#Fuel Recovery Service

[anarchywoofwoof]

the funny thing is that i don't think younger people - and i mean those under the age of 40 - really have a grasp on how many of today's issues can be tied back to a disastrous reagan policy:

war on drugs: reagan's aggressive escalation of the war on drugs was a catastrophic policy, primarily targeting minority communities and fueling mass incarceration. the crusade against drugs was more about controlling the Black, Latino and Native communities than addressing the actual problems of drug abuse, leading to a legacy of broken families and systemic racism within the criminal justice system.

deregulation and economic policies: reaganomics was an absolute disaster for the working class. reagan's policies of aggressive tax cuts for the rich, deregulation, and slashing social programs were nothing less than class warfare, deepening income inequality and entrenching corporate greed. these types of policies were a clear message that reagan's america was only for the wealthy elite and a loud "fuck you" to working americans.

environmental policies: despite his reputation being whitewashed thanks to the recovery of the ozone layer, reagan's environmental record was an unmitigated disaster. his administration gutted critical environmental protections and institutions like the EPA, turning a blind eye to pollution and corporate exploitation of natural resources. this blatant disregard for the planet was a clear sign of prioritizing short-term corporate profits over the future of the environment.

AIDS crisis: reagan's gross neglect of the aids crisis was nothing short of criminal and this doesn't even begin to touch on his wife's involvement. his administration's indifference to the plight of the lgbtq+ community during this devastating epidemic revealed a deep-seated bigotry and a complete failure of moral leadership.

mental health: reagan's dismantling of mental health institutions under the guise of 'reform' led directly to a surge in homelessness and a lack of support for those with mental health issues. his policies were cruel and inhumane and showed a personality-defining callous disregard for the most vulnerable in society.

labor and unions: reagan's attack on labor unions, exemplified by his handling of the patco strike, was a blatant assault on workers' rights. his actions emboldened corporations to suppress union activities, leading to a significant erosion of workers' power and rights in the workplace. he was colloquially known as "Ronnie the Union Buster Reagan"

foreign policy and military interventions: reagan's foreign policy, particularly in latin america, was imperialist and ruthless. his administration's support for dictatorships and right-wing death squads under the guise of fighting "communism" showed a complete disregard for human rights and self-determination of other nations.

public health: yes, reagan's agricultural policies actually facilitated the rise of high fructose corn syrup, once again prioritizing corporate profits over public health. this shift in the food industry has had lasting negative impacts on health, contributing to the obesity epidemic and other health issues.

privatization: reagan's push for privatization was a systematic dismantling of public services, transferring wealth and power to private corporations and further eroding the public's access to essential services.

education policies: his approach to education was more of an attack on public education than anything else, gutting funding and promoting policies that undermined equal access to quality education. this was, again, part of a broader agenda to maintain a status quo where the privileged remain in power.

this is just what i could come up with in a relatively short time and i did not even live under this man's presidency. the level at which ronald reagan has broken the united states truly can't be overstated.

[jennifergmb]

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[juniorsroadsideservice]

Juniors Roadside Service

Address:

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Phone:

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Website:

Email:

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Description:

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Social Media Links:

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

Skeleton wakes up in the middle of the night. The house is burning and his S/O is already unconscious next to him. What does he do?

Undertale Sans - Sans stays calm. He gently picks up his S/O and teleports outside. He lays them in the grass, makes sure they're breathing ok, then he teleports back inside to fetch his phone and grab all he can carry to save it. He then calls the firefighters and simply sits next to his S/O, making sure they're still breathing and shaking them a bit to encourage them to wake up. He's a bit in shock though when the rescue finally arrives. The teleportations tired him out and it's too early for him to fully realise the gravity of what just happened. But that's fine. His S/O is fine. He can build another house. It's not what matters right now.

Undertale Papyrus - Papyrus is up and ready in three seconds. He picks his S/O, throws them on his shoulder like a potato bag and simply glitches through the wall. He hates using this magic, but at desperate times, desperate magic. He kinda walks in the sky for a solid three minutes, collecting his thoughts, then he puts down his S/O (still in the sky, somehow) and decides to use his garden hose to try to save the house. Turns out he's quickly overwhelmed and decides maybe it's best to call for help after all, so he calls the rescue services. He has no idea what even happened, and he's a little too agitated to realize. He snaps out of it when his S/O wakes up screaming in the sky, completely panicking as they're three meters up the ground. Papyrus stops his magic and makes them fall in his arms.

Underswap Sans - He does his best to keep his calm and opens the door. He grabs his S/O and slowly makes his way out, paying attention to the creakings, scared the house might collapse on them. He calls for rescue right away, as he drags his S/O far from the house Waiting for them, he immediately starts to investigate, not understanding how it could happen. He quickly finds a broken window and some oil on the grass. Someone is going to have a very bad time.

Underswap Papyrus - He's paralyzed with fear, trying desperately to wake up his S/O. It doesn't work, and eventually, he starts to struggle to breathe as well. Honey knows that opening the door will do worse, so he takes his S/O on the floor, trying to get close to the oxygen. Even that is not enough however. He just has time to call Blue on his phone for help before he passes out. He wakes up at the hospital, confused, next to his S/O. A good part of his bones are definitely not normal dark grey colour and he's in agonizing pain. His S/O looks like a mummy as well because of all the bandages. But they're alive. That's going to be a very long recovery and they both are going to keep scars for life.

Underfell Sans - He wakes up with the headache of a lifetime after he head a loud noise. He never thought his phobia of loud noises could save him, but that's pretty much the reason why he's still alive. The house immediately collapses on his head. Red just has the time to jump on his S/O and summon a ton of bones to protect them and then he passes out again. He's so confused when he wakes up at the hospital, and that's Edge that explains to him what happened. Red can't really believe they got out of there alive, but they did.

Underfell Papyrus - He heard Doomfanger's panicked meows and immediately jumped awake, realizing the room was on fire. His survival instincts kick in. He grabs his S/O in one hand, Doomfanger in the other, and kicks the window. He jumps from the first floor and quickly drags everyone out safely. He goes to the neighbors for help, as he doesn't have time to pick up his phone. He's quite pissed off about this, but that's not like he could do more. He watches over his S/O and his cat, waiting for the rescue services.

Horrortale Sans and Papyrus - Willow smelled it first and forced his back to move, only fueled with adrenaline. He opens his brother's room and shakes him until he wakes up, confused. Oak immediately starts to panic seeing the flames, but Willow can't carry his brother's S/O so he begs him to calm down. Somehow, it works and Oak follows him in the corridor, holding his S/O. The only problem is that Willow feels quickly light-headed since he can't crawl to reach the fresh air. Eventually, Oak has to take the lead to guide him out, supporting him so he doesn't fall down. Willow holds on until they reach outside and collapses immediately. Thankfully, Toriel and Grillby saw the fire from the distance and were already there to help. Grillby managed to control the fire to limit the damages, while Toriel put Willow and Oak's S/O in safety. Oak frees the animals in the near enclosures so they can escape before joining Toriel. He doesn't know how he's still holding on, but he does, following Toriel's orders to avoid panicking. Everything turns out alright in the end, but half of the farm is gone. Luckily for them, a lot of monsters know them and are still thankful for what they did for them Underground. It won't take that long to rebuild everything.

Swapfell Sans - Nox keeps his calm, and turns to his S/O, slapping them hard until they open their eyes. He then guides them outside, talking to them so they don't panic and, more importantly, try to stay awake. Once they're safe, slowly recovering, he calls the firefighters for help. Nox stays in safety, despite the urge to save some very important papers inside the house, but his S/O needs him more. Nox is not too happy when not five minutes later, he gets a call from the Queen saying he can live in her castle for now. He's pretty sure she noticed he was in a couple and did that to make sure he doesn't forget her. Nox coldly declines and goes to Rus' place instead. Toriel almost killed his S/O, it will be hard to forgive.

Swapfell Papyrus - The horrifying hell-honking of his agonizing rubber chickens is what woke him up. Rus kinda panics immediately, and even more when he notices his S/O is not moving. He picks them up, and not knowing what to do, decides to escape by the window. The problem is that he's not very strong so... Yeah. He throws his S/O by the window, hoping they crash in the bushes lmao. Thankfully they did! But still got injured because, well. Rus landed on them lol. Rus feels so guilty, but eh, no one will know right? He drags his S/O away from the house. He's pretty sure he knocked their head against the big rocks three or four times, but he's trying. They're both fine, except for the many contusions his S/O got in their escape. The firefighters are there before he can call them, so he simply calls his brother for help.

Fellswap Gold Sans & Papyrus - Wine stays perfectly calm. He checks on his S/O, then picks them out to put them in safety, escaping by the window. He's worried for his brother, but Coffee can teleport so he focuses on his S/O. Except when he finally get to safety, Coffee is nowhere to be found. Wine starts to scream his name, running around the house to see if he escaped from another side, and just watches in horror as the house collapses in front of him. Wine is devastated, and immediately starts to dig to find Coffee, burning himself badly. Eventually, the firefighters dragged him back as he was screaming and insulting them. Two hours later, Coffee is found. When he felt the house collapsing, he hid in his closet, saving himself. He's weak and lacking badly some oxygen, but he's alive. Wine got the scare of his life, and he's going to be overprotective for a few days. Maybe he's going to keep a low profile for now.

[nasa]

What Makes the Artemis Moon Mission NASA's Next Leap Forward?

When NASA astronauts return to the Moon through Artemis, they will benefit from decades of innovation, research, and technological advancements. We’ll establish long-term lunar science and exploration capabilities at the Moon and inspire a new generation of explorers—the Artemis Generation.

Meet the Space Launch System rocket, or SLS. This next-generation super heavy-lift rocket was designed to send astronauts and their cargo farther into deep space than any rocket we’ve ever built. During liftoff, SLS will produce 8.8 million pounds (4 million kg) of maximum thrust, 15 percent more than the Saturn V rocket.

SLS will launch the Orion spacecraft into deep space. Orion is the only spacecraft capable of human deep space flight and high-speed return to Earth from the vicinity of the Moon. More than just a crew module, Orion has a launch abort system to keep astronauts safe if an emergency happens during launch, and a European-built service module, which is the powerhouse that fuels and propels Orion and keeps astronauts alive with water, oxygen, power, and temperature control.

Orion and SLS will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with help from Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) teams. EGS operates the systems and facilities necessary to process and launch rockets and spacecraft during assembly, transport, launch, and recovery.

The knowledge we've gained while operating the International Space Station has opened new opportunities for long-term exploration of the Moon's surface. Gateway, a vital component of our Artemis plans, is a Moon-orbiting space station that will serve as a staging post for human expeditions to the lunar surface. Crewed and uncrewed landers that dock to Gateway will be able to transport crew, cargo, and scientific equipment to the surface.

Our astronauts will need a place to live and work on the lunar surface. Artemis Base Camp, our first-ever lunar science base, will include a habitat that can house multiple astronauts and a camper van-style vehicle to support long-distance missions across the Moon’s surface. Apollo astronauts could only stay on the lunar surface for a short while. But as the Artemis base camp evolves, the goal is to allow crew to stay at the lunar surface for up to two months at a time.

The Apollo Program gave humanity its first experience traveling to a foreign world. Now, America and the world are ready for the next era of space exploration. NASA plans to send the first woman and first person of color to the lunar surface and inspire the next generation of explorers.

Our next adventure starts when SLS and Orion roar off the launch pad with Artemis I. Together with commercial and international partners, NASA will establish a long-term presence on the Moon to prepare for missions to Mars. Everything we’ve learned, and everything we will discover, will prepare us to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

I realized that if I'm disappointed in the transmission of real information about Sudan and the Congo, I can just make the posts myself!

I am not surprised that people haven't been provided a strong understanding of the violence in the global south, but I *am* mad about it.

So let's talk about Sudan and the Congo

Since 2003 or so, an estimated 450,000 Sudanese refugees have fled to Chad, looking for safety from routine waves of ethnic cleansing committed by the Rapid Support Forces and their state/civilian allies.

While the Massalit make up the majority of those attacked, many other ethnicities are included amongst victims. It is NOT a religiously motivated cleansing, as most of those being victimized as well as most of those doing the victimizing are Muslim, and communicate the foundations of the violence as being the result of ethnic-cultural divides in the region current social system. Many of those speaking against the ethnic cleansing occurring agree, and also add that economic interactions appear to be major driving factors in who is targetted and when.

The Congo, meanwhile, has been going through it's own ethnic cleansing. One that has been more or less ongoing since 1996. An approximated 6mil people have been killed since.

Due to this relationship between economic motives and targets, ongoing desertification has been exacerbating violence in the region for years by making resources scarcer, more precious, and less stable to access.

The primary factors being credited with responsibility for this desertification and resultant resource volatility?

Climate change and human impact on the environment (via societal features such as urbanization, agriculture, waste management services, social welfare services, deforestation and bush removal, etc)

From FairPlanet ^

Funny how the global north causes lethal climate change but the global south is forced to die from it.

