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retro-mint45 · 3 years

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RETRO - PINK - MAKATI - GIRLS - ‘EVENING’ -

SORRY - WASN'T - HERE - I DIDN'T - SLEEP 4 -

2 DAYS - AGAIN - SITTING - WITH - EYES HAI -

CLOSED - AS - I - LISTENED - 2 - PASTOR JOEL -

OSTEEN'S - PODCASTS - THOSE - ARE VERY -

EXPENSIVE - (+$30) - I - GOT - MINE - AS XO -

ANY AMOUNT - INFERIOR - PRODUCT BUT -

ALL - I - HAD - DIED - IN - BATHROOM - NO -

MATTER - WHAT - I - DID - THE STEAM THE -

MOISTURE - KILLED - MY - CD PLAYERS XO -

BRATZ - PRETTY - PLAYERS - MY - SONY TV -

OF - THE - PAST - ALL - DIED - 1 BY 1 - VERY -

EXPENSIVE - GADGETS - THIS - PODCAST -

ONLY - 1 - THAT MADE - IT - BUT ITS START -

HEART - 2 - DESIGNATE - FAVORITE - BUT -

ONCE - U - DO - IT - FAVORITED - ALL YES -

AFTER - NOW - IT'S - BETTER - I THINK -

THE - MOISTURE - BUT - NOW I CAN'T -

GO - BACK - 2 - REPEAT - A - SERMON -

LIKE - WALMART - MILITARY - CLOCK 4 -

ALL - USA - INVENTIONS NIGHT LIGHT -

BLUE - 2 C - IN - THE - DARK - DOESN'T -

LAST - LONG - SO - THIS - PODCAST IT -

STOPPED - CAN'T - GO - BACK - VERY -

FAST - 2 - ADVANCE - 2 - GO - BACK 2 -

WHERE - IT - WAS - ANYWAY - SO YES -

2 DAYS - DIDN'T SLEEP - NEVER - GO -

2 - FIVERR - EVER - AGAIN - THEY'RE -

LIKE - $50 - PER - HOUR - OR - $1,500 -

PER - HOUR - SO - U KNOW - WHO U -

WILL - CONTACT - REMEMBER - THE -

3 - KOREAN - FEMALES - STABBED 2 -

DEATH - AMERICANS - ARE FAST XO -

MURDERERS - ALSO - ESPECIALLY -

ISOLATED - LOCATIONS - I - LOVE -

THEIR - CYCLONE - WEATHER XO -

THEY'RE - 200 MPH - STRONG WINDS -

CALLED - HURRICANES - LOVE - WHEN -

OUR - GOD - LETS - US - KNOW - NOW -

HE'S - IN - US - SURROUNDING - US & -

THE - CREATOR - OF - THE - HEAVENS -

& - EARTH - EXPERT - IN CHANGE OF -

WEATHER - FIVERR - APP - 'YOU'RE -

NOT - HIRING - ME?' - REMEMBER -

21 AND - OLDER - 1 STEP - 4 WARD -

WITH - CONCEALED - WEAPON PERMIT -

KILL - INTRUDERS - AMERICANS - GREAT -

PRIDE - AS - MEN & WOMEN - THEIR XO -

HEIGHTS - BUT - THEY - FEET - BUTTOCK -

LEGS - HANDS - ARE - GIGANTIC - LOTS -

OF - GOLD - MEDALS - MEANS THEY'RE -

STRONG - WINNING - MOST - GOLD -

TELLS - AMERICANS - IN - USA - THEY -

CAN - MURDER - BETTER - FASTER SO -

FIVERR - APP - MISOGYNISTS - HARM -

ABUSE - AND - MURDER - OF YOUNG -

GIRLS - CONTEMPT - 4 - WOMEN - ME -

FOUND - THUMBTRACK.COM - BY XO -

MOTOROLA - MOTO - G6 - I - WAS BY -

THE - WAY - ATTACKED - BY - USA XO -

MEN - THEY - GIVE - HEART ATTACKS -

MEANING - BY - THEIR WORD THEY -

WISH - THEY - CAN - KILL - WOMEN -

AT - ONCE - THEIR - WORK - FR YES -

GRADUATING - FR - COLLEGE - OR -

NOT - THEIR - FEE - IS - $27,000 ITS -

NOT - REFUNDABLE - REMEMBER -

YOUR - BANK - WHEN - THEY DO -

NOT - DELIVER - WHAT - THEY SAID -

'UNAUTHORIZED - CHARGE' - NO -

SAYS - CAPITAL ONE - BANK - NON -

VIRGIN - FEMALE - MEANS - 'MA'M -

U - WERE - ROBBED - CALL POLICE' -

BANKS - ARE - NOT - RESPONSIBLE -

2 - REFUND - OUR - MEMBER - WHEN -

THEY'RE - ROBBED - OR - YOUR - BAD -

JUDGMENT - U - BOUGHT - ONLINE' -

SOLUTION - IN - FUTURE - NO TRACE -

FREEZING - ALL - ACCOUNTS - THEIR -

PAYROLL - CHECKS - WITHOUT - USD -

US DOLLARS - THEY - CAN - GET NEW -

JOB - BUT - THAT - PAYCHECK - DOES -

NOT - CASH - INCLUDING - SPOUSES -

THEY'RE - 18 AND OLDER - KIDS - THE -

GRANDPA - ALL - THEIR - RELATIVES -

ALL MONEY - FROZEN - 6 MONTHS -

CAPITAL - ONE - BANK - FEMALE -

WHAT - SHE - SAID - FELONY OF -

'ENCOURAGEMENT - OF - CRIME' -

'ROBBERY - IS - CRIME' - YOUR XO -

LOCAL - POLICE - WILL - TELL - YOU -

WHEN - YOU'RE - ROBBED - OF XO -

LESS - THAN - $300 - NOT - POLICE -

MATTER - THEY - THINK - THEY'RE -

ABSOLVED - OF - OBEDIENCE OF -

ALL - LAWS - SAME - FREEZING OF -

THEIR - PAYCHECKS - FELONIES - ARE -

PUT - IN - THEIR - RECORDS - FINES - R -

REMOVED - FR THEIR - SALARIES AND -

WAGES - VIOLENT - ARMED - JOBS AS -

THEY'RE - NOT - MILITARY - FORCE -

THEY'RE - NOT - ALLOWED - 2 KILL -

ANYONE - VIOLATORS OF AMENDMENTS -

1, 2, 4, 8, 14 - CAPITAL - ONE - BANK - USA -

WHITE - FEMALE - STATEMENT - 'GAVE - U -

CRUEL - AND - UNUSUAL - PUNISHMENT' -

POLICE - SAME VIOLATED - 14TH DID -

NOT - GIVE - NATURALIZED - IN - USA -

'EQUAL - PROTECTION - OF - LAW' -

CAPITAL ONE BANK - AND POLICE -

WERE - TREATING - FEMALES - LIKE -

BLONDS - 'U - WERE ROBBED - YOU ARE -

A - BAD - GIRL' - 'GET - OVER - IT' - USA & -

OTHER - BANKS - YOUR - MONEY THEIR -

SALARIES - BILL - PAYMENTS - PHONE & -

WATER - ELECTRICITY - ALL - YOUR - $ $ -

SHOWED - OTHER - SERVICES - THEY'VE -

GOT - ALL - THAT - MONEY - SO - LOANS -

SMALL - MONTHLY - BANKS GIVE - OUT -

LOANS - INTERESTS - THEIR - PROFITS -

SO - MANY BANKS - HAVE - NOT YES -

CLOSED - THUMB TRACK.COM - THOSE -

MALES - STOLE - $27,000 - FROM - YOU -

CAPITAL ONE BANK - NON-VIRGIN MEN -

& - WOMEN - SAID - 'U - GAVE - THEM -

AUTHORITY - 2 - TAKE - BECAUSE - XO -

THEY - COULDN'T - GIVE - U - A GREAT -

WEBSITE - THEN - $27,000 - PAYMENT -

PUNISHMENT - 4 - HIRING - USA - YES -

DUMB - COLLEGE - GRADS - $27,000 -

YOUR - LOSS - IT'S - LIKE - U - WENT 2 -

MALL - & - U - WERE - ARMED - ROBBED -

OF - CASH - ACTUALLY NOT THE SAME -

MALL - ROBBER - OF - CASH - U - WERE -

ROBBED - BUT - WHEN - THEY - GAVE -

U - WORST - THAN - B 4 - WEBSITE XO -

THEY - CHARGE - $27,000 - 2 - DESTROY -

WEBSITES - 'DESTRUCTION - OF PRIVATE -

(YOURS) - AND - PUBLIC - PROPERTY HAI -

(SHOPIFY - CANADA) - ROBBED - IN THE -

MALL - NOT - CAPITAL - ONE - BANK - XO -

YOUR - BANK'S - LIABILITY - BECAUSE - U -

WERE - ROBBED - OF - CASH - THUS - IF -

NO - ONE - CLAIMS - REMOVAL - OF XO -

YOUR - MONEY - FR - CAPITAL - ONE XO -

THAT - BANK - KEEPS - YOUR - MONEY -

BUT - IF - THEY'RE - A - GREAT - YES XO -

COUNTRY - RIGHT - NOW - NOT - MANY -

PLACES - ARE - GREAT - BUT - THAT - HAI -

MEANS - YOUR - BANK - ACCOUNT - IS -

SAYING - YOU'RE - STILL - ALIVE - AT XO -

135 YEARS - OLD - RIGHT - NOW - U AT -

LEAST - DIED - AT - 120 YEARS - SO - XO -

HARVARD - LAW - WILL - TRANSFER XO -

YOUR - MONEY - NON-TRACE - TAK'G -

THAT - MONEY - MONETORY - FINES & -

FELONIES - ADDED - 2 - MANY - AMERICANS -

MANY - PAYCHECKS - FROZEN - ALWAYS - XO -

6 MONTHS - GREATEST - COMPUTER - YES XO -

GENIUSES - THEY - COULDN'T - WITH - THEIR -

USA - AGE 246 - BRAINS - COULDN'T - GET XO -

CASHED - NO - MONEY - CHECKS - THE - YES -

6 MONTHS - FREEZE - WAS - HONORED - FOR -

REMEMBER - OUR - GADGETS - HATRED - YES -

ATTEMPTED - ATTACK - OR - ATTACKED - YES -

THEFT - MURDER - PULSE - DISAPPEARS - ALL -

THEM - AND - THEIR - VEHICLES - THUMB -

TRACK.COM - AMERICAN - MEN - YES XO -

ATTACKED - ME - THEY - TRIED - 2 - STEAL -

IMMEDIATELY - $27,000 - BASICALLY - XO -

CALLED - ME - 'BIMBO' - 'YOUR - MONEY -

BELONGS - 2 - US' - SO - FUTURE - WE XO -

DISAPPEAR - THEIR MONEY - VOID THEIR -

CARDS - THROUGH - PROBE - SCAN - USA -

THEY - HAVE - $375,000 - THAT AMOUNT -

DISAPPEARED - FR - THEIR - BANKS XO XO -

THEY - HAVE - 2 - START - AGAIN - WE YES -

LEVEL - THEIR - HOUSES - APT - BUILDG'S -

DISAPPEAR - THEM - BECAUSE - 1 - INCH -

LAWNS - RETRO PINK - MAKATI - GIRLS -

THUMB TRACK.COM - USA - MEN - YES -

TRIED - 2 - MURDER - ME - BY MESSAGE -

SO - LISTEN - CLEAR - ABOUT - TITANIC -

AMERICANS - 'THEY - WE - WILL - ALSO -

SINK' - AS FOREIGNERS - ROBBERY OF -

CASH - FLORIDA - CONCEALED YES XO -

WEAPONS - PERMIT - 21 AND OLDER 4 -

WRINKLED - PRUNE - BAG - FLORIDA -

SENIORS SAGGING LOVE HANDLES -

CATARACT - EYES - WRINKLED FACE -

NUDE - COLONIES - WITH - SENIORS -

WRINKLED - SAGGING - CHESTS - IS -

FLORIDA - WHEY - CHRISTINA GRIMME -

SHOT - AT - L & R - CHEST - HEAD - FOR -

SHE'S - DISNEY - ALSO - AND - WAS IN -

HER - 20s - AND - CAN - SING - DANCE -

SENIORS - NAKED - IN - FLORIDA - JUST -

WALKING - WRINKLED - NOT SINGING -

OR - DANCING - CRISTINA - WAS - YES -

COMPETITION - FLORIDA - SAYS - JUST -

NAKED - WRINKLED - SAGGING - TRUE -

IS - 'GOOD - ENOUGH' - EDISON MALL -

ROBBERY - OF - CASH - GET - FIREARM -

& - FIRE - SHOOT - LEGS - THIGHS - SO -

WEAKENED - GET - PURSE - THEY - YES -

ALSO - GRABBED - CAPITAL - ONE - USA -

BANK - IS - RIGHT - THEY'RE - NOT - YES -

LIABLE - OF CASH - U - WERE MUGGED -

OF SAYING - 'SURPRISED - U - WERE -

NOT - KILLED' - THEY - THEY - KEEP -

YES - YOUR - MONEY - UNLESS XO -

SOMEONE - RECOGNIZES - THAT -

YOU'RE - NOW - AGE 135 - USA - PEOPLE -

LONGEVITY - AGE 78 - KOREA - FR - AGE -

55 - TO - AGE 82 - THANKS - 2 - JAPAN & -

OLYMPICS - JAPAN - INTRODUCED - YES -

EXERCISE - 2 - KOREAN - WHO - JUST XO -

MURDERED - KOREANS - THEY - DIDN'T -

EXERCISE - B 4 - SO - THEY - DIED AT 55 -

(3:23A EDT) - RIGHT - NOW - TRYING - 2 -

FINISH - CANE - SUGAR - WITH - VEGAN -

BELGIAN - CHOCOLATE - SHAKE - SO - I -

ADDED - 2 - BLENDER - BRITA FILTER -

ICE - CUBES - SO PASSABLE - TASTE -

LESS CONTACT - WITH - ARMED US -

POLICE ILLEGALLY - ARMED - GPA -

VERY - LOW - NOT - SMART - NOT -

MARRIED - NOT - VIRGINS - BIBLE -

'DEPART - FR - EVIL' - EARLY - YES -

DEPARTURE - TRAVELOCITY.COM -

HOTELS - SKYSCANNER.COM - 4 - FLIGHTS -

EXPEDIA.COM - YOUR - BACK UP - SO HOT -

(+59,000) - FORT MYERS - POLICE - THEY -

CERTAINLY - ILLEGALLY - ARMED - STOPS -

2 - TALK - 2 - BLIND - 'WHAT'S WITH THE -

BLK - SUNGLASSES' - 'SHE HAS - YES XO -

BEAUTIFUL - EYES' - HASN'T - SEEN - YET -

'NEEDS - STEEL STICK - LIKE - SHE'S - YES -

SKIING - BUT - FLORIDA - NO SNOW' - SO -

MISOGYNY - ASKED - BRUNETTE - 2 - DO -

'DRUNK - TEST' - WHICH - BLIND - GIRL -

DID - HER - NON-DRUNK - GUIDE DOG -

WAS - FLIRTING - FOUND - HER - SOON -

BECAUSE - GOD - KNEW - THAT - WAS -

GOING - 2 - HAPPEN - REMOVED THE -

DOG - FR - SCENE - B 4 - SHOOTING -

OF - DIDN'T - KNOW - WHAT - TRUE -

'SERVICE - DOG' - MEANS - VESTS 4 -

MANY - AMERICANS - NOT - VERY -

BRIGHT - PUBLIC - SCHOOL - TRUE -

TUITION - FR - RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY -

TAXES - HAVE SOLUTION - 2 - WHEN U -

HAVE - 2 - SPEAK - 2 - ARMED - POLICE -

AMAZON.COM - BCOZZY - CHIN - YES -

SUPPORT - TRAVEL PILLOW - PLANES -

POLICE - STATION - PUBLIC - LIBRARY -

WHILE - TYPING - AT - TUMBLR.COM -

TWITTER.COM - UNIQUE US PATENT -

DESIGN - OFFERS - SUPPORT 2 THE -

HEAD - NECK - CHIN - WHEN U - XO -

TRAVEL - AND - AT - HOME READING -

FREE APP - 'FREE BOOKS' - DOMINIC -

O'BRIEN - MEMORY - IMPROVEMENT -

BRITISH - WORLD - MEMORY CHAMP -

AMAZON - AUDIBLES - ($14.95) - YES -

1 MONTH - FREE 2 TITLES - EA MON -

1 TITLE - FREE - INCLUDES - TX - JOEL -

OSTEEN - HIS - BESTSELLERS - COOL -

FULLY - WASHABLE - LARGE - IS - FOR -

ADULTS - UP TO 16 INCH - SMALL - 4 -

KIDS - (AGE 3 - 7) - USA - PUBLIC YES -

SCHOOLS - WON'T - ALLOW - BUT -

DANGEROUS - WITHOUT - WHEN -

YOUR - KIDS - ARE - SLEEPING - AT -

THE - BACK - BY - USA - LAW - U C -

THAT - THEIR - HEADS - GOING - YES -

DOWN - STRONG - ALL - THE - TIME & -

THAT'S - BAD - 4 - THEIR - NECKS - XO -

MUSCLE - PAIN - CREAM - THEN AND -

MANY - MOMS - HAVE - NEVER EVER -

GIVEN - ANYTHING - BUT - VICS YES -

VAPORUB - THEN - AWAKE - SUDDENLY -

BUT - NOW - HEART - AFFECTED WE'RE -

NOW - TAKING - HEART - VITAMINS - & -

MINERALS - THE - PHILIPPINES - NEED -

THIS - MUST - HAVE - GUMMIES - 4 US -

AND - KIDS - 4 - THESE - SUPERB - YES -

HEART - VITAMINS - MINERALS - THEY -

WORK - HEART ATTACK - OCCURS - 2 -

4 - OLDER - WHEN - CHIN - ALWAYS -

DROPPING - 2 - MANY - TIMES - AS -

THEY'RE - SLEEPING - AT - BACK OF -

CARS - 4 AMERICANS - THEY THINK -

HOW FUNNY - AS - DRIVERS - THEN -

THEIR - GRANDFATHER - DIES - LESS -

THAN - 1 MIN - AFTER - MANY CHIN -

DROPS - AS - THEY - BRING - 2 - THE -

HOSPITAL - THEN - AMERICANS ARE -

WEARING - BLK - AND - LISTENING 2 -

LAST - WILL - & - TESTAMENT - 4 - YES -

NON-TAXED - BENEFICIARY CHECKS -

SO - THEY - DON'T - REALLY MOURN -

AS - PEOPLE - NOTICED - OBSERVED -

($25.45) - BCOZZY - CHIN SUPPORT -

TRAVEL - PILLOW - OR - AT - HOME -

AS - U - READ - OR - TYPE - WORDS -

4 - TUMBLR.COM - ESPECIALLY XO -

DURING - GRAVEYARD - SHIFTS -

(12A - 5A) - AS - YOUR - HEADS -

GO - DOWN - & - UP - AS U XO -

TRY - 2 - DANCE - 2 - FINISH AS -

U - REST - ON - SOFA - BEHIND - THEN -

FELL - ASLEEP - CHIN - UP - SO - 2 - YES -

FINISH - TYPING - SO - COMFORTABLY -

KOREAN TV DRAMA NEW - SBS NOW -

MONDAYS - 'LOVERS - OF - THE - RED -

SKY' - WHEN - BLIND - MALE BABE IS -

THIN - AND - SKIN - PERFECT - JUST -

LIKE - LEE JOON GI - BOTH - LOOK -

SO - GOOD - WITH - LONG - HAIR -

BELOW - ALWAYS - SAYS - FICTITIOUS -

NEVER - HAPPENED - WELL - GBC XO -

FILMS - COMEDY ROMANCE DRAMA -

MUSICAL - & - MORE - WE'LL - MAKE -

THAT - MEAN - SOMETHING BETTER -

LIKE - SEE - THRU - ABOVE - HAT YES -

BOTTOM - BUT - GIRLS - IN - MAKATI -

NOT - ALL - HAIR - LONG - SO - DIBA -

LOOKS LIKE - BLK - TAE - ON - THEIR -

HEAD - SO - SMELLS - DON'T - LIKE -

BOTTOM - OF - HAIR - PARANG - IT -

IS - THE - FUTURE - SHORT - HAIR -

SO - IT - WILL - B - LIKE - PONY XO -

TAIL - MAYBE - THEY - AS - KOREANS -

FELT - 'THEY - AS - MALES - LOOK XO -

BETTER - THAN MALE HORSES' - SO -

ETO - 'HINDI' - LAGI THOROUGHBREDS -

MADAMING - MAS - GANDA - LOOKING -

AND - OWNERSHIP - 'AGE - OF - MEN' -

MALE - STAR - RED EYES - PERO LITTLE -

YOUNG - GIRL - BLUE - PUKE - EYES - 2 -

SHOW - POOR - AND - KOREAN - GIRL -

BLIND - LOOKS LIKE - PEBBLES - WHILE -

HE - MALE - BLIND - LOOKS - LIKE - YES -

EXOTIC - BEAUTY - KOREAN - MALES -

WILL - NEVER - CRY - IF - 200,000 KR -

FEMALES - DIED - TOMORROW CASI -

BAKLA - AND - CONCEITED - ABOUT -

THEIR - BEAUTY - TANGA - ALSO FOR -

MALE & FEMALE - PRODUCE - WHAT -

WILL - INCREASE - THEIR - POPULATION -

NOT FERMENTED - KIMCHI - CABBAGE -

SPICY - RUB - AFTER - EATING - WHAT IS -

LEFT - THEN - KOREAN - BABY - WILL XO -

APPEAR - ON - THEIR - BLANKET YES XO -

DURING - FULL MOON - SOME DID YES -

SOMEWHAT - BELIEVE THAT - SO CUTE -

OUR - JOSEON - LIKE - HORSE PONY -

TAIL - WHERE - HAIR - IS - SEE - THRU -

BLK - HATS - ALL WORE - BLACK - XO -

THAT - AREA - NOT - SEE - THRU - XO -

AND - JOSEON - 500 YEARS - POOR -

ALL - WORK - WHITE - INFERIOR YES -

COLOR - WHITE - AND - NOT - SOFT -

INFERIOR - COTTON - CLOTH - AS U -

HAVE - NEVER - SEEN ANY KOREAN -

TV - DRAMA - WITH - THAT - TRUTH -

ONLY - SPECIAL - HOLIDAYS - ANOTHER -

COLOR - ALLOWED - GRAY - BUT - SAME -

INFERIOR - COTTON - BUT - THERE WERE -

TIMES - GRAY - PUT - ON - TOP - OF - SO -

THEY - CAN - ADJUST - 2 - WHITE AGAIN -

SOONER - THAT'S - SO - THEY'LL KNOW -

