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karasunology · 4 years ago

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⸙ ˚₊ ➷ BOKUTO KOUTARO BEING A DAD HEADCANONS! ❞

✎ . . . will you please write about oikawa, bokuto, and sugawara as dads?? :>

❝ ― submitted by @ nonnie <3 ❞

-ˏˋ ➶ character(s) ━ bokuto koutaro <3

[ trigger warnings ━ slight manga spoilers !! ]

✎ . . . DAD HEADCANONS.

[ SUGAWARA KOUSHI & OIKAWA VERSION. ] [ MIYA ATUSMU VERSION. ] [ KUROO TETSURO & KOZUKE KENMA VERSION. ] [ IWAIZUMI HAJIME VERSION. ]

-ˏˋ playing soleil's tape ˊˎ-

[ 📼 ] . . . no thoughts, head and heart full of bokuto koutaro

BOKUTO KOUTARO.

➜ bokuto wanted to have a baby with you

➜ that's it that's the tweet thank you for reading😌💅

➜ i'm kidding don't leave, i have abandonment issues

➜ just like oikawa, kou ─ your husband, has gotten baby fever and it wasn't going down any minute until bb boy gets his way

➜ phew, i'd let him get his way with me✋😳

➜ bokuto was great with kids, always playing around with them in a park as if he was one of them, and both of you knew that

➜ and when bokuto sees that you're also good with kids, mans knew he wanted to build a family with you

➜ he wanted not just one, because seeing what both of you created taking in different forms and pieces of their parents would leave him so proud

➜ would very much take it as a sign from the universe saying to him that the both of you were meant to be patents

➜ the day he lets you awknowledge his little daydream, was when the both of you were sitting down on the coach re-watching his match last week after babysitting one of your guys' friend's kid

➜ mans couldn't TAKE IT ANYMORE

➜ the way you coo at the child, you cooked with the child and just the way you tenderly supported the kid with your arms as you helped him reach a toy from the shelf

➜ and of course, you accepted it; there wasn't any other man other than kou that you wanted to start a family with

➜ let's just say mans wanted to make one right then and there after you confessed to him that you wanted to start a family with him as well

➜ and y'all did just that💀

➜ after receiving the news of your pregnancy, bokuto has never been more happy, aside from those times he won a match on nationals and, well ─ marrying you

➜ but in the white noise of excitement and joyfulness, there was a lingering thought and it was terrifying; what if he doesn't make enough time for both you and his child because of volleyball? will he have to take a break from it? would your child love him?

➜ bokuto was now down to emo mode just with the thought of your guys' children hating him

➜ and when the thoughts became to unbearable, he contacts akaashi.

“ bokuto-san, ” koutaro could tell akaashi was thinking about it before saying something,

“ you're one of the best men i know that's good with children; don't waste your time sulking about nonsensical what if's, when the present is right there in front of you ”

➜ akaashi was, to say the least, your one of your children's godfather.

➜ but the day your babies was going to arrive, it was as if your husband had a switch and unlike the usual ─ he was the one supporting you

➜ he held your hand, squeezing them to let you be aware that he's right there by your side, knowing that you needed all the support right now and he gave it to you

➜ tenfolds the support you gave him

➜ and when be first saw the first triplet being born, he knew right there that he fell in love once again, but with the child he has co-produced with the love of his life !!

➜ i just wanted to say that y'all's kids are NIGHT OWLS, literally, gets the biggest bursts of energy at ungodly hours

➜ koutaro would still get anxious and terrified, but there was something about your triplets that puts him at ease ─ like, one thing he'd be doubting himself and then the next thing, he'd be all fuzzy inside when his three triplets just looked like a litter of puppies asking for his attention on his lap

➜ and he'd just, revert back to reality seeing how blessed he was and stopped doubting himself and just live in the present

➜ EYE ─ I'M SO SOFT I CAN'T😭✋

“ now say dada ” he encouraged the little sunshines on his lamp as a youthful giggle serenated from his son's lips

“ dawa ─ ” the baby tried to copy his words, before shreiking of laughter when kosuke saw the defeated look on his father's face, somehow bringing him joy

➜ while his baby girl, kouzumi, was peacefully attached to him as the most interesting in her golden eyes were his hair ─ attempting to reach her arms to his hair, making grabby arms

➜ after a few months, you've noticed how much your triplets were in sync with their father ─ all together, being balls of sunshine

“ you've been trying for hours kou, take a break. ” you laugh, as you looked up from the book you were holding seeing your husband housing an offended look, and of course ─ a weird sound, a scoff? you didn't know, until, your other son imitated him

➜ almost perfecting the one he made

➜ and bokuto was ECSTATIC

“ hONEY, HONEY, OH MY GOD DID YOU HEAR THAT? ” he squealed, as his son imitated his sound again

“ he's responding to me !! ”

“ dO IT AGAIN KOSUKE ” he says as he takes out his phone

➜ the type of father to do the peek-a-boo game with his triplets and doing it perfectly as they're just enamured by his father as if he was doing some avada kedevra shit 😭🗿

➜ hey queen!! 🙆👑 GIRL, YOU HAVE DONE IT AGAIN, CONSTANTLY RAISING📈📉 THE BAR🔝 FOR US AND DOING IT F L A W L E S S L Y

➜ the type of father that would never miss any important moments with his children, even though he's a busy with volleyball especially since it's his profession

➜ the type of father that has too many videos of his children on his phone saying papa in different ways, trying to imitate him, first steps, first laugh & JUST EVERYTHING

➜ has a whole usb of his children, three folders for each of them

➜ has a whole ass frame of his daughter's drawing from five years old of him and her and he would NOT let anyone touch it other than him and maybe you when you when you need to dust off the frames because it's getting too dusty

➜ you guys would always be there to support him no matter what, either in the stands of at home

➜ but when you guys do visit his games and cheer him on, MANS WILL BE UNSTOPPABLE

“ mommy !! look, daddy's coming ” kaoru, the youngest of your triplets, tugged softly on your coat

➜ you smiled as you saw your husband running up to you and your kids after his matches as a few reporters, in respect, stood a few meters away from you guys, taking kosuke on his right arm, the other with kaoru and on top of his shoulders was kouzumi tugging on her father's spiked hair she could never seem to get over with

“ ahH ─ my hair baby girl, you're kinda hurting daddy ” koutaru laughed as your daughter tried processing his words before wrapping her arms around his head softly to not fall off a small gasp escaping her lips

“ i'm sowry for hurting you daddy! ” she exclaimed as her brothers tried telling her off while the reporters just watched in awe at her

“ don't hurt daddy just because he lets you on top of there ─ ” kosuke scolded her, slightly jealous that she had the highest view

“ ─ yeah! ” your youngest vigorously nodded his head as he agreed to his brother, both obviously pouting that she had the chance to be ontop of their father's shoulders

“ uh kou, i can take them now since there's a few people wanting to interview you. ” you offered as you jerked your head onto the reporters directions smiling at them

“ oh no ma'am !! it's alright, we also kinda wanted to interview your children as well, since a lot of netizens are curious about them, seeing them everywhere on his socials. ”

➜ you guys agreed as they start asking you guys questions, but more to the triplets as they responded cutely, their identical amber eyes looking at them like an owl in curiousity

➜ JUST IMAGINE THREE ADORABLE OWL LOOKING KIDS HANGING ON TO THEIR MOTHER OWL AND BOKUTO JUST LOOKS LIKES A MONKEY BAR LMAO

➜ like these kids just attached to him lmao

➜ but there are times where he has to go on tournaments, training camps, olympics & probably photoshoots/commercials ngl and these three owls he left in your care are in EMO MODE LMAOO😭✋

➜ they got it from their dad, and you were now stuck with three emo bokutos but times three

➜ wow multiplication

➜ when she's a mathematician😍

➜ but bokuto would honestly also miss his children clinging to him for dear life

➜ like they would never be separated without having facetime calls every five hours

➜ but your kids understood that he has other things to do and theg try not to complain that much for your sake

➜ your kids are actually sweethearts okay 🥺

➜ when they grew up, his sons were still attached to him but they weren't as clingey as when they were in their childhood days ─ but your daughter phew, your daughter used to be the clingiest of them all and now it's just none, nonexistent, vanished, obliviated, avada kedevra LMAO

➜ like you know how teenagers be

➜ and your husband was DEPRESSED ABOUT IT

➜ his bb girl won't touch his hair anymore :(

➜ his bb girl won't be a little girl no more :(

➜ especially when kouzumi starts having boyfriends😭 MANS WAS SAD THAT THERE ARE ALREADY BOYS OTHER HIM IN HER LIFE

➜ it felt as if it wasn't even yesterday that kouzumi said that she don't need no prince, she'll be both a fucking princess and knight in shinning armor

➜ ugh periodt💅

➜ and koutaro's nows just like

“ WHERE DID ALL THAT TALK GO ?? ”💀💀💀

➜ ALSO BOKUTO GIVES THE BEST ADIVCES NO CAP

➜ gives volleyball advices, relationship advices better than u could ever

➜ this is getting too long but, even if some of his kids may not show it anymore, they still love their father so much and won't let anyone replace him because he's basically the ace of their hearts.

#haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu!! headcanons #haikyuu x reader #hq x reader #haikyuu fluff #bokuto koutaro #bokuto koutaro headcanons #haikyuu social media au #haikyuu smau #bokuto koutaro x reader #bokuto koutaro scenarios #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu drabbles #bokuto x reader #hq imagines #hq scenarios #hq fluff #bokuto koutaro imagines

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bloodworn · 3 years ago

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location: hinton commercial sector, tavern. timeline: shortly after cronos crash. availability: open to all [ capping at 2-3 ].

𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐄𝐗𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 --- being on the ground. the crash had been terrifying, sure; the destruction harrowing and rebuild taxing. but there's something about the crisp of open air, the weight of solid earth that makes up for it. almost makes it worth it.

even if he hadn't been locked in the sky box for most of his life, there's only so much a finite space station can offer. the walls would have closed in on him sooner or later, perhaps growing the same darkness that tends to him now; but here, that's all a thing of a storied past. now, he's here, a world of unknowns ahead of him with the ability to go where he pleases and do what he wants.

today, that whim's brought him to the commercial sector. he's been there before in the early days, for things to help him, venus, and dawa settle in their new home. but today, he's there to explore. to understand, specifically, what goes on in that place teeming with bodies, most of whom can't seem to walk straight when they're done.

the concept isn't completely lost on him --- taverns and all that. but he's never experienced it himself, not with his formative years spent under lock and key. so when he ducks inside, it's with an intrigued, but cautious eye; a careful step until he's managed his way to the front of the bar (thank the stars for his absurd height) to say to no one in particular: "what's good here?"

