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nekoabiwrites · 5 years ago

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In The Mountains

A @thesquirtlesquadwrites prompt fill! This time was art from @stargazing-squid (https://stargazing-squid.tumblr.com/post/620384946297733121/fantasy-virgil-d) Masterlist here: https://thesquirtlesquadwrites.tumblr.com/post/624186092886835200/prompt-art

AU: Fantasy Pairings: Dukexiety, Logince Words: 3483 Warnings: Anxious virgil thoughts, a few swears, dead animal, attempt at a fight. Anything else, please let me know!

Summary: Virgil Snow runs away to the mountains to live in safety with his friend. However, two adventurers hear of a beast living in said mountains and drop by.

Virgil Snow cautiously opened an eye, glancing around the bedroom. He listened intently for a moment, noting that all the other occupants’ breathing were slow, likely meaning they were in a deep sleep. His heart began to race as he slowly moved the sheets from his body.

He was fully dressed, seemingly ready to just walk out of the home at a moment’s notice. Virgil, being as stealthy as he could, moved to sit on the edge of his mattress. He reached down and began to slip on his boots. Halfway into getting on his second shoe, one of the others shifted in their sleep causing Virgil’s entire body to tense up. He stopped mid action, hands hovering just above the boot still on the floor. He didn’t continue until he was sure that no one had woken up and caught him. It was only once he had both of his feet firmly placed on the ground that Virgil dared to attempt to stand.

Once upright, Virgil took a specific pathway through the room towards the door. His steps would have seemed utterly nonsensical to an observer, but Virgil had planned this for weeks. He was avoiding as many of the loud creaking floorboards as he could, turning his head sharply to look over the others asleep in their beds to ensure he was not caught. Finally, he reached the door and slipped out into the hallway.

This didn’t mean Virgil could relax just yet. He continued his cautious trek through the hallway and down the stairs, placing his feet ever so slowly in order to be sure that he would make the least amount of noise possible. It was only once he was at the grand entrance doors that Virgil allow himself to pause and breathe. He glanced behind him into the dark, seemingly checking to see if he’d been followed. Virgil shook his head to clear the thoughts before swiftly grabbed a cloak from the hooks beside the door and carefully turned the handle. The large doors creaked a little as Virgil opened them with tiny movements, thankfully it wasn’t too loud and no one in the building seemed to notice. He was able to slip through the smallest gap, escaping into the street outside.

Virgil tugged the cloak closer around himself as he began to walk with purpose. He held his head high in order to look as though he hadn’t just snuck out of his practically prison-like home. Virgil made his way to the edge of town and a little ways into the forest before stopping. He turned to look at the town behind him, a small tug of loss pulling at his heart for a brief moment.

That feeling was quickly dismissed as Virgil’s eyes settled on the town centre. It was blooming with light from the torches and large fire at the centre. He could just about make out small figures moving around, carrying pieces of logs in order to set something up. His stomach churned and he felt as though he might be sick. With a swish of the cloak and a scowl on his face, Virgil continued his trek into the forest, his burning passion to get far away from the town renewed. He only allowed himself one more glance back before it disappeared from his sight.

Virgil walked through the night, only stopping once or twice to rest. He’d long since diverged from the naturally worn path that led through the forest, now only following his intuition and memory. The relative silence gave him a lot of time to think. He thought back to the people he’d just left in that house, what fate they would meet once the sun rose and they were surrounded by the angry people of the village. How most of them would be thrown into the town’s cold jail cells, awaiting their inevitable fate, even though none of them deserved it. The townspeople were simply far too paranoid.

A small gnawing guilt ate at his mind as the sun began to rise through the trees. Virgil could have warned them all, but that could have created suspicion. Too many of them may have tried to run for it immediately and Virgil wouldn’t have been able to get away. It was a large price to pay for his freedom, but ultimately it was Virgil’s choice and burden to bear.

The sun was finally up in the sky as the trees began to thin out and Virgil emerged from the forest, only to be greeted by the rocky cliff face before him. Deciding he was in a safe enough spot, he settled at the base of the mountain to rest for a moment. Virgil pulled out a small bag of food and curled into the cape as he ate. His senses were on high alert, as every sound had his eyes darting to its general location. Despite his stay being far from relaxing, the small meal and time spent sat down refreshed Virgil enough for him to begin his ascent.

It felt like the climb took him forever. Virgil was finally closing in on his goal just as the sky began to be tinted orange. His chest heaved as he leant against the rock, eyes fixated on the cave entrance just a small walk from where he was. “Just a little further… then I can relax.” Virgil whispered to himself, convincing his burning legs to carry him along the last few feet.

Upon breaching the cave, Virgil felt the worry that had been plaguing him since he’d opened his eyes back in the bed in town start to dissipate. Even when he heard a loud rumbling and thumping steps approaching him, Virgil simply stood with his weight against the rock walls.

“Who dares approach my dwelling?” came a deep voice further into the cave, its owner shrouded in darkness still.

“It’s just me. You can stop that whole voice thing…” Virgil responded, still breathing heavily from exhaustion.

“Virgil?” a lizard-like head poked itself out of the darkness, followed shortly by several other identical heads. All of their eyes peered down at Virgil with surprise. The first head opened its mouth to speak, “I wasn’t expecting you today. One second.” The heads retracted back into the darkness followed by an odd squelching sound.

Virgil slid down onto the floor, head leant back against the cool rock wall, sighing in relief as the pressure was taken off of his feet. He seemed far too unphased by the disgusting sounds coming from within the darkness of the cave. He only turned his head back towards where the creature had been once the sound turned into footsteps but made no effort to get up onto his feet. “Finally…” he muttered under his breath.

A human figure stepped out into the light, adjusting his clothes as he approached Virgil, “So, what can I do for you today, Virgil?”

The villager in question turned his gaze down to the cave floor, taking a heavy breath. “Well… uh… can I stay with you, here?”

“Why on earth would you want to stay here? Don’t be ridiculous, Virgil. We have had this discussion before, and I thought I was very clear; I do not want you to be throwing your lif-”

“I’m serious, Logan. They were going to fucking burn me.”

Logan’s eyes widened in shock; his mouth left hanging open on the last word he’d attempted to say. He stared at Virgil for a couple of seconds, letting the words sink in before his eyes blazed in rage. “Why?” Logan asked, his voice eerily calm.

Virgil sighed and rolled a small pebble around to distract himself a little, “Something about me being a witch or something? I don’t know where they got that idea…” He frowned.

“Alright. Come with me.” Logan turned sharply on his heel and started to walk further into the cave. Virgil had to scramble to his feet and jog after him, so he wasn’t left behind.

It took a few months for them both to really become comfortable with their new situation; Virgil needed the time to adapt to living in a cave while Logan needed to get used to sharing said cave with another person. They did work together exceedingly well, though. Virgil managed to get Logan down the mountain every once in a while, allowing them both to go fetch supplies from another nearby village.

However, tales of a missing witch boy spread from village to village, along with rumours of a beast living in the mountains. Somehow, both ended up weaving together to create a tale of a witch and his beastly companion. The story spread far and wide, eventually reaching the ears of an adventurers’ guild.

They were asked if anyone could attempt to scale the mountain and find the beast and the witch before they attacked. Only two offered their services…

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The pair of adventurers stood at the base of the mountain, staring up at its rocky walls. Both were clad in expensive looking garb, though one of them looked far more tattered than the other. As the more put-together one seemed to be working out the best route for them to take in order to reach the beast’s cave, the other saw something over at the boulder to their left and went off to follow it.

“…and I think we should get up there by sundown. Let us- Remus. Where did you go? We don’t have time for you to get distracted today!” The one planning pouted, looking all around for his travelling companion.

“Over here, brother!” Remus called out, waving his arm from around the boulder separating them.

“What are you doing? Like I just said, we don’t have time for-”

The adventurer stopped dead in his tracks. He stared at Remus, who held the carcass of a dead animal in his hand.

“We were running low on food, so I caught us something!” Remus grinned, holding it further into his brother’s personal space. When the other backed away, Remus simply shrugged and threw it into his satchel, “You have no trouble seeing it once it’s cooked, Roman.” He said with an air of confidence, as though he’d won some ongoing argument.

Roman rolled his eyes, “It is far less disgusting and wet once it’s cooked. It also doesn’t fully resemble its animal-self at that point. Anyway, that’s not what we’re here for! Start climbing.” Roman practically threw himself against the rockface, reaching for the first hand and footholds he’d identified.

The brothers continued to bicker endlessly over the dead animal as they climbed, only stopping for a short rest halfway up to their goal.

“I’m simply saying, I don’t like to see the dead eyes, Remus. Is that so wrong?!” Roman sneered as he clambered up onto the next ledge. He looked down to see his brother just a few footholds behind, looking up at him with a judgemental raised eyebrow. “Just get up here already. The quicker we get this done, the quicker I can get away from your bloody animal sack.” Roman sniffed haughtily.

Remus crawled onto the ledge with little grace, “You won’t be saying that when you get hungry!” He said in a sing-song voice, teasing his brother. It gained him a glare, which made Remus grin. His attention was ripped away by something behind Roman, “Is that the cave?!” He called out, running over to the closest opening in the mountain.

“Most likely. And keep your voice down. Did you forget about the monster that’s here? The one we’re here for?” Roman hissed, smacking Remus on the back of his head.

“Hey! That hurt!” Remus shrieked, his voice echoing through the cave.

“Shut up! It’ll hear us!” Roman responded, his voice rising.

“If you didn’t hit me, I wouldn’t have said anything!”

“Lies! You would have yelled something no matter what!”

“Would not have!”

“Yes, you would!”

A deep growl and the heavy sound of footsteps had the brothers pausing their argument. They both turned their attention to the cave, finding it now to be housing a large creature with multiple identical heads, all of them staring down at the brothers with something akin to disdain. “Who dares approach my dwelling?” the beast rumbled.

Roman, without missing a beat, grabbed the hilt of his sword and wrenched it from its sheath. He pointed it directly towards the monster, “We are here to slay you, wretched beast! No more shall you dwell here and disturb the villagers of the fair town below!” Remus snorted in amusement, which had Roman’s focus briefly diverting to glare at him. The beast took the opportunity and went for Roman.

All of the heads dived towards the distracted adventurer, seemingly going to attack him. Roman was unable to react in time but started the motion of swinging his sword anyway. His arm reeled back and then swung forward, a loud yell accompanying the motion. Only… when he completed it, the sword was not in his grip. “What? Where did..?” He looked up and saw his weapon in the beast’s mouths – two of them, to be precise.

“Release my sword at once!” Roman demanded, trying his best to intimidate the large creature. The beast simply looked down at him, stoic and unamused.

“So, what happened to being the best beast hunter in the kingdom, Roman?” Remus jeered. His hands were resting on his hips as he sauntered forward to join his brother, one coming up to rest on Roman’s shoulder. “Guess it’s my turn!” He said with an unhinged grin, reaching for his mace and sprinting directly towards the creature. Remus raised the weapon above his head, ready to swing it down upon the beast’s body, but it was yanked from his grip as he brought his arms down. Remus stared down at his hands in surprise for a moment, before finding himself flying back towards the cave entrance after being hit in the gut by something he didn’t have the chance to see.

“Ha! Now who looks stupid?” Roman said with a prideful grin as he watched his brother awkwardly get back to his feet. He did turn his attention back to the monster before him after a second of basking in the glory of Remus getting his comeuppance. “What do you intend to do with us now, foul beast!” Roman pointed his finger accusingly.

“People actually still say that?” A new voice sounded from nearby the creature.

“Who said that?!” Roman called out, eyes darting around the darkness as he readied himself for an attack.

“I did.” A cloaked man casually stepped into the light, the hood hanging far over his face.

“You. Get back.” One of the unoccupied heads of the creature lowered and grabbed the back of the man’s cloak, attempting to drag him back into the safety of the darkness.

“Hey! L! Get off me! Stop!”

Roman watched, utterly baffled by the sight before him. It reminded him of how he and Remus would be corralled by their mother when they were younger, dragging them inside their home before night fell.

“Ugh, fine.” The cape was unclasped and fell away, leaving the man visible. He seemed to have a strange aura around him, though nothing that seemed to suggest that he was a threat.

“Virgil! Get back in the cave now.”

“You’re not my mother. I fucking helped you, okay? Look!” Virgil held up Remus’ weapon, a length of rope still wrapped around part of it, giving a slight bit of context as to how the man had managed to get it from the adventurer’s grip.

The odd cave-dwelling pair continued to bicker like children until Roman intervened, “What is going on here? Do you two live here together or something?”

Virgil snapped his head back over to the adventurers, remembering they were both there. He seemed to shy away, almost disappearing back behind the monster. The creature, looking down and seeing that both brothers were far from a threat at this point as they were unarmed and both him and Virgil had their weapons, simply sighed. “One moment.”

Before their eyes, the creature began to shrink. The necks retracted back into the body; most of the heads were practically absorbed into it. The body also began to shrink in size, becoming slimmer and bipedal. The skin changed from a deep green to a sickly shade before turning into something far more human-like. All of this was accompanied by a rather revolting symphony of sounds that made Roman want to plug his ears. Once it was all over, a rather handsome human man was left standing beside Virgil, Roman’s sword in hand. He seemed poised and ready, as if he knew how to handle the weapon.

“That was fantastic! Do it again!” Remus yelled, clapping his hands excitedly.

