#and i CERTAINLY gained an elevated level of attachment to it after he passed away.

[lukes-writing]

Chapter 7: Team Dreamcatcher

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Word count: 2100 Warnings: Profanity

September 23rd, 8:52 PM, The Society headquarters, Trinity Gate

“Alright,” Wiccan says. “Anyone else has doubts?”

Sienna, still pale in the face, shakes her head. The rest of the team follows her.

“Good. So now you learned there are other races besides humans. They are called inhumans and used to be pretty common. But now, most of the inhuman races are on the verge of extinction. But still, they are here with us and need some kind of supervision. You know how much panic would it cause if they just roamed freely. There are many inhuman races and they are all described there,” he points at The Society’s Guide to Inhumans, the book Whisper was about to pick up earlier.

The said girl opens her eyes wide. “So our task should be oppressing the inhumans?”

“No, not at all,” Wiccan calms her down. “We are not oppressors, more like the police. In times long ago, humans could easily match the inhumans using magic and ancient knowledge. But then, the magic faded away and the knowledge was forgotten. And the inhumans, on the contrary, gained something. Namely human technology. There aren’t many inhumans, but if they combine their special powers with human inventions, they become a pain in the ass, especially if they decide to rebel against us.”

“And so The Society is here to prevent the inhumans from misusing the technology and also makes sure they remain hidden from the civilians,” Sienna takes a guess.

“Clever girl,” Wiccan nods. “The Society isn’t some kind of ancient organization. We’re here since the 18th century or so, when the industrial revolution started and the inhumans started to get out of control. The individuals who knew about their existence and actively smothered their little rebellions suddenly weren’t enough. We had to team up - the humans with exceptional abilities and the inhumans willing to fight for our case.”

Gary shyly raises his hand. “Excuse me… where are the inhumans if they can’t be seen? Are they all like Kirlian? Or do they look like humans?”

“That’s a good question,” Wiccan says and Gary puts on a relieved smile. “The remaining inhumans live in so-called enclaves. They, sadly, have to be segregated from the outside world, but they are not some kind of ghettos or slums. They are financed and supervised by The Society and the inhumans who live there have very decent standard of living, I’d say even better than a lot of humans. They also aren’t completely isolated since the enclaves are connected by inhuman-exclusive underground railroads.”

“So why are we here?” Parker asks. “As far as I know, there’s no such enclave in Trinity Gate.”

“There is,” Wiccan smiles. “Fifty points to anyone who can find out where.”

“I… I think I know!” Sienna bursts out. “Luminance Haven. The facility in the northern part of the city. The name is an anagram for inhuman enclave!”

Parker gives her a doubtful look. “Ya mean Area 52?”

Luminance Haven is a company that operates in the northern Trinity Gate. The company possesses a rather large area which is more or less a city in a city. They work for all three territories and commence secret researches. At least that’s what the inhabitants of Trinity Gate have been told.

The area has, besides the research facilities, its own stores, a hospital, all the basic infrastructure including a large housing estate allegedly for the company’s employees. The area is separated from the outside world by a wall with only several ways in, all guarded and secured with a checkpoint. The area has a system that prevents drones from flying above and taking pictures.

Of course, there are conspiracy theories about what’s going on there. Most people just accept it’s a research center working on things that shouldn’t be presented to the public yet. But it seems that the truth is something completely different from any theories regarding that place.

Wiccan confirms it. “Well done, Sienna. The grounds of Luminance Haven are in fact Trinity Gate’s inhuman enclave, secured from the outside world.”

“And… what exactly lives there?” Whisper asks. She expected her world to be turned upside down when she came to the meeting, but she certainly didn’t expect to learn that the government research facility not so far away from her home is secretly inhabited by beings like Kirlian.

Wiccan once again points at the Guide to Inhumans. “Those who live in Trinity Gate are marked.”

Whisper scowls, expecting a more detailed answer.

The man laughs at her reaction. “You will soon find out. But first, a team has to be officially formed. We already have the members - you, Parker, Sienna, Gary and Kirlian. Now, only some bureaucracy is needed. You have to pick a team name and then you receive official Enforcer passes. They are required to enter the enclave. Don’t worry, the enclave is mostly safe, unless you venture to some of the parts where The Society’s enforcers aren’t welcome.”

The girl gulps. She’s aware that they will have to venture there sooner or later.