#local spacer knows nothing of alc #drunk santos anyone?#apocalypse.starter #( 𝐒. 𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐑𝐀: 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒. )

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vajranam · 4 years ago

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Twenty One Verses To Tara

༄༅། །སྒྲོལ་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཉི་ཤུ་རྩ་གཅིག་གིས་བསྟོད་པ་ཕན་ཡོན་དང་བཅས་པ།

The Praise to Tārā with Twenty-One Verses of Homage, and the Excellent Benefits of Reciting the Praise

from The Words of the Buddha

རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། ཏཱ་རཱ་ན་མ་སྐཱ་ར་ཨཻ་ཀ་བིཾ་ཤ་ཏི་སྟྲོ་ཏ་གུ་ཎ་ཧི་ཏ་ས་ཧི་ཏ།

In the language of India: namas-tāraika-viṃśati-stotra-guṇa-hita-sahita

བོད་སྐད་དུ། སྒྲོལ་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཉི་ཤུ་རྩ་གཅིག་གིས་བསྟོད་པ་ཕན་ཡོན་དང་བཅས་པ།

In the language of Tibet: drolma la chak tsal nyishu tsa chik gi töpa penyön dang chepa

In the English language: The Praise to Tārā with Twenty-One Verses of Homage and the Excellent Benefits of Reciting the Praise

ཨོཾ་རྗེ་བཙུན་མ་འཕགས་མ་སྒྲོལ་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །

om jetsünma pakma drolma la chaktsal lo

Oṃ. Homage to the noble lady Tārā!

ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཏཱ་རེ་མྱུར་མ་དཔའ་མོ། །

chaktsal taré nyurma pamo

Homage to Tārā, swift and gallant,

ཏུཏྟཱ་ར་ཡིས་འཇིགས་པ་སེལ་མ། །

tuttara yi jikpa selma

Homage to Tuttārā, who banishes fear,

ཏུ་རེས་དོན་ཀུན་སྦྱིན་པས་སྒྲོལ་མ། །

turé dön kün jinpé drolma

Homage to Turā, who fulfils every need,

སྭཱ་ཧཱའི་ཡི་གེ་ཁྱོད་ལ་འདུད་དོ། །

sa hé yigé khyö la dü do

With svāhā we offer you honor and praise!1

ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྒྲོལ་མ་མྱུར་མ་དཔའ་མོ། །

chaktsal drolma nyurma pamo

Homage to Tārā, swift and gallant,

སྤྱན་ནི་སྐད་ཅིག་གློག་དང་འདྲ་མ། །

chen ni kechik lok dang dra ma

Whose glance flashes like flares of lightning;

འཇིག་རྟེན་གསུམ་མགོན་ཆུ་སྐྱེས་ཞལ་གྱི། །

jikten sum gön chukyé shyal gyi

Born on the heart of a blossoming lotus

གེ་སར་བྱེ་བ་ལས་ནི་བྱུང་མ། །

gesar jewa lé ni jung ma

That rose from the tears of the Triple-World’s Lord. (1)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྟོན་ཀའི་ཟླ་བ་ཀུན་ཏུ། །

chaktsal tönké dawa küntu

Homage to you whose countenance is

གང་བ་བརྒྱ་ནི་བརྩེགས་པའི་ཞལ་མ། །

gangwa gya ni tsekpé shyal ma

A hundred full moons gathered in autumn,

སྐར་མ་སྟོང་ཕྲག་ཚོགས་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱི། །

karma tongtrak tsokpa nam kyi

Smiling and glowing with brilliant radiance,

རབ་ཏུ་ཕྱེ་བའི་འོད་རབ་འབར་མ། །

rabtu chewé ö rab bar ma

Like a thousand stars clustered, ablaze. (2)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་སེར་སྔོ་ཆུ་ནས་སྐྱེས་ཀྱི། །

chaktsal ser ngo chu né kyé kyi

Homage, golden lady, your lotus-hand

པདྨས་ཕྱག་ནི་རྣམ་པར་བརྒྱན་མ། །

pemé chak ni nampar gyen ma

Is graced with a blue water-born flower.

སྦྱིན་པ་བརྩོན་འགྲུས་དཀའ་ཐུབ་ཞི་བ། །

jinpa tsöndrü katub shyiwa

You embody generosity, diligence, endurance,

བཟོད་པ་བསམ་གཏན་སྤྱོད་ཡུལ་ཉིད་མ། །

zöpa samten chöyul nyi ma

Serenity, patience and meditation. (3)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གཙུག་ཏོར། །

chaktsal deshyin shekpé tsuktor

Homage to you, whose victories are endless,

མཐའ་ཡས་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བ་སྤྱོད་མ། །

tayé nampar gyalwa chö ma

Jewel on the great Tathāgata’s crown.

མ་ལུས་ཕ་རོལ་ཕྱིན་པ་ཐོབ་པའི། །

malü parol chinpa tobpé

You are well served by the heirs of the Victors,

རྒྱལ་བའི་སྲས་ཀྱིས་ཤིན་ཏུ་བསྟེན་མ། །

gyalwé sé kyi shintu ten ma

Those who’ve accomplished all the perfections. (4)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཏུཏྟཱ་ར་ཧཱུྂ་ཡི་གེ །

chaktsal tuttara hung yigé

Homage to you, who with tuttāra and hūṃ

འདོད་དང་ཕྱོགས་དང་ནམ་མཁའ་གང་མ། །

dö dang chok dang namkha gang ma

Fill desire realms unto the ends of space.

འཇིག་རྟེན་བདུན་པོ་ཞབས་ཀྱིས་མནན་ཏེ། །

jikten dünpo shyab kyi nen té

You trample underfoot the seven worlds,

ལུས་པ་མེད་པར་འགུགས་པར་ནུས་མ། །

lüpa mepar gukpar nü ma

And have the strength to summon all. (5)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་བརྒྱ་བྱིན་མེ་ལྷ་ཚངས་པ། །

chaktsal gyajin melha tsangpa

Homage to you, praised by Indra,

རླུང་ལྷ་སྣ་ཚོགས་དབང་ཕྱུག་མཆོད་མ། །

lunglha natsok wangchuk chö ma

Agni, Brahmā, Maruts,2 and Śiva.

འབྱུང་པོ་རོ་ལངས་དྲི་ཟ་རྣམས་དང་། །

jungpo rolang driza nam dang

All the hosts of bhūtas, vetālas,

གནོད་སྦྱིན་ཚོགས་ཀྱིས་མདུན་ནས་བསྟོད་མ། །

nöjin tsok kyi dün né tö ma

Gandharvas and yakṣas pay tribute to you. (6)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཏྲཊ་ཅེས་བྱ་དང་ཕཊ་ཀྱིས། །

chaktsal tré cheja dang pé kyi

Homage to you, who with traṭ and phaṭ

ཕ་རོལ་འཕྲུལ་འཁོར་རབ་ཏུ་འཇོམས་མ། །

parol trulkhor rabtu jom ma

Crush the enemies’ yantras3 to dust.

གཡས་བསྐུམ་གཡོན་བརྐྱང་ཞབས་ཀྱིས་མནན་ཏེ། །

yé kum yön kyang shyab kyi nen té

With right leg bent in and left leg extended,

མེ་འབར་འཁྲུག་པ་ཤིན་ཏུ་འབར་མ། །

mebar trukpa shintu bar ma

Shining you tread amidst flames wildly blazing. (7)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཏུ་རེ་འཇིགས་པ་ཆེན་པོས། །

chaktsal turé jikpa chenpö

Homage to Ture, the fearsome lady,

བདུད་ཀྱི་དཔའ་བོ་རྣམ་པར་འཇོམས་མ། །

dü kyi pawo nampar jom ma

Destroyer of the most powerful demons.

ཆུ་སྐྱེས་ཞལ་ནི་ཁྲོ་གཉེར་ལྡན་མཛད། །

chukyé shyal ni tronyer den dzé

With a lotus-face and a deep-furrowed brow,

དགྲ་བོ་ཐམས་ཅད་མ་ལུས་གསོད་མ། །

drawo tamché malü sö ma

You are the slayer of each and every foe. (8)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ་མཚོན་ཕྱག་རྒྱའི། །

chaktsal könchok sum tsön chakgyé

Homage to you, whose fingers grace

སོར་མོས་ཐུགས་ཀར་རྣམ་པར་བརྒྱན་མ། །

sormö tukkar nampar gyen ma

Your heart and display the Three Jewels mudrā.

མ་ལུས་ཕྱོགས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོས་བརྒྱན་པའི། །

malü chok kyi khorlö gyenpé

You’re graced by wheels adorning every direction,

རང་གི་འོད་ཀྱི་ཚོགས་རྣམས་འཁྲུག་མ། །

rang gi ö kyi tsok nam truk ma

With dazzling radiance that overwhelms all.4 (9)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་རབ་ཏུ་དགའ་བ་བརྗིད་པའི། །

chaktsal rabtu gawa jipé

Homage to you, supremely joyous,

དབུ་རྒྱན་འོད་ཀྱི་ཕྲེང་བ་སྤེལ་མ། །

ugyen ö kyi trengwa pelma

Your splendorous crown spreading garlands of light.

བཞད་པ་རབ་བཞད་ཏུཏྟཱ་ར་ཡིས། །

shyepa rab shyé tuttara yi

Smiling and laughing, with tuttāre

བདུད་དང་འཇིག་རྟེན་དབང་དུ་མཛད་མ། །

dü dang jikten wang du dzé ma

You bring demons and worlds under control. (10)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་ས་གཞི་སྐྱོང་བའི་ཚོགས་རྣམས། །

chaktsal sa shyi kyongwé tsok nam

Homage to you, who can summon

ཐམས་ཅད་འགུགས་པར་ནུས་པ་ཉིད་མ། །

tamché gukpar nüpa nyi ma

The hosts of earthly guardians.

ཁྲོ་གཉེར་གཡོ་བའི་��ི་གེ་ཧཱུྂ་གིས། །

tronyer yowé yigé hung gi

Your frown it quivers, and the syllable hūṃ

ཕོངས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་རྣམ་པར་སྒྲོལ་མ། །

pongpa tamché nampar drolma

Delivers us all from every misfortune. (11)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཟླ་བའི་དུམ་བུའི་དབུ་རྒྱན། །

chaktsal dawé dumbü ugyen

Homage to you, so brightly adorned,

བརྒྱན་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཤིན་ཏུ་འབར་མ། །

gyenpa tamché shintu bar ma

With a sliver of moon as your crown,5

རལ་པའི་ཁྲོད་ན་འོད་དཔག་མེད་ལས། །

ralpé trö na öpakmé lé

Your locks are graced by Amitābha,

རྟག་པར་ཤིན་ཏུ་འོད་རབ་མཛད་མ། །

takpar shintu ö rab dzé ma

Whose gleaming rays stream forever forth. (12)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྐལ་པ་ཐ་མའི་མེ་ལྟར། །

chaktsal kalpa tamé mé tar

Homage to you, seated in a halo

འབར་བའི་ཕྲེང་བའི་དབུས་ན་གནས་མ། །

barwé trengwé ü na né ma

Blazing with apocalyptic flames.