WHO - ARE - POOR - FASTER - SO - THEY -

WON'T - KNOW - SOFTNESS - OF - YES -

RICHLY - MADE - CLOTH - LIKE - PUPRLE -

WAS - ONLY - ALLOWED - ROYALTY - ON -

EARTH - ESPECIALLY - IN - EUROPE - HAI -

KOREAN - TV DRAMA - JOSEON - ONLY -

USED - BLK - PAINT - NO - COLORS - OR -

THEY - NEVER - CREATED - ANY - 4 - AS -

LAZINESS - AFFECTS - WHY - MAKE XO -

COLORS - WHEN - SKY - BLUE FLOWERS -

HAVE - COLORS - 2 - MAKE - COLOR XO -

PAINT - COLORS - EVERYWHERE - WHY -

THEY - WERE - JUST - GENIUNELY - HAI -

LAZY - LIKE - WE'RE - LAZY - WITH - YES -

AS - GIRLS - ARE - WE - INLOVE - WITH -

BLOND - NCT DREAM RENJUN - CHINESE -

OR - ARE - WE - INLOVE - WITH - KOREAN -

6'1 FT - AGE 20 - SUNGCHAN - MC HOST -

NCT - NCT U - 'HAPPY - BIRTHDAY' - DOLL -

'MONDAY - MONDAY' - (13 SEP 2021) -

'YOU'RE - BEAUTIFUL' - CUTEST DOLL -

'GLAD EVERYTHING - U - WANT 2 DO -

U - DO' - GORGEOUS - SUNG - BIBLE -

'THE - SUPERNATURAL - STRENGTH -

OF YOUTHFUL - MALES' - SEOUL KR -

SUNGCHUN - DARLING - MONDAY -

BOY - BCOZZY - CHIN - SUPPORT 4 -

TRAVEL PILLOW - 4 - NECK AROUND -

THEN GOES UP - 4 - CHIN SUPPORT -

USA POLICE - NON-VIRGINS - THEY -

NEED - VACCINE - NOT EVEN - YES -

MARRIED - THEY'RE - NOT - LEGAL -

DEFINITION - OF - SANITIZED YES -

HUMANS - AGE 246 - NO MANNERS -

AMENDMENTS - NOT - MILITARY XO -

FORCE - ILLEGALLY - ARMED - METAL -

HANDCUFFS - ILLEGAL - WEAPONS -

& - USE - OF - METAL - THEY - BIND 2 -

REMOVE - LIBERTY - RIGHT - 2 - ACT -

AS - ONE - PLEASES - 14TH - NO US -

STATE - (FLORIDA) - CAN - DEPRIVE -

DENY - ANY - PERSON - OF - LIFE & -

LIBERTY - (SHERIFFS - ILLEGAL) - XO -

OCCUPATION - NO - US - STATE XO -

CAN - DEPRIVE - ANY - PERSON OF -

PROPERTY - ESPECIALLY - FULLY XO -

PAID - ILLEGAL - LAW - REPOSSESSION -

OF - HOMES CONDOS - BUSINESS XO -

PROPERTIES - LANDS - 'DEPRIVED - OF -

PROPERTY' - 18TH - 'CRUEL - AND YES -

UNUSUAL - PUNISHMENT' - RIFFLES -

FIREARMS - 21 AND OLDER - MALES -

FEMALES - AMERICANS - AGE 246 -

LA LA LAND - LAND - OF THE FREE -

THUS LONGEVITY - AGE 78 ONLY -

4 - US - SUNG - 'IN - GOD - WE -

TRUST' - THEY'RE - CHANGING -

THAT - 2 - 'IN - TAXES WE TRUST' -

'IN - MONEY - WE - TRUST' - YES -

COOL - BETTER ANCIENT - EGYPT -

INVENTED TAXES - 'REPRODUCTION -

IN - PART - OR - FULL - OFF' - ILLEGAL -

MURDERS - ROBBERS - LAWLESS USA -

SO - NEED - 2 - TALK - 2 - USA POLICE -

SEOUL POLICE - BCOZZY - CHIN -

SUPPORT 4 - TRAVEL PILLOW FOR -

- NECK - 2 - KEEP AWAKE - WHILE -

TALKING - 2 - VULGAR - NON-VIRGIN -

POOR - POLICE - THEY'RE - NOT RICH -

MAKATI - PHILIPPINE - ISLANDS - WE -

ARE - TRAINING - MALE - CATS ONLY -

AS - OUR - DOMESTIC - SERVICE YES -

JUNIORS - SENIORS - 2 - ESCORT THE -

BLIND - COMFORT - BABES - BE - AN -

EMOTIONAL - SUPPORT - NOT - JUST -

1 WORD - COMMANDS - HAND YES -

MOVEMENT - HAND - SILENT - TRUE -

COMMANDS - 2 - CONFUSE - EVIL -

HUMANS - OUTSIDE - MAKATI FOR -

CATS - DON'T - BARK - SO - MORE -

PEACEFUL - 4 - THE - BLIND - THEIR -

MASTERS - ADDITIONAL - SERVICE -

DOMESTICS - NOT - JUST - MALES -

DOGS - AS - GUIDE - DOG - SO XO -

FUTURE - SEOUL POLICE - STATION -

MY - (NOT RELATIVES) - GRANDPAPIES -

WEARING - BCOZZY - CHIN SUPPORT -

2 ROUNDS - THEN - AROUND - NECK -

2 - SUPPORT - WON'T - DOZE - OFF 4 -

PRIVATE - SMALL - PLANES - STILL HAI -

NAVY - BEDS - SO - NICE - 2 - GO - TO -

ARMED - LOCATIONS - OF - UNIFORM -

POOR - PEOPLE - WHO DON'T KNOW -

HOW 2 SHOWER - (FILTERED) - WATER -

THEY - SMELL - ONLY - ARMED - IN - KR -

LIKE - NCI - CIVILIANS - LIKE - CANADA -

NOT ALLOWED - ARMED - UNTIL THEY -

DIE - SO - KILLED - WITH - KITCHEN XO -

KNIVES - STRANGLED - 2 - DEATH - OR -

PUSHED - FR - TALL - BUILDINGS - WILL -

BE - THE - USUAL - LIKE - OSTRICHES -

WHO - BURY - HEAD - IN - SOIL - FOR -

THEY'RE - FEARFUL - CREATURES ARE -

SUICIDAL - ALSO - AS - MALES - EVEN -

AS - 8 FT - TALL - BUT - SOFT - COVER -

ON - HEADS - 2 - COVER - EYES - YES -

ESPECIALLY - SUICIDE - & - FEAR - XO -

GONE - 2 - THAT DOES - WORK FOR -

THEM - SO - BRINGING - MY - BRIT -

MALE - CAT - HOPE - SMALL CHILD -

SIZE - (AGE 3-7) - WILL - FIT MY XO -

MALE - PUREBRED - KITTEN - 4 - IT -

IS - WHAT - THEY - NEED - THOSE -

BEAUTIFUL - LIVING - FUR - SUCH -

PERFECTION - OF - BEAUTY - AS I -

MAKE - SURE - THEY'RE - WEAR'G -

SHOES - AND - WELL - DRESSED 4 -

WEATHER - ALSO - CLEAR - FACE -

SHIELD - WITH - COLORS ABOVE -

LIKE - SUNGLASSES - THEN THEY -

WEAR - CHILD - BCOZZY - CHIN -

THEN - ALSO - NECK - SUPPORT -

AS - IT - ROUNDS - ITSELF - IN 2 -

AREAS - I'M - WEARING - SAME -

BOTH - OF - US - MATCHING XO -

THEN - LIKE - CARRYING - BABY -

HOLDING - MITSUO - ONE SIDE -

SO - HANDS - FREE - HIS - COLLAR -

ATTACHED - 2 - IF - SUDDEN - RUN -

INCREASES IN LENGTH BUT AUTO -

GENTLY - EASES - 4 - END - OF THE -

LEASH - BRINGS BACK - 2 ME FOR -

NOTHING - WILL - DEFEAT US - MY -

DARLING - MITSU - IN - FUTURE XO -

WITH - MY - 2 - TEACUP - MALTESE -

MALES - ALL - 4 - OF US - A - QUAD -

WE - WILL - 'WAKE UP - THE - SUN' -

GOD - SAID - 'COMMAND - HIM' - SO -

I - COMMANDED GOD - 2 - MAKE MY -

LIFE - MORE BEAUTIFUL - RICHER YES -

BETTER - HEALTHIER STRONGER AND -

COMMANDED - GOD - 2 - MAKE - MY -

LOOKS - YOUNGER - ADAM - 900 YRS -

OLD - NO - WRINKLES - PERFECT - EYE -

SIGHT - I COMMAND - GOD - 2 MAKE -

MY EYES - SEE - BETTER - THAN ADAM -

NOT - BORN - AGAIN - COULDN'T XO -

SPEAK - IN - TONGUES - WE'RE MORE -

POWERFUL - THAN - PEOPLE - 2,000 -

YEARS - AGO - B 4 - JESUS - ARRIVED -

ON - EARTH - COMMANDED IN THE -

NAME - OF - JESUS - MAKATI - I'M XO -

BRINGING - MITSUO - MANY PLACES -

BOTH - OF - US - ALWAYS MATCHING -

BETTER - CAMOUFLAGE - BLENDING -

ALWAYS - THAT - BCOZZY - NECK - 2 -

KEEP - CHIN - UP - COMFORT - NECK -

TRAVEL - PILLOW COLORS - 2 BLEND -

WITH - OUR - CLOTHES - MY - YES AS -

CAT - DOMESTIC - SERVICE TRAINED -

JESUS - IS - LORD - USA - POLICE - YES -

SHOOT - DOGS - CATS - EUROPE AND -

ASIA - EAT - THEM - THUS - THE BLACK -

PLAGUE - WIPED - OUT - NORTH ASIA -

EUROPE - AFRICA - TOTAL IN EUROPE -

1347 - 14TH - CENTURY - GOREO - XO -

ENDEED - IN - THE - 14TH - KINGDOM -

OF KOREA - (+1 MILLION - YEARS - KR) -

BLK DEATH - PLAGUE - CLAIMED - AN -

ASTONISHING - 20 MILLION - LIVES -

JUST 4 YEARS - REASON - THEY ATE -

CATS - KITTENS - DOGS - PUPPIES & -

SELDOM BATHE - AS - HUMANS XO -

& - PROMISCUOUS - LET - KIDS - GO -

ANYWHERE - DO - ANYTHING - SO -

NEVER CARED - THAT MUCH - FOR -

SOCIAL - REASONS - ACCEPTANCE -

KIDS - MADE - NOT - BECAUSE - SO -

2 - LOVE - THEM - NOT LOVING XO -

PEOPLE - CURRENTLY - COV-ID - 19 -

KILLED - WORLD - TOTAL - & - NEW -

(4,701,438) - (2,276) - ASIA - TRUE -

(1,096,130) - 608 - LARGEST - POP -

CHINA - (+1.4 BILLION) - INDIA - 2 -

(+1.3 BILLION) - EUROPE - THAT'S -

(1,203,173) - (865) - CORONAVIRUS -

RESPIRATORY - DISEASE - BUT - USA -

AMAZON - CLEAR - FACE - MASK - 2 -

OPEN - ON SIDES - SO - INVENTORS -

EASY - 2 PERFECT - THAT - CLEAR XO -

MASK - THEN SELL - CHEAPER - HOT -

BRITISH - SHORTHAIR - CATS USING -

U - PUT - LIKE - GLASSES - BUT CLEAR -

COVERING - FACE - CUTE - BUT ALSO -

BLOCKS - FOG - SO - FACE - DOESN'T -

BECOME WET - (PNEUMONIA) - AND -

THAT - KILLS KIDS - BABIES - SENIORS -

EVIL - ARMED - MEN - AND - WOMEN -

NOT - MARRIED - AND - NON-VIRGIN -

EVIL - GOATS - FLORIDA - ALL - NUDE -

COLONY - LIKE BACK - 2 - CAVE AGE -

THEY MERGE FAST - SO - ABORTION -

CLINIC FREE - 4 - AGE 18 - & - OLDER -

LIKE - XFINITY - BACK - 2 - CABLE SO -

EXCITED 4 U - GOT - MORE MONEY -

ME - THEY - FORGOT CABLE BOXES -

ANOTHER - CALL - NEW - ROKU TV -

STICK - USB - AND - HDMI - OR - XO -

ELECTRICITY - PLUG - WITH - HDMI -

XFINITY - STREAM - PLUS - OUR XO -

NEED - GOOGLE - MOVIES - WE -

PAID 4K - 8K - HD - ($39.99) - AT -

AMAZON.COM - WE'VE - BEEN -

PAYING RENTAL BOXES - ILLEGAL -

OMISSION - OF - TRUTH - FAMILY -

OWNED USA - ($0 - $250,000 FINE) -

(AND - OR - IMPRISONMENT) - THEY -

EMAIL - MONTHLY - NONE - THAT -

SAID - ROKU - STICK - ($39.99) - SO -

NO - NEED - ANYMORE - 4 - CABLE -

BOX RENTALS - OWNERSHIP NOW -

2 - SONY HDTVs - 1 MORE - $39.99 -

GOOGLE - MOVIES - 4K - 8K - & HD -

MORE - MONEY - 2 - BUY - FILMS & -

U - OWN - BEST - PART - IN - EVENT -

OF - FIRE - YOU'RE - INSURED AND -

GOOGLE - MOVIES - FOREVER YES -

STORAGE AND - WHAT U BOUGHT -

DIDN'T - BURN - WHEN - YOUR XO -

HOUSE - OR - APT - BURNT - TIME 2 -

BUY - WISELY - IN - THE - FUTURE - 4 -

CAN'T - B - BURNT - IS - EXCITING & -

THE - FUTURE - (6:23A EDT) - SMALL -

COUNTRIES - MAS - MAGANDA - XO -

MANY - MEAN - 'LABO' - WE - LOVE -

AND - SERVE - OUR - INVISIBLE GOD -

WHO - LOVED - US - FIRST - WAITED -

'TIL - WE WERE - BORN - AND NOW -

THAT - LOVE - WE - HAVE - FR - HIM -

OTHERS - DON'T - HAVE - KOREA -

DOESN'T - HAVE - SO - THEY ARE -

LIKE - LAMBS - SLAUGHTERED - & -

FAN DOM - INCREASES - LAUGHS -

THEN - 3 KOREAN - FEMALES - AS -

THEY'RE - STABBED - 2 - DEATH -

VICOUSLY - SWIFT - AND - FAST -

BY - UGLY - KOREAN - MALE - AS -

HE - ENJOYED - HIS - VICTORY 4 -

HE - AGE 24 - KILLED - FAST ALSO -

AGE 24 - KOREAN - GIRL - 4 THEY -

DON'T - DATE - OR - PLANNED - 2 -

MARRY - POOR & UGLY KOREANS -

HE - STABBED - THEM - 2 - DEATH -

WENT - ALL - THE - WAY - AFTER -

STABBED - MORE - THE KOREAN -

GOAT - KILLED THEM - 4 - HE XO -

DETESTED - SHE - WAS NOT -

GOING 2 MARRY - HIM FOR -

THOSE REASONS STABBED -

HER MOM - BECAUSE - NOT -

LIVING - WITH - HER HUSBAND -

NOT - MARRYING SOON - AND -

HE - DIDN'T - LIKE THAT - KILLED -

THEM - 4 - NOT - ORGY - 4 - HIM -

2 OF THEM - WITH HIM - 3 DAYS -

ATE - FOOD - FR - THEIR - APT - IN -

SEOUL - NORTH - KOREAN MOM -

& - YOUNG - SON - DIDN'T STAB -

FR - THE - DOOR - OPENED - 2 -

KILL - ALL - INSIDE - 2 - EAT ALL -

THEIR - KOREAN FOOD - THEY -

JUST DIED - WITH - DIGNITY FR -

'ACUTE - HUNGER' - EVEN YES -

SEOUL - POLICE - REFUSED - 2 -

EVEN - GIVE - A - JOB - 2 THEY -

CAN EAT - INSTEAD OF - STABBING -

KOREANS - 2 - GET - INSIDE - THEIR -

APTS - 2 - EAT - FOOD - THEY - DIED -

WITH - DIGNITY - IN - THEIR SEOUL -

APT - RENT - LAST - MONTH - PAID -

WHO'S - BETTER - WELL - THEIR -

MISTAKE - WAS - THEY - RISKED -

SHOOTING - 2 - GO - 2 - SOUTH -

KOREA - WHEN - PILIPINAS WAS -

BETTER - WARMER - FRIENDLIER -

CHEAPER - FOOD & DRINK - SO -

ANSWER - 'NORTH - KOREANS -

ARE - BETTER' - JESUS - IS LORD -

PINOYS - BCOZ - 'DAHIL' - 'Z Z' -

IS - 'SIRA - ULO' - DEE DEE - Z Z -

SLEEPS - SOON - 'ZY' - SIYA AY -

KOREAN - MALE - BCOZZY - IS -

'SICK' - BCOZZY - IS - WEIRDO -

WE'RE - ALL - LEAVING - SEOUL -

ALL - OF - KOREA - SOON DIBA -

'STRONGER SOMEWHERE -

ELSE' - 'MABUHAY' - 'LIVE -

LONG - FINISH - STRONG' -

GLORIA COPELAND - PAPERBACK -

FORT WORTH - TEXAS - TX - THUS -

AMAZON.COM - BCOZZY - CHIN -

SUPPORT - TRAVEL - PILLOW - YES -

UNIQUE - US - PATENT - MACHINE -

WASHABLE - 'BE - COZZY' - Z Z -

SLEEPING - SOON - PRETTY XO -

COLORS - ($25.45) - AMAZON -

PRIME - FREE - DELIVERY TRULY -

ARRIVES - TOMORROW - MON -

20 SEP 2021 - ORDER - WITHIN -

16 HRS - 36 MIN - THEY - ALSO -

ACCEPT - SNAP - EBT - THAT'S -

COOKIES & CREAM FAT BURN -

MEAL - REPLACE - 40% - OFF -

1ST - SUSCRIBE - OFFER - FOR -

REPEAT - 'PURCHASES' - 15% -

OFF - (150 CAL) - (5:55P PHT) -

HOPE - YOUR - SUNSET WAS -

BEAUTIFUL - & - NOW - 9:02P

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 3 years

Link

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 11, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

On the twentieth anniversary of the day terrorists from the al-Qaeda network used four civilian airplanes as weapons against the United States, the weather was eerily similar to the bright, clear blue sky of what has come to be known as 9/11. George W. Bush, who was president on that horrific day, spoke in Pennsylvania at a memorial for the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 who, on September 11, 2001, stormed the cockpit and brought their airplane down in a field, killing everyone on board but denying the terrorists a fourth American trophy.

Former president Bush said: “Twenty years ago, terrorists chose a random group of Americans, on a routine flight, to be collateral damage in a spectacular act of terror. The 33 passengers and 7 crew of Flight 93 could have been any group of citizens selected by fate. In a sense, they stood in for us all.” And, Bush continued, “The terrorists soon discovered that a random group of Americans is an exceptional group of people. Facing an impossible circumstance, they comforted their loved ones by phone, braced each other for action, and defeated the designs of evil.”

Recalling his experience that day, Bush talked of “the America I know.”

“On America's day of trial and grief, I saw millions of people instinctively grab for a neighbor's hand and rally to the cause of one another…. At a time when religious bigotry might have flowed freely, I saw Americans reject prejudice and embrace people of Muslim faith…. At a time when nativism could have stirred hatred and violence against people perceived as outsiders, I saw Americans reaffirm their welcome to immigrants and refugees…. At a time when some viewed the rising generation as individualistic and decadent, I saw young people embrace an ethic of service and rise to selfless action.”

Today’s commemorations of that tragic day almost a generation ago seemed to celebrate exactly what Bush did: the selfless heroism and care for others shown by those like Welles Crowther, the man in the red bandana, who helped others out of danger before succumbing himself; the airplane passengers who called their loved ones to say goodbye; neighbors; firefighters; law enforcement officers; the men and women who volunteered for military service after the attack.

That day, and our memories of it, show American democracy at its best: ordinary Americans putting in the work, even at its dirtiest and most dangerous, to take care of each other.

It is this America we commemorate today.

But even in 2001, that America was under siege by those who distrusted the same democracy today’s events commemorated. Those people, concentrated in the Republican Party, worried that permitting all Americans to have a say in their government would lead to “socialism”: minorities and women would demand government programs paid for with tax dollars collected from hardworking people—usually, white men. They wanted to slash taxes and government regulations, giving individuals the “freedom” to do as they wished.

