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rainy-day-gracie · 5 years ago

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Old Friends 8

So I’ve decided to make the last two chapters of this series like a two part finale almost. 9 and 10 will be the last chapters of Old Friends :(

But I do have more in the works, so don’t cry! Just enjoy this fluffy chapter with Spencer and the team. :))

Spencer Reid x Reader

Chapter 8:

JJ grabbed me by the arm as soon as I walked into the bullpen.

“Explain to me why Henry is telling me that, I quote, ‘Uncle Spencer is in love with the smart lady.’?”

I just stared at her with wide eyes. “Um, I don’t know, maybe you should ask Spencer.” I tried to get away without grinning, but she kept her grip on my arm, a sly smirk on her face.

“When you guys babysat Henry he definitely picked up on your flirty little banter, and now he’s constantly talking about how Spencer is so in love with you.” JJ let go of my arm and gave me a knowing glance.

I was trying to keep from laughing hysterically. “How old is Henry?”

“He’s three.”

Calming myself down, I walked past her to my desk. “JJ, I’m just going to be honest…” I looked her in the eye, faking seriousness. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

She gave a groan of frustration as Prentiss and Garcia walked past. “What are we talking about?” Prentiss saddled up next to me. “Are we talking about how you and Reid are totally hooking up?”

Garcia gasped. “Yesterday I heard them talking about their favorite French movies… the language of love!”

I raised my hands in the air in mock surrender. “Oh, you caught me! We were talking to each other, whoa!”

All three of the women rolled their eyes, and I could tell they weren’t leaving until they actually got something juicy.

I sighed. “Okay, I’ve spent the night at his place a few times. Nothing happened,” I added quickly after seeing their scandalized faces. “We just eat ice cream and I crash on his couch. After what happened a few months ago, sometimes it’s hard to be alone.”

They all looked suspicious, but eventually they dropped it.

I didn’t tell them the total truth, but they didn’t need to know details.

Yes, we’ve kissed a few times, so what?

After a few minutes of working at my desk, a fresh coffee appeared next to me, and Spencer quickly was walking away. I giggled softly, watching him wink at me from across the bullpen.

I heard Morgan snort as he was walking up behind my desk. “What, Morgan?”

“Something fishy is going on with you and pretty boy over there,” Morgan pointed over to where Spencer was sorting through different files.

“Something fishy? We’re old friends, you know that.”

Morgan smirked, clearly unconvinced. “Old friends, my ass.”

We all came to attention when we saw Garcia power walking across the catwalk in her heels. “Minions of the BAU, you have a case!”

The stunt that I pulled, ignoring Hotch, happened almost a month ago and he was still pissed. I could read it on his face, and it was almost comical to see this normally stone cold leader so heated.

“I think Dad is still mad at me,” I whispered to Prentiss, and she laughed out loud, drawing the attention of everyone in the briefing room. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Spencer with his little sweet puppy smile, the smile he wore when he was happy.

“Ladies and gents, you are going to San Francisco where there have been three very strange murders, I direct your attention to the photos,” Garcia pointed to the screen.

She wasn’t lying, the murders were extremely strange. One crime scene appeared to be in a tunnel with a male and female victim. The other crime scene was a medieval execution, a woman hanged using a classic noose. Suicide was ruled out given that her hands and feet were bound and her apartment showed signs of a struggle. All of the victims were in fancy medieval clothing, corsets and all.

“The only thing connecting all of these kills is the elaborate costumes. Clearly our unsub has a flair for the dramatic. He wants these bodies to be found.” Spencer looked over at me as I cleared my throat.

“There’s something familiar about these murders, I just can’t put my finger on it.” Looking at the photos, something was ringing in my head but I couldn’t figure out what it was. “Probably the work of a single unsub, the medieval wardrobes practically screams individuality.”

“What I’m worried about is the rate of kills. Two victims in three days is almost a nonexistent cooling off period.” Hotch stood up and scanned the room. “Wheels up in 20. Reid, come see me for a moment.”

Spencer shot me a glance and followed Hotch into his office.

“That can’t be good.” I muttered to JJ, and she nodded inn agreement.

“So he stabbed the female victim at the first crime scene, and poisoned the male. Those are two completely different MOs.” Everyone was still puzzled at the crime scenes on the plane. Morgan had almost an angry look on his face. “And he hangs the single female? It doesn’t make sense.”

I shook my head. “I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen this before.’

Prentiss raised her eyebrows. “I don’t think any of us have seen anything like this before.”

Spencer was sitting in the window seat next to me, surprisingly not saying anything. At the back of my mind I wanted to ask him about what Hotch called him in for.

“I never thought I would get to kiss you again,” Spencer whispered gently. His arm around my shoulders on his couch felt so much like home I forgot that we were also coworkers.

“Well, you did, so it’s okay,” I smiled up at him and turned back to the TV. In these few short weeks of being a couple again of sorts, my mental health has improved more than in the last six months. Someone would touch me and I wouldn’t flinch anymore, and the nightmares of that damn basement lessened.

Everything was so easy with Spencer. There was still the same connection of kindred spirits we’ve had since college, and we would talk about the most random, nerdy subjects.

Damn, he made me happy. So, so happy.

“Everything good?” I murmured to Spencer on the plane.

“Yeah, it’s okay,” Spencer gave me a reassuring side smile as Hotch began giving assignments.

“Prentiss, Morgan go to the latest dump site. Look through it in the killer’s eyes. YLN, Reid, go to the station and interview families. Rossi and I will go to the ME. JJ, take care of the press.”

I suddenly got it. Hotch was putting Spencer in to babysit me. That’s what they were talking about. I gave Spencer a look, and he glanced away awkwardly.

“So the first two victims were Rosie Greenlin and Tom Janney, they were both in their early twenties, dating, college students.” I shook my head as I walked up to Spencer. “Parents don’t know anything except that Rosie and Tom were in love, clear as day.”

Spencer sighed as he scanned the crime scene photos. “Betty Wright came from a wealthy family, and her parents say she’s always been very outspoken but kind.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “Rosie and Tom both came from wealthy families as well. Could he be targeting the rich?”

Spencer shrugged, out of ideas for now.

“Hey, did Hotch pull you aside so he could tell you to babysit me?” One look on Spencer’s face told me yes. “He’s afraid I’ll go rogue again.”

Spencer looked guilty and spoke slowly. “He’s just making sure that you don’t…”

I raised my eyebrows when Spencer trailed off. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. I’m not mad, I just wanted to know, that’s all.”

A police officer came into the room as I finished speaking. “There’s another one. Dylan Walker, stabbed then submerged in liquid. But here’s the weird part, he was submerged in a barrel of wine.”

Spencer pulled out his phone. “We need to get everyone here. We’re not going to catch this guy by splitting up.”

After everyone got back to the station, we ordered food and threw out ideas.

“It’s probably this guy’s first time killing, could the varied MO just mean he’s seeing what he likes?” Morgan had the same puzzled expression from earlier, as did most of the team. “Betty Wright was found hanging from a tree on an isolated hill and the coroner said she’d only been there about an hour.”

Spencer shifted in his seat and moved his hands. “The dump sites seem to be crucial to his fantasy, but we just don’t know why.”

I hadn’t said anything since the team got back. “Oh my god,” I whispered, looking at the crime scene photos. “A malmsey butt… a public execution… two deaths in a tunnel…”

The team just stared at me. “What is it, YFN?” Spencer asked.

I tapped him on the arm, completely astounded that I figured it out. “Remember when we went to see King Lear in college?”

Spencer’s eyes widened. “Cordelia was executed by hanging.”

I nodded at him, standing up and looking at the team. “She was executed because she valued love over property, so her father killed her. Betty Wright was known to be very outspoken. Clarence in Richard III was stabbed then submerged in a malmsey butt, or a barrel of wine. Romeo and Juliet both died in an underground tomb, Romeo poisoned himself and Juliet stabbed herself. Rosie and Tom died in a sewage drain underground in the exact same ways.”

“He’s recreating the written deaths of Shakespeare,” JJ concluded.

“The medieval clothing ties all of it together, the costumes he puts his victims in were common among royalty in Shakespeare’s time.” I looked to Hotch, who wore a microscopic smile on his face. Good job, he seemed to say.

The unsub was Devin McCoy, a former Shakespeare director who lost his job two weeks ago for assaulting one of his actors. Hotch insisted that I stay at the station while they made the arrest, and I grudgingly obliged. Devin came with little resistance, saying that he was creating the art that his actors couldn’t. The whole thing looked like a bad movie when they dragged him into the station.

Hotch pulled me aside as we were packing up.

“YLN, I have to say that you did a fantastic job in this case. You saw something in the murders that no one else did, and we would’ve been here a lot longer without you.” I fought the urge to happy cry. Hotch has never complimented me like that.

“Thank you Hotch. Does that mean Spencer doesn’t have to babysit me anymore?” I asked hopefully. “I have the green light again?”

Hotch gave me a rare smile. “Yes, you have the green light again.”

The plane ride was quiet. We took off at midnight, and with the five hour flight, we were all dreading the next day at work.

I was sitting next to Spencer, who was reading Romeo and Juliet. “How can you read that after the case we just had?”

He looked up and shrugged. “Last time I read this play was in Spanish, so I figured I would read the original English instead.”

I gave him big doe eyes and made a pitched tone. “Oh, Spencer! Spencer! Wherefore art thou Spencer?”

He chuckled and turned away from me. Across the plane, I saw JJ and Prentiss laughing to themselves, most likely at our dorkiness. I smiled and winked at them.

“I know JJ and Prentiss are watching, otherwise I would kiss you.” Spencer whispered to me, still looking down at his book.

“Who cares about JJ and Prentiss?”

His eyes shot up to mine, trying to see if I was joking or not. I gave a devilish smirk, and he laced his hand in my hair.

Spencer kissed me sweetly, and we pulled away when we heard the applause of everyone on the plane.

“Finally!” Rossi exclaimed. “I’ve been pretending to sleep for 45 minutes!”

@itsarayofsunshine @thesailbells @squirrellover1967 @softpeteparker @parkeroffline

#spencer reid #spencer reid fluff #dr spencer reid #dr reid #criminal minds self insert #criminal minds #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader

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junpito · 4 years ago

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A Beginning

I’ve been thinking about starting a fic surrounding what might have happened if Mahito had realised that killing Junpei wouldn’t have worked. This part works within canon, but I intend it to be the opening to something longer.

It’s basically just a brief character study, exploring how they learned a little more about one another, set just before episode 10.

No content warnings besides what already applies to canon. AO3 link here.

The rope creaks a little against the gentle rocking of the hammock. The sound echoes down the tunnels, accompanied only by the soft sounds of running water. It’s quiet down here, peaceful. Like a private bubble, a whole other world separate from the loud, aggressive, ugly world above.

Junpei’s eyelids feel heavy. Between the soothing sounds, the rhythmic motion, and the delicate threading of long fingers through the hair at the back of his neck, he felt wonderfully at peace, teetering dangerously close to falling asleep. His head is pillowed on a well-muscled chest, and he can’t help but find himself listening for a heartbeat. Mahito isn’t human, he knows that, and he has no idea if curses have internal organs, if they need working innards to be functional like humans do. Maybe the reason he can’t pick one out is because underneath his skin, Mahito runs on nothing but energy and raw human emotion. He told Junpei that that was what birthed him: the collection and manifestation of all of humanity’s hatred and fear and anger for one another, a conglomeration of all the negative feelings humans hold towards each other.

It feels almost dangerously on-the-nose that Junpei should have found him. After all, Junpei never feels as alive and real as he does when he’s staring into the eyes of his bullies, his every nerve alight with the desire to hurt them. When he’s not angry he feels like he’s floating, untethered. Maybe that’s why he likes movies so much, because through them he can experience artificial emotion, he can explore the fantasies that would otherwise remain behind locked doors for good. He understands, he thinks, what it must be like for that anger, that spark of hatred to be the sole reason for one’s existence. Him and Mahito are two of a kind, in that way.

Then again, this feels pretty real. Short fingernails scritch gently at the nape of his neck and he shivers a little, unable to hold in the prickle of pleasure down his spine. He doesn’t think anyone’s ever done this to him before, at least not since he was a child, and it feels amazing. He would quite happily die here, in this curse’s arms.

“Mahito…” He murmurs, his voice heavy with sleep. Mahito hums a quiet query, his own mismatched eyes closed too, though Junpei is pretty sure he doesn’t sleep. “Do you have a heartbeat?”

His eyes open then, filled with mirth, and he laughs. “How should I know? I’ve never cut myself open.”

Junpei props himself up on his elbows on Mahito’s chest, regrettably disrupting his slow petting. “How old are you?”

Mahito’s eyes flick up to the ceiling, and he thinks. “Hm… I don’t really know. I know parts of me existed before I formed consciousness, but… I’ve been me for a good few months now, I think.”

“Months? That’s it?” Junpei’s eyes widen. Mahito definitely looked older than him, though he didn’t behave like most of the adults in Junpei’s life. Then again, he could control his appearance. Junpei wondered to what extent he could really do that, and chasing that thought was another, much more dangerous one: what if he could change my body? What if he could give me the body I want without driving me crazy?

He put a stopper in that one, at least for the time being.

Mahito laughs again. “You expected longer, right? Like I’m… some kind of immortal spirit that’s always been floating around this world, as old as humanity itself, hm?”

“Well… You told me you were made of humanity’s feelings of hatred towards each other, right? Haven’t humans hated each other forever?” Junpei couldn’t imagine ancient humans had been any better than they were now.

“I’m not the first, and I won’t be the last.” Mahito’s smile relaxes into something softer, darker. He tucks Junpei’s fringe back behind his ear delicately, uncovering his scarred, ugly forehead. Junpei blushes in embarrassment and looks away. “And it’s not just hatred, you know. Humans feel all sorts of ways towards one another that create cursed energy. Humans are disgusting, vile creatures.”

“Do you think I’m disgusting?” Junpei asks quietly, suddenly self-conscious, and Mahito chuckles, a slow rumble from the back of his throat.

“Did I ever say that was a bad thing? Without people like you, I wouldn’t exist, would I?” He reaches forward and pulls Junpei against him, strong arms like a cage holding him in place. “Junpei…” Those fingers are threading through his hair again, his voice a soft cooing. “You’re justified, you know that, right?”

Junpei pauses at that, his fingers curling in the fabric of Mahito’s shawl.

“Those people I killed were empty. They had no flavour at all.”

“…Flavour?” Junpei asks hesitantly.

“They didn’t hate you. They barely even considered you.”

Junpei frowns, a familiar anger bubbling in his gut. “But they wanted to make me hurt…”

“That’s the fun part, isn’t it?” Mahito’s voice is laced with giddy excitement. “Some humans cause pain just because they can, because it’s fun to them. It makes me feel almost human, myself.”

Junpei swallows. “You like hurting people for fun?”

“Hm… Sort of.” Mahito tilts his head to one side. “I like picking fights. I like it when fights are a challenge. Small fry like those trash in the cinema aren’t much fun at all. That was more… taking out the garbage, you know?”

“Oh.” Junpei relaxes a little. Then he frowns again. “I think I’m different to you in that way.”

