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myrandomfandomramblings · 3 years ago

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The Beach - a The Rookie/Chenford Fanfic

“7-Adam-11, show us responding,” Jackson said over the radio as Lucy leaned back against her headrest defeatedly.

“I didn’t think I’d ever say this but I really don’t want to go to the beach.” ��Like ever again,” she added even as she took the first turn towards their destination.

LA was 4 days into a record heat wave and over that time Lucy had learnt a few important things 1) Unsurprisingly, extreme heat causes everyone to flock to the ocean. 2) It also makes people extremely irritable. 3) Lots of irritable people packed together in large groups leads to chaos and 4) wool uniforms are not ideal attire for patrolling beaches in temperatures around 100.

So after 4 days she was over it. She had spent Monday with Jackson getting sworn at, honked at and nearly run over as they directed traffic at the busiest beaches in the city. She spent Tuesday with Tim breaking up beach brawls, confiscating contributing alcohol and watching bikini clad woman flirt with Tim. At least 8 different woman had asked him to rub sunscreen on them or suggested he take off his shirt to cool down. She had rolled her eyes so much she had given herself a headache. Although it may have been the sun. Yesterday, her and Nolan and responded to a report of a missing child who was feared drowned or kidnapped but turned out had followed the music of an ice cream truck four blocks and was found, about 30 minutes after the officers arrived, happily eating a fudgiscle. However, they were kept at the beach for the remainder of their shift by various citizens with complaints ranging from seagulls, wasps and possible sharks to thieves, streakers and possible melanoma.

Now her and Jackson were headed back to a beach where the adjacent shrubbery was currently being consumed by a blazing bush fire, which was in all likelihood human caused and spreading fast. Therefore all hands were on deck as the LAPD worked with the LAFD to keep civilians safe, extinguish the fire and investigate its cause.

The rest of her shift passed in a blur as they interviewed witnesses, cordoned off the area, issued evacuation orders, ensured those who needed it got medical attention, joined a production line passing large buckets of water from the ocean to where the fire was burning and debriefed with their team which included Nolan and Tim, and Lopez and Harper. Luckily in the end, the fire was successfully extinguished, those living nearby were safe and happily back in their homes and the perpetrator, a cigarette butt flicker, was caught. But not until nearly 11pm by which time the entire team was exhausted, scorching and covered in soot and ash. With their job done the team of 6 headed away from the scene back along the beach to where they had parked their shops. They were right on the sand where they left them to create a barrier preventing people from wandering toward the fire and the beach around them was abandoned. Likely due to a combination of the late hour, the fire itself and the fact that the stretch of beach they were on was only accessible by walking about a mile from one of the main beaches on either side or by scrambling down the steep cliff behind them.

“Anybody want a cold one,” Nolan asked when they reached the vehicles, “well a hot one I guess” he amended as he pulled out a six pack he had confiscated earlier in the day from the trunk of his shop. Everybody made a face at the offer of hot beer but since the only light around came from the shops headlights shining in the opposite direction Nolan didn’t see them.

“Screw it, I’ll take one,” Angela said.

“Wesley and Patrice took the baby to meet the extended Evers clan so I have nowhere to be and now that I’m no longer breastfeeding I can have whatever I want. Even if that’s gross beer that’s been sitting in a hot car all day,” she explained.

“If we dig a hole near the water line it will fill with cold seawater and we can make a makeshift beer fridge,” Jackson suggested but Angela had already opened her can and was sipping away.

“I’ll help dig the hole,” Nyla offered. “I’d rather hangout here then go back to the station to do paperwork and Lila’s with her dad so I also have no where I have to be.”

“I’ll call Grey and tell him we’re clocking out and will do the paperwork in the morning,” Tim offered.

“Your staying?” Lucy asked a little too excitedly, “what about Kojo?” she quickly added.

“Tamara called several hours ago and offered to give him dinner, take him for a walk and put him to bed.”“She saw the fire on the news and rightly assumed we’d have our hands full,” he finished.

30 minutes later they all sat in the sand around their makeshift beer fridge. Shoes, socks and button up shirts discarded and pants pulled up to their knees. 3 flashlights were in the middle of the group, pointing skyward, their handles buried in the sand. They laughed as they went around and told stories.

“How is it still this hot?” Lucy asked a while later. It was after midnight and the temperature had yet to even consider dropping below 90.

She pulled her white t-shirt away from her skin fanning, herself.

“I’m going swimming,” she declared ready to stand up.

“Your going swimming? Right Now? In that?” Tim asked gesturing to her cotton tee and woolen pants.

Lucy shook her head. “I was just going to go in my underwear but now that I think about it I don’t really want to have to drive back to the station in soaking wet underwear.”

Tim nodded as if this is what he expected but Lucy didn’t see him and continued.

“I guess I’ll just skinny dip,” she concluded.

Tim managed to both spit out and choke on the sip of beer he had just taken.

Everybody else’s faces were turned towards Tim and wearing amused expressions but they were saved his annoyance due to the limited light and the fact that his attention was still fully on Lucy.

“What?” She asked Tim, “It’s not a big deal. It’s dark. Plus everybody here has already seen me naked.”

“Well except you,” she added, which earned another spit take from Tim.

Lucy rolled her eyes but couldn’t suppress a smile. She loved seeing Tim flustered, especially when it was her doing.

“What?” He finally managed to ask in a strained voice after a few harsh coughs to clear his throat.

“Everybody here’s seen Lucy naked but you,” Lopez offered, “although that was bound to change sometime soon,” she added.

Lucy and Tim both turned to look at her wide eyed. Nolan and Nyla were both hiding smirks and Jackson wore an expression of mainly panic as he spoke.

“She’s drunk. She has no idea what she’s saying,” Jackson offered before turning to look daggers at Angela and whisper something in her ear.

Lucy thought she heard the words bet, interference and disqualified but she couldn’t be sure.

When he finished Angela addressed them again. “Sorry, apparently my tolerance took a nose dive since pre-pregnancy. I didn’t mean anything by that I got you mixed up with Smitty and what’s her face,” she finished waving her hand disparagingly.

“Hmm,” Lucy said clearly not buying her lame excuse but Tim still had his mind on other things.

“Why has everybody else here seen you naked?” he asked, his tone almost suspicious.

Lucy laughed. “Are you jealous?”

He fixed her with his best TO look. “No.”

Lucy suppressed the urge to roll her eyes yet again and answered.

“Communal showers at work,” she began gesturing to Nyla and Angela. “Best friends and roommates” she added pointing to Jackson. “Life gets crazy. Sometimes closing doors or throwing on clothes just isn’t a priority,” she explained seeing Tim’s confused expression. “Also we had to help each other into and out of the bath after we were injured.” She didn’t have to specify her kidnapping or the beating Jackson took to take down Doug Stanton. This group knew. “It’s kind of ironic that when everything hurts all you want is a warm bath but when everything hurts it’s nearly impossible to get yourself into and out of a bathtub,” she finishes. “Oh and Nolan and I used to date.” She says it as almost an afterthought, super casual. But all the former TOs still look at her with shock.

“You and Nolan?” Nyla asks with a laugh. “Really?” “No offense,” she adds addressing Nolan.

“Ah, none taken?” Nolan replies, clearly confused by her reaction.

“When?” Lopez asks looking between the two P2s.

“For a couple months while we were in the academy. We called it off shortly after we started at Mid-Wilshire,” Nolan supplied.

“Wow, I just can’t picture it,” Angela continued shaking her head.

“Why would you want to picture it?” Tim spat. Then seemed to catch himself and schooled his scowl back into a blank expression.

“Why’d you call it off, anyway?” Angela asked. Half actually curious. Half just trying to do her friend a solid and take the attention off him.

“Bishop warned me that dating a fellow cop would brand me and could ruin my career,” Lucy answered and thought she saw Tim flinch. It was impossible to tell for sure with just the flashlights, nevertheless she added, “Somethings matter more-“ she was staring right at Tim now “-are worth the gossip, the assumptions, the risk.” As she said it she saw his expression change but she couldn’t read it. “But our relationship wasn’t one of those things. We’re better as friends, anyway,” she finished addressing the whole group but looking at Nolan specifically for confirmation.

“Agreed,” Nolan nodded holding up his beer.

“To friends,” Jackson said clicking his to Nolan’s.

“To friends,” everybody joined in clinking their cans together.

“So who’s coming skinny dipping with me?” Lucy asked as she started to make her way back to the vehicles where she could leave her clothes in a place where they’d stay sand free.

“I will,” said Angela, “pregnancy and caring for a baby really makes modesty go out the window. The two beers I’ve had don’t hurt either.” She began to follow Lucy to the cars.

“I’m in,” Jackson offered, “with you two practically glowing in the dark nobody will even notice me.” He teased as he got up to join them, earning a playful shove from Lucy.

“Nobody’s here to see anything anyway.” She retorted.

“Go ahead. I might join you later.” Nolan said and Nyla and Tim nodded in agreement.

10 minutes later. Lucy, Angela and Jackson’s clothes were inside Jackson and Lucy’s shop and they were out in the ocean. It dropped off quickly so they weren’t that far away from the beach even though the water came to just below Lucy’s shoulders. After four days of blazing heat and the fire on top today, the cool water felt like heaven to her. She dipped and dove through the water, relishing the cool and wiped at her face and hands to remove the soot that had coated them earlier. Beside her Angela was trying to show Jackson what her son does when they put him in the water. This led to reminiscing about childhood summers spent at the beach or in backyard and community pools. And before they knew it they were playing old games from those days. John and Nyla had joined them by this time. Claiming some combination of escaping the heat, joining the fun and more beer as the motivation. They were currently having breath holding contests.

“I win!” Jackson exclaimed as he came up for air to find everyone else already up.

“You cheated,” Lucy argued, “I saw you come up while I was still under. I had my eyes open.”

“I did not. Plus it’s pitch black under there you couldn’t possibly have seen anything.”

“Did Jackson come up?” Lucy yelled at Tim who was still sitting on the shore.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t watching,” he replied casually with a slight shrug.

“Yes you were,” Angela argued, “you haven’t taken your eyes off Lucy since she got in here,” then realizing what she said she quickly ducked back under the water.

Everybody still above the surface froze.

Then after a beat. “So did he come up or not. I need to know if I won,” Nyla asked, all business.

“He floated to the surface but didn’t lift his head up. He won,” Tim offered defeatedly.

“Told you!” Jackson bragged.

“Rematch. 3,2,1 go,” shouted Nyla as everybody ducked back under the water. Lucy a split second behind everybody else as her attention was still on Tim.

She came up about 30 seconds later just as a wave was passing by her and managed to swallow a good serving of water. She coughed and sputtered but before she knew it Jackson and Nolan were beside her and she was assuring them she was Ok just needed a bit of time to catch her breath. As she swam towards the shore to rest in the shallows she noticed Tim was just sitting back down and his pants were wet to just above the knee. But she didn’t let herself focus on it.

She swam to just in front of where he sat laying on her stomach on the ocean floor, head just above the water.

“You OK?” He asked shifting his eyes to her for the first time since she swam up.

“Ya fine, just swallowed a little water,” she assured him.

“Looks like you guys are having fun out there,” he nodded indicating the group still farther out.

“Ya the water feels amazing. You can’t honestly tell me that you aren’t hot.” She had meant it literally. He was sitting in above 90 degree weather with wool pants on. But then she realized he had taken off his white shirt and his muscled chest and stomach were currently on full display and the word took on an entirely different meaning. She was thankful for the darkness as it hid her blush but even that couldn’t hide the fact that she was definitely staring.

“The ladies on the beach the other day will be so disappointed they’re missing this,” she teased gesturing to his bare upper half, hoping to give a probable explanation for the staring.

He gave a short laugh. “Not as disappointed as the meat bags who were wolf whistling at you will be that they’re missing that.” As he gestured at her he finally let himself actually take her in. Her hair was still up in its low work bun leaving her entire back exposed. The upper half of which was completely taken up by a tattoo, he had never seen before, although the light was too limited for him to make out the design. The rest of her body was hidden in shadows except her face which was now free of soot and make-up making her look young and vulnerable. Freckles brought out by the last few days of blazing sun were speckled across the bridge of her nose. Her mouth was twisted in thought and her eyes sparkled in the light of the flashlights. She really was beautiful.

While those thoughts flew through Tim’s mind Lucy was thinking about his comment about the wolf whistlers. That had happened at the very start of their shift and lasted no more than two seconds. Lucy wasn’t even sure they had been whistling at her and she had completely forgotten about it until Tim brought it up just now. Funny that he would remember.

They were both pulled out of their thoughts by a sudden commotion further out in the water:

“DID YOU NOT THERE IS NO PIE!”

“DO NOT THERE IS NO DIE!”

“DO OR DO NOT THERE IS NO TRY!”

Were being yelled over each other.

“What are they doing?” Tim asked looking at the group out in the water.

They were in a circle. Jackson had just given Nolan a high five then they were under again.

“I think they are playing the guess what I said under the water game,” Lucy chuckled.

Tim was about to reply but he was cut off by “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood” being shouted in unison followed by bickering about who said it first.

“I’m going back out to join them. You going to come?” Lucy asked turning her attention from the group back to Tim.

“I don’t need to be a part of that.”

“Come on Tim. You’re hot and dirty.” She still meant it literally. Really. He was covered in soot. Stupid double entendres.

He raised is eyebrows.

“Just get in the water,” Lucy said splashing water at him to vent her frustration with how flustered she was getting.

He wiped the water from his face and a small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. “Fine.”

Lucy beamed back at him as he stood up and walked back to the shop to discard his remaining clothes then turned her attention back to her friends.

“It’s not Angeles Direct, you’ve already guessed that three times,” Nyla was saying to Jackson

“That’s what it sounds like,” he argued “and it’s definitely closer to that than ‘embroidery period.’”

“That was my first guess. I heard wrong,” Nyla shot back.

“Oh ya cuz ‘and was dressed’ and ‘indoors divest’ were so much closer.”

Any further argument was cut-off by Nolan. “I’ve got it: Angela’s the best,” he said confidently.

“Yes and yes,” Angela confirmed.

“Your turn Nyla.”

There was a brief silence as they all went back under the water followed by a flurry of screamed “this is stupid.”

“Happy now?” Came a quieter voice beside her and Lucy nearly jumped out of the water. She had been so wrapped up watching her friends she hadn’t even noticed that Tim had made his way back down the beach and was now sitting beside her in the water.

She smiled and nodded. “Aren’t you?”

He gave a non-committal shrug. “We’ll see after I get roped into whatever’s going on out there,” he offered but there was no bite to it. He was even smiling, although mostly with his eyes, as he looked at their friends.

“Well let’s go find out,” Lucy replied as she led the way into the deeper water.

As they approached the group they watched them go up and down and listened to their guesses.

“And further than game”

“Comforters at game”

“Temperatures endgame”

“Stanford is endgame”

“Checkers is a game.” “At least that’s a real sentence”

“Bradford has game?” “That can’t be right he most definitely doesn’t”

Then just as Tim and Lucy joined the group “Chenford is endgame!” Shouted by Angela who upon realizing Tim and Lucy had joined them turned to Jackson.

“This ones not on me it was your sentence.”

Jackson stood stunned for a second looking desperately between Tim, Lucy and Angela then swiftly closed his eyes and yelled “MARCO.”

There was a brief silence then Nolan yelled “POLO” and everyone was swimming away from Jackson at top speed. Everyone except Tim who was giving Lucy a look that said. “See what you got me into? I told you so.”

But she was busy swimming off with the others, grateful for the distraction. So he rolled his eyes and joined the game. The water did feel amazing although he wasn’t about to admit that to her.

Calls of MARCO POLO and laughter filled the air as everybody took their turn being it: Jackson tagged Nolan who tagged Lucy who tagged Nyla who tagged Jackson who tagged Tim who tagged Nolan who tagged Angela who tagged Jackson who tagged Tim who tagged Lucy. Well he meant to tag Lucy. He reached his arm out and jumped towards her “POLO” but she was closer than he thought and instead of the tips of his finger tagging her shoulder he jumped right into her. He hit her hard and she responded to being knocked off her feet and down into the water instinctively by reaching for the nearest thing to prevent drowning, which happened to be him. So when he opened his eyes her arms were around his neck and her legs around his hips and her face was only about an inch from his own as she coughed up water for the second time that day.

“Are you ok?” He asked moving a piece of hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear.

She nodded but continued to cough as he absentmindedly stroked her back.

“You caught me by surprise,” she breathed “I didn’t know we were playing full contact Marco Polo.”

He let out a relieved laugh, “I’m sorry.”

“A real Tim Bradford apology I never thought I’d see it in person,” Lucy teased earning an eye roll from Tim. This close Lucy could see all the different shades of blue in his eyes even in the dark.

“It was an accident.”

“So it wasn’t some sort of Tim Test to see how I would handle a fight in the water?”

“No. You got your last Tim test a year ago when you stopped being my rookie.”

“I can’t believe it’s been a year already,” she said. “Then again we’ve been through enough for an entire career,” she added as her hand reflexively moved from his neck where it was playing with his hair to the tattoo on her her ribs.

That’s when it dawned on her just how close her and Tim were, pressed together without a shred of clothing between them. She had felt so comfortable and content she hadn’t realized the gravity of the situation and what it could lead to. She was about to put some space between them when his hand covered hers over the tattoo marking her supposed day of death. The day he saved her from being buried alive. Although he would say it marked the first day of the rest of her life. The day she saved herself.