In 1986, they had begun to talk about purifying the vote; when the Democrats in 1993 passed the so-called Motor Voter law permitting people to register to vote at certain government offices, they claimed that Democrats were buying votes. The next year, Republicans began to claim that Democrats won elections through fraud, and in 1998, the Florida legislature passed a voter ID law that led to a purge of as many as 100,000 voters from the system before the election of 2000, resulting in what the United States Commission on Civil Rights called “an extraordinarily high and inexcusable level of disenfranchisement,” particularly of African American voters.

It was that election that put George W. Bush in the White House, despite his losing the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore by more than a half a million votes.

Bush had run on the promise he would be “a uniter, not a divider,” but as soon as he took office, he advanced the worldview of those who distrusted democracy. He slashed government programs and in June pushed a $1.3 trillion cut through Congress. These measures increased the deficit without spurring the economy, and voters were beginning to sour on a presidency that had been precarious since its controversial beginnings.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, hours before the planes hit the Twin Towers, a New York Times editorial announced: “There is a whiff of panic in the air.”

And then the planes hit.

“In our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment,” Bush said. America had seemed to drift since the Cold War had ended twelve years before, but now the country was in a new death struggle, against an even more implacable foe. To defeat the nation’s enemies, America must defend free enterprise and Christianity at all costs.

In the wake of the attacks, Bush’s popularity soared to 90 percent. He and his advisers saw that popularity as a mandate to change America, and the world, according to their own ideology. “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists,” he announced.

Immediately, the administration focused on strengthening business. It shored up the airline industry and, at the advice of oil industry executives, deregulated the oil industry and increased drilling. By the end of the year, Congress had appropriated more than $350 billion for the military and homeland security, but that money would not go to established state and local organizations; it would go to new federal programs run by administration loyalists. Bush’s proposed $2.13 trillion 2003 budget increased military spending by $48 billion while slashing highway funding, environmental initiatives, job training, and other domestic spending. It would throw the budget $401 billion in the red. Republicans attacked any opposition as an attack on “the homeland.”

The military response to the attacks also turned ideological quickly. As soon as he heard about the attacks, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asked his aides to see if there was enough evidence to “hit” Iraqi president Saddam Hussein as well as al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. In fact, Saddam had not been involved in the attack on America: the al-Qaeda terrorists of 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.

Rumsfeld was trying to fit the events of 911 into the worldview of the so-called neocons who had come together in 1997 to complain that President Bill Clinton’s foreign policy was “incoherent” and to demand that the U.S. take international preeminence in the wake of the Cold War. They demanded significantly increased defense spending and American-backed “regime change” in countries that did not have “political and economic freedom.” They wanted to see a world order “friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles.”

After 9/11, Bush launched rocket attacks on the Taliban government of Afghanistan that had provided a safe haven for al-Qaeda, successfully overthrowing it before the end of the year. But then the administration undertook to reorder the Middle East in America's image. In 2002, it announced that the U.S. would no longer simply try to contain our enemies as President Harry S. Truman had planned, or to fund their opponents as President Ronald Reagan had done, but to strike nations suspected of planning attacks on the U.S. preemptively: the so-called Bush Doctrine. In 2003, after setting up a pro-American government in Afghanistan, the administration invaded Iraq.

By 2004, the administration was so deeply entrenched in its own ideology that a senior adviser to Bush told journalist Ron Suskind that people like him—Suskind—were in “the reality-based community”: they believed people could find solutions based on their observations and careful study of discernible reality. But, the aide continued, such a worldview was obsolete. “That’s not the way the world really works anymore.… We are an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

The 9/11 attacks enabled Republicans to tar those who questioned the administration's economic or foreign policies as un-American: either socialists or traitors making the nation vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Surely, such people should not have a voice at the polls. Republican gerrymandering and voter suppression began to shut Democratic voices out of our government, aided by a series of Supreme Court decisions. In 2010, the court opened the floodgates of corporate money into our elections to sway voters; in 2013, it gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act; in 2021, it said that election laws that affected different groups of voters unevenly were not unconstitutional.

And now we grapple with the logical extension of that argument as a former Republican president claims he won the 2020 election because, all evidence to the contrary, Democratic votes were fraudulent.

Today, former president Bush called out the similarities between today’s domestic terrorists who attacked our Capitol to overthrow our government on January 6 and the terrorists of 9/11. “There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home, “he said. “But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. And it is our continuing duty to confront them.”

In doing so, we can take guidance from the passengers on Flight 93, who demonstrated as profoundly as it is possible to do what confronting such an ideology means. While we cannot know for certain what happened on that plane on that fateful day, investigators believe that before the passengers of Flight 93 stormed the cockpit, throwing themselves between the terrorists and our government, and downed the plane, they all took a vote.

---

Notes:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/11/politics/transcript-george-w-bush-speech-09-11-2021/index.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20050205041635/http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm

http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=project_for_the_new_american_century

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#9/11 #September 11th #Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #GWOT #G.W. Bush #forever wars #corrupt GOP #criminal GOP

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newstfionline · 4 years

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Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Biden Team Prepares $3 Trillion in New Spending for the Economy (NYT) President Biden’s economic advisers are pulling together a sweeping $3 trillion package to boost the economy, reduce carbon emissions and narrow economic inequality, beginning with a giant infrastructure plan that may be financed in part through tax increases on corporations and the rich. The enormous scope of the proposal highlights the aggressive approach the Biden administration wants to take as it tries to harness the power of the federal government to make the economy more equitable, address climate change, and improve American manufacturing and high-technology industries in an escalating battle with China.

Hugs, at last: Nursing homes easing rules on visitors (AP) An 88-year-old woman in Ohio broke down in tears as her son hugged her for the first time in a year. Nursing home residents and staff in California sang “Over the Rainbow” as they resumed group activities and allowed visitors back in. A 5-year-old dove into the lap of her 94-year-old great-great-aunt for a long embrace in Rhode Island. Nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other kinds of elderly residences battered by COVID-19 are easing restrictions and opening their doors for the first time since the start of the pandemic, leading to joyous reunions around the country after a painful year of isolation, Zoom calls and greetings through windows. The vaccination drive, improved conditions inside nursing homes, and relaxed federal guidelines have paved the way for the reunions.

Miami’s South Beach confronts disastrous spring break (AP) Florida’s famed South Beach is desperately seeking a new image. With more than 1,000 arrests and nearly 100 gun seizures already during this year’s spring break season, officials are thinking it may finally be time to cleanse the hip neighborhood of its law-breaking, party-all-night vibe. The move comes after years of increasingly stringent measures—banning alcohol from beaches, canceling concerts and food festivals—have failed to stop the city from being overrun with out-of-control parties and anything-goes antics. This weekend alone, spring breakers and pandemic-weary tourists drawn by Florida’s loose virus-control rules gathered by the thousands along famed Ocean Drive, at times breaking into street fights, destroying restaurant property and causing several dangerous stampedes. The situation got so out of hand that Miami Beach Police brought in SWAT teams to disperse pepper bullets and called in law enforcement officers from at least four other agencies. Ultimately, the city decided to order an emergency 8 p.m. curfew that will likely extend well into April after the spring break season is over. Some tourists are angry about the curfew, which they say has put a damper on long-sought vacations for which they paid good money. Meanwhile, some officials say they should have enacted more stringent measures sooner—as was done in New Orleans prior to Mardi Gras last month—instead of reacting in the middle of the chaos.

England slaps 5,000 pound fine on most travel abroad (Reuters) Fines of 5,000 pounds ($6,900) will be introduced for people from England who try to travel abroad before the end of June in a tightening of the country’s border controls. Health minister Matt Hancock said the government’s original plan to review international travel in April and possibly permit it from May 17 still stood but the travel fines were included in legislation in case that would not be possible. In the UK, foreign holidays are currently banned. Europe’s airlines and travel sector are now bracing for a second lost summer. Having already racked up billions in debt to survive a year of travel restrictions, they are facing further strain and some may need fresh funds.

Tensions mount between Afghan government, powerful warlord (AP) Tensions are mounting between Afghanistan’s government and a powerful local warlord, with deadly clashes erupting in a rural province between his fighters and government troops. The government has launched an assault in central Maidan Wardak province, vowing to punish the warlord, Abdul Ghani Alipoor, after the defense minister accused his fighters of shooting down a military helicopter last week, killing nine personnel. Alipoor holds widespread loyalty among ethnic Hazaras, a mainly Shiite community who are a minority in Afghanistan but make up most of the population in Maidan Wardak. If Kabul considers warlords as agents of turmoil, their supporters see them as their only protection and support in the face of a notoriously corrupt government and violent insurgents. Many Hazaras, who face attacks by Sunni militants and discrimination by the government, see Alipoor as a hero, defending them against the Taliban and keeping local institutions running. “The government is incompetent, so people depend on Alipoor and support him,” said Mohammed Jan. “Alipoor serves his people. If our government would serve the people, everyone would support it and there wouldn’t be any need for an Alipoor.”

China Makes It A Crime To Question Military Casualties On The Internet (NPR) When China acknowledged this year that four of its soldiers had died fighting Indian forces on the two countries’ disputed mountain border eight months prior, the irreverent blogger Little Spicy Pen Ball had questions. “If the four [Chinese] soldiers died trying to rescue their fellow soldiers, then there must have been those who were not successfully rescued,” he wrote on Feb. 19 to his 2.5 million followers on Weibo, a Chinese social media site. “This means the fatalities could not have just been four.” The day after, Qiu Ziming, the 38-year-old former newspaper journalist behind the blog, was detained and criminally charged. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to three years. “Little Spicy Pen Ball maliciously slandered and degraded the heroes defending our country and the border,” according to the annual work report published by the country’s chief prosecutor office this month. Qiu’s is the first case to be tried under a sweeping new criminal law that took effect March 1. The new law penalizes “infringing on the reputation and honor of revolutionary heroes.” At least six other people have been detained or charged with defaming “martyrs.” The government uses the terms “revolutionary heroes” and “martyrs” for anyone it memorializes for their sacrifice for the Communist Party. The detentions typify the stricter controls over online speech under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which have deterred nearly all open dissent in the country. The new law even seeks to criminalize speech made outside China. Such is the case of Wang Jingyu, 19, who lives in the United States and is now a wanted man in his hometown of Chongqing, China. The authorities accuse him of slandering dead Chinese soldiers after Weibo reported him for a comment questioning the number of border fight casualties. “Cyberspace is not outside the law,” the Chongqing public security bureau said in an online notice after it declared Wang would be “pursued online” for his comments.

West sanctions China over Xinjiang abuses, Beijing hits back at EU (Reuters) The United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials on Monday for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, the first such coordinated Western action against Beijing under new U.S. President Joe Biden. Beijing hit back immediately with punitive measures against the EU that appeared broader, including European lawmakers, diplomats, institutes and families, and banning their businesses from trading with China. Western governments are seeking to hold Beijing accountable for mass detentions of Muslim Uighurs in northwestern China, where the United States says China is committing genocide. China denies all accusations of abuse.

Australian floods (AFP) Devastating flooding is ongoing across Australia, where an area the size of Alaska with some 10 million people is at risk for excessive rainfall and storminess. The flooding comes amid colliding weather systems gripping the country. Up to 35 inches of rain fell in just four days, and some places are seeing their worst flooding in 60 years. Nearly three times the average March rainfall has fallen in a number of locales, which Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology described as “phenomenal,” with additional rain and flooding expected in the days ahead.

Israel TV satirist says grateful to politicians but needs a break (AFP) As Israel heads into its fourth election in two years, the presenter of the country’s favourite satirical TV show has a request, and he’s only half joking. “I would like us to finally have a stable government and make a boring programme,” says Eyal Kitsis, frontman of the Channel 12 show “Eretz Nehederet” (“A Wonderful Country”). As much as Israel’s political turmoil may be straining the patience of the electorate, it has been television gold because “reality is crazy”, Kitsis told AFP. “Elections and politics have really become entertainment in this country. Our challenge as a satirical programme is to add a layer to it, to take it to the next level.”

Israel vote deadlock: Netanyahu appears short of majority (AP) Uncertainty hovered over the outcome of Israel’s parliamentary election Wednesday, with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sworn political rivals determined to depose him apparently lacking a clear path to a governing coalition. Deadlock in the 120-seat parliament was a real possibility a day after the election, which had been dominated by Netanyahu’s polarizing leadership. With about 87.5% of the vote counted by Wednesday morning, Netanyahu’s Likud party and its ultra-Orthodox and far-right allies fell short of a 61-seat majority.

Saudi Arabia offers cease-fire plan to Yemen rebels (AP) Saudi Arabia on Monday offered a cease-fire proposal to Yemen’s Houthi rebels that includes reopening their country’s main airport, the kingdom’s latest attempt to halt years of fighting in a war that has sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The move comes after the rebels stepped up a campaign of drone and missile attacks on the kingdom’s oil sites, briefly shaking global energy prices amid the coronavirus pandemic. It also comes as Riyadh tries to rehabilitate its image with the U.S. under President Joe Biden. Saudi Arabia has drawn internationally criticism for airstrikes killing civilians and embargoes exacerbating hunger in a nation on the brink of famine. Whether the plan will take hold remains another question. A unilaterally declared Saudi cease-fire collapsed last year. Fighting rages around the crucial city of Marib and the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes as recently as Sunday targeting Yemen’s capital of Sanaa. A U.N. mission said another suspected airstrike hit a food-production company in the port city of Hodeida.

Rail and derailments (Vice) Freight rail is an essential vein of the transportation system in the U.S., moving 57 tons of goods per American each year. It’s also the safest way to move hazardous materials, but freight train derailments are more common than one might think: in 2019, there were 341 reported derailments on main line track, of which 24 were freight trains carrying 159 cars of hazardous materials. The labor unions in the rail industry have been calling this out as a symptom of a degrading safety culture, and warn that it’s only a matter of time before one of those derailments causes catastrophic damages.

#headlines #news

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mothmansfriend · 5 years

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when i’m happy oh god i’m happy

TW: alcohol abuse, non-graphic sexual content, unhealthy coping mechanisms, self harm (in many forms), drug use, couchsurfing, mentions of delusions and paranoia, otherwise reckless behaviour

Note: this takes place in @illogicallyinclined’s hockey au and is a Prequel this is supposed to represent what Remus’s manic episodes look like everyone is different, but im using a mix of my own experiences with bipolar i and some friends who were willing to talk about theirs, then changing it to fit Remus’s existing Absolutely Feral personality, Jared and Payton are OC’s and teammates of Remus, the three of them are known for wrecking havoc at all times because none of them possess a braincell.

The art studio was empty, filled only by the assorted music of Remus’s sculpting playlist on the bluetooth speaker he brought in, and Remus himself. His hands glide through the wet clay and he basks in the slimy feeling between his fingers. Remus’s hair is held back by a small headband and he is wearing a tank top and jogging pants already covered in various mediums he has used through the day. He does not know where the energy to finish every project for this semester came from but he isn’t about to object.

If you were to look around this studio, there is a high contrast painting of a tentacle creature that is unsettling in an almost unidentifiable way, half of a self-portrait which uses resin teeth as the main element, as well as his current project of a large cup shaped like a decapitated head. In short, while Remus believes these are his best pieces, the chances of the university permitting them to be displayed are very low.

Remus gets frustrated that the music didn’t seem to be filling his inspiration in the way he hoped he changes the song revealing it to be approximately 4am, and no texts received since he sent D a picture if the teeth pile around 10pm.

—

“Can you go wake Remus up and ask if he wants any breakfast, he really shouldn’t sleep in this late, even if it is Saturday” D asks from the stove while Roman grabs his carton of milk from the fridge and doesn’t bother grabbing a cup.

D grimaces at him as he chugs back the milk, once again thankful that they have separate ones (even if that is at fault of Remus deciding to mix apple juice with milk in the carton without alerting anyone else in the household). “He actually headed out like, real early this morning, I spoke to him when I got up for a shower at like six. He said he’d be back today though?” Roman replied ignoring D’s look.

“Well, that’s even weirder. I’ll make extras so he can eat when he gets back, it's already eleven.”

“Sounds good,” Roman noticing D’s almost done slides a few plates next to him and accepts D’s soft ‘thanks’.

Suddenly they hear someone miss the keyhole three times before getting it and entering. Unsurprisingly, it’s Remus inappropriately dressed for a casual outing, surprisingly he seems to be holding several bags full of merchandise. “Helloo roommates! Look what I bought!” Remus shouts, slamming the door with his foot and bringing his bags to the couch.

“Are those... cups?” D asks turning off the stovetop to curiously check out Remus’s merch load.

“Hell yeah they are! I figured since you-” He pokes at D, “Took away all our glass cups after me and Roman went to that last party, I would take it upon myself to replace them. Look!” Remus proudly pulls the ugliest Jar Jar Binks cup out of one of the bags.

Roman visibly recoils as his brother parades the worst cup he’s ever seen around their apartment. D rolls his eyes but collects the cup and hesitantly places it into the dishwasher. “Thank you, Remus, these cups are horrid but they’re functional, which, I guess is good enough. Though, how much did these cost?”

“No idea, probably around sixty bucks total though, maybe. I went to three different thrift stores. Look at this one!” Remus holds up a vaguely terrifying cup that seems like it may have once resembled Spongebob Squarepants to Roman.

“That’s… Great, Remus, thanks” Roman says taking the offered item.

—

The three make it to practice 20 minutes early because Roman likes to prove he’s dedicated and a good captain. Coach Thomas and Joan greet them and Thomas talks to Roman briefly as Joan finishes setting things up. D and Remus do some stretches as others begin to show up, D comments on Remus being shaky and Remus hops around quickly explaining that he just woke up with a lot of energy for some reason.

Coach Thomas reminds Remus to take his time during practices speeding through everything doesn’t work if he keeps messing up before he even makes it halfway through.

—

D is going to kill Remus tomorrow morning. The repetitive sound of the bedframe slamming against their shared wall, and Remus wailing like a cat in heat at 1am is not something he wants to deal with right now. It’s a Tuesday night and D knows Remus has a class at 11am, one that D will not let him skip because he decided getting laid was more important. How does Remus even get a man to willingly enter that nightmare of a room? D rummages through his bedside table for ear plugs and regrets giving Roman the far room so easily.

—

“Jesus- Hello? Do you know what time it is?” The tired voice answers the phone after the third time of going to voicemail.

“Of course I don’t, Jared, I’m not a fucking nerd! I just thought I might extend my offer of filling the fountain in the middle of campus with bubble bath and a swim to you and Payton! D already said if I woke him up he would cut my dick off and feed it to his snake,” Remus audibly pouted at the end of his sentence.

Despite it being three am, it didn’t take a lot for Jared to wake up Payton and agree to meet him just off campus to run to the 24/7 convenience store for soap for the fountain. Remus leads the group in talking a mile a minute about something that Jared and Payton actually missed out on entirely. They try to contribute but realize Remus doesn’t notice when they have their own conversation anyways. They listen to him vaguely flit through topic after topic and get lost and confused in his own sentences, and once the soap is collected, they head to the large fountain in the middle of campus.

The fifth bottle of soap has been discarded and the fountain is sufficiently bubbly by the time the three hockey players strip to their boxers and begin their bath. There are attempted drownings, bubble beards, and the fountain change being thrown around.

At some point Remus stops talking for a second, observing the lithium bulbs through the fountain streams and bubbles floating across the courtyard. For a moment, he thinks he’s never been this happy in his life, these last few days have been the best days of his life. He lets Jared and Payton know this and like stare at him for a moment before teasing him about going soft and a few “I love you, bro” “Dude, you mean so much to me” and such were exchanged. They leave moments before campus security’s due to do their rounds in the early morning and laugh when about an hour later they receive a campus-wide notification to avoid the courtyard for repairs.

—

Remus spends most of practice being more annoying than usual. He gets a bit more of a stern talking to than he has in a while, in response says that he’ll try to do better to prepare for the game this weekend.

—

He did not succeed and got an even sterner talking to by Coach Thomas and Joan, and then by Roman separately.

—

Remus has a brief moment of clarity regarding his spending habits from the last week and a half in the middle of his current project. His solution is instead of buying the club size container of hot sauce, he makes a trip to the Taco Bell off campus. After dropping off the rest of his goods at the apartment, it was pretty late in the evening and he was dressed in nothing but neon green basketball shorts, slides, and a pretty badly stained grey tank top. Thankfully, Florida weather permitted this, though the looks he had been receiving all day disagreed. It likely did not help that if prompted, Remus wasn’t 100% on the last time that he slept, but if he had to guess it was two or three days ago, but that was probably a maximum of five hours. Surprisingly, he had never felt so good in his life. He’s also pretty sure he’s said that a lot this week.

He leaves Taco Bell with a small meal bag full of hot sauce at no cost.

—

D doesn’t ask any questions when he uses the bathroom in the early morning and is met with the sight of Remus in the bathtub. He is covered in a large variety of substances. The floor is covered in Taco Bell hot sauce wrappers, there’s a box full of water balloons of various colours and sizes. Remus waves with his available hand before he resumes filling the current water balloon with what may be a bulk container of banana lube. D pisses, not bothering to ask Remus to leave and just pulls the shower curtain over a little before washing his hands and deciding to figure it out tomorrow.

The next day, D woke up around 10am to a few texts saying some prick is throwing weird water balloons at first years off this academic building on campus. D didn’t think much about it until he was leaving his 12:30 lecture walking past splatters of mayo, egg, egg shells, hot sauce, and more, all separately. While observing the damage he found Remus asleep on some grass outside said academic building and had to call Logan for help to get him home. The two are used to this by now and D reminds himself to tell Remus to clear his ‘great ideas’ with someone containing a braincell.

—

Remus spends a good majority of his day listening to one song in the living room of the shared apartment. He was there when D left for classes, he was there when Roman left a little later in the day, failing to go to his own classes at all that day. The second D returns for lunch Remus is trying to explain a hidden meaning in the song, D brushes it off and reminds Remus, that to pass his classes he has to at least go.

