#I think we're going to see a lot more research in the next thirty or forty years examining physical comorbidities with neurodev stuff

[mythicalcoolkid]

After too many years here I've final what hornets' nests I am not brave enough to kick

[esamastation]

Part thirty-nine of Shizuroth, aka, the SOLDIER General's Self Saving Shizun.

Ao3 link.

Previous parts: twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight

-

Reno has decided he hates sleeping in a tree. He doesn't particularly enjoy any aspect of camping but he especially dislikes sleeping in trees. Even with a hammock to pitch between branches, it's never comfortable.

Stupid  SOLDIERs and their stupid endless stamina. Sephiroth and Hewley didn't even bother to make a camp or anything, they just slept wherever! Incredible. Not that Reno thinks Sephiroth actually slept at all. Sure, Reno didn't either, because the forest did not shut up all night and the fuck can sleep with all the noise, but still. Even after a day of fighting monsters and evening of sword practice, Sephiroth just doesn't quit, huh. The guy has issues.

Glancing over the edge of his hammock to see Hewley still asleep and Sephiroth sitting cross-legged, actually meditating, Reno lies back and sighs. So much for SOLDIERs not knowing when to quit, huh? 

After a moment of waiting while the sky above grows slowly lighter and all the damn bugs in the forest wake up for the whole new day of being nuisances, Reno digs out his PHS and shoots out a message.

Reno: If I have to spend another night in this damn forest, listening to Sephiroth's constant sighing, I'm going to lose it. Tell me you're done.

Rude: Your life is a constant struggle. Charcoal burner's house checks out. I'm back at the camp for supplies now.

Reno: Ooh, what did we get?

Rude: Two weeks worth of rations, and a case of contraband.

Reno: Finally some good news! I'll see if I can get the meatheads there before the day is out. Save some of that contraband for me.

Rude doesn't answer, and Reno settles down to wait for the SOLDIER Firsts to get up and get moving. Sephiroth does first - rising, of course, to do some more  sword practice.

Reno watches him work for a while before adding annotation to the watch log. 07:34, Sephiroth begins solo sword practice, no visible signs of his "energy alignment" practice. From Sephiroth's comments, he figures the guy is being careful with it, and doesn't want to be interrupted again - something he's already made a note of in his ongoing report.

This mission involves way too much paperwork already, and way too many questions. Sephiroth doesn't take in EXP anymore, apparently. There's something called Qi-deviation - his fit, maybe - which he's trying to avoid. He's now meditating with Materia, which is - something. And it's Reno's job to figure out explanations for all of this.

He's doing the work of a Science researcher, basically, observing Sephiroth like a lab rat for all sorts of unusual behaviours. Except he's doing it behind the Science Department's back. Wonderful.

Reno waits until Hewley shows signs of waking up before sending out the data package Tseng had prepared. Then he lies still, staring up at the forest canopy, listening.

"Good morning," Sephiroth says somewhere below. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, good morning - wait, it's morning? Sephiroth, you didn't wake me up?" Hewley asks. "I meditated most of the night, it's fine," Sephiroth says, dismissively. "I figured I might as well let you sleep, since I was going to stay up anyway."

"That's - considerate of you, but we agreed to change shifts," Hewley points out. "You should've woken me up anyway."

"What's the point of both of us staying awake?"

"It's not about what - Sephiroth, I know you've forgotten a lot about how this goes, but we're supposed to be a team," Hewley says slowly, pointedly. "And I would've liked to be included in the decision making."

"... Ah. I didn't… think of that."

"Just - wake me up next time," Hewley sighs.

Point in Hewley's favour there, for not letting Sephiroth get away with this shit. Reno definitely wouldn't have.

There's a sound of Hewley getting up just as both their PHS's beep out a notification. 

"Another mission?" Sephiroth asks.

"Mm, yeah," Hewley agrees, and judging by the sound of it he's looking through the mission files. "Hmm, there are monsters attacking a, uh, charcoal burner's house. They want us to clear them out."

"Sounds bad. Should we put off the other monster hunting mission for now?"

"... Yeah, maybe. Might be that it's an informant's house, or something," Hewley mutters. "Don't see why else they'd send us to help Wutai citizens."

Sephiroth says nothing.

Reno lifts his PHS to make another note before stopping. Sephiroth's apparent… unease has already been noted, and a bit of silence isn't exactly a clear sign of mutiny. The guy has second thoughts - like just about every asshole sent to the front. Nothing new about that.

Except for the fact that Sephiroth isn't allowed to have second thoughts, according to his files.

"Do you have any of those fruits left?" Hewley asks. "I'm hungry."

"Yeah, I picked some more earlier - and I think there's some rambutan over there too…" Sephiroth says and there's a sound of him walking over. "Huh, they are. Didn't notice them in the dark yesterday. Here, catch."

"Oh, those are edible?"

"Yes, you just peel them. Tastes a bit like grape," Sephiroth says and picks some more while muttering under his breath, "What they're doing growing out here though, I don't know."

"Nice. You remember Wutai pretty well, huh? Being able to forage and all."

"... I guess so."

Shutting his PHS off as quietly as he can, Reno puts his hands behind his neck and listens with a scowl as the SOLDIER Firsts enjoy fruit for breakfast. All he has is a few power bars. Che.

"Genesis sent me a message," Hewley comments. "Apparently Hojo is tearing his way through the SOLDIER program."

"... Oh?" Sephiroth asks, his voice audibly tensing.

"Yeah. More tests, observation, and a bunch of Seconds have been called in for extra injections."

"..."

"Yeah," Angeal answered. "Listen to this; Hojo's also taken personal interest in the SOLDIER cadet selection process and has stated that he'll be doing the Mako reaction tests himself."

"... Cadet selection process?" Sephiroth asks. "Is that for selecting new SOLDIER members?"

"Yeah. You probably don't remember, right? When they pick who gets to become a SOLDIER, there's a bunch of tests. Mostly they're physical - and once you pass those, you have to pass Mako reactivity tests. Not everyone can handle Mako injections, so…" Hewley trails away.

"... How many candidates are there usually?"

"Hundred or so in each batch. Of them, maybe ten make it through the whole selection process."

"I see," Sephiroth murmurs. "Hojo taking interest in that is… probably not a good thing."

Hewley says nothing.

Reno grimaces. Yeah, the creepy Head of the Science Department definitely wasn't happy that they yoinked his favourite lab rat from his grip huh. Here's hoping there won't be other incidents - though if there are, they will be Tseng and Cissnei's problem. Reno and Rude have their hands busy here, with these schmucks.  

"Nothing we can do about that here," Hewley says. "Ready to set out?"

"You don't want to warm up first?" Sephiroth asks. "We could do some forms."

"I'll warm up enough on the way there - there'll still be a lot of monsters between us and the house."

"Ah."

"Did you… " Hewley hesitates. "Did you figure out the whole thing with your EXP gain?"

"Yeah, more or less. Don't worry about it. There's still some hawthorn fruits left - do you want them?"

Reno rolls his eyes. Spoken like a man pasting posters on his walls to hide the holes in his house. Who would've thought that Sephiroth was such a shitty liar?

Sephiroth and Hewley set out, and Reno sits up with a stretch, the hammock rocking side to side underneath him. His neck is all fucked up from his sleeping position, but hell, at least he didn't have to sleep on the ground.

Easing himself onto the tree branches, Reno packs the hammock away and then drops down. There are just seeds and skins left from the fruits the SOLDIERs had been eating. Nothing left for him. Assholes.

Sighing, Reno picks some unripened hawthorn fruits from the tree he'd seen Sephiroth pick them from and heads after the SOLDIERs, to continue his watch duty.

This month's bonus had better be worth all this.

-

Gonna start leaving out the links to parts that are available on ao3 because list of links is getting ridiculous.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Your Majesty, you're looking well."

