard at the hospital

• "you're not the prince of me"

• "i cannot believe even mortal peril will not prevent you from being the way you are."

• "are you psychoanalysing me? i don't think royal guests are allowed to do that."

• "is that the time you threatened to push me into the thames?"

• "no booty calls."

• "it was like you were trying to set him on fire with your mind."

• "don't let the papers print lies about me after i've garroted myself with my tie."

• "you are the thistle in the tender and sensitive arse crack of my life."

• the whole turkey situation but they really can't get rid of that it's too important - "buy a summer home in majorca with the turkey"

• mr wobbles and jabba cakes please.

• "you're jeff goldblum"

• "I BEG YOU TO NOT"

• "please do not attempt to steal my shine. you will fail and i will be embarrassed for you."

• "christ, you are as thick as it gets."

• alex falling while running with june cause he was thinking about henry

• "still waters, deep dicking.”

• “prince henry is a biscuit,” nora says, “let him sop you up.”

• "you're not going to kill him, are you?" she says. "probably not," alex tells her

• "i mean, er, should we, i dunno, slow down?" henry says, cringing so hard at himself that one eye closes. "go for dinner first, or-"

• "i'm going to die," henry says helplessly. "i'm going to kill you," alex tells him. "yes, you are," henry agrees.

• alex fixing his hair for him

• fucking eyelashes

• the whole polo kit situation. henry slowly putting his foot back on the floor 😂

• "you're a mad, spiteful, unmitigated demon, and i'm going to kiss you until you forget how to talk."

• birthday floggings et al

• i will staple your dick to the inside of your leg

• baby.

• "i miss you," alex says before he can stop himself. he instantly regrets it, but henry says, "i miss you too."

• "i want to... put my fingers in his mouth..." she moans, sounding horrified. (WE NEED JUNE)

• "if only you had known the mighty work of thine loins would be undone by a gay heir who likes it when american boys with chin dimples are mean to him."

• just the whole karaoke bar situation. plz.

• o captain, my captain

• "when at wimbledon."

• "i want to see a cage match between your grandmother and this fucking ghoul running against my mom"

• "and you are good. most things are awful most of the time, but you're good."

• "he is truly a picture, wearing an expression of bewildered panic and absolutely nothing else."

• all of zahra's little quips - "every time i see you, it takes another year off my life." - "ask me if i'm afraid of the crown."

• SEXUAL EXPERIMENTATION WITH FOREIGN MONARCHS: A GRAY AREA.

• EXPLORING YOUR SEXUALITY: HEALTHY, BUT DOES IT HAVE TO BE WITH THE PRINCE OF ENGLAND?

• FEDERAL FUNDING, TRAVEL EXPENSES, BOOTY CALLS, AND YOU

• "some saucy tart once tried to impugn my virtue against an oil painting of him, and in the halls of memory, some things demand context."

• I GUESS THAT MAKES YOU. THE MF. NORTH STAR.

• a catholic moment

• santa maria is watching

• "philip is the heir and i'm the spare, and if that nervy bastard has a heart attack at thirty-five and i've got malaria, whither the spare?

• alex's meltdown outside kensington. very important. - "how 'bout i just keep yelling and we see which of the papers show up first!" he turns back to the window and starts flailing his arms too. "henry! your royal fucking highness!"

• henry nuzzling his nose behind alex's ear.

• "next time we shall visit some of the george III pieces and see if they burst into flame."

• DANCING TO YOUR SONG IN THE MUSEUM

• "once shaan managed to dislodge him from the chandelier"

• "i will physically fight your grandmother myself if i have to, okay? and, like, she's old. i know i can take her." "i wouldn't be so cocky," henry says with a small laugh. "she's full of dark surprises."

• "your spine's a ridge i'd die climbing"

• "check the fucking news, you horny little miscreant"

• you're my mean friend

• I 😭 LOVE 😭 HIM 😭 ON 😭 PURPOSE 😭 once again they can't leave that out if they do i'll k!ll someone

• "what are we even defending here, philip? what kind of legacy? what kind of family, that says, we'll take the murder, we'll take the raping and pillaging and the colonizing, we'll scrub it up nice and neat in a museum, but oh no, you're a bloody poof? that's beyond our sense of decorum! i've bloody well had it. i've sat about long enough letting you and gran and the weight of the damned world keep me pinned, and i'm finished. i don't care. you can take your legacy and your decorum and you can shove it up your fucking arse, philip. i'm done."

