#Ban extended on flights

[scottiexmariee]

Ok so I've been loving all if the stuff you've been putting out so far, it's literally so good!!! My request is how the lads would react to you falling down the stairs and I'm talking like a long stream of stairs (totally not bc I fell down the stairs today while watching sylus edits hehehe)

First of all, omg, I am so sorry but I giggled. I hope you're okay!

Here you go, anon. I hope this is what you had in mind! Do me a favor and ban yourself from watching Sylus edits near stairs!!

How the boys would react to you falling down the stairs

Characters: Xavier x Reader | Zayne x Reader | Rafayel x Reader | Sylus x Reader Warnings: Stairs are your biggest op.

(little bit of falling, little bit of fluff. Lots of love for anon)

Masterlist

Word Count: 1.9k

☆ Man would be mortified.

☆ He turned his back for two seconds, next thing he knows you're takin a tumble

☆ Would most likely ban you from being near stairs by yourself again

☆ “You can take down wanderers, but lose a fight against stairs?” 

☆ Would let you lean on him for support the rest of the night (he knows it hurt)

The elevator to your shared apartment building had broken down. By the time the two of you had arrived home to find that out, it was 11pm, and far too late for maintenance to come out to fix it. You were stuck taking the stairs until maintenance arrived tomorrow morning.

Normally, this wouldn't be an issue. However, your day had been excruciatingly long, and the stairs were more of an obstacle and a hinderance than they should have been. Your body was sore, your legs felt like jelly, and you really hated stairs in general.

Xavier looked down at you, stifling a laugh at the exasperated expression on your face. "I could always just carry you," He offered, extending his hand.

Whether it was your pride or your stubbornness, you couldn't accept. "I'm fine," You insisted, although it sounded like you were reassuring yourself more than Xavier. "You're tired too. Go ahead, I'm right behind you," You would very quickly find out that your last statement aged like milk left out in the sun.

Xavier shot you one last skeptical glance before he turned and began walking up the stairs. You followed suit, doing a decent job until you stepped wrong and lost your balance. Your arms flailed, successfully grabbing on to nothing. The only audible indication that you were about to fall was the startled gasp that left your mouth, which caught Xavier's attention with just enough time left to helplessly watch you fall.

You stumbled backward, colliding with every single one of the 13 steps on your way down. Every single stair caused a painful shock and an even bigger dent to your ego.

Xavier was kneeling by your side in an instant.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his voice laced with concern. He helped you sit up, carefully eyeing you for any visible injuries. You were very sore, but luckily not seriously injured. At most, you'd likely be bruised in the morning.

You let out a huff of air, stifling a pained grunt in the process. "Well, that was embarrassing,"

Xavier stared at you, wide-eyed and looking like he was 3 seconds away from calling an ambulance.

"Xav. I'm alright," You insisted, twisting to lift yourself up.

Xavier intervened, quickly scooping you up before you could get to your feet.

"No," He said, shaking his head. "You're banned from stairs,"

With that, he began walking back up the stairs you'd just tumbled down. While you were nearly dying from the embarrassment, Xavier actually didn't mind carrying you. In fact, he'd rather carry you up and down every flight of stairs you encountered for the rest of your life if it meant he wouldn't witness another fall like that again.

Once you were safely at the top, he gently set you down outside of your apartment, making sure to keep hold of you in case you were unsteady on your feet.

"I can stand," You assured him. You were still heavily embarrassed, but ultimately thankful that he was so sweet.

He kept an arm on you until your door was unlocked.

"Is it too soon to say you should have accepted my offer the first time?"

You shot him a glare, although it lacked any real heat.

"I think I should stick around for the night, just in case you happen to encounter anymore stairs,"

❅ Professional Zayne mode engaged immediately

❅ Depending on how bad the fall was, you're getting a full body exam before you're even allowed off the floor

❅ and that's not it, either

❅ You think you might bruise? Cold Compress. 15 Minutes. Now.

❅ Man will be stressed for the rest of his life any time you're in the same vicinity as a single stair

Zayne had lost track of the amount of times he'd warned you to be slower coming down the stairs. Every single time you came down them, two at a time and at a speed that was less than acceptable, he'd get heart palpitations, convinced that this was the time you were going to fall.

It was coming, and he knew it. He warned you. You, however, tore through the house like a woman on a mission. You had a habit of learning the hard way, and you're simply too prideful to take his warnings seriously.

Until about 30 seconds ago.

You don't even remember what you were going to tell him. You'd been upstairs, he'd been downstairs. You raced down the stairs, coming in hot, and somehow miscalculated a step about halfway down.

That fall that Zayne had warned you about numerous times was finally a reality, and damn it was painful.

Zayne, from the kitchen, heard what sounded suspiciously like a body bouncing off the stairs and immediately stopped what he was doing to come check on you.

He rounded the corner, and there you were in all your glory: dazed, disoriented, and sore with a bloody lip serving as the cherry on top.

"Don't move," He said gently, kneeling at your side. With well trained eyes, he began looking you over. "Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere," You groaned. It was true. 30 seconds ago you were having the time of your life, and now you felt like you'd been hit by a semi truck.

The next 10 minutes consisted of Zayne thoroughly checking every limb, asking you to answer various questions ("what day is it? What year is it? Time? Count backwards from 10. What comes after W?") and forcibly holding an icepack to your lip.

He ended up carrying you to the couch, gently laying you down so he could continue what he was doing while simultaneously babysitting you.

He did not hit you with an "I told you so,"

Not yet, anyway.

However, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't looking for a house that didn't have stairs.

❀ He'd hear it from the other room and think a tree fell on his studio or something

❀ "Is it storming? I swear I heard thunder,"

❀ He'd make sure you were okay, but he's definitely teasing you about it later

❀ "I'm looking for a new bodyguard. Mine can't even handle a staircase,"

❀ definitely makes a moment post later on

❀ ^ "thought it was storming earlier. turns out it was just (Y/N) getting in a fight with stairs and losing. 10/10 ambience though,"

❀ on a separate occasion, I can see you both falling at the same time and blaming each other for it

While Rafayel was occupied with his current project, boredom had gotten the best of you. You began exploring the studio, surprised to find a set of stairs that you hadn't noticed before. Upon further inspection, they lead to an attic.

Curiosity killed the cat, so they say. You couldn't help yourself.

Was Rafayel an attic man? What sorts of trinkets did he stash up there? The questions were burning too hot to go unanswered.

Unfortunately, it was mostly old paint supplies and boxes of random decorations that had been retired. You were left a little unsatisfied, but you had gotten an answer.

As you began to retreat, you realized the stairs felt a lot steeper than they did on the way up.

It didn't take long for you to lose your footing. The sounds that filled the air were a symphony of thuds and curses.

After laying on the ground for a few minutes, trying to recover, you opened your eyes to see Rafayel standing above you.

"You good?" He asked, kneeling down. "I kinda thought you died,"

"I'm not good, but I'm not dead."

He gently checked you over and then extended a hand to help you up.

"I think you should stay away from stairs," He drawled, leading you toward the couch. "and I also think you should sit here and recover from that,"

You plopped on the couch, too tired to protest.

Rafayel studied you for a moment longer, wanting to make sure you were truly alright before he began the teasing. It was his way of lightening the mood. "Are you sure you're alright?"

You reassured him that yes, you were alright. He sat next to you, casually tossing an arm around your shoulders.

"Good, because we need to talk about your Bodyguard skills. You need training or something. You just lost a fight to some stairs,"

⟡ He was never worried about you around stairs before

⟡ but he's absolutely having remodeling done within the next 24 hours now

⟡ you are getting absolutely BABIED by this man the second he comes to your aid

⟡ You're not even lifting a fork, sweetie

⟡ You're getting tossed over his shoulder and carried like a sack of potatoes if stairs can't be avoided in the future

⟡ You're not going to get hurt again if he can help it

At times, Sylus thought it was cute when you shut your brain off around him. He knew that it meant you felt safe, and it filled him with warmth whenever he stopped to think about it.

He'd place a tactical hand over the corner of the table when you bent down to pick something up, just in case you bumped your head again, you'd hit his hand instead of the corner.

He'd gently guide you when you weren't paying attention to where you were walking, too engrossed in your conversation to look for obstacles.

You really only did it when you two were at the base. Sylus didn't mind, though. In fact, it was almost endearing, the way you were comfortable enough to turn off your spatial awareness.

He couldn't always be around to steer you away from obstacles, though.

And you, unfortunately, had a habit of walking around while looking at your phone instead of where your feet were going.

You'd done it again today. But this time, it had caused a problem.

You were walking down the stairs to get a drink, completely fixated on a video you were watching, not a single worry in the world about the steps. Sylus had chided you for it before, but it had never been an issue....until now.

You stepped too far forward and immediately ate shit the rest of the way down the stairs. Your phone clattered to the floor, ending up several feet away. Mephisto witnessed the entire thing and had the nerve to squawk at you.

To add insult to injury, Sylus just so happened to be rounding the corner just in time to see your disheveled figure crumpled on the floor at the bottom of the stairs.

He was careful not to jostle you when he knelt down.

"Can you move?"

You wiggled your fingers, your toes. Flexed your wrist, rotated your arms. Despite the horrendous pain in your side, you could still move. You answered his question with a nod.

He picked you up as gently as he could, holding you princess style with both arms, being extra careful.

"Were you on your phone?" He asked, already eyeing the evidence on the floor. The screen was shattered, but the sound of the video you'd been watching was still coming through the speakers. He'd warned you about walking distracted before, but was usually there to be a hero. Not this time.

"Maybe,"

He refused to get more than three feet away from you for the next several hours, constantly offering to get you various things you may need. Water? He's on it. A snack? You bet. Heating pad? Consider it done.

If you had known that accidentally falling down the stairs would cause Sylus to get all soft and cradle you like you were made of glass for the next few hours, you'd have fallen on purpose a lot sooner.

[callsign-rogueone]

fireproof - b.s.

cadet!Brennan Sorrengail x cadet!reader (young Brennan and Duchess!) words: 1.4k 🏷: no book spoilers because this happens before the events of fourth wing hehe. more of bb bren and bb duchess. set soon after the events of allies, so read that first! near-death situation / mortal peril, but no actual injury happens. I promise these two will communicate their feelings soon lol

You come to a stop in front of Brennan’s door, heart pounding. You hadn’t thought about this part, and you’re not sure what to do; you don’t want to knock, don’t want to wake up any of the other cadets -- it’s still very much four in the morning, and you’re not supposed to be out of your room.

You’re not supposed to be talking to a second dragon, either, but here you are.

Brennan pulls the door open, sparing you the decision -- Marbh must have woken him up. He’s quick to usher you inside, scanning you for injury. 

“This is going to sound absolutely insane,” you breathe, “but Marbh is in my head right now.”

He blinks the sleep from his eyes, still not fully awake. “What?”

“Marbh is talking to me. I have no idea why or how, and for some reason, I can’t reach Ban to ask.”

You both hear the orange daggertail’s response at once. “She is otherwise occupied, so she sent me.”

“That’s not vague at all,” Brennan says aloud, exasperated.

“If you must know, she is defending herself to the Empyrean right now.”

Your eyes widen. “The dragon council? Why?”

“That is for her to explain to you.”

Brennan notices you’re fully dressed, your longsword sheathed across your back and a thick cloak covering your shoulders. “If you’re going to find her, I’m coming too.”

He turns to open the closet, digging through it for a clean pair of flight leathers.

Your eyes catch the dark orange of the relic spanning his back, your cheeks warming as you realize he isn’t wearing a shirt. You whirl around, averting your eyes, but the sight is already burned into your brain.

You’d never realized how toned he is.

