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giuliafc · 4 years ago

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When Magic Fails - chapter 2

Read on A03 || FFN || Wattpad (links to chapter 1)

Summary: The Miraculous Cure can fix the damage caused by a specific akuma. But what happens when said damage comes after the Miraculous Cure? When the damage isn't caused by an akuma? Follow Marinette through the worst day of her life. The day where her identity, or Chat's, won't matter any more. The day when she will discover what's really important. But at what price? Lovesquare story.

Warning: VERY intense! Read previous chapter here on Tumblr

Betas: KhanOfAllOrcs, Agrestebug, Etoile-Lead-Sama, Speckleflower, AmberLambda, Anonymousfriend27 and MiniNoire

Big thanks to: Momo|MarinetteAgresteBrand and Genxha

Cover art and chapter art credit: Rosehealer02 on Deviantart.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc; TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

oOo

Chapter 2 - Code Polkadot

It was a race against time. His ring beeped when she passed the Ministère de la Santé, and her own Miraculous beeped in front of the ambassade des Pays-Bas. People watched in horror as she jumped and zipped across the road. She could see their stares, could hear their whispers. They were probably wondering what Ladybug was doing, holding Chat Noir and running madly across the road, both covered in blood, dust and rubble. She glared at anybody that came within a glaring distance.

“WHERE’S THE HOSPITAL?” she shouted at someone who had just stopped on a bike next to her. A familiar face, but her vision was so blurred by tears and sweat that she couldn’t quite make out who the person was. She shrugged off the idea. Four different hands pointed in the same direction, immediately followed by another dozen. She attempted a grateful smile, but was certain, from the frightened reactions of the people on the road, that she had barely managed to put up a painful grimace.

She jumped across in the direction shown and immediately saw her reflection glaring at her from the windows of the building in front of her. She didn’t even stop to consider what she looked like. The words on the building's windows said Hôpital Necker, but they also mentioned "University". She looked around to find the blue "H" that clearly marked a public hospital and saw it just a few metres away, at the side of a small marble arched gate, which led into a courtyard.

She landed in front of it and burst inside; her eyes scanned the courtyard until she saw at her left a door manning the sign “Accueil”. As she walked inside and looked around, she saw lines of metallic black seats. Mothers and children moved to give her space, as well as the people queuing and standing in front of the reception check in. She heard whispers around the room, mothers consoling their children who were asking what happened to Chat Noir. Why were there so many kids? All the patients had children with them; that was weird.

“I need a doctor, quickly!” she said bluntly at the woman sitting at the check in desk. To her disappointment the receptionist was on the phone, so taken with looking at the screen in front of her that she hadn’t even glanced in her direction. Marinette’s gaze quickly ran to Chat Noir’s face. The side of his head was covered in blood, which had mixed together with the dirt and the pieces of mortar in his hair and had made a sort of paste that had glued to his and even to her own suit. Her heart raced faster in her chest. She needed to hurry.

“Have you got your child’s carnet de santé and carte mutuelle, and your carte vitale please?” came from behind the green desk the voice of said receptionist, who stretched her left hand out to her, her eyes still focused on the screen in front of her, her ear still glued to the phone receiver.

Marinette gulped. Child? She looked around again. There were plenty of colourful drawings and cartoon characters embossed on the walls of the reception desk and pictures of children with many different types of illnesses.

Oh yes. Hôpital Necker, the child hospital. That’s right. She had heard of it in the news so many times, looking for donations for their research.

“He’s not my child…” she said. If the situation hadn’t been so serious she was sure Chat would have found it funny.

The middle aged brunette in front of her took her eyes off her screen, put a thick pair of glasses on and gave her a practised look of pure boredom before her brown eyes widened. “Excuse me ma’am,” she said to the person she was talking to on the phone. “I have an emergency here. You will need to redial.” She hung up and dropped the phone receiver.

“La… Ladybug? Oh Jesus… Chat Noir? What… This is a child’s hospital Ladybug… we have adult patients, but they...they’re not our speciality...” She started stammering and paled considerably.

Marinette felt a gush of anger spreading all over her gut as she admitted it, hastily, “I’m fifteen… and I expect him to be around my age. I don’t care if it’s a hospital for children, for aliens or for wild animals. He could die if we don’t act fast. He needs help. NOW.”

People all around started whispering.

“Fifteen?”

“Oh my God.”

“They are kids.”

“Only kids.”

“Maman is Chat Noir really younger than my big brother?”

“Sure.” The woman at the desk picked up the phone and pushed a couple of buttons on it. “Dr. Richter? Yes, Sylvie here at reception. We have an emergency. Oh you know already? Good… code polkadot you say? What is it, I’ve never heard of it. Ah okay... Cool. Yes, they know. They’re 15! Yes. I hear you, yes. Crazy! I’ll tell her. Leave it to me.” She stood and ran out of the accueil’s room; Marinette could only follow. “They’re already waiting for you in front of the SUSI (2).”

Marinette paled. “But I thought this was…” she muttered, but the woman interrupted her.

“Ladybug, you’re in the wrong place. This is the reception for booked appointments and routine visits. The SUSI is over there.” She pointed to the left. “You’re probably going to be faster than the bed. It’s the other side of that rooftop.”

Marinette gave her a grateful look and a nod. “Thank you… Sylvie?”

“Good luck, Ladybug,” she said smiling warmly. “You saved my boyfriend when he was akumatised. This is the least I can do.”

Marinette nodded again and held Chat firmly, jumping on the rooftop as fast as her legs could take her. She immediately saw that three men dressed in blue were waiting at the back entrance of the next building, near what looked like a gurney and an ambulance. She jumped off right beside them.

