#Has the scanner for your ticket on the wrong side

[conspiracyofcartographers]

I have never forgotten my third grade teacher (Ms. Stewart) who had a fit at me for ruining her seating chart. We were learning cursive and she made me feel so bad about myself for existing. She decided I absolutely had to be seated on the end of the row so that I wouldn't get in anybody's way while writing. I never hit anybody's elbow, I kept that shit tucked in, because the right handed people next to me always took up so much room (and this was a problem when we were printing, it didn't just suddenly start when we were learning cursive. I honestly do not understand this woman's logic). It was *my fault* for other student's having bad handwriting, she never considered that it might be difficult for me to write when the person next to me was using 3/4s of the space.

and my personal favorite:

i love getting validation as a lefty but also learning about new fun ways it continues to suck

[diamond-coral]

Bargaining Chip

Hello! This is my first time posting on Tumblr ever:) I pulled this one-shot from a fic I posted on AO3 a few months ago but the plot is irrelavent and I changed it from first person to second as well as some details so it can be read as a stand alone. There’s some plot from the actual story but you really don’t need to know it at all.

There might be a few errors, especially because I changed the entire point of view and converted it to present tense from past tense so sorry:) 

Loki manages to get his hands on you and exchanges you and your body for his ticket to independence from the Avengers. Bucky gets to go first.

Dark!Bucky Barnes x Reader

Characters included: Loki, and a little bit of Tony, Steve, and Thor

WARNINGS: 18+ ONLY!!! SMUT (NON-CON TOUCHING, FORCED ORAL SEX (m receiving), KNIFE THREATS, DARK! AVENGERS, BUCKY’S AN ASSHOLE IN THIS, DEGRADATION, BASICALLY FORCED PROSTITUTION) READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

You awake in the passenger seat of your own car with only foggy memories of you and your partner before everything had gone dark. Your mission from the CIA...breaking and entering the motherfucking Avenger’s facility and managing to escape...you were so close. If it weren’t for him. In your haze, you look to see who could possibly have the audacity to be driving your car, and there sits Loki, the God of Mischief, who you had only scene on the news, driving one hand and inspecting something in his other.

“Good evening my lady. Sleep well?” he mocks without taking his eyes off the item in his hand which upon further inspection from you looks to be... a red leash?

What the hell?

“I do hope you like your outfit,” he continues. “I think I assembled quite the get up for you.”

Looking down, you let out a muffled scream that was cut off by a strip of duct tape. Your hands are bound in your lap, but that isn’t what horrifies you. It’s what’s underneath them. You take into account your bare legs, fully on display, with a black dress leaving little to the imagination. The top half is just as horrifying with it’s plunging neckline. Your legs end with a pair of strappy gold heels that ensures any chances of running away to be futile while your upper arms are adorned in golden bracelets accented with emeralds. Whether the emeralds were real or fake, you could care less. You have bigger problems to worry about.

“What the fuck?!”

Is what you try to say, but the gag only makes it come out as a mangled ball of muffled murmurs. Though the chuckle Loki lets out implies he understands your enraged speaking attempt.

“You, my dear, are going to be a bargaining chip. I heard about your little escapade at the Avenger’s facility last night. Impressive, I must say, but my brother and his little hero posse had been looking for you relentlessly after that. They are practically obsessed with catching the women that managed to break into their high security building.”

Loki takes a sharp turn into a parking garage, narrowly missing the wall. You squeal as your precious car runs over the curb.

“I forgot how much I hate mortal transportation devices. But Stark had to build this tower in the middle of New York to feed his ever-growing ego and now I’m the one that has to rely on a car to get me there,” he grumbles while pulling into a parking space. He takes a deep breath once the car is parked. “Now, I’m going to remove that gag out of your mouth, and if you scream, I will peel your skin off of your body in the slowest, most painful way imaginable. Understood?”

You nod frantically and he rips the tape off, extracting a whimper from your now stinging mouth. You open your mouth for him to take the wad of cloth out that was under the duct tape. As he extracts it, you snap your mouth shut in an attempt to bite him, but he’s quick to evade and grabs your jaw harshly.

“What did I say before?” he seethes. 

“You said not to scream. I didn’t scream. Now let go of my face.”

Loki roughly throughs your face to the side, letting go, and looks around the surroundings of the car, probably checking for any unwanted onlookers.

“Out of the car. Now,” he orders and you hastily oblige using your bound hands to open the door.

As you shut the door, you catch a glimpse of your own reflection and grimace. You look like a hooker. Aside from the skimpy outfit, your hair was pinned up and intertwined with gold strands. Your makeup is done as well. Sultry eye shadow and dark red lipstick.

“I didn’t know the God of Mischief was a makeup guru,” you jab.

He ignores you and harshly pushes you forward. “Walk.”

“Where’s my partner?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Loki replies. “She has other uses than the one I currently need you for.”

“And what use am I needed for?”

“I already told you. By the gods, you mortals are stupid. You are to be a bargaining chip, (Y/N).”

Your blood runs cold. “How do you know my name?” you ask.

“I know everything about you. Including your peculiar abilities.”

You stop dead in your tracks.

“Now, don’t worry,” he adds. “As amusing to me as it would be, I have no interest in enlightening the Avengers to your secret identity. As far as they will know, I am simply giving them the criminal that broke into their compound.”

“And what’s in it for you?” you ask as he guidesyou into an elevator.

After pushing a button, he goes to fix his dark green tie. “Clever girl now aren’t you?”

“Answer the question.”

“How about-no?” he muses and a soft ding resonates through the elevator.

The doors opened and, for a moment, you forget the predicament your in. Inside was the most beautiful penthouse you had ever seen. The opposite wall was made entirely out of glass allowing a view of the New York City night skyline. Everything little piece of furniture each looks as expensive as your car, but your focus becomes drawn to the minibar. The Avengers were all sitting there, laughing, and most were obviously drunk.

“Here James, try some of this,” Thor booms.

Bucky makes a face. “Why would I drink something from another planet meant for Gods?”

“Jeez Buck it’s the only thing that can get you and I drunk,” Steve slurs and claps Bucky on the shoulder. “It’s your birthday. Live it up a little.”

Bucky hesitates before grabbing the flask Thor offers him and throwing his head back, downing the flask in one go.

Loki seems to have enough of the party scene as he clears his throat to interrupt them.

“Gentlemen-”

Before Loki uttered another word all the Avengers clambered from their seats to grab their weapons, but their intoxicated state just makes it a comical sight. Captain America falls over in an attempt to reach for his shield below the table. Tony Stark’s iron man mask smacks him over the head as he fails to turn in time to catch it on his face. Sam Wilson chokes on his drink and falls backwards off his barstool in shock.

“I come bearing no ill tidings.” Loki spread his arms.

“Then why bother coming at all?” Thor growls, shifting his hammer to his right hand.

“I’ve come to make an offer.”

With that, Loki snatches your wrist and throws you towards him and the other men. You stumbled in you stilettos and let out a yelp as you land on the floor looking up at the 5 present Avengers: Thor, the Winter Soldier, Captain America, Iron Man, and the Falcon. They all look down on you with perplexed looks etched onto their faces.

“You guys have been so caught up and stressed about finding your security breaches that I was generous enough to do some finding myself,” Loki explains.

“And how do we know you didn’t just pluck some prostitute off the street?” Caps eyes rake up and down your body.

Loki scoffs. “Always the skeptic captain. Does this answer your question?” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a flash-drive.

Tony snatches it from his hands. “Jarvis, what’s on this drive?” he asks, holding the drive up to a scanner in the glasses he’s wearing.

“It appears to be the files you have been collecting the 2 vigilantes you have been tracking and-.”

“Okay thanks J!” Tony interrupts quickly before Jarvis could spill any more information. He proceeds to storm up to your cowering and kneeling form that hadn’t dared move and harshly grabs your jaw.

Jesus, what was with these men and your poor, bruised jaw?

“Why would you possibly need this information?” he asks calmly, but his eyes are feral. He studies you and his brows furrow. Did he manage to piece it all together that you were the alleged vigilante they had been hunting? He lets go of your jaw and throws you back on the floor. “What business do you have looking for them?”

Looking for them? You let out a sigh of relief.

“None of your business,” you spit.

“Anyways,” Loki continues, and the drive suddenly disintegrated in Tony’s hand while reappearing in Loki’s. “I will happily hand over this seemingly important information along with the girl for you to do with her as you please, but…” He pauses. “Only if you stop tracking my current whereabouts.”

“And why would we do that, Loki? You’re dangerous,” Steve notes.

“I was dangerous,” Loki interjects. “I have been a good boy haven’t I? I would like to lead a normal life without you imbeciles tailing my every move. If I slip, Thor here will know within the second if I’m involved with anyone wrong doings, won’t you brother dear?”

Thor grunts at that statement.

“Besides, Stark’s satellite can track any magical energy if I use it. Which I won’t.”

“Fine. Now hand over the drive,” Tony snaps and holds his hand out.

After Loki drops the small gadget into Tony’s hand, he hauls you up and spins you around to face him.

His voice is quiet and low. “Be glad I didn’t tell them about my plans for you friend. It would be a shame if they found out about her abilities...and yours.”

He spins you back around to face the 5 men whose eyes were now raking up and down your body. “Easy on the eyes isn’t she?” Loki mentions, hands falling on your waist making you squirm. “You know, I almost considered keeping her for myself. Her exotic beauty is that of a pleasure maiden on Asgard.” Your struggles are invigorated at his implications. “Enjoy your whore.” And with that, he gives you one final shove before vanishing.

It’s silent for half a minute before one of the men speak up.

“Alright who wants to take her for a spin?” Tony asks, clapping his hands together. “I vote the birthday boy gets first dibs. Huh, Buckaroo?”

You blanch at the idea. Were they really going to go through with what Loki wanted? What happened to the valiant heroes you saw on your screen?

“Wait Tony, you can’t be seriously considering Loki’s suggestion?” Sam Wilson sounds surprised.

Tony shrugs. “Why not, Birdie? It’s either this or high security prison and I don’t think she wants to rot in a cell.”

“She is standing right here and would rather rot in hell than do what Loki had in mind,” you hiss.

“Well it’s a good thing we weren’t asking for her opinion,” Tony says.

“Tony’s right, Sam,” Steve adds slowly. “We bust our asses out there. We deserve something nice.”

“Day after day we save this pathetic world, and no thanks are given. Just everyone saying what we did wrong. We should’ve left the world to fend for itself after they tried shoving those ridiculous accords down our throats,” Thor murmurs

Sam raises both of his hands up in defense. “Fine. Do what you want with her. I’m gonna head out.” And with that he leaves. Your heart sinks, watching the only glimmer of hope, your knight in shining armor, walk out the door. Your self-pity party is cut short by an arm snaking around your waist.

Bucky Barnes, trained assassin, mass murderer, and now current Avenger, puts his face in the crook of your neck and inhales deeply, sending shivers down your spine while you stand frozen like a deer in headlights. “What do you say, doll? Wanna finish what we started the other night?” His hand on your waist slowly drifts down to your ass.

You stomp your heel down on his foot eliciting a groan of pain. “Last time I checked, you were in the dirt, and I was driving away that night after a successful robbery. There’s nothing to finish.”

He moves quickly as he rips your hair out of what’s securing it up, using the opportunity to tangle his hand into the roots and drag you away to a separate room. He wrenches open and throws you in, leaving you to stumble and trip. A searing pain on your forehead signaled that you hit your head.

“How about we use that snarky mouth of yours for something better hmm?” His voice is ice cold with malice as he grips your hair and yanks you up.

You cry out in pain, tears pooling in your eyes.

“Not so tough now, are you?” he sneers down at you. Hearing the sound of a belt unbuckling and pants unzipping, you shut your eyes.

A tear escapes, cascading down your face, but his thumb gently wipes it away.

“Open your eyes, doll,” he coos.

You shake your head and screw them shut even tighter.

“I said...OPEN YOUR FUCKING EYES!” he roars and your eyes fly open only to see his member sticking out of his slacks right in front of your face. He’s almost fully hard as precum dribbles out of the tip. “Good girl,” he praises. “Now, since you can’t seem to keep your snarky mouth shut, let’s put it to better use. How bout that?”

You don’t move, and he sighed as you look down to the floor. You hear some shuffling, a small click, and suddenly something cold and sharp is pressing under your chin, tilting your gaze to his steel blue eyes.

“Let’s try this again.” He pushes the knife harder, digging it a little deeper, but not enough to draw blood. A knife. This dirty bastard has a knife. “Suck. My. Cock.”

Pushing all your pride aside, you direct your gaze to the task in front of you. Bucky lets out an approving hum and the knife is removed from your throat. You swallow before opening your mouth and dragging your tongue from his base to the tip before wrapping your lips around him and sucking lightly.

Bucky was no slacker down there, you had to give him that. You ease your mouth down his shaft and his head tilts back.

“Oh fuck that’s it,” he moans. “Take my dick down your throat.” He grunts. His metal hand fists your hair to push your head down, sliding a few more inches into your throat. “Oh-that’s a good whore,” he breathes.

A gag is torn from you and you slap your hands against his thighs to imply you couldn’t take much more. Bucky’s only response is another grunt as he jams the rest of his length down your throat leaving your only intake of oxygen to come from your nose which was now mashed right above the base of his thick cock. As quickly as he pushed you down before, he pulls you back off by your hair, letting you go to wretch, gasping for air and freedom. A strand of saliva still connects from his tip to my lips.

“I’m not done with you yet.” He snags your hair again. “Open wide, slut.”

You do just that and he begins to fuck your throat at his own pace, sliding his entire length down every time. Tears brim at your eyes, not just from the lack of oxygen, but the humiliation of the moment as well. The time passes much too slowly for your liking, minutes dragging on for eternity, before he begins to reach his climax.

“Fuck, I’m gonna cum.” His cock twitches in your mouth.He holds your head with both hands as he releases straight into your mouth, warm thick strands of his release coating the back of your throat. He pulls out  with a pop and smirks down at you. “Good little sluts swallow” he orders.

You glare up at him, making a show of not doing anything.

“Well?” he demands and raises a dark brow.

You spit his own climax onto his expensive shoes.

“Why you-!” He raises his hand, getting ready to send a smack to your face.

“Barnes!” A female voice comes from the doorway as the door flies open. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

There stood none other than the Black Widow.

[lizamango]

Finding You (Bucky Barnes x Reader) 3/?

 A/N: Hey everyone, sorry this took so long!! This chapter was kinda hard to write, I felt like there wasn’t much that I could add but I did my best! I wanna get to Bucky as much as you all do! 😭😩

Summary: You’ve been one of SHIELD’s top spies for years but what happens when the organisation you’ve put your trust in crumbles and Captain America gives you a mission to help him find his best friend? The last thing you expected to happen was to fall in love with your assignment and become best friends with a witch.

Taglist ~ just comment if you wanna be added

@buckylokisimp​​, @white-wolf-buckaroo​​, @austynparksandpizza, @markandlexies​

Word Count: 2098

​Masterlist

Chapter 1 ~ Chapter 2 ~

Warnings: none

Chapter Summary: You and Steve run from HYDRA

Chapter 3: TOMORROW ISN’T PROMISED TO ANYBODY

I enter a shopping mall where I buy a hoodie for myself and a jacket, glasses and a hat for Rogers using cash. I pass by JD sports and see some Supra Vaders I know the Captain will just love so I go in and grab a pair, and get a pair of Nike Dunk Sky His for myself. I leave and meet him where he waits, away from any crowds and we put on our simple yet effective disguises.

“First rule of going on the run, is don’t run. Walk,” I say, recalling my operations training.

“If I run in these shoes they’re gonna fall off.”

I smirk. “Sorry, thought you’d be bigger.”

Ignoring my innuendo, Steve huffs. “They’re ridiculous, why can’t I lace them up?”

“It’s a fashion statement.” I glance at a map as we pass by. “Apple store’s upstairs.” We ride the escalator and enter the store.

Finding an empty laptop, I get to work. “The drive has a Level 6 homing program so as soon as we boot up, SHIELD will know exactly where we are.”

“How much time will we have?” he asks, surveying the area not so subtly.

“About 9 minutes from…” I insert the drive. “now.” I enter the coding commands to unlock the intel but something inverts each one… now comes in my training from the Academy of Science and Technology. “Fury was right about that ship. Somebody’s trying to hide something.” As I look through the coding script my inputs are rewritten to counter the commands. “This drive is protected by some sort of AI.”

“Like Stark’s robot voice? Can you override it?”

I raise a brow as I type away. “The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly. I’m gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can’t read the file, maybe we can find out its origin.” The map tracks a location and pinpoints it as we are approached by a store employee.

“Can I help you guys with anything?”

I react quickly and give him my best charming smile. “Oh, no. My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations,” I giggle, placing my hands on Rogers’ shoulders.

“Right,” he adds awkwardly. “We’re gettin’ married.”

“Congratulations! Where are you guys thinkin’ about goin’?”

I go back to the laptop and the state has been pinpointed.

“New Jersey,” the Captain reads aloud.

“Huh,” the employee lets out, surprised. “I have the exact same glasses,” he says after a pause.

“Wow, you two are practically twins,” I remark as I type away.

“Yeah, I wish!” he chuckles. “Specimen. Uh, if you guys need anything… I’ve been Aaron.”

“Thank you,” Rogers rushes out. “You said 9 minutes,” he checks his watch. “Come on.”

I shush him. “Relax… I’m working.” The screen reads Wheaton, New Jersey. “Done.” I look up at him and he has a frown on his face. “You know it?”

“I used to. Let’s go.” He pulls the hard drive out of the laptop and we walk out of the store. “Standard tac team. Two behind, two across,” he turns to face forward. “two comin’ straight at us. If they make us, I’ll engage, you hit the south escalator to the metro.”

As he speaks I roll my eyes, this guy was definitely not meant for the spy world. “Put your arm around me and laugh at something I said,” I say.

“What?” he sounds utterly confused.

“Do it.” I feel his arm rest on my shoulder and he gives the most awkward laugh I have ever heard come from a person. “See, Captain? No need to make such a scene.” We work our way to the escalator and I spot Rumlow on the escalator coming up. I turn to look up at Rogers. “Kiss me.”

“What?” he says again, flustered.

“Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable.”

“Yes they do!” he whispers.

I put my hand to the back of his neck and push him towards me so our lips meet and I feel his hand fall on my waist. I open my eyes and pull away slowly after enough time has passed.

“You still uncomfortable?” I ask turning and walking down the escalator.

“That’s not exactly a word I would use,” he murmurs and quiets down as we get to the parking lot.

“We could get bus tickets to New Jersey, think I’ve got enough cash for the trip,” I suggest.

“Keep a look out,” he says approaching a truck as I frown but do as he says. In no time I hear the start of an engine and whirl to look at him. “Come on, we don’t have all day,” he says smugly.

I get into the passenger’s side and he starts to drive to the Garden State.

“Can’t believe Captain America can steal cars…” I say striking up a conversation.

He chuckles. “Kind of a necessary skill when you’re fighting a World War and you’re in enemy territory.”

I hum and he glances at me. “And it’s not stealing if we give it back so get your feet off the dash.”