གཡས་བརྐྱང་གཡོན་བསྐུམ་ཀུན་ནས་བསྐོར་དགའི། །

yé kyang yön kum künné kor gé

Your right leg stretched out and left bent inward,

དགྲ་ཡི་དཔུང་ནི་རྣམ་པར་འཇོམས་མ། །

dra yi pung ni nampar jom ma

Immersed in joy, you crush legions of foes. (13)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་ས་གཞིའི་ངོས་ལ་ཕྱག་གི །

chaktsal sa shyi ngö la chak gi

Homage to you, who on the earth’s surface

མཐིལ་གྱིས་བསྣུན་ཅིང་ཞབས་ཀྱིས་བརྡུང་མ། །

til gyi nün ching shyab kyi dung ma

Strike your palms and stamp your feet;

ཁྲོ་གཉེར་ཅན་མཛད་ཡི་གེ་ཧཱུྂ་གིས། །

tronyer chen dzé yigé hung gi

Your brow deeply furrowed, with hūṃ you smash

རིམ་པ་བདུན་པོ་རྣམས་ནི་འགེམས་མ། །

rimpa dünpo nam ni gem ma

The seven netherworlds to nothing but dust. (14)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་བདེ་མ་དགེ་མ་ཞི་མ། །

chaktsal dé ma gé ma shyi ma

Homage to you, blissful, gracious and tranquil,

མྱ་ངན་འདས་ཞི་སྤྱོད་ཡུལ་ཉིད་མ། །

nya ngen dé shyi chöyul nyi ma

Whose domain is the peace of nirvāṇa.

སྭཱ་ཧཱ་ཨོཾ་དང་ཡང་དག་ལྡན་པས། །

soha om dang yangdak denpé

With oṃ and svāhā in perfect union,

སྡིག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་འཇོམས་པ་ཉིད་མ། །

dikpa chenpo jompa nyi ma

You lay to waste every terrible evil. (15)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཀུན་ནས་བསྐོར་རབ་དགའ་བའི། །

chaktsal künné kor rabga bé

Homage to you, who, immersed in rapture,

དགྲ་ཡི་ལུས་ནི་རབ་ཏུ་འགེམས་མ། །

dra yi lü ni rabtu gem ma

Shatters the bodies of all your foes.

ཡི་གེ་བཅུ་པའི་ངག་ནི་བཀོད་པའི། །

yigé chupé ngak ni köpé

You manifest from the wisdom-syllable hūṃ,6

རིག་པ་ཧཱུྂ་ལས་སྒྲོལ་མ་ཉིད་མ། །

rigpa hung lé drölma nyi ma

And display each of your mantra’s ten syllables. (16)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཏུ་རེའི་ཞབས་ནི་བརྡབས་པས། །

chaktsal turé shyab ni dabpé

Homage to Ture, your feet stomping boldly,

ཧཱུྂ་གི་རྣམ་པའི་ས་བོན་ཉིད་མ། །

hung gi nampé sabön nyi ma

Formed from the seed of the syllable hūṃ.

རི་རབ་མནྡ་ར་དང་འབིགས་བྱེད། །

rirab mendara dang bikjé

The mountains of Meru, Mandara and Vindhya,

འཇིག་རྟེན་གསུམ་རྣམས་གཡོ་བ་ཉིད��མ། །

jikten sum nam yowa nyi ma

And all the three worlds, you cause them to quake. (17)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལྷ་ཡི་མཚོ་ཡི་རྣམ་པའི། །

chaktsal lha yi tso yi nampé

Homage to you, who hold in your hand

རི་དྭགས་རྟགས་ཅན་ཕྱག་ན་བསྣམས་མ། །

ridak takchen chak na nam ma

A deer-marked moon like a divine lake.

ཏཱ་ར་གཉིས་བརྗོད་ཕཊ་ཀྱི་ཡི་གེས། །

tara nyi jö pé kyi yigé

With tāra twice and then with phaṭ,

དུག་རྣམས་མ་ལུས་པར་ནི་སེལ་མ། །

duk nam malüpar ni selma

You totally cleanse all of the poisons. (18)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལྷ་ཡི་ཚོགས་རྣམས་རྒྱལ་པོ། །

chaktsal lha yi tsok nam gyalpo

Homage to you, who is served by kings

ལྷ་དང་མིའམ་ཅི་ཡིས་བསྟེན་མ། །

lha dang mi'amchi yi ten ma

Of hosts divine, and of gods and kiṃnaras.7

ཀུན་ནས་གོ་ཆ་དགའ་བ་བརྗིད་ཀྱིས། །

künné gocha gawa ji kyi

Suited in armour of joy and splendour,

རྩོད་དང་རྨི་ལམ་ངན་པ་སེལ་མ། །

tsö dang milam ngenpa selma

You clear away nightmares, soothe away strife. (19)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཉི་མ་ཟླ་བ་རྒྱས་པའི། །

chaktsal nyima dawa gyepé

Homage to you, whose eyes shine with lustre,

སྤྱན་གཉིས་པོ་ལ་འོད་རབ་གསལ་མ། །

chen nyipo la ö rabsal ma

Bright with the fullness of sun and moon.

ཧ་ར་གཉིས་བརྗོད་ཏུཏྟཱ་ར་ཡིས། །

hara nyi jö tuttara yi

With twice-uttered hara and tuttāre

ཤིན་ཏུ་དྲག་པོའི་རིམས་ནད་སེལ་མ། །

shintu drakpö rimné selma

You pacify the most intractable diseases. (20)

ཕྱག་འཚལ་དེ་ཉིད་གསུམ་རྣམས་བཀོད་པས། །

chaktsal denyi sum nam köpé

Homage to you, who have the power to free,

ཞི་བའི་མཐུ་དང་ཡང་དག་ལྡན་མ། །

shyiwé tu dang yangdak den ma

You put forth the realities as a set of three.

གདོན་དང་རོ་ལངས་གནོད་སྦྱིན་ཚོགས་རྣམས། །

dön dang rolang nöjin tsok nam

Supreme Ture, you completely destroy

འཇོམས་པ་ཏུ་རེ་རབ་མཆོག་ཉིད་མ། །

jompa turé rab chok nyi ma

The hordes of grahas,8 vetālas,9 and yakṣas.10 (21)

རྩ་བའི་སྔགས་ཀྱི་བསྟོད་པ་འདི་དང་། །

tsawé ngak kyi töpa di dang

This Praise with the twenty-one verses of homage

ཕྱག་འཚལ་བ་ནི་ཉི་ཤུ་རྩ་གཅིག །

chaktsalwa ni nyishu tsa chik

Is itself the root mantra.

The Excellent Benefits of the Praise

ལྷ་མོ་ལ་གུས་ཡང་དག་ལྡན་པའི། །

lhamo la gü yangdak denpé

The wise who recite these words in earnest,

བློ་ལྡན་གང་གིས་རབ་དང་བརྗོད་དེ། །

loden gang gi rab dang jö dé

Filled with genuine devotion for this goddess, (22)

སྲོད་དང་ཐོ་རངས་ལངས་པར་བྱས་ནས། །

sö dang torang langpar jé né

At dusk, and also having risen at dawn,

དྲན་པས་མི་འཇིགས་ཐམས་ཅད་རབ་སྟེར། །

drenpé mi jik tamché rab ter

With recollection, will be granted fearlessness;

སྡིག་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་རབ་ཏུ་ཞི་བྱེད། །

dikpa tamché rabtu shyijé

They will utterly eliminate all misdeeds,

ངན་འགྲོ་ཐམས་ཅད་འཇོམས་པ་ཉིད་དོ། །

ngendro tamché jompa nyi do

And surmount all evil destinies. (23)

རྒྱལ་བ་བྱེ་བ་ཕྲག་བདུན་རྣམས་ཀྱིས། །

gyalwa jewa trak dün nam kyi

Seventy million victorious buddhas

མྱུར་དུ་དབང་ནི་བསྐུར་བར་འགྱུར་ལ། །

nyurdu wang ni kurwar gyur la

Will swiftly confer empowerment upon them,

འདི་ལས་ཆེ་བ་ཉིད་ནི་ཐོབ་ཅིང༌། །

di lé chewa nyi ni tob ching

And they will attain greatness in this world,

སངས་རྒྱས་གོ་འཕང་མཐར་ཐུག་དེར་འགྲོ། །

sangye gopang tartuk der dro

And reach the ultimate state of buddhahood. (24)

དེ་ཡི་དུག་ནི་དྲག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ། །

dé yi duk ni drakpo chenpo

Even the most powerful and toxic poisons,

བརྟན་གནས་པའམ་གཞན་ཡང་འགྲོ་བ། །

ten nepa am shyenyang drowa

Which derive from plants or living beings,

ཟོས་པ་དང་ནི་འཐུངས་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱང༌། །

zöpa dang ni tungpa nyi kyang

Whether eaten or taken as a draught,

དྲན་པས་རབ་ཏུ་སེལ་བ་ཉིད་ཐོབ། །

drenpé rabtu selwa nyi tob

Will be purged entirely by recalling this praise. (25)

གདོན་དང་རིམས་དང་དུག་གིས་གཟིར་བའི། །

dön dang rim dang duk gi zirwé

Reciting this two or three or seven times11

སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཚོགས་ནི་རྣམ་པར་སྤངས་ཏེ། །

dukngal tsok ni nampar pang té

Will eliminate multitudes of suffering

སེམས་ཅན་གཞན་པ་རྣམས་ལ་ཡང་ངོ༌། །

semchen shyenpa nam la yang ngo

Brought about by spirits, pestilence, and poison—

གཉིས་གསུམ་བདུན་དུ་མངོན་པར་བརྗོད་ན། །

nyi sum dün du ngönpar jö na

And this applies even to other beings as well. (26)

བུ་འདོད་པས་ནི་བུ་ཐོབ་འགྱུར་ཞིང༌། །

bu döpé ni bu tob gyur shying

Those who wish for progeny will bear them;

ནོར་འདོད་པས་ནི་ནོར་རྣམས་ཉིད་ཐོབ། །

nor döpé ni nor nam nyi tob

Those who wish for riches will acquire them;

འདོད་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཐོབ་པར་འགྱུར་ལ། །

döpa tamché tobpar gyur la

Each and every wish will hereby be fulfilled,

བགེགས་རྣམས་མེད་ཅིང་སོ་སོར་འཇོམས་འགྱུར། །

gek nam mé ching sosor jom gyur

And obstacles, entirely vanquished, will be no more. (27)

བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་མ་སྒྲོལ་མ་ལ་ཡང་དག་པར་རྫོགས་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱིས་བསྟོད་པ་གསུངས་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། །

This completes the Praise to Bhagavatī Tārā as spoken by the completely perfect Buddha.12

14 notes · View notes

whispersafterdusk · 4 years ago

Text

Lost in Time - ch 1

Winter had been very eager to shove fall out of the picture this year.

It had announced its presence with a torrential downpour that turned to sleet that had eventually given way to a heavy snow that had hammered Portia for a good five, six hours straight and brought with it a bitter cold that was a stark contrast to the chilly but tolerable temperature from only a few days prior.

It wasn't often that Arlo lamented living on top of a steep hill but he certainly did now as he and the rest of the Civil Corps struggled to clear the pathway without taking a sliding tumble down said hill; after several hours of work they'd only managed to clear to the topmost landing of the sidewalk ramp and they were all soaked, tired, and bruised up from repeated slips and slides -- if this was a sign of what kind of winter they were going to have this year then it wasn't going to be a pleasant one, and they'd likely need more than the one old shovel and broom they'd pulled out of the closet to get through the season. ((Continued below cut))

Arlo himself was armed with that broom and shovel and was quickly tiring of moving the seven inches of snow that sat on top of the three inches of ice and had, within the last hour, stopped piling it neatly alongside the path they were clearing and instead was just happy to move it out of the way however he could.