And the desire to move away died in an instant.

“I kept it,” she said quietly, “because of what you said.” “Because it’s a reminder that I’m a survivor. And that my team will always have my back.”

Tim was looking at her with an expression more open than she’d ever seen. “I have one of those,” he replied softly lifting her hand up and moving it to rest on his lower left abdomen. She was confused at first but as she felt the skin beneath her finger tips she realized it was scarred. The scar from when he was shot on her second day and she pulled him out of the line of gunfire.

She smiled and looked directly into his eyes.

“It’s a good thing we have each other in our lives,”

“Sure is,”

She was just about to lean in and close the distance between them when a voice interrupted.

“Hey you two. Keep it PG or get a room. This is a family outing.” It was Nyla.

Lucy laughed as she untangled her self from Tim and in that moment she realized two things. 1) this was most definitely her family and 2) she would very happily come back to the beach. Maybe next time she’d just bring Tim, maybe even as her boyfriend.

#the rookie #chenford #lucy chen #tim bradford #nyla harper #angela lopez #jackson west #john nolan

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incorrectbatfam · 5 years ago

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What are the BatFam's tattoos?

I’d like to think they all have them, either now or in the future.

Bruce’s tattoo is a little one. It’s two black hearts interlocked like wedding bands as a tribute to his parents plus the year they got married, which he got the moment he turned eighteen. It faces inward on his ankle because the press would have a field day if they saw.

Dick takes a photograph of Zitka the elephant and gets that inked on his deltoid in a bright, watercolor-like fashion. Obviously this is a nod to his childhood, but the colors each symbolize a member of the original Teen Titans, who, in a way, gave him some semblance of normalcy as an adolescent superhero.

Jason’s tattoo splays across his chest and stomach to cover the big Y-shaped autopsy scar from after his death. Roy was the one who suggested a phoenix rising from ashes as a dark joke on a drunken night out, but Jason really liked the idea. Not even seventy-two hours later, he walked into the parlor and tipped the artist generously under the condition that they wouldn’t tell anyone.

Tim says his tattoos don’t have any particular purpose other than for fun, and that’s all the more reason why he needs them. He’s got a greyish-blue alien head on his forearm, a gold lightning bolt down his side, an Egyptian amulet symbol on his calf, and a green paw print on the back of his neck.

Damian found the idea of tattoos to be ridiculous at first and didn’t get his first one on his eighteenth birthday like many young adults do. But over time, he comes to realize that they’re more than just epidermal pigments and gets one himself. He keeps it simple with a single Arabic phrase etched his collarbone: “عدم الفشل دائما درس” (translation: “never a failure, always a lesson”).

Stephanie gets a very Instagrammable tattoo on her wrist—a picturesque orange and pink sunset horizon, but with tiny black bats instead of seagulls flying over it (the bats are really small and can easily be mistaken for birds). Hers is also the first to be seen by the media because she got it in summer.

Cassandra, like Damian, didn’t approve of tattoos at first. But after half the family got theirs, she began to reconsider that stance. After all, if the people most important to her got them, they couldn’t be all that bad, could they? So she asked Dick to drive her to the shop and got a tiny gothic-style tattoo ring on her pinky finger that fits perfectly with any possible look.

Duke had a hard time finding a good tattoo artist because not many folks are willing to tattoo dark skin. But when he eventually found one, the results were beyond compare. The array of flowers on his upper back came to life in a symphony of color and realistic detail. Tim thought it was actual paint and not ink at first because it looks like it came straight out of an art museum.

Alfred’s tattoo is older and faded from the years, but still fascinating. He got it in England, far before his spy stint or the Waynes. “Carpe diem”, a common theme for youngsters such as himself back in the day. It’s accompanied by a story about his first romance and a wild night sneaking out with friends—all three happening within the same day. It’s everyone’s favorite story to hear.

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lizartgurl · 3 years ago

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"The Little Atlantean" (Aqualad x OC)

(part one) (part two) (part three) (part four) (part five) (part six) PART SEVEN

Emma sat on the picnic blanket while Annabella flew a kite for the entertainment of the little twins. Athanasia had all but forgotten their terrifying experience the day before, but Damian was more withdrawn, and he insisted on sitting on Emma's lap. He clung to her dress as tightly as a two year old child could. Emma soothingly rubbed his back as she stared out at the sea.

"You're not still thinking about that guy, are you?" Annabella asked.

Emma gave her sister a humorless smile, "I cant get his voice out of my head. I have to find him, to thank him at the very least."

"And what's the most you'd do?" Her sister teased.

"I don't know...marry him?" Emma shrugged. "It's apparently all Talia thinks I'm good for now."

Annabella shook her head, and reeled in the kite. "You know, if it weren't for the voice you keep insisting that you heard, I'd agree with Tim and say that you're hallucinating."

Emma's smile turned to a grin, "I'm surprised you don't dismiss the voice out of hand as well."

Annabella shrugged, and glanced up at a seagull that flew overhead, "Voices can be more real than we realize."

"Fishy!" Athanasia pointed at the seagull.

"No sweetie, that's a bird." Emma corrected gently.

"Fishy!" Athanasia insisted again, pointing at the water.

"There you go!" Annabella applauded her efforts.

Emma stood Damian on his feet and took his little hand in hers. "Come on, let's take a walk."

They broke the surface, and Kaldur gasped for air. Tula was surprised to find that she could still breathe as well. Maybe Shayla had been wrong about the human world.

"Now what?" She asked, noticing Kaldur was struggling to stay afloat without the aid of his powerful tail. La'gaan and Garth popped up under his other arm for added safety.

Kaldur pointed to a dark shape outlined on the horizon. Land.

Tula gulped nervously. "If you say so."

They were all exhausted by the time the waves washed them up into a tide pool. Tula and Kaldur collapsed onto a rock, breathing heavily, and Garth plopped down in the sand, muttering to himself.

Kaldur was the first to regain his energy as he fully realized that his tail was missing. In its place were two smooth human legs. He lifted one out of the water, examining the foot at the end. Five toes. He wiggled them.

All thought of scolding Kaldur left Tula's mind as she saw the smile of pure, unbridled joy that spread across Kaldur's face. She hadn't seen him this happy since before their fathers died. Garth, however, was not on the same page.

A seagull screeched overhead, "Howya doin' kid!" Vulko circled down and landed on Kaldur's outstretched leg.

"Ya know, I can't put my finger on it, but something's about you is definitely different. No wait, wait, don't tell me, you're using the dinglehopper."

Kaldur would have laughed at the obtuse seagull, but he couldn't, so he shook his head no.

"Really? Well, that's too bad."

Kaldur began to bounce his leg, shaking the seagull up and down, but Vulko was so deep in thought he hardly noticed it.

"I swear- I swear it's on the tip of my tongue if I could just think of it-"

"He's got legs, you idiot!" Garth screamed. Vulko squawked in surprise and fell off Kaldur's leg and into the tidepool.

"He made a deal with the Sea Witch! That's what he did!" Garth said, pacing back and forth.

"Yeah!" La'gaan said, finally having caught his breath. While his friends were all talking about him, Kaldur tried to stand up and see how his new legs worked.

"And now- and now he has three days to kiss Princess Emma, or he'll turn back into a merman!"

All of them were doused as Kaldur tripped over his own wobbling legs and fell into a bed of seaweed. Shaking her head, Tula helped him pull the plant from his hair.

"Princess, ya mean the girl we saw last night?" Vulko asked.

"What will his mother say!" Garth moaned. He jabbed his claw in La'gaan's face. "She'd say she's going to cook herself a crab, that's what she'll say! Why I ought march right back there-" He started into the breaking waves, muttering angrily, but Kaldur splashed over as quickly as he could and scooped up the little blue crab, silently begging him not to tell the Queen Regent.

"Don't you shake your head at me, young man!" Garth said, "We will get your mother, and she can fix this, and then, you can go home, and go swimming with all the other fishes-" Garth stopped, as Kaldur's bottom lip began to quiver again, his whole body seemed to droop.

"...and just be miserable for the rest of your life." Garth sighed. "Very well. Let's see what we can do."

Athanasia ran from shell to shell along the seashore. Not wanting to be left out, Damian followed her lead, each of them running back to give their treasures to Emma and Bella, before taking off again to find more.

"I would have brought the basket if I knew this would turn into a treasure hunt," Emma said, placing yet another shell into the pockets of her dress.

"Everything is a treasure hunt when you're their age," Annabella pointed out.

"I wonder what kind of treasure would get me excited about a treasure hunt nowadays," Emma thought out loud.

"Perhaps your special rescuer?" Bella leaned into her, and Emma gave her playful shove towards the waves.

"Fishy!" Athanasia decreed once more.

"Yes, there's a fishy in the waves, Asia," Emma said patiently, taking another shell from Damian.

Athanasia shook her head, and stomped her foot in the sand. She pointed up ahead, around the bend along the seashore that led to the tidepools.

"Fishy!" She said insistently.

Emma sighed, "We'd probably best go see what she wants."

"Come on Damian," Annabella took his hand and ran after their sisters.

"There ya go! All beauty-fied up for your beauty-full Princess!" Vulko declared.

"Huh," Tula grunted curiously, leaning on a rock while Kaldur posed confidently, "Human fashion choices leave much to be desired."

Vulko had presented Kaldur with what he deemed "the perfect royal robe", to wear when he introduced himself to his princess. It was a yellowish white, and wrapped over his shoulder and around his body, held in place by brown ropes, which Vulko insisted all the humans were wearing nowadays.

"It looks great!" La'gaan said.

"We are doomed." Garth declared.

"FISHY!"

Tula started at the sound, and saw a small human child running at them from around the cliffside corner. She dove into the sea with La'gaan to keep themselves hidden, while Garth scurried for cover in the pocket of Kaldur's new robe.

Startled himself, Kaldur scurried up onto a rock to get out of the child's way as she laughed and ran towards him.

"Fishy! Fishy! Fishy!" She insisted, reaching up to him with her arms.

"Athanasia! Where are you?"

Kaldur's heart skipped a beat as he recognized the sound of that voice. This was Princess Emma's little sister.

"Asia, come back here!" Princess Emma herself ran around the corner, looking back and forth until her eyes rested on her younger sister.

Athanasia laughed as if it were all a game "Uppy Emmy!" She said, holding her arms out to Emma.

With a weary but loving smile, Emma scooped Athanasia up into her arms, and stopped.

"Oh," She gasped softly as she spotted Athanasia's target.

Athanasia herself giggled as Annabella and Damian caught up with them. "Fishy!" She said proudly.

"That's not a fishy, Asia," Annabella shook her head.

"I'm sorry if my sister scared you. Are you alright?" Emma asked, taking a step closer to Kaldur.

Kaldur could only give her a big smile in response. He felt as if he were dreaming. The sun on his face, his own two legs, and he was talking with Princess Emma! Or at least, Princess Emma was talking to him.

Emma knelt down to let Athanasia run around with her brother and looked up at the mysterious stranger, who happened to be wrapped up in the remains of a canvas sail. Perhaps it was even the same one from the Royal ship that had been sunk in the hurricane.

"You...you look familiar…" she said, almost in a whisper. Perhaps it was the way the sunlight framed him, or the way he smiled at her, but-

"Of course!" Her blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight as she grabbed his hand. "You're him! The one I've been looking for!"

Kaldur's heart nearly exploded with joy; she recognized him! She wanted to get to know him too!

"What's your name?" Emma asked.

Kaldur's joy fell off a cliff and into the pit of his stomach as he failed to answer his question.

"You...you can't speak?" Emma asked slowly, now disappointed.

Kaldur shook his head.

"Oh," Emma said softly, "Then I guess I was wrong. I'm sorry."

Tula and La'gaan sighed, banging their heads on the rock they hid behind. Garth groaned within the folds of Kaldur's robe. Of course it wasn't going to be that easy.

Though momentarily deterred, Kaldur wasn't willing to give up yet.

He tried to gesture to himself, tried to let her know that she had been right, that it was him. He mimed singing, and tried to show her that he'd lost his voice, but his legs were still uncertain, and he fell off the rock and on top of Emma.

Much quicker on her feet than Kaldur was, Emma wrapped her arms under his, pulling him back to his feet.

"Are...are you alright?" She asked quietly, now level with his stormy green eyes. They held so much more than she could see. She had to get to know this man, whether or not he was her rescuer.

"Come with me," she said with the finality of a queen, "You are welcome to stay with me and my family in our palace for as long as you'd like."

Kaldur's heart leaped for joy, he had a chance after all.

Annabella eyed her sister knowingly, "Talia's going to go crazy for him."

Emma ignored her comment, "Come on Dami, Come on Asia."

"Fishy!" The two squealed, chasing each other back towards the palace.

"Good luck, kid!" Vulko squawked after him.

"Do you think it'll work?" La'gaan asked Tula, watching as Kaldur walked down the sandy beach with his arms around the Princess. He looked back and gave his friends a big smile to let them know it was okay.

"I hope so," Tula nervously twisted a piece of seaweed in her hands, "Because I don't want to see what the Sea Witch will do to him if it doesn't."

#lizart writes #tlm au #aqualad #fish boy #kaldur'ahm #aqualad x oc #kaldur x oc #my ocs #nightingale

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worm-wife · 4 years ago

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A dumb little soulmate au i won’t do anything with.

So I was thinking about how romantic/platonic soulmates would work in tma and this brain baby came from it. For context this is a no entities au. You have matching earrings with romantic soulmates and matching bracelets with platonic soulmates.

polychives jon (photographer) platonic soulmates: oliver, gerry, melanie, georgie, daisy, nikola martin (creative writing) platonic soulmates: annabelle, basira, oliver, gerry sasha (digital artist) platonic soulmates: michael, melanie, helen tim (dance instructor) platonic soulmates: danny, rosie, jude

wtgfs georgie (podcaster) platonic soulmate: jon, oliver, annabelle, uhhhh helen!! melanie (indie film maker and youtuber) platonic soulmate: jon, sasha, daisy, her crew (idk there names)

avatars/other characters oliver (runs a local newspaper that focuses on minorities and local issues) - romantic soulmates w/ graham, michael, gerry platonic soulmates: jon, martin, georgie, mike crew, basira, jane gerry (runs a sculpting class and sells sculptures and jewelry online) -romantic soulmates w. graham, michael, oliver platonic soulmates: jon, martin, gertrude, annabelle, nikola :3 michael (runs an antique shop!!! also paints) - romantic soulmates w/ graham, gerry, oliver platonic soulmates: sasha, helen, that one funky dude from the pottery class graham (a freelance writer, usually works with oliver on his newspaper but also runs a youtube channel surrounding paranormal things and conspiracies. also blogs) - romantic soulmates w/ michael, gerry, oliver platonic soulmates: martin, the girl from the class!!, nikola :3 daisy (runs a local dojo but also works part time security at the college) romantic soulmates w/ basira platonic soulmates: jon, melanie, joshua gillespe because yes basira (philosophy teacher) - romantic soulmates w/ daisy platonic soulmates: martin, oliver, uhhh annabelle? helen (lawyer) - romantic soulmates w/ annabelle, jane, nikola platonic soulmates: sasha, michael annabelle (architect) - romantic soulmates w/jane, helen, nikola platonic soulmates: martin, georgie, gerry, basira her rival is elias jane (runs a tarot shop but has a side job at a bait and tackle. she takes care of the worms) - romantic soulmates w/ helen, nikola, annabelle platonic soulmates: oliver, rosie nikola (runs a small group of street performers) - romantic soulmates w/ helen, annabelle, jane platonic soulmates: jon, gerry, graham, jude jude (performs in nikolas thing as a fire eater) - romantic soulmate w/ agnes platonic soulmates: tim, nikola agnes (does woodburning classes) - romantic soulmates w/ jude platonic soulmates: martin, annabelle, gertrude :( just for roles: danny is a tour guide, rosie is a business major, mike crew does skydiving and is platonic soulmates w/ oliver and danny, getrude is an english professor, joshua is an architect, elias is just a bitch, and peter does boat toars. the earrings and bracelets

jon - small hoop, simple beaded bracellet martin - simple silver stud, one of those charity bracelets sasha - mother of pearl earring, red and orange friendship bracelet tim - hoop on upper part of ear, a leather bracelet georgie - a hoop with a cross, her bracelet is just her shows merch melanie - a black stud, a simple hoop bracelet. oliver - a skull earring, and beaded bracelet from party city gerry - a small guage, his bracelet is from hot topic michael - one of those ear cuffs (its elaborate), a very elaborate rainbow loom bracelet graham - a little pencil earring, a scholastic fair bracelet daisy - a cuff and chain earring, a small metal bead bracelet basira - small silver stud, a simple blue and white friendship bracelet helen - biiig hoops, her bracelet is a copy of one probably worn in legally blonde annabelle, a ear cuff with a spiderweb design, a bracelet of little spiderman beads jane - a small loop painted like an earthworm, she has a brown braided bracelet nikola - lesbian earrings of clowns, a big dangly plastic bracelet jude - another earring cuff, this time its flame themed, a leather bracelet with burning on it agnes - little fire earrings of the lesbian kind, a red and orange friendship bracelet. danny - small black hoop, a tour guide merch bracelet rosie - flower studs, a beaded pearl bracelet mike crew - small black hanging cross, also merch bracelet (from his company) getrude - hanging pearls, and her bracelet is just a thing of yarn. joshua - one of those in the middle of your ear, a plastic bead bracelet saying 'king shit' i forgot jared earlier, he is also ace. umm, he has a bone earring and a simple metal bracelet

elias is romantic soulmates with peter and has no platonic ones (same with peter), his earring is an eye and the only bracelet he gets is handcuffs. peter has little seagull earrings

#tma #tma headcannon #tma au #from the library of miss emily potter

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aconitemare · 5 years ago

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[jaydick] Before That, And Colder

Chapter 2

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

AO3

A breeze lifts gently over the port, sweeping Dick’s dark curls from his face as he adjusts his tortoiseshell sunglasses on his nose. He smiles appreciatively at the valet who opens his door and quickly switches his call from bluetooth to phone. There’s no need for the valet to hear the frustrated growling on the other end of the line.