Focus, you tell yourself, shaking the thought from your head. Ban could be in mortal danger right now. 

“Ready,” Brennan says, shouldering his sword.

It’s absolutely freezing out, still the thick of winter, though there’s been a break in the snow this week, so you don’t need to worry about leaving footprints as you cross the courtyard.

Brennan leads the way, taking a shortcut through a door you’ve never even noticed before. 

Making it out of the fortress is the easy part. You step into the wet grass, and you realize you have no idea where to go.

“Marbh?” 

Silence. Literal crickets. Great.

You gather the slack of the black string connecting you to Ban and pull gently, seeing where it leads. Northeast, to the flight field and the vale. You make the climb silently, worried that if you speak, you’ll somehow alert whoever is threatening Ban to your presence, or that you won’t hear them coming.

You’ve never been out here, never been allowed to -- you still aren’t, and you probably never will be, but you push the thought aside as you continue. It’s surprisingly deserted out here, which is as equally concerning as it is relieving.

It’s so dark out that you almost mistake the orange daggertail ahead of you for Marbh. Almost. 

Marbh isn’t missing an eye; this is Melgren’s dragon, Solas.

His jaws open, and you know there’s no time to run, to fight, to beg for your life.

You yank Brennan behind you, praying to whatever gods will answer that your body will be enough to shield him from the fire.

It is.

You hear the roar, feel the heat, see the grass on either side of you catch, but you’re protected by an invisible wall that extends from your outstretched hands, keeping back the flame.

You plant your feet, fighting to stay upright and to keep doing whatever this is. It feels like you’re pushing a thousand pounds uphill, but if you stop, if you falter for even a second, or it will cost both you and Brennan your lives.

The blast stops, leaving a wall of flickering orange fire in front of you that fades after a split second.

You nearly collapse as you step backward. You’re exhausted, soaked in sweat and overheated despite the chill of the night air, your heart pounding and lungs burning like you’ve been running for miles.

Brennan holds you up, undoing the clasp of your cloak to help cool you off.

The ground shakes with the landing of multiple dragons. If they’re as mad as Solas is, you’re absolutely cooked. You have no idea how to do that again, or if you even can.

You want to tell him how sorry you are that you’d dragged him into this, that you shouldn’t have knocked on his door to tell him, you should have just gone alone, that when you die together, you'll spend the rest of your afterlife making it up to him, that your biggest regret in life will be not telling him how you felt about him, that you--

“Sorry I’m late, noble one.”

You whip your head up to see a black leg next to you. Ban. She’s brought company — Marbh, and a giant brown swordtail that you’ve never seen before. Brennan’s eyes widen in shock, but he stays silent, his arms still wrapped around you.

Marbh does not greet you, instead stalking past you toward the other orange dragon and baring his teeth in warning.

Oh, gods, are they going to fight? If Solas kills Marbh, it’ll kill Brennan too.

The brown steps forward, cutting Marbh off and stepping dangerously close to Solas. They lock eyes for a moment, and Solas backs up, but the other takes a step forward, forcing him to retreat. Solas quits while he’s behind, taking flight and disappearing over the ridge.

The brown dragon looks back at you, satisfied with his work.

“Thank you,” you whisper to him, still terrified. If he could scare off Solas, he must be even nastier — or he must have said something to him that made a difference.

He nods his head at you in acknowledgment before he takes off.

The sun is starting to rise over the mountains, casting the scorched ground in gold. 

Brennan’s hands are on you instantly, checking you over for injury, but you’re more focused on the perfect half-circle of green grass beneath you that hadn’t been burned.

“You’re a fire wielder,” Ban answers, sensing your confusion. 

You breathe a sigh of relief. Finally.

It had taken Brennan just over two weeks to discover that he was a mender, the rest of your class following suit quickly. You're the only first-year who is yet to attend Professor Carr’s lectures. 

You were beginning to think you might not have been going to get a signet at all.

“We never doubted you for a second,” another voice purrs -- not Ban or Marbh.

You startle. “What?”

A different one replies, a gruff male who sounds absolutely terrifying. “We’ve been watching you with great interest. I now understand what she saw in you on conscription day.”

This has to be a dream. There’s no way that four dragons are in your head right now.

“You’ll get used to it,” yet another adds. Five? 

“How many of you are there?” you ask aloud, eyes widening.

Another answers. “A dozen, for now. I am sure that many others will come to accept you in time.”

“Accept me? What?”

“As a human ambassador,” Marbh replies, as if it’s obvious. “We haven’t had one in nearly a century. It was about time.”

You notice a new string now sits beside the one you share with Ban, multiple threads of different colors twisted together into a thick rope.

You laugh in shock, processing. “But why me?”

“Because of this,” Brennan says softly, touching your forehead, “and this,” he rests his fingertips against your chest, keeping them there.

Your eyes meet, and you feel that magnetism you’d felt the day he’d first spoken to you. Your heart races under his hand.

“The boy is correct. You are the first in two human generations with this deep of a respect for our kind.”

You’re still looking at Brennan. You bring a hand up to grasp his, completely forgetting about the soot coating your fingers. It smears against his skin, leaving streaks of black across his knuckles, but neither of you seem to mind.

“Now would be an excellent time,” Ban prods.

You part your lips, working up the courage, but someone else speaks first; a human, that Brennan hears too, and the both of you freeze, turning toward the voice.

“Of all the students that I’d think to find sneaking out, you two were certainly not on the list.”

Professor Kaori. He looks thoroughly unamused, eyeing the four of you and the burned patches on the ground with suspicion.

Brennan looks back to you, and you nod in permission — there’s no lying your way out of this, not when the whole riot will know of the night’s events in a matter of minutes.

“You’re gonna want to hear her out, Professor.”

[newwritergirl]

Starting over | Part 19

Materlist

Summary: The pilots are finally on their way back home. Y/n can't wait to finally have Bradley and Jake back for good. But a looming shadow is out there to destroy everything, to destroy her.

Trigger warnings: 18+, Minors DNI, attempt SA, violence against women, blood, injuries, throwing up, language

A/N: This chapter is really heavy, please read the warnings!!! Thanks for the support :)

Word Count:4.2k +

Two weeks. It is Monday and Bradley and Jake are gone for two weeks now. Both aviators dearly miss their girlfriend and with not being able to contact her in any way their yearning increased every day they stayed on the carrier. But to be honest, at least they have themselves. Y/n on the other hand was alone. Okay, not really alone, she has Bob and Javy back home but Hangman and Rooster suppose that her nights alone must have been really lonely for the young woman. They just hope that everything is okay back home, that their girlfriend his healthy, physically as well as mentally.

"Lieutenant Commanders, take a seat!" The Commander of the aircraft carrier sits at his small desk in the belly of the big Navy ship.

"First of all I want to thank you for your good work the last two weeks. As you know we are on our way back to the mainland which means that you will leave us." The Commander tells them. They already know that their deployment is finally over and that they will be back home in the next hours. Thank God. Both aviators can't wait to see their girl shortly.

After the last meeting with the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier they start to pack their bags and literally count the last hours on the cramped ship.

---

To say Monday started crazy was an understatement. The whole datacenter of the Navy base had failed and y/n tried her best to keep the damage at bay. She had countless phone calls with It-support members of other Navy bases but even in the late afternoon she knows that she has to stay much longer to get everything back on track.

"You're still here, sunshine?! What happened to make it a short Monday?" Bob says when he steps into her office. He just ended the flight training with Javy and the recruits and had a short talk with Mav. Fortunately the older man told him that he banned Welsh from the base and gave him an arduous task to do at home. Evaluating flight data is the perfect assignment to do from home and to make it even harder to take for Welsh, Mav called him numerous times during the day to check how much he really worked at home. He just hoped he can keep up the charade until the Admiral is back in some days.

"Hey Bobby. What can I say, I wanted to stick to the plan, but then the whole datacenter broke down. I'm still trying to save some lost data. Probably until midnight…" Y/n says with an exhausted sigh. She was more than tired but she can't just leave for the night when she knows that her task is not finished yet.

"Ehm…did you hear something from Jake and Bradley? I mean, did Maverick tell you something?" The young woman looks up from her computer and into the warm eyes of her aviator friend.

"Hey. What's that sad look, sunshine. It's already two weeks. They will be back soon, believe me. Mav just mentioned that there was no message that their deployment will be extended. So I guess you will hear from them in the next days." Bob tries to reassure her. Unfortunately the pilots were not able to contact their friends and family back home to tell them they're on their way back, so it will probably be a huge surprise when they step into the base tomorrow.

"Okay, that's good news, isn't it? They will not be away for more weeks?" Y/n asks hesitantly. She doesn't want to come across too desperate but after the Welsh disaster she is more than ready for her boyfriends to be back home. The feeling of being unsafe and watched just increased over the last days even when she stayed the weekend with Robert.

Bob takes a step around y/n's desk and squeezes her shoulder softly. "No, in that case the Commander of the carrier would've messaged Mav or the Admiral. After all we are short staffed because Nat, Rooster and Hangman are away."

---

Bob left shortly after y/n reassured him that he can leave her alone. She doesn't want keep him any longer at base and she drove herself to work so there's no reason for Bob to stay any longer at work than necessary. Of course she has a bad feeling in the back of her mind but she tries to keep her panic and bad feelings at bay. She is a grown woman, she has to stay strong for God's sake.

The vibration of her mobile which lays beside her on her desk makes her flinch. The last days she didn't receive any anonymous messages but the bad feeling lingers still in her mind. She hesitantly grabs her phone but lets out a sigh of relief when she sees the sender of the message:

Pete Mitchell: Hello y/n, I hope you're already at home and not still at base. Please don't stress yourself over the lost data… Well I have good news, I just got an Email from the Commanding Officer of the USS Harry Truman and told me, that Rooster, Hangman and Phoenix will be back home tomorrow.

She can't believe her eyes and read the text more than three times. Jake and Bradley are coming back tomorrow?

Y/n: Hello Mav, thank you so much. That are really good news. And yes I'm still at base but I'm almost finished with saving the data.

Pete Mitchell: Y/n, please go home. We don't want you overworked or getting sick from the stress. Please go home!

Y/n: Yes Sir! Thank you for the good news. See you tomorrow. Tell Penny I say 'hi'!

Pete Mitchell: Of course. Good night!

They're really coming back. A warm feeling is spreading through her body. The painful feeling of loneliness and missing her boys is finally over. The young woman decides to call it a night to be somewhat rested when Jake and Bradley come back tomorrow. She can't help herself but imagine finally sleeping with them in one of their beds again. Their warm bodies caging her in a blanket of love and warmth. Y/n smiled to herself as she starts to pack her bag and shutting off her computer for the day when a loud bang startles her.

She knows this noise, it's the metal door of the back entrance of the office building. She absolutely hates it when someone bangs the heavy door it always startles her when she's deep in thought during work. But now it's different. It's too late for someone being at the office building, Mav, Javy and Bob are already at home and the Admiral is still at the conference. Her heart starts to beat a bit faster when she thinks about the person who enters the office building that late in the evening. Could it be a recruit who forgot something and just came back? Or it's Bob looking after her and wants to give her a lecture that she's still at work. Y/n hurries and shoves all her stuff in her bag but she lets out a shriek when her office door suddenly opens with a bang, hitting the wall.

Her eyes widen in surprise and fear.

"Hello, darling. I knew you would be here when I checked your home and this pile of junk of a car was not there" The man kicks the door shut and steps closer to her. Y/n stands behind her desk frozen in shock. What is he doing here? He is not supposed to be here.

"Cat got your tongue? You're getting ruder, darling. Not talking to me… bawling your eyes out and playing the damsel in distress for Maverick… You know what happened?"

