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royalsweetteaa · 1 year ago

Text

Good intent

Pairing: Dark!Ransom Drysdale x Homeless!Reader

Chapter 1

ONLY 18+ | MINORS DNI

WARNING - This story contains the following: dark & suggesting themes such as kidnapping, non-con, explicit smut, obsessive behavior/possessive behavior/delusional behavior on Ransom’s part, Ransom being a creep in general, unbalanced power dynamic, Stockholm syndrome on reader’s part, classism, size kink, manipulation, angst, a bit of sad!Ransom, eventual fluff.

Ch. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Summary: Ransom is going through a mid-life crisis where he’s miserable and he wants to change things up to make his daily life more interesting. The change involves taking the freedom of someone who he deems is beneath societal suitability.

Narrator POV

For the past few weeks, Ransom Drysdale had taken notice of a new piece to his repetitive - and quite frankly, boring pattern of a routine.

Every Saturday evening, he and a couple of his so-called friends, who conveniently only hung out with him on occasions where he felt like wasting a lot of money, would go to the nightclub to get drunk, sometimes snort cocaine given the chance, then go their separate ways to hook up with whores when the evening came to an end.

This used to be Ransom’s highlight of the week, and it still was compared to what he did any other day.

He didn’t do much else at home other than occasionally picking up girls to go on a ride on the Beamer - one of his most precious possessions, to then end up at his house to hot sex. His sex drive had been indefinitely high ever since he started his trust fund of a life style. Being alone in a big house with too much money and no job to keep him occupied had led him to feel lonely, frustrated and lastly concluding - lust.

He used to love the attention he was given by the women who so easily spread their legs for him, but eventually he felt empty from them. Because despite how much they would beg him to use them like they were his personal sextoys in the heat of the moment, he knew deep down they didn’t rely on him as much as he relied on them. They were just as much after a good fuck as him, but as soon as he kicked them out of his house the morning after, they were off doing whatever ‘normal people’ do.

They probably had family, friends,…- he on the other hand was left to ponder on what to do next to entertain himself. He had yet to find that one thing that could bring some sort of stability and could satisfy his thirst for a lifelong entertainment. Getting a job was not one of them, no matter how much he sometimes considered it. He only had to remind himself of how miserable he was the few weeks he worked for Harlan at the publishing company.

No, he wanted something else.

And tonight, he thinks he might have found it.

A young woman had caught his eye each time he drove past the street that led to the nightclub. It was obvious enough that she was homeless, given that he had seen her laying against the wall of an apartment building, snuggling in her sleeping bag - reasonably so because it was the end of October. The nights were only getting colder as winter was right around the corner. She wasn’t wearing anything appropriate for the weather either - a thin jacket with no gloves and a hat barely covering her ears to keep her warm.

Her appearance alone wasn’t something he found eye catching. It was simply how there were rarely, if any homeless people around. This small town was known for people of high class, with the exception of lower classes visiting the area to spend the little extra money they had earned from their minimum wage paying job to have a once in a life time experience in the 5 star restaurants or in the luxurious nightclub. The few homeless people who did end up here would be kicked out days later, due to complaints from the rich of how they were ruining the reputation the town tries to uphold.

Ransom couldn’t stay more neutral on the case as he cared little to nothing about what the town decided to do with the less fortunate - as long as his money and property wasn’t personally affected, it didn’t matter to him.

But for once, he couldn’t help but be a little confused as to how this woman had lasted as long as she had. It had been more than a week, and she still hadn’t moved from her spot. Maybe the people who lived in the apartment didn’t mind her presence, or were too occupied to even notice her. She kept her spot pretty tidy too, making sure to not let any trash she may have to spread out on the pavement. She wasn’t the average homeless man who would beg for a penny either, which led Ransom to assume she had some money to cover a few basic needs but not enough to sleep somewhere.

These thoughts kept him preoccupied while he slowly downed the whiskey he had kept in his hand for the longest time. His friends seemed to take notice of how quiet he was the whole time, and tried to ignite his usual enthusiasm.

“See that chick over there? She’s come all this way from Missouri and I heard she gives the best head. Think it’d be good for you to let off some steam and give it a shot, pal.” One of the guys said smugly and pointed to the blonde who seemed to have already been checking out Ransom as she bit her bottom lip seductively.

Ransom sighed and sunk his shoulders. “Sure, why the fuck not.”

He walked up to the woman with a smirk on his face to keep up the same facade he’s had for a while. They flirted with each other - Ransom commented how her filthy words coming from her mouth was turning him on, though it was hardly the truth, and the woman replied with; “wanna see what other filthy things my mouth can do?”

One thing led to another, and he found himself in the handicap restroom with the woman between his legs sucking him off. It was good, - great even, but he felt nothing. This has been going on and on - he practically knows how the night is going to end and it makes him feel miserable. How would this spiral ever end if he kept on letting it happen?

“Fuck-! Stop, just stop.” Ransom said hastily while pushing the woman off of him. “I can’t fucking do this right now.” The blonde had an offended look on her face, but he paid no mind as he tucked his dick back in his boxers and zipped up his trousers. As he left the restroom he could hear her shout after him “you piece of shit!”

It caught the attention of one of his buddies, and they asked if something went wrong, to which he muttered: “I’m leaving. M’tired of this fuckin’ place.”

None of them bothered to go after him after that. Of course they wouldn’t.

He walked towards his car that was parked only feet away from the nightclub entrance. The little alcohol in his system wasn’t enough to make him not sober, so he was confident to drive home safely. Though, his plan wasn’t to drive straight home even if he tried to convince himself it was all the reason he left early.

Driving closer to the all too familiar street, he scanned alongside the pavement, grinning mischievously when his eyes landed on the mysterious homeless woman.

There she is.

Slowing the car down, he came to a full stop when his car reached alongside her. She seemed to have awoken abruptly from the car’s rumbling engine, and glanced up to be met by the driver’s eyes. His gaze was on her through the whole process of him turning off the engine to him stepping out of his car.

He has never been this close to her, and so he took his time to study her face. Upon a closer look, he found her to be quite pretty. Cute even. Dare he say attractive if it wasn’t for the dust on her cheeks, her greasy hair and fashionably outdated clothes. In a sense, he felt dominant as his tall frame seemed to threaten her. Maybe it was the cold temperature, but he liked to think her sudden stiff composure was because of him.

“What’s your name?” Ransom asked, deciding to finally break the silence.

She gave him a cautious look before mumbling her name. One could easily miss it, but Ransom had sharp ears when he really wanted to listen.

“Y/N, huh..pretty name. Name’s Hugh Drysdale. I live not far from here and have seen you a couple times while driving by. Care to tell me how you ended up here?”

“Why? Do I bother you?” She asked condescendingly.

He frowned, slightly irritated. “No, just wanna know because I might be of help. No need for the attitude.” He said. Ransom surprised himself by saying the word ‘I’ and ‘help’ in the same sentence. Guess there’s a first time for everything.

Y/N’s face softened immediately at the mention of help, lowering her guard. “Oh, I see.. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. I just assumed the worst coming from a guy who has just been at a nightclub.”

So she’s noticed me too. Neat. He thought to himself. “Yeah, I go there from time to time but decided to leave early. Didn’t feel up for it today and I’m still sober, which led me to you.” Ransom explained himself. “You were gonna tell me what happened?”

Y/N sighed and lowered her head as though the mere reminder of her life story made her tired. “If you insist….- I got kicked out from my parents’ house two years ago when I turned 18 because they thought it was the perfect opportunity to let me go without legal consequences. I never had a good relationship with them to begin with as I was always seen as a burden than anything else. I then moved in with an ex-friend but it didn’t work out in the long run. Never found a job either which refrained me from finding a place and paying pay rent. I moved around a lot, from state to state. I used to live in my car but eventually had to sell it to have money for food and other things - and that leads me to where I am right now.”

Ransom shook his head, “Damn, you’ve been through a lot. All this time…having to deal with so much on your own. Must have been hard.” He said, leaning against the same wall beside her with his arms crossed. Deep down he scoffed at how little he could relate to her.

The only thing Ransom felt like he could personally relate to was on the topic of having a troubling relationship with parents. Sure, he wasn’t kicked out of his parents’ house without a bank account containing a large sum of money, but he felt the part where he was also unwanted by his parents, - not to mention by his whole family.

They all hated him and saw him as the black sheep of the family. Harlan was more patient with Ransom compared to the rest, since He was still getting his monthly allowance to continue with his foolery. In the end however, he was left by himself, which led him to realize another thing -

She has no one. Just like me.

He looked down at her from where he was standing, taking in how fragile she looked. How small and weak she was compared to him. He has - and could have anything he wanted, while she has nothing. The contrast between them made him feel something he has never felt before.

“Yeah, it sucks...I don’t want you to feel bad for me though. I have been very lucky to not have been robbed or experience…worse things. People seem to be too busy here and haven’t bothered me. It has made my time out here so much easier. I know I’ll find my place once I get out of here.” Y/N said with a smile.

Ransom hummed contently. He liked her voice. He could get used to hearing her talking about anything her heart desired. “…you know, I can tell you’re freezing just by looking at you. It would be inhumane of me to leave you here for another night. I have a spare guest room and a bathroom you could use for as much as you’d like, till you…figure out where to go from there I guess.”

She looked up at him with doe eyes that made his mind go wild with scenarios - most of them being in a sexual manner. Her in his arms as he kissed her and made her go down on her knees, looking at him with those same eyes while she sucked his-

“Oh, I really appreciate the offer Hugh, but I really don’t need your help. As of tomorrow early, I’ll be on my way to Pennsylvania where I have been offered a place.-“

The fuck?

“Its a shelter for the homeless youth, and the bus I’m taking goes in about…” she checks her watch for a brief moment. It was currently midnight. “..six hours, so I think I’ll do just fine until then. It’s exclusively on its way to where I need to be and it’d be a disaster if I missed it.” She said and chuckled to herself at the mere thought. “But like I said, it was nice of you to-!”

Before she finished her sentence, Ransom straightened his posture, moved away from the wall without sparing her a glance and walked towards his car. The car door was swung open and he slammed it closed once he was behind the wheel. Within seconds, he was back on the main road and drove his way home. His grip on the steering wheel was tight. He was trying to remain calm but he was bad at it. Thoughts and questions were irking him up even more as he got closer to his house.

SHE doesn’t NEED my help? Who the fuck did she think she was talking to? The CEO of charity case? Get the fuck out of here.

Can’t believe she’s picking a fucking homeless shelter over my offer. Ungrateful cunt. Guess she thrives on living in a shithole.

She’s a nobody. She’s nothing. She’s below what is considered a decent member of society, and yet -

she doesn’t need me.

Ransom was fueled with anger at this point. His ego was painfully bruised. He has never offered someone like her any type of service, and when he does for the first time, he’s rejected.

Furthermore, he found himself disappointed that he thought this would go somewhere. He fantasized that if she accepted, he could give her everything and she would see him as her savior from a pitiful life. And in return, he would have her as his thing. The thing that would provide him a satisfactory life. He wanted to be the only reason for her entire livelihood and her to be nothing without him. The mere thought aroused him and made him realize how sick he was, but he didn’t care. He had seen her face and it was enough for him to be sure that he wants that with her. A nobody that had nothing other than him - Hugh Ransom Drysdale.

So what’s stopping him? Who said he had to leave it at her meek rejection? His inner thoughts asked.

It was then when he decided. He was going to get her for his own pleasure, and add good intent to it.

Ransom had taken a few shots at home to calm his nerves while plotting the unthinkable inside his head.

He has had many sinister thoughts in the past during desperate times, but he never acted upon them as he always found a way around it. This time wasn’t like those other times though. It felt like a higher calling was telling him that he had to take action or else he would miss what’s right in front of him. His ticket out of a miserable spiral.

It was 02:30 in the morning, and after taking in careful consideration, he backs out of his driveway and drives downtown once again. A handkerchief and a bottle of chloroform is neatly placed on the passenger seat.

The party at the nightclub had died down by now, and most people had departed. All the lights except for the head lights were off across the whole street where Y/N was resting. She was slotted in the dark between two head lights and could barely be seen from a distance. This was a huge advantage on Ransom’s part. He parked the Beamer a little further away not to wake her. Only for a few minutes did he wait to be sure it was the right time to approach.

He picked up the bottle of chloroform, holding it away from his face as much as possible while opening it and making the handkerchief ready for use. A few drops of sweat had appeared on his forehead, probably from nervousness. This has to go as swiftly as possible or I’m out of luck.

With quiet steps he approached her, with the handkerchief sprayed with a dose of the drug in his hand.

When he was close enough, he shoved the handkerchief onto Y/N’s nose and mouth, holding her body down with his other hand causing her whole body to jolt awake, her eyes wide open and whimpering out of distress. She tried to resist and push him off but her strength was quickly drained from the drug and her eyes twitched, trying to have them remain open.

“Shhhh, it’s alright sweetheart, go back to sleep..” he cooed. Her body started to slump downwards to the ground again, but he held her back steadily and lifted her up with both of his arms. She was completely knocked out, and while he cautiously looked around for any witnesses - only to see none, he hooked her backpack on his arm with her and rushed back to the Beamer, putting her in the passenger seat. He left her sleeping bag behind, secretly hoping that It’ll add fuel to the fire and piss some people off that a homeless person had left their stuff behind like many times before.

While driving back, Ransom took quick glances at the woman he had taken while still maintaining concentration to the road. His thumb reached out to her cheek and he attempted to smear off the dust, unsuccessfully doing so.

“Don’t worry, kitten. We’ll get you all cleaned up.” He mumbled, more to himself than to her.

He laid her body in the guest room and gathered supplies for her to use in the morning. Towels, bottles of shampoo with different fragrances, a deodorant, toothpaste and a toothbrush - everything a person would need. He knew he would have to buy clothes for her too, but he wouldn’t be able to do that until tomorrow. She can wear his clothes in the meantime.

He had these extra supplies stored after his mother complained relentlessly on how little personalized the guest room was. He would argue that the extra stash was useless because he wouldn’t have any guests over in the near future.

