#I however had the distinction of being disowned and kicked out to make it on my own :)

[sunwukxng]

I'm about to McFreaking lose it. 🥹

[alarawriting]

California Road Trip (Good Omens/Lucifer (TV))

OK, it is normally not my policy to post fanfiction to this account, but for some reason it doesn’t feel like a bad idea to do it if it’s a brand new fandom I haven’t done stuff in before, so here I go.

A few notes before I start here:

Both Good Omens and the tv series Lucifer are very, very much situated within Christian mythos - Christian specifically, not Judaism. However, Jesus Christ is very much Jewish. I don’t want to offend any Jewish readers, but I just won’t put up with the Christian historical attempt to somehow erase this fact. So I’m going to try to write him as a practicing Jew, which I admit is going to be weird, because generally speaking, Jewish people do not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, which puts him in a kind of “who shaves the barber” situation here.

If there are any Jewish folks out there who would not be bothered by being asked questions about Judaism for the sake of a fanfic starring Jesus Christ and the Antichrist on a road trip, please let me know, because while I’ve been reading about Judaism my entire life and have a great deal of interest in the religion and culture, the fact remains that I was raised Catholic. 

BTW, the title is a working title and may very well end up changed.

Adam Young sat morosely on a bench in the baggage claim at LAX, occasionally kicking his satchel as an expression of his frustration. Bloody stupid America had to be so bloody damn big. And he couldn’t do anything mundane about it – couldn’t hire a car, his driver’s license wasn’t valid in the States; couldn’t get a flight to San Francisco, because Mum and Dad were hardly made of money and his own funds had been just enough to get here; and maybe there was public, a bus or something, but how was he supposed to find it? All the signs and adverts on the walls were for car rental agencies and buses to local hotels.

He fussed with his phone, trying to get Google to tell him how to get a bus to San Francisco so he wouldn’t have to use his other options. The data plan didn’t work in the States and the airport didn’t have free wifi, so he was trying to find an unsecured network he could hop on. Strengthening the signal of an unsecured network seemed to him more legitimate than, say, hacking a secure network, and much more so than, for example, shortening the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco so he could hire a taxi. He was definitely not going to go that far.

“Hey there,” he heard a man say. “You look frustrated. Anything I can do to help?”

Adam looked up. There was a tall, skinny man with shaggy brown hair in a ponytail, the almost-not-quite sprinkling of facial hair on the chin that people were calling a “soul patch”, and light brown skin of the kind you might see on an Arab, or a Greek, or given that this was the States, maybe a Mexican. He was dressed in very nondescript American clothes – gray t-shirt, plaid long-sleeve shirt unbuttoned, blue jeans, sneakers – and had the kind of friendly smile that made you immediately want to trust him and tell him your problems. Adam was deeply suspicious.

“Oh, no, don’t put yourself to any trouble on my account,” Adam said. “I’ve just got a thing I need to work out, is all.”

“No problem,” the man said. “But if there’s anything I can do to help you, please, just ask. We’re family, after all.” He grinned widely.

Adam blinked at that. “…Family?”

The man extended his hand. “Josh Carpenter. I’m your cousin.”

Adam’s da had no siblings. Mum had one, Adam’s flamboyantly gay uncle who definitely did not have any children or Adam would have been hearing about them his entire life. “I don’t have any cousins.”

“Well. Okay. Technically I’m your uncle, but you and I are a lot closer in age than the rest of the family so I really don’t feel comfortable calling myself an uncle.”

“I’ve only one uncle and you’re definitely not him.”

“Other side of the family,” Josh said.

Adam stood up, preparing to put some distance between himself and the obvious scammer. “My da hasn’t got any brothers or sisters.”

“Other other side, Adam,” Josh said. “The side you don’t like to think about much.”

And that knocked the wind out of him. Adam stared at the other man, who looked to be at most a year or two older than Adam himself. “…My other other side. You mean… my bio-father.”

“That’s a rather cold word to use, but I can see why it would be your choice,” Josh said. “Yes. Your bio-father’s my older half-brother.”

“So you’re a—” He hesitated. How did you publicly call someone an angel, or a demon, and which would it be? And wouldn’t it be offensive if he got it wrong? He’d gotten the distinct impression from Crowley and Az that most of their people were not nearly as laid-back or friendly as they were, and if this was an emissary from his bio-father, was he going to have to unleash his other side after all? They weren’t supposed to interfere on Earth, not in any way that inconvenienced him, anyway.

“Oh, no, no. I’m as human as you are.” Josh smiled again. The expression lit up his entire face, making him practically radiate ‘I’m a great guy, you should want to be my friend.’

Adam was about to retort that if Josh knew as much as he thought he did, he’d know exactly how human Adam was, and wasn’t, when his brain finished processing the name “Josh Carpenter” in the context of the other things the man had said, and realized who he was talking to. “Wait – you’re – my God.” Abruptly he realized that what he’d said was so apropos it went out the other side to being inappropriate. “I mean—”

Josh laughed. “Don’t worry about it, I know what you’re trying to say,” he said. “Anyway, I’m not, you know. Not like people think, anyway. I’m basically like you.”