The transformed man furrowed his brow in confusion for a second before approaching the two intruders. He stopped a few paces away, sword still gripped tightly. “Shall we start over?”

“Sure! I’m Remus, this is Roman. Who are you?” Remus gestured to his brother.

“My name is Logan. As you can obviously tell, I am the ��monster’ that lives here. Virgil sought safety after the town below branded him a witch and so he lives with me here.” Logan casually explained.

“I mean, he gives witchy vibes.” Remus wiggled his fingers playfully whilst doing his best impression of a witch’s cackle, causing Virgil to glare and grip his own stolen weapon tighter.

“Now that we are acquainted, how about we make a deal?” Logan offered.

“Ooooo, what kind of deal?”

“You two leave us alone and tell the townspeople that you managed to chase the beast of the mountain away. In return, we shall give your weapons back and I shall not be forced to take your lives.” Logan said simply.

Silence followed his suggestion. Logan and Virgil simply looked towards the brothers expectantly, whilst Remus was almost frozen with his wide grin and Roman was still in shock. Then something seemed to snap.

“You can’t just say that!” Roman cried, gesturing frantically.

“Oh? And why not?” Logan asked, the picture of calm.

Roman spluttered, eyes wide and wild, “BECAUSE! It’s not normal!”

Virgil and Logan shared a look before returning their gaze to the adventuring brothers, “You do realise that one of us is a shapeshifting hydra, right?” Virgil deadpanned.

Roman opened and closed his mouth, as he really didn’t have a response to that. As he was about to almost rip his hair out in frustration at the absolutely absurd situation he was in, Remus rested a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll do just that. Except for one little detail!”

Logan’s eyes narrowed, “What is it?”

“I wanna come back here!”

That shocked the cave dwellers. “But why?” Virgil asked first, his grip on Remus’ mace weakening causing it to tilt further towards the floor.

“Because you’re cute and I wanna see you.” Remus said to Virgil with a smile, as though it were no different than discussing the time of day.

Virgil blushed harshly. He fumbled with his words for a moment before snapping his mouth shut and saying nothing. He hid further behind Logan, not giving the adventurer a negative to his request.

It took a few more moments before Logan sighed once more, “I suppose we can accommodate a visitor every now and then. But, you must be sure to not get followed.”

“Done!” Remus nodded, “Oh, can I have that back?” He pointed to his mace, still weakly held in Virgil’s grip. He ducked when it was thrown towards him by Virgil, who then turned and wandered off into the cave, still a flustered mess. “Thanks!” Remus called out before turning and heading out of the cave.

That left Roman and Logan at a standstill. They both stared at each other for a few more tense seconds before the shapeshifter approached, sword hilt forward towards Roman. “Here. I believe this is yours.”

“Oh, uh… thanks?” Roman cautiously took it from Logan’s grasp, sheathing it quickly so as not to give the impression that he wanted another fight.

“Roman! Come on! We don’t have all day! Gotta get back to town, remember?” Remus called from back at the ledge.

The adventurer glanced over his shoulder before starting to walk out of the cave, “Uh… well, I guess this is goodbye?” He sounded so unsure of himself, which only had the shapeshifter snorting in amusement.

“The amendment to our agreement can extend to you, if you so choose.” Logan offered plainly.

Roman gave Logan a sceptical look before a small smile grew on his lips, “It sounds as though you desire to see me again…”

“Perhaps.”

“Then I suppose it shall be goodbye for now then.” Roman flirtatiously winked before heading out and over to his brother, his confidence renewed.

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My other stuff: http://nekoabi.tumblr.com/myworks Mobile Accessible Masterlist: http://nekoabi.tumblr.com/post/181954641376/fic-masterlist

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#Sanders Sides #Fanfiction #Dukexiety #Logince #Virgil Sanders #Logan Sanders #Roman Sanders #Remus Sanders #Anxiety Sanders #Logic Sanders #Creativity Sanders #Dark Creativity Sanders #dead animal mention #light swearing #Squirtle Squad Writes

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ei-properties · 4 years ago

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It is a rail-to-trail system, In olden days this rail line was used to transport goods and passengers across northern Maine. Irving Nature Park Irving Nature Park has been recognized as one of the top attractions in Saint John .One of our newest additions to the Irving Nature Park is the Children’s Forest. The two mazes, which took nearly 20 years to make, can be enjoyed by those young and old. Whether you’re interested in family fun or spotting water fowl, the Forest has something for everyone. Eight walking trails of various lengths access the various features, and the park staff often leads free guided tours. More than 250 species of migratory and marine birds have been sighted here. Also allows the visitors to watch the harbor seals from the Seal Observation Deck. Reversing Falls Rapids The Reversing Falls are a series of rapids on the Saint John River located in Saint John , a Natural Wonder. The flow of which regularly reverses itself owing to the force an incoming tide ..New Brunswick Museum.It is one of the Canada’s oldest continuing museum . The New Brunswick Museum is filled with engaging exhibits that explore the province’s natural history, culture, art, and history.There is something for all ages—kids love the Great Hall of Whales and the excellent exhibits on the province’s unique geology in Our Changing Earth, as well as the bright interactive area for younger children New Brunswick Museum It is one of the Canada’s oldest continuing museum .The New Brunswick Museum is filled with engaging exhibits that explore the province’s natural history, culture, art, and history.There is something for all ages—kids here to explore . The kids will love the Great Hall of Whales and the excellent exhibits on the province’s unique geology in Our Changing Earth, as well as the bright interactive area for younger children.

Introducing Colebrook and the beauty of Connecticut

Meaning of Colebrook,It comes from when a family lived near a cool stream. The surname Colebrook is derived from the Old English words col, which means cool, and broc, which means brook. Thus, Colebrook is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree. Barkhamsted Reservoir “BARKHAMSTED RESERVOIR" one of the most photographed destinations in the Litchfield Hills also named as “Saville Dam” an attractive stone pump house, was completed in 1940. Although the Saville Dam was completed in 1940, it took 8 years to fill to its capacity. It supplies clean drinking Water to the city of Hartford and its surrounding area . It almost extends north 8 miles from central Barkhamsted, almost reaching the Massachusetts border.” Mystic Seaport Lighthouse “Connecticut has many small Harbors , Mystic MYSTIC SEAPORT LIGHTHOUSE The small wooden lighthouse at the westernmost point of the Seaport . Its only about 3 miles to visit Mystic Lighthouse from museum. Mystic Seaport lighthouse was built in 1966 , also replica of 1901 Brant Point Light, Because the lighthouse lantern enclosed with glass and structure of the lighthouse in white same like 1901 Brant Point Light. Mystic Lighthouse from museum ,its one of the nation’s leading maritime museum. It is a beautiful outdoor museum, rich with maritime history, sailing vessels, historical videos, artifacts and presentations. variety of ships and buildings set up for visitors to experience history. It has a large outdoor space with numerous buildings and floating ships which can be boarded also boats available for the visitors that they can take out on the water. Large boat ride with captains explain some history of some ships docked in the harbor.Visitors need not to worry about the food there is restaurant nearby.” Rail-Bike Adventures “Essex Steam Train and River Boat 1 Railroad Ave. Essex, CT 06426” Pedal a Rail-Bike for a round trip adventure over easy terrain with stunning scenery along the Connecticut River all while enjoying the stunning New England “All passengers are required to fill out a rail bike participant release of liability and assumption of risk agreement prior to receiving their boarding passes. Riders should be capable of bicycling recumbently for 30 minutes at low exertion and at least one rider per Rail Bike must be 18 years of age Railbikes run rain or shine. Company reserves the right to delay, postpone or cancel due to extreme weather forecasts/situations.” last day of rail bike operation this year is November 01 “Reservations & Customer Service 800-377-3987×0 [email protected]” The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk Sleep with the fishes – and the sharks, sea turtles, jellies and other creatures at The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. We cap capacity at 100 participants, and those 100 people have the whole Aquarium to themselves.” 10 North Water Street Norwalk, CT 06854 The availability of this experience is subject to safety guidelines due to COVID-19. Please call our Reservations Department at (203) 852-0700, extension 2206, to inquire about current availability and procedures. Imagine falling asleep as jellies float next to you and sharks prowl just on the other side of the glass! That’s what you’ll experience during your group sleepover at The Maritime Aquarium. We host both family sleepovers and scout sleepovers, see below for more information! one of the other feature is , Propose at The Maritime Aquarium! Allows the Visitors to Propose at the Maritime aquarium , Proposals must be booked through our Reservations Department at least a week in advance Brownstone exploration and discovery park, They are open for Scenic Chairlift Rides, rock climbing, Mountain Biking, Disc Golf, Zip lining. They offer Zip lining, Scenic Lift Rides, Disc Golf, Biking, Hiking, and outdoor dining! Great place for the whole family to go. An amazing park for ALL ages! It is definitely an Adventure that we are looking forward to do. There are bunch of different zip lines that take you in the water and there are cliffs to jump off. SuperCharged Indoor Karting and Trampoline The world’s largest indoor go-kart racetrack is hiding in Connecticut, With 19 horsepower, its “supercharged” karts, introduced in January 2018, allow you to accelerate through the speedway’s straightaways, steep ramps, uphill climbs, and hairpin turns at a top speed of 45 mph.Note: Sunglasses, reactive lenses and tinted lenses are not recommended as the tracks are indoors and may affect your visibility. Silverman’s Farm Silverman’s Farm was founded by Ben Silverman in the early 1920’s.Silverman’s Farm is now a popular destination with a sweeping Pick Your Own orchard, scenic tractor rides, and petting farm. Apple picking is open Monday-Friday! We are allowing visitors inside the market, preferably one customer per family, also facilitate pre order ahead by phone (Monday – Friday Only). Products available will be fruits, vegetables, butter, eggs, milk, and ice cream. Also jams, jellies, and other condiments we normally provide. Pies, donuts, and other baked goods will be available. Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo “Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo Zoo in Bridgeport, Connecticut has a proud history of over 90 years as Connecticut’s only Zoo. Animal exhibits, plantings, graphics, and Zoo programs are to be represented in such a manner as to give the visitor a sense of awareness and concern for the intricate beauty and fragility of our planet. General admission $15, seniors (62+) $11, and children (3-11) $12, children under 3 free. Members free One extra feature added for the Visitors, they can have birthday parties at the Zoo! General admission $15, seniors (62+) $11, and children (3-11) $12, children under 3 free. “ Nomads outdoor adventure An amazing park for ALL ages!Outdoor adventure perfect for ages 7+ , five treetop climbing trails of varying difficulty allows the kids to experience zip lines! Allows visitors to experience adventure in the tree tops! with different trails available ,Here you can traverse multiple adventure trails crafted through 9 acres of beautiful woodland. Trails can be selected based on skill level. The trees used here are not drilled,everything is constructed with a state of the art strapping and locking system to ensure the health of the woodlands for years to come. Many corn mazes in the Connecticut allows you and your family to experience the real fun! Let’s Get Lost: Wander into a Maze . Best place to have fun time with family and friends. few Mazes listed, Ellsworth Hill Orchard and Berry Farm Castle Hill Farm Inc The Farm Woodbury CT All the Mazes are open until our closing for the season in late November. Ski Sundown is a ski area located in New Hartford, Connecticut. Great place to explore winter games , different games based based on age and ability level. Best trained Instructors to provide on-snow learning through fun, play and adventure! 2020 Connecticut Special Olympics Winter Games Starts from February.

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newstfionline · 4 years ago

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Thursday, August 19, 2021

Fueled by winds, largest wildfire moves near California city (AP) A wildfire raged through a small Northern California forest town Tuesday, burning dozens of homes as dangerously dry and windy weather also continued to fuel other massive blazes and prompted the nation’s largest utility to begin shutting off power to 51,000 customers. The Caldor fire in the northern Sierra Nevada had burned an estimated 50 homes in and around Grizzly Flats, a town of about 1,200 people, fire officials said at a community meeting. To the north the Dixie Fire—the largest of some 100 active wildfires in more than a dozen Western states—was advancing toward Susanville, population about 18,000. Meanwhile, Pacific Gas & Electric announced it had begun shutting off power to some 51,000 customers in small portions of 18 northern counties to prevent winds from knocking down or fouling power lines and sparking new blazes.

Wet and unwelcome, Fred spawns twisters and flooding in US (AP) Tropical Storm Fred weakened to a depression and spawned several apparent tornadoes in Georgia and North Carolina on Tuesday as it dumped heavy rains into the Appalachian mountains along a path that could cause flash floods as far north as upstate New York. Fewer than 30,000 customers were without power in Florida and Georgia after the storm crashed ashore late Monday afternoon near Cape San Blas in the Florida Panhandle. Emergency crews were repairing downed power lines and clearing toppled trees in Fred’s aftermath. Some schools and colleges in Florida, Alabama and Georgia canceled Tuesday’s in-person classes due to the storm.

Injured in Haiti’s quake continue to show up at hospitals (AP) The problems in Haiti may be summed up by the public hospital in L’Asile, deep in a remote stretch of countryside in the nation’s southwest area. Here, a full four days after a powerful earthquake hit this region the hardest, people are still showing up from isolated villages with broken arms and legs. Hospital director Sonel Fevry said five such patients showed up Tuesday, the same day officials raised the disaster’s death toll by more than 500. Grinding poverty, poor roads and faith in natural medicine all conspire to make the problems worse. “We do what we can, remove the necrotized tissue and give them antibiotics and try to get them a splint,” Fevry said, adding that road access to the facility in the department of Nippes is difficult and not everyone can make it. On Tuesday night, Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency put the number of deaths from Saturday’s earthquake at 1,941. It also said 9,900 were injured. Officials said the magnitude 7.2 earthquake destroyed more than 7,000 homes and damaged nearly 5,000, leaving about 30,000 families homeless. Hospitals, schools, offices and churches also were demolished or badly damaged.