Funny how the global north forces the environmental recovery conversation to avoid study of environmental imperialism and remain solely focused on "incremental changes that can protect future generations". Whose future generations? What about the people dying NOW because of environmentally toxic industries??

And Nasreldin Atiya Rahamtalla via the International Journal of Social Sciences and Conflict Management says the following:

Hmm, I wonder why local power and social welfare infrastructure in Sudan and especially in Darfur might be diminished from previous governance:

It's almost like the British had a habit of pitting different regional communities against each other along enforced ethnic lines while pillaging some and sparing others, then blowing the whole governance network in a temper tantrum on their way out the door during decolonization, a method of inflicting one last violemt devastation and sabotage peaceful futures most often epitomized by Rwanda and the Belgian Empire:

It's almost like the imperialist businesses that feed off African continental resources and were installed during colonization as a form of economic imperialism were often THE ONLY PARTS of the social system left largely functional after withdrawal and "decolonization". It's almost like imperialism and colonization never actually stopped!!! It just??? Changed shape ☆->¤ still a fuckin crime against humanity my guy!!! Especially when child slaves are dying in your mines!!!

Sudan's economic imperialism comes in the form of Blood Diamonds! You know. The reason that none of us are buying earth mined diamonds anymore when lab made are literally the same goddamn thing RIGHT????????

Oh! They also have oil. The thing we're using to fuel our climate change machine. The climate change machine that's KILLING THEM.

And unfortunately for those of us with Nickel allergies, gold and silver have the same problem. If you haven't already switched to surgical steel, you might wanna. Of course, then we're right back to climate change since steel production allegedly creates a whopping 7% of global emissions due to relying on coke (coal) as a fuel source. So. I dunno really. I like my jewelry as much as anyone. But do I like it enough to know people are dying so I can have it?????

Not really. I'd rather save that risk addition for surgical steel being used in ACTUAL surgeries like the plates, pins, and screws that reattached my foot, or the replacement knee joint that my mom got. At least until we have a body-safe material for these things that ISN'T a source of devastation in the global south.

My point is, basically, that historically militerized conflict almost always stems, at least, in part, from efforts to control resources. It's the most timeless reason to go to war. To make sure you and the people you care about can guarantee themselves access to survival need-meeting. As consumerist and capitalist societies, it is DEEPLY important that we understand the price we ask other people to pay for our luxuries. For our right not to be made uncomfortable by too much radical change too quickly. We need to make that causal link A LOT more visibly explicit and unavoidable, because as it stands, allowing the hierarchy to go unspoken is going to kill billions.

I don't want that on my hands.

I highly recommend learning what civil disobedience and mutual aid infrastructures of care look like. How can we hold corporations (and the individual people who work there) accountable for the countless deaths directly attributable to their profit margins? How can we maximize our local resource distribution to ensure everyone has what they genuinely need to survive, even if that means we take a little less from the community resources for ourselves, or we have to give up things that can't be fully replaced by regionally sustainable alternatives.

I promise that we will adapt.

The dead can't.

[moonshynecybin]

I love how Marc’s 2019 documentary is just his team being like yea he can’t not be crazy so we took the wheels of his bikes so he couldn’t ride them in the pre season and only put in enough fuel at the tests so that he did a required amount of laps and he wasn’t even full fitness at Argentina and wasn’t supposed to push and what did he do he won by nearly 10 seconds he’s insane I need to study but I am glad he was with people who cared so much that he recovered well and didn’t just let him push his recovery to quickly.

he literally was not lying when he said being injured makes him feel like a caged wild animal. it makes him PISSY. it makes him hard to be AROUND (beloved brother slash life companion alex telling GO GET A GIRLFRIEND. DIVERT YOUR CRAZY.) it makes him UPSET. he is ACUTELY aware of the differences in his body now from when he was 27, and i think he’s at that stage of processing a majorly traumatic life event where you forcibly rationalize your feelings about said event out loud in order to distance yourself from them. be like okay ✅ i am mentally healed because now i can talk about it 👍 (years in that honda box forbidding mechanics from bringing up his arm unless he does first…) like i think in his brain he knowssss that his arm will never be the same, and that he needs to respect his body and be less reckless as a rider, and i think he’s attempting to sublimate that belief into the core of himself, but i don’t know if he’s actually there yet. if it’s actually permeated to his on-track behavior (see: talking a big game about caution and risk management for um. one race, before he caught a WHIFF of comfort and success on the bike and crashed three times including with pecco. like okay lip service queen.) i don’t think he’s actually processed it!! and it’s such a big part of him i don’t know if he ever WILL process it…

[boldlyvoid]

I Know Places 2: Minimal Loss

18+ Aaron Hotchner x Fem Reader | Masterlist | AO3 link

Summary: Away on a case with Reid, he and our dear reader are held hostage by Libertarian Cult Leader, Benjamin Cyrus. It's now Aaron's turn to try and keep his cool while Leading the Hostage Recovery and Support mission at the same time he's realizing he's fallen in love with his subordinate…

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence (child sexual assault, hostage situations), hurt/comfort, Drug use tw, unrequited love (so he thinks), mutual pining, angst with a happy ending, drug-induced love confessions

Word count: 10.3k

It’s weird being in the office without her. She flew out to Colorado with Reid last night, the two of them stayed in a hotel (one with two queen beds this time) and she texted him this morning before she headed out for the case. He missed her. He missed picking her up this morning. He missed their coffee banter and how every morning without fail she got the same breakfast that always left his car smelling like a buttery croissant.

He smiles to himself as he thinks about her. He wonders how she’s doing, he can’t wait to call her tonight and catch up… hopefully, the interviews don’t take more than a day. He’d miss her too much if he didn’t get to see her tomorrow too. Maybe he could pick them up from the airport? No. She drove herself and Reid there, so maybe he’ll bring her a baked good and they can watch TV together? Either way, he wanted to see her as soon as she got home.

When they were approached by Colorado child protective services, they received a copy of the 911 call that sparked the investigation and a short summary of the alleged unsub. Libertarian cult leader, Benjamin Cyrus of the Fringe Religious group called the Separatarian Sect. was being accused of being inappropriate with the young teenage members. The age of the caller who made the 911 call is 15. This was a crime, no matter what the libertarians personally believed, under Colorado state law, he was breaking the law by having any kind of sexual interaction with a minor.

Sending Y/N and Spencer was a no-brainer. They couldn’t send JJ because she was pregnant, but they wanted a woman there to make the children feel safe. Spencer went because he’s memorized the entire bible and most historical quotes, he’d be able to deal with a libertarian cult leader the easiest. He had faith in—

“HOTCH!”

With his door open, he’s able to hear Morgan's scream even better, he’s immediately up and out of his seat, rushing towards the door when he notices everyone watching the TV.

“The TV, Y/L/N and Reid,” he points to the screen.

The report on screen is standing a few miles from the compound, showing footage from a raid and cutting back to his face as he speaks. “No one knows for sure how many people are inside. It is believed that at least three child service members are still trapped inside the compound.”

His heart drops into his stomach as if he just fell 30 feet in 10 seconds. His eyes widen, he steps towards the railing outside his office and grips the metal pole for dear life.

This can’t be happening.

She can’t get hurt.

He can’t lose her too.

Just then every single phone in the office starts to ring, he’s pulled back to reality and he catches his breath, “alright, that means we’re the lead with Hostage Rescue and Support. Let’s go!”

He runs to his office and grabs his go bag, he shoves his phone in the bag, makes sure his gun is still on his hip and his badge and wallet in the back pocket of his suit pants. He doesn’t bother bringing his suit jacket, he honestly doesn’t even remember to take it as he bounds down the stairs and runs to the elevator.

They all rush to the plane as quickly as possible, it’s always fueled and ready to go, so getting into the air takes less than 15 minutes. Once in the air, they open up their laptop and Penelope patches over a live feed of the Colorado news.

“It turned deadly when the Colorado state police officers tried to serve a warrant. Colorado attorney general, Jim Wells, says the reclusive cult has been the subject of a 6-month weapons investigation”

“6 months?” Morgan repeats. “We didn’t check?”

“Oh, we did,” JJ pipes up, visibly pissed. “I had ATF call Wells and he told ATF there were no pending state investigations. He lied.”

“Why?” Rossi asks, not understanding why he’d lie about that.

“Wells is challenging the governor in the upcoming election,” JJ explains. “He thought that ATF were going to poach his big election-launching weapons bust. Now, it’s clear he didn’t know there were FBI agent’s there, he just thought the best time to serve a state warrant was when the kids were safe inside the school being interviewed.”

“What do we know about the sect?” Rossi poses the question to the group.

Penelope, listening in on a video call the whole time, flips the screen from the news to her face. “Liberty Ranch was founded in 1980 by Libertarian Leo Kane. He created it as a self-sustaining commune.”

“Libertarians believe that everyone has the right to do what they want as long as they aren’t infringing not eh rights of others,” Derek points out.

“But libertarians aren’t religious,” Dave reminds them. “Clearly this sect abandoned libertarian principles.”

Aaron takes a deep breath, he’s still anxious, and his heart is racing but he has to get his head in the game. “Benjamin Cyrus, the current leader, introduced religion 8 years ago when Kane left.”

“Garcia, what do we got on Cyrus?” Derek asks her.

“Oh, we got bupkis,” she sounds disappointed. “It's like the guy never cast a shadow on the known universe… however his predecessor, Leo Kane, is doing a 17-year stretch at Deerfield Federal Prison… apparently libertarians do not like paying taxes.”

“17 years for tax evasion?” Derek laughs.

“Oh no, that would be 2 years for tax evasion and 15 years for going after four IRS agents with a Louisville Slugger…” Garcia pressed her lips together awkwardly, what a dumb crime to commit.

“Let’s have Kane brought to the scene,” Hotch instructs her to get the paperwork going. “He’s our best chance at finding out some idea of who we’re dealing with.”

“You got it,” she cheerfully agrees and turns off her camera.

They all settle into their plane seats then. It was a 3-and-a-half-hour flight, all he could do was prep negotiation teams and worry about Y/N. He worried for Reid's safety too, of course, Spencer was like a son to him… his heart just yearned for Y/N and after losing Kate, he can’t bare going through that kind of loss again and so soon.

He felt as though he was destined to only know what it was like to be left, not loved. He had such a tumultuous relationship with his ex-wife, being high school sweethearts also came with high school drama. He graduated a year before her, he was in college and she wanted to see other people. So they took their first break. He was doing law school and she was in teacher's college and they took a second break because his studying took up too much of his time and she felt as though she needed physical attention he couldn’t give her… then he went to Scotland Yard, back when he didn’t know if he wanted to work for Interpol or the FBI and once again distance caused them to go on break a 3rd time. He met Kate Joyner, they had a thing and when he returned to the States he asked Haley to marry him. He should’ve known that she would run once his attention shifted to things other than her. He thought maybe having a baby would change that about her. He thought maybe she loved him— loved their family enough to stay.

He was wrong.

Now he’s divorced, Kates dead and… and he thinks he might be falling in love with his subordinate.

He takes a moment to go to the bathroom on the jet just for a chance to get away from everyone. He leans against the sink and puts his hands over his face, shaking his head with disbelief. It all happened so fast. One minute they’re co-workers and he enjoys working with her and the next she was filling the void in his heart. Mind you, he knew her when he was married, he didn’t have the capacity to see her as anything other than a friend… now that’s all changed.

He took the ring off and his heart searched for warmth. For comfort. For morning coffees and laughter on the drive to work. For late-night chats and gossip about celebrities. For a hand to hold. For a body to cuddle into in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. For someone to care for him. For Y/N.

He doesn’t know how he’s going to do this. How he’s going to stay calm and cool and collected while he knows she’s in there? He doesn’t know what he’ll do if she’s hurt. He isn’t sure how he’ll make judgements and do the negotiations knowing that every decision he makes could have consequences.

He heads back to his seat to see everyone else is also doing their best to stay calm. They all love Reid and Y/N, and each of them wants to bring their friends home in one piece… he’s not alone in being anxious and worrying for their safety. Maybe he can play it off, maybe they won’t guess he loves her in a way that differs from how they do.

—

Once they land they’re met with bureau issues SUVs and given an escort to the crime scene, all their sirens on, they speed down back county roads causing dust to fly behind them and rocks to flick up from under their wheels, hitting the car behind them.

When they arrive at the Hostage Negotiation and Support Command Centre, Aaron lets Morgan and JJ head in to set up and he pulls Dave aside. “They’ve left the choice of negotiators up to me.”

“I taught most of the hostage negotiation unit,” Dave reminds him. “You want a recommendation?”

“I’m making you lead negotiator.”

“Me?” Dave can’t believe him.

“why go to the students when I have the teacher,” he simplifies his decision.

“because the teacher is emotionally involved,” Dave spits back. “So is the agent in command.” He stares Aaron down, watching for any facial moment that would give way to just how much he cares for Y/N. Of course, he knew.