Adam, entirely too aware of how close to being a god he was, was not reassured. “So, um… do we need to fight now, or something? Because I really don’t want to fight anyone.”

This time Josh’s laugh wasn’t a gentle chuckle, but more like a belly laugh. “No, no!” He got his hilarity under control. “No. You made your decision when you were eleven, and I’m really glad, because I never wanted any of that nonsense either. And to be perfectly honest I don’t think Father did either. The whole thing came from John’s predictions, and I think they all somehow got the idea that John was channeling information directly from Father because he was one of my best friends, but the truth is? John was… a little weird, to be honest. Wonderful guy, great friend, but… he was never all that grounded, if I’m being honest.”

“So wait. None of that business was in the Divine Plan after all?”

“Contrary to popular belief I don’t generally have any more idea what Father is up to than anyone else, but I do know Him better than most, and no. I don’t think any of that was His idea.”

“Huh.”

Adam must have made a face that somehow indicated his bemusement, because Josh asked, “What?”

“It’s just… I’ve got a pair of friends. Well, I’m sure you know about them if you know about the Apocawasn’t, and Crowley and Az both refer to God as Her.”

Josh shook his head. “It’s a thing He’s been encouraging lately because the English language doesn’t have a good neuter pronoun, and obviously God is larger than any concept of gender, and He’s not really thrilled with what humans have assumed about Him based on the pronoun. But He doesn’t really care which you use, as long as it’s respectful, and… I had a biological mother. I’ve had quite some time where I’ve been using masculine pronouns, so I’m not going to switch unless He asks me to.”

“But it’s okay that I call Her my grandmother? Because that’s hilarious.”

“Sure. Grandmother, grandfather, granddeity… whatever you want. Long as it’s respectful enough.”

“I’m not sure my mental picture of God in a babushka kerchief and a rocking chair is respectful though.”

“Ah, ‘respectful’ when I say it doesn’t mean what the people who supposedly listen to me mean when they say it. I’m Jewish. If you want to picture God as rocking in a chair and wearing a kerchief, maybe doing Her knitting, creating a planet or two? That’s fine. The respect we’re called on to give to God – and by we, I mean humans, but I don’t think it’s much different for half-humans like you and me – is exactly like the respect you give your grandmother. If your grandmother says something that’s stupid and insensitive, you challenge her, because it was stupid and insensitive. If she has rules that make no sense, you challenge them. If She disowned your brother and most of his friends because he talked back to Her, absolutely you get to call Her on that and tell Her that was a dick move. But you still respect her, because She’s your grandmother. You exist because She gave you life, directly or indirectly.”

Adam thought he had stopped talking about a merely hypothetical grandmother about halfway through that. “Really? You tell God that something She did was a dick move?” He laughed.

“Every chance I get,” Josh said, grinning. “We actually disagree about a lot of things, but He listens to me more than He does to anyone else, I guess. Youngest son syndrome or something.”

Adam had in his life had conversations about ending the world, about life on the planets of Alpha Centauri, and about the management structure of Hell, but this still counted as one of the more surreal conversations he’d ever had. “So. Um. Were you just doing something when I happened to stroll by, or did you actually come here to see me?”

Josh put up his hands. “Guilty, I admit it,” he said. “I knew you were here and I knew you were in a little bit of trouble. I didn’t want to pry enough to find out what, though, so you want to tell me? I can probably help out.”

“I don’t need a miracle. I can do that for myself.”

“Good for you. I don’t do them anymore unless it’s an emergency, either, so I think we’re on the same page about that. What’s wrong?”

Adam sighed. “It’s such a bloody stupid mistake to make. I forgot how big the States are. In particular, this state. I came here to see Pepper at Berkeley, she’s doing her grad studies there… you know my friend Pepper, right?”

“She was there that day, so yes, I do.”

“You weren’t there, though.”

“The angels knew I disapproved of the whole thing and kept interfering with me getting a chance to talk to you, but I definitely checked out the whole thing afterward. So yes, I know of Pepper.”

“Right. And the price for a flight to Los Angeles was so much less than San Francisco, I could afford it myself without asking Mum and Da for money. And I had completely forgot that it’s a three hour drive between the two cities, because seriously? That’s much too much for the same state! Who even drew the boundaries for this state, because it’s ridiculous!”

Josh laughed. “I won’t argue against that. And I think I may have just the thing. Although it might take a miracle of the more mundane variety to get it to actually drive for three hours straight without breaking down, but I do have a pickup truck.”

Adam raised an eyebrow, taking in Josh’s appearance. “I’d have thought some kind of, I don’t know, tiny enviro-friendly electric car would be more your thing.”