Guess he could finally admit he was wrong. Those silly soaps with different scents would come to great use in the hands of Y/N. Or maybe in the use of his own hands roaming around her body.

While he expected her to clean herself by her own when the morning arose, he figured he could do the easy task of cleaning her face.

Fetching a clean cloak and soaking it up in semi hot water, he brought it to Y/N’s face, gently rubbing at the spots where the dust had stained her skin. He touched her hair out of curiosity and leaned in to smell if she had any odor.

He smelled something that he couldn’t quite pinpoint, and upon closer look he noticed her roots were stained with a tint of white. He put one and one together - she had been using baby powder to keep her hair from turning greasy and smelly after assumingely going weeks off washing her hair. Poor little thing, he thought. And she thought she would be better off at a shelter than be with me. As if that would make her life any better. How pathetic.

In a less discreet way, he removed her jacket and unbuttoned her shirt to remove her bra. The countless of women that have been over at his place would always complain leaving their bras on for the whole night, leaving their breasts sore from the restraint. With this knowledge, he had an excuse to take a peek at her breasts.

Once Ransom figured out how to remove the straps, he was met by two perky nipples staring right back at him. His mouth watered at the sight. He felt the restraint of his trousers tightening.

Less than 24 hours ago, he could be found having a threesome with two prostitutes in his king sized bed - yet, this somehow made him more easily riled up compared to the last several intercourses he has had.

His hand reached out to squeeze one of her tits. They were so soft. So beautiful. His other hand reached to his bulge, palming it with slow strokes. His breath hitched and he abruptly stopped both acts.

Fuck, get it together, Ransom. There will be a time to have her, but that will have to be after she has showered.

Buttoning her shirt back together and taking her bra with him to the dirty laundry basket, he left the guest room and went straight to his bedroom.

Through his wardrobe of clothes was an access control panel controlling the level of security he wanted the house to be on. Most doors and openable windows relied on the level of security the control panel was set to. In this case scenario, Ransom had now maximized the level of security - meaning all windows were now completely sealed and all doors leading outside would remain locked at all times - unless he typed in the code. That way, Y/N would be free to roam around the house without him being worried she might run away. The system was secured enough for her to never figure out the code. His house had large glass exterior, but thankfully there were blenders to block the outside world.

He didn’t have to worry about passerby’s seeing Y/N when he wasn’t around to keep her in check. There were hardly any people around where he lived, but he didn’t want to risk it.

He did have a basement he could put her in as well, but that would be too cruel. After all, he’s not a monster. He only has good intentions, even though some of them may be morally questionable.

Finally tucking himself into bed, he kept a smirk on his face as he let his eyes finally rest. The morning excited him. He was prepared that Y/N would be defensive and show resistance, but he was determined to put her in her place and make her see his way. -

Make her realize she needs him, make her crave him for his riches and understand that only through him she can be a somebody.

Hearts & Reblogs are very appreciated! <3

#ransom drysdale x reader #ransom drysdale #dark ransom drysdale #dark ransom drysdale x reader #ransom drysdale x female reader #ransom drysdale x y/n #ransom drysdale fanfiction #chris evans fanfiction

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srldesigns6277 · 9 months ago

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Hey Sam,

I’m wondering if you could give us (I’m hoping I’m not alone with these lacunae) a quick overview of the 1D tours in chronological order, album they were promoting AND the aesthetics (that sofa? the cartoon graphics? the jungle gym stage?). It’s still a bit of a “long time ago” jumble for me… and I can kinda tell by how long Harry’s hair is or how flowery his outfits when something happened, but I’ve never sat down to piece it together. And the way I imagine you to be, you’ll just know it off the top of your head!

If it’s no trouble, of course.

Many thanks in advance (hehe!)

Ailo

Hey Ailo <3,

So I am going to make this small so it fits better. So before we had Up All Night, which was their first album in 2011, that started with WMYB as its main single, One Direction was on the XFactor Tour, which ran from February to April of 2011. They didn't really have any special arrangements for their stage there because they were not the only act performing.

Following the release of Up All Night in November of 2011, the boys embarked on their Up All Night Tour in December 2011, with the UK and Ireland tour. They spent the first half of the year on this Tour, going around the world and touring with Big Time Rush in the United States. This was the tour that had the boys sitting on a couch. It also had plenty of silly moments due to the introduction of Twitter questions.

This tour went on until July of 2012, which was in line with the next release. LWWY came out in August of 2012, leading to a massive push to break the United States with Little Things in October and a set of concerts in Madison Square Garden in December 2012.

The next tour was the Take Me Home Tour which was named after the album that came out in Nov. 2012. The tour began on 23 February 2013 in London, England, and concluded on 3 November 2013 in Chiba, Japan. This was the tour of the crazy superhero graphics and the floating stage between the A stage and B stage in the crowd.

The final stage set was the massive jungle gym-looking set used for the Where We Are tour and the On The Road Again Tour. It featured a bunch of insane-looking pathways to run around on and a B stage that rose from stage level to about a story up so the entire stadium could see them. This stage was used during the stadium tours, with its massive screens and walkway allowing the boys to run around and be seen by everyone. The behind-the-scenes for the movie from San Siro shows just how huge the stage was. The stage colors changed from red to blue and yellow between the two tours.

#asks #one direction tours #one direction #on the road again #otra #where we are #wwa tour #tmh tour #take me home #uan tour #up all night #xfactor tour

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krispyweiss · 1 year ago

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Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Day No. 3, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Oct. 1, 2023

Not only are they fascinating to watch, hummingbirds have fantastic taste in music.

How else to explain the little avian hovering about Sierra Hull’s soundcheck and late-morning set at the Banjo stage on Day Three of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass?

Little birdie picked a good place to flutter around as Hull and her band played an energetic bluegrass-with-drums set, which Mr. and Mrs. Sound Bites took in in full after catching a few songs of Jon Langford & the Bright Shiners’ Scottish protest music at the Rooster.

Peeling off to catch parts of sets would be the theme for a first day of October stacked with outstanding performers who put the Hardly Strictly in the formerly Bluegrass-only fest inside San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

But first, a full set by Eilen Jewell - playing a guitar borrowed from Chuck Prophet - on Rooster, which found the singer and her band playing tracks from Gypsy and Get Behind the Wheel and simply slaying with a note-perfect rendition of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Green River.” Guitarist Jerry Miller is nearly as important as Jewell to the band’s success, adding twangy, country-rock spice to Jewell’s songs of love and adventure.

Then, back to the Banjo stage where musical chameleon Gabby Moreno served up slices of cumbia and American rock ‘n’ roll back-to-back and sung them in Spanish and English.

After a quick visit to Prophet and the Mission Express on Rooster, the Sound Biteses floated over to Swan for Valerie June. Wearing a loud orange outfit and backed with pedal steel, organ and rhythm section, June spun an impossible-to-categorize web of funk, soul and Americana while playing banjo and acoustic guitar and meting out songs such as “Call Me a Fool.”

Peeling off once again, the Sound Biteses were back at Banjo in time for the Travelin’ McCourys, with Punch Brothers/Might Poplar (whom we missed in favor of Emmylou Harris) banjo man Noam Pikelny filling in for Rob McCoury, and a blistering set of pure bluegrass that included “The Shaker” and “Scarlet Begonias,” with a triple-time back end, filling the park the Grateful Dead played so many times.

“Seems appropriate,” Ronnie McCoury said as your diarists peeled off yet again to the tiny Horseshoe Hill stage, for a packed 100th-anniversary tribute to Doc Watson by Mitch Greenhill, playing one of Watson’s guitars, Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman with guest slots from Andrew Marlin, June and Langford.

“Summertime,” June’s rendition of “Handsome Molly,” Langford getting the lyrics to “Tom Dooley” from a piece of paper and “Southbound” were all on offer. And it all ended with the glorious experience of a couple hundred people singing “Keep on the Sunny Side” under the foggy skies and tall trees of Golden Gate Park.

After this life-affirming interlude, the Jerry Douglas Band was pushing blues-rock and jazz flecked with bluegrass on the Swan stage. Another peel and back to the Banjo where Rufus Wainwright played solo-acoustic and his singular voice wafted across the large expanse to the Arrow stage where Tommy Emmanuel dealt the festival’s penultimate set to a relatively small, but appreciative, hard-listening audience.

Gasps filled the air as Emmanuel played inhuman runs on his acoustic guitar on such songs as “Sixteen Tons,” “Deep River Blues” and “Blue Moon.” He introduced a phantom band as he played a bassline, then percussion and rhythm before adding lead and left the audience agog as he played them simultaneously. He wrapped up his portion with the instrumentals “Imagine” and “Beatles Medley” as Harris began her closing set back where the day began on Banjo.

With a four-piece band of multi-instrumentalists behind her, Harris concluded HSB in grand style. “Miss the Mississippi and You,” “Pancho and Lefty,” “Hickory Wind,” “Evangeline” and “The Boxer” all filled the cool, early-evening air and added a extra layer of wistfulness to the end of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2023.

Read Sound Bites’ Day One review here

Read Sound Bites’ Day Two review here

10/2/23

#sierra hull #jerry douglas #eilen jewell #chuck prophet #the travelin’ mccourys #valerie june #tommy emmanuel #emmylou harris #doc watson #rufus wainwright #gabby moreno #jon langford

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dailyunsolvedmysteries-movedd · 1 year ago

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The Box Lady of Benton

It was October 8th, 1976 and Norman Skoog had spent the day harvesting his “back 40,” acres of corn along Benton County Road 200 South. Around 5pm, while harvesting in a remote spot about a mile-and-a-half from the Skoog home, he made a bizarre discovery. A white cardboard box wrapped in tape and rope sat on the ground roughly nine rows deep in the field, approximately 15 yards off of the gravel road. Norman had nearly ran over the box with his combine. When he got out to investigate the box, he realized it was far too heavy for him to lift alone. He left on his combine to get his father-in-law and his pickup. Together, they loaded the box into the bed of the truck and drove it to the Skoog home.

Curtis Skoog, 16, was first to notice the pungent odor of cheap perfume coming from within the box. Using a pocket knife, he sliced open a section of the box to find a broken vial of perfume lying atop something wrapped in layers of plastic. Concerned what may be inside, Norman phoned police. He told Curtis to return the vial to the box and wait for the Sheriff to arrive.

Sheriff Donal Steely arrived at the Skoog home a short time later to inspect the suspicious package. As he began to cut into the thick sheets of heavy plastic and rope, a new foul smell wafted out of the box. Steely decided he should contact the State Police before proceeding any further. Indiana State Police arrived and opened the box. Beneath the layers of plastic sheeting and rope, they discovered the body of a woman. The body was taken to the local coroners office, and later an autopsy was preformed in Lafayette, Indiana.

It was concluded that the woman’s cause of death was from a small calibre single gunshot wound at the base of her neck fired at close range. The bullet was never recovered. Her death was estimated to have occurred 7-10 days before being found, but it was noted that very little decomposition had occurred.

She was found in the fetal position with her knees pressed firmly against her chest. Her body was bound with rope and her hands were tied under her knees. Her head and face were wrapped in white paper towelling, and two small plastic bags had been tied over her head. Her body had been wrapped in several layers of thick plastic, similar to those used as runners to protect carpet. White clothesline style rope and heavy duty duct tape had been used to tie the plastic around the body and was so tightly bound, it had distorted and bruised the woman’s face.

The woman was white, approximately 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighed around 175 pounds, and was estimated to be around 60 years of age. The woman wore a green 2-piece pants suit that was covered in blood, but otherwise clean. She wore no makeup, shoes, pantyhose, or jewelry and had no identification. She had a few distinguishing facial features, including a large “bump” on the bridge of her nose and “abnormally large ears.”

It was evident the woman had undergone several surgeries. She had undergone a radical mastectomy, and bore a vertical surgical scar on her mid-section which extended from her sternum to her stomach. She had also undergone extensive dental work, though she was in need of more.

Her makeshift “coffin” was a white cardboard box measuring 3-by-2-by-1-foot. The box was a typical moving box, stamped with a factory label reading “wardrobe.” Another part of the box bore a handwritten notation reading “hall closet.” It was learned that the box had been manufactured in Illinois. Inside of the box, the small vial of perfume was found, however it had no label. The box itself had been sealed with tape and the same rope that was used to bind the woman. Investigators believe the box had been left at the location the same day it was found. Heavy rains had blanketed the area the previous day into the early morning hours and the box showed no signs of moisture damage.

Police attempted to use fingerprints to identify the unknown woman, however they never found a match. This led them to the conclusion she had never been arrested, or held a civil service job. A sketch of the woman was released to the public in the hopes of identifying her, however no one came forward to claim her body. Eventually, she was buried in an unmarked grave in Fowler Cemetery.

The investigation continued and several people came forward from states as far away as Alabama believing the unknown woman may be their missing loved one. Unfortunately she was not a match to any of them.

Multiple theories existed, from everything to a “mob-hit,” to a wrong place wrong time scenario. However the most bizarre, and seemingly most accepted theory, is that the box was dropped from a helicopter.

While the area the box was found is extremely rural, it is also a tight knit community of farmers who are outside from sun up to sun down. According to them, they would have noticed someone driving along the gravel road that morning, and while they didn’t spot any suspicious cars, they did see a helicopter fly over the field early that morning. According to three separate witness statements, the helicopter approached from the northeast, swung to the southwest, and hovered near the ground for a few seconds where the box was found.

A second piece of evidence supporting the helicopter theory is that when police searched the area where the box was found, they discovered an irregular circle of exposed black dirt around the dumping site. During harvest, corn stalks litter the ground covering the soil. The powerful updraft created by a helicopter could cause the stalks to scatter leaving the ground exposed and leaving a circular “imprint” like the one discovered at the scene.

#unsolved #unsolved mysteries #crime #cold cases #creepy

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untitledtheunknown · 3 years ago

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Valor Rzeszutek timeline from birth to 2077+ cuz have put way too much thought and planning into his dumb ass. It's not 100% to everything, a lot of things are over simplified and had major effects on him, as well as other smaller events that did occur. But its something to kinda base him on of where he's been and where he's at now.

October 21st 1994 - Valor and Glory Rzeszutek were born to engineer Jeremiah and corpo Vivienne Rzeszutek in South Africa.