“Bossy,” I remark but do as he says. “I like that,”

There’s a pink tint to his cheeks and his jaw clenches but he doesn’t say anything.

“So I have a question for you…” I start with a raised brow. “But you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, although no answer is an answer in itself so-“

“Get to it, L/N,” he interrupts authoritatively.

“Was that your first kiss since 1945?” I smirk.

“That bad, huh?”

“I didn’t say that!” I laugh.

“Well it kinda sounds like that’s what you’re saying.”

“I was just… wondering if you’ve had practice… since going… into the ice,” for a super secret agent, that answer lacked finesse. “It’s just, I don’t know how you did it in 1945 but guys normally move their mouths for a long kiss like that,” I shrug.

“I don’t need practice.”

“Everyone needs practice.”

“It was not my first kiss since 1945. I’m 95, not dead.”

“Oh?” I say, curiosity piqued. “Who’s been kissing Captain America then?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Someone special?”

He chuckles. “It might come as a surprise to you but it’s hard to find someone with shared life experience,” he says sarcastically.

“That’s okay, you just make stuff up.”

“What, like you?” I know he doesn’t intend for it to sound mean so I shrug it off.

“Not everyone can handle the truth, can they? I wouldn’t mind a few white lies to keep something good going… and you don’t need shared life experience, right? Not really… there’s that whole opposites attract notion, after all.”

“But it’s good to have someone who understands what you’re going through, right?”

I shrug… sometimes not knowing is better. Safer. “Maybe. But in this occupation…” I sigh. “Well I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been in love.”

“You’ve – you never had someone?” Looks like I threw him for a loop.

Shaking my head I turn to look out my window at the trees we pass by. “I don’t hate love or anything… it’s just dangerous to love someone like… us. Isn’t it? They’d either get hurt by people we go after or… ya know, if we don’t come back… it hurts them too.”

“But tomorrow isn’t promised to anybody,” he reasons. “So why deprive yourself of something as great as love on the off chance you die?”

“Because it’s easier.”

“For who?”

“Why the interest Rogers? You wanna fill that spot? Play a little house? Imagine we don’t have to save the world from domestic terrorists?”

He hums at my decision to not answer the question. “No, that’s not what I need right now.”

“And what do you need?”

“Just…” he sighs. “a friend.”

Of course. “Well, there’s a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers…”

“Maybe we could start with not calling each other our last names?” he offers.

I smile. “Maybe.”

We arrive at the location the tracer indicated as the sun is setting.

Camp Lehigh is on a sign but it seems to be long abandoned.

“The file came from these coordinates,” I say as I pick the lock on the chained fence.

“So did I…” Steve says looking up at the sign in nostalgia. “This camp is where I was trained.”

“Change much?”

“A little…”

I wonder around, scanning the area for any thing to indicate a power source. “This is a dead end. Zero heat signatures, zero waves. Not even radio. Whoever created the file must have used a router to throw people off.” I tuck the scanner in my back pocket and the Captain looks up at me then shifts his gaze to behind me, frowning. “What is it?”

He starts walking and I follow. “Army regulations forbid storing munitions within 500 yards of the barracks. This building’s in the wrong place.” He breaks the lock with his shield and we enter as it leads us underground.

I turn on the lights and it reveals the insignia painted on the wall. “This was SHIELD. The early days, after it evolved from the Strategic Scientific Reserve,” I say, recognizing the outdated logo.

We wander around, finding a wall of three portraits. “The three founders.” He looks at me. “What? The history is one of the things they teach at the academies. Colonel Philips, Howard Stark and Margaret Carter.”

“There are academies?”

“Three. Very tough admission.”

Rogers spots something and looks closer. “If you’re already working in a secret office…” he pushes the shelves apart. “Why do you need to hide the elevator?”

Using my SHIELD issued code breaking device I type in the code for the elevator which takes us down even further to a room of computers, monitors and servers.

“This can’t be right… this equipment is ancient how could it be used to make the files?”

There was one place that looked like it came from this century and I decide to take a risk and plug in the usb drive. The servers whir and more lights come on.

“Initiate system?” a computerized voice says.

Yes, I type. “Creepy.” As we wait for the system to boot up I smirk. “Shall we play a game?” I laugh at myself. “It’s from a movie that was really pop-“

“I know,” he interrupts. “I saw it.”

A camera moves to Rogers and a voice recites his name and year of birth. Then it turns to me and does the same.

“Is this the AI that was blocking my commands back at the mall?” I say looking closer.

“I may not be the man I was back when the Captain took me in 1945 but I am.” A photo appears on one of the other screens.

“You know this… thing?”

“Arnim Zola was a German Scientist who worked for the Red Skull.”

“He’s been dead for years,” I add, remember something of the history lessons.

“First correction, I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive.” The robot voice recounts his end of life story and how he uploaded his consciousness into databanks.

“How did you get here?”

“By invitation.”

“It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value. Always thought they shoulda just locked them all up… we probably wouldn’t be in this mess if they did.”

“HYDRA would have died with the Red Skull.”

“Cut off one head… two more shall take its place,” I recite their mantra aloud.

“When history did not cooperate… history was changed.” A flurry of photos of the Winter Soldier in the back ground of significant political events appear on the screens.

“That’s impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you,” I say, moving closer.

“Accidents would happen.” News of Howard and Maria Stark’s car accident shows up next.

Rogers punches the screen as Zola provokes him.

Does that mean…? I don’t finish the thought as the mad scientist explains what the drive contains.

“What kind of algorithm? What does it do?” I ask.

The doors begin to close as Steve is too late to throw his shield. A beeping comes from my communicator, detecting something. “Steve, we got a bogey. Short range ballistic 30 seconds tops.”

“Who fired it?”

“SHIELD.” I pull out the drive and Steve pulls a grate from the floor. I jump in and he follows, putting the shield up above us as rubble rains down on us. He strains against the weight of it all and the debris settles.

💖💖

Thank you for reading!

I'll be gone until Monday again but I'll try to write on my phone!! I have literally never been so busy throughout this summer until now!

Chapter 4

[tinawritesstuff]

Andiamo a conoscere la famiglia

(Let’s meet the family) 

Pairing: Chris Evans/ Fisrt Person Reader

Wordcount: 4.7k 

Warnings: smut, NSFW, read under caution

Request: “Hello!! If you’re still taking requests I was wondering if you could write a one shot where the Chris evans and age gap reader go on vacation with her family for the first time and it’s just supa sweet maybe even a little smutty? Thanks a ton”  by the lovely and patient @bellamy-morley-blake​ 

A/N: This is my first CEvans OS and I don’t know what lead me to write the tittle in Italian, but oh well. Hope you enjoy it! Don’t forget to reblog and comment if you like it! 

CEvans taglist: @mrsnegan25​

When I agreed to be Chris Evans’ girlfriend, the thought of him meeting my family never really crossed my mind, considering that I never thought our relationship would go further than a couple of dates.

And I’ve never been more thankful for being wrong. We’ve been together for half a year now, and things have been wonderful. He’s the most passionate guy I’ve ever met, about his job, his hobbies, his family and now, me.

We met in Disneyworld, at Magic Kingdom to be more precise, and to say sparks flew instantly would be an understatement. I was traveling with my family and him with his, and we met on the line for one of the rides. He asked for my name and then we started talking, completely forgetting about our relatives and the line ahead and behind us. After that, we went to a couple of dates, inside and out the parks at Disney, and as they say, the rest is history.

Since the moment our first date started, I knew that Chris was the type that my parents would like for me, even though our age gap was kind of obvious. But that didn’t matter so much, specially to us.

The idea of spending the holidays with my parents was mine, and I was nervous about the outcome of it and how Chris would react. I happened to be wrong, again. My boyfriend was thrilled about the idea and was excited because he’d wanted to meet my relatives for a while. So, we decided to surprise them with a trip to the Bahamas. The idea was to departure, each of us, from the locations we were in (Chris and I from Boston, to L.A., and then to the Island; and my parents from my hometown), and we would all meet and check in at the hotel.

I close the zip of my bag and let out a big huff, because I’m finally done packing my clothes and necessaire with my “lady stuff” as Chris calls it. After days and days of procrastinating, the day of our flight finally arrived and my luggage wasn’t even half way made. So, I had to go full speed and get it all together a couple of hours before leaving.

Chris texts me, saying that he and his brother are on their way to pick me up to go to the airport. I reply back with a “Ok! Can’t wait!!!” and then finish packing the last necessities.

After some minutes, I don’t know exactly how many, my phone starts ringing and when I go to pick up, I see that it’s Chris. Who else, duh?

-          We’re here, baby! Do you need help with your bags?

 -          Uhm… I think I got it. But come up here to give me some kisses, I’ve missed you. – I pout and I hear him laugh.

 -          Okay, babe. I’m on my way up. – he hangs up and I keep packing stuff on my carry-on baggage: phone charger, earphones, passport, airplane tickets, etc.

 I hear a soft knock on the door, then it gets opened and Chris comes in with his childish smirk. I smile back at him and walk fast to his waiting open arms. When I reach him, I jump on him, wrapping my legs around his slim waist and my arms around his neck, and he holds me tight against him, putting one of his hands on my back and the other under my butt.

I grab his face with both my hands and bring him close to me, to seal our lips in a deep kiss. The last time we saw each other was ten days ago, and I can see that he missed me as much as I did him. When we break apart, he smiles at me and I peck his nose, then his cheekbones and finally go back to peck his pink and full lips. Gosh, how I’ve missed him.

-          I’m afraid that, if you keep this up, we won’t make it to the airport. – he says between pecks and I nod my head, but don’t let go of him.

He then puts me down, seeing that I have no intention of doing so, and grabs my face to give me one last full, deep kiss. We separate and he goes to grab my big bag, silently asking with a nod of his head if there’s anything else I need him to carry, to which I shake my head no and he nods again. I go grab my backpack and then we both take off, me closing and locking the door once we’re outside. We walk hand in hand down through the building I live in, till we reach the lift. Once inside it, we make small talk about his latest projects and my online classes. He talks a bit about A Starting Point, how the interviews have gone and how it has impacted to young population (me included, and I’m not even from the U.S). I feel so proud of him, he’s achieved a lot, after working so hard for it.

When we reach the first floor, the metal doors open and we walk to the reception of the building, where Albert (the doorman by the entrance) greets us and opens the door for us. When we step outside, I thank the kind man and we both walk to Chris’ car, where his brother Scott is waiting for us. My boyfriend opens the trunk to get my suitcase inside, and I open the back door to get into the car.

-          Hi sweets, how are you? – greets me Scott once I’m seated, with a big smile on his handsome face.

 -          Hello, handsome. I’m pretty well, how about you? – I smile back at him and lean forward to kiss his cheek.

-          Awesome. It’s been an amazing couple of weeks lately.

 -          That’s great, hon! Tell me more about it.

I pay high attention to him while Chris climbs on the passenger seat, and Scott tells me all about this new guy (Steve) he’s been seeing lately. I love how happy he is, he definitely deserves it. 

On our way to the airport, we share what each of us has been up to in the time we didn’t see one another, while Chris controls the music with his phone that is connected to the stereo via Bluetooth. “More than words” by Extreme sounds through the speakers and my boyfriend looks at me through the side mirror and smiles lightly at me, letting me know with that gesture that this song is dedicated to me, to us.

The thing is, we haven’t told each other the ‘L’ word yet and the worst part is that I don’t even know why. We love each other, we show the other that we feel that way, but expressing those words out loud has proven to be a difficult task. 

I smile back at him and lean forward to leave a peck on his shoulder, with the car seat between us. Scott keeps making small talk, and sometimes the three of us would sing whenever a classic song comes next. It takes us at least forty minutes to arrive to our destination, and when we do, we still have one more hour to do the check in and wait to board our flight. Chris and I go to the check in and dispatch area, where we hand the kind old lady our passports and tickets, and she does the procedure to send us, later, to the boarding waiting room. We say goodbye to Scott, with huge hugs and kisses from my part and a tight hug with a pat in the back from Chris, and we go to the security scanner to get ourselves checked. It only takes us around twenty minutes, and we are finally able to go to wait for our flight to be announced.

Some fans come to ask for pics with Chris, and he can’t refuse them. They stare at me weirdly, making me feel anxious in a way, because I’m not sure how to interpretate those looks. Are they mad? Are they judging me, or my relationship with Chris? We haven’t gone public yet, so I don’t really know what they could possibly be judging me for. So, I decide to let it go for now.

A voice in the speakers calls for the attendants of our flight to board, and that’s when he can finally come back to me. He gives me a sympathetic smile while I collect our stuff and I just wave it off. It’s not a big deal. 

After almost thirteen hours of flying and waiting (five hours from Boston to L.A, then three hours waiting for our next flight, and finally four more hours to Bahamas), we make it to the hotel around six in the morning, completely tired and with zero energy to do anything but sleep. We leave our bags next to a couch the room has, and I decide to go and take a quick shower to remove the airplane smell from my body. When I’m done, I get out of the bathroom with just a towel around my body and one holding my wet hair, and I spot Chris soundly snoring on the bed. I let out a little laugh and then proceed to get comfy in one of his shirts and one of my black thongs he loves so much. After that, I go lay down next to him until I can’t keep my eyes open anymore and fall deeply asleep.

The next day, I wake up tangled between Chris’ limbs and I let out a big yawn before circling my arms around his back, closing my eyes and kissing his naked shoulder. I feel him stir and then turning around to face me, leaving a trail of kisses from my face down to my neck and shoulders. He keeps pecking every inch of skin he can reach, until I open my eyes and smile lightly at him, and he smiles back at me, before leaning forward to leave a sweet kiss on my lips.

-          Good morning, pretty girl. – he mumbles against my cheek and leaves a peck there.

 -          Good morning, big guy. How’d you sleep?

 -          Mmm… your incessant snoring actually kept me up for a couple of minutes, but I’m getting used to it by now. – I reply coyly and he lets out a snort.

 -          Like a baby, considering I’ve finally got you all to myself. – he smiles again and I back at him. – How about you?

 -          You aren’t what they call a light sleeper either, my love. Have had your fair share of snores as well.

 -          And I’m sure you haven’t been able to sleep properly for it, specially tonight. 

We spend a couple of minutes there, laying in bed, sharing kisses and silent touches, showing to the other that we lounged for this moment, after being apart for so long. The clock marks ten past eleven in the morning, and we decide to get up and unpack our bags. Chris goes for a shower first, and then joins me to do the task in hand.

After some brunch, we head out of the room after I receive a text from my mom saying that they were settled in the hotel (same as ours) and that we should meet them at the lobby. Chris takes my hand, and I can feel him sweating with the tip of his fingers cold as ice, touching the skin of my own. I take our joined hands to my mouth and leave a little kiss on the back of his, letting him know that everything’s fine, and he turns to look at me and smiles nervously but his shoulders visibly relax.

When we reach the lobby, I can see my parents waving their arms at us, and I wave back at them with a big smile on my face. I’m so excited about this.

Chris and I walk hand in hand to them and when we are face to face, I jump to hug both my parents after months of not seeing them due to my job commitments. They hug me back, telling me how much they’ve missed me. When we break our group hug, I turn to my boyfriend and stretch my hand to him, beckoning to come closer to us. He does just that, but stays an arm length to greet them with a handshake (I suppose), except that my mom doesn’t let him and pulls him in a big hug, taking Chris by surprise.

-          I’m sorry, darling, but we’re huggers.

 -          It’s ok, ma’am. I am one myself, but didn’t want to cross any line.

 -          I’m starting to like you and I don’t even know your name, son. – my father smiles and pats Chris on the back, instead of going for a full bear hug like my mom did.

-          It’s Chris, sir. Chris Evans, a pleasure to finally meet you.

The day goes on pretty much that way. Chris and my parents engage into deep conversations about diverse topics, like politics, sports, even religion. Dad explains to him the importance of meritocracy to make a citizen evolve (according to his point of view, obviously) and Chris gives his opinion about that topic as well.

We enjoy some time in the hotel pool, my mom and I sunbathing while our men chat away in the bar, and when the sun starts to go down a bit we decide to go and sightsee around the island. First, each of us go to our respective rooms, to shower the chlorine off our bodies and get into comfortable clothes.

Once that’s done, we meet again at the lobby, where my parents arrived first (because my man and I took some extra time to do… some extra activities), and were talking with the receptionist, asking him where we can visit. He gives us some maps that show the nearest touristic area, somewhere we could reach walking, and we all thank him before leaving.

We go to a small village, where local markets are still open to the public, and we all go our ways to see and buy stuff if we feel like it. Chris and I walk with our fingers intertwined, me resting my cheek on his strong bicep and leaving little pecks every now and then. I feel the love I have for him radiating through my veins, after the success of this afternoon, all I want to do is be with him, show him how much I thank and love him for today and all the effort he put to make things easier.

-          Look, baby – he says signaling a stand with different handicrafts on a table, with a lovely smiling old lady standing behind it.

 I look around, and Chris leaves my side for a moment to go and check out some of the rest of the stands. A quartz stone necklace catches my attention and, after asking the kind lady, I grab it between my fingers.

-          Each of the rocks have different meanings, you know. – the woman says and I look back at her – The green one you’re holding now represents prosperity and wellness, and they all change according to the color. The purple one goes for spirituality and meditation, the blue one for calm force and relaxation, and the list goes on and on. – she smiles sweetly at me and I back at her. – Any of them caught your eye?

-          The green one, actually. If you had two of them, it would be amazing.

 She smiles again and leans down to reach for something under the table, to come back up with another necklace just like the one I’m holding in my hands. She puts them both inside a little paper bag and I hand her the money, then I thank her and go back to my boyfriend.

We continue our walk until the sun sets completely and we decide to grab some dinner before heading back to the hotel. After dinner, my parents decide to go to bed early because of the long flight and the hours of endless fun they had with us, calling it a night. But Chris and I opt to go to walk through the beach for some time. And that’s what we do.

The path is silent, but nice. We walk holding hands and suddenly I remember the two pieces of artisan jewelry I have inside my little purse, which makes me stop my walk and Chris to look at me confused.

-          I got something for, well, us. – I say with a smile handing the pendant to him. He looks at me with a confused but lovely smile – When you left be on that stand, I saw these necklaces and instantly fell in love. The nice lady said they have different meanings depending on the color.

 -          Well, what does the green one mean baby?

 -          It’s a symbol of prosperity and wellness, according to her. And I knew I had to get one for each of us. – I take a deep breath. Okay, here it goes. – Today was lovely, with my parents and everything, you made it so special and joyful. I’m so thankful for you, that I had to get you something to express that, so this is it. This is my wish for us, a commitment I decide to make to you, for this relationship to be as prosperous and strong as this solid piece. Because I love you, and all I want to do is grow this love with you next to me, supporting each other and working hard to make it work.

 I finish my little speech with a crack in my voice, tears accumulating in my eyes, but I couldn’t care less, because I’ve been dying to let him know that I love him with every piece of me, every fiber of muscle, every single part of me loves him like I never loved anyone before. When I look up at him, I see the same emotions radiating from his baby blues, and he wastes no time to grab my face between his soft hands and kisses me with all the adoration he has for me, that I know he has.