Josh snorted. “Do you have any idea how much those things cost? If I had that kind of money, it’d go straight to a soup kitchen, maybe a homeless shelter or two. My pickup’s not the greatest, but it still runs, and it lets me carry furniture donations and things like that.”

“You do some kind of ministry or something?”

“Always,” Josh nodded. “Though not like you’re probably thinking. My day’s over; I’m here on Earth because you are, not for my own sake, so I let humans take the lead. I do volunteer work for several of the local Jewish charities, helping the homeless, the hungry, you know.” He leaned on the wall with one hand. “So. Up for a road trip with your cousin?”

“Uncle.”

“You’re making me feel old.”

“You’re two thousand, I should hope so!” Adam said, grinning.

“Yes, but all my brothers and sisters are billions of years older than me, so by that standard, you and I are practically the same age.” He pushed off the wall. “And speaking of my brothers. Did you know your father is in town?”

Adam went cold. “Wait, what? The Devil is here in Los Angeles?”

“Yes. Running a nightclub, apparently.” Josh put a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “You know, I really think you should meet with him. You shouldn’t completely shut your father out of your life even if you don’t want to be close.”

“He’s not my father,” Adam scowled. “My Da’s the one who taught me to ride a bike and who read stories to me at night and cooked me terrible hash browns when Mum was poorly and couldn’t make supper.”

“Right, I get that,” Josh said. “My dad taught me how to build a house, or a cabinet, and taught me how to ride a donkey, and used to walk me to Temple so he’d know where I was because he said I was going to go anyway so he might as well walk me there. But I also have a Father. It’s okay, you know, to acknowledge more than two parents. Step-parents and adopted parents have been a thing since humanity came into existence.”

“Yeah, well, your Father never appeared to you as a giant monster crawling out of the pavement trying to destroy your entire planet.”

“And I really think you ought to try to meet up with Lucifer and talk to him about that. Put some of those conflicts to bed. He was frequently a pretty terrible person when he was running Hell, but… it’s Hell. It makes people terrible even if they were great to begin with. He’s so much better now that he’s not there anymore.”

“What, do you hang out with him often?”

Josh shook his head. “He doesn’t even know I’m here. I haven’t gone to look him up in person, but… you know how it is. If you’re interested in knowing about a person… sometimes it just happens. That happens to you, too, right?”

Adam nodded slowly. “Yeah. Actually it does.” The thought occurred to him that Josh was the only other person on the planet who might really understand some of Adam’s challenges and sorrows in life. The stress of having to restrain near-omnipotent power, so often, because you wanted to be a human and to fit in with humanity, not to stand above it as some sort of lonely god – or devil. Crowley and Az knew a bit of it, but they’d never been human, and Warlock understood some of the weirdness of Adam’s life but had never had the power to perform miracles.

He made a decision. “If you’re offering, I’ll take you up on that trip to San Francisco, and you can maybe talk me into… meeting my bio-dad. Maybe. No promises.”

“That’s all I can ask,” Josh said.

“But if your car will hold together well enough… I’ve got a friend in the States, out on this coast, but I knew Washington was much too far away for me to visit him without a second plane trip. Maybe we could head up north and see him?” Warlock had fled the East Coast and the influence of his toxic parents as soon as he’d turned of age to do so. Adam had met him once or twice after the Apocawasn’t, when his father had had to come back to England – he hadn’t been the American ambassador anymore but he’d still had reasons to come back – and Crowley and Az had brought him to see the boy who should have been his parents’ son, his quasi-brother, at his insistence. But they hadn’t met in person in a few years; Warlock wouldn’t take money from his parents to fly to England and this was Adam’s first trip to the States.

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

Adam grinned, remembering something. “Oh yeah. Is there an ice cream place around here? I heard as a kid that America has thirty one ice cream flavors.”

Josh laughed. “Only thirty-one? You’re in for a treat. Yeah, I know where to find the nearest Baskin-Robbins, that’s the chain that advertised about the thirty-one flavors. There’s actually a lot more than that. Though sadly, Baskin-Robbins’ stores don’t generally have all thirty-one at once.” He gestured toward the door. “Come on. It’s kind of a hike. I couldn’t afford to park in the closer lots.”

Adam picked up his satchel and followed Josh. “I don’t mind a walk,” he said.

[whiteclaw-and-echo-isles]

Reshka

Name: Iresh'ka (Reshka) Birthdate: June 4th. Born of Mag'har orc and a Sin'dorei woman during the time of Kael'thas and his invasion of Old Draenor. Whiteclaw Clan of Outland Hunter, with latent shamanistic magics.   Pets: Omen(Whiteclaw companion wolf), Rabid (hyena), Ghostpaw(pet wolf cub) Mated to Dumbuss(Duras, son of Kortar of the Warsong)

Her physical form is really a bit of both sides of her parentage.  She has tusks, but not long, just sticking up maybe an inch or so from her lower jaw.  Her eyes are a deep chocolate, but in anger there was a light of brown light, reminiscent of the shine that elves constantly had.  She is not as slight as her elven siblings, having still with the full chest, rounded hips and frame of orcs but with long fingers and thinner, slightly pointed ears.  Reshka is muscled, but much less defined and softer than a full-blood orc with brown mag'har-sired skin a warm chestnut.  Her hair is a light brown, with a deep ruddy undertone, pinned and braided back from her face.