As he steps out, he deposits the keys to his sleek and silver Audi R8 Spyder — a recent gift from Bruce, justified as mission-based although Dick could see the quiet excitement in Bruce’s tugging lips when he led him to the Batgarage, understood this was a gift — into the valet’s open palm, along with a cash tip. “Thank you,” he mouths, hand cupping the receiver.

A recent stalker with a penchant for crowbars pushed Jason into requesting Tim’s — and, by extension, everyone else’s — help. Last night, he agreed to let Dick join Tim on surveillance; the stalker likes to leave Jason pictures of their assaults, which means it’s likely only a matter of time before they catch some distinguishing trait on camera. Unfortunately, time is of the essence and Jason is short four Outlaws and Dick gets antsy playing the waiting game. He’d rather investigate Red Hood’s Iceberg Lounge associates. He called Jason to update him on the change of plans the minute he pulled into valet and not a minute before.

“I mean it, N,” Jason insists. “Don’t come here. I don’t need bats up in my belfry. Vigilante-types make my guys nervous.”

“And you don’t?” Dick challenges. A bellhop removes a suitcase from the trunk and quickly wheels it past the shiny glass double doors, which another attendant holds open while Dick leisurely walks towards the entrance. Seagulls squawk, diving in and splashing upwards from the engulfing Atlantic. The air is cool and carries a light, briny taste.

“No, I make them terrified.”

“That’s a good thing, right?” asks Dick. “If they’re busy soiling themselves because the big bad Hood looked at them funny, they’ll hardly even notice me breathing down their necks. So to speak.”

“Wro-o-ong,” drawls Jason on the other end. Dick imagines him rolling his eyes, or maybe reclining in exasperation if he’s on a nice office chair. Jason is a casino-owner now, or something along those lines. He might even wear a tie. “Terrified is good for them. It makes them efficient. Nervous people get clammy hands and drop the ball,” explains Jason.

“They won’t even notice me,” Dick appeals. He nods politely at the door attendant and stops at the front desk for his room key, where another bellhop promptly escorts his luggage. He tries not to speculate inwardly over anyone’s salary here. He resolves to just tip very well, as the tried-and-true Wayne method of resolving one-percenter guilt.

“I’ll notice you.”

Key card in hand, Dick pushes his sunglasses over his bangs, tapping the desk in an appreciative gesture. He follows the direction the receptionist pointed out. “That’s flattering, Jase, but sounds like a you-problem,” he says absently. He’s watching the virtual fish that wade through the pixelated water of the lobby’s walls. Beside the crystal elevator is an extravagant fountain that burbles and gurgles. Dick inhales the air around him: filtered by salt, not chlorine. Nice touch, he thinks wryly. Though he doubts Cobblepot had anything directly to do with the interior design of this place.

“Har-har,” Jason responds without much humor. “Look, I’m not a complete jackass. I appreciate the help, trust you’re all fairly competent, etcetera, but this is my territory. I don’t swing into Bludhaven and criticize how you’re running things.”

The clamshell-shaped light switches on as a ding sounds. “Who’s criticizing?” Dick asks innocently. The doors part and Dick steps inside. The walls are crystal but not completely transparent, warped as they are by the cleavage and cast in a sickly blue light from above. There’s even air conditioning, which makes the confined space frigid. He’s certainly in the iceberg now.

Jason sighs into his speaker. “Nothing, absolutely nothing about the Iceberg Lounge is legal,” he confesses. This confession is not much of a revelation, however, as news of Red Hood’s latest operation circulated the bats via Batman more-or-less immediately. Jason shares major updates on the Underground he plans to infiltrate and, in exchange, Bruce turns a blind eye to the everything-else part. The whereabouts of the Lounge’s original owner, Mr. Cobblepot, is anyone’s guess — although everyone’s guess is pretty good.

Dick watches the number on the screen tick upwards. He can’t wait to be out of this icebox after mere seconds. He misses his first apartment in Bludhaven, the one with the dirty carpeted stairs and the humid lobby and the friends. The hotel’s design is foreign and cold by comparison, although if he’s being fair, most of Gotham has felt like that since his return.

He’s preoccupied by several thoughts and not giving his all to this conversation — which he did start, yes, but only out of courtesy to Jason. He’s mostly amused that Jason seems to expect Dick to crash through a window in full Nightwing get-up and arrest everyone on the spot. Then again, maybe Jason’s paranoia isn’t wholly unfounded. Tiger did always say Dick was a terrible spy.

For the sake of this conversation, however perfunctory, Dick pretends to gasp. “Jason!” he stage-whispers as the doors finally, gratefully, open. “Don’t tell me — is this a money laundering scheme?” He makes sure to add an extra dollop of shocked horror to his words.

Dick partly expects Jason to hang up on him, as people usually shut down when Dick tries on sarcasm for size. It’s not a good tone on him, he’s been told. That’s a miscalculation on Dick’s part, of course, because Jason isn’t affected by words the same way others are, especially Dick’s words. “Yeah, among other things,” Jason mutters instead. “Just stick to parking lot surveillance where my bike is, alright? You know, the original deal. No offense to you, but I don’t like people touching my shit. I’ll let you or some other bat-brat know if my human resources need outsourcing.”

Dick hums agreeably; he hadn’t expected Jason’s utmost cooperation anyway. It’s always best to obtain someone’s blessing, if he can, but permission just gets in his way. “‘No touching,’” Dick repeats as he wanders down the hall in search for his room. “Not a request I hear often,” he teases.

“Not a request, or I would’ve added please.”

3401, 3402, 3403, 3404...

“Yes, yes,” Dick placates. The floor here is a sandy-beige marble topped by a molding made entirely of tiny seashells. He resists the urge to crouch down and run his fingers against the texture. “If you won’t let me in your cool casino gang, then I can’t force you. Batman didn’t supply me with a gun to your head,” he assures.

3410, 3411, 3412…

On the other end, Jason snorts. “No, he just gave you a lifetime supply of entitlement and an annoying personality.”

3414, 3415, 3416…

“Hey, the latter was home-grown, thank you,” Dick defends, feigning offense. “Also, I unfortunately must end this conversation because — ”

The line goes dead. Dick removes the phone from his ear and frowns at it.

He discovers he likes this floor better, especially after the preternatural blue of the elevator. Here, the light is a warm yellow cast from plastic conch shells. The mosaic walls are made entirely of pale blue sea glass with waves of green rippling through. It’s an artistic take on the beach. An artful interpretation with central air conditioning.

He arrives at his room shortly after the phone call, sliding his key card in and waiting for the green light to appear with a short buzz. It does, and Dick pushes in to find his Coach suitcase already beside his California King bed. The style is less minimalist than he had expected, with bold blues and reds splashed across the walls in a lucky imitation of the violent sunsets over Bludhaven’s waterfront. Dick is almost nostalgic, he thinks.

The first thing Dick does is check for bugs. This takes some time, since Bruce called the hotel before Dick could and ordered his version of “modest and undercover,” which still qualifies as a suite. Dick doubts the room is bugged, as certainly most of the nefarious higher-ups’ attention would be paid to the casino and not the hotel. Still, best to begin and end all missions with routine since the middle parts always get too chaotic for formalities. Dick adapts better than Bruce himself does, but he still knows the value of order and tries to accommodate it when he can.

The minute corners of the ceiling and the floor are dustless. The carpet is soft and thick, Dick’s feet sinking in with each step. The nightstand has a phone, a notepad, a lamp, a service menu, and a casino itinerary, but no bible. Dick wonders who made that decision during the hotel’s design. The television is expansive, flat, and mounted across the wall facing the bed. The extravagance elicits from Dick the same feeling as if a giant mirror has been hoisted onto the ceiling too. Does Bruce also ever get disgusted by such ludicrous excess? Or has he become used to it, like a buzzing in his ear, like tinnitus? Bruce accumulates and accumulates, yet never seems to care for that accumulation one way or another. To be fair, though, Dick has never felt a certain way about grass being green. Or air having smells, as might be the better analogy; sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always taken for granted.

The sweep proves the room clean, as expected. Well, Dick has his own suspicions about government agents and corporate drones peering through the shiny flat-screen, but Lex is a busy man so Dick thinks he’s safe. This is the kind of spot-on humor Tim would appreciate if he hadn’t objected to tagging along. Tim is also a busy man apparently.

Evening won’t fall for another few hours, but Dick should get a head start on socializing. Deciphering who’s actually important, who’s within the Red Hood’s board of trustees, won’t be easy in the intoxicated, big-talking, narcissistic casino crowd. In preparation, Dick accessorizes with a range of subtle tools and weapons: a miniscule switchblade, disguised as a pendant and hidden under his shirt; bandages slipped into his jacket pocket; and a flask of disinfecting alcohol slipped into a pair of white boots. He’s roughing it in designer shoes.

Satisfied, Dick sticks his key card into his wallet and sets about trying his luck.

___

The casino keeps to the same ice-white theme as the hotel. The gaming floors shine like chromium, solid as a frozen lake. The floors winding between the games and shops and restaurants, however, are watery blue with digital fish splashing beneath guests’ feet. It’s novel, really, and it’s possible Dick might’ve even liked the whole schtick if it weren’t so Penguin-y.

The woman beside him places her hand on his wrist. From the ceiling plays an inoffensive pop song, the singer’s voice autotuned to sound as if coming from deep underwater. Dick smiles down at the woman. “Oh, sorry, were you trying to get my attention?”

She’s pretty in a forgettable way, with long blonde hair and a sloping nose. “No, no, sorry!” she says, pulling away clumsily as if remembering herself. She has a plastic water bottle on her, but no alcohol. Trying to sober up still. “I just thought you looked really familiar, like I might know you — ?” Her voice pitches upward at the end, waiting for him to finish her half-formed idea.

Dick communicates to the dealer he’s doubling down and pushes a stack of orange chips forward. He’s hoping the dealer will make a face, however unlikely that is, or do something to attract the attention of a supervisor. He wants to attract the house’s attention as subtly as possible, suss out anyone who might be high on the chain.

“I was at a televised event recently,” Dick responds, because he doubts they met personally. “The Wayne Foundation was heading a protest against the detention centers in Texas.” The girl’s mouth opens, gulping, fish-like, and Dick wonders if he should talk more about the protest or leave it at that. She’s impressed, but only hazily so, as if she’s recognizing the patterns of words and their moral virtue — foundation, protest, detention centers — but can’t make sense of the detail. Dick muses inwardly; it’s been a while since he was last inebriated, but he’s always been a drifting, Play-Doh-brained drunk like her. He’s tempted to order himself a drink, but that would be counterproductive to Mission: Find Jason’s Mole.

He initially tried chatting with the dealer directly, on the off-chance of information trickling down. She’s young, barely Dick’s age, and has shaved half her head in that edgy-punk-rock style Dick recalls Shawn being fond of. Unlike his ex-girlfriend’s cropped hair, which she had dyed with the same warning colors of poison dart frogs, the dealer’s is a natural black that tumbles down her shoulders. Dick did not get far with her as she gave only clipped responses. Now, from under her curtain of hair, she peers with sharp eyes that leap across players’ hands.

The man on his other shoulder slaps the table roughly, startling the dealer and dragging Dick’s attention away from the cards. “You’re one of Wayne’s kids!” he exclaims, pointing a finger. He has a faint Chinese accent ground out in gravelly tones. The knuckles are hairy but bejeweled with smooth rings, and the nails are perfectly manicured. “I’ve been looking at you, trying to figure out!”

Dick would’ve noticed him staring, in that case, but one doesn’t have to stare to watch. The thought alerts him momentarily and his eyes do a quick sweep of the floor again. I’ll give it another hour, he decides. If no one seeks me out, I’ll just have to go snooping.

“That would be me,” Dick confirms. He takes the man’s hand and they shake cordially.

“Should’ve known,” the man continues. “You always dress so — colorful.” He took a moment to decide upon the that adjective, but he doesn’t sound disrespectful so Dick grins. The man is right; Richie Grayson does generally go for the pastels. For the night, he’s dressed himself in a white blazer with muted paisley designs whirling across the silk. Over his breast rests a peach-colored pocket square to match the interior peach fabric he’s displayed by rolling the cuffs to his elbows. No tie, jacket left unbuttoned, and hair gelled carefully-carelessly: he’s the picture of insouciant extravagance.

His first time out with Damian as “Richie,” Damian was infuriated by the silly pastels and airheaded conversations Dick cloaked himself in. Damian ranted about Dick’s public persona being an “odious script he must’ve concocted as a bad joke.” Dick spares him the embarrassment of the truth, which is that Dick appreciates a vacation from himself. The breezy talks and airy outfits are less of a deep-cover character and more for fun. Of course, Damian is also embarrassed by his usual wardrobe of sweats and running pants, so Dick doesn’t bother trying to live up to the kid’s standards. They’re both just glad to have each other back. Dick has missed out on so much, but Damian hardly notices the changes in either of them. It’s because he’s still young and time isn’t finite yet. Childhood clings to Damian’s full cheeks and attitude. His stubborn youth relieves Dick. He’s missed out on a lot, but not everything.

“Yes, I keep up with Bruce Wayne, men like him,” the man at the table continues for explanation. He taps his head. “They’re smart. Can learn from them. Or I try to, at least.” With that, he laughs all the way from his gut. Dick can feel himself warming up as he often does around good-humored people. He can’t help it; he’s a sucker for laughter.

He buys drinks for the table, except for the woman, whom he buys another water. The hour drags on. He wishes he was playing poker and not blackjack, although poker gets too vitriolic for his tastes and doesn’t concern the house much, which is what he needs to do. He’s beginning to doubt his plan, though, and he wonders if it would be easier just to beg Jason to let him in on the case in full. He’s not going to do that however. He hadn’t expect a yes, but that doesn’t make Jason rejecting his help any less irritating. At this point, he’d prefer swimming with sharks ( again ) over playing nice with a guy who’d apparently rather get assassinated than just cooperate a little.

He’s close to leaving the table when he spots a person of interest. The man is on the shorter side, just shy of scrawny, with tan skin and dark hair. He’s not paying any attention to Dick, just meandering through the tables, but Dick recognizes him from Batman’s Teen Titans database. Miguel Barragan: otherwise known as Bunker, a former member of the Teen Titans and the current owner-on-paper of the Iceberg Lounge. Dick is almost giddy to have such a solid lead right off the bat. He quickly collects his winnings and bids everyone a goodbye, Miguel locked in his peripheral throughout.

He doesn’t approach Miguel directly; he’d probably alert Jason right away of his casino’s sneaky guest. Dick trusts his charisma to carry him through most confrontations, but he also considers anyone associated with Jason to be a bit of a wild card. He’s not sure how he could win Miguel over to his side because he’s not sure how Jason won Miguel over. Dick doesn’t understand how Jason wins anyone over — or, perhaps more accurately, how anyone wins Jason over. Dick hasn’t been able to parse out what grounds the amorphous Outlaws have been founded on, since their modus operandi changes as frequently as their roster and these outlaws seemingly share one characteristic, which is that they are all outlaws.

Dick is admittedly guilty of avoiding Gotham, focusing instead on reestablishing his life in Bludhaven after Spyral. He still receives updates, some of them about the Outlaws, whose guns sometimes shoot rubber bullets and other times kill. Batman occasionally sends the Outlaws on missions, making them either private contractors or accidental, honorary bats. Dick has long given up on deciphering and disarming Bruce’s relationships. Or maybe he hasn’t, since on the practical level, it is on Bruce’s behalf that Dick’s helping Jason. Dick responded to all of Bruce’s messages, albeit late, and Dick himself doesn’t know if his recent lateness is as accidental as he pleads. Dick’s life has always been hectic, yet he’s always made time for Gotham.

What is different now? Dick sees the past year like a literal timeline laid out before him, and if he could just follow that line, eventually he’d find what had changed. Maybe he’s missing a step, though, because he just keeps going back to the dormitory at St. Hadrian’s. He sees himself sitting on the twin-sized, standard-issued bed, back hunched, phone attached to his ear like a lifeline that might disintegrate at any moment. He hears himself leave a message for Mr. Malone; then Dick turns around, abandoning the scene before the line can disintegrate and he shares the same fate as this sad, forgotten figure on the bed.

Dick’s response to Bruce’s latest message was immediate, as Bruce probably assumed it would be. He dangled Jason’s vulnerability like a bait over Dick’s head. Dick, with the stench of death curling into his nostrils at the mere suggestion, took the hook in his mouth and allowed himself to be hauled aboard out of Bludhaven’s hazy depths. So he has resurfaced in Gotham, which he knows is for the best. It gives him the opportunity to right a wrong of his, when Jason first was in danger and Dick had busied himself elsewhere, away from Bruce.