-          God, I can’t believe you’ve made me tear up like this. – he says when we break the kiss and we both chuckle – You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met, inside and out. Your words just made me fall in love even more deeply with you, and now I feel like an idiot for not expressing my feelings well enough. - He laughs in embarrassment – But the thing is, I love you with all of me, with every piece of mind and soul, in every way there’s possible, and I commit to you as well to make this love grow even more, and work for it through thick and thin. You’re my world, nugget.

Now I’m fully- ass crying. I hug him tightly, circling my arms around his strong shoulders, and he puts his around my back, lifting me and hiding his face in the space between my neck and shoulder. Chris leaves little pecks on the skin there, and finally moves his mouth to mine, sealing our love deal with a searing kiss. A kiss that holds every emotion we have and share, emotions we’ve been suppressing all this time. No more, though.

When we break apart, he asks me to put the pendant around his neck and he does the same with me, and with happy smiles on our faces we walk back to the hotel.

 We reach our roon and I can feel the change on the air. There’s tension, and Chris looks at me with a promise of a night full of showing me that he meant every word he said. I walk backwards, with Chris walking towards me, guiding me to the bed and making me fall on it when I reach it with the back of my knees. He crawls above me, placing both his hands on each side of my head, looking directly in my eyes. I smile at him, bringing one of my arms up to caress his bearded jaw, and he leans into my touch, leaving a little kiss on my hand right after.

Chris starts caressing my legs, from my ankles up to my thighs, leaving a path of goosebumps on my skin as he lifts my long skirt and rolls it up on my hips, leaving my covered crotch exposed to his starved sight. I let out a sigh when he blows a thin rush of air from his mouth, hitting my pussy directly, making me squirm because the contrast between the heat of my wet womanhood and his cold breath is evident and rushes a wave of pleasure through my body. He grabs both my legs with his big hands, opening me wide and exposing me even more to him, then goes and presses his nose right on my mound, inhaling deeply and closing his eyes while doing so.

-          You smell divine, doll. – he whispers and pecks my, still, covered mound.

 I let out an almost soundless whimper at that statement. His bed vocabulary is so vulgar, yet he makes it sound so erotic and sexy. He hooks his thumb and index finger around the waistband of my underwear and pulls it off, taking it to his nose and giving a little sniff that makes me close my eyes out of shyness. He can be so dirty, but oh so hot at the same time.

-          Open those beautiful eyes, pretty girl. I want you to look at me directly while I have this tasty dessert.

 I open my eyes, moving my body to be laying on my elbows and have a better angle to look at him, and he finally sweeps his tongue along my slit, teasing my clit with the tip once he reaches it. I look down at him, biting my lower lip and he goes back to the long strokes. Letting out a moan of protest at how slow he’s going, I grip the back of his head with one hand to make him go a little faster, deeper, harder; I don’t know, anything. Or at least I try.

-          Patience, my sweets. Marvelous things come to those who wait. – he says and licks up and down my opening a couple of times before pulling away

 Chris removes his polo shirt, exposing his tight chest muscles covered on all those sexy tattoos he has, and I find my mouth watering at the sight of his hot self. Then, he undoes his pants and pulls them down, along with his briefs, before coming back to be on top of me again.

-          I thought you wanted to taste me? – I pout and he smiles widely at me.

 -          I will, my lovely. Just wanted to get comfortable, don’t wanna mess up my pants with jizz, now do ya’? – his Boston accent comes out and I moan closing my eyes.

-          No, sir. We don’t want that – I answer in a small voice, biting my lip once again and batting my eyelashes at him because I know it drives him wild.

 He lets out a guttural groan at that and finally holds my legs, puts them on his shoulders to have better access, and dives in to eat from my wetness, like starved man. I yelp in surprise when I feel his mouth making out with my lower lips, adding his tongue to the mix, driving me completely crazy, and he wastes no time to flick my clit with the flexible muscle inside his mouth, then sucks it between his lips, making me mewl because he’s just so good.

 -          I swear you have the sweetest pussy I’ve ever tried, baby. So juicy, I could spend a lifetime eating you.

 Chris keeps his wonderful mouthy work, until he makes me cum the first time, adding his fingers to the process. It’s always like this: he makes sure I’m absolutely ready to take all of him, all of what he has to offer me, making me cum at least twice with his mouth only. I know I’m in for a really long night (but no one hears me complaining about it, oh no.).

The sensitivity in my core is too much, but he’s having none of it. He keeps lapping around my opening, then goes up and creates patterns with his tongue around my nub, drawing eights and different shapes to stimulate it. I grab a hold of the back of his head, making him immediately stop his movements and leave his tongue out, and I start grinding my wetness up and down his mouth, marking the rhythm and speed to my liking. I’m seconds away from coming, and he knows it because this is what I usually do when the pleasure his mouth gives me overwhelms my senses.

After a marvelous second orgasm, he climbs on top of me again, caressing my legs and pecking every inch of skin he reaches as he goes to my kiss my mouth. He places himself on his elbows, placing them on each side of my head, and with one delicate thrust he goes all in, getting a low and long moan from me and making me cling to him with all the sentiment and passion I feel for him.

-          Fuck, baby. You’re so goddamn tight, still can’t believe this little cunt takes all of me in.

He lets out a low groan after that, being so into dirty talk, he can’t keep himself from saying the nastiest things I’ve ever heard right in my ear, which adds more lust to the situation.

Chris’ thrusts are slow but hard, taking his time to let me feel all of him inside me, making me moan and arch my back to him. He moves his arms to hold me close and still, taking his hands down to grab my ass, all while he’s still pounding into me. I grab myself with a firm grip on his shoulders, kissing him passionately as he becomes more agitated and uncoordinated, meaning he’s close.

One of his hands travel to my mound, and it doesn’t take him long to find my sensitive bundle of nerves and he starts rubbing it in swift but decided circles to bring me close to my third climax.

-          C’mon, baby. Cum for me, I can feel your tight pussy clenching around me, I’m right there with you, let’s cum together.

 The intensity of his words, the flicks on my clit and the powerful thrusts of his pelvis inside my channel, are enough to bring me to the ectasis that has been boiling inside of my lower belly, making me moan and groan out his name. The sudden tightness around his cock are what makes him go still and let a growl out of his pink and bruised mouth, releasing all of him inside my womb.

Riding me through my orgasm and his, Chris slows the pace of his thrusts, until he pulls put completely and lays all his weight on top of me, not that I mind in the slightest. I kiss his temple a couple of times, while holding him close to me, and I feel him kissing my shoulders and neck. Once our breaths are settled and calm, he rolls over to his side of the bed, bringing me with him to lay y head on his chest and interwind our lower joints. 

-          Thank you for today, love. It was amazing – I whisper against his pec and kiss him there.

 -          I should be thanking you, baby. Your gift got me even softer and weaker for you, and I thought that wasn’t even possible – he chuckles and I with him.  

-          It’s just something for you to remember me when you’re away working. 

 -          I always carry you with me, my sweet girl. And I always will- he whispers and then closes his eyes – I love you so much, honey.

 -          I love you too, big guy – I close my eyes and let sleep wash over me.

 We fall asleep like this, together, holding each other in a mix of sweat, body fluids and a promise of always loving each other. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

[marvelmadam08]

The Captain & The Culprit (17)

After escaping from a Hydra lab you’ve been running and hiding since. Afraid of your abilities and your forgotten past, you keep away from people until The Avengers come and find you.

Summary: While the others are away you learn more about your history with Hydra.

Warnings: Facing an abuser, mentions of blood, abandonment.

You see a rainbow of lights surround you, then the night sky. Red Skull stands over you, shocked but pleased.

You see Zola injecting you with power from the tesseract, seeing Bucky being dragged through the snow, a bloody trail behind him.

Schmidt standing over you with the electric probes.

"813.... Ihr Vorgesetzter hat eine Bitte." Schmidt's voice echos in your head "Töte den Schuldigen” (Kill The Culprit.)

A sharp pain hits your head.

You jump up from your sleep, a few stray blue sparks linger in the room. You reach for Steve but he's not there. He and the others were on a quick search and rescue mission. They’d only been gone a few hours but it felt like days to you.

You pull your knees to your chest, wishing you hadn't been so distant with him over the whole Sharon issue right before he left. Considering you and Bruce were working behind his back to get your brain back to normal, an ex-girlfriend paled in comparison.

Because of the nightmare, you knew getting back to sleep anytime soon wasn't an option. Too many questions ran through your head now, and you fight the urge to go to the only one who can answer them.

In the corner of the room you see the doll you kept all those year, worn and slumped over on the shelf. Your resistance to stay in bed weakens when you find yourself getting up, slipping on your shoes and asking FRIDAY where the holding cells were.

*

*

Finding the holding cells wasn't a problem, hacking into the security codes was a bit more complicated when you had no idea what you were doing and there was a fingerprint scanner.

"Movies make it look so easy." You hold your hand over the scanner, the smoke takes over and opens the door for you to get in. "Maybe if you have powers, but that’s borderline cheating."

All the other cells were empty except for the one on the every end, Schmidt's cell. You slowly approached it, he was laying on the cot starring up at the ceiling. He sits up and smiles at you making your stomach churn.

He starts to speak, but no sound comes out. You look at the console next to the cell and see where his speaker has been shut off. As well as the button to send a shock to his ankle cuffs.

"Can you hear me?" You ask him, he nods "If you even attempt to try and control me, I press this button and light your ass up got it?"

He nods again, you turn the speaker up and keep your hand over the shock button.

"813, I knew it would only be a matter of time before you came to see me." He spoke "Where's your red, white and blue guard dog?"

"He's not your concern, and my name is not 813."

"You let them name you, like a stray animal." He twists his face in disgust

"Because electric shock is so much better." You keep your expression straight, a trick you learned from Natasha "You keep telling them you'll only talk to me, why?"

"I trust you 813. You're my oldest friend."

"We're not friends, Schmidt. You and your father held me against my will, turned me into a weapon and for what?"

"We made you stronger 813, imagine a helpless baby being abandoned on the side of the road. My father made sure you were stable, powerful, and ready for the impending war." Schmidt ranted "You, 813, were supposed to be Hydra's number one assassin. Our one way ticket to glory."

"What happened?"

"Captain America. The world's first superhero, he killed my father."

"Red Skull brought his death upon himself when he messed with the power of the tesseract." You quickly jumped to Steve's defense "No one can hold that kind of power."

Schmidt chuckled starting to get out of his cot, you move your finger closer to the button.

"You can." He whispered

"What do you mean? I've never truly seen it, let alone held the tesseract."

"Yes, you have, my father told me. You held it the day he found you, when he saw that you, a simple child, could touch a creation forged by the gods..." Schmidt was now at the glass "He knew you'd be the one to survive the experiments. He called you 813 because that was the day it happened, August 13th 1942."

"Is 1942 my last name? It's pretty, sounds Welsh." You return a smirk

"Now look at you, the Avengers new pet. And Captain America's personal concubine."

You slammed down on the button, Schmidt twitches when the jolts run through his body. He staggered back to the far side of the cell, leaning on the wall for support.

"I'm sorry, did that hurt?" You taunt him, releasing the button "If I was so perfect from the beginning, why did he need Erskine's serum?"

"Injecting you with energy from the tesseract, although it gave you more power, it was killing you from the inside. My father used Erskine's formula to stabilize what he did." Schmidt pants heavily "And once Erskine was rescued by the Americans, they started look for recruits to take out Hydra's newest assailant."

"Steve Rogers." You feel your chest tighten "He was brought in to kill me. So why didn't he?"

"Zola knew America's Golden Boy would never be able to harm a child, if anything he would try and save you. So we started the hypnosis process."

"Started?"

"Once the war was over, my father and the tesseract were gone, you and the other one were left behind in a research lab, until Zola came and got you in 1961."

"The other one? There was another Asgardian?"

"No, another assassin, The Winter Soldier."

"Bucky?"

You vaguely remember sitting in front of Bucky while he was in the cryo-chamber. People were running around, collecting things, you sat on the table stroking the hair on the doll. You sat there for sixteen years, alone, possibly afraid? Your only job was to protect him and yourself if someone were to take you by force. Hence the blood stains on you, and the doll, when Zola did eventually come back.

“Why are you telling me this?" You asked once you pulled yourself out of your own thoughts “Everyone one else had to practically pull teeth to get you to talk. Yet... here we are sharing secrets.”

“You need to remember that you will never be one of them. You’ll always be a product of Hydra and nothing else. 813, your purpose is to serve Hydra. And I fear what would happen to you if you ever let that slip your memory.”

A small but bone chilling shudder shook your body, and the dull pain returned to your head. “Who’s the Culprit?”

"I think that's enough talking for now 813." Schmidt sat back down on the cot. You pressed the button again, he writhes in the cot, screaming in pain.

"Tell me!"

"813.." his breathing was ragged "Enough."

"No." You press on the button again "Who's The Culprit? Who did I kill? Who did I hurt?"

"(Y/N), stand down!" Tony demands

You jumped away from cell and the console. Tony, fully armed in an ironsuit, marched over and turned off the speaker, while Schmidt twitched on the floor.

"How did you know I was down here?" You asked

"Backup security system. What were you thinking coming down here?"

"I- thought-"

"Trick question, you weren't thinking." He grabs you by the arm and drags you out into the hall "You still have that crap in your head, he could've used that to escape or worse."

"I had everything under control." You snatched away from him

"If you've been brainwashed you're never in control of the situation."

"I needed answers, and everyone says he'll only talk to me."

"Did you think maybe it was because he wanted to get you here as a trap? Do you realize you put not only yourself but the team at risk? And for what? To prove how tough you are?"

"To find out why I have these gaps in my memory, what the hell my purpose is."

Tony sighs. "Listen Miss Meadows, this isn't a game. You stay far away from the holding cells and away from Schmidt. Got it?"

"Fine." You huff "What are you even doing here? I thought you were on the rescue mission."

"I am. This is just a suit." The face of the helmet lifts to show an empty suit

"Oh good, I won't feel bad about this." You whip your hands out, blue smoke wraps around the suit, shutting it down.

By the time you get back to the room it's nearly sunrise, and you have several texts from Steve about missing you and saying he was sorry, and then one about Tony telling him to talk to you.

You fall back into the bed, eyes meeting the doll still sitting on the shelf. With just one look you feel the built up emotion you hadn't realized you were holding in. Anger for being treated as a long term science project by Hydra, guilt for being the main reason for Steve becoming Captain America, and dread for knowing you sat there waiting for the people who abused to come back and do it again.

You yelled out and tossed a pillow at the doll, knocking it down to the floor.

"Wanna talk about it?" Steve asks standing in the doorway

"Steve?" You sit up to look at him, he changed from his suit into civilian clothes.

"I know you're probably still mad at me."

"You're back." You jump up and run to him, wrapping your arms around his neck tightly, burying your face in his chest

"Or not?" He chuckled

"Happy birthday."

"Thanks doll." He kissed the top of your head and tried to pull away to look at your face but you kept your grip on him. "Everything okay?"

You shake your head, unable to speak. 

"What's wrong?" He asked "Tony said you wanted to talk."

"I have to tell you something, a few things, and you're not going to like it."

Taglist: @thestarvinghystericalandnaked @moisoverennyi-thestarlessone @classybai @crookedlyscreechingcycle @grey-junior @pocmarvelworks @sebbystanlover-vk @jovialcalzonepaperzine @marvelousbuckystark @emmaschhh @rainycollectionpizzasworld @floralandspice @tshollandlove @captainsthor @nerdypisces160 @kthasia

[crwn]

[024] kogami/makishima

The safe-house was in a busier district of the city than Shinya had been anticipating. 

Unforgiving concrete buildings stretched high on either side of the road, their cold gray outlines imposing and commanding. It was a late hour, but there was still traffic in this part of town, people finally heading home from a late shift of their Sibyl-assigned career. Shinya felt trapped here; very aware of the fact there was now a price on his head and a charge of treason to his name. Every person was a possible enemy and each street scanner a death sentence. Somehow despite this, he’d gotten here into the city without incident and with an almost dreamlike sensation of serenity as he found and procured what had once been his enemies vehicle after escaping the hyperoats field. 

Shinya cast a long look out the window, surveying foot traffic outside and managed to catch his own reflection in the glass. He looked as tired as he felt. Exhaustion had overtook him the moment he pulled that trigger, his three year pursuit finally coming to a close though he was fully aware of what grisly fate awaited him should he stop to rest because of that victory. There was no safe place for murderers. 

Outside there was a modest crowd of people milling by, their fatigued faces glowing in the pale illumination of their phones; the screens likely detailing the riots of only a few days prior. 

Or maybe not, Shinya mused as he exited the car and began making a hasty beeline for the numbered address indicated in the car’s GPS. It was unlikely after all that Sibyl would be advertising its failings and with that went any mention of a runaway— and armed— enforcer. Though even if he was incorrect on that assumption, he honestly doubted someone would actually recognize him. Poor facial recognition had become a thing of the present no matter how frightening that line of thought was and so true to his gamble, Shinya arrived to the safe house and entered without issue.

There was a small, niggling feeling at the back of his mind that told him this was all going too smoothly, that none of this should be so easy. Doing what he’d done and managing to get away with it so effortlessly sent a rolling wave of uneasiness through his conscious. But allowing himself to linger on that notion would do nothing but open the floodgates to a slew of things bothering Shinya at the moment so he mechanically pushed the observations aside and moved to gather up as many supplies as he risked to take. 

That task in itself proved itself difficult. He was numb and tired and every move he made felt like trying to do so underwater. Time had lost its significance as the minutes seemed to last hours and the edges of his vision had gone blurry as the pure adrenaline he’d been running on began to ebb away and leave a hollow feeling in his limbs. The past twenty-four hours seemed so surreal, like the scene from a nightmare he couldn’t force himself awake from. There’d been no relief leaving that field, no feeling of accomplishment or success. Only cold misery and the heavy weight of what he’d done now resting itself heavily upon his tired shoulders.

So when it happened the first time, passing the event off under the guise shot nerves and intense exhaustion had been easy enough.

He’d grabbed painkillers and bandages after locating the bathroom, and took the time to patch himself up. He’d sustained surprisingly little injury considering his last bout with his rival, but there was a fully stocked and extensive cabinet of various bandages, medications, and sutures to rifle through. The place was almost better supplied than any hospital that Shinya had ever been to; various pill bottles and kits neatly packed and organized by use.

Shinya snorted at that, finishing his task with minimal difficulty. “Many thanks.” He murmured darkly to the empty apartment, somehow coming up short with genuine thanks for the other man. It didn’t help that there was no shortage of useful items stocked throughout the apartment— preservable food stuffs in the kitchen (including some of his own personal favorites, he noted wryly), as well as an extensive and versatile weapons stash and even changes of clothing (even if there did happen to be a suspicious amount of items that seemed rather large for the thin frame of his counterpart). 

It was after he’d allowed himself the bare minimum of rest that he prepared himself to leave only to find himself slowing to a stop as he turned to face the extensive collection of novels on display. There was something bitter and unhappy that unfurled in his chest as Shinya’s gaze swept over the titles. He was standing in front of the treasured possessions of the arbitrator; no doubt each one of them meticulously acquired. Shinya was well aware of how difficult it was to come into ownership of paper books in this day and age and so despite his opinions of the criminal he felt a small flare of admiration for his rival at the dedication required to come into such a collection.