There are Tattoos along her shoulders, back of her neck and around her ribs, some orcish and made of thick, dark lines with The mark of the Whiteclaw clan between her shoulder blades.  The others were troll looking in style, but distinctive as orcish wolves.  The only mark that was elven was the Symbol of the Sin'dorei in the wrong colors on her shoulder, almost a blue, cream, silver and black as if a photo-negative.  It and the Whiteclaw on her back stood out sharply against her skin, almost phosphorescent if you get to see them.  

********************

I was born in Mulgore to an orc of the Whiteclaw Clan.  Mag'har.  His wife, a red-haired Sin'dorei woman.  Cobriana Ethala'nor was in love with her husband, Rhunak’hor the Heartseeker.  From the stories and how they acted toward each other they were close, insanely in love, and devoted.  They had two children, a son called Shar'kun and me, a daughter called Iresh'ka.  Born the same day and within ten minutes of each other, Shar and I were both, to Mother's relief, mag'har.  She'd been worried for her entire pregnancy that her children would be born green-skinned from her own fel-tainted blood.  Instead we shared our father's brown skin and deep auburn hair.  Shar was born with green eyes, as bulky as his father was at his age.  I have brown eyes that had a glow similar to Mother's, but only when I'm pissed off or excited.  Where Shar was bulky even as a child, I was always a bit softer and more slight than the other orc children that I ever saw.  All the same, we were a happy little family.

Father took us to Nagrand to 'teach us how to orc'.  We'd lived in Mulgore and wanted us to know at least part of our heritage.  We lived there for a few years before Father took Shar and told mother to fuck off and get out.  We were seven summers old.  She took me with her, and I never knew why we had to leave.  I never got to ask Father why and Mother will never tell me.  It is the only time she raised her voice to me as a child, or even now, is when I even hint at asking.

My Father and I have been estranged since I was sixteen.  That was the last time we happened upon each other in Ratchet.  We got in a verbal fight, he told me my brother had died in the Cataclysm and called me the daughter of a whore and not worth his time.  I spat in his face and that was the last time I ever want to see him.

He has disowned me, as I have disowned him.  I am called Iresh'ka, daughter of Rhunak'hor.  He is not my father.  I would rather be called the bastard daughter of a whore than acknowledge that asshole.  

Now, let’s not get out of line here that my mother was just being called vile names.  She IS a whore.  High class for a while from what I understood.  She did what she had to to survive.  She had a daughter to care for.  I can't fault her for that.  She's mortal and makes mistakes.  It led her where it did.  When I was about eight, She remarried an old flame of hers.  Ellers Brightblaze was a decent elf.  They had a few children long before me.  I had no idea I had older siblings, but they treated me decently.  They were adults long before I was conceived so we rarely spoke.  Tychal and Eleren were closest to my age, Noemi and Madelena much older.  My step-father kicked us both out when he found that mother was back to her old tricks.  I was twelve.  He was sorry to send me with her, but he could not keep me in his care.  He did however show me some kindness.  I have some gold to my name for when and if I chose to have a family.  I remember his words, as Mother packed our things.

"If you find yourself in need one day, I will help you.  Find a mate you truly wish to be with, a one and only should that be your calling.  I will do all I can to be sure that you do not end up like your mother.  I will leave gold for you, Reshka.  I will take you in if you need.  Do not give into the corruption and lifestyle your mother has chosen.  Al Diel Shala, daughter."

I couldn't cry as we left that night.  At twelve, I did not have it in me to mourn.  I understood this time what my mother was.

I heard plenty of times when my mother entertained her clients.  The small apartment we had was barebones, with thin walls.  I did a lot of walking in the night, ignoring my surroundings.  I can't forget, but I try to not dwell these days.  I had access to books and was well-fed, clean and healthy.  I didn't suffer so much as others.  It could have been far worse.

We were only there about six months before Mother met Rokhasta.  He's old.  I am talking OLD for a troll, I want to say in his eighties?  White haired, decrepit and apparently pays a good deal for my mother's company.  I think they love each other, as much as she can love someone.  My youngest sister, En'ca, was born last year.  Maybe En'ca will get Mother to settle?  Maybe she won’t stray?