Trent and Cindra Siew bowed to their queen. Or at least, Cindra attempted to bow. Her stomach was surprisingly big, making it difficult to bend. Maura stopped her before she could topple over, kissing Cindra on the cheek instead.

"Cindra! Oh my god, you're huge! I didn't know you were pregnant. You should have told me sooner. I could have arranged something to celebrate this good news."

Cindra smiled.

"Well, it's still early. I'm only in my second trimester, so we didn't want to say anything until later."

"It's kind of hard to hide this, though," Trent laughed. "We're having multiples! Can you even imagine? You won't see us at court because we'll be too busy changing diapers."

Maura looked stunned at the news. Twins and multiples didn't run strongly in her family or Ulyssa's, so the news was surprising. She and Ulyssa had had their kids in quick succession, but there had been breaks between caring for a newborn, and plenty of staff to help out. Running a country and a family would be hell without a nanny.

"We did want to surprise you earlier, but then...well, it didn't seem like the right time with all of the tragedy we've seen," Cindra continued. "It will be a blessing to have more Siew-Durants running around the palace. If we have a girl, I want to name her after my sister. I think Lauren would like that. Maybe Alice if we have another girl, to honour Princess Alysiara."

All the air froze in Maura’s lungs at the name of her lost daughter. Everyone said that her loss would become easier to manage with time, but Maura doubted that was true. Each day, she woke and was blissfully happy for about thirty seconds before she remembered that two of her children were at rest next to her mother's tomb. Her day never improved from that moment on.

"That...that is very kind of you to think of," Maura said, her voice tight with emotion. "Your potential daughter doesn't need to stand in my daughter's shadow, as lovely as the thought is. I didn't name any of my children after my mother or half-sister so that they could be themselves and not have to measure up to someone else's legacy. Just think of all the Ewans in the world today because of the fate of poor Prince Ewan Goldman. I won't be offended if you choose to go with another name."

"A middle name then," Trent decided. "We'll think of something special. We still have a lot of time to choose."

"Of course." Maura’s tone was kind but firm. She was happy for her half-brother, but she was a busy monarch and had things still left to do. Trent picked up on the dismissive tone and quickly cleared his throat to signal a change in topic.

"Uh, Your Majesty, I have a follow up on that research you wanted Adrian and I to complete. About your father?"

Maura froze. She had no doubt that Adrian and Trent would find something about her father and his disappearance, but not this quickly. Her heart ached from the roller coaster of feelings this short visit had already evoked in her. She didn't know if she could handle discussing her missing father after thinking about how much she missed Alysiara and Spencer.

"You've found something? Something about his death or Pleasantview?"

Maura’s heart pounded in her chest at the thought. What had they found so quickly, and how badly would it break her heart to hear? Was he truly a political prisoner or had he abandoned Maura and her mother for another family? What if he had amnesia and didn't know if he had a daughter who mourned him? There were too many possibilities to consider, and most of them she wasn't prepared to handle.

"Not about his death, no," Trent replied slowly, producing an envelope from his jacket. "But definitely something about Pleasantview. We're not sure what it all means just yet, but Adrian and I felt that you should know about this now."

Maura took the envelope from Trent's hand and tried not to reveal how nervous she was. A queen was never nervous in front of her subjects, or so her grandmother used to shout at her.

In the envelope, three photos lay neatly together. The first one brought a smile to Maura’s face despite her hesitation.

"Oh, my mom loved that necklace," she exclaimed softly. "I used to beg her to borrow it when I was a kid. It's probably the only thing Lukas hasn't stolen from me. I left a pretty lengthy threatening note in its case just in case they got ideas about it. I wanted to bury it with her, but Ulyssa convinced me not to. Mom always said that my dad gave it to her, and to bury the only proof I have of their love would be a waste when I could remember them with it. I'd almost forgotten what it looked like on her."

Trent looked uncomfortable, as though he was trying to make a difficult decision, but unable to settle on either option. This wasn't lost on Maura, who studied people's expressions as a living.

"What are you hiding? Does this picture have a clue in it? Am I missing something?"

"N-no, Your Majesty," Trent stammered. "That photograph was included in the records we found, but we haven't found anything suspicious about it as of yet. It's only...that necklace belonged to your great-grandmother, Her Majesty Queen Spencer. It's been a part of the royal collection for nearly a century."

Maura felt like she'd physically been kicked in the gut with those words. Her stomach ached and twisted with anxiety, disbelief, and pain.

"No...no, she always said that...."

"We have the records of the necklace's purchase," Trent said kindly, like she was a toddler who had skinned their knee and not the ruling monarch of their country.

The last thing Maura needed was his pity. She had enough of that already.

"So she lied to me, that tracks," Maura spat, furious with the woman she thought she knew. "She doesn't tell me that my dad was declared dead because she wanted a second marriage, and now I find out that she's been lying to me about their relationship too? When has she ever told me the truth? What else has she lied about?"

Maura wanted to clench her fists and scream at the top of her lungs, maybe smashing a few vases for good measure. Of course, she could never do that, even around her half-brother. A proper queen didn't throw fits in front of her subjects, especially one who had a blood connection to the throne like Trent did.

Still, the thought was tempting. Maura had had her conflicts with her mother over the years, and she had never embraced her mother's second marriage or her half-siblings, but she had never thought that their relationship had been this broken. For a brief moment, Maura wished that she could have another short journey to wherever she had encountered her mother in the afterlife. She has so much to say to Queen Cherry, and she hadn't ever looked at the rest of the envelope Trent had handed her. Whenever Maura did die, she and her mother were going to have words.

Maura flipped to the next photograph angrily, hoping that this one wouldn't make her want to rip out her own hair with anger too.

It was innocent enough, though, so was the last photo.

"Her Highness Princess Cherry Siew and His Highness Prince Coby Siew," Maura read on the back of the photo. "On the day of their pregnancy announcement."

Maura stared at the couple in the photo, searching for the truth about her family. Once again, it looked just like any other photo she had seen of her parents. Nothing about it seemed suspicious at all. They both looked excited to be having their first child, but who knew how they really felt. Maura’s mother had already confirmed how little she thought of her husband once Iris had arrived in her life.

"What's the problem with this photo?" She asked impatiently. "I wanted reports and facts, not pictures that I've probably seen on a wall somewhere."

"Well, it's the last day the prince was seen before leaving on a trip to Pleasantview for three months," Trent explained. "They made a pregnancy announcement, and then your father left on an unexplained trip abroad. Your grandmother's journal revealed that she never approved it, and she wanted to exile or execute him for leaving her pregnant daughter alone during her first pregnancy. The Red Queen refused to acknowledge that he was in her country, and tensions rose between the two countries, something the queen was desperate to avoid. So your father had a habit of disappearing in Pleasantview, it seems. There is no explanation recorded for either disappearance, and because of this information,we expect to find more gaps in Prince Coby's schedule. "

"And these were all found together?" Maura asked. "These three photos were in the same archive record? Honestly, this doesn't seem to be interesting enough research for me to even look into. Two photos of my mother smiling for the camera and one of my father? I probably have these upstairs in my study."

"Respectively, no, you don't, Your Majesty. We found traces of sulphur on these photos and on the envelope they were stored in. Stored with them was a piece of paper with what looks like Latin scribbled on it. We've tried getting the Latin transcribed, but no one can read it. The words are too old for modern translation. They had to be written in Old Tredony or older."

"Sulphur?" Maura repeated with horror. "Demons are involved? To leave a trace behind, they'd have to be a Great Demon or at least as strong as one. And to speak a language old enough to be lost to time? What are they doing with my mother's photos? Neither of my parents were demons. I've been tested genetically before; we Siews aren't demonic in any significant way."

"I know, and that's what's troubling about this," Trent agreed. "Those two photos and the strange writing would be significant enough to bring to you in a formalized report, but the last photo is the one I wanted you to see now. I think you'll agree with me that it presents a troubling situation."