Mahito’s eyes drift down to him, alight with curious amusement. “Oh?”

Junpei’s jaw clenches for a moment, he sits on the secret he’s been holding in for years, that he thought he’d never be able to share with anyone. But then, no one else he knew was a literal murderer. “I think I want to hurt them.” Saying it feels like throwing an ex’s engagement ring in a lake. He immediately feels lighter, and yet at the same time, at a loss.

“Oh?” Mahito repeats, and Junpei can practically feel his excitement. His grip tightens.

“I know I shouldn’t. It’s better if… I can just turn away. Ignore them. But they don’t ignore me, so… why should I?” Sometimes, Junpei thinks his rage is like one of those underground rivers. On the surface it flows, but it seems calm, little more than a fast-flowing stream. You don’t know just how deep, winding, and violent it is until you’re already submerged in it. Then he remembers that he’s small and weak and powerless, and that his rage is a useless emotion.

His jaw unclenches, and his shoulders relax. His voice settles into its usual quiet, almost despondent tone. “I wish I could ignore them.”

Mahito is quiet for a moment, two, three. He taps Junpei’s spine gently. “Get down. There’s something I want to show you.”

Junpei clumsily clambers out of the hammock, the impact as he meets the concrete floor jarring his ankles. Mahito follows, much more delicately. He fumbles in his pockets, and Junpei watches the water in the channel flow. Dirty rainwater, carrying away the filth of the streets. His thoughts wander, remembering an old saying, one he’d thought about before.

“Here. Hold this.” Mahito holds something out to him, and Junpei takes it, turning it over in his hand. It looks… ugly, whatever it is. Small and shrivelled, a texture that reminds him of beef jerky. It looks like it’s got some kind of hollow face carved into it. He looks up to ask Mahito what it is, but Mahito is already walking away. He follows, and Mahito glances back at him.

“Tell me more about yourself, won’t you?”

“…Yeah.” Junpei murmurs, and for the first time in his life, he begins to speak his mind.

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#mahito #yoshino junpei #junpito #jay writes #bad end (2)

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tamboradventure · 5 years ago

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13 Off-the-Beaten-Path Things to See and Do in Paris

Posted: 6/24/2019 | June 24th, 2019

Paris is filled with famous attractions: the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Versailles, the catacombs, the Pantheon, the Arc de Triomphe, Sacre-Coeur. The list goes on. There are so many amazing sites here that you could spend days (heck, even weeks) just seeing the main, most well-known ones.

But there’s more to Paris than the sites that attract thousands upon thousands of visitors each day. While I was living Paris the past few months, I made it my mission to see some of the more unusual, lesser-known (but equally awesome) attractions (that didn’t coming with the aggravating crowds that make so many of Paris’ attractions unbearable).

And, while some of the things on the list below might not be “super secret” attractions or activities, they do fall into the category of “over looked attractions” so I included them.

Here are some of the best off-the-beaten-path things to see and do in Paris:

1. Le Manoir de Paris

This is where macabre museum meets haunted house. Numerous rooms highlight some of the more unsettling aspects of Paris’s long and often dark past, such as the Phantom of the Opera, vampires, or the crocodiles in the sewers. Using real actors as well as animatronics, the city’s gruesome and unsettling history is brought to life in an interesting way. In addition to their museum, they also have escape rooms as well as different levels of intensity depending on how scared you get!

18 Rue de Paradis, +33 6 70 89 35 87, lemanoirdeparis.com. Open Fridays 6pm-9:30pm and weekends 3pm-6:30pm. Admission is 29 EUR for adults and 20 EUR for children 10-15.

2. Musée Édith Piaf

Édith Piaf is perhaps the most famous French singer from the 1930s to the 1960s, and know around the world for her song La vie en rose and Non, je ne regrette rien (which appeared in the movie Inception). She lived in a little apartment in the Ménilmontant district at the start of her career, which has been turned into tiny museum dedicated to her. You get a glimpse at her life through her gold and platinum records, photographs, clothing, letters from fans, posters, recordings, and sheet music.

5 Rue Crespin du Gast, +33 1 43 55 52 72. Open Monday-Wednesday 1pm-6pm and Thursdays 10am-12pm. Admission is free, but you’ll need to make an appointment. You’ll also want to either speak decent French or go with someone who does.

3. Musée Curie

Marie Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize (and the only woman to win it twice) for her research into radioactivity (a word that she invented). She was the first female professor at the University of Paris as well as the first woman to be entombed in the Panthéon on her own merits. Located in the 5th arrondissement, this museum, in her old laboratory, highlights her radiological research. It’s insightful and eye-opening for anyone unfamiliar with her historic discoveries.

1 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, +33 1 56 24 55 33, musee.curie.fr. Open Wednesday-Saturday 1pm-5pm. Admission is free.

4. Archives Nationales

Opened in 1867, the National Archives houses thousands of historical documents dating back to 625 CE. One of six national archives in the country, the museum sheds light on France’s turbulent past, providing nuanced historical details and context through permanent and temporary exhibitions.

Built by the order of Napoleon I, the building itself (known as the Hôtel de Soubise) is absolutely stunning. It is in the late Baroque style, embracing long columns and lots of statues and sculptures. It features immaculate grounds and gardens as well. They always hold a lot of good exhibitions too.

59 Rue Guynemer, +33 1 75 47 20 02, archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/en. Open Monday-Saturday 9am-5pm. Admission is 8 EUR per person.

5. The Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy

Opened in 1898, this museum is home to over 1,000 animal skeletons from around the world, including complete skeletons of elephants, large cats, and even dinosaurs. It’s as interesting as it is unsettling: all the animals are facing the same way, making it look like you’re in the midst of some undead stampede!

2 Rue Buffon, +33 1 40 79 56 01, http://bit.ly/2B0lruZ. Open daily 10am-6pm (closed Tuesdays). Admission is free.

6. The Vampire Museum

Paris has a long history with the esoteric, one that is brought to life in this fascinating (if not macabre) museum founded by an eccentric scholar to showcase his knowledge of the undead and esoteric. Here you’ll find vampire-killing kits, rare texts on demonology, and mysterious ancient relics. It’s a busy, eclectic, creepy museum that’s a feast for the eyes and one worthy of a visit if you’re at all interested in more obscure (and fanciful) tales. It’s a fun little, kitsch museum.

14 Rue Jules David, +33 1 43 62 80 76, artclips.free.fr/musee_des_vampires/MuseeVampires1.html. You’ll need to make an appointment in advance by phone. (Don’t worry if the voicemail greeting is in French — the curator speakers perfect English).

7. Petite Ceinture

In use from 1862 through 1964, the railway circling Paris was abandoned when the city expanded beyond its limits. It’s mostly hidden behind buildings and covered in wild plants and grass now, though some sections are now officially open to the public. You’ll find all sorts of flowers and street art along the tracks.

While some sections are illegal to visit, near Parc Georges Brassens you’ll find a section of the tracks known as the ‘Passage de la Petite Ceinture’ that is both free and legal to visit. It’s located in the 15e arrondissement.

8. The Salvador Dalí Sundial

This surrealist sundial was created by world-renowned artist Salvador Dalí. Located on Rue Saint-Jacques, it’s is a mix of a human face and a scallop shell (the symbol of the Camino to Santiago, since the street is named after the saint). While the sundial doesn’t actually work, it’s nevertheless an easy way to see a piece of artwork by one of the most famous artists in the world.

27 Rue Saint-Jacques. Open 24/7 with no admission.

9. Montmartre Cemetery

While the Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest and most popular in Paris, for a more secluded stroll, check out the Montmartre Cemetery. Plenty of people visit the top of Montmartre for Sacré-Coeur and the view, but few take the time to wander this cemetery sitting at the foot of the district. It opened in 1825 and is home to many cobwebbed mausoleums, as well as a handful of stray cats. You won’t see many people here, so you can explore in peace.

20 Avenue Rachel, +33 1 53 42 36 30, paris.fr/equipements/cimetiere-de-montmartre-5061. Open Monday-Friday 8am-6pm, Saturdays 8:30am-6pm, and Sundays 9am-6pm.

10. The Museum of Counterfeiting

Opened in 1972, this museum is home to counterfeit items that have been collected by France’s customs agents and police (as well as donated items from brands and consumers alike). There are over 500 items in the museum, ranging from counterfeit art and luxury goods to more mundane items, like cleaning supplies. While some knockoffs are impressive in their duplicity, it’s also funny to see just how bad some counterfeiters were!

16 Rue de la Faisanderie, +33 1 56 26 14 03, musee-contrefacon.com. Open Monday-Saturday 2pm-5:30pm. Admission is 6 EUR per person for adults and 5 EUR for students and seniors.

11. Promenade Planteé (Coulée verte René-Dumont)

This tree-lined walkway is a greenbelt that extends almost 5km along the old Vincennes railway line. The railway line ceased functioning in 1969, with the park being inaugurated a few decades afterward. Until New York built their High Line, it was the only elevated park in the entire world. (And, honestly, this is way nicer the the NYC High Line). You’ll find lots of trees, flowers, ponds, and places to sit along this long path that stretches from Bastile to the edge of Paris. It’s al ong really easy and beautiful walk. You won’t find many people here. Even on a nice day, it’s rather empty. It quickly became one of my favorite things to do in Paris and I can’t recommend coming here enough!

1 Coulée verte René-Dumont (12th arrondissement). Open daily from 8am-9:30pm. Admission is free.

12. Canal Saint-Martin

Stretching 4.5km, the Canal Saint-Martin is a man-made waterway commissioned by Napoleon. Construction finished in 1825, connecting the Canal de l’Ourcq to the Seine via both above ground locks and underground tunnels. While not any secret spot (on a nice day, you’ll find the canal lined with people), it’s mostly a spot for locals who want to have a picnic and relax. So, say no to the Siene, and come have your outdoor picnic along the canal. It’s more relaxing and there will be fewer people!

The canal starts at Place de Stalingrad and ends at Quai de la Râpée. Canal cruises last 2.5 hours and cost around 16 EUR per person.

13. Museé de Montmartre

Founded in 1960, this museum is located throughout two building that date back to the 17th century. Over the years, the buildings were home to many famous writers and painters. The gardens of the museum were actually renovated to look more like the gardens in Renoir’s paintings (there is also a vineyard nearby that dates back to the Middle Ages but it makes horrible wine). The museum’s permanent collection includes a wide variety of paintings, posters, and drawings.

12 Rue Cortot, +33 1 49 25 89 39, museedemontmartre.fr/en/le-musee. Open daily from 10am-6pm (7pm in the summer). Admission is 12 EUR for adults, which includes an audio guide. Discounts are available for students, children, and persons with disabilities.

***

While the main sights in Paris are always worth checking out, but if you want to be more than a tourist and develop a greater appreciation for the City of Light’s unique and complex history, visit these unconventional and unusual attractions in Paris.

Book Your Trip to Paris: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time. Some of my favorite places to stay in Paris are:

St. Christopher’s Canal – Comfy spot on the canal. During the summer months, the terrace is hopping!

3 Ducks Hostel – This hostel has one of the cheapest bars in the city, and it’s just a 10-minute walk to the Eiffel Tower.

Les Piaules – Fantastic chimney lounge, a cool bar, and a rooftop space. It’s a great place to meet people!

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

World Nomads (for everyone below 70)

Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

Looking for more information on visiting Paris? Check out my in-depth destination guide to Paris with more tips on what to see, do, costs, ways to save, and much, much more!

Photo credit: 4 – Adrian Grycuk, 5, 8 – Guilhem Vellut, 6 – Jim Linwood, 9 – Joanna Penn, 10 – Son of Groucho, 12 – PPun, 13 – advencap, 15 – Museé de Montmartre

The post 13 Off-the-Beaten-Path Things to See and Do in Paris appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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soriseerakyra · 8 years ago

Text

Nice to Meet You -5-

Warnings:none

Bruce Wayne’s hands were large, but not in a scary way. He has slight scars on them but for the most part they were as well maintained as could be expected of a billionaire. You watched as his hand dwarfed the cardboard coffee cup as he brought it up to his mouth. You took a sip of your own drink as you watched him carefully from the corner of your eye. If he turned out to be a crazy, those large hands of his could be around your neck in an instant.

“I’m surprised you didn’t want to sit in the shop like last time,” he remarks.

“It was a totally different vibe from the other place,” you say looking out the scenery. “Total assholes in there.”

“How could you tell?”

“Bright but agitating lighting, small uncomfortable hard chairs, clinical white walls with a hint of red, all signs that they want you to come in and buy their shit but not actually sit down and enjoy it.”

“You’re perceptive.”

“No, I’m paranoid and a more than a little self-conscious, so over the years I’ve picked up on clues that show when I’m not wanted.”

“Does this mean you’re comfortable with me then? You did agree to come to a park at night with a guy you have personally described as a sleaze-ball.”

It was true. After you noticed the atmosphere at the coffee shop you wanted to still spend time with Bruce. There were a few signs outside the store the pointed to the location of a park, when he suggested that the two of you walk their you took him up on his offer, despite the fact you were sure that if he wanted he could crush you if he wanted too. So now the two of you are watching the sun set, on a small dirty bench, in a slightly secluded park.

“Sure, let’s go with that.”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “I wouldn’t have been offended if you said no.”

You looked at his blue eyes and found sincerity in them. Your eyes flick across the entirety of his face and you notice the gentle curve of his smile and you feel a rush of hot blood not only make it way to your cheeks but your nose as well. You could feel a slight sheen a sweat formed from the heavy blush and you brought your coffee back to your lips to disguise your embarrassment.

You really hoped he wasn’t crazy, he was so nice to look at.

“You ok?” He asks concerned at your silence.

“Y-yeah just wanted to finish it before it got cold,” you say as you slightly shake your cup.

He looks at you with a slightly raised eyebrow, but he lets it go as he finishes his own.

“So,” he starts, “Carlisle and Preston, how did that happen?”

“Oh, I’ve worked for them for a while now, about five years.”

“You like it?”

“Yeah,” you say with a shrug. “They’re cool guys, I mean as cool as CEOs of an accounting firm can be.”

“Five years,” he muses, “They’ve only been here for two, so you must have come from the West Coast.”

“Pick up on that, did you?” You say with a raised eyebrow. “Hope we didn’t step on anyone toes.”

“Not mine,” he says with a shrug, “Those guys at Wessler and Burns, though, they tend to hold a grudge.”

“Oh, I know, when I threatened them during that interview they tried to turn the tables on me, told me that they would get their lawyers to pursue me.”

“What exactly did you say?”

“Like I told you on the phone, threatened for the restraining order and I may have probably implied that they could possibly look like pedophiles.”

He stared at you blankly for a moment.

“That would get the lawyers to come out,” he started. “But if you have a job, why did you go to the interview.”

You looked at him for a moment, lips puckering at the idea of telling him the truth. It wasn’t a large secret, but you also weren’t sure it was completely legal. You didn’t want Bruce to think less of you.

“I was spying,” you say after mulling it over.

“Spying?” he questions with a furrowed brow. “For your job?”

You huff and instinctively lean in closer to the man, as if you were guarding some sort of top secret.

“We’ve had a lot of success, you know?” you start. “I’ve been with these guys for a while, for half of the firm’s life. We’re successful because we aren’t the squares you envision when you think accountant.”