I was thirteen when we moved to Sen'jin with Rokhasta.  I met an old friend, and once lover of my Mother.  Mama Azu is just as old as Rokhasta, with many children and several mates under her belt.  I was raised with some of her grandchildren.  Some I call cousin.  Jura, Vol'raka, Tzal and I get along alright.  I am a bit afraid of Vahari, but she's treated me well.  There are others, but we don't speak.  I had a decent life and time in Sen'jin.  I learned skills I probably never would have from my mother or books. Aunt Dali, Kit'raka, and Mama Azu gave me the motherly attentions I needed for these last four years.  They were more my mothers than my own knew how to be anymore.

A few months ago I decided it was my time for an adventure.  I packed a few things, was gifted a spear from Vol'raka and took my wolf, Omen, with me.  I just happened upon an orc loading boxes with a cart led by a camel of all things.  I thought he was cute.  I hitched a ride with him to Orgrimmar that evening.  I also lost my innocence to him that night in Azshara.  Same went for him.  Somewhere along the line, we took each other as mate and I joined him in his work and adventures.  I am a sailor now I think?  I mostly just dig for rocks, help Dumbuss move freight when needed and am learning to tinker as well as take care of the home I share with my mate.  The Shaydesail have treated me well and I think of them as family.  I found my adventure with my goofy Dumbuss, the Admiral's Lucky Peon.  I plan on sticking around.

Let’s see where this path takes me.

[bluesakura007]

Undeniable - Chapter 5: The Father of the Moth Woman - Khan Noonien Singh x OC

Summary: A conversation with her parents causes Zin to reveal to them the full explanation of how much Khan means to her and why she’s defending him. 

Warning: This chapter is touching up on a little bit of angst again. 

The afternoon arrived and kicked into action some hours on from Khan’s revelation of his origins and his childhood, with which Zinalya had been spending the last few minutes ambling aimlessly around the San Francisco harbour, taking this time after the aforementioned heart to heart that he’d shared with her to clear her mind, both from her mostly latent concerns about the current situation as a whole and from the tears she had shed during their conversation. 

She had her hands on a metallic railing lining the edge of the pavement where she was standing, this edge being the one that was nearest to the smooth, visually calming surface of the waters taking up the harbour; the railing's own surface was cold to the touch right now, but this was another thing in her environment that felt calming.

Off in the distance, standing by a set of buildings as a group, were Jim, Spock and Nyota, who were all watching as Zinalya took her hands off of the railing after a few seconds and began walking again, down the pavement. She was hardly difficult to see in the crowd, thanks to her burgundy hair colour.

"It kinda makes you think..." Uhura pondered out loud.

Spock turned his head to look at her. "About what?"

"About all this she's doing: she's willing to leave behind all she's ever known, her family, her job, everything, so that she can be with the man she loves." Answered the communications officer. "It makes you think about how much it means she loves Khan."

"She also might be making a mistake driven by allowing her passionate emotions to get the better of her."

"Way to kill the mood, Spock." Kirk remarked with a small laugh.

"People can make decisions regarding feelings of love without logical or rational thought of any kind." The half Vulcan hybrid responded, sticking to the point he was trying to put across as he continued to watch Zinalya gradually walk away, off into the part of the harbour’s crowd too far away to be seen, with the other two next to him still also observing her vanish. "I am aware that, in some cases, choices made in the name of romance can be for the greater good of both people involved, but in the other instances, their feelings can impair their judgement and therefore lead them into making harmful decisions."

"I’ve got a hell of a lot of my own doubts about her going away with him too, but it’s not our business to separate them knowingly." Responded the captain. "It’s like what we all heard Zin herself say to Bones earlier: we can’t dictate who she’s allowed to have the feelings for, so that means we can’t try to keep them apart."

"And we all saw what she’ll do to anybody that tries." Commented lieutenant Uhura jokingly.

"What additionally concerns me, however, is the possibility of Khan’s way of thinking and his ideals and mindsets being transferred to her." Said Spock.

"You’re worried about him being a bad influence on Zinalya?" Queried his girlfriend, for confirmation on whether what she thought she just heard was true.

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

"Now you’re starting to sound like you’re her father." Opined Jim, in the same manner as his remark a few moments ago.

"But the thing is it's like Romeo and Juliet: I'm not saying we have to be in full support of what she wants to do either, but Romeo and Juliet were two lovers who were forbidden from being together by almost everybody they knew, and in the end it caused them both to commit suicide." Nyota added. "So if we try to get involved and stop those two from being together then we could basically just end up making it worse."

"As I recall, the ultimate fate of Romeo and Juliet was additionally implied to be because of their over-eagerness in progressing their relationship and not wanting to wait to find a more suitable and less dangerous environment before commencing marriage to each other."

"Spock, remind me never to let you start writing literature." Jim put in another of his remarks to his friend.

Almost another half hour on from that moment, the half Trill in question had made it back to her apartment, where upon entering she promptly sat down in one of the armchairs that she’d made use of last night when she was still pondering on whether or not to put her plan into action. Before she did indeed obey her impulses and set everything that had taken place that day into motion. However, this time she was in an at least somewhat better mood due to her feelings of closure at having gotten it off her chest and not having to hide it anymore like she'd been doing for the last several days before this one.