Maura nodded quickly and took the last photo from the envelope. She nearly dropped it in shock.

"What the hell does that mean?"

The face standing next to her mother's was ghastly. Terrifying. Something utterly unnatural, and Maura couldn't tell what it meant even after staring at it for what felt like an eternity.

"T-that's my dad?" she whispered in horror. "How did he look like that and not have my mother run in fear? Why did no one question him about this?"

Trent paused, trying to think of kind words to answer his cousin.

"We...Adrian and I did some research. We think we have a strong answer to that, though it still is just a theory. We don't think that those markings were visible at the time the picture was taken. We think that in a split second, one moment in time, the magic disguising the markings faltered, and the camera captured what was hidden underneath. Your father was in several photos of the royal family every year and nothing like this was ever captured on film. It had to be a split second that the camera captured. Otherwise, why didn't it show in any of the other photos of him?"

"You think this is what my father was hiding under magic?" Maura asked slowly, taking the time to absorb this theory and still not fully grasping it. "This was what he truly looked like?"

Trent nodded.

"That's our explanation for it, yes. We can adjust our theory when new evidence is found, but until then, that's the only thing that makes sense."

"Are those marking what I think they are? If they are, no one has seen them and lived to tell about it in decades, centuries even. It can't be. This doesn't make any sense."

Trent nodded gravely.

"Yes, those are the markings of the Pleasantview royal assassin. Your Majesty, do you ever remember your family mention Pleasantview in any way that might be suspicious? Any fights they may have had? I dont remember my mothers mention it at all, aside from court gossip."

Maura shook her head, still staring in disbelief at the photo in her hand.

"I don't remember my father much, and our grandmother took all of her secrets to her grave. I'm sure that she knew more than she let on about this, but she never actually killed him. If she had known about this, she probably would have."

"What would you like Adrian and I to do?" Trent asked quietly. "We're going to look into this further, but if you need anything else, I-"

"I'll speak to Claudia about this matter," Maura interrupted quickly. "Tear the archives apart or whatever you have to do. I want answers, and I want them now. This could be the answer we're looking for about the attacks on us, or it could be nothing but buried family secrets. I need to know which one it is so I can make informed choices going forward. Claudia and I will do what we can in Pleasantview. Neither of you can breathe a word of this to anyone outside of Adrian. If you need to bring in additional help, I will appoint someone to work with you."

"Royal assassin markings from Pleasantview, my father disappearing for years while in Pleasantview...I'm seeing a troubling trend here," Maura continued. "Our great-great grandfather fought a war to keep Pleasantview from invading us, but now I wonder how successful he was. If my father was involved in some scheme, then this all goes back decades."

"We'll get to the bottom of this," Trent promised. "If this had anything to do with what killed Mom and Callista or our prince and princess, I'll kill them myself to keep our family safe."

Maura paused at this declaration. She felt the betrayal of her mother's lies, the all encompassing grief for her children, and the hurt of apparently knowing next to nothing about her father all pile up inside her, threatening to break through her royal composure.

"No," she vowed. "Leave that to me."

[psychoteacup]

our stories 1.1

it was always depression for me, you know. and of course, the good old friend, anxiety. I've heard so many times that maybe I was just destined to be depressed forever and that was okay. spoiler: it wasn't okay. not really. the constant feel of dread and sorrow, the loneliness, the misery, not seeing a way out. never feeling like I was ever going to be good enough, in anything, or ever. it was a dead end. was I destined to be this melancolic crying damsel on a tower forever?

took me thirty years to find a good doctor and terapist who would take a proper look at this. deep down, behind the curtains. don't get me wrong, there's still a lot of shadow and dust there, but the little peak was all they needed to come up with a few theories.

started off with the possibility of bipolarity, and I always had this idea of never being bipolar because I never had mania episodes. you know, the stereotypical mania episodes where your energy makes you unstopable and you're, in fact, for the worse, unstopable, in whatever you put your mind into. the thing is, I didn't know about another type of bd that had hypomania. which meant a smaller and less intense episode of mania, followed by long periods of depression. now that was souding more like me.

we tried a few treatments, it went terribly wrong. somewhere in the middle I stopped handling feelings altogether, which is why I'm on meds that make me, to the most part, a little numb. I still feel all of the sadness and desperation, but compared to what it could be, is tamed.

then talking to a close friend, I was sure about ADHD. of couse, being so low energy, the hyperactivity part was a big no-no. which left me confusing (and it does to this day) as to the possibility that I do, have, in fact ADHD, or maybe just ADD. this right here is a work in progress, an investigation still ongoing.

but ADHD explained more of my limitations, the freezing for years, the non stop thinking, the memory loss, distractability, incapability to have discipline or keep following projects through. it explained more, but not all.

then I came up with a few people talking about autism once, even about a test that was made to identify autism symptons and characteristics on women. see, by this point, I only had misconceptions in my mind about what the media had sold me about what autism was. I had never seen a girl with autism in my life or in any of the media consumed. it was a strange land to dive, and I was scared. I denied the signs, because I didn't know what they meant.

after a few months of chaos in my life, this year I returned to the psychiatrist and we started to investigate on ADHD and autism, where he said that from the first day he wrote a note about me that I might have autism, which I haven't even told him about my researches before. that was a bit of a shock. the ADHD part is still something that we're considering, yet to be defined, I suppose.

then the diagnostics came, and I cried like a baby. out of all of the possibilities I never really believed this one, but the signs were all there. I just masked so perfectly, even to myself, ignoring the consequences of it and just putting on a show the next day, never wondering about the never-ending depression and low energy, or how I was never out of the well.

I don't know how to feel, but someday I might.

I'm still learning, and to be honest, this first few months have been weird. I had resistence from people close to me, decided not to tell my parents about it because I was scared of their reaction and didn't want to make things worse.

but I wanna try.

and now I'm under this grieving process of which I recognize everything that was done to me that was so cruel, and even what I did to myself, always so judgemental and cruel to me, never enough in the eyes of a standard that was not made for me to fit in.

it explains so much. my childhood, my trauma. my fights and battles, my internal war.

it's still ongoing, you know. but so much weight was lifted off of me. something I was just so used to feeling, that almost felt as part of me, another limb, all that guilt and shame. but it's not mine to hold on to anymore.

slowly, i'll be shedding those skins. i'll understand my limits and my strengths. it's surely not gonna be easy, but gives me a little more of hope.

i'm yet to meet me.

[bumbershots]

Mistletoe & Wine

A/N: Hello this is my collaboration for @goldenbluesuit very well put together Christmas song fic challenge. It’s my first time participating and my first time posting my writing here as well (I’m sort of new, I have no friends) so, I’m kind of nervous and English is not my first language (sorry for any mistakes) thanks to my boyfriend for being a Brit so he could help me with the “slang” and for reading this about fifteen times and listened to Mistletoe and Wine by Cliff Richard throughout the entire week with me lol. Thanks for  taking the time to read this :) If you want to befriend a twenty six year old Aries, or just send me an ask click here.

Word count: 2.8k

Summary: Harry meets a woman that is not here to stay, he will need to decide if that will keep him from making the most of the very few days they have together or dread the imminent separation.

It was raining when her flight landed in London. The kind of rain that doesn't pour heavily, instead it settles over the city for days. And although she can't afford to take a cab, she steps out of the airport just to stare at the endless grey of the sky and wrap herself in her coat because of how cold it was. After a few more minutes she goes back inside to find the way to get out of there on the tube, she knew it to be possible after all the research she's been doing since the age of twelve on the internet.

Soon enough, the man she approached to ask for help, confirms that a train is leaving in a few minutes and she can easily get off at Hammersmith, he even helps her buy the ticket and recommends to get an oyster card if she is going to use London's Underground often. But she doesn't know, she relishes in the element of surprise that is surrounding her life for the next 3 weeks. It excites her to an unfamiliar degree to see people come and go into the carriage, it almost makes her miss her stop, but she manages to get off just in time, her hands clutching the heavy suitcase that contains all her nicest and warmest clothes. She follows the crowd up the stairs and out of the station, the busy street revealed before her is straight out of those books she restlessly studied at school, people wearing trench coats and long scarfs hurry in hopes to avoid the rain and then a red double-decker bus passes by. The cherry on top.