Wildfire raging near French Riviera kills 2, injures 27 (AP) A wildfire near the French Riviera killed two people and was burning out of control Wednesday in the forests of the popular region, fueled by wind and drought. Over 1,100 firefighters were battling the flames and thousands of tourists and locals were evacuated to safer areas. The fire started Monday evening 40 kilometers (24 miles) inland from the coastal resort of Saint-Tropez. Whipped up by powerful seasonal winds coming off the Mediterranean Sea, the fire had burned 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) of forest by Wednesday morning, local officials said.

China’s drills (Foreign Policy) China conducted assault drills with warships, fighter jets, and anti-submarine aircraft close to Taiwan on Tuesday in response to what Beijing has called “provocations” threatening China’s sovereignty. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry has responded coolly, saying it “has a full grasp and has made a full assessment of the situation in the Taiwan Strait region, as well as related developments at sea and in the air, and is prepared for various responses.” The drills came after Washington approved a weapons sale to Taiwan in a deal valued at up to $750 million two weeks ago, and as Beijing has ramped up military activity around the island in recent months. In June, China’s air force flew 28 fighter jets into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, the largest daily incursion on record.

New Zealand’s first coronavirus case in six months sends country into lockdown (Washington Post) One coronavirus case. That’s all it took to send New Zealand into a three-day, nationwide lockdown late Tuesday as the country’s six-month streak without local transmission came to an end. Auckland, the largest city, where the new case was detected, is likely to be shut down for seven days. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was ordering the country’s harshest shutdown in more than a year given the strong likelihood that the case was the more infectious delta variant, with genomic test results expected overnight. She appealed to New Zealanders not to go out unnecessarily.

Why Afghan Forces So Quickly Laid Down Their Arms (Politico) In the winter of 1989, as a journalist for the Times of London, I accompanied a group of mujahedeen fighters in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. At one point, a fortified military post became visible on the other side of a valley. As we got closer, the flag flying above it also became visible—the flag of the Afghan Communist state, which the mujahedeen were fighting to overthrow. “Isn’t that a government post?” I asked my interpreter. “Yes,” he replied. “Can’t they see us?” I asked. “Yes,” he replied. “Shouldn’t we hide?” I squeaked. “No, no, don’t worry,” he replied reassuringly. “We have an arrangement.” I remembered this episode three years later, when the Communist state eventually fell to the mujahedeen; six years later, as the Taliban swept across much of Afghanistan; and again this week, as the country collapses in the face of another Taliban assault. Such “arrangements”—in which opposing factions agree not to fight, or even to trade soldiers in exchange for safe passage—are critical to understanding why the Afghan army today has collapsed so quickly (and, for the most part, without violence). The same was true when the Communist state collapsed in 1992, and the practice persisted in many places as the Taliban advanced later in the 1990s. Over the past 20 years, U.S. military and intelligence services have generally either not understood or chosen to ignore this dynamic. That the U.S. government could not foresee—or, perhaps, refused to admit—that beleaguered Afghan forces would continue a long-standing practice of cutting deals with the Taliban illustrates precisely the same naivete with which America has prosecuted the Afghanistan war for years.

Russia says Afghan president fled with cars and helicopter full of cash (Reuters) Russia’s embassy in Kabul said on Monday that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash and had to leave some money behind as it would not all fit in, the RIA news agency reported. Ghani, whose current whereabouts are unknown, said he left Afghanistan on Sunday as the Taliban entered Kabul virtually unopposed. He said he wanted to avoid bloodshed. “As for the collapse of the (outgoing) regime, it is most eloquently characterised by the way Ghani fled Afghanistan,” Nikita Ishchenko, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul, was quoted as saying by RIA. “Four cars were full of money, they tried to stuff another part of the money into a helicopter, but not all of it fit. And some of the money was left lying on the tarmac,” he was quoted as saying.

Gorbachev, leader who pulled Soviets from Afghanistan, says U.S. campaign was doomed from start (Reuters) Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader who oversaw the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989 after Moscow’s failed decade-long campaign there, said on Tuesday that NATO’s own deployment to the country had been doomed from the start. Gorbachev was cited by Russia’s RIA news agency as saying that NATO and the Americans had no chance of success and had badly mishandled their own Afghan campaign. “They (NATO and the United States) should have admitted failure earlier. The important thing now is to draw the lessons from what happened and make sure that similar mistakes are not repeated,” Gorbachev told RIA. “Like many other similar projects at its heart lay the exaggeration of a threat and poorly defined geopolitical ideas. To that were added unrealistic attempts to democratize a society made up of many tribes.”

Regional Powers Assess a New Afghanistan (Foreign Policy) As the United States continues to mount an evacuation effort from Afghanistan, not all foreigners are headed for the exits, as regional powers begin to assess their positions as the country comes under a new regime. No immediate bonanza awaits Afghanistan’s prospective partners. It remains one of the poorest countries in the world. A country that relies on international aid for 80 percent of its budget is unlikely to have much to trade with, and dreams of unlocking Afghanistan’s rare-earth deposits will depend heavily on stabilizing the war-torn nation. China, Iran, and Russia, who have been engaged in public diplomacy with Taliban leaders for years, are staying put. With most of China’s investments elsewhere in Central and South Asia, concerns about security will likely remain front and center for Beijing. “Chinese investment there is likely to be short-term and easily pulled out in the likely event of further instability,” Azeem Ibrahim writes in Foreign Policy. Russia shares China’s concerns about instability. Just as China will not want the Taliban harboring ethnic Uyghur groups, any support for Islamist movements in its backyard would be unacceptable for Moscow. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi welcomed the Taliban victory as an “opportunity to restore life, security and durable peace in Afghanistan.” Iran has promised to temporarily accommodate those fleeing Afghanistan, although with an estimated 2.8 million Afghans already there and with a crippled economy, it’s not clear how many more refugees Iran could support, or would want to support. Pakistan’s leaders have not disguised their glee at the Afghan government’s dissolution as Prime Minister Imran Khan praised the Afghan people for breaking “the shackles of slavery.” Still, like in Iran, one immediate effect of the Taliban’s ascent will likely be a refugee exodus, with Pakistan expected to remain the number one destination.

Withdrawal from Afghanistan forces allies and adversaries to reconsider America’s global role (Washington Post) President Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan has triggered a globe-spanning rethink of America’s role in the world, as European allies discuss their need to play a bigger part in security matters and Russia and China consider how to promote their interests in a Taliban-led Afghanistan. Biden’s defiant address to the nation on Monday, when he stood “squarely” behind his decision to pull out U.S. troops, also renewed one of the most hotly contested debates of the post-9/11 era: Would a withdrawal from Afghanistan convey weakness, provoke aggression and shatter America’s ability to lead on the international stage, or would it reflect a sound realignment of the national interest, put the country on better footing to deal with the new challenges of the 21st century, and clarify to allies and adversaries what the United States is and is not willing to expend resources on? In the European Union, which held an emergency session of foreign ministers on Afghanistan on Tuesday, officials offered rare criticism of Washington for risking a flood of refugees to their borders and the return of a platform for terrorism in Central Asia. In China, where the U.S. withdrawal is seen as creating both risks and opportunity, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call that the rapid departure of U.S. troops caused a ”severely adverse impact.” Russia, which has long-established ties to the Taliban but does not officially recognize it, praised the group on Monday. “The situation is peaceful and good and everything has calmed down in the city. The situation in Kabul now under the Taliban is better than it was under [President] Ashraf Ghani,” said Dmitry Zhirnov, the Russian ambassador to Afghanistan.

#headlines #news

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clownfuckery · 7 years ago

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A Monster for a Mate - Chapter 2

PENNYWISE X OC / RATED M

A/N: Pennywise and Luseres finally meet! Thank you so much for the likes and reblogs, they mean a lot to me! :)

Previous Chapters:

Prologue | Chapter 1

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1. Welcome to Derry!

“Welcome to Derry Town House. Do you have a reservation?”

“I don’t. Do you have rooms available?”

“We do. May I have your name please?”

“Luseres Dietrich”

The pretty young clerk gave me an odd look.

“Could you spell that for me please?”

I did. She tapped away at her keyboard, every now and then looking up at me from the somewhat dated monitor. She gave me a generic smile, the type that clerks learn to master wonderfully: Those mechanical twitches of the corners of the mouth that serve only to reassure the costumer that they notice them there.

“King, queen, or double, ma’am?”

“King. Do you have any suites?”

“We do. Our upper floor rooms have a sitting room and a nicely sized jacuzzi tub in the bathroom. They have a balcony. Not large, but they fit a lounge chair. The suites face Kansas Street, looking toward Old Cape and the airport. A pretty sight this time of year”

“That will do. Can you book me for a week?”

“Ayuh, I can do that” the young woman replied, in her pleasant Yankee twang. Her blonde hair was half pulled back by two butterfly hair clips, the ones I remembered wearing in my teens. She looked to be no more than twenty-three.

“Summer job?” I asked, unable to help myself. This time, her smile was genuine.

“Every year” she said “I grew up here, but I go to NYU. Been working at the Town House since I was 16”

“You must love your home town. I mean, to come back”

“I do. There is no other place like Derry for me. Not in the whole world. What brings you to Derry? You’re here for business or pleasure?”

“Solitude, I hope” I answered before realizing it. Her brow furrowed in curiosity. “I mean, I’ve been told by a…” friend? Hardly from it. The Man in Black who left me standing in the middle of Main Street and walked away into nothing? “…an acquaintance that is familiar with the place that he loves coming here” Or through here.

The clerk was studying me now, as if seeing me for the first time since I walked through the glass double doors and crossed the faded Turkish rug.

“Wait… have I seen you somewhere?” she asked suddenly, and I felt my back go rigid.

Shit.

“Um… I d-don’t s-ee where or how-w” I stammered. God, please don’t let her watch the news. She did go to NYU, did she not? She must have seen me when I appeared on the Today show, being introduced as the new Christine. I swallowed hard, and she must not have noticed my apprehension, because she shrugged.

“Maybe you have a long-lost twin at NYU” she joked, and I forced myself to laugh along.

“You never know who may look like who” I said, returning the shrug and putting my hands in my pockets to keep them from shaking.

“How are we looking at that room?” I asked, suddenly wanting nothing more than a bed and ten hours of sleep.

“All I need is you ID and credit card to put on file” she said pleasantly, folding her arms on the desk.

I reached down into my purse and retrieved my wallet. I handed her my driver’s license and American Express. After a minute or two of her tapping away, she went to fetch the papers from the printer. I took the opportunity to look around. I noticed a fireplace that hosted a real log, but no trace of it having been used in a long time. Padded couches and plants adorned the lobby. Above me, a mural was painted onto the ceiling, depicting images of logging men, perhaps from the town’s past. I was still fixed upon the mural, hearing the sound of axes upon massive tree trunks, the shouts of “TIMBER!” and the sudden crack of trees snapping, the huge, earth-shaking thud as they…

“Here you go” the clerk’s voice brought me back to reality, and I shook my head slightly. For a second I had felt like I could really hear the sounds of this town, the echoes of long ago.

“How old is this town?” I asked as I took the pen from her hand and scribbled my signature.

“Oh, going on past three hundred years. Nothing really happens in Derry. Not like in places such as Bangor close by. I mean, business has boomed since I was a little girl, but not really big like some would expect. I guess Derry is in its own little world, and for all its faults and antiquatedness, people prefer it that way. By the way, is that even a word?”

“Antiquatedness?” I chuckled. I returned the pen and she handed me back my cards.

“Yeah”

“You’re the NYU student. You should know. What’s your major?”

“Classic Literature. Hmm. My professor would be having a cow right about now” she said seemingly dumbfounded and a little amused. She stuck two card keys into the scanners, then placed them in a holder and handed them to me. “Your room is 629, on our top floor. When you get off the elevator, make a left and it is the second to the last room on your right. Menus for room service and wifi password are in your room. Dial 0 if you need to get in contact with the front desk. I’ll be here till nine tonight. Is there anything else I can do for you, ma’am?”

“What time does the bar close?”

“At ten on weekdays, same as the restaurant. Yes, I know, a little too early, but I don’t make the rules” she laughed, seeing my surprise “but they serve great cocktails. The bartender is a childhood friend of mine. Gary is his name. Dinner food is not all that great, but the restaurant serves the most amazing breakfast. Best bacon this side of Maine, if you don’t mind me saying. Lunch is okay. There are better restaurants that serve lunch and dinner at Mall Road. The Jade of the Orient is one of my favorites. Amazing chicken tenders. Can’t get anything that good in New York”

“Any other bars in town?”

“Just one: The Falcon, by the bus station. It usually pulls an exclusive type of crowd. You know, LGBT. But it’s the best place to get a drink, be in great company, and not have to worry about men groping you or putting something in your drink”

“That’s good to know” I mused, and I reached for my purse and luggage. Her eyebrows rose the moment she noticed my Louis Vuitton suitcase. I looked completely out of place in a small New England town.