Suddenly, her attention was grabbed as her communicator in her pocket chirped, which she flipped open. "Go ahead."

"It's me." There came the sound of Sulu's voice on the other end of the line. "I called to tell you that your parents have just started trying to give you a call, ma'am."

"Okay. Thanks for letting me know, I'll talk to you later." Zinalya acknowledged before then closing the device again and, begrudgingly, got up and walked into her bedroom, where there was a wall-mounted screen on which her video calls could be held. She already had the words “Oh god...” running through her head - if the opinions and controversy she'd faced from her crewmates regarding her feelings for Khan so far were bad, that of her family was bound to be a whole lot worse.

She psyched herself up for a moment and then pressed the button on the controller pad nearby which would open up the incoming video call, and there they were. Her parents. Mason Hamilton was a human who used to work as a Starfleet adjutant, with Zinalya's hazel-green eyes and short, mousy brown hair, and her mother, Siazru Tebal, was a joined Trill and the fourth host of the Tebal symbiont working as an architect's executive on Earth, and was so far the first, and only female one, out of the Tebal hosts. She had shoulder length dark dark grey hair with a burgundy tint, entirely brown eyes and, due to being fully Trill, she had a lot more of this race's distinctive spots compared to Zin.

"Hello Zinalya." Siazru greeted.

"Hi you two." She responded. Here it comes...

"We’ve heard about what you said this morning in the Khan Noonien Singh trial." Mason said after a second of working out what to say next. ...And there it is.

Their hybrid daughter allowed herself a small chuckle. "News obviously travels from pretty quickly."

Her father nodded his head, his expression turning serious and steely. "It does." He continued, "Now, my million dollar question is: what the hell were you thinking?"

"Mason." His wife hissed to him, attempting to do this discretely.

Zinalya slowly crossed her arms. "How do you mean?"

"What was going through your brain when you said that? When you decided that you were in love with a terrorist?" He spat back.

"I thought you agreed you were going to be casual and cautious about this." Siazru did a mental facepalm.

"I didn’t just decide, dad." Replied Zin. "I didn’t think about it or pre-plan how I feel, I just spoke out what was in my heart. I went with what my gut was telling me."

"You didn’t think about it? That’s even worse!" Exclaimed Mason. "So you’re willy-nilly becoming the girlfriend of a criminal?"

"I’m not going to say anything cliché like ‘the heart wants what it wants’, but I just like him, simple as that. It’s something I can’t even put in words."

"And she said she wasn’t gonna say any clichés." He snorted derisively to himself.

"This is the reason why I was hesitant to answer your call - I just knew you were going to be like this." Zinalya snapped. "I was beginning to understand a little about why some of my crewmates might be sceptical, but you not supporting my decision is a whole different ball game!"

"I don’t mind what you do in life as long as it means you’re safe and happy!" Her father yelled back. "And going off on an exile with a killer is not what qualifies as safe!"

"Oh so you’re okay with me being safe but not being happy. In fact, you know what? If the man I like is such a big problem to you then why don’t you just disown me, dad?"

"I don’t want to disown you Zinalya, I just want you to make choices that are best for your own good! You’re our daughter, which means we love you and we don’t want you to throw away your future like this!" Shouted Mason.

"I’m not throwing anything away, I’m just exchanging one future for another." She gripped the bridge of her nose with her right hand.

"For a future where you spend it all with a murderer!" He retorted, at his highest volume yet during the conversation. "Whether you like it or not, I have to get this point into your head so that I can damn well help you!"

"YOU’RE NOT HELPING ME! SCOTTY AND PAVEL ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO’VE ACTUALLY LISTENED TO ME AND ARE SUPPORTING ME IN THIS AND THEY’RE NOT MY FAMILY!" Her building anger having finally reached its ultimate boiling point, Zinalya blew up at her father without any warning, silencing him immediately and releasing her pent-up frustrations about the matter. "YOU'RE SAYING IT'S FOR THE BEST BUT IT'S NOT! APART FROM PAVEL AND SCOTTY NONE OF YOU REALLY DO CARE ABOUT HOW I FEEL! IF YOU DID THEN YOU'D UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO DO! I WANT TO BE WITH KHAN!"

Once she had finished screaming, she stopped to take a deep breath to at least calm herself down to a small degree, facing away from the image of her stunned-into-silence father and equally surprised mother as tiny tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. There was still a hint of his own annoyance at the situation on his face but for the most part, Mason was visibly regretful that he'd caused this reaction from his daughter.

Siazru gently asked another moment on, "What do you like about him, if there is anything particular? Is there anything specific that caused these feelings for him in the first place?"