The spontaneous decision to spend Christmas in England instead of her home country was made months ago, on the night of her birthday, although her closest friends would say that she's been dreaming of it since she read Harry Potter. No one gave her a hard time for it, in fact, almost all her friends and family members went to the airport to wish her a safe trip. Her grandmother was cheeky enough to slip a twenty pound note when hugging her goodbye.

Every day of the first week went by in a blur, visiting museums, galleries and walking around the city, getting soaked in its beauty and the endless rain. By the beginning of the second week, a bit tired of the scarce options from the hotel's breakfast, she ventured out, burying half of her face in the scarf she bought the day before at Primark, her feet guiding her almost out of instinct to the little cafe at the end of Hercules road. The place is warm and the menu seems to have it all for a very fair price. After a couple of minutes the Full English wins, she iterates the order to the woman behind the counter and adds a cup of tea handing over the money.

"Get a seat love, I'll bring it over." The elder lady says making the girl smile and thank her before scampering across the room to sit by the window at the four seat table tucked in the corner.

It doesn't take long for her food to arrive and for her to dig in, feeling kind of full almost at the end, she slows down then, a trick her father passed down on her. Let it settle in for a few minutes before going back at it. Works every time. She gets lost on the daily life happening before her eyes, the people walking by, some in a rush maybe to get to work, others in a rush to get to the shops early and buy presents. She could easily tell the difference between one and other. The elderly couple walking to the market, slower than anybody else, arms linked and without a care in the world. A girl around her age doing "the walk of shame" elicited a smirk on her lips. Good for her.

"Do you mind if I take a seat?" She almost missed the question by the stranger standing there. "There's no empty seats elsewhere I'm afraid, I won't bother you." He was right, in the span of thirty minutes the place was full to the brim with families, the three seats at her table the only ones free so, she nodded and even managed to smile in a friendly way. Unfortunately for her, the green eyed stranger did the same, a sweet dimple on his left cheek more prominent than on the right one and she had to eat a spoonful of beans in an attempt to hide her blush.

Two weeks in the country, almost two weeks, and the best looking man on it decides to show up on a greasy spoon cafe when she's eating what's left of her sausages and beans. His food is delivered by the same lady from earlier, of course it is something that looks healthy. The sudden need to fly away from the place pops in her head, it's not a bad one, he doesn't even know her name. She wants to know his. She remembers how he said he wouldn't bother her, it's almost disappointing, she wants to be bothered.

The situation seems to be straight out of a rom-com, she is cutting the banger in little pieces, as if the formula to spark conversation with the mystery guy keeping her company is hidden in them. But after five minutes she sighs quietly, knowing that her own shyness won't let her even glance at him again. She will have to do her best to remember him and observe from the corner of her eye until the last piece of minced pork is consumed by her. And maybe she will gush about how gorgeous he was with her friends once she is back home, describing his shiny emerald eyes for them, sharing a sigh when she recalls how dreamy his accent was and squeal upon the memory of his raspy voice.

Ten minutes later her last bite is chewed and swallowed, the cup is empty as well. She's about to grab her coat draped on the back of her chair. "I'm going to have to break my non-disturbing you promise but... um, that's a sick cardigan." His voice doesn't sound confident as before, he even clears his throat, but his eyes never leave hers.

"Thanks, my grandma knitted it for me." She forgets about her coat and straightens out a bit for him to appreciate the colourful patchwork and extends her left arm to show the over-sized sleeve. Her companion hums in approval. "She hates it."

"What?" His green eyes widening in disbelief and she just shrugs.

"As soon as I put it on she went on and on about how horrible it was, the wrong proportions and how it all seemed better off in her mind." They share a giggle and don't notice that their empty plates have been taken away and the place is no longer swamped by people. "But I like it, I like it a lot, does a good job keeping me warm." And makes her look lovely, he thinks but doesn't say.

Instead he licks his lips before speaking again. "I'm Harry." He offers his left hand and she quickly eyes the cross tattoo.

"I'm a tourist." She says before adding her real name, earning a deep chuckle from him before letting go of his hand.

The set of circumstances in which she met Harry is dreamy for sure, but something about him made the set of affairs so real. When he asked about the places where she'd been the scoff afterwards and the roll of his eyes made her ask what was wrong about them. But he didn't answer, with a shake of his head and a deep sigh he asked for her phone number. The promise to show her the real London lingered in the air as they parted ways outside of the corner cafe.

Her heart raced at the very sight of him outside Borough Market the following morning. "Morning love, alright?" he greeted her before hugging her tight and quick. It was so genuine it made her wonder if she really just met him the day before. "Do you like doughnuts?"

"Who doesn't?" she says with that grin he worries will wait for him in his dreams.

"Wisest words ever spoken." Harry's arm is wrapped around her shoulders, guiding her on their quest inside the huge market.

The early morning is spent too soon, Harry guides her to talk to the stall owners, they are so passionate about their produce, most of them willing when possible to give them a sample. The highlight is the stop at Bread Ahead, they buy more doughnuts than what she thinks they need. They eat them all while sharing a Monmouth coffee. Harry shares with her stories about almost every stall they passed by. "I'm not a fan of red meat, and oysters." She keeps record of it, basking in his lovely anecdotes that seemed to summon the sun from it's hiding place. "We're granted a sunny day in winter!" He celebrates and it's impossible not to join him. "Let's go to Richmond Park."

Of course she nods in agreement and follows him down the street where he parked his car before she gets in the passenger seat. The stranger danger alarm, should've gone off in her head. But there was something about him, like he was holding her in place. As she heard Harry speak about his job, it started to make more sense in her head. Harry was a lot like this country, foreign, new, exciting and hers for the next few days. He made that clear when they parted ways at the end of the day.

"Come home with me for Christmas." Harry asked her on what would be the beginning of her last week in London, while having a picnic on Primrose Hill.

"With your family?" Her eyebrows were shot up when he nodded, fighting back that deadly smirk of his. "All your relatives will be there?" He nods again and she scoffs completely agitated. "Don't be daft Harry!" She voices out her feelings borrowing an expression of his.

He laughs and it's impossible for her not to join him, her face growing hotter by the second. "I don't want to go without you, and mum will love to have you there," that's what she fears.

"I don't know Harry, might be weird." He disagrees right away.

"It's close to Liverpool, we could spend a day or two over there." The past week he's been trying to learn as many things from her as possible and if he chooses his words carefully he can convince her. "Pay a visit to Anfield, The Cavern." His fake nonchalant attitude makes her roll her eyes, "Strawberry Fields is there too, you know?" She agrees and he kisses the back of her hand to mask the proud grin on his face.

In the past, she was always careful not to let a partner know how deeply she cared about them. The thought of being vulnerable made her lose her mind, thinking it was a sign of weakness. But seeing Harry drive through the English countryside, singing at the top of his lungs to Mistletoe and Wine by Cliff Richard and smiling just for her. It made her want to tell him, but not even all the words in every single language ever spoken by humanity could be enough to give him an idea of how much she cares for him.

There hasn't been a proper kiss between them, it puzzled her at first. Because his gaze seemed to be constantly directed to her lips. But then there was all the touching, holding hands, tucking her to his side when walking, his tender touch before hugging her goodbye. And the way he was always running his hands through her hair.

"She's a friend," he introduces her to his mum Anne and sister Gemma, after saying her name, chewing on the word like it's that mint gum he carries in his purse everywhere he goes. "Was a bloody tourist when I first met her but now... she's a proper Londoner." She doubts it, but she agrees on them being friends and she likes it, a lot.