He gives in, looking down to the ground, he can’t explain how much this is hurting him. “I know I am. This is a unique situation. We have two agents who could affect the outcome on the inside.”

“True, but I can’t be objective. I know them too well!”

“This outcome depends as much on our ability to predict the moves of Y/N and Reid as much as it does Cyrus,” Aaron explains. “That’s why you’re the best man for the job.”

“Assuming that Spencer and Y/N—” he puts weight on her name to make Aaron know he caught that. The use of her first name and Spencer's last, it’s a hierarchy of needs. He knows Aaron subconsciously wants her safe just the tiniest bit more than Reid. “Are still in a condition to make moves.”

“I-I know how bad this is,” Aaron says, voice dropping down to a whispered tone. “That’s why I want you doing the talking. I need you doing the talking.”

“Alright,” Dave gives—.

“You’re obviously not in charge, I can see that!!!” A man's voice bellows through the air.

“I’m sorry sir, I’m under direct orders from the FBI,” one of the hostage negotiation team members explains.

“I’m the attorney General of this state, I demand to know why I wasn’t told the FBI was sending undercover agents into the Separatarian Ranch?”

It’s Wells. The man who got them stuck in the position, to begin with.

Aaron starts walking away from Dave, driven by anger, he walks right up to the man. “The only thing that you’re in a position to demand is a lawyer.”

“Who the hell are you?” The man asks as if he’s about to laugh at Aaron's voice of authority.

“I’m Aaron Hotchner, Unit Chief. I’m the guy who’s going to tell the Attorney General of the United States whether to charge you obstructing a federal investigation of negligent homicide,” Aaron spits back, getting more in this man's face.

“You can’t talk to me like that.”

Aaron takes another step in, towering over the man, “Get off my crime scene.”

And just like that, the man cowers, running away to his car and driving away.

Aaron turns to the other man, the one who was trying to answer Wells’ questions before. Aaron knew him from the bureau. “Hey Dan, you know Dave Rossi?”

“Sure do,” Dan smiles, reaching over to shake Dave's hand.

“We’ve been here before, haven’t we?” Dave jokes.

“Waco, Ruby Ridge, Freeman standoff,” Dan recounts. “Let's hope someone listens to you guys this time.”

“Oh, they did more than listen. They put us in charge,” Dave announces, hands on his hips, ready to go.

“So bring us up to speed?” Aaron asks.

“I've sent the state police packing. They started this mess and lost a man in the process. I hope that’s okay?”

“If you hadn’t we would’ve.”

“Good.”

“The county Sheriffs have had no run-ins with the sect, so we’re using them as support. We’ve had no contact with them so far. they’re got power. Solar. We can shoot out the panels if you think—

“No, no that’s an escalation,” Dave shoots that down.

“Okay, that means they have access to the news,” Dan reminds them.

“I’ll get JJ to talk to the press. Are your men ready to be briefed?” Aaron asks. Dan nods. “Let's go.”

Inside the trailer they’ve set up for secure meetings, Derek, Dave and Aaron start to give the preliminary profile and brief. There’s only a handful of men, which is best. Having too many cooks in the kitchen leads to chaos. 6-10 people, that’s much more manageable.

“We call this the Minimal Loss scenario,” Dave explains. “Every person we get out is a life saved. We won’t save them all. All of us have t be prepared to accept that situation.” He looks over at Hotch and then presses his lips together awkwardly.

Derek steps up to the whiteboard and picks up a marker, “cults are structured like pyramids.” He explains while drawing a triangle on the board. “You got the leader at the top, die-hard believers beneath… and the biggest group, the base. The followers.” He makes a point to circle that group and look at the other men. “Women and children are in this group. These are the people we can save.”

“The ‘trickle, flow, gush’ strategy is designed to get the base followers out,” Aaron explains. “First one or two, then three or four, then as many as we can, as fast as we can. And if at any point it starts to go bad. We go in.”

“The leaders are charismatic sociopaths who target the most susceptible to their seduction. They have the ability to see what each person needs and then they become that thing. We have to undermine their perception that we’re an invading army laying siege to their homes,” Dave explains.

“We’ll lose the fatigues,” Dan assures them. Losing the army look will make them much more approachable. “Ranchers clothes work for you? Like we did at the Freeman standoff?”

“Perfect. Anything we can do to demilitarize the situation,” Dave agrees. “But that’s about it… we have to make first contact and then we can act accordingly from there.”

“We have a phone set up for you guys outside by the lookouts,” Dave explains. “Nightfall is coming, they’ll be the most in need when it’s dark. We should call then.”

“Agreed,” Aaron nods.

--

Dave hits the speed dial button for the ranch, they wait for 5 or 6 rings and then they answer. “you killed my mommy and daddy, are you going to kill me too?” A little girl's voice answers, on speakerphone for everyone to hear.

“No one is going to kill you, honey,” Dave assures.

“This is Benjamin Cyrus, who am I talking to?” Comes down the line mere seconds later.

“David Rossi. I’m an FBI agent. We’ve sent the state police away, there’s just us and the local sheriff now. All we want to do is resolve this before anyone else gets hurt,” he explains.

“Then leave us alone.”

“I’m afraid we can’t do that, Benjamin, one of the police bled out on the way to the hospital,” he explains, wondering if they haven’t watched the news yet. “So let's just stop this before things get worse. Please, just put the guns down and come out.”

“we’re believers Dave,” Benjamin starts. “We believe that god says what he means and means what he says. His laws don’t depend on what state you live in.”

“I have no issue with your beliefs,” Dave reminds him.

“You don’t. But the state does,” Benjamin is clearly pissed off that any of this happened today.

That makes two of them.

“I can’t answer for other people,” Dave states.

“God will answer for everyone in the final battle that I’ve foreseen.”

Aaron sighs, leaning his head back and shaking it. He hates these religious types. Rossi makes eye contact with him as he keeps talking, “That’s why I’m here. To make sure that this is not that battle.”

“We shall see…”

Sounds more like a taunt.

“Now the three child services workers—

“one is dead,” Benjamin interjects.

Aaron's heart sinks down to his stomach further, he feels like he could be sick. They all have the same look on their faces.

“It wasn’t us,” Ben assures them. “It happened in the standoff, a stray bullet flying into our chapel clipped her.”

“We need a name, so I can alert the family,” Dave explains. Hoping to pry it out of him.

“Nancy Lund,” he says and everyone lets a wave of relief selfishly pass over themselves.

“Okay, now please, Benjamin, send out your wounded. I promise you they’ll be taken care of,” Dave asks. Trying to start the trickle.

“With enough supplies, we can tend to our own,” Benjamin explains. They’re not leaving any time soon.

“Okay, I need a few hours to put it together,” he explains. “I’ll bring them up myself at first light.”

Without a goodbye or a thank you, Cyrus hangs up.

They head back into the trailer after that, prepping med kits and retrofitting any electronics that get sent in with small microphones so they can spy on their every movement and plan. Aaron’s just excited for the chance to hear her voice again and know she’s okay.

“I’m going to go in and double-check that the kids, Y/L/N and Reid are okay,” Dave announces as he walks back into the trailer.

“Rossi, at least let me go with you?” Derek bags.

“No,” he shakes his head. “This is about building trust. I go alone.”

“I want the parabolic arc mics fixed on every window in that structure,” Dan announces to the rest of his crew.

“They won’t pick up much,” one of them pipes up. “They have blinds on all the windows, unless they’re shouting the glass won’t vibrate enough for us to get audio.”

“Well if they’re not shouting, these bugs will pick 'em up… at least until the batteries die,” Dan assures them, screwing the back onto an electronic thermometer. “How familiar are your agents with our playbook?”

“The BAU wrote the CIRG handbook,” Aaron reminds him. “They’ll know that we’re trying to get ears in there at all times.”

“Good, let’s hope they can get these people talking.”

“They will.”

—

At first light, Aaron sits at the listening station with a mug full of freshly brewed coffee and his headphones on, listening to everything as Rossi drives up to the compound.

He hears their introduction, muffled through the boxes of supplies. He hears Cyrus spout some more godly bullshit and claim he’s trying to protect the children. He’s not ready to let any of them go now, so Dave shakes his hand and heads out on his way. As soon as the door is closed, Cyrus says: “Prepare the wine.”

There’s a shuffling sound as everyone moves around the room, the elders no doubt do everything Cyrus says and the women and children stay seated. After a few minutes, he hears Cyrus again, muffled but there, saying something about being 1 day closer to god…

“Look at Jessica's body language,” Y/N’s voice can be heard as though she’s standing right beside the box of supplies. “The way she looks at him.”

“She literally worships him there’s no way she made that 911 call?” Spencer questions next.

Derek and Aaron look at each other, nodding with a small smile, they’re okay. Not safe, but okay.

“Look at how she comes between Cyrus and her daughter,” Y/N speaks again. “She’s inserting herself between them…”

Cyrus is getting everyone to drink just as Dave is running back into the trailer. “Reid and Y/L/N are okay.”

“what about Cyrus?” Derek asks.

“He's too calm? It's like he was waiting for this to happen?” Dave suggests. “And now that it has he feels vindicated.”

“Hey guys,” Dan calls their attention back to the headsets.

“We’ll be with him soon. We have drank the poison together,” Cyrus’ voice is heard.

They all turn to each other with horrified expressions. “What the fuck?” Aaron exclaims, “I thought you said he was calm?”

“He was! He wanted me to think nothing was going on, he’s a master manipulator! We have to take everything he says and does with a grain of salt,” Dave reminds him.

“We need to go in!” Derek shouts, gathering his things with Dan.

“If we go in there people are gonna die!” Dave shouts.

“People are already dying!” Aaron shouts back, headset pressed to his good ear, he’s still listening to Cyrus preach.

“What do we do?” Y/N whispers.

“Nothing,” Spencer assures her.

“We have to do something these people just took poison!” She snaps back at Reid.

“I don’t think they did?”

“Wait! Wait!” Aaron gathers them all back towards him. “Listen,” he switches the audio playback to the speakers.

“Cyrus just told them they did, I think he’s bluffing,” they hear Spencer’s whisper loud and clear.

“Why do you think that?” Y/N asks.

“Just after he told them they took the poison he waited for them to react and then he nodded to Cole who started to note down everyone who looked sad, look…. They're scanning the audience for the people who are fine with dying now and who are a bit skeptical. This is their way of narrowing down the true believers and those who he can send out to Rossi,” Spencer explains. “He’s smart enough to possibly know our strategies, he wants to send out a trickle of people and then do something during the gush…”

“Jim Jones pulled the same stunt,” Rossi reminds everyone, agreeing with Reid. “They did a test run just like this years before they did the real thing.”

“Dan, prepare your men to go in but not before I give you the go-ahead,” Aaron points back to him. “We need to wait just a few more minutes, if I hear Y/L/N or Reid say anything about people falling sick or passing out, we go in.”

“Got it!”

Aaron covers his hand over his mouth and hopes to god he doesn’t have to send men in there. They already lost one social service member in the crossfire, he can’t lose his agents too.

“Be still, there was no poison,” Cyrus speaks. “Instead a test of faith BECAUSE YOUR ADVERSARY THE DEVIL WALKETH ABOUT AS A ROARING LION!! Choosing who he may devour. Watch each other for signs of weakness. You are your brother's keeper.”

“Dan!” Aaron calls out to him, he comes popping his head back into the trailer. “Stand down, Cyrus said it was a rouse.”

JJ comes walking in behind him, “The former sect leader just arrived.”

“I got it,” Derek volunteers himself. “call me if there are updates.” He says as he leaves, holding his phone up to assure them he has it.

“Charles Mulgrew, convicted in Kentucky at the age of 18. Three counts of statutory rape,” Penelope says through the phone, recounting her findings to the whole team now… well, the free 4.

“So we need to talk to the warden,” Derek says with a sigh.

“Way ahead of you there, honey,” she assures him, making Derek crack a small smile. “Mr. Kentucky Warden said that once inside, Mulgrew found religion and became a model citizen.”

“Well it’s not that hard to behave when you’re in protective custody,” Derek reminds her.

“General populations a rough place for a child molester,” Hotch adds.

“No, no, no, I don’t think guys understand he was a Model Citizen. This guy volunteered at the prison hospital,— the aids ward, he was reading to prisoners dying of HIV… he was emulating saint,” Penelope explains father.

“Good stuff, mama,” Derek compliments her the way he always does.

“Damn straight now you get our friends back, baby,” she says before clicking off the call to do more digging.

“Well,” Dave stands a little straighter and sucks in a deep breath. “This makes things worse.”

“What? That he’s a model citizen?” Derek laughs.

“That he’s been to prison,” Dave looks at him, he’s completely serious. There’s no room for giggles now.

Derek closes his eyes for a moment and his shoulders drop, “right. He knows what happens to child molesters there…”

“If the current sexual allegations are true and he thinks we know it, he’s not coming out of there,” Hotch agrees.

“Then we have to make him think he’s not going back to prison,” Dave assures.