—

This is Remus’s third night out in an area of town he really doesn’t know. He went home yesterday for early practice before coming back out. He knows it didn’t go well.

In attempts to make himself feel better, he blew a guy who’s name he already forgot but was hot as hell, he lost count of the shots he’s done, but at least there’s no practice tomorrow. He doesn’t have to worry about when he goes home, doesn’t have to worry about Roman or D and their weird concerned looks. He’s doing great! Why are they concerned, they just don’t get it.

At 2 am everyone gets kicked out of the club. Remus walks six blocks with his new friends with the promise of couch space to crash on and additional alcohol.

It’s suddenly 4:47 am and Remus is the only one awake and all the booze is gone. He is sitting under lithium streetlights smoking a cigarette on the porch of a strangers house with the humid Florida wind enables him to sit comfortably without a jacket. There is a moment, with sirens in the distance that Remus lets his eyes go out of focus. For the first time in who knows how long, he feels present. There is cracked cement under his feet, a dog barking a few houses down, and he wonders why he’s even here. The hidden Prince twin, here, in a city he has only been to once for a tournament, in a stranger’s house, drunk off his ass, his phone dead. He takes time to wonder, is this fun to him? It has to be right? Why did he just leave without telling anyone? Spending nights on the streets, or finding someone to go home with just so he didn’t have to find somewhere else to sleep. Is this who he is now?

He doesn’t know if he can answer that. Remus shakes himself before putting out his cigarette on his arm and deciding it doesn’t matter.

He still doesn’t sleep that night, but plugs in his phone and decides he needs to go home soon.

—

This is a different club than the previous night, someone sold Remus a few pills earlier and he figured why not? He feels better than ever. He lets the man he’s making out with know that and he lets out a kind of raspy laugh that Remus thinks is the hottest thing. He lets the other man know that too before sticking his tongue down his throat.

—

Remus is in the park yelling. It is almost 6pm, he pauses for a moment, completely forgetting what he was yelling about. He realizes that he is pretty drunk. Remus would normally like to say he only drinks with an excuse, but he doesn’t remember why he’s drunk, or how he got to the park. This isn’t near campus, he doesn’t recognize this park at all. He just stops yelling and googles the next bus to take him home.

—

Upon arriving home and greeting D, Remus falls asleep in his room for almost 12 hours to make up for the missing sleep from the last four days. When he is woken up for food and offered tylenol for his hangover, he tries to tell them he doesn’t have one. They don’t believe him, but he takes the food. Remus makes a joke recalling how the other day all he had eaten was some stale croutons he found in a pantry and half a bottle of Fireball he found in the fridge nearby. The joke did not land, but he was too busy laughing about it to notice.

The three eat their Sunday lunch with small amounts of banter and D switching between who he agrees with based on who’s statement didn’t sound like it came from a six year old. As they clean up, Remus starts excitedly talking about something that’s topic changed around four times in one sentence. Roman feigns interest but got lost and doesn’t care enough; D listens and has to ask Remus to repeat things slower every few minutes.

—

Several times throughout the night, D hears Remus loudly leave his room to check the front door. In the early morning D doesn’t hear Remus return to his room, but faintly hears netflix turn on in the living room.

In the morning, Remus seems wary of the door but does not say anything.

—

One day while messing around in the kitchen Remus is struck with the need to just go. The urge is so strong that the more he stands still in the kitchen the more his body just begins to tremble with barely contained energy. He doesn’t quite know where he’s going yet, but as he grabs his wallet, double checking he has his bus pass and ID, a jacket, his phone, and his keys. Without telling anyone, he walks to the main exchange near campus where he hops on the first bus that arrives. The bus isn’t particularly busy, and it makes it easier for him as he settles into the back of the bus bopping to his music, but not having the focus to listen to a song all the way through. He hits his hands softly on the very 90’s looking patterned seats to the beat of the song, watching out the windows with both legs bouncing. He rides this bus to the end of the line and catches the next bus to arrive at that bus exchange that takes him into a new smaller city. The sun is beginning to set and he finds a pub to grab some food and a few drinks at.

An hour and a half and four drinks later Remus is fighting some asshole in the pub and they both get kicked out. He wanders these smaller streets buzzed and poking at forming bruises while he smokes a cigarette. He walks by a convenience store and two homeless men outside ask him for a cigarette, he shares and spends a solid amount of time socializing with them and gets some booze for his troubles. They eventually part ways when one of them come out from the bathroom with a pack of stolen cookies. The store attendant chases them away and Remus finds himself wandering down empty streets again. Eventually, Remus decides to sleep for a few hours curled up in a stairwell, he doesn’t quite sleep, but does relax. Again, in the sounds of small city life, yellowed flickering light bulbs, and humid wind, Remus wonders why he’s out here.

—

The flashing neon lights and bass heavy music resonate through Remus’s bones like electricity giving him a never ending feedback loop of energy. Just before the club closes Remus sweet-talks a kind of nerdy looking guy into taking him home, while he’s mostly just hoping to not sleep outside tonight, getting laid wont hurt either.

—

Sneaking out of someone’s house before they wake up isn’t something Remus is necessarily proud of, but he doesn’t want to risk them doing something cheesy like make him breakfast. Sorry sir, Remus is a Manic Pixie Nightmare Boy, do not catch feelings, do not use for your own character development. He laughs to himself a little walking down the morning rush streets.

—

After waking up in bed with a man he doesn’t remember meeting the night before is a little jarring, but this is not the first time. It makes him wonder briefly if something is wrong with him. Remus is tired. Exhausted with himself and getting a little tired of this much fun. Instead of finding a diner for breakfast he catches a bus home and asks Logan if they can hang out tomorrow. If anyone will force him to go home, go to practice, sleep and not give him a choice to study or not without expecting him to explain himself. It will be everyone’s favourite Large Nerd. Remus doesn’t know what’s happening or why he feels like this, but he needs to go home and stop this for a little bit.Virgil, D, and Logan will help him get things a little back on track.

#sanders sides #remus sanders #hockey au #bipolar disorder #university au #roman sanders #deceit sanders #remus prince #roman prince #d foster

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ask-the-munchkin-crusader · 5 years

Text

Amy’s Arrival Pt. 1

((Before we begin, this art was done by @mychaoticland. Check out Syd’s work; it’s really awesome! Thank you so much Syd! This looks amazing. Now then, on with the show!))

The elementary school bus pulled up to the last house on the corner with a layer of snow still covering the lawn. A small child with emerald green eyes waddled off the bus in her big green winter jacket, green hat, black snow pants, black boots, bundled from head to toe in warmth. Her blue and green backpack bounced on her back as she hit the ground and made her way to the house. She opened the door and was instantly hit with warm air instead of the bitter cold of the Wisconsin winter air.

Once inside with the door closed, she slid her backpack off her back along with her jacket, revealing her light green striped shirt she was wearing and her black skirt hidden beneath her snow pants. She slipped off her boots and her hat to reveal her curly brunette hair tied back in green scrunchie.

The young girl made her way to the kitchen to see a young teenager with faded red hair making some popcorn in the microwave. The child silently giggled as she went to sneak up on him. She used the kitchen island as a cover for sneaking and slowly crawled on the ground and around until she saw her target. She stuck her head out from behind the island and just as the teen bent down to look for a bowl, the girl rushed over to try and tackle him down in a hug. She didn’t knock him down entirely but she did cause him to wobble and waiver a bit in his balance.

“Got ya!” The small girl declared as she held onto the older boy.

The teenager rolled his eyes and went to pick up the girl and give her a proper hug. “All right, all right, you got me,” He stated and then set her down on the island counter. “Now can I please get back to making my popcorn, Amy?”

“Only if I get to have some,” Amy stated, a grin plastered on her face.

The teen rolled his eyes once more. “Well, fine,” He said as he poured the snack into a bowl. “Since we’re going to be watching Stardust Crusaders in a little bit.”

Amy gasped when she heard this. It had been over a month since they had finished Battle Tendency and Amy had become hooked on the show. Kyle, her older brother, had gotten her into JoJo after he was sick of her watching Steven Universe, My Little Pony, and Miraculous Ladybug for the umpteenth time. She became hooked instantly and was a huge Jonathan fan and cried at the end of Phantom Blood. She had such a blast with Battle Tendency though and instantly recognized Caesar’s voice actor as the same one who voiced Chat Noir. After that, she would constantly draw pictures of the Joestars and give them to her brother to hold onto since he was, in her mind, the one with all the foreknowledge on everything JoJo. Plus, she kept bugging him to let her see the next part even though he wanted to take a break from JoJo for a bit. Now they were going to actually get to watch Stardust Crusaders.

“Wait, how come you changed your mind?” Amy questioned, wanting to know the reason as to why they were now getting to watch the next part.

“Well, the schools sent out an email saying that there was going to be a snow storm coming in tomorrow, so no school tomorrow,” Kyle explained as he picked up the bowl in one arm and his sister in the other one. “And if we’re lucky, we might get the next day off too.”

The grin came back to Amy’s face as she was sat on the couch. Kyle gave her the bowl while he set up the DVD player and Amy couldn’t help but bounce with excitement at finally getting to watch part 3, which Kyle would say was a universally loved part in the JoJo community. Once the screen came to life, it went straight to the home menu and had who Amy assumed to be the new JoJo on the screen. He was a tall young man with a black school coat and black pants on as well as a bunch of belts around his waist and a strange hat that blended with his hair. “Is that the new JoJo?” she asked Kyle as he grabbed the remote and came to sit down next to his sister.

“Yep, his name is Jotaro,” Kyle said as he hit play. “Now, Amy, are you ready to enter the world of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders?”

“I’m ready,” Amy determinedly said.

“You’re weird, you know that?”

“So are you!”

Episode Commentary by Amy

“Wait, wait, wait….why does that guy have a chicken man behind him?”

“WHAT?! JERKY-MC-JERKFACE DIO IS BACK?! NOOOOO!” –EP1

“That red-haired guy reminds me of you, Kyle, except he seems cooler.”

“Ewww! Is that a zit on his head? It’s so gross!”-EP2

“Oh no! Poor Ms. Holly!”

“Wow, that was a really cool group pose. Do you think they practiced that?”-EP3

“I knew Joseph being on a plane was a bad idea. Maybe they should’ve taken a boat.”

“What’s up with that guy’s hair? Is it because he’s French? Or is it because it’s the 80s?”-EP4

“Do you think they have to pay back for all the food and the tables?”

“That’s really sad about his sister dying. Would you avenge me if I died?” –EP5

“Why do Jotaro and Kakyoin wear their school uniforms all the time? Aren’t they sweaty in them?”

“You know, I’m starting to like Jotaro more now.”–EP6

“Why do I have to cover my eyes again? It’s just a monkey, right?”

“Now I want gum.” –EP7

“Did that reception guy sound like DIO? That’s not good if he did.”

“What?! Kakyoin can’t really be a traitor, can he?!” –EP8

“Man, I forgot how intense this can get at times,” Kyle remarked as he got up and stretched himself out. He and Amy had practically been sitting for four hours straight. Plus, he needed to change the DVD over to the next disc.

Amy, meanwhile, still sat on the couch with a dumbfound look on her face while Kyle got up to get the DVD out of the DVD player.

“Amy? You okay?”

“…..That just can’t be right!” Amy shouted, coming back to reality and scaring her brother with her shout. “Kakyoin can’t be a bad guy! He’s like, the super nice one! He can’t still be working for jerky-mc-jerkface, DIO!” The girl crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. “We have to watch the next episode, Kyle!”

“We will, we will,” Kyle said, grabbing the disc set and putting the first one away. “But Dad’s on his way back with pizza so I thought we’d take a bit of a break.”

“But-” Amy was about to protest when her stomach gurgled from hunger. She hadn’t realized how hungry she actually was until Kyle pointed it out. Plus, taking a small break would be good since she could talk to her brother and Dad about everything that was going on.

Just then, a car pulled into the driveway and Amy jumped off the couch in excitement. She raced to the front door to see her Dad coming up to the door with a pizza in his arms. She opened the door for him just as he was about to do it himself and hugged him. “Hi, Daddy.” She greeted her Dad, slightly shivering in the cold.

“Hi sweetie,” Her Father greeted back, walking into the house with the little girl hanging around his waist. He closed the door and handed over the pizza to Kyle while he started taking off his winter attire, revealing his black shirt and black pants for his mechanic uniform. There was a grease spot on his front pocket but overall, he looked relatively clean. He had brown hair like Amy cut to his ears and brown eyes that matched her brother. Once he had his boots off, he picked Amy up and threw her in the air, causing her to giggle. “Now what have you two been up to?”

“Watching JoJo,” Amy answered, heading to the kitchen island to sit down and get her pizza. “We’re gonna watch all of it before we go back to school!”

“Oh, well all right,” Mr. Armstrong said as he came to get a slice of pizza for himself. He wasn’t sure about all this “anime” but he saw no harm in it. Heck, he even worked with a young kid at the auto-shop who recommended this JoJo show to Kyle. “Just don’t stay up too late, all right?”

“Got it, Dad,” Kyle replied this time, grabbing some soda out of the fridge for the three of them. The red-headed teen also grabbed some red cups as well for them to use since none of them wanted to do dishes later. “How’s Mom doing helping Evelyn?”

“Well she’s warm, that’s for sure,” Mr. Armstrong said, a bit envious that his wife was all warm and toasty in Florida while he was freezing in Wisconsin. Then again, he and Mrs. Armstrong had an agreement that if he helped their eldest get to school that she’d go there to help out if a need arose. “But she should be back by the end of the week, if the weather permits.”

After finishing up most of the pizza- saving a few slices for later- Amy rushed back to the couch, practically jumping over it, and grabbed a hold of the remote. Just as she pressed the on button, the lights in the house suddenly went off and plunged the current family of three into darkness. Amy screamed at this sudden change of lighting and Kyle quickly grabbed his phone and turned on its flashlight, giving some light in the dark.

“Great, the power’s out,” Mr. Armstrong grumbled. He went into the kitchen and pulled out three medium sized flashlights and gave one to each of his kids. “The storm must’ve shut off the power. Kyle, you mind giving me a hand with the breaker? Otherwise we’ll be shivering all night.”

“Sure,” Kyle said, turning off his phone flashlight and stuffing it into his pocket for later.

“Amy, you stay here and man the house while we’re gone,” Mr. Armstrong instructed his youngest as she went to turn on the flashlight. “Holler to us if the power comes back on.”

“Got it, Daddy,” Amy saluted to her Father as she played around with the flashlight.

“That a girl.”

After her brother and Dad left to deal with the breaker, Amy continued to turn her flashlight on and off in amusement. She wanted the power to come back on so badly so she could resolve the cliffhanger of whether or not Kakyoin was indeed a traitor, which she couldn’t believe him to be. This was worse than when Steven Universe went on hiatus after revealing White Diamond. Come on, power, come back on,Amy prayed as she moved the flashlight around the room to illuminate all the objects in the dark.

Just as she was shining the light onto the TV, it suddenly sparked to life and caused Amy to yelp in shock. She quickly hid under the blanket on the couch but quickly came out from her spot when she realized that it was only the TV coming back on. “Daddy, Kyle!” She shouted over the couch. “The TV’s on!”

There came no reply. They must not have heard her.

She was about to go in person to deliver the news when the TV started to have static snow on the screen. The young girl turned her attention back over to it and watched as a figure appeared on the screen. It slowly came into focus to reveal itself to be DIO. “You’re watching me. Well watch this!”He said, pointing at the screen. Then it went back and looped him saying that over and over again.

Amy rolled her eyes at this, thinking that the last episode was on repeat again. She thought Kyle had taken that disc out…..Oh well. Amy tried popping out the DVD from the DVD player but the remote refused to work so the scene continued to loop over and over again. “Come on,” Amy sighed as she repeatedly tried turning the TV off with a remote. She didn’t want to keep hearing DIO over and over again. (In her opinion, she got enough of that in part 1).

After doing this for a few more minutes, Amy gave up on the remote and decided to go to the DVD player to pop it out from there. As she pressed the eject button, she failed to notice something slithering out from the TV and coming to her. Just when it seemed like the DVD would come out, she felt something grab her right arm that she had leaning against the TV. Amy looked up to see a purple vine wrapped around her. (Surprisingly, despite having thorns in it, didn’t hurt her). “What the-?” Amy gasped as she tried to pull her arm away.

Then, without warning, another purple vine pounced out from the TV screen and wrapped itself around Amy’s other arm. The little girl struggled to break herself free from the vines but her child-like strength was nothing in comparison to them. Suddenly, the vines began to pull back into the TV and started taking Amy with her. She tried grounding in her heels into the carpet to keep from moving, but again, she was a little girl and these were other-worldly vines. (You do the logic here).

So, to deal with this, Amy did the next best thing; she screamed for help. “Daddy! Kyle! Help me!”

Instead of hearing the sound of footsteps heading towards the room or her brother or Dad calling out to her, she heard nothing. How could they not hear her?

As the vines started to disappear into the screen, Amy’s hands started to faze right through it like there wasn’t even a hard surface there. Amy started to struggle even more as her arms up to her elbows started going through the screen as well. “HELP!” She shouted as her head was pulled through. Soon, her whole body was pulled through and the TV went back to being fuzzy.

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

Amy found herself falling down an endless hole that reminded her of the TV fuzz she had been witnessing on the screen moments prior to being pulled through. Her arms still had the purple vines wrapped around her and seemed to be pulling her down more and more. “Let go of me!” She shouted as she started using her feet to pry herself free. Once her left arm was somewhat free, she yanked it free and smiled at her success. “Nice! Okay, one more arm to go!” With her one arm free, she focused on her trapped one and after a few more attempts, she was able to break free from the vines entirely. “Yes!”

“So, you think you’re clever?”A voice echoed through the void.

The young girl looked around in confusion, trying to find the source of the voice. Was someone here with her? “Huh?”

“I’ll admit, your attempt in escaping me is amusing,” The voice taunted. “You weren’t originally apart of all this, but now that you are, I plan to take full advantage of the situation. I see a great opportunity in your arrival.”

Amy couldn’t get what this voice was saying at all. Opportunity? What on Earth was the voice going on about? And didn’t it sound like- Amy gasped when she recognized it! “You’re-”

Before she could finish, a smaller void seemed to appear and Amy was pulled through at a much more rapid pace than before. She screamed as she fell through the new funnel to end up who-knows-where.

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

The next thing Amy knew, she was on what felt to be a carpeted floor. She slowly sat up slightly bonked her head on a bed frame. It wasn’t bleeding or anything, but it still stung to hit your head against metal. “Oww,” She slightly winced as she sat on her knees, trying to keep from watching. As she sat on her knees, she noticed that there was some smoke in the air like a fire had just been put out. What the heck is going on?Amy thought as she went to look around.

“But, that can’t be true, can it?” A voice from behind said.

Amy wasn’t sure what to make of the unfamiliar voice and quickly ducked to the side of the bed closest to the window. Someone was in this room with her.

“You know as well as I do: Hermit Purple says Kakyoin is a traitor, a servant to DIO who will someday betray all of us,” Another voice added to the mix.

Slowly, Amy peaked up over the side of the bed to see who was actually in what she now figured to be a hotel room. As she slowly rose up, she caught a glimpse of what appeared to be two largely built men before she ducked back down in fear. She decided to listen more to what they were saying;

“It can’t be!” The first man growled.

What can’t be?Amy thought.

“There must be a reason!” The second man shouted. “I won’t believe Kakyoin is a traitor!”

Wait, Kakyoin? Now Amy was puzzled. Did she hear him right? Did he say Kakyoin? Slowly, the little girl poked up back up to get a better look. When she got a better look at the men, she silently gasped. Who she found before her were Avdol and Joseph?!

#amy #kyle #mr. armstrong #[amy's arrival]#((feel free to send in questions before pt. 2 drops))#jjba oc #jjba oc blog #origin story time #jjba au #jjba au blog #[blog event]#[written work]#jojo oc #jojo oc blog

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johnny-and-dora · 5 years

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darling, you’re my everything

for @amyscascadingtabs - happy birthday my love! <3

“Hey, Ames?” He begins, and everything is perfectly fine until she looks up at him and he literally feels any capacity for rational thought leave his body and he’s almost asking something stupid, like ‘wanna get married?’

or, april 29th, 2017.

read on ao3 -

The morning of April 29th is – unsurprisingly, given the shear dopeness of the romantic epiphany the night before it – mildly chaotic.

Later, when he’s drifting off on the couch while Amy makes flashcards for the sergeant’s exam, he’ll begrudgingly admit that he probably should have been paying more attention to his futile attempts at a romantic breakfast; for now, as Jake stands in their kitchen wearing his girlfriend’s pink fluffy dressing gown and daydreaming of Amy walking down the aisle, the burnt pancakes are very clearly her fault.

Because it’s all he can think about, now, like someone opened the floodgates to a whole new subcategory of Amy fantasies he’s been deep diving into all night, unable to sleep – Amy showing off a sparkling engagement ring, Amy as a glowing vision in white, Amy laughing at him as he fumbles with the rings or his vows or otherwise somehow manages to make himself look like an idiot in front of everyone they know.

(And yes, when he pictures it currently their wedding looks suspiciously like something out of Tangled, but he can work on that. Or maybe not, except he’s not exactly sure where you buy that many lanterns from and if they need a permit for that and he has zero idea what they’re going to do with a horse and a chameleon afterwards so overall it’s probably best that he leaves the planning to Amy, if she…)

(Well, he’s pretty sure she’s gonna say yes. God, he hopes so.)

The point he’s agonisingly slowly lumbering towards is that he has not had a lot of sleep, wrapped up in fleeting dreams of proposing and weddings and maybe being actually, properly married, officially Not Dying Alone and all the euphoria that comes from realising that he’s ready for that, that he might have been lucky enough to have found someone to tease and to surprise and to love for the rest of his life. It’s a lot to process.