• "for what it's worth," he says to philip, "that is the bravest son of a bitch I've ever met."

• "I've been gay as a maypole since the day i came out of mum, philip."

• bea pouring the tea on philip's lap

• henry pulls alex close and kisses him, whispers, "i love you i love you i love you."

• never 😭 tell 😭 me 😭 the 😭 odds 😭

• "my life is a cosmic joke and you're not a real person"

• "listen, you've had your first big sex scandal. no more sitting at the kids' table."

• how to love each other in plain sight

• "holding henry's hand atop his own knee" in the portrait

• "all this fundraising for sobriety is going to drive me to drink."

• "I'm the prince of...here"

• "you spent a month of your gap year talking to yaks in mongolia, h."

• "i know it's a lot, but you give people hope. so, get back out there and be alex."

• the super six

• alex tripping on the magazine with them on the cover

• henry fixing june's hair

[explodingsilver]

Some thoughts about The Lathe of Heaven (that may seem a bit vague, because it's been two years since I've read it):

I can see how the main theme might come across as "trying to change things for the better is bad; you should just let the world stay shitty", but I think this is a bit uncharitable.

The way I see it, the book is ultimately about environmentalism, and the most important thing about environmental science, the very first thing they teach you on day one, is that it's not possible to affect only one part of the system. Everything you do will ripple outward, whether you intend it to or not.

Haber's actions throughout the book consist of him trying to fix a problem and succeeding in ways that cause even bigger problems (ex. achieving world peace by forcing all countries to unite against an alien invasion). This kind of thing actually does have precedent in real world environmental issues. One infamous example is that WHO thought they were helping curtail malaria by using large amounts of pesticide, but those same pesticides ended up causing people's roofs to collapse as well as an outbreak of the plague. But unlike WHO, Haber never stops and thinks that he may have fucked up a little bit.

And so I think it's a bit short-sighted to try to write the whole story off as pro-"things remaining bad". It's more anti-"thinking that you, personally, can fix the world by addressing one single problem".

[gretchensinister]

Dark Crystal Vampire AU Part 3: THIS IS FINE

Part 1

Part 2

So, what happens to the skeksis vampires? With the urRu gone who knows where, the skeksis decide that they look close enough like their whole selves to return to their old lives. They publicly recant all their URSKEK beliefs and lie like crazy about whatever they have to in order to start living like regular decadent rich people again. This works, because in addition to the lying, they also retained the crystal knife used in the ceremony that split the URSKEKs. It’s turned a dark purple now, but that’s probably fine. But it works like the missing ingredient in all sorts of alchemical workings, and they really can turn lead into gold which means unlimited money for bribes and privacy and for people to be like, “okay…” when the skeksis say they look different because they had the plague or malaria or whatever, which doesn’t actually explain anything.

What happens to the urRu vampires? When they leave, they make a dangerous journey by a way as deep into the wilderness as they can manage. (Well. It’s not spoken of later but the danger of their journey is primarily towards human beings within scenting distance. This is still a vampire AU, babey!) They’re looking for a place where they feel they can be less of a danger to humans, but still continue their studies, because maybe if they can really help humanity with their wisdom this time it will help atone for the murders, and they still believe that maybe they can get the original ceremony right, eventually. Aren’t they the good parts of the URSKEKs? There has to be a way to stop being vampires and correctly become spiritual beings. They end up settling in a tiny abandoned village near a high valley in the Alps. It was abandoned because it was too high up and the available ground in the valley wasn’t enough to sustain year-round living, and there was a bigger town at a lower elevation nearby, anyway. So they aren’t completely cut off from humans, but it’s a difficult road and the thirst is easier to bear when the winds almost never bring any trace of humans to them.

(An aside on the split: the URSKEKs had two genuine motives for the original ceremony. Self-aggrandizement, proving their own spiritual superiority AND finding true enlightenment that could lead to inner peace and be used to help ease the toil and suffering of the world. These two motives form the fault line of the split. Skeksis from the first, urRu from the second. However, these are just starting points, and they leave a lot of room for personality. Also, there always remains the opportunity to change for the better or the worse, for any of them, because they are still alive.)

After the skeksis and the urRu go their separate ways, they start to diverge more physically and in about a decade they don’t look much like their URSKEKs or each other anymore. The skeksis play this off as aging, the urRu don’t have to play this off to anyone.