August 2005 - Vivienne received a new position with the HQ of her company, uprooting the family from SA to NUSA Las Vegas.

June 2006 - Jeremiah takes Valor with him on a small trip to NC, surprises him with tickets to see Samurai.

October 21st 2006 - Valor gets his first electric guitar for his 12th birthday.

November 19th 2010 - Vivienne dies of sudden health complications. Corporation covers her funeral costs and gives an additional 1 year salary to the family.

July 2012 - Valor joins Lazarus Group starting his mercenary/solo career.

September 2012 - Jeremiah leaves LV joining a group of Nomads heading East.

2013-15 - Valor served as gunner for Trauma Team LV; Glory was quickly rising through corprate ranks with Liive a doll company.

December 2017 - Corprate counter extractions, target found dead in a warehouse with a wreath around his head. First of many to be found this way.

2021-27 - Valor is assigned on military contract back to SA, orders suggested territory dispute and area fortification but actual politics of it was left out for troops. Mostly a show of muscle and patrolling different hot zones.

February 4th 2027 - Transport detail, halfway camp under fire. 14 dead another dozen injured, Valor and 3 others are taken prisoner.

February 6th 2027 - Valor wakes up strapped to an operating table, system diagnosis states a foreign piece of unregistered cyberware has been installed. Installation location is unknown as all ports are open, given the bandaging around his head and the pain at the base of his skull, assumed it was surgically implanted.

February 8th 2027 - Dumped in an unknown location, small town, in the middle of the night. Bloody, bruised, and weak manages to get himself up and starts to stumble down the empty street. Chip is activated, neural system goes offline, cyberpsychosis takes over sending Valor into a chaotic feral state.

February 9th-15th 2027 - Valor is held prisoner by local military company. Believing he works for the black market vendors he is tortured for days on end until information arrives that he is one of the MIA soldiers with Lazarus Group. Returned to a nearby base and sent back to NUSA for medical evaluation.

March 30th 2027 - Valor is released from medical care, honorably discharged from Lazarus for medical purposes. Do to the chip's nature it is unable to be removed, with no known tracers on the technology he is put on as risk for possible cyberpsychosis relapse. No evidence to prove that he will relapse he is free to leave the facility.

June 2027 - Valor meets a street drummer that goes by Rango. Former Nomad, part time roadie. He's a part time drummer and makes for good company, two start hanging out on the regular.

August 19th 2027 - Abduction in progress, high on painkillers Valor gives chase. First official run in with Arasaka Extractor, Umbra. Though the fight was short lived and Valor failed, Umbra, impressed with vitality and fight, severs Valor's ring finger. Taking it as an oath for the fight to continue on a better day for the solo.

December 7th 2027 - Valor is selected among a small group of Solos for a new prototype of cyberarms known as the MonoBlades by Kendachi. Do to his medical records he is unable to undergo the procedure for the new cybernetics though is assured his spot will be held until he's well enough.

April 2028 - Once again confronted with Umbra, though no fight happens, terms of the affair are made clear. Valor is being stalked by the other, for better or for worse. Next several months this obsession is made clear.

September 2028 - Convinced by his sister that he needs to get out more, get back to work, do something with his time. In a haze of foggy memories ends up joining an inferno and becoming a dom for hire. Pays good and keeps his nights filled can't complain.

December 19th 2028 - Clearance for the new cyberarms is granted, Valor is sent to one of Kendachi's orbital stations to receive the procedure and physical therapy for the new arms.

March 14th 2029 - Contacted by an old Netrunner friend asking to meet up. Meeting up at a Café off the old strip Sami introduces Valor to Kelvy Kai-Eurodyne, an independent media hunting down a Netrunner killer in NC. The name Umbra comes up in intercepted Arasaka documents, Valor tells them to drop it if they value any part of their lives before leaving the Café.

September 2029 - Working more on his music, got a group of friends together and produced their first demo by the end of the year going by the name Herken.

April 2030 - Local rock station for Central Vegas started playing their music, shortly there after Damion Kre Saint for No End Records signed the band, started work on their first official album.

August 2031 - Herken releases their first studio album, Remembering Nothing More to major success

October 15 2031 - First major tour for the band, switching from opening act to headliner at different gigs

May 2033 - Second album is released, touring there after

September 2036 - Third studio album is released, Cherish the Pain, album becomes a sensation in the rock scene

2038 - after several strings of murders, and NC naming a new serial killer, Sami contacts Valor thanking him for his warning nearly 10 years ago about Umbra.

February 2040 - Fourth album is released

August 2045 - Valor returns to work with Lazarus, back into solo work, mainly preforming counter extractions.

November 2046 - Attempted counter extraction comes too late, Valor calls in the body only to be confronted with Umbra as he attempts to exit the scene. Conversation was not recorded, both men left unharmed.

March 17 2049 - Glory Rzeszutek is murdered several blocks from her home, during an attempted robbery. Trauma is unable to revive her, information regarding her death is forwarded out to Valor there after.

March 23 2049 - Valor is switched from ops being put back on leave to manage his sister's affairs. He is the sole beneficiary to her estate, inheriting her wealth and stock with Liive, overnight making him a multi-billionaire and part of the Vegas elite.

April 2049 - dealing with the loss of his twin sister, Valor begins to go through a deep pit of depression. Having dealt with loss before, Solo career wasn't uncommon to lose friends, this however was different. Depression began to manifest into visual and audio hallucinations, making work nearly impossible to do

May 2049 - Jan 2050 - Valor is in and out of court and legal hearings in regards to his inheritance and the remainder of his sister's estate. Interviews running like its a celebratory thing gaining this wealth, truth being he just wants to get back to work. Ending result 75% of the wealth is locked in accounts and will not be released for another 20+ years.

February 2050 - Valor once again returns to work with Lazarus taking on smaller gigs for a time. Still dealing with his own mental state, he refuses to take on anymore large gigs.

July 2051 - Contract comes in for a security gig, easy job, 24/7 body detail for 1 year on tour. Contract is immediately pushed forward to Valor who accepts, only during briefing for the gig find out its for Kerry Eurodyne.

July 2052 - contract concluded with the tour a benefits relationship starts between Kerry and Valor. Valor opting to stay in NC for a few months extra on a "private" contract with the Rockerboy.

September 2054 - Kerry once again hires Valor as security for a shorter tour, media events for new album put on by his label.

2057 - Rumors start to surface that Umbra has been decommissioned amongst a small group of extractors, Sami brings up that Arasaka is keeping it quiet because he was the NC Gallery Killer and that is not a PR mess any company wants to deal with. All traces of him have been scrubbed from their databanks.

2058 - Valor receives a token from the Nomad group The Veils, and invitation to join them. Having heard rumors of the group, he's hesitant to act, even more so to inform anyone.

June 2059 - Valor retires from Lazarus and takes up the offering on The Veils token, following it out into the desert.

2060 - He is officially accepted into the clan, given a title by Azera and branded as part of them with his unique code. Beginning of a new life.

2067 - Valor begins spending more time at the Edges of Silence, a bleak stretch of dead desert where nothing grows. The clan believes the desert out there will either consume or the spirits will direct. Something keeps calling him back whenever he is close.

August 2074 - The choice is made to continue heading out West, follow the signs and see if he can make sense of the visions and voices. Gifted passage and return by Azera it is not a final goodbye from the clan.

2075 - Settled into NC, doesn't take long for his reputation to catch up with him, starts taking on independent Solo gigs. Quickly climbing up the chain and becoming a regular at the Afterlife, a gifted work horse for Rogue, but one she knows will get any job done.

2077 - Happens, that was a thing... yeah.

January 2078 - Valor and Kerry make the trip back out to The Veils, after a trial devoted to loyalty, Azera decides to spare them both, attempting to save Valor from the effects of the Relic.

May 2078 - Finally wakes back up, and on the recovery as his vitals have evened out and a sense of normalcy is restored. Though some side effects of the Relic cannot be reverted in his current body, he has his life with no threat of a imminent collapse.

#cp77 valor #cyberpunk oc #oc timeline #cyberpunk 2077 #cp2077 #i hope this makes some sense to someone who may care #i finally finished it to a point lol

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dailyunsolvedmysteries · 4 years ago

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The Box Lady of Benton

#The Box Lady of Benton #true crime #cold cases #unsolved mysteries #post

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josefavomjaaga · 3 years ago

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Helfert, Joachim Murat, Chapter 6, Part 5

Things are getting ugly now, brace yourselves.

Rarely has anyone been more fatally self-deceived than Joachim Murat, when he convinced himself that he need only present himself on the soil of his former kingdom and everything would fall to him. And for the full measure of his misfortune he had chosen the coast of Calabria, that stretch of land where the old dynasty had always found its enthusiastic followers willing to make sacrifices, while Murat's name, which was conflated with that of the madman Manhès, was virtually maligned and cursed there. But even elsewhere in the country, with the rapidly changing impressions of the southerners, his memory was not merely obliterated, as if a century had passed since then: everything connected with his actions, everything that reminded one of him, was as if it had been tainted. His officials, many of whom the new government had left in their positions, were looked upon with disdain and persecuted by the population; indeed, there were violent acts, bloody uprisings against them, so that the government had to intervene with all the severity of the law.

An example of this is given in the following footnote:

Jablonovski PS. ad numerum 12 of 21. September 2, mentions such an uprising in Salerno, in which several Murat officials were killed; a royal commission came from Naples and now eleven of the mutineers were sentenced to death: "il arrive à chaque instant de pareils événements; la présence de nos troupes les empêche dans la capitale, et si elles quittaient Naples aujourd'hui, demain tous ceux qui avaient été employés par Murat seraient égorgés". See also n. 13 on 3 October: "Dans les provinces qui étaient oprimées sous le gouvernement de Murat les passions haineuses de cette nation agissent avec plus de force".

Apparently, some people were disappointed that they were not allowed any excesses after the change of government. Helfert continues:

At the Court of Naples in the first days of October, nothing was known about Murat's departure from Ajaccio, nor was it possible to know anything about it: on the other hand, other news had arrived which upset the King in the extreme. Jablonovski, towards whom the monarch was always of the most winning friendliness, noticed a change in the monarch's behaviour at the cercle on October 4, the name day of Emperor Francis, which was always festively celebrated at Ferdinand's court. None of the ministers was able to tell our envoy what the king had against him until Princess Partanna, whom Ferdinand alone had taken into his confidence, told him: it was a coded dispatch from Prince Castelcicala which had arrived from Paris and informed the monarch that Austria had offered Murat an asylum within her borders. Jablonovski seized the first opportunity to confront Circello on the matter. "Shouldn't your King prefer," he said, "that Murat should stay 200 miles from Naples, under the eyes and supervision of a powerful ally of His Majesty, rather than having to constantly fear that the adventurer might land at a point on the coast which, because of its great extent, can never be properly guarded, and disturb the peace of the kingdom? Of course he won't succeed, that's what our troops are for. But he can cause enough unrest and disorder, especially if, as is not at all improbable, he joins forces with the Barbaresques and sets out to do mischief".

The argument was plausible and had all the greater effect because just in the last few days, October 4 and 5, reports had been received that put our envoy's ideas in a peculiar light. Murat's squadron had not gone entirely unnoticed on the Neapolitan coast: on the 4th a vessel had been observed near Sorrento which was thought to be a pirate ship and which seemed to be waiting for others like it; on the 5th a similar signal had arrived in the port of Salerno. The two pieces of news caused all the more concern in government circles because at the same time Baron Lebzeltern sent a message from Rome to the commandant of Gaëta, who reported to the capital without delay that Murat had left the port of Ajaccio with several ships.

All these facts also came to the knowledge of the diplomats of the friendly powers, at least to that of Jablonovski, who reported on them to his Cabinet on 6 and 7 October. On the other hand, what was decided at court remained a secret for the time being. They could only conclude from all sorts of signs and hints that the King's Council had agreed on a drastic measure. Our envoy and the British one thought that orders had been issued to all coastal points to treat Joachim Murat with martial law if he were seized with arms in his hand. Medici had also given orders to all commanders of the troops posted along the coasts from Salerno to Calabria to take the severest measures against those citizens who would join the ex-king. A Captain Spadea, who had returned from Sicily and was therefore undoubtedly familiar in court circles, informed Guglielmo Pepe privately "that much blood would flow in the kingdom in a short time".

Pizzo is, or was at that time, a town of about 8000 inhabitants situated on a height close to the sea, on the shore of which, where one used to land, there were individual houses and magazines. From the coast, at that time rather bumpy and uncomfortable, a path wound up to the town, which led to the main square and continued over the latter in the somewhat steeply rising road leading to Monteleone. On a hill overlooking the town on the left, in the direction in which we enter the town in our minds, there was a castle dominating the Rhine and the town.

Murat's small band, not counting himself, consisted of 29 heads, 26 of them militairs. He wore a uniform of sky-blue cloth, colonel's epaulettes, a tricorn on his head, but no medal or decoration of any kind on his chest. Some people who were on the beach during the disembarkation ran to watch the unusual spectacle and, while the Muratists kept shouting "Evviva il Re Gioacchino!", returned the greeting forced upon them. The same was the case with individuals who came to meet them as the group marched up the mountain path. Thus they arrived at the main square, where a lot of people had gathered, attracted both by the festival day and by the strange procession. The people's expressions reflected curiosity, astonishment, surprise, but not joy. On the contrary, when Murat addressed them, talking about redemption, about liberation, a woman from the people shouted at him: "You talk to us about the freedom you want to give us and you had three of my sons shot"!

This anecdote apparently goes back to Ferdinand of Naples personally, at least Helfert says in a footnote: "Tu parli di libertà e mi hai fatto fucilare tre figli! This turn the king told Prince Jablonovski, No. 15 to the 15th of October 2."

That was a wicked interjection! From their barracks appeared the coastguard, 15 men of artillery under Lieutenant Barba, armed and in their old uniform. "Behold my soldiers!" exclaimed Murat, turning to them: "Do you recognise your king? Shout: Long live King Joachim!" An official of the Duke of Infantado named Alcalà and others ran up to them and exhorted: "Shout: Long live Ferdinand!" They did neither, which Murat interpreted as a good sign that the old soldier's spirit would persuade them in his favour. But it was only amazement, or if you will, a kind of enchantment, which the unexpected appearance of the former king with his commanding and winning appearance exercised on them, as well as on the majority of those gathered in general.