“I’ve heard that,” he remarks has he listened to you intently.

“Each floor takes care of its own like a little family. That dinner I took Camille to? We all chipped in so we could send her off in style. The benefits are great, and for those of us who came from California or Washington or Oregon, the set up for these buildings was so similar to what we were used to, we were happy to come and help the guys expand out here. We felt like it was our duty to help our family grow.”

“What happened?”

“About two months back, employees started leaving.”

“To work at other firms?”

“That what I thought. But they just started not showing up to work. And it wasn’t just one or two we’ve lost about twenty. About two for every floor.”

Bruce sat back, hairs on the back of his neck standing slightly on end. There had been no chatter about twenty missing people.

“Strange, right?” you say looking in his eyes and taking in his reaction. “I asked Michael-“

“Michael Carlisle?”

“Yeah, he swings by sometimes. I asked him if he knew what was happening. He just said that we were being poached for talent. At first I believed him.”

“What changed that?”

“One of the people that went missing was a guy from the San Francisco branch, like me. His name was Spencer Weisman. We weren’t the closest, hell the only person I’ve gotten super close to is Camille, but he was nice. Back when we worked out in SF he used to give me rides to corporate events or home if it was late, and he was never creepy about it. He was just a good person.

“He got transferred at the same time I did and he worked on the same floor I did. He was one of the ones that went missing. So, I did some asking around and I found out that majority of those who were gone were from out west.”

“That’s strange especially considering what you told me about the family atmosphere. It doesn’t seem like the type of place where a person up and leave.”

You nod your head, glad that he followed your train of thought.

“So, I thought, if they really were getting poached, that you’d see them somewhere, out for coffee, dinner, at another firm.”

“You went to look for them.”

“Uh-huh, well at least look for Spencer so I could have any sort of truth, but I never found him or anyone.”

“Did anyone else know about this? About what you found out?”

“Just Camille. She thought I was being paranoid though, but she hasn’t been here as long as I have, you know? She just got here about a year and a half ago, she doesn’t get the ‘family’ aspect.”

He pauses for a minute and observes your face, almost as he’s making sure that you aren’t reading too much into something that could be coincidences. When he found whatever he was looking for he took his phone from his pocket. You saw him quickly type in something before he turned back to you.

“I hope that your friend pops up. I’m sure its nothing to worry about.”

“I hope so, too,” you say.

“It’s getting late,” he looks at you apologetically. “I can take you home now if you want.”

You look at him skeptically. While the two of you had missed the sunset and it was now dark outside, it wasn’t anything you’d considered close to late. However, you were in an area where you weren’t completely sure of your surroundings and you wouldn’t want to be caught outside too late.

“You can take me to the nearest train station.”

“Still don’t trust that I’m not out to hurt you.”

You look at him and shrug, “Maybe next time I’ll let you drop me off somewhere in my neighborhood.”

***

Bruce dropped you off at the train with a wink and a smile, he’d also promised to call you to set up your next date. After you got out of the car you waved to him as he drove away from the station.

You headed down into the tunnel, and paid your fair. As you waited on the platform you couldn’t help to feel a little nervous. You never liked the underground stations, the only escape route was either through the tunnels or back up some stairs, and neither were good for traversing in a panic.

“You okay, miss?”

You jumped at the sound of the voice and looked up to see one of the attendees looking at you worriedly, dark eyebrows furrowed with concern.

“Oh, yeah sorry just lost in my thoughts,” you say with a small smile.

“Oh ok, just making sure,” he said shoulders relaxing, “you looked lost.”

“This isn’t my normal station, so I was just a little confused.”

“Understandable,” he said with a nod. “All right, have a good evening ma’am.”

You watched as he walked away further down that platform before he turned the corner, like heading back to his booth.

Ten minutes passed and then the train arrived with gust of wind that was simultaneously refreshing and revolting. It relieved some of the hot air that was trapped in the station but the smell made you want to gag.

The 10-minute train ride turned into a 45-minute odyssey. It was just your luck that a sewer main burst as soon as the train passed its first stop.

You took a deep breath and relished in the fresh air as you came up top side from the station. Slipping your phone from your pocket to check the time, you see that it ‘9:00 p.m.’

You grip your phone tightly, before slipping it back into your pocket. Sliding your hands carefully over your pockets, make sure that all of your belongings are in places that are easily accessible, specifically your keys and your pepper spray. Satisfied you leave the safety of the station and begin to make your journey home.

“Stoooppp!!!! SOME ONE HELP ME!!! LET GOOO!”

The screams of a woman made your heart stop. You could hear ringing in your ears and your stomach started to tighten up in fear. You run a hand down your back-right pocket feeling for the can of pepper spray. Arming yourself, you swallow thickly before you make your way to the voice.

It’s an alley, dark, wet, and heavily graffitied. The lamppost at the entrance of the alley lights enough where you can see that its filled with trash, mainly old newspapers and empty food containers.

Approaching slowly, you see the woman who screaming and the heavy visage of her attacker. Her small hands tried to beat him a way, but it was no use. The man had a large, seemingly gloved hand across her mouth stopping her from screaming the way she was before. He had her pinned against the wall at the end of alley. A large leg pressing his body on hers trapping her while he tried to pry the purse away from the struggling woman.

“H-hey!” you say readying your spray, but he doesn’t stop. You don’t blame him. You wonder if he even heard you. You had meant to get his attention but the words seemed not to travel too far from your own mouth.

“I SAID ‘HEY’ ASSHOLE!”, you say this time, louder and more clearly. It had the desired effect as he turned his attention away from the woman. He seemed startled and whipped his head around seemingly spooked. However, once he saw your slightly trembling form her relaxed.

“OH!” he starts, “I thought you was one of those bat bitches.”

“What does that even mean?” you question with a shake of your head. “Anyway, let that woman go.”

He stops and looks at you genuinely confused about why you thought you had any ability to make him stop. Without the pressure of the man’s body on hers the woman falls to the ground and catches her breath. She looks at you worriedly, but you can’t offer any strong words or a glance that would say the both of you would get out of this encounter unharmed.

“What exactly are you gonna do, lady?” He says as he stalks toward you. You steel yourself. The panic that you had before is still there. Your body feels lighter than it was before and you knew that if you took off running right now, there would be no way in hell that he would be able to catch you.

“I-,” you start, but don’t finish. A gust of air zooms past you catching you off guard and making you snap your eyes shut. When you open them, the threatening man was on the ground, with a small boy in a fighting stance standing over him.

“Heathen,” the small boy spits out before relaxing. You watch as he flips the man’s body over and cuffs him.

He looks at the woman down the at the end of the alley, whose looking at him with wide almost adoring eyes. He turns his attention to you. He walks up to you rather authoritatively and you feel slightly intimidated. He’s wearing a green mask, with a red and black outfit that has a large R on the chest as an insignia and a yellow and black cape. He puts his hands on his hips before he speaks.

“Your friend is likely going to go into shock, call the authorities and have them send an ambulance.”

You don’t say anything as you stare blankly at the boy. You can feel the blood rushing to your head and you feel slightly dizzy. The adrenaline that made you brave earlier is gone and you can feel the rush of anxiety feeling you as you realize what you had just done, how much danger that you’d put yourself in. You felt light headed and suddenly your knees hit the ground, but before you could fall over completely and hit your head the boy caught you and mad sure that you spilled over gently instead of just falling over.

“Or you can do that.”

#bruce wayne #bruce x reader #bruce imagine #bruce wayne imagine #bruce wayne x reader #batman imagine #batman x reader #batman

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captain-zajjy · 7 years ago

Text

Solstice, Chapter 13 - A Final Fantasy XV Story

Pairing: Ignis x Female Original Character

AO3 | Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

A/N: Flexing my horror writer muscles a bit here... As you can probably tell by the tone of this chapter, I intend to do a pretty dark take on daemons and the World of Ruin.

Valeria knew what she was doing was dangerous - stupid, even - but Caligo’s beating had knocked something loose in her that left her teetering on the edge of rationality. She stuffed what little she had in a backpack, armed herself with a flashlight and spare batteries, and set out for the nearest subway station an hour before the Imperial-imposed curfew took effect (ever since the days had begun to inexplicably grow shorter, the Niffs kept pushing it back, earlier and earlier). Though it wasn’t a route she’d ever taken in her other, normal life, Valeria knew the Manufacturing District had its own subway stop if she followed the tracks westbound, and, since the trains still weren’t running, she didn’t think the Niffs bothered patrolling underground.

It was, predictably, dark inside the station, and she swung the flashlight around, illuminating the platform with its eerie blue-white beam. There were signs and posters for businesses still boasting their sales and deals, unaware that the world they belonged to no longer existed. The newsstand remained as well, abandoned by its clerk but appearing otherwise almost achingly familiar, plastered with headlines from months ago.

After a moment of hesitation, Valeria grabbed a handful of candy bars and shoved them in her bag; it felt a little wrong, like stealing, even though she knew nobody would mind. She hopped off the platform onto the tracks, tossing a rock first just to make sure nothing was somehow still electrified. It wasn’t. When she came to the end of the station, where the tracks narrowed into a tunnel, she stopped, her heart pounding far harder than necessary for a walk. It’s so dark...

This was what Ignis saw all the time, now - and without even the narrowest sliver of light from a flashlight. Rather than dwelling on just how damn sad that was, she set her jaw, told her legs to stop shaking and start moving. If he can do this for the rest of his life, I can do it for a few hours.

And like Ignis must have also been doing now, she found her other senses straining, on high alert. It was silent down here, almost impossibly so, the only noise being her footsteps echoing off the walls of the tunnel. The air was musty and stale, like an old tomb.

But as she progressed through the dark tunnel, the smell grew fetid and thick, like something rotten. Something dead. Buzzing swarms of flies, scattering and swirling around her flashlight, only served to confirm it. The realization caused her pulse to quicken, but she quickly chastised herself.

Of course there was something dead down here. Despite the city’s best efforts to keep things clean, all sorts of vermin made these dark tunnels their home, and without humans passing through and leaving behind scraps and garbage, most of - if not all - the creatures must have starved to death. She only hoped the same fate didn’t befall her after she left the city. Worth the risk, she thought. To be free of the Empire.

Valeria stepped on something soft and squishy, that simultaneously crunched under foot. Angling her light at the ground, she saw a banded tail at one end, whiskers and a small snout at the other. And in between was a mess of black fur and congealed blood, writhing with dozens of white, squirming maggots.

Valeria recoiled with a shriek, clapping a hand over her mouth to keep herself from retching. That rat hadn’t just died; it had been torn apart. Gods... She scraped her shoe against the train tracks and quickly scanned the rest of the area with her flashlight. There was more blood, more swirling clouds of flies, but no more rats - living or dead.

No turning back. As startling and disgusting as it was, it was just a dead rat. Valeria quickly pressed forward, this time taking more care to examine the the ground ahead. After rounding a bend, she finally came upon the stop for the Manufacturing District, pulling herself up onto the platform where thousands of workers used to wait every evening for the train. Sensing movement in her peripheral vision, Valeria spun, shining the flashlight all around, but there was nothing there. Damn, she thought. She needed to get this over with and get the hell out of the city before paranoia overtook her completely.

Dropping her bag at the base of the stairwell, Valeria switched off the flashlight and tucked it inside her coat pocket, crouching as she crept up the steps. The fresh, crisp air hitting her face felt every bit as refreshing as a cold glass of water on a hot day. The sun had already begun to set, but there was still enough light to see by as she poked her head out into the street. Empty.

Valeria darted out from the subway entrance to the corner of the nearest building, leaning to peer around it. Two blocks away she saw a pair of Imperial soldiers guarding the entrance to a four-story factory building. So it’s true. Loqi may have been lying about the human experiments (she hoped), but the Niffs were up to something here.

Though the guards appeared lax - one was sitting on a pail and smoking a cigarette, while the other traced lazy circles in the gravel with the toe of his boot - Valeria knew she’d never be able to get past them directly. So, she went around to the other side of the building, finding a row of street level windows. The glass was grimy with dirt and dust, but remained transparent enough to see through. She saw abandoned offices beyond, probably once occupied by managers or other administrative types, now host to empty desks and dusty bookshelves.

The third window she tried was unlocked. It whined a little on its hinges, causing Valeria to duck under the desk as soon as she was inside. This is insane. The rational part of her brain was screaming. But now curiosity had her in its steely grip, as much as any desire to find the missing Felix or to gather information for Ignis.

After waiting a few agonizing minutes, she was satisfied that no one had heard her and crept to the door, opening it just wide enough to get a view of the hallway. Aside from a single, old lightbulb glowing overhead, the coast was clear. The Niffs, it seemed, were not using this part of the building much at all. Valeria followed the hallway around on tip-toe, dropping to her knees when she saw that the door at the end of the corridor had a window built-in.

Slowly, cautiously, she raised her head to survey what had once been the factory floor. Now it was a maze of plastic sheeting, vaguely reminiscent of the relief camp, lit only with a dull, reddish light, similar to that of a photographer’s darkroom. Unlike the tents back at the camp, this material was not entirely opaque, and she saw black, vaguely humanoid shapes moving in the distance. Were those Niffs? People who had been taken? There was only one way to find out.

Valeria pushed the heavy door open just wide enough for her to slide inside, immediately gagging at the overwhelming stink of antiseptic, so strong it stung her eyes and nose. Crouching, she inched forward toward the shapes in the distance, ignoring the way the awkward position caused the muscles in her legs to burn.

“And I still haven’t heard from my sister,” a voice, male, said.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” a woman replied, her tone casual, almost flippant. “Gralea might be a mess, but I’m sure they’ve got Zegnautus locked down tight.” Both people sounded slightly muffled, like they were wearing masks or helmets.

Valeria turned a corner in the strange red, plastic maze, confronted with something that resembled an operating table - empty, fortunately, but the thick leather straps attached to the sides made her feel vaguely queasy.

“Still, I wish my transfer to the Keep had gone through,” the man was saying, his voice much nearer now.

“Might be for the best that it didn’t,” his companion replied.

“You’ve got to be joking,” the man said. “The chance to study the Crystal - that’s once in a lifetime stuff we’re talking about.”

“Like the Chancellor lets lab rats like us near the Crystal.” The woman scoffed. “Why do you think he locked it up in Zegnautus in the first place?”

The Crystal. Zegnautus Keep. Valeria had only begun to contemplate that very valuable information when something caught her eye, something that threatened to make her forget everything she’d heard and seen up until now.

Through a small gap in the plastic sheeting where two edges didn’t quite meet, she spied another gurney, only this time there was something strapped to it. It was human in shape - two arms, two legs, but at least eight feet tall, far too long to be a person. Spindly fingers, each longer than her entire hand, hung off the side, twitching and shaking spasmodically. The skin appeared stretched taut, gray and purple like a bruise. And, though the creature’s head was covered by some sort of sheet, it was most certainly still alive, emitting a gurgle as it inhaled, a rattle when it exhaled. It was still alive, even though its chest had been wrenched open, cracked, blackened ribs split in two and reaching up toward the sky.