This all felt so wrong, and for a brief moment a dizzying bout of nausea bubbled through Shinya’s throat, his vision greying and blurring out. He was standing in the house of a dead man, one who he’d killed not a few hours before. He held bags stuffed full of things that weren’t his and in front of him sat rows of items that had clearly been loved and cared for.

“What’ve I done?” Shinya breathed out, the words slipping past his lips in a heartbeat. 

Silence answered him and with a long, heavy sigh Shinya reached out to take a copy of a book he had been reading just this morning— now to forever be left bookmarked on a nightstand across the city in Masaoka’s own safe house. 

“Well you’re a thief, for one thing.” A wry, deadpan voice suddenly cuts through the stagnant air and Shinya immediately and unceremoniously drops the book in his hand onto the floor with a loud clunk in response.

He whips around with wide eyes just in time to witness Shogo Makishima heaving an exaggerated sigh, golden eyes narrowed and fixed down on Franz Kafka’s Metamorphasis. 

For a long, drawn out moment that truly seems endless there is no sound or movement and for a very real second Shinya is entirely convinced that he truly is living out some twisted deities idea of a disgusting joke. Then the clock hand ticks and the moment passes and Shinya is reminded that he’s been awake for thirty-six hours and has the very real problems of both an overactive imagination and a heavy, unhappy conscious. 

He blinks slowly at Shogo, vaguely disturbed the other man hasn’t disappeared already before picking up Metamorphasis and turning back to the bookcase. Another thing to worry about when everything’s said and done and he’s hundreds of miles away from dominators and hurt colleagues. 

Shogo makes another soft sound of exasperation behind him before moving to lean up against the wall. He looks almost wistful, looking over the shelves with a quiet acceptance. “I wish I’d had more time to decide what to do with them.” He commented, watching as Shinya packed away more books. “Though at least they’ll be safe here.” 

Shinya grunts, hovering over an extensive collection of manga with mild amusement twitching at his eyebrow at the familiar smiling blue creature plastered across the cover.

“Leave those be.” Shogo protests, “I don’t trust you to keep precious things safe.”

“What’s yours is mine.” Shinya shoots back snidely, shooting a dirty look at Shogo and taking the first novel in the set. As soon as he speaks his mouth clamps shut and he frowns. Entertaining delusions… that seems to be the level he’s fallen to. 

He straightens abruptly, ignoring Shogo’s response to that and turns sharply on his heel to exit the safe house at a brusque speed that’s honestly embarrassing considering how he was he only one in the apartment. But he doesn’t look back, doesn’t even entertain the thought until he’s back in the car with locked doors and there’s no dead criminals in sight and it’s only then that he allows himself to acknowledge how badly his hands are shaking. 

—

The second time that it happens, there are no such readily available and easy excuses.

Shinya slept for a solid day and a half after boarding the first boat that would board him. The heavy lidded eyes of the man admitting passengers had barely blinked at him as Shinya offered a sizable bribe in lieu of a ticket. Other passengers seemed as haunted as him, and there had been no interactions as of yet with the other temporary inhabitants of the vessel. 

That sat fine with him, however as Shinya finally exited his room to stagger up onto the deck. His room was beginning to suffocate him. Every time he turned to catch his reflection in the mirror he’d only been able to see blood that wasn’t his coating his skin, every time he shut his eyes he saw the pleading desperation in Akane’s face and the utter and complete despair strewn onto Ginoza’s as he’d knelt over the mangled body of his father.

Entertaining those thoughts sent a heady sent a heady rise of nausea through his chest and Shinya almost choked on the fist that closed itself around his heart. He closed his eyes, falling heavily against the wall and forced his breathing to even, only vaguely registering that he’d closed his fist around the still smoldering cigarette in his grasp. Not yet, he reminded himself sternly, forcing his eyes open and his feet forward to the deck. Those were problems to deal with at a later time, mourning had no place in the frantic path of a fugitive. Not yet.

Finally reaching the deck, Shinya took a deep breath of the surrounding The air was heady with the scent of the open sea and land was all but invisible on every horizon as Shinya swept a long gaze over his surroundings. It was like nothing he’d ever seen before, Tokyo Bay not coming close to comparing to the miles and miles of open ocean ahead of him now. He took a long breath and slowly weaved his way over to an open section of railing to rest his elbows on the cool metal. 

“Impressive, isn’t it?” A sudden, familiar voice sighed next to him, cutting through the quiet calm like a lightening strike through a clear sky. “I’d never seen the ocean before— well, not like this anyway.”

Shinya sucks in a sharp gasp, erupting into a coughing fit in response and flinching back harshly from the abrupt appearance of Shogo at his side. “Fuck!” He gasps aloud, knuckles going white at his grip on the railing. Impossible, impossible, impossible… His mind chants helpfully at him as the thought briefly crosses his mind that he absolutely must be asleep still in his cabin because this—

“Easy now.” Shogo says, amusement curling his lips as he watches Shinya. He’s propped his chin up on his hand and is leaning far too comfortably against the railing. He looks so bright under the open light, pale hair sweeping in the breeze and golden eyes positively glowing and the sight makes something hurt in Shinya’s chest and a cold knot settle in his throat that is all but impossible to swallow around

So he sets his jaw and tears his gaze off of the other man with a difficulty he distinctly refuses to think about and forces himself to calm down and forget these tides of feelings he can’t afford to linger on right now.

Shogo doesn’t speak again after that but Shinya can still feel the presence at his side as he stares out to the horizon. There are no words he can conjure to try and explain the situation, explain the appearance of one Shogo Makishima at his side but it’s something he repeatedly tells himself to worry about later. Later when he can mourn the loss of his friends and family, later when he can find a purpose to all of this, to the path he’s forcibly carved for himself in this life. 

So he stands at the edge of a ship with the man he’d murdered, breathing the ocean air and telling himself that there’s a reason for everything.

—

The third time it happened is when it slowly began to dawn on Shinya that these aren’t something that can be explained away by wishful thinking and a stream of hastily made excuses. 

There’s a distinct accompanying anxiety that hits with this realization, paranoia settling in at the fringes of his nerves and pushing him right to the edge. Voices murmuring just within earshot, his own reflection caught in his peripheral of the mirror, any and all bumps in the night. Everything was an unknown, a possible hostile. There was no Sibyl to ensure the morality of the people around him, no scanners to catch the sinners before they made their moves. This was life without Big Brother in the hovering overhead and amid the liberation there was an uncertainty Shinya had yet to adjust too. 

He’d been moving constantly since the boat docked on the mainland. The possibility Sibyl would come after him was slim, but still probable and that simply wasn’t something Shinya could allow to happen. Having to face the friends and coworkers he’d left behind, living up to his empty words and broken promises… The very thought made his breath catch in his throat. He’d selfishly accomplished the goal that’d consumed every waking second of his life for the past three years, but at a heavy cost.

That particular passing thought made Shinya’s brow twitch as he struck up a cigarette on the balcony adjacent from the hotel room he’d been staying in the past few nights. The building itself in all honesty probably should no longer be a working place of business. Concrete foundation was flaking off from the base of the building and the very balcony Shinya stood on was deeply slanted with a railing that could probably be pushed off over the edge if he were to try. 

But it was pitifully cheap to stay here, and the few residents Shinya had come into contact with looked like they hadn’t been sober at anytime within the past few years. In a strange way he felt a kinship with that aspect of them— it’d been years since he felt like himself. Years since any other thoughts but those concerning vengeance had crossed his mind. Even now though, even hundreds of miles away from his rivals final resting place and weeks since their last breath Shinya’s every waking moment was spent consumed by Shogo Makishima.

Even after death it seemed the other man demanded Shinya’s full and total attention. 

Shinya sighed heavily, exhaling a long stream of smoke before flicking the cigarette to the ground and grinding it underfoot. Tomorrow would mark his return to the road, an ever bizarre feeling as he made decisions for himself again rather than follow the orders of others. The return of his independence was something Shinya couldn’t help but linger on, entertaining the thoughts of how pleased Shogo would be at his own personal growth since fleeing the country they both once called home. 

 The curling, sun-faded wallpaper was peeling along the seams inside the room and the strong musk of mildew seemed to cling at every surface from the thread bare carpet to the lumpy mattress. 

“You don’t seem very happy here.” Shogo’s voice filtered across the room from where he sat perched atop the tired desk in the corner. 

Shinya flinched as he stepped into the room, averting his eyes away from the other man and consciously reminded himself to uncurl his nails from biting into his palms. His throat closed and for a brief second he was convinced he was going to collapse. Seeing Shogo here and now, once again was like the final nail in the coffin containing all of his uncertainty and doubt and despair from everything he’d done in the past month. 

He didn’t answer Shogo, once again electing to ignore what was surely nothing more than a trick his sick mind was playing on him rather than entertain the notion. His few belongings were scattered about the room so he went about collecting them in an attempt to busy and distract himself from the other presence occupying the room. 

“Is freedom everything you’d hoped it’d be?” Shogo continued, judgement surprisingly absent from his tone. “I can’t imagine the transition is an easy one.” 

It’s not. Shinya wants to say, wants to shout at the other man. It’s not because you’re still here, because you’re the accumulation of everything I want to forget. 

An odd kind of silence settles in as Shinya continues roughly stuffing clothes and medicine and various foods into his backpack. It would never not be strange being so alone— minus the occasional and unannounced visits from a dead man. Ginoza had been within shouting distance Shinya’s entire life, the rest of his Division One family always at arms reach. 

“Do you want to go back?” Shogo asked quietly, an almost reverent quality to his voice. Like he was mentioning a secret the two of them had sworn to never speak of. 

“No.” Shinya answered harshly, berating himself quietly even as he did so. “No, I don’t want that.”

“No?”

Shinya finally turned, meeting a solemn golden gaze watching him with a focus that made Shinya’s heart ache in his chest. “No.” He echoed, unable to stop himself from openly staring at Shogo. 

There really must be some part of himself that held a masochistic edge for rendering the fine details of Shogo’s appearance so well. The prominent bow of his lips and the curling shadow his lashes cast over his cheekbones. The gentle sloping of his shoulders and the dip of his waist. Every bit as beautiful as he was in life but with none of the ambition— a lovely husk full to the brim with biting remarks and a melancholy air. It was Shogo Makishima without the malice and without the worldly scars and it was the cruelest image of the man Shinya could’ve possibly conceived. 

A smile twitched at Shogo’s lips before he cast a sweeping look around the hotel room, disapproval clearly flickering across his features. “You’re better than this.” He said, gesturing at the cracked ceiling. “You know that.” 

“Why would you think that?” Shinya asks, leaning against the footboard of the bed. “You don’t know anything about me, not really.” 

Shogo sighs at that, tearing his gaze away from the ceiling to meet Shinya’s gaze. “You also know that that’s not true.” He answers quietly. A pause before, “There’s no one here but me this time.”

Shinya swallows around the cold knot in his throat that ties at those words. “Yeah.”

Just Shogo, just his enemy and counterpart and all things opposite and similar to him. Just the man he’d left lying in a field of gold after making the most twisted and selfish choice of his life. “I think I’m losing it.” He admits to Shogo, dropping his gaze down to his hands to avoid seeing the other man’s reaction. Scarred, calloused, deep nail cuts into the soft skin of his palms— they told a story all on their own. Shinya wondered what story Shogo’s hands would’ve told. 

Shogo hums softly in understanding, considering. “I think you are too.” He finally says after a moment. “But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.” 

“And how’s that?”

“You’re changing.” Shogo answers simply. “Evolving. Becoming a person rather than a leashed, muzzled dog.” He offers Shinya a smile, “You’re you now, you know. Without the social pressures or threat of crime coefficients and hues— it’s you as you should’ve always been.” 

Shinya barks a harsh laugh, dragging a hand through his hair in something akin to defeat. “I don’t think I like that person.” He murmurs, “I don’t recognize him, I’m not proud of what he’s done.” 

There’s no response from the other man, only the spluttering hum of the air conditioner coming to life. By the time Shinya allowed himself to look up at the desk Shogo was long gone. 

— 

The fourth, fifth, sixth and twelfth times all bled into one another as time slowly passed. Shogo existing in the corner of Shinya’s eyes at all times. A never vanishing reminder of the life he’d once lived. 

“Are you happy?” Shogo whispered, the gold of his eyes bright from the reflection of the street lamp outside. He lay on the other side of the bed, shadowed in the dark of the room but still every bit the man Shinya both remembered and had come to recognize. 

Shinya reaches out, unable to stop himself, and watches as the tips of his fingers phase through the smooth skin of Shogo’s cheek with a sinking feeling in his chest as they do so.

I could’ve been. We could’ve been. I know this just as I always have and just as I always will. 

“I don’t know” He answers honestly, listening to the sound of his voice echo through the empty room.

[esthersnippe]

What it is like to be a level 6 security threat at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport

Ben Gurion has one of the most intense airport securities in the world. 

Forget the American TSA, or Cuba exit check—this is the most insane security checks in the world.

Now, I only found this out after going through it, and googling “What the fuck is up with Ben Gurion Airport’s security?” (I read one or two stories that were milder or on par than mine, and one or two that were much more intense.) 

Turns out that it actually a pretty well-known thing. 

Luckily, just by chance, I arrived at the airport 3 hours before my flight, and thank god— because the majority of that was going to be spent waiting, and being searched, waiting, and being questioned, and waiting to get through to my departure gate. (Plus a touch of feeling humiliated for good measure.) 

I arrived in the Arrivals Hall, and after a topsy-turvy wander about, I found the Departure Hall. 

I printed out my ticket and made my way to the carry-on security check.

There were three lines, I saw the one was moving at a decent pace. So I stood for a good 30 minutes only to get to the front, where the security agent asked me where my sticker was. 

I told her I had no idea what she was talking about. 

She told me I had to go back to the front of the Departures Hall and pass the first stage of security.

A little pissed at the confusing nature of this, I stalked out of the line, and searched for the “First Security Checkpoint”.

Finally, I found it (turns out there was a sign for “Security check for carryon-only passengers” that I had missed.) 

Security check for carryon-only passengers: Round One

There was no one in the line, so I automatically stood at the front of the line

 “Excuse ma’am, that is not the entrance.”

“Sorry?” 

“You have to go back and around to the entrance.” 

“I don’t understand what you are trying to tell me.” 

“You have to pass through that woman first,” 

He said this pointing to a woman 10-12 meters away. 

I rolled my eyes and walked to her. 

She glanced at my passport and ticket and waved me through. 

Security check for carryon-only passengers: Round Two

I went and stood back to where I had been standing a minute ago, and he waved me forward.  Three other people would make the same mistake of just rocking up to the front: he was just as short with all of them sending them to see the other lady first.

He asked me some of the standard fodder airport security questions like “Why are you travelling?” “How long did you stay?” “What do you do for work?” But then some stranger questions were mixed in.

“Do you speak Hebrew?”

“No.”

“None? Not even a few words?”

“No.”

“Not even a bit in school?”

Wtf.

“No.”

“Tell me what you were doing in Lebanon. Where did you go and who did you meet?”

I answered carefully and honestly.

“So, you were Couchsurfing. What were the first and last names of all your hosts?” “Did you meet their families?” “Friends?” “What do they do for work?” “He was in logistics? What kinds of things was he shipping?” “Did you have correspondence with them before you arrived in Beirut? “ “For how many weeks?” “Have you kept in contact with them while you were here?” “When was the last message you sent them?” “What was that message about?”

“Please tell me the first and last names of everyone you stayed with here in Israel.” “How long did you stay with each person?” “Where did they live?” “Did they give you any gifts?” “Are you still talking to them?” “Do you have a copy of the correspondence you had with them?”

He asked me if anyone had given me anything, or if I thought anyone might have put something in my bag, multiple times. I told him he was free to check—and he chuckled and said “That will happen later.” I immediately was filled with contempt for him.

Security check for carryon-only passengers: Round Three

He called his supervisor over, and they chatted for 3-4 minutes. He started to walk toward me, then turned around and walked back to her. Another 2-3 minute chat before he handed her my passport. She was a pleasant young woman who told me to stand in front of her on the other side of the desk. She asked me many of the same questions over again, repeating the question about whether I had been given anything twice.

Finally, she slapped a sticker on my passport. And I was told I could go. I waiting in the security line again for an additional 20 minutes.

Later, I would find out that the sticker was an assessment of my risk factor. 

1 and 2 are reserved for Israeli passport holders, 3 and 4 are seen as a mild risk, 5 is a high risk, and 6 is an extremely high risk.

When internationals fly alone out of Israel, they get a “6” or a “5��. This number is a sticker you get on your passport and bags that helps the Israeli airport security evaluate your level of Zionism. “1” is awesome, “6” is you’re fucked. 1 is reserved for white Jewish Israelis, 2 is for white Jewish non-Israelis and friendly internationals, 3 is a suspicious Israeli or international, 4 is sometimes given to non-white Israelis, 5 is for Arab Israelis or questionable internationals, and 6 is for Palestinians, Muslims, and hostile internationals. Hostile is defined as not Zionist or suspected of questioning Zionism. Anything above a 3 means interrogation. Of course these are my definitions based on the people I’ve talked to who’ve gotten one of the six. I don’t know what the official language they use says. -Lia Tarachansky (read her full article here.) 

Guess who got the sticker with the 6? 

Funny thing is that I didn’t feel hostile towards Israel in the slightest until this episode. 

You wait. And wait. And wait. 

When I finally got to the front of the carry on luggage and metal detector line, the security woman said: “You are in the wrong place. You need to go through the special security.” “What? Are you joking? I have literally been waiting for hour already to get through.” “Yes. Ok. Follow that woman there.” I followed her, and she took me to the packed line of about 40 people. “Are you kidding?” I have already been waiting an hour,” I huffed. But she didn’t reply, merely shooting a glance in my direction.

She led me to another two women, where I waited to have my name written on a clipboard. I asked what was going on, and she told me not to stress out, that someone would come for me soon. No one did. 

Streams of people went passed me in the line, and I had no idea what was going on.

And then you wait some more

“Come on. I have been waiting here for ages, can someone please explain what is going on?,” I complained 

“Yes, there are still 12 people ahead of you, but I will come to get you when it is time. That’s why you are standing here.” 

After a good 20 minutes, she told me to cut the line. The man who I was instructed to stand in front of got pissed, and tried to worm his way ahead of me. “Excuse me, sir. I was told to stand here.” I actually began to start feeling sick.

Finally, I got up to the front. Two security agents glanced at my passport, but no one talked to me. Finally, not seeing another option I just stuck my things into the X-ray scanner. A young security agent came up to me “Who are you with?”  “I don’t understand.” “Which agent are you with?” “What do you mean?” “You have to wait until one of the agents comes for you and your things.” He took my things out of the machine and put them back in front of me.  I stood there for 10 minutes, while people streamed past me.

I actually felt myself start to tremble with rage. This was absolutely ridiculous. I stopped one of the security agents and begged her to just explain to me what was going on. 