Of course, Jason is not as helpless as he was in his Robin days. The Outlaws are fittingly named, operating more like a loose group of friends egging each other on than a true team (or so it seems to Dick, and indeed everyone else watching them in suspense), but they do pull through for the Hood. Miguel is one of these friends, and therefore likely knows about the Park Row victims and the photos, although whether his priority is Jason’s safety or Jason’s trust is up for debate. Dick has to play it safe and assume that Miguel would report his good intentions and have him thrown back into the parking lot to watch a bike. Or forced off the case altogether, Dick thinks with exasperation, as Jason is prone to theatrics and extremes. Roy and Kory, at least, he does not have to worry about, being off-planet with the Justice League. Artemis and Bizarro have recently disappeared, but Dick doesn’t write them off yet. In his experience, those whose lives defy death rarely stay gone for long. This is both a comfort and a conflict of interest.

He watches Miguel furtively; he accomplishes this by mingling gregariously, camouflaging himself within a dense thicket of drunken socialites. He works crowds consecutively, easing himself in and out of dialogues, his split attention unnoticed in an atmosphere that cultivates distraction. He keeps his face turned away from Miguel at all times. He moves his tortoiseshell sunglasses from his mussed hair to his eyes. He follows.

Miguel does not stay among the blackjack tables. He eventually moves towards the floor with the digital fish, his pace brisk but not hurried. Flashing shop signs and stumbling, moseying guests help blur Dick into the background. He wonders how long he can keep this up for and where he might end up. Best case scenario: Miguel talks to several key players in Red Hood’s operation for Dick to investigate and provides an insider’s look at the map of the casino before he can slip behind a door Dick can’t reasonably follow him through. Worst case scenario: Miguel notices he’s being followed by a weird man who wears sunglasses inside, confronts him, and Jason yells at him about respect and boundaries, as if those are things that exist in their makeshift family. Scenario of undecided goodness: Miguel is the leak and Dick catches him.

From a yard ahead, Miguel shifts his hand from the pocket of his slacks. He presses his ear, tilts his chin downward and to the side. An earpiece, for sure. He’s communicating with someone; perhaps Jason, Dick’s brain immediately supplies, and he does feel some guilt laden over the little kick he gets from the idea of pulling one over on the uncooperative prick. Dick gets his jollies from helping people against their will. Probably not everyone’s idea of fun, but his family just wouldn’t be his family without the unnecessary shadows cloaking every kind act.

Then Dick notices Miguel twist his head just slightly so that his eyes address the floor. Is he looking at Dick? Has he been caught? Dick hangs back, pausing to admire a shop window. He’s grateful for his sunglasses now, which enable him to keep track of Miguel’s progress. Hopefully he looks more eccentric than suspicious in them.

He melts back into the loose crowds once he’s confident Miguel has lost him. He knows Miguel took a right at the escalators, didn’t go up them. Dick keeps a bit of swagger in his walk, feigning leisure while taking broader steps than usual. He needs Miguel to lose track of him without losing track of Miguel himself.

Dick rounds the escalator corner, hands shoved in his pockets. A uniformed woman sweeps a plastic straw into a dustpan. He smiles graciously and sidesteps her. He glimpses Miguel’s figure retreating into a misshapen circle of the line spilling out of a burger joint. His body is swallowed whole by the hungry mass, absorbed neatly into the membrane of good-timers and luck-triers. Dick feels a little of the excitement go out of him. Where, really, can he get with this? He might have to pay Jason a visit as Nightwing after all.

Still, he may as well continue for a bit longer. He’s less than subtle while maneuvering through. His passage doesn’t feel half as smooth as Miguel’s looked. The people in line are glassy-eyed with dumb, slack-jawed smiles. Dick can’t help envisioning them as blind, newborn kittens under his feet. He pushes through in a series of mumbled apologies and penitent smiles. He receives, in return, a few blank smiles delivered on auto-pilot. Mostly he’s just ignored, which does irk him but he reasons that if they’re not bothered enough for a reply, then they’re content and so is he.

He finally breaches the wall of people. Miguel has stopped walking and stands, back facing Dick, near a bistro. A waitress, tufts of blonde locks sticking up like macaroni, intercepts the two of them, carrying a tray from the bistro to the nearest gaming floor. She all but waddles in the standard short white dress and tiny black blazer, throat pinned to her head with a stiff bowtie. When she passes, Dick realizes Miguel is not alone. Leaning against a load-bearing stalagmite is someone else, sneakered heel digging into the floor with their toes pointed up, their fists plunged into the pocket of a pullover. A hood hides their face, though the tip of a nose peeks out. Dick takes a step forward only to be reeled backwards, shoulder jerking where a hand has caught it.

Dick nearly grabs the hand and yanks, but remembers his surroundings and stifles the impulse. He lets himself be dragged towards an unmarked set of double doors. A small box is mounted to the wall in front of him, and another hand reaches out to wave a card over it. A light flashes green and buzzes. Dick’s feet have to dance for purchase as he’s pulled awkwardly by his side. The second the doors swing shut behind them, Dick breaks out of the grasp. His shades have slid down his nose and he pushes them up. He has time to recognize the people milling about as normal employees, some resting in chairs with stained cushions and others carting hampers and vacuums or talking into radios. Name badges abound.

The hand roughly grabs him by the collar. “Easy!” scolds Dick at the same time he gets a good look at the person attached. He’s a big guy with furry arms that could constrict a boa. A gray vest stretches over his broad frame, accentuating his size as well as any muscle tee. He wears a high collar fastened with a wide tie. His throat is as thick as a tree trunk, though, and the overall effect is that of an ill-fitting leash.

“I don’t work here, what are you doing?” Dick demands. He doubts the casino employees here are expecting dignity anyway. Maybe he should even try for tipsy, just to put on a show for anyone watching him get hauled across the room from the scruff of his neck by Hulk Hogan. This has all turned out surprisingly well for him, really. Whoever this guy is, he’s not a hero.

“Behave,” the man orders as he shoves Dick — unnecessarily roughly, for that matter — through another set of double doors. These ones give way without identification.

Dick skips nimbly forward so he doesn’t fall on his face. The man’s hand is on his neck again in an instant, which screams overkill considering Dick hasn’t put up a fight or attempted escape. “‘Behave’?” Dick quotes. “What am I, your long-lost son?”

“Good question,” says the man. The walls here are more eggshell than snowfall with air pockets bubbling beneath the wallpaper. People with name badges eye them curiously but say nothing. Dick wonders how anyone would get rescued in this heads-down atmosphere. It occurs to him, grimly, that they probably wouldn’t.

“Is it?” Dick prods. “Did someone forget to file for a paternity test?”

“What are you, smartass.”

Fingers tighten around his neck, a warning to behave or a threat for what’s to either way. Dick guesses it’s the latter and replies, “What is manhandled, for 300.”

“Yup, keep it up,” the man replies. He takes a sudden left, Dick spinning after like a sidecar held to the driver by a rope. There’s another box-shaped scanner around the corner, presumably for the narrow, metal door adjacent. This device doesn’t scan from afar but requires insertion, and the man feeds it a different card from the one before. There’s no buzz or green light. Just the same, the knob turns easily in the man’s grip.

“Lot of doors here,” Dick observes at the same time that he’s unceremoniously launched, face first, through a door.

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

#jaydick #dickjay #fanfiction for the void #dc

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progressiveparty · 5 years ago

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Bigger Than Bernie: The Other Progressive Challengers Taking On the Democratic Establishment (via Christopher Hass)

Our Progressive Candidates

Our endorsed candidates are running for office representing progressive values. Fighting for progressive ideas, for the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, free college, ending mass incarceration and deportation. It’s time to empower the voice of a new generation of Progressives who represent the people. A new generation of Progressives who will fight for solutions that match the need of the many.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

BERNIE SANDERS OFFICIAL ENDORSEMENTS

UNITED STATES SENATE

Maggie Toulouse Oliver U.S. SENATE – NEW MEXICO

OFFICIAL ENDORSEMENTS

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Rashida Tlaib U.S. HOUSE – MICHIGAN (MI-13)

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ U.S. HOUSE – NEW YORK (NY-14)

PRAMILA JAYAPAL, U.S. HOUSE – WASHINGTON (WA-07)

ILHAN OMAR U.S. HOUSE – MINNESOTA (MN-05)

RO KHANNA U.S. HOUSE – CALIFORNIA (CA-17)

Joaquin Vazquez U.S. HOUSE – California (CA-53)

Marie Newman U.S. HOUSE – ILLINOIS (IL-03)

OFFICIAL ENDORSEMENTS

UNITED STATES LOCAL GOVERNMENT

CANDIDATES CLICK HERE Can not find your progressive candidate?

Year 2020 – Recognize a Progressive – Nominate a Candidate:

The Other Progressive Challengers Taking On the Democratic Establishment

By Christopher Hass “Today,” Bernie Sanders booms in his monotone shout, “we begin a political revolution to transform our country—economically, politically, socially and environmentally.” He marks each beat with his right hand, as if conducting with an invisible baton. Behind him, a lone seagull flaps its wings as it flies across Lake Champlain. The crowd of 5,000 that has come to Burlington, Vt., on a sunny afternoon in May to witness Sanders’ official campaign announcement breaks into a cheer. At the time, it was easy to dismiss talk of revolution as the rallying cry of a 74-year-old democratic socialist who clings too dearly to memories of the 1960s. Eleven months and more than six million votes later, Sanders’ call for revolution is harder to ignore. But what, exactly, would this political revolution look like? It’s not hard to imagine Sanders marching in the streets with the masses—he’s walked plenty of picket lines, most recently alongside Verizon workers in New York City last October—but that’s not the revolution he’s calling for. For Sanders, political revolution means shifting control of American politics away from corporate interests, convincing non-voters to go to the polls and attracting white working-class voters back to the Democratic Party, all while moving the party left enough to embrace democratic socialist policies. A political revolution of that kind is going to require two things: a wave of candidates committed to a bold set of progressive ideas and a mass of voters with the political will to elect them. There’s evidence both of these are already here.

Progressives are fired up here for a victory against big money. —Jamie Raskin read the full interview In These Times spoke to U.S. House and Senate challengers across the country who are very much a part of this wave. They are all outsiders to varying degrees, and all of them are running against the Democratic establishment in its various forms—from corporate donors and super PACs to the head of the Democratic National Committee herself. These challengers range from first-time candidates to experienced lawmakers, from community organizers to law professors. Each is balancing the individual concerns of the voters they seek to represent alongside the larger mood of the nation. None of them is running because of Bernie Sanders, but they clearly benefit from the enthusiasm and sense of progressive possibility his campaign has created. It would be a mistake to call them “Sanders Democrats” (and it’s unlikely Sanders himself would want anything to do with the term). Some have endorsed Sanders, others remain neutral or even back Hillary Clinton. But they are coalescing around a set of progressive policies familiar to anyone who has heard Sanders speak, including single-payer healthcare, free college tuition, a $15 minimum wage and breaking up the big banks. It’s hard to imagine a Democratic platform more at odds with Bill Clinton’s centrist Third Way of the 1990s. More importantly, these positions increasingly reflect the popular will. Even after the brutal battles over Obamacare, polls show that more than half of Americans support moving to a single-payer healthcare system. Fifty-eight percent want to break up the big banks. Sixty-three percent support raising the minimum wage to $15. And Americans are nearly united in agreement (78 percent) that Citizens United should be overturned. What’s striking about recent polling, though, is not the support for these progressive policies (many have enjoyed widespread approval for a while), but the openness to new, radical ideas—especially among young voters. In a January YouGov poll, people under 30 rated socialism more favorably than capitalism. On the eve of the Iowa caucus, when asked how they describe themselves, 43 percent of Democratic caucusgoers chose “socialist.” Take a moment to let that sink in. This is what happens when you have a generation of young people whose central experiences with capitalism have been two recessions, a financial crisis, crushing college debt, flat wages and soaring income inequality. For young people, the devil they don’t know is looking better and better than the devil they do—and that sentiment is fueling insurgent challengers. Many of these candidates continually emphasize the need to purge U.S. politics of corporate money, starting with the Democratic Party. “It’s easy for candidates to say they’re for overturning Citizens United, but it’s really meaningless when they’re also taking so much corporate and dark money that they’ll never follow through,” says Tim Canova, who is running for Congress in Florida’s 23rd congressional district. “The Democratic Party has lost its way. It has gone corporate and Wall Street on so many issues that it has unfortunately turned its back on its own grassroots base.” And it’s more than a matter of principle: Many of these candidates believe that voters are fed up with how the corporate capture of the party has pulled it to the right. “The Democratic Party has been Lucy with the football and the voters have been Charlie Brown,” says Tom Fiegen, a candidate for Senate in Iowa. “Democrats have pulled the football away too many times, so the voters say, ‘Nope, I am not going to be tricked again. I am not going to have you lie to me and tell me you’re on my side, and then when I send you to D.C., you vote for the TPP or you vote for the Keystone Pipeline.’ ” Nowhere is this trust gap felt more keenly than among young voters. Sanders has won the support of young people like few politicians before. In each of the 27 states that held primaries or caucuses in February or March, he won the youth vote, often by more than 50 points. In his home state of Vermont, he defeated Hillary Clinton among voters under 29 by an overwhelming 95 percent to 5 percent. Tom Fiegen saw how this played out in Iowa. “In the conventions I went to,” he says, “there was probably 30 to 40 years difference in age between Bernie supporters in one half of the room and Hillary supporters in the other half of the room.” Fiegen himself has endorsed Sanders, and you can hear in his voice the same passion that has animated so many young people: “We are idealists. … We want a better world. We think we can achieve it. We’re willing to basically throw our bodies in front of the bus to do that.”

The number one lesson that everyone can learn from Bernie Sanders, and that I’ve tried to emulate, is: Tell the truth. —Tom Fiegen The challengers:

Tim Canova (FL)

Donna Edwards (MD)

Tom Fiegen (IA)

Lucy Flores (NV)

Alan Grayson (FL)

Eric Kingson (NY)

Pramila Jayapal (WA)

Susannah Randolph (FL)

Joseline Peña-Melnyk (MD)

Jamie Raskin (MD) It would be a mistake to overlook the fact that this year’s election is playing out in a moment when protest movements have interjected themselves into the national conversation in a way we haven’t seen in a long time. Black Lives Matter, Fight for 15, the climate movement and more have demonstrated the value of setting uncompromising demands and pushing the boundaries of what is politically possible. It’s no surprise then that some of these progressive challengers come directly out of protest movements. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington state senator running for the 7th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, has a long history of activism and advocacy in Seattle. She founded the post-9/11 immigrant rights group Hate Free Zone (now OneAmerica), which has held massive voter registration drives. “The only reason I got into politics was because I believed it was another platform for organizing,” she says, “and that’s what I want to do with my congressional campaign. We’ve brought in thousands of leaders, young people and people of color and women who never saw themselves as part of democracy.” Joseline Peña-Melnyk, who is running for Congress in Maryland’s 4th District, says: “These movements give me hope for the future of our democracy. They show that the spirit that gave rise to the civil rights movement is still alive as people take up causes that matter and challenge the status quo.” Donna Edwards, a co-founder of the National Network to End Domestic Violence now running for Maryland’s open Senate seat, agrees. “I’ve always believed in outside movements,” she says. “Government doesn’t move effectively and elected officials don’t move effectively unless they have a big push from the outside.” Candidates like Debbie Medina, a democratic socialist running for state Senate in New York’s 18th District, are happy to be that push. As she told The Nation, “This election is just another rent strike.” Sanders himself is arguably the biggest protest candidate of them all. But a funny thing is happening: Many of the protest candidates are winning. By the middle of April, Sanders had won 16 states, as well as the Democrats abroad primary. Donna Edwards has led by as much as 6 points. Polls show Lucy Flores, a Sanders supporter running for Congress in Nevada, leading by 20 points. In Maryland’s 8th congressional district, Jamie Raskin’s two closest opponents are busy arguing over who’s in second place. For any new president to enact a progressive agenda, they’re going to need a new Congress. The establishment, however, is not going quietly. In Florida, where Tim Canova is challenging Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her congressional seat, news got out in March that the Florida Democratic Party (FDP) had denied Canova’s campaign access to the party’s voter file. His supporters created an uproar; the file is crucial to any campaign’s get-out-the-vote efforts. The FDP eventually backed down in order to avoid, in the words of the state party executive director, the “appearance of favoritism,” but the policy remains in place for all other Democratic primary challengers in Florida. And not just Florida—Democratic challengers in other states are routinely denied access to this data or charged extra for it. “The DNC and state Democratic parties must stop favoring incumbents over insurgents in Democratic primaries,” Canova says. “We need to recruit activists committed to our progressive agenda to run for office, and that includes challenging incumbent Democrats.” Given that these candidates want to rid the party of corporate influence, it’s no surprise that many are going head-to-head with big money. In Maryland, Jamie Raskin’s two biggest challengers in the Democratic primary are a wine mogul named David Trone, who has already spent more than $5 million of his fortune on the race, and Kathleen Matthews, who once oversaw the Marriott political action committee and is now herself the recipient of more lobbyist money than any Democrat running for the House in 2016. “My major opponents here have no real history of involvement in Democratic Party politics,” Raskin says. “They are creatures of the big money politics that have overtaken our country.” He’s won the endorsement of both liberal groups and a number of Democratic state lawmakers, and—borrowing a page from Sanders’ playbook—has relied on a surge of small-dollar donations to remain competitive. “Progressives are fired up here for a victory against big money,” Raskin says. In Nevada, Lucy Flores faces a multi-millionaire, Susie Lee, who has loaned her own campaign $150,000. But as Jeb Bush will tell you, money alone only gets you so far, especially in a year when voters seem more interested in authenticity. “The number one lesson that everyone can learn from Bernie Sanders,” Tom Fiegen says, “and that I’ve tried to emulate is: Tell the truth.” Donna Edwards put it this way: “We should not run away from who we are as Democrats and the values that we share. … We lose elections because our voters stay home.” For a President Sanders or a President Clinton to be successful, they’re going to need voters to come out not just in November, but in 2018, 2020, and beyond. For any president to enact a progressive agenda, they’re going to need a new Congress, made up of people like Donna Edwards, Jamie Raskin, Pramila Jayapal and others. When Barack Obama first ran for president, he spoke frequently about how his election was not about him, but us. He may have meant it, but it was hard to shake the feeling that at that moment in American history, it was in fact very much about him and the qualities he possessed. Today, when Sanders uses the same language, you believe him—if for no other reason than it’s hard to imagine a wild-haired septuagenarian in a baggy suit as the catalyst for a popular movement. Clearly, something deeper is going on. For the most part, Sanders himself has remained focused on his own election fight with Hillary Clinton. He has avoided talk of the future. But in a recent interview with Cenk Uygur of the “Young Turks,” Sanders let his guard down for a minute, saying, “We need, win or lose for me, a political revolution which starts electing people who are accountable to the working families of this country.” There it was—“electing people,” plural, not a single president. That’s what revolution looks like. These challengers are also carrying the flag of the political revolution sparked by Bernie Sanders. This Piece Originally Appeared in Christopher Hass Read the full article

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trans-siberian-orchestra-life · 5 years ago

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Night Castle

Hi all! I will be posting mini-reviews of my favorite parts from each TSO album! I will go over band personnel, the story, and the music! Please enjoy!