“We’ve been waiting for you, Ladybug. Nadja Chamack rang the hospital to warn us of your arrival. Please allow me to take him,” one of the nurses said, as he tried to take Chat from her arms.

She initially resisted, but then heard Chat’s ring giving a louder beep, so she gave in. “Please, we need to hurry. One minute and our transformations will fall,” she pleaded. The man’s gaze became stern. He held Chat firmly and moved steadily towards the gurney next to him. He carefully put Chat on it and quickly pushed the gurney inside the building, trying to move it hastily to the corridor leading to a door labelled ‘PU - Urgences’ (1).

A loud beep came from her earrings, and in a flash of pink, Marinette’s transformation fell as she sped next to the nurses, not even trying to hide her face from the crowd that had gathered all around her. Her gaze stayed firmly focused on Chat and on the nurses who were putting what she thought could be an oxygen mask on his mouth and nose, taking advantage of a moment when the gurney stopped because of the crowd. She didn’t even pay any attention to Tikki, who had come out of the earrings and had looked at her worryingly before flying into her purse.

“Ew, what’s that?”

“A giant bug maman!”

“Does Ladybug keep bugs in her purse?”

“WILL YOU ALL PLEASE GO FASTER? HIS SUIT HELPS HIM, BUT THIS COULD BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIS LIFE OR HIS DEATH! HE’S ONLY GOT A FEW MORE SECONDS TO SPARE!” She could swear that she saw a few flashes and tried to cover her face as best she could. Suddenly she felt someone’s arms wrap around her as a jacket was thrown over her head.

“There’s nothing else to see people, let the gurney pass!” a male voice said. She knew that voice… where had she heard that voice before?

They went through the doors of the PU and walked hastily a little longer until the gurney stopped and moved ninety degrees. The jacket was removed from her head as she heard the zipping sound of curtains being pulled all around them. A quick glance to her surroundings made her realise that they were in a sort of cubicle, protected from the view by a set of blue paper curtains, and the doctors and nurses were surrounding Chat, plugging different cables and machines all around him.

“Where do I plug the oximeter?” one of the nurses asked. She looked very young and a bit pale. She held a sort of peg in her hands, plugged into a machine and tried to attach it to one of Chat’s cat ears. “Nope. Does he have human ears?” She moved his hair at the side of his head and Marinette heard her sighing in relief as she attached the peg to something.

“What happened to him, how did he get hurt, Miss Ladybug?” she heard a doctor ask and she suddenly looked up, realising that the man was talking to her.

“Oh… he fell off the Eiffel Tower…” she started to say. Then she heard the last beep of her partner’s ring and in a flash of green his transformation fell. As Plagg twirled out of the ring and fell with a loud sob on top of Chat’s head, Marinette couldn’t stop her gaze from following the black kwami and running straight to the blond boy laying on the bed.

The plastic mask covered almost all his face, but even with that on, there was not a chance in hell that Marinette wouldn’t recognise his blond mane, now combed neatly to the side of his head and clean from the dirt, but not from the blood that plastered the side of his face. Pale; he was as pale as a ghost. She only caught a glimpse of his face before someone’s arms wrapped around her and held her tight. But that glimpse was enough.

No.

NO!

NOO! It couldn’t be...

“Gamin? Talk to me! Are you okay?” she heard Plagg say. Then, she saw something red dashing around the room, grabbing Plagg, oblivious of his objections, and disappearing behind the curtain. “Tikki, you don’t understand! I need to tell Pigtails! He’s been poi—” the little God of destruction whimpered as he was dragged away. She wasn't sure, but she thought she had seen tears at the corner of Plagg’s electric green eyes. Even her own eyes filled with tears, her chest shaken by loud sobs.

“Mar-Ladybug, it’s okay. He will be safe,” someone said, hugging her tight, but it sounded far away, like a whisper from a different time. "Marinette can you hear me? It's me, Luka," he added in a lower tone of voice. But all Marinette could hear were the sudden angry beeps of the machines in front of her, having gone mad the second Chat's transformation fell. A horde of doctors and nurses rushed to the gurney, busying themselves with plugging in more cables and hooking up strange machines to Chat's body and face.

“Sorry, Mlle. Ladybug, can you please wait over there? We need space!” Marinette heard the voice of one of the doctors say, and she felt Luka’s arms wrapping tighter around her as he tried to move her backwards.

She resisted sternly. That face. She had just given one quick glance to that face. She had to see it again, to see that it wasn’t the face she thought. She wriggled out of Luka’s hold and jerked towards the gurney, peeking around the doctors at work and trying to give another quick look, earning quite a few glares from a couple of nurses.

The neatly combed blond mane framed the handsome face of the boy she would recognise among thousands. As pale as a ghost. His once peachy lips now dry and blue under the transparent plastic mask. His beautiful green eyes closed. Why of all people did it have to be him?

She screamed.

"It's okay, Mar-Ladybug! He will be alright!" Luka's voice said again, his arms firmly wrapped around her shoulders to stop her from lunging straight to the bedside.

"ADRIEEEEN!!!" Her heart-wrenching screams came loud and clear in between the sobs that rocked her chest and lungs.

"Marinette? What… Adrien? Oh girl you must be kidding me! Mar… La-Ladybug?" This was Alya's voice. She heard Luka shushing her, and Alya’s eyes widened, as she corrected herself. What was Alya doing here?

Suddenly, a pair of extra arms wrapped around her from her left side. Another pair from the right, in a vice grip that kept her from going to him, that kept pushing her backwards.

A female voice spoke, the masked emotions trickling in through the tremble in her voice. “You can't go over there! You'll only get in the way of the doctors working on him! Stay here!”