She brushed me off and told me I had to wait. 

Another 5 minutes, and 4 other people went ahead of me.

The Bag Check

Finally, a sour young women came up and without a greeting demanded I pack my things and follow her. We walked to another side of the security area. “Sit down over there.” She commanded.

She proceeded to empty every single thing out of my bag.

Every single thing out of my cosmetics bag. Every receipt. Flipped through all the pages of my books. Sent my laptop and iPhone away with another security agent. When she came across a pack of cigarettes, she demanded to know where my lighter was. “Probably in a pocket” I snapped back. 

“I don’t see it.” 

I was enraged, all my personal belonging, clothes, condoms, mascara, panties, books, and papers were spread out in front of her, and as if this wasn’t enough, she was now demanding a lighter. 

“Check my jacket” 

She pulled out all my bank and credit cards from my pockets, headphones, and opened up my lipgloss to check inside. 

Finally, she found it, and without a word, tossed it in the garbage.

Explosives Trace Detection (ETD) tests: Swabbing for drugs or bombs or who the fuck knows.

Then she started swabbing everything. 

Not a customary swipe—no, she swabbed every single piece of clothing, every pocket, every charger, my curling iron, my nightie. Checking each swab on her detector.

It took ages, and I felt a deep hate for her growing watching her finger and handle all my little things. 

“Follow me,” She said, “we need to do a body scan.” 

Another security agent came up, and they talked. 

Finally, she told me to take off my shoes. I guess just having my shoes taken was pretty lucky, in light of what I read online afterwards. 

In addition to being forced to undress for body searches, Arab passengers are often detained in secure rooms in the departure area at Ben Gudrion Airport before their flights and escorted on to planes by security staff in full view of other passengers. They may also have their hand luggage confiscated. -Jonathan Cook, “Israel's strip searches at airports 'illegal', Aljazeera

The body scan and multiple pat downs

 “Sit there and wait” she snapped—I was seriously losing my cool with this horrendous procedure and this woman in particular.

I waited another 10 minutes, barefoot, on the grungy security room floor. Feeling downright disgusted. 

“We need to scan you” she took me to a body scanner, where I was told to stand, “Open your legs wider.” she demanded, and I retorted “What the fuck. They are wider than the footprint-guides already.” I snapped. 

“Fine. Then lift up your arms and don’t put them down until I tell you to.” I stood there like a criminal getting a mug shot.

When I came out she patted down my arms and legs. 

Then we waited. She talked to someone on her radio, then told me I had to remove my necklace. 

I wanted to scream, but with dead eyes stared ahead as I carefully removed it. 

I went back into the machine and they scanned me a second time. 

When I came out, the colleague was back with my shoes, this time, she patted me down, spending extra time under my arms, on my back, and sleeves.

I went to grab my shoes, and the sour security agent said “Don’t touch those. Go back and sit down.”

I lost it with her tone, and said “You are acting in a disgusting way. I am just a traveller and don’t deserve to be treated like this.” 

She rolled her eyes at me and repeated that I needed to stay seated.

About 10 minutes later, the man came back with my laptop and mobile phone. They had an extensive conversation and she giggled. Oh. Hell. No. 

I was not going to sit there and watch this bullshit while they just made me wait.  I stood up and with contained rage “That’s enough. Are you done?” 

And she repeated that I was to sit down and wait. 

Losing all hope, I sat back down.

Finally, she said, “You can take your shoes.” 

I snatched them and pulled them on. I don’t even know how long I was sitting there because I didn’t have a mobile.

Finally, she had another quick word on her radio, and started to walk away. 

Over her shoulder, she said “We are done here. You can leave.” As I started to repack my bag, I thought “No we aren’t, you f*** b***.”

I asked to speak to the supervisor, and when she came she asked me specifically why I was upset, and what the security agent had done that was inappropriate. 

I explained about her tone, but more importantly that I felt I was being treated as a criminal which was unfounded and disgusting. 

All I had wanted to do was visit their nice country, and this had been such an awful experience that I wasn’t sure I would ever want to come back. 

She gave me an email address and asked me to share my experience. 

I thanked her, but felt tears burning in the back of my eyes. 

I felt so violated, so disrespected. I had done absolutely nothing wrong, and yet was being treated as if I was one second away from blowing up their whole damn airport. 

I grabbed my bag and left for my gate, promising myself I would never fly through Tel Aviv again.

Even hours after getting off the plane at my next destination, I still felt disgusted. Actually—I still do. It really changed my view of the Israeil state. 

My story here is not unique, many seasoned travellers have had similar accounts. I think it is important to share and read these, so that if you ever go to Israel, you know the risks. Read some of their stories and other articles here: 

What it means to go to Ben Gurion airport with an Arab friend

My Horrific Security Experience at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport (TLV)

Israel's strip searches at airports 'illegal'

Leaving Tel Aviv: My Experience Through Airport Security at Ben Gurion

Airport Security Woes – My Experience Leaving Israel

[sehunsmuabrows]

Superstar//Byun Baekhyun

Pairing: Baekhyun x Reader 

Genre: ???angst??? 

Word count: 2,222 

Summary: You haven’t been back home since your career took off and a huge breakup. After traveling around the world, you return home to see that your ex boyfriend has achieved his dreams. 

I guess this is part one, it was supposed to be a one shot but it got too complicated 

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV

You felt like hell trudging through the airport, hauling your heavy luggage with resentment. Your fifth cup of coffee only making you more on edge about the whole experience. Though you were partly glad knowing that this would be your last time traveling for a while. It had been years since you had been to your hometown, your parents made no effort to keep in contact with you as work got more demanding, other than to ask for money when they were tight on funds. So you decided that you didn’t need to go out of your way to spend time with them. The only reason you would have continued to visit home was no longer a part of the equation, so you dove into work without looking back.  

You finally arrived at the front of the airport, waiting for your ride to arrive at the front of the terminal. Your work friend, Areum, had promised to pick you up from the airport and let you stay at her place, seeing as you hadn’t found a place in Seoul yet. You perked up when you saw her bright red buggie roll to the curb in front of you. “Hey there Ms. Y/N, how was your flight?” Areum piped after getting out of her car and rushing to help you with your bags, energetic as ever. You tried to shake any sign of irritation or fatigue from your mannerisms as you replied smiling brightly at her,  “It was a little rough, but I get to fly business class and that’s always a treat”. You plopped into the front seat, groaning as if you had completely forgotten what it was like to sit in a chair.  

The ride to Areum’s apartment was quiet, as it was far too early in the morning to engage in a deep conversation. And as chatty as Areum is, she was aware that you were far too tired to entertain her. You watched out of the window as you passed the distantly familiar buildings. Seeing the city left an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach as you remembered the memories you made. All of the feelings and memories you had supressed while traveling the world started to drip back into your mind. Baekhyun’s smiling face reappeared in your mind as you thought of everything you left behind. You couldn’t help but think of your ex whenever you thought of seoul, and now you were here, completely and totally surrounded by it. You ran out of time to brood over your past when the car stopped in front of the apartment, it seemed like your body was running ahead of your mind as you glided through Areum’s apartment. She finally showed you to the room that you would be staying in and left you to unpack. As soon as she shut the door behind her, you collapsed onto the soft bed, falling asleep upon impact.

The next month or so was good and uneventful, you begun to a class at a nearby university and the pay was good, so you had no complaints. It wasn’t hard to find a new gig, as you had become well known for your sociology lectures and notorious among students for being a bit rigid. Your friendship with Areum had gotten stronger, you had even stopped referring to her as a “work friend”, and moved to considering her a regular friend. She had begun to try to get you to go to activities with her instead of just watching movies in her apartment, even trying to set you up with her guy friends. One day, she burst into your room with more energy than she had ever shown before, and that was saying something. She began thrashing around on the ground smiling and yelling words that you couldn’t quite make out. You didn’t have very much of a reaction to this type of behavior from her anymore, seeing as she has a tendency to get over excited. The happiness tantrum lasted about 5 minutes before she finally calmed down and explained what her episode was about. “I just got us tickets to see exo tomorrow! Front row and everything, my cousin gave them to me because she has a surgery that day, it’s sad but another man’s misfortune is another man’s miracle” she blurted out, jumping around like a madman. Seeing that you were overwhelmed by her enthusiasm, Areum stopped jumping and tried to level herself to your even temperament as she showed you the tickets.  

“First of all, you know that really isn’t my scene, screaming girls and loud bass isn’t really my ideal afternoon. Second of all, I have work.” You said, handing the tickets back to her. She huffed loudly, visibly frustrated by your refusal.

“I know you don’t really listen to music, but you have to get out there. It could help you with your lectures, it wouldn't hurt to loosen up just a little, don’t think I haven’t noticed how depressed you’ve been since you got here” She spit back, pushing the tickets back into your hand. “ Also, i checked your schedule and you don’t have any lectures or meetings that day, we’re going.” She said, leaving the room before you could say anything back. As usual, you were too exhausted to fight back and ended up following her plans. The rest of the night was spent planning outfits for the concert. Apparently, we needed to camp out at the venue several hours early so we decided to go for more comfortable clothing. Unfortunately you only owned business attire and pajamas, meaning you had to borrow Areum’s clothes. You ended up wearing baggy sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt with the word  “CHEN” on it, which you assumed must be the name of someone in the group. The clothes were too big, as areum was significantly taller than you. Areum was wearing an identical sweatshirt with the name “SUHO”, which she was showing of proudly in the morning of the concert.  

You arrived at the venue several hours in advance, quickly jumping in line behind a group of girls who seemed as if they had slept there. It took you almost an hour of awkward second glances from girls in the line to realize that many of  them were in your class at the University nearby. You felt both embarrassed and confused when you heard one of the girls in front of you whisper to her friend “Dude look, my sociology professor is a Jongdae stan”. Areum was extremely entertained upon hearing the not-so-quiet exchange, explaining that Jongdae was the real name of the man whose stage name you had stamped on your shirt.  

The hours passed by slowly, as the line got longer and longer, you got more and more anxious. You considered, that if there was this much excitement for a performance, then it must be worth it. By the time the venue started letting people in, your legs were aching, you were leaning onto Areum for support. However, in contrast to you, Areum didn’t seem to be tired at all, though she was on edge waiting for the ticket scanner to get to the two of you. Once you both passed through into the venue, she grabbed your arm and started to drag you to the merchandise line to get lightsticks and banners. You managed to make it to the station before a long line accumulated, just standing behind a couple other people. The girl directly in front of you was tall and muscular, blocking your view of the merchandise table completely. Areum was annoyed by this and asked her to move over to the side so she could browse. You could only see the back of her jersey, which read the single word that had haunted and tormented you for years, Byun Baekhyun. You were instantly stunned after reading the word, your mind raced so fast that you barely noticed the lightstick being stuck into your hand. You followed areum to your spot in front of the stage. You looked around, noticing for the first time that the same word was plastered everywhere in the arena. Girls wearing it proudly across their chests, waving it in the air like flag, and painted across their face. Your mind finally flooded with thoughts of him, the way he sung to you when you couldn't sleep, the way his face scrunched up when you tried to flirt with him, the way he bragged about you to his friends. Your love was strong and didn’t seem like anything could go wrong, until your career got more demanding and Baekhyun got closer to debut. You started spending less and less time with him, you started earning more money and he was only a trainee at an entertainment company, you started to get distant and he was feeling neglected. Which is why you couldn't even bring yourself to cry when you found your sister’s bra in his bedroom, and he had no explanation. You blamed yourself for the relationship crumbling, no matter what your friends or your own teaching curriculum told you about crumbling relationships, you always felt responsible. You never even found the strength to confront your sister about Baekhyun in person, it always ended up in a series of drunk emails.

Areum noticed your loss of focus and tried to see what was wrong, but the lights had already dimmed and the crowd was deafeningly loud, so you just shrugged her off, promising to explain after the concert. Music started to play loudly, your heart started to pound hard as you anticipated the group’s approach, you hoped that you were mistaken, and it was actually a different Byun Baekhyun, so that you wouldn’t have to watch your ex boyfriend live out his glorious dream from the front row. It wasn't like the score was even either, showing up to your ex girlfriends lecture about class conflict and inequalities would be alot less dramatic than this.

The music got louder, as did the screams, when 9 men emerged from the bottom of the stage, swiftly beginning their first song. All hope was gone when the first line was sung, you would recognize his voice anywhere. The silky sound of his voice invaded your ears swiftly, entrancing you just as it always had. Thankfully, the group was still far enough upstage to be a sizeable distance from you, with any luck, you could get out of the concert without him seeing you. You couldn't help but enjoy the performance, if you hadn't been so caught up with Baekhyun’s presence, you may have even payed attention to all of the members. They had made it through half of their set before they came up stage and sang a ballad. You realized that this could possibly mean trouble, so you stood a little behind Areum for protection. She quickly noticed your actions and shoved you back forward to your previous spot, telling you to not be scared. Of course she knew nothing of your previous relationship, and probably wouldn’t believe you if you tried to tell her, so you didn't blame her for thinking you were just being timid.

You cursed yourself for not wearing a hat earlier in the morning, as it would’ve been a convenient device to hide your face in this situation. A member with the name KAI stamped onto the back of his jersey was closest to you, he had squat down to touch fans’ hands and wave. He slowly made his way to you and Areum, his smile was dazzling as he looked at the both of you, until he looked at you a little closer, causing his smile to falter, his face to express a bit of shock while trying to maintain a smile. The realization set in that Baekhyun might have shown his members a picture of me by chance-- or Kai took one of my classes-- i desperately hoped for the latter. He quickly moved on from you and Areum, standing up and joining the other members in throwing plushies at each other across stage. It was then you resumed your focus on Baekhyun, he took Kai’s place and started greeting fans as he sung, he got closer and closer to you slowly. You tried to figure out a way to hide and make it seem normal to the other fans in the crowd. Once again, you tried to hide behind Areum,that strategy was just as successful as it was the first time, as you were launched to the front once again, you felt the presence that you dreaded the most. You looked up to see the very face that you tried to forget for 4 years staring back at you, unwavering and full of emotion. You saw many things in his eyes that night, too many things to decipher. The look in his eyes was all it took for you to push your way out of the crowd, desperately looking for a way out of the arena. Throughout the years without him, you tried to forget him and move on to someone new, you thought that if you saw him again then all the feelings would be gone, wondering if it was ever love at all. But you were wrong, it would never go away. 

Next

[wealthiesthub]

Billionaires with most Simple and cheapest lifestyle

To watch the complete video click here, Wealthiest Hub

If you have money your first instinct would be to spend it. Buy things that you have always dreamt of. From luxury yachts to private jets, from the world's most expensive cars to most expensive toilets, these all are ways to show off your money. However, the reality is totally opposite of this. The things I am about to tell you in this video will give you shock for life! There are billionaires who, just to save money, reuse their tea bags and even cuts their own hair. Ladies and gentlemen, today we will tell you about those 8 billionaires who have absurd amounts of money, yet they are cheap and live like normal people.

Charles Ergon

Charles William Ergon is an American Billionaire Businessman who has a reported net worth of around 17 billion dollars. He is co-founder and chairman of EchoStar and Dish Network. He resigned from the role of CEO of Dish Networks in May 2011 in favour of Josh Clayton. When Josh Clayton retired in May 2015 Ergon then again took the role of CEO. and maintained his position till 2 years later until December 2017. He promoted the then president and COO Erik Carlson to CEO but himself remained as the chairman.

He started off by selling a few satellite dishes from the back of his truck. Little by little he wiggled his way through and eventually got his breakthrough. He converted his small Dish business into Dish Networks. When he was younger, he used to be known for his addiction to gambling. Yes, that is right, he was fond of gambling BUT that was in his private life. In his tenure of CEO and Presidency he was very averse to taking risks. He is known for putting up fingerprint scanners for employees so he can check the clocks of when they come to work and when they go off. He cannot be accused of being someone that flaunts his money. He prefers to bring a homemade sandwich to work rather than ordering something fancy. He even carries a water bottle around with him that he bought 3 years ago! Well, his employees may somewhat disagree to some extent, but they do like the fact that he does not do reckless spending. Charles William Ergon claims that by doing this he saves up to almost 10’s of thousands of dollars every year!

Jim Walton

James Carr Walton was born on June 7, 1948. He is an American Businessman who is soon to inherit the fortunes of Walmart. Walmart is the world’s largest retailer. According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index he was the 19th richest person in the entire world! His net worth stands at a whooping 62.6 billion US dollars! He is the youngest son of the creator of Walmart, Sam Walton. You would expect him to show off his money and spend it on costly things, maybe a jet? Maybe a golden washroom. Well, no. He prefers to live life differently. He lives in a tiny town known as Bentonville Arkansas with a total population of 50,000. That town is where the first Walmart opened. Even his car is an old dusty Dakota. He is a person who is so down to earth and focused on his work that he is always the first to walk in and the last to leave. Well, this is not exactly what you would think of the youngest billionaire in his family.

Amancio Ortega

Everyone has on their mind that Walton, the owner of Walmart would be the richest retailer there is in the world. But that is not the case. It is Amancio Ortega, he is a Spanish businessman who is best known as the owner of Zara, both for men and women. Zara is a European clothing chain which is a subsidiary of Inditex the world's largest retailer of apparel. Ortega’s Net worth is nearly 70 billion dollars. Yet he has his lunch with his employees in the cafeteria with them. It does surprise the employees but the people who know him, know that it is because he is so down to earth and spends his money wisely. Ortega still lives in the same small Spanish town in which he was raised and is a familiar face to residents. He is one of the few people in Spain who does not wear his own brand and is one of the humblest human beings. He wears the same old suit to his office every day and does not flaunt his billions in people’s faces. If we look at him money wise, we can assume he is the second richest man in the world, yet he is modest and down to earth. Rather than going into his large private office he is often seen at the factory itself getting hands on everything so he can execute perfection.

Bill Gates

Bill Gates’ full name is William Henry Gates III. He was born on October 28, 1955. Bill Gates is an American business magnate, investor, author, software developer and a philanthropist. He co-founded the company Microsoft along with his friend Paul Allen who has now passed away. While Gates’ career was at Microsoft he held multiple positions, such as the CEO (Chief Executive Officer), the chairman, president, and the CSA (Chief Software Architect). Until May 2014 he was the largest individual shareholder of his company Microsoft. In the microcomputer revolution, he is known as one of the best entrepreneurs to step in. He is the richest man in America, or well at least he used to be. You may believe that he would spend his billions on things like sports cars and big houses. No doubt he does spend his money on those, but he also spends it wisely. Even for high stakes meetings on behalf of Microsoft Corporation he would go by flying coach rather than getting the premium ticket. Like Warren Buffet Bill Gates also likes Fast Food and his favourite is McDonald’s He tries to get its coupons so that he can buy it with them.

Elon Musk

Elon Reeve Musk who goes by Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971. Elon Musk is a businessperson, entrepreneur and a business magnate. He is the organizer, CEO, and Chief Engineer at SpaceX; beginning phase investor, CEO, and Product Architect of Tesla, author of The Boring Company; and prime supporter of Neuralink and OpenAI. A centibillionaire, Musk is perhaps the most extravagant individual on the planet.