While this was going on, two or three young people had approached Murat's entourage and persuaded them that nothing could be done here in Pizzo, that the population was stubborn, but that in Monteleone the "king" would certainly find his party! So Murat ordered the departure for Monteleone and called on the gunners to join him. They did not do so, but they followed his march at some distance. Joachim could no longer rest; he was not prepared for such a cool, even ambiguous reception. He strode hastily up the mountain road, so that, out of practice from the long sea voyage and affected by the excessive excitement, he had to pause to catch his breath. The coastguard was a good distance behind, marching slowly, as if irresolute, while from the town a crowd of armed men was seen approaching, by whom the artillerymen were soon overtaken. The ex-king's leaders became suspicious and urged them to hurry: "see if we can reach Monteleone as soon as possible!" But they were already close at hand, preceded in passionate haste by a gendarmerie captain named Trentacapilli; he had formerly been a gang leader, General Manhès had had three of his brothers hanged. "The general and all of you will follow me to Pizzo!" he commanded. "It behoves you," Murat replied, "to obey your king and escort him to Monteleone!" Murat's officers wanted to pounce on the audacious man, but Joachim resisted them, and he was allowed to return to his troop, from which shots were now fired. The Murat's wanted to return fire, but their master would not allow it: I do not want even one of my subjects to lose his life for the sake of my landing!

But he realised that all was lost. He and his officers, while his few men were soon crushed and overcome by the superior force, sought to reach the shore of the sea quickly, not on the paved path, but down the slope over hill and dale, with their pursuers hard on their heels, with whom they fought on the way. A single boat was found on the shore, which the officers wanted to unhitch in a hurry to head for Barbara's Trabacolo, which, instead of waiting nearby as he had been ordered, was cruising far from the shore on the high seas. But in the agitated haste, the boat could not be disentangled, and already the few were surrounded on all sides, and fists armed with sabres, axes and picks were raised against them. At this Murat surrendered: "Here you have my sword, but spare the lives of these brave men who have followed me into my misfortune!"

These words were only like an invitation to the enraged to turn their threats into action. Captain Pernice and Sergeant Giovannini fell to their deaths at Murat's side, Franceschetti fell to the ground badly hit, Lieutenant Moltedo and three others were wounded. They were seized, led or rather dragged, some of them barely able to carry themselves, into the village, under constant threats, punches and blows that spared the ex-king as little as his fellow victims. More than once an axe was raised to split Murat's head, if others had not intervened and prevented it. At this, speeches were heard which struck Joachim more sensitively than their weapons: "Were there not enough of these unfortunates? Had you not drunk your fill of the blood of your victims? Did you again need scaffolds and gallows?" He was almost completely stripped of his clothes, everything he carried was taken from him, and Trentacapilli did not miss a single thing: his money and his diamonds, his bills of exchange, his passport, everything he had to hand over. To seal his misfortune, a copy of his manifesto and his decree were found in his wallet, the incontestable proof of his hostile intention, the clear refutation of his pretence that he had only wanted to land on the coast in order to obtain the means to continue his journey to Trieste!

#joachim murat #caroline murat #hundred days #napoleon #naples 1815 #helfert murat

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disneydeb1928 · 4 years ago

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One Piece Theory: The SWORD Initiative

The SWORD Initiative

SWORD first appeared in Chapter 956 when it was discovered that X Drake, a member of the 11 Supernovas was, in fact, an undercover Marine. Not much is known regarding this organization other then Drake is the Captain and Koby is also a member.

Storytelling: Oda is not a newbie when it comes to storytelling. I’ve said it a million times, but I will say it again: Oda has mastered a very unique type of storytelling. Many others will tell you the same thing. He is a man who values how you feel about characters above how you may feel about his organizations overall. This is why, he always introduces characters, allowing you to make your own judgements before revealing more information on them. With that being said, some people may believe that since this is a recent addition to the plot that this organization must not have been around long. However, that just isn’t true. Oda would never create something this relevant to the story that isn’t routed deep in the past. He loves to make his reveals and have us gasp because suddenly something that happened 200 chapters ago now makes sense. With that being said, I think it is safe to say that there is more to this organization that meets the eye. Therefore, let’s first establish their existence within the established timeline.

Timeline:

X Drake was born on October 24, 1491. We know that he was taken in by the marines when he was 20 years old (in 1511) after the incident of Rosinante stealing the Ope Ope no Mi from his father’s pirate crew. The wiki says that “He [would] eventually enlist as a Marine himself” indicating that he didn’t join right away.

Drake doesn’t appear in the story until chapter 498 (in the year 1522). That means that there are 11 years unaccounted for. In that time, we know he apparently rose to the rank of rear admiral before defecting (Ch. 509) – again no timeline specifics have been give (but I don’t doubt we will get them in the future).

However, me may be able to speculate based on other Marines.

· Tashigi was able to go from Master Chief Petty Officer to Ensign (skipping Warrant Officer) in the couple of months that took place between the Loguetown Arc and the Post-Enies Lobby Arc. After the timeskip, Tashigi was a Captain (skipping 4 positions). Therefore, overall, for her to go from Master Chief Petty Officer to Captain, it took roughly 2 years and a couple of months.

· Similarly, Smoker was able to from a Captain to a Commodore and then to Vice Admiral in the same time period (2 years and a couple of months).

· Therefore, one could speculate that to go from Master Chief Petty Officer to Vice Admiral it would take around 4 years and 6 months. Since Rear Admiral is only one rank below Vice Admiral I’m going to say that the times are probably similar. [Disclaimer 1: I say this recognizing that there are probably 1000 different things that go into promotions within the Marines (such as accomplishments, age, etc) and that not every person is going to advance at the same pace. With that being said, I do think that we can still learn a lot from it – He’s not a background character after all]. In conclusion, I think 4 years and 6 months is a decent ballpark to aim for and I am willing to speculate that it would have taken Drake at least 4 and a half years to reach the rank of Rear Admiral, putting his age at around 24 (placing this in the year 1515) [Disclaimer 2: This age is completely based off the possibility that Drake joined the marines during the first year he was with them]. All this means, is that at the earliest Drake was a Rear Admiral by 1515.

We are led to believe that his defection has always been staged, and that from the beginning, everything he did was towards advancing SWORD’s goal. So that means SWORD has existed since before the beginning of the series.

We do not know how long he was a pirate before he made his appearance, however, by the time he did, he already had a full crew and a bounty of 222,000,000. We know that Cavendish became a Supernova in 1521, so I think we can make that the latest that Drake could have possibly left the Marines.

Flashing forward, I think we can pretty much conclude that Koby joined SWORD at some point during the 2-year timeskip.

The Creation of SWORD

If that is the case, that we can conclude one of two things. Either:

1. Drake created the SWORD organization and began his own mission alone

2. SWORD already existed before that point and someone approached him to join and start his mission

There isn’t enough information available at this point to really say either way. However, I would speculate that SWORD wasn’t Drake’s idea.

Possible SWORD Members

1.) Issho / Fujitora & Ryokugyu

Issho and Ryokugyu are both new Admirals to replace the positions that Kuzan and Akainu left open during the 2-year timeskip. From what we’ve seen of Issho’s personality, I think he is probably one of the more likely options for SWORD members. He intentionally blinded himself when he became disgusted with all the evil and corruption he had seen in the world (Ch. 799). Some might say that he joined the Marines to fight that evil but perhaps the Marines are the evil he wanted to fight? We’ve seen multiple instances where he put the good of the people above capturing Luffy and the Straw Hats. So much so, Akainu and him got into a heated debate that ended with Issho being band from any Marine base until Luffy was captured (Ch. 801).

Outside of personality wise and evidence of him going outside of Marine orders, there is another reason he is on this list, as well as why I grouped him with Ryokugyu, who we know almost nothing about. And the answer to that is: The Folklore of Momotaro.

An excerpt of the Folklore of Momotaro:

“When he matured into adolescence, Momotarō left his parents to fight a band of Oni (demons or ogres) who marauded over their land, by seeking them out in the distant island where they dwelled (a place called Onigashima or "Demon Island"). En route, Momotarō met and befriended a talking dog, monkey and pheasant, who agreed to help him in his quest in exchange for a portion of his rations (kibi dango or "millet dumplings"). At the island, Momotarō and his animal friends penetrated the demons' fort and beat the band of demons into surrendering. Momotarō and his new friends returned home with the demons' plundered treasure and the demon chief as a captive.”

It has been said before that Aokiji, Akainu, and Kizaru’s Admirals alias are based on the three animals that helped Momotaro (pheasant, dog, and monkey). A fan wrote to Oda in the recent SBS (Vol. 76) and theorized that Fujitora and Ryokugyu (The tiger and ox) are based on the oni (demons) that Momotaro had to face during his adventure, which would imply that they could be against the World Government. Oda jokingly responded, “I’m not saying a single thing about whether this theory is correct or incorrect, okay? (cold sweat)”. If this is true, I think this could serve as proof that they are either members of SWORD or even the Revolutionary Army.

2.) Kuzan / Aokiji

Kuzan, very similar to Issho, has had multiple instances where he has deviated from what Akainu refers to as “absolute justice”. For starters, he was the once responsible for allowing Nico Robin to escape from the Buster Call on Ohara by providing a small boat while also a trail of ice for her to leave safely. Another example is when he (similar to Issho) didn’t arrest Luffy because he defeated Crocodile, saving Alabasta.

However, I think a big reason why many people speculate that he may be a part of SWORD are the parallels between him and X Drake. After the timeskip, we discover that after losing the Fleet Admiral fight between him and Akainu, Kuzan resigned from the Marines. Afterwards, he became affiliated with the Blackbeard Pirates, just like how Drake resigned and created the Drake Pirates. I will say, that these similarities give just as many reasons as why he would be a SWORD member as for why he isn’t. It’s possible these stories are too alike for Oda to tie them to the same cause. However, it is possible that the SWORD initiative is all about going undercover as pirates. But if that was true, then why is Koby not undercover? Just food for thought.

3.) Smoker & Tashigi

If we were to make a list of likeable Marines, Smoker would probably slotted right behind Koby. From the moment he comforted that crying little girl in Loguetown, he gained a lot of fan-fare. I think a lot of people hope that Smoker is a member of SWORD. Like the previous two Admirals above, he has had his fair share of compromising the Marines’ belief in “absolute justice” in order to do the right thing. In fact, out of all of the Marines mentioned on this list, he has done this the most. All of those moments have served as an example of his character. Outside of that, I think it is interesting that Smoker decided to request transfer to G-5 at the beginning of the timeskip, a place known for having difficulties. I think it is definitely possible Smoker is a member.

4.) Rosinante

Very similar to Kuzan and Drake, Rosinante placed himself undercover in order to stop his brother, Doflamingo. It is very possible that this was a very early SWORD mission. Or it could have what led to the creation of SWORD.

6.) Sengoku & 7.) Monkey D. Garp

Like Smoker and Tashigi, these last two are an example of ‘we like them, so we want them to be a part of this good organization’.

Honestly, I have tried to wrap my mind around why the heck Garp is even still involved with the Marines. The only other ‘D.’-bearer we know that was in the Marines, was Jaguar D. Saul, who ended up defecting in order to save Nico Robin during the Ohara Incident. If Garp is not a member of this shadow organization, then there is a deeper reason for why he joined the Marines and stayed.

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anothersievefistedfind · 3 years ago

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The former DV8 venue in Seattle, reported to have been torn down in 2012 for a 10-story mixed-use building. Pictures courtesy of Vanishing Seattle Facebook Community, “Documenting displaced and disappearing institutions, small businesses, homes, communities & cultures of Seattle. Also celebrating local history & cool shit.”

Fugazi, DV8, Seattle, Washington USA 2/28/1999 (FLS #0900)

This date marks the last time Fugazi played the city of Seattle in the state of Washington, following another gig at the Capitol Theater in Olympia on the previous night and completing a 7 night stretch with partners in crime The Ex, an iconic punk band from the Netherlands which has been in existence for decades and performs to this very day.

The venue is the DV8 (now defunct) and packs some 1500 attendees for the occasion. As it turns out, Fugazi played Seattle 6 times over the years, with only Olympia topping this in Washington state, chalking up a total of 7 Fugazi shows.

The recording starts off with Greg Bennick (vocalist in Seattle-based political straight edge hardcore band Trial, activist, public speaker, movie-maker, and philanthropist, to name a couple of things) delivering a lengthy, yet eloquent and passionate plea addressing and opposing the Teen Dance Ordinance, at that time a controversial Seattle law which severely curtailed the ability of concert and club promoters to hold events for underaged patrons.

Considering Fugazi strongly advocated an all ages policy since its inception, things pretty much add up on this particular night in time.

Something else I particularly admire about Fugazi is that the band never used fixed set lists, but preferred to take its cues from situations or events as and when they occurred.

Of course this means taking risks, since it significantly increases the element of surprise and the chance of possible mishaps, and it definitely demands the band members to stay alert, taking subtle leads and cues from each other, and being able to go into any of the songs that make up the repertoire. On some nights this kind of interaction falls short, yet on other nights everything is magic.

That said, this recording right here definitely falls in the latter category since it documents an evening in time where the pieces of the puzzle come together and the result transcends. The band is on fire, and the performances and interplay are great, which results in several little improvs or song variations.

In this regard, note a little bit of additional foreplay leading the listener into Recap Modotti, as well as the deliciously grinding guitar play lighting up Waiting Room, the alternate guitar arrangements during Turnover, the restrained percussion and deliberate vocal finesse on Long Division, the drawn out bridge during Song #1, or Joe’s unusual and different approach towards the end of Glueman.

Also, note that the set opens with the Number 5 instrumental with Jerry Busher on additional percussion. The song would not see its official release until October 2001, as part of the Furniture EP.