Behind him, as he cleared away the top layer of snow, Sam and Remington worked together on the ice - Remington cracking and lifting, and Sam getting it out of the way. Theirs was perhaps the harder job even if Arlo technically had more to move by volume, and after a while (after she chucked a double handful of ice chunks off to the side) Sam straightened from where she'd been bent over, rubbing at her lower back. "Man, even with my gloves on I can't feel my fingers."

"This is weather only Papa Bear's suited for," Remington grumbled as he wedged the blunt end of the pickaxe under the edge of the next section of a freshly-revealed layer of ice. They'd tried earlier to use the actual pick end of the pickaxe to try and shatter the ice but had, in the process, accidentally gouged the sidewalk a few times; the only way to prevent any further damage was to use the other end as a makeshift pry bar - it was harder and would take longer but was better than the alternative.

Remington grunted and threw his weight against the haft of the pickaxe and there was a crackling sound as the ice began to splinter and pull away from the stone beneath it. As the sheet lifted Sam bent again to slide her hands under into the gap between ground and ice. "--think Selene could rig something up to make this any easier?" she grunted as she lifted in tandem with Remington's prying.

"Think of it as strength training," Arlo replied. "We can't run today so this'll have to do."

"Let me rephrase that - think Selene could rig something to make this faster?" Sam went on, huffing a bit and stumbling as the ice came loose and she shoved it off to the side. "It's going to take a couple days just to get this ramp cleared off at the rate we're going."

Remington rested the head of the pickaxe on the ground and leaned against the handle, panting. "Let's switch gears and get the snow out of the way - maybe with some sunlight on it the ice'll melt enough to not be such a pain to pop loose."

"Sounds like a plan to me - give me that broom."

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For the last three days, thankfully, the weather had been clear and sunny, if still frigid. Remington had been right regarding the sun and the ice -even with the arctic temperatures it had thinned out enough that they'd managed to clear down to the landing near Gale's house and also the ramp and stairs that connected with Central Plaza. There they'd linked up with Paulie and managed to get a narrow footpath carved out around the border of the plaza leading north to the research center and south to Martha's bakery within an afternoon of work.

There were, out of sheer necessity, already compacted paths along Main Street made by Portia's townsfolk and the few stranded tourists present; once they'd gotten walkways open to Martha's and the research center they'd started working on what had already been worn in by stomping boots around town. It was a bit easier to bust up the compacted pathways and if more willing hands joined them they'd have it done soon enough -- Arlo had estimated another four or five days at most to get it clear even if it was just the three of them the entire time (assuming it didn't snow again). Knowing there was an end coming helped keep spirits high as they shoveled, slowly digging Portia out from under the worst storm anyone could recall in recent memory.

"At least the kids seem to be having a blast," Remington had chuckled as Toby and Polly went whizzing by on polished wooden sleds to thud into a pile of snow they'd left mounded at the base of the tree planter in the center of the plaza. "Going to have to keep an eye on them, make sure if they go out into the countryside they don't go flying out on top of the river - don't need anyone falling through."

From off to their left they heard a sudden cry then, and turned in time to see Erwa lose his footing and fall backwards onto his rump; with the snow mostly cushioning his fall he at least didn't go sliding down the incline behind the two kids but the ice under the snow left him floundering right at Martha's doorstep, unable to get enough purchase to get his feet back under him.

"-speaking of someone falling," Sam grinned. "Come on, let's go help him out."

Arlo turned his back to hide his smile - it felt impolite to laugh at Erwa rolling around in the snow - and kept shoveling, listening as Sam and Remington's footsteps crunched over toward the portly man. The crunching eventually stopped, as did the sound of shoes scratching against ice, and for a brief moment there was the sound of a conversation that was slightly too far off to hear -- the sort of noise where you could recognize someone was talking but not actually make out the individual words.

"'ey, Arlo - have YOU seen Dawa yet today?"

Well, he definitely could hear that. "Can't say I have. Why?" He jammed the tip of the shovel into the snow and turned toward the trio in the distance - Erwa was back on his feet and had his hands out to his sides for balance.

"Because I can't find him, is why," came Erwa's answer. "He wasn't home when I popped in yesterday, and he's not home right now, and I didn't see any new footprints in the snow aside from mine so it doesn't look like I've just missed him each time. It's not like him to NOT be at the tree farm - not for any length of time, anyway. No one else has seen him either."

Arlo frowned - this was NOT the kind of weather anyone should be wandering around in. "Right. We'll look for him. Did anyone see him recently?"

"Not since the day after that storm hit - Emily said she saw him busting ice off the gates to the farm but she's the only one since then."

"Guess we'll start at the farm then and work our way out from there. Let's get moving," Sam said. She took a careful step around Erwa and began to pick her way up the path, trying to stick to the well-worn and frozen over footprints in the snow. Erwa wobbled a bit in place and Remington steadied him with a hand on the shoulder and then Remington was off up the hill too.

Sticking to the path they'd made Arlo headed toward Paulie's store first and left the broom and shovel leaning against the counter, then he too began to carefully climb up the path and toward Peach Plaza. He didn't see anyone else along the way (not that he blamed them - it was bitterly cold) and it didn't take long to meet up with Sam and Remington at the city gates and head out as a group toward the tree farm.

Erwa was right in that there didn't seem to be any new tracks up this way; Arlo could pick out a single set, shaped in such a way that it looked like everyone who'd walked it had all stuck to the same footprints. They too stayed within the tracks, walking in single file all the way up to the farm's gates and beyond, following the footprints up toward the house where the trail then split into five different ones with only one leading up the steps to the building and the others angled out in various directions all seeming to lead out into the groves.

Arlo eyed the tracks - they were all spaced out enough that he doubted any of them met up anywhere close. "Everyone pick a trail and see where it leads. We'll meet back here in a half hour and see what we've found."

Remington picked a trail that headed along the fence line, and Arlo watched the snow fall from the fencing as the man kept a hand on it to steady himself as he headed off. 'Hope his knee isn't bothering him too much,' he found himself thinking -- he tried not to let it slip his mind that Remington's knee wasn't in the best shape but the man went out of his way to hide when the joint was aching anyway. He'd gotten on his case about hiding injuries or aches before but it always seemed to go in one ear and out the other. 'At least we don't lack for ice packs at the moment.'

Arlo shook himself from his thoughts; Sam appeared to have picked a trail that led out to the middle of the tree farm so Arlo chose one that was nearer to the house but angled to the west, and then seemed to veer to skirt along the northern border of the farm. He knew Dawa liked to walk the property a lot -- he needed to, to be able to catch any issues or potential signs of disease in the trees early enough to do anything about it, so him walking about was a usual occurrence...it COULD be that Erwa had just missed him each time he'd visited, and with the weather being so cold no one was really going outside unless they had to so it was possible Dawa had been outside when no one else was around to see him. Both of those were equally as possible as the man being in trouble somewhere out here and Arlo preferred to hope for sheer poorly timed coincidence as he plodded along.

The branches around him sagged and creaked under the weight of the ice, and the further he went the more trees he spotted that were wrapped in heavy rope and what looked like burlap, and in a few places he saw a couple of trees that looked to be slowly splitting in half; one of them he recognized as a tree that had been struck by lightning a few summers ago -- there were thick metal rods connecting the two halves of the tree, and steel cables up in the crown of the tree holding the two halves together. The repair, as ghoulish as it looked, appeared to have actually saved the tree as, once he got up near it, he could see signs where the bark had grown over and bulged out near the bolts that held the rods in place.

Dawa's tracks led right up to this particular tree and went in a circle at its base so clearly the man was keeping a close eye on this one; Arlo edged around the tree and kept going, eying the trail ahead of him and noting how it stopped its meandering among the trees and, about fifty feet ahead of him, straightened out to...hmm.

To the northeast of here Arlo knew was a bridge that crossed the lake that separated the Somber Marsh from the northern shore of Portia's territory along that lake. Unless he was mistaken it sort of looked like Dawa's path was going to lead him directly to that bridge -- the trail had definitely straightened out enough for that to be a viable destination unless it suddenly veered away far enough ahead that Arlo couldn't spot it from here.

It certainly seemed to be case as he drew nearer to the abandoned Old World building that made up part of the northwestern border for the tree farm, and sure enough as soon as he'd walked the length of that building and gotten to the far side of it he could see the bridge in the distance, and Dawa's tracks bee-lined straight for it.

"Why would he go out there..." he wondered aloud. It didn't make sense to go out to the marsh - there wasn't anything out there except monsters and ruins (even the fishing out there was poor). Dawa wasn't the sort to go anywhere near a ruin, he didn't fish, and so far as Arlo knew he'd never gone after monster-based resources on his own -- he wasn't even the sort to deal with monsters when they happened to invade his farm: he'd always enlisted someone else's help to shoo them away or exterminate them.

As he hurried along Arlo mentally cursed the weather as he didn't dare move at a pace faster than a brisk walk unless he wanted to take a tumble; it felt like it took an age to reach the bridge and even longer to carefully climb up the ice-coated wooden ramp and metal steps. Up at the top he could see the tracks heading straight across the bridge; he followed them across and then began to follow a path that seemed to crisscross at random between crumbling rock wall sections, rusted old buildings, and even a couple of gigantic trees that had gaps between exposed roots.

It almost seemed like Dawa was searching for something...but what? What could possibly be out here that he'd be looking for?

The bridge he'd crossed led to one of two large islands in the marsh's lake -- this particular island was known for the two ruins on it: the Deepest Ruin and the Somber Marsh Abandoned Ruins. Dawa's tracks at least didn't lead up to either of those (not that Arlo thought he'd have any reason to go inside either) but eventually the tracks ventured outside of the crumbling, circular stone walls that partially enclosed the ruins, and once those tracks weren't sheltered by the walls they quickly disappeared -- erased by the cutting wind out here that had blown most of the snow away and exposed the ice to the sun (in fact he could almost see dead grass in several spots where the ice had almost melted through).

So Dawa had come out here, searched around, and then headed out of the walls to... The only other places out beyond the walls was another ruined building and a crashed ship that doubled as a bridge to the far side of the marsh, but surely Dawa hadn't gone out THAT far, right?

Rather than trek out there Arlo instead turned to look at the walls -- they were tall enough that maybe they'd give him enough of a vantage point to see if it was even worth it to check the other side of the lake. He fumbled a few times as he climbed (numb fingers - this cold weather was beginning to get on his nerves) and once he was at the top of the wall he saw an unmistakable black smudge on the far shore to the northeast. It was just far enough away that between distance and the glare of the sun off the snow Arlo couldn't make out much more than a dark mark on the ground but whatever it was was pretty big.

He'd definitely need to head over there now, if only to see what that was.

It was too steep to climb down the outer side of the wall so he had to go back the way he'd come up and then take the long way around; the wooden foot bridge that spanned across the two halves of the crashed ship was thankfully still intact and was even mostly thawed out so he got across without issue, and then it was just a matter of getting over to whatever the big black smudge was.

The trees were thick on this side of the lake, both in number and in canopy cover, and the snow had the branches sagging low so it was difficult to see through them; the big black smudge remained a big black smudge until finally Arlo was almost on top of it, and there he noticed two things.

One: the big black smudge was a freshly opened sink hole.