Survival: It causes both pain and hunger/thirst to be a half soul. Drinking human blood is the only way the skeksis and the urRu can ease those feelings, since in this AU blood directly from a living human being is like a physical manifestation of the self/soul, and fills the empty/jagged places where the other half of the soul was before the split. Strict blood rules here! Only human blood works because it’s not about calories, it’s about magical significance, and the URSKEKs started out human. The urRu and skeksis have halves of human souls. Animal blood does NOT work. Also, it has to be direct from a living person. It’s essential that the person being drunk from consider the blood part of themselves for the self/soul value to be there. Dead person? Blood not ensouled. Blood collected for donation, person not thinking about it anymore? Not ensouled. You get the idea.

The skeksis mostly drink people to death. Since the ideal victim is very aware of what’s going on, if they were let go, they’d be able to say that the skeksis are vampires, or at least doing some freak shit that maybe even money can’t totally make disappear. But sometimes they like taking risks and having someone out there with a story no one will ever believe. About 4 kills a year is what they need to stay in top condition (which is a LOT when you have 16 vampires in one place, which is one reason they don’t end up all staying in the same place). And of course they don’t limit themselves when they don’t have to.

The urRu have a much more complicated time. They discover that it might be possible to ignore the thirst indefinitely—they don’t die—but after a certain point it leaves them very weak and unable to think about anything else. In that state, if a human gets close enough for an urRu to notice, the urRu doesn’t have the mental strength to decide not to hunt, and they will pursue the human until their thirst is satisfied. This is always a way worse process when the human and urRu are close in strength because of the urRu’s weakness. And the urRu want to be able to go into the town to see if there’s someone they can talk to about getting books/other things so they’re not bored out of their minds. Luckily, they also are able to make a lot of alchemical workings work now (the crystal knife might be a placebo for the skeksis), so they can pay for things. Blood is still a problem though because the non-lethal option is frequent small feeds and the town doesn’t have that many people who are willing to be paid to be bitten, especially when it becomes clear that a) this doesn’t seem to be a sex thing and b) they’re literally drinking a significant amount of blood. It’s the kind of situation that will make the town’s sex workers go to the priest and be like, “hey. Something REALLY WEIRD is going on.” But still, they manage to keep the vampirism pretty much secret (with all of them still way too close to the edge of snapping) until the person they’ve been working with to get books is like “you guys have asked me to get every medical and esoteric text I can find, are you doctors/healers up there?” So how it all shakes out is that in this town and then other neighboring villages the information is quietly put around that if you’re sick and your other doctor can’t help, or if you don’t have money for any other kind of doctor, you can go to this village up in the mountains that these...streghe(?)...live in and a lot of the time they will cure you. But you have to be prepared to not come back, because if you think you have a fatal disease and you’re right, they’ll kill you. (Their way of bloodletting is also unconventional, and they do it no matter what your ailment is, but whatever works.)

It’s one of those situations where everything is very weird and unbelievable and the humans who are involved with them are aware that this has to be kept on the down low. Eventually, even when the Church and/or government goes looking for that village, they’re unable to find it, which is a huge relief and they can all officially say it doesn’t exist.

Blood supply is still uneven, though, and several urRu choose not to stay. The remaining urRu adopt a very slow-paced lifestyle to minimize the energy they expend and therefore their need for blood.

Appearances/The Vampire Rules

I already talked about the blood rules for both urRu and skeksis vampires. Other things: garlic, no effect; silver, no effect; holy water/crosses, no effect (though URSKEK houses tended to have an absence of Christian imagery which people talked about).

Reflections: They don’t have them, which is a good reason to stay away from polished silver, anyway.

Transformation into animals: no, but they can move in animal-like ways if they want to—i.e. SkekMal is definitely climbing down walls lizard fashion

Dirt from home: don’t need it because they’re not undead, they just stayed alive wrong

Running water: no effect

Compelled to count things (this is actually a folklore thing it’s not because of the Count from Sesame Street lol...but then again...muppet-adjacent…) : not specifically but all of them have obsessive tendencies

Sunlight: feels like a Bad Texture; they were never meant to exist in the sun. Doesn’t have fatal/painful effects. Also it’s more difficult to disguise that they’re not human in sunlight.