On top of this, the sound quality is truly excellent and beautifully captures the intricate patterns and layered subtleties which these songs contain. The only minor reserve here is that the 1500 people attending the gig are not all that audible in the mix.

To conclude, it can be noted that one song is not mentioned in the set list yet gets pulled out of the hat right after Long Distance Runner. I will not give away the song title here, but I’m sure a lot of listeners will welcome this tune.

Counting the surprise track brings the total number of songs played up to 29. Most of these are taken from the End Hits and Red Medicine albums (7 versus 8 songs respectively), followed by 3 songs each from the Repeater and Steady Diet of Nothing albums, 2 songs each from In on the Kill Taker, the 7 Songs EP and Margin Walker EP, and 1 song each from the Furniture EP and 3 Songs 7 inch.

The set list:

1. Opening Remarks 2. Number 5 3. Exit Only 4. Merchandise 5. Place Position 6. Interlude 1 7. Birthday Pony 8. Latin Roots 9. Break 10. Recap Modotti 11. FD 12. Waiting Room 13. Lockdown 14. Closed Captioned 15. Turnover 16. Interlude 2 17. Great Cop 18. Do You Like Me 19. Long Division 20. Target 21. Instrument 22. Encore 1 23. Forensic Scene 24. Back to Base 25. Floating Boy 26. Long Distance Runner 27. Encore 2 28. Arpeggiator 29. Encore 3 30. Bed For The Scraping 31. Margin Walker 32. Song #1 33. Encore 4 34. Version 35. Glueman

#FLS1999 #fugazi #fugazi live series #DV8 #seattle #washington #WA #greg bennick #teen dance ordinance #vanishing seattle #highlight

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aggressivehasana · 4 years ago

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Starry Night

Fandom: Aggretsuko/Aggressive Retsuko

Characters: Haida, Retsuko, Fenneko, Ookami, Tsunoda, Ton, Resasuke

Relationship: Haida/Ookami

Summary: AU where Retsuko didn’t break up with Resasuke and Haida is dealing with that.

Warnings: None

- - -

CHAPTER 12

« Prev , Next »

Words: 2,160

Betaed by: @pomp-adourable

A/N: Hey guys! I'm sorry for not updating in a long time, I've been jumping through fandoms like parkour lmfao, but I definitely intend to continue this fic. Just needed to be in the right mindset for it, and season 3 was definitely a boost. Anyway, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for your nice comments and for your interest in the story ;w;!! They keep me going <3 I hope y'all enjoy the new chapter and stay awesome, luv y'all! <3

“Ookami…”

Haida’s voice was soft, gentle, however he had to make a little pause to try to collect his thoughts, and generally, himself. He could feel his heart thumping in his chest, and he wondered if it’d be the same for the maned wolf. He knew about his feelings… not about the ones he might have for him, but about the ones he had for the idea of being in a relationship. So he wanted to say things as carefully as possible. He didn’t want to hurt him.

“Fenneko told me something funny the other day…”

He stopped and shook his head. No, ‘funny’ wasn’t the right word to use.

“Fenneko told me something interesting the other day…”

Yeah, that was better.

“She pointed out that…or, I mean, implied… that you might have feelings for me…”

His heart rate increased, but he knew he couldn’t stop there or it would make his coworker uncomfortable.

“I-I just wanted to ask if it’s true! You can tell me! I won’t be mad or anything, n-nor I’ll force you onto something because I know you don’t want to be in a relationship! I-I mean…”

He stopped, wondering where would he even go with that? What difference would it make if he knew if Ookami’s feelings were true or not? Ookami didn’t want to date anyone, and himself… What did he want? Was he so starved for love that he was willing to feed off the feelings of his friend?

In the end he sighed and shook his head with a gentle smile, setting his gaze on the egg frying in the pan before him.

“I’m sorry, Ookami…” he mumbled to the maned wolf in his imagination before letting go of that picture. There was no use in practicing that conversation anymore. Besides, it was nearly 8 am and he needed to finish getting ready for work.

He devoured his fried eggs and toasted bread quickly before leaving the dirty dishes in the sink and moving on to shrug on his blazer and put on his shoes. Weather was getting quite cold, but thankfully not enough for him to need to take another coat. Plus running to the subway station would always help to keep him warm.

***

There hadn’t been anything unusual going on when he got to the building, neither when he took the elevator, but as soon as he turned the last corner towards the Accounting Department, there were two things that caught his attention: One, that the area seemed a lot noisier, with several voices exchanging dialogues with Retsuko’s voice; and two, that Ookami was standing outside the door, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

“Ookami?” escaped from his lips, feeling his heart thump in his chest just as his coworker turned his emerald eyes to him. But the maned wolf didn’t say anything right away, he just stood from the wall and walked fast towards him.

“Come with me, Senpai,” he mumbled as he grabbed his hand, and being harshly tugged, Haida had to hop a couple of times to regain balance and walk at the speed Ookami was walking.

“Wh-What’s going on?” he asked nervously, but got no answer from the younger male, not until he shoved both of them in the Archive room and closed the door behind them.

Ookami sighed, resting gently against the door and looking down to the floor with his ears slightly folded backwards.

“I’m sorry, Senpai… Let’s just wait here until it’s nine o’clock and everyone’s gone back to their stations...”

Haida stared at Ookami for a bit, hoping the maned wolf would elaborate about the situation, but as silence stretched between them, curiosity got the best of him, especially for how affected his coworker looked.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, trying to not sound too worried.

It took a few seconds for Ookami to reply, but when he did, his voice was gentle.

“Apparently it’s Restuko-Senpai’s 9th month with her boyfriend. She brought him to the Accounting Department to introduce him to everyone…” he paused for a breath. “...As soon as I saw him, I knew I couldn’t let you walk in to see him there. So I said I was going to get some coffee and, well… decided to wait for you to arrive, to take you away...”

Another pause, a little longer this time. Ookami gave his coworker a moment to absorb and process the information given, and Haida lowered his eyes to the floor.

Was that so...?

Right, it was the 25th of October. He knew that, he changed the date in his kitchen calendar as he would every morning, but for some reason, that day it didn’t sink in. For the past 9 months, he had been dreading to see the numbers two and five appear together in that small, squared piece of paper. However, for the first time since then, he just… ignored it.

“I see…” was his mindless response, only to let the maned wolf know he was now aware of the situation.

“I’m sorry,” Ookami said with a hint of sadness in his voice, and Haida raised his eyes to him.

“You don’t gotta apologize, Ookami!” He tried to laugh it off, offering him a gentle smile. “It is what it is. If anything, I’m grateful that you…” he stopped for a bit. He knew what he was going to say, but the words in his head were making his heart speed again, a light blush tinting his cheeks. “I’m grateful that you keep looking out for me,” he concluded.

At least he wasn’t the only one blushing now; he could see some color spreading over the younger‘s cheeks, and he looked sheepish.

“Y-Yes, well…” this one started, giving himself a moment to collect himself, as he straightened his back and looked up to the ceiling while shrugging, trying to play it off as something insignificant. “You’re my friend. I want you to be ok.”

Haida laughed softly and slowly approached to lay against the door, next to him, leaving his briefcase on the floor while watching out for any sign of rejection from the younger male, like scooting away or giving him an odd look, but there was none; the maned wolf just remained in his place, keeping his eyes above and swinging his tail every now and then. He couldn’t help smiling. It was so weird to think that they had bonded over that mess of a situation, but if something good had come out of it, it was this… This… relationship he now had with Ookami. He wasn’t dismissing Fenneko, of course, Fenneko was irreplaceable, but Ookami had a way to make him feel special. Like he really enjoyed his company, like he really cared about him. And he couldn’t lie, it was nice. It was nice to hang out with someone that wouldn’t be tapping at their phone the whole time, or… give him vague answers, like trying to avoid talking to him… Every time they were together, it was like nothing else mattered to the maned wolf but him… and it was nice.

After a minute of silence, Ookami lowered his gaze to his superior, confirming what he thought he’d noticed out of the corner of his eye: that he was staring at him.

“What is it?” He asked calmly, though it was secretly making him a little nervous.

“Ookami, can I ask you something?” Haida replied mindlessly, tilting his head while looking into his coworker’s eyes.

“Um, sure?”

“Well, you see,” the hyena started, chuckling as he moved his gaze to the floor and changed the position of his feet. “Fenneko told me something interesting the other day…”

He paused for a moment, feeling his heart starting to race in his chest. Wait, was he really doing this?

“Fenneko-Senpai? What did she say?”

“W-Well....”

Wait! No, no, no, no, what was he doing? Why was he doing this? He had already decided to not have that conversation with Ookami, didn’t he remember? He wouldn’t know what to do with the information, afterwards. Sure, if it wasn’t true they could just laugh it off like some sort of joke, but if it was true? Then what? Wouldn’t that make things awkward for both of them? Wouldn’t that ruin their friendship?

“Senpai?” Ookami asked after a prolonged silence, leaning forward to try to look at his superior’s face and slowly perking his ears up.

“Um... nothing, Ookami. Nevermind.” Haida decided to discard it, turning a little bit to offer the maned wolf an awkward smile. “It would probably be better to leave things like this.”

“Leave things like what? What are you talking about?” the younger one asked and Haida’s eyes twitched.

Oh no, what had he done?

“N-Nothing! Just... you know... our friendship and all. We should just leave it like this,” he tried to explain, only managing to make the maned wolf squint in utter confusion with a glint of concern reflected in his eyes. “Ah, just, forget about it Ookami, it’s not important.”

“No, but wait... What about our friendship? Is there something wrong? What did Fenneko-Senpai tell you?”

“There’s nothing wrong, Ookami. Everything is ok! Okay?” Haida chuckled, placing a hand on his coworker’s shoulder to try to seem reassuring, but failing to hide the wavering of his voice.

Oh man, what had he done? He knew Ookami hated when someone would say “it’s nothing” when clearly something was off. He could already see the younger’s eyebrows pressing together. He needed to change the subject, immediately.

“Ah! Would you look at the time?” He asked cheerfully before pulling back the sleeves of his shirt and blazer to look at his watch, smiling widely at the position of the hands. “Two minutes before 9! We should hurry back to the Accounting Department now, or Ton will be furious if we’re late.”

“Senpai...” Ookami’s soft voice called him as he was leaning down to pick his briefcase, but he wasn’t going to let him finish.

“You’re a great friend, Ookami. Thank you so much for saving me again,” he interrupted him with a genuine smile, opening the door gently to give his coworker time to lean up. “I-I’ll compensate you for it. How about during lunch? I’ll get you a drink! A coffee, a soda, anything you want. Yes?”

He waited a couple of seconds for an answer, but the maned wolf didn’t say a word, he just stared at him intensely, his aura reflecting his disapproval of Haida evading the topic, and the hyena sighed.

“Don’t worry about it, Ookami… Okay? It’s really nothing,” he reassured him once more, this time making himself sound more convinced. “Just a silly rumor, but nothing worth being given importance. I appreciate you a whole lot, so even if it were true, it wouldn’t matter! We’d still be friends, as we are now. Everything is fine.”

Haida could see the younger’s shoulders relaxing ever so slightly, but he still looked very insecure and puzzled, only drifting his gaze from him to look at the floor for a second before immediately returning it to him.

“Just forget about it, please,” He insisted. “I know you hate when someone says ‘nothing is wrong’, but you have to believe me this time that really nothing is.”

“Then why won’t you tell me?” Ookami asked with a harsh voice.

“Because I’m afraid it’ll make things awkward between us. Not on my behalf, I just said that even if it were true I wouldn’t mind… but maybe for you? It’s not a risk I’m willing to take, Ookami. I really like hanging out with you, spending time with you, and I don’t want that to be stained. It was stupid of me to even mention it, and I’m sorry that I have to leave you perplexed, but I need you to trust me… It’s not worth talking about.”

Haida gave his words a moment to sink in, resulting in Ookami only lowering his eyes and folding his ears backwards as he slowly slid his hands in the pockets of his pants. He smiled a bit to himself. The younger didn’t seem to be willing to press on, which was good, but... he certainly wasn’t looking too happy either. He hated seeing him like that. He exhaled softly through the nose and approached him, placing a hand under his muzzle to pull his face up and be able to look him in the eyes.

“Hey. Everything is ok, I promise,” he repeated gently, wondering what else he could do or say for the maned wolf to believe him, but although a tint of red had spread over the younger’s cheeks, he didn’t hold his gaze for long. He looked away and took a hand to remove Haida’s from under his chin as he started surrounding him.

“If you say so, Senpai,” he responded weakly, letting go of his superior’s hand before making his way out the door.

#aggretsuko #Aggressive Retsuko #haida #ookami #haida x ookami #haikami #starry night fic #hasana fic

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bkbricks · 4 years ago

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Best Way To Watch The Star Wars Saga

The Star Wars films and tv shows came out in an odd order. First off, Episode 4 was the first episode to be released. Odd, right? Of course, it was released as a single film and not called “Episode 4: A New Hope”; instead it was simply titled “Star Wars”. After Episode 4-6 were released, Episodes 1-3 were released many years later. This, of course, can be be confusing to some, and make watching the movies in order a bit difficult. Which order? Should you watch them in chronological order, or by release dates? Below I have listed the best way (in my opinion) to watch all of the Star Wars Saga. This list not only includes each Episode, but also the other movies and even tv shows that came out and add further to the entire story.

Of course, you could add in some other pieces of content to further enlarge the story, adding in even more detail to it. You could read the comics (for example the Darth Vader Comics). You could also add in some video game campaigns (such as the Main Story in Battlefront 2). This list below is simply for the films and tv shows, for those only meant to be watched. So sit back, grab some snacks and prepare for this very, very long Star Wars marathon you are getting ready to begin.

The Phantom Menace

The first film you should watch is “The Phantom Menace”. This is the beginning of the story. In fact, George Lucas (creator of Star Wars) even teased about titling Episode One “The Beginning”, but ultimately went with “The Phantom Menace”. This where Anakin Skywalker’s story (the largest of any character in the entire saga) begins. The overall story of the 6 Episodes focuses on the prophecy of the Chosen One, and this where that story begins.