He may be the second richest man on Earth right now, but he spends money on himself very cheaply. He often spends money on other things. Like he donated 150 million dollars in philanthropic causes this year alone. He does not own multiple houses, rather he sold them earlier this year to buy a simple movable 50,000-dollar house that he placed inside the manufacturing area of SpaceX. Elon Musk does not like to live a lavish life; rather he likes to donate his money to causes that he thinks would help Earth creating a sustainable future. He says “About half my money is intended to help problems on Earth & half to help establish a self-sustaining city on Mars to ensure the continuation of life (of all species) in case Earth gets hit by a meteor-like the dinosaurs or WW3 happens & we destroy ourselves”

Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg or commonly known as Mark Zuckerberg born on May 14, 1984, is an American media head and magnate, internet entrepreneur, investor, and donor. He is known for establishing and co-founding Facebook, Inc. Furthermore, he also acts as its director, CEO, and controlling shareholder. Moreover, he is a fellow benefactor of the Solar Sail spacecraft development project Breakthrough Starshot and fills in as one of its board members.

Mark Zuckerberg crossed the 100-billion-dollar mark last year. He is one of the 8 centi-billionaires that exist in this world. However, this does not make him an excessive spender. He wears non-branded clothes that are very much affordable clothes. He wears the same clothes to save time. The car he owns is also very affordable. It is a Pagani Huayra, Honda Jazz. He does not spend money on himself but saves it so his family can use it after he is.. Well you know, gone. There is one side to Mark Zuckerberg, He splurges money in the field of real estate. He likes to spend loads of money on that. Some for commercial purposes while others for his own personal enjoyment.

Warren Buffet

Warren Edward Buffett born on August 30, 1930, is an American business financier, financial investor, and philanthropist. He is at present the administrator and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is viewed as quite possibly the best financial investor on the planet and has a total asset of more than $100.6 billion as of April 2021, making him the world's seventh-most well-off individual.

Warren Buffet was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Even when he was a child, he had a keen interest in business and entrepreneurship. Warren is friends with Mark Zuckerberg and has pledged to give away 99 percent of his wealth to philanthropic causes mostly via the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Warren Buffet purchased a house worth of 30 thousand dollars in the 1950’s and he is still living in that house. He does not want to spend more money on buying another house that might be more lavish and all. That house is worth over half a million now. He likes to eat from McDonalds and that too he buys his food from coupons. He does not like to get fancy cars or fancy clothes to show off rather drives his Cadillac. He also does not want to do any other jobs as he is in love with his current day job at Berkshire Hathaway.

So, what do you guys think? Are billionaires living wrong? Or are they doing the smart thing? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

[andeasariana-official]

Golden Hearts - Chapter 1

An alarm was blaring and she shuddered, awaking herself from her half-sleep, she feared for the worst in that moment. 

The person ahead of her had neglected to remove a metal hair pin and had triggered the metal detector. She relaxed but remained anxious. She was next in line for the metal detector, her bag contained her pistol, spare bullets and knife, and would be sent through the x-ray scanner. She had done her research, her stand power would be able to prevent the alarm from being triggered. It still made the experience incredibly stressful.

She lay her bag down onto the rollers and briefly watched it trundle along. Besides the offending items there were only clothes, she had bought the bag new to make sure there was nothing wrong with it. She stepped through the metal detector, no reaction. She looked back to the opening of the bag scanner, waiting. The man checking the monitor of detector looked up and for what may have only been a moment caught her eye. He looked into her tired eyes and she feared he had seen through her game. But he too seemed tired and made no fuss about the bag as it came out of the scanner. She took her bag and hurriedly walked away.

“See nothing to fear. Your stand makes you untouchable, untraceable and lets you escape whenever you’d like. Have more faith in yourself”

*

As she sat in a Starbucks, drinking hot-chocolate and waiting, she attempted to wake herself up by recounting the reasons she was here. She wanted to run away from her ‘home’, so she robbed off the SPW and booked a flight out of America. SPW knew she was a stand-user and thus would only involve themselves. SPW would also have the means to find out that her booked flight was to Tokyo and if they had her way she would be shoved into the back of a van as soon as they had the chance. After that, well, it wouldn’t be pleasant. 

She had to look out for one-thing, an SPW informant, since confronting her in the middle of JFK international airport, or any airport in america, was out of the question they would have to intercept her upon entry to japan. Thus the only necessity would be an informant to make sure she got on the plane.

She kept her back to a window and closed her eyes, she had been taught by the best and knew that if you closed your eyes and focused you could use your stand to see instead of your eyes. She didn’t have to worry about the informant being a stand-user, her power would make seeing her stand impossible.

She searched and sure enough, a man’s eyes boring into the back of her head from across the hall, he was sitting on a bench with a phone being charged. He wore a black suit and a Homburg hat. He wasn’t young but had a modern smartphone, it was the only thing he focused on that wasn’t her backside.

She turned her focus to the hot chocolate, It reminded her of the last time she went to Japan. It was just before her 9th birthday, her father and uncle were with her and they were going to see her family members in Japan. Odd, she knew better but it still made sense to call them father and uncle even though they weren’t related to her in that way at all.

*

5:25 AM The informant, Rikki Illonga, was dutifully checking his phone, writing notes and texting his supervisor every 5 minutes or so. She has been sitting quietly in the Starbucks for about 15 minutes.  She looks up to see a second woman, a blonde, in contrast to her black hair. First glance suggest she was Japanese as well so it was probably dyed hair. No suitcase, only a generic looking black rucksack not unlike hers.

she turns to point something out to the blonde, perhaps giving directions, The woman then walks away. After watching the woman leave she holds her phone up before putting it back into her coat pocket. Illonga checked his phone, 5:28 AM, he knew her flight was boarding at 6:00 AM, not surprising that she would be making her way down to her terminal right about now.

As she walks out of the Starbucks, still carrying her drink, he unplugged his phones charger from the wall socket and prepared to follow. He had also been scheduled for this flight to Japan and would be sitting two rows back, directly behind her.

5:35 AM

She stepped into the women's bathroom, might be here a little while.

5:39 AM

She’s left the bathroom and making her way to the terminal.

6:00 AM

Boarding has begun, she is in the line ahead of me, updates to follow when I land in Tokyo.

*

Tokyo International Airport, or Haneda Airport, Illonga followed her more closely, shadowing her from the time she got off the plane and as she toured the airport on her way out. She walked out the front door and up to a bus stop, she waited. He didn’t know which bus she was talking, so he approached her. “Excuse me? Do you know where the bus coming will drop us off?” Not realizing immediately that it was her Illonga was speaking to she only turned after he had stopped talking.  When she did it was only then that Rikki Illonga had realized he had been tricked. The woman he was meant to be spying on,  Shizuka Joestar, was not the woman he had been tailing through Haneda airport. 

He had been tricked, tricked so utterly that he couldn’t even begin to fathom how it had happened. She really was like her father.

*

The day prior..

A blonde woman approached Shizuka as she sat in the Starbucks and spoke to her.

“Excuse me, Do you know where the women’s bathroom is?”

As she asked she tugged on the neck of her T-shirt, on her neck the word “Joestar” was inscribed in what appeared to be whiteboard marker. This was it, this is what she had been waiting for. She tugged on her t-shirt’s neck in kind where she had inscribed the letters “E.I.R.”  “The women's toilet is further down the hall on the left side.” The woman left without a thank you, she probably didn’t need to know where to go, she did need to know where they could duck in for privacy. It was what they had agreed on.

Shizuka followed slightly behind her and they both stepped into the toilet. The blonde woman took a look around before removing her blonde wig.

“Evening Shizuka, may I see the stuff?” “Of course Miharu, but I’d like to see the ticket you have as well”

Each dug into their pockets, Shizuka produced the plane ticket she had paid for and a credit card, Miharu produced a separate plane ticket and a folded piece of paper.

Miharu was an old friend of Shizuka, they had Japanese heritage in common and both didn’t feel like they had anywhere to belong to. Miharu wouldn’t beat the shit out of anybody but she was usually there when Shizuka got into any fights, and she helped her get with a boyfriend or girlfriend along the way; She was quite a good friend to say the least.

“Your ticket to the E.I.R. and a set of note and instructions which will get you to your new apartment, also a list of contact numbers for your pleasure.”

“Thank you Miharu, for you, a ticket to Japan and a credit card which contains enough money to comfortably afford a fortnight in Tokyo and get a plane home.”

“Thank you” Miharu and Shizuka swapped their items. “By the way Shizuka, it looked like somebody was following you, If i’m supposed to be your body-double does this mean I’m gonna get jumped in Tokyo?”

The plan was for Hiharu to play body-double taking her ticket and going to Japan, to this end they wore identically clothes, red chinos, white Nike runners, red v-neck crop tops, and beige woolen cardigans. Miharu was also roughly her height, maybe an inch shorter.

“Its quite likely even if they find out as soon as you touch down or mid-flight that its not me they were following.”

“Who exactly are you running from? You don’t sound very worried for my future.” She replied with an annoyed pout.

“Its just the Speedwagon group, they might try and intimidate you but they won’t torture or kill you, even with Jotaro Kujo in charge.”

Miharu resigned herself to that answer. “Well Shizuka, wherever your choices take you, you’ll still be a friend to ma and the boss, though our names really won’t get you anywhere in the E.I.R.”

“Yeah since there is time, do you mind telling me what the ground situation will look like over there?”

Miharu checked her phone, knowing there wasn’t time to explain. “To make a long story short, the people in charge are ABHAILE, It doesn’t matter what the cops or the government think of you, its what they think of you that is important.”

Shizuka didn’t really get what was being implied by that, she knew what mafias were like, ‘whats the big deal?’ was her only thought.

“well goodbye Miharu, enjoy Japan” “Goodbye Shizuka, don’t get killed”

It was an unpleasant request but Miharu left without another word, Shizuka watched the hall through the door and sure enough the man in the Homburg hat began following Miharu. He followed too far back to really see her face. Shizuka waited for him to pass then left the bathroom. 

she looked up the ceiling for a security camera and when she found it, pointed to it and winked. This whole plan was unnecessary, She could have easily turned herself invisible or slipped through inside a suitcase. This plan did two important things. It got Miharu out of America and it would impress, and also piss off, Jotaro. She never liked to admit it but she always wanted him to think she was smart. He had been an important role model to her and now as she left the country with a shit-tonne of his money she wanted to at least make him smile.

She came upon the turn for her gate, she flipped off the informant behind his back then began to laugh to herself. next stop, The E.I.R.

[crapfutures]

The automated island

(For some background to this discussion of automation in our very eccentric and local context, revisit one of our first posts - ‘The pleasures of prediction’.) 

There’s a spot we often go swimming in Madeira called Ponta Gorda, ‘Fat Point’. It’s like a public swimming pool - in fact it does have a decent saltwater pool - but most people who go there dive straight into the open sea, which gives you the thrill of swimming in very deep water - 2,000 metres close to shore descending to 4,000 metres further out. So the sea is a public swimming pool, and you pay your euro for amenities like the changing rooms and cafe. It’s a good place for lunch or a cold beer when the sun is shining. Umbrellas and sunbeds cost extra, but we prefer to bake on the hot concrete after a cool swim.

Into this idyllic scene comes automation. There’s a person who works in the entrance booth and takes your euro, and adjacent to the booth is a row of turnstiles. Presumably until a couple of years ago you paid your money and went straight in. Since we’ve been going to Ponta Gorda, however, a newer system has been in place: an automated scanning system.

The system is supposed to work like this: first you buy a barcoded ticket or charge your card with the person in the booth; then you scan your ticket, unlocking the turnstile, and you walk through. (The scanner uses that red laser thing to read the barcode.)

What actually happens is this: we arrive at the booth, say hello to the friendly woman who works there - because we all know each other by now - pay for a ticket or charge our card (if we’ve remembered to bring it, which is rare), try to scan the barcode under the laser in the bright midday sun, fail miserably, smile at the woman in the booth to signal our failure, wait as she grabs her keys and comes out of the booth, watch as she tries in vain to scan it several times, exchange sympathetic smiles when she too fails, together blame the sun, stand by while she unlocks the gate at the side, and walk through.

We’re not sure why the automatic gate always fails. Things often don’t work on this island. They remain broken for months or years, and people get used to working around them. The parking garages and supermarket checkouts are the same: there is always someone to help you scan your ticket or purchases because the scanner never works properly. These are de-facto semi-automated systems that require the same human worker they required before the machine was installed. So why have a scanner at all? Who said this was a good idea? What was wrong with the old way?

Well, it’s progress, innit? Unfortunately what may work under ideal conditions in, say, London or Oslo may not necessarily work under less than ideal conditions, and without maintenance support, in Madeira. It’s like those tractors in the Soviet Union under collectivisation that broke down or simply ran out of petrol and were left to rot in the fields. Not to mention the fact that automation is often about efficiency, and efficiency - in terms of saving either time or labour - is not something this sleepy island particularly wants or needs.

People in Madeira are adaptable, they get along fine with less than optimal technology. But significant resources are wasted in the pursuit of Mainland ideas of progress. Then there are the side-effects of automation that are not particular to islanders: deskilling, alienation from labour. Few people actually lose their jobs because the technology can rarely be trusted - but everywhere you see people sitting idle in their work, passive, mere appendages of the machines they are paid to assist. Is this the techno-utopia we were waiting for? Sometimes on the periphery, as Laura Watts said to us recently, small perturbations are felt more distinctly than in the centre.

In his frankly curmudgeonly but still insightful essay ‘Why I am Not Going to Buy a Computer’ (1987), Wendell Berry lays out his ‘standards for technological innovation’. There are nine points, and in the third point Berry states that the new device or system ‘should do work that is clearly and demonstrably better’ than the old one. This seems obvious and not too much to ask of a technology, but how well does the automated entrance at Ponta Gorda fulfill that claim?

Berry also has a point, the last in his list, about not replacing or disrupting ‘anything good that already exists’. This includes relationships between people. In other words, solve actual problems - rather than finding just any old place to put a piece of technology you want to sell. Even if the scanners at Ponta Gorda did work, how would eliminating the one human being who is employed to welcome visitors and answer questions improve the system? In Berry’s words, ‘what would be superseded would be not only something, but somebody’. The person who works there is a ‘good that already exists’, a human relationship that should be preserved, especially when her removal from a job would be bought at so little gain.

In the next post we’ll go deeper into a taxonomy of automation. Now we’re going for a swim.

Images: James Auger and Julian Hanna.

[greatplanettahoe]

Japan Log Day 1

I kind of want to create a log of my time in Japan. I think it’d be fun, and from what I’ve heard, I’d be able to remember my trip better! There may be a day delay for me, at least for day one because that was all flying and lemme tell you, after a 13 hour flight, a 3 hour flight felt like NOTHING, haha. I felt like I played on my DS for a half hour and it was over. So, I don’t know when entirely I’ll post these, or if anyone cares, but I don’t. Because it’ll be fun for me to look back on and remember ;)

Day one - The day of insane travel

Our journey began as most other journeys do, of sitting at home, counting away the hours and having panicked thoughts of what you still need to do and what’s been done. My way of coping was to blast music - sorry Tegan - and stare blankly at a wall. Not productive when packing was half done. Luckily, I got everything ready about an hour before my friend came to pick me up. About ten minutes before, I began to stress clean. I guess that’s exciting? Lilia’s parents graciously took us to Vancouver In'tl Airport (YVR)- Canada. The car ride felt short. Shorter than I thought it was to get to the border. Right before we hit, we got to see the tiny little peace arch. Cool! Going in, the border guard is looking over our passports, doing the routine questions. 

Then, he leans in and goes “Alauna?” and I sheepishly correct him as he clearly wasn’t quite sure how to pronounce my name. He informs me that I need to sign my passport and I need to do that before I check in at the airport otherwise they may not let me fly. OOPS! Luckily Lil’s dad had a pen that I could use otherwise I’d have to hunt for somewhere to sell a pen at the airport at MIDNIGHT! Getting into the country, I receive a text from my mobile provider. CONGRATS! T-Mobile works in Canada text/data free, call 20c/min. Neat! 

After a pretty good wait in line - China Eastern is apparently a very popular company - and chatting with the nice lady in front of us we reach the airline official. Neither of our passports scanned into the computer. Probably because Lilia’s is 9 years old, mine’s 1 month. He was very kind, making sure that we knew our layover was between two different airports in Shanghai (more on that later, ugh) and asked us if we had any illegal items to which we both said no. He smiled and said “I trust you two, you both look very trustworthy”. He then noticed that we were seated at least 10 rows away from each other. With our permission he changed our seats to be together. Once he got our tickets, he pointed out what information we needed to know. Lilia got seat C, he was going to be in seat B, I in A …. wait. There is no seat B! :P With a very heartfelt thank you, we asked where the gates were and said our farewell.

Getting up to security, was a very small line with a long wait. It looked like the officer’s battery had died on his scanner and had to get a new one. Oh well. After that, it took about 2 seconds to make sure our tickets were valid - phew! and go onto phase two with the bag screening. They instructed us to put laptops in a separate tray. Confusedly, I ask the man why. He mentioned because laptops could be bombs. Which, I never thought about and by the look on my face, he must have understood and had a small smile as we thanked him. Lilia got through security fine. The metal detector beeped for me. Contrats, I’m wearing a bra, because that was literally why the detector beeped for me. Past that, we walked through a small mall with a bunch of stores, and very glittery flooring. Our gate was easy to find, and had a subway near us. We just got chips and ginger ale as we both weren’t feeling fantastic.

There’s not much meant to be said for the flight. Although, as it took off, Lilia looked at me and said; “I regret every jet I crashed in GTA 5” 

It was nearly 13 hours and insane. Neither of us slept much, which sucked. But, at least it was quiet as pretty much everyone else did sleep. Except for one guy in the row beside us whose entertainment screen wouldn’t turn off and he was trying to sleep so he had his jacket backwards to cover his face LOL. I did kind of feel bad for him since it was legitimately malfunctioning. Their movie selection was pretty bomb. Lilia and I synced up our screens so we watched Furious 7 together. The airline provided us dinner. I accidentally got shrimp noodles, which thank you that my medicine works, and Lilia got some sort of beef patty and rice. There was also some sort of custard that was similar to cheesecake, but not entirely. It was delicious. We both tried to sleep for a while. Gave up. We got breakfast which was two adorable hash-brown patties, an omelette, and a very undercooked, disease sausage link which neither of us touched. At that point, Lilia started up Day After Tomorrow, and I started Secret Life of Pets … which got interrupted a total of a billion times. I managed to finish SLoP right before they cut off entertainment for landing purposes.

The drive after landing and getting to our gate was probably half the time of our flight. We get another text from T-Mobile. Welcome to China! Your phone has free texting, call 20c/min, and 2g unlimited data! AWESOME!