And two: there were footprints in the mud that ringed the opening that led to a long skidmark suggesting someone had slid in.

The sinkhole wasn't perfectly circular and was about twenty feet across at its widest point, surrounded by upturned rocks and broken tree roots, and the wind whistled eerily over the gaping hole. The earth around the sinkhole was sludgy and angled sharply downward toward the opening as well - he didn't dare get close enough to look into the sinkhole or else he'd risk falling in himself.

'I guess Dawa must have heard this thing opening up and came looking for what caused the noise, and fell in.'

"Dawa?" he yelled toward the opening. His voice echoed back to him; there wasn't a response. "Dawa?" he tried again, louder. Again there was no answer aside from the howl of the wind in the hole.

...if the wrapped trees were any indication then Dawa had to have rope stored somewhere on the farm, and there were trees enough here to tie off to provide a handhold to get close enough to investigate.

Arlo turned and began to hurry back the way he'd come -- by now Sam and Remington would probably be waiting for him anyway, and he'd need their help to get down into the hole.

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

"You sure about this?"

"Yeah. You and Sam got me beat in the raw strength category, and if I do find Dawa down there he might need the help to haul him out. I'm pretty sure I can get down there and back out without a problem but I can't promise about him - especially if we don't know how far down this thing goes."

Arlo nodded at Remington; he did have a point - they had no way of knowing if Dawa was in any shape to climb out of there. "All right. Sam and I will wait up here - tug on that rope four times if you need us to help pull you up."

"Give me that other coil, there -- no telling how deep this goes."

Sam handed over a spare coil of rope which Remington slung over his shoulder bandolier-style, then with a nod he grabbed hold of the other rope - the one carefully tied to a nearby tree - and began to carefully edge his way forward toward the sinkhole's edge; the mud here went up to his ankles and then midway up his shins before he got to where he could slip over the edge and begin to carefully rappel down into the darkness.

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Once he was over the lip and down about fifteen feet the incessant howl of the wind across the sinkhole's opening ceased, and now all Remington could hear as he picked his way down was the crumbling of dirt and rock each time his boots touched the wall, and somewhere he could hear a trickle of dripping water -- probably melting snow, and the last thing this sinkhole needed was more moisture to cause a further collapse.

He estimated he was about thirty feet down when he wrapped his legs and one arm around the rope to hold himself in place long enough to use his other hand to click on the little headlamp they'd borrowed from Selene; around him the dark dirt seemed to swallow up the pale yellow light and as he looked down his heart jumped a bit as the lamp illuminated roots and vines that jutted out of the sinkhole's walls.

And the vines looked like they'd once been thick and had choked this entire area out but now there was a large gap through their center, and he could see the glimmer of sap leaking out of hundreds of split and broken ends of the plants as he steadily lowered himself toward them.

"Well, at least something slowed the fall," he mumbled as he went -- he'd be lying if he said he hadn't been silently panicking a little bit as the depth of this hole began to sink in (no pun intended) coupled with the fact that he hadn't seen Dawa or even signs of him until this point. If the vines had slowed and cushioned the man's fall then there was a pretty good chance he'd survived the drop.

Remington kept at it with his steady rhythm as he rappelled, and then just above where the vines began his boots hit the wall with a muffled thump; again he held himself in place as he experimentally stomped a boot against the wall and again got the thump -- it almost sounded like metal. He let himself drop a few feet more and then used a hand to dig and pry at the wall ahead of him; something bit into his finger and he yanked his hand back and (perhaps stupidly) stuck his fingers into his mouth but there in the light of his headlamp was a dull, reflective metal visible through the grime he'd scraped free.

This sinkhole must have opened into an underground ruins.

The way down became more difficult as now he had to pick his way through the vines that crisscrossed what he suspected was some sort of ancient elevator shaft as he was starting to see door-like shapes at through the gloom and vine cover regular intervals as he went. Eventually he reached the end of the rope he'd been using to climb down and he wedged himself into a little gap in front of what he was now sure was a doorway, and tied off the rope's end to the coil he'd brought down with him. When he was certain it was securely tied he let the coil drop and listened as it hit something not too far away beneath him -- apparently there WAS an intact bottom to this shaft, and it was a lot closer than he'd thought.

He went the distance of four more "floors" and then finally he was almost on top of a rusted out elevator...pod? Car? What did the Old World call these things? It was the thing that carried people up and down the cables - whatever it was called didn't really matter at the moment, honestly.

From here he could see the ragged hole in the top where Dawa must have either fallen or climbed through, and the metal around that hole was sagging under the weight of the rope coil he'd tossed down; without a doubt it would fully collapse under his weight, so Remington was careful to aim himself at that hole and slide down through it, pulling the coil of rope with him and finally getting his boots back on solid ground within the elevator...thingy.

The air down here was heavy and smelled of dirt and rot; Dawa had already forced the elevator doors open and beyond it was a hallway full of dust and moldering old carpet. Remington could see footprints in the dust (really, the carpet had mostly rotted into dust itself) and began to follow them...not that he really needed them as there wasn't anywhere he could see to go except down the hallway, though there were doors to his left and right. He did stop to try one of the doors and couldn't see a way to get it open -- they had no handles and were almost flush with the walls.

"Dawa? You down here?" he called ahead of him.

There wasn't anything except his own echo so he kept going. Ahead of him the hallway turned to the left, and the closer he came to the corner the more apparent a thudding, dragging noise was beginning to become, until finally--

"Dawa!"

There around the corner was Dawa -- he had his hand up shielding his eye's from the glare of Remington's headlamp, and was dotted with bruises and cuts that left dozens of bloody spots across his clothing. "Never been happier to see someone in my life, I was running out of matches," came the man's reply.

"The feeling's mutual - had no idea what to expect to find down here," Remington laughed. He reached up to slide the headlamp over to his temple so he could look at Dawa without blinding him. "You in one shape, more or less?"

"I've been better - not worried about a few bruises but I'm ready to eat an entire cow by myself."

Remington nodded. "I bet. Come on, let's get you out of here."

"Yeah, about that... Don't know that I can climb out of here. Not on my leg, anyway."

Dawa gestured toward his left leg and Remington brought the headlamp around again; the yellow of the lamp made the bruised and swollen ankle look ten times worse than it probably was, but even still it was the size of a small melon and looked rather painful. "Ah. Hmm. Well, we've got Sam and Arlo up there ready to pull you out."

"Don't know if I'd trust that -- I mean, don't get me wrong, I trust THEM. But at current I don't trust gravity, friction, or the structural integrity of a regular ol' rope. Not even sure I could hold on the entire time to make it out of here either."

"How'd you end up down here anyway?"

Dawa huffed out an annoyed sound. "It's dumb. It's really dumb. So, I heard a noise out here and went looking - you know how I've been keeping an eye out for Aadit, after that Knight scared him off. So I hear this noise and I think to myself, maybe it's him, or maybe it's that damned Knight come back and is up to no good. I wait out the storm then walk out here and it takes awhile to find anything weird - but eventually I find this hole, and when I went to look at it it became a bigger hole and I fell right in."

Remington blinked at him. "Became a BIGGER hole?"

"Yeah, a bigger hole - it was barely bigger than I am when I spotted it. I guess it'd started opening before all the snow and ice hit, and the storm must've formed a crust over the actual size of the hole because I definitely wasn't near the opening when it all broke loose under me and dumped me in." He paused and looked around them. "Who knew there was an old ruin out here completely underground? Usually these things have some sort of above ground entrance. Wouldn't have gotten near if I'd thought it'd lead to this."

"Yeah...wouldn't have expected something like this." Remington rubbed at his chin, thinking -- if Dawa couldn't make it out on his own and didn't think the others could pull him out, then they'd need to find another way up. "You know, on the way down here I saw a lot of elevator doors lining the shaft. We're down pretty deep but maybe we can find a way to link up with a floor that's higher up and climb up out of that floor's door."

"Yeah...yeah, I like that idea. I think I could do a shorter climb, no problem. And I DID find another elevator back that way-" Dawa jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Couldn't get the door open though, and even if I could've I don't think there's any power going to it anymore."

Remington nodded and then dropped to a knee to swing his pack off his back; he rummaged through it and pulled out an old, battered water bottle. "All right, here's the plan then: I'm going to climb back up and let Sam and Arlo know you're all right, and have one of them get Selene or Higgins so we can get this elevator back up and running." He handed the bottle to Dawa, who began to chug from it noisily. "-I'll also get them to bring you something to eat, too."

"You're a lifesaver, Remington. In this case literally."

With a chuckle Remington pulled his pack back on and tightened the straps. "S'what we do. You need anything else in the meantime?"

"Don't think so. It's actually not so bad down here if you get away from the shaft and around the corner."

"What's ahead of here?"

"There's this big room back there - it's got some old furniture in it, some tables and chairs and a counter. Might've been some old cafeteria or something. Been back there since it's warmer."

"All right, then. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Remington heard a 'don't slip' behind him as he turned to head off; it was going to be a long climb back up.

#Lost in Time #lit #Lost in Time - ch 1 #Arlo #Sam #Remington #Erwa #Dawa #Builder #My Time at Portia

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wendydarlings1 · 4 years ago

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ICYMI: IT'S BACK - Dawa Bar inside Animal Kingdom is back, but with a few changes. Read all about it here: https://t.co/ea53qTDY4n https://t.co/NgM5663seQ

#Twitter

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katedoesfics · 4 years ago

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Lacuna | Chapter 8

It took a few hours, but after popping a few pills and falling back asleep, Kahli was feeling a little better by the late morning. She managed to pull herself together enough to trudge up to the tree farm, but to her surprise, someone had already set up the waterwheel. All that was left was to connect the water to the sprinkler system in the farm.

She stared at the set up by the lake for a moment until Dawa approached her.

“Looks like you’re almost done,” he said happily.

Kahli turned to him. “Who did this?”

Dawa raised a brow. “Uh. You did?”

Kahli shook her head.

Dawa shrugged. “I dunno,” he said. “I’m just getting up here, now. I thought you were working on it all morning.”

Kahli turned back to the wheel, examining it. She couldn’t think of anyone who would have the ability to get this much work done. And it looked to be in working order. All she had to do was connect the engine and get it started. She decided not to question it and chalked it up to little builder fairies that decided to give her a break, and she spent the rest of the afternoon finishing the job. By the evening, the irrigation system was complete and the sprinklers gave the trees much needed water.

The following day, Kahli found herself a rare moment to herself. But instead of sniffing around the Commerce Guild for more work, she decided to take advantage of the day, making her way to the ranch to visit Emily for a change. She was chasing after some baby chicks when Kahli walked over, and she blew her hair out of her face in exasperation. She put her hands on her hips and grinned.

“Look who made it to our neck of the woods.”

“You look like you need a hand,” Kahli said.

Emily’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah. Kinda. Gotta gather up these little guys and bring ‘em back into their coop.”

Kahli watched one of the chicks hop over to her, and she bent down and picked it up carefully.

“That was hard,” Kahli said with a smirk. She brought the chick up to her face and scratched it’s little head with her finger. It chirped loudly until she brought it back to the cage with its friends.

“Oh, sure, you make it look so easy,” Emily said. She rolled her eyes. “Come on, Chicken Lady, gimme a hand.”