Attack of the Clones

Next up, you should watch Episode 2: “Attack of the Clones”. If you are a fan of “The Clone Wars”, then this movie is a good one to watch as an intro/prequel into the Clone Wars. After all, this is the movie where the war begins. It takes place ten years after Episode 1, and follows Anakin’s story well. And, of course, “The Clone Wars” is up next, which this episode and that show tie in well together and this episode leads right up to it.

The Clone Wars

“The Clone Wars” tv show picks up about one year after the events of “Attack of the Clones”. This is the first tv show you should watch in order, after the first two episodes. You can learn so much more about the Clone Wars that Episodes 2-3 do not cover. There are seven seasons, and you watch them all in order. Many episodes of this show also focus on and even extend the story of Anakin Skywalker, which is a neat tie-in.

Revenge of the Sith

After you make it through the seven seasons of “The Clone Wars”, watch Episode 3: “Revenge of the Sith”. This film is amazing, and ends the first two episodes and the tv show very well. “Revenge of the Sith” and the seventh season of “The Clone Wars” actually take place at the same time in the story, which is pretty neat and gives you two perspectives on the same time period. This is a pivotal series of events for Anakin Skywalker as he embraces the dark side.

Solo

Six years later, “Solo: A Star Wars Story” picks up. This film portrays the Empire in its earliest days (so far). It focuses on Han Solo, who we will see again as a main character in the original trilogy. Watching this movie before Episodes 4-6 gives you a great backstory on not only Han Solo, but also his co-pilot Chewbacca and his ship, the Millennium Falcon. It also gives you an introduction (in the storyline) to the Galactic Empire.

Rebels

After “Solo”, the tv show “Star Wars: Rebels” picks up, about nine years later in the story. This show has only four seasons, and you should watch all four in order for the full story. Here we can see the Rebellion before it became an organized alliance. Here we focus on a rebel cell, with some returning characters from “The Clone Wars” tv show. The Rebellion has not yet organized, but soon will while these rebel cells deal with the Empire in small, but courageous, acts. In the story, this is where Darth Vader will make his first appearances in combat.

Rogue One

Rogue One offers an amazing transition into the original trilogy. It takes place around 3-5 years after the “Star Wars: Rebels” fourth season ends (except for the season finale, which takes place immediately after Episode 6). Here we get to see a key part of the Rebellion’s plan to destroy the Death Star. In the original 1977 Star Wars movie we saw this plan executed, but never knew how the rebels got the Death Star plans in the first place. Luckily, Rogue One filled that gap, and even leads directly into Episode 4. Literally, Rogue One ends about an hour before Episode 4 begins. Also, the rebels have organized by now and are officially the Rebel Alliance.

A New Hope

So an hour later and we made it to “A New Hope”. This is the original Star Wars film released in 1977. Most of the films/tv shows on this list came about in the story before this film, which is interesting (and great for the prequel lovers). The Galactic Civil War is now in full effect as the Rebels fight the Empire. This is where Luke Skywalker’s journey really takes off, as well as more screen time with Darth Vader. With the Death Star plans, the rebellion attacks and destroys the battlestation, showing the galaxy just how mighty they have become in their fight against the Empire.

The Empire Strikes Back

Episode 5: “The Empire Strikes Back” begins three years after Episode 4. Since the destruction of the Death Star, the Empire has been relentlessly searching for the rebellion to wipe them out. Before, the Empire did not see the Alliance as a huge threat; but now they do. Between Episodes 4-5, Darth Vader learns that his son lives and it begins to pull him back to the light. Episode 5 sees Vader searching for his son, Luke, and after he springs a trap on him, he reveals that he is his true father. Now that Luke knows the truth, he must decide on his future whether he will destroy his father for the rebellion or join him on the dark side. Also, Han Solo is frozen in carbonite towards the end of this episode. He remains this way until the next film.

Return of the Jedi

One year later, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker sets out to unfreeze Solo and rescue him from Jabba the Hutt. Then, Luke decides to search for his father this time. He believes that he has felt the good in Vader and can bring him back to the light. While the Rebels fight the Empire on Endor, Luke reconnects with his father and attempts to bring him back to the light side, to return the jedi in him. This episode finished off the main story/Anakin’s story presented all the way back in Episode 1. It all comes to a close here. You could stop here, as this is where the main story concludes. However, there is one more show you could tune in to if you’d like the complete saga and want to continue your already-long Star Wars marathon.

The Mandalorian

We finish off the saga with “The Mandalorian”, a live-action tv show based on a bounty hunter. This show does not have much to do with the main story, but does take place five years after “Return of the Jedi”. Instead, we get to see what happen to Mandalorians. They were present in “The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars: Rebels”, however now we can see how much they have changed and had adapted to the tyranny of the Empire. But now that the Empire is gone, we see how parts of life in the Outer Rim are hanging up, as well as some cool scenes of the New Republic. There is currently one season of this show, with season two expected to be released this October.

Once you have watched “The Phantom Menace” all the way through to “The Mandalorian”, you have officially seen the entire Star Wars Saga. I have purposely left out the sequel trilogy and tv show attached to it simply because I do not believe they fit into the entire saga. My previous post explained why I believe this, make sure to check it out! Thanks for reading!

#star wars anakin #star wars #anakin skywalker #chosen one #return of the jedi #clone wars #sw rebels #empire strikes back #empire #lego star wars #the mandalorian #rogue one #solo #a new hope

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dccomicsnews · 5 years ago

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Now that Arrow has concluded an incredible eight-season run, I couldn’t help reflecting on more than what happened on the show itself during that timespan. It wasn’t just enough to reminisce on what happened to the Emerald Archer on the small screen, but also to look back on what transpired in my own life over that period.

The more I got to thinking, this game-changing TV series was running parallel to my career as a writer. Although Arrow got things started by premiering in October 2012, I wasn’t lagging too far behind when I began as a volunteer contributor at Comic Book Movie in July 2013. As the show grew, I did likewise as a person and a writer – and there was more than a little overlap.

From this point on, I’ll sum up the finer points of my journey so that you can see the affect an inspiring work of fiction such as Arrow can have on a real person. I hope you all enjoy this piece, and you’re more than welcome to share your own stories in the comments section. Our own Damian Fasciani recently wrote a retrospective of his own, so click here if you would like to check out that as well.

My Name Is Oliver Queen, I Mean, Eric Joseph

Like I said, my time as a writer pretty much ran parallel to Arrow as it grew from a standalone superhero show/crime drama into something that birthed an entire universe of comic book adaptations on television. I didn’t stick around at the aforementioned CBM for too long, later making my way to Dark Knight News (2014-17) and We Got This Covered (2015-19).

Along the way, I had the chance to meet various cast members at different points during the series’ lifespan, thereby lending multiple perspectives on the tale as it grew. Some of them them I merely met at conventions, while others I actually got to interview.

Motor City Comic Con (you’re going to see that one referenced a lot) was often the means I had of making this all possible. In 2014 alone, I was able to shake hands with Katie Cassidy (Laurel Lance), John Barrowman (Malcolm Merlyn) and Robert Knepper (Clock King). Cool as that was, it prepared me for the interview opportunity I’d get with Michael Rowe (Deadshot) in 2015.

2016 was a mixed bag, as I met – but didn’t interview – Katrina Law (Nyssa al Ghul), though I did get to speak with Echo Kellum (Mister Terrific) over the phone. I won’t forget either of those experiences, but I’m holding out hope that Kellum will roll through Detroit as some point so that I may actually meet him face-to-face.

If you’re keeping track, these encounters went down near the conclusions of seasons 2, 3 and 4, respectively, with the Echo Kellum phoner happening right before the “Invasion!” crossover. Dedicated fans of Arrow shouldn’t have to strain themselves remembering what each of these characters were going through at those times, and what it must’ve been like to hear, say, Katie Cassidy tease the inevitable Black Canary reveal, or how Kellum’s Curtis Holt may deal with Dominators.

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Cosplay

It’s at this time I’ll discuss the cosplay element. This is a field to which I’m certainly no stranger, and I always wanted to own an awesome-looking superhero costume. Seeing as how Batman is my favorite character, he’d be a no-brainer, right?

Well, if you’ve looked around at gear online, then you know how Batman costumes that don’t look like crap are quite expensive. This was key in my motivation for instead laying down money on a replica of the Green Arrow suit worn by Stephen Amell in seasons 5-7. For an affordable price, I felt every bit as badass as my onscreen hero, and the compliments from fellow convention attendees never cease whenever I choose to suit up. Heck, I’ve even worn that thing to a cosplay beach party!

Although I wouldn’t mind taking a crack at the Dark Knight at some point, there’s something inherently altruistic I’ve noticed about guys cosplaying as Batman that I don’t think I share. But Oliver Queen (at least The CW’s version) is flawed. He’s made mistakes unlike those of Bruce Wayne’s. He’s done stuff he’s not particularly proud of – but he never stops trying to better himself. That, I found relatable, and it occurs to me when I flip up that hood.

All that said, you couldn’t believe how elated I was when Stephen Amell himself shared a DC group cosplay photo taken at Youmacon 2017 (above) on his Facebook page for one of his “Fan Art Fridays.” Yes, I was the one who submitted it, but to see the man himself deeming myself and the accompanying DC enthusiasts worthy of sharing with his fanbase at large was truly touching.

Which brings me to…

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The Main Event

If I have to single out my favorite event ever attended, that honor will probably go to Motor City Comic Con 2018. Should you have been there as well, then you’ll recall how that particular show was an embarrassment of riches when it came to booking actors from superhero shows – and where I finally met Stephen Amell himself.

Hey, he may have not been doing interviews for that weekend, but getting a photo with him and attending his panel meant the world to me. Despite him being only a few years older in age, that doesn’t mean I can’t look to him as a positive example. I mean, the guy is known for having an incredible connection with his fans, doing charity work, and has even appeared on American Ninja Warrior.

Speaking of which, a lot of praise could be thrown Kirk Acevedo’s way as well. The man responsible for bringing the inhumane Ricardo Diaz to life is actually an awesome person himself. I actually did get to interview him during that weekend, as we discussed what was next for “The Dragon” in season 6.

Before I move on, I’d like to give an honorable mention to one Cress Williams. Black Lightning may have not been part of the Arrowverse at the time, but it sure is now. I likewise interviewed him on behalf of WGTC, as he was just cooling off after a spectacular debut season.

Fadeout

If there’s any impression I’d like this article to leave on you, the reader, it’s that you shouldn’t let anyone tell you it’s silly to say a TV show can impact you. Arrow, The Flash, Black Lightning and countless others can be a driving force in inspiring ourselves to become better people. To Stephen Amell, his co-stars and crew, I thank you all for eight years of phenomenal storytelling – and I hope to once again meet the people mentioned above.

You helped me become someone else…something else.

Reflecting On A Personal Journey Through Arrow's World Now that Arrow has concluded an incredible eight-season run, I couldn't help reflecting on more than what happened on the show itself during that timespan.

#arrow

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italynt · 5 years ago

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If you want a primer in regards to what’s going on in Italy, in terms of restarting the Serie A season, then here’s a good article to read.

Here’s an overview of everything that’s been going on from James Horncastle at The Athletic:

It’s now almost two months since Sassuolo striker Francesco Caputo celebrated his goal against Brescia by lifting up his jersey to reveal the message “Stay at Home” on a T-shirt underneath.

It feels like a long time ago, doesn’t it? So how close are we to football resuming in Serie A?

What is the situation in Italy now?

Last weekend, Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced the government is ready to begin the next phase of easing the country back to normality. Aspects of lockdown will be relaxed on May 4 allowing 4.5 million people to go back to work. Citizens will have freedom of movement within their own region. Restaurants and bars will be able to deliver takeaway. Exercise in parks and even a dip in the sea is permitted as long as social-distancing guidelines are respected. But the new decree has not escaped criticism. Opposition parties think the government is still being too cautious. Some regions like the Veneto are breaking ranks and lifting measures earlier than others. Bishops are protesting the ban on public masses and football feels it is being unfairly treated.

Why does football feel victimised?

Well, individual athletes like swimmers, cyclists and sprinters can return to training next Monday. Team sports will have to wait at least until May 18 and only if the protocol passes muster with the government’s scientific committee. This has sparked controversy because footballers cannot even train on their own or at a distance from each other within the controlled environment of a deep-cleaned training facility. What they can do is go for a jog or a workout in the local park — where members of the public may be inclined to approach them in breach of social distancing rules. “So we’ll have Ciro Immobile and Edin Dzeko in Villa Borghese and Lorenzo Insigne on the Caracciolo boardwalk,” scoffed Lazio owner Claudio Lotito.

It doesn’t make any sense. Many of the clubs are exasperated. The players’ union (AIC) said in a statement it was “perplexed and surprised” by a decision it considers “illogical” and “discriminatory”. Serie A stopped earlier than the other top five leagues. It has more fixtures to fulfil and stands to lose £620 million if the season isn’t brought to a close. La Repubblica quoted Napoli’s president Aurelio De Laurentiis saying: “COVID-19 will end up making the middle and smaller clubs who live beyond their means disappear.” It’s not hard to see why the league and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) are pushing hard to at least prepare their teams for any return. “I do not want to be Italian football’s gravedigger,” said Gabriele Gravina, the president of the FIGC.

But as with everything in Italy it is deeply political and the pushback has been considerable. Italy’s highest-profile female athlete, the swimmer Federica Pellegrini, said: “All I hear about is football and I’m disappointed by that, other sports exist too”. Similarly, the president of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) Giovanni Malago said: “Sport is not just and cannot only be Serie A football.”

The FIGC is an affiliate of CONI and football obtains more funding than any other sport. What Malago says matters. He believes football has muddled its response to the pandemic — “Gravina talks about July, August, September, October, even about splitting the league into two groups with play-offs and play-outs” — which further damages the game’s reputation. Ultimately, the decision lies with the government, but relations between the FIGC, Serie A and the minister of sport, Vincenzo Spadafora, have been tense.

Why are relations strained between Italy’s sporting bodies?