“So, should we choose a name?” Kirlian says. “To be frank, I’m used to the team name we used when it was me, Wiccan, Ophelia, Vlade and Gerard.”

Parker squirms when he hears the name of his older brother.

“And the name was?” Whisper wonders.

“Team Menhir,” Kirlian replies. “The Society’s teams usually pick up names connected to something mysterious or esoteric. We picked the name because the founding members, Wiccan, Ophelia and Tara, used to meet at the menhir which stands close to the Heap of Ashes. After the team was founded, we all used to meet there. It was our second meeting point after this office.”

Parker eyeballs every member of the team. “I suggest Team Freaks,” he utters. “Because this is a fucking freakshow and I have to be a part of it.”

Wiccan shakes his head. “I wouldn’t recommend that. Team Freaks is rather common in The Society and there is a renowned team that goes by this name in Nevada.”

“I think I have an idea,” Whisper says. Then she stands up and turns her back to the rest of the team. She removes her hair from her back, tossing the dreadlocks over her shoulder, and, to everyone’s surprise, removes the straps of her dress from her shoulders.

She makes the dress halfway fall, prudently covering her chest with her arms even though it’s out of everyone’s sight. Her intention was to show the tattoo which begins in her shoulder blade area and covers her whole back up to the level of her hips.

Everyone takes a look at the circle with a spiderweb-like pattern weaved inside. There are strings attached to the lower arc of the circle, each one carrying bird feathers. The tip of the lowest feather touches the girl’s coccyx.

“That’s… a dreamcatcher,” Sienna says. It is indeed the Native American decoration which is supposed to rid its owner of all bad dreams. The tattoo looks impressive on the girl’s back. Wiccan is the only one not surprised since he saw the ornament right after Whisper got it tattooed for her seventeenth birthday.

“It is,” Whisper looks over her shoulder. “I guess Team Dreamcatcher sounds good, don’t you think?”

Whisper’s idea is approved by all members, including Parker who doesn’t really seem to care about the team’s name. When she sees her idea met success, the girl brightens up. She puts the upper part of the dress back on, makes sure nothing is showing and turns back around.

“It’s an honor for me to be a member of Team Dreamcatcher,” she chants solemnly.

This could be a nice moment for the whole new team, but Parker decides to interrupt it anyway. “Wait,” he says. “Did she just strip off her clothes in front of all of us?”

Whisper gives him a furious look. “I certainly didn’t strip for you, asshole,” she retorts.

Despite Parker’s improper remark, the atmosphere within the team changes. In fact, they are still only a ragtag team of people who have never met before. However, it’s finally something concrete. They still have to get to know each other. They have no idea what to expect. But at least they know they are a part of The Society, the newly formed Team Dreamcatcher.

“Congratulations, you are the new law enforcers of Trinity Gate’s inhuman enclave,” Wiccan stands up and begins his speech. “I know how you feel. Nervous. Scared. Not knowing what to expect. But also curious. I felt the same when The Society recruited us and we took over the baton of Team Archangel. And I’m sure Ophelia did, too.” He grabs his wife around her waist and the woman cuddles up to him.

The woman continues where Wiccan left off. “You are going to make mistakes. It takes time to learn certain things, but I’m sure you can do it. But you also have to realize you are going to carry great responsibility. The enclaves and the existence of inhumans mustn’t be exposed. All the teams before you succeeded, save for a few unfortunate incidents. And it will be up to you to continue.”

“We’ll do our best,” Whisper says quietly.

Parker rolls his eyes. “I’m so gonna regret this. Fuck, I need another cigarette.”

Wiccan speaks again. “I guess that’s all for today - you have a lot to digest. Let’s meet again tomorrow, I hope four in the afternoon is convenient for all of you. The Capital Branch should have your passes ready. You are going to learn the rest of the things you need to know.”

The team slowly disperses, still full of mixed feelings. Their worlds have been turned upside down within an hour. Wiccan observes their confused faces. All new teams have this look in their eyes. If someone seems too eager, they tend to be troublesome. This team seems to have much-needed humility. Including Parker.

Whisper hugs her uncle as a goodbye and steps into the elevator, leaving Wiccan alone with Ophelia and Kirlian, the former members of Team Menhir.

“So, what do you think?” Wiccan looks at his wife.

“I see some issues, but no team is perfect immediately,” Ophelia says. “I see one main problem, and that’s their synergy. I can see they work well as individuals, but I’m afraid about their teamwork.”