“Let me call you a bell boy” she said, reaching for the phone. I instantly waved the offer off.

“Oh no, I got it. I brought only one”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Positive.” I had only taken two steps away when her voice stopped me again.

“Um… can I ask you something?” Her voice shook with uneasiness.

Oh crap, she recognized me. She’ll tell everyone and there go my plans for peace and quiet. ‘Scarlett Gregorian’s in town!’ she’ll scream through the streets. Was it too late to cancel my reservation? I steeled myself and turned with the most generic smile I could muster.

“Sure”

“Your last name. Dietrich. That’s German, right?”

I sighed loudly. My eyes closed at the flood of relief that washed through me. She, on the other hand, took it differently.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude”

“No, no. I thought…. Never mind. Yes, it’s German. My parents are”

“Oh, but…” she stopped herself, and her cheeks flushed red. She was embarrassed. I knew exactly what she meant to ask, and I laughed.

“My adoptive parents are German” I explained.

She looked at me with a mixture of relief and awe. “Where are you from? You look so… exotic”

“Argentinian by birth but Armenian by blood” I stated matter-of-factly.

“Wow. Armenian,” she breathed the word as if it were a wonder. “Don’t they have some of the most ancient and rare blood types on the planet? I learned that in Ancient History class”

“Oh, you have no idea. By the way, antiquatedness is a real word” I smiled at her, winked, and made for the elevator. She laughed heartily.

“Welcome to Derry!” I heard her call out as the elevator doors closed.

2. The Falcon Bar

Sleep never came. By 9 I was simply laying on top of the bedding, staring up at the intricate pattern on the ceiling. There was something in the air, something I could not place. I felt it the moment I dropped my bags and threw myself on the somewhat stiff bed. I let out a sigh, breathed in… and there it was. It seemed to hang heavily, not entirely a scent, but a feeling. For some strange reason, I imagined a mortuary shroud that hung over the entire town. I shook it off, laughing at myself for being an idiot. I had lived under watchful eyes for so long I no longer knew what it felt to be totally alone. But why wasn’t I overjoyed? Shouldn’t I be jumping on the bed until my knees trembled like jelly and my legs gave way? Shouldn’t I be screaming from the balcony that I was free at last, laughing to the wind?

On a whim, I threw my legs over the bed and reached for my suitcase. I donned a low-cut body suit, a pair of ripped skinny jeans, and black pumps. A few minutes later, my cosmetics were dumped all over the bathroom sink and I emerged ready for a night out. I stuffed my room key, driver’s license and credit card into the hidden pocket inside my trench coat, threw it on, and left the suite. It was 9:40 when I sat on one of the stools of the bar downstairs and ordered a cocktail.

“You sure that’ll be enough? We close in twenty” the bartender said when he put it down.

“Gary, right?” I asked, taking a sip. The hotel clerk wasn’t kidding, the cocktail was divine.

“Yeah. You’re new in town. Stacy told me”

“Stac…?”

“What was it that I told you?” a voice behind me said. I turned to find the clerk, now dressed for her own night out, walking up to the bar and sitting beside me. Gary placed a Blue Moon in front of her.

“Hello, Stacy” I smiled, tipping my cocktail.

“Hello, Luseres” she replied, doing the same with her Belgian white.

“No butterfly hair clips now, I see” I chuckled, motioning to her short halter dress, fishnet stockings, spike heeled booties, and leather coat. Her blonde hair now hung loose, and she wore red lipstick. She looked like a perfect Newyorker.

“Not after 9” she winked “I would ask if your room was to your satisfaction, but I’m not on the clock”

“That you would, and the room is fine. No questionable white stains on my sheets”

She and Gary laughed.

“So where are you going?” she asked.

“Nowhere. Just came down for a drink”

Stacy and Gary gave me a look.

“There’s no way you’re going to waste looking like a total knockout on the restaurant bar. Come with us, we’ll take you to the Falcon. Gary and I are actually going on a double date to the movies, but we can walk you there. Get you introduced”

“I know a few of my friends are there tonight. Good fellas. Come on, get some air. You sure didn’t come all the way to Derry for a cocktail twenty minutes before the restaurant closes, now did ya?”

I nodded, looking into my glass. Perhaps hanging out with a bunch of gay fellows, drinking merrily and laughing at their perfectly timed jokes was exactly what I needed. Anything to lift the haze that seemed to settle over my head.

“Sounds like fun” I said, downing the cocktail.

The Falcon was everything that was promised. From the moment I entered through the small door, there was a perfect ambiance of cheerful camaraderie. The clientele was mostly exclusively male. The few women there sat in pairs or were mixed in with the men. A small platform in the corner hosted a small band. The place was only half full.

“Wait till midnight, this place will be packed” Stacy whispered as we made our way inside. Gary motioned to three young men at the bar, and I was introduced to Jayson, Riley, and Paul. Paul, an accountant from Bangor, was Gary’s cousin. Jayson was a manager at one of the mall shops, and Paul said he lived in Portland. He shook my hand almost too eagerly. I could feel his transfixed gaze on me as Gary and Stacy said their goodbyes and left.

“Oh my god” Paul finally burst after we were seated “it’s you”

Oh shit.

“Who?” I asked innocently. The other two looked at him confused.

“Don’t pretend. You’re Scarlett Gregorian. Guys, she’s the girl in The Phantom. We went to see it at the Merrill, remember? It’s her. Christine Daae”

“Holy shit!” cried Riley, taking one good look at me “you ain’t kidding!”

“Oh my god, I love you” swooned Jayson “you were a vision. The way you sang Think of Me, it was like… angels were blessing us from above” he clutched his chest and looked up as if entranced.

I laughed. “Thanks guys, but please, don’t tell anyone. I came here to get away from it all”

They all nodded in understanding. “Your secret is safe with us” winked Riley.

“Oh, and don’t call me Scarlett. Call me Luseres. Lus for short. It’s my real name”

“I knew Scarlett Gregorian was a stage name. Nobody has names like that nowadays” laughed Paul.

The drinks flowed. Conversation with those guys was effortless. They loved pop culture, the arts, and were surprisingly well versed in Derry history. They loved their hometown, a sentiment I found was shared by all who seemed to feel fortunate enough to grow and live in Derry. They talked of white Christmases, vibrant springs, and warm lazy summer days spent splashing around in the quarry or playing in a place they called The Barrens. It wasn’t until they began talking about the social atmosphere of the town that their faces fell.

“A friend of ours was killed three months ago, not far from here. Some homophobic assholes attacked him and his boyfriend” Riley finally said.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry”

“You see, Derry is not entirely… welcoming of us” Jayson explained “and there seems to be a lot of tragic events and freak crimes that happen every few years. It’s weird, really”

Paul nodded. “In the eighties, a bunch of kids went missing. Some bodies were recovered, some not. They finally found out that it was a high school kid who went crazy and started killing his classmates”

“Jesus” I winced.

“It got so bad, they had a curfew and everything. My momma told me that kids couldn’t be outside past 7. And you know what the weirdest thing is?”

I looked at them expectantly.

“It never made national news. Nothing that happens in Derry ever catches national attention. It all just seems to be… buried” Jayson said.

I stirred my vodka tonic, staring at the ice cubes clinking inside the glass. If Derry was in fact a portal to another dimension, it was no wonder that weird shit would happen in the town. I remembered how I felt back at the hotel, that heavy feeling that seemed to press me down, almost stifling. It seemed like a presence looked down on Derry, manipulating and constricting. I could almost feel someone watching me. I felt a shiver go down my spine, and I shuddered.

“Well, it seems I picked the wrong town to hide in” I joked, almost sarcastically.

All three laughed. “Nah, you’re ok. Aside from the homophobia and missing kids, Derry is the best place to be” said Paul.

“What was your friend’s name?”

“Adrian. Adrian Mellon”

I raised my glass. “To Adrian”

“To Adrian!” they echoed loudly, and to my surprise, everyone in the bar raised their glasses.

“We love you forever, Adrian!” a guy in the back shouted, and we all downed our drinks.

“Well, enough of that sad talk. Let’s drink!” exclaimed Riley, and he called for a refill. Elmer, the owner, was a kind, older man who poured and mixed drinks to perfection. He flirted with me, asked constantly if I was enjoying myself, and made sure to engage in small talk with every patron that walked through his door.

By midnight, the place was full and alive. The band now played today’s hits and a space was cleared in the middle for dancing. I was literally pulled by my new three friends, but before I knew it, I was singing Rihanna songs at the top of my lungs, and danced until my feet could go no more. I ended the night barefoot at the pool table, kicking everyone’s ass at 8-ball.

Silently I thanked Stacy, the pretty hotel clerk, and her friend Gary for walking me there.

3. The Call of the Siren

2:45 a.m. 

We walked down the clean, pristine boardwalk that ran down the length of the Canal. Antique light posts lined down the path, bathing the small park in ethereal light. It was now close to 3 a.m. The bar had closed down at 2, and without a moan from the packed establishment, everyone had simply gathered up their things and filed out in small groups, dispersing into the darkened town. For a moment I wondered how everyone seemed to simply feel at ease, considering the murder that happened recently and the hostility that seemed to be prominent in the small town. The memory of Adrian Mellon was alive in the bar, but once outside in the crisp night air, the danger was forgotten. Riley, Jayson, and I chatted away. Paul walked ahead, dancing down the boardwalk.

“’Cause Uptown Funk will give it ya… Saturday night and we in the spot…” he belted as he stinky-legged past benches and rose bushes.

“Shut up, you twit” Riley called out. Paul gave him the finger. We all laughed. We eventually reached a roofed bridge built out of red painted beams. The laughing, singing, and stinky-legging stopped abruptly.

“They call it the Kissing Bridge” Jayson said “It’s for carving names and sucking face”

“And bumping uglies” Paul said, but there was no humor in his voice.

“This is where it happened” Riley said, barely above a whisper “they threw him down and…” his voice broke.

I examined the bridge. It was something out of stock photography. A perfect, triangular roof topped the structure and window shutters lined the length of the bridge. Beneath, the sound of gentle running water drifted up like a lullaby. It was impossible to imagine that the scene of such a heinous, horrific murder had happened at such a beautiful location. Or in this town. In the short hours since my arrival, the thought had already been established in my mind that Derry was the most beautiful place I had ever seen.

I walked up to the entrance of the bridge, and noticed the small lights that were placed strategically at three equally-spaced places on the roof. For a second, I wondered what was on the other side…

“Lus…” Jayson said. I turned to him and noticed his hands in his pockets and his feet shuffling on the gravel. “Could you… sing? Here? Please?”

I smiled at the thought. It was a beautiful sentiment.

“What would you like me to sing?” I asked softly.

“Think of Me” Paul called. All three looked at one another and nodded in agreement.

I walked to the edge where the boardwalk and the entrance to the bridge met, oblivious to the fact that I was standing on the exact spot where Adrian Mellon had leaned over backwards before plunging down to meet his greatest horror. I drew in a breath, feeling the cool stillness of the Maine night air, looking up at the star-studded sky. Orion, the hunter, was most prominent. I looked within to the far recesses of my mind, that locked vault of painful memories from whence my singing voice came. I was immediately engulfed by that fully familiar yet inexplicable sadness that had walked beside me since my childhood, and I let 12-year-old Luseres come through.

“Think of me  Think of me fondly  When we've said goodbye  Remember me  Once in a while  Please promise me you'll try…”

They were crying, all three of them. Riley choked up a sob, Paul dabbed his eyes with the back of his hand, and Jayson placed an arm around each. As I sang, I became aware of shuffling in the bushes around and under the bridge. Pairs of heads popped up in the dark: Couples, startled by the sudden song that drifted in the air, had ceased their lustful exertions and looked around curious. I sang louder.

“We never said our love was evergreen  Or as unchanging as the sea  But if you can still remember  Stop and think of me…”

I walked down the boardwalk slowly, stopping ever so often at the railing and singing out into the night. Below, the Canal hummed gently, the soft rush of water that drifted upwards and carried my voice downstream. And then, I slowly felt the air change, as if a vibration seemed to echo back at me from deep within the ground. Maybe it was Adrian, or maybe, no, it felt different. It felt… Inhuman. Like a deep, groaning rumble that reached out to me from the other side of the Canal.

“Think of all the things we've shared and seen  Don't think about the way things might have been…”

As the lyrics poured out of me of their own accord, I began to survey the area around me. My eyes were fixed on the opposite bank, on the silhouettes of trees and plant growth. There was nothing but black and grey shadows. I shook away the feeling, and then, as I drew in a breath to sing the next stanza, the song drowned in my throat.

There was someone watching me on the other side, from a semi-hidden position, crouched between two bushes. I could see the paleness of his face from where I stood. On closer inspection, I noticed that his skin was more than pale, it was ghastly white. He seemed to be smiling, then I realized that the grin was only painted on his features, a smile that from the distance seemed to reach his eyes in two undulating lines. Tufts of wispy red hair protruded from his head. The white clothes that covered his entire body seemed to shine like silver in the darkness. With a gasp, I realized it was a clown. He waved at me.

“Lus?” it was Jayson who pulled me out of my shock. I let out a long breath, and found my voice again.

“Think of me  Think of me waking silent and resigned  Imagine me trying too hard  To put you from my mind…”

I was leaning slightly over the railing, and unbeknownst to me, I was no longer singing to the three men behind me, I was singing to my secret audience on the opposite bank. I was transfixed, feeling myself being pulled by a magnet. I belted out the last stanza, letting my voice float straight toward him as if it were a siren song.