For a start, Spadafora hasn’t always toed the party line. In March, he sparked chaos at the Stadio Ennio Tardini, where Parma’s match at home to SPAL was due to go ahead in accordance with a government decree, which had been signed the night before. However, with players waiting in the tunnel, Spadafora announced the league needed to shut down with immediate effect. The game was delayed for an hour and 15 minutes while officials checked whether the order had been changed. It hadn’t and Parma-SPAL kicked off. “Instead of indulging in demagoguery, be consistent with the actions of your own government” came the reply from Serie A president Paolo Dal Pino.

It wasn’t pretty then and things aren’t any rosier now. Spadafora has called out club owners for using the media to influence opinion and force his hand. “We have to start safely,” he said on Tuesday. “Do you remember when the league didn’t want to stop? How many teams ended up in quarantine?” The answer is six. To avoid that happening again, the FIGC has drawn up a 47-page protocol document, seen by The Athletic, with the aim of protecting the players, coaches, referees and other members of staff from contagion.

How will they protect the players and everyone else?

The protocol document contains lots of advice from leaders in the medical field. In addition to the FIGC’s own 12-person scientific committee, the protocol has had substantial input from a task force comprising four experts in infectious diseases and virology. The protocol recommends squads should be selected three to four days before training resumes. The players and essential coaching staff in this group will then undergo an initial screening phase. This entails a visit to a clinic, a temperature check and an up-to-date medical history. Let’s pick a player at random. Say, Brescia’s Mario Balotelli: the FIGC wants to know if he’s travelled in the last two months and where to, whether or not he’s been in contact with anyone who has tested positive for the virus, and whether he’s showing any symptoms.

Depending on certain criteria, the group will be given two RT-PCR tests within 24 hours of each other and an antibody test. The expense and availability of testing — not to mention the morality of rolling them out for one category of society — remains a bone of contention. “The request on the players’ part is for football to resume only when every citizen can have a test,” Tommasi said. “There mustn’t be any fast-track for our industry.” As you might expect with a medical, there will be a resting ECG (to measure heart health), a spirometry (to measure breathing capacity), and blood and urine tests. The protocol is especially mindful of the latest medical advice on the damage left by COVID-19 and the therapies used to treat it on a person’s lungs and the heart. Even after screening is over, the group will have daily temperature checks and be constantly assessed for symptoms.

A permanent “ritiro” — a place for players and staff to live on-site — is also recommended. A number of clubs have dorms or even hotels adjoining their training grounds. When the Melia hotel closed in Milan as part of the lockdown measures, Christian Eriksen temporarily moved into Inter’s Appiano Gentile training ground. The problem is 11 of the 20 teams don’t have lodgings, so completely isolating the group isn’t possible across the board. However, the other nine clubs are meant to allocate players single, well-ventilated rooms where they will shower after their distancing-adapted training sessions.

Everyone in the group will be given behavioural guidelines to follow, ranging from washing hands to PPE for masseurs and physios. Treatment tables will be spaced out and time slots allocated to avoid congestion. If the enforcement of social distancing means there isn’t space in a team meeting, the preference is for a video conference instead. Food in the canteen will be self-service only.

As for training itself, the first week foresees individuals or small groups working out more than two metres apart before a gradual return to normality in week two and week three, with players running through patterns of play, set-pieces and playing small-sided games.

If someone does test positive, they are to be isolated immediately. Training will be suspended until the team and coaching staff receive the all-clear from two tests taken 24 hours apart and antibody tests will be repeated within five and seven days of each other. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the government’s scientific committee raised a red flag at this part of the protocol on the basis that, up until now, one positive test has been enough to send clubs into quarantine for a fortnight. This is a dilemma faced by all leagues hoping to finish the season.

Then there’s the not insignificant matter of away games and travel: it’s one thing limiting external contact within a training facility you own, it’s another thing doing it on the road. Fourteen of Serie A’s 20 clubs are located in areas that were defined “hotbeds” in Italy’s fight against the pandemic.

The outlook’s bleak then?

Gravina said: “In order to run zero risks, we’d have to wait for a vaccine. According to the scientists, that won’t be until spring 2021. We can’t just shut everything down waiting for that to happen.” Dialogue between the FIGC and the government’s scientific committee remains open, with Gravina vowing to modify the protocol in a renewed effort to at least obtain consent for teams to return to training on May 18.

Spadafora grows more pessimistic by the day, however. He talks about the road back to football getting tighter and tighter with only a “spiraglio” — the smallest of openings — left for it to happen. Gravina’s decision to align himself with UEFA and make August 3 the cut-off point for domestic competitions to finish puts Italian football on the clock. Serie A has proposed proroguing expiring contracts until after the season concludes. If the league returns to training in less than three weeks and games start from mid-June, that sounds like a good idea. But that’s a big if.

Spadafora has appealed to the leagues to come up with a Plan B. “I am starting to get the idea there will be a surprise over the next few days,” he told free-to-air TV channel La7. “Presidents could soon ask me to end the season now so they can prepare for the next one.” Brescia’s owner Massimo Cellino has repeatedly declared the season over. His counterparts at Torino and Sampdoria, Urbano Cairo and Massimo Ferrero, have both expressed scepticism plans to return — they fear finishing this season may compromise the next one.

What are the players doing in the meantime?

Well, Lazio’s Marco Parolo has been using his free time away from the training ground to protest that players should be allowed in the training ground. “All professional athletes should be treated the same,” he told the club’s official radio station. “I’m our athletes’ No 1 fan at the World Championships, and I’m all for them going back to training, but I think footballers should, too.”

For now though the players continue to work out at home.

“It’s difficult to expect a player to be able to maintain the necessary fitness to play in Serie A after a prolonged period of inactivity,” Sampdoria’s head of performance, Paolo Bertelli, tells The Athletic. “We’re trying to keep the fitness of our players to the highest standards as much as we possibly can.” Samp’s players have workout classes six days a week. “The sessions last between 65 and 80 minutes each depending on the player and the day of the week,” Bertelli says. “In addition to a warm-up, we do some free-weight exercises — some core, some jumps — hop on the exercise bike and work with the resistance bands. The players who have a running machine get a workout for that. It’s a bit different for the goalkeepers because we need to keep their explosiveness and strength.”

Roma’s goalkeeper Pau Lopez logs onto Roma’s bespoke platform to access all the material he needs for his day. “Every day the fitness coach sends us a customised workout plan that we have to follow to stay in shape,” the Spaniard tells The Athletic. “We weigh ourselves on a daily basis and send the info to the nutritionist. He keeps us posted, especially if there’s a problem. It’s all very well planned out.”

Manolo Zubiria, Roma’s chief global sporting officer, goes into more detail. “We set up a communication platform that allows the club’s directors and coaching staff to video conference with the players. It’s not just those in the first team either, but all levels, including our women’s team. Internal comms are fundamental. We want to give everyone as much support as possible in terms of info and assistance, whether it’s to do with fitness or nutrition. To that end, we are ensuring our players receive all the necessary material for home workouts. In terms of grocery shopping, we have also sorted a delivery service. We can’t predict what will happen in the coming weeks but our objective is for the lads to be in the best shape possible when training resumes.”

What’s the state of play in the table?

Juventus reclaimed top spot with their 2-0 win against Inter on March 8 and have a slender one-point lead over Lazio. Lotito is against the idea of play-offs to decide the top four — “Inter have eight points less than us (in third) and Atalanta have 14” — but he would be up for settling the title in a one-off game against the Old Lady, who, he points out, Lazio have already beaten on two occasions this season (in the league and the Super Cup). Atalanta occupy the last Champions League place and have a three-point advantage over Roma, plus a game in hand and a superior head-to-head record.

As for the Europa League, Milan are outside the top six but could still qualify through the Coppa Italia if they were to turn around a first-leg semi-final defeat to Juventus (without Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Theo Hernandez, who are suspended) and overcome either Inter or Napoli in the final. Down at the bottom, Brescia (10 points adrift of safety) and SPAL (seven) were already hanging by a thread, which is why, to some observers, it’d make sense for them to trade places with Crotone and Pippo Inzaghi’s Benevento, the two teams in the automatic promotion places in Serie B.

If that was the case, you’d have some sympathy for Inzaghi’s former Milan team-mate Alessandro Nesta. The former centre-back is now managing Frosinone, who were in second until the most recent round of fixtures, when Crotone took their spot.

But as one Serie A executive put it to The Athletic, if the season isn’t concluded on the pitch, there is “no right answer” to satisfy everyone’s definition of fairness.

#Long Post #Serie A #Serie A Femminile #Italy #Covid-19 #Scheduled

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bluegrassbubblessoapandsund-blog · 5 years ago

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I’m a LOUSY Blogger!

But Let’s Get To Improving That!

Well, obviously, I forgot for a while that I even had a Blog! Shame on Me! That being said, let’s start by Re-Introducing who I am, what I do and what we’re all doing here in the first place!

I am Melisa. I’m 51 years of age and I have been married to my high school sweetie since 1988 and his name is David. We’ve been together for 33 years in 2020. David and I share three beautiful grown daughters, Brittany, Kymberly and Krystina. We have six grandchildren: Jessica is 11, Rebecca is 10, Katherine is 7, Joshua is 7, Annalyna is almost 3 and our newest is Zanora, born October 18th of this year. We also have four “Fur-Babies”. A Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix named Peanut (She’s almost 9 years old), a Papillon named Popcorn (She’s almost 5 I think!), her full blooded sister Caramel (If Popcorn is 5, Caramel is 4!) and our most recent addition is Bella (she’s about 5 too, I think) Bella was my Mom’s baby. My Mom passed away a few months after she got Bella. At the time of my Mom’s passing, we didn’t want to give Bella away, and Krystina adopted her and loves her to death. However, with the recent new addition of Zanora to the household and Annalyna being a normal 2 year old, Bella inevitably “nipped” at Annalyna. So, we took Bella….for now. Who knows, she might go back to Krystina’s house, only time will tell.

What do I do? Well, I’m actually a trained Medical Assistant and Phlebotomist. I worked for a handful of doctor’s in my native state of California after graduating from school. One of my favorites was working at an Urgent Care facility where I got to see all kinds of illness and injury. But the job I enjoyed the most, was working for the Chief FAA Medical Examiner of Los Angeles County. I was in charge of the lab, ran all kinds of tests, took X-Rays as well as a myriad of other things. I loved the patient interaction and helping people get and maintain the ability to fly, through their Federally Mandated Physicals. However, David works in the Aircraft Industry, which at times, can have a high turn over rate, so you go where the jobs are (The main reason we’ve lived in 6 states throughout our marriage!) and we ended up moving to the state of Arizona from our home state of California. After graduating school and working in my field in those offices, I eventually found work with the local school district my daughter attended as a substitute Health Office Technician. After a couple more moves, and a couple health issues on my part, as well as the death of my Dad from throat cancer, we moved back to California to be closer to my Mom and Sister, Annette. Because of my love of cooking, during this time in California, I also attended Culinary Arts School. However, my husband David was working in the aircraft industry and after 9/11 happened, unfortunately the jobs in that industry dried up and he had to find “side hustles” to make ends meet as he looked for other employment within the industry. Then one day, one of the job applications he put in, panned out! The Federal Aviation Administration called and offered a job, and he took it, which facilitated our move to the state of Kentucky where we had lived before when David was serving in the U.S. Army during Operation Desert Shield/Storm. We had always said we loved Kentucky and had talked about retiring there, so THAT worked out well!

After moving to Kentucky, our two youngest daughters finished high school and our oldest daughter’s then husband, had joined the military and she came to live with us while he was doing some training. She brought with her our Granddaughter Jessi and her pregnant tummy! As my birthday approached, so did her due date, and on my Birthday (November 19), I took her to the doctor and they announced she was going to have a baby that day! So, Rebecca (Nicknamed Reba!) was my Birthday Present that year!

During Brittany’s stay I ultimately had my first back surgery where I had a titanium cage installed and a fusion done. At this point, I was no longer physically able to stand for 8 to 10 hours a day meeting the physical demands of the job I enjoyed. So, I threw myself into my hobbies of counted cross-stitch, crocheting, reading, cooking and scrapbooking.

After living in the suburbs of Louisville for a couple years, we bought a house 30 miles away in the little town of Shelbyville. By this time, Kymberly had moved back to California after graduating high school, and Krystina had just graduated. Brittany had moved back with her then husband, out of state again. (😥)

Krystina moved out eventually and it was just David and I our dogs Rotunda (another Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix who was 12 years old), and our puppy, Peanut. Kids and grandkids grew, families grew and, as most “empty nesters” David and I began to enjoy our time together as “just us”.

Then, at a family get together (I actually don’t remember the date. One of those “health issues” I experienced was a mini stroke when I was 30 years old caused by birth control pills and my morbid obesity at the time, they concluded. Thus, the stroke obliterated my able to remember things as well as it use to!) I noticed that Reba was having, what I thought at the time was, dry skin issues. I began to take notice and pay attention to the things with other family members and their skin. ( I guess that was Medical Assistant in me!) I was trying to figure out what was causing the problem for her because she complained that the patches itched and sometimes hurt. Around the same time, David had to have major surgery. He was diagnosed with an Acoustic Neuroma. It had attached itself to the working parts of his ear, his facial nerves and his brain stem. Ultimately, they removed all but a very tiny piece of the Neuroma as well as all of the workings of his ear, so he became completely deaf in that ear, and had a second surgery to install a Cochlear Implant. As he was healing from that, he neglected to shave and I noticed that he, too, was getting these dry, flaky, itchy patches where his mustache would grow. And the research began in earnest!

Because I am a redhead (As is Kym, Reba, Annalyna and we haven’t figured out if Zanora is or not!), I have struggled with sensitive skin issues since I was a kid. I never got a “tan”, I got “pink”, “lobster red” or obtained more freckles. As I got/get older, I develop(ed) more and more sensitivities to things like laundry detergent and shampoos/conditioners. So, using my own experiences the first thing I looked at was laundry detergents. From there I looked at the shampoo/conditioner, and from there it lead me to the “soap” we used in the shower/tub.

The information I was gathering was quite interesting and little shocking, to say the least. Since I was a kid, I remember seeing commercials on TV about how actual “soap” was bad for the skin, that using XYZ Brand of this or that was more “moisturizing” and better for your skin. These commercials through my youth, told me that using “soap” was drying, contributed to wrinkles as you age, leaves a “film” on your skin, makes your tub/shower have excessive “soap scum”, etc., but as I was researching, what I found astonished me. Especially since the TV told me how bad actual SOAP was!