“JJ,” Aaron calls back into the main tent for her. “I need you to release a press statement saying that we have absolutely no evidence of sexual allegations.”

JJ comes marching back over to them, sweaty and exhausted, she rests her hands on her pregnant belly and shakes her head, “You need to see this, pop the laptop open. Click on the news tab and play the audio…”

They follow her instructions, gathering around the laptop they see the same news guy from yesterday, he’s set up a little camp for himself in the hills somewhere. He has a perfect view of the ranch and he’s keeping his voice low.

“Now well into its second day, the standoff at the Separatarian Sect Ranch is now been taken over by the FBI. There is much speculation in regard to hostages, but anonymous sources inside the state attorney general's office have told us there is an undercover FBI agent currently being held inside the ranch. Hostage negotiators say they are making headway with the sect's leadership and are hopeful for a positive outcome. There is still no word as to why an undercover FBI agent was sent in alone…”

“Are you fucking Kidding me?” Hotch stands, anger than ever before. “I’m going to I’m going to wring that fuckers neck. I’m going to make his life a living hell.”

“Hotch,” JJ can’t believe those words left his mouth.

“You two,” he points at Derek and Dave, “you get to the parabolic mics and listen in as best as you can. JJ I want you to circle back with Penelope and tell her she can dig into Wells' life as hard as she can and you can reach out to the press with dirt on him. He wants to win the election so bad he’s willing to get federal agents dead, then we’re going to air all his dirty laundry.”

“Got it,” JJ likes that idea and runs back into the tent to make her calls.

Dave and Derek run to the parabolic mic station, leaving Aaron to head back inside and listen to the other spy mics they sent in.

There’s a silent chatter in the church, the mics are picking up more now that they’re not trapped inside boxes and surrounded by supplies. There are a few different angles they get based on what supply was places where. They’re all synced up, playing at the same time and able to be pinpointed for spy-in on individual conversations.

Suddenly, they hear the sound of a struggle, “Get off me! I can walk without you pulling my fucking hair!” Y/N’s voice shouts back.

“FBI scum like you don't get to give orders,” one of Cyrus’ goons speaks back to her and then he hears a slap.

Y/N groans at the pain and Aaron covers his mouth. He’s never been this anxious in his whole life. He wants to run down there, break in and kick the shit out of anyone who laid a hand on her. And then it gets worse.

More mics pick up the sound of the struggle. They hear what Aaron supposes is her body being dragged as she struggles and then the sound of her smacking the concrete. It sounded hard. Like she hit her head.

“I thought I told you not to put me in this position!” Cyrus shouts. Slamming the door behind himself.

Of course, he wouldn’t do this in front of the members.

He slaps her again, the sound of her struggle makes Aaron want to throw up. He doesn’t know what to do with his hands. One second he’s covering his mouth then holding the headphones to his ears and the next he’s just holding them out for no reason. He listens in as she keeps getting hit. Punched, kicked, slapped… he really hopes that this is the extent of Cyrus’ abuse. If he had to hear anything else…. He would actually throw up all over everything.

“We’ve gotta go in,” Aaron says as he takes the headphones off. Derek and Rossi come running into the trailer then.

“We can’t go in,” Dave reminds him. “We’d be risking the lives of everyone in there.”

He knows Dave is right, Dan’s put the sound of her struggle on the speaker for everyone to hear and Aaron can’t escape it. The sound of her being hit again and again, moaning from the pain, she’s struggling to defend herself.

“Get up!” Cyrus says, hauling her up and then punching her in the face again. She slams into something this time, there’s the sound of a window or glass or something shattering and then her crying.

“Proverbs 20:30 tells us blows and wounds cleanse evil,” he spouts his bullshit at her. Then he growls, tossing her in another direction and she falls to the floor once more.

She cries, breathing in sounds like it hurts as she whines as she does so, “I can take it!”

“Oh, you can take it?” Cyrus just gets more pissed at that. He slaps her again and she cries more.

“I can take it!”

“Listen to what she’s saying…” Dave suggests.

“She’s antagonizing him!” Derek gets defensive, on Hotch’s side and wants to go in.

“She’s not talking to him, she’s telling us not to come in,” Aaron agrees with Dave, bowing his head, he hates that he’s right.

He can’t take this anymore. He gets up and leaves the room, Dave can listen to the rest. He has to step outside, away front he watchful eye of everyone there and around behind the trailer. He rests his back against it and sinks down to the floor, his face in his hands. He cries.

The weight of everything comes crashing down on him in that moment. He lost his wife. He hasn’t seen his son for more than a few hours in the last 6 months, his friend and colleague died in his arms in the middle of the street and he almost died too. The only good thing that’s happened in all of this is that he’s gotten closer to Y/N.

If anything happens to her he’s going to actually go insane. He may have joked about it before, when he was off work and had nothing to do… but now it feels real. He can’t lose her. He can’t go through the trauma of burying another friend. He can’t imagine losing another woman he loves. Cause he does love her. He loves her more than he should love a co-worker.

It all started when he got divorced. He never had eyes for any other woman but his wife, however, after the divorce… he found himself enjoying her company for reasons other than friendship. Sure, getting coffee together in the mornings was nice and he didn’t care for her choice of TV shows but hearing her talk and knowing her opinions on things felt special to him. He knew a side of her that no one else on the team knew.

And sleeping beside her didn’t help his crush either. She was so soft. She cuddled into him like she was always meant to be there. When he woke up that next morning, spooned into her, he could smell her hair and he had his hand on her stomach… under her shirt. As if in the night they got even closer than either one of them ever thought possible.

Derek comes out to find him just a few minutes later. Aaron’s managed to wipe his tears and pull himself together a bit, he accepts Derek's hand and gets pulled back up to his feet. “They took her to another room but there are blinds on the windows so we can’t hear anything.”

Aaron just nods. “I don’t know why she did that, why she put herself in danger like that.”

“He probably held a gun to one of them and got them to confess, he did that to get Kane out of the ranch, too,” Derek theorizes. “Maybe she confessed to get him off Reid? Reid’s only in there because he knows the bible so well, he can get on Cyrus’s good side and help us out. She knew that.”

“Still,” Aaron can’t really argue.

“I know you love her, man, but we’ve got a job to do,” Derek whispers. “I feel the same way about Spencer.”

Aaron’s a little shocked to hear that but then again, not? It makes sense. The teasing, the closeness, the room sharing… that time Spencer missed his flight to hang out with another man he knew as a teenager. There were signs there from both of them, he just never thought to read them until now.

Aaron stares into his eyes, the two men would do anything for their team already, knowing they both loved someone in the ranch, which made them even more eager to do this right. “So let’s get them out of there.”

Back inside the trailer, Rossi has the speakers on still, and Reids talking. “Nancy said she was a child abuse interview expert from Denver. In the four years I’ve worked with her, Nancy’s never lied to me before.”

“As far as you know,” Cyrus spoke, believing him. “Their law says that a 15-year-old girl is a child when just 50 years ago that same law said that a 14-year-old was an adult. Have children changed so much in 50 years?”

“I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve investigated abuse charges against small religious groups… most all of them turn out to be false,” Reid lies to him. Successfully.

“What do you think of that?”

“What does it matter what I think?”

“It matters to me,” Cyrus assures him.

“Why?”

“Because god wants to save you,” Cyrus spouts.

“I swear to god if Cyrus comes out of there alive I’m going to beat him to death with my bare hands,” Derek mumbles under his breath to Hotch.

“Get in line.”

“I mean, that’s why god sent you here, isn’t it?” Cyrus poses, making reid feel like he’s a part of them now.

“I think… on the next call you should test them,” Reid suggests. “Test the negotiator. Make him prove that he isn’t a liar.”

“How would you suggest do that?”

“Ask for the identity of the FBI agent—

“We already know her identity,” his goon responds for him.

“They don’t know that we know,” Cyrus agrees with Reid.

“but the FBI would never tell is that?” The goon responds again.

“They keep asking you to release people, say you’ll release a kid only if they tell you her identity and if they really care about the children they’ll have to tell you her identity,” Spencer tries harder to get Cyrus on his side.

“You’re trying to get us to release a child!” The man fights with Reid.

“It’s one kid,” Spencer talks to him like he’s an idiot. “If they don’t hold up on their end of the deal then you know they can’t be trusted.”

“He’s right,” Cyrus ultimately agrees.

“Reid has ‘em,” Rossi turns back to them, clearly proud of the kid.

“What is it, Christopher?” Cyrus asks his friend.

“Well… some of them have been talking about… leaving?” He poses the suggestion.

“Leaving?” Cyrus repeats.

“yeah…”

“Wake the baby. Let them see the orphan they’ve made.”

“Okay, everyone!!” Hotch calls out of the trailer, getting the other's attention. “We’re about to get a call, we should expect some members to be released shortly. Get ready for phase one.”

Everyone rushes around then. Preparing to make room for the followers, cars are called in to collect people and take them to a hotel for the night and a few ambulances show up in case anyone is in need of medical support.

But no call comes in.

They wait all night until the sun comes up. But nothing.

“They’re probably going to ask when we call them,” Rossi suggests. “I’ll give my morning call at 6.”

“Okay,” Hotch agrees. “Morgan, I want you to take the truck up to the ranch and collect the little girl, if anyone else is released, Dan will come up and help escort them over here.”

“Yes sir.”

—

Rossi calls in right at 6. They haven’t heard anything else over the mics or through the windows. Most of the members must’ve been asleep in the chapel overnight. Sleeping in pews or on the floor… they all must be exhausted and mostly ready to leave now that the condition of their stay has changed.

“Good morning, Ben, how are you today?” Rossi speaks to him cheerfully.

“We are prepared to release a child if you tell me the identity of the FBI agent promise no harm will come to them from this point forward,” Cyrus leads right into it.

A wave of relief washes over Aaron.

“I can’t give you that information,” Rossi eggs him on.

“I will send the child now.”

Aaron waves his hand to Dan who’s got eyes on the ranch, a little girl has started to walk out of the compound and is standing in the gravel driveway. Dan motions to Derek who’s already taking his gun off and handing it to Hotch who hands him a radio in return. He takes off to the truck then, one of the other men drives Derek up and they watch on the cameras as Derek calmly collects the little girl and gets her into the truck safely.

“I’m taking a big risk here Ben,” Dave tries to play it cool with him.

“Trust is earned,” Cyrus reminds him.

“Her name is Y/N Y/L/N,” Rossi says her full name. “She came in with two child service workers to talk to the girls.”

“There’s a good chance we can work this out, Dave” Cyrus assures him. “I’m gonna provide another sign of good faith.”

“You’re doing a good thing here,” Dave assures him. Hyping up his confidence, getting on his good side.

Cyrus hangs up after that and they rely back to the microphones. “Assemble everyone in the chapel. Get agent Prentiss back down here,” Cyrus orders Christopher.

“This is it,” Aaron assures Dave and Dan. “We’ve started the trickle, it’s about to flow. We need to be prepared for women in children to be released as well as some of their husbands who’ve lost faith in Cyrus.”

Just as they thought, 10 minutes after the order to gather everyone, Cyrus starts to explain why he has them all gathered there. He points out that some of them have lost their faith, that he no longer can support people who don’t support him and his god. And then he starts to name names.

“He looks pissed?” They hear Y/N whisper.

Of course, the two of them would stand where they could be heard the best by the others.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” she assures Spencer.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispers to her.

“Look at who he’s releasing,” Y/N says again.

“It’s the ones who failed the loyalty test,” Spencer explains. “I’ll get word to the team. You wait for a sign from the outside that will tell us when the raid will come.”

The room goes quiet for a few moments and then they heard, “Take her back.”

Y/N was being sent back to whatever room they had her locked in, in the first place. They need to figure out where that would be… they need to be able to find her during the raid and get her out of there safely.

“Those of you standing, collect your belongings and meet in the main hall immediately,” Cyrus orders.

Not long after that, they start to see a bunch of people start to leave the chapel. Just then, Cyrus calls them. They send Dan and his guys out to collect the survivors and Hotch listens in on the phone call.

“We will surrender tomorrow at noon, we want the press there to make sure that we’re treated fairly,” Cyrus makes them a deal. “We’ll discuss the details tomorrow at our 7 am call… I’ll see you then Dave.”

“I look forward to it,” Dave agrees.

“Oh, and one more thing, could you send in some food in?” He requests.

“Sure, what would you like?” Dave pretends to be hospitable but by the look on his face, Aaron can tell he rather take a bite out of a leather shoe than keep this act up.

“Fried chicken, all the fixings.”

“You got it! I’ll have it brought right up to you.” Dave hangs up and shakes his head. “I hate this mother fucker.”

“I don’t understand, why did you let them go?” Another goon asks, more like, demands to know from Cyrus.

“They weren’t prepared to do what was needed of them,” Spencer butts in.

“Yeah, no offence but you’re not one of us so shut the fuck up,” he spits back at Spencer.

“Listen to him,” Cyrus sides with Reid. “Tell him, Spencer.”