Welsh rounds the desk, making y/n back away but there's no way she can go, her back is nearly at the wall behind her. The young woman's body starts to shake, she feels like a small animal cornered by her biggest enemy. She looks at the ground not daring to look the man in front her in the eyes.

"ANSWER ME!" Daniel screams and now stands so close to y/n, nearly toe to toe, making her jump. Big hands are shoving her shoulders, her back hitting the wall painfully behind her. Fortunately she can prevent her head from making contact with the wall. She needs a clear head, she needs to form a plan to escape before the man in front of her escalates further. Y/n knows that she has to look up and talk to him. Her ex always escalated when she stayed silent and didn't look at him. She slowly lifts her head. An ugly smile is spreading on Welsh's face when her gaze lands on his face. She can feel her whole body shaking like the temperature fell under the freezing point. The man takes another step closer if this is even possible and grabs y/n's chin painfully in one of his hands, squeezing and lifting her face further. His face is so close to hers that she can smell and feel his hot breath.

"Please…" An almost inaudible plea tumbles out of her mouth. She pinches her eyes shut. This has to be a dream. Maybe she fell asleep at her desk or even at home in one of the boys' beds. This can't be happening to her, not again.

"Oh she actually can talk." Welsh laughs into her face his tight grip on her face never loosening. "So, I like my women polite and 'please' is just the right start."

A tear is making down the way over her cheek. Y/n feels the blood rushing in her ears and her heart painfully hammering in her ribcage. Her body is in escape mode. She needs to flight out of this situation but she feels like she's glued to the spot. Where could she even go? The bigger man in front of her has her in an iron grip and is blocking her way with his whole body caging her against the wall behind her.

"Darling, why the crocodile tears? I know you want it just as much…" He licks over her right cheek, tasting her salty tear.

With all her strength she tries to shove Welsh away from her. Bile is creeping up her throat after she felt his tongue licking over her cheek. She catches him by surprise when she pushes him away and he stumbles a step backwards. But before she can make a beeline to escape his looming shadow he pushes her forcefully against the wall. This time she has no chance to catch herself and her head bangs painfully against the wall, leaving her dazed and with a ringing in her ears. Before she can get her bearings back a big hand is squeezing her throat and keeping her once more in place.

"Always playing hard to get, but at home you're fucking two Navy men." He squeezes a bit harder, his rage clearly audible in his voice. Y/n struggles for breath, scratching at the man's hands which have her in a bruising grasp. So he clearly knows that she is in a relationship with Jake and Bradley. But y/n couldn't care less, in that moment she just tries to fight for her life. When her eyes start to roll back into her head due to oxygen deprivation Welsh loosens his tight grip he has around her throat.

"Oh no, darling. We are not going to sleep." And with a hard slap to her face he brings her back to reality. Her head flies to the side and she instantly feels her cheek bruising and her head ringing. The taste of iron is spreading in her mouth. His loosening hand makes her sputter for air. With painful gasps she tries to get as much oxygen in her lungs. She is not a stranger to pain and no stranger to these situations. The huge amount of pain she already has endured is enough to fill more than only one life. Here she is again, at the hands of a monster with no way to escape.

"You really have a thing for pilots, don't you? But these cowards you have at home… now you have a real man here. Did they fuck you here at base? I bet not…" Welsh grabs her painfully strong at her shoulders to maneuver her to her desk but y/n kicks out her legs and smashes her smaller fists into his chest.

"You fucking bitch…" The man gets more furious with the woman fighting back. He tosses her smaller body with so much force that her forehead ends up on the wooden desk with a loud crack and she stays face down on the furniture she worked at only minutes ago. The already lingering pain in her head only increasing with the huge force her head cracked on the wood. A small puddle of blood is already forming under her head. It feels like her head is on fire shrouded in blanket of painful fog. A loud cry is piercing through her office when she feels Welsh's fist connecting to her lower back. She must've blacked out from the pain in her kidney where his punch was placed strategically. He grabs a fistful of her hair when he bends over the small woman laying on the hardwood desk, whispering into her right ear. "I prefer sluts like you six feet under, but I'm really happy that Michael was too dumb to finish what he started. I think you have potential to become a good little pet." His hot breath makes her shudder.

He knows everything of her, he knows her past, her pain and her traumas. And he's using it against her now. His words make her head spin even more and she closes her eyes to ease the severe dizziness. She's sure that she has a concussion and now and also some damage to her lower back and at worst to her damaged kidney too. With a sudden shove he flips y/n on her back and his hand is instantly back around her throat keeping her in place. The young woman is almost certain that she's not going to survive this evening. She sees the pure rage and hate in the eyes of the man towering above her, holding her in the laying position on her desk.

Welsh is satisfied when he sees the blood dripping down y/n's face and her bruised cheek where he slapped her earlier. 

"You know y/n y/ln, the first time I saw your cute ass and beautiful face I just knew that you were a slut." Welsh steps between her legs. With all her strength the woman tries to shut her legs but still dazed and oxygen deprived she can't seem to have the slightest chance against the evil man.

"Such a good body…" Daniel loosens his grip around her throat making her sputter again for air. His hands wander down her body, stroking over arms. The hot touch of his big hands make her shudder. It's nothing compared to the loving touch of her two boyfriends. His touch feels dangerous, painful and absolutely disgusting. His hands stroking up and down her shaking arms, he clearly enjoys y/n's desperate look and the tears streaming down her face. He grabs the collar of her white blouse and with one forceful pull he ribs it open, exposing her heaving chest.

"STOP!" Y/n screams and tries to punch the man with her fist. She can catch him in his face with her fist but unfortunately not strong enough to cause any damage.

Her attempt to fight him makes him only more furious and another hard slap lands on her already bruised face, this time catching her higher near her eye.

"You fucking bitch…" His other fist lands a painful punch on her side. She is sure he cracked some of her ribs. Gasping for breath and whimpering y/n whishes Michael had killed her years ago but images of her boyfriends come to her mind. The countless happy moments, their warm embraces, their strong but not dangerous holds they had on her during the night. She needs to fight. She needs to fight to come back to them. She doesn't want to be a victim and sure as hell she doesn't want Welsh to kill her.

With one of her hands she searches for the heavy paperweight she has on her desk. Jake and Bradley gave it to her last year for her birthday. It's shaped like a plane and made of bronze. Both were so proud that they found that useless thing on a junk market. Her fingertips touch the cold metal figure but she is not close enough to grab it and bring it into her hand. When she hears a zipper being pulled down she looks up and sees Welsh opening his trousers. It's now or never. She stretches her arm a bit ignoring the pain in her back and her ribcage where her ribs are probably broken. But it's still not enough to embrace her chosen weapon with her small hand. With another glimpse at the man towering over her she sees him distracted, fumbling with his crotch and his briefs. She has to act fast otherwise he steals the last spark of dignity from her. With a sudden move she raises one of her legs and kicks as hard as she can, hitting Welsh directly into his crotch. With a loud scream he scrambles back. Distracted from the pain in his private parts y/n is finally able to get the paperweight from her desk. In a daze, like she's observing the whole scenario like a bystander, she pushes herself up from her laying position on her desk and smashes the bronze figure on Daniel's head. With a loud thud he falls to the ground, his hands still holding his crotch. Y/n is out of breath, her lungs painfully squeezing themselves but she has no time to catch her breath she needs to run. She can't wait for Welsh to come to and grabbing her again. The young woman holds her hand to her broken ribs and with her other hand she fists her bag and stumbles in the direction of the closed office door.

---

 The drive home in Bradley's Bronco was a blur for y/n. She doesn't even know how she got to the parking lot and when she recognizes the driveway of their shared home it's more than a miracle that she was really able to get there without crashing the car. The Bronco comes to an abrupt stop, standing in y/n's beloved rose bed in their front yard with one tire. During the whole drive she didn't seem to feel the majority of the pain but now stumbling out of then car she cries out when she strains her back too much. Welsh punched her really heavy into her damaged kidney and now she's certain that at least some of her ribs are broken. Breathing is getting more difficult and her heart doesn't seem to stop racing when she fumbles with the keys to unlock the front door. Tears are blurring her vision, the concussion is making her head swim more and the dizziness makes it nearly impossible to take a steady step into the house when she's finally able to open the door. After locking the door behind her she stumbles into her bedroom, not bothering to turn on the light. It's already dark outside but y/n has no idea what time it is. For how long did Welsh assaulted her? Minutes, hours? Is it still evening or already night? The clock on her night table reads 11:56 pm but the whites spots dancing in front of her eyes make it impossible for her to see properly. Her hands are still shaking badly but she manages to lock her bedroom door. Too afraid that Welsh is looking for her and tries to break into their house. She stumbles further into her bedroom but on the way to her bathroom her knees give out and with a painful thud she falls to the floor. A heart wrenching sob escapes her throat. She still feels Welsh's hands chocking her until she was on the verge of unconsciousness, his hot disgusting touch roaming over her arms before he ripped her blouse. She feels the nausea coming back. Y/n knows she needs to throw up in the next minutes so she crawls the rest of the way into her bathroom and finally empties her stomach into the toilet in front of her. The heaves are painful and it feels like it's ripping her broken ribs apart further. Her heartbeat is painfully hammering in her head.

With a shaking hand she wipes the cold sweat from her forehead. A searing pain makes her hand withdrawal from her head and another loud sob is heard in the bathroom when she sees her bloody hand coming back from her forehead. She's bleeding. Y/n remembers now how hard she banged her head on her desk when Welsh pushed her forcefully. In trance she looks at her trembling bloody hand, pictures of the recent abuse of the evil navy pilot dancing in front of her eyes, tears falling into her lap. Her gaze lands on her ripped blouse and despite the shock she has another reality sinking in: He tried to rape her. He ripped her blouse, he was ready to hurt her further, he already pulled his zipper down, ready to attack.

No longer strong enough to hold her aching body up she lets herself sink onto the cold tiles of the bathroom, weeping breathlessly. The cold tiles which are pressing against her cheek are soothing the pain she feels in her head.

---

Y/n doesn't know how she rested on the cold floor, neither does she know if she passed out or just fell asleep out of exhaustion. She slowly blinks her eyes open and is instantly greeted with pain. Her whole body feels like she is on fire, burning from the inside. She once more is aware of the blood on her hands and her chest. Her head wound must've bled more when she was unconscious.

Y/n sheds her ripped blouse from her shoulders, getting rid of one of the evidences that what happened to her earlier wasn't a painful dream. She looks down at her upper body. Huge hand shaped bruises littering her shoulders and arms. She still feels his disgusting touch so she crawls over to her shower and tries to get into a standing position. The young woman wants to wash away his touch, her blood, she wants to wash away the whole attack.

"J-Jake…Braad…" she whispers to no one. She knows that she needs help, probably medical attention. Y/n needs her boyfriends.

On shaky legs she stumbles into the shower and turns on the water before she slumps down again in too much agony to stay standing any longer. The warm spray of water soothing her tense muscles but the pain stays in her body like a bad omen. When the spray finally hits her head the water is slowly turning crimson, washing away some of the remains of the recent events.

Y/n stays in the shower until the water is slowly turning cold and she starts to shake violently, now from the ice cold water and not only from the shock of the events.

When she finally succeeds to turn off the spray of water she crawls out of the wet shower and wraps herself into her fluffy towel as best as she can.

There she is, laying on the floor shaking like a leaf in her wet underwear in only a towel, slowly slipping into unconsciousness.

---

"Bobby!" Phoenix squeals when she sees her friend in the distance.

"Hey, you're finally home." Robert embraces Nat into a tight hug. Since they're all permanent at the base stationed and instructors for new Navy pilots the Dagger Squad are a very tight knit group and these last two weeks separated once more showed them all how dearly they miss their friends when being apart.