Two people, clad head to toe in shapeless suits of black plastic, hunched over the monstrous, broken thing, continuing their idle prattle about their careers. Sheer horror and lack of comprehension kept Valeria glued to the spot, unable to turn away.

The smaller of the two people - the woman - pulled something resembling a black, sticky hunk of meat from the creature’s open chest cavity, filling the air with the stink of sulphur. She placed it on a small scale on the counter behind her.

“Liver weighs 8.3 kilograms,” she said, as her partner scribbled something down on a clipboard.

“That’s what? Five times the average human size?” the man asked.

The woman shrugged, placing the organ into a jar. “Something like that. Pancreas next?”

No. Valeria began to walk backwards, shaking her head. They were dissecting that thing - a daemon, it almost certainly had to be a daemon - while it was still alive. And regardless of how foul and allegedly dangerous daemons were supposed to be, there was something still inherently wrong, inhumane about it - the kind of crude savagery that passed for science in primitive societies, not the here and now. And, if they were doing this to daemons, how could she say they’d draw the line there? Why not animals? People?

Oh, Gods... Valeria turned and quickly tried to retrace her steps, getting turned around and disoriented in the eerie, red labyrinth. It all looked the same. She dashed out the first door she saw, ending up in a darkened room. This place, these people..., she thought, trying to quell the sick feeling mounting in her gut. Loqi was right about everything.

“...home...”

Valeria jerked to attention, flattening herself against the wall.

“I want...home...” The voice was a raspy hiss, its affect flat, almost robotic.

“W-who’s there?” Valeria whispered, trembling fingers reaching for the flashlight in her pocket.

“Home home I want to go home I want to go home I want to go...”

The way this person (thing?) spoke put her in the mind of a parrot, mindlessly repeating the same phrase without comprehension of its meaning.

Valeria switched on her light. The wall opposite her was lined with cages, each roughly the size of a kennel for a large dog. All were empty, except one.

A naked figure huddled against the bars, its skin sickly gray-white, large swaths of its body coated in some dark, oil-like goo. Spiky bones protruded from its emaciated back, longer and sharper than vertebrae should be. Tufts of long, blonde hair clung to its withered skull. The creature hissed and scurried away from the flashlight beam to the corner of its cell, and Valeria saw a single eye glowing bright in the darkness, reflecting the light like a cat.

“You...” This thing, it couldn’t be human. But it talked like one, still looked like one in spite of its ghastly exterior.

“The light...it burns. It burns it burns...”

There was a rattling gasp, and then the voice changed from its mindless repetition to one that was desperate, thick with emotion. “The light, please, please.”

Valeria’s heart clenched. That begging, that imploring tone - she could no longer deny it. This was a person. A person the Niffs had done something horrible to.

“I...I’ll turn it off,” Valeria said, flicking off the flashlight.

“NO!” Just as the room plunged back into darkness, the captive charged forward, colliding into the bars of its cage with a clang and a snarl. “No no no, the light, all the light, please, please...before I forget...”

“Are there...are there others like you?” Valeria was almost afraid to ask.

The prisoner ignored her. “Please, please, I don’t want to forget. I don’t want to...not again...”

Valeria swallowed, sinking against the wall. She aimed her flashlight directly at the cell, squeezed her eyes shut, and turned it back on.

There was a terrible, shrill scream, and, in spite of herself, Valeria’s eyes snapped open to see the figure doubled over on the floor, its skin burning black and crisp wherever the light touched it. It was shrieking in pain, revealing a mouth half-full of yellow, pointed teeth, but it clung to the cell bars to stay in the light, even as its fingers turned to char.

“I’m sorry,” was all Valeria could whisper to it. “I’m so sorry.”

A mass of black bile foamed from its lips, cutting off its cries. The viscous liquid spilled out onto the floor, stinking once again of sulphur, just like the daemon’s blood back on the factory floor. After what seemed like a gallon had spilled out, the unfortunate thing finally slumped forward against the bars, completely still.

Oh my Gods, was all Valeria could think. This isn’t real. This can’t be real. But the very real sound of shouts and pounding footsteps reminded her she wasn’t dreaming. Jumping over the black pool on the floor, she ran out a door located on the far side of the room, and straight into a guard.

The impact knocked the breath from her lungs, but his shock was greater than hers, and Valeria dodged to his side, running toward a larger set of double doors at the end of the hallway.

“Hey!” a gruff voice shouted at her as she tumbled down the stairs onto the outside street. Another set of hands tried to grab her arm, but she wrenched herself free.

“Stop! Stop, dammit!”

Valeria didn’t even hear them. She was solely focused on the subway entrance several blocks away, her salvation. She could lose them in the dark, lose them and get away from this horrible place. The guards in all their armor were no match for her sprinting down the street, which they must have realized, as they began to shoot at her instead.

The sound of machine gunfire only caused her adrenaline to spike further, layering another horrible night on top of this one, heightening her singular instinct to flee. The shots went wide, chipping away brick overhead, and she half-ran, half-fell down the steps to the subway station below, somehow managing to grab her bag at the base of the platform.

Valeria leaped onto the tracks and began to run, startled by the strange, skittering sounds all around her. Something was down here now, scurrying away from the beam of her flashlight, clutching at her ankles and shins.

She whirled around, trying to kick whatever it was off, just in time to see the guards coming down the stairs.

“Shit! Daem-” The guard’s voice was cut off as something long and sharp was shoved into his gut. His hand must have seized on the trigger of his rifle on instinct, its muzzle flashes briefly illuminating the horned, black carapace of the multi-legged monster impaling him.

She heard a scream and a crunch off to her right and spun around, her flashlight illuminating the twitching legs of the other guard protruding from the maw of a dark, gelatinous mass.

Run. It was her mother again, in her ear. Run. And don’t look back. So she did. She ran, clutching her flashlight, her only weapon against the darkness. She could hear the creatures behind her, beside her, swarming the tracks and subway walls. Valeria swung her light all around in an attempt to ward them off, briefly illuminating twisted limbs, claws, teeth. If the attack on Insomnia had been hell on Eos, then this was something far worse, something even the darkest recesses of her subconscious could not have conjured if it tried.

Finally, after an eternity, the monsters relented, but she still ran, ran until she came to the final subway stop and was back out on the street. It was still nighttime, and she stumbled over to a patch of moonlight, collapsing on her knees until she caught her breath.

I’m sorry, Felix, she thought. I’m sorry I’m such a coward.

But if she’d had any small, lingering doubts about leaving the city, they were most definitely gone now. Valeria picked herself up, her legs trembling like jelly with exhaustion, and made her way through abandoned backstreets and alleys to the Wall. She could see the floodlights from where the Niffs patrolled their blockades, but the King’s passing had left the structure crumbling, and it wasn’t long until she found a crack just wide enough for her to squeeze through.

And, without turning back, she left Insomnia, her city, her home, behind.

Ignis sat alone on the empty train car, crossing his arms to ward off the encroaching chill as they left the relative safety of Tenebrae and neared Ghorovas and the Glacian’s frozen corpse. He had insisted that Biggs and Wedge keep the heat running at a minimum; the last thing they needed was to run out of fuel before they reached Gralea.

Gladiolus had gone off to scavenge the dining car for supplies, brushing off Ignis’s concerns that it was tantamount to theft (“Who else is gonna use this stuff, Iggy?”), while Noctis had remained asleep in his bunk. Whatever information he’d received from the retainer of House Fleuret had left him in a depressive mood, and, while Ignis refrained from prying into his liege’s private affairs, he nonetheless hoped that some rest and solitude would suffice to ease his melancholy.

Without Prompto there to goad them into optimism, the bleak reality of their situation had descended upon the remaining trio like a dark cloud. Just a bit longer, Prompto, Ignis thought. If anyone could cling to hope of a rescue, it was him.

To Ignis’s surprise, his phone began to ring, the electronic chime echoing loudly throughout the vacant car. He extracted it from his pocket, thinking he really ought to get his caller ID sorted out (Prompto, the most tech-savvy of their group, had been assisting him with the various voice-operated features of the device prior to his abduction). There were only three people it could have been: Prompto, although he almost certainly would have called Noctis first; Valeria, whom Ignis hadn’t heard from in several days, causing him yet another worry; or Noctis himself - and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time the Prince had called Ignis from less than two hundred feet away.

“Hello?” Ignis said as he took the call.

“Zegnautus.” The voice belonged to Valeria, although he could barely understand what she was saying. She sounded shaky and out of breath, and that was compounded by bursts of static as one or both of their phones dropped the signal.

“Zegnautus Keep...Crystal...Zegnautus.”

“The Crystal’s in Zegnautus Keep?” Ignis asked. They’d deduced it was somewhere in Gralea, but this was incredible news, perfectly in line with Aranea’s suspicions on the matter, allowing them to narrow their search to a single (albeit large and likely extremely well-guarded) building.

“Yes! Listen, I....go, Iggy. I couldn’t...”

“Val, slow down,” Ignis implored. “I can barely hear you. Are you alright?”

“I couldn’t stay here.” That phrase came across loud and clear before her next sentence was swallowed by a buzz of static. Just what had she done to come by this information on the Crystal?

Ignis wanted to ask, but with their phone service being what it was, he reluctantly decided that it was a conversation for another time.

“Go to Cape Caem,” he said slowly, careful to enunciate every word. “Gladio’s sister, Iris, is there. You’ll be safe.”

“Caem? That’s...Hello, Iggy?”

“I’m still here.” Curse these bloody things. “Go to Cape Caem,” he said once more. The only word he could make out in Valeria’s reply was ‘car,’ and it occurred to him that Caem was much too far of a journey to undertake on foot, particularly for someone with absolutely zero survival or combat training outside the city.

“Hammerhead Garage,” Ignis said. “The mechanic is a friend. She’ll get you set up with a vehicle.” Hopefully not a particularly valuable one. Valeria was, well...Ignis didn’t want to say an awful driver, but he did sometimes wonder how she had managed to pass the practical portion of the test. Even so, she ought to be able to travel from Hammerhead to Caem without causing a major accident.

“Hammerhead...Caem. Okay.” For a moment, the static cleared, and Ignis heard her voice as plainly as if she were sitting beside him. “The Empire, they’re doing terrible things, Iggy. Whatever it takes, whatever you have to do - stop them.”

#final fantasy xv #final fantasy 15 #ffxv #ff15 #ffxv fanfiction #ff15 fanfiction #ignis scientia #ignis #ignis x oc

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averbaldumpingground · 8 years ago

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“A little cat ghost, padding patiently around in limbo, trying to find that familiar, friendly lap...”

I am having a very hard time with writing lately, and my words are more forced than usual. So I may or may not disappear for a while.

In the meantime, I was reminded of a letter I read, many, many years ago, and, maybe if I attempt to pay things forward, some good karma will come my way. Without any other ado:

1. “’Why is it that you put your make-up on like that, like you’re a Valkyrie and you’re about to go off riding into battle?’”

2. The man sits, staring at the pond, the koi fish near the surface eating breadcrumbs, and all he knows, the only thing he thinks of, is that he can’t put on his wedding ring again.

3. It ended not with screaming or with silence, but with twin pinpoints of blue light, and footsteps like the San Andreas Fault, and how she kept hold of your hand, her whimpers drowning in the darkness.

4. He made the perfect woman, not of clay, but of thin wires and of silicon. But does an android want to live her life? Is she content playing the part of an enamored Galatea? What are her hopes, he asked her late one night. She has a month in which to ponder her own future.

5. The woman, old, and bent over the stove, stirs oatmeal as you watch her with rapt eyes. She tells you how she used to be a queen. But they’re not real, the stories, that, like porridge, she has fed you. She’s just somebody’s grandmother, you think, her kerchief colorful and tight around her thinning, grey, and wispy hair, her accent from the bowels of Brighton Beach. You know your folks pay her in the cash under the table. You think she’s going crazy with her age.

6. Why does the Sphinx ask riddles?

7. You wish on a star. The contract and the liability waiver show up in your mailbox within three business days.

8. You find a packet of love letters in your grandmother’s attic, tied with a ribbon, and addressed to you. Your mother turns pale when you ask her about them. They’re dated before you were born. Two centuries before. At least that’s what the fading paper makes you think. What else could 1867 mean?

9. You’re sitting on a park bench, teaching your nephew how to tie his shoes, and get into a heated debate with a passing dogwalker about proper shoe-tying technique.

10. Goldfish do have memories. They are collective and eternal. Unlike their lives, they don’t end with a flush.

11. The cities that they built in the clouds are collapsing. He cannot stay in the stratosphere.

12. Ducklings. It all started with ducklings. And now the devil owns part of her soul. But only the good part.

13. The prophecy said it would happen at solstice. The snow in the village lies thick. And her brew of herbs is unfinished. The god has a much grander plan.

14. What does a snake feel, wrapped up in a coil near its heat lamp, when it’s human child tries to hide from his parents’ divorce?

15. There are two thousand two hundred and forty miles between Memphis and Salem, Oregon. The car should survive well enough.

16. The crow hides his treasure, resplendent and gleaming, the diamonds so tiny and bright. But he feels a foreign sensation, like whispers or tender regard, and dreams, if crows dream, of a woman, her hair blowing loose in the wind.

17. I left you my heart in Sierra. It’s packed in a box made of wood. Beech wood or maybe red oak. The desert is empty without you. I’ve not seen a scorpion for days.

18. When you dance with me, it feels like a waltz I remember. But somehow, it’s only the waltz.

19. Do stars ever regret our wishes? Do they recollect human hopes?

20. Dirigible. The loveliest word in our language. The way her mouth speaks it is sin.

21. There was an Atlantis, they tell you, a bright, shining mecca once built out of glass and concrete, with streets always bustling with people and fast metal tubes underground to ferry its workers through tunnels and lights that would never go out. It tried to withstand the first flooding, with metal gondolas and buildings built higher than air.

22. The plague doctor mask hid his features, those blue eyes that burned through your soul, that smirk that he gave you in private. But here, in the festering street, where the beggar women sell posies, the click of his boots is a death knell.

23. How were the great pyramids built? You think that you are going crazy, your last thesis chapter is proof. But you can’t remember these edits. So you make yourself some more tea. And try to ignore that damn cat, who’s glaring at you and your laptop.

24. The man laughs, displaying his half-missing teeth. “Drink me,” the bottle had said. You may regret your decision.

25. Her world ends. But not with the nuclear winter. It ends with a name on her lips.

26. Sleep claimed her. It was the worst thing she could have succumbed to. The elders agreed. But her dreams were just the beginning. If she could survive them alone.

#prompts

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topfygad · 5 years ago

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12 Best Things To Do in Guanajuato, Mexico

The UNESCO listed city of Guanajuato is quite possibly the most picturesque place in all of Mexico. Brightly coloured buildings tumble-down the hillside, leading to lovely plazas and squares.

The temperature is perfect, the people are friendly and there are endless amounts of things to do in Guanajuato, making it a must-visit destination in Mexico.

After spending 5 nights in this lovely mountain town, we can honestly say that it’s a great place for travellers to visit, and we can’t wait to return.

There are numerous things to see in Guanajuato, but here’s my list of the 12 best.

1. Wander The Colourful Lanes

Guanajuato is a well-designed city with plenty of plazas and squares, and leading away from those squares are many lanes and alleyways just waiting to be explored.