“They failed the test,” Spencer explains. “They-they had a chance to prove their faith when Cyrus told them that they’d sacrificed themselves for god, but instead they showed they weren’t worthy…. That’s why he wants the media to bear witness to your true final act of sacrifice.”

“how do you know that?” The man asks.

“I’m always looking for signs of things to come.”

“Spencer’s asking us for what time to expect the raid,” Dave understands his meaning right away. “He’s telling us this is it! Time is running out! We’ve gotta go in!”

—

The food arrives around mid-day, and they have it delivered to the trailer first. They examine it all to make sure nothing's been tampered with by the restaurant and then they get it all boxed up and ready to go.

“We obviously can’t spike the food 'cause there are kids,” Aaron explains to Dan. “So we need to find another way to alert Spencer that there is a raid coming…”

Just then he picks up a red Sharpie marker and writes on the lid of the chicken box. “New management, open until 3 AM tonight!!” He underlines it a few times and then repeats it on the boxes for the corn and mashed potatoes and biscuits. Spencer has to see it somewhere.

Aaron and Derek are so positive that Spencer can find a way to prepare for the raid inside and figure out a way to get the women and children out of harm's way when Derek, Dave and Dan come crashing through the doors. He’s not going, he has to stay back with JJ and oversee the whole operation. He hates it. But it’s his job.

Derek and Dave go up to the ranch to deliver the food and just as there’s a commotion at the door and everyone is busy at the ranch, the parabolic mikes pick up Y/N’s voice.

“AARON!” Dan yells for him from outside, causing him to rush down to him.

“What?” He fears for the worst.

“it’s Y/N, she’s listening to the blinds with her high-heeled boot and we can hear her, listen,” he hands him the headphones.

“If you can hear me, I know you’re coming. I can try to get the women and children down to the tunnel but I need to know when you’re coming.”

She keeps repeating those two sentences over and over.

“come on,” Aaron gets up, grabs a riffle with a laser scope and they head to the hill closest to the ranch. Dan follows behind him with the transmitter, listening in on what Y/N’s saying still.

He points the gun right at the window and she sees the laser shine against the wall in the room she’s trapped in.

“I got you, what time are you coming in?”

He blinks the laser 3 times.

“3 am?”

He keeps the beam steady and nods the gun, up and down, as if he’s nodding yes.

“Got it. Reid is on the first floor somewhere with Cyrus, and please remember there are children here... someone's coming,” she’s quick to pull her foot away from the window and they lose signal with her.

Dan starts to retreat, leaving Hotch there with the gun and a hopeful feeling. “Hang in there, sweetheart.”

—

At 2:15 AM they start preparing for the raid. Swat is called in, they’ve got a supply of Humvees supplied by the army, weapons, ammunition, and tear gas. They’re ready to go. All without Aaron.

Aaron has his headset on and his radio with him, listening in on the Sect while also in contact with the team as they make their way closer to the ranch.

They know somethings up, that somethings coming… they should’ve cut the lights to the Humvees and gone in there blind.

Cyrus heads outside of the chapel, points his gun in the air and starts shooting the sky, gathering attention from the media just over the hill. He wants them to see how this all goes down.

Luckily, Cyrus just doesn’t know how much they know. When Derek met with the previous leader, Kane, he drew them a map of the whole facility. Secret tunnels, bunkers, you name it, they know where it is. So that’s where they go in.

On the radio he hears Dan give the go-ahead for phase one, the men storm the tunnel exit and surprise the guard down there with flash grenades and tear gas, subduing him. The men force their way inside, they drag the guard to the corner and cuff him up so he can’t cause any trouble and within seconds, Derek is on the radio.

“Y/N’s here, she got the women and children down to the tunnels,” Derek alerts him. “I’m sending them out to you, Dan.”

“Ten-4, I have a vehicle ready to transport them to safety,” Dan responds.

“They’ve wired explosives,” Derek alerts through the radio. “We need to move, now!”

Aaron throws on a bulletproof vest then and starts to run out of the tent, “where are you going!?” JJ calls after him.

“to help get them as far away from the blast as possible this is an all-hands-on-deck situation!” He yells back and keeps running.

He runs as fast as he can, following the dimly lit dirt road up to the chapel, he can see the women and children running out of the tunnels and towards the front of the building. “Over here! This way!” He calls to them, “Over here! You need to get away from the building!”

“Aaron!” Y/N shouts, as the last one to leave the tunnel, she ushers the women and children towards him and hobbles along as fast as she can.

She runs right into his arms, and they both make an audible “oof,” as their chests collide but he holds her close. “You’re okay?”

“I’m okay,” she assures him, pulling back, she turns to face the others, “Keep moving, follow the lights, head to that tent back there!”

They usher them up the road, keeping them at a safe distance from the building, he rests his hand on her back and when she turns to him again, he uses his other hand to cradle her face. He can’t really see in the dark, but he can tell she’s all beaten and bruised, “are you sure—

“I’m fine, we need to go back in there, they have Spencer,” she worries, almost in tears. “It’s bad Aaron, the whole building is rigged to go, they have TNT and gas everywhere, in every hallway way, doorway, support beam… it’s going to go up like a fucking tinderbox.”

“Dereks got it,” he assures her. “They’ll be okay.” She doesn’t look like she believes him, so he pulls her in closer again and cradles her head. “It’s going to be okay.”

They hear a few shots then, followed by the chapel door flying open, Derek and Spencer come running out of the building, and Dave comes running out of the tunnel exit with Dan just as the building goes up in flames.

“Jesse,” Y/N whispers, shocked.

They rush to the building, running up the few concrete steps toward where Derek and Spencer were knocked down by the blast. Aaron picks up Derek, Y/N picks up Spencer and as a team, they retreat away from the fire. At a safe distance, they all stop, turn to the blaze and realize they made it. All of them.

Y/N pulls Spencer into her arms, breaking out in a sob, she crumbles. Her knees give way and Spencer does his best to keep her upright, Aaron steps in and supports her, and Derek too. “We did it,” Spencer whispers, “we’re okay.”

“We’re okay,” she repeats, absolutely exhausted from everything she’s been through.

“We need a medic!” Aaron calls, “Someone, please, get a stretcher over here!”

“I’m fine, I’m okay,” she tries to push them away, standing on her own two feet again but she’s wobbly.

“No, you’re not,” Aaron argues with her. “You got beat up, I heard it all. You’re not okay, I don’t care how strong you think you are you’re—

She reaches out and covers his mouth, “Stop yelling at me, my head is killing me.”

“Sorry,” he apologizes, wrapping his arm under her to support her, he helps her down the stairs just as the ambulance is pulling up to the church.

—

It doesn’t take long for both Y/N and Reid to get checked out by the paramedics. Spencer has some general ringing in his ear from being so close to a blast, and Y/N has a concussion and severe abdominal bruising. They don’t suspect any internal bleeding, but they advise her to have someone watch her all night and to go to the hospital if she feels sick or light-headed.

Derek offers to drive himself, Reid, Rossi and Y/N back to the hotel, JJ and Hotch just have to finish up a few things and then they’ll join, but she turns down Derek's request. “I’m going to stay with Aaron and JJ,” she whispers, not really wanting to talk unless she has to. “You guys head out, it’s okay.”

“Are you sure?” Spencer gives her his puppy dog eyes.

She nods, giving him a sweet smile, “Yeah, I don’t think I can handle Derek's driving right now.”

“Fair enough,” Rossi pats her shoulder, heading off after Derek.

“Okay,” Spencer understands the real reason why she isn’t going, he looks at her and then at Aaron. He’s not dumb. Far from it, actually. Of course, he knows there’s something going on between them… Aaron just wonders what it is on her side.

“Spence,” she stops him, pulls him in for another hug and holds him there. She whispers something in his ear, something Aaron can’t hear, but by the look on Spencer’s face, it’s sweet. When she pulls back, she speaks louder. “You come get me if you need anything, I mean anything… okay?”

“I will, thank you,” he smiles before turning away and heading off to the SUV.

She comes to sit beside Aaron after that, he’s filing out some paperwork about the supplies they used and Dan’s signing off on everything, too. JJ’s wrapping up from things on the phone with the state, and firefighters are now on the scene putting out the blaze… it’s a commotion, but he doesn’t care about anything other than Y/N.

He reaches out for her hand, under the table, he holds it and looks at her. Asking if she’s okay with just his eyes.

She nods, “I’m tired.”

“I can do the rest of this,” Dan offers.

“Yeah?”

He nods, “Yeah, you guys go get some rest, you’ve done more than enough for us.”

“Okay,” Aaron doesn’t fight it, he simply lets go of her hand and starts to stand up, helping her up too. “Come on, let’s get you out of here… JJ?”

She’s still on the phone but peaks her head over, asking what’s up with her facial expression.

“We’re heading out, come on.”

She holds up her finger, asking for just a second, which is good. It gives him a chance to pack up his things and help Y/N into the passenger seat of their SUV. JJ comes rushing over not 2 minutes later, the phone still pressed to her ear, she gets in the back seat and all they hear is “Thank you so much, half our team should be there in a few minutes, we’re about 30 minutes out… thank you, again, bye.”

“Good to go?” Aaron asks.

“Yeah, and I got us all hotels for tonight Rossi is alone, Derek is with Reid and I will partner with Hotch tonight so Y/N can be alone and—

She cuts JJ off. “I don’t want to be alone,” she says in a low tone. It hurts to talk. “Not with my concussion.”

“Oh,” JJ didn’t expect that. “Um, I guess we can be together, Hotch can be alone?”

She shakes her head, “No, mama you go be alone for the night, I’m sure you’re exhausted. You’ve done so much these last two days, Hotch can babysit me, make sure I don’t die in my sleep.”

“Don’t even joke about that,” he looks over at her, completely serious. “You’re okay, the paramedics said it’s not too serious, you’re going to be fine.”

“I was kidding,” she gives him a sweet smile.

It doesn’t take long for them to get to the hotel, they check in, they’re handed their room keys and off they go. The double rooms are on the same floor, they’re just across the hall from Derek and Spencer, JJ’s a floor above them and Rossi is on the top floor. He really doesn’t care how much money he spends, he always wants the best rooms.

He carries both their bags upstairs. He had someone go to her other hotel, the one she and Reid were sharing when they arrived, and get her things. He sets them all down on one of the beds and she just stands there, sore and tired. She looks like she wants to cry again. She’s bruising slowly, everything’s getting worse and darker in colour the more time passes.

“Are you okay?”

She nods, “Yeah… I just hurt all over.”

“I don’t want this to come off as weird, or anything,” he prefaces. “But do you need or want help changing? Do you want to take a bath? I can help you get in or out— I won’t look, I promise. I just want you to feel better.”

She laughs lightly, but it hurts to do that. “I don’t think I need help… but thank you.”

“You took such great care of me last month, I just want to repay the favour,” he gives her a small smile.

She takes a step towards him and wraps her arms around his middle, resting her head on his chest. He carefully holds her back, his cheek resting against her head. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“You need a lot more than a bomb to get rid of me,” she teases. He said the same thing in the hospital in New York.

He smiles, dragging his cheek across her hair until his lips are pressed to her head. He kisses her gently, “Come on, let’s get you ready for bed.”

She sighs as she pulls back, “Would it be weird to share a bed tonight? I really don’t want to be alone.”

“Not weird at all,” he assures her.

“Good,” she smiles.

He brings her over to the one bed that their bags are on, they each zip open their own bag and start digging for their things. She takes out her pyjama shirt and her shorts, her little bag of toiletries and her phone charger and then she remembers she doesn’t have a phone anymore. “I can’t believe that fucker blew up all my stuff.”

“We’ll get you a new phone when we get back tomorrow,” Aaron assures her. “Penelope knows to call me if anyone calls work looking for you.”

“Okay, good… I’m going to change in the bathroom first, I’ll call you if I need help?”

“Okay,” he agrees.

He takes the chance to change in the room, he slips out of his khakis and dress shirt and quickly replaces them with a new pair of boxers and a fresh white shirt. It's what he slept in beside her before… that was the best sleep he’s had in years. Even beside his ex-wife he never slept that good.

He heads over to the empty queen bed that their shit isn’t on and folds back the covers for them. He fluffs the pillows and even sets a complimentary bottle of water on each of their night tables, that’s when he remembers he still has medicine in his bag. She emerges from the bathroom soon after, all changed with a soft smile on her face. “Tada?”

“You look nice,” he compliments her. “I uh, I still have some medicine— the T3s…”

“Ooo,” she thinks about it. “I was just going to tough it out but that sounds like a much better option.”

“I just don’t like the idea of you hurting all night long, you’re supposed to be resting,” he reminds her, handing her the pill bottle once she’s closer to him. “There’s water on your side.”

She takes two of them, sets her water down and starts to get into the bed, Aaron stands at her side, watching as she hisses. “Are you okay?”

“Mhm,” she hums. “Getting punched and kicked in the gut sucked, I’m surprised I don’t have internal bleeding.”

His heart breaks even more, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she waves it off. “Come get in bed.”