“ADRIE—” A hand cupped over her mouth, barely able to muffle the sounds of heartbreak seeping out of her.

"Shhhhh! Do you want everyone to know, Ma-Ladybug?" It was Kagami's voice. She nearly didn’t recognise it, as the usually confident and blunt tone of the Japanese girl was missing completely. She sounded shaken and emotionally drained. Marinette darted her gaze around to notice that Alya was standing at her right and Kagami at her left, and they were both holding her tight, supporting Luka who held her from behind.

They were all there with her. She wondered when they arrived and how they knew where they were. Nadja probably had told them where she was heading, and they were allowed through the door of the PU before detransforming, Marinette thought, but the sight of Adrien being picked up carefully by one of the nurses and transferred into a hospital bed stopped the last of her rational thoughts from coming through. New sobs shook her chest, as new tears rolled off her cheeks. She buried her face in Alya's chest not even attempting to stop sobbing desperately.

Because Chat was Adrien. And Adrien could die. And it was her fault…

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Notes:

(1) PU - Pavillon des Urgences (A&E/ER)

(2) SUSI - Service d'Urgences et de Soins Intensifs (A&E/ER, Emergency and Intensive Care department)

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Author's Note:

Hi! *Keeps hiding*

I know, I know, this is probably the most catastrophic reveal ever. Please don't hate me!

I'll cut the fluff and get straight to the point. In the next instalment of "When Magic fails", “Secrets in the Open”:

— “We will need to put stitches on this cut at the side of his head.”

— “He has the right to choose how to live his own life!”

— “Chat Noir hasn’t just been injured. He’s been poisoned. And it’s not just an average poison. It’s extremely dangerous.”

I know, I'm cruel. If you want to kill m—, I mean, if you read this and you’re not part of our wonderful Discord server already, but you enjoy reading, writing and talking about Miraculous, please join our Discord server, Miraculous Fanworks (for people on FFN, discord dot gg slash mlfanworks). See you there soon, and see you soon here with the next chapters of this story. Won’t be too long. Promise!

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verdantspringcourtyard · 6 years ago

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Mini Gacha, Ibuki and Hanafuda Pass Events

Mini Gacha

(SP Miketsu Shrine, Shiranui Tea House, SP Kingyo Sea Shack)

This is a gacha, there’s no other way to explain it.

You collect pearls to pull once or 10 times for random items. These items are viewable on 24 shells, 6 of which you can choose what items to put on them, and they can even be refreshed every 24 hours. However, there is a special reward for clearing out all the boards; an icon frame + 100 coral for the 1st time you claim it and only 100 coral every time after. Coral can be exchanged for even more items.

How to get pearls:

Get 1 from clearing dailies

Get 1 from defeating Oumagatoki/Demon Encounter boss

Buy a pack (1 pearl + 10000 gold) for s-jade.

List of notable Board Items:

Random SSR shard

Random SSN shard

6* special kekkai/realm cards

Blue summon tickets

Purple summon ticket

Gold, exp, mitama/soul and awakening/evo buffs

Skin tickets

List of Exchange Items (plus their costs):

300 - Ame Onna skin

800 - Onsen Courtyard skin

300 - Animated icon frame

200 - Red Daruma icon frame

180 - “Spring Pine” icon frame

20 x99 - Gold Orochi scales

25 x99 - Demon Souls

1 x99999 - 2000 gold

The Great Onmyouji and Ibuki

Complete tasks for Ibuki, the cat from shikigami dispatch, to unlock rewards. Sounds simple, but it’s a tiny bit more complicated than that. So what it actually is; complete tasks > get bells > fill up a gauge with 10 bells to level up Ibuki’s fondness of you > unlock rewards every time that levels up.

There are two tabs of tasks. 10 “practice” tasks you can probably do while during your dailies. In the first event practice tasks could only be done 25 times, in later events this cap is removed. Then there are 7 weekly tasks of varying difficulties and can be before reset. If you can’t / don’t want to do certain regular tasks you can use 10 jade, for a max of 5 times per day, to refresh it for a new one. Completing 4 regular tasks will also reward you a blue summon ticket, you can receive this reward multiple times.

As for rewards they are 2 sets of them as well; a normal set of 15 items with one at every 2 levels, a special set of 30 items with one at every level and can only be unlocked after spending s-jade. After that’s unlocked you can purchase Ibuki packs which give 10 bells ie increase Ibuki’s fondness by 1 level.

Due to some odd translations in GL, “Break the Shield” = “Do Realm Raid” and “Mystery” = “Do a Mystery Summon”. In chinese and japanese these quest names make much more sense.

Examples of the weekly tasks (bold text will vary depending on difficulty):

Clear the 8th floor of True Orochi twice

Clear the 9th floor of this week’s skin dungeon challenge

Be in the top 15 for an Oumagatoki/Demon Encounter raid boss

Win 8 co-op PVP matches

Do 15 co-op bounties/wanted quests

Level up 5 6* mitama/souls up to level 15

Do 100 guild quests

Use up 400 stamina in 1 day (feeding pets and doing dispatch counts)

Get 10 SR shards in Demon Parade

Challenge 5 different Regional Oniou bosses

Obtain 35 6* mitama/souls

Beat Tako/Kraken, or the Enraged version, 6 times

KO 20 male shikigami in PVP

Win 3 PVP matches using Inugami

Upgrade 1 shikigami to 6* (excludes use of transfer ticket)

Obtain 5 friendship packs

Notable Rewards (normal):

Loading screen art

Random SSR shard

100+ jade

4* white daruma

50 Orochi scales

Blue summon tickets

Black daruma

Ibuki chat stickers

Notable Rewards (special, require s-jade to unlock):

Loading screen art

Icon frames

Animated version of Ibuki icon frame

500 jade

4* white daruma

50 Orochi scales and 50 gold orochi scales

8 Blue summon tickets

200000 gold

50 Skin tickets and 5 SP skin tickets

Black daruma

Hanafuda Pass

This is the exact same as the Ibuki events, but it replaces the dailies page and has some choosable rewards from a limited selection. To know what type of weekly tasks there are, please refer to Ibuki section above. There will also be a set of monthly tasks.