“Recall those days  Look back on all those times  Think of the things we'll never do  There will never be a day  When I won't think of you!…”

The clown stood slowly. The silver white silk of his suit glistened in the darkness, and as he came to full height, I took notice of the single red balloon in his right hand. He stretched out his hand and offered it to me as I brought the song to its melancholic yet triumphant climax.

“Flowers fade  The fruits of summer fade  They have their seasons  So do we  But please promise me that sometimes  You will think…

I paused for a second, and felt my heart swell.

“Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ho!  Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ho! Ho-oh-oh-oh-ohhhh- of me!”

The clown let go of the red balloon with a most exaggerated gesture. He twirled and threw his hands up in the air in a show of pure delight. I curtsied to him, and when I looked up, he was gone.

Only the balloon remained, floating upwards into the darkness.

“That was amazing!” Riley cheered. Paul and Jayson clapped, and they all embraced me.

“Did you see him?” I asked.

“Who?” asked Paul.

“The clown. He was really into it” I laughed, looking up at the sky. The red balloon had now drifted out of view.

All three looked at me completely puzzled.

“What clown?”

End of Chapter 2

CLICK HERE FOR CHAPTER 3

-----

Tagged: @hello-helianthus

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type-a-nomad · 7 years ago

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First Blog Post: Cape Town Day 1

Sunday Feb 11 2018

Growing Pains

I landed in Cape Town at 7:30am local time (CTT= Cape Town Time/ CT= Cape Town). Because I slept from SFO to Heathrow, I got little to no sleep from Heathrow to Cape Town, resulting in my accidental all-nighter from 11:30pm CTT. Everything is sort of hazy and out of whack. It seems like everything that could have gone slightly wrong, has gone slightly wrong. Or, at least, very far from the expected result. The first of these instances was in the CT airport. There was a driver that was supposed to meet me at 8am CTT and by 8:20am I was starting to feel quite nervous, as it is easy to direct my unease about the general situation of moving continents towards a short-term, tangible problem like my transportation. By this time, I am sweating from nerves and general physical exhaustion from hauling my duffle bag around looking for the guy who is supposed to have a sign directing me to him. Finally, I call the emergency number of the program I’m going through and they tell me to go to the information desk and wait for him to meet me there. So I do. Another 20 minutes later, all is well and my driver, Kyle, is blasting Lil’ Jon while speeding down the highway past the poorest parts of CT. There are thousands of houses made out of scrap metal. I saw roofs held onto structures by the weight of fractured concrete, wooden planks and sheets of tin propped up against each other, some structures were even two stories high. Then we were zooming through Cape Town, the first thing I saw was the prison, which was almost as depressing as the slums. But once we cleared the poorer outskirts, the water was visible and it was stunning. It was like the surface was covered in gold glitter it was sparkling so much. We stopped in front of a house in a rundown neighborhood, directly facing a large, white, and mostly windowless primary school. Kyle grabs my duffle bag out of the car (bless him) and dispassionately drops me and it at the front door of a dusty, brick-red house. I ring the doorbell as Kyle drives off. Nobody answers. After a minute, I ring again. Still, nobody answers. I reach past the metal grate blocking the wooden door and knock. I am starting to panic (again) and am knocking and ringing, feeling stranded and mildly disgusted at the dead, partially-squished rat I had to walk over to get to the door. 10 minutes pass. I am still frantically knocking. Then, I hear something. A short girl answers the door. She’s maybe 24, with a sleeve of tattoos- one of which is a large elephant with a very South African looking tree next to it. I introduce myself and she says her name is Cassie and she essentially runs the hostel. She takes me upstairs and shows me my room with three bunkbeds lining the walls, and a file-cabinet-like dresser against the fourth. The floor is covered in clothes and there is a girl sleeping in her underwear surrounded by around 5 half-empty fanta bottles and two sticky glasses with flat soda in them. I say hello and she makes no noise, clearly a bit irritated her sleep has been interrupted. Cassie tells me to meet her downstairs in a few minutes when I settle in. I sit down on the bed and basically curl up in a ball of confusion, anxiety, and relief. When I have taken some deep breaths, reapply deodorant, and listed things I am grateful for and things I want to learn, I hop down the dirty stairs in the dim house and find Cassie. She gives me a brief tour of the house and shows me how I have to shower in a bucket and then dump the bucket in a larger bucket. Then, when you want to take a number 2 you have to walk to the big bucket, fill up a small bucket with water, then find a way to dump the water in the small bucket into the toilet tank so you can flush. This is way harder than it sounds and it an extremely awkward process that is almost as stressful as it is embarrassing for me because if you grab the bucket everyone knows you aren't just going number 1. Most of my stress here hinges on the idea of making myself more embarrassed than I already am by fûcking up this process in one way (technically this whole extravaganza is called a grey-water system). After the somewhat unnerving house tour, I am starting to realize how incredibly foreign all of this is. Moving to and living in Florence was traveling to another country, Cape Town is another planet. Everything feels slightly uneasy when you walk down the streets. I felt very watched and distrustful of anyone around me because I had been warned so thoroughly about the impressive theft that was pulled off, even in broad daylight. Then, the first genuinely positive interaction of my day happens. Three girls, Jonna (Sweden), Ella (Sweden), and Natália (Brazil) say that they're gong to the beach and if I don’t have any plans I should come with them to get lunch and then go to the beach. The tight little ball in my chest loosens. We all go to the grocery store and upon our return, Cassie comes up to me and tells me that tomorrow I am moving to a HomeStay. My reaction is: “WHAAAT??!?!?!?!??!?!????”. I was NOT supposed to be at a Home-Stay and was clearly told by the volunteer service that I would be based at the volunteer hostel. I was completely caught off-guard and this was the LAST mix-up I would expect to happen. I make her double-check that it’s the right person she’s talking about and she confirms that yes, in fact my program is in an area much closer to the poorer neighborhoods, because those are the kids we are serving. Thus, I need to live close to them and that means living with a family. WHAT THE FÜCK? I regain my zen and try to just be a “go with the flow” kind of person, but I feel like a rock being unwillingly dragged down a river by the force of the water. After many minutes of mindful breathing and sunscreen application, we are in the uber to the beach. The beach is gorgeous. The South African Sun was incredibly intense. Even when applying several layers of thick sunscreen and sitting entirely in the shade, my skin was very offended I had decided to move to this continent. That being said, there were white fluffy sand, colored umbrellas, beautiful and tan, beachy South Africans everywhere, so I told my skin to shut up. My particular favorite of all my people-watching specimen was a 50-something woman in a hot pink bikini who was so freckled she passed it off as a deep tan. She had a lower back tattoo that said “Brooklyn Forever” in swirly writing, some Chinese characters on her back, a ring of thorns around her bicep, and a kiss mark on her lower right hip. Her small white lap dog came over and chilled on my towel while she drank some alcoholic beverage and told her four-year-old daughter to move out of her tanning chair because “I’m an ádult” (only self-important people say adult as aaaaadult). She also told her friend to “stay on the hunt”, when a 20 year old lifeguard passed and they both obviously checked him out, even though they were both wearing wedding rings and surrounded by their own children. From eavesdropping on their conversations I learned her name was Lisa, which fits all too well. I hang out with my new friends and learn lots of cool information. For example, Natalia has breast implants her boyfriend paid for as a present to her 5 months ago and is very happy to talk about them as a point of braggadocio (as it turns out, two americans in this volunteer hostel also have breast implants”. Ella has four tattoos, one of which is very large on her forearm that says “There is no progress without struggle”. She says she almost ran to the tattoo parlor on her 18th birthday to get it— but now she thinks it’s cliche. Jonna is amazed at my ability to recite facts I learned from various podcasts I listened during my unintentional all-nighter to Cape Town. For example, your likelihood of getting cancer increases by 40% if you average less than 7 hours of sleep per night over your lifetime. Cassie and her sister Ashley end up joining us. By that time I was entirely exhausted. My face was telling me it was time to get out of the sun even though I was in the shade, with a hat and sunscreen on. And, again, I was entirely exhausted so interaction with new people was a strain I was really not feeling. Finally, we call and uber and go back to the hostel. I cannot get the idea of the host family off of my mind as I am moving there tomorrow and have exactly no information on who they are, where they live, what the conditions will be, how many people live there, etc.. I decide the best way to ease my anxiety is to get something done. So, I go to the drug store down the street, Click-It. I buy around 10 items and when I’m checking out, the cashier does something very odd. He looks at me, smiles, and says “when you leave the alarm by the door might go off, just keep walking”. I kind of smile and then process what he’s really said, then process the fact that him and his female co-worker at the other register just smiled at each other clearly in regards to what he has just said. “Why” I ask. “Because I am not going to scan all the items they want me to scan. Don’t worry about it. Just keep walking”. At this point I’m like WHAT THE FÜCK IS GOING ON PART 2. Is he saying he is giving me some of my items for free? What on earth is happening. Well, then I go to pay with my Charles Schwab card that is supposed to be perfect and seamless to use and it’s DECLINED. So I pay with Wells Fargo and the world starts turning again. Right after I pick up my bag he reminds me “dont forget: DO NOT stop walking”. And Im like “Dude I just wanted my leave-in conditioner, I don’t need Mission-Impossible” But, whatever, I’m only 95% sure I can understand the gist of what he is saying because I am still having trouble understanding South African English accents. I scurry home, through the accusatorially beeping metal detector with my newly aquired, and possibly partially stolen goods and take my brief, bucket shower. Now, I am hiding in my top bunk, trying to collect myself and hide from human interaction because honestly, I’m getting close to being at wits-end. I am too overwhelmed to edit this so #nofilter yay I completed my first blog post. Happy First Day In South Africa, Bitches.

xoxo Q

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robertmcangusgroup · 7 years ago

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The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Monday 22nd January 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader…. Beautiful day yesterday in Southern Spain, clear blue skies, with visibility as far as the eye could see, the ocean was calm and looked as if it had been plucked from a picture postcard, .. this morning is the same clear, star filled skies, 6c so it’s jacket weather, well it is for me.. today we have a promise of 15c and the same clear blue skies..

'THOMAS HARDY' WOOL BRIDGE COLLAPSES INTO RIVER FROME…. An Elizabethan bridge that features in Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles has partially collapsed and been washed away. Cracks began to appear on the Grade II* listed Wool Bridge, which crosses the River Frome in Dorset, on Thursday. Since then the wall foundation has "slumped" and been washed away, a county council spokeswoman said. The bridge has been closed to traffic for many years, except for pedestrians and cyclists, she added. The collapse has not affected the arches of the bridge, Dorset County Council said. The council hoped to put large bags of aggregate into the river on Friday to help stop further erosion to the walls and to prevent damage to the arches. "The longer-term plan for repair will be to wait until summer when the conditions are better, dam the affected area off, to allow it to dry out and we can see what has happened," the spokeswoman added. A bridge is first recorded to have crossed this point of the river in 1343, though it is thought the current structure was built in the 16th Century, according to Historic England. It features in Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles due to its location next to Woolbridge Manor, the home of the d'Urberville family. It was considered to be the best preserved Elizabethan bridge in Dorset.

JAPANESE CITY ON ALERT FOR DEADLY FUGU BLOWFISH…. A Japanese city has broadcast emergency warnings to prevent people consuming blowfish, after potentially deadly portions were mistakenly sold. A local supermarket in Gamagori city sold five packets of fugu fish without removing the livers, which contain poison. Three have been found but two remain missing. The delicacy is so poisonous that the smallest mistake in its preparation can be fatal. Each year there are several cases of fugu poisoning in the country, but not all are lethal. The fish more poisonous than cyanide. City authorities in Gamagori, in central Japan, have activated an emergency system, urging people to return the potentially lethal portions. "We are calling for residents to avoid eating fugu, using Gamagori city's emergency wireless system," which broadcasts over loudspeakers located around the city, local official Koji Takayanagi told AFP. Fugu, an expensive seasonal winter dish, is eaten raw as sashimi or cooked in soup. The fish's livers, ovaries and skin contain the deadly poison tetrodotoxin and special training and a licence are required to prepare the fish. There is no antidote to the poison. Tetrodotoxin affects the nerve system and the poisoning has been described as "rapid and violent", leading to first a numbness around the mouth, then paralysis and eventually death…

THE INDIAN WOMAN WHO CHOSE A BULL OVER MARRIAGE…. Selvarani Kanagarasu, a daily wage labourer from the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, has shunned marriage so that she can take care of a prize-fighting bull. BBC Tamil's Pramila Krishnan talks to her about her life. Ms Kanagarasu, now 48, was only a teenager when she decided that she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her father and grandfather, who raised bulls that competed in the state's traditional bull taming contests known as Jallikattu. Jallikattu has been popular for centuries in Tamil Nadu and is traditionally practised during the harvest festival of Pongal in January. Thousands of men chase bulls to grab prizes tied to their horns. The sport was not practised for two years, following a ban by the Supreme Court on the grounds of animal cruelty. But following mass protests in the state, the federal government cleared the way for it to resume in January 2017, bypassing the ban. "My father and grandfather both raised bulls and also considered them their children," she says. The task of continuing the family tradition would have ordinarily fallen to Ms Kanagarasu's brothers, but she says they did not have the time to look after the animals. So she decided to step in. The bull she looks after, Ramu, is an 18-year-old animal who is a legend in local Jallikattu circles. Ramu has won five of the seven Jallikattu events he has participated in, netting prizes like silk sarees and a gold coin for his devoted owner. ''Ramu is a son to me. He won prizes but more importantly, he won honour for my family in the village," she says, adding that Ramu is very "loving" despite his size and his temper in the Jallikattu arena. Over the years, scores of people have been gored or trampled to death in the contests. Hundreds, including spectators, have been mauled or injured. In some arenas, coir matting from coconut trees cushions the impact of a fall - but it provides no defence against a raging bull…. And Folk “That an’t No Bull!”