Before he does that, he flicks on the lamp on his side of the bed and heads back over to the door to turn off the main light. When he finally slips into bed, she reaches over for his hand and pulls him over so he can spoon her. She just wants to be held. He gently places his hand on her stomach, he doesn’t want to hurt her at all. She lets out a deep sigh, relaxing into his arms and waiting for the pills to kick in.

“I’m really glad they put you in charge of everything,” she whispers. “The second Rossi showed up in the church I knew we were going to be leaving okay.”

“You should’ve heard Morgan scream for me when the situation popped onto the news in the bullpen,” he recounts, still astounded by it himself. “I was just thinking about you when he called for me and then all the phones started going off and I knew we’d be the ones doing the rescuing.”

“You were thinking about me?” She repeats. “What were you thinking about me for?”

“Oh…” he feels suddenly embarrassed. “Just that it was weird not having breakfast together and I was thinking if you didn't drive to the airport, I would’ve driven you home.”

“Awe,” she swoons, she places her hand over his and interlocks their fingers. “We can get lunch together tomorrow after we land… before you take me back to the airport to get my car.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he whispers. “But we’ll have to take it to go…”

“Why?”

“I don't want anyone to think I did that to you,” he explains, a sick feeling in his throat at the mere thought of someone thinking he could hurt her.

“Oh, oh yeah,” she forgot. “Sorry, I’m starting to feel the medicine… if I fall asleep on you, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, go to sleep if you have to,” he assures her. “I’ll be right here all night if you need me.”

“Thank you, Aar,” she mumbles out, already slipping into her slumber. “Love… you.”

His heart skips a beat, he wants to say it back but he doesn’t know how much of that is just the medicine and him taking care of her and how much of it she really, truly means. He doesn’t want to risk it, so he just snuggles in closer, kisses the back of her shoulder and attempts to fall asleep with her.

General Taglist 

@ncsls0515 @stevesmunsons @reidsbookclub @sweetyyhippyy @manuosorioh @mrs-dr-reid @k-k0129 @squishyturtle @katsukis1wife @babybisexual @marsmunson86 @buckleyhans

IKP

@southernraven @alluringshawn @lambsheepsheeping @lmg-stilinski24 @louderfortheback @deludedfruitcake @kleff03 @mrs-ssa-hotch @maxinehufflepuffprincess @lokifanfic2021 @art-and-thoughts 

[27moremoons]

Civil Defense in Gaza: IMPORTANT/LONG POST

"Civil Defense" after a year of continuous war against our people in Gaza

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the best of martyrs and messengers, our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him and all his family and companions...

We extend our greetings to the Palestinian people in Gaza for their patience and steadfastness throughout a full year of "israeli" war.

We salute the heroes of the Civil Defense who work tirelessly day and night, never wavering in their responsibilities and their national, religious, and moral duties toward their people. We also extend our appreciation to our humanitarian service partners across all fields.

After a year of continuous war on Gaza, we confirm that the Civil Defense is operating at full capacity, which amounts to only 20% of its original capabilities. This is due to the "israeli" occupation deliberately targeting Civil Defense facilities, vehicles, and personnel during their duties. This led to the complete or partial destruction of 52 vehicles of various types and the martyrdom of 85 personnel, with 292 others injured.

The "israeli" occupation has completely destroyed 11 firefighting and rescue vehicles, 2 rapid intervention rescue vehicles, 4 water tanker trucks, 8 ambulances, one hydraulic ladder vehicle, and 12 administrative vehicles. This confirms that the occupation forces are deliberately hindering humanitarian work and interventions aimed at saving lives and protecting property.

Additionally, 7 fire trucks have sustained damage that can be repaired if the necessary support and spare parts are provided. Also, 3 rescue vehicles, 3 ambulances, and one water tanker truck were damaged and can be restored to service if the occupation allows the entry of appropriate spare parts for repairs.

The continued disregard by the international community and humanitarian organizations has emboldened the "israeli" occupation to intensify its targeting of our resources and personnel. Our facilities and teams were directly targeted 6 times, and our teams were attacked while performing their duties on the scene 14 times.

Over 47% of our teams have been physically endangered, and all of them have suffered psychological harm due to losing family members or their homes.

Since the start of the war, our teams have carried out operations equivalent to 40 years of work based on response time and control, compared to their usual work before the war.

During the genocide, the Civil Defense received 90,000 emergency calls and responded to over 75,000 of them, resulting in more than 260,000 tasks, including rescues, evacuations, medical care, firefighting, and retrieving the bodies of martyrs.

However, our teams were unable to respond to over 15,600 emergency calls due to numerous obstacles and difficulties imposed by the "israeli" occupation.

Over the course of the year-long genocide, our teams, accompanied by medical teams, retrieved 37,210 martyrs from homes, streets, and targeted areas. The occupation has hindered the recovery of thousands of bodies still trapped under the rubble.

After a year of this devastating war, we affirm the following:

The continued international neglect in providing necessary support to the Civil Defense in Gaza will severely reduce our ability to respond to emergency calls from citizens. Our teams have been unable to respond to many of these calls due to fuel shortages and the lack of essential Civil Defense equipment. The occupation forces also deliberately block and hinder our access to areas they have invaded by closing streets and exits.

Civil Defense teams and humanitarian service providers in Gaza have faced immense challenges since the start of this war, and the evasion of responsibility by international institutions has exacerbated these challenges and difficulties.

We demand the provision of spare parts for Civil Defense equipment and vehicles, so we can repair damaged equipment and vehicles and allow our humanitarian intervention teams to continue their work.

We call for protection for Civil Defense personnel while carrying out their humanitarian duties and for the occupation to stop targeting our already worn-out vehicles and equipment.

We urge the world to pressure the occupation to allow the entry of urgent equipment for the Civil Defense of all types so that we can fulfill our duty amid the ongoing aggression and continuous bombardment across Gaza.

We demand the entry of heavy machinery to help clear the rubble of homes and structures to retrieve the bodies of over 10,000 martyrs still under the debris. These martyrs are not included in the official statistics of casualties from the aggression.

We demand the entry of the necessary quantities of fuel for Civil Defense vehicles, as we have often been unable to reach targeted areas due to fuel shortages, which has led to the martyrdom of hundreds of injured individuals who could not receive the necessary medical care.

General Directorate of Civil Defense

Gaza

Sunday, October 6, 2024

Below are the names of the 85 Civil Defense officers who have ascended to martyrdom in the last year as a result of the zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip:

Mohammed Musa Mohammed Hamad, Mohamed Abdel Hay Mohamed Morsi, Naeem Salama Ismail Al-Ghoul, Mohammed Abdel Hakim Khaled Shabir, Mohammed Nazmi Khamis Al-Ghalith, Fadl Sakib Hassan Ataya, Mohammed Suleiman Shahada Jabr, Shady Hassan Ibrahim Hamad, Ashraf Atta Saleh Juha, Jihad Ammar Khamis Abu Taqiyah, Ashraf Ahmed Mahmoud Abu Al-Maza, Maher Hassan Hamdan Abu Sawawin, Naji Ahmed Mohammed Al-Labban, Abdullah Farid Mohammed Abu Awda, Oday Abdul Jawad Mohammed Abu Ras, Saber Omar Dawood Abu Muslim, Ibrahim Atta Mohammed Hamdan, Mohammed Ayesh Sayed Hamdan, Mohammed Ahmed Musa Ali, Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Noufal, Khaled Jamal Mohammed Al-Arabid, Osama Suleiman Salah Salah, Mahmoud Nahed Rashid Atallah, Muhammad Farid Hashem Dughmosh, Abdul Rahim Youssef Diab Abu Baid, Ayman Mohammed Mohammed Shawan, Abdullah Suwailem Abdullah Abu Rabie, Ahmed Mohammed Al-Abd Khas, Abdul Ghaffar Ayesh Hussein Asaad, Mazen Ismail Abd Rabbo Ashour, Iyad Abdul Karim Abdul Rahman Salem Deeb, Mohamed Fawzy Mohamed Qatit, Alaa Al-Abd Yousef Abu Ghanima, Adham Fathy Hassan Issa, Suleiman Ali Suleiman Yassin, Mohamed Sobhi Mousa Al-Jamasi, Nour El Din Mohamed Khamis Saqr, Bahjat Omar Musa Al-Jamal, Mohammed Majed Ahmed Ahmed, Abdul Razzaq Mahmoud Khaled Al-Mamluk, Hossam Eid Shaaban Abu Shaaban, Naji Jamal Saleh Al-Fayoumi, Mahmoud Abdel Karim Nimr Al-Sarhi, Hamed Mohammed Rashad Zeno, Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed Abu Al-Qura, Diaa Essam Abdel Rahim Abu Amouna, Mohamed Emad Hamdy Abdel-Ilah, Ahmed Zuhair Ahmed Hamouda, Ibrahim Shaaban Salem Obaid, Ahmed Saqr Hassan Abu Hin, Ahmed Mohammed Saleh Hamada, Mohammed Awad Ahmed Suleiman, Mahmoud Mohammed Ahmed Qanou, Karam Imad Hammad Abu Al-Araj, Abdullah Basem Mohammed Toman,. Mohamed Salah Mohamed Abdel Hadi, Mahmoud Basem Ibrahim Al-Muqaddamah, Mahmoud Mohammed Ahmed Salem, Abdul Karim Hassan Arafat Al-Ghazi, Hussein Diab Hussein Abu Jamous, Sohaib Adel Mohammed Abu Taqia, Ahmed Asaad Gabriel Faraj Allah, Osama Azmi Khalil Abu Daqqa, Abdul Latif Mohammed Ibrahim Salem, Youssef Mohammed Mahmoud Al-Mamluk, Ahmed Ismail Ahmed Abu Al-Qumsan, Bakr Raed Hussein Abu Harb, Ezz El-Din Abdel Sater Ramadan Al-Kurdi, Khaled Adeeb Abdullah Al-Hawrani, Ibrahim Imad Abdul Matar, Abdullah Mansour Eid Abdul Jawad, Hossam Hamdy Abdel Ghani Al-Maqid, Mohammed Hafez al-Assad Hassan Hamada, Mahmoud Ayman Mahmoud Ahmed, Badr Abdel Raouf Tawfiq Qasim, Musab Abdullah Saeed Al-Kurdi, Siraj Ayman Fathi Kaskin, Mahmoud Nidal Mahmoud Hammad, Mohammed Abdul Jawad Abdul Hadi Al-Shoubaki, Rami Abdel Qader Shafiq Mansour, Mahmoud Abdel Shafi Khamis Hussein, Bilal Ramadan Abd Rabbo Farhan, Hani Mohammed Ahmed Juma, Ziad Mohammed Salim Al-Habash, Ammar Rajih Ahmed Awad.

Glory to the heroes of the Civil Defense and their martyrs, to those who work tirelessly and sacrifice to relieve our people day and night through all available means.

[kawaiijohn]

Alrighty weather stuff. Recovery is happening. It is happening slowly.

FEMA has been deployed, as has the national guard in most areas. However there is still a very very large need for on the ground volunteers and the like due to how widespread and severe the damage is.

Power is still scarce in Appalachia and will be until further notice in some parts. The power is out in several states still days after.

There's a Twitter account that has been tracking fatalities for the event, and as of yesterday, over 400 of the 1000+ missing people have been found alive.

There's still sadly a very large amount missing or dead with Helene and the aftermath.

(this Twitter has its sources in the replies attached to this tweet)

The y'all squad (a non profit), Chris Hall, and a few others have been delivering by air and setting up starlinks in NC due to almost all service being out of commission until further notice.

Hell, Chris has been at work nonstop since Friday. He's been making missions to drive and deliver hot pizza to first responders and the hungry in areas he can reach.

Another group helping is a group of people with mules hiking up into the more mountainous regions to help those completely stranded.

It's an odd sight to see, but a needed one for some of these harder to reach areas.

Major highway i40 still closed with no timeline. There's very limited fuel even for first responders and it has been requested from disaster relief sources, no timeline as of now.

Hoping FEMA doesn't bungle this as bad as Katrina. Hoping people get the help they need. Hoping nobody else is found dead. Hoping. Hoping. Hoping.

Again, please describe the pics here. I have no ability to do so on my mobile device due to how it likes to glitch even longer posts with too much text.

[melhindips]

🚨 Update on the current field situation in the Gaza Strip as of 09:00 PM on day 337 of the war on Gaza:

⭕️ Northern Governorate:

▪Martyrs and wounded as a result of an Israeli bombardment on a tent sheltering displaced persons inside the Halima Al-Sa'diya school in the Jabalia Al-Nazla area, northern Gaza Strip.

▪️More than 30 injuries due to artillery shelling on citizens' homes around Al-Qassam Mosque in the Beit Lahiya Mashrou', northern Gaza Strip.

▪The water desalination stations in the Gaza and North Governorates are still struggling to provide service due to the lack of fuel necessary for their operation.

▪️ For the tenth month, the Israeli occupation has prevented the entry of vegetables, fruits, frozen goods, and basic materials into the Gaza and North Governorates.