"I wouldn't call this shithole home, Bob." Bradley grumbles but pats Bob's shoulder in a friendly manner.

"Oh come on. This base is homey, the carrier was a shit hole." Nat laughs at Rooster's bad mood and she knows for certain who pissed in his cereals. He wants nothing more than to see y/n and is more than pissed that the trip home took them a bit longer due to bad weather.

Jake squeezes the shoulder of his partner in a reassuring manner. He also can't wait to see y/n, to kiss and hug her as tight as possible.

"Come on Rooster. Let's surprise y/n. She's in her office isn't she?" The blonde aviator asks Bob when all four of them make their way towards the office building.

"I think so, it's…" Robert looks at his watch, "…already 0930. Didn't have the chance to see her today. The crabs were eating our nerves today. You owe us, me and Javy." The younger man chuckles.

@djs8891

@darksparklesficrecs

@nerdgirljen

@abaker74

@crazyunsexycool

@itsarabellebabes

@lyn-js

[ntls-24722]

👏🏼 here's birdguy's fucked up evil skeleton

this is NOT me trying to specbio birdguy into a reasonable organism. NONE of this is reasonable. I don't even want to think about the consequences of having a body that includes any of this - this is me catalouging birdguy's anatomical oddities.

so going into detail, from top to the bottom:

what the fuck are those teeth?

lol. lmao.

so to explain it better than what might be visible, he has a horse mouth, his molars and incisors are seperated by a giant gap, like this.

but there's no good reason for him to have it. he has it because I just really like this, for some reason. for some reason this is just the ideal posturing, positioning for teeth, to me. I guess it could help so that when he smiles, he'll have spaces at the sides of his teeth like DJMM does? But i did it because i like how it looks

say, what's that awful DCA neck?

I like long necks. what can i say

I also thought it'd be fun in the fucked up way for his neck to be deceptively long. that his long voluptuous hair really IS hiding secrets in there, because mine sure could before i cut it (i could hide my big fat over-ear phones in there, very helpful for when my school banned headphones LOL). from a side view his head is probably pushed out more to the front, so he would probably get comments on his posture, but then he would just extend that awful neck out.

Keel....

birdguy is capable of flight. "but where is his wings?" in his heart. in his soul.

He has "phantom wings" out from his arms. He can turn his arms into wings, but he likes being "wingless" just because it's easier, both for flight and for just general dexterity. But, he still has to, yknow, flap his arms to fly, like this,

and that's actually probably why he still has so many bird adaptations, because he that's his whole point, that he is... secretly a bird. Like, the bird feet and the bird tail, the feathers, yknow, those are fun bird features, but they all come together with the things you can't see to make this birdlike primate a straight up bird.

Also, um, I'm kind of stupid? Because the whole reason why Birdguy is super buff is to facilitate flight, but it's JUST the pectorals that are super blown out in birds. Everything else is comparatively shrimpy on the arm. But yknow, i fixed that, though Birdguy can stay swole, as a treat to DJMM.

awful wrists

So, he can fold his hands the same way you can fold a wing! You can kind of make the motion for how it works, but it takes really seeing it to realize how tightly folded that shit is up in there.

LOOK AT THAT. THE FUCK??? BIRD WRISTS ARE LITERALLY KISSING THE FOREARM. You'd only be able to do this if you completely broke your wrist!

Or if your wrist was weirdly long.

So Birdguy's wrist is weirdly long! and what's funny is that the way I did this, his hand bones kind of look a lot like the endoskeleton for music man's arms? so fun fact, DJMM's wrist joint is at the very END of his glove cuffs, which is weird, glove cuffs are supposed to sit on the wrist.

So it kind of concludes that his wrist is super long for the joint to begin where his cuff ends, and the same goes for the windup music men who have the exact same joint quirk, and the long wrist theory is proved by their endoskeleton:

Superduper long wrist! Birdguy is unintentionally more DJMMlike in the wrist.

THE FEET??? THE FUCKING FEET ARMS????

LOL. LMAO.

so, the legs look weird. Listing the bones down, you have his femur, you have his fused tibia-fibula, you have that little cluster of tarsal bones... and then you get to the metatarsals that are, satanically, twisting over eachother like an ulna and radius. this is for no good reason other than to make it so that birdguy can be disgustingly dextrous with his feet

also, i CAVED. i DID add a little spec evo into this because I've decided that if birdguy DID have ancestors, they were 5-fingered/5-toed, but one finger/metacarpal got sacrificed and became part of his freaky long carpal, and one of his toes/metatarsals sacrificed itself to become a secondary "tarsal" for his disgusting, revolting little bird toe phalanges to sit on, on top of the metatarsal ulna-radius BULLSHIT he has going on. HEINOUS hypothetical evolutionary behavior.

[saddiedotdk]

Kamala Harris accomplishments as VP:

Cast tie-breaking vote for the American Rescue Plan of 2021.

Passed the American Rescue Plan, resulting in $1.9 trillion in economic stimulus.

Extended the Child Tax Credit through the American Rescue Plan.

Extended unemployment benefits through the American Rescue Plan.

Passed the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Secured funding for electric school buses in the infrastructure bill.

Secured funding to combat wildfires and droughts in the infrastructure bill.

Secured funding for replacing lead water service lines.

Engaged with lawmakers at least 150 times for infrastructure investment.

Led diplomatic mission to Guatemala and Mexico to address migration issues.

Launched the "Central America Forward" initiative.

Secured $4.2 billion in private sector commitments for Central America.

Visited Paris to strengthen US-France relations.

Visited Singapore and Vietnam to bolster economic and strategic ties.

Visited Poland to support NATO allies during the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Visited Romania to support NATO allies during the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Launched the "Fight for Reproductive Freedoms" tour.

Visited a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota.

Passed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act.

Promoted racial equity in pandemic response through specific initiatives.

Chaired the National Space Council.

Visited NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to promote space policies.

Passed the Freedom to Vote Act in the House.

Passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in the House.

Built coalitions for voting rights protections.

Supported the Affordable Care Act through specific policy measures.

Expanded healthcare coverage through policy initiatives.

Passed initiatives for debt-free college education.

Hosted a STEM event for women and girls at the White House.

Championed criminal justice reform through specific legislation.

Secured passage of the bipartisan assault weapons ban.

Expanded background checks for gun purchases through legislation.

Increased the minimum wage through specific policy actions.

Implemented economic justice policies.

Expanded healthcare coverage through policy initiatives.

Secured funding for affordable housing.

Secured funding for affordable education initiatives.

Launched the "Justice is Coming Home" campaign for veterans' mental health.

Proposed legislation for easier legal actions against financial institutions.

Strengthened the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Secured investment in early childhood education.

Launched maternal health initiatives.

Launched the "Call to Action to Reduce Maternal Mortality and Morbidity".

Made Black maternal health a national priority through policy actions.

Increased diversity in government appointments.

Passed legislation for renewable energy production.

Secured funding for combating climate change.

Passed infrastructure development initiatives.

Secured transportation funding through the infrastructure bill.

Developed a plan to combat climate change.

Reduced illegal immigration through policy actions.

Equitable vaccine distribution through specific policy measures.

Supported small businesses through pandemic recovery funds.

Secured educational resources during the pandemic.

Promoted international cooperation on climate initiatives.

Secured international agreements on climate change.

Passed economic policies benefiting the middle class.

Criticized policies benefiting the wealthy at the expense of the working class.

Promoted racial equity in healthcare through specific actions.

Promoted racial equity in economic policies.

Reduced racial disparities in education through specific initiatives.

Increased mental health resources for underserved communities.

Secured funding for affordable childcare.

Secured federal funding for community colleges.

Increased funding for HBCUs.

Increased vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Secured policies for pandemic preparedness.

Ensured equitable vaccine distribution through policy actions.

Secured international cooperation for COVID-19 responses.

Reduced economic disparities exacerbated by the pandemic.

Passed digital equity initiatives for broadband access.

Expanded rural broadband through specific policies.

Secured cybersecurity policies through legislation.

Protected election integrity through specific actions.

Secured fair and secure elections through policy measures.

Strengthened international alliances through diplomacy.

Supported the Paris Climate Agreement through policy actions.

Led U.S. climate negotiations through international initiatives.

Passed initiatives for clean energy jobs.

Secured policies for energy efficiency.

Reduced carbon emissions through specific legislation.

Secured international climate finance.

Promoted public health policies through specific initiatives.

Passed reproductive health services policies.

Supported LGBTQ+ rights through specific actions.

Secured initiatives to reduce homelessness.

Increased veterans' benefits through legislation.

Secured affordable healthcare for veterans.

Passed policies to support military families.

Secured initiatives for veteran employment.

Increased mental health resources for veterans.

Passed disability rights legislation.

Secured policies for accessible infrastructure.

Increased funding for workforce development.

Implemented economic mobility policies.

Secured consumer protection policies through legislation.

Engaged in community outreach through public events.

Organized public engagement efforts.

Participated in over 720 official events, averaging three per day since taking office.

Supported efforts to modernize public health data systems.

[xtruss]

Several Dead, Hundreds Injured in Pro-Independence Rallies in New Caledonia

Pro-independence protesters say France's new constitutional reform will dilute the share of the vote held by Kanaks, the Indigenous group that makes up about 41 percent of the population.

“World’s Most Wanted Criminal, Fascist, Extremist, Terrorist and the Butcher of Gujrat Indian Prime Minister Modi” urges Indians to focus on national development without making Pakistan a reference point. Photo: Reuters Archive

At least three people have been killed and hundreds more were injured during a second night of protesting in New Caledonia, authorities said.

Wednesday was the third day of demonstrations against a constitutional reform pushed by Paris that has roiled the archipelago, which has long sought independence.

Despite heavily armed security forces fanning out across the capital Noumea and the ordering of a nighttime curfew, protesting continued until overnight Tuesday virtually unabated.

The reform — which must still be approved by a joint sitting of both houses of the French parliament — would give a vote to people who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years.

Pro-independence forces say it would dilute the share of the vote held by Kanaks, the Indigenous group that makes up about 41 percent of the population and the major force in the pro-independence movement.

In Noumea and the commune of Paita on Wednesday, there were reports of several exchanges of fire between civil defence groups and protesters.

Security forces regained control of Noumea's penitentiary, which holds about 50 inmates, after an uprising and escape attempt by prisoners, it said in a statement.

Police have arrested more than 130 people since Monday night, with dozens placed in detention to face court hearings, the commission said. About 60 police have been injured, it said.

A nighttime curfew was extended, along with bans on gatherings, the carrying of weapons and the sale of alcohol.

The territory's La Tontouta International Airport remained closed to commercial flights and people were urged to restrict any travel during the day, the high commission said.

Pacific Rivalry

Macron said French lawmakers would vote to definitively adopt the constitutional change by the end of June unless New Caledonia's opposing sides agree on a new text that "takes into account the progress made and everyone's aspirations".

In the Noumea Accord of 1998, France vowed to gradually give more political power to the Pacific island territory of nearly 300,000 people.

As part of the agreement, New Caledonia has held three referendums over its ties with France, all rejecting independence.

As part of the agreement, New Caledonia has held three referendums over its ties with France, all rejecting independence. But the independence movement retains support, particularly among the Indigenous Kanak people.

A New Caledonia pro-independence leader, Daniel Goa, asked people to "go home", and condemned the looting.

But "the unrest of the last 24 hours reveals the determination of our young people to no longer let France take control of them," he added.

France's Minister for Interior and Overseas Gerald Darmanin attends a debate on the constitutional bill aimed at enlarging the electorate of the overseas French territory of New Caledonia, at the French National Assembly in Paris

Source: TRT World 🌎 And Agencies

[usafphantom2]

NASA postpones X-59 flight tests to 2024

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 10/20/2023 - 10:01am in Technology

NASA postponed the first flight of the X-59 low-noise supersonic demonstrator to 2024, after a series of subsystem problems found during verification tests at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, later this summer, proved more difficult to solve than expected.