“You mean Parker, right?”

Ophelia runs her hand through her thick hair. “It was Sienna I had in mind. I could clearly sense her arrogance and bossiness. She thinks she’s better than everyone else and if she keeps that attitude in the future, she’s going to have a hard time.”

“Sienna is fine,” Wiccan smiles. “She just has to let go of some things she was used to as a prominent daughter of a wealthy entrepreneur. Take a look at her files. She can work efficiently even under pressure as soon as she receives a concrete task. Her intelligence is unmatched. She’s a prodigy in math, IT and technology… but I see that her empathy suffers because of that. But I’m certain we can get her to change.”

“There are just too much contradictions for my taste,” Ophelia sighs. “Gary is too timid and insecure while Parker is way too brash. We have Whisper, a natural-born empath and - let’s be honest - a weirdo, and Sienna, an upper-class girl who enjoys being in the spotlight.”

“And it will be up to me to finally unite them,” Kirlian finally speaks. “It will be a thankless job, but I guess that’s what I get since I insisted I want to continue my Enforcer career.”

In The Society, it’s customary for one member of the “old” team to join the “new” team, but it’s not a rule. Kirlian offered himself to take this role since he was the only one willing to continue working - Vlade died, Gerard disappeared God knows where and the couple, Wiccan and Ophelia, decided to retire and enjoy some time together without the inhumans and The Society interfering.

“Good luck with them,” Ophelia giggles.

“I wouldn’t be so negative about them,” Kirlian replies. “Sure, at first glance, they don’t look like a team to save the day. But I see something positive in all of them. Sure, Parker is an asshole, but he also has an iron will and some useful skills. Sienna’s intelligence has already been mentioned. I can see Gary is the most loyal person you can find. And Whisper… to be honest, I like her the most. I just regret scaring her so badly.”

Wiccan smirks. “This is the first time you feel sorry for a victim of your prank.”

“Well, it’s the first time I feel like they didn’t deserve it.”

Author’s Note

I wholeheartedly thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if you did, please leave a comment, send me a message or share and let more people know about this story! You can also consider a small donation at www.paypal.me/lukassladky. Have a great day and stay tuned for the next chapter!

[fivethings5-blog]

Our fourteen year wedding anniversary is today. I still can’t believe it. Not only is our marriage a teenager (so to speak), but it is growing and thriving. I am so thankful for Justin Beard and I thought I would share some fun facts about our life together.

1. Justin and I met at a Weezer/Dashboard Confessional concert. It wasn’t exactly love at first sight, but we hit it off the day we met and have pretty much been together ever since. I lived in Ohio and he lived in North Carolina, so we dated long distance for a year.

Watching the storm roll in.

Our wedding party keeping the tent from blowing away.

We didn’t let this storm sink our wedding!

2. The remnants of a hurricane blew through our wedding. People say it’s good luck when it rains on your wedding day… I’m not so sure about that, but I’m pretty happy with the long-term results! We had the best bridal party and friends – many of them had to hold down our tents to keep them from blowing away! I don’t think there was a dry soul left, but that didn’t end the party. After someone rolled in a generator to get the electricity back on, it turned into a party for the ages!

After the storm passed it was time for the toasts.

Justin dried off and ready for the first dance. Keeping it classy in his t-shirt and shorts.

3. Justin and I have lived in three countries and traveled to many others together. We lived in England, Nigeria, and the place we now call home – the good old US of A.

Jess trying to live like a local.

At the beach in Nigeria.

Justin found a friend and the beach.

4. The Five Love Languages book impacted our marriage greatly. Once we learned how to communicate our love for each other, our marriage really began to grow. I highly recommend that book to anyone in a serious relationship.

5. While we were dating, Justin used to make me the. best. mix CDs. I practically lived at the post office waiting for them to come. Now he uses his mix mastering skills to compile a Christmas mix as our musical Christmas card every holiday season. Let me know if you’d like to get in on that!

6. Justin once threw me a surprise Pirate birthday parrrty. He strives to surprise me and to always make me feel loved in the most fun ways.

Justin and his crew.

Hannah surprised me by being in town for my surprise Pirate Party!

7. Every May, our church puts on something called the Date Your Mate Challenge, and it’s become one of my favorite months for that reason. Justin and I might be a pinch competitive, so it takes our dating game to a whole new level. We enjoy getting creative and look forward each year to not only growing our relationship, but building community with others in our church in a fun way.