Night Castle was released in 2009, and was TSO’s second non-Christmas album! It is also their longest, with 26 total songs, and, to me at least, their most emotional album to date.

The album features many familiar faces, with lead singers being Jay Pierce, Jeff Scott Soto, Tim Hockenberry, Rob Evan, and Jennifer Cella. The band personnel is also very familiar, with Paul O’Neill, Chris Caffery, Angus Clark, Al Pitrelli, and Alex Skolnick on guitar, Robert Kinkell, Jon Oliva, Luci Butler, Shih-Yi Chang, Jane Mangini, and Derek Wieland on keyboards, Chris Altenhoff and Johnny Lee Middleton on bass, Roddy Chong and Anna Phoebe on violin and strings, and John O.Reilly and Jeff Plate on drums. And, with Dave Wittman on, as all TSO albums say, “drum, guitar, and bass inserts for those little things the rest of us forgot.”

It also features Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's Greg Lake on bass for Nutrocker!

And, not to mention the numerous amazing backing vocalists and instrumentalists!

Its a big album with big personnel, a big story, and even bigger music. Lets get into that~

---------

Night Enchanted

-Best hard opening to a TSO album

-HEEERE belieeeve a nigHT ENCHANTED S̸̟͋̉̔͛̀͋̃̑̑̈́̏̅̈́È̵̡̜̼̞͔̖̩̦̟̞̣͈̑̄̽̒͝E̸̛͖̯͙̜͕̟̽̈́̃̉̿̏̈͛̌͆̔̂́ͅE̵͙̙̞̯͚̹̲̟̙͐̀͑̍͊̚͜Ẹ̷̡͇̹͍̓̈́̏͑̄̅̀̎̈́̓̚E̶̛̱̖̘͓̹͍̟̭̲̲̽͋͒̀̓E̵͓̰̠̤̻̪̣̎͊̎͒N̴̢̧̜̰̦̰͓̯̗̦͚̘̝̑̔̌͂͐̀͊

-Very different song, like,,VERY DRAMATIC. ExtrEMLEY DRAMATIC

-Based on Verdi’s Requiem and Dies irae

-Has the Child Of the Night aria sandwiched in the middle

-So the falcon character sings the aria

-I don’t know how that works either

-then it KICKS IN AGAIN FULL POWER

-The pounding opening guitar motif that repeats is amazing

Childhood Dreams

-A very classical-based song, like, its very operatic

-The “controversial” song on the album. Only because people either love it or hate it. I love it. Its fun.

-CHILDhood CHILDhood CHILDhood

-Jay is singing from his SOUL here

-Lyrics are very whimsy:

“But then it's known to catch our eye And dare us all to once more try And with a childhood faith believe And that magic to retrieve As childhood dreams ...”

-Overall solid song

-The slow piano that kinda hangs back the entire time is great

-I love the way he sings the line “But suddenly inside the dark, she sees the magic of the sparks...”

Sparks

-Old-school rock n roll song

-One of my favs off the album, its just so, idk..classic sounding?

-”Tell me when...Ḁ̷̯͖͉̽̎̔͋̀̽͗͐͂̊̌̇̕A̸̢̳̪͉͓̼̟͑Å̷̛̛̜̈́̆̀̆͂͋̊͐͗̔͑̇Ḩ̸͋̿̓̆͋͛͌͐͑͆̕̕Ḣ̷̨̙̺̦͚͓̠̀̿́͝H̴̗̮̎̽̀́̓̏̓̋̚H̶̼̘̩̱͖̻͎͒́Ḩ̶̢̧͓̲̼͇̼̱͓̱̞̖͕̀̽̾̒̚̕͠ͅ”

-It actually has “AHHH” in the CD booklet I kid you not

-Its a tad long ill admit but it rocks so hard you hardly notice

-The old school chugging guitar riff rocks

-”Leaving marks...SPARKS!”

-Just a classic song, nuff said

The Mountain

-eyyyy first Savatage cover- based n Prelude to Madness! From Hall of the Mountain King!

-The atmosphere is REAL

-The windy sound effect in the opening, the deep bells AH so good

-A familiar melody, and MAN they give it their best

-They speed up gradually over time, and it just gets to the point where its ridiculous how much is going on in the song

-These guys are so talented I swear

-The solo at 4:09 KICKS

Night Castle

-Jeff Scott Soto giving me life, once again

-Very different sounding song I believe, not many other TSO songs sound like it

“Am I risking my own life...my life..?

-OK also I SWEAR in the last 4th of this song, when the slow bit hits, the melody is EXTREMELY CLOSE to the opening to Mephistopheles, from Beethoven's Last Night. It may just be coincidence, but it sounds like an Easter egg to me. Or maybe I’m just crazy. AHA.

-The falling synth piano bits at 1:55. Yes.

-Song gets creepy with the minor change at the end

-I LOVE the last few seconds its so peppy and pretty, like that piano is so gentle

The Safest Way Into Tomorrow

-And I’m crying already, thanks Paul.

-They used this song for the tribute to Paul O’Neill in the 2017 live show. And i get so sad every time I hear it now. Like a melancholy feel now.

“Morpheus is at your side, offering the wings to fly, and be there..”

-Thanks Morpheus

-This line hits me right in the feels every time:

“Be there, free from Earth to sail across this night, where stars are all eternal”

-The piano build at 3:15 mmmm

-BEEEE THEEEEEERE

-BEEEEEE THEEEEEEERE

-BEEEEEEE THEEEEEEEEEERE

-BEEEEEEEE THEEEEEEEEEEEERE NOOOOOWWW

-”And tell me what you...see!”

-I cry

-Also may I note how I LOVE that every character that TSO makes looks like an 80′s rocker. Like look at my dude Morpheus. And Tran-Do. Never stop TSO, never stop.

(Morpheus^)

Mozart and Memories

-Second Savatage cover!

-Very eerie

-Fits with the “dream” thing going on in the story at this point

-The guitars are the best part at 0:42, that melody is so eerie and cool

-The pianos and strings at 0:24 hit me hard, VERY well recorded there

-It gets real fast at the end

-TSO and classical covers are such a good combo

Another Way You Can Die

-TSO got PG.

-Like look:

“And the tracers probe on 'Till a close friend is gone And you find yourself embracing ground”

-and:

“I see a figure in my rifle sight Who does not know that he's there And as I hesitate to take his life The ground explodes My blood it flows My heart is racing Times escaping As I feel it slowly scraping by”

-like holy hell

-Like I love the song don’t get me wrong

-But lord Paul went all out here

-He was NOT holding back

-PAULS GOT A MESSAGE TO GET ACROSS AND LORDY HES GONNA DO IT ANY WAY HE CAN

-That end piano drop mY HEART HURTS

Toccata - Carpimus Noctem

-TSO has mastered Christmas, TIME FOR HALLOWEEN MUAHAHA

-Literally its such a good cover. They keep the classic classical intro, with synth and guitars of course, but then they go full metal with it.

-I love the weird guitar lick at 1:49, it really stands out

-Yet another guitar solo featured song and mmm its good

-Also, the DRUMS ARE AMAZING IN THIS ONE

The Lion’s Roar

-Third Savatage cover kind of

-The second half is from Temptation Revelation from Gutter Ballet

-As a trumpeter, I love this song, as it is TSOs only trumpet-featured song.

-The first half is a very military-esque (Fits with the story, eh?) trumpet solo on The Minstrel Boy. This song is very accurate as it is usually played at military events or funerals.

-Which makes me even sadder because of the context of thE STORY

-Nice little interlude song

Dreams We Conceive

-EMOTIONS.

-The opening organ, it its me right in the HEART.

-You can just HEAR the sorrow in his voice in this song.

-The way he sings “Where the dreams die...as the blood dries...”

-Too relatable my soul can’t take it.

-His little voice quiver on the word “do” in the line ‘WHat else is the night to do..”

“As you stand all Alone at your station What if God doesn't Know where you are As you send out your Prayers for salvation But afraid that They don't go that far

So you wait all Alone in your darkness There's a train that drives on Through the night And if everyone's On it except us Would it return for That single life

In a city After midnight Neath the halo Of a street light”

-Its just so LONELY SOUNDING this man needs a hug

Mother and Son

-I used to skip this track before I understood it in context to the story.

-Then I felt emotions

-You can find the translation HERE.

-Imagine you past self looking at you and saying “How did I become you?” TO YOUR FACE

-savage

There Was A Life

-ENTER ROB EVAN

-This song man,,,the emotions are REAL

-The way he sings the word “life” in the opening line

“Can someone tell me Can someone say when The writer of this story Will just tell us how it all will end?”

-I relate too much to that

-Paul asking the real questions of life: “ Is there forgiveness for hesitation?”

-The HURT in his voice when he sings “DEAR GOD” at 3:14

-Robbbb why you gotta kill me like this

-The piano is superb at 4:22

-Captures the vibe perfectly

“Are you scared of your life? Are you scared of your death? Though that day will arrive Well it hasn't come yet...”

-Calling me out like that huh

-His “ALIIIIIIIIIVE” at 8:37 oh my LORD

-I’m feeling ALL the emotions

Moonlight and Madness

-OK. So I can’t think of which piano player it was, I’m thinking either Kinkel or Weiland, I could be wrong...BUT. Paul said in an interview once that the songs piano was recorded in one take. ONE TAKE THAT INTRO. He just FLEW INTO IT PERFECTLY.

-Its a wild song, based on the moonlight sonata.

Time Floats On

-This song man..this song

-*Insert seagull meme here* “tiiiiime flllOAATS OOOOON!!!”

-It was one of the first TSO songs I ever heard

-The crazy contrasting piano bit in the middle AH its cool

-Such an eerie song really

-”Time floats on...as I write these letters that you'll never see...” ;-;

-this song has so much heart

Epiphany

-OK HERE WE GO

-TSOs longest song

-TSOs most emotional song

-I’m crying again

-The SHEER HURT and SORROW in Rob’s voice when he sings “ I fear the night, I fear the dark, I need this light...that distant spark...”

-The fast bit at 3:52...I don’t think Rob breathed once during that recording.

-The spoken part was a bold choice, TSO has never done that before. I liked it a lot, its a great addition to the song.

-The subtle harmonies in the “Somewhere”s...amazing.

-and MAN. The LYRICS.

“Did you ever walk up To the edge of a cliff Stare into the abyss As your mind wonders if You should take one more step Further into that night Well your mind says you won't But your heart says you might Would you fall through the dark Feel the wind in your hair Would you embrace the ground And end your life right there Or would god reach his hand And that moment you fly Or if he chanced to blink And then, that moment you die You die...”

-Like GEEZ that is heavy stuff

-This is the “contemplating death song”

“Be who you are What you were What they see From eternity's view Tell me which one is me?”

-Relatable. holy heck.

-He sounds like hes about to cry when he sings “Hold me close...”

-Like me too Rob. Me too.

-”This all is your....life..."

-You feel DRAINED by the end of it, like wow. The emotion, the power, my soUL. MY HEART.

Bach Lullaby

-A nice calming music box medley of the C major prelude.

-OK SO TSO SHOULD ACTUALLY MAKE LITTLE MUSIC BOXES THAT PLAY THIS HOLY HECK ID BUY 50

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

-The OTHER most EMOTIONAL SONG on the album

-First half: pain, sorrow, regret, melancholy, slow piano...

-The EMOTION in the line “ Never quite there but it's never quite gone, you are the star that is wished upon...forever....”

-Second half: RAGE. ANGER. FIRE. AAAHHHHH.

-The main guitar riff is so heckin powerful

-Lyrics literally have this background in it: “...she raged against all those citizens of apathy and willful ignorance who lived behind the sacrifices of others.”

-The high piano swapped out for low guitar and bass melodies, a heavy mood, and pounding drums

-”...You cling to that card, Father, Son & Holy Ghost”

-You FEEL THE RAGE

-It has the most metal lyrics:

“And Christ and Confucius Are all their words useless We quote them in fractions But not in our actions”

-Like WOW

Remnants of a Lullaby

-A simple, but pretty song

-Very calming, and a nice breather from the song before

-The feeling in “ What to keep, what to save...”

”Wished on coins Childhood wings Carousels Still turning Waiting there patiently Remnants of a lullaby...”

-IM A KID AGAIN

The Safest Way Into Tomorrow (Reprise)

-dangittt I’m crying AGAIN

-album comes full circle here in the most emotional way possible

-especially when you consider the context of the story at this point aahhHHH

-Soto owns my soul

Embers

-OK, just..I love this song. Simple as that.

-This is pure atmosphere.

-Listen to it. Bonfire. Embers soaring to the stars above. Fireflies all around. Friends sitting with you at the camp fire. Acoustic guitar playing. A perfect summers night.

-Just...perfection.

Child of the Night

-Eyyyyy the aria again. It grows on yah.

-Very relaxing.

-Just brings that calming night vibe to life.

-Makes yah feel like a kid again.

Believe

-AAAAND the TSO song everyone knows for one reason or another.

-Also one of the more emotional ones on the album.

-A cover of the Savatage song off Streets

-I love this version, (No offense Jon), like idk why exactly...it just feels more..personal? Idk, maybe its just because of the sheer emotional journey we just went on lol.

-It builds spectacularly, and the emotion is all in in this one. 10/10 great cover.

Nutrocker

-YAYY JUST HAD AN EMOTIONAL AND HEARTBREAKING JOURNEY, TIME FOR HAPPY FUN CHRISTMAS EMMERSON LAKE AND PALMER NUTCRACKER SONG YAYY

-Heh I kid I kid

-It features Greg Lake on bass!

-This song ROCKS man it ROCKS

-TSO does SO WELL WITH THIS

-The fast piano, the amazingly melodic guitar melody, the rock bits with a jazz break sandwiched in between AH.

Carmina Burana

-This is also one of my favs off the album.

-I believe this is also the song that got some conservative folks mad at TSO for being “satanists” by playing this. It was the latin I think.

-Doesn’t matter, this song is epic. Very bombastic.

-It builds so well, and the repeated guitar and bass riffs make it feel so pounding I love it.

Tracers

-Ok so this song and I have history.

-I originally didn’t like this song (woah, right?)

-It just didn’t click. Buuuuut, TSO did it live in 2018, and BOI that changed everything. I loved it after that. Its top 25 TSO songs for me now.

-IDK what they did or how they did it, but after the live show, I loved it. Past me was wrong. This song ROCKS.

-The pounding opening is iconic

-The soaring guitars

-The weird interval medley at 0:49 is so cool

-The main melody KICKS at 1:00

-My fav bit is the surreal acoustic bit at 2:06

-Its SO GOOD

-The repeated 5 notes at like 1:34 are so driving

-The descending bit at 2:55!!!

-and the BUILD UP TO THE VOCAL PART AT 3:32 OH MAN POETIC CINEMA

-------

And there you have it!!! Night Castle! To me, its the most emotional album of the lot. And the most atmospheric. Its long, but its a wild ride the entire time. The story is sad but inspiring, the music is legendary, the art is beautiful, so all around, this, to me, may be their best album in terms of general scoring. What do you think?

Thanks for reading ya’ll! You rock!

#Trans-Siberian Orchestra #trans siberian orchestra #night castle #album review #metal #rock #symphonic metal #symphonic rock #text post #this took so long to re do #BUT I DID IT #music review

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dramaticwrites · 6 years ago

Text

Mood Rings (4/6)

Title: Mood Rings

Chapter: 4/6

Fandom: DCU

Pairing: Jason Todd/Roy Harper

AO3: HERE

Note: Oh wow it took me less than a year to post this...I’m getting better at this. Also note I even have the rest figure out. Though there may or may not be a follow up.