In the weekly tasks there’ll be one special task relating to Ichikimoku Ren. The tasks are:

Clue: “Want to become stronger for him” Requirement: Increase Mushishi’s grade by 1

Clue: “I’ll show you the power of the wind god” Requirement: Use Koroka 10 times

Clue: “Oh wind, protect my friends” Requirement: Have a friend use your SSR Ren once (or just put your SSR Ren up for co-op)

Clue: “No need to be afraid“ Requirement: Use SSR Ren 10 times

Clue: “Don’t worry, I’m here” Requirement: Place SSR Ren on your home page

(^ These are based of CN translations)

There are two s-jade packs that can be bought:

30 s-jade pack

Only unlocks the 2nd set of rewards

68 s-jade (discount) or 210 s-jade (full price) pack

Unlocks the 2nd set of rewards

Get 200 jade

Get animated version of the f2p frame

Immediately unlocks the first 10 levels of rewards

^ These are the prices on CN and JP, so it might not be same on other servers.

After reaching reward specific levels, 1/4 of a loading screen illust becomes unlocked. The new shiki skin for this event is unlocked at level 20 in the 2nd set of rewards. The last f2p reward is a 20% off coupon for the next Hanafuda Pass event.

*It is not possible to get all the items from the these events as f2p. Unfortunately, spending money is necessary.

#Onmyouji #Onmyoji #events

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newssplashy · 6 years ago

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Opinion: When camping comes with a skyline view

NEW YORK — It was opening weekend for glamping on Governors Island, and things were a bit rocky. First, there were the rocks. Thanks to weeks of alternating torrential rain and baking sun, the grass hadn’t come in, creating a lunar landscape around the tents.

But once the music stopped at 9:30 and the blazing sun dipped behind the Jersey City skyline, the magic began.

Thousands of lights in lower Manhattan twinkled like constellations, and the glowing green Statue of Liberty waved goodbye as hordes of wine-buzzed, pastel-clad revelers raced for the last ferry home.

The glampers were alone.

“The views are fantastic,” said Damon Willmott, a Park Sloper who had booked two tents for his family of four. “It’s great somebody’s done this in New York.” The Willmotts go camping often, but driving outside the city and packing up all that gear adds a level of difficulty and stress. After the eight-minute ferry ride to their campsite, they simply plopped down their bags, turned off their phones and played a game of Scrabble. Willmott smiled and nodded. “It felt good to disconnect.”

Joining the Willmotts at Collective Retreats on the island’s south end were scores of other campers in 37 tents ranging in price from $220 to $650 ($75 tents are available on Tuesday nights, and some tents go for as much as $850, depending on demand). Some were roasting marshmallows in the fire pit, some eating $120 prix fixe meals in the permanent Three Peaks lodge; others played beanbag toss.

As it grew later, glampers wandered off to bed (not sleeping bags, but actual beds), and their white tents lit up one by one, triangles incandescent against the dark harbor. The crowd was diverse: a family of eight from Pennsylvania whose matriarch had grown up on Governors Island as an Army brat; a lesbian couple both originally from New Jersey who had never camped before; another couple from Montreal. But most were from New York City.

“It’s a nice way to explore a part of the city you might not otherwise visit,” said Dawn Hood, a first-time camper from Inwood. “I’m always looking to get into something new.” Even if that something new is just plain nature.

There was birdsong in the air, and the gentle lapping of the waves, but there was no mistaking this for a camp in the Adirondacks. Every 15 minutes the Staten Island Ferry glided by, and airplanes descended steadily toward Newark Airport. It wasn’t perfect nature, but for Hood and the other glampers, it was enough to let them slip into a collective state of solitude.

Setting up camp on the edges of the city itself or just outside its limits, New Yorkers are seeking a way out. Looking to escape their screens, traffic, messed-up subways, their bosses and national politics, many are finding solace in a nearby tent or cabin.

According to a report by Kampgrounds of America, 2.6 million more U.S. households camped last year than in 2016. A major reason was to relieve stress. Nearly all millennials surveyed (93 percent) said they would like to try camping this year, many gravitating toward glamping.

New Yorkers are no different. Those who might never have camped five years ago are heading into the wild. But this time with ready-made tents with beds inside.

Hard-core campers may scoff at glamping (“glamour camping,” that is, or wimping, as it’s sometimes called), and even glamping outfitters dislike the term. But most people agree getting back to nature — no matter how comfortable — is better than not going at all. Recent studies in Finland show that walking as little as 20 minutes in the woods helps significantly reduce stress. Forest bathing, popular in Japan, has been known to reduce stress as well and has been catching on here and in other countries.

“Whatever’s going to help you commune with nature and have a great experience, I’m all for it,” said Kevin Rosenberg, who runs Gear to Go Outfitters, an online equipment-rental and guide service.

Rosenberg, who spent years in the military, has extensive survival training and employs veterans as guides, does not glamp. When he camps, he goes deep into the wilderness without an air mattress or a stove. But he doesn’t look down on the glampers.