They help Anne and Gemma to set the table and the finishing touches for dinner. Only three more family members show up and she chastises Harry for making her believe that all of his offspring was going to attend. That's how they usually spend Christmas Eve back home, she explains.

It saddens him, the thought of her going back to her home country in five days time. All the way across the Atlantic, six hours behind him. It's almost unfair.

"Tell me more about it," Harry's curiosity is genuine, thinking that he would love to know more about her traditions. Perhaps even be lucky enough to share them someday.

"We don't have these," she regrets taking a tube of brightly coloured paper. "We have piñatas though." She adds proudly and Harry's jaw hangs open in surprise.

"No fucking way!" He is immediately told off by his mum as they all take a seat at the table. "I thought that was only allowed for birthdays."

"There's no rules for that!" She takes the Christmas cracker out again and Harry takes it from the other end. "So, I just pull it?" He nods and it makes a noise revealing the present.

"You get the crown." Harry unfolds it before helping her fix it atop her head. "And the little toy, what is it?oh... I get the joke!" His family groans, his sister hiding her face in hands, but all she sees is the glint in Harry's eye before he reads. "Who's Rudolph's favourite pop star?"

"I don't know," she's the only one that was going to ask him. And she really wanted to know.

"Beyon-sleigh!" Harry watches in delight how the girl before him snorts at the silly and not so funny joke.

"That was awful." She confessed.

"Agree, next year we'll make our own. Riddles only." His mum adds and Harry protests right away but is shushed by Gemma's voice reading out loud the riddle from her cracker.

Next year, she will probably be spending the day with her numerous family, she thinks. Harry will be here again, telling awful jokes, pulling away Christmas crackers. Perhaps he will bring another person with him. She tries to push the poisonous thoughts down with a big gulp of wine. Only succeeding when Harry's left hand rests on her knee, his thumb rubbing circles on her skin exposed by her ripped jeans while he listens to his sister talk about her podcast. It marvels her how he is there, for everybody.

After dinner they play family games and Harry makes a fake tantrum after his cousin Chloe claims his companion for her team.

"She's mine!" He argues, his long arms embracing her easily. She ends up joining the other team, but the quick kiss she bravely gave to his neck before he let her go, confirmed the words he spoke.

There is a three step process Harry follows to know he's fallen in love. If he finds himself talking about them with every living soul, if he does something they like just because it makes him miss them less and finally if he takes them home to meet his mum. He knows that for the past few days, there was no other topic to discuss with him than the girl sitting beside him in the sofa. He's been drinking tea every morning, just because it reminds him of her. He watches her talk to his mother about how much they like Rod Stewart and knows that he's in too deep.

It should bother him, because she will leave. And all these moments spent, will be just distant memories for him to torture himself over and over again. He wants to feel the angst of knowing that maybe she will forget him, maybe she has a partner back home. He gives up on trying to feel miserable, agreeing with that song from earlier. It is a time to rejoice in the good that we see, a time for living and believing.

Right now all he sees is her, he sighs before tucking her by his side, her brown doe eyes meeting his briefly before sneaking an arm around his waist. She continues to chat with Anne and Gemma even after the rest of the guests leave, still holding onto him. Harry can see the fondness radiating from his mother and sister for the girl in his arms. He sees trust, and he smiles thinking of a new beginning.

What a beautiful sight.

[echo-three-one]

Chapter 37

Carry On My Wayward Son

The NINE Engines

"Alex"

Site Hotel Bravo - Lab

Kicking the door open, Alex quickly dashed through the squeaky halls while Jack held on to his shoulder for support. The alarms echoed through the facility and everyone else was gone. Whoever was compromised among his teammates must be in a pinch right now, and the best thing the duo could do is plant the charges.

Alex paced through the halls and checked every corner, Jack continued guarding his six and they checked each room for intel. Luckily, they stumbled upon a framed layout of the building.

"Thank Goodness, a goddamn map." Jack sighed and looked at the thing, starting at the huge red star that said "You are Here"

"Any idea where the engine room is?" Alex turned to him, while leaning by the door, his body angled to peek at the hallway.

"Well for starters, this is an engine room." He turned and squinted his eyes in disbelief.

"But it's empty." Alex pondered.

"Shit. They already loaded this one." He continued.

"There are 9 other engine rooms out here. And with 10 engines on a single rocket, this thing was meant to go far." he explained and ran back to Alex.

"The next one's just on the other side of this corridor." He muttered and they immediately kicked open the second engine room.

"Empty. Eight more. Let's get a move on." Alex sighed as they continued kicking more doors and discovering more rooms. It looked like they were all empty.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Alex?" Jack asked as they slowly creeped on the stairs down to the lower floor of the facility.

"If you're thinking about Samantha right now, then yes. But I hope you're not because that would be weird." he retorted as the ground shook violently. The two of them felt the heat emanating from the area below them and it didn't bode well for the duo.

"Focus, kid. Now do you see where I'm getting at?" He replied, proving his point. Alex slowly nodded and stepped further down the stairs.

"How can we attach an explosive charge on a whole rocket?"  Alex asked the million dollar question and was greeted with complete silence, other than the sound of their footsteps descending the stairs.

"If only we still have one engine… It could be enough to start a chain reaction of explosives." Jack hummed at the last step. The underground floor was where the rumbling was coming from. From the looks of it, the rocket was about to launch.

The launch grounds were already deserted and Shepherds Research team were already in a sheltered bunker somewhere far away from here. 

"Fuck. How did Shepherd afford this bullshit off radar?" Jack cursed and looked at the towering rocket as it slowly hummed to life.

"There!" Jack pointed at the doors on the other side of the launch room. 

"I trust you could stop those bastards from pushing that button." He nodded. Alex wanted to reason with him and stop his heroic act, because he was living proof that it won't end well for him, but the urgency of the matter at hand made him press on with his orders. It was the only shot they could do it.

"I'll see you on the far side." Alex muttered and Jack nodded, as he assured him that they both will make it out of this one.

Alex thought Jack's task was the hard one, it turns out that his 'stop the launch' mission was harder than he'd expected.

He peeked his head behind the glass of the launch room, as he surveyed three researchers who looked eager for the launch and the three big guys they once met back at the ship. Apparently, they survived the sinking ship part and here they are now.

He could go guns blazing, but the reinforced glass begged to differ. Standard bullets won't penetrate through these kinds of glass even at point blank range.

"Seriously, why do the bad guys always get the good stuff?" He complained, tilting his head to the guards.

The researchers looked unarmed while the big guys wielded AK-47s, which slung across their backs. The smiles on the researcher's faces lit, and that didn't mean well for Alex and his team. He needed to act fast and halt the launch. But he doesn't know how.

They were already mouthing the countdown when Alex knocked on the door and immediately hid. He never expected someone to open the door but he was glad someone did.

A huge blast shattered the room, sending enemies unconscious on the floor, struggling to get up. Alex's eyes focused and looked for the red button but it looked like he was a second to late. The ground shook as smoke billowed from the rocket, covering the whole area with smoke.

Alex knew he had to stay low for oxygen and he did, pressing the button for their comms he tried to alert Jack about the situation.

"Jack! I was too late! We need to get out of this place now! Jack?!" He roared as the loud rumbling noise of the launching rocket filled his ears making him temporarily deaf to any other noise.

He couldn't see the rocket rise up to the sky but he could sense it using the sound of the engine. It was getting away without the bang they were expecting.

"Jack?"

"Run kid! Away from that place!" Jack warned, panting as he did it. Alex quickly got up to his foot and swung his hand, clearing away the smoke as he dashed to the exit.

Halfway through the dark tunnel from which they entered, Alex heard a mighty booming noise, assuming it was the rocket that exploded to pieces. But he had no time to celebrate as the cave started to crumble and collapse just above him.

His elbows and arms sensed the pain of the rocks poking through his shirt as he crawled. 

"Shit." He muttered as he felt the rocks fall from where he came from and his foot felt the heat of the now enclosed area.