"We want to fly as early as possible, but we want to fly safely," says the agency, which - together with Lockheed Martin - has solved a variety of problems of abandonment and redundancy of security systems in various subsystems.

First reported in August, the problems are related to the flight control computer and the hydraulic system and were found during structural coupling tests in Palmdale. The coupling tests were designed to evaluate the interaction between the fuselage and the flight control system, and to ensure the absence of any aeroelastic and aeroservoelastic instabilities.

Developed by Lockheed for NASA's Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) program, the X-59 almost 30 meters long was originally supposed to fly in 2021. However, the latest system-related delays add to a series of delays that included workforce hiring issues, the pandemic and technical challenges related to cabling and the integration of final systems. Until recently, the agency still expected to make the first flight of the X-59 by the end of the year, with a transition soon after to NASA's neighboring Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Base for subsequent expansion of the envelope.

Commenting on the delay, NASA states: “This unique experimental aircraft requires unique and complex engineering, and its team encountered several technical challenges last year. The X-59 is currently in the process of integrated testing, which must be completed to help ensure safe and successful flights. NASA plans to release a more specific schedule for the first flight when the flight readiness review is completed, after integrated tests."

The X-59 is designed to collect community response data on the public acceptability of reduced sonic rons. The data will be used by U.S. and international authorities to determine whether a growth standard can be established that allows the release of the current ban on civilian supersonic flights over land, which has been in force since the 1970s.

However, to achieve low-intensity sonic sonic roning at the projected speed of the X-59 of Mach 1.4, the aircraft is configured with a well-sloping hang glider and swinging extended nose section that represents more than one third of the length of the vehicle. Specifically designed with rigidity for high-speed testing, rather than resistance for payload capacity, the long and slender format therefore presents significant aeroelastic challenges.

Source: Aviation Week

Tags: Lockheed MartinNASAQueSST - Quiet Supersonic TechnologyTechnologysupersonic flightX-59

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[redwineconversation]

Olympique Lyonnais Behind the Scenes (Episode 4)

Blah blah standard disclaimers apply; @OL Comms the list of things I won't do for an Earl Grey with soy is surprisingly short; banning stans from stadiums would solve the problem REAL quick; y'all know the speech by now.

I like how this is a good and proper conversation. Tell me what makes you, well, you. We can get to the rest later.

This covers the month of December. It touches on the Brann game, which Damaris also does in the OL Night Systems interview (which is on my list of things to translate despite me being super lukewarm about doing it)

OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS BEHIND THE SCENES (EPISODE FOUR)

Vanessa Gilles: By the time December comes, the exhaustion is catching up. There's a combination of "I can't wait for the break" and "we have to finish well". The last two, three weeks of the first half of the season are always a bit strange. It was hard, it was hard just to get to the end, and to finish well.

[OPENING CREDITS]

[TRAINING FOOTAGE]

Amel Majri: It's true that we were in the winter period. It's cold, there's exhaustion, everything that happened in the previous months are catching up to us. We know that December is quite tiring. But we have a pretty stacked team, we have the necessary resources. But it's true that it's really draining.

[ENDLER EXTENSION FOOTAGE]

Gilles: It was great news. It's been a year now that I've been harassing her, asking her "are you extending, are you extending, are you going to stay, you're staying, right?" I'm happy it happened, I think everyone is happy it happened because she's the best goalkeeper [in the world], so - beyond that, she's a great person.

Damaris: She's like a big sister to me here. She's really important to me. She's always trying to help me. I like that, I need everything she tells me into consideration on and off the field. I'm happy for the team as well because for me she's the best goalkeeper in the world. I feel really at ease when I have Chris[tiane Endler] behind me.

[TRAINING FOOTAGE]

Gilles: For me, for Lindsey [Horan] as well, for Ellie [Carpenter] I'm sure as well, the travel as an international player is a lot. I don't think people realize it, but for example, you finish the game, you go home, it's 3am. At 6am you have your flight to Canada. It's a 16 hour flight, you have a game four days later, another game 2-3 days later. You finish the game, same thing next morning, you're rushing, you grab your bag. For the game against Lille, I came back Thursday night at 5pm and I can't remember what time the game was the next day but with the time zone difference, the travel, the exhaustion, the game was really hard.

[LYON - LOSC GAME FOOTAGE]

Damaris: Yeah, it's always complicated after the international break. But I think we started the game well, with a lot of intensity and goals.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Damaris: That's the most important thing, when you start scoring early in the game. You start playing with a lot of confidence. And, yeah. I think we really enjoyed ourselves as well.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Majri: Even though there was exhaustion, we were feeling pretty good. It was also important to us because we knew we were getting to the end of the year and we wanted to finish well.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Damaris: Yeah, the injuries, that's always a shame. This year, up to now we've been pretty good. But we need everyone to stay with the group because that way we're a really strong team.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Damaris: it's nice because in my position [ as a 6], it's unusual to score. I also wanted to score more goals because that way I feel more important because when you score a goal, you're doing something for the team. I tried doing that in the previous game but I was hitting the post I don't know how many times, and yeah. I'm happy when I score.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Majri: For the play, we're starting to feel better and better, the connections are in place. We're able to repeat it, and that's what we need for ourselves. And you can see it on the pitch.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Damaris: Yes, academy players are very important here in Lyon.

Majri: Having come from the academy, I think it's always good to have the opportunity to come on and get some playing time, because it's true that it's really hard to get. We often give it at the end of the year when it's the last game. But here they have the opportunity to come on and show what they can do. I think they were happy.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Majri: In that game, I had the opportunity to score. It was really put on a platter for me, I was five meters away from the goal. But it doesn't really matter what kind of goal, mentally it's always good for a forward to score.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

[VANESSA GILLES CONTRACT EXTENSION FOOTAGE]

Gilles: Yes, very happy that I was able to extend. It was at the beginning of December if I remember correctly. When you're at the end of your contract it's always a little bit at the back of your mind even if you're fully focused on the present, "what's going to happen, where am I going to be playing?" So to be able to extend and be relaxed and now that I am going to stay here at Lyon, that made me happy.

Gilles: When you extend, first you talk about it with those close to you. And those can be some of your teammates, for me I obviously talked about it a lot with Ada [Hegerberg], Lindsey [Horan], etc. The team knew a day or two after I signed. There were a lot of congratulations within the team. For me, when a teammate extends, it's always nice because you've already shared a lot of moments together and to be able to continue the adventure, and the friendship as well because in football as well it's complicated when you make friends, you become close, and then you change clubs. You have to find new - it's hard as well, it's sad. When Chris[tiane Endler] extended and told us, I was really, really happy. Same for Lindsey last year. And I hope a certain forward will do it very soon and we'll be able to congratulate her.

[LYON - BRANN PREGAME FOOTAGE]

Gilles: So the next game we played was at home against Brann. I think we were a bit taken back, I should say, by the formation they presented. It's not every day that you play against a 3-4-3. We wanted to do better than we did against St Polten. I think we did that.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Gilles: So our philosophy is always to press high, to put the opposing team in danger high up so we can get the ball back high and quickly break forward. The higher up you are, the closer you are to their goal. That's how Kadi[diatou Diani] scored the first goal. We were pressing high as a team, we got the ball back on the edge of the box, Kadi controls the ball and it ends up at the back of the net.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Damaris: Everyone knows Kadi[diatou Diani]. It's not a new thing for us. She scored a good goal but we need her to continue like that. It's really good for us.

Gilles: Listen, right before the game, when we were walking out the tunnel, we were teasing each other because Kadi had been scoring a lot of headers and it had been a whole since she scored with her foot. And we were telling her "scoring with your feet might be good, you know, just to change it up a bit." And, yeah. When she pulled that off, we had a good laugh.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Damaris: I think that's a little bit our philosophy as well, defend by attacking, always attack. That's how the second goal happened. The goal was important because it quieted the intensity in the game.

Gilles: I think we won back the balls which needed to be won back to be able to score. Sometimes when you play like that, you're playing with fire and you're going to get burnt. With the efficiency we showed, we were able to burn them. We were able to score.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Damaris: Yeah, it's always a shame when we concede a goal because with Chris[tiane Endler] as well, we always want to do a Clean Sheet (TM). If we're solid behind, we can enjoy ourselves more, we can score more goals. I hope it continues like that.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES / TRAINING FOOTAGE]

Majri: It's not easy playing at Fleury, they have a good team.

Gilles: Already not playing at home, it's complicated, but against Fleury, between two UWCL games, it's really complicated.

[FLEURY - OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS GAME FOOTAGE]

Damaris: Yeah, Fleury is always complicated because they have a lot of fast players in front.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Gilles [regarding Wendie Renard's injury]: It was a hard blow. It's still a hard blow for us. She's a leader, she's the captain, she always pulls us over the finish line. When you play, you always want to play well because you don't want to disappoint Wendie [Renard]. You want to make her proud, you want to win for her. So it's really hard not to have her on the field, it's really hard not to have her in practice, in the locker room at the same time as us. It's hard.

Majri: We know Wendie. We know her importance within the group. It's not easy losing her in a game. Unfortunately it's what happened in December.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Majri: We came back on a corner, I remember Damaris scoring from a header.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Damaris: Amel [Majri] took it really well. It's always like that, her assists are wonderful. Goals are good but the assists - if there are no passes or assists, then there are no goals.

Majri: I think we complete each other, because there are good shooters and there are players who play really well with their head. Sometimes even if the pass is off they will still be able to score. Beyond that, it's just work. We work on it. We work on it a lot. When it goes in that makes us really, really happy.

Damaris: I think it put us at ease as well to start the second half.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Damaris: We were really good in attack. It was a hard game but we finished well.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Gilles: Yeah, thankfully Griedge came back really well this year. She is back to her previous level which is incredible, she's one of the best center backs in the world for a reason. She's a leader as well. Beyond all that, her attitude, her mentality, her positivity, how to say this. She always shows up no matter where she is.

Gilles: The game against Fleury, yes we got the win, but I think what we lost [Renard to injury] was worse than what we gained. But we got the job done.

Majri: We sealed the win with a goal from Lindsey [Horan] off an assist from Kadi[diatou Diani].

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Gilles: There was exhaustion, obviously, from everybody. But we got the win, and we got out of there. After leaving Fleury, you go home - you travel home, you get home, you go to sleep, wake up, and a day later you're leaving for Norway. It's a two, three hour flight. So the end of the season was a little packed, you could say.

[PUPPY YOGA FOOTAGE]

Damaris: It was a special day, as we've said. It was a little surprise, we got there and there were the dogs.

[PUPPY YOGA FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Majri: Yeah it was Manon [Eluere] who scheduled that activity, because she knows there are a lot of players who have animals and who like dogs. Beyond that, it was a really interesting activity, I've never done [puppy yoga] before. But it was really cute, I grew attached to this little dog, I even gave it a nickname. I really wanted to bring it home but it didn't happen. But I think it switched things up. It was a nice activity, it did us good and yeah. We had a good time relaxing.

[PUPPY YOGA FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Gilles: I loved it. I adore animals, there were tons of puppies who were super cuddly. They were exhausted because they had been playing so much. They kept falling asleep on you, so it wasn't really yoga but it gave us a good break from football and it was super cute.

[PUPPY YOGA FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

[PREGAME BRANN - LYON FOOTAGE]

Gilles: And then we traveled. The last game of the first half of the season was at Brann. It must be said it wasn't easy. We arrived, it was a long day, long long day with the travel. We arrived, it's snowing, there was hail. The artificial turf wasn't heated the day before the game. I think we were only able to do a couple of drills and then when we tried to run through our tactics, it was basically football on ice. It was impossible to play football.