The colours of the buildings are bright and cheerful, and the little streets are endless.

You may get lost in the labyrinth of streets in the hills, and if so, just wander downhill until you eventually arrive in the center of town.

The center of the city is pedestrian-only, meaning you can explore without worrying about vehicles, exhaust or loud horns honking.

So, where are all the cars? They’re underground!

That’s right, there’s hardly any traffic in Guanajuato due to the network of tunnels beneath the city.

These tunnels were initially built to prevent flooding of the nearby Rio Guanajuato (river) from damaging the city, but today the tunnels are now protecting the city from traffic.

This makes Guanajuato one of the most enjoyable cities to walk around in.

Walking around and exploring on foot is one of the best things to do in Guanajuato for sure. Put your phone away, and don’t worry about Google Maps here — getting lost is all part of the fun.

2. Visit The Mummy Museum

Of all the attractions in Guanajuato, visiting a museum filled with mummies is definitely the most offbeat.

One story says that these people had to be dug up from the cemetery in order to make room for new bodies.

Another states that a perpetual burial tax was issued and those who couldn’t afford it, had their beloved family members dug up and moved.

Regardless of which story is true, what was discovered wasn’t skeletons as planned.

Due to the large amounts of clay and limestone in the ground, the bodies became mummified!

Every local person you talk to will tell you to visit this museum, which houses over 100 mummified bodies. Mexicans are obsessed with death and their infatuation with this museum only helps to prove that.

Westerners may find it a bit eery, creepy and sad, as we’re not as comfortable with death as other cultures are. Regardless of how you feel, it’s a very interesting museum and one of the weirdest things to do in Guanajuato.

The museum is open from 9:00 – 6:00pm every day and costs 50 pesos ($2.10) to enter. Click here to find the Mummy Museum on the map.

☞ See More Mexico Articles Here:

3. Enjoy A Show At The Theatre

There are a couple of theatres in Guanajuato with Teatro Principal (main theatre) having performances and events weekly — typically on Fridays during the months of February – June.

The symphony orchestra is fabulous and tickets cost between 80 – 100 pesos ($3.40 – $4.25) for two hours of incredible music. If you’re wondering what to do for date night in Guanajuato, this is it. Click here to find Teatro Principal on the map.

Another option is to join this Airbnb Experience with a local.

You’ll learn all about the arts and music scene in Guanajuato and Mexico, take in a symphony performance (at either Juarez or Principal Theatre), and afterward, enjoy dinner at one of the top restaurants in the city. Click here to learn more.

4. Visit The Alley of The Kiss

The name of this famous alleyway comes from an old folk tale.

Apparently, two young people lived across the alley from each other and although the girl’s father forbade their relationship, they were in love and continued to see one another.

Because the lane is so narrow, their balconies almost touched, allowing the young couple to kiss in secret!

The story has a tragic ending, but if you go to this alleyway and stand on the red step and kiss your significant other, you’ll have 7 years of happiness.

For couples, this is one of the most romantic things to do in Guanajuato.

5. Go On a Food Tour (one of the best things to do in Guanajuato for foodies!)

If you’re interested in sampling delicious street foods, visiting some markets and walking around the city, this tour is for you!

The food in Mexico has historical significance and has actually been given UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status. Not only that, but the cuisine is so tasty. The best way to find (and eat) traditional food is by joining a tour with a knowledgable guide.

From authentic gorditas and sopes, to tomales and tacos, this food tour will take you around to all of the hot-spots and best vendors.

After devouring delicious snacks, sipping on Mexican coffee and finishing it all off with homemade ice cream, you’ll be ready for a nap. Check out Mexico Street Food Tours for details.

*Warning, this video will make you hungry!

6. Wander Through Diego Rivera’s Home

Diego Rivera was Frida’s husband and a famous artist in Mexico.

His home has now been turned into a museum/art gallery and you can wander through and take a glimpse into the rooms of his actual home — which are still set up with furniture.

In order to turn the home into an art gallery, the house has been added onto. You’ll find some fantastic pieces are here, by both Rivera’s and other more modern artists as well. Click here to find Diego’s home on the map.

7. Ride the Funicular

The funicular is a tram-car pulled by a cable, which takes you up the side of the mountain.

It’s kind of like an escalator, which is great as the mountainside is quite steep. Once at the top, you’ll be rewarded with spectacular views over the colourful city of Guanajuato, as well as an up-close view of the statue of Pipila, a local hero.

The funicular is located behind the Teatro Juarez. A one-way ticket costs 30 pesos, while a return journey is 60. I recommend taking the funicular up, and walking down. Click here to find it on the map.

8. Go Shopping

There are a few markets in town, but the most important (and biggest) is the Mercado Hidalgo.

Vendors set up shop here selling everything from fresh fruits and clothing to cheese and meat.

You may notice that the iron building sort of resembles a train station, and you’re right, that’s what it was initially supposed to be!

Even if you’re not interested in purchasing anything, it’s still worth a visit to see the unique building and the goods for sale.

9. Check Out The Churches and Cathedrals

There are numerous churches and cathedrals in and around the city center.

You can’t miss the vibrant yellow Basilica de Guanajuato which dominates the main plaza, while the San Cayetano (La Valenciana) is located out near the mines.

The Templo de la Compañía is considered one of the finest examples of Churrigueresque style in Latin America. The facade of this church may seem a bit rundown, but the interior is stunning.

Even if you’re not a religious person, you can’t help but be in awe of the beautiful structures.

10. Visit the Alhóndiga de Granaditas (art and history museum)

This building has been used for many things over the years.

Initially, it was a grain storehouse, before becoming a fortress for the Spaniards. After that, it was used as an armory, then a school, then a prison, before finally becoming a museum.

This was also the place of the first victory over the Spanish during the War Of Independence in 1810. Don’t miss the beautiful murals above the staircase.

The building is open Tuesday – Saturday from 10:00am – 6:00pm. The entrance fee is 30 pesos ($1.25), click here to find Alhondiga de Ganaditas on the map.

11. Join a Historical Walking Tour

Wandering around aimlessly in Guanajuato is fun, but if you want to learn about the buildings you’re looking at, the history of the city, and find some secret spots, then I suggest joining a walking tour with a local.

The same owner of the food tour listed above runs an interesting tour on foot around the city. During the trip, you’ll explore back alleys, two museums, Diego Rivera’s home, Teatro Juarez, and take a ride up the funicular to the spectacular viewpoint.

To end the tour, you’ll enjoy a coffee or alcoholic drink from a rooftop bar. This is a great way to spend a few hours and see some offtrack places in Guanajuato.

At the end, you’ll ride the funicular up to the stunning viewpoint and enjoy a coffee or alcoholic drink from a rooftop bar. Click here to learn more.

12. Explore The Mines

Guanajuato made a name for itself (and fortunes) due to the silver mines surrounding the city.

There are 2 mines that are worth visiting, but they aren’t for those who are claustrophobic.

El Nopal Mine is the closest to Guanajuato and is the smaller of the two.

Tour guides here are local university students who are studying this field. Many of the tours will only be held in Spanish, but it’s interesting to visit even if you don’t completely understand the language.

The cost to enter is just 30 pesos ($1.25), and a tip for the students is appreciated. You can find El Nopal Mine on the map here.

The second and larger mine in the area is La Valenciana.

This was the deepest and most extensive mine in the area and had it heyday during the 17th century.

Here, you can descend down a 60m shaft into the depths of the mine! This mine is one of the more unique places to visit, and experiences to have in Guanajuato.

The cost to entre La Valenciana is 30 pesos ($1.25). The mine is located 5 kilometers from the city center. You can find it on the map here.

Now You Know What To Do in Guanajuato

Never during our travels have we fallen in love so quickly with a city. Guanajuato is an incredible place with many interesting things to see and do.

This list literally could have gone on and on! We highly recommend visiting this UNESCO city in Mexico and hope you love it as much as we did.

And, don’t miss our epic travel guide to Mexico which lists everything you need to know about travelling to this amazing country.

Images in this article were provided by Shutterstock, a website for sourcing royalty-free images and videos. Learn more here.

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Disclaimer: Some links in this article are affiliate links, which means that if you purchase through them, we receive a small commission. This will never cost you extra and in many cases you receive a special discount. We appreciate your support!

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source http://cheaprtravels.com/12-best-things-to-do-in-guanajuato-mexico/

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zeroviraluniverse-blog · 7 years ago

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19 Must-Visit Stops on Mexico City's Metro

Visit Now - http://zeroviral.com/19-must-visit-stops-on-mexico-citys-metro/

19 Must-Visit Stops on Mexico City's Metro

About 5 million people ride the Mexico City subway every day—but most commuters don’t realize how much there is to do and see without ever having to go above ground. From piano stairs to a space tunnel, exploring the attractions hidden within the metro just might be the most fun you can have for 5 pesos (about $0.25 USD). These Mexico City metro stations settle the old question once and for all; it’s both the journey and the destination.

1. TALISMAN

Talisman station (line 4) has a mammoth logo for a reason: Mammoth fossils were unearthed during construction of the metro, and you can see the bones—which date back to the Pleistocene—on display there.

2. LA RAZA

How do you make a long transfer fly by? Transform it into a walk-through space tunnel illuminated by a glow-in-the-dark night sky, the highlight of the science museum located within La Raza station (lines 3 and 5).

3. VIVEROS

Viveros (line 3), a station named for the nearby nursery, is in full flower: It was recently given a jungle makeover complete with imitation palms, jaguars, and snakes to raise awareness for the preservation of southern Mexico’s Lacandon Rainforest.

4. PINO SUAREZ

Complement your day trip to the pyramids at Teotihuacan with a stop at the Pino Suarez station (lines 1 and 2), where you can see a 650-year-old pyramid dedicated to Ehecatl, the Aztec god of wind. Tens of thousands of users go through the station daily, making the pyramid one of the most visited archeological sites in Mexico. (Though it’s referred to as Mexico’s smallest archaeological zone, the National Institute of Anthropology and History doesn’t consider it a “proper” archaeological zone “due to its size and the fact of being located in a Metro Transport System facility.”)

5. HIDALGO

Hidalgo (lines 2 and 3) may be the most miraculous of all of Mexico City’s metro stations: In 1997, someone (possibly a street vendor) discovered a water stain in the shape of the Virgin of Guadalupe in one of its floor tiles. The apparition attracted so many pilgrims that metro authorities eventually had to remove the tile, which is now enshrined just outside one of the exits (follow the signs for Iglesia), near the intersection of Paseo de la Reforma and Zarco. And if you happen to visit this station on the morning of the 28th of any month, you’ll be swarmed with pious commuters carrying figurines of Saint Judas Thaddeus—patron saint of delinquents and lost causes—who is venerated at the nearby San Hipolito Church.

6. AND 7. BELLAS ARTES AND TEZOZOMOC

No time to visit the vast National Museum of Anthropology? You can still catch reproductions of Mesoamerican statues at the Bellas Artes (lines 2 and 8) and Tezozomoc (line 6) stops.

8. ZOCALO

Miniature maniacs shouldn’t miss the scale models of Mexico City’s main plaza at the Zocalo stop (line 2). They depict, in tiny form, the metamorphosis of the capital from the Aztec Templo Mayor to the present-day Metropolitan Cathedral. (And bonus points to anyone who can spot the cat who lives in this station.)

9. DIVISION DEL NORTE

The music-themed Division del Norte station’s (line 3) free karaoke corner draws a crowd gathered to watch fellow riders belt out boleros and ballads on their way to work. The unassuming abuelitas laden with bags from the market always have the most impressive pipes.

10. POLANCO

Don’t take the escalators at Polanco station (line 7), because the stairs are a giant musical piano keyboard. Finally, here’s your chance to live out Tom Hanks’s piano dance scene from the movie Big.

11. GUERRERO

The Guerrero stop (lines B and 3) is a tribute to the legends of lucha libre, with costume displays and murals dedicated to 45 of Mexico’s finest masked fighters.

12. AND 13. ZOCALO AND PINO SUAREZ

The largest bookshop in Latin America can be found in the long passage between the Zocalo and Pino Suarez stations. The underground emporium known as Un Paseo Por Los Libros sells titles from textbooks to manga and also hosts free workshops, lectures, and movie screenings.

14., 15., AND 16. COPILCO, TACUBAYA, AND AUDITORIO

Any visitor to Mexico City should check out Diego Rivera’s murals—but on your way, don’t forget to look up at the murals that decorate many metro stations. Particularly impressive are Guillermo Ceniceros’s ambitious chronicles of art through the history of time on the walls at the Copilco (line 3) and Tacubaya stations (lines 1, 7, and 9). On the kitschier side, see how many famous faces you can pick out in Jorge Flores Manjarrez’s I Spy-style mural of pop stars at the Auditorio stop (line 7).

17. ZAPATA

A museum of caricatures located inside the Zapata stop (line 12) is an homage to Mexican cartooning, including plenty of satirical interpretations of the mustachioed revolutionary who gives the station its name.

18. CHABACANO

If Chabacano station (lines 2, 8, and 9) feels unsettlingly familiar, it might be because it was used as a shooting location for the subway chase scene in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall. Legend has it you can still spot splashes of fake blood on the ceiling.

19. MIXCOAC

Has this metro adventure turned you into a super fan? Do a deep dive at Mixcoac station’s (line 12) sleek Metro Museum, where you can learn even more fun facts about the subway’s 50 years of history while you wait out rush hour.

#19 #citys #Metro #Mexico #MustVisit #stops #Facts

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photomaniacs · 7 years ago

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Photographing Hang Son Doong, the World’s Largest Cave http://ift.tt/2s9ftoi

In 2009, I was involved in a near fatal car crash when an oncoming car made an unsafe left turn in front of my vehicle, nearly killing me. This life changing incident was a blessing. It forced me to slow down and really assess how I was living and experiencing my life. This near-death experience revealed to me the need to be creative on a much higher level and really contribute to this planet.

At the time of my car crash, I was working as a C-Level executive in the creative ad agency world and working with some of the most successful brands in the world. I enjoyed the work and it was a creative avenue. However, the car crash left me asking questions about how I was living, how I was spending my time and what I wanted to experience out of this life.

It took every ounce of determination and perseverance along with physical and mental therapy over 5 years to restore my body and mind enough to enjoy any physical activities again. Also during this time is when I truly fell in love with photography.

I had always enjoyed taking pictures but this was different. It was like a burning desire to explore. I had always loved travel and adventures along with various forms of visual storytelling. I wanted to find a way to combine the two passions of mine. I bought my first real camera (a Canon 5D Mark III) and began to experiment. I stayed up many, many nights until the early hours of the morning watching tutorials and basically learning anything I could off the Internet about how my camera actually worked and what it was capable of.

I started toying around with long exposure, understanding light and compositional elements. I kept working with the technical elements and experimenting with different techniques. Finally, I was getting somewhere, this is when I realized how much of an impact shooting nature and landscapes had on me.

My journey began. I started an Instagram account, then started traveling more and testing more and more camera gear. I snapped hundreds of photographs, each time adjusting and applying what I had learned. Bringing new techniques to my photo composition. I began to make connections online with some talented photographers and also began partaking in photographer groups and photo meet ups. It felt like it was all coming together. Even if this was just to inspire a few of my friends and family to get out and enjoy nature, it seemed worth it.