"I got ya." Jack caught his hand and pulled him up but his metal leg was already stuck between the rocks, making it hard for him to escape.

"I can't pull you anymore!" Jack yelled and Alex let go of him, as he quickly removed the lock of his metal leg, as Jack pulled him free of the collapsing tunnel.

The two panted heavily and Jack supported Alex as they made their way to the other side of the base and met up with the rest of the squad. They didn't need to tell them how their task ended as it was already evident based on the falling rocket debris from the sky.

Extraction was the hardest part of the trip. With Alex losing his metal leg, he wasn't able to help the heavily injured Ghost and Roach and the weakening Alexandra. He frowned at the view as he sat there by the plane, looking at the pained expression from his comrades. Shepherd was also with them, all tied up and his face was expressionless. Alex's blood boiled at the sight of him, making him want to beat him up for another round, but he knew it wasn't necessary as the man would not cooperate. The former general's defeat was too fresh and he still had little pride to keep information from the team.

With Roach continuously bleeding, Nikolai decided to stop by a small town he once belonged in, the team settled on a small hospital which housed troops whom Nikolai deemed were his allies.

From there, they helped patch up Roach and tried to add more blood in him as he lost a lot. Luckily, he was able to hang on and is now resting.

"Rough day, huh." Soap sighed, sitting beside Alex and crossing his arms as they rested in the Hospital's waiting room. 

"Yeah. I already missed my leg." Alex commented, tapping whatever's left on his thigh, chuckling at how it looked.

"Well, your leg could be replaced, you know. I know a guy. Actually, I'm not supposed to tell this to you yet, but… Samantha kinda asked me for help. Not me technically, but you get the idea." Soap rambled and all Alex did was look at him quizzically.

"Listen. She - OW!" Soap winced in pain as France teasingly pulled his ear.

"I knew you couldn't keep a secret. Okay Alex, what did he spill?" France looked at Alex seriously, and smiled as soon as she realized Alex doesn't know anything.

"You're lucky he didn't catch up on your babbling." France rubbed Soap's hair and smiled, leaving as soon as Price once again asked for her help.

"Hmm.. Seems like she had you on her ropes." Alex teased.

"On the outside." Soap added confidently. Alex didn't bother decoding what that meant, but he was glad they found each other in a situation like this.

"Hey Soap."

"Aye?"

"Do you have international minutes?" 

He nodded and fished his phone from his pocket and handed it to Alex. And after thanking the man, he quickly typed the numbers he memorized and dialed Samantha.

"Hello?" Her voice filled his mind almost automatically. He was indeed smitten by this woman as he smiled goofily on the phone.

"God, I miss that voice so much." Alex exhaled.

"Alex. I miss you too. How are you? Is everyone safe? Are you hurt?" her questions flooded Alex's ears.

"I'm fine Samantha. We had a few injured people but we're fine. We got General Shepherd."

"Oh thank goodness! That's one step closer to ending this war." She excitedly said over the phone.

"I wish I could hug you right now." Alex said out of the blue.

"Yeah. Me too. I'm with John's Mom downtown. We're helping her up with her shopping." she said and he could feel her snickering on the other side.

"Looks like fun!" 

"Yeah. I'm seeing a lot of places here, and all I ever imagined is walking around the place with my arms wrapped on yours." Alex couldn't help but blush at her words.

"I love you." He muttered.

"I love you too. I gotta go, duty calls." She chuckled and hung up the phone, leaving Alex in a dreamy state. 

He fished a small box from his bag and opened it, showcasing a beautiful ring that he'd been keeping for quite a while now.

"When this war is over…" he muttered, looking at Soap who he forgot was beside him all along. But the guy was already peacefully asleep, so he kept his phone with him for a while so as to not disturb the resting soldier.

Next Chapter : The EIGHT-Thirty Appointment

Notification Squad my Beloved

@ricinbach @smokeywhalee @samatedeansbroccoli @enderio @whimsywispsblog @bumblingbee1

[childofsolace-write-ups]

Arc 01: REUNION

::THOMAS::

"What do you think sunlight feels like?"

I look up and see Nina coming through the right hand tunnel entrance, not even saying hello first. That usually means she was deep in thought on her way here again.

"I really don't remember." I tell her, setting down the book I'd been pretending to read.

It was something about the new things they expected to be able to do with machines. I didn't really have a reason to be fond of those stupid things. It's not exactly a picnic, depending on the machines for everyday living. It'd be awfully hard to breathe underground without them, for one thing. And—insert sarcastic tone here—how on earth would ordinary people survive without fucking reading lights. Seriously, with the number of issues that needs addressing, they give us extra lighting in bunkers, of all things?

Personally, I'd rather take my chances with whatever's up there on ground level. If Trey, Kytes, and the others survived...

That's kinda the thing, though. After all these years, I have no way of knowing if they DID survive or WHAT they survived as. The atmosphere was said to do awfully strange things to ordinary people. I miss my little brother, though. And I hope Trey was doing okay, too. He was my best friend growing up after all.

"Do you?"

Nina clicks on the kitchen lamp. It's pretty cramped up in our compartment bunker, so she'd probably do fine with the little reading light I'm using but she looks at it for a moment and sighed. "It's been too long," she says. "I wonder if they even still have sunlight up there. You know, considering all that's happened."

"Oh, they probably do."

I click off the reading light. No need to be careless with the energy we had. No matter how much they wanted us to believe the machines supplied boundless electricity. I couldn't, not with the reason they sent away Kytes and Trey with a whole bunch of other orphans being the worry for lack of resources. Not with Nina working there everyday. We depended on qualified individuals now for our energy supply. As in, people. Humans, to produce energy, if that makes sense as if they were hamsters running repeatedly in wheels for a Science project. It makes me feel queasy just thinking about it. I don't know how Nina can let them. She's a lot braver than I could be, that's for sure. Maybe a lot more reckless, too. Well, Trey was her brother.

He rubbed off on her...

Then again, I haven't even seen the guy the last eight years, so how would I know that? Nina was all I really had left in memory of him and my own brother. You died younger down here than you would when people lived above when it was still up there. Both Nina's parents are gone, mine died in a fire accident years before the radiation up there first hit. My Uncle, who made it possible for me and my brother to still live here whenever they had to send out orphans, died a year after I turned thirteen. Then, in one Release before I turned thirteen, my brother opted to take Nina's place instead because she's been sick that time and she wouldn't have lasted an hour up there even with Trey's help, who had just been ten then. But I never held it against Trey or resent Nina. We knew each other even before all this, Trey was my best friend just as long as Nina was Kytes's. And I would've done the same if it had been Trey.

Although, I laugh at the idea of Kytes staying down here with him. It might be him who had to watch over the damn lummox.

Now with Nina's parents gone and my Uncle passing away, I was old enough to stand as her guardian until she turned thirteen herself next week. Not that it mattered cause she won't be moving out and I'm not kicking her out either. But on the event I died after her birthday, she wouldn't have to be sent away. So now we shared a cramped compartment on a fairly low level, which was good. The lower you are, the farther you are from the dangers of Ground level.

Level 01 had some data gathering stations for researches and old residence cells. They were Orphanages every now and then, until those who weren't adopted were sent out anyway, the cells were used for residence bunkers to the Poor class.

Level 02 to 30 had the residence cells according to social status of the Middle-class. Point blunt.

Level 31 to 35 had the commerce centers, radio stations and whatever establishments that had existed back and is possible to continue down here. There are movie halls, too, but obviously no one makes movies anymore. We watched the films that was brought down here with us during the evacuation. Before I thought it was pretty cool, now I think of how stupid it is. Of all the other important things they could have brought down, they settled for movies. Anyway, those levels are what you can consider the central city, if you can call it that since there are hardly any Skyscrapers anymore. Not that they would've fit down here, anyway.