Therefore, his burning of what was going to be a super romantic breakfast is by his logic, completely and utterly Amy’s fault. That being said, he’s not a complete monster - it’s not like he has the heart to tell her that she’s entirely to blame when she traipses into the kitchen in her old lady glasses and his hoodie, looking hopeful at the promise of breakfast.

“Pancakes?” She asks – the hope quickly eases into familiar endeared exasperation the second she clocks the blackened breakfast crime scene he’s been caught red handed in. Jake rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, hoping that he’s not visibly radiating the I wanna marry you vibe that he can feel strongly emitting from his chest.

“Uh, they were formerly pancakes at some stage before they mutinied against me to become gross charred bricks.”

“Mmm.” She hums sarcastically as if they appear even slightly edible, then quickly kisses the pout off his lips.

“Sorry. I got…distracted.”

“It’s okay, babe, we’re out of milk and orange soda anyway – let me go.” She firmly dismisses his protests before he can even say anything, a sign of the truly spooky psychic link their partnership has naturally formed over the years; he sighs one last lament over his culinary failure as she disappears into the bathroom and quickly returns with contacts in, her hair in a messy bun and a soft smile on her face.

Just like that, the pancakes don’t even seem to matter anymore - then he has the disgustingly cliché thought of we’ve got forever for pancakes anyway, like forever with someone isn’t merely a faraway abstract Disney concept and more of a real, tangible thing. Jake feels the very strong urge to lie down and preferably take a day or two to process that feeling on top of all the other ones that seem to be clouding his ability to be a rational human being.

He hopes he’s not going to be this weird all the time now, but judging by the direction and speed of his current train of thought there seems to be very little hope.

She’s leaning over the kitchen counter scribbling down a shopping list when he comes to his senses, because of course she is - he resists the urge to tease her now that he really, truly knows her and he knows her lists are an anchor that keep her organised, keep her steady, keep her sane.

Instead, he watches as she taps the pen against her lips, brows furrowed in deep thought as she mentally categorises the contents of their fridge, and imagines the glint of silver on her ring finger.

He’ll blame on overtiredness and being a general lovesick idiot, later; in the moment of mild chaos, it is absolutely her fault.

Everything is perfectly great until before he knows it he’s almost asking ‘wanna get married?’ - like he’s asking what she wants for dinner or what the weather is going to be like today. Like he’s not asking the most important question of his whole life before 9am on a rainy Saturday while trying to waft away the smell of burning from permeating the kitchen, while half asleep and wearing her pink fluffy dressing gown.

Like he didn’t just have baby’s first romantic epiphany less than twelve hours ago and isn’t still very much almost giddily coming to grips with what that actually means. And all because she’s scribbling down a shopping list for three items that he knows she’ll remember, and how stupidly endearing and consistent and so very Amy that simple action is.

He almost says something very, very stupid – like ‘wanna get married?’ or ‘wanna secretly elope to Paris?’ or ‘we could just go down to the registry office, like today, because I’ve recently realised that you’re the one person I want to spend the rest of my life with, if that’s cool with you’ – and then he gets distracted practically praying that his poor, poor brain to mouth filter that has to deal with this shit on a daily basis hasn’t packed its bags and retired to Florida, because ‘wanna get married?’ is definitely absolutely not how you’re supposed to ask the love of your life to wed you in holy freakin’ matrimony, he knows that, and he doesn’t even have a ring yet and-

“…Jake?” Amy’s doing that face reserved just for him where she’s half amused and half genuinely concerned, and he expertly deduces that he’s been weirdly silent for far too long and therefore hasn’t just acted on one of the more questionable impulses of his life, brought to you straight from the guy who once owned six separate massage chairs. Small mercies.

“Yeah. Sorry, it’s nothing.” He waves a frantic hand in panicked dismissal, downplays it like his heart isn’t doing awe-inspiring acrobatics in his chest right now, bounces on the heels of his feet a little to try and dispel the nervous energy that’s coursing through his veins.

In the moment he realises he hasn’t just accidentally proposed to her, Jake also makes the executive decision to get some kind of proposal plan together soon so he doesn’t risk accidentally dropping a proposal into casual conversation – because yeah, ‘wanna get married’ is perfectly okay, but if he’s gonna do this, he’s gonna do it properly.

No ‘Celebration’ blaring loudly in the background or confetti cannons or cheap plastic one dollar rings this time. He’s going to do it right.

If he’s going to propose to Amy Santiago, certified actual most incredible amazing human/genius on the entire planet, it is decidedly not going to be while he’s wearing a pink fluffy dressing down and shoving a failed breakfast into the trash. That’s a Peralta guarantee.

“Okay, weirdo.” She gives him a smile with a fleeting hint with suspicion before going back to digging through her purse, and his heart rate slowly but surely returns to normal.

Jake’s going to need a binder. Maybe even with the good types of tab this time, if he can figure out what criteria makes a good type of tab first.

He also needs to calm down so he’s not on the verge of a cardiac arrest every time he’s in close proximity to his girlfriend, because he’s pretty sure that even if she wasn’t the best detective he knows she’d figure him out before he can even scrape the finances together to buy a half decent ring. Maybe he just needs to lie down in general.

“I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. Try not to burn our apartment down in that time?”

“Coming from the woman who seemingly insists on testing our smoke alarm twice a week.”

She rolls her eyes and gently reaches up to cup his face and kiss him goodbye, which is mostly sweet and only slightly satisfying because he knows that means she doesn’t have a good comeback. As the door swings shut behind her he busies himself with cleaning up the kitchen, overwhelmed with another wave of excitement at the idea of marrying his best friend.

Because he’s ready, now – really, he’s probably been ready for a while, deep down. Maybe the second that she kissed him in the back of the ambulance in Florida or when he forfeited yet another bet just to see her smile or when the Nine-Nine was saved from getting shut down and she showed him just how hot she finds his moral compass.

The typo in that crossword puzzle shines out like a beacon in the night; but thoughts of Amy and loving Amy and marrying Amy have been brightening up the darker corners of his life for longer than he’d care to admit.

It’s all her fault – all that determination and kindness and brilliant enthusiasm. The way she’s so stubbornly cemented herself into his heart a, refusing to leave just as she refused to let him work their first case alone, demanding to be taken seriously with a fierceness that both irritated, impressed him and slightly turned him on. She is warmth, joy, that bubbling kind of laughter that just lights him up every time he gets to hear it – but she’s also tougher than she looks and stronger than she knows. There is absolutely no-one else like her.

And the plan, absolutely, startlingly clear in his otherwise sleep deprived and cloudy mind, is to marry her.

(And, on an unsurprisingly extremely chaotic yet magical evening in mid-May, he does.)

#b99 #b99 fic #jake x amy #peraltiago #my writing #this is pure chaos and perfectly represents the state that my overtired brain has been in for the past few weeks #i hope you enjoy <3 #shut up sian

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cecilspeaks · 5 years

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146 - The Birthday of Lee Marvin (II)

Every evening’s disappointment is the next morning’s hope. I’m Lee Marvin. Welcome to my birthday.

[somber piano version of the theme song]

There is a dark planet of awesome size, lit by no sun. An invisible titan, all thick black forest and jagged mountains and deep, turbulent oceans. It is so far away, so desolate, so impossibly, terrifyingly dark. One day, we will go there.

Imagine the feeling of the ground beneath your feet on that planet. The soft cold grit of sand that once was rock, that once was mountains. You won’t be able to see the sand. You won’t be able to see anything except the faint glimmer of the stars. There’s always light somewhere, just not here.

What does it smell like on the planet, I wonder. The salt tang of invisible oceans. The bitter sap of ancient forest. I don’t think it smells of rot. I don’t think it smells of fire or a food. I think it smells empty like a home that you lived in for many years but have cleaned out and painted, and are standing in it for the last time and it is once again a stranger to you. I think it smells like that.

I’m Lee Marvin, actor of some note. It is my 30th birthday today. Every day is my 30th birthday and yet I do not age. This morning, on my birthday, I had a vision. I was walking and the ground became wet. Then the water rose up around my ankles, but I kept walking. Around me were the trunks of mighty trees, hundreds of feet around. The water felt cool, but the air was warm, so it was nice to walk through. And still the water rose, and I was waist deep now. I didn’t know where it was I was going toward or away from. There was a fierce bicker of birds somewhere far above. The water (roiled) [0:04:20], but I was not afraid, I just walked, waist deep in that water. Perhaps I walked forever.

My morning routine is like so. I wake up at 5 AM. I know this because my digital clock tells me in stark red against black. I’ve had the same clock for decades. All of the labels have worn off the buttons, I wouldn’t know how to set an alarm, but I don’t need to. Whenever I wake up, it’s 5 AM. Maybe my waking causes time to happen.

I have the same breakfast every morning. I don’t mean I have the same kind of breakfast, I mean it’s the same food. I know because the apple has a bruise shaped like a witch’s hat near the stem. It’s the same bruise, the same size the same shape every morning. When I pour the cereal, no matter for how long or short, it’s the exact same amount of Corn Flakes. I’ve counted them again and again. Even if I pour no cereal at all, if I refuse to touch the box, there is still the same number of Corn Flakes in the bowl. It’s the same breakfast, and I eat it again and again, to celebrate the morning of my 30th birthday.

We were not meant to last forever. There is no peace in eternity. What shapes all of this is the boundaries. The birth, the death, even the pain in the knees, the forgotten wallet. You are bounded and so within, you are bound-less-. Without boundaries, I have no shape, I have no pain in my knees, and so I forget I have them. I forget my body. That’s all. I just wanna remember my body.

There is a dark planet of awesome size, lit by no sun. Its orbit is wild, it serpentines through space. Even with the most powerful telescopes we would not be able to find it. But at some point, we will all see it, clear and plain as our own faces, in the blue of the sky. We will look up on a day where we had a dentist appointment, where we had to pick up the kids by 4, where the basketball game was on down at the bar, and there will be a planet of awesome size, lit by no sun. An invisible titan, all thick black forest and jagged mountains and deep, turbulent oceans.

The planet will be so close that you will be able to see details on its midnight surface. Are those cities that you see upon it? Vast and cavernous cities? Empty windows and empty rooms. No one built those cities, but they are there.

I’m Lee Marvin. I’ve always been Lee Marvin. It has always been my 30th birthday.

This afternoon, on my birthday, I had a vision. I was at a conference table in a conference room, in a building full of rooms exactly like that one. A place of business where money is not made but is procured from those who deserve it less. I wondered, if I searched those offices for all of my birthdays after, would I ever find an exist? But I did not search. I sat at the conference table. Across from me was an unsmiling man. His hands were folded in front of him on the table. I did not greet him, because I felt that we had already exchanged small talk and now it was time to get to the meat of it. But I didn’t know what the meat was. I didn’t know what he wanted from me. Neither of us said anything from either side of our conference table. The tinted window looked out over a parking lot, full of identical silver sedans.

My afternoon routine is like so. I put on my hat and I go into town. I do my shopping and say hello to the people I know and the people I don’t. There’s still somehow people I don’t know even after all this time. However much time it has been. They often wish me a happy birthday and I say thank you. But what I mean is, please don’t. Please, no more.

Sometimes there’s a party and I poke at the cake with the side of my fork. I go home with my groceries and I put them in the fridge, throwing out the identical groceries I’d bought the day before. Then I have an afternoon coffee out in the back yard, staring at my lawn which remains green and lush, even though the heat is intense this time of year, even though I have never in my life watered it.

Grass is like me. I spit a little coffee on the grass. Imagine having no shape, no form. Imagine a clumsy endlessness. Imagine me. Picture me.

In an emergency, it is recommended that you look for the nearest exit. That’s all I’m doing here, looking for the nearest exit.

There is a dark planet lit by no sun. An invisible titan, all thick black forest and jagged mountains and deep, turbulent oceans. I feel that I walked there once long ago. I know the bitter crunch of its lifeless soil. I know the ice fizz of the waves along its shores. I know the smooth glass of its mountainsides. The dark there is complete.

I wish I could take you by the hand, and together you and I could step onto its surface. We could know it the way one knows a home. We could find warmth in its absolute chill. We could make light in its total darkness. But that won’t happen. Because when we visit that planet, we each must visit it alone. But we can take comfort in those who have gone before, and those who will come after. There is a dark planet lit by no sun, and one day we will go there.

This evening on my birthday, I had a vision. I was climbing a chimney of rock. The rock sat tight around my shoulders. There was hardly room for my body. By wedging myself outward, I was able to make myself stable and then wiggle myself just a little bit higher and a little bit higher after that. I knew that my climb would last for the rest of my life, and that the rest of my life would last forever. And still I wiggled myself an inch at a time. Far above me was a dot of light. Pale orange of sunrise or sunset, it never changed. The sun was always setting or else it was always rising, and anyway I was far beneath, wiggling my way up a chimney of rock. Far below, I could see cave water, absolutely clear and impossible deep and brutally cold. If I wanted I could simply relax my body and fall through the rock into that cold and clean water. All I would need to do is relax for one second. But I didn’t. I kept climbing toward the sunrise or else the sunset.

My evening routine is like so. I listen to the radio to hear the news and nod thoughtfully at what the world is up to when I’m not involved. I take off my socks. I like how my feet feel against the carpet in my living room. Sometimes I hear a voice from the living room wall. The voice sounds like me. “There must be more than this,” the me in the wall says to the me in the chair. “I wish it were so,” I say to the me in the wall. “Could you, could you help me out here, I think I’m stuck?” says the me in the wall. And I shake my head sadly. If I could have helped myself, I would have already.

I don’t like to sleep, so I binge an old 90’s sitcom like “Five in the Pit” or “The Thin Man Commences”. I don’t fall asleep, I know I don’t. I count every hour until the next day. And yet I find myself waking again in my bed and it’s my 30th birthday. As it is always my 30th birthday.

If I’m not given a boundary, I will have to create a boundary for myself. I will have to be the inventor of my own end. Listen against a window. Do you hear the soft murmur of the weather outside?

[“Sicilian Crest” by The Mountain Goats, http://www.mountain-goats.com http://ionlylistentothemountaingoats.com]

I have lived a very long time. Perhaps longer than anyone. Hmh. And yet there is still so much I haven’t done. I’ve never been to Poland or Bolivia, or New Zealand or Svitz. I’ve never been to North Carolina or North Dakota or North Florida or Germany. I’ve never seen a giraffe in person. Or a boar. Or a praying mantis or an eagle. I’ve never been to space, I’ve never been in a come and I’ve never tasted kale or kimchi or lamb or (-) [0:20:37].

There are big things I’ve never done. I’ve never written a book or recorded an album. I’ve never built a house. Choosing the location and materials, laying down the foundation and constructing the framework upon it. Putting in insulation, installing drywall, getting permits from the city. I’ve never led an army over a mountain pass, saying to them: “Today we go down in history!” I’ve never gone down in history. I mean, most of us haven’t and most of us won’t, but me too I guess. I’ve never been to the dark part of the ocean floor where the sun can’t reach through the sheer liquid mass, and the strange creatures live whose beauty does not rely on our sense of beauty, because their existence does not rely on our sense of existence. Or the volcanic vents pump heat into the blue-black abyss. I’ve never been married, although I have been divorced. I’ve never sky dived or even been on a plane. I don’t know what flying feels like. I imagine it feels a little like dreaming and a lot like waiting.

There are small things that I’ve never done. I’ve never had a picnic. I’ve never made whole wheat pasta. I’ve never parallel parked or spent a few hours picking up litter from the side of the road. I’ve never pulled a weed. And I’ve never bought a hat. I’ve always owned this hat. I don’t remember where I got it. I’ve never driven any car but a Dodge Durango. I’ve never seen a single movie except “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”. No that new remake but the original 1960’s classic starring Frank Sinatra as every character. I can’t imagine any other movie being better, so I’ve never bothered.

Exotic things I’ve never done. I’ve never time traveled, although I do get the brochures in the mail each week like everyone else. I’ve never danced in the ballet. Huh, although I’ve daydreamed of it many times. I’ve never printed counterfeit money, nor ordered a hit on anyone, nor otherwise committed a crime. I’ve never been bitten by a vampire or by a werewolf or by a child.

Simple things I’ve never done. I’ve never mailed a letter. I’ve never owned a dishwasher. I don’t know what a sauna feels like. I’ve never been in a hot tub. I’ve never kept a flower in a vase, long after it was time to throw it away until it is the brown memory of a flower that once was. I’ve never done Pilates or yoga or Crossfit. I’ve never taken a run, although I’ve always owned running shoes.

My life, like all lives, is more of a list of “I never”s than “I have”s. Because the world is bigger than we can reach. Not even if we spend our entire lives reaching. We clear a little circle around ourselves. We sit in that circle, and that is our life. But it’s OK. I don’t have to do everything. I will leave an endless list of the “not done”s and the “meant to”s and the “should have”s, and that’s fine. After all, past performance is not a predictor of future results. After all, death is only the end if you think the story is about you. After all, after everything, after it’s over, what then?

Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: A group of Chihuahuas is called a committee. A group of Labradors is called a jumble. A group of Golden Retrievers is called a butter dish.

#welcome to night vale #welcome to night vale transcripts #episode 146 #the birthday of lee marvin

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douxreviews · 6 years

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The Shining versus The Shining

[This review discusses Stephen King's novel The Shining and the film adaptation by Stanley Kubrick.]

"This inhuman place makes human monsters."

The first time I saw the 1980 film The Shining, I felt cheated. A brilliant, world famous director took one of my favorite books, cast one of my favorite actors in the lead, and then... he completely screwed it up. For years, I felt that Stanley Kubrick had ruined one of my favorite books. I was incensed. How could he?

My opinion has recently changed. Now I think Kubrick's The Shining may be a cinematic masterpiece. But it is not really a horror movie, and it's not really an adaptation of King's novel. It is its own self. If you see it as a separate entity, it's kind of fascinating.

The book

The Shining may very well be Stephen King's best novel, and that's saying a lot for a man who is probably the most famous writer in the world. In it, an alcoholic writer named Jack Torrance takes a last chance job as winter caretaker at a luxury hotel deep in the Colorado Rockies. As he, his wife Wendy, and their psychic five-year-old son Danny are cut off from the world by the weather, Jack slowly loses his mind and becomes a danger to his family. Were the malevolent ghosts of the people who died in the Overlook Hotel manipulating Jack, or was it all in Jack's head? Or was everything that happened caused by Danny's psychic gift?

The book succeeds on pretty much every level. The story is tightly written and almost impossible to put down. The Overlook itself captures the imagination -- its beauty and isolation, its gory history, the ghosts of past tragedies. I cared a lot about Jack, Wendy and Danny, and I so wanted everything to turn out for them, even while I was aware that it almost certainly would not. (Never get too attached to the characters in King's books.) I was especially into Danny. Psychic characters are not easy to make real and believable, especially kids, but Danny is captivating. I also loved Dick Hallorann, who shines, pun intended, in the opening chapters. The first time I read The Shining, I was blown away. I was young and impressionable, and I never forgot how this book affected me.

There are arguments to be made that King's works are too internal to translate well to the screen, but I don't think that's true. What about Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile? (And possibly more?) I wonder if some producers tend to see the scary in King's works, and just don't look beneath the surface for what makes it work?

I initially intended to just review the movie, but I just couldn't help talking about the book first. So… on to

The movie

After my initial serious disappointment, I had never intended to watch the movie again. And then I saw a documentary called Room 237 about some of its more devoted fans. It made me want to give the movie another shot. I'm glad I did.

While the book centers on what the characters are thinking and feeling, the movie is almost completely external. The Overlook itself is the main character, and what a character it is. Nearly every shot inside the Overlook is framed in a way that reminded me of how lines are drawn to create perspective in art, with the focal point way off in the distance. We keep seeing the ceiling and light fixtures (mostly chandeliers) above, and the very strange carpets on the floor. Showing the ceilings and floors is not something filmmakers tend to do. It has the effect of making the characters look small and strange, as if they don't belong. Or as if the Hotel is swallowing them.

As fans of the movie explain in Room 237, the hotel is oddly shaped and its geography makes no sense. The long, confusing hallways are echoed by the maze, which is so immense that it seems impossible that anyone could have created it. The kitchen is also maze-like, and everything is too big; the size of the industrial cans and bottles makes Wendy look smaller. There are sets of French doors all over the small caretaker's apartment, and every book in every bookcase is tilted at an angle. There are empty chairs in nearly every shot. Jack's typewriter changes color, from white to dark gray to blue. In one scene, the pattern in the carpet actually changes. Although these are things the casual viewer might not consciously notice (and I might not have if I hadn't been primed by the documentary), we're aware of it subconsciously, and it gets our lizard brain buzzing.

One of my favorite things in this movie is Danny riding his Big Wheel through the long, strange hallways of the Overlook. It's just what a kid would probably do, but it increases the feeling that they're in this immense, bizarre place that is outside of reality.

My biggest problem with the movie is that the characters have all of the humanity and complexity of chess pieces. I suppose it was intentional. But what an unholy waste of Jack Nicholson, who is arguably one of the best actors in the world, although I'm more of a fan of his early work (Chinatown, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail) before he started playing a caricature of himself. He did a good job with what he was given, but there is really no opportunity to get to know Jack Torrance, or what motivates him. Why he does what he does is almost inexplicable.

And Jack and Wendy never feel like a couple. Was Shelley Duvall miscast? Did the actors just have zero chemistry? Or was this dissonance between them what Kubrick intended, a way of showing the unresolvable tension in their marriage? Danny Lloyd as Danny made me think of Jake Lloyd as Anakin in Episode 3. Interesting coincidence with the surnames. I don't like criticizing child actors, so I'll stop there.

Dick Hallorann is a favorite character of mine in the book, and even though Scatman Crothers did a good job, I hated how Dick was treated in the movie. But I did love the strange female nudes with the huge afros that decorated his bedroom in Florida.