Summary: Jason just wanted to eat some cereal not explain to a grown man that a mood ring is not an engagement ring.

“You know,” Roy said, his head rolling over to look at Jason. “I’m kinda thinking maybe we should get a wedding singer for our wedding. Do you think we can get one that looks like Adam Sandler?”

It was Friday night, and for some odd reason that had become movie night for Roy and Jason. Jason wasn’t even sure when they started the tradition or when he started to actually look forward to their quiet Friday night tradition. It wasn’t even a causal enjoyment but rather something that he looked forward to all week. Usually if he was in charge of picking the movies he would spend all week thinking of what horror, and he did mean horror, he was going to put Roy through that week. If he was in charge of picking out the food he would go back and forth about where to get take out from and always planned on getting some sweet treat that he would pretend he just casually saw on the way home and absolutely did not order in advance.

This Friday it as Jason’s turn to bring the takeout, in this case tacos with tres leche cake from the new bakery on the corner that Roy keep talking about trying. They had spread a large blanket across the floor of the living room and stacked pillows against the couch as almost a makeshift picnic. In the middle of the blanket was Jason’s seriously outdated laptop that Tim begged him to let him upgrade every single time he stopped by. But they had Roy’s larger desktop that they used for actual work, the laptop was more for watching stupid animal videos on nights where both of them were too caffeinated to actually sleep.

“Remind me again why we are having movie night on the floor with a laptop instead of on the couch with the TV?” Jason asked as he poured some more salsa on his taco.

“Don’t you remember last Sunday you knocked it over and snapped the cord?” Roy remind him, entering the room with a rather large stack of movies.

“I thought you were going to fix it?” Jason said as Roy sat down spreading out his collection of movies next to him.

Roy laughed. “I’m so glad you have total faith in my handy man abilities, I know that’s why you’re marrying me.” Jason gave him a pointed look, which just made Roy laugh harder. It wasn’t worth his breath to remind him they were engaged every time he brought it up. “But no, I was busy picking out the movies for this week. So we will have to do this the old fashioned way.”

“I’m pretty sure the TV is the old fashioned way,” Jason reminded him. “So if it took you all week does that mean you came up with something that would top my night of The Room and The Disaster Artist?” That was a night Jason was quite proud of, awful movies that Roy and him spent the whole time mocking ruthlessly.

Giving a small bow of his head, “I will never be able to beat your mastery” Roy conceded. “But I offer you a choice of five movies.”

“I get a choice?” Jason asked, narrowing his eyes, “Why? What’s the catch?”

“You brought me cake?” Roy responded with more of a question. “I thought it would be fun? I love you? Take your pick.”

Jason rolled his eyes at Roy, “What are my options?”

“Okay so here we go.” He said gleefully spreading out five boxes before him. “We got Wedding Crashers, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Wedding Singer, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”

Jason let out a groan. He should have known there would be a catch. “Do you have anything without the word ‘wedding’ in it.” Spitting out wedding like it was a curse word, and not one of the fun ones like fuck or shit.

“Nope.” Roy said far too cheerfully for someone who ruined Jason’s favorite night of the week.

It was a toss up between trying to out stubborn Roy by being silent or picking a movie and getting it over with. It was times like these Jason really hated that Roy was almost as much of a stubborn bastard as him. “Fine.” Jason said drawing it out. “I guess The Wedding Singer.”

It was also times like these Jason really wanted to hit the smug grin off his face as he put in the movie. “You know I didn’t expect you to go for the down right romantic comedy. I like seeing this side of you.”

“Next week I’m renting the Human Centipede and I’m going to lock my door that night so you can suffer.” Jason swore but there was very little heat behind the words. Roy could easily take off his door in the dark, or at least that's the excuse Jason would give when he didn’t lock his door because the Human Centipede thing was definitely happening.

“Whatever you say Jaybird.” Roy said, as he put the movie in and leaned over Jason to grab a taco. “For now we have a night of lovely wedding movies to watch.”

Four tacos later and an hour later, the two had moved onto the cake. Not bothering to actually cut it, the two each just casually dipped their fork into the giant cake between the two of them. It saved time on dishes, or at least that was Roy’s suggestion and after all the tacos it didn’t sound bad.

“No,” Jason said plainly before turning back to the movie.

“I guess they don’t have to look like Adam Sandler.” Roy mused.

“We are not hiring a wedding singer because we’re not getting married.” Jason said not taking his eyes off the movie. “Maybe if you’re nice and stop mentioning this wedding stuff I’ll get you one for your birthday.”

“Absolutely not.” Roy said, putting his hand to his chest. “I mean I think a wedding singer would be funny but if you want a DJ I’m okay with that too. After all, it is your wedding too.”

“No its not.” Jason said firmly.

“Sure it is.” Roy said leaning into Jason, resting his head on his shoulder and looking up with a shit eating grin. “After all, all I care about is marrying you. I’d be find doing it in a dump with seagulls as our witnesses.”

“Keep holding your breath.” Jason muttered, trying to shrug Roy off his shoulder only to have it come back like a boomerang. After a second attempt he figured it wasn’t worth the effort.

As the movie got near the end Jason felt like adding. “Shit like this is why you’re better off with a DJ.”

“Then we will get a DJ.” Roy hummed, his eyes closed as he leaned against Jason’s arm.

“We’re not getting married.” Jason reminded him.

“Tell that to the DJ I’m hiring.” Roy teased followed by a groan. Roy was definitely going to be subjected to Human Centipede need week. Maybe he could convince Roy to invite Dick to join them, it would look less suspicious if Roy did the inviting.

#jason todd #roy harper #jayroy #red hood #red arrow #mood rings

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theparaminds · 6 years ago

Photo

Floor Cry’s music is simply a good friend on a bad day, the spark to eliminate sadness and the boost of positivity always needed in a seemingly gloomy world. Her sound is blended to reflect the emotions one feels when supported or leaning on another, she understands what it means to be available and vulnerable to allow others to be the same.

With her few but powerful releases, Floor Cry (real name Felicia Sekundiak) has set the groundwork for a growing base of music that relates to the youth and their overwhelming unsureness in life, she knows what it means to make it through the dark times and is excited to become she who extends a hadn't to bring others out as well.

The future is truly limitless for Floor Cry, from collaborations to albums, the paths she chooses are sure to be landmarked by exciting and elevating music set to bring out feelings perviously unfelt, yet so currently essential.

PM: Our first question as always, how’s your day going and how are you?

Good! I just finished writing my midterm exams a few days ago so I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Now I’m about to relax and watch Tales From The Crypt.

PM: To begin, what would you say is your favourite movie and what’s the best scene in the entire film and why?

I have so many favourites but if I had to choose one I would choose “The Lost Boys”. My favourite scene is when everyone’s at this beach party and Tim Capello is there playing “I Still Believe”. I don’t know why but it makes me so happy. A good soundtrack contributes so much to a movie! Some of my other favourites like Labyrinth and Purple Rain have amazing soundtracks as well.

PM: For those who don’t know you, who is Floor Cry and what is her musical vision? As well, where does the name Floor cry come from?

Floor Cry is a name I came up with for myself. I feel like there isn’t much appeal to my given name so I wanted to go with something entirely different. I was having a hard time choosing something that I felt was an accurate representation of myself and hadn’t already been taken so at a certain point I had basically given up. Then one night I was laying on my floor listening to a record (and crying) and I thought of it. It was more or less a joke at first but I decided to roll with it. My musical vision is to keep growing and creating! I want to learn as much as I can and keep improving. I also really want my music to help people get through tough times as music has done that for me my whole life.

PM: How did you find yourself getting into a musical path? Was it those around you or possibly the environment you were in location wise? Possibly was it also the internet and the endless stream of content there?

I think it was mostly just my love for music that started at a very young age. As soon as I was born my Dad was always playing music no matter where we were. He listens to a lot of different genres so that definitely had an influence on the kind of music I listen to now. He got me into A Flock of Seagulls which is one of my favourite bands. My uncle Dana was also in this really cool new wave band called Vienna so I’ve always been inspired by him. When I was 10 or 11 I begged my parents to take guitar lessons and from there I started writing and eventually recording my own songs.

PM: Who would you say are your biggest inspirations as an artist? What do you pull from them into your style?

I am inspired by all of my favourite musicians. Every time I discover a new artist they inspire me to try new things. It’s really hard to narrow it down but I think my top ones would be Prince, Duran Duran, A Flock of Seagulls, Bowie, Cocteau Twins, The Cars, New Order, Book Of Love, INXS, and Tears for Fears. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with more synth in my songs which I think has definitely been because of these artists. I have also been trying to create a more atmospheric sound.

PM: On the topic of your style, you contrast great laid-back tone with introspective lyrics and themes, is this something you actively work for or more just naturally due to your personality?

Thank you! I think this is something that just comes naturally. Part of it is also due to the limitations that come with having a pretty basic knowledge of recording programs! I would like to create music that has a bigger sound someday as well as some more upbeat stuff. As far as my themes in songwriting go I have a lot going on in my mind at all times and I think this comes through in my lyrics. I leave a lot of things open for interpretation but I always strive to be honest as it allows me to make sense of my life and turn my experiences into something that other people can enjoy.

PM: As well, how do you hope to grow and add to yourself as an artist? What instruments or ideas do you hope to try in the future?

I have a lot of goals for the future! I hope to learn how to use more sophisticated programs to record my music. Right now I am still mostly on GarageBand as I find it easy to navigate but it is also very limiting. I have been trying to create a fuller sound by layering more tracks but I still don’t feel it is as full as I would like. I also really want to get a bass guitar and a good synth because right now I am just creating “bass” and “synth” on a Casio keyboard which isn’t ideal. My dream synth is a Roland Jupiter-8. Ultimately I want to transition into making synth-pop/new wave-inspired music one day as opposed to the kind of lo-fi stuff I’m making now. Another thing I want to do eventually is get a live band together so that I can play more shows and possibly tour one day. It would be amazing to meet the people who listen to my music.

PM: A lot of people point to experiences with fans or newfound life experiences as to what kept them driven to make music, did you find either to be the case for you or is something else pushing you to continue creating?

Both! I started making music as an outlet. If you listen to my songs I don’t think it’s any secret that I’ve had my fair share of mental struggles and writing songs about them is how I cope. It’s not easy to be alive but music has kept me here through the good days and the bad. Once people started finding my songs and sending me messages about how I’ve helped them through their own experiences I realized that this is something I want to keep doing. I never thought my music would mean anything to anyone so hearing that it does mean the world to me. I still feel like I’m relatively unknown in the DIY music scene but I really appreciate every single person that listens to and supports me.

PM: Do you have any upcoming projects people should look out for? If so, how do they build or differ from past releases?

I am working on an album! I still do not have a release date as I am very particular about what I want and am constantly revising songs. It’s completely different from the EPs I’ve put out in the past. My style has changed so much that I have a hard time listening to any of my older stuff now but I think that is something a lot of artists experience. Everyone grows so in a sense it isn’t the worst thing to dislike my older songs as it allows me to be able to acknowledge the progress I’ve made.

PM: What would you say is your number one favourite song of your own, and then your favourite song of all time, you can do three if it’s too difficult!

I think my favourite song of my own is my most recent “I’ll Be Around” because I feel like it is a good representation of the progress I’ve made and the sound I am transitioning towards. As far as my favourite song of all time goes I will definitely have to take you up on your offer to do 3 (even 3 is hard)! Let’s Go Crazy by Prince, Space Age Love Song by A Flock of Seagulls, and Heaven or Las Vegas by Cocteau Twins.

PM: If you could build a music and/or art studio anywhere in the world, where would it be and how would it look?

It would be a dream come true to have my own music studio. I think I would build it in San Francisco because it seems like a city I would love or in England somewhere because that’s where a lot of my favourite bands formed. In terms of how it would look, I would want it to have bright colours everywhere! I’m a big fan of Patrick Nagel so I would love to have his art all over the walls as well. It would also be cool to have a room filled with pinball machines for when I take breaks during recording. And an ice cream machine.

PM: Do you have anyone to shout out or anything to promote? The floor is yours!

I want to shout out all my friends for being so supportive and inspirational. I am so lucky to know all of them! I also want to take a moment to share this link because I think it is very important. The transgender community needs as much support as possible and I encourage everyone to donate to the Transgender Law Centre here:

http://www.transgenderlawcenter.org/donate.

Follow Floor Cry on Instagram and Twitter

Listen on Spotify and Soundcloud

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paulbenedictblog · 5 years ago

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%news%

New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%

Usa today Butter Gritty, radish stink, goatnapping: News from around our 50 states

Usa today

Usa today Alabama

Decatur: Extra than 800,000 gallons of untreated sewage spilled from the metropolis’s utility plant and at closing reached the Tennessee River at some point of two days of heavy rains, documents filed by Decatur Utilities display conceal. Disclosures filed with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management mark that about 8 million gallons of raw sewage cling escaped the Decatur Utilities sanitary sewer machine this 365 days in 81 overflows, The Decatur Everyday reports. A truly noteworthy discharge came about closing week when rain overwhelmed mature pipes, and sewage started pouring from a manhole discontinuance to the utility’s headquarters. It took the metropolis-owned firm more than 40 hours to give up the overflow. Decatur Utilities told the Environmental Department the heavy rains triggered the command, though the newspaper says the same corporations in neighboring communities reported few to no sewer overflows at some point of the identical length.

Usa today Alaska

Anchorage: An air provider that suffered a cyberattack has skilled more disruption than first and main projected, in accordance to a firm announcement. The RavnAir Community on Dec. 20 skilled what it known as a “malicious” cyberattack on its data technology network, Anchorage tv put of living KTVA reports. The firm canceled some Alaska flights of Plug 8 aircraft and said passengers could perchance well predict more time desk changes. This week the firm announced the disruption used to be worse than first and main reported. Restoration of programs could perchance well bear to a month, the firm said. Further flight cancellations and delays are likely for the team’s three airlines, RavnAir Alaska, PenAir and RavnAir Join, the firm said. The firm is working with the FBI, a cybersecurity firm and others to restore programs.

Usa today Arizona

Tucson: Three mountain lions came upon feeding on human remains discontinuance to a current Tucson mountain climbing lunge were killed, authorities said Wednesday. They weren't suspected of killing the particular person however were particular to be a hazard to the general public on story of they confirmed no alarm of officers looking out to amass the remains, the Arizona Game and Fish Department said in a assertion. The put of living within the Coronado Nationwide Wooded space used to be closed for a day while officials attempted unsuccessfully to trap the mountain lions. The medical examiner will work to establish the title and situation off of death for the particular person came upon Tuesday morning off the Pima Canyon Skedaddle. The lunge at the imperfect of Mount Lemmon used to be reopened Wednesday, sooner than a planned Jan. 14 reopening, after authorities made up our minds there used to be no hazard to the general public.

Usa today Arkansas

Minute Rock: A contemplate on Thursday ordered the metropolis to reinstate a police officer who used to be fired for fatally taking pictures a sunless motorist. Pulaski County Circuit Resolve Tim Fox reversed the Minute Rock Civil Service Commission’s ruling upholding the termination of Officer Charles Starks over the fatal taking pictures of Bradley Blackshire. Starks fired no less than 15 times by the windshield of a automobile Blackshire used to be using in February. Starks and but every other officer were trying a motor automobile give up at the time. Police commanders fired Starks in Can also, saying he violated department coverage. Fox upheld the fee’s ruling that Starks violated coverage requiring officers to pass out of an oncoming automobile’s path if likely other than fire. Nonetheless the contemplate said a 30-day suspension and reduction in wage to an entry-stage officer are more acceptable sanctions.

Usa today California

Corona: A Southern California quarantine zone has been expanded to be ready to give up the unfold of a illness that threatens the issue’s multibillion-greenback citrus exchange. The addition of 107 sq. miles encompassing the cities of Corona and Norco and phase of Chino followed the invention of a dozen trees with citrus greening illness in Corona, The Press-Endeavor reports. The quarantine zone now covers 1,127 sq. miles in sides of Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange counties. The quarantine forbids motion of fruit, citrus crops or foliage, however the fruit also can be consumed on properties the put it used to be grown. Citrus greening illness is mostly is named Huanglongbing or HLB. It is a ways unfold by a little, aphid-tackle computer virus known as the Asian citrus psyllid. Contaminated trees obtain mottled leaves, manufacture deformed fruit and at closing die.

Usa today Colorado

Denver: Two affiliated organizations with ties to hospitals and insurance companies cling launched a six-figure public family ad blitz against the creation of a “public” medical insurance option within the issue. The advertising and marketing and marketing and marketing campaign started in December and springs sooner than the 2020 legislative session, which begins subsequent week and is expected to characteristic an intense struggle over how and whether or to no longer operate the general public option, the Colorado Sun reports. The so-known as public option, as proposed by Gov. Jared Polis’ administration, would in actuality be bustle by private insurance companies that will offer plans with authorities oversight. The plans could perchance well perhaps be on hand first and main most efficient to other folks that take coverage on their very non-public, with out wait on from an employer. Nonetheless Polis administration officials cling said they hope to expand the general public option to minute employers within a couple of years.