“Protecting the environment is very important to me,” said Rosenberg, who once ran his company out of a Brooklyn storefront but now lives upstate. “The more people bond with nature, the more they want to protect it. Whatever form it takes, it’s fine with me as long as what they’re doing is responsible. You might as well be comfortable and enjoy it.”

A number of New York companies have recently emerged to make the trek into the outdoors as seamless as possible: Collective Retreats, Tentrr, Getaway and Terra Glamping all provide cushy accommodations to help a growing wave of indoorsy people become outdoorsy.

Tentrr, for instance, was created with the New York apartment dweller in mind. “The person who doesn’t want to bring equipment, wants an amazing outdoor experience but doesn’t really know where to go,” said Baxter Townsend, public relations director at the company.

Mike D’Agostino, a former investment banker who founded Tentrr three years ago after a series of disastrous personal camping trips, has it down to a science. Potential campers visit the website, note a series of preferences (for example: hike in, views, forest, fishing) and are matched with possible sites and hosts outside the city.

Each campsite — they’re all on private land — is equipped with a durable canvas tent on a raised platform with a memory foam mattress, a Brazilian hardwood table, a camp box for dry storage and benches. A camp toilet, Adirondack chairs, a fire ring, sun shower and 24/7 customer service are part of the package, which averages around $144 a night.

For D’Agostino, the lightning-bolt moment came on a weekend camping trip with his wife at Stokes State Forest in New Jersey, crowded together with dozens of other campers.

“We were literally across the car track from 40 people having a Wiccan full-moon party dressed in these white robes,” he said. At one point, a nude woman claiming to have seen a UFO ran through their campsite. “We thought, we have to get out of here.” They left early the next morning to head back to Manhattan and saw a beautiful farm on the side of the road. “I said to my wife, ‘Imagine if we could go camping there.’ ”

Cue the lightning bolt.

Tentrr has 500 campsites throughout the Northeast, many on struggling farms that can use the extra income. (The company takes a 20 percent commission on every campsite reserved.)

Nearly half those using the service have never been camping before, D’Agostino said. But even experienced campers have taken to Tentrr.

Kevin Simonson, a Brooklynite who runs a digital marketing firm, has hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and experienced his fair share of backcountry camping. His girlfriend, Katie Kapler, however, had never been camping, and Simonson didn’t want to scare her off.

“I looked at Tentrr as training wheels,” said Kapler, the founder of CourseHorse, an internet marketplace for classes. The couple have now used Tentrr three times — with their dog, Ollie, who had never been off leash before and has now encountered deer up close. “He was like, ‘What is this sensation? Oh, it’s freedom!'” Kapler said.

Even the most serious campers have to start somewhere. Growing up on Long Island, Gear to Go’s Rosenberg never hiked or camped — nor had anyone he knew. It wasn’t until he joined the ROTC that he slept under the stars for the first time.

His motto is never to sell anything to a camper that is unnecessary, like a $3 enamel camping mug with a new logo on it that sells for $20, or a “repurposed antique” hatchet with a freshly painted handle at double the price of a regular hatchet.

He said he finds it amusing that so many young men feel the need to take a hatchet camping. “I’ve never even carried a hatchet into the woods,” he said, laughing. “But God bless them.”

The cliché of the bearded urban lumberjack throwing hatchets in a bar instead of darts may come from a more ominous place than simple trendiness. Zach Denes, manager of Hatchet Outdoor Supply Co. in Brooklyn, said he believes the New York City camping bug is spreading thanks to President Donald Trump’s stance on national parks, his push for more mining and drilling and concessions to polluting corporations.

“I think it’s a backlash,” Denes said. “It’s becoming much more hip to camp, to hike, especially around here in Brooklyn. Our current administration is boosting that for everybody.”

There are plenty of camping options around the city. There is Terra Glamping, an upscale glamping company that’s not afraid to use the G-word.

It was one of two pilot glamping programs at Fort Tilden in the Rockaways and is one of several vendors submitting proposals to return next summer. The company is also considering glamping programs at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and at Coney Island. “We can set our tents up anywhere,” said Rebecca Martin, the company’s founder. Most are up in Kingston at the Hutton Brickyards on the Hudson, and start at $250 a night.

Amenities include memory foam mattresses, down comforters, lanterns, Turkish towels and robes, luxury bath products — and pastries in the morning.

“Personally I hate camping and getting in a sleeping bag on the ground,” Martin said.

Collective Governors Island, one of the higher-end glamping experiences in the area, offers private bathrooms as big as a Manhattan apartment, custom-made furniture, 1,500-thread-count sheets, housekeeping and three meals a day.

Camp Rockaway offered a no-frills glamping experience at Fort Tilden in Queens last autumn; it will be setting up a dozen tents this year in the courtyard of the art deco Riis Bathhouse in Rockaway through Halloween. Though prices at that site hover around $200 a night, the company is also applying for space at Fort Tilden again, to set up lower-end accommodations starting at $49.

“We’re trying to take the glam out of glamping,” said Kent Johnson, who runs the company. He said the big selling point was the communal campfire, where people from all walks of life can roast marshmallows and chat. “It’s really an antidote to cellphone addiction.”

Not all back-to-nature experiences have to do with spending time with other people. A couple of years ago, a Harvard Business School graduate named Jon Staff was growing weary of the internet startup life. He and his friend Pete Davis were seeking an escape from their hectic lives in Boston.

“We were tired of the city, tired of email, our friends, of everything,” said Staff, who now lives in Carroll Gardens. “We were burned out and wanted to go to the woods. We couldn’t afford a vacation far away and thought maybe we could build a tiny house and stick it in the woods where we could escape.” Having grown up in Minnesota, where small cabins are common, Staff didn’t think it was exactly a new concept. But the personal escape soon became his latest startup — Getaway.