I really didn’t have a particular goal in mind. I just recall that I wanted to explore some less charted territory and grab some cool photos. I began to research places to explore. I had heard of this cave in Vietnam called Hang Son Doong. It had been explored but only by a few people. I started to do some research and look into this adventure in more detail.

I learned that the Vietnam government only allows a certain number of permits annually to explore inside and strict rules of what you can and can’t do while in the cave. They even send 2 government representatives with anybody going inside the cave to ensure you comply keeping the ecosystem untouched and environment protected.

There is only one group authorized to take people through this cave. I reached out to them and managed to secure a spot with a team. They recommended, due to the extreme nature of this expedition, that I train 6 months prior and meticulously prepare for the jungle terrain of mountain trekking, 47 river crossings, bouldering, tunnels, rock climbing, deadly green viper snakes and leeches.

Hang Son Doong Cave which means “Mountain River Cave” located in Vietnam. What makes this cave so unique is more people have been on the summit of Mount Everest than inside this massive cave. Less than 800 explorers have been inside this cave making it a rare photography opportunity.

The location of the cave in Vietnam and Asia.

The cave is the largest known cave in the world. According to the British Cave Experts that accompanied us on the expedition with their combined experience of 60 years explained “there is no cave in the world this beautiful with lush green do-line openings”. The cave experts accompany us for safety and ensure environmental and ecosystem compliance.

The cave and its massive structure is 200 meters (656ft) wide and 150 meters (492ft) high and up to 10km (~6mi) deep (what’s known, that is). What makes this cave so unique also is its hard to get to location. We had to be dropped off in the middle of the Vietnam Jungle where we trek 10 to 12km per day through 47 river crossings, up and down mountain ranges, through heavy jungle brush, avoiding green cobra snakes, avoiding leeches and repelling/descending 90 meters (~295ft) inside the pitch black opening to the cave.

I trained as much as I could. Rock climbing and many hikes. I spent months preparing with essentials I would need incase something went wrong. With this expedition, I knew we would be wet for 3 days and semi dry for 2 days. I also knew the only light we would have is our headlamps which wouldn’t give much time to adjust things incase the need arose.

One of the trickiest things about this type of expedition is the climate:

Lenses fog

Constantly covered in grit

Lenses get gritty

Cameras get gritty

Cameras can fail

Lenses fog more

Batteries drain

No light

Hard to light scenes with limited light

Cameras get banged around

Trying to stay stable and not fall off a cliff while snapping some photos

Carrying all your gear (9-11 kg) for 60 KM and 5 days through some of the hardest wet terrain

And most of all, getting your settings correct so the photos can look half decent for any sponsors or clients.

Realizing we are at least 4-5 days from any civilization, safety must be our number one concern before embarking upon a 5 day physically and mentally demanding journey through the Vietnam jungle.

Day 1

After being dropped off in the middle of the jungle, we will reach the trailhead, where we’ll start trekking for approximately 1-2 hours downhill through the forest, which is quite steep at times. We walk for half an hour along a small stream to the minority village of Ban Doong, which is a real highlight on this expedition. We will eat and learn more about this unique ethnic group of people while enjoying lunch beside a small river. These local villagers lives many miles from any civilization and live completely off the land. They are extremely strong survivors. One time during a massive flood they were forced to live in a tree with their entire families for 10 days due to flooding. All they lived off was leaves.

After this point, we will be in the sun all afternoon with about 4 hours along a river, with very little shade. We’ll cross the river many times and have wet feet for the whole day.

Well then reach the entrance to Hang En Cave, home to thousands of swifts. We will use a headlight and you will trek/boulder approximately 20-30 mins to set up a campsite inside the cave and take some shots. After dinner a steep climb up boulders for some night shots.

Hang En Cave upon arrival last daylight

Hang En Cave and our camp and nighttime

Day 2

Up at 5:45 AM Passing through Hang En Cave to reach the magnificent exit, we then scramble down to the river valley and then it’s an hour walk through the river, so our boots are going to be wet for most of the day; it is unavoidable, yet part of the fun.

We’ll then start climbing a steep mountain for about 2 hours with some rocky sections to start. At the top of the mountain we will enjoy lunch and fit our safety harness and prepare to go underground. A steep descent with a couple of short rope climbs brings us at last to Son Doong entrance.

We then start the 90 M descent into the cave by making a number of short climbs, using ropes and safety lines. We then enjoy a few more climbs and bouldering to reach the first and second river crossings inside the cave, which are knee-to-thigh deep depending on the water levels.

On our way to the first campsite location in the first large passage of the cave, we need to be extra careful as there are a number of big drops and scrambling over boulders along a rocky path before reaching one of the most spectacular views: Hand of Dog and daylight streaming through the cave. We will then scramble down to the first campsite of Son Doong around 3 – 4 pm and have the afternoon to soak up the views, snap some pics and rest our bodies.

One of the river crossings inside Hang Son Doong cave you can see one of our explorers in the distance for scale.

A river crossing above a waterfall in Hang Son Doong Cave

The team and I taking photos inside Hang Son Doong Cave

Hang Son Doong first stop. 350 million year old stalagmites and one of our team to show scale

Day 3

Up at 5:45 AM after breakfast we start with some rocky climbs, which are dangerously steep in some places, as we reach the first jungle within the cave at Watch Out for Dinosaurs. It will take about 1.5 hrs to travel within the cave from Camp 1 to Watch Out for Dinosaurs. After a short break we will be trotting down the rocky path to reach the enormous Green Do-Lines, one of the most magnificent spots. Hoping to catch sunbeams there.

It is then a trek through the cave past gigantic formations and plenty of cave pearls towards the light of the second doline and main jungle within the cave. Follow the path past the beautiful foliage reaching towards the light, to reach the underground jungle, unlike anything we could experience on the planet! We cross the jungle for around 1 hour to reach the steep and sometimes slippery path down to our second campsite location within Son Doong Cave.

After a short rest at the campsite, we are back on our feet and trekking deeper within the cave towards the Great Wall of Vietnam. We then pass through a very large dry passage with huge stalagmites and unbelievable views back toward the second doline. Many new creepy crawlies have been discovered within this passage including white spiders, fish, woodlouse and shrimp species so we might make a few friends.

We then reach at this point either a very large beautiful underground lake (where we then paddle to reach the Great Wall of Vietnam) or we will find a fantastically adventurous muddy pit (at which you will need to trudge your way through for a few hundred meters to reach the wall).

One of the dark passageways lit up inside Hang Son Doong Cave

At the top of Garden of Edam Hang Son Doong Cave

Day 4

Up at 5:45 AM. We pack up camp and start heading back to the first doline, with a slightly different route through a small oxbow passage above the underground river in which there is a very steep drop into darkness that we can’t even see the bottom. We use our harnesses, rope and safety line.

Once we have reached the first campsite around 11 am, we will have time for a short break before climbing down to the ancient fossil passage, where we will witness 350 million year old coral fossils. Finally, we enjoy a small wash in the pools and a big lunch before descending back to the main passage, crossing the river twice and proceeding to rock climb up the 90 meter (~295ft) wet slippery rocks to the entrance of Hans Son Doong.

Our Campsite number 2 Hang Son Doong Cave

Looking up at Garden of Edam

Only way to see the end of Hang Son Doong Cave is by kayak

Day 5

Wake up at 5:45 AM, pack up camp and start our 10 km trek back to Road 20 after breakfast. We will follow the river along the valley and back through Ban Doong Village. We will be fueling up before starting on what is quite a difficult steep climb back up the mountain for the last 2 hours of this expedition. Once back at the Ho Chi Minh highway highway we have a ride arranged to pick us up and take us back to civilization where we can eat and take a long hot shower.

After this I took a shower went to meet my team to eat an amazingly tasty authentic Vietnamese feast while we all sat quietly reflecting. It was hard to put into words what we all felt being engulfed inside a massive mountain and seeing earth’s amazing wonders first hand. Many of us were emotional leaving this glorious cave.

If anything, what I want to convey with this article is that no matter what you do in life always follow your heart to lead toward your passions. Live every day as though it was your last and make it count. It will be the most rewarding thing your soul will ever experience and will live with you forever.

About the author: Gregg Jaden is a travel photographer and marketing executive based in Manhattan Beach, California. You can connect with him and find more of his work on his website, Instagram, and Twitter.

Go to Source Author: Gregg Jaden If you’d like us to remove any content please send us a message here CHECK OUT THE TOP SELLING CAMERAS!

The post Photographing Hang Son Doong, the World’s Largest Cave appeared first on CameraFreaks.

June 26, 2017 at 06:00PM

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elegantbutlersebastian · 7 years ago

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Max Headroom Fanfic: Galactic Horizons.

Max Headroom: Galactic Horizons

CHAPTER 01: Background and Goodbyes

Network 23 was one of the world’s top television networks. With a variety of shows, and a world-famous lineup of reporters, including Edison Carter, they had garnered several prestigious awards such as the Vidi, which was the award for best show on air.

From 1997 to the year 2005, the Network had been located in the center of London, standing proudly over the rest of the city like a giant monolith. It had been run by Ned Grossberg and Ben Cheviot for most of that time, until the scandal involving a new style of advertising called blipvertisements, or blipverts, caused Grossberg to lose his position as network chairman.

Now, due to the fact that there were fewer plants being grown outdoors to support the food industry (they relied mainly on hydroponics), the pollution content of the air had been growing steadily worse over the past few years. Since most people either paid attention only to television or kept themselves fed on Zik Zak burger packs and crunch fries, nobody had noticed the growing pollution until it had been too late.

Now most of the people had fled to underground bunkers where filtered air was pumped in regularly through a ventilation system.

For the past two months, the employees at Network 23 had been training for life on a space station. Since it was important for them to be able to reach a global audience, it had been decided that the majority of the employees would be sent up to a position in space above the pollution where their signal could be sent out with minimal interference.

Edison Carter was one of the few employees who would remain behind on the polluted earth. As a reporter, he was needed on the ground to investigate the stories that took place there.

Since he would soon be parted for a long time from his friends, he had invited them to a dinner at the Fresh Start, one of the few restaurants in the city not run by Zik Zak and one of the few that had been able to afford the move to the underground city.

Seeing Murray, Theora, and Bryce he waved to them.

They waved back and the party went into the restaurant together

“So, you head up tomorrow,” Edison said as they sat at their table.

“It’s really exciting,” Bryce said. “I’m hoping they’ll have an anti-gravity room I can conduct a few experiments in. Max is coming, too. It’ll be easier for him to air from direct line of sight than to shoot a signal up through the pollution layer and back down again.”

“I heard Cheviot is staying at ground level, too. Apparently he’s too old and fragile to make the trip to the station.”

“How long is the trip?” Edison asked.

“Fifteen hours,” Bryce told him. “But the first ten minutes will be at high velocity. The gravitational forces will be very powerful.”

“That would be a problem for anyone Cheviot’s age who didn’t have a lifetime of astronaut training,” Edison conceded. “How about you, Bryce? Think you can handle it. You seem a little fragile to me.”

“I’ve been training for this mission ever since it was brought up,” Bryce told him. “I can handle it. Though I might pass out for a few moments due to the high stress level.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Theora assured him.

“You’re probably right,” Bryce smiled. “I passed the test in the simulator so I should be okay.”

They ordered their dinner and ate in mostly in silence, each considering the next day and the adventure it would bring them.

After dinner, Murray spoke up.

“No time for dessert I’m afraid,” he said. “We have an early start tomorrow morning. We’re staying together in the bunker at the old space center.”

“Then I’ll say goodbye now,” Edison said. “I’ve got an interview in the morning so I’ll probably miss your lift-off.”

“We’ll contact you once we’ve set up on the station,” Theora told him. “I’m sure you’ll hear from Bryce as soon as he discovers or invents something new.”

“I’m hoping I can continue to count on him for help when I need it, too,” Edison said, looking at Bryce as he spoke.

“I’ll do what I can,” Bryce promised.

CHAPTER 02: Lift-Off - The Journey Begins

Bryce was the last to strap himself into his chair on the shuttlecraft that would take Edison’s team to the space station. He had been talking with the flight crew about the various aspects of the shuttle’s systems and their view of space travel.

“It’s beautiful up there,” the captain told him. “But it can also be scary at times. Space is not your friend. Nor is it your enemy if you’re careful with it. It’s quite ambivalent. Respect it and you’ll be okay. Otherwise, you’re in a lot of trouble.”

“You sound like you’re talking about the sea,” Theora said as Bryce sat down and strapped in.

“My great grandfather was a sea captain,” the captain explained. “He wrote a diary that said pretty much the same thing. I quickly found out when I took my first trip into space that space and the sea are sisters of a sort. Both beautiful and both deadly.”

The captain moved to the main cabin and strapped himself in.

“Shuttle 23-A to mission control,” he said. “Everyone’s boarded and we’re waiting for clearance.”

“This is mission control,” a woman’s voice said. “The weather is a balmy seventy degrees and we have clearance. Pollution cover is at forty percent so we’ll be transferring to instruments at once lift-off has commenced.”

“Understood, Shuttle 23-A ready. All passengers strapped in and ready.”

“The planet sends best wishes to them,” mission control told them. “Countdown minus 10...9...8…”

The count continued until lift-off.

Murray, Theora and Bryce gripped were held back against their chairs by the tremendous force of gravity as the shuttle left the launch pad.

“You kids okay back there?” the co-pilot asked, keeping his eyes on the instruments.

Murray winced at being called a kid, but answered all the same.

“We’re fine,” he announced. “All’s good back here.”

“Glad to hear it,” the co-pilot told him. “We’ll be clearing the atmosphere in 7 minutes. Just relax. All will be well.”

Once the strain of lift-off had passed, Theora relaxed and looked out the window.

Below them the Earth spun silently. They slowly orbited the planet on a trajectory to the geostationary Star Station 23.

“Estimated arrival time fourteen hours twenty minutes,” the captain told them once orbit had been established. “Any questions?”

Bryce had wanted to ask a dozen when he’d first boarded the shuttle. Now that he was looking at space for himself, not from the viewpoint of a video camera’s ancient recording, he was too stunned to speak.

“Cat got your tongue?” Murray asked him.

Bryce nodded mutely.

“It’s amazing,” Theora said, agreeing with what Bryce’s eyes were saying.

“Just think, people used to come up here to find out about space,” Bryce finally spoke up. “Now they come to get away from the pollution. Though so far only network employees can afford to come.”

“Just as well,” Murray pointed out. “We don’t have room up here for the population of even one city. And there are hundreds, no thousands of cities down there below us.”

“Maybe some day we’ll find a way to clean up the pollution?” Bryce offered.

“As long as people are watching TV instead of watching the planet, I doubt that will ever happen,” Murray said, shaking his head regretfully.

CHAPTER 03: Star Station 23 - Arrival

“Hey,” Murray’s voice sifted through the haze of Theora’s dream. “We’re almost there.”

Theora opened her eyes and looked blurrily at Murray.

“Where’s Bryce?” she asked.

“He went to chat with the captain. Probably asking about docking procedures.”