Usa today Connecticut

Hartford: The issue’s Department of User Safety is urging consumers to invent their homework before signing a contract with a gym or gymnasium. Commissioner Michelle Seagull says better health is known as a Recent 365 days’s resolution, and there tends to be a spike in unusual gym and gymnasium memberships in January. “Nonetheless on occasion the pleasure of belief wears off after a couple of months, and consumers are stuck in gymnasium contracts that they real don’t dispute,” she says. “That’s why we’re encouraging consumers to invent their homework and to be neat before making a dedication.” Connecticut law requires health clubs to cling contracts in writing. The actual person protection department urges consumers to be taught them carefully and know the device vital they'll pay, when the bill will are obtainable and what the cancellation coverage will likely be. The department additionally recommends studying online studies, talking to contemporary prospects and visiting the membership in particular person.

Usa today Delaware

Middletown: The 2020 Hummers Parade went off with out a hitch Wednesday following closing 365 days’s controversy, though parade watchers said it used to be no longer as real as past years and had a ways fewer marchers. Accompanying this 365 days’s parade used to be a team of more than 50 protesters retaining indicators decrying racism. Hundreds more lined the streets to ogle the annual parade that drew national scrutiny closing 365 days for a drift depicting young other folks in cages that many deemed offensive. The loosely organized parade is a spoof of the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia, and floats most regularly satire top news studies of the past 365 days. The parade used to be led by unofficial Big Marshal Jack Schreppler, who held an usual American flag with 13 stars. Just a few dozen and a half of minute teams and some lone other folks paraded by downtown Middletown on Recent 365 days’s Day. The most current topic depicted this 365 days used to be the Delabear from earlier this iciness.

Usa today District of Columbia

Washington: An it appears intoxicated man fell onto the tracks of a Metro put of living, causing one of the well-known most main delays of the unusual 365 days, in accordance to authorities. The actual person fell early Wednesday morning and used to be taken to a sanatorium with injuries no longer considered lifestyles-threatening, news stores declare. The fall is being investigated as an accident, in accordance to a Washington Metropolitan Role Transit Authority assertion that says the particular person gave the influence to be “below the influence.” The actual person’s identity wasn’t without lengthen launched.

Usa today Florida

Deland: Fifteen automobiles were shot at while using alongside Interstate 4 and Interstate 95 in Central Florida, authorities said Thursday. No injuries were reported, and the disaster from the Wednesday shootings appears to were triggered by a BB or pellet gun, in accordance a assertion by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Set apart of labor. The automobiles hit within the shootings were discontinuance to Deltona, DeLand and Daytona Seaside, in accordance to a assertion from the sheriff’s place of job. Look for accounts of the suspect automobile differ. An investigation used to be ongoing.

Usa today Georgia

Brunswick: The issue’s waters are closing to miniature fishing Jan. 15, however whelk season opens the following day. The annual miniature fishery closure aims to enable miniature to breed in neat ample amounts and grow to neat ample dimension to with pretty of luck present for a real miniature harvest within the coming 365 days, The News reports. The miniature fishery tends to reopen in dull Can also or early June, looking out on stipulations at the time. Meanwhile, the issue’s whelk season is to open at 7 a.m. Jan. 16 and bustle by 8: 15 p.m. March 31. Regulatory requirements for whelk trawls consist of the dispute of minimum 4-lunge stretch mesh trawl tools and a licensed turtle excluder instrument. Fishermen additionally need a issue commercial fishing license with a whelk endorsement.

Usa today Hawaii

Honolulu: Hawaiian Telcom painted over an unauthorized mural on one among its constructions by neatly-known marine artist Robert Wyland. The artist acknowledged he didn't cling permission to spray-paint the Maui building, The Honolulu Smartly-known particular person-Advertiser reports. The lifestyles-dimension image stretching 65 ft depicted a female humpback whale. Wyland said he apologized and hoped Hawaiian Telcom would no longer paint over the mural he created at some point of work over two days. “I converse regret for no longer running it up the meals chain,” he said Monday. “I’m so passionate. I allege to God I don’t focal point on these items. I form of painted it and explore forgiveness later.” Hawaiian Telcom by no means bought a without lengthen apology from Wyland, the firm said.

Usa today Idaho

Carey: Reveal land administration officials cling secured a conservation land dispute easement on the Cenarrusa Ranch ensuring the land in that put of living is no longer developed. The Bureau of Land Management and The Nature Conservancy in Idaho finalized the easement within the Pioneer Mountain foothills discontinuance to Carey after years of debate, The Cases-News reports. The easement ensures protection of about 13 sq. miles of land collectively with myth grouse habitat and migration corridors for wildlife, officials said. One of many longest pronghorn migrations within the west, a 160-mile scamper crosses the ranch and involves grouse breeding grounds, land officials said. The easement is additionally expected to advise unusual game opportunities collectively with more than 3 miles of gather entry to routes, officials said. “It’s the style of predicament that makes Idaho Idaho,” Nature Conservancy Conservation Supervisor Tess O’Sullivan said.

Usa today Illinois

Chicago: The metropolis appears to cling closed out 2019 with a drop within the need of homicides for the third consecutive 365 days, police grunt. Preliminary numbers Tuesday confirmed there had been 490 homicides in 2019, making it the main time the yearly quantity has dipped below 500 since 2015, when it used to be 491. The need of homicides in 2019 dropped 13% in contrast with 2018, when there were 565 homicides, in accordance to police statistics. The declines came about across the metropolis, collectively with in historically excessive-crime areas. Police cling credited the metropolis’s dip in crime to the dispute of technology historic to predict the put shootings could perchance well occur, while specialists additionally credited anti-violence programs that offer jobs and gang warfare mediation.

Usa today Indiana

Indianapolis: The metropolis is a bombed-out wretchedness put of living in an upcoming G.I. Joe comedian e book. Being depicted as a warfare zone is less than flattering, however author Paul Allor isn’t picking on the metropolis. He lives right here, and the story gifts Indianapolis as placing up a fight against the execrable guys of Cobra – prolonged-running nemesis of the G.I. Joe physique of workers. Unfortunately, Cobra principles the world in Allor’s story. The organization has no command making a cautionary instance of Indianapolis. “Cobra genuinely wipes the metropolis off the scheme,” Allor said. What’s left? Downtown’s Infantrymen and Sailors Monument, no less than, is considered on the conceal of “G.I. Joe” No. 5, scheduled to attain in stores Jan. 8. And a survivalist biker gang, the Dreadnoks, is placing out at the Indianapolis Art work Center. Abundant Ripple resident Allor additionally incorporates a reference to Guilford Avenue’s multicolored “rainbow” bridge.

Usa today Iowa

Fruitland: A provider membership intends to manufacture a memorial for veterans in this Muscatine County team. The Fruitland Community Lions Club desires to predicament it discontinuance to Fruitland Community Center other than at a cemetery. A membership committee made up our minds the put of living discontinuance to the center would enable more other folks to search it and would deter vandals, the Muscatine Journal reports. The committee worked with Louisa-Muscatine High College artwork students to predicament a manageable and affordable obtain. This could perchance well cling sunless granite walls with seating, a flag and lighting. Every dilapidated could perchance well perhaps cling two traces on the wall, ample room to list names and provider data, for $100. The memorial can match 400 names. “We don’t wish to leave somebody off real on story of there’s no room. We’ll salvage room – we’ll take more granite if we would like to,” says Janina Hawley, the committee chairwoman.

Usa today Kansas

Wichita: The issue has been ready to attenuate its carbon-dioxide emissions for a 10th straight 365 days largely due to the expeditiously adoption of wind energy and a dull pass a ways from coal-powered electricity. About 36% of all electricity produced in Kansas is from wind, the supreme share of any U.S. issue, the Kansas News Service reports. In 2019 on my own, Kansas noticed four unusual wind farms, adding ample capability to energy 190,000 homes for a 365 days. In 2017, about half of of Kansas’ total carbon-dioxide emissions came from burning fossil fuels, equivalent to coal and natural fuel, to operate electricity. Plant upgrades and federal environmental rules since cling compelled coal crops to neat up what used to be popping out of their smoke stacks. Carbon-dioxide emissions contribute to global warming.

Usa today Kentucky

Ashland: The metropolis is net hosting a dedication ceremony for loads of unusual statues, collectively with two of Roman deities. Ashland’s Friday festivities will consist of a lighting ceremony, catered meals, stay song and a presentation by the artist, Gines Serran-Pagan, The Just reports. The bronzed clay and fiberglass statues of Venus, Vulcan and the belief of Genesis were commissioned by an anonymous donor who hoped to memorialize three sure sides of their fatherland, in accordance to the newspaper. “I'm so grateful that Serran-Pagan’s magnificent statues will likely be phase of Ashland’s riverfront panorama,” metropolis supervisor Mike Graese said. “The generosity of the donor is, individually, reflective of Ashland’s giving spirit. Mayor Steve Gilmore said he’s confident the statues will scheme tourists from in every single put.

Usa today Louisiana

Baton Rouge: Authorities announced Thursday that a man has been arrested in connection with the deaths of three homeless other folks. Jeremy Anderson, 29, used to be arrested and charged with two counts of first-level homicide and one depend of 2d-level homicide, Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul told news stores at a press convention. Paul said evidence came upon inside Anderson’s residence helped hyperlink him to the murders. The first two killings came about Dec. 13 when Christina Fowler, 53, and Gregory Corcoran, 40, were came upon fatally shot under an overpass, huddled in blankets beside an empty browsing cart. On Dec. 27, investigators came upon 50-365 days-mature Tony Williams shot to death on the porch of a vacant residence about two blocks a ways from the put Fowler and Corcoran were came upon. Paul said Anderson lives two blocks a ways from the put each and each shootings occurred.

Usa today Maine

Freeport: Coastal Maine has quite a lot of seaweed and an supreme need of cows. A team of scientists and farmers think that pairing the 2 could perchance well wait on unlock a skill to tackle a warming world. The researchers – from a marine science lab, an agriculture center and universities in northern Recent England – are engaged on a thought to feed seaweed to cows to gauge whether or no longer that could perchance well wait on reduce back the greenhouse fuel emissions that contribute to climate exchange. Just a few quarter of the methane within the nation comes from cattle, which manufacture the fuel when they belch or flatulate. The belief that of feeding seaweed to cows has won traction in contemporary years thanks to a few studies that cling confirmed its doable to attenuate aid on methane. One of many immense questions is which forms of seaweed offer the supreme lend a hand to farmers wanting to attenuate methane, says Nichole Label, a senior compare scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine, and the project’s chief.

Usa today Maryland

Annapolis: The governor has indicated he’ll proceed to enable refugees into the issue. The Capital Gazette reports Gov. Larry Hogan’s place of job launched a letter Wednesday that used to be sent to the Trump administration. The letter said the issue would proceed to settle for neatly vetted refugees. The White Home had situation a Jan. 21 reduce back-off date for states and cities to contemplate whether or no longer they would proceed to enable refugees to determine within their jurisdictions. “We are keen to settle for refugees who the federal authorities has particular are neatly and legally wanting for refugee predicament and were adequately vetted,” Hogan wrote in his letter. “This, as , is varied from any form of ‘sanctuary predicament’ for these within the United States unlawfully.” Maryland has accredited practically 10,000 refugees below Hogan’s management since 2016. Nonetheless the Republican used to be among 31 governors who wanted to refuse Syrian refugees in 2015 out of alarm of terrorism.

Usa today Massachusetts

Boston: The issue is extending its electric automobile rebate program. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito announced the rebates were being prolonged Wednesday to closing by no less than Dec. 31, 2021, and the administration will originate no less than $27 million on hand per 365 days in 2020 and 2021. The program used to be phased out from Sept. 30 by Tuesday on story of a fleet sigh in applications triggered an absence of funding, Baker and Polito said, however the funding thought they proposed for an extension used to be largely adopted in a contemporary supplemental funds. Since 2014, the issue has allotted more than $31 million for the bother, to incentivize the bewitch of more than 15,000 electric automobiles and reduce back the issue’s greenhouse fuel emissions by an estimated 39,000 metric heaps every 365 days, Baker and Polito said.

Usa today Michigan

Delta Township: The team has solved an olfactory mystery that will likely be dubbed “The Case of the Rancid Radishes.” Residents known as officials in Delta Township closing month, fascinated a couple of smell they notion could perchance well very neatly be natural fuel or sewer leaks. Township Supervisor Brian Reed and his employees bought to the, neatly, root of the command: rotting radishes in within sight farm fields. To be more real, it used to be the unseemly smell of decomposing daikon radishes, a Japanese root vegetable. They had been planted in fields within the township and surrounding areas as a conceal crop after a moist spring. The radish differ is among these urged by natural resources officials to plant at some point of such classes – to no longer reap however to decompose in a say to nourish the soil, aerate it and prevent erosion. Decompose they did, and when temperatures rose in December the scent permeated the air. The stench need to composed subside with consistently less warm climate.

Usa today Minnesota

Minneapolis: Reveal Attorney Same old Keith Ellison on Thursday known as for the Minnesota Board of Public Defense to search the assignment that ended in the suspension of Hennepin County’s chief public defender, saying he believes Mary Moriarty used to be focused for talking out against racial bias within the prison justice machine. One after the other, law clerks and attorneys in Moriarty’s place of job wrote to the board in her defense, praising her management and dedication to clients and calling for her reinstatement. And dozens of public defenders and public curiosity attorneys open air Minnesota signed onto a letter objecting to her suspension. Moriarty, appointed in 2014, used to be positioned on paid leave closing week. She said officials expressed concerns about her administration style, what they known as inflexibility with varied prison justice officials and confrontations on the wretchedness of racial inequality. They additionally questioned a series of tweets about historic lynchings within the Deep South, she said.

Usa today Mississippi

Hattiesburg: The Hattiesburg Cultural Center hosted a jazz brunch Wednesday in honor of Jeanette Smith, a prominent chief within the metropolis’s civil rights motion within the dull 1950s and early 1960s, WDAM-TV reports. She used to be 78 years mature when she died in Atlanta in 2018. Her dull husband, Dr. C.E. Smith, additionally used to be instrumental in Hattiesburg’s civil rights motion. Both of them served because the president of the Forrest County NAACP, which they joined in 1959. The heart plans on net hosting the brunch again subsequent 365 days to honor these that cling made a distinction for the civil rights organization, in accordance to the put of living.

Usa today Missouri

Jefferson Metropolis: The issue’s levees need to composed be reinforced and repaired, severely in rural areas hit onerous by prolonged flooding in 2019, in accordance to an advisory team appointed by Gov. Mike Parson. St. Louis Public Radio reports the Flood Recovery Advisory Working Community on Tuesday launched its declare on ways to tackle flooding within the issue and reinforce flood restoration. Parson signed an executive say in July creating the 24-member advisory team. File flooding early closing 365 days and within the summertime overtopped and breached dozens of levees alongside the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Some sides of western Missouri skilled flooding for up to seven months. Rebuilding in flood-prone areas has ended in repeated disaster, said Dru Buntin, deputy director of the Missouri Department of Natural Sources.

Usa today Montana

Helena: Wildlife officials cling opened the enable lottery for non-motorized watercraft on the Smith River in central Montana. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks every 365 days awards floating permits to groups of up to 15 other folks to gather entry to a 59-mile half of the Smith River east of Helena. Applications need to composed be submitted by Feb. 13 with a $10 non-refundable fee. The enable drawing is scheduled for March 2, officials said. The issue regulates the river to combat overcrowding and enable users to take quality, multiday floats, park officials said. About 10,070 other folks utilized for private floating permits closing 365 days, and about 1,300 were awarded, officials said. Folks can additionally take a gamble to hold a neat enable for $5 till March 12, officials said. That enable enables floaters to earn any day they wish to take the river time out, park officials said. The overall drift time out most regularly takes about four days and begins discontinuance to White Sulphur Springs, officials said.

Usa today Nebraska

Brownville: Federal inspectors thought to be taught about how neatly a nuclear energy plant handled a water provider safety command blamed on a silt buildup from the Missouri River, which overwhelmed or broke by levees closing spring. The Cooper Nuclear Station discontinuance to Brownville used to be running on corpulent energy Dec. 6 when employees detected that water wasn’t flowing by a pipe related to one among the plant’s two safety mills, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a news launch Thursday. The mills weren’t running on story of they're designed to kick in and supply energy for the plant’s cooling programs most efficient when all 5 traces that energy the plant are knocked out. If wanted, the quite quite a lot of generator used to be on hand, the NRC said. The plant generated energy at some point of the command.

Usa today Nevada

Carson Metropolis: The issue Supreme Court has ruled that workers’ compensation rates for injured inmates are situation at inmate pay rates other than the minimum wage. Inmate Darrell White used to be assigned to the Forestry Division when he suffered a finger hurt that left him temporarily disabled for 144 days in 2016, the Nevada Attraction reports. White filed for employees’ compensation incapacity advantages at the minimum wage situation within the issue Structure after his launch, however an appeals officer ruled that issue law sets the amount of compensation at the moderate monthly wage the prisoner in actuality bought when the hurt occurred, officials said. White argued his compensation need to composed be situation at the constitutionally assured $7.25 an hour. Court officials argued compensation need to composed be about 50 cents a day, or $22.93 every month, in accordance to what he used to be in actuality being paid.