Damaris: I think it was certainly a special experience. I've never had that before. The snow was too much. We started and after 10-15 minutes it was impossible to walk, we couldn't run, it was also dangerous because we were slipping all the time. You were doing things you don't normally do. That's why we stopped practice, because it was too dangerous.

[POST-TRAINING BRANN-LYON FOOTAGE]

Majri: That being said, we were expecting that in Norway. We knew it was snowing over there. But it made me happy, it made me smile because we could not see a thing. We tried to run some plays and it was lighthearted. But we were still focused, we kept the attitude of being concentrated but yeah. It reminds you of your childhood.

[POST-TRAINING BRANN-LYON FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Gilles: The next day, you have a game. You have a pretty late game actually. It's super cold, it's snowing, it's on artificial turf. I think it's unacceptable at that level to be playing on artificial turf in the Champions League even if I understand that in Norway it's complicated to have grass in December. But I don't see the men's team playing on artificial turf in the Champions League.

Majri: We know we're at the end [of the first half of the season] but we have to stay focused. It's the last game, we can qualify. And we have to qualify. We know it's one of the harder teams to play in the group, they also made things difficult for us in the Groupama [Stadium].

[BRANN - LYON GAME FOOTAGE]

Damaris: We started off very focused because we know it's complicated in the Champions League but also when you are playing away in these conditions, which were a little weird as well.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Majri: Yeah, yeah, it was a well constructed goal. Ellie [Carpenter] put a cross in, Lindsey [Horan] was there as well but I cut in front of her and I was so in the mood to shoot. And I scored. But it's true the goal came from really good build-up play, I think it shows what we could do more often.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Gilles: Ada [Hegerberg] scores the penalty in front of a home crowd. It's incredible. I know it meant a lot for her and for us as well to go up 2-0. We conceded in the first half again, it was a real rocket, she was hitting amazing shots.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Gilles: In the first half, we had a lot of problems with our press because Brann was very, very well organized, that must be said. They knew how to manipulate our press so we had to readjust to that. In the second half, I think we were off to a good start. We had adapted well, we dominated ball possession. We were growing in strength. And Lindsey [Horan] gets tackled from behind for the fourth, fifth, sixth time, I'm not even sure.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Damaris: Yeah it's a shame [about Horan's red card] because you don't know what happened. You look around and everyone is surprised. You don't know what to do because if you talk to the referee, maybe you get a red as well. I think the team stayed really solid, we did a lot of interesting things when we were playing.

Gilles: We were playing 10 vs 11 for the last 30-40 minutes. I think we stayed strong, we had a block, we didn't let them have too many chances. Chris[tiane Ender] - when they were taking shots, the shots were good, but as she does, Chris saved us. She pulled off a lot of stops. Last play of the game, it's a corner.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Gilles: They score off the corner, the game ends 2-2.

Majri: We stayed together until the end. We fought until the end. We kept that fighting spirit. We were determined. And I think we showed a good display. We weren't rewarded for it, it's okay. But we'll know what to do for the next time.

Majri: I think the first half of the season was top overall because we just have wins in the league. We're qualified in the Champions League. We're progressing, but I think we can improve even more. I think we're becoming stronger each time.

Gilles: I'm pretty proud of us. We came back from the World Cup, which we handled well because I have to say no one on the team won the World Cup. So after a pretty disappointing summer for everybody to come back, be together, and from the very first game, against PSG, win a trophy, win, win, win. It's not easy to stay consistent like that. So it's a pretty complete first half of the season, I would say, which will push us going forward in the second half of the season.

[calyxthenerd]

Dropping my DCLA post-canon Christmas hcs in the middle of february because I saw a TikTok and got inspired

In the Castillo household, it’s obviously gonna be Germán, Vilu, Ludmila, maybe Fede is there, maybe he went back to Italy, who knows, Angie, Ramallo and Olga cause they’re always there, Fran shows up at some point because she didn’t get a flight to Italy in time, Olga bans anyone from entering the kitchen for the whole day because she takes holiday food very seriously, but Angie goes in anyways, and they keep gossiping about who knows what, secret Santa is as chaotic as your imagination allows, and the food is the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen, until Germán starts serving Vilu, Olga almost cries

Obviously in the Benson mansion there’s the Valentes, Ámbar, not Alfredo because he’s travelling, or dead, and also I don’t like him, depending on what type of scene you’re looking for Sharon got permission to go home for the holiday, since couldn’t afford tickets to Mexico, and refused both Ámbar’s and Luna’s offers to buy them for him, Simón is there too, trying to escape holidays with his extended family and his dad’s overbearing attempts to mend their relationship, Matteo is also there, dinner is obviously on Monica, with Simón, Miguel and Luna taking turns going into the kitchen to try and sneak a bite, she catches them every time, and when she doesn’t, Ámbar does, and they have to wear a santa hat with “Shame” written on the front, Matteo’s puts Luna wearing it and pouting as his lockscreen, Rey and Maggie show up for dinner, having been released from their court mandated community service, Matteo, the idiot, suggests lighting a fire, because that’s what they did back in Italy, the Valentes, Ámbar and Simón glare at him for the rest of the night, and every time he tries being affectionate to Luna, she walks away and goes to Simón instead, leaving Ámbar even more mad at him, as her boyfriend is too busy performing best friend duties to cuddle with her

In my ideal world, Antonio goes to jail (or gets run over by a car, because that would be ironic) and so Paula makes ammends with the Urquizas and they decide to have a joint Christmas party to celebrate that, Victor is still back in Spain because I’m mad at him, so it’s Paula, Alex and Manuel, Alice, Mariano, Helena and Bia, Helena invites Thiago since he doesn’t exactly have a family to celebrate with, Paula all but demands Carmín comes, they also invite Pietro so he doesn’t have to eat alone with his cousin (they wanted him to cook for them), and since it’s already a lot of people, and the residency is pretty empty with the other guys having gone home to the families, Thiago invites everyone to go there instead, Pietro is happy to cook in his own kitchen, the night ends with the Urquiza sisters singing a Christmas song by the piano, everyone joins in, and when the time to say goodbye comes, Thiago forbids anyone from leaving, since it’s very late and they’re all tired from having eaten so much, and we all know what happens when you drive late at night, so everyone who doesn’t live there ends up sleeping in one of the spare bedrooms, and the ones who do, sleep in their own rooms

[beardedmrbean]

Helsingin Sanomat is among the papers reporting that the Finnish branch of Extinction Rebellion (known in Finnish as Elokapina) has announced that it will be holding a week of protests in Helsinki and Tampere starting Monday, 9 October.

According to the groups, the marches will disrupt traffic in both cities.

"The purpose of the slow-moving processions is to slow traffic to a near standstill. With these slow marches, demonstrators are demanding that the use of forests in Finland be restored to a sustainable level," Elokapina stated in a press release quoted by the paper.

The marches are part of an autumn campaign by Elokapina pushing for the prioritization of the natural environment and diversity, and the ending of state subsidies that are destructive to the environment.

Finnair suspends flights to Israel

Finland's national airline Finnair has cancelled its regularly scheduled flights between Helsinki and Tel Aviv for the period of 9-14 October, due to the conflict in the region, reports Ilta-Sanomat.

According to the paper, for the time being Finnair will not use Israeli airspace for any of its flights. The company added that it is closely monitoring the situation and following instructions from authorities.

Finnair also announced that passengers with reservations on this route between 15 and 31 October 2023 can make changes to their bookings, if they so wish, or cancel and request a refund.

Tackling street gangs

The Joensuu-based daily Karjalainen presented its readers on Monday morning with a review of some media comments by national officials on measures they suggest to deal with criminal activities by street gangs.

The paper notes that among the suggestions, Justice Minister Leena Meri (Finns) wants to use to address the problem is extending criminal liability to 14-year-olds.

In an interview with Iltalehti, Meri pointed out however that this change is not a part of the current government's programme, which means that moving forward would would require wider political support.

The change has come up for discussion as street gangs are known to try to recruit young people under the age of 15 to commit crimes because they cannot be prosecuted.

"Currently, arrest, imprisonment or travel bans cannot be imposed on anyone under the age of 15. The possibility of using coercive measures should be expanded," Meri told Iltalehti.

Karjalainen notes that the government is preparing several changes in legislation aimed at combating street gang crime. One change will bring stiffer sentences for crimes committed as a gang member. In addition, sentences for aggravated assault and carrying an illegal weapon are to be increased.

The paper also notes that Maria Ohisalo (Green), a former Minister of the Interior, told Helsingin Sanomat that the police did not tell decision-makers about their concerns related to street gangs until the middle of the government term in 2021.

Ohisalo said that she is ready to support many of the measures being pushed by the current government, such as tougher punishments, and that she believes they will easily be backed by a large majority in parliament.

Cabling the countryside

According to Maaseudun Tulevaisuus, there are still an estimated 1.4 million households in Finland without access to high-speed fibre optic cable services.

At the turn of last year, less than 60 percent of properties had fixed broadband access in South Savo, South Karelia, Kymenlaakso, North Karelia, Central Finland, South Ostrobothnia and Lapland.

An estimated one third of a 32 million euro grant from the EU to develop these services has still not been spent. The government target is to ensure a one-gigabit internet connection for all citizens in 2030.

The government has stipulated the level of the contributions that local authorities have to make to building broadband networks in areas where they are not commercially viable. Municipalities are divided into three groups, whose shares are either 8, 22 or 33 percent of the costs.

According to Elina Ussa, CEO of the IT sector interest group FiCom, this development now depends on municipal decision-makers and whether or not the required permits will finally be available from a "one-stop shop" as promised by the Orpo government.

"Permit processes now take too long. The country's 309 municipalities have very different practices, and the network is often built in the area of several municipalities. The various requirements for permits are a challenge, and shallow cable installation, for example, may be restricted in residential areas," Ussa pointed out.

Ussa also noted that choice is another issue slowing coverage.

"Broadband subsidies - which only apply to the fixed network - have made fibre connections available to a total of 130,000 households, but only a third have subscribed. You have to pay for the connection, even if the network was built and brought to the property for free. Not everyone wants to pay more if online services work in other ways," she told MT.

Slippery morning roads

Iltalehti writes that roads may be "deceptively slippery" after nighttime sleet in some places.

Sleet and slush has made driving potential hazardous in an area stretching along the northwestern coast.

Monday is starting out cloudy in most parts of the country, but will become sunnier during the day. The most persistent cloud cover is expected in Kainuu, North Karelia, and eastern Lapland.

There may be rain showers on the west coast, and some sleet in Ostrobothnia.

[restforthe-burdenedsoul]

I thought I had therapy tomorrow, but it’s actually NEXT week ughh I need a session so badly.

——

I’ve been talking on and off with M about all the lgbt+ attacks happening in Florida. We learned about a new bill that’s trying to be passed that could prevent him from getting anymore gender affirming care. I’m sure the bill will continue to get more watered down as it goes through the different stages (I am so not political and have been doing my best to learn how this all works so bear with my fake terms and inability to explain properly).

I have a theory with zero proof to back it up, so take that as you want. The “don’t say gay” bill was testing the waters. They came in strong with it and it initially passed as a very watered down version of what they wanted. No lgbt+ sexual education K-3. And you think “what teacher would go into that kinda detail anyway?” But it opened the door to updates and more strict guidelines. Now look at where we are at.

I don’t know the name of the bill, but this one barring gender affirming care of minors. From my understanding of reading the actual bill text, this isn’t an all out ban, but is testing the waters to see how much further they can push it. The bill we learned about yesterday would push into adult care.