With Kahli’s help, they had gathered the rest of the escaped chicks and brought them back to the coop where they pecked eagerly at the ground with the mother hens.

“And you thought you were getting a day off,” Emily said.

“Ah, I don’t mind,” Kahli said. “They’re pretty cute.”

“So, how was yesterday? Were you as sick as I was?” Emily laughed.

“I didn’t even remember coming home.”

Emily nudged her with her elbow. “Did you wake up with a certain someone in bed?”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Alright, alright,” Emily said. “I’m done with the Arlo bit. I’ll leave you alone. I think you got it bad enough the other night, anyway.”

“I think you should go back to Antoine and Dr. Xu.”

Emily nodded. “Oh, I’m sure we will.” To Kahli’s relief, she changed the subject. “So. You want a couple of chicks? I could spare a couple as payment for helping me, if you want.”

“I don’t know how to take care of chickens,” Kahli said.

“They’re easy,” Emily explained. “Throw ‘em some grain and make sure they have water. Wait for ‘em to pop out some eggs, and voila, breakfast!”

“Really?”

“Really, really,” Emily nodded. “And I’ll even help ya build a coop.”

Within the hour, there were a dozen chicks and six ducklings running around Kahli’s yard, and she and Emily were staring at a pile of wood, hammers in their hands.

“Have you built a coop before?” Kahli asked.

“Well, no,” Emily started. “But, I mean, come on, it’s just like, a box, right? How hard can it be? You built a damn bridge, I think you can handle a coop. It’s just gotta not fall apart.”

“Oh, of course,” Kahli rolled her eyes. “I thought we could just leave it as a pile of wood.”

“You’re lucky I like you,” Emily said. “Your snark level is at max today.”

Kahli grinned. “Alright,” she started. “We should start with the walls. Put a couple boards together like this, right?” She lined a few boards side by side. “And we can hold ‘em together with this longer board, like this.”

“Obviously,” Emily said. “You do a side and I’ll do a side.”

They set to work, each building a side, and when the sides were completed, they worked on the back piece. They fit the three sides together, then closed it in with a fourth wall with a square doorway. Emily fastened a ramp leading out of the doorway, and Kahli enclosed the coop area, giving the flock an outdoor space. By evening, the coop was complete and Kahli’s new flock was pecking happily at their grain.

Emily brushed her hands together as they admired their work.

“Well, whadda ya know,” she said. “Maybe I can be a builder, too!”

“You’d probably do better than me,” Kahli said.

“Okay, enough of the pity party. You’ve done a hell of a lot in the three weeks you’ve been here, so shut up.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Emily grinned. “Good. Drinks?”

Kahli followed her into town where a crowd had gathered. It was Sunday night, and she had completely forgotten about the weekly meetings that Mayor Gale held in the plaza. He was just beginning to speak when they joined.

“We are aware of some thefts this week,” Gale said. “These actions will not be tolerated in our town! We will investigate this to the end and capture the perpetrator.”

“Must be Huss and Tuss again,” Martha said with a roll of her eyes.

“Those idiots never give up,” Higgins muttered, and the rest of the town broke out into murmurs of complaints.

“We’ll get to the bottom of this as soon as possible,” Mayor Gale assured them. “Arlo will be spearheading this investigation, so you folks can rest assured!”

“Great,” Kahli muttered. “And I don’t think my doors lock.”

“Good to know,” Emily said.

“Jokes on you. I have no possessions. I barely have a pillow.”

Emily laughed. “Maybe I should break in and leave you something, then.”

“Can it be a million gols?”

“Maybe two.”

The crowd dispersed, and to no surprise, most of them headed for the Round Table for the evening. Kahli and Emily joined them, sitting at the bar beside Antoine. Sonia was behind the counter and served them drinks as soon as they sat. Kahli looked around the room quickly.

“Ya boy’s not here,” Sonia said.

Kahli blushed and drank quickly. “I’m not - no - shut up.”

Sonia grinned and left them alone at the bar to tend to the other patrons.

“But Dr. Xu is,” Antoine said dreamily. He turned in his seat and drank, looking over his glass to where the town doctor sat.

“Stop being a creeper,” Emily said.

Antoine shrugged. “So I appreciate good looking men. Kahli and I both do.”

“Oh, so now you’re on the Arlo train, too?” Emily moaned.

“There’s no train,” Kahli muttered, but no one was listening.

“I know a good looking guy when I see one,” Antoine said with a shrug. “But the brave, rugged, adventurous thing isn’t my type. He’s all Kahli’s.”

“Guess I’m getting shitfaced again,” Kahli said to her drink.

“In my defense,” Emily started, “I didn’t bring it up. I was trying to give Antoine shit.”

Antoine offered Kahli an apologetic smile. “So, what fun projects they’ve got you working on?” Antoint said.

“Uh.” Kahli hesitated. “I built a chicken coop.”

“Yup,” Emily confirmed. “All by herself.”

“I heard you were able to help Dawa and Aadit a few times.”

Kahli nodded. “Yup.”

“Well, you’re exciting,” Antoine muttered.

Kahli sighed and swirled the liquid in her glass. “Aren’t I?” She blew her bangs out of her face. “I should have run off to be some adventurer or something, too.”

“Apparently it runs in the family,” Emily said.

“Why would you want to do that when you can be here drinking with us? An added bonus is that it’s much safer than the rest of the world. Some people like not dying.”

“Or they live for the thrill of the risk,” Emily said. She put her chin in her palm and sighed. “Seeing all kinds of crazy new things. Never knowing what the next day will be like.”

Kahli and Antoine blinked at her and she met their gaze.

“What?”

Kahli grinned and sipped from her drink. “Daydreaming of being an adventurer?”

“That’s new,” Antoine muttered.

“Eh.” Emily drank. “I dunno. Maybe. I guess I kinda wanted to live that life, you know, when I was younger. But Granny needed me here.”

“I did not know this about you,” Antoine said. “Maybe you should get with Arlo instead and you guys can go adventuring together.”

Emily scoffed. “Please. I can’t take Kahli’s man from her like that.”

“He’s not my man!” she barked loudly, then shrank in her seat and finished her drink. “You people don’t let things go, do you?”

Emily sighed. “I need to get laid.”

“You and me both,” Antoine muttered.

“Oh, hell,” Kahli said. “Me too.”

#lacuna #lacuna8 #mtap #my time at portia #fic #fanfic

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trimbleglenn · 4 years ago

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Pakistan imposes more restrictions on terrorists

LAHORE: The federal government has proscribed 88 leaders and members of terrorist groups, in compliance with the new list, issued by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) recently.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government issued two notifications on August 18, announcing sanctions on key figures of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Taliban, Daesh, Haqqani Group, al-Qaeda, and others.

The notifications order seizure of all movable and immoveable properties of these outfits and individuals, and freezing of their bank accounts. These terrorists have been barred from transferring money through financial institutions, purchasing arms and travelling abroad, etc.

The notifications ratified a complete ban on all leaders and members of defunct Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hiding in the Pak-Afghan border areas. Hafiz Saeed Ahmad of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Mohammad Masood Azhar of Jaish-e-Mohammed, Mullah Fazlullah (alias Mullah Radio), Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Muhammad Yahya Mujahid, Abdul Hakeem Murad, wanted by Interpol, Noor Wali Mehsud, Fazal Raheem Shah of Uzbekistan Liberation Movement, Taliban leaders Jalaluddin Haqqani, Khalil Ahmad Haqqani, Yahya Haqqani and Dawood Ibrahim of Indian state of Maharashtra and his associates were on the list.

The notifications said that leadership of the defunct TTP, and other organisations including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Tariq Geedar group of TTP, Harkatul Mujahedin, Al Rasheed Trust, Al Akhtar Trust, Tanzim Jaish-al Mohajireen Ansar, Jamaat-ul Ahrar, Tanzim Khutba Imam Bukhari, Rabita Trust Lahore, Revival of Islamic Heritage Society of Pakistan, Al-Harmain Foundation Islamabad, Harkat Jihad Al Islami, Islami Jihad Group, Uzbekistan Islami Tehrik, Daesh of Iraq, Emirates of Tanzim Qafqaz working against Russia, and Abdul HaqUyghurs of Islamic Freedom Movement of China have been banned. The Pakistan government has also ratified the ban on these terror outfits and individuals.

Meanwhile, the FO said that it is the UNSC Taliban Sanctions Committee that deals with sanctions on Taliban and entities and individuals, associated with them. Upon any change by the Committee, all states including Pakistan, implement these sanctions which include assets freeze, arms embargo and travel ban.

The Taliban Sanctions Committee has not announced any changes in its sanctions list recently. The SRO, issued by Pakistan on Aug 18, 2020 only consolidates and documents the previously announced SROs as a procedural measure and does not reflect any change in the sanctions list or sanction measures.

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whispersafterdusk · 4 years ago

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Lost in Time - ch 3

That night he'd left Sam and Remington to guard the sinkhole and had helped Xu get Dawa and the unconscious woman back to the clinic. Dawa was cleaned up, shown how to wrap his badly sprained ankle, given some painkillers, and was released; the woman was still unconscious when Arlo stopped by the following morning -- Xu assured him that the woman seemed healthy enough but that he'd have to monitor her closely since there was no telling how she'd been kept alive for so long inside that tube or what that preservation might have done to her.

Arlo had a nagging curiosity about the woman - and who wouldn't? The realization had hit him as he was dressing that morning that they'd just pulled a woman out of an Old World facility, who might actually BE from the Old World herself. That was huge. It wasn't even something he'd have believed if he hadn't personally witnessed it himself. Who she was, what year she'd come from, how she'd ended up down there...all of those were questions he knew he needed answers for but first he'd have to wait for her to wake up and recover and then hope it wouldn't be too overwhelming for her to find herself in a completely different time period. ((Continued below cut))

It was just one more thing on his mind as he walked out to the sinkhole with Selene and Higgins both in tow; he'd had to firmly put his foot down once already and none-too-politely tell Higgins he wasn't allowed down into the facility without a Civil Corps escort unless he wanted to be locked up until his shop fell off the leader boards entirely. Higgins had a tendency to "be the best" at the expense of everything and everyone else, and Arlo could absolutely see the man attempting to sneak down into the ruins to claim all the "best" stuff for himself and selfishly hoard things out of the reach of the Research Center and the other builders in Portia. He'd not mentioned the woman to Higgins yet but it had occurred to him, on the walk out there, that their mystery woman might actually have personal property down in that facility, and that if anyone had a claim to anything out of there it'd be her.

The minor hitch with that thought was since Arlo hadn't mentioned the woman yet and probably shouldn't mention her until Gale made an announcement...until Arlo could definitively say "this absolutely does not belong to you" he knew Higgins would probably think it'd be worth it to try and risk sneaking in.

With that in mind his misgivings about bringing Higgins along doubled but...unfortunately Selene couldn't handle a job of this magnitude on her own in a quick enough manner for Gale's liking, and while Arlo even had doubts that Higgins would wait long enough for them to get the skeletons out before he tried taking anything the more pressing matter was making sure that sinkhole didn't get any bigger or further damage the facility and risk something leaking out into their water supply (again). To do that quickly they'd need the man's help...there just wasn't any way around it.