Usa today Recent Hampshire

Dover: The Metropolis Corridor clock tower, which officials grunt has misplaced its sheen and is sorely in need of a fundamental beauty overhaul, will likely be getting a corpulent facelift sooner than the metropolis’s 400th birthday event in 2023. Metropolis Supervisor Mike Joyal says the 80-foot tower wants quite a lot of labor to gather it in display conceal-mighty condition for the metropolis’s immense birthday bash, the massive majority of that also can very neatly be neatly-known at some point of a 10-day time desk sooner than July 4, 2023. The historic bell atop the tower used to be rung July 4, 1976, to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial, in accordance to metropolis records. After that, Joyal says, to this point as he has been ready to resolve, the closing time the bell used to be rung used to be Sept. 11, 2001. The importance of the bell to Dover’s historic past makes it a need to for ringing on the metropolis’s 400th birthday, in accordance to Mayor-elect Robert Provider.

Usa today Recent Jersey

Howell: A particular person that situation off fireworks discontinuance to a movie theater as his pal made a marriage proposal created dismay among moviegoers who mistook the fireworks for gunshots, main to 911 calls and an evacuation, authorities said. Howell Township police answered to the Xscape Theater about 6 p.m. Wednesday and soon realized the theater supervisor had confronted a man who had lighted fireworks open air but every other industrial discontinuance to the theater, authorities said. The remnants of the fireworks were positioned, and it used to be particular that no pictures had been fired. A 23-365 days-mature Lakewood man told police he had situation off the fireworks as phase of his pal’s marriage proposal at the quite quite a lot of business. Whereas noting there used to be no intent to situation off dismay at the theater, a post on the Howell police Facebook page said that “obviously this used to be a in fact unfortunate resolution other than an overt act.”

Usa today Recent Mexico

Santa Fe: A newly solid steel instrument that could perchance well pinpoint the lunge of stars and planets across the night time sky the dispute of the bare peer is a throwback to the years real before the creation of telescopes, returning stargazers within the hills of northern Recent Mexico to the necessities of astronomy within the past. Keep in at St. John’s College by graduates, the instrument is a remake of prolonged-misplaced originals devised by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe within the dull 16th century to chart the put of living of stars and the orbits of planets. It consists of 4 interlocking rings – solid of precision steel and aligned with the north huge title and equator – blended with a sliding viewfinder that is moved by hand to measure angles between the any celestial object, the horizon and the equator. Lengthy, painstaking measurements from such an instrument within the dull-1500s allowed Johannes Kepler to display conceal that Mars revolved in an elliptical orbit around the sun.

Usa today Recent York

Victor: The head Republican within the Reveal Meeting used to be charged Recent 365 days’s Eve with using while intoxicated in his issue-issued automobile, real per week after he wrote a newspaper column warning residents against getting dull the wheel inebriated. Brian M. Kolb, a Republican from Canandaigua who represents a district real open air Rochester, used to be arrested discontinuance to his residence after what he known as a “lapse in judgement.” Authorities said they were known as to a smash in Victor real before 10: 30 p.m. after a automobile like a flash met a ditch. Kolb used to be came upon to be the motive force of the 2018 GMC Acadia that crashed in front of his residence. An Ontario County sheriff’s deputy administered self-discipline sobriety tests, which Kolb failed, before taking him to jail. Whereas there, authorities said a breath take a look at indicated Kolb’s blood-alcohol express used to be over 0.08%, the ethical limit for using in Recent York.

Usa today North Carolina

Raleigh: The issue says it has secured an agreement with Duke Energy to excavate practically 80 million a entire bunch coal ash at six facilities. The Department of Environmental Quality said in a Thursday press launch that this could perchance well very neatly be the supreme coal ash cleanup within the nation’s historic past. It additionally settles quite a lot of ethical disputes between Duke and parties that consist of environmental and team teams. For an extended time, coal ash has been saved in landfills or in ponds, most regularly discontinuance to waterways into which toxins can leach. Duke Energy will cling coal ash from the Allen, Belews Creek, Cliffside, Marshall, Mayo and Roxboro sites into on-predicament lined landfills. “This agreement is a historic cleanup of coal ash pollution in North Carolina,” said Frank Holleman, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Legislation Center.

Usa today North Dakota

Mandan: Authorities grunt an ice jam alongside the Missouri River discontinuance to Mandan is causing water to upward push, threatening property alongside the shoreline. Morton County officials grunt water within the Sq. Butte Creek put of living alongside Willow Street and Rosy Lane has risen roughly 18 inches since Tuesday. Commission Chairman Bruce Strinden toured the put of living Sunday afternoon. He says residents could perchance well wish to pass objects from low areas. Authorities grunt they're working with the U.S. Navy Corps of Engineers to cling aid on increased releases at Garrison Dam till the ice jam wretchedness has been resolved. The Corps had increased discharges from the dam earlier within the week and planned but every other enhance Thursday.

Usa today Ohio

Cleveland: A ban on single-dispute plastic baggage took manufacture Wednesday in Cuyahoga County, though the ban won’t be enforced with fines till July 1. Despite the prolonged roll-out, most Enormous Eagle grocery stores within the county eliminated the bags origin Recent 365 days’s Day, Fox 8-TV reports. The firm could perchance well perhaps cling reusable baggage for bewitch, and prospects will gather fuel perks for every reusable gather historic. Just a few suburbs opted out of the ban, and Cleveland additionally opted out till July 1 to give a working team time to hunt for the affect of reducing plastic baggage on corporations. Some issue lawmakers and industrial teams grunt such local bans originate it more troublesome for grocers and varied corporations to operate, and proposed bills would prohibit local governments from forbidding the dispute of plastic baggage. Nonetheless Gov. Mike DeWine opposes these efforts, saying it could perchance well perhaps be a mistake for issue lawmakers to override local authorities choices.

Usa today Oklahoma

Sand Springs: A particular person stole a pickup truck with a drowsing passenger and a goat inside it and drove it the entire skill from Missouri to Oklahoma before releasing the terrorized victim and animal and at closing being arrested, authorities grunt. Essentially basically based mostly on an arrest declare, two men within the truck parked open air an adult video store in Carthage, Missouri, early Wednesday morning. The driver went at some point of the store, and the passenger fell asleep. When the passenger woke up, a masked man used to be using the truck and pointing a gun at his head, Tulsa TV put of living KOTV reports. The carjacking suspect, 40-365 days-mature Brandon Kirby, drove from Missouri by Kansas. All the device by the 130-mile ordeal, Kirby took methamphetamine, pistol-whipped the victim and consistently threatened him, in accordance to the arrest declare. The Sand Springs Police Department said on Facebook: “OK 2020, it most efficient took you 4.5 hours to gather uncommon. Let’s dull down on the carjacking-goatnapping calls for the the relaxation of the 365 days.”

Usa today Oregon

Salem: The need of nonaffiliated voters within the issue has increased by practically 60,000 for the reason that origin of this 365 days, in accordance to the Oregon Secretary of Reveal’s place of job. As of closing month, there were 951,908 nonaffiliated voters in Oregon – an enhance of nearly 7% since January 2019. The enhance of nonaffiliated voters is basically due to the issue’s “motor voter” law, handed in 2016, which mechanically registers eligible Oregonians as nonaffiliated voters when they register with the Oregon DMV. “There are no less than 300,000 unusual registrants since 2016 thanks to OMV (the Oregon Motor Voter Act),” says Paul Gronke, a political science professor at Reed College and political director of DHM Be taught. “And 80% or more of these didn't acknowledge to a postcard permitting them to affiliate.”

Usa today Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: The butter sculpture for this 365 days’s Pennsylvania Farm Present used to be unveiled Thursday, that comprises three of the issue’s professional sports activities physique of workers mascots. This 365 days’s sculpture, crafted from about 1,000 pounds of donated butter, reveals Gritty, Swoop and Steely McBeam, mascots for the Philadelphia Flyers and Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Farm Present in Harrisburg, which calls itself the nation’s supreme indoor agricultural match, involves 12,000 competitive reveals and draws about 500,000 attendees yearly. It runs from Saturday by Jan. 11. Admission is free, however parking in Farm Present Advanced heaps is no longer. After the display conceal ends, the butter sculpture will likely be taken to a farm in Juniata County to be converted into energy by a methane digester. Recent to the display conceal this 365 days are onerous cider sales, an expanded rabbit competitors and a waterfowl habitat with stay ducks within the poultry put of living. There additionally will likely be a demonstration by other folks with bows using horses.

Usa today Rhode Island

Providence: The issue’s residents need to now cling medical insurance or face a penalty on their taxes. The taxation division launched a list of tax changes taking manufacture Wednesday, collectively with the unusual medical insurance mandate. Residents who invent no longer cling minimum crucial coverage in 2020 and invent no longer qualify for an exemption will face a penalty subsequent 365 days when filing a issue tax return for 2020. A federal appeals court ruling this month in Recent Orleans struck down the Cheap Care Act’s requirement that folks cling medical insurance, leaving President Barack Obama’s signature health care law in ethical limbo. Rhode Island’s Same old Meeting handed legislation that used to be signed by the governor to enact the requirement and penalty within the issue, with an efficient date of Jan. 1, 2020.

Usa today South Carolina

Charleston: The issue’s Department of Natural Sources is calling for residents to recycle historic oyster shells and discarded Christmas trees by programs aimed at boosting estuary health and promoting sigh of marine lifestyles. The issue is continuous to expand its oyster recycling and restoration program, the put South Carolinians and drinking locations can drop off historic oyster shells, severely after events equivalent to oyster bakes and holiday parties, The Post and Courier reports. The recycled shells are reintroduced to local waters, the put they give a ground for unusual oysters to grow, natural resources officials grunt. Stay oysters then filter water, defend against erosion, and attract fish and varied sea creatures to their reefs. The issue’s Coastal Conservation Affiliation and Natural Sources Department collectively donated more than $100,000 in tools to earn up and transport the shells, the newspaper reports.

Usa today South Dakota

Sioux Falls: South Dakota’s minimum wage is increasing pretty with the the open of the unusual 365 days. The issue’s minimum wage is now $9.30 per hour – an enhance of 20 cents from 2019. Workers who gather pointers are seeing their minimum wage upward push to $4.65 per hour. The need enhance are phase of a voter-licensed measure in 2014 to elevate the minimum wage, which used to be $7.25 an hour at the time, to $8.50 an hour. KELO-TV reports the minimum wage will proceed to enhance at the rate of the fee of living measured within the particular person fee index. The issue’s minimum wage used to be below $4 till 1992. The $7.25 minimum wage used to be situation in 2010.

Usa today Tennessee

Memphis: Elvis Presley’s Graceland is planning an public sale of artifacts to be held at some point of the dull entertainer’s 85th birthday event Jan. 8. The overall objects up for public sale Wednesday come from third-birthday party collectors however were thoroughly researched and licensed by Graceland Authenticated, in accordance to a news launch from Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. The mansion and all artifacts within the Graceland Archives proceed to be owned by Lisa Marie Presley and continuously are no longer for sale. The 288 artifacts consist of a golf cart, clothes, jewelry, autographs, live performance memorabilia and Hollywood objects. As neatly as, loads of Graceland experiences will likely be auctioned, with the proceeds benefiting the Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation. Items to be included within the general public sale were announced Monday alongside with registration data. The catalog is on hand at Graceland’s official online store.

Usa today Texas

Dallas: A contemplate on Thursday sided with a sanatorium that plans to amass an 11-month-mature lady from lifestyles pork up after her mom disagreed with the resolution by doctors who grunt that the newborn is in disaster and that her condition will by no means reinforce. Trinity Lewis had asked Resolve Sandee Bryan Marion to wretchedness an injunction in Tarrant County district court to make certain Cook dinner Kids’s Scientific Center doesn’t ruin her daughter Tinslee Lewis’ lifestyles-sustaining therapy. Texas Simply to Lifestyles, an anti-abortion team that opposes the “10-day rule” and has been advocating for Tinslee, said the girl’s mom will attraction the contemplate’s resolution. Scientific doctors at the Castle Value sanatorium had planned to amass Tinslee from lifestyles pork up Nov. 10 after invoking Texas’ “10-day rule,” that also can very neatly be employed when a family disagrees with doctors who grunt lifestyles-sustaining therapy need to composed be stopped.

Usa today Utah

Salt Lake Metropolis: Operators of a copper mine cling announced plans to elongate operations by the dispute of an experimental technique of extraction they grunt is safe despite concerns about doable groundwater contamination. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that officials with the Lisbon Valley Mine are wanting for permits for an acid-basically based fully extraction skill that entails pumping diluted sulfuric acid underground in San Juan County northeast of Monticello. The unusual assignment could perchance well lengthen the mine’s lifespan for a minimum of but every other 25 years, officials said. Environmentalists cling raised concerns about prolonged-timeframe water contamination for within sight residents reliant on groundwater for drinking and cattle. The Lisbon Valley Mining Company has managed the mine since 2008 when its ragged proprietor declared monetary wretchedness three years after opening, officials said.

Usa today Vermont

St. Albans: The Vermont attorney overall’s place of job sued the issue’s supreme dairy operation Thursday, alleging the farm built a 90,000-sq.-foot barn addition and a 10 million-gallon manure pit with out the required permissions. Attorney Same old T.J. Donovan said the growth of the Lumbra Farm in Berkshire between 2016 and 2017 qualified as a neat farm operation below issue rules, alternatively it used to be shunned the required permits and planning input from the Company of Agriculture, Food and Markets and issue environmental officials. Donovan didn't suppose that the additions to the farm contributed to the water pollution woes that cling plagued the issue, however since the expansions were shunned the wanted permits, there used to be no skill to resolve if water qualify used to be affected. Vermont has been struggling for years to bolster water quality in Lake Champlain. Agricultural pollution is considered one among the supreme sources of that pollution.

Usa today Virginia

Richmond: The issue has done practically 1,400 other folks in its 412-365 days historic past – more than any varied within the nation. Nonetheless as a unusual Democratic majority prepares to open up the legislative session, some see an opportunity to ruin executions in Virginia. A bill to abolish the death penalty has been filed by Del. Lee Carter, a Democrat from Manassas, and loads of additional bills are expected. The frenzy is backed by Virginians for Alternatives to the Loss of life Penalty, alongside with some noteworthy voices: family members of homicide victims. Thirteen family members sent a letter to the Same old Meeting in November asking lawmakers to abolish the death penalty. No death sentences were imposed within the issue since 2011, and most efficient three other folks dwell on Virginia’s death row. Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the issue is 2d most efficient to Texas in need of executions, at 113.

Usa today Washington

Yakima: The issue’s snowpack is less than a 365 days within the past, and officials grunt it’s same to the open of 2015, the issue’s closing immense drought. The Capital Press reports the statewide snowpack is 47% of regular. It used to be 46% of regular at the moment 5 years within the past. “It’s very paying homage to 2015, however this 365 days we are skill dull on mountain precipitation,” says Scott Pattee, issue water supply specialist for the Natural Sources Conservation Service in Mount Vernon. “It’s worrisome. It’s the third-slowest open in snow accumulation statewide for the reason that 1990s, and we had one among the driest Novembers on file.” The supreme wretchedness is that the 5 mountain reservoirs serving the Yakima Basin are vastly dull in recharging, and 130% to 135% of regular snow fall is now wanted within the Better Yakima to gather it aid to regular by April 1, Pattee says.

Usa today West Virginia

Charleston: Gov. Jim Justice on Thursday tapped the director of a Same old Motors dealership to lead the issue’s Division of Motor Vehicles. Everett Frazier, who has worked within the auto exchange for more than three an extended time, will open as DMV commissioner Monday, in accordance to a news launch from the Republican governor. “My goal is to tackle every person who comes by the door of the DMV as a guest,” Frazier said. “I'm looking ahead to being phase of a physique of workers that will maximize the dispute of technology to originate the DMV more atmosphere pleasant and customer-pleasant.” Justice said Frazier’s journey within the auto industrial involves 25 years of managerial positions, most only within the near past because the director of operations at the Thornhill GM Superstore in Logan County. Frazier has additionally resigned as a member on the issue’s pharmacy board to procure the unusual DMV role.

Usa today Wisconsin

Madison: A conservative law firm on Thursday asked a contemplate to search out the Wisconsin Elections Commission in contempt and impose $12,000 a day in fines till it without lengthen purges more than 200,000 voters from the rolls, a pass Democrats are preventing within the main battleground issue. A contemplate closing month ordered the purge of voters who could perchance well cling moved and didn’t acknowledge within 30 days to notification sent by the elections fee in October. The bipartisan fee has deadlocked twice on makes an try by Republicans to invent the purge without lengthen while an attraction to the court say is pending. Rick Esenberg, chief of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Legislation and Liberty that introduced the lawsuit, said the fee need to purge the voters now. The contemplate in December ruled that the fee used to be breaking issue law by no longer placing off voters who didn't acknowledge to the October mailing asking that they verify their tackle.

Usa today Wyoming

Casper: The issue’s population increased pretty within the 2d half of of 2018 and first half of of 2019 after three years of decline. Census figures launched this week display conceal Wyoming’s population grew by 1,158 between July 2018 and July 2019. The issue’s total population of 578,880 remained below a peak of 586,000 in 2015. The Casper Smartly-known particular person-Tribune reports essentially the latest numbers were recorded before a coal firm’s monetary wretchedness in 2019 furloughed a entire bunch of workers at two fundamental coal mines for four months. Onerous times within the coal, oil and natural fuel industries triggered many other folks to leave Wyoming initiating in 2015. Reveal economist Wenlin Liu says sigh within the energy and building industries accounted for Wyoming’s contemporary population enhance. Liu says Wyoming’s that restoration now reveals indicators of slowing, with contemporary lower job sigh and rising unemployment. Wyoming remains the least-populated issue within the U.S.

From USA TODAY Community and wire reports

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