8. If there was ever a more patient and kind husband, I haven’t met him. Justin had to go to New Orleans for work once and agreed, after getting the green light from the midwife, to drive there with his 38 weeks pregnant wife and our three kids! I’m pretty sure it took like seventeen hours. Although some of his jobs over the years have had him traveling quite a bit, Justin has been more than gracious in bringing us along when he can. It has been fun being able to travel that way as a family and we’ve been able to make some great memories. It’s certainly not easy traveling as a family, but also definitely worth it.

Took us along on a work trip to Pittsburgh.

Had to go to Columbus for work and brought the gang along.

9. Justin and I love laughing together. It’s pretty much what keeps us sane. When I was pregnant with our youngest son, Justin and I once joked and laughed so hard that he pulled a muscle in his back and my water prematurely broke. Generally, laughter is the best medicine, and, fortunately, that remains the only exception to that rule we’ve encountered so far.

10. It is one of our goals to fill our house with as many people as we can, pretty much as often as we can. When we rented our first place in Strongsville, it was so teeny tiny, but that didn’t stop us from hosting as many gatherings as we could and filling it to the brim every time. When we moved into our current house, we weren’t here six months and had the opportunity for a student to move in with us for a year. It was one of the best decisions we made as we gained a dear friend who has since become family. On Thanksgiving or Christmas, it is not unusual for us to host friends, family, and even strangers who ultimately leave that status at the door.

11. Making friends… We love people so much that we made five friends. That also is the undercover word we use for messing around in the bedroom. You’re welcome. Bow chicka wow wow!

12. Growing up, my Christmas experience was interesting. Some years we celebrated and some years… not so much. Having divorced parents made it very difficult as well. It all worked out in the end, as it turns out I married Mr. Christmas. Justin makes everything SO magical at Christmas time.

Nothing like a good Christmas family photo. Photo Cred: Ron Knerem

13. Early in our marriage, I didn’t think we should waste money on a babysitter so we could have date nights. At that time, I didn’t understand the principle that you get out what you put in. I’m not saying that you need to throw gobs of money at it all the time, but that when you start to look at your marriage as an investment, you’ll realize that you can never put too much in. It is always worth it! It is also worth it to purchase the books on marriage, pay to go to conferences or seminars, and if you can save up, getaways with your spouse are more than just for fun. They are deposits into your marital bank. You can build long lasting connection from which you will reap benefits for a long time to come.

14. Justin and I love to go on day dates. He says, “The best date is the the one you’re on together.” If we get a chance to get away, we love going out to lunch at some of our Cleveland favorites like Townhall, Boaz Cafe, Johny Mango, Le Petit Triangle, and a close-by favorite is Mizu Sushi in Parma. We usually end up hiking or walking around Cleveland somewhere because there are so many beautiful places to go. Edgewater is definitely a favorite spot for a nice walk by the water and there’s always a great breeze. We’ve hit the Cleveland Museum of Art, plenty of great coffee shops (Phoenix Coffee in Ohio City, Coffee Coffee Coffee and Metropolitan Coffee in Old Brooklyn, and Beviamo Cafe in Tremont just to name a few), several parks, and we sometimes even just run errands together. One recent favorite was getting Chipotle and eating it at Lakewood Park while watching the water. It doesn’t have to be extravagant to be a date, but it does have to include good conversation and some form of fun.

Lakewood Park Lunch Date

By the way, for those who aren’t familiar, a fourteener is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least 14,000 feet. We hear a good bit about these because Justin’s brother Joe is super into climbing them (Joe lives in Colorado, which has more fourteeners than any other state in the US). So far, our marriage is the only fourteener we’ve climbed together, although we may change that one of these days. Marriage is truly a mountain though. It’s very challenging at times, but it’s also incredibly rewarding, the journey is beautiful, and it makes you stronger along the way. I guess the thing that’s different about a marriage is that you’ll never know you’ve reached the summit until you actually get there. Justin and I hope we get to climb on together for many years to come.

Our Marriage, the Fourteener- Marriage is truly a mountain though. It's very challenging at times, but it's also incredibly rewarding, the journey is beautiful, and it makes you stronger along the way. #marriedlife #love #Reallife Our fourteen year wedding anniversary is today. I still can't believe it. Not only is our marriage a teenager (so to speak), but it is growing and thriving.