A few more random comments about the movie that contributed to the mood it creates:

-- In one scene, Wendy and Danny are watching television, and there is no electrical cord visible. In another, Jack, seated, is reflected in a mirror and it looks as if he has two sets of legs. (Because, of course, Jack is becoming another person.)

-- In yet another, Jack is sleeping at his desk, but he is balanced on the edge of his chair in such a way that if he had actually been sleeping, he would have fallen off.

-- We never actually see Jack do any caretaking. There is one scene with Wendy in the boiler room. The boiler room is a big deal in the book, almost nonexistent in the movie. Sigh.

-- We never see much out of the windows except for glare, which makes it seem even more that the outside world doesn't exist.

-- There is no music during many scenes. When there is sound, it is disconcerting whines and screeching, or eerie wavering vocals like the score of Kubrick's 2001, A Space Odyssey. In fact, a lot of this movie makes me think of 2001. Which I believe is a better movie. (I should probably get around to reviewing it someday, but it's intimidating, I'll admit it.)

-- In the opening interview scene, Ullman (Barry Nelson) does some very strange things with his hands. It's like they don't belong on his body.

-- In the car, the Torrances talk about the Donner Party. Jack seems to think cannibalism is acceptable in order to survive.

-- The Torrances bring more luggage than would actually fit in the trunk of their tiny VW bug.

-- The walls of the maze are thirteen feet high. Who would do that?

-- The word "overlook" has a double meaning, of course.

-- The hotel decorations have a Native American motif, leading fans of the movie to think that Kubrick was commenting on the genocide of the American Indian.

-- In many rooms, especially the notorious Room 237 which may have been the ugliest hotel room I've ever seen in my life, colors and patterns clash. (Although maybe that was just the seventies.)

-- In the final scenes, Wendy is wearing what may be the ugliest outfit I have ever seen on a leading lady in a mainstream movie.

To conclude, I can look at the movie now and appreciate its brilliance, but it doesn't generate emotion, and I don't find it the least bit scary. For me, it's like looking at a beautiful object at a distance. The book is more of an intimate experience. But then again, books usually are.

Opinions? Comments? I've tried to avoid spoilers in this review, but feel free to talk about anything -- spoilers are permitted in the comments. (And if you haven't seen the movie or read the book, beware!)

Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

#The Shining #Stephen King #Stanley Kubrick #Jack Nicholson #Jack Torrance #Danny Torrance #Wendy Torrance #Movie Reviews #Book Reviews #Doux Reviews #something from the archive

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naturecoaster · 5 years

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Rescued Bear Cub to Live in Homosassa

The Ellie Schiller Homosassa Wildlife State Park is part of a cooperative effort between the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and state-wide bear rehabilitation facilities. Each year, up to 11 rescued Florida Black bears are given to the park for rehabilitation and release back into the wild, but Park visitors never see them. “We have a 100% success rate for our rehabilitated bears,” shared Andrea Junkunc, Park Services Specialist, at the first viewing of their latest project, Maximus.

Maximus, the Orphaned Baby Black Bear to Live at Wildlife Park

On Wednesday, July 31, 2019, the six-month old bear cub was introduced to the public at the Park. A bundle of ebony fur, Maximus bounds into his life as the newest permanent resident at Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park! He was rambunctious and curious when NatureCoaster visited, playing with the water in his trough and eventually sat up in it, like a bathtub. He climbed the walls of his chain link temporary habitat, pulled on saw palmetto leaves, tasted sticks and everything else he could.

Maximus the orphaned Florida Black bear cub got into his water trough, using it like a bathtub when introduced to the public Wednesday, July 31, 2019. Image by Diane Bedard. Max was simply adorable. Being the first day he was interacting with the public, the Wildlife Care team had several members looking after him. “We are pleased with how well he is doing on his first day of seeing so many new people,” Trisha explained. Although he has been bottle-fed, cleaned, crate trained, and bonded with his caregivers, it is a big first step for an orphaned wild animal to meet a crowd – even if they are all fans. Max seemed to take it all in stride, playing with everything within his grasp like a little bear should.

There is an entire Wildlife Care Team at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, headed up by Trisha Fowler. Together they rehabilitate some of Florida's orphaned wild animals. They came out on Wednesday to help Max transition to his public encounters. Image by Diane Bedard How Maximus came to Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park Born in the wild in February, young Maximus was orphaned by his mother in the Florida panhandle for unknown reasons. He was found by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) weighing a mere four pounds at the time of rescue. Fortunately, Maximus’ mother is a tagged and collared Florida Black bear, so FWC was aware of the situation.

Max playing in the rehabilitation area of the Wildlife Park. Image courtesy of Joe Dube. The tiny young bear received medical care and around-the-clock supervision, requiring frequent feedings. Despite caregivers’ best efforts, FWC deemed the young bear non-releasable and it just happened that there was space available for a permanent resident bear at Homosassa. Maximus the Orphaned Bear Cub receives Committed Care at the Park At the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Wildlife State Park, Darin Wilson was given the opportunity to care for Maximus. As a Ranger who has been part of the Wildlife Care team for 2 years, Darin is thrilled to be working with ‘Max’.

Darin Wilson interacts with Maximus. Darin has been given the job of bonding with Max to help in his care and training. Image courtesy of Diane Bedard Max was about 11 pounds when he came to the Wildlife Park in March. Darin has been working closely with the bear cub, bonding with him. He teaches Max crate training, as well as cleaning and feeding him. “How many people can say they bond with a bear for their job?” Darin tells me with a wide grin on his face and palpable joy. “The bond is great for enrichment for Max, and for me.” Max is nearly 40 pounds now. He is fed fruits, vegetables and omnivore food. He also gets dog food as a protein source to help him grow strong - and two smoothies a day!

Maximus the baby bear will be on display at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 2:30 - 3:30 pm. Image courtesy of Joe Dube. Homosassa Wildlife State Park helps to Rehabilitate and Release Orphaned Bears Year-Round “Florida’s only Wildlife State Park not only works in cooperation with FWC to rehabilitate orphaned black bears and release them back into the wild, but also has the facilities to house several non-releasable bears,” says Kate Spratt, the Park’s Service Specialist. There are facilities to rehabilitate up to 11 bears at the Park. These are behind the scenes and manned by the Wildlife Care team, headed up by Trisha Fowler.

Trisha Fowler leads an amazing and committed team of wildlife biologists, specialists and volunteers who rehabilitate Florida's orphaned wildlife. Here she is answering questions from the public as she interacts with the Wildlife Park's newest resident. Image courtesy of Diane Bedard “Bears are typically born in February and brought to the Park by June for rehabilitation. We try to get them ready to go back to their natural environments by January of the following year when they are big enough to safely integrate,” Andrea Junkunc explains. “FWC tracks the bears and none of our bears have been found after release.” Managing and Integrating Homosassa’s Newest Resident with the Park “We will be bringing Max out on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 2:30-3:30 for the public to see until he is old enough to safely enjoy the Park’s bear habitat without supervision,” Trisha Fowler tells the onlookers, “He will be living in the bear rehabilitation area until then. When he is mature enough, we will bring him to the Florida Black bear habitat for a day, with Biddy living in the rehabilitation area and then exchange them, giving both an opportunity for solitude and public interaction.”

Each orphaned bear is taught the skills that its mother would have trained it for by the staff. Because Max was so young and tiny when rescued, FWC deemed him unable to return to the wild. He will be an ambassador for his species at the Park. Image courtesy of Joe Dube. With Max not being Biddy’s offspring, it is unwise to put them together. Florida Black Bears are part of Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park’s History Prior to Maximus’ arrival, the State Park housed one adult Florida black bear, Biddy. She arrived with her twin brother, Brutus, as cubs in the early 2000s, residing at the Park ever since. With the passing of Brutus in 2018, Biddy has been the only resident Florida black bear in the park.

Brutus and Biddy were brother and sister black bear residents of the park until Brutus passed away in 2018. Photo by Joe Dube “Bears tend to be solitary creatures,” Andrea explains. “Biddy enjoys her solitude as bears in the wild typically keep to themselves.” Keeping this in mind, Biddy and the newcomer Maximus will spend time on exhibit separately, following a rotating schedule like that of the panthers who reside at the Park. Volunteers are the Heartbeat of this Wildlife State Park On Wednesday, July 31, Park volunteer Mary Ann Desimone explained about Florida Black bears, including their eating habits, life expectancy, typical lifestyle and range. She answered questions for the 40 or so visitors who came to greet Maximus on his first day interacting with the public.

Mary Ann Desimone, 24-year Park Volunteer is a two time graduate of bear college where she learned about the Florida Black bear and how to best communicate that information to the public. She is seen here on July 31, 2019 answering questions at Maximus' first public exhibition. Image by Diane Bedard “I have been to bear college twice in the 1990s, the ‘Cubs for Kids’ training. I love animals, teaching and interacting with children,” Mary Ann explains about how she acquired her knowledge of Florida Black bears. She has been volunteering at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park for 24 years. Interested in coming to the park to view the young Maximus?

Come to the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and meet Max. He is so cute and full of energy that you will be glad you did! Image courtesy of Joe Dube. Maximus, the orphaned Florida Black bear, will be in a special exhibit located on the Wildlife Walk across from the bobcats on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 2:30pm to 3:30pm, weather permitting, until he is mature enough to release into the bear habitat. Visitors to the park may see Maximus at that time and speak with a ranger about him. The park entrance is located at 4150 S Suncoast Blvd. in Homosassa. Hours are 9 am to 5:30 pm daily, with last entry at 4:45 pm. The cost for entry is Adults (age 13+) $13, Children (ages 6-12) $5, Children 5 and under, free. For more information, call the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park office at 352-628-5343. Postscript: Special thanks to Joe Dube for the excellent photos of Max and to the Wildlife Care Team at Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park for taking the time to answer our questions - and their commitment to Florida's wildlife. Read the full article

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writersrealmbts · 6 years

Text

Sunlight off the Water

Description: When you’re assigned to participate in some sort of vacation show that a foreign music group was doing, you meet some strange guys. Jackson is this vibrant being, strange and excited about new things and constantly paying attention to you. How he managed to make a camping trip in one of the least dangerous States in the United States into an adventure you’ve never experienced before you may never know.

Warnings: N/A

Posted: 8/18/2018

Tags: Jackson Wang, JacksonXReader

Fluff? Angst? Both?: 12,438 words

A/N: I’m sorrrrrryyyyyy. This is my first time writing for a different group and I’m sorry if I didn’t do them justice. Also, it’s based in Michigan because I know Michigan better than any of the other states, second best being a tie between Florida, and Ohio, followed by Tennessee and Texas. Also, there’s only one poisonous snake. You’re far more likely to get killed by a moose. I love Jackson, so I hope you guys like this. Apologies Mobile Users…I did use a Keep Reading thing but it doesn’t work on mobile!

You flinched back in surprise at the antics of the man in front of you, surprised and trying to hide the smile and laughter from your coworker who was definitely not amused. But he noticed and sneered. “You think this is funny, y/n?” You debated whether to come clean or not, noticing that the man had stopped, a wary look on his face. “Does it matter if I do or don’t? It hardly seems relevant to the outcome of the situation.” You tried to ease around the question, turning to walk away since there was nothing more to be done. Your coworker caught your wrist in a grip that was way too tight. “Hey!”