⭕️ Gaza Governorate:

▪️Two martyrs, including a child, and injured people as a result of an Israeli bombardment of a residential building belonging to the "Gherbawi" family near the Youth and Sports Roundabout in the Al-Nasr area west of Gaza City.

▪️ Three martyrs and more than 20 injured as a result of an Israeli bombardment on the "Amro Ibn Al-As" school in the Abu Iskander area in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood north of Gaza City.

▪️ For the fifteenth day, Israeli occupation forces continue to advance in the Zaytoun neighborhood.

▪️ Heavy bombing, demolition, and burning of citizens' homes south of Street 8.

▪️ Very heavy Israeli artillery shelling on various areas north of Street 8, specifically in the regions of Al-Hasan Ibn Ali Square, Abu Habib intersection, and the Islamic Complex area.

▪️ The occupation forces continue to prevent the entry of cooking gas since the beginning of the war until now, forcing citizens to resort to using alternatives made of nylon, cardboard, and fabric, which may pose a danger to lives and property.

⭕️ Central Governorate:

▪️8 martyrs, including a child, and many wounded as a result of an Israeli bombardment on a group of citizens in the Al-Hasayna area west of the Al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.

▪️6 martyrs, including two children and three women, as a result of an Israeli bombardment on a house belonging to the "Eid" family on Old Court Street in Al-Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip.

▪️One martyr as a result of an Israeli bombardment near the Gaza Valley Bridge north of the Al-Nuseirat camp.

▪️Israeli bombardment on a house belonging to the "Radi" family northwest of the Al-Nuseirat camp.

▪️Israeli bombardment on a house belonging to the "Abu Shawish" family west of the New Camp north of the Al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.

⭕️ Khan Younis Governorate:

Two martyrs and injured as a result of Israeli shelling on a house belonging to the "Jarghon" family near the Islamic University southeast of Khan Younis.

▪️Injuries due to heavy Israeli artillery shelling on several scattered areas of Khan Younis.

⭕️ Rafah Governorate:

▪️Two martyrs as a result of Israeli shelling on civilians in the Areeba area north of Rafah city.

▪️Recovery of a martyr and injuries as a result of Israeli artillery shelling targeting the vicinity of Al-Firdaws School west of Rafah city.

▪️Recovery of the bodies of martyrs since this morning from various areas of Rafah city.

▪️Israeli shelling on a group of citizens near the Al-Alam roundabout west of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip.

▪️Israeli shelling and demolition of residential buildings northwest of Rafah city.

Saturday, September 07, 2024

[perfecto2024]

Fast, reliable 24/7 roadside assistance for jump-starts, towing, and more. Our expert team will get you back on the road quickly. Contact us for immediate help today!

[viscountess-nila]

A little chaos - Theloise oneshot

Set in the social season after the season Polin gets married. Benophie could or could not be happening, that is up to you. In conclusion, Lady Danbury's boredom can lead to quite a few amazing things.

It seems that even gossip can become boring when it is a person's only source of entertainment.

It was truly a phenomenon that shocked Lady Danbury, and that was not something that happened often.

It had started gradually, a few months into the off-season, as the effect of Lady Whistedown's reveal (something Lady Danbury has suspected; the now Mrs Penelope Bridgerton was a genius indeed) slowly lessened, the excitement of secrets and scandal gradually faded away.

Now as the next season was to commence, the ton made their way back to London, and sitting in her glamorous carriage, Lady Danbury had concluded that gossip would not be enough, the season would only be the slightest bit entertaining with something more.

But what?

Lady Danbury sighed, completely stumped (a first for the intelligent matriarch), and looked out the blinds to see the huts and smoke of Bloomsbury.

And just like that, a plan clicked into place within her devious mind.

A grin unfurled, 'Entertaining indeed'

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

A few hours after the next dawn, Lady Danbury arrived at an edge of Bloomsbury, a list of successful worker's names.

The ton had been lacking both drama and population, and Lady Danbury would quench both deficiencies. And it would also align with her opinions on the imbalance of power between the high-fashioned ton of Mayfair and the hard-working citizens of Bloomsbury, who faced blatantly unfair discrimination.

So, starting now, every year, Lady Danbury had decided to provide for 4 of the most successful from the town, so they may also get a chance of the glamorous life Mayfair was born into.

Give them the chance to marry into it. Or to gain powerful influences from it.

Yes, part of this was fueled by the matriarch's guilt of the unearned privileges of her birth, but mostly by the need for something chaotic, something beyond glamorous life.

She looked down at the carefully acquired list of names of the newest members of the ton

Miss. Elina Bernard - silks and velvet merchant, best quality material Violet has used

Violet's clothes were quite impeccable.

Mr. Jacob Clint - import business, from America to Asia, freshest and most authentic Indian products Kate has purchased in London

The new Viscountess could not last a lifetime in London without mangoes and had hunted down this businessman almost immediately.

Miss. Esther Addams - doctor, provides service free of cost and always guarantees recovery, saved Lady Mary in her initial years

Life had not been kind to Mary Sharma in the years after her marriage, but this doctor had been.

However, Lady Danbury's favourite recommendation was the last.

Mr. Theo Sharpe - Printer, most successful in Bloomsbury due to being Lady's Whistledown's preferred printer

Now all that was left was teaching them the basics and introducing them at her ball, the first of the season.

This was going to be fun.

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

Theo Sharpe, a man of hard work and dedication did not expect a Countess summoning him to take part in the ridiculousness the uppish ton called a social season.

Two years ago, he would've scoffed in the Lady's face, niceties be damned, for he did not need her charity work or pity.

But then a maddeningly beautiful and terrifying intelligent woman had entered his life (and left, quickly), leaving a mark in his heart that nothing could erase.

And taking Lady Danbury's offer would give him the chance he thought he'd never get, to see Eloise Bridgerton again.

She, evidently, did not think of him every waking moment the way he had these last two years, but being able to see her once again would sustain his feelings for the rest of his life.

And maybe an apology for his damning words the last time he saw her, to erase the guilt of how he's broken their friendship.

And maybe-

She deserves better than you. She deserves better. She deserves better.

Theo watched as Elina, Jacob and Esther accepted Lady Danbury's offer, all varying shades of wonder, shock and scepticism, then their eyes turned to him.

A few seconds of silence then-

"Yes, I'll do it"

I can see Eloise Bridgerton again

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

Eloise Bridgerton had come from Scotland's mountain views and brimming libraries, back to London's bustling ton for the sole reason of her mother's masquerade ball, two weeks from now, and had no intention of setting foot in a ballroom that was not hosted by her mother or Kate.

But then she had received Lady Danbury's invite to her Introductory ball, which had boasted a phenomenon that had never been seen before, and now Eloise was intrigued.

From anyone else, that claim would've been untrustworthy, but from Lady Danbury...

It was something considerable indeed.

And so, Eloise sat in a carriage, donning a simple blue dress, riding towards the introductory ball of her 3rd season.

From her right, Benedict asked, "Is there any reason you decided to join us last minute, sister?"

Eloise turned, her eyes showing her confusion.

"I mean, anything or anyone...", the rest of his question trailed off into nothingness as Eloise fixed Benedict with a deadly glare.

He immediately assumes it is about love

Anthony, who was seated beside Kate, grinned, "No brother, Eloise simply wanted to see Lady Danbury's grand phenomenon, as the invite stated"

Her glare and Anthony's grin did not die down until they reached the ball.

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

Penelope, Kate and Eloise stood together, though the two married women were whispering with grins on their faces, and clueless Eloise could not last without answers.

"What are you-"

"Eloise", Kate replied, not waiting for the question to be completed, "If you wish for Lady Danbury's surprise to be a surprise, then you cannot know what we are speaking of"

What?

Eloise's mouth fell open, "You know?"

"We were part of planning it", Penelope replied with a cheeky grin.

"Betrayal", Eloise shook her head, "Betrayal, by the only two people I actually trust"

A beat passed, and all three women started laughing, lost in the mirth and comfort of sisterhood.

As Eloise opened her mouth to shoot back another playful retort, an announcement rang out asking everyone's attention and silence.

Lady Danbury stepped onto the podium, a smirk playing on her face.

Eloise's mind was reeling, "But surprises are usually not revealed until the end of the ball!"

Kate simply smiled in response, mirth dancing in her eyes.

Lady Danbury's voice echoed across the room, "Within London, there is a section none of us really consider, and yet is the backbone of our society. Bloomsbury"

Eloise's heart clenched at the memories flooding her brain.

No, don't think about him, he's probably forgotten you already

"The people living there are just as strong and worthy as us all"

Eloise's eyebrows furrowed, Where is she going with this?

Lady Danbury's smile grew, and Eloise's heart picked up the pace in anticipation, "And so, I have decided to present four of Bloomsbury's most successful in this year's social season and will continue to do so every year"

Eloise's mouth fell open, her mind blanking, 'What'

Lady Danbury powered through the rising murmurs of dissent and disapproval, her eyes hardening and her voice turning to steel, "Treat them with the respect you give each other, they work much harder than we do and still succeed beyond our own achievements"

Four people walked out of a door behind Lady Danbury, and Eloise's heart stopped altogether.

"Miss Elina Bernard, Mr Jacob Clint, Miss Esther Addams and-"

His eyes scanned the room and found hers, and suddenly the whole room reduced to the two of them.

"-Mr Theo Sharpe"

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

When he was a child, the colour blue had been a favourite to Theo, whether it was the sky, the oceans he read of, or the cover of the only book he owned at the time.

As he grew, preference in colour didn't matter, only the smell of ink, the feel of parchment and the all-consuming need to succeed in his life as his mother had wanted him to.

Then, one unsuspecting day two years ago, a girl had walked into the print shop with eyes somewhere between the skies and the oceans and that childhood fascination had come back in full force.

And once he was better acquainted with her devious mind and knowledge-hungry soul, the fascination had grown into a raging love, love as natural as breathing.

She deserves better. She deserves better, Theo.

This last year, it had morphed into heartache, dull, throbbing and constant, but as their eyes met over a thousand judgemental ones, all he felt was that maddening all-encompassing love, and a smile formed on his face.

The shock lighting those cerulean blue eyes and the faint blush on her face morphed his smile into a grin.

Oh, how he had missed seeing her.

Of course, he could not walk up to her and brazenly declare their friendship and his feelings, which would tarnish both their reputations and this once-in-a-lifetime offer, but before the night ended, he would speak to her.

She would be the only person he thought of all night.

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

An hour, it had been an hour since Lady Danbury's announcement, and while most members of the ton were enamoured with Esther's kind smile and caring words (who Eloise had to admit were very pleasant), the 5th Bridgerton's eyes had not left Theo.

It had been an hour. Why hadn't he approached her yet?

Eloise sighed 'He does not care for you anymore Eloise. He has moved with his life and found his success'

Then why couldn't she? Move on, and go forward in her life beyond this pain.

It wasn't entirely her fault, though, for every time she convinced herself he didn't care, his eyes found hers, lingered a little too long for it to be coincidence, his lips curving upwards and all semblance of the belief disappeared.

Why did talking to a friend have to be so complicated?

Maybe because there was a little more-

No. She had decided never to be so careless as to fall in love, she wanted a life of freedom and independence.

But wouldn't Theo give her that?

Caught up in, by her confused heart and raging mind, Eloise did not hear her sisters-in-law approaching until they started speaking.

"You should go talk to him", Penelope's voice rang out from behind her, startling Eloise.

She fixed Penelope with her reproachful eyes, "Yes after my association with political radicals-", Penelope winced, "-that would be an amazing idea"

Kate, who had been clueless until now, lit up with realization, "So this is who you were working with to discover Whistledow-, well Penelope"

Eloise nodded while Pen's expression grew sheepish.

A grin bloomed on the Viscountess's face, "He seems like more than just an acquaintance"

"Yes, he-", Eloise took a deep breath, memories flooding her in full force, "He was a friend, an intellectual, whose thoughts resonated with mine so perfectly it was like debating and talking with myself and yet my best opposition"

Both Kate and Penelope's eyebrows raised in expectation and Eloise blushed, despising the interrogation.

Why me

"Alright maybe, just maybe, mind you", Eloise continued, berating her thundering heart, "I felt a little more than just platonic friendship for him"

The Viscountess smirked, a true successor to Violet Bridgerton, "Very well-"

"But", Eloise interrupted before any plans were hatched, "we broke it off on bad terms, and Theo has probably forgotten all about me"

"You may want to reconsider that Miss Eloise", the voice behind her caused her heart to drop to her stomach, "You make quite the impression"

The girl in question whirled around, and despite her confusion, the rawness of the wound their broken friendship had left on her, the cruel words he had thrown at her last time they had spoken, the sight of his warm brown eyes, the small smirk gracing his lips and the familiar rightward tilt of his head tugged the corners of her lips upward.