Bryce returned a moment later.

“All questions answered?” Theora asked.

“Hardly,” Bryce told her. “They had to start getting ready so they booted me back here.”

Theora smiled.

“You’ll get your answers one day,” she told him. “Did you see the station?”

“Just a small glimpse,” Bryce admitted “The cockpit window is too small to really get a good view.”

The captain’s voice came over the shuttler’s intercom system several minutes later.

“We are entering star station orbit and preparing for docking,” he told them. “If you look out the right side window, you can see Star Station 23.”

Bryce, Murray, and Theora turned their heads and gazed at the place that would soon be their new home.

Star Station 23 consisted of four flat levels that reminded Murray of the blades of an old fashioned motorized fan. Each ‘blade’ was turned at a different angle from the other levels, giving a staircase effect. They were attached by oval tunnels that led to the central lift cluster.

On the outer rim of the highest blade was the station’s docking bay. It reminded Bryce of the pictures he’d seen in history books of the deck of an aircraft carrier. Only this deck was protected by a large clear cover.

As the shuttle approached, the radio flared into life.

“Shuttle 23-A this is Star Station 23,” a man’s voice said. “We have you on our radar. You are clear to land on the deck. Please hold for deck open.”

“Star Station 23,” the captain replied, “this is Shuttle 23-A. We are in star station orbit and awaiting deck open.”

The deck’s protective cover lifted until there was room for the shuttle to land.

Once the shuttle had touched down, the cover closed down over it.

“Star Station 23 deck now closed,” an electronic female voice told them. “Please wait until appropriate oxygen and gravity levels have been reached before deboarding the shuttle.”

They had to wait an additional fifteen minutes until the large space had sufficient oxygen and gravity on deck. Once these had been established, a maintenance crew came out to tend to the shuttle while Murray, Theora, and Bryce deboarded.

Lauren, Network 23’s chief board member aboard the station, soon came onto the deck.

“I see you’ve made it safely aboard,” she said. “Good. I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping and working, and you can drop off your bags. Then I’ll give you a tour of the station.”

Theora, Bryce, and Murray followed Lauren into the lift cluster.

“The middle lift leads to the personal rooms,” Lauren explained. “It’s the only one that does. And it requires a code key. This is to ensure that the occasional visitor does not accidentally end up in someone’s private room. I will give you the code once the tour is over.”

She keyed it in and the lift door opened.

Bryce was the first to enter, followed by Theora, Murray, and Lauren.

Pressing a button, Lauren turned to her lift-mates.

“We spend most of our time in the innermost areas of the levels,” she said, a slight tone of regret in her voice. “So it’s often easy to forget we’re in space.”

“We really shouldn’t do that,” Bryce offered. “That’s how Earth got into the mess it’s in now. We didn’t pay attention.”

“That’s true,” Lauren agreed. “And it may already be too late to do anything.”

Bryce wondered if that statement were really true.

The lift stopped and the doors slid open.

“This way,” Lauren offered as she led them off the lift and down the hall.

There were several rooms, many adorned with personalized plaques stating who was living in each one.

It soon became clear that all of these rooms belonged to men. Apparently the women’s quarters were on a different level.

Lauren tapped one door and it swung open.

“Bryce,” she said. “This will be your room. Drop off your luggage and Max’s box and join us in a moment. I’m going to show Murray his room. It’s right across the hall.”

“Great,” Murray said, in mock cheerfulness.

It was bad enough he had to live in a place that reminded him of a hospital, but to have his rooms directly across from Bryce was just too much.

“Oh, it won’t be so bad, Murray,” Theora assured him as they followed Lauren across the hall to Murray’s rooms. “You’ll get used to it in no time.”

Chapter 04: Star Station 23 - Settling In

Bryce unpacked his suitcase, assuming one could call dumping it out on top of the dresser unpacking. He unpacked Max a lot more carefully, connecting the box to the station’s television system and sending the uplink codes.

A moment later, the familiar face of Max Headroom appeared on the screen.

“I was wonder-wonder-wondering when you’d let me out of there. Of there.” Max complained. “It was so stuffy.”

“Sorry,” Bryce apologized. “There was nowhere for you to go. I couldn’t let you into the shuttle’s video system.”

“Hmph!” Max huffed.

“Look, you’re out now,” Bryce reasoned. “Let’s not argue, okay? I’ve had a long week of getting absolutely nothing accomplished.”

This was a fact that bothered Bryce quite a bit. His mind was always racing, always trying to find the nearest byte of data or come up with the newest invention or concept.”

“You got here, didn’t you?” Max offered, hopefully.

Bryce smiled at that. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

Bryce flopped down onto the bed and gazed at the ceiling for a few minutes. His mind was adjusting to the whole idea. He was no longer on Earth. He would spend the rest of his life here on Star Station 23.

Theora and Lauren got off the lift on the women’s living level.

“This room will be your living quarters, Miss Jones,” Lauren told Theora as she opened a door on the left hand side of the corridor.

Theora took her suitcase and set it on the bed. Opening each drawer, she began to unpack.

“So, I noticed we have artificial gravity on this station.” she said.

“It varies from section to section. To save on power, forty percent of the rooms, such as Control and half of the R&D level are in weightless mode.”

“I’m sure Bryce will get a kick out of the anti-gravity sections of his department. He’s been wanting to do some experiments with that.”

Lauren smiled. “I think you’re right. Though I imagine right now he’s probably unpacking and talking to Max.”

“Knowing teenage boys like I do,” Theora noted, “I’m guessing his clothes are piled on top of the dresser.”

Lauren shrugged. “You’re probably right. I’ll leave you to unpack and settle in then.”

Theora smiled and turned to move the contents of her suitcase into her bedroom dresser.

“I’ll see you later, then,” Lauren told her. “Tomorrow I’ll show you, Murray, and Bryce around the station. Control is going to be very interesting for you.”

“It’s certainly going to be different working control from a weightless position.” Theora agreed. “Do I need to wear anything special?”

“I wouldn’t recommend wearing a skirt,” Lauren told her. “But you needn’t worry about that. There is a new uniform for each department.”

“So why did we come with our own stuff, then?” Theora wondered.

“For your days off,” Lauren told her, adding a friendly smile as she turned and left with a small wave.

Theora waved back and resumed her unpacking.

For his part, Murray was just about ready to scream. He didn’t like the plain walls which were decorated only with the screens of his TV and his view phone. There were windows, of course. But all they showed was the stars and the blackness of space, so he decided not to look out of them.

He didn’t even want to think of what would happen should the window glazing erode. The idea of being sucked out of the window and what that would do to him was one he could do without.

There was a knock on his door. Hoping it wasn’t Bryce, he answered it.

~So much for hoping,~ he thought to himself, seeing Bryce standing there.

“I need your help,” the teenager said, unexpectedly.

This caused Murray to raise an eyebrow.

“I’ve been told you’re pretty good at racquetball,” Bryce explained. “I want to do an experiment on the effects of anti-gravity on the angular deflection of a ball in motion during a racquetball match.”

“If you want to play me in a game, just say so,” Murray told him. Did the boy need a scientific excuse for everything.

“Fine, I’d like to play you in a game,” Bryce said, cheerfully.

As they headed for the station’s court, Bryce added.

“But I still plan on checking the effects.”

CHAPTER 5:

The following day, back on Earth, Edison Carter checked his vidicam. He had been hearing recently about an incident at one of the the hydroponics centers. Apparently one of the filters had been contaminated somehow leading to a loss of several crops. He wanted to find out more about the situation. It was troubling that something so important could be so easily destroyed.

There were other centers. But each had limited room and resources, so they were set up to only provide sustenance to a specific set of locations.

He finished his vidicam check and decided to attempt contact with Star Station 23.

“Carter to Star Station 23, do you copy?”

“Some signal degradation due to electronic interference,” Theora’s voice came back. “Where are you?”

“Zik Zak Happy Hydroponics,” Edison said. “I think their equipment must be causing the interference.”

“You won’t be able to report from the site if that’s what your story’s about,” Theora said. “Too much interference. The viewers will change channels in a second. Get what you can then find a clear spot to send from.”

“Edison got something?” Murray’s voice could barely be heard over the link.

“Something to do with the hydroponics center,” Theora told him.

“Go on,” Murray said more clearly. “What is it?”

“Contamination of a filter at Happy Hydro,” Edison told him. “I’ll see how much information I can find out.”

“How’d the racquetball game go?” Theora asked.

Before Edison could ask what she was talking about Murray replied.

“When I left him Bryce was commenting on the conservation of momentum and how he needed to remember to adjust for zero gravity next time.” Murray said with a smile in his voice.

“Sounds like you beat him,” Edison said, sounding impressed. “I would think playing Bryce in racquetball would be like playing a game of pool with a geometry professor.”

“He’s just not playing on familiar turf right now,” Theora pointed out. “His usual strategy doesn’t apply with the current set up.”

Bryce allowed himself to relax as he drifted in the racquetball court, his feet a few inches from the floor. He let the ball hover for a second before striking it with his racquet, taking note of the angle at which the ball struck and rebounded. He noticed, also, that his own body moved slightly in response to the movement of his arm.

~There’s the reason,~ he thought to himself. ~The movement of my body in response to the motion of my arm is causing a discrepancy in the angle at which I hit the rebound. It’s too minute to notice during an actual game. That’s why I didn’t realize it was happening.~

CHAPTER 6:

Edison arrived at the Fresh Start at lunchtime. But he was not there for a meal.

The restaurant, like so many of the others, including the Zik Zak Know Chow restaurants, was deeply affected by the recent contamination of the Zik Zak Happy Hydroponics center in London.

Theora’s brother, Shawn, had gone back to working at the Fresh Start and it was he, being grateful for being rescued by Edison during his dangerous Raking days.

Raking had been a sport, which had nearly killed Shawn. It had consisted of razor-gloved teens lashing at each other on motorized skateboards, or rakeboards as they were called.

At nineteen, Shawn, or Ace as he’d been called, had been one of the older members of the team. He had been a good Raker, but not good enough to avoid a slash across his abdomen from a member of a rival team.

Edison had fortunately been there. And his quick thinking had saved Theora’s brother from an untimely death at the hands of the team owners, who had the nasty habit of only spraying their wounded with coagulants rather than seeing they were properly treated for their injuries.

Now Edison was sitting in the restaurant where Shawn was once again employed.

Shawn sat down across from him in a relaxed but serious pose.

“So, what is it you want to know?” Shawn asked as Edison set his vidicam on the table and pressed the record button..

“I want to know how your restaurant is doing now that there has been a sudden decrease in the amount of food available from the hydroponics center.” Edison told him.

“Well, as you know,” Shawn remarked, “the hydroponics center is owned by Zik Zak, so they make sure to stock their own restaurants before selling to non-fast-food establishments such as this one. That means that we have to find creative ways to stay in business. One such option is to serve a soft drink before each meal. Meaning the customer will feel full and be more likely to order an appetizer instead of a larger meal.”

“You must lose a lot of potential credits doing that,” Edison remarked

“You would think so,” Shawn said. “But the smaller meals mean more food to go around, at least for a while. And that brings in more customers. That means we can just about break even. And hopefully we can stay afloat until the hydroponics center is cleaned up and new crops are grown.”

On Star Station 23, Theora and Murray watched quietly as Edison’s vidicam sent the interview to them.

“That’s good stuff,” Murray remarked. “Real human interest. The viewers will eat it up. No pun intended of course.”

“Once we clean up the video, we’ll broadcast,” Theora agreed. “It’ll be ready for tonight’s show.”

“Oh, have you seen Bryce by the way?” Murray asked. “Lauren’s been wanting to have a talk with him. Something about sharpening our broadcasting signal.”

“I think he’s gone back to the racquetball court,” Theora said. “He seems obsessed with figuring out a way to improve his game.”

“Or he’s just obsessed with trying to beat me,” Murray remarked. His relationship with Bryce had been once compared by Angie Bari as being similar to that been Spock and McCoy. Though Murray had no idea who Spock and McCoy were. He had meant to ask, but before he could do so, Angie had left Network 23 after marrying another Controller named John Reyes.

Back on Earth, Edison thanked Shawn for the interview and turned the vidicam back to standby. He still had more investigating to do. But if he didn’t find out more before the evening broadcast, he could make it a two-parter. That would suit the Network just fine.

CHAPTER 7:

“Okay,” Theora said from the doorway of the racquetball court. “You’ve played enough racquetball for today, Bryce. Edison needs to find out more information on that hydroponics contamination.”

“Right,” Bryce agreed, retrieving the ball and leaving the court with her.

As they walked to his new studio, he spoke.

“Zik Zak’s hydroponics units have been running for nearly a decade now without incident.” he explained. “Therefore, whatever happened was either the result of shoddy maintenance caused by a new crew that doesn’t care as much as the old one. Which given Zik Zak’s hiring practices doesn’t seem likely. Or…”

“Or it was sabotage.” Theora realised.

“That does seem the most likely scenario,” Bryce agreed. “Now all we need to do is find out who sabotaged it and why. What would be a reason someone might have for sabotaging the world’s food supply?”

“Can you get securicam video from Happy Hydroponics?” Theora asked.

“I assume you mean the one in London,” Bryce guessed. “Sure. I can do that.”

They walked into Bryce’s studio where a computer screen was built into the wall. Taking up a comfortable position in front of the floating keyboard, Bryce began to type in a series of characters. Soon the screen was taken up by a securicam video. It appeared to be live footage of the current events.

Just as Bryce was about to do a search for the time when the incident had occurred, he and Theora saw two men walk into view.

“Turn up the sound,” Theora suggested as Bryce touched the key that would do just that.

“We can’t let the contamination be corrected too quickly,” one of the two men was saying. “They need time to prepare the first wave. If we don’t have an edge when it’s time to make our move, this will all have been in vain.”

“We still have Zlin to contend with.” the other man pointed out. “If they’re not dealt with, we still won’t have an edge no matter how well we deal with Zik Zak.”

Theora and Bryce turned to one another.

“So it is sabotage,” Theora concluded.

“But who and why?” Bryce asked.

“Keep an eye on them,” Theora told Bryce. “See where they go. Maybe we can learn more about them.”

“Okay,” Bryce agreed. “And I’m sending a copy of that footage to Control for you to transmit to Edison if you choose to.”

CHAPTER 8:

The morning news was on Edison’s TV as he was making breakfast. Pouring his cup of coffee, he was just taking a sip when the view-phone sounded.

He put his mug down and tapped the answer button.

“Morning,:” he said to Theora.

“Morning,” she replied. “Bryce and I looked into the contamination story. While we were searching securicam files we managed to spot a pair of unscrupulous individuals who seem to be sabotaging the world’s food supply.”

“Any idea why?” Edison asked, intrigued.

“No,” Theora admitted. “Other than something about their first wave, they didn’t allude much to their plans. Bryce managed to save a copy of their conversation. Murray doesn’t think we can air the footage, but it might give us some clues.”

“I’ll have a look at the footage,” Edison told her. “Go ahead and transmit it to my link. I’ll discuss it with Murray once I’ve seen it.”

Theora tapped a few keys and transmitted the securicam footage to Edison.