Strength/speed: a lot stronger and faster than humans—the urRu too. The reason they don’t use this strength/speed is so that they don’t have to feed as often

Senses: Can see in very low light, highly sensitive smell and hearing, touch and taste same as humans

Hypnotism: all of them can do this to some degree, but the urRu had more patience to cultivate this skill and have inherently compelling voices

Other food: Taste and smell still enjoyable, does nothing for the body, mass in = mass out.

Injuries/Death: will heal quickly but not instantly, can die of things that kill them faster than their healing. Also vibes-based. Skeksis and urRu can “accept” an injury like a piercing or tattoo.

Sleep: They can, but then they have troubled dreams of their other halves. Questionable behavior, no?

Both urRu and skeksis are humanoid with a range of heights and body shapes that correspond to their URSKEK origins. The more time passes, the more they diverge from humanity and each other—though they remain more like each other than most of them know.

The skeksis as vampires have eyeshine and skin that tends toward noticeable, unusual cool-color undertones that definitely don’t seem right when they’re among humans. Their nails darken and grow out as claws after the split. Dark circles/shadowed eyes. Right after the split they have noticeable fangs, but as the years pass they come to have entire mouths full of sharp teeth (hot).

The urRu as vampires also have eyeshine. Their skin remains closer in color to their URSKEK origins, but as time passes they develop grooves and spirals over their bodies. Their nails also turn into claws but they mostly file them down. They develop a hunched posture because they’re perpetually in pain/hungry/thirsty—they’d straighten up if they drank more blood. Their teeth look normal, maybe even oddly flat, until it’s time to feed, and then it turns out they have an entire set of sharp teeth hidden behind the others! (hot)

Both skeksis and urRu can open their mouths real wide, like a cat or snake or something.

Naked time: both skeksis and urRu are hermaphrodites because a) the alchemical concept of the rebis (signifies how the URSKEK project almost worked), b) the skeksis’ gender ambiguity is supposed to be unsettling in the movie but I think it should be cool and the urRu obviously need to get in on that too, c) I’m a pervert don’t worry about it.

The skeksis make DAMN sure they are male on paper in this world and present that way in public to a degree that they can’t be questioned. (Normal immortal stuff about “here’s my secret son who looks exactly like me” applies to continuity of property.) The urRu have no paperwork at all and let people just guess their gender if they see them, and go with whatever.

Part 4

[pbandjesse]

It was eclipse day!! And it was amazing. I feel tired but happy.

I slept pretty good last night but Sweetp was being super annoying and I threw my bear across the room because he was tapping and pulling in the blinds. And I was mad at him!! But it was very close to the time I had to get up so it was fine in the end.

I got up and dressed and felt pretty good. My hair was dirty but my makeup felt good. And things were alright.

Me and James headed out to Passport Health. And I knew we were getting yellow fever vaccines but I did not know we were getting other stuff. We ended up with yellow fever, meningitis, and typhoid. With scripts for malaria and a recommendation for the MMR and polio vaccines next week. Jeez.

And it was expensive. James was prepared but I was not. Because insurance will only consider reimbursement. And because travel is considered a luxury thing, we might just had had to accept the cost. And we were easy to but man it was surprising.

The nurse was really nice though and walked us through everything. And had some great suggestions for buy sprays and ways to stay safe. And it was just really a good appointment.

We would have two shots and then pills. And the shots were spicy!! Ouchy. But it was fast and the nurse was really nice.

And we were done way earlier then planned. So we went to brunch.

We ended up at Southside. And it was really good. James sung me a very silly song about the bridge that collapsed. We were being silly and laughing and being in love and it was so nice. And the food was good.

We had finished our first errand quickly so we had some time to waste. And went to Fort McHenry to see the bridge. And it was more shocking to see in person then I expected. But it was also just fascinating and I always enjoy walking around that park. So even though I was really tired and pretty sore, I was still really happy to be there with my love.

We sat in a bench and wondered the bridge and the water. Looked at the trees. Talked about the trip and what we might be next. And it was just really lovely.

We still had time to kill before James's appointment at men's warehouse. So we made a stop at the museum for a jacket they forgot. But it was still early so we decided to just drive there and see if they will see James early.

And they did. And they were really nice.

It is always fun to see James in a suit. And they will look so handsome in whatever traditional wear they get in Uganda.