WOODCHIP IN UNDERPANTS EXCUSE FAILS FOR MALL MASTURBATOR…. A public masturbator who claimed he was just trying to get woodchips out of his underpants has been sentenced to community service. Nigel Cedric Heta, 51, was found guilty of one charge of committing an indecent act (masturbating) in a place where the public have access when he appeared in the Rotorua District Court on Tuesday. He was sentenced to 100 hours community service and to undergo a 12-month rehabilitation programme order. The offending occurred on Saturday September 23 at around 3.25pm as Heta sat in his car while parked in a loading zone directly outside the main entrance of a busy shopping mall. Heta's offending was seen by a witness who walked past with her five-year-old son. Sentencing Heta, Judge Greg Hollister-Jones said the offending was "upsetting and shocking for passersby". "[This was] a busy public place and the masturbation occurred in front of a five-year old." Heta initially pleaded not guilty to the charge before changing his plea to guilty. The summary of facts also revealed his explanation that he was "he was pulling wood chips out of his underpants""… Must be a “Chip off the Old Block”…

CAPE TOWN ABOUT TO BECOME WORLD’S FIRST MAJOR CITY TO RUN OUT OF WATER…. Cape Town could be the first major city in the world to run out of water as officials warn it is about to run dry. The city, perched right on the southern tip of the African continent, is just 90 days away from running out of water. Unpopular Republican govenor Chris Christie officially replaced with Democrat Officials have urged residents to conserve water with usage capped at 87 litres per person per day. Recent projections have suggested it could run out as early as March, while Mayor Patricia De Lille said the city has until April 22 until ‘Day Zero’. April 22 is when authorities have predicted the taps will run dry if current consumption continues and residents don’t scale back their usage.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, Monday morning… …

Our Tulips today are very red... and the coffee is black, just the way I like it…..

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Monday 22nd January 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus

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unicornmagic · 8 years ago

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Untitled high school omegaverse

For @hannigram-a-b-o-library and SummertimeSlick, here’s a bit of the A/B/O AU where Will is sweet seventeen and goes into--you guessed it--surprise heat. Soshite Koi ga Hajimaru: Hannigram edition, basically.

Assume this Hannibal is nice-ish, though exactly how nice is unclear. No sex, just age difference, heat, and bodily grossness.

Edit: completed version now here on AO3.

Quiet in the hallways: class in session. The guidance counselor greeted Hannibal outside the nurse's office with a rueful smile.

"Thanks for coming on short notice."

"Not at all," said Hannibal. "How's the late bloomer?"

"Not happy," said Dr. Bloom. "We haven't been able to reach his father—he's a contractor, does boat repairs. Mom's not in the picture."

"'Not happy.' Physical distress?"

"More emotional. He thought of himself as a beta until today, and I think he felt secure in that identity. It's a lot to process."

"It certainly can be," said Hannibal. "A senior, you said?"

She nodded. "Few months shy of eighteen. He and his dad just moved here in August, before classes started. There were some disciplinary issues at a previous school. Nothing here. Seems very bright, but he hasn't been very talkative." Her smile grew self-deprecating. "At least not with me."

"Well, let's have a look and proceed from there."

Dr. Bloom ushered him into the office, to the door of a smaller room within it. She knocked softly at the door. "Will? The doctor's here. Can we come in?"

A hoarse okay from within. Dr. Bloom opened the door. The lights in the room were dimmed. The walls were ugly cinderblock, institutional, grime-gray. There was a chair, a low cabinet, a narrow bed with a mattress covered in green vinyl. A cotton blanket lay draped over the end of the bed, a nominal concession to some omegas' need to hide or nest.

A young man sat on the bed with knees drawn up to his chest, ignoring the blanket, making himself small.

His clothes were rumpled--gray shorts and plaid shirt, both of poor quality--but he was finely made, with startling features. A nest of dark curls. Pink ears protruding from them, darkened with a flush. Eyes the color of an unruly sea. They flickered up, then down as Hannibal entered the room.

The scent was delicate, unmistakable. Nectar to a bee. Hannibal took care not to audibly sniff.

Dr. Bloom stepped forward. "Will, this is Dr. Lecter. He can answer any questions you don't feel comfortable asking me. I'll be right outside if you need me."

Will nodded. He remained huddled on the narrow bed. If anything, he seemed to shrink, flattening further against the wall. He licked his lips.

"You're an alpha," he said, after Dr. Bloom had shut the door.

"And a physician," said Hannibal. "Between the two, I hope I may be of some use. How are you feeling?"

"I think 'not right' sums it up."

"I'll have to ask you to be a little more specific. Since you're presenting on the late end of what's considered the normal range, we want to be sure there's nothing amiss."

Will's look suggested that in his view there was plenty amiss, but he uncurled a little from his huddle against the wall. "I feel feverish. Overheated. Like there's a film clinging to the surface of my brain. When I woke up this morning I thought I must be coming down with something. Then I got here and everything smelled all...high definition." His lip curled. "I'm also...leaking...from places that don't usually leak."

"Taking a suppressant will decrease the flow, but the effects won't be immediate. Did the nurse or Dr. Bloom give you a hygienic pad?"

Will gave an awful grimace of a smile. "I stuffed toilet paper down my shorts," he said.

"We'll get you something more suitable." Hannibal opened his bag. He took the boy's vitals, noting the slightly elevated temperature without alarm. "Not unusual during the onset stage. Feeling feverish and a bit hazy is also normal. You may find yourself responding strongly to others' personal scents, particularly those of alphas."

"Like yours," said Will slowly. "You smell--" A long pause. "You smell good."

Hannibal quashed his smile. "Thank you."

Will blinked, then squinted. The scrutiny seemed aimed chiefly at himself. "Sorry, was that inappropriate? Is being inappropriate a symptom?"

"A degree of lowered inhibition is typical. If you continue to scent me, you may experience an increase in the flow of your natural lubrication--"

"No kidding," muttered Will, looking away. "So it's like being on the rag, except I'll be leaking from a different orifice, and instead of cramps I'll have fits of lust?" The back of Will's head met the cinderblock wall. His throat worked visibly in an effort to swallow his fate. "God. How soon can I take drugs to make it stop?" A thought seemed to strike him, and dawning horror with it. "Do I have to wait for my dad? Because I'm a minor?"

"Most non-emergency treatment would require parental consent," said Hannibal, "but there's an exception for 'family planning services.' If you like, we can start you on suppressants immediately."

Relief spread in Will's face, followed by a return of tension. The mobile play of feeling was remarkable. "How much are they? I don't--we don't have insurance."

"Thanks to the pharmaceutical companies, I'm well supplied in the way of samples. You can take your first dose now--" Hannibal reached into his bag and drew out a pill packet, "--but for a full supply, I'll need to stop at my office." He paused. "You're welcome to come with me. There's a private room you can use to study or rest until your father can arrange to pick you up." He cast a meaningful glance around the room. "It may be more comfortable than this one."

"Can't imagine it'd be less," said Will.

The doctor's car was parked in one of the visitor spots, black and gleaming. Will tossed down his book bag and slid into the passenger seat: dark leather, immaculate. Then the smell hit, and he nearly toppled sideways out of the car.

Dr. Lecter hovered, hand on the passenger door. He'd opened it for Will, to Will's incredulity, like some kind of gentleman alpha relic from a previous century. Will prayed no one in chem lab had been staring out the window to see it happen.

Concern showed on the doctor's mild face. "Would you prefer to have Dr. Bloom drive you? I'm sure she'd be willing."

Will thought of Dr. Bloom, the stylish dress that clung to her figure, the tepid scent he'd never thought bland until today. Her look of too-knowing sympathy as she'd handed him a hygienic pad. She was a beta, but she knew what it was like to leak. Will jerked his head in an emphatic no.

Dr. Lecter closed the door and came around to the driver's seat. Will could barely hear the engine's purr when he turned the key.

"Kind of car is this?" he asked, to distract himself from the scent, which was everywhere, dizzying, far more concentrated than it had been in the nurse's office. His head tipped back on the leather headrest and lolled.

"A Bentley."

Will peered at the dash as they pulled out of the lot. "European?"

"British." Dr. Lecter glanced sideways. "Shall I open the window?"

At Will's unsteady nod, Dr. Lecter reached for the controls. The passenger side window slid down. The rush of clear, humid air from outside brought both relief and--from the just-wakened part of Will that appalled him--a twist of loss. He slumped toward the open window, this close to sticking his head through it to ride with his face in the wind like a dog. It seemed a better choice than slumping the other way and plastering his nose to Dr. Lecter's sleeve.

His glance strayed sideways, to Dr. Lecter's hands on the wheel at eight and four. Dexterous, confident in their grasp. Will wondered how it would feel if they touched his neck, then tore his gaze away.

He wasn't gay, at least not if his previous attractions were anything to go by. Insofar as he liked people, which wasn't much, he liked girls. Alphas were mostly insufferable. The idea of finding them sexy, if only under the influence of hormones--of slavering after their big alpha dicks--made Will want to claw his own face, or maybe the car's fancy leather interior.

Dr. Lecter kept his eyes on the road. They were heading into the old part of town, the good part, all ponderous houses big enough to qualify as mansions in Will's mind, with broad porches and manicured yards and mature trees hung with moss.

"Dr. Bloom tells me you're a recent arrival in town," Dr. Lecter said. "How are you finding the school?"

"It's a school," said Will.

"Are there many other omegas in your class?"

Will snorted. "There's not even an AO students' union." They were supposed to be five percent of the population, give or take, but he knew of only two omega seniors, both girls. Families that could afford it didn't send their omega kids to shitty Louisiana public schools--coed schools, where they might get bullied or knocked up by randy teenage alphas. He'd be the only male omega in his class.

Just when he'd thought maybe school would be endurable here, if he kept his head down and did his work. A few more months, a few more credits and he'd be done, gone, off to basic training at Cape May. Did the Coast Guard even let omegas serve on active duty? He shut his eyes and pulled his arms close to his ribs.

At that moment a fresh spurt of wetness--slick, he thought, forcing himself to think it--oozed from his butthole, squishing up and down the crack of his ass. Will stiffened. He held himself rigid, praying it wouldn't soak through the pad, through his pants, stain the doctor's expensive leather seats.

Even if it didn't, an alpha could probably smell it. He should've asked to ride with Dr. Bloom, after all. He turned his face miserably to the window's edge.

"Will?"

"Sorry," rasped Will.

"There's no need for apology. The changes in your body are--"

"If you say 'perfectly natural,'" said Will, voice cracking, "I will jump out of this moving car."

Dr. Lecter was silent for a moment. "If you'd like to talk about what you're feeling, I'd be glad to lend an ear. I'm no Dr. Bloom, but I've treated many young omegas. Nothing you say will surprise me."

"What I'm feeling is that human biology is bullshit," said Will.

Dr. Lecter didn't smile. "It may seem hard to believe at the moment, but in some cultures, presentation is an occasion to celebrate. In Lithuania, omegas were considered blessed by Laima, goddess of birth and fate. At first heat they were crowned with flower garlands and feasted, before and after."

"Lucky them," muttered Will. He paused, considering the doctor's accent. "Is that where you're from?"

"Originally, yes." The car slowed. "Here we are."

Will had expected an office building, but they'd pulled up to the curb in front of a stately double-gallery house, surrounded by other stately houses and a Catholic church. A low fence of wrought iron lined the edge of the yard, too short to keep people out or dogs in. Aside from that, it was a good yard: generous, green, shaded by a live oak that spread soft fingers of moss over the eaves.

A sign along the sidewalk read, in neat gold lettering: H. Lecter, M.D. Family Practice.

H. Lecter, M.D. rolled up the window and unbuckled his seatbelt. As soon as the window sealed shut, the scent of him overtook Will again. Will drew a shaky breath of it. If he'd ever noticed how alphas smelled before, he'd found them off-putting, too musky, rank with masculine excess. Dr. Lecter smelled intricate, with an edge of sweetness, like the trace of caramel in good bourbon. The kind you could get hammered on without regret. When Will didn't budge in his seat, the doctor paused with one hand on the door.

"Will you come in?" he asked.

Will turned his head. He didn't want to move, and not just because he was afraid to see if he'd stained the seat. Fucked up as it was, he didn't want to leave this small, dark, enclosed space that reeked of alpha. Not for any place other than his own shitty bedroom in the shitty rental house.

The words welled up of their own volition, like slick. "Could I maybe just...wait here, while you go in?" He hated asking for things, and here he was, asking. His eyes met Dr. Lecter's. He was pretty sure they reflected some portion of how pathetic he felt. "Maybe I could get a ride home?"

Dr. Lecter's pupils dilated. He hesitated for a second before he spoke. "It would be best if someone remained near you, at least for the next several hours. Adverse reactions to suppressants are uncommon, but not unheard of." He looked conflicted, as if denying the request of a heat-stricken omega contradicted his principles. "Is there someone who could stay with you at your home?"