Immigration was easy, whom also informed us that our connecting flight was in a separate airport, security was easy (they have thermal screening, so that was definitely interesting!), and getting our luggage was SUPER easy. Customs, we had nothing to declare so went through that line no prob, and exited the airport into a throng of people all shouting ‘taxi!’. One guy dogged us for a long time and we eventually rolled with him as the bus to take us to Honquaio was in another hour and we only had four before our other flight. Driving in Shanghai is terrifying. Our driver nearly creamed 2 people on mopeds, and almost hit countless other cars. I never want to drive in Shanghai. As nice as the city was, there was no telltale building style, and all the buildings were insane colors. I saw an apartment complex that was hot pink. OK. We arrive at the airport, to where the cabby swindled us out of a little more money than what we agreed on, but both of us were tired and didn’t care at that point. The line in this airport was about two times longer than YVR, but went quickly enough. Again, getting to our gate was super easy, and we had about an hour of downtime before boarding.

Second flight felt way too short, and they provided us with spaghetti and another of those delicious cluster squares! Hell yeah. I think I played my DS for the entire time, but it was hard to tell since the flight felt super short.

Getting into Japan, immigration was NUTS. The line was insanely long, although it went quickly. Got fingerprinted so if I crime in Japan, they’ll know it was me. Shucks. Too bad I wasn’t planning on anything anyways. We both had our first experience with a Japanese western toilet which I’m now convinced they all have bidets since our hotel toilet has one too. FYI, the seats are very warm when you sit on them, and the one in the airport played gentle music to mask the fact that I had the best racehorse pee in the universe. Sorry, TMI? We get ANOTHER text from T-mobile. HOORAY! Your phone works! Free text, 20c/min call, 2g unlimited data! WHAT?! I wasted $40 on SIM cards before we left, and now we don’t need them! Oh well, lol.

Hitting up the international ATM, my card was declined. WHAT!? I had called my bank, so they should know I’m here! I managed to get the attention of an airport lady who graciously tried helping, but it declined for her too. Lilia was able to get out some cash. What the heck?! We asked the airport lady where the Keikyu line was and if Pasmo was over there, and she instructed us what to do. We thanked her for her time and assistance. Meanwhile, there was another American having the same problem as I. I noticed his card had a chip. Lilia’s didn’t. Ding ding, it’s the chip. We got sodas and some Japanese candy and a fruit cup, got Pasmo’s and went to the station towards Kawasaki - after a little help as we didn’t see our stop. 

The train wasn’t too terribly crowded. But, went approximately the speed of a fighter jet. My shoulder and back is still sore for hanging on for dear life while making sure my luggage didn’t go anywhere. There was a lady I kept bumping into and I kept apologizing whenever I did though she just smiled and told me it was OK. There was also a nice man there who watched us to make sure we were OK and whenever another train passed us, make a slight thunking noise, probably had a great internal laugh at my face whenever I had a slight panic about it.

Getting off the station and heading down some steps, there are apparently designated sides which you move. We went down halfway the wrong way, realized, and moved over with our luggage. Sorry! Walking here is definitely interesting. There’s people crossing the streets, not even really looking. I think we saw 1 personal car on our walk to the hotel.

Getting into Noanoa was easy. Manager was SUPER nice, got our luggage taken to the room, and let us stay in the spa room while we waited the last hour before the official check-in time. While there, Lilia opened up her fruit cup, which has jello instead of juice, and I had my candies which were DELICIOUS, and apparently limited time, so guess what I’m buying more of once I get cash? Because Japan is a very cash-heavy type of country.

Our hotel room is a little small, but nothing we can’t handle. I’m sure Lilia feels weird actually being on par or taller than most the people we’ve passed walking to the hotel. We spent half the day exploring the tiny room, seeing what was on TV and being very confused over a child’s show before turning it off. We figured out google translate, and have translated pretty much everything in our room. We still need to figure out the unit on the wall, but we at least know lighting, what the controls are on the bidet, and how to work the mechanical nightmare that is the shower. We put on a Youtube show that we both like, and I crashed just before 7PM after roughly 24 hours of travel and not sleeping. Lilia poked me awake and we officially went to bed around 7PM. 

We have not eaten since at least noon on the flight, and it’s going on 14 hours. Yeesh.

Our plans today, as I’m finishing this up around 2PM, is to visit an actual bank so I can hopefully withdraw cash, find somewhere to eat, and hit up a couple parks and museums. There’s also the Keihin Fushimi Inari shine that we’ll probably explore. Today is slotted to be a low-key day as we’re both pretty tired even after sleeping for a solid 12+ hours.

Note: Edited for easier reading

[aerialsquid]

My head is naked.

The Deeply Symbolic Haircut occurred a month and a half ago ago. I’d been keeping it off personal social media because I want to see how people react in person, but I don't think anyone who knows me IRL on here hasn't seen it yet. Please enjoy this extended hair saga.

This was before the haircut:

The hair and I had never been on good terms. If I’d taken care of it properly it would have been different, but I almost never did more than wash it daily and put it up in a ponytail. There was always fluff sticking up, or escaping from the hairtie. I might put some smoothing solution in it on occasion, to the point of frustrated excess if I actually wanted it to look good (it never did, or at least not to my satisfaction). I never cared for the sight of my own reflection, aside when I did cosplay, and the hair was a big part of it.

The problems didn't end there. My hair once ate a round hairbrush to the point we had to remove it with scissors right before a youth group dance, and someone’s pet rat needed assistance finding the way out when I let it walk on my shoulder. I caught it on fire leaning too close to Shabbat candles. I have twice gone through the TSA body scanners, set something off in the scanner, and been asked to take my hair down so the guard could scrunch her fingers through it to search it for…I don’t know, rare birds or something.

I got compliments on my hair not infrequently due to curl and color, and my answer was usually “If you want it, you can have it”.

Every time we took a family photo my parents and I would argue over whether I should keep it up or let it hang down. I always felt I looked bad with the hair falling across my face. They thought I looked pretty like that, and to be frank it didn’t look great pulled back in a harsh ponytail either. My mom constantly asked why I always dug my heels in about the hair when it was a simple thing that would take five bloody seconds to do. I was never quite sure why myself.

…And here we come to #Squid's gender and the larger implications of The Haircut.

Some of you may have noticed the survey I sent around a while back trying to gather information on exactly how people of varying identities feel and react when their perceived gender is socially invoked. The data’s been fascinating; among other things, a lot more people than I expected want to get rid of their chest bits regardless of their gender identity, while almost nobody feels anything besides awkwardness or confusion when their gender identity is misconstrued. It also left me with more frustration, because if I'm not...the thing that I'm currently being perceived as, I want some kind of plan of action to act upon this revelation. Contended self-acceptance of an ambiguous self-identity is not going to cut it.

I finally went to my friend J about the issue. J is trained as a counselor focusing on queer youth, which she’s currently trying to make into a proper profession. She asked me if the survey had a question about whether the noncisgender people felt they were doing it for attention. I said no, because I’d assumed that wasn’t a common thing.

“Not every young person I spoke with felt like they were just doing it for attention. But almost literally every young person did.”

“What the hell.”

I mentioned wishing I could just magically be seen as male for a week to see how it felt, without having to make some kind of big announcement that would be impossible to take back if I found out I was wrong. Using a binder isn’t easy at the moment given my pain issues. I own one and could only wear it for about half an hour before it got too painful. My voice is low but not low enough, and I've got curves in all the wrong places. Winter is good for hiding your physical form under a jacket, but there was no good workaround for hiding my giant barely-restrained poof of dead keratin.

J suggested I finally get it cut off.

“You’re worried about having to buy that ticket to Manland, so this is a good baby step. You’re not buying the ticket to Manland yet. You’re just testing it a bit, you’re dipping your toes into the Manwater.”

“NEW METAPHOR. NEW METAPHOR.”

The place J recommended is a queer run, queer friendly salon on the north side. I went in for a consult to see if it was even possible to get a short style without looking like a chia pet. My only request was ‘a masculine haircut’, no other details. I couldn’t point to a specific style I wanted. I’d never had it cut this short before. I didn't do anything to care for my hair or style it and now wanted a dramatic change. I probably looked twitchy as heck.

Perks of going to a queer-catering salon: Maeva didn’t say anything but I’m pretty sure she had my number in the first thirty seconds.

She showed me pictures of men with short curly hair and talked about the difference between the nature of men and women’s cuts. She also mentioned that if I was going to always keep my hair in a ponytail there was no reason to have it at all, and how it was always nice to see people getting a big change. It was suggested that I wear clothes that made me feel comfortable and nice-looking so I would get the best impression of my haircut once it was finished.

We made the appointment. I spent the next two weeks fixated on it, staring at people's heads in the streets, pulling back my hair in the mirror to try and mimic what it might look like.. Some people I deliberately didn’t tell because I wanted to see their faces after I did it; others I constantly talked about it to because I was unbearably excited for it.

I finally told my parents exactly how short ‘short’ hair would be the night before the appointment. They took it better than expected…took it fantastically, actually. My mom even mentioned that she'd been considering getting me haircuts for Hanukkah as a present. Between that and the hour we spent running around a men's consignment store looking at suits and blazers I'm wondering if she's getting any ideas too. My father just wanted to make sure I did not get a 'really gay' haircut.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

“What, like an undercut? That’s queer woman chic right now.”

“No, that mature gay woman’s haircut. You know, like gay women had ten years ago. The staid one.”

“I wasn’t looking at gay women ten years ago.”

“The kind older gay women tend to have, that really short one. You’d just look like a cliché.”

(NOTE: I’m out to my family as homoromantic asexual and the last person I went on a date with was nonbinary. I think my dad just doesn’t want me in a butch buzzcut.)

I wore the suit that Mom bought me. J offered to drive me to my appointment, and stayed for the entire session as moral support. My knee kept jumping. Butterflies occurred. I expected to be more nervous, what with this being the largest voluntary body modification I’ve had since my thyroidectomy. Instead I was so excited I could barely sit still.

Maeva and another stylist spent ten minutes braiding up the entirety of my hair so I could donate it. The entire time Maeva and her coworkers referred to me with they/them pronouns. No one had tipped them off, as far as I could tell. They had just looked at the situation as it lay and judged that it was best not to make assumptions. As soon as it was braided up for donating she started cutting, no pause to ask me if I was ready. The first one made me flinch. After that I couldn't stop staring. It felt like a weight was being lifted off of me, like something smothering me had been cut away.

When I was under the dryer J came over and murmured, "You know that look you were trying to achieve? You've got it. Also, your head is naked." (She would spend the rest of the evening interjecting 'your head is naked' at random intervals, as she attempted to get over this weirdness of seeing her friend's head shrink by several inches, and it has since become a running gag for us..)

We finished up, Maeva put some curly pomade in my hair that I still need to get the name for, and this was what I looked like.

Look at that grin. Just look at it. I don't think I've ever seen a photo of myself that exuded such utter joy. I feel liberated.

My parents bugged me for daily selfies until Tuesday. I’m getting constant compliments on my hair and now I'm agreeing with them. My boss actually squealed when she saw how it looked during our Skype chat. I've even had several people tell me that I "look more like you" like this, even if they're not sure how to explain what that means. (My friend Drake explained it as "you were dilute Squid, now you're concentrate Squid'). My confidence is higher, my self-loathing is lower, and I feel so much handsomer. When I look at my reflection I preen, smoothing or fluffing my hair, and then wind up just staring at myself for a bit.

The hair's been growing out, as hair tends to do. I feel actively stifled by this thick mass on my scalp, and as it grows my anxiety grows like I'm some reverse Samson who only keeps their power when their hair is shorn. I’m scheduled to get the auburn kudzu cut back on Monday and I cannot fucking /wait/.

(Also yes, I will explain later why there’s a dog skull on my groin in the last picture. Long story.)

[ecofinisher]

The Adventures of Super Nathan 2 - Chap. 17

Chapter 17

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18224606/chapters/46897150

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13243294/17/Miraculous-The-Adventures-of-Super-Nathan-2

https://www.wattpad.com/758340793-miraculous-the-adventures-of-super-nathan-2-monday

After the end of the lessons, Nathaniel met up with Lila at the house of Master Wang Fu and sat in front of the entrance waiting for the man to end the massage session.

“We probably could have told her about it before. We could have avoided this to happen”

“I’m sorry Lila” Nathaniel apologized grabbing the brunette on her hand. “I didn’t expect this would happen, even less I expected, that I would destransform back right in front of her”

“Good thing is, that you two are still befriended after that or that she didn’t get to feel betrayed or just bad about it and end up akumatized,”

“That’s what I was afraid of. Imagine I had to fight her….or worse….what if I had to fight you?” Asked Nathaniel shocked. “I couldn’t fight you if you were akumatized,”

“Baby I won’t let this happen to me.”

“I know, but what if something happens, that makes you very, very sad or even angry?”

“I will just think about you or you or my friends are around to help me think positive again” Lila responded making Nathaniel smile, followed by the brunette peck the redhead on his lips.

The door next to them opened back and Master Fu stood there holding the door and waving at his patient, which was leaving the room.

“Thank you, sir. I’m feeling much more relaxed after your massage.”

“It was a pleasure.” Wang Fu responded, then moved his index finger at the teens to sign them to enter into the room.

“Good afternoon” Greeted the senior. “What brings you two here again? Did Trixx eat anything wrong again?”

“No Master, we came because of Karaa,” Explained Lila and the kwamis of the two students came out from their jackets and Karaa flew straight to Wang Fu.

“Befow at the school I couldn’t twansfowm Nathaniel back by his commands and only ended up twansfowming him back on the wwong moment” Explained the duo-eye colored kwami putting the man in shock.

“Oh boy and how many caught Nathaniel’s transformation?”

“Only my friend Alix” Responded Nathaniel. “No one else”

“Is that the girl from the Super Nathan blog?” Questioned Mr. Fu.

“You know about the blog?” Questioned Lila surprised.

“Yes and I also know about the Miss Vixen blog,” Told Master Fu. ”I have never seen something that disrespecting in my life

“I find it strange, that no one has ever done with Ladybug in the past”

“I don’t think Alya would ever post something like that” The brunette added to the conversation of the three. “And with 13 or 14 it would be kind of strange to do that”

“That’s a good point” Nathaniel mentioned. “And what will be about Karaa?”

“Well, I’ve told you once about Karaa’s defect, that happened during her creation.”

“Yes she also can’t mix up with another kwami”

“Exactly and now it seems, that Karaa will sometimes have issues with destransforming back or transforming back”

“Is it possible, that it could happen during missions?” Questioned Nathaniel making Master Fu shrug his shoulders.

“This can be a possibility, but I don’t think this is something that is going to happen every day, my boy” “But what if it does?” Asked Nathaniel, then Lila grabbed her boyfriend on the shoulders.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be around if something happens” Promised the Italian girl.

“You could try out to feed your kwami with other type of cereals. Which one are you giving her currently?” Questioned Wang Fu.

“First it was from Fastquick and now I organized for her the new ones with white and black chocolate cornflakes”

“Hmm and how long ago is that?”

“A month I think” Responded Nathaniel.

“Try to keep feeding her with the ones you got to know for two months, then try the old ones again. In case you two have trouble in transforming or destranforming again, change to the next cornflakes to see how long she can hold without the issue” Suggested the grey-haired man earning a nod from the redhead.

“Okay we going to try it,” Nathaniel said looking at Karaa, who flew down at his cheek to hug him.

“Aww,” Lila said caressing the kwami on her back with the index finger. Master Fu observed them with a smile, then looked back at Trixx, who levitated over the shoulder of her holder, then the master tapped on the kwami’s back, which looked down at the man and saw a small bottle with small pellets in various colors similar to candy on the hands of the man, then the senior held it closer to Trixx for her to grab it.

“What is that?” Asked Trixx shaking it near her ear.

“In case you’ve got to eat something with milk in it, you can take one of these pills to avoid you from flatulence”

“Thank you, master,” Trixx said handing the bottle to the brunette girl, which took it with her left hand and used her right hand to pet the fox between her ears, making it purr.

“Nathy now you can hear it,” Lila said and Nathaniel looked up at the duo-colored kwami to listen to its noise.

“Okay, you convinced me,” The German boy said, making Lila chuckle and let the kwami sit down on the palm of her hand.

In the evening Adrien and Kagami stood in line waiting for their turn to buy their ticket for the movies.

“Are you sure you want to watch it?” Asked Kagami looking at the blonde boy, who stood beside her in the queue.

“I don’t mind. I just want to know, why everyone is talking about it...at least the girls”

“Well, we’re going to find out today, why” Kagami replied earning a nod from the blonde and move forward to the ticket booth as the previous guest left with his tickets, then the couple approached the male ticket seller.

“Good evening….oh I remember you two?” The man mentioned making Adrien smile a little courteous. “You two were here at the movie premiere of Ladybug and Chat Noir, right?”

“Yes, yes” Responded Adrien. “And you’re the one, who presented the movie”

“Exactly!” Agreed the man. “You two did a great voice acting for the characters, mostly you Adrien. You sounded astounding, I felt like the real Cat Noir was on the studio doing the job”

“Yeah….I….really hear that a lot,” Adrien said rolling his eyes away of the man a little unsure about his knowledge.

“We practiced a lot together to give the fans the best results, we could offer” Kagami added to help Adrien defend his secret identity.

“You two did well then” The man complimented, then he looked back at his computer to focus on his job. “Sorry, if I can’t talk to you anymore, more people are waiting for the tickets and you two are probably doing the same”

“Yes sir, we would like to have two tickets for the movie the rise of a star”

“Good and would you like two seats in the east side in the middle row or in one of the first rows somewhere?” The man asked turning his screen at the two to show them the full seat plan of a cinema hall with red lightened dots and a few white ones, which signaled the seats, that were free.

“Shall we take the ones on the east side?” Asked Adrien. “We have a better sight to the screen”

“I’m good with it” Kagami replied and the man tapped on the two white seats to reserve it for the two, turned the screen back to him to print out the tickets for the two and handed it out at the two.

“That be 16 euros,” The man said and Adrien took from his pocket two ten euro notes while Kagami had taken four 5 euro cash bills and both placed it on the table in front of the man.

“I’ll pay for both of us,” Adrien told his girlfriend, who shook her head.

“No, I’ll pay for us. You paid last time for us” Kagami denied Adrien’s offer shoving her bills closer to the man.

“You don’t really need to pay for me, I owe you this” Adrien mentioned making the man in the booth chuckle.

“Look you two, you could just pay your own ticket?” Suggested the ticket salesman. “You two got enough money after all?”

“Sure” Agreed Kagami.

“Right, sorry,” Adrien said handing the man the red bill and Kagami gave the man two of her green cash bills, which he then slid into a scanner to verify if the money wasn’t faked. After the bills passed the test, the man gave the two the change back along with the tickets.

“Would you two like the….”

“No, thank you” Responded Kagami and Adrien in a chorus, making the man smile.

“Have a nice evening” The man wished and the couple walked away entering the corridor, where the entrances to the various cinema rooms are located.

Later the two sat together in the hall with a bucket of popcorn watching the movie showing a young woman singing together with a more mature man a song together on a stage in front of an audience with fans. Between the leans of the seat the kwamis Plagg and Tikki sat there too with a few popcorn flocks in front of them and Tikki held one with her paws, taking a bite of the flock while watching the movie attentive.

“What’s so interesting about that movie?” The black kwami questioned looking at Adrien and Kagami, that observed the woman singing. “It’s so kitschy,” Plagg said sticking his tongue out in disgust, then heard Tikki shush at the cat kwami and looked up at the screen to observe the duo singing.