“Got it,” Edison confirmed. He watched the footage in silence for a moment. Then, he switched back to the current TV program. “Can Bryce track the guys?”

“I would assume it shouldn’t be too difficult for him,” Theora replied. “I’ll ask him to do it once we’re finished here.”

#Max Headroom fanfiction fanfic in space sfw

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carpetravel · 8 years ago

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I love Puerto Rico. When I’m watching the snow fall and bundling up because it’s 10 degrees in Colorado, I can’t help but want to escape to the beautiful 85-degree weather in Puerto Rico. It’s one of my absolute favorite winter escapes. Puerto Rico has continually raked as one of the best place to visit in the Caribbean, as well as one of the top family winter destinations and for good reason – not just one reason but several!

The warm weather.

Ease and affordability of getting to the island.

No passport requirements for US citizens; Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory.

Both English and Spanish are spoken.

The abundance of activities for all ages.

And so much more…

The city of San Juan and Puerto Rico as a whole have a lot to offer kids of all ages, even if those kids happen to be “adults”. Since I typically have kids in tow this piece focuses on things to do in San Juan with kids. Albeit, if I was on my own I’d make sure to check out the food tours, night life and Bacardi tastings and tours. Maybe when the Princesses are older we’ll enjoy them together… In the meantime, here are the top 11 things to do in San Juan with kids.

Top Things to do in San Juan with Kids

Hit the Beach

The beach was on the “must do list” everyday in San Juan for my girls. Since the weather was amazing it was an easy compromise. The mild morning temperatures were perfect for morning excursions, lunch at the beach (maybe a nap under the umbrella for little ones) followed by sandcastle making and swimming.

All beaches in San Juan, even those fronting the top hotels are open to the public. (Caribe Hilton is the only hotel that has a small private beach.) Beach hours are typically 9-5pm. One thing parents need to take note of, many of the beaches have a strong riptides so keep a good eye on your kids. If they’re not strong swimmers, consider putting a life jacket on them as an extra precaution. There were a few times I had to grab both my girls and we were in a “calm, swimming area”.

While the beaches in San Juan are all open to the public, not all are created equal. There are only two beaches in San Juan that have life guards – El Escambron (right next to Caribe Hilton) and Isla Verde Public Beach. They both also have changing rooms, bathrooms, showers, picnic areas and onsite restaurants or snack bars. Each of these beaches are protected from reefs and rocks, providing a bit calmer water for swimming – and little ones who want to sit and splash.

Isla Verde Beach is another popular beach front lined with resorts, which makes access to it a bit more difficult (Isla Verde Public Beach sits on the same stretch of land but access to it is much easier if you’re not a hotel guest). Isla Verde Beach is a great beach for families given its calm waters and the variety of amenities along the beachfront. There are a number of kiosks lining the beach where you can rent snorkeling gear or participate in a variety of water sports – snuba, parasailing, etc.

Bioluminescent Bay

This is one adventure not to be missed while in Puerto Rico! If you have younger kids though you may have to since it’s an evening activity. A visit to Bioluminescent Bay is truly a glow-in-the-dark aquatic wonder of the world. You have to see it to believe it. Bioluminescence exists around the world, but there are only a few biobays on Earth, and Puerto Rico is home to three of them. (This is a water activity so you must be prepared to ride in a kayak or small boat.) During your visit you’ll watch the dark, night waters come alive with millions of glowing plankton as you paddle your way through mangroves and forests. Want to spend a day exploring the rain forest and Bioluminescent Bay? Check out this tour and this one.

Snorkeling Cruise

Ever wanted to escape to a deserted island? This is your chance. A snorkeling cruise to the Island of Icacos is a perfect family escape – for a day. A catamaran cruise and snorkeling trip to the nature reserve, aka the Island of Icacos allows you to snorkel among the island’s fantastic marine life, explore the beaches and hunt for sea shells.

By jeffgunn, via Wikimedia Commons

Visit a Rain Forest

Puerto Rico is home to the only rain forest in the U.S. National Forest system, making a visit to El Yunque Rain Forest National Park a must on the list of things to do with kids in San Juan. El Yunque Rain Forest is a 30-minute drive outside of San Juan. Within the park there are dozens of trails that wind past waterfalls where families can walk along and listen to the Coqui frogs and watch parrots fly overhead. One hike worth checking out is the hike to La Mina Falls. It’s about 45 minutes and you end at a natural pool where you can swim and picnic with the kids. This is popular spot for families so expect company. You may also want to try the trail outside of the visitor center, El Portal or the Angelito Trail on Rd 988 which is a short hike to the Mameyes River.

TIP: The trails are not paved and not stroller friendly. The trails are graded by difficulty so it’s easy to find the more kid friendly hikes.)

By nathanmac87, via Wikimedia Commons

To add an educational element to your visit to the rain forest, try to take of the conservation and educations tours lead by the parks rangers (times and dates vary for these tours). During these educational tours you’ll learn about the wildlife, plants and insects that call the rain forest home. It’s a great way to get a good understanding and appreciation for the rain forests ecosystem.

Zipline

What kid doesn’t like to go fast? Let alone imagine being Superman flying through the air? Zipline over a canopy of trees is not only exhilarating but a unique experience making it one of the more memorable things to do with kids in San Juan. Here are the top nine zipline companies in San Juan to check out.

Explore the Forts

El Morro and San Cristobal were built during the 1500-1600’s to protect the island of San Juan from land-based invasions. Today they are both World Heritage Sites, and National Historic Sites that are administered by the US National Park Service.

Not only do the forts provide a great history lesson but they offer kids a fun and interactive way to explore the city’s history, or just put their vivid imaginations into overdrive. Once my girls understood what the forts were and how people used them they couldn’t stop pretending they were Pirate Princesses. Running down the underground tunnel systems and hiding in the towers were a thrill. Walking into a “real dungeon” and seeing the drawings prisoners made on the walls made my five-year-old turn and ask me in her most serious and concerned voice, “Is this were Maleficent locked up Prince Eric”. (A Sleeping Beauty related question.) She was a bit disappointed to learn he was not in fact imprisoned in this dungeon.

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If you’re up for exploring both forts, do it. There is a 15-20 minute walking trail along the beach that connects them; it’s stroller friendly. If the walk is too much and you still want to do both jump on the trolley that ferries people back and forth.

If you just have time – or the attention span – for one fort, head to El Morro. It is much larger and has a labyrinth of tunnels, towers and dungeons to explore. The grounds outside of El Morro are open and always breezy making it an ideal spot for a picnic and some kite flying. You can buy a kite in the gift shop at El Morro or San Cristobal but you may pay less at the Walgreens or Puerto Rico Drug store located across the street from El Morro.

Explore Old San Juan

You can make a day of exploring Old San Juan with kids. There are so many different types of activities you can do, be it indoors, outdoors or a combination of the two. Here are just a few…

Wikimedia Commons

Old San Juan Walking Tour

Explore the colorful buildings and charming streets of Old San Juan in a small group with the help of historian and writer David Rodriguez, author of ‘The Rise and Fall of the Great Barbate.’ During the course of the walking tour in Old San Juan, David will explain the key historic sites, Puerto Rican culture and share stories of the people who helped to define Old San Juan.

Ride the Trolley in Old San Juan

The city offers free trolley tours throughout Old Town. It’s a great way to see its rich architecture while also getting a feel for where you are and what you want to do. The trolley ride is a fairly short ride around the city and you can jump on and off at each stop. I have to say, the trolley made visiting Old San Juan with kids a lot easier since it was a great place to take a little rest when my kids got tired and need to cool off.

Paso De La Princessa

If you’re visiting Old San Juan with kids on a Sunday, head down to Paso De La Princessa. There is an outdoor market during the day (9-5pm) that’s filled with locals dancing to the live bands, vendors selling art, woodwork and everything you never knew you needed or wanted. There are countless food carts where you can grab lunch or a shaved ice (Piragua in Spanish) to cool off.

Shop for Carnival Masks

During the month of February, Puerto Rico hosts its annual Carnival parades where it’s customary for people wear the traditional vejigantes, ornate masks made from either papier-mâché or coconut shells. These masks have been worn to celebrate Carnival since the first Carnival celebrations were held in Spain. The custom was brought to Puerto Rico by Spanish soldiers and have become entrenched in the islands culture. They’re great “souvenirs” to bring home, not to mention a fun shopping excursion to do with kids. Head up to Fortaleza St and San Francisco St. where kids will love looking for Carnival Masks. One of the best places to find authentic masks in San Juan is La Calle, located on Fortaleza St.

Parque de las Palomas

During our day of exploring Old San Jaun we happened upon Parque de las Palomas (Pigeon Park) during our day in Old San Juan and it immediately reminded me of the Feed the Birds scene from Mary Poppins. The park is covered with hundreds of pigeons all vying for the crumbs and birdseed visitors toss to them. There is usually someone there selling birdseed for visitors. There were groups of kids coming and going feeding and chasing the birds. It’s a great thing to do with kids in San Juan and one that gives you a chance to sit down to take a break.

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El Museo del Nino (The Children’s Museum)

The Children’s Museum in San Juan is a great place to escape the heat or the rain. For one, it’s air-conditioned, even in the winter San Juan is hot! The museum has three floors filled with interactive exhibits and activities for kids – both little and big kids stop for kids. The information posted in the exhibits is in Spanish but there are employees there who can interpret. Better yet, download Google Translate, which will translate pictures of signs for you in real time. Your kids will have a blast, and maybe pick up a few new words.

Tips for Exploring Old San Juan with Kids

If you have a stroller and you’re walking around Old San Juan, note that the streets and sidewalks are very narrow. While you can maneuver a double stroller, it may be difficult and will require any passerby’s to step on to the road. For little ones who like to walk, again the streets are narrow and cars are not always looking out for little people. Consider a backpack carrier for little ones.

Best Time to Visit San Juan

The best times to visit San Juan and Puerto Rico as a whole are during the winter months. The weather is perfect and the same holidays celebrated in the United States are also celebrated on the island. The Peak season is November to April while the low season is June to September. You’ll find great travel deals during the low season but keep in mind this is also hurricane season in the Caribbean. Shoulder season is May and October where you can find great deals and typically good weather.

Have you gone to Puerto Rico for a family vacation? What other things to do in San Juan with kids would you recommend?

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Top 11 Things to do in San Juan with Kids I love Puerto Rico. When I’m watching the snow fall and bundling up because it’s 10 degrees in Colorado, I can’t help but want to escape to the beautiful 85-degree weather in Puerto Rico.

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amsulibrary · 8 years ago

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2016′s Top Ten at AMSU

Here at AMSU Library, we’re reflecting back on 2016, and taking a look at the books that were checked out the most by our students. If you missed out on reading any of these in the past year, stop by the library to see if they’re available, or download the eBook to your phone or tablet using the free “Destiny Discover” app.

#10 Survive the Night by Danielle Vega

We're all gonna die down here. . . . Julie lies dead and disemboweled in a dank, black subway tunnel, red-eyed rats nibbling at her fingers. Her friends think she’s just off with some guy—no one could hear her getting torn apart over the sound of pulsing music. In a tunnel nearby, Casey regrets coming to Survive the Night, the all-night underground rave in the New York City subway. Her best friend Shana talked her into it, even though Casey just got out of rehab. Alone and lost in the dark, creepy tunnels, Casey doesn’t think Survive the Night could get any worse . . . . . . until she comes across Julie’s body, and the party turns deadly. Desperate for help, Casey and her friends find themselves running through the putrid subway system, searching for a way out. But every manhole is sealed shut, and every noise echoes eerily in the dark, reminding them they’re not alone. They’re being hunted. Trapped underground with someone—or something—out to get them, Casey can’t help but listen to her friend’s terrified refrain: “We’re all gonna die down here. . . .” in this bone-chilling sophmore novel by the acclaimed author of The Merciless.

#9 Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

In her extraordinary bestseller, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immerses readers in the intricacies of the ghetto, revealing the true sagas lurking behind the headlines of gangsta glamour, gold-drenched drug dealers, and street-corner society. Focusing on two romances - Jessica's dizzying infatuation with a hugely successful young heroin dealer, Boy George, and Coco's first love with Jessica's little brother, Cesar - Random Family is the story of young people trying to outrun their destinies. Jessica and Boy George ride the wild adventure between riches and ruin, while Coco and Cesar stick closer to the street, all four caught in a precarious dance between survival and death. Friends get murdered; the DEA and FBI investigate Boy George; Cesar becomes a fugitive; Jessica and Coco endure homelessness, betrayal, the heartbreaking separation of prison, and, throughout it all, the insidious damage of poverty. Charting the tumultuous cycle of the generations - as girls become mothers, boys become criminals, and hope struggles against deprivation - LeBlanc slips behind the cold statistics and sensationalism and comes back with a riveting, haunting, and true story.

#8 Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs. A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

#7 Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks

A teen plunges into a downward spiral of addiction in this classic cautionary tale. January 24th After you've had it, there isn't even life without drugs.... It started when she was served a soft drink laced with LSD in a dangerous party game. Within months, she was hooked, trapped in a downward spiral that took her from her comfortable home and loving family to the mean streets of an unforgiving city. It was a journey that would rob her of her innocence, her youth -- and ultimately her life. Read her diary. Enter her world. You will never forget her. For thirty-five years, the acclaimed, bestselling first-person account of a teenage girl's harrowing decent into the nightmarish world of drugs has left an indelible mark on generations of teen readers. As powerful -- and as timely -- today as ever, Go Ask Alice remains the definitive book on the horrors of addiction.

#6 #Girlboss by Sophia Amoruso

At seventeen, Sophia Amoruso decided to forgo continuing education to pursue a life of hitchhiking, dumpster diving, and petty thievery. Now, at twenty-nine, she is the Founder, CEO, and Creative Director of Nasty Gal, a $100+ million e-tailer that draws A-list publicity and rabid fans for its leading-edge fashion and provocative online persona. Her story is extraordinary—and only part of the appeal of #GIRLBOSS. This aspirational book doesn’t patronize young women the way many business experts do. Amoruso shows readers how to channel their passion and hard work, while keeping their insecurities from getting in the way. She offers straight talk about making your voice heard and doing meaningful work. She’s proof that you can be a huge success without giving up your spirit of adventure or distinctive style. As she writes, "I have three pieces of advice I want you to remember: Don’t ever grow up. Don’t become a bore. Don’t let The Man get to you. OK? Cool. Then let’s do this.”

#5 Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: A Novel by Jesse Andrews

Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics. Until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel. Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia—-cue extreme adolescent awkwardness—-but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives. And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight.

#4 Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Two misfits. One extraordinary love. Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor. Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park. Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

#3 A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

A Doll's House (1879), is a masterpiece of theatrical craft which, for the first time portrayed the tragic hypocrisy of Victorian middle class marriage on stage. The play ushered in a new social era and "exploded like a bomb into contemporary life".

#2 Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver. The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change. That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power. Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime. But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart.

#1 The 5th Wave by Richard Yancey

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one. Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother-or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

All plot summaries taken from www.goodreads.com

#read #reading #books #2016 #library #amsulibrary #libraries #miss peregrines #5th wave #red queen #a doll's house #eleanor and park #me and earl and the dying girl #girlboss #go ask alice #random family #survive the night

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