Zinalya blinked several times, before turning back around again to face them and giving her answer. "He's not just some cold-blooded murderer. He has feelings of longing, and regret, and sadness, like the rest of us." She sniffed. "He said he basically only ever had a normal, happy childhood during the first four years of his life, and then after that he was treated as a lab rat for most of the rest of it. As some kind of ongoing project that needed to be improved on and tested and controlled. And when he was woken up last year, he and his friends had ran so far and so fast from the threat of being wiped out altogether, and he was manipulated by the threat of every one of them being killed for the purpose of an admiral starting a war and getting personal glory for himself. An admiral who'd forgotten what the Federation stands for and managed to manipulate Khan into believing that everybody he had left in his life had been killed. He was scared, and people lash out when they get scared enough."

"I see." Siazru nodded in understanding, while her husband bit his lip slightly in his still fresh remorse.

"When I first started having my feelings for him on the Enterprise, I was doubtful too; I was worried about what it meant for me to feel that way about a man deemed as a criminal." The youngest of their three children continued. "But then I started to find out that he's not how he seems. I've also got a theory that it's the work of destiny, and that we don't really need to understand why we like each other and the only thing we do need is to be grateful for it. In fact, let me explain this in a different way: let's say, just for argument's sake, that Khan was a moth. As in like some kind of humanoid moth-like creature called the Moth Man." Her parents both nodded, wondering where she was going with this metaphor, as she then directly addressed Mason, "Well, the thing is, dad, you're the father of the Moth Woman. What I'm trying to say is, I don't know how it happened but me and him are made for each other." A beat passed, and then she finished with, "He's gentle underneath all that stuff on the surface, and I am still very open and comfortable with Scotty and Pavel because they are still my friends, but when I'm with him I feel even more like that. Being with him sometimes makes me feel like I wanna dance or burst into song, and the way he looks at me... it's like he's looking deep into me and realising that he can trust me. He only shows it on the outside a little bit, but when Khan sees me, his eyes light up, too, like he's trying to be welcoming. So now I can either try to save him, so that we can be together somewhere, or just let him be put back into stasis forever. It's a simple question of do I dare to try or don't I, and I've decided that I do."

[brajeshupadhyay]