“If you want you can get into my pocket and watch anything else instead?” Suggested Adrien looking down at the black kwami.

“No, it makes me feel lonely” Responded the kwami making the blonde chuckle.

“What about a nap?” Asked Adrien looking at Plagg, who shrugged the shoulders.

“I could try, but with the bass inside the cinema on high volume won’t let me sleep in that easy” Plagg complained making Adrien roll his eyes.

“Try listening to the lullaby we play Hope to sleep” The French boy suggested. “You have always felt asleep with it”

“I?” Asked Plagg shocked. “I’m not a kitty anymore. I’m a grown tomcat, I only fell asleep there, cause I was exhausted” Plagg said crossing his arms.

“Whatever you say, but try it out” Adrien said putting his airpods into the cat’s ears, then started to play a lullaby and Adrien observed Plagg take the end of Adrien’s jacket up at the lean and lie himself upon it, looking up at the ceiling awake as he was listening to the melody. Adrien had a simpering smile on his face, which slowly turned into a smirk as he saw his kwami Plagg starting to close his eyes to sleep and near Plagg’s head Kagami came with her hand to fondle between the ears of the kwami, making it smile and cover himself with the jacket.

“Gees Plagg is nearly growing into the role of a small kitten” Kagami mentioned now hearing Plagg purring quietly, making the blue-haired girl smile enamored with the abstract creature.

“At one point Plagg is right. The movie is a little kitschy to my taste” Adrien admitted earning a nod from the girlfriend.

“Well the last couple of scenes were getting a little too novelish, to be honest, but the drama must come later at some point,” Kagami said looking back at the big screen along with her boyfriend.

“In the deep of the river…..in the deep of the river…..in the river…..” The duo sang together, this making Kagami beam at how cute it was seeing the duet on screen, afterward she lied her head next to Adrien’s shoulder, who smiled after he felt her soft cheek, then he placed his left hand on Kagami’s forehead to pass her bang aside and give her a kiss on it, making her smile amourously and look up at him with a smirk. The blonde smiled cheeky at the girl, which grinned playfully at the boy and raised up close at the boy pointing her lips going for a kiss, but unexpectedly a blonde teenage boy with tan skin looked out from the back row coming between the two with his head and ended up being kissed by the two.

“Hey Adrien!” Greeted the blonde rolling his eyes at Adrien, therefore the couple opened their eyes in surprise as they were kissing a student from their school.

“Wayhem?” Asked Adrien bewildered as he had got in the way of his kiss with Kagami.

“I didn’t know you were here too watching the movie,” Wayhem said placing his hands on the two seats behind the two fencing students.

“I am” Responded Adrien. “I and Kagami are on a date” Explained Adrien looking at Kagami along with the tan-skinned boy.

“Ah that’s cool,” Wayhem said waving at the Japanese girl. “Hi Kagami”

“Hey” Greeted Kagami waving back at the boy.

“Hey I’ve colored my hair a few days ago blonde,” Wayhem said showing Adrien his wig. “How does it look?”

“Uh...” Adrien replied looking at Kagami, which had also looked at the new hairstyle then shrugged her shoulders as she looked back at the model. “I think it looks great on you” Responded Adrien. “I also liked you before with brown hair, but blonde is also fine”

“I know, now I look almost like you,” Wayhem told the model excitedly. “Except for my skin and face”

“That’s really great, Wayhem”

“Yes, it is” Wayhem replied with a glow on his face of happiness to be near his idol. Adrien looked along with Kagami back at the screen, then they felt Wayhem cross his arms and lie his head over them sighing in love at seeing the movie. “I love dramas, do you two love it too?” The blonde asked looking at Adrien, who looked up at the former brunette.

“Are your friends here too?” Asked Adrien and the boy shook his head.

“I came by myself” The boy responded. “They’re not interested in this movie, so I came all alone”

“Oh,” Adrien said sad.

“Yeah,” Wayhem said dropping his head down on his arms sighing. Adrien and Kagami looked at the boy, that was alone there in the cinema then they looked at each other and the blue-haired girl looked beside Adrien at a seat, that was empty and Kagami moved her arm up at the seat to show Adrien it.

“Has the seat been free since the session had started?” Questioned the Japanese girl earning a nod from the blonde.

“Yes,” The model responded, then widened his eyes as he had gotten an idea, after that he looked back at Wayhem, who rolled his brown eyes at the blonde. “Hey Wayhem, this seat here next to me hasn’t been taken since the beginning of the movie, if you want you can sit here” Offered Adrien causing to smile fantastic and hop over the seat next to Adrien.

“Thank you, the evening will be fantastic!” Wayhem confessed hitting the blonde on the back. “Just you and me,” Wayhem said looking at the blonde and behind him, Kagami crossed her arms annoyed with the tan-skinned blonde.

“Kagami is here too. I owe her this evening after all” Adrien said looking back at Kagami, which gazed then neutrally at the blonde. “Sorry, if I won’t pay a lot of attention to you Wayhem, but I had promised Kagami to go out with her this evening and not have any interruptions by incidents”

“Oh sure, I stop if it gets annoying or something” The fanboy promised earning a nod from the blonde, then the two looked back at the screen and seconds later Adrien looked at Kagami, afterward he grabbed the girl on her hand giving her a peck on the top of it.

“Where was I before?” Asked Adrien making Kagami smile romantically and press her lips on his, wrapping her hands around him after that she leaned her face on his, while keeping her arms around the boy wanting to continue to snuggle with him, which he delightfully let her do so and the two enjoyed together the rest of the movie, even if Adrien’s fan Wayhem was present.

Meanwhile at the house of Master Fu Luka and Marinette went to visit the man to explain to him, what happened to them a couple of days ago.

“I didn’t check out if I had all miraculouses. I had gotten in panic after the fall as the miraculouses had got spread on the floor and the other sablés got broken on the streets” Marinette explained to Wang Fu.

“It also was my fault, I didn’t pay attention and crashed with her against the helicopter” Viperion’s alter ego informed the older man.

“I stupid didn’t even realize before the miraculous was gone, if I noted it earlier we wouldn’t have had this problem at the school with Juleka,” Marinette said sad and Luka placed his arm behind Marinette to comfort her.

“Stay positive Marinette, before an akuma feels your sadness and catches you” The raven-haired boy warned the girlfriend, who nodded at the boy and took a deep breath and exhaled out.

“Well, the only thing we can do now is fighting the next akuma villains, until we find more hints about who’s our new Hawk Moth and where he is located” Wang Fu told the two Jagged Stone fans, which looked at each other.

“Could there be a possibility to be a previous villain we fought before?” Luka questioned the master.

“You mean like Gabriel Agreste?” Questioned Marinette looking at her boyfriend.

“Yeah or that woman, that kidnapped Adrien’s mom”

“Nathalie?” Asked Marinette. “But she’s in jail, isn’t she?”

“I don’t know. For how long has she been sentenced to stay in jail?”

“I don’t know, we had to ask Mr. Agreste or Adrien about it”

“Why don’t you ask Mr. Agreste about Nathalie’s penalty?” Questioned Wang Fu. “Just in case”

“We could do that” Offered Marinette. “And if none of the two are guilty, then we gotta look for more clues”

“Yes, but let’s check the first two out and if we have to go pass by the prison, we gotta do that tomorrow, cause it’s already late”

“Yes Luka” Agreed Marinette, then Luka placed his arm behind his girlfriend.

“Don’t worry, we will fix this. It’s just a matter of time” Luka promised making Marinette smile, then a rock music theme started to play and Luka took from his pocket his smartphone out to see his mother was calling, then attended it.

“Hi mom….I’m with Marinette at a friend’s house…..yes I come….what?…..sure I ask her” Luka said taking the phone off his ear to talk to his girlfriend. “My mother is asking me, if you’re interested to dinner with us, she’s doing home-made Cordon Bleu” Suggested Luka earning a nod from Marinette.

“That would be great, I just inform my parents, that I’m going to dinner with your family….or better they actually know I’m with your family”

“Cool” Luka said placing his smartphone back on his ear. “She’s coming mom, see you later mom” Luka put his phone back, then looked at the older man, which smiled at the older boy.

“You two will keep me informed about it, right?” Master Fu asked earning a nod from the two. “And don’t go alone somewhere dangerous. Ask your friends to assist you”

“We do Master” Marinette said walking at the door, then opened it, waiting for Luka to come. “Bye Master Fu”

“Bye” Luka said following Marinette out of the house and closing the door leaving the senior back with his kwami.

“Do you think they’re all grown to this task Master?” Asked the turtle kwami looking down at his holder.

“Whoever is now on Hawk Moth’s place, I think the reason behind this won’t be the same as it was from Gabriel” Wang Fu said looking out of the window at the full moon, that was illuminated in the dark blue sky along with other small stars all over the skyline.

[driftwood-degenerate-blog]

I got off the bus in california in the rain peaking on acid that I got kicked down from a serbian mui Thai fighter at the oakland bust terminal before going up the 101 to Humboldt

No job. No housing. Like maybe 50 bucks in my pocket...

It took me like 4 hours to befriend a 50 year old gay millionaire who owns a jewlery store in eureka and he gave me stupid money to do his landscaping and put me on with a few old ladies who buy his jewlery so i was like like 600 cash every 3 or 4 days to mow and edge and shit.

I was in the state for 3 days before I got hired at ccp as a rubber wrapper.

Got drunk and cussed out the jewler for being such a peice of bourgois scum that he was gay and still used the N word and made fun of poor people and promised to invite him outside the next time he disrespected me or the people I chose to help me maintain the properties... Lost all my landscaping work

Boss at ccp comes to me same week and asks if I can weld. I said two days in trade school and a handful of times on a farm in arkansas and he said close enough.

I started tack welding crab pots. Stick on stainless for component and mig on rebar for frames.

I started reading alot of welding and took it seriously. I started fully welding pots when my tacked stack got high enough.

The lead welder quit and I got promoted. I know all I did was make 50 crab traps a day for fishermen and thats not that cool but I was still lead welder in a metal shop and my pots are stamped with a 30 year warrenty so there will be fishermen using my crab pots after I'm dead probably lol.

I got really drunk one Friday after cashing my check. I was long boarding with everything i own in my backpack and my tent and sleeping bag tied to the bag... Drunk skateboarding with an 80 pound pack....on a bridge....tweaker lady on bicycle passing yells so i turn around to answer and didnt see the 3 inch wide crack in the concrete which swallows my skateboard....i bit concrete.. I pushed myself to my knees and blood was pouring out of my mouth, and my forhead. My hand was swollen like a balloon. I was convinced i lost my teeth as i held my mouth open and watched it dump and the tweaker lady sat me down on the side rail and called 911.

I completely woke up when I saw the lights and stood up. I wasnt bleeding and I jumped to my feet and was like "I dont have insurance and i didnt call you i need to leave" so they gave me a concussion check and let me sign refusal of service papers.

The next morning I'm walking and some guy working on a van yells "nice board wanna sell or trade for it?" And I died laughing and ran over like "yes i want to fucking sell it i almost died last night" and i got closer and he saw my face and was like "yoooooooo" and a girl hopped out of the van like "ARE YOU THE 26 YEAR OLD ON THE SOMOA BRIDGE?!?"

"....yes...."

"THEY PRONOUNCED YOU DEAD ON THE POLICE SCANNER MY AUNTIE CRIED FOR LIKE AN HOUR BECAUSE MY COUSINS YOUR AGE AND SKATES AND THAT COULD HA E BEEN HIM"

So they gave me a freezerbag full of trim for my skateboard and said they were gonma tell people a ghost gave it to them.

Get to work Monday and walk past my boss and dont mention it. First break im like 4 lots in instead of 15-20, boss calls me into the office and makes me take off my hoodie gloves. Grabs my hand and squeezes it then tells me I'm done. I can go back next year with a good hand if I want.

I cashed my check and went to arcata and got sucked into the rabbit hole. You cant spend a day in that towns square with the street kids without someone handing you acid and its just wrong to decline and its wrong to take it and save it for later. When someone hands you a dose you take the dose...i dont think i spent more than 3 hours not tripping in 2 weeks while sleeping in hollow redwood stumps and eating free sandwhiches cool people drive around and hand out to homeless there. I was a space cadet.

I found a road dog. Another homeless jobless street bum that was down to leave the glitch in the matrix that is arcata California and find work. We hussled for a few days and caught tickets to willow creek.

Flew a sign in willow creek for a few hours and start walking. Tweaker pulls off and tells us to hop in the bed and we did and he started driving before we realized we didnt even tell dude where we were headed. Im terrorfied as im in the bed of a truck passing cars in a 60 through a mountain town that has 1 single cop... Dude probably drove for 35 minutes before pulling into a rest stop and we all hop out and he finally asks where were headed and we were like "we dont fucking know dude" and hes like "well im sleeping here tonight and going to Oregon in the am if you wanna join." Locks himself in the truck and we sleep in the grass next to it.

Wake up and take a bird bath in the rest stop batheroom and come out to my buddy saying he found craigslist work for rent on some farm in oregon so we tap on tweakers window and ask for a ride his way. He took us all the way to the gas station of the town we needed and even stopped at a diner and spent 30 bucks feeding us and gave us a pack of american spirits when he left us.

Sit at the gas station for about an hour and ok boy shows up. We talk for maybe 30 minutes before he goes inside for about another 30 then comes outside and just says "you seem good enough I'll try ya."

Get to the farm and he gives us the tour and he shows us the green house and my head exploded. "Why the fuck would you make a craigslist add for a weed farm?!"

"Because im legal and I fucking can."

"Fair enough"

Ive been here for a while now, buddy that got me here left the first week. And I cant stop laughing at how perfectly everything always goes in my life

[quinn2018-scstudyabroad]

We made it...but our bags didn’t!

           After many, many hours of traveling, we have finally arrived in Kisumu!!!  I packed up and left the house around noon on Thursday (January 25, 2018) and headed to Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC.  From there, I finally met Madi and saw Julia again (we were all traveling to Kenya together, and Julia and I both go to USC!) and we checked into our flights and said goodbye to our families.  Of course it’s not super fun to say goodbye, but knowing that what’s ahead is going to be the adventure of a lifetime makes it totally worth it.  Getting through security was an absolute breeze, so we had tons of extra time at the airport to just relax, which was really nice and gave us time to grab some food – Chipotle was my last meal in America.  

          Around 7pm, we boarded our flight headed towards Amsterdam!  This is where all the traveling started to get tricky because we were trying to switch time zones.  Amsterdam is 6 hours ahead of home, so while we arrived around 8am Amsterdam time, it was really only 2am at home!  And with the very weird hours of 7pm-2am, we barely slept at all.  We had planned to have a 12-hour layover in Amsterdam to explore the city – and boy did we!  For anyone who is thinking about study abroad, I STRONGLY recommend trying to add/extend layovers so you can get extra traveling in!!  We had to stop in Amsterdam anyway, so why stop for only an hour when you can stop for a whole day?  Despite being there for only twelve hours, we accomplished so much.  The Amsterdam airport and the city itself is set up in a very cool way.  The airport has a baggage storage system, where you can rent a locker and stow your carry-on bags for the day, and then the train station is in the airport as well. We bought round-trip tickets between the airport and Amsterdam Centraal for about 9 euros and headed into the heart of the city.  First on our checklist was the Anne Frank house.  Since we knew that was something we all really wanted to see, we got tickets online in advance, which limited our time in line and made it so we could do more stuff.  The Anne Frank house was amazing.  The museum was really well done with a self-guided audio tour and lots of artifacts.  There were a lot of interesting things that I hadn’t really thought of before, and I recommend everyone make the trip to see it at some point in their life!  After that, we were starving and stopped at a pancake house to get traditional Dutch savory pancakes (think like a giant crepe but with melted cheese and Canadian bacon on top – yum!!).  We also grabbed some coffees – we were in need of a caffeine boost – which were super strong, but really tasty.  Next we decided to walk over to an area that had a lot of different museum, including the Van Gough museum.  While we didn’t want to spend the time going through each museum, even just seeing the outside was pretty cool.  The architecture in Amsterdam was absolutely gorgeous, filled with lots of intricacies and artistic designs.  We also got to see the “I Amsterdam” letters and walk through a small portion of the Red Light District.  After doing all the cool and historical things we could think of within walking distance, we decided to be total tourists and have some fun doing the Heineken Experience – think of Hershey Park, but with Heineken beer instead of Hershey!  This was just something goofy to do and it taught a lot about how beer is made and how to make it taste different ways.  With the legal drinking age here being 18, we were even able to participate in the beer tasting portion at the end, which was a cool new experience given that we couldn’t do so in the US.  After that, we headed back to the airport, grabbed some dinner, and hopped on our overnight flight to Nairobi.  All in all, we walked over 10 miles throughout Amsterdam and were absolutely exhausted – so we finally got the sleep we needed on the plane!

          When we woke up the next day, we were still a little groggy from jumping yet another 2 hours forward in time and sleeping sitting up, but we were finally in Kenya!!!  Yet unfortunately, this is where our major travel issues hit us!  After getting off our flight, we went to check the gate of our next flight into Kisumu, the city we will be staying in for the next month, yet it wasn’t posted yet.  There was still an hour and a half until boarding and it was a small airport (or so we thought), so we figured they probably just didn’t have the gate listing up yet and decided to go to the food court and grab some waters and try out a smoothie.  After just chilling there for an hour or so we went back down to ask an agent about the gate our flight was in, only to find out that we were in the complete wrong terminal!  We now only had 40 minutes before boarding to go through customs, get to the other terminal (which was all the way on the other side of the road), and go through security all over again.  Luckily we made it with some time to spare and met up with our SIT correspondent, Christine, and some of the other students joining us.  All was good.  Boarding time came around and we hopped in line, handed the lady our boarding passes, and heard a loud beeping noise come through the scanner – it did not sound positive.  Apparently, our bags were in Nairobi – all the way across the street in the international terminal and outside of security.  We thought they had been checked straight through to Kisumu, but since we were switching from an international to domestic flight, we had to get our bags and then recheck them.  We didn’t really have time to run and get them, so we settled to hop on our flight anyways without them and have them sent later.

          So now I’m here, in the wonderful Kisumu, freshly showered (yet still in my airport clothes), sitting on the porch in 88-degree weather typing this up.  They are putting us up in a hotel until Monday so we can get some R&R and escape our jet lag, and then on Monday we will meet and move in with our homestay families!  We have not yet seen much of Kisumu, but from what I can tell it’s very different from America, and it smells and looks so green and fresh.  I know I’ll really like it here!  We still don’t really know much about what will be going on during our semester yet, as orientation starts Monday.  What I do know is that we are a group of 7, all with incredibly different majors and reasons for being here.  I find that really interesting, because each person will really bring a different perspective to whatever topic we are discussing.  I’m so ready for Monday to come so we can get this show on the road!!

           Overall the moral of the story is that if you’re ever planning to study abroad – GO WITH THE FLOW!!! We really have no control over so much that is happening, so being able to be chill and flexible is really the key.  Yes, it sucks not having our bags and we are super curious to know what’s going on, but overall it’ll all iron out smoothly and we will still have a great time!