Will looked away. He could lie. Invent a neighbor, a family friend, a local aunt. Say they'd come over and keep an eye on him. He shook his head.

"Not unless you want to.” He felt a dim disbelief at himself for saying it aloud.

"I'm more than flattered to be asked." Dr. Lecter's voice grew gentle and low. Will wanted to roll in it, and to yank back the part of him that wanted to roll by the scruff of its neck. Yank it back and lock it up in a shed. "I only wish it were appropriate. Would you like to try again to reach your father?"

Reluctantly Will took out his phone. The call rang, and rang, and went to voice mail, as it had when Dr. Bloom had tried before. Will cut it off without leaving a message. Dr. Lecter was watching, solemn-faced.

"He's not very good about checking his phone," said Will, hating that it sounded like an excuse. "Forgets he turned the ringer off."

Dr. Lecter shifted toward him in the driver's seat, all earnest brown eyes and sandy brown hair that fringed over the side of his brow. "I understand you'd prefer to be at home. Let's at least see that there are no ill effects from the medication first. If in a few hours all seems well, and there's still no word from your father, I'd be happy to drive you."

Will's shoulders sank. It was hard to say no to an alpha, let alone one that sounded so goddamn rational and adult. He nodded, silent. He dragged his book bag onto his lap, then opened the door before Dr. Lecter could sweep around the car and do it for him.

As they walked up to the office, the doctor asked, "Are you hungry?"

"Not really."

"If not now, you may be soon. Do you like profiteroles?"

Will squinted sideways. "Why?"

"Because I made some to share with my staff. I'm afraid there's an excess."

Will shouldered his slumping book bag with a huff. "For my presentation feast?" They stepped onto the porch. Through the front window Will could see an airy waiting room, a reception desk, a young woman behind it. He sidled closer to Dr. Lecter without thinking. "Do I get a flower crown, too?"

Dr. Lecter's arm came around Will, gently shepherding, as he held open the door. "It would be my pleasure."

Continued on AO3

#hannigram #summertimeslick #alpha/beta/omega dynamics #alpha hannibal #omega will #july 7 #surprise heat #my fic #will there be more idk

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bigyack-com · 5 years ago

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Thailand Targets Tourism Revenue of 3.18 Trillion Baht in 2020

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has set a target of 3.18 trillion Baht in overall tourism revenue for 2020, a 4% year-on-year increase. The amount includes 2.02 trillion Baht from international tourists, up 3%, and 1.16 trillion Baht from domestic tourists, an increase of 5%. Last year, Thailand is estimated to have generated 3.06 trillion Baht, a 4% increase on 2018. This impressive amount includes 1.96 trillion Baht, an increase of 4%, from 39.77 million international tourists, also up 4%, and 1.10 trillion Baht, a growth of 3%, from 167 million domestic trips, up 1%. Thailand welcomed its 39 millionth tourist of the year on 27 December 2019.

“TAT’s target for 2020 is based on several favourable factors, ranging from the government’s stimulus measures, TAT’s focussed marketing strategies and promotions of emerging destinations, new air routes and the positive outlook of international tourists to Thailand from key source markets,” said Khun Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor. The Thai government has launched a number of measures designed to help stimulate more inbound travel, including the opening of more VAT refund shops and counters, 24-hour cross-border service on the Thai-Malaysian and Thai-Lao borders during weekends and holidays, e-visas and exemption of the visa-on-arrival fee until 30 April 2020, and a 50% discount on airport landing fees for international flights from 1 December 2019 to 30 April 2020, to name but a few. New air routes, including Hangzhou-Chiang Rai, Sendai-Bangkok, Munich-Phuket, and Doha-Chiang Mai, will also help to boost arrivals. Mr. Yuthasak said, “Leveraging these favourable factors and gearing up to mark the 60th anniversary in 2020, TAT is committed to making travel and tourism the kingdom’s most economically promising, environmentally sustainable, and culturally vibrant sector.” In 2020, TAT is seeing a positive outlook of international tourists to Thailand from several markets including the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam), Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Spain, Eastern Europe, Israel and the US. The Chinese, Singaporean and Middle Eastern markets are showing signs of recovery, while the Japanese, Hong Kong, European, Scandinavian, Australian and Latin American markets are expected to remain stable or show a slow growth. Mr. Yuthasak said, “TAT is also preparing to overcome several challenges, including the effect from the China–US trade war, the rise in consumption tax in Japan, and Brexit. The strong Thai Baht, Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, World Expo 2020 Dubai and stimulus visa schemes from country competitors have also been taken into consideration when laying out our tourism marketing strategies.” See latest Travel News, Interviews, Podcasts and other news regarding: TAT, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thailand, Sisaket, Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen, Roi-Et. Headlines: Vietjet Takes Delivery of Two More Airbus Aircraft Two Executive Appointments at Bombardier Aviation Air India No Longer Available on Sabre GDS Thailand Targets Tourism Revenue of 3.18 Trillion Baht in 2020 Gen Z - Airbnb's Fastest Growing Market for Experiences in Asia Pacific Air Canada Takes Delivery of First Airbus A220-300 AirAsia Launches Flights Between Kuala Lumpur and Dalat, Vietnam Cebu Pacific Orders 15 Airbus Aircraft, Including Up To 10 A321XLRs American Airlines and Royal Air Maroc to Codeshare New Immigration Requirements to Help Solomon Islands Fight Measles Vietjet Launches Danang - Singapore Flights American Express GBT Forecasts Stable Air Prices in 2020 Etihad and Kuwait Airways to Codeshare PAG and Inmark Purchase Grand Hyatt Seoul British Airways and Iberia Achieve IATA NDC @Scale Certification Air Caraïbes Takes Delivery of First A350-1000 Aman Signs Fourth Resort in Japan Hamilton to Host HSBC New Zealand Sevens 25-26 January 2020 Thales' New 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shannrussell-blog1 · 6 years ago

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Western Australia’s South West is such an incredible place to explore with its stunningly breathtaking coastline, gorgeous forests and wineries that are world-renowned for their excellence. The South West is also a unique biodiversity hotspot (there are only 34 hotspots in the world) and in spring, this area just comes to life with the colour of wildflowers.

The Cape to Cape Track gives you a chance to experience all this and so much more. You’ll explore nearly 130km of coastline, starting your journey at either end as the track runs between the two Capes (hence the name), Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin.

The Cape to Cape is a unique hiking trail located in Western Australia.

What you will experience on this track

While you hike, you’ll experience spectacular rugged coastal terrain, white sandy beaches, plenty of coastal heathlands that just burst with blooms in spring. Then the contrast of the ocean is the beauty of the Karri trees when you enter the Boranup Forest.

If you are hiking in the month of May and September, you will have the chance to see the migrating whales of the southern right and the humpback. There are also plenty of dolphins that love to share the waves with the local surfers in the water. I find it just a glorious thing to look over the ocean while sitting on one of the many bench seats perched on the cliffs along the track. The sunsets are like no other as it slowly sets over the ocean with the glow of reds and oranges. At times its so intense, it can resemble a painting.

In May/April of every year, there is the famous Salmon Run as they head north. This is so spectacular to witness as the beaches become alive with excited fishermen and women.

Then you have the wildlife on the land – the kangaroos, wallabies, possums, quendas, and the countless birds of all kinds.

You can expect some spectacular views as you walk along this track.

How long does it take to walk?

This is a track that you can experience in sections from day walks to walking the full track over a period of a week. I have now walked this track myself 5 times, 3 sectionals and 2 full end-to-end trips and I personally feel this track is worthy of your time.

To be able to spend a moment sitting up high on the cliff-side while staring down into the ocean below is something we never do in our hectic day-to-day lives. Playing in the rock pools along some of the beaches will bring you back to being a carefree child and taking the time to smell the wildflowers is a saying that’s not to be ignored.

This track has so much to share and should be explored in an enjoyable way that isn’t rushed. With the total km just shy of 130, and campsites and towns along the way, you can tailor your walk to suit you.

Take your time to hike this track, so you can enjoy it to its fullest.

Campsites along the way

There are four Cape to Cape campsites and three National Park sites, plus there are a few caravan park sites along the way. You will find that there is a water tank at most the campsites along with picnic tables plus drop toilets.

If you’re planning to hike the track during peak season, it is recommended to pre-book the National Park’s campsites, which costs a small fee to stay there. On the other hand, the four Cape to Cape sites are free but there is no booking system, so first come first served. As this track runs through National Park, there is no wild camping available.

During the busy season, book ahead to secure your campsite.

Other accommodation options along the Cape to Cape

If camping is not your thing, then that’s alright, as there are a lot of accommodation options in the South West. There are also many tour companies who will organise you a place to sleep each night and give you a drop-off and pick up service for the track.

Local visitor centres at Dunsborough, Margaret River and Augusta can help you out with this. There is also information on these services with the Friends of the Cape to Cape here.

If you don’t want to camp, you can organise other accommodation for this trail.

Trail markers

Wooden posts with a metal Cape to Cape symbol attached can be found along the way. Occasionally you find wooden signs with the words ‘Cape to Cape Track’ written on it and the symbol is also attached to some of the rocks along the beach areas.

The trail will have markers that will keep you on the right path.

Gear to take

Backpack (I carry the Osprey Xena 70L)

Map and compass

Guidebook (‘The Capes’ by Walkingtwobytwo, because I wrote it)

PLB

Change of clothes and socks (in a compression bag to save room)

Head buff, warm hat and a Hiking poles

Tent, (mine is the Sea to Summit Specialist Duo)

Sleeping bag with a Sea to Summit Spark 3)

Sleeping mat (my all-time favourite Sea to Summit Comfort Light)

Stove, waterproof matches and lighter

Cup and knife/fork/spoon set

snake bite kit

Hydration system

Water treatment tablets or filter system

LifeStraw (for emergencies)

Battery charger

Head torch

Pocket knife

Insect repellent (a must for this track and Bushman’s is the best I have found)

Mosquito net (can be handy even when the March flies are out)

Disposable hand warmers (get the biodegradable ones)

Sit-a-pon (waterproof mat to sit on)

Sandals for camp (Crocs)

Sarong (this is my multipurpose must-have item)

My Sea to Summit Specialist Duo tent set up on the track.

Water along the way

The campsites have rainwater tanks, however, do be aware they can run dry especially in the warmer seasons. So, be sure to stock up on your water supply in each town and carry enough for each day. Water from the tanks is advised to be treated.

I always carry a 3-litre capacity hydration system, a LifeStraw, (for emergencies), and my Katadyn Micropur Forte Tablets to treat the water.

Stay hydrated along the trail by filling up on water in each town you come across.

Food along the way

When I am camping, I always dehydrate my own meals at home before I leave but if you don’t have the time or own a dehydrator then you can always find some other choices like the Back Country Cuisine range. Or, there is the option to check out the local supermarket for some easy lightweight meals.

You will enter into a few towns which is a great time to get re-stocked and have a yummy meal. However, be aware the supply is limited. And, always check the hours these places are open as you may be excited for a burger only to find the shop closed when you arrive, and you are left hungry (this is what happened to me!).

Cooking on the trail

As you are walking through a National Park, open campfires are not permitted, so you will want to carry a fuel stove. I carry my Minimo Jetboil and the gas cylinders are easy enough to get at the local stores. Keep in mind that if you’re travelling from interstate or overseas that gas cylinders are not allowed on planes.

There will be opportunities to eat meals in the towns, but you will need to bring some of your own food.

What fitness level do I need?

For anyone wanting to walk the Cape to Cape, I’d recommend you’re relatively fit as this track can be demanding at times. I will not lie, this trail can be a challenge for your legs. You’ll be walking through a fair amount of soft sand, climbing up and down soft sand dunes, over large rocks and rocky paths as well as along 4WD tracks and narrow paths. You will have a few ascents and descents though nothing too high.

Expect to hike on sand, so ensure your body is up to the challenge.

What’s the best time of the year to hike the Cape to Cape track?

I have walked this track all times of the year and it certainly gives you something different every time. My favourite time is certainly springtime. Not just because of the wildflowers, but because spring in Western Australia is the perfect hiking season.

The weather on the coast is a lot friendlier with mild days. Winter can get really wild and woolly as well as being very wet and cold and it can also get a little dangerous along some of the beach passes.

Late autumn is great as the weather cools off whereas early autumn it can still be a little too hot. Summer is great to visit the South West but not necessarily to hike the track as it is just too hot. Also, there’s a high risk of fires and a lack of water.

To stay up to date with the weather on the track, check either BOM or Weatherzone. And, for alerts, check here.

Spring is a great time to hike this track, as you’ll have relatively clear skies and mild conditions.

Maps and Guidebooks

You should always carry up-to-date maps and guidebooks when hiking and the Cape to Cape is no exception. Whatever your preference for navigation is, I highly recommend you carry more than one option for your safety.

Maps are available from most hiking/camping stores and visitor centres in WA and online from friends of the Cape to Cape.

For guidebooks there are two available, ‘The Capes’ guidebook which has just been released and is a small pocket-sized hiker friendly book. This is available from here as well as various visitor centres throughout the South West. The other is ‘The Cape to Cape Guidebook’ also available from this site and various visitor centres throughout the South West.

If you are into apps, there are a few for this trail available. I can recommend the Guthook app as this has had great reviews.

You’ll need a guidebook and a map to hike this trail.