My first thought after going down this rabbit hole of research was, “Wow, maybe I need to change the stuff we’re washing with”. Why? Well, I learned that what I was using at the time, a liquid body wash distributed by a company who’s named after a small white bird (😉) could not legally be called “soap” even though that’s what we all call it. The process used to make this body wash literally removes the glycerin (something called a “surfactant” that does actually help to moisturize to an extent, but is defined as a compound that lowers the surface tension between two liquids, between a gas and a liquid, or between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents, and dispersants.), only to add it back in, and the additional additives they actually added to make it “better” for your skin, as was their “claim”, were actually not necessary and were detergents as well.

“DETERGENTS?!”, I thought to myself….”like, I’m actually washing my body with laundry detergent?” Um… yeah-you are (🤨)! So, I grabbed my bottle of body wash and started to actually read what I was putting on the biggest organ my body has. The organ that absorbs everything from environmental pollutants, to what you put on it, to what you ingest. (Medical training kicking in here again.)

The ingredient list was LONG, containing words I couldn’t even pronounce. (Can you?) Then I thought to look at the “soap” and “body wash” that Reba was using, and read the same ingredients; detergents, etc. The only difference was they added extra stuff to balance the pH to the eyes (making it “tear free”), rather than the body. What does the pH actually do? Let’s look at that…

pH stands for potential hydrogen with the “p” meaning potential and the “H” standing for hydrogen. The pH scale is a scale that is used to rank the relative basicity or acidity of substances to other substances, based on the amount of hydrogen ion activity in a substance. (sciencetrends.com)

Now, I could go into and define and describe all the ingredients I’m talking about, but that would be a science lesson in and of itself. Suffice to say, I didn’t like what I read and learned and thought there had to be something better that would help the dry, itchy skin my loved ones were experiencing. So, I looked into actual “soap”. As I was reading about soap I came upon the different FDA laws regarding the making of “soap” both in solid and liquid forms that we were all using. The FDA has a law that states that the items used to actually wash your body, that you buy at places like the grocery store, or big box stores, cannot legally be called a “soap”. Because of the additives and processes used to create what we were using, the law states that they have to be called something else. So, corporate America gave these items names like “Facial Cleansing Bar”, “Moisturizing Body Wash”, etc. Wait! What? You’re telling me that almost 99% of the stuff at the store I buy my family to wash with on a daily basis couldn’t legally be called soap because they’re “detergents” and corporate America is conning the populous at large? That would be a hard yes. Well, then… (Go look at the wrapper or container your current stuff comes in the from the store and see what it’s called… I’ll wait.)

What did washing with detergents do to the skin? It makes it dry, flaky, itchy and it can exacerbate skin issues that may be underlying such as eczema, psoriasis, allergic dermatitis, the weather, etc. Well darn! How do you fix THAT issue? Back to actual “soap”…

I started to google “soap” and all the sudden a new world opened up to me. I found all kinds of places that were selling the ingredients to make your own soap at home, videos that showed you from start to finish. The different ways to make it. The different ingredients and their benefits… the lists went on and on. I actually got quite overwhelmed. So, I just started making notes, and doing more research and watching more videos. I learned that you can’t make actual SOAP without Sodium Hydroxide (Lye). Even the “Body Washes” and “Beauty Bars” have Sodium Hydroxide in them. (Or it’s sibling Potassium Hydroxide, which is used to make a liquid “soap” or “wash”.) HOWEVER…..

While watching and reading about making SOAP, there were CONSTANT warnings about Lye Safety and how dangerous it is to work with Lye. The kinds of safety equipment that would be necessary to work with it, and honestly, I got intimidated and scared. But then I saw something called “Melt and Pour”. This is a Glycerin based soap that is already “made”, having gone through the processes necessary to make it SOAP. All you had to do, was melt it in a microwave, color it, add any fragrance or essential oils to it, and pour it in a mold. You simply let that cool and harden and BOOM, a handmade bar of soap that you’ve made at home.

It was a fun learning experience for sure. To this day, I still make some of the Melt and Pour soaps and add them to my other soaps and I let the grandkids work with it to make their own for gifts for family members. But I really wanted to be able to use those fantastic oils and butters that really benefit the skin! So, I took my Culinary Arts training, and bit the bullet. Because you’re following a recipe and a technique, it was quite similar to actual cooking! I watched a thousand more videos, including the ones about Lye Safety, over and over and over again, just to be sure I KNEW what I was doing and felt comfortable enough to work with it. In the Culinary world we have something called “Mise en Place”, which basically means “everything in it’s place”. You should get everything out that you plan to use, weigh, measure, the tools, etc. Everything should be ready before you start. So, I did that. Then, I set to work making my first bars of soap made with Sodium Hydroxide, in a design called a “Tiger Stripe”. I honestly can’t tell you what the scent was, or the colors that I used. But I remember it was fun! I was so very proud, looking at that wet soap in the mold… Now for the Saponification Process.

What is the Saponification Process? Saponification is a process by which triglycerides (fats) are reacted with sodium or potassium hydroxide (lye) to produce glycerol (emollient) and a fatty acid salt, called “soap.” The triglycerides are most often animal fats or vegetable oils. When sodium hydroxide is used, a hard soap is produced. (thoughtco.com) This process renders the Sodium Hydroxide (or Potassium Hydroxide) completely inert. It’s done it’s job of turning the oils, butters and water into a bar of soap. So, the Sodium/Potassium Hydroxide will in no way negatively affect your skin at all, whereas when soap hundreds of years ago was made, it was hard on the skin. In fact, my Grandma’s generation still viewed “lye soap” as something quite harsh. Basically because the lye that was used was made from wood ashes, wasn’t as pure and the science that we use today (computer programs that help to determine the proper amount of Lye, water, oils and butters that will make the best bar of soap, with proper hardness, moisturizing properties, cleansing abilities, bubbles and no harsh or adverse effects from the lye.) hadn’t been invented yet. They also didn’t have any of the additives that we use today like colloidal oatmeal, milk powders, etc.

So, 24 hours after I made that first loaf of soap, I cut it. It was the best bar of soap I’d ever seen! I cut it with a knife I bought specifically for soap. I cut it unevenly, and I didn’t care. Then I had to figure out where to let it “cure”. Curing is where you set the newly made soap aside for 4 to 6 weeks and allow all the excess water left in the soap, after the saponification process, to evaporate, leaving the bar as hard and as long lasting as possible. I found the perfect place, in my foyer. Then I immediately wanted to make more…and more… Pretty soon, my foyer was filled with newly made, curing soap! Anyone that came to the front door, or entered the house, always asked what smelled so good!

I tested the soap 5 weeks later, as did David, in the shower. It was bubbly and it was a different feeling on my skin than what I was use to, in a good way. I felt… cleaner? Was that the word I’d use? Yes, it was! I felt like there was just clean skin there, not something else. I don’t quite know how to explain it, other than I didn’t feel like I had a thin film of “slime” on my skin that the aforementioned body wash I had been using, left on me that was meant to make my mind think this was a “conditioning, moisturization” of my skin. It was “slime” to me, now that I had used my brand new bar of soap! Well, now I was hooked! David’s skin, after about a week, showed improvement as well! Holy Heck, what did I just find!?

For the next solid year, I played with different recipes, different oils and butters, different molds, different colors, different additives…. I found a recipe I seriously loved. I shared the bars with family and friends and finally was told so many times..”This stuff is great! You should sell it because I’d buy it”. So, I did. And Bluegrass Bubbles was born… We got a business license and became official, then started our website, bluegrassbubbles.com

In the next installment of the blog, I’ll continue some of the story! Please remember to share and invite your friends to the blog! Feel free to ask questions and interact!

If you’ve not already, please follow us on all our social media and visit our website and sign up for our newsletter! I share behind the scenes pictures, videos and every now then, a Giveaway where you can win Free Products, including the Candles and other things I make!

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hiyo-silver · 6 years ago

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"What's Up You Guys It's Me, Bdenbrough!" - Totally An Art Channel

Summary: Bill finds love in creating a new type of content, deciding it may become more part of his regular posting schedule.

Chapter 1 2 3 4 + ao3

Taglist: @hazelash @fuckboykaspbrak @thesquidliesthuman @rachi0964 @beepbeep-losers @bigbilliamdenbro @jalenrose11 @sleepygaybrough @itandstrangerthingsfanfic @boopboopbichie @peachywyatt @aizeninlefox @sockwantstodie @ahoybyeler @yooonbum @coffeekaspbrak

A particularly blustery and rainy day brings a rush of blue creative energy to Bill’s mind. It’s October again, like when Georgie had gone missing. He doesn’t want to go outside or even have any of his friends over, so he decides the video he must film should be different than his normal ones, a different tone filling him.

He sits at his desk with some of his watercolors and colored pencils, ready to create something like he hasn’t in a long time. His art has been on the backburner for a while, school started a month ago and stripped him of his time and even his own personal way of thinking. It was all Algebra and Shakespearean sonnets. But now, he’ll really try and get himself back into it.

He ties his red locks back with a gray scrunchie, pulling on a sweatshirt to keep warm against the cold and the way the heater in the house has been failing for several years, it just hasn’t gotten around to being fixed. Space heaters and extra layers have always been enough for Bill and Georgie. They would never dare complain, Sharon and Zach try their best. And now Georgie isn’t there to complain to either, and Bill just goes quieter.

He really has been questioning himself recently. He wears a lot of hoodies and sweatshirts, especially the thick ones that sometimes even go down to his knees. Bev says he’s just going through a phase all girls do, having some body insecurity, it goes away after you try your hardest to like what God has given you.

He also really likes the look of his hair tucked up into beanies, a faux pixie cut. He still has to ask Sharon if he can get his hair all trimmed off, he wants it at least up to his ears, it’ll be out of the way then and he won’t have to put it up whenever it gets in his face. It’ll only be beneficial, even if Sharon doesn’t think it’s so cute.

Bill isn’t so sure it’s the same insecurity Bev has been feeling. She’s excited about growing a chest and her hips widening, but Bill can only feel fear for the impending changes of his body. He thinks it’s wrong. It hasn’t been so much of a problem before, but middle school has jump started deep feelings of discomfort with every piece of himself, except maybe his own mind.

He never has his nails groomed, but since he’ll be recording a view of his hands for this video he at least trims his nails off, shaping the squared out edges with a nail file, wincing at the sandpaper-y feel so close to his skin.

He finally does get that done though, washing the dust from his fingers and returning to find a way to set up his tablet for the angle he wants to have for this concept. It’s going to be a draw/sketch with me, hopefully turned paint with me when it comes to the watercolors he got recently. He hasn’t gotten to use them yet.

He gets his phone tilted to the paper, the camera not good enough to pick up on the subtle bumps and grooves in the paper, made for peak paint performance. He starts the camera and picks up his charcoal pencil, the one he picked up at the hobby lobby the other day when he went with Beverly so she could get some thread to embroider a design on her new denim skirt for school. He aunt had brought it for her from Portland when she came down for a week in summer, Bev just hasn’t gotten to customize it quite yet.

He starts the video with a shot of him sharpening the pencil with a small handheld pencil sharpener. “Whatup! It’s m-me bdenbrough back w-with your Saturday entertainment. Today I-I’m taking it a little slower than usual, calming a l-little. We’re d-doing a draw with me, I’m gonna b-be trying to keep a cool color sch-scheme here, and we’re just gonna have a l-little chat,” he says, smiling wistfully even though his face isn’t on camera and they wouldn’t be able to hear it.

He starts drawing out a general shape, small ovals to start out some sort of human, “I th-think I might draw a m-mermaid, get some mythical cr-creatures up in my sketch collection,” he decides out loud, drawing out a few ovals to create a torso shape and then a longer one and triangle for the fins on the bottom of the tail.

Then he starts making lines around the shape, creating smoother curves around everything until it looks almost more like it could be closer to human, sans the tail of course. The last thing he leaves in the sketch is the face. “So d-don’t mind m-my inability to make faces,” he says with a small chuckle.

He draws one eye closer and larger than the other, making sure the perspective of the facial expression matches how he made the angles of the body work. Drawing lips is always fun for him, they never look the same as the last pair of lips. He makes it more symbolic than it is. “All m-my characters lips look different. They all h-have unique things to say, and the words fall fr-from unique mouths.”

He continues adding more life to the eyes, erasing a little shine in the pupils from the side where the lighting is going to come from. He’s been working more on his shading, he’s pretty proud of how far he’s gotten in his art journey. He definitely needs to work more on anatomy, but at least he can blame bad anatomy on his art style.

“I don’t h-have a name for this ch-character yet, but maybe you g-guys can suggest some! D-down in the comments let me know what her name and story sh-should be!” He announces, he just desperately wants for his subscribers to interact more, they’ve been slowing rising and it almost worries him, becoming known would be great to him, but he also doesn’t want this to become more of an actual job to him than it already is.

He pulls out his thin tipped sharpie to line it, trying to be up like one of the big art youtubers with their fancy lineart and good coloring skills. He lines it the best he can, though his hands are often shaky and it makes for difficult art. He plans to fill the empty space with some soft music when he isn’t talking. Just to make sure it’s not too boring.

He doesn’t start talking until he uncaps his blue marker to color in her details. “So I-I’m gonna be coloring this dr-drawing in with mostly cool t-toned colors,” he explains. He gets started on coloring in the darker tones, a colorless blender can be used to remove anything that gets too intense.

He drags the tip around in thick, long, and even strokes, covering her tail evenly with the deep blue, to contrast how bright blue he’ll color in the ocean. He fills her hair in with some strokes of violet among some lilac.

The completed drawing comes out nice, not the best he could do, but he did have the pressure of filming as he did it. “Okay so sh-she seems to be completed,” he says, tilting the camera up to show his smile, “So th-that concludes our Saturday video. I-it was kinda short and quiet b-but I had fun filming it!” he finally presses the camera off, letting out a sigh of relief.

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