Up ahead the bright red tent Remington had set up stood out against the snow and served as a beacon for them between the trees. They all carried rope and tools, and Selene had measuring equipment and an old metal detector she'd cobbled together with the Research Center's help; once they'd taken some measurements and more closely examined the shaft they'd have Dana give her recommendations on how best to reinforce everything (on the basis that the elevator shaft wasn't too different from a mining shaft and if anyone would know how to shore up crumbling dirt walls walls it'd be her).

In front of the tent was a sizeable bonfire burning away, and as they approached Remington came out of the tent.

"How was your night?"

"Not too bad, actually. Set that little alarm clock to go off every couple of hours and Sam and I swapped off to keep the fire going," Remington grinned. "Planted the tent off to the side and all the heat came right in while the smoke blew by."

Arlo nodded; he'd felt bad that they'd had to stay out in the elements all night but then again, thinking back to his doubts about Higgins... "Good to know. I'll be taking tonight's post. Did you see anyone?"

"Not a soul."

"Good." He turned to Selene and Higgins then. "Selene's already been down there, and I've already briefed you on what to expect," he said, directing that to Higgins. "We're not constructing anything today - all Gale wants us to focus on today is assessing and then taking those assessments to Dana to create a plan. Any questions?"

Both builders shook their heads, and Arlo led them over to the tied off rope that was now connected to a motorized winch and pulley system staked in the ground with big iron rail spikes; Remington must have been busy overnight as there were now four sets of makeshift rope harnesses hanging from the lowest branches of the tree the rope system was connected to.

"The motor can handle two at a time," Selene said as she inspected one of the harnesses. "-you know, if you don't mind being face to face, back to back, or face to whatever with someone in close quarters."

"One at a time sounds fine," came Sam's voice from behind them, her tone as dry as the desert; she headed over to slip on a harness as the others chuckled and readied themselves to head down.

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He needed to make a quick trip back into town before camping out for the night and on his way in Arlo stopped at the clinic again.

"How is she?"

Xu looked up from a pile of papers on his desk. "Well, the vitals I'm getting are getting stronger. She's surprisingly not too dehydrated and while there's some signs of muscle atrophy it's not debilitatingly so. There's some skin break down and irritation where all those wires and things were glued on, and..." he paused, tapping the end of his pen on the table. "Well. I shouldn't speculate. She does have some very strange scarring patterns but I'll wait until she wakes to discuss their origin with her."

Arlo glanced over to the bed in the corner that held the woman; her hair was dry and someone had loosely pulled it into a ponytail just over her left shoulder - Phyllis was there silently taking the woman's pulse and recording it on a clipboard in hand.

The woman looked as pale as the white hospital gown she now wore and could have easily been mistaken for a wax statue if he didn't already know she was a living, breathing person. "Keep us posted, and keep this quiet as well - and that's by Gale's orders."

"Oh I know, he's already been by. In fact, he told me to bar entry to anyone that wasn't you and the Corps, Phyllis, or himself -- with an exception for those sick and injured, of course, but then I think the screen is enough to keep her from view." Xu chuckled and swept up the papers, beginning to tap them on the table to even them out into a neat stack - Arlo noticed the topmost page had two cartoonish outline drawings of a female body, front and back, and Xu had made markings across the halves. "Even if he hadn't I don't think I'd be telling anyone anyway. They'd probably think I'd lost my mind."

Arlo nodded. "If I hadn't been there myself I wouldn't believe it either." With that he left the clinic and headed further into town; once he had stocked up on food, bought another long-sleeved undershirt, new liners for his boots, and had stopped by his room to grab a whetstone he trekked back out for his turn at keeping watch over the sinkhole.

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With such an unusual situation and a patient that was both a delicate case and also not an alarming concern Xu had brought over pillows and blankets from his home and packed a dinner and breakfast for himself. The floor of his clinic wasn't all that comfortable but at the very least if all he did was lightly doze then he'd hear every little noise in the room and could respond immediately if the woman took a sudden turn for the worse.

Or, as it happened, if she happened to wake up.

The change in her breathing pattern was very slight - barely more than a pause and a quiet gasp - but in the silent room it stood out to his practiced ears, and in an instant he was flinging blankets aside to get on his feet and over to her bed.

Her eyes were open but unfocused and she didn't seem to notice him appearing beside her even when he flipped on the lamp at the head of her bed; when he waved a hand within her line of sight she flinched and sank further into her pillows.

"Hello there - can you hear me? My name is Dr. Xu."

Her eyelids fluttered -- he knew then that this sudden bout of consciousness wasn't going to last long. Carefully he reached out to take her pulse, and her head on the pillow slowly turned in his direction.

"Can you hear me? Can you tell me your name?"

A few garbled noises came out of her then right as she slipped back into unconsciousness Xu swore he heard at least one word that sounded like 'Elizabeth.'

He remained standing there for some time, taking her pulse at regular intervals and monitoring as it returned to normal levels. When she was back to her baseline vital readings he turned the lamp off and headed back to his desk, taking up his pen and writing Elizabeth across the top of the woman's file.

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The temperature was slowly warming as the days passed -- it was still definitely cold (it WAS winter after all) but the frigid front that had brought that monster storm with it had long since moved on and Portia was gradually returning to a more normal winter temperature range.

This was, of course, a double edged sword, especially out near the sinkhole; the mud was only getting deeper the more everything thawed out and it was starting to make it a bit dangerous to get anywhere near the lip of the hole. Selene was already drawing up plans to build an anchored platform around the sinkhole, leaving Higgins the bulk of the work when it came to making the support beams and cross braces for the shaft. The two of them (after Arlo had 'gently' persuaded Higgins to act like a team member) had managed to outsource some of the minor parts to the smaller shops in town and yet even with five builder's shops working together it was still going to be a week or two before the shaft was shored up and the platform built.

Arlo felt thankful (and a bit guilty that he felt thankful) that tonight wasn't his turn to take the overnight watch as he waded back into town, coated in mud to his knees and wanting little more than a meal and a bath but, as he did each time he came back in after a watch, he went to the clinic first.

Phyllis greeted him as he came through the door, then somewhat awkwardly asked him to wipe his feet -- not that that would do much but it did get the point across that it would be appreciated if he wouldn't track mud in beyond the door. From the doorway he couldn't see the bed behind the screen but he could see the back half of Dr. Xu, and could hear a quiet conversation going on back there in the corner.

'Does that mean she's awake?'

Phyllis walked over to Xu and placed a hand on his shoulder; Xu leaned his head back enough to peer around the edge of the screen to look over at Arlo at the door. After a moment (it seemed like he'd shuffled something from hand to hand) Xu flashed Arlo a confirming gesture -- everything was all right.

He also assumed that meant that yes, the woman was awake. That also probably meant that now wasn't the time to intrude.

Arlo gave Xu a quick nod in return and left the clinic, plodding from its doorway over to the Corps building. Sam was inside "sparring" with the training dummy and stopped when he entered, looking him up and down.

"Wow."

"Yeah. The mud is getting worse. Selene's going to put a platform up for us to work off of before we all sink up to our eyelids in it."

He'd been hoping the Corps building would be empty (he wanted to strip his boots and pants off right there, but wouldn't do that in front of Sam) so he settled for kicking off his boots and very carefully tiptoeing across the room to his bedroom, doing his best not to shed too much mud as he went. Once inside his quarters he stood on an old throw rug and stripped down, leaving the muddy clothing in a heap on the rug. His legs were cold, clammy, and red.

"-Sam, could you get me a bucket of water?"

He heard a muffled acknowledgement; while he waited he rubbed a towel up and down his legs, working warmth and feeling back into them. Soon there was a single knock at his door and when he cracked it open there was the requested bucket of water and he could just see Sam's back disappearing out the front door - Remington was out there now for the rest of the afternoon and soon Sam would be relieving him for the overnight post.

He brought the bucket inside and sat it next to the table he used as a desk; after retrieving the old bristled brush he kept in his wardrobe he began to attack his boots and get the worst of the mud off his pants. The water was looking pretty grim by the time he was done and finally Arlo tossed the soaked pants over the banister of the stairs at his door and left the boots tucked under the stairs before moving to get dressed in clean clothes. His stomach was making it very clear it was time for a meal and after hours of being out in the cold he was thinking a plate of spaghetti drenched in hot sauce was in order.

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She'd asked him to call her Eli and Dr. Xu was happy to oblige - honestly he was just happy she'd awakened and actually stayed awake for more than a few passing moments while seeming alert and roughly aware of where she was.

Talking was difficult for her so he was careful to phrase everything in 'yes' or 'no' questions so she could nod or shake her head and despite the initial awkwardness of her struggle to form words and his struggle to boil his thought processes down into only two variables they were able to get a few tidbits of information across.

He'd learned she was Elizabeth Summers, and preferred to go by Eli. She wasn't in any pain. She hadn't been aware of the scarring across her body until Xu had brought it to her attention.

Perhaps more importantly she'd communicated she was a Dubei native...if he'd had any doubts about what time period she'd come from that certainly settled them.

Being as she couldn't quite carry on a conversation Xu decided against trying to broach the subject of where and when she was now; after his quick questioning session she'd drifted back to sleep and he went back to his desk to record all the details he'd gotten while Phyllis hovered at his elbow.

To be honest Xu had had doubts she would know anything about her scarring; in a way it was probably for the best as what it LOOKED like pointed to a rather horrific origin.

Namely, it looked like parts of her had been sewn back together.

Both arms had long lines of scars, of various lengths, up and down from shoulder to wrist, with circular scars at the shoulder and across every finger joint -- they were reddish pink lines with tiny dots beside them reminiscent of suture marks. These same sorts of scars were also along her chin and jawline on the right side, her lower ribcage area, and down her left leg. It brought to mind something like a ragdoll's stitching, though more precise and tidy than one would find on a children's toy.

Considering her origin and what he was seeing on her body he had a theory that she'd suffered some sort of terrible trauma and that facility she'd been found in had been some sort of medical center, and it amazed him to think that the Old World had had such technology that they could seemingly stitch a person back together and have that person survive the ordeal (much less survive for 300 years afterward!)

He would need to have a talk with the Research Center, the Civil Corps, and the builders of Portia - if that truly was a medical center down there then the place shouldn't be torn apart willy nilly. Maybe with this woman's help they could identify medical equipment that they could still use or replicate...just the thought of being able to reclaim even a fraction of the medical knowledge and tools of the Old World had Xu nearly vibrating in excitement.

One day at a time, however. The first step would be getting Elizabeth healthy again, without causing her undue suffering when it came time to gently break it to her that she was 300 years outside of her time period and there was no returning to the world she'd once known.

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Together the five builders that called Portia home managed to get all the bits and pieces crafted and in place for the sinkhole.

They'd gotten the platform up around the perimeter of the sinkhole first and had created a dual-motor system that raised and lowered an improvised elevator car that was open on two sides (so they could access the doors on either side of the shaft without adding too many moving parts for the power stones to handle) and had rubber wheels mounted on the two walls to keep it steady inside the shaft since it was a slimmer car compared to the original one they'd found (and dismantled) at the bottom. Cutting all those vines free had taken an entire day on its own but it had been worth it now that they could move up and down the shaft as needed via a system of levers at the top, bottom, and also one within the elevator car itself.