The decision has left many House Republicans privately griping about irresponsible leadership, even as they do little publicly to challenge the party’s position or to state their opposition to Greene’s joining their conference if she is elected in November, as is expected, in a reliably Republican district. Greene promotes the QAnon conspiracy theory, whose followers believe Trump is battling a cabal of “deep state” saboteurs of his administration who worship Satan and traffic children for sex. She has also made racist, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic comments, asserting that Black people are “held slaves to the Democratic Party,” likening the election of the first two Muslim women to Congress to an “Islamic invasion of our government” and calling George Soros, the liberal Jewish donor and Holocaust survivor, a “Nazi himself trying to continue what was not finished.” Some retiring members spoke out against the party’s accepting Greene into its ranks, but those seeking reelection were reluctant to do so. “How can we warmly receive someone that’s publicly stated some of the things she stated in her videos?” asked retiring Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-Mich.). “You can’t dismiss people because of their religious beliefs and their ethnicity. You can’t. … It’s just wrong.” The rise of Greene shines a spotlight on the GOP’s internal debate over how to handle fringe groups and candidates who support Trump and whom he often supports in return. Republicans privately acknowledge that there is no future for a party that antagonizes people of color and has members who make statements or take policy positions supported by white supremacists. But they also have done little to stand up to Trump, a president who embraces such rhetoric and candidates who make those remarks. Greene’s emergence comes during a summer of protests that have sharpened questions about how to address racial discrimination after the death of another Black man, George Floyd, in police custody. Democrats have embraced the calls for greater racial justice, and on Tuesday, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced his selection of Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) to be his running mate. She is the first Black woman and first Asian American to run on a major-party presidential ticket. McCarthy’s decision to welcome Greene into the Republican conference also comes against the backdrop of party leaders’ last year stripping Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) of his committee assignments after he publicly wondered how white nationalism and white supremacy had become “offensive.” The move followed years of pressure for the party to disown King, who lost a primary this year. Some House Republicans have been left scratching their heads over the quick acceptance of Greene. “We’re going to look like hypocrites,” said one senior House Republican, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution from party leaders. Greene, who owns a construction company, was originally a Republican contender in suburban Atlanta, challenging Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath in the 6th Congressional District, but Greene relocated and switched races when Republican Rep. Tom Graves announced his retirement at the end of last year. She has only doubled down on her controversial comments over the course of her campaign, offering a preview of the sort of oratory she might bring to Washington. On Wednesday, Greene used the Republicans’ online fundraising tool WinRed to solicit donations off using a vulgar and sexist expletive to describe House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). “Nancy Pelosi impeached @realDonaldTrump. She put our country through hell with the Russian collusion conspiracy,” Greene wrote. “She’s anti American & we’re going to kick that b— out of Congress. RT & donate below to help make this happen.” Those remarks are in line with the type of rhetoric Greene has used on the campaign trail. One ad depicted her racking the slide on a semiautomatic rifle while warning antifa, a loose collection of activists who oppose fascism and have sometimes embraced property damage and violent protest in recent years, to “stay the hell out of northwest Georgia.” Facebook removed the material from its website, citing policy violations. She also rejected the notion that inequalities exist. “Guess what? Slavery is over. … Black people have equal rights,” she said in another video, first reported by Politico. In response to the controversy over her comments, Greene defended herself in June and took aim at House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), both of whom condemned her remarks. “Every Republican, every Christian Conservative is going to be called a racist and a bigot by the Fake News Media, as have Steve Scalise and Liz Cheney,” she said in a statement. “I’m sorry my future colleagues are unable to stand up to the pressure and fight back.” Greene’s campaign did not respond to several requests for comment for this article. In a tweet Tuesday night, the candidate put reporters on notice that she would not be responding to inquiries, echoing Trump in calling the media “truly the enemy of the people.” The division among Republicans over how to handle Greene’s runoff victory was apparent in Georgia on Wednesday. Some Republicans took to social media to congratulate her. Among them were Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and her primary challenger Rep. Douglas A. Collins (R-Ga.), who are locked in a heated special election matchup. Others, such as Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) withheld praise, reflecting the distinct political pressures at work in the state. Unlike Loeffler and Collins, who are competing for support in Georgia’s Republican strongholds, Perdue is fending off a challenge from Democrat Jon Ossoff. Greene’s ascension could cause headaches for McCarthy, who faces growing discord within his ranks. More than a half-dozen members implored McCarthy to personally involve himself in the race. His own No. 2, Scalise, donated to and hosted a fundraiser for Greene’s primary opponent, John Cowan, a neurosurgeon, in hopes of stopping Greene. Yet McCarthy — after initially distancing himself from Greene — decided to stay neutral. According to the candidate, he recently phoned her and signaled his support, though McCarthy’s office did not comment in response to questions about the encounter. “We look forward to Georgians Andrew Clyde and Marjorie Taylor Greene — and all of our Republican candidates across the country — winning in November so that we can enact policies to renew the American dream, restore our way of life, and rebuild the greatest economy in the world,” McCarthy’s office said in a statement. “It’s clear that the Democrat Party does not share those goals.” (Clyde is a Republican candidate in Georgia’s 9th Congressional District.) Greene’s embrace of QAnon elevates within the party what many see as a dangerous conspiracy theory identified by the FBI as a potential domestic terrorism threat. But many of the president’s supporters have embraced parts or all of the theory as has his campaign to some degree. Just hours after Trump tweeted praise for Greene, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who served in the U.S. Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistan, said on Twitter that there is “no place” for such beliefs in Congress and mocked Q, the supposed person working within the bureaucracy to protect Trump from the “deep state.” “Qanon is a fabrication,” he wrote on Twitter. “This ‘insider’ has predicted so much incorrectly (but people don’t remember PAST predictions) so now has switched to vague generalities. Could be Russian propaganda or a basement dweller. Regardless, no place in Congress for these conspiracies.” That observation, which mentioned neither Greene nor the president by name, drew a swift and critical response from the Trump campaign. “When will @RepKinzinger condemn the Steele Dossier fabrications and conspiracy theories pushed by Democrats? That actually WAS Russian propaganda,” a campaign spokesman, Matt Wolking, wrote on Twitter. But though Greene’s association with QAnon has trained a national spotlight on her district, many Republicans said they are more concerned about her racist comments tainting their ranks at a time when the party and Trump are already unpopular with communities of color. That’s one of the reasons retiring Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) decided to help Greene’s primary opponent, working alongside members of the Georgia delegation to defeat her. Walker, a former pastor, has spoken to GOP leadership multiple times about doing more to welcome minorities into the party, not repel them. Now, he said, the voters have spoken — and he’s hoping Greene decides to change her ways. “She has been duly elected at this point,” Walker said Wednesday. “My take on this now is: I hope that she will grow and learn, but I still can’t deal with the fact that some of the comments are …” He trailed off. “They’re problematic to say the least, offensive.” Greene is among numerous pro-Trump congressional candidates who have seemed to signal support for QAnon. More than a dozen of them will appear on the ballot in November. Unlike Greene, however, most stand little chance of being elected because their districts vote dependably for Democrats. Some Republicans have justified the move to embrace Greene as the lesser of two evils. Sue Everhart, a former chairman of the Georgia GOP, said she disapproves of some of the candidate’s statements — especially the talk of Satan common to the QAnon worldview. But she said she prefers Greene to a Democrat, arguing that no candidate is perfect and expressing optimism that Greene will change her ways upon arriving in Washington. “She is a Republican, and I’m glad she got it, but let’s just say I wasn’t close to her,” she said. “I wish her all the luck in the world. … I don’t speak ill of other Republicans.” The post Trump, House Republicans embrace candidate who believe in QAnon and has made racist statements appeared first on Shri Times News. from WordPress https://ift.tt/2XUagyL

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