The company builds modern-looking one-room cabins, typically around 160 square feet, with a lock box for cellphones, as well as a larder of basic provisions like pasta, sauce and popcorn. There’s also a list of things to do, like watch the constellations slowly turn. There’s a comfortable bed, a stove and running water, a fire pit and a few books to read.

All the houses have landlines for emergencies, but guests have used the phones in less desperate situations. “We would get all these calls,” Staff said. “'We got in the house. It’s beautiful. Can you please send someone over to make the campfire?'” So Getaway now provides step-by-step instructions for starting a fire.

Getaway has 75 tiny houses in the Northeast, outside New York, Boston and Washington. Staff said he got a letter recently from a woman who hated her job, whose husband hated his job, who said she cried a lot. Two days in the tiny house, she said, had helped them escape their worries.

“We’re not solving that problem, and we don’t pretend to,” Staff said. “But the idea is that you can literally pull the rip cord and go to the woods and not have to think about anything.”

At the moment there are 13 Getaway houses outside New York, all in the Catskills, but Staff is working on expanding. Last summer, Getaway took part in a pilot project at Staten Island’s Fort Wadsworth, setting up three houses that were all booked.

The National Park Service, which runs Fort Wadsworth, said it is expanding the offerings for campers to try to appeal to all kinds of visitors. The tiny Getaway houses were set up on USS North Carolina Road, at the foot of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, amid black locust trees, with beach access and a view of the harbor.

Offerings this coming summer might include tiny houses again, tents or glamping, said Emina Sendich, deputy superintendent of Gateway National Recreation Area. “The public doesn’t realize what a gem this place is,” she said. On a recent visit, humans were joined by a possum, a woodpecker, deer and a woodchuck.

“I’ve spent the night down here, and you really do feel like you’re out there and you’re camping,” she said. “You’ve got the campfire going. You’re barbecuing. You’ve got your family with you.”

Fort Wadsworth is part of Gateway National Park, which also includes Fort Tilden, as well as Sandy Hook in New Jersey and Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Camping has been permitted at Fort Wadsworth since 2012, and regular campsites can be reserved for $30 a night. They attract international tourists looking for affordable travel options as well as first-time campers who grew up in New York City.

“We get lots of local people camping,” said Brian Feeney, the park’s Staten Island unit manager. “One woman said to me, ‘It’s my first time, so if it doesn’t work out I’m going home tonight.'” He smiled and shrugged, staring out at New York Harbor, the skyline in the distance. “You can’t do that at Yosemite.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

source https://www.newssplashy.com/2018/07/opinion-when-camping-comes-with-skyline.html

#News

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grandeurparkcondo-blog · 6 years ago

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A residential land

A residential land parcel near Tanah Merah MRT station at New Upper Changi Road/ Bedok South Avenue 3 garnered a total 8 bids at the close of its public tender on Tuesday, 24 February 2016. The land parcel was triggered for sale from the Reserve List of the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme in January 2016. CEL Development, a subsidiary of Chip Eng Seng (CES) Corporation, topped the list with an offer of $419.38 million or $761 psf ppr, 0.8% above the next highest offer of $754 psf ppr submitted by Allgreen Properties. The top bid is 3.8% below the land sales price of its adjacent development, The Glades, which was awarded to Sherwood Development Pte Ltd, a joint venture between Keppel Land and China Vanke, in October 2012.

CES Corporation has proposed a full-condominium facilities development comprising of an estimated 720 residential units and a childcare centre for the 24,394 sqm residential land site in a public statement submitted to Singapore Exchange on Tuesday. 500 sqm of the maximum 51,228 sqm Gross Floor Area (GFA) will be allocated for the childcare centre. The latest condo slated for launch, Grandeur Park Residences, is located at the doorstep of Tanah Merah MRT. This project is developed by CEL Changi, which has a strong track record of private property developments in Singapore. The project has an expected TOP date of 2021.

Development details The site area, which is at the intersection between New Upper Changi Road and Bedok South Avenue 3, occupies 51,228 square metres which will be portioned out into 720 residential lots, 2 commercial shop units, and a childcare centre.

The last project that CEL Changi launched was High Park Residences, located at Fernvale Road. This project saw units being snapped up exceedingly quickly, with 1100 out of 1390 units sold during the first weekend. Given the great location of Grandeur Park Residences, CEL Changi is expecting this launch to do equally well – if not better.

Breakdown of units The average psf of Grandeur Park Residences is expected to be in the region of $1,381 – $1,523.

Site plan Stacks 15, 16, 21 and 22 are outward facing with the closest proximity to the road at New Upper Changi Road, which means that the units in these stacks will face more traffic noise. Refrain from stacks 5 – 11 as they are most likely to get disturbed by MRT noise. Stacks 43 and 44 is right at the car entrance, and will be affected by lights and car noise.

Also avoid stacks 4, 5, 43, 44, 45, 52 and 53, as units in these stacks will be hit the worst by the dreaded afternoon sun. Do note that stacks 51 and 52 are also nearest to the Substation and Bin Centre.

For closest proximity to Tanah Merah MRT, opt for stacks 15 – 17, which are nearest to the entrance to said MRT. A closer look within Grandeur Park Residences Grandeur Park Residences revolves around the theme ‘luxury’, and this is evident in the condominium’s all-rounded facilities, categorized into the building blocks of ‘body’, ‘mind’, and ‘soul’.

The ‘body’ facilities include an infinity pool, aerobic pool, aqua gym, outdoor gym, fitness studio, tennis court and more – this is where residents can get in their regular dose of exercise, and keep fit.

