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shireness-says · 4 years ago

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Seeking Shelter, Seeking Solace [1/3]

Summary: 1895. Emma Swan answers an ad in the paper from a man looking for a wife in order to flee Boston - only to arrive in rural Storybrooke, Minnesota and discover that her intended husband is dead. Left with no other options, Emma takes a position at the local tavern alongside the sullen, dark-haired barkeep with demons of his own. But what will she do when the forces she’s worked so hard to escape reappear in the new life she’s building, forcing her to turn to this unlikely savior for aid? ~8.6k. Rated M for suggestive content. Also on Ao3.

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A/N: Every year, my mother insists we watch “Sarah, Plain and Tall” because she thinks it’s a great tradition and doesn’t quite understand that she’s the only one that loves it. So last time, I plotted this in my head instead of watching: CS fic inspired by that story.

Thanks, as always, go to my wonderful beta, @snidgetsafan.

Tagging the interested parties (and let me know if you’re one of those!): @welllpthisishappening, @thisonesatellite, @let-it-raines, @kmomof4, @scientificapricot, @ohmightydevviepuu, @profdanglaisstuff, @thejollyroger-writer, @superchocovian, @teamhook, @optomisticgirl, @winterbaby89, @searchingwardrobes, @katie-dub, @snowbellewells, @spartanguard, @phiralovesloki, @initiala, @revanmeetra87, @quirkykayleetam, @captain-emmajones, @hollyethecurious, @officerrogers, @lfh1226-linda, @jrob64, @therooksshiningknight.