Level 35 to 49 have residence cells for Elites and Government officials, the Councillors and the Techs with their family, if any. Since Nina is a Machine tech, we are privileged to be in Level 35.

The better people, the Councillors, get Level 37 to 49 according to importance of Office.

I don't really know what Level 50 holds, which is the lowest of the low. But some rumors I heard assumes it's a laboratory of sorts. Still, while we have it good as much as we could down here, I wonder about life in the surface.

"What makes you think so?" Nina snaps me back to reality. That perceptive brown-eyed gaze on me, a startling sense of knowing. "For all we know, it's getting worse up there. There's no way of knowing."

I snort. "No one bothers to check. Even if they did, there's no report. For all we know," I mimick her tone. "everything's back to normal, like in the Disney movie with the Garbage Robot going to outer space. We'd never know it, down here. They think we've got everything but it's all stupid..."

"Thomas," she studies me for a moment. "Are you still planning to go up there?"

"Soon."

I say the same thing everyday, but when have I ever acted on my words? I'm caught in a cycle just like every other moron in this stupid Underground settlement. And I know I'm still afraid to see how much things changed up there even as I'm dying to know at the same time.

"I want to see my brother," I continue. "How he and Trey are doing... If they're still alive, that is."

"Do you think they're still alive?" Nina asks, as if we don't talk about this everyday. Like she expects a different answer or something. It's been years and she still asks. "Well, do you?"

I can't give it to her though, "I don't know, maybe." The first few times she cried. Now, she simply nods.

"When are we going?"

I sigh at her persistence. It's not like it was easy, we can't just walk straight to the guards by the exit of the city and say, Hey we're leaving this dump so later losers! Without being questioned.

"Whenever it seems like a good time."

Naturally, I say this every time she asks. I think she's starting to think that it will never be a good time. I've begun to wonder about that myself. Actually, I want to go and see my brother. I want to go and see Nina's brother. It's tough finding a friend like him. Only Trey's been able to break down the walls I built ever since mom and dad died. He made me play soccer, even when I was never into sports. We'd go wild in the service tunnels, I break a lady's vase and we're both in trouble. Him at the Orphanage and me with my Uncle. But those were the good old days. I want to get back living above the ground, breathing for myself, instead of relying on machines to help me do it and rotting away in a metal cave some thirty feet or so below it. But thinking about something and actually doing it are two different matters.

Nina tilts her head then surprises me a bit by breaking our odd little mantra. Instead of agreeing and starting lunch, she asks a new question. "Thomas, do you think we could leave before the week is up?"

I stare at her in wonder. "Well, sure thing!" I mock-enthuse, "Let me call the guys at the Radio station to reschedule my shift this week. Oh. And have someone replace me as Head Chef for the Wedding Catering next month."

"Thomas," Nina pouts. "I'm being serious."

I'm still surprised but now also curious. "Why the sudden eagerness?"

"I met this girl in work today. Her name was Lindsay Caghan. Do you know her?"

I shake my head. I've never heard the name. But then, that doesn't mean a thing. I use my name when Live on air during Radio broadcasts so there could be a bunch of people who know me without me returning the favor.

"Well, she knows you. She knows you work at the station three days a week and as a chef during the Weekends." Now that's something. I usually stay at the kitchen so no one would guess I'm a Chef but my co-workers. I don't even have lots of friends anymore to be told about to others. Nina sinks slowly into the couch beside me. It was also my bed since I've offered the real bed to her. "I didn't say a word, Thomas. I don't know how she knows, but she does. And that's not the half of it. She knows our desire to leave."

Well, I wouldn't really call it a desire. "So?" I raise a brow. "What can she do? It's not like they'd actually care if we left. They'd be glad for the extra space."

"She doesn't want to stop us, Thomas." Nina explains, halting my instinctive string of defensive cynical arguments. "Far from it actually."

"Then what does she want?"

"You won't like it."

Oh jeez, I had to laugh at that. "There's a lot of things I don't like," I remind her. "I don't like these metal cages they call homes, I don't like those machines that use people as energy sources. And I definitely don't like how they sent our brothers and a whole group of other orphans yearly to the surface as a solution to minimizing shortages and leaving them to deal with whatever dangers the surface has to offer." I threw my arm behind her, mostly to stretch than anything else. "Now tell me, what else am I adding to this very long list?"

"All right," Nina smiles a little. "Lindsay brought up the subject in private. And she had a request for you. There's someone she wants us to take up to the surface when we go."

I stare at her for a second, wondering if she was joking. The expression on her face tells me she's not. "No way, nope. No." I say. I haven't even fully decided whether I, myself, wanted to go. I'm not all for including others. Before long, we'd have a whole army with us. "I do not like that one bit."

Nina rolls her eyes. "I expected as much." She sighs. "I'm not certain who she wants to send with us, but she seemed fairly urgent about it." She tells me, a strange look on her face. She looks like that whenever she's truly serious about something. That can't be good for me. Then there will be no refusing her.

"Urgent how?"

"Well," She hesitates. "she seemed nervous. As if what she's planning is something that could get her in trouble. I think we should at least hear her out."

"Nina," I rub my forehead. "you don't think that the person she wants us to take is herself, do you? If she's run into some kind of trouble with the law..." I don't finish that. I'm not a huge fan of the Councillors, but even I'm not cynical enough to get on their bad side so boldly enough to break the law. "you know I'd rather this doesn't turn into an escape propaganda."

Nina shakes her head, looking thoughtful. "No, I think it's bigger than that. I don't think she's doing this for her own safety. I think she's risking her safety and it's making her scared. But she really seems desperate to have us agree."

"I don't know Nina, it doesn't seem like a very good idea, including others." I hope I can make her see where I'm coming from. She's a teenager now, and I know I am too, but I expect the moodiness of a teenage girl to be something too much to handle. And if I give her a no... Well, just because Nina's never thrown a tantrum doesn't mean she couldn't start now. "we could end up with a lot of company and not all of them welcome."

"I don't think so, Thomas. The way she acted, I think this is a private problem. It was like she didn't want anyone else to know. But she seems pretty concerned. If it's illegal, it's illegal in a good way." she looks at me with bright eyes. "Know what I mean?"

I sigh. No, I really don't but what I do know is that there was no talking her out of this. "You mean some kind of Noble act? Like a Holy crusade or..."

"No, but it'd be something humane. Or she wouldn't bother," Nina retorts. "I think we should listen to her. It's probably important."

I groan, holding my hands up in surrender. "All right," I exhale, giving in, because who can function in the face of that kind of persistence?

Women complicated things. Uncle would always say. And he's right.

Nina had already made up her mind and it's futile to get her to give up. She's Trey's sister all right. "Fine. We'll talk to her. Why don't you try and get her to tell you exactly what she wants from us? I'm not making any promises until I know what we're getting into."

"Thank you, Thomas." Nina gives me a soft smile, the kind that gets just about anyone to do whatever she wants. I'm a victim of that countless of times. "I have a feeling that this is the right thing to do."

But not necessarily the smartest, I think to myself. "Great."

Nina shrugs and smothers a yawn. She's tired. But then again, she's always tired now. Working with machines is a strain. I pretend not to see the dark circles under her eyes, but I think it's wearing on her. That's just one more reason to take her away from this place. I know she's strong enough to handle it but I don't want her to have to.

"Make sure you ask the right questions." I remind her. "I don't want this Lindy girl tricking us to agreeing to more than we want. Be careful."

"It's Lindsay." Nina corrects before smiling. "And I have a better idea than that, Thomas." she says. "how would you like it if I arranged it so that you could meet her?"

"... No."

We argue again, even though I know Nina will eventually get her way nevertheless.