“Don’t walk away from me, y/n. You haven’t finished your job.” His grip seemed to tighten with each word. “You’re hurting me!” You glared at him, ready to kick him you-know-where. “Let go of her,” the man said in a voice you would classify as dangerous from the look on his face. “Before I call the police.” Your coworker sneered. “Oh so you can be serious! How interesting! What do you expect the police to do?” The man stepped between you and your coworker, his own hand gripping your coworkers wrist. “Let go of her.” You were a little surprised when your coworker let out a pained sound and dropped your wrist. You snatched it to yourself, cradling it in your other hand as you backed away from the two men. “Jackson,” another man approached from the elevators with a group. Jackson glanced at them for a second, then continued staring down your coworker, having let go the moment you were free. You stepped forward, gently touching Jackson’s shoulder. “He’ll leave now.” He slowly nodded, backing up but not tearing his gaze away from the red-faced coworker. The guys that were looking for him came over and seemed to understand what was going on, casually forming a protective circle around you. Your coworker huffed. “This isn’t over, y/n!” You tensed to prevent shivering at the chill that slid down your spine. Could this day get any weirder? It was odd enough that you were going to be doing some strange reality show with this guy, Jackson, and some other guys (probably the ones surrounding you). But to also have today be the day your coworker snaps? “You’re y/n, right?” Jackson asked, facing you. “Are you okay?” You blinked in surprise, then nodded. “I’ll talk to my boss about him.” “I’m Jackson.” You smiled awkwardly. “Nice to meet you. I understand that I’m taking you and a few others camping for some sort of show?” “It’s going to be me, Mark, and Jinyoung,” he replied, oddly calm and still compared to before. The boys seemed a little put off by it too. You nodded. “Right. Um. I look forward to working with you.” You bowed slightly, knowing it was a custom, before excusing yourself. “Where are you going?” He asked, falling in step with you. “I have to get my bag from my room and check out of the hotel.” You were a little bewildered by the fact that he kept up with you. He nodded and kept walking with you, stopping and standing like a bodyguard at the door while you went inside. You shook your head a bit, gathering the last of your things and making sure nothing was left behind before lugging your duffel bag and backpack out into the hall. He wordlessly took the duffel from you and held his hand out for the backpack. “Um, I’ve got it. Thank you, though.” He nodded and grabbed your hand leading the way back down to the lobby while you were still in a bit of shock. “So, do you go camping often, y/n?” “Um, yeah. I’ve spent half of my life out there. I mean, we’re using cabins which is a bit different for me. But it’ll be…different.” “You’re not afraid we’ll run into bears?” “Um, well, I didn’t say that. There’s always a possibility of bears, but raccoons, possums, and deer are far more likely.” “Raccoons and possums?” He repeated, looking concerned. “Scavengers, small mammals, same size or bigger than cats. Generally more scared of you than you are of them. Don’t worry. If we don’t leave food out we shouldn’t have any issues.” You shrugged, not really worried about running across any creatures. You were worried about the three men you would be spending the next two weeks with and the camera that would be filming you. He fell silent again as the elevator doors closed. You watched the numbers slowly go down. “Do you cook?” “Yes I do. That was actually one of the requirements specified when I applied for the project.” He nodded. Then turned back to you. “You have nice skin.” “Th-thank you?” Nice skin? What was that supposed to mean? Sure, you were having a pretty good day as far as acne and such went, a pretty good week actually, but nice skin? Wasn’t exactly the kind of compliment that you normally got. So why did it make you so happy? “So, you are not igot7?” “Uh, I’m not sure what that is.” “Oh, my group is Got7 so our friends are IGot7s.” “You mean your fans?” “They’re more like our friends.” “Okay, So you hang out with them and eat meals together, and talk about important things? Support each other?” “Yes…” “Really?” You gave him a disbelieving look. The doors opened before he could respond and your boss saw you. “Ah! Y/n! They told me that they’d met you! Are you all set?” “I just have to check out.” “Good, good, now,” he guided you away from Jackson and toward the desk. “You take good care of them, don’t make them uncomfortable. These are valuable customers. And don’t worry too much about having to share a cabin with them—“ “With them?!” You hissed, but then you were at the desk and your boss had scurried off like the rat that he was to the boys again. You couldn’t believe this. Not only would you be camping alone with three—technically more with the cameraman—men, but you also had to share the cabins with them? You stalked back over to them, knowing you had no choice. The three that were going with you were saying goodbye to the other members, with Jackson being very…dramatic. Why did you find that so cute? Oh God, did you just…giggle? Thankfully Jackson was being loud enough that no one seemed to hear. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad being around them. Awkward beyond belief, oh yes. But they seemed nice enough, maybe a little weird. Definitely handsome though, all of them, but there was just something a little…extra about Jackson that made him stand out. “Wait! Are there lots of snakes?” Jackson suddenly asked. “Um, there are some. But there’s only one poisonous snake here and it’s really rare. Your company chose Michigan because there aren’t as many threats. Worst bites you’ll probably get will be from mosquitoes. We don’t get massive earthquakes, we get tornadoes sporadically and they never get as bad as they do in the tornado belt. Our bugs aren’t huge. And you can swim without the fear of sharks, stingrays, jellyfish, alligators, or crocodiles. So, relatively safe.” Mark looked pretty amused and Jackson thoughtful while the others looked lost. “If it’s so great, why don’t more people live there?” One of the other boys asked. “Winter,” you answered simply. “We get cold in winter.” Mark nodded. “That’s a good reason not to live there.” You shrugged. “Some people are just sissies.” Jackson started howling with laughter. Mark looked a little surprised but he was smiling and laughing slightly too. The one who had asked about the population was translating for the others and they started laughing as well. One of them stepped forward and gave you a high-five. You watched Jackson come down from his laughter and shrugged at Mark. “So, where are you from?” “L.A.” “I’m sorry,” you apologized. He smirked a bit. “I’m sure you are. Not everyone is as lucky as me though.” Jackson was almost bouncing, he seemed exciting. “But what are we actually doing? Like, what can we do?” “Um, we can do a lot. We’re going kayaking, I’m taking you to sleeping bear dunes, if weather permits we’re going to try windsurfing…” You tried to remember the rest of the loose schedule that you had outlined for their agency. “Hiking, Iargo Springs, Pictured Rocks, Mackinac Island—which isn’t as exciting but it’s an experience I’m told is essential. Then you guys will fly out of Houghton down to Chicago and meet back up with your group.” “What will you do after we leave?” Jackson asked, looking concerned. “Um, go home?” “Where do you live?” “Um, small town. About an hour from here. Nothing special. We should get going, we still have to drive to the first stop and then to the campground and get groceries for dinner.” You deflected, thinking it wasn’t a good idea to get into that. The boys quickly bid farewell to the rest of their group farewell in Korean. You started walking toward the SUV with your suitcase and backpack. You were glad you only had to look after three of them. Seven would have been nearly impossible. “Are you driving?” Jackson asked, seeming surprised. “Um, yes. How else would we get there?” Their manager was waiting by the vehicle and talked to them, handing them each a camera and you a camera as well. “He asks that you get some footage of all three of us together,” Jackson translated. You nodded, having already agreed to do that. “The car cameras are already in place and I have the house cameras. One of the camera crew will meet us at each cabin we stay at, correct?” Jackson translated with Mark, then Mark nodded. “Yeah, But they cant be there all the time like you’re going to be. Also, one of them is meeting us in the…Christmas town?” Jackson nodded, confirming the translation. You nodded, understanding. “Frankenmuth. Right.” The man bowed slightly and retreated. “Can we listen to your music?” Jackson asked. “Um, wouldn’t you rather listen to your own?” You asked, worrying about sharing your music with strangers. It was always really awkward because unless people were close to you they usually didn’t dare skip songs that they didn’t like and you had some strange songs on your preferred playlist. “No,” he answered. You gestures to the other two. “I’m sure they have an opinion on the matter.” Mark was already putting in his own earbuds, but froze. “Uh…I don’t really care. I’m probably going to listen to my own music.” Jinyoung just looked a little lost. Jackson said something to him in Korean and you sighed silently wishing you hadn’t wasted so much time on French when your job had you working with people (tourists) who spoke Chinese, Japanese, and now Korean. Jinyoung had a pretty blank look as he replied. “They don’t care,” Jackson said, turning back to you. “Fine, but if you guys cringe I’m turning it off.” You spun around and to put the luggage in the trunk. “That bag is pretty heavy, let me get it.” He hurried to help you. It was seriously throwing you off how considerate he was. Either he was being kind or he actually thought you couldn’t handle it. He looked concerned when you gave him a perplexed look. “Did I say something wrong?” “I can handle it, you know,” you said carefully, not wanting to offend him. He nodded. “But you shouldn’t have to do all the work. You’re already going to be doing so much.” You nodded slowly, accepting his reasoning. “Then thank you.” The resulting smile he gave you made your chest tighten and a strange desire rose inside you to try and keep him smiling, prompting you to take some extra time before you got into the vehicle to put a couple of his group’s songs onto The playlist you were going to use. It already had everything from country, to pop, to whatever Fall Out Boy was. There was even a little bit of k-pop on there from songs you had found when you were researching for your job that fit the sort of vibe that the playlist was geared toward—summer and beaches. You just hoped these new songs were good so that you would have to feel bad. Jackson had taken the shotgun seat, the other two in the back seat talking softly and fully prepared to listen to their own music. You flashed them a smile as you checked to make sure they were buckled up, then started the car and turned on the music—quieter than it would be if it was just you. Jackson remedied that, turning it up and bopping along with the song. Mark got a little excited. “Oh! From Shrek!” You nodded, deciding to focus on driving and not on the eclectic nature of your playlist. “So, where are we going first? The Christmas town?” Jackson asked. “Frankenmuth. Um, it’s home to the worlds largest Christmas store, Bronner’s. Frankenmuth is a town of German heritage, specifically Bavaria, and keeps a German theme to its buildings. German is still a common language spoken there and it attracts a lot of tourists because of that and because of how they go all-out for Christmas. It’s going to be crazy with the re-enactment happening this weekend, but it should still be interesting.” “You mean fun? What’s a re-enactment?” “There are these groups that act the way people, specifically soldiers, did back during times of war. Sometimes the Revolutionary war and sometimes the civil war. And they do demonstrations and usually sell things as well. But I think we’re just exploring Bronners, then the the stores on Main Street after we get lunch.” You were talking a lot, trying to calm your nerves. “You act out your wars?” “No, well, yes, but not really. It’s an educational experience, I guess. Help people appreciate what we have and how we got it.” “I didn’t know there were events like that, I knew people acted them out from some shows but I didn’t think there were actually events,” Mark said, gesturing for Jackson to turn the music down a bit. “Yeah, they’re really dedicated. They set up camps and cook over fires, there are shops with old-time foods and beverages, clothes, and other things. There’s usually at least one blacksmith present, and at least one trader with furs and stuff. And people just walk around and ask questions and buy things and learn.” “And we aren’t going?” Jinyoung asked hesitantly. You shrugged and shook your head. “Too crowded. Your managers didn’t want to risk you guys being recognized and having to maneuver the camera.” “You’d take us in, though?” Jackson asked, looking like trouble. You hesitated. “I don’t know.” “Please? I want to see it. You guys want to see it, right? We don’t have to stay for long,” he pleaded. “I’ve never heard of them before. Can’t we at least see? Maybe get food?” You pursed your lips, considering it. “I do like kettle corn.” Jackson screamed excitedly, causing you to jump a bit. You gripped the steering wheel tightly. “I didn’t say yes!” “This is my song!” You blinked a couple times, listening to Dawn of Us and trying to equate the chill vibes of the song with the hyper man in the seat next to you. “This song?” “Yes! You don’t believe me?” You shrugged. “No, I believe you I’m just…surprised.” You’d found the song by accident and liked it. “It’s one of my favorite songs currently.” From the glances you managed to get at him, he was ecstatic, grinning at you but also jamming to his own song. The three boys fell into Korean, talking to each other about whatever. You tapped out the beat on the steering wheel, trying to soothe your nerves since he screamed and got your adrenaline going. If you didn’t calm down you’d have a serious case of suppressed road rage by the time you reached your destination. “So, have you lived here your whole life?” “Michigan?” He nodded. You nodded, sighing. “I’ve gotten to do a little traveling, but yeah. Born, raised,” You replied, leaving off the ‘stuck’. You didn’t have any specific place you wanted to go, you just felt like you were never going to grow past what you already were. Like you needed to take a step and do something more, but all you had in front of you was darkness and empty space. It was one of the reasons you had jumped at the unusual project of filming a vacation show with these boys. It was quiet, them listening to the new song—which was a country song (Compass by Lady Antebellum)—while you navigated the highway. “This is country music, right?” Mark asked. “Yeah, you can skip it if you don’t like it. I don’t care.” “It’s fine,” He replied, looking out the windshield. “So, how far is the town?” “Another twenty minutes,” You answered, glancing at the clock. “Give or take a couple minutes for traffic.” “Give or take…” Jinyoung said in a quizzical voice. Mark explained in Korean. You sighed, a little frustrated that you were limited in your ability to communicate with them. It was your job to look out for them, make sure they were fed, and show them different things. Take them on adventures that won’t risk their health. “Hey, what’s your favorite spot?” Jackson asked. “Like, in Michigan?” He nodded, smiling at you curiously. He was turned toward you, his attention focused entirely on you and your answer. “There’s a beach on lake Huron, with a clearing underneath a willow tree. My family went camping there when I was young. I would walk the beach for hours, then sit under that tree and draw. It wasn’t summer unless we went to that beach.” You sighed, thinking about the many summers you spent staring at the horizon, searching for inner peace. “Do you still go there?” “I haven’t been there in a couple years. Too busy.” You shrugged, taking the exit. “That’s sad.” You knew he meant it was sad that you weren’t able to get to a place you obviously loved, but it kind of sounded like he was saying it was a sad excuse not to go, or that it was a pathetic sentiment. You kept your mouth shut firmly. “Could we go there?” He asked suddenly. You glanced at him, a little surprised. “It…wouldn’t really fit in the schedule. From here we’re taking a two hour drive to the cabin at Tawas Point. We’ll reach there about…six, eight at the latest.” Six was already factoring in delays that were inevitable, like traffic and these guys getting wildly off-track.” “I thought there wasn’t a rigid schedule. There isn’t, but there’s enough of one that going all the way to Harrisville would be largely out of the way.” “How far out of the way?” Mark asked. “A little over an hour. Tawas is already out of the way, but it was the best option for staying overnight that was relatively close to our next stop.” You had been planning on camping out in a tent while they were in the cabin, but I guess the reservations that your boss made were a little different. You would have to stay in the cabin with the boys. At all of the stops on the trip. “Y/n,” Jackson said. “Yes?” Another question? How many did this guy have? “Jinyoung wants to know if we’re eating before or after going to the Christmas place.” “After. Why? Is he hungry? I have snacks in the cooler in the back seat.” Jackson relayed the information, sounding a little awed. “Wow, you’re really well prepared,” Mark said, sounding amused. “Done this before?” “Only a couple dozen times,” You replied, smiling. “With family and for myself.” “And with boyfriend?” Jinyoung asked. You scrunched your face. “No. I tried once, after we had been together for a few months. We broke up before night even fell.” “What happened?” “I told him we weren’t sharing a tent. Apparently that went against his plans.” You gripped the steering wheel. “Oh?” Jackson said. He sounded curious. You turned onto the road. “We’re here. Welcome to Christmas Wonderland.” ——————— You were seriously glad that they had been okay eating hot-dogs the night before. You all had arrived at the campground at about four, and after hastily dropping luggage, you all had hurried to the beach. The staff staying close to the boys while you enjoyed swimming away from the rowdy boys and relaxing in the water after the stress of the crowds in Frankenmuth. The staff had to leave around nine-thirty, and leaving you with the boys. Alone. Thankfully you had had the foresight to pack games that were easy to understand and explain. Like dice. Six dice, basic math, and a little friendly competition. But around the time you all got ready for bed, it got a little awkward. They automatically gave you the other bedroom, so that you could have some privacy. Jinyoung somehow managed to reign Jackson in and convince him that sleeping was a good idea and not another game. You retreated to your room after planning out what to make for breakfast, and managed to sleep until about five minutes before your alarm went off. You got dressed and sneaked out to the beach for a walk in the early morning sunlight. It was a beautiful morning. You quietly went back into the cabin. The boys were awake. And shirtless. It shouldn’t have mattered. It really shouldn’t have. Shirtless guys were sort of a dime a dozen when you were near a beach. You looked away, feeling embarrassed as they acted both surprised and embarrassed. “We thought you were still asleep,” Jackson said, holding a shirt but not putting it on yet. He sounded surprised. You gestured to the camera. “I went to the beach. Caught the early morning light.” He picked the camera up and watched the clips of the morning. You felt like your face was about to burst into flames. You didn’t expect him to watch what you had filmed and you hadn’t deleted the one video you got while you were walking back through the campground and stopped to pet the dog. “Wow, meotj shineyo,” He said, eyes fixed on the small screen. He was calm right now, still waking up, but when his gaze came up to meet yours, he smiled and looked at you so kindly. So, of course, you quickly looked away, back to the food that didn’t actually need your attention at the moment. You got the eggs ready to scramble, not wanting to go for something fancy when easy was just as good and less likely to get ruined. “Bacon?” Mark asked, coming over and looking. “Hope you like it crisp because…” You quickly pulled the pieces out, clenching your teeth as some of the grease popped and splattered on your hands. You were used to it, honestly. Besides that, you needed to make tomorrow’s breakfast as well since you didn’t fancy trying to cook breakfast on a grill or over a campfire. You were going to make breakfast burritos and wrap them in foil so that in the morning you could just heat them up and go. Which meant that after you finished making their breakfast for this morning, you would have to start on breakfast for tomorrow, and probably send them to walk around or to one of the playgrounds. Jinyoung started doing the dishes for you after they finished eating, though, defying your expectations. “Not that one, I’m going to make tomorrow’s breakfast.” You took the pan back and started preparing to cook eggs, bacon, sausage, onions, peppers, and potatoes for breakfast burritos. “Tomorrow’s?” Jackson questioned you, coming over and drying the dishes for Jinyoung. “But you just finished today’s.” “I wanted to make tomorrow easier. You guys can go to the beach or something while I cook. We have two hours before we need to hit the road.” You got out the packages of tortillas and then looked at them. They were all fixated on the ingredients you had out. “What are you making?” Jinyoung dried his hands and checked the peppers, looking mildly relieved for some reason. “Breakfast burritos. I know it’s nothing fancy but…” You trailed off, worried that you had wildly miscalculated when it came to feeding them. “Will they be spicy?” Jackson asked. “I can leave the peppers off,” You replied, glad you hadn’t cut into them yet. “You know, if you want I can just cook up the ingredients and you guys can tell me what you want in yours…” “We can help!” Jackson smiled at you. Mark had the camera and had been filming this whole time apparently, but he agreed with the other two boys. After the ingredients were all cooked (aside from the cheese, of course) and in seperate dishes you made your own burritos to show them how to roll them and wrap them in foil. You also did Mark’s burritos since he was filming the making of the burritos. Jinyoung managed to successfully fold his into burrito form and then wrap them in foil. Jackson tore the first attempt, which you ended up wrapping differently for him, but got it on the second try. Then they went down to the bathrooms to clean up and officially get ready for the day while you used up the rest of the ingredients in extra burritos, then put them in the cooler and finish packing up the rest of the supplies. Their staff came and picked up the major luggage and then left to get to the next campground ahead of you all. They would spend tomorrow with you all, since you had told them that rain was in the forecast and you had that cabin for two nights in the first place to allow them to recover from today’s activities. The first of which was the stop at Iargo Springs. Jackson looked down as the stairs continued. “How many steps are there again?” “Three hundred,” You answered, continuing down the wooden stairs. “And if we’re quiet, we might spots some wildlife, particularly birds.” He nodded then took your hand. You had noticed that he would take your hand, and walk between you and other groups of people. He was actively trying to take care of you, and protect you, treating you better than anyone ever had. It made you feel incredibly guilty, because it seemed like you weren’t taking as good of care of them. “What kind of trees are these?” “Hemlocks, mostly, though farther down I think there’s some white cedar and birch,” You answered, having learned about the trees from your many adventures. In all honesty, you had chosen this place because you liked it and because it might burn some excess energy from the boys. You hadn’t known what to expect for the trip. It was beautiful and peaceful and you could pretty much recite the significance of the area that was written out in signs at the Lumbermen’s Monument down the road further. The one crawling with kids and families where all you really saw at the bottom of the steps was a historical replica of a raft with wax food in glass cases explaining the life of lumbermen. Iargo springs, in comparison, had some wildlife and the springs themselves created waterfalls that gave the whole area a sort of tranquility that you sincerely needed after the awkward night and morning in the cabin with the boys. “So, this place…” Jinyoung asked, looking back at you. “Several springs come out of this hillside and feed the lake, which was used largely for transport of timber. It’s really…” You felt stupid for planning this stop. “There isn’t that much to see, but it’s…” “It’s seems really peaceful,” Mark said, giving you a smile. You attempted to smile back, but failed to smile convincingly enough for Jackson. “I want to know everything,” He said, gently pulling alongside him and down the rest of the steps. “Where’s the water?” You stopped him and pointed. “There’s where some of it is coming from right there.” He looked and then looked at you. “It’s coming out of the ground?” “Yeah, there’s a sign explain—” “I want you to tell me.” You stopped yourself from finishing the sentence and slowly nodded. “Groundwater. It flows deep in the soil until it reaches a point where it breaks the ground surface such as on a hill. This water will be…almost completely uncontaminated at the mouth of the spring. At least, what I know of it.” He nodded slowly, processing what you said. “Then what?” “The water flows down the hillside together in a stream or creek or whatever you want to call it, meeting up with other bodies of water. This is a place where you can see many stages of streams because there are a few springs that come out of this hillside and all of them go into the lake.” You pointed to the larger stream. “Why is there a dam?” Mark asked. “I have no clue. I’ve been trying to figure it out for years. Maybe they were trying to create more wildlife habitat or maybe they didn’t want to damage the hillside or anything by trying to tear it apart.” You shrugged. Mark nodded, then he and Jinyoung wandered off down one of the sections of boardwalk. Jackson was studying the water. He was quiet, which was unusual. He seemed to talk almost constantly, seeming unable to abide silence. Part of you was relieved because you often didn’t know how to fill the silence, and because your life had had so much silence lately. The other part of you was bracing for the onslaught of questions that would follow his silence. You took a deep breath, and leaned against the rail. “Sorry you’re stuck with us.” You looked over at him, surprised. “What?” “I’m sure you’d rather be hanging out with friends than taking us around.” “Oh, no, this is probably the most exciting thing I’ve done in months.” He didn’t say anything else, just took your hand again and started walking down a boardwalk toward the lake. “What do you do in your spare time?” “Sleep, watch TV, volunteer at the animal shelter,” You replied, shrugging slightly. Jackson tilted his head. “You…” He seemed to be struggling, mouth opening and then closing with no words coming out. “You’re okay with the trip? I know you weren’t expecting to stay with us. I saw the tent in the trunk.” “It was a surprise. Um, we should both probably be using the cameras.” Although, Jinyoung had been using the main camera. Jackson nodded and took out the camera. He started talking to it in Korean and filming the scenery. You let him film alone, walking back up to the stream, taking off your shoes and dangling your feet in the freezing water. It was so cold it almost hurt, but you knew your feet would go numb soon and match the rest of your body. Jinyoung crouched next to you, startling you for a moment and giving you the camera, then went off down another branch of the boardwalk. You sighed and carefully started filming the area. You did your best to capture the area, and the boys in the area. All three boys were chatting on one of the decks that was out in the lake, goofing off and laughing—mostly because of Jackson. You caught them laughing on camera, doing your best to capture each of them as they were. Jackson noticed you and laughed again, grabbing Mark, and looking embarrassed. You smiled a little and then gestured for them to continue whatever it was that they were doing. They started talking to the camera, every once in a while asking you questions about the history of the place or clarifying different things. They were definitely used to being in front of a camera. You pointed out into the water. “Ducks.” Jackson looked and got excited. “Hi ducks!” You sidestepped carefully so that they wouldn’t catch you on their cameras. Finally, they started heading back to the stairs. You followed, keeping up with them as they talked, not understanding a single word they said. It was strange and lonely, being with people and yet not being a part of the group. Once you were all back in the car, the boys were in the back, still talking about the trip and everything while you drove. You were bummed. You were second guessing everything you had planned for the trip. You hadn’t wanted to do anything too cliche, but maybe you should have. More activities. “Y/n,” Jackson touched your shoulder. You flinched. “Yes?” “You said we were going to go hiking?” You chewed your lip. “Um, possibly.” They had liked the beach. The beach was a good idea. Hiking? It didn’t seem likely that they would enjoy that, especially since this stop had been such a dud. “There isn’t time?” Jinyoung asked. “No, there’s time…” You answered, but you weren’t sure how to explain that you didn’t want to bore them. “Are we hiking today or another day?” Mark asked. Jackson pointed out the window. “Ice cream! Can we get ice cream?” You automatically pulled into the ice cream shop. Things like this were one of the reasons that you had scheduled extra time between stops and extra down time. For ice cream. The boys piled out and you pulled out the money for their food. “So, we normally have to play some sort of game to get money for food,” Jackson told you. “Um…” You looked at the three boys. “Like what?” “Uh…” The other two boys conferred with him, but they seemed to be stumped. “Like…Simon Says?” You asked, scratching at your arm where you got a mosquito bite. “Yeah, like that,” Mark answered, then said something to the other two that seemed explanatory. They nodded and got excited. Mark nodded to you. “Go ahead.” It was probably the weirdest thing you had ever done, playing Simon Says with three full-grown men, in the parking lot of an Ice Cream shop with the few guests there watching. You also had to figure out the criteria for getting money for food because at the moment they were just playing. Jackson was the first one out and he sort of shrieked and ran to the van to hit his head against it. Jinyoung got a pass one of the times because he hadn’t understood what you had said and the other two were okay with it, but then he did something when you didn’t say ‘Simon Says’ and left Mark as the winner. You made your way over to the menu to check out prices, having overheard what each of the boys was really wanting, you finally came up with a plan and handed each of the boys their share according to who won and such, but made sure they each still had enough for what they wanted. Jackson got excited, hugging you and and then growing still as he waited almost impatiently for his turn to order. He looked back at you and pulled you up next to him. “You have to get ice cream too.” “I’m the driver,” You answered, but you couldn’t help but smile. “That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get ice cream. I’d feel bad if you didn’t get any.” You shook your head. “I’ll get a milkshake then.” You dug into your purse and checked your wallet for cash. A small milkshake it would seem. You must have left your cash in your backpack, which was underneath the boys’ backpacks in the trunk. Jackson kept you close. “Are you having fun?” You nodded, only partially lying. Watching the boys play Simon Says was funny, and the time in Frankenmuth the day before, as well as the time on the beach both last night and this morning had been great. But constantly being an outsider, in charge of their entertainment, feeding and general welfare and safety was…hard. You hadn’t realized how lonely you would still feel, even distracted as you were. Jackson gently pulled you forward again as the line moved. “You are?” “Yes,” You replied, making sure to smile. He looked at