We would leave there and went to the value village. James is bad about being right where I want to be standing. But we still had fun. And I found a beautiful pattern skirt and a shelf for Sweetp and James got a Carl Sagen book. It was fun.

As we were leaving I saw a small framed piece of lace and went back for that, but then we were off.

We would go get groceries next. And it was a fine trip. I think we did a pretty good job sticking to the list. I was frustrated to find that they seemed to have discontinued my clarifying shampoo. And my regular shampoo is twice as expensive as I remember it being. So I was a little frustrated by that. I will probably try stopping at Marshalls tomorrow to see if I can get a better deal.

I was having fun being out with James but I was also super tired. Almost to the point of feeling loopy. But we got me home and I felt better just being there.

We started getting ready for the eclipse. I made a box viewer and James brought out the solar glasses I didn't even know they had!!! I was very very excited.

The eclipse started right after 2. And after 230 we started checking periodically. I would sequester Sweetp into the catio and shut the windows. I was very concerned about him accidently getting out of getting hurt or something. He wasn't thrilled but I was also worried about him looking at the sun so it was good for him to be in a shady spot.

We would keep the back door open and we kept checking. At 315 the clouds started covering and I was worried because our maximum was 321. But we got to see it!! It wasn't totality but it was 90% and it did get twighlighty and colder! It was really amazing. And at one point while I was looking with the glasses the clouds covered the sun in such a strange way that I gasped out loud. It was honestly wild to see and experience.

It was a really fun hour. It felt like we were in a really intense experience together. I felt very connected to the world. It was good. It made me feel good. I also just kept joking about how I loved what you did with the place (joking about the redecorating of the sun and moon) and how moon in front of sun is groundbreaking in the spring (devil wears Prada reference). I was having a great time.

As the sun started to reemerge we headed inside. And I was very very tired. So I told James I would go lay down until 6.

And this was a very good nap. But it was entirely impossible to get up.

James brought dinner upstairs and we had pizza in bed together. James would go and record with an author for their podcast. I'm very proud of them for all the interesting people they have been getting for their show. I'm very proud of them.

I would take a shower. I did a gloss on my hair. And it made me feel a bit better.

Now me and James are watching a show on the laptop together. And I am just feeling happy. Also a little anxious about my field trip tomorrow. But I know that always happens and it is going to be a lot of fun. And just a beautiful day.

I hope you all got to experience a little bit of the eclipse. And I love you all. Goodnight!!

[naturalrights-retard]

“…With tears and toiling breath, I find thy cunning seeds, O million-murdering Death.”Ronald Ross, written in August 1897, following his discovery of malaria parasites in anopheline mosquitoes

If you’ve been reading the news lately, you know this has happened already. In 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved releasing more than 2 billion genetically altered male mosquitoes in Florida and California following a pilot program in the Florida Keys dating back to 2020.

And now, it is all over the news that Americans are contracting malaria in the U.S. for the first time in 20 years. Here’s how you can protect yourself from the deadly disease this July 4.

How many cases of malaria are we talking about? That would be 4 in Florida and 1 in Texas. Okay, that’s not a lot, but still, for the first time in 20 years?

Didn’t Bill Gates fund the company that released those genetically altered mosquitoes—way back when no one was getting malaria, and now people are?

People jumped to that conclusion. I confess I did, too, for a minute. And when we get it wrong, the MSM has a field day pointing it out. Discrepancies can be blown out of proportion to take away from the larger, more alarming issues that are then ignored. It’s an insidious way of conditioning people into accepting lies as inconsequential if the lies support a cause or a belief system that they believe is of more importance.

If you google Bill Gates in connection with this, or ask ChatGPT, you will find article after article debunking these mosquitoes being used to eradicate malaria. Like this one in Forbes:

Malaria Cases In U.S. Trigger Unfounded Claims About Bill Gates, Mosquito Project.

This news also opened the gates in another way—allowing a flood of even more conspiracy theories about billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates to be spread across social media. This included claims that Gates was somehow responsible for these new malaria cases via a project that has released genetically-modified mosquitoes in the U.S. However, such claims really provided zzzzzero supporting evidence and, in fact, detracted from what’s really happened.

There’s no link whatsoever between the Gates funded mosquitoes and the malaria outbreak. That’s because the genetically altered mosquitoes are for other diseases, like Zika. Remember the Zika pandemic of 2015 that pretty much fizzled out, only we are now being told it may be one step away from explosive outbreak.