The retort came as natural as breathing, "I made an impression on you, Theo Sharpe, because I was the only person who deigned to read your musings and crazy writings"

His eyebrows furrowed in mock confusion, "But were you not the one who came to me for discernment due to the complexity of my ideas?"

She stepped closer to him, tilting his head upwards and relishing the flare of surprise in his chocolate brown eyes, "That was, as I mentioned that day, due to your ineffective communication"

"And as I mentioned that day", he replied, leaning the slightest bit closer to her, "ideas such as those require more exposure to this world of ours", his smirk grew, "and a less fragile mind"

Eloise glared at him, though her smile remained and was about to shoot back another scathing retort when a sharp, pointed cough came from the Viscountess behind her.

Immediately, the two intellectuals became painfully aware of the mere millimetres of space between them and the hundreds of other people in the ballroom with them, jumping back as though they were burned.

A small smile replaced the smirk, "I've missed you, Eloise"

"More like you've missed being in the acquaintance of someone with some semblance of wit, unlike yourself", Eloise's blinding grin at his confession softened as regret passed over her features, "I've missed you too"

Guilt and regret clouded his eyes, "It was my fault, I shouldn't have spoken so cruelly, you can do nothing about your birth and its privileges and...", his voice grew quieter and timid, "Sorry, about the other thing"

The almost kiss

Eloise did not wish to talk of that, she wished to rebuild the friendship she had lost, "No, I- I must apologise. Both of us reacted rashly that day", her ocean-blue eyes met his forest brown ones, "We're not doing whatever the last 2 years was again"

A slight nod and determination shining in his eyes, he offered his arm to her, "Very well, Miss Bridgerton, let us take a turn around the room and discuss Wollstonecraft's Memoir, shall we?"

Butterflies fluttering in her stomach, her grin returning in full force, Eloise took his arm, "I suppose we shall"

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

Not so far away from this reunion, three chestnut-haired brothers stood beside each other, each holding a glass of champagne and wearing an expression of disbelief, all looking toward their second younger sister.

"Why is he willingly talking to her, of all the people in this ballroom?", sheer confusion laced Benedict's question, though his soft smile at his sister's happiness was in complete contrast to it.

Colin shook his head, unable to believe what he was witnessing, "Why is she so happy about it? Eloise hates conversing with men of the ton"

"How sightless can the two of you be", Anthony sighed, though he was also shocked (pleasantly, that is), by the turn of events, "They are formerly acquainted, close friends judging the way are conversing. If my speculations are correct, then Mr. Theo, was it? He should be the political radical she was associating with her debut season"

Realisation dawned in Colin's face, while Benedict turned to his older brother grinning and surprised at his perceptiveness, "I'm surprised, brother, this is not the kind of analysis I expected from you", his grin widened, "but I suppose Kate and little Edmund have softened you"

Anthony lit up at the mention of his gorgeous wife and adorable son, "You will get there soon, Benedict, I am sure you will"

"I hope I do"

A few moments of comfortable silence passed and was broken by Benedict once again.

"Well, which one of us is going to interrogate him?"

Anthony replied solemnly, "We do not need to, Eloise herself is enough. If he survives her, our interrogation will be insignificant"

A beat passed and all three brothers burst into laughter, all three rejoicing the happiness of their headstrong sister.

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

Had it been seconds, or had it been years? It didn't matter to Theo, for all he cared for was holding onto his arm, speaking at the speed of light, her eyes lighting up like sapphires in sunlight, emotions from excitement to sarcasm taking over her face as they talked and talked and talked.

In his opinion, beautiful was an understatement.

She deserves better. She-

Theo stopped himself. What was he saying? Who was better for Eloise?

Sure, she would live a more comfortable and influential life if she married one of the ton.

But that wasn't what Eloise wanted, was it? No, she was an intellectual, a woman who wanted to advocate for the rights of others, who wanted to read and read and read and might even want to publish one day.

And even the most open-minded of these men would not allow her that life. Theo would.

Theo would do anything for her, but that was another matter entirely.

And the inkling of the thought of her smiling at another man like this had him seeing red.

Yes, economically, she deserved better. But he could not imagine her with any other man, so instead he would become better, for her.

His attention shifted back to reality, where Eloise (still holding onto his arm) had been silent for a few moments, the reason he had let himself spiral into his thoughts.

Eloise's attention had been captured by the dark-haired woman she had been talking to earlier and a man who looked rather similar to Eloise (Theo presumed it was one of her 7 siblings) and despite Eloise's usual distaste for the concept of romance, she seemed rather wistful at the sight.

Theo could see why too. While all the others danced to the music or the steps they had practised, the two of them seemed to be in a world of their own, dancing to a tune only they could hear.

"I thought you would make a remark on how sickening the romance was", Theo asked, "Not stare at them dancing as though you wanted it for yourself"

Eloise rolled her eyes at his remark, though the underlying pensiveness remained, "It is sickening, Theo, one cannot be in the same room as those two at home and want to stay there"

"But?"

Eloise smiled, "But, the man my brother was before Kate entered his life was a ghost of the man he was before my father died. He became entirely work and duty and protecting us, and existing solely for us, killing the side of him that had fun and read books and debated with me for hours about it and lived for himself"

"She brought it back"

"Yes, she did", Eloise's eyes fell once more, "And that is why, despite my distaste for romance, part of me hopes to find someone-", her eyes flicked up, met his, then went downcast again, "-who might change my life the same way"

"A suitor then?", Theo's eyebrows were raised, carefully keeping his jealousy in check.

Eloise scoffed, "As if any man here would let me live the radical life I wish to live. No, I am afraid these thoughts should remain dreams"

In her head, however, there was one man she had in mind, a man who would let her live the life she wanted. She was standing beside him at that very moment.

But why would he want her after how she had reacted the last time?

And it was because of these thoughts that she did not expect his next sentence at all.

"I would", his cheekbones became light pink, and Eloise was doing everything she could to hold in her smile, "I would live the radical life with you"

A few seconds of silence, and Theo continued his voice barely was whisper.

"If you were fine with it, I would court you, you know", he hesitated, but continued, "I know you aren't comfortable with romance and love, and if you tell me to stop right now, I'll stop"

Eloise wanted everything except for him to stop, "Don't"

Hope lit up his eyes as his gaze met hers and he kept talking, "Until you came into my life, my only opinion of the ton was that they're uppish, unempathetic and selfish. I wanted nothing to do with any of them"

Eloise laughed, "Yes, it was evident with how you reacted the first time you saw me"

Theo winced, "Yeah, let's not bring that up. Point is, when I despise the concept of classes and the obvious powerlessness I will feel as a part of this ton, why do you think I took Lady Danbury's offer?"

Eloise's lips curved upwards, her cheeks turning red, which had a smile blossoming on Theo's face as well.

"For you, I came for you, because your constant talking and crazy ideas and rebellious personality have made me fall in love with you, and two years without you in my life has been horrible"

Eloise's smile burst into a full-blown grin, though her eyes were suspiciously bright. Theo couldn't blame her, with tears pricking his own eyes.

"Well", Eloise dragged out the word, her tone childish, her happiness palpable, "Turns out you're in luck because despite you're mediocre writing skills, I love you too"

Theo laughed at her retort, "Very well, Miss Eloise, I suppose I have your permission to court you, then?"

"I think you will also require my brother's", Eloise directed his gaze to the brother who had been dancing, now standing at the edge of the floor, holding onto his wife, but for some reason looking at them.

Theo tilted his head towards her, "I do believe that to court you, your permission of more important than his"

Eloise nodded, bouncing on the balls of her feet with unbridled joy, "That it is. Now that we've got all the emotional stuff sorted, may we please go back to discussing Wollstonecraft's various wonderful arguments"

"You started the emotional stuff, though"

"And you just gave that gods-damned speech about loving me"

"You loved it, don't lie"

And so, for the rest of the night, though neither of them got on the dance floor once, they too danced to a tune only the two of them could hear.

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

The next morning, Viscountess Kathani Bridgerton was helping her husband with the ledgers, when a footman entered the room saying a man named Theo Sharpe required an audience with her husband.

The Viscount and Viscountess exchanged a grin, and Anthony left the room, a second after which her mother-in-law entered.

"There's a man calling on Eloise?", Violet asked, her surprise written in her wide eyes, "No, even that is fine. But she seems overjoyed about it?"

Kate beckoned her forward with a conspirator's grin, "I do believe you are yet to hear the events of last night's ball"

A few minutes later, once all the information had been transferred from the current viscountess to the former, Anthony walked in and informed his mother, "I believe you have some chaperoning to do"

After spending a mere five minutes chaperoning Eloise and Theo, Violet started planning the wedding breakfast.

They already acted like a married couple, it wouldn't be long until her planning was put to use.

Violet chuckled under her breath. Yes, she was being a bit dramatic but-

What is life without a little chaos?

Thank you for reading this far <3

(Part 2 if you all like it)

[creature-wizard]

The importance of separating belief from practice from economy when criticizing spirituality

I notice that a lot of people who want to criticize harmful expressions of spirituality often conflate the beliefs and practices of those spiritualities together, rather than separating them and asking themselves which one is harmful exactly, and why.

Sometimes, both practice and belief are harmful. For example, going on a highly restrictive detox diet because it will supposedly rid your body of toxins put into regular food by an evil conspiracy. There's no evidence that detox diets actually work as claimed (and if they seem to, it may be that you actually have a food allergy or intolerance, and you feel better because you happen to be cutting out that food for awhile), and they can actually be very harmful. Meanwhile, this sort of conspiratorial worldview has roots in old antisemitic conspiracy theories used to justify violence against Jews in the past, and today, justify queerphobia and ableism by way of suggesting that an evil conspiracy is putting chemicals in our food and water that turn kids gay, transgender, or give them ADHD, autism, or whathveyou.

But other times, it's not quite so simple. For example, let's look at modes of faith healing that hold that you should eschew evidence-based medicine in favor of praying and getting right with God. Meanwhile, studies show that people who rely on faith healing don't exactly have a great recovery rate. Many children have died from treatable diseases because their parents were taught that sickness was a test of faith and God would damn them for seeking conventional medicine. (Can you even imagine how terrified of eternal damnation you'd have to be in order to watch your own child die in agony?)

If we look at most people who believe in prayer, we can see that most of them don't agree with this extreme position. Most people believe in prayer and evidence-based medicine. If anything, prayer gives many people a way to feel like they aren't just sitting around doing nothing while their loved ones are in the hospital, and that itself is arguably beneficial.

Now, if you personally have trauma connected to prayer, or just don't find any meaning or satisfaction in prayer, then it's fine if you don't want to do it. But that doesn't mean it's appropriate to tell everyone else that they shouldn't do it. When you do this, you're just using your own personal feelings as a moral compass, and as we know from observing the "thinking about gay sex grosses me out, therefore it's unnatural and against God's will" crowd, that's no way to go.

So how about beliefs and practices used to extort people? For example, energy healing services often come with steep price tags. But let's be real, so does evidence-based medicine in places like the US. This clearly does not mean people should just stop seeking evidence-based medicine. It does means that we drastically need to change the system, so healthcare is more accessible. Additionally, if there's one thing I've learned from researching alternative medicine, it's that practitioners are more likely to actually offer something for patients' complains, rather than telling them that it's all in their heads or that they need to lose weight. This doesn't mean that an exploitative alternative industry should be allowed to exist, of course. But it does mean that we need to understand how prejudice among doctors fuels it. Moreover, I think we can agree that someone who watches energy healing videos on free YouTube after they've done all they can from an evidence-based medicine standpoint, or offers free energy healing sessions to friends who are in the same boat, are not in the same category as scam victims and scammers.

So yeah, when you're out there criticizing harmful forms of spirituality and religion, remember to separate practice from belief from economy and examine each one separately and in terms of how they connect to each other and to larger issues, rather than putting it all on blast together.

[sarahowritesostucky]

Because I'm pretty sure I loved the movie Fresh(2022) way more than I was supposed to,

😅And because it's totally normal to have thoughts like this 🖤

Look, sometimes things don't always turn out the way that you thought they would, alright? That's just life. But as Steve so wisely observes: happiness lies in accepting that. You know?

So!

You're Steve's Captive/Basement Wife. He loves you and you love him, and he is going to give you a wonderful life full of expensive things, amazing sex - that gorgeous house - a family, exotic vacations, delicious cuisine, and even free plastic surgery (if that's your jam)--everything you could ever want!

There's just one catch: unless you want to lose it all and become meatballs for the next Russian Oligarch who orders the $40,000 spaghetti Bolognese via Steve's gourmet meal delivery service, you have to let Steve sample your flesh.

Like, literally, not in a sexy way. It'll totally be worth it though! 😅

Don't worry! Steve is an excellent surgeon. He can provide you with the best of the best, top of the line prosthetics and cosmetic reconstructive results. He'll take excellent care of you on his operating table, give you oodles of pain meds and dote on you during your recovery, AND he will enjoy the taste of you very very much. It'll fuel his fantasies and love for you forever more! (no second donations required.)

Vote and reblog this horrible lil' poll please! 🖤🖤🖤