M has kind of been living in ignorance until now. My brain has been on board to leave Florida for months now, but there was zero relief hearing that M doesn’t want to stay here either.

We started the house buying process, but I’ve felt so uneasy about it. It took not even a year for so many restrictions to be put in place for lgbt+ people and it’s not stopping. Even if these bills don’t pass, there are many people in Florida actively trying to erase this community and Desantis stands by with a smile on his face welcoming this hate.

——

Anyway. We’re looking to Delaware. There’s been a lot of forward movement for the rights of lgbt+ people. It seems that the north and west of the US are the places to be. However, the west coast is too far from my parents and the north has too much snow (never again would I want to live in New England haha). Delaware is a nice middle ground. 2-3 hour flight from my parents and 1-2hr drive from my friends and extended family. I think we could feasibly make this move and not feel totally alone and unsupported.

This is not a make or break factor, but my mom has been wanting to move back to New Jersey for at least a year now (and initially wanted to retire in Delaware). My dad doesn’t want to move, but I wonder if my parents would end up following us up north. M’s mom would likely follow as well.

——

It feels scary. I had no intentions of moving out of Florida (or back north) until I had no more connections to it (if you can read between the lines there). I actually love Florida. I love the theme parks, the nature trails, the crystal clear springs, the wildlife, Orlando, st Augustine, the beautiful countryside, etc. Florida feels like home, a feeling I hadn’t had since like 2007. And we’re probably leaving it. We have to. It’s not safe here.

[loominggaia]

What would happen if all the crew never became freelance good guys? That their inciting incident that lead them down that path never occurred? Like Alaine never becoming a mermaid? Itania not getting sold off to that warlord for lukus to rescue? Linde family not getting killed ? Evan not getting lycanthropy?etc…? What would their lives be like in this alternate timeline?

I think about this scenario a lot! I actually have a future short story drafted about exactly this. Basically, one of the Freelance Good Guys asks Austerity what would happen if they never became mercenaries, and this is one of the possible timelines he shows them with his third eye...

Evan: Evan's condition deteriorates badly in his teens, and seeing him in this state inspires his family to sell their farm and move to Zareen Empire. They leave everything behind, knowing they are headed to a foreign empire where everything will be alien to them. But they also know that this empire might just have the technology to save Evan's life, so they catch a flight and end up living at a crummy, dingy inn in Viersen. They beg the Zareenite government for help, but because they are not yet citizens, they are denied. It will take years to complete the immigration process and they don't have that kind of time.

While Abigail is wandering around town, she encounters a homeless red elf named Jeimos. Jeimos claims to have a degree in engineering and says they may be able to help, if only the family can bring them all the parts they need. After a grueling scavenger hunt and perhaps a bit of theft, Jeimos and the Atlases manage to scrounge up enough parts to rig up a machine. This machine can help Evan breathe, but the catch is, it must stay on at all times or he will quickly suffocate. Jeimos attaches the machine to the back of Evan's wheelchair, so it stays with him wherever he goes.

A year passes and the Atlas family's savings have run dry, so they are forced to return home to Evangeline Kingdom. They have done all they can do for Evan, extending his life with Jeimos' breathing machine and heart medicine provided by a charity. However, this medicine is banned by the Nymph Pact and Evan's machine requires electricity, meaning he can't return home with his family. He stays behind in Viersen, but he is not alone. He has his good friend Jeimos, who has watched over him since he arrived. HIs family knows he is in good hands and promises to send him money after they reestablish themselves back in their home country.

Evan moves in with Jeimos in the abandoned factory, where they have stayed for years. It isn't glamorous, but at least it's still connected to the grid. One day a developer buys the factory and demolishes it, forcing the two out. Jeimos hears that metal scrapping is more lucrative in the industrial city of Driza, so with nothing to lose, the two use the last of their funds to buy a train ticket there.

Lukas: The day after Lukas and Jelani leave for college, Moswen suffers a massive stroke while yelling at a slave. The stroke paralyzes her, leaving her unable to move or speak. In this condition she could not contact the Kaconenans, nor could she terrorize Itanya anymore. Lukas and Jelani are delighted by this turn of events and start sending letters to Itanya freely. They communicate back and forth for years until they graduate and finally return home.

When they do, Lukas and Jelani both declare their love for her and ask her hand in marriage. Itanya chooses Lukas. Jelani doesn't take this well and protests their marriage. The Uekoran people protest the marriage too, because they believe their queen shouldn't be a lowly slave-born elf. Jelani leads the people in a protest during the wedding. This turns into a massive riot, and Lukas and Itanya are forced to flee to Matuzu Capital.

Ekwame was good friends with High King Yazid, and Lukas takes advantage of this connection when he asks the Matuzu family for help. The Matuzus agree to protect Lukas and Itanya as a favor to the dying Ekwame. Jelani takes Lukas' place on Uekoro's throne, but Lukas enjoys his position as the Matuzu family's personal artist. He spends his days painting their portraits and decorating the palace with intricate murals, while Itanya attends school at the World Athenaeum.

Glenvar: Glenvar is working another miserable shift for Captain Bruk, when their ship is suddenly attacked by the Aquarian Alliance. Alliance soldiers board the ship and kidnap everyone on board, planning to sell them into slavery. Glenvar is trafficked to the boonies of Mogdir Kingdom and bought by a brutal fae master. He and his fellow human slaves are forced to work in deplorable conditions, farming giant caterpillars.

Glenvar eventually escapes his master and flees west, knowing he'll be home free if he can just make it across the border to Zareen Empire. He succeeds and gradually makes his way towards Driza, because he heard that it's the empire's biggest port city and his star is calling him towards the sea.

Alaine: Sebastian's boat springs a leak again and he has to postpone his trip to Yong. He patches the leak, sells his junk, and returns unharmed. By the time Alaine grows up, he has saved enough money to send her to school in Zareen Empire just like he promised. Alaine attends a music college in Driza, but she doesn't do very well in this academic setting. She ends up dropping out but is too ashamed to tell her parents, so she doesn't return to Laraine.

Instead, she bums around Driza and busks for money at all the taverns. One night, she sees a red elf and a wheelchair-bound man being harassed by a drunken patron. This pisses her off so much that she breaks her lute over the patron's head, knocking him out cold. She realizes she just broke her main meal ticket, but the red elf and the man are so grateful that they offer to buy her dinner.

They introduce themselves as Jeimos and Evan, admitting they just moved to this city and they don't have much, so they're living at this inn and tavern for the time being. Alaine admits she's been slumming it herself and suggests they stick together from now on. She already failed school and made a lot of bad decisions, but surely three heads are better than one?

Jeimos: As the most experienced bum in their trio, Jeimos sells scrap metal by day and takes care of their two young companions by night. Now with Alaine's help, things are finally starting to look up. They hear news on the radio about a ship that just wrecked at the port, and the three rush there to grab all the scrap they can before the Zareenite Guard arrives.

The ship was full of freight workers, who escape the sinking vessel one by one. Jeimos teleports inside the ship to collect loot, but hears a man screaming and follows the sound to Glenvar, who is trapped behind a cargo crate. Jeimos rescues him with their teleportation, bringing him to shore. Glenvar is grateful for their help, but laments that he was working under the table and he's out of a job now. Jeimos, Evan, and Alaine offer their inn room to him while he gets back on his feet, and in return, he offers to help them in any way he can.

Isaac: Isaac lies in his tomb deep within the Trial of Titans. He has been asleep for a very long time, and the more time passes, the more Destiny's guilt grows. One day, she decides enough is enough and she must free that boy from his prison. But she can't do it alone because she is actively betraying Karenza, and because of that, she can't get into the dungeon. She will need to bring someone pure to heart so the door will reveal itself. But who?

The moment she met her student researcher Itanya, Destiny could sense she was pure of heart. She promises Itanya extra credit if she joins her on this important expedition, and after Destiny vanquishes the titans, the two bust Isaac out of his tomb. Destiny considers sending Isaac to a temple of Love and Light where he can live a quiet, simple life. But being an orphan herself, Itanya takes pity on the boy and decides to adopt him, sending him back to her home in Matuzu Capital while she finishes college. Lukas is not thrilled, to say the least. He hates kids and wants the boy out of his hair, so he sends him to a boarding school all the way in Zareen Empire. He picks a school in the grimy city of Driza because it's the cheapest option.

Isaac isn't doing very well in school. He likes to skip class and mess around in the city. One day while sneaking out, he gets jumped by some shady guys, but luckily, some more righteous guys are around to save him. Glenvar and Alaine fight off the thugs and rescue Isaac. Isaac is grateful to them, but sad to learn that these heroes are living like vagrants. He feels like they deserve better.

He writes his parents and tells them he was attacked, but these nice people saved his life. Itanya is horrified. She pulls him out of boarding school immediately, telling Lukas that Zareen Empire is too dangerous. She wants to meet these people who saved her son and thank them properly, so she buys them flight tickets too.

Long story short, Evan, Jeimos, Alaine, and Glenvar are rewarded by Matuzan royalty for their heroism. Upon hearing the conditions they were living in, the charitable High Queen Uzoma offers them positions as her family's knights. Their job? To protect her hapless son, Prince Marghan, at all cost.

Evan is left out, for his poor health leaves him in no condition to fight. Instead, Itanya appoints him as Isaac's personal mentor. Evan teaches the boy all that he knows during the day, and then they hang out with the Knight Crew after their long, chaotic shifts with Marghan. All the while, Itanya uses her connection to Destiny to request help for Evan. Destiny gets him in touch with the finest medical professionals the World Athenaeum has to offer, hoping to extend his life.

Many specialists contemplate solutions, but all are reluctant to take on such a fragile patient. Finally, one of their colleagues rises to the task. He is a controversial doctor with a controversial treatment in mind. His name is Dr. Lendon, the world's top expert in lycanthropy...

The end? ;)

(I only have answers for the main 6 crewmen so far, sorry! But if you guys want to submit your own suggestions, go for it!)

*

Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[minecraftrelatedrandomness]

burn the night away: writer's annotations

The benefits of writing from p!Martyn's POV is that I have more flexibility to be anachronistic — I default Pirates to be set in the first half of the 19th century, but p!Martyn, being from our real-world time period, means that I can let the guys play custom Monopoly if I want to. As for remaking and customizing boards from scratch, I tried that when I was a kid using mostly paper, so it's not impossible.

I am also unfortunately unable to write from a p!Saus POV for any extended period of time (especially since my giftee seems to be a fan) — I've taken unprecedented amounts of psychic damage (re)watching his VODs, and I don't think there's any way I can replicate that in my own writing, at least in my current state of mind. I did try to make sure he had a major presence in the fic, though.

Speaking of, this is my first time posting from Martyn POV and my first time writing Kyle and Scar in general — I've written a fic draft on p!Martyn and p!Shelby a couple of months ago, but never finished and posted it.

Most things I've written about the characters and their experiences have some sort of canon or canon-adjacent basis — and yes, I did so much research for this. A few are admittedly headcanons due to a lack of information, and p!Scar's characterization is in part inspired by Hermitcraft Season 8 and the Life series, since both series are referenced in his POV. I'm leaving it ambiguous as to whether he is the same character throughout those series, though.

I genuinely have a spreadsheet listing 39 of the 40 "Never Have I Ever" prompts I'm using for this fic, along with who answered what and a tally counting who actually did win. Mind you, the statistics are slightly skewed by the fact that several of these people are lying their asses off a good chunk of the time.

Among them, I ended up having to change one of the prompts and rewrite a small section less than 12 hours before my deadline because I found out that every single character here (other than Jellie, for obvious reasons) has at least somewhat played a musical instrument in the series! Music is a foundational basis for p!Kyle's lore, p!Saus has his "(snake)skin flute" heirloom, Scar did so briefly during his 2nd stream, and everyone else played something on Oct 13th (SMP Day 76), mostly while in Cultist captivity.