you, looked in your eyes, and somehow you knew that he didn’t believe you. That he was worried. He got a little solemn, his gaze darkening. “We really did like that place. We don’t get to go somewhere that peaceful very often. It was beautiful.” “Beautiful, yeah,” You looked away, still smiling. Jackson took your hand. “Where are we going hiking?” “You guys don’t want to go hiking, it’s not exciting enough for you guys. You’ve seen everything,” Your said, then your eyes widened as you realized you were complaining out loud to him. “I’m sorry, ignore me, I’m just rethinking my plan for the trip.” “What? But why?” Jackson asked, squeezing your hand. “The plan looked great.” “It doesn’t take a mind reader to know that you three are city boys. There’s only so much of being one with nature that you can take. I don’t know what I was thinking with all of this. I should have planned more city stops.” He said something in Korean, then put his arm around your shoulder. “We’re doing everything you planned. If you don’t think the boys will like it, then you and I will go. That way if I get hurt, you can go for help and if you get hurt I can carry you.” Mark turned. “We could always cook dinner while you two are gone and make it a sort of competition. Whoever cooks you the best dinner gets the most spending money for the day.” Jinyoung, the only one following the instructions of filming everything since you had put the camera away after filming them playing Simon Says (because it was too good to miss), slipped up next to Mark so that all four of you were on the camera. You turned away, shielding your face. “They’ll blur your face out later,” Mark reassured you as Jackson pulled your hand from your face. “Stop it, you’re beautiful, they should see you.” Jackson finally trapped your hands away from your face and turned you toward the camera. “We’re getting ice cream! Then we’re going to go hiking and it’s going to be great!” You felt your phone vibrate from a text, and checking it let you know that their staff already checked you all into the next cabin, had dropped off their luggage, and were checked into their hotel rooms. “Oh, it’s your turn, Jinyoung,” Mark said, pushing the other boy to the window to order. You got closer to the prices and realized, after checking your wallet for change, that you didn’t actually have enough for even the small milkshake. You had really messed up. Jackson gave you a confused look as you pulled out of line and went back to the van, pretending you had gotten a call. You went into the van after ‘ending your call’ and waited in the driver’s seat, feeling like an idiot. You texted your mom, letting her know that you were alive and that everything was going ‘great’—because if you had used ‘fine’ your mom would be calling you and you weren’t about to deal with that. A little while later, all the boys piled in, Jackson getting in the front seat. He set a chocolate milkshake cup in your cup holder. You looked up, surprised. He was looking at his ice cream as he ate it. “We should get going if we’re going to hike, right?” You glanced back at Jinyoung and Mark, but they were also carefully avoiding looking at you. “Yeah,” You murmured, facing the road and turning on the van. Mark had his headphones on about five minutes into the trip, and Jinyoung was following suit. Jackson was seemingly absorbed in his ice cream, but the minute the boys were listening to their own music he cleared his throat. “You didn’t have enough cash. All three of us had some left after getting our own.” “Thank you,” You murmured. The rest of the hour-long drive was spent talking to him. Nothing major or personal, just talking. You guys talked about dogs, friends, cats, television, food, and books. Once you reached the campground, he woke the boys while you got out and went to unlock the cabin and check out the bedding situation. Three bunk beds, one with a full-size bed on the bottom. All one room. Fire pit and grill outside for cooking. Propane heat if it got cold. “I got your backpack for…” Jackson trailed off as they came in. “One room?” “Yup.” You took a deep breath. “It’s fine. I’ll figure it out.” “She gets the big bed,” Jinyoung said, putting his backpack on one of the top bunks of the twins. “Oh, no, that’s okay…” They were already moving around to make sure it was that way. Mark and Jinyoung checked out the cooler to figure out what they could try and make for dinner in a few hours and you went over the campground maps. “We’re not far from two of the lakes, so you two could go down to them as well while we’re hiking.” Mark nodded, coming over to look at the map. “Where will you two be going?” “Probably the Au Sable trail.” You traced the path, considering your options. Jackson was changing into better shoes for walking, talking with Jinyoung. You grabbed a couple extra granola bars, and water bottles, shoving them into your backpack with the first aid kit. “We’ll drive down to the parking lot here, near the trail head. That way if your staff planned on the museum it won’t be a repeat for you.” Mark nodded. “How long will it take?” You shrugged a little. “Two hours, maybe? It’s hard to say.” He nodded. “We’ll aim for dinner being ready at seven.” “Sounds good. Ready Jackson?” Jackson handed you the camera and case, and grabbed his camera. “Ready.” ————— Jackson’s arm wrapped quickly around your waist and pulled you back, insistent on taking a picture with you. You groaned in mock frustration, giving in to his goofiness. He switched the camera to his other hand cupping your cheek and jaw as he turned it toward the camera. Except he turned your head so that you were facing him, looking at his face, his smile. At first you were surprised, then you sort of lost your train of thought as you just admired the man that was completely off limits. Then you regained your senses and ducked out of his grasp. “Were you smiling?” “I don’t know, you were squishing my face,” You replied jokingly, flashing him a grin. He started protesting, saying that you had to take another, but gave up when he realized you were getting farther ahead of him and he didn’t want to be alone. He caught your hand as he caught up, noticing that you had filmed the whole thing. “Oh, come on…” “It was cute, your fans will like it,” You teased, surprised at how easily the two of you were interacting after talking in the car. He was quiet. “Cute?” You looked over at him, worried he had taken your sentence the wrong way, but he was looking at you, a bit of a smile on his face. Actually, the look on his face just made your cheeks burn with the amount of teasing you expected from him. He kept a firm hold on your hand as you hurried to keep moving. You had to remind yourself that as long as one of the cameras was on there was an audience. You weren’t about to keep flirting (oh God, you didn’t even know you knew how to flirt) with him when someone else would see this. But you wanted to. You wanted to keep teasing him and flirting, and see how far past the limits you could push yourself before remembering that you only had a few days with him. He seemed more natural alone with you. He talked about his parents and the other members, his brother and his music. Maybe it was because he knew they would probably just have the hike on fast-forward or something. “So…you’re thinking of quitting your job?” He switched the topic almost seamlessly, but left you stumbling. “Um…” You huffed slightly to calm yourself. “I don’t know. I’ll probably try and get a different job before I quit this one. Maybe try a different town. It just…it feels like it’s time for a change, but I don’t know what that change is. It’s just something in the air…” He squeezed your hand, which somehow said so much. It made you think of how he had acted like a body guard at the hotel, standing outside your door while you packed up your things, and then took your suitcase as if it was his job. It was like you two were in this little dance of who was taking care of whom, and both of you wanted to win, but also wanted the other to win. “Oh, watch the branch,” He said, hand covering your head and guiding you under it as you tried not to laugh. “Be careful.” “Yes, Jackson,” You responded in a teasingly patronizing voice. He immediately went into a sort of hyena laugh. “Sorry, sorry.” You started laughing, then impulsively kissed his cheek. Then you panicked and ripped your hand away, running down the path. You watched your steps so that you wouldn’t trip and fall, but you were scolding yourself. You couldn’t just kiss his cheek! “Y/n!” You ran around a bend, and down to a huge white pine, ducking behind the trunk to catch your breath and possibly your sanity. Forget quitting, you could get fired for this. “Y/n!” Jackson called again, sounding worried. Finally he reached a point in the path where he could see you. You gave him a shrug and a smile. “Let’s keep moving.” He caught your arm, stopping you. “Hey…” You didn’t look at him. He leaned in close and softly kissed your cheek. “Those guys that you dated were idiots if they lost you.” You looked at him, eyes wide with surprise. You didn’t know what to say. His gaze was intense, serious. “You’re so caring. Loving.” You almost wanted to run away again, but you were glued to the spot. He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to your lips. “Maybe you felt a change in the air because you were about to meet me.” He then took your hand and gently pulled you down the trail. The two of you didn’t speak the rest of the hike, but kept glancing at each other with soft smiles and secrets. He would squeeze your hand gently, then pull you closer to him, almost like he felt you start to drift back to reality. Drifting back to the knowledge of the fate of any relationship the two of you could form, only to be drawn back to his side. Every once in a while, he would stop to admire the scenery, then steal a kiss. And with every stolen kiss, you felt this bond between you grow stronger. You didn’t know what would happen if you were torn apart. Jackson sighed when the trail-head came into view. “Can’t we…I just wish…” “We should stop now, before we hurt each other.” He frowned. “I don’t want to stop now. We have time together. We’ll figure out what will happen later. Let’s just…enjoy each other’s presence right now. Can’t we just…” “Don’t you have a contract?” He froze, his gaze shifting away from you. “Yeah…I do…” “So technically, you’ve already broken it just by kissing me. Don’t risk your career on me, Jackson.” “You researched me,” He murmured. “You already checked to see if I could have a girlfriend. You like me. You like me enough to check and see if I could even have a girlfriend. When did you look that up?” “I was in the car for a while pretending I was taking a phone call.” You hugged yourself, pulling your hand free of his. “Besides, it was just to try and knock me back to the ground. I mean, while there’s something romantic in the idea that a guy would give something up for a girl he likes…but I would feel guilty for the rest of my life if anyone ever did that.” “What if…what if we just talked? What if we just got to know each other? If we’re still interested in each other when my contract is renewed…” He stepped in close, gently pulling your arms from around you so he could take both of your hands in his own. “I may not seem like it, but I’m patient. And I come to America for tours. It could be fun to sneak around and see each other.” You shook your head. “You already miss seeing your family. You deserve to find love and happiness at the right time, with the right person. That isn’t me.” He just held onto your hands more tightly. “But…” “Don’t, Jackson. We both know how this ends. We part ways and never come back together because this is one of those things where we’re just thrown together and once we part there is nothing to bring us together again.” “I’ll bring us together again,” He argued, his arm going firmly around your waist. “Don’t you want to at least try and fight for us?” You looked at his face, so serious and determined. You did. You wanted to forget all the things that would prevent you from being together and just enjoy being with the sweetest, most considerate man you had ever met. But after fighting yourself, fighting work to just get through the day… “You do,” He answered, reading your face. He licked his lips, the pressed his forehead to yours. “You’re tired, but you want to fight.” You closed your eyes. “You’re the first man I’ve ever been drawn to so strongly. The first person I’ve ever spent so little time around and yet felt so attached to.” “This feels right,” He finished your thoughts in a low tone, his voice deepening attractively. He gently pressed a kiss to your lips. “But you’re tired. You’ve been fighting since before you met me. Stop fighting, rest, then fight for us.” You instinctively curled into his chest, resting his head on his shoulder. “Okay.” “Really?” You nodded, then peeked up at him. “I’ll fight for us.” He grinned. “So, we can worry about the dating ban later?” You nodded again. He kissed you again. “Good. Because I like you a lot. The guys will help us sneak around, not that we need to since we’re basically doing all the filming ourselves. They already thought that…well…they knew that I liked you. They only backed out of the hike because they knew.” You groaned. “Ugh, the schedule. I have to work on it, refine it. We should—” “Whoa, hey, the schedule looks great to us. We thought it looked good. We especially liked the extra time on the beaches.” He grinned and wrapped his arms around your waist. “Now, why don’t we take that other trail?” “Why do I feel like you don’t want to hike?” You teased. He kissed you again. “I do. I just want to do it with you. I want to hold your hand. I want you to show me your favorite things about the trails. I want to be alone with you while I can.” You smiled at him. “Or we could go back to the cabin to make sure our dinner is edible.” “They can cook!” “How well?” You asked, folding your arms. He looked away blankly. “Yeah, we should go make sure our food is edible.” You kissed his cheek. “We’ll have plenty of time together.” He smiled again and nodded. “I hope we don’t accidentally poison you and ourselves.” “That’s what I hope to prevent. Mostly I just want to make sure that they figured out how to use the grill. Charcoal can be tricky.” He nodded and led you back to the car, arm around you protectively. A perfect gentleman. —————— Sneaking kisses, holding hands, getting hugs, and sharing conversations with Jackson had become your favorite part of the trip. No matter where the two of you went, even with the other two guys and you making sure you did your job, it was like a whole new adventure. Beaches were the best. You all would goof off for hours at a time, and you felt like you hadn’t smiled and laughed so much in ages. The sunlight reflecting off of the water dazzled your eyes, making it seem so much brighter and more beautiful than ever. Which was the same thing that Jackson had done for your life. You had always guarded yourself from defining your life by who you were dating. You didn’t need a boyfriend to have a place in the world. But Jackson definitely brought out the best in you. He knew exactly how to make you smile, or when you just needed a hug, and he listened when you talked about things that you loved. He helped you be happier, just by existing, and even just listening to him talk gave you this sense of peace that you had been missing. There had been times over the trip when you definitely snapped at him, or he got upset with you. There are always those times, with anyone. Like today. You had been worrying about the schedule because if you fell behind today, then you might be late the next day. For their departing flight to Chicago. You were tired, worried, and dreading their departure because you knew you would have to say goodbye to Jackson and you just snapped at him. So he got upset and you two ended up arguing because you were ‘worrying too much’ and he was ‘being inconsiderate and delaying things’. Mark and Jinyoung separated you two for the ‘mission’ of finding souvenirs and eating once you reached Houghton, after arguing for the las half hour of the car ride from Pictured Rocks. You sighed, already feeling guilty. “I’m sorry,” You murmured to Mark, scanning the stores for content. Jinyoung and Jackson were eating and then shopping while the two of you did the opposite. “You’re tired. Arguments happen.” He shrugged, stopping and looking in a window. “But I hope you two work it out. I’ve never seen him so happy and peaceful.” “I don’t think I’ve ever been as happy as I have since I met him. I know it can’t last. You guys are leaving tomorrow,” You said, silently cursing the way your voice sounded. “And I have to make sure you do leave. It’s my job. It’s my job and I hate it. Besides…there’s also the whole contract issue.” Mark opened the door to a store. “Yeah…contract…” You stopped and stared at him. “What was that tone?” He shook his head. “I just forgot about it.” You didn’t quite believe him, but you let it go for now and followed him into the store. “You know, they’re really impressed with you. And this trip was really great. I mean, we ate good food and got to have fun and go to the beach. We learned a lot too. I mean, I’m from California. This is a lot different from what I’m used to, but it was also cool to learn about another state. You cooked for us, and you made sure that even though we had a lot of activities we also had time to just chill and do our own thing. They might consider hiring you.” He gave you a smile. You managed a tired smile in return, then turned to the owner and made sure it was okay to have the camera filming Mark, then nodded your thanks. “Maybe.” The two of you went around the store, then several others, finally finding a souvenir that he was happy with. Then the two of you went to a restaurant. You sat across from him, trying to figure out how to apologize to Jackson. “We’ll try and get you two some time away from the cameras after this,” He said, pretending you weren’t still filming him. There wasn’t enough time left in the day to talk to Jackson much more than to say that you needed to talk to him in the morning and to share a look that showed how sorry you both were. You cried late into the night, and your alarm woke you up far too early in the morning. You felt shaky and tired. You just wanted to lay back down and go to sleep, but no. You had to get up and make sure the boys would have something to eat before they got on the plane. You made a quick trip to the store and got some donuts, muffins, mixed fruit, and croissants. Since you had no way of heating any food up or keeping any food cold, you made the executive decision that they could spare the calories and that fruit was healthy enough. Then you cleaned up all of your stuff and set the food up on the desk in your room, getting out the plates and plastic utensils, and then hiding your luggage in the closet. You went to their room and knocked. Mark opened the door and smiled at you, but it was strained. The staff were already in their room. Before he could even say the good morning his half-asleep brain was still working up to, you flashed a smile. “I have food for you guys. Want me to bring it here?” “Oh, no, it’s—” One of the staff nodded. “Bring it here.” You nodded, still forcing a smile as you went back to your room, packed everything back into the bags and took it to the boys’ room to do what you had already done, again. You set it up, still forcing the smile. Jinyoung helped you pull things out of the bag and sort them on the table. “Did you sleep, y/n?” “Yes. How did you sleep?” “It was an early morning,” He answered, then put a hand lightly on your shoulder. “We didn’t know it was starting this early.” You just nodded, your heart heavy. Then Jinyoung knocked over the jug of orange juice, all over the food. “Ah! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” He rushed to grab the paper towels to try and clean it up. You looked at it blankly, stunned at how he had managed to accidentally knock it over and get all of the food, effectively ruining all but the fruit. The staff started making a big fuss. Jackson said something in korean, then repeated it a couple times before grabbing your wrist. “Come on. Let’s go.” You let him pull you out of the room and down the hall, then out to the vehicle. He opened the driver’s side door and basically picked you up and set you on the seat facing him. He kissed you, then rested his head on your shoulder. “I’m so sorry.” “It was my fault. I was tired and stressed and…I…” He looked up at you. “I lied to you.” You froze, choking up and ready to cry at those simple words. He lied? About what? Did he not…love you? He gave a shaky smile. “I don’t have a dating ban anymore. I just…wanted to make sure you really actually liked me. I had to see…you have to understand…I wanted someone who liked me for me.” You stared back at him. He wiped your tears away, looking upset. “I wish I didn’t have to leave you, but…can’t you…can’t we keep going?” He looked like he might start crying as he held a water bottle to your lips. “Drink.” You swallowed some water, then sniffled. “You can date?” “I can date. And I can love you better than anyone else. I should have told you sooner. It was stupid of me to hurt you like that. I’m so sorry for hurting you,” He murmured, closing his eyes and looking at the ground, holding both of your hands. “I’m sorry I snapped at you,” You whispered. “I’m sorry you’re always having to comfort me.” He kissed your forehead. “You’re always taking care of me. You shouldn’t be apologizing to me. I’m the one who lied. I’m the one who hurt you. I’m the one…” His voice cracked. “I’m the one who’s not going with you,” You said, taking the blame for the inevitable separation. “I’m the one who is letting go of us, and pushing you back toward your career.” He shook his head, breath hitching. “I fell in love with you the moment I saw you, you know.” “I’m the one saying goodbye.” “I couldn’t stand how that man treated you. He should be in jail.” You closed your eyes. “I’m the one driving you to the airport, and making sure you leave.” “You knew my song even though you didn’t know me, and you know all this history but you spout it out like you’re embarrassed you know it. You always seem to know when one of us is hungry.” You really had to fight that sob before you said, “I’m the one saying it won’t work out between us.” He was crying. “The way you look in the sunlight…” “I’m the one forcing you to let go of me.” “You’re sunlight off the water,” He said, and it stopped all the words in your throat. “If I look too long, I could go blind from how beautiful you are. You are the happiest place I’ve known in a long time. You’re someone I would have to show to my mom and dad so that they could try and share some of the happiness that you bring me.” You looked over to see Mark and Jinyoung and the staff all watching you two now. “Jackson…” “Please,” He pleaded, looking up into your eyes. There was so much pain and regret. “I know I should have told you. I know I’m asking a lot from you. But please? I’ll work everything out, just…come. I know you can’t come right now, but maybe later? Quit that job that hurts you and come with me and we’ll find you something better, together. The last ten days have been the best days of my life, and I don’t want to stop seeing you. Or we could meet in a couple weeks, when we’re in New York, so you can go and see your family. Just don’t tell me it’s the end. Don’t you dare tell me you don’t love me because I know you do. You wouldn’t be acting like this if you didn’t love me. You wouldn’t be pushing me away if you didn’t truly want what was best for me.” You let your forehead rest on his. “Of course I love you.” “I love you. So don’t tell me this is over.” “There’s so much in the way. Your fans won’t like—” “I don’t care. I’m not going to let anybody get in the way of being with someone that makes me so happy.” “Jackson—” “No. I love you. That’s it. If I could, I would give it all up for you. I would live wherever you wanted. But I can’t. I have a commitment, and…” “They’re your family. I know. I would never dream of taking you away from your job or your friends. I just…I don’t know Jackson. I don’t like not having a plan, or some sort of security…” He kissed you. It was weird since you were both crying and your noses were stuffed and honestly it was just awkward, but it was still nice because it was with him. “I will be your security.” “No. It’s too soon for that—” “Look, we don’t have time for more arguments. You have my phone number. Just tell me where you’ll come visit me when you decide. If you don’t text me or call me, then I’m going to assume you’re in the hospital. Got it?” You looked into his eyes and saw that he was as serious as the day was long. You kissed him again and nodded. “Got it.” He pulled you into a tight embrace. “I’ve got you.” ——————— You had to be out of your mind, and yet your parents—ever the voices of reason even in the craziest of times—were the ones helping you dive further into the insanity. They supported you when you quit your job, helped you move out of your crappy apartment and into their basement, and were now attending the Got7 concert with you. And it was great. You had delved into the world of K-pop to know some of their songs at least, and so that you could understand what it was he did and they were honestly one of your favorite groups. Their concert was amazing so far and even your father—the most closed-minded to music—was getting into the music and bopping along. You watched Jackson performing, loving him even more for it (it was hard not to). He had a sort of charisma on the stage, focused yet spontaneous. Present and yet so far away. Goofy and serious. He performed diligently, doing all the choreography with what appeared as practiced ease. He seemed more confident than ever. “You all having a good time?!” He asked enthusiastically as they all took a break from performing. The place erupted in cheers, and your mother’s was almost louder than some of the teenage girls around the three of you. Jinyoung was staring in your general direction, looking somewhat confused, then he was smiling and waving and you figured you might have just imagined he was looking your way when he was actually reading one of the signs. Your mother whooped in delight at something BamBam said to the crowd and suddenly you had a feeling that you just threw your parents down a bottomless pit. “Honey, any of these boys will be just fine with me!” Your mom yelled over the crowd to you. “I need one of those flashlights!” You handed her yours (the boys had given it to you at the airport for their little vacation show), turning it on for her. She grinned in delight and you were seriously concerned as she showed your father. “Sweetheart, that one there is Jackson, right?” Your father was leaning over to you behind your mother. You following his hand to where he was pointing and nodded. “Yeah. That’s him.” Since you hadn’t been paying attention, you weren’t quite sure what they were doing, but now that you were looking that them again you realized that Jinyoung and Mark were talking to Jackson. Jackson’s face turned to one of astonishment, then he looked in your direction until his gaze fixed on you. He brought the Mic up to his mouth, then let it drop, before bringing it up again. “We had fun recently, doing a split vacation. Jinyoung, Mark, and I were all in the same group and we went to a bunch of beautiful places and met a bunch of amazing people. Like my dawn.” The breath you didn’t know you had been holding left your throat, and you drew in another, holding it and wondering what he was thinking. “Every day was more beautiful than the one before. Except the last day. That was the worst. We didn’t want to leave, but we knew that our lovely igot7 were waiting for us!” He hyped it up, but you could tell he was still fixated on you. The other boys were smiling and laughing a bit. “Can I trust our lovely igot7 with a secret?” Jackson asked, looking around the place. Son of motherless goat…what was he doing? “Alright, I need all cameras off. I need your help.” He walked across the stage. The other boys seemed to know that this was going to happen. “I’m trusting you,” He said sincerely to the crowds. “Mom, we need to leave.” You grabbed her arm. “What?! But—!” “Alright, everyone, are you ready?” “Yes!” Your mom screamed with everyone else. Traitor. “You all will still love me, even if my love is shared with someone special, right?” He asked, looking out over the crowd. “Aw! You love whoever you want!” Your mom gushed. Your father busted a gut, dropping back into his seat since he knew that Jackson was talking about you—a fact that had apparently slipped your mother’s mind. “There’s this woman, I’m going to call her Dawn. Ever since I saw her, I started imagining my life with her. I want you guys to help me get my dawn up here. My sunlight. She’s here tonight, and I need you guys to help me because I can’t let her get away. I can’t let her be taken away.” He dropped his gaze to the stage. “I need you to love her as much as you love me. She’s scared of dating an idol. I’m scared of losing her.” He had the audience wrapped around his finger, and you had to admit that the way he was approaching this did seem to be the right way. That’s when you noticed that Mark was making his way towards you with the security guards. You had to make a run for it. Just, get out of the isle and run. You weren’t an idiot. You knew someone was still filming even though he asked them not to. Even though he said he trusted them. You certainly didn’t trust them. But you did trust him. Your thoughts delayed you from making your escape. Mark held out his hand for you, grinning. Your mom pushed you. “Go! We’ll see you back at the hotel whenever you decide to return.” You blushed at the implication, as if you weren’t already embarrassed enough, but took Mark’s offered hand and followed him and the security team back to the stage. Thank God you’d had the sense to dress well, and do your hair and makeup. Jackson’s smile as you came up on stage soothed any embarrassment you had though. He looked so excited that you were there. Damn you had missed his smile. Before you knew it, you were in his arms, your face hidden in his shoulder as he thanked the crowd for cheering. There. Right there is where you belonged. Not on the stage—there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell you belonged there—but beside him. You felt more whole than you had since he had left. You couldn’t get comfortable at home, or anywhere. You hadn’t been satisfied with anything and had felt restless. Thoughts drifting to him all the time and now you were here. Sure, he smelled a little since he had been dancing and it wasn’t exactly cool in there. His arms went around you while the other boys hyped the crowd up for their next song in a couple minutes. “Come to Korea with me.” You just nodded, not wanting to try and talk about the crowd from there. Or leave your hiding place. He took you backstage and kissed you. “I love you. Don’t go anywhere.” You nodded again. He grinned and ran back out. You leaned in an out of the way place and watched him shine on the world. Yeah, you could get used to this. It seemed like forever and only the blink of an eye before the boys were done with the concert and getting ready to go back to the hotel. You stayed in your spot, afraid of getting in the way. Jackson found you there and kissed you again. “Follow me.” You followed him out to a vehicle where the other members were, and greeted you with teasing smiles thrown at Jackson. “What about your parents?” Mark asked. “I’m meeting them back at the hotel.” “Those were your parents? I want to meet them.” You nodded. “Okay. They really loved the concert by the way. Mom is officially a fan and even Dad seemed to be into it.” Jackson grinned and the other boys seemed pleased at least. The rest of the ride was polite conversation. Then Jackson led you up to his room. “Are they expecting you tonight?” “Not exactly…” You murmured, feeling a little guilty. He smiled. “Let me take a shower, okay? Then we can talk.” He handed you one of his shirts. “Make yourself comfortable.” You met his eyes and smiled a little, but you were almost certain you were blushing again. After he was in the shower, you changed into his shirt and crawled into the bed, burying your face in the comforting scent of him on his pillow. A couple minutes later he crawled into the bed as well, arms wrapping around you and lips pressing kisses to your neck. “Comfy?” “I missed you,” You murmured. He seemed to relax. “I missed you too.” “I quit my job.” “Good.” “I love you.” He grinned and kissed you. “I love you too. Maybe it was fate that you had already liked one of my songs.” “Mmm, sing me to sleep again?” You rolled over so the two of you were spooning. He got comfortable and started softly singing some Chinese song. You could hear the happiness in his voice. In Jackson Wang, you had a permanent happy place. “Marry me,” He whispered. “Okay.”

Masterlist.

#jackson wang #got7 jackson #got7 fic #got7 #readerxjacksonwang #jackson wang x reader #sunlightoffthewaterfic

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