Safety on the track

Always remember your safety is your responsibility. It is extremely important for you to take the appropriate measures to ensure your safety whilst hiking. This is so you can have an experience you want to remember, not regret. Also along the way, you’ll find phone reception but more on the northern end than the southern, so it’s best not to rely on it.

Communication

Always tell people of your whereabouts and intended return. Give them your itinerary and contact them when you return home.

Carry some form of PLB with you.

When hiking, I always recommend some type of personal locator beacon.

Personal safety

Always stay up-to-date with weather alerts and track conditions.

Be aware that the Cape to Cape has many 4WD tracks and users. Be alert whilst on these tracks as the drivers may not see you.

Stay safe while walking along rocks and cliff edges. There’s always the risk of king waves even in mild conditions, which can sweep you off your feet and out to sea.

Carry a first aid kit.

Carry a snake bite kit.

Always carry enough water.

Be prepared for your hiking adventure with the appropriate clothing and equipment.

If you go swimming, be aware these beaches along the Cape to Cape are NOT patrolled and do have a high risk of strong undercurrents and rips. Swim where safe and do so at your own risk.

In case of a wildfire, stay calm and alert authorities of your whereabouts. Try to head to the beach or a large open area.

Keep in mind that the beaches are not patrolled in the area so it can be a risk to swim.

Navigation

Have up-to-date maps of the hike you intend to take.

Any river crossing should be taken with great care. If unsure, seek an alternative route.

There are many beach walking sections along this track. Keep up-to-date on the extreme weather conditions and don’t attempt any beach section that may be risky.

If you become lost, then STAY on the trail! Don’t walk into bushland as it is harder to find you. Stay in an open area to be seen and don’t wander aimlessly.

Use your common sense.

Useful information

Emergency Number – 000.

DFES emergency information – 13 3337.

Fire management of Parks and Wildfires managed lands – (08) 9219 8000.

Dunsborough Police – (08) 9781 3030.

Augusta Police – (08) 9758 3900.

Marine emergencies – (08) 9474 9055.

Wildlife watch (reporting illegal wildlife activities) – 1800 449 453.

Just one of the beautiful views you can experience on this trail.

How do I get to the Cape to Cape Track?

To travel down to the South West from Perth, as well as between the towns of Dunsborough, Margaret River and Augusta, you can go to South West Coachlines here or TransWA.

There is no direct public transport to and from the track at either end. There are a few privately owned companies that will transport you to and from the track or you can organise a taxi. This can get pricey, so I suggest contacting the visitor centres for more information on this.

I hope this guide was helpful for anyone who is planning their trip, or who is just curious about what you will experience when walking the Cape to Cape. Happy hiking everyone!

Have you explored the rugged and beautiful coastlines of WA? If so, what was the best part for you?

The post Guide to Hiking the Cape to Cape Track in WA appeared first on Snowys Blog.

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type-a-nomad · 7 years ago

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First REAL weekend in South Africa-- Sat Feb 17- Mon Feb19

Weekend

Feb 17 Today I went on a surfing day to the beach at Big Bay. The beach faces the main city of Cape Town and you can see Table Mountain looming over the entire place. The view is spectacular. Basically, the premise of the surfing day was a collaboration between two NGOs in Cape Town dedicated to helping the kids in the townships get out of the townships through extracurricular activities. One of them is SAVE Volunteers (my people) and the other is Wings, an organization started by one of the SAVE employees from Norway who raises money to buy surfboards and wetsuits for the kids here. Surfing has a reputation of being kind of airhead-y or unambitious, something people who just want life to be easy and relaxing seek out. The organizations I am working with prove that wrong on so many fronts. The most critical, to me, is the water. The ocean is so powerful and so healthy. I might be the only one, though this is unlikely, but when I go into the water, I am entirely filled with energy and life and consciousness. Further, physical activity is so important for mental wellbeing and it helps these kids channel energy and frustrations from the hardships they experience daily into something that isn't self detrimental (like joining a gang or being swept up in the alcoholism and drug addiction that plagues a good amount of their parents and family members). Another critical part is the challenge. There is a very tangible outline of success: getting up and surfing the wave. Thus, surfing is saving these kids’ mental wellbeing. Or at least aiding it. It’s incredible to see how appreciative they are for everything. They are so excited to be there and are having fun from the second they show up till the second they leave. I went into the water for about 45 minutes. The waves were enormous. I have never experienced anything like it. There were swells of 10 feet. A lot of the volunteers didn't go out because they were so uncomfortable with the swell. Apparently, the waves being this big is rare. But, this is the first time I have surfed in a year and I was anxious to just try. So, I forced myself into a wetsuit and decided to make myself uncomfortable because that’s why I'm here— I’m not about to live timidly even though a lot of my brain wants me to. Carpe this fucking diem. All that. When I got out of the water, after being crushed by many waves and ignoring the cramping in my shoulders from paddling, I was starving and grabbed my German friend, Nicole, to go to a smoothie place right near the big beach. When we got there, I noticed they had wraps so I got a breakfast wrap. I know this is super boring. Who cares what I’m eating? Right? Except it’s actually a big deal, because I only eat carbs for breakfast and lunch and my body is not used to only having a small amount of protein at dinner on good days. I’m trying to go shopping more to supplement the fact that I just eat peanut butter toast to survive here because I’m so emotionally and physically exhausted all of the time from giving every piece of myself to the kids that making something more than that is basically impossible. When I got back, I had potato salad and meatballs out of the fridge that was apart of the dinner the night before. It was yummy but also a second lunch at 4pm and, thus, I was not very hungry when dinner rolled around at 6pm. I got my portion of pasta and put cling wrap to save my rations for the next day. I ate the salad and then most of a chocolate bar that I bought and designated as my “emegency chocolate bar”. I guess craving sugar constitutes an emergency for me.

Feb 18

I woke up at 6:20 am today because I had a zipline tour that I booked. It was an hour and a half there and the tour was at 9 so we were going to leave at 7 so we would be sure we wouldn't be late. I was a bit loud getting ready because I was so exhausted. Linda, my roommate who is 60-ish, from Canada, and now retired and living in Oaxaca, Mexico. She’s super cool and even says “eh”. It’s very exciting. We are starting to get kind of close. We even gossip sometimes. Anyways, back to ziplining. The way I got into this in the first place was because Natasha, a British girl who lives in my house and has been very outgoing and nice to me so far, was talking about wanting to do it with somebody and asked (out of semi-desperation because others didn't want to do it) me. I’m still not in great physical condition. I’ve had a really bad cough since I’ve gotten here and it is showing no signs of leaving anytime soon. Please, Mr. Cough, you are overstaying your welcome. Natasha and I called an uber at 7. The guy pulled up and seemed nice enough, but I was worried that he was going to kick us out when he realized how far we were going. Directly inland 90 minutes is basically to the middle of nowhere. When he noticed the destination he did something very, very weird. He says “Is this a cash or card trip”, uber doesn't let you pay in cash so I found this very sketchy. We told him it was a card trip, to which he said “ don't have any cash or cards, can you pay me in cash so I can get us all the way there”. Obviously, I am feeling a little more than weirded out at that moment because of all the horror stories we have heard about transportation, safety, and being a woman in Cape Town. However, we were stuck. It’s 7am, we are already out of town, we have to be at this place before 9, and this guy is offering us to take us there, just being sketchy about it. We allow him to pull over and cancel the trip. The quote that uber originally gave us was 750 Rand for the way there (rand to dollars is around 11:1). He says he’ll take 500 Rand for the whole thing. For him, it’s not actually a discount because uber takes 75% anyways and he doesn't need to pay taxes. For us, we save 250 rand. It’s a win-win. We spend another hour in the car. The man driving the uber was named Gabriel and he had lived in Cape Town for 28 years. He didn’t even put in directions to where we were going even though it was way outside of Cape Town. Of course he gets lost. I don’t get why people feel the need to prove how “local” they are by doing things like that. Just use your map. Jeez man. We end up having to put the map into Natasha’s phone because there is basically no service where we were so her wifi hotspot is the closest thing to internet that we had. We roll up to the nature reserve where we are going zip lining, finally, and there is a gatehouse where you need to check in before driving one more kilometer up the road to the actual headquarters/cafe of the zip lining company. Natasha and I realized how far in the middle of nowhere we were, but we figured we could call an uber when we were finished and it would take maybe 30 minutes to get there. The zipline company offers no transportation to or from the middle of nowhere, there is no public transportation anywhere close, and taxis in cape town are basically unusable because they're so sketchy and they will charge you crazy amounts because they know they might get away with it. When we get out of the car, we are told almost immediately that we need to tell our uber driver to WAIT for four hours while we zipline because we will be unable to call one when we are done because we are in the middle of the middle of nowhere. Great!!!! What a reasonable request. The woman at the front desk phones the gatehouse and tells Gabriel to turn around and wait for us until we are done. He is so sweet he says that he will and we don’t even need to pay him. Just 500 Rand there and 500 Rand back. So $50 per person round trip for over 3 hours of driving. Not bad. Ziplining was hard to describe. It was so insane every time I’ve trie dot describe it, it sounds hyperbolic. We were driven in a big jeep-truck thing about 20 minutes through the bumpiest road I’ve ever driven on. Several times I actually thought we were going to tip over and fall down the cliff. The entire thing was so full of adrenaline even the car ride felt wild. We zip lined for four hours. Besides walking to the first platform and hiking out of the canyon, there was literally no walking, just zip lining from mountain to mountain. It was insane. We were hundreds of feet up. Each zipline was 500 feet or longer. Below us was hundreds of feet and then a rocky canyon with waterfalls and rovers throughout it. The drought isn’t as serious the farther you get out of CT so a lot of the vegetation was green and full. There were trees and bushes and flowers and lizards. It was beautiful. The dirt is red and full of clay. Everything seemed so saturated. In our group it was me, Natasha, and a Dutch couple who were in CT for vacation. They were very nice. Every time we got to the next zipine (approximately every 10 or 15 minutes), we had to jump off ourselves. I cannot describe the amount of self control it takes to willingly jump off of a platform above a canyon hundreds of feet in the air suspended by nothing but a wire. We were flying at up to 40 miles an hour suspended hundreds of feet above the ground. Calling it exhilarating feels like an understatement. When I got back to my hostel, I decided to rally and go to the beach before dinner. I covered myself in sunscreen and walked down to the ocean with some girls who live in the same building as me named Sydney, Emilie, and Natasha (same Natasha). It was really nice. I’m reading a book called When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron and every paragraph makes me stop and think about my worldview. It’s totally fantastic and spiritual without being annoying about it. As I am writing this, it is Monday. This morning was rough because I have very little food here besides bread and cereal and whatever is made for dinner. I usually go for peanut butter toast but this morning there was no peanut butter so I just had bread and butter. I thought i could make coffee with a lot of milk for protein and I heated up my milk but then we were out of instant coffee. Thankfully, Coll showed up and handled it and got us new food. Coll is actually superwoman. It is a great injustice that I have not payed tribute to her or her daughter, Shannon, since I have been blogging about my experiences in Africa. Shannon basically runs SAVE volunteers as far as I can see. She is the go-to manager. She runs our lives. From having enough food, to transport, to daily activities, it’s all her (and another manager Robyn who is equally great). Shannon is Coll’s daughter. Coll is around 65 years old and makes dinner for us every night Monday-Saturday. She’s vegetarian and is very evangelical about it. At least 3 days a week I have very long conversations with her about politics, gender identity, sexism, vegetarianism, and general humanity among other things. She’s brilliant without being self important or condescending towards younger generations, even though she totally could be. Did I mention she cooks for over a hundred people every day? Yeah, pretty wild. Today there was no peanut butter or instant coffee and when I told her, all of a sudden peanut butter and instant coffee appeared. Here, where food is not diverse and sometimes scarce, that is nothing short of a miracle. So, yeah, the ladies who run this program are badass and fun in all of the right ways.

Currently, I am having a lot of trouble deciding if I’m leaving South Africa. If you are reading this and have advice, I need it. Fill my ears. I want to be on the beach and the project I thought I was going to go to next is in Turkey and it’s cold and not on the beach. I know this sounds small and kind of self-indulgent and a priority only a teenager would have, but it’s actually a big deal for me. My quality of life by the water changes a lot. Having access to go to the beach, and swim, walk, etc. gives me so much energy. I love the energy of towns near the beach and it makes me want to stay in Table View, South Africa because everything here is set up and I’m near the beach, even though I don’t particularly feel a strong need to do exactly this kind of volunteering for a whole extra month. I have been looking for places in Central and South America because I would love to improve my Spanish, but almost all of those would be working at a hostel which I think would be fun and I could meet lots of people and work on my language skills, but my parents would see it as pretty meaningless and I don’t blame them. It doesn't help other people, it would just be fun, new, casual, and something I probably an experience I would never have again. If anyone knows of a permaculture farm on the beach somewhere where it is warm (besides Australia, I know there are tons there but I don’t want to ask for the money for that plane flight), please let me know. I don’t want to take away from my experience here by looking everywhere for a new project, but I am also itching to go new places after this and only have clothes and supplies to be in warm weather, and the emotional disposition to be at the beach. I don’t want to just sit around. Meaningful work is, well, meaningful, but the environment in which I am doing that work is super important to me as well because I only get one Gap Year and it is going to be a while before I go to do something this eccentric and carefree again. Harvard isn’t a beach vacation.

Peace, Q

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