The details about p!Scott's accessories are actually inspired by my own personal experiences. I have a bird necklace in real life (admittedly just a generic bird in flight) and thought I'd let my guy have an equivalent to that, as a treat. As for the badge, when I was in secondary school, I had a house badge that I used for all my six years there, and by the time I graduated, maybe a third of the coloration has been chipped off.

Like fic!Martyn, I considered whether I should have him lie about his brief engagement to r1!Water. If I had the chance, I would have had him give r1!Water's kingdom to be Isopteria — from Isoptera, the infraorder name for termites, but I don't think c!Martyn is knowledgeable enough in entomology or cares enough about it to make that reference (it's the biology student brain at work here, so forgive me).

The dumpling ban is actually a reference to a one-off line from the Oct 13th (SMP Day 76) VOD. It was a Heron base ban in an earlier draft, but I changed it after rewatching the VOD to make it a bit more canon-compliant. (As if the timeline isn't already non-compliant as it is, but it is my solemn archivist duty to stay true, alas.)

The full process of writing this fic has been harder than I expected, to say the least. I've had this idea for a couple of months before the event, but decided to put it aside. I took a couple of weeks off from working on it at all after the event started because of finals and then oopsie daisy, my family lost Wi-Fi for four days, so I couldn't even write and could barely VOD-watch during that time, since I could only access the Internet using my phone's data plan! Then I had to take another couple of days off to study for and take my TOEFL exam, and then I caught a stomach bug that I'm still recovering from as I post this (+ burnout on my final day)! In other words, the AO3 author's curse was out to get me, even after I got an extension. And that's discounting how I still don't quite know how to write shipfics on account of being inordinately aro/ace (that VS my perfectionism, fight!), as well as my computer buffering from the sheer number of tabs I have open!

Also, this fic was originally supposed to be like 1K or 2K words long… but it just kept getting longer and longer and now it's ended at nearly 5K.

I don't even know how I pulled all this off, especially since I haven't even watched all the VODs I wanted to watch for research, but here I am.

[cucumber-pictures]

Looking into 2025

2024 is coming to an end,so I would like to tell you 20 different things, the good and the bad.

The Good

1. All television will start to become internet based.

2. Many cities are banning fossil fuel-powered vehicles.

3. Human brain-scale simulations are becoming possibles

4. First light for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

5. Sample return mission from Kamo’oalewa.

6. Direct flights from Sydney to London and New York

7. Pixar will release Ellio.

8. Advances in medicine will improve.

9. Humanity will continue experiments in deep space.

10. Toy Story will turn 30.

The Bad

1. Donald Trump runs for four more years. (And then eventually extends his presidency according to The Simpsons.)

2. The US will start to become more authoritarian, no longer making it a free country.

3. Inside Out 2 will win for best animated film, making Inside Out, Pixar’s second animated franchise to win more than one Oscar.

4. More bad Simpsons predictions will come true.

5. The Doomsday Clock will tick closer to midnight.

6. Global carbon emissions will increase.

7. Average world temperatures will increase relative to 2024.

8. Disney will buy Alvin and the Chipmunks, instead of Nickelodeon buying it.

9. The US will walk out of the Paris Agreement again.

10. AI would get worse

[tushar010297]

Visa Rejection Effects: The Long-Term Consequences for Travelers

Visa rejection can have significant and long-lasting effects on travelers, impacting not just immediate plans but also future travel opportunities. According to a 2022 report by Henley & Partners, about 11% of global visa applications are denied annually, affecting millions of travelers. Understanding the visa rejection effects is crucial for any traveler, as the repercussions often extend beyond just a denied trip. They can impact personal and professional aspects of life, leading to financial losses, travel restrictions, and reputational damage.

Visa rejection rates vary by country, with some nations having more stringent requirements, making it essential to be aware of the process's nuances. A single rejection can create a negative record, complicating future visa applications. Moreover, travelers might face issues such as blacklisting or even bans from specific regions, affecting their ability to travel freely.

The Initial Impact of Visa Rejection

The immediate visa rejection effects can be disheartening, leading to canceled travel plans and wasted resources. For many, this might mean lost investments in flights, accommodations, and pre-planned itineraries. Additionally, professional opportunities, such as business meetings or conferences, may be missed, resulting in indirect financial losses. According to a study by the World Travel & Tourism Council, travelers lose an average of $1,400 per trip due to such cancellations.

The emotional toll is also significant, as applicants often feel demotivated, especially if the trip involved critical life events like weddings or educational pursuits. Such disruptions can alter personal plans, causing strain and anxiety for those affected.

Long-Term Consequences on Future Travel Plans

One of the most severe visa rejection effects is its long-term impact on future travel opportunities. Once a visa application is denied, it is marked in immigration records, making future applications more complex. Many countries share visa rejection data, leading to stricter scrutiny for any subsequent applications.

This "flag" can affect multiple visa types, such as tourist, business, or student visas, hindering chances for smooth approvals in the future. Travelers might also face additional documentation requirements, prolonged processing times, or increased chances of rejection due to the history of a denied visa.

Visa Rejection and Reputation Management

Visa rejections can tarnish an individual's travel reputation, especially for frequent flyers or professionals who rely on international travel. Some regions, such as the Schengen Area, have databases like the Visa Information System (VIS) that store and share visa application data among member states. A single rejection recorded in one country could trigger heightened scrutiny across all member nations.

This reputational damage might restrict access to opportunities like global employment or attending international events, which require hassle-free mobility. For young professionals and students, visa denials can severely limit educational or job prospects, forcing them to rethink their plans.

Financial Impact of Visa Rejection

The financial visa rejection effects are often underestimated. Travelers not only lose money on immediate bookings but might also face increased costs for future visa applications. Additional documentation, legal advice, or consultancy fees add to the financial burden. According to a study by the Migration Policy Institute, the average cost of a rejected visa application can increase by 60% when reapplying, due to the need for enhanced documentation and professional guidance.

Furthermore, travel insurance policies often do not cover visa rejection losses, leaving travelers without compensation. The cumulative financial strain can disrupt travel budgets, especially for students or individuals traveling for urgent family matters.

Blacklisting and Restricted Travel

In extreme cases, visa rejection can result in blacklisting, making it difficult or even impossible to obtain visas in the future. Some countries use automated systems to flag individuals, potentially leading to temporary or permanent travel bans. For instance, the U.S. has strict regulations around visa rejections, where repeated denials can lead to a mandatory waiting period or restrictions on reapplying.

Such restrictions can have a domino effect, affecting not only the primary country of rejection but also neighboring nations. Travelers blacklisted in one region may find it hard to obtain visas for other regions due to shared information systems. This creates long-term travel limitations, reducing global mobility.

How to Mitigate Visa Rejection Effects

While the visa rejection effects can be daunting, there are steps to minimize the impact. First, understanding the reasons for rejection is essential. Applicants should request a detailed explanation and address any gaps in future applications. Being transparent in disclosing previous rejections also builds trust with immigration authorities.

Investing in professional visa consultancy services can increase the chances of a successful reapplication. Consulting experts can help applicants compile strong documentation, handle complex legal scenarios, and present a clear, convincing case for approval. Ultimately, preparing meticulously for each application is key to overcoming the consequences of previous denials.

Final Thoughts on Visa Rejection Effects

The visa rejection effects are not just short-term setbacks but long-term barriers to global mobility and personal freedom. From financial losses to damaged travel reputations, the consequences are significant. Travelers need to be aware of these implications, preparing accordingly to avoid or mitigate the fallout. Understanding the full scope of visa rejection can ensure a smoother journey through the complex landscape of international travel, safeguarding both personal and professional aspirations.

[one-page-a-day]

7th of September 2024

Some days ago, I handed in my essay on commemorative culture. My university is based in Germany, so of course the discussion in the seminar was almost always circling around the topic of German commemoration of the Holocaust – for good reason, looking at alarming calls of German politicians for "closure".

This essay was one of my last assignments for uni before my graduation next year, God willing, and I decided to put the focus of my essay on a different topic, namely the commemoration of the Nakba. My second major being Islamic Studies, I briefly touched the topic several times but never dove into it. I was hesitant at first because writing about this issue as a white European without a background in Political Science and from a moral point of view as was stated in the task felt wrong on many levels. But then I thought that the goal of the essay is to think the topic through, to make up my mind about what others have written, and not to pass definite judgement on populations that are foreign to me.

Through writing the essay I learned that the two collective memories of Israelis and Palestinians around the foundation of the state of Israel in May 1948 and the resulting flight and expulsion of Palestinians from their land known as the Nakba (arabic for 'catastrophe') clash and can be described as contesting.

As many authors argue, Israel is inhibiting public commemoration of the Nakba, even banning the term 'nakba' from school books. That is because a recognition of the harm done to Palestinians would raise the obligation for repair efforts, f. e. a right to return. At the same time, it becomes clear from interviews that few Palestinians acknowledge the extent of the Jewish suffering (centuries of persecution culminating in the Holocaust) preceding the founding of the state of Israel. This might be due to the deliberation that a recognition of the Jewish suffering might constitute a moral ground for the foundation of the state of Israel.

Where commemoration and memory are contested, they must be protected and defended. This is the basic premise of the so-called "imperative of remembrance", the moral imperative to remember and commemorate historical events, particularly those of great tragedy or injustice. The imperative of remembrance is widely discussed in context of Holocaust education in Germany but extends to other topics such as Nakba commemoration.

The collective memories of Israelis and Palestinians regarding the founding of the State of Israel and the Nakba tend to suppress or forget the suffering of the other. At this point, I argue, it is a moral imperative to not only remember one's own suffering but also the suffering of the other, as this is demanded by the moral duty to respect the dignity of the other. For this reason, I believe it is right to remember the Holocaust when talking about the Nakba and to remember the Nakba when talking about the founding of the state of Israel.

The ethical implications of an 'imperative of remembrance' are far-reaching and raise the question of how memory culture should be ethically shaped. In my essay I proposed several points of orientation: the contentcommemorated should be based on critical research and include diverse perspectives; participation to commemorative events should be fundamentally open to all people, regardless of how directly they are affected; and reconciliation should not be the goal of commemorative culture, but rather the recognition and reparation of injustice and suffering, as well as the moral education of people. Reconciliation can be hoped to be found on the way.

Little disclaimer here, for this short essay I could not dive into new developments since the 7th of October 2023 and the literature I that was available to me is about 10 years old already.

Also, I would love to hear how you / people you know commemorate historical events and if you / they face opposition.

Literature:

English:

Roberts, Jo. Contested Land, Contested Memory. Israel’s Jews and Arabs and the Ghost of Catastrophe. Toronto: Dundurn 2013.

Sorek, Tamir. Palestinian Commemoration in Israel. Calendars, Monuments, and Martyrs. Stanford: Stanford University Press 2015.

German:

Assmann, Aleida. Das neue Unbehagen an der Erinnerungskultur. Eine Intervention. München: o. V. 2021.

Benz, Wolfgang. „Vorwort“, in: Katharina Kretzschmar, Identitäten im Konflikt. Palästinensische Erinnerung an die Nakba 1948 und deren Wirkung auf die dritte Generation, transcript 2019, 11–15.

Erll, Astrid. Kollektives Gedächtnis und Erinnerungskulturen. Eine Einführung. Weimar: J.B. Metzler Verlag 2005.

Kretzschmar, Katharina. Identitäten im Konflikt. Palästinensische Erinnerung an die Nakba 1948 und deren Wirkung auf die dritte Generation. Bielefeld: transcript 2019.