The walls were now secured with heavy wooden and steel beams and metal plating that would hopefully keep the dirt walls of the upper half from crumbling further; once that had been completed they'd moved on to attempting to rewire doors to allow access into the upper levels of the facility to check for more remains -- the second thing on Gale's list had been getting an approximate "head count" for how many graves they would need to dig. Arlo had a sinking feeling they'd need a lot more space than Gale was expecting - probably more than they had room for in Portia's graveyard - and he suspected that they may have to dig a mass grave when it came down to it. Petra and Merlin were eager to examine and study the facility and had expressed hope that the computers were intact enough to maybe pull a staffing roster but even if they could how would they match names to skeletons? A mass grave with a tombstone bearing whatever names they could find would probably be the best they could manage.

Tonight had been his night to keep watch; he was debating whether to build the fire back up or leave it for the others to decide as the sun was beginning to peek over the hills when he spied Remington heading out toward him -- seems the time to switch out was just about here, and if Remington was already on his way then Selene and the others wouldn't be too far behind.

He grabbed a light breakfast at Django's and headed back up the hill intending to go to his room and catch a couple hours of sleep but found himself pausing to look to the clinic -- Xu had mentioned the woman had awakened a few times but each time Arlo had checked in she was asleep still. Should he check in again? It was more for his own curiosity than anything else as he had no ties to her (though, he didn't need to be her friend to worry about her health he supposed) but maybe there was a point where his constant checking would be intrusive...

Arlo's train of thought was interrupted as the clinic doors slid open and Xu walked out; the doctor saw him standing there halfway between the clinic and the Corps building and offered him a quick wave.

"Good morning, Arlo."

"Morning. How's your patient?"

"Doing well. Getting stronger, staying awake for longer periods. I'm actually off to Carol's to see about clothing for her since I'll need to have her up and walking soon to start building those muscles up. -- oh, and have you seen Selene leave yet? I may need crutches or a cane to assist Elizabeth in the short term as she gets her legs back under her."

Elizabeth? That must be the woman's name. "I haven't, but if you hurry you might catch her before she gets too far out. If you don't manage to catch her let me know and I'll tell her when I go back out to the sinkhole later today."

"I will, thanks. Have a good morning."

"You too."

As Xu's steps turned toward the ramp that led down to the plaza Arlo finally headed in to the Corps building; it was quiet and he was yawning his head off as he plodded down the stairs into his room. One of those tin alarm clocks that seemingly everyone in Portia had was sitting on table near his bed and he set an alarm for two hours from now -- he knew if he wasn't careful with how long he slept now he wouldn't sleep properly tonight.

As he kicked off his boots he wondered what this Elizabeth was like - hopefully language and dialects hadn't changed too much in 300 years, and he did sincerely hope it hadn't been too soul wrenching to wake to a completely different world. The more he tried to think about how that might feel the less he could picture it, and rather than get himself worked up over it he fell into bed and tried to empty his mind -- he could theorize and think all he wanted when he was actually rested enough TO think.

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It was nearly a month after finding Elizabeth before Arlo actually got to speak to her.

Work in the ruins was still ongoing -- each time they opened a new door or found a new floor they found more remains; they were up to 96 skeletons so far and assumed they were only going to find more the further in they went. Gale had marked out an area along the city wall across from Sophia's farm as the place for the mass grave they'd need, and was merely waiting to hear how many bodies were going into it before he commissioned the gravestone.

The facility was one giant maze and Higgins and Selene were both working overtime to keep churning out electrical systems to handle things short-term while they continued to search for where the power source in the lower level had been; Selene was convinced that if they could find where it was, even if it was depleted, they could use that as a main focal point to work from instead of having dozens of smaller power devices scattered everywhere.

As usual on the mornings after finishing the overnight watch Arlo came in to town for breakfast at Django's and then was returning to his room to sleep when he found Dr. Xu, Phyllis, and Elizabeth outside the clinic; the woman had a cane in hand - it was made of metal tubing with a rubber-padded handle, and was painted a pastel orange color, and was flanked by Xu and Phyllis as she took a few hesitant steps beyond the door. She was in a heavy coat that hung open and Arlo could see a soft yellow sweater and a colorful shawl beneath it and had on a pair of cargo pants and a pair of work boots with thick soles with her hair brushed back from her face and gathered at her neck with a wide black barette.

The woman's bright blue eyes were sizing him up as he came into view, and when Xu noticed him he waved him over. "Arlo, would you care to meet to Eli?"

"You're Arlo?" Elizabeth asked as he came over. "I'm told you're the one who hauled me out of the ruins. I owe you one."

"Not at all - protecting Portia and her residents is my job, no one owes me for anything," he said, coming to a stop a few feet away.

She moved the cane to her left hand and offered her now-free right hand. "Elizabeth Summers. Call me Eli."

He shook the offered hand. "Pleased to meet you, finally. It's good to see you're on your feet."

"Technically, yes," she said, smiling faintly. "It's going to be awhile before I'm back to normal. I haven't been this thin since I was in high school."

He wasn't entirely sure what a high school was beyond some sort of educational institute but nodded all the same. "Take it one day at a time. There's no sense in rushing a recovery."

"No sense and no means to." She shifted the cane back to her right hand. "I know the first thing I need to do though is get a full accounting of what happened: how you found me, how you got me out, and what that facility looks like and where it is. I also need to get in there ASAP."

"I can provide all that, no problem." Arlo looked to Xu as he spoke and the doctor was silently shaking his head at him. "-I think it may be awhile before we can take you in, though."

"I don't care if you have to strap me to your back and carry me in, I NEED to get in there. The little bit the good doctor here told me has me concerned about the facility's power source -- if it's thermal we should be fine, but if it's nuclear I absolutely need to get in there and check on it."

"...nuclear?" Arlo repeated, brows furrowing. "What's that?"

"Nothing good, if it's damaged."

"What happens if it's...nuclear?" Phyllis broke in. She said 'nuclear' slowly, like she was testing out how the word sounded on her tongue.

Eli paused, biting her lower lip again. "...right, so I want to preface this with the fact that I'm not meaning to cause a panic, but nuclear is...uh... I don't even know how to explain it clearly since it seems like so much technology has been lost - I don't think you'll have even the basic terminology knowledge needed to grasp it. So, basically - nuclear is a power source that, if stable, lasts for hundreds of years. The reactor - the central source of the nuclear power - can meltdown and explode to varying degrees of severity if its been damaged and the explosion can poison the land and any person the debris - called 'fallout' - comes in contact with. Even a small explosion could render this entire region unlivable for generations."

Arlo's eyes widened at that - like they needed something ELSE to worry about. "It's that dangerous?"

"Technically, yes. Depends on IF the reactor was damaged and HOW it was damaged - we built these things to last but knew it wasn't impossible for them to suffer some sort of damage or failure. They all have hundreds of layers of safety measures in place to help prevent a meltdown but Dr. Xu mentioned the warning you got about auxiliary power which means the main reactor isn't powering what's left in that place -- if we're lucky it'll just be the condu- the uh, the wires, I mean - have lost connection somewhere and the reactor is fine. That's best case scenario. The worst case is the reactor was damaged, the aux power being out means the safety measures won't be active, and we might have a volatile situation on hand." After that Eli huffed out a heavy sigh. "I'm praying that Fate says it's just the wiring or that the place is deep enough it won't matter either way but I won't know until I get in there."

Arlo looked wordlessly to Xu and Phyllis; Phyllis looked sick to her stomach and Xu seemed deep in thought. He looked back to Eli. "-how strong do you feel right now?"

"Tired, a little noodly in the knees, but considering the circumstances it could be worse. This is something that can't wait."

Arlo nodded, and turned his attention to Xu again. "I don't think we have a choice, Dr. Xu. We can ride her out there on horseback then I can carry her down again, or Remington or Sam could. Is Eli cleared to leave the clinic yet?"

"Truthfully I don't want her out of my care just yet. But if things could get that dire then you're right that we have no choice." Xu rubbed his chin. "Let's see how you manage walking today - how long your legs can hold you. We'll use that as a baseline and keep a close eye on you tomorrow to make sure you don't push yourself beyond your limits."

Eli gave Xu a small smile. "I know where my limits used to be and where they are now, doctor. And those lines change when lives are on the line."

Xu nodded, seemingly satisfied or at least not against the sentiment. "All right then. Tomorrow morning we'll make the trek regardless, I guess." His gaze moved over to the small stables that was attached to the side of the Corps building. "Am I correct to assume that the Civil Corps will provide the horse?"

"She can ride either Spacer or Arrow. Teddy doesn't really tolerate anyone but Sam on his back."

"Seems we have a plan then." Xu turned slightly and placed a gentle hand on Phyllis's and Eli's shoulders. "Phyllis, go ahead with the planned exercises for today. I need to check in with the mayor and update him on Eli's progress, and I'll also let him know about our little...um. Problem."

"Of course, Dr. Xu," Phyllis said with a nod. She stepped around him and gestured for Eli to follow her, and as the two slowly made their way toward the plaza Arlo heard a quiet "let me know if you need to stop" from her before they were both too far away to overhear.

Xu watched them a moment then scratched at his head. "She's handling this far better than I was expecting. It actually has me MORE worried than I was before."

"Howso?"

The doctor watched the two women for a few moments before responding. "She's shown remarkable resilience in accepting that she's 300 years in the future as well as--" he stopped abruptly, then continued on. "It hardly seemed to faze her, in fact. I don't like that one bit...I feel as though she's suppressing her reaction, maybe supplanting it with her concern over the facility and reactor. I'd much rather see some sort of remorse, or fear, or...or, really, any reaction other than calm acceptance." After a pause he looked to Arlo. "It sounds silly to want to see proof of some sort of emotional pain - no one should want to see someone else suffering - but in this case I worry about the underlying effect on her mental health if she really is refusing to consider or accept how she may actually be feeling about all this."

Arlo mulled that over for a moment; it was never a good thing to bottle things up for too long - such thoughts eventually ate away at you until you exploded like a shaken drink. "I understand, I think. And maybe she's just not ready to really let it sink in. The reactor could just be a convenient thing to think about instead."

Xu sighed, nodding, then shook himself and fixed Arlo with a firm look. "I trust I don't need to impress upon you the importance of not sharing this with anyone?"

"Of course not. I've not said a word to anyone, nor will I."

"Good. I realize I really shouldn't be sharing her details with anyone, as they are quite personal, but being as you directly brought her into my care I feel your perspective may help my own. Especially since you personally saw where she was, what she came out of, and what it's like down in that facility. Your recounting of all of that has given me some insight on how to handle her trauma when it comes to the surface, and I do appreciate it."

Arlo nodded. "It's not a problem at all, and I'll admit hearing how she's doing means I worry less. I can't imagine what it might've been like down in that tube...it'd be awful if she was aware the entire time she was down there."

"True...but then again, maybe that's why she isn't traumatized now. She'd have had 300 years to consider her situation and come to terms with it."

"Maybe, but could you imagine the boredom once she had?"

With a quiet chuckle Xu took a few steps away. "I should get going. Tomorrow morning will come a lot sooner than it seems."

Arlo gave him a little wave as Xu turned to follow after Phyllis and Eli.

#Lost in Time #lit #Lost in Time - ch 3 #Arlo #Sam #Remington #Dr. Xu #Higgins #Builder #Eli #Phyllis #My Time at Portia

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