The ‘mind’ facilities, on the other hand, help residents to relax after a stressful workday. Facilities include an outdoor jacuzzi, sensory spa jet, water bed, day bed grove, sunning deck, yoga deck, Himalayan salt room, several floating and reading cabanas, and more.

Last but not least, the ‘soul’ facilities encompass a wide range of facilities where residents can dine at and relax in. This includes a picnic lawn, maze garden, forest courtyard, flower terrace, fireflies forest, and more.

A wider look around Grandeur Park Residences The biggest draw of Grandeur Park Residences is, undoubtedly, its stellar location. Tanah Merah MRT is 2 minutes away by foot, which means those who work in the CBD and commute by train will only spend 20 minutes on a one-way trip. Those who drive will also enjoy easy connectivity to the rest of Singapore via the Pan Island Expressway and East Coast Parkway.

As Bedok is a mature estate, there is no shortage of amenities nearby. Laguna National Country Club, Bedok Sports Centre, East Village, Changi City Point and Bedok Mall are all within five minutes’ drive, giving residents plenty of options when it comes to shopping, dining and entertainment.

Families with children will be pleased to note that there is a plethora of schools in the vicinity. St Anthony Canossian Primary, Temasek Primary, Bedok Green Primary and Anglican High School are all less than a kilometre away. Located slightly further but still within reach is Temasek Junior College, Temasek Polytechnic and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).

This post was first seen at: 99.co new launch review – Grandeur Park Residences

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tsgnorthwestarkansas · 7 years ago

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DECEMBER 2017: SCOUTED LOCAL HAPPENINGS

There are all kinds of fun festivities happening locally in December in Northwest Arkansas – check out a few of our SCOUTED favorites and remember to eat + shop + play local this holiday and everyday!

December 7

BENTONVILLE

N.A. Martin | It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Cocktails! | 4-7pm | 12.07.17

N.A. Martin | 207 Southeast A Street

Drop by for a glass of cheer, meet local fashion designer Nancy Martin and view the chic new collection (we love her cashmere wraps + capes and LBDs!). For giving back, get 10% off purchase with a donation of can or non perishable to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

FAYETTEVILLE

MASONS | Holiday Open House | 5-8pm | 12.07.17

Masons | 1350 East Joyce Blvd.

Celebrate the holidays, get all your shopping done and have some fun all under one roof at Masons (speaking of fun - we LOVE this glam Shortie Lounge Set by Chaser Brand)! Enjoy 20% off full price merchandise all evening with Botox specials offered by Swetnam Cosmetic Surgery (please RSVP to reserve spots for Botox specials) and a Soulsby Art Pop-up Shop plus wine and sweet treats!

MERTINS EYE & OPTICAL | (Spec)tacular Holiday Party | 5-7pm | 12.07.17

Mertins Eye & Optical | 640 North Garland, Suite 110

Shop. Sip. Save. + enjoy cocktails and good cheer! The entire Krewe Collection will be on display with special pricing at 20% off! (btw, we are currently loving the VALENCE frame in Matte Oyster with Krewe’s signature 24k Titanium!). Don’t miss the drawing to win a complete set of frames and lenses at the party! Local fav Freckled Hen Farmhouse tops off the evening with their one-of-a-kind ornaments, hot cocoa mix, marshmallows, mugs & more!

ROGERS

B.LUSH Holiday Open House | 5-8pm | 12.07.17

B.Lush Salon at Pinnacle | 5100 West Pauline Whitaker Pkwy., #108

So many special offerings throughout the evening (plus discounts all day and a big “Yay!” for Oribe!). We are super psyched that The Urban Tub will be on hand with their amazing locally made bath & body products (the perfect stocking stuffers!) plus the experts from Taylor Plastic Surgery will be offering awesome treatment package incentives. For giving back, B.Lush is accepting donations for the Rogers Animal Shelter.

VESTA’S ROGERS Holiday Open House | 5-8pm | 12.07.17

Vesta’s Rogers | 5100 West Pauline Whitaker Pkwy., #105

Santa will be in the store assisting his elves for all your wishlist wants! (Hint Hint: we want this fleur de lis cuff!) Enjoy snacks + “Vesta Tini’s”, grab bags for the first 16 people and lots of fun to be had!

BLAKEMAN’S Ladies Night | 5-7pm | 12.07.17

Blakeman’s Fine Jewelry | 3203 South Pinnacle Hills Pkwy

Stop in for champagne and a sneak peek of Blakeman’s special Open House Collections featuring Blakeman’s favorite designs + designers - be sure to register for a David Yurman giveaway! (Santa, we want this David Yurman classic cable bracelet stack in our stocking please!)

ROPA Annual Ladies Night | 5-7pm | 12.07.17

Ropa Boutique (located across from Blakeman’s) | 3201 Market St., #103

Especially during this holiday season, we love that Ropa Boutique reps some of our most fav designer brands (think Tory Burch boots and bags – currently on the top of our wish list!). Plus, enter to win a fabulous Ropa giveaway!

December 8

FAYETTEVILLE

BY REQUEST | Fur Remodel Event + Trunk Show | 10am - 5pm | 12.08.17

By Request | 24 East Meadow

Bring in your furs for remodeling or shop exclusive furs in store – By Request’s master furrier is taking appointments ONE DAY ONLY – call 479.442.7525 to schedule your one-on-one time!

December 9

FAYETTEVILLE

RIFF RAFF + FORK & CRUST PIE CO. | Pop-Up Shop | 12.09.17

Riffraff | 19 South Block Avenue

Everyone’s favorite pies (we are obsessed with Fork & Crust!), available in-store at Riffraff, just in time for the holidays! P.S. We can’t get enough of our current Fork & Crust fav, Salty Honey!!