[mickleach]

Top 10 Food Myths

these are the possibly false truths we convinced ourselves to believe in regards to our food an apple a day keeps the doctor away and you're wondering is that really true welcome to watchmojo.com and today we're counting down our picks for the top ten food myths at the end of the day if we compare them side-by-side there are pros and cons for each for this list we're focusing on popular adages about food or common diet tips some of which have merit some of which don't and some of which do but not for the reasons you'd think then I would probably consider limiting or avoiding gum until the child gets a little bit older but as always be sure to consult a medical professional when it comes to your health stay lean and stay strong number 10 microwaving food destroys nutrients myth we're talking really bad we begin our list with the big bad microwave any new technology attracts its share of critics and the microwave was no different why don't you build something like he does stead of all your empty deals it's just like your science oven you know I read that it takes all of the nutrition out of our food empty just like your deal it's long been suggested that cooking food this way can rob it of its healthy properties but for the most part that's just not true it's actually the cook time and heat level that is most likely to destroy nutrients and since a microwave takes less time than most conventional cooking methods in many cases it might actually help retain more of the healthiness and cook for three to four minutes until the salmon is flaky pro tip try steaming vegetables in a sealed microwave safe ditch with a small amount of water for delicious and nutritious veggies it's also very important to choose glass cookware or microwave safe cookware that doesn't emit or leach different plastic compounds which can be toxic number 9 pop rocks plus soda equals kaboom miss thirsty what's wrong something you might have heard about mixing pop rocks some soda well you there stomach and your intestines everything first coca-cola hit the market in 1886 pop rocks hit the market in 1975 rumours claiming that ingesting these junky products at the same time would cause your stomach to explode due to excessive carbon dioxide from the combo of the fizzy candy and the carbonated drink weren't far behind I'm a little afraid I can't say oh let me see let's all see okay oh crap everyone heard this urban legend when they were growing up and many of us may have actually believed it the people of Seattle believed it so much the US Food and Drug Administration had to set up a hotline to calm them down oh but the truth is the worst thing you could likely do to you is cause a nice satisfying belch ah odd then number eight eggs are bad for your heart if this food factoid has been debated for years but here's what we know eggs contain cholesterol and too much cholesterol can lead to health problems like heart disease so how is this amiss well contrary to what you might have been told eggs are one of the healthiest foods you can consume as they're full of vitamins minerals and protein if you're healthy and don't have a history of heart problems you can likely eat an egg a day without it adversely affecting your cholesterol levels as your body will offset it by producing less cholesterol itself so will that be scrambled or sunny-side up there was a widely spread study that eggs were not good for you this just doesn't simply make any sense number seven red wine is good for your heart fact yep I don't care what the scientists say I'm just gonna keep on drinking all you wine drinkers out there prepare to rejoice scientists have been studying the connection between wine consumption and heart health for years after looking at the French diet and noticing relatively low rates of heart disease even though their traditional foods are fatty and if they want to drink Merlot we're drinkin Merlot know if anybody orders Merlot I'm leaving I am not drinking any more low but it's true red wine features heart-healthy properties that can possibly protect against heart attacks or strokes among other things however like most things when it comes to your diet moderation is key oh no no no I'm driving about two glasses a day for men and one for women is the optimum amount to drink for your health will drink to that number six a gluten-free diet is better for anyone myth clues a vague term it's it's something that's used to categorize things that are bad you know calories that's a gluten gluten is a rather new buzzword in the mainstream but boy has a gained steam fast gluten intolerance is described as the fastest growing food intolerance category selling over ten and a half billion in the u.s. in 2013 and only growing since then and while those suffering from celiac disease are unable to digest gluten only about 1% of the population suffers from it and therefore should follow a gluten-free diet and your body responds in a lot of ways to it stomach pains swollen lymph nodes skin rashes a whole host of things that will progressively get worse as you keep having to gluten in your diet doctors recommend that anyone without this condition can and should include whole grains in their balanced diet for help with digestion lower blood pressure and cholesterol maintaining a healthy body weight and more so why is it so bad well it's not in fact it's neither detrimental or essential for your health and there's very little evidence to suggest that cutting it out is the healthier choice for the average person that's the whole wheat toast please is better than the previous bite you gluten number 5 it takes seven years to digest swallowed gum miss name something you put in your mouth but don't swallow Oh Amanda gum we've all been there one minute you're chewing some gum the next something startles you and you swallow it better hope your mom's not around to lecture you about how swallowed gum will not be digested by your system for seven years and we'll just fester in your gut until it's finally excreted okay gross and patently untrue while gum has been described as indigestion that doesn't mean it stays in your stomach it just means that when you do pass the gum through your sister in the regular amount of time it'll be in pretty much the same shape as when you swallowed it I know what and get go mamas go but we don't suggest checking it out to be sure number four eating turkey makes you sleepy miss Oh Monica that was the best Thanksgiving dinner ever was so good I think he killed us we were surprised about this one too considering how lethargic we are after Thanksgiving dinner every year so why do you feel tired after you stuff your face with turkey a common assertion blames tryptophan an amino acid found in many meats that's connected to the sleepytime hormone melatonin but the holiday bird actually contains less tryptophan than a food like cheddar cheese for example so experts point to other culprits when it comes to after meal exhaustion it's probably the combo of carbs and booze that cause you to snooze whatever bring it on jelly those are my maternity pants no no these are my Thanksgiving pants number three boy stirs are an aphrodisiac miss have you ever had a wasters did you know boy stirs are an aphrodisiac well it's probably a myth anyway the oyster has long been considered a vital food for love partly because of its vague resemblance to female sex organs and partly because the legendary lover Casanova was set to eat 50 of them each morning but there have been many studies over the years none of which has proven the oysters roll as a definitive aphrodisiac what they have found however is that oysters are so rich with zinc and amino acids that they may increase the sex drive maybe there's something to this one after all but no matter how you eat them they're sure to enhance the romance of your Valentine's Day evening number 2 acne is caused by chocolate greasy foods etc miss people think that I told my name chuckling ba or that I don't wash my face call them pimples call them zits but whatever you call them they're an unfortunate part of life and they often crop up at the worst possible time my chocolate my beautiful chocolate now the uninformed might blame things like chocolate or greasy foods for their facial blemishes while others might cite poor hygiene but they'd all be wrong acne is caused by bacteria excess oil or clogged pores and there's not a ton you can do about it Chocolate Rain a baby born will die before this in Chocolate Rain stress and hormones may trigger a breakout as can some medications and there are even some studies that suggest diet can be an aggravating factor but all in all zits are a rite of passage we all must deal with amaz it get it before we unveil our top pick here are some honorable mentions today there are over 900 published studies revealing the detrimental effects of aspartame migraines are the most reported aspartame reaction like they're coming thank you contact even though artificial sweeteners don't raise your blood sugar they may put you at greater risk for diabetes calories consumed after say 10:00 p.m. won't make you gain weight any faster than calories consumed at 6:00 p.m. research shows that what matters is how many calories you eat and not the time that you eat them the bottom line is to be aware of what you're eating margarine can vary so drastically that looking at the label to understand what is or isn't in it will help you make informed decisions number one organic food is always healthier myth organic food is grown without synthetic pesticides fertilizers antibiotics or hormones today it accounts for more than thirty 1 billion dollars in sales a year in the United States many people think the organic label gives food some supernatural nutritional value but it actually refers to the way the farmers grow or raise their products is that USDA Organic or Oregon Organic of Portland Organic it's just all across the board organic in many cases organic farming might encourage soil and water conservation while decreasing pollution it's also more likely to be free of preservatives and synthetic flavors now I'm on the inside looked in my list organic chicken kale salad in a lemon twist however thus far test results have gone back and forth on whether or not organic food is healthier if you want to support small farmers and sustainable development then by all means look for an organic certification however an apple is an apple no matter how it's grown so as long as you're eating a healthy balanced diet you should be fine his name was Colin curious papers okay just quick he looks like a happy little guy runs around a lot of friends other chickens as friends putting his little wing around another one kind of like howling around I don't know that I can speak to that level of intimate knowledge about him do you agree with our list that is so good what's your favorite food myth for more enticing 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