December 14-17

UPTOWN FAYETTEVILLE APARTMENTS | Pop-Up Art Exhibit: Glow Float Drone

Uptown Fayetteville Apartments | 3959 North Steel Blvd.

GLOW FLOAT DRONE, The Art of Craig Colorusso: A Pop-Up Exhibit celebrates the debut of the permanent installation Sound Swings, a trio of swings that play a musical composition when activated by the motion of people swinging. CUBEMUSIC, a set of large aluminum cubes installed within the darkened Uptown lobby, will be on display December 15-17 from noon-7pm. The public is invited to an Opening Night Party on Thursday, December 14 at 7pm.

The exhibit also includes Sun Boxes, a collection of solar-powered boxes that each play part of a musical composition, which will be on display in the Uptown Courtyard on Saturday, December 16 from noon to 5pm.

Trailside Yoga will present a yoga class with CUBEMUSIC on Saturday, December 16 at 10am. The class is $15 and you can preregister here.

Sound Swings, a permanent installation created by Colorusso and fabricated by Modus Studio + Shop of Fayetteville, is open to the public each day during daylight hours.

December 19 - 21

Fayetteville

GARDEN LIVING Wreath Decorating Classes | 12.19.17-12.21.17 | 6-8pm

Garden Living | 160 East Joyce Blvd.

Garden Living will be hosting Wreath Decorating Classes to teach you great techniques for wreath making as well as composition and design. Participants will make a wreath using season greens and berries with the assistance of the GL crew. Cost is $65 (includes decorated wreath to take home!) and you can pre-register here. Bring your friends and we’ll have a good time and spread some holiday cheer!

#livelovelocal #thescoutguide #tsgnwarkansas #happenings #december #nwarkansas #local #fayettevillear #rogersar #bentonvillear #shoplocal #holidays #gifts #events #locallyowned #scouted

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fleckadventures · 7 years ago

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In Patient

I’ve been keeping quiet about the biggest and most intense project I’ve been working on here in Herbertpur. Over the past few months I’ve been designing a big new In-Patient department for the hospital, which will host about 100 hospital beds and include a new ICU.

The current In-Patient building was built in 1949 by Dr G. Lehmann, the founder of Herbertpur Christian Hospital. His story is quite amazing- he was originally an engineer, but after travelling to India (and being convinced by his wife), he completely retrained in medicine and became an ophthalmologist. He brought both skill sets when he founded the hospital, and several of the buildings around the campus are his handiwork.

However after almost 70 years of constant use, the original building had become completely worn out, and despite numerous renovations it wasn’t fit for use anymore. A couple of months ago demolition started, in order to clear the way for the new building. When the first few walls were coming down I discovered that the bricks the building was made from were all stamped with ‘GL’ for Geoffrey Lehmann- it turns out he established a small brick factory just next to the hospital in order to supply bricks for all the buildings!

The hospital have been planning to replace the building for 9 years now, and have struggled through an extremely long process of getting government approval. I’ve been frustrated back home waiting 4 or 5 months for planning permission, so 9 years must have taken some patience.

A rough design for the new building had been prepared already by an engineer, but after digging into it a bit I discovered a few issues, and after discussing it with the Infrastructure team and Doctors we decided to start again with a fresh approach. The new design focusses on three key things- maximising natural light, ventilation, and connectivity to the rest of the hospital.

The process has been intense - I spent days and days reading through mountains of regulations and building codes for hospitals in India, and held workshops and presentations with each hospital department- from cleaners to senior management. The ideas and comments gleaned from those discussions proved to be really valuable, and have informed loads of little details which will hopefully make the new building much better.

The three storey building is arranged around two planted courtyard areas, with outdoor balcony corridors providing access to all the wards and patient rooms. Everything will hopefully be nice and breezy and shaded throughout the intense summer months, and all of the patient rooms have windows on two sides to allow good cross ventilation. In a place which has a high prevalence of TB, this was particularly important.

There are a bunch of details which should make cleaning and maintenance easier too- a good damp proof course on each floor (which is a typical building failure here, especially during monsoon), ‘rat-trap’ brick walls which will keep the building more thermally comfortable without insulation (which is unfortunately unaffordable) and chamfered window sills which won’t get so dusty and grimy, to name a few.

We’re now at the point where we are just about ready to tender for a contractor, with just a few more days to wait on finalised information from structural engineers and electrical/mechanical consultants. Besides the usual drawings and schedules I’ve gone a step further with this project to put together a Bill of Quantities too- it’s not usually for the architect to do, and I’m no expert in them at all, but having it at the start will mean that there is way less financial risk, and the contractors can’t hide away big chunks of profit in their prices.

The way that buildings are often procured here seems really weird to me- basically contractors will just have a quick look at the plans and then submit a blanket rate/square foot for the building. There’s no break down, no transparency, and no way to calculate the cost of any adjustments or changes. In one way it’s attractive because it’s super easy for everyone, with minimal paperwork and hassle (until the bill is settled at the end anyway, when the contractor makes claims for everything that they ‘didn’t anticipate’ in their blanket price). Since this project is big, with a lot of details and a lot of money at stake, I’ve been pushing really hard to run it off a full Bill of Quantities, with everything itemised and clearly decided in advance.

Work will start on site in August now, after the worst of the monsoon passes. It’s a shame I won’t be around to see it go up, but I’m sure I’ll be on the other end of Skype and emails quite a bit over the coming year or so, helping out where I can. Hopefully we can stop by the hospital again in the future and see the new building in action!

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