Enjoy - and let me know what you think!

~~~~~

Emma can’t help but fidget in her seat as her train tears across the Midwestern landscape. Though this was her choice, she still can’t help but be nervous; after all, this is a very different world from Boston, the only home she’s ever known. She’s used to bustling streets and the lap of the waves against the docks at the harbor, not these miles after miles of plains and crop fields. It’s almost enough to make her second guess this whole thing.

It’s not a mistake though, she knows. She’d needed to get out of Boston, as quickly as possible, and this had been the best of a variety of bad options. Emma has never been particularly romantic, even as a little girl, but in the few imaginings she’d allowed herself of her future, answering a newspaper ad for a wife had never factored in. Then again, her fantasies had never anticipated the particular situation she’s trying to escape: a man who wouldn’t hear no, who was willing to pursue her relentlessly, from city to city, always a threat on her tail. The security of marriage, and of distance, had only made sense. And then again, she’s never been sentimental ; true love isn’t something she anticipated in a union, or even particularly believed in, for that matter.

The man she’s travelling to meet seems kind, she consoles herself with knowing. Emma hadn’t been particularly picky in selecting a man from the handful of querants in the paper, but Graham Humbert seems to be a good one. He’s the sheriff of a small town in Minnesota, who found himself lonely and wanting companionship.

I can darn my own socks and cook my own dinner, though neither with any exemplary skill, he had written. I’m not looking for someone to look after me in that way, regardless of what my friends’ wives think; I’d hire a lady to do the cleaning if that was the issue. I’m searching for someone to speak with at the end of a long day, someone to listen and to laugh with. I don’t believe myself to be a sweeping romantic, but I will be happy to give and receive a kind of gentle affection. Maybe we can come to love each other in time; I would be happy with that too, though I am not counting on it.

She’d liked that about him, that amiable practicality so evident even in his letters. It’s what had made her agree to travel to Minnesota with the intent to marry him, really - the feeling that they viewed a union in the same way. There will be a trial period, of course, a month during which to decide whether the two of them will suit each other before anything is formalized - but Emma is determined to make it work. What other choice does she have?

The train will be pulling into Storybrooke soon - a tiny dot on the map, where Emma doubts anyone else will be alighting. All of her belongings have been tightly packed into two measly carpetbags in order to, hopefully, start a new life. Maybe it’s foolish, but Emma had splurged on a new, sleek jacket before she’d left the city, a cheery blue to pair with her navy skirt and white blouse in an attempt to impress. Mostly, she wants to look neat more than anything else: a capable woman, one who won’t be afraid to adapt to a new life with a minimum of fuss, one who won’t make Sheriff Humbert’s life more difficult. Pretty is of secondary concern.

She sees the town coming long before the train pulls into the tiny station, roofs and chimneys rising above the flat landscape and copious corn fields. Somewhere in this state, she knows, are hundreds and thousands of lakes; however, they’re nowhere to be seen here. Storybrooke itself is a bare cluster of buildings seeming to group around a single main street, with homesteads and farm plots doubtlessly stretching out to the surrounding area. It’s a whole different world from what she’s used to, but that’s the entire point, really; no one will think to look for her here, in the rural midwest as the wife of a sheriff.

When the train finally pulls into what passes for a station, a single cramped building with barely enough room for a ticket office and a luggage closet, a man is waiting on the platform, sheltered from the late-spring sun by an awning off the station roof. The star-shaped badge on his coat and the way he shifts nervously from foot to foot make Emma think this must be the anticipated Sheriff Humbert. His hair is rather more golden than the sandy blonde-brown color Mr. Humbert had tried to describe in his letters, but Emma supposes that’s to be expected. She likely didn’t give a perfect description of her appearance either.

Quickly, she gathers her bags and alights to the station platform with the assistance of a young porter. The man waiting quickly doffs his hat, playing with the brim in another nervous gesture. “Miss Swan?”

Carefully, Emma arranges her face into something she hopes passes as an amiable smile. “Yes, that’s me. And you’ll be Sheriff Humbert, I presume?”

“I - well, no,” the man who isn’t Graham Humbert stutters out. “I’m David Nolan, actually. One of the deputies here.”

Unexpected - but there are countless excellent reasons that Deputy Nolan might be sent instead. Trouble can happen even in a small town, dozens of minor disputes that can somehow only be settled by the sheriff himself. “In that case, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Nolan. I must admit, I was expecting Mr. Humbert. Pardon my mistake.”

“About that —” Deputy Nolan cuts himself off, looking curiously uncomfortable. It sets Emma a bit on edge, but there’s no way to dance around it - not when she doesn’t have all the information.

“Yes?”

Deputy Nolan swallows heavily, visibly, his fingers tightening around the brim of his hat again before he drags his eyes to meet hers. “I’m sorry to tell you, Miss Swan, but Graham - Sheriff Humbert - died two days ago.”

Of all the things she thought he might say, all the ways she imagined this might go, that certainly wasn’t one of them.

———

“It wasn’t anything violent, or related to his job,” Deputy - well, now Sheriff Nolan tells Emma once he’s led her to a seat in Storybrooke’s one and only bar, the Sherwood Tavern. Emma finds herself grateful for the glass of dark liquor the man behind the bar slides to her without asking; after this shock, she could certainly use it. “He just collapsed. Graham had been bothered by periodic chest pains for… as long as I can remember, really. We figure it just finally caught up to him.”

Emma nods at the words, not sure what to say. It’s all jarring, really, sad for the loss of who she believes had been a good man, but it’s hard to muster much emotion. She had only known him through letters, carefully crafted missives in which they had doubtlessly both tried to show the best sides of themselves; she doesn’t have the same attachment to the man as Nolan, and everyone else in town, understandably did. Her grief is for plans and possibilities never realized, for the idea of a man instead of the genuine article.

“We know you came out here specifically with the intent of marrying Graham. There’s not much other reason to come to Storybrooke,” Sheriff Nolan comments with a laugh. “Graham’s savings and property are set to go to the town, but we’d be happy to buy you a ticket back to Boston. It’s the least we can do, when you turn out to have come all this way for nothing but disappointment.”

It’s a kind offer, really. There’s no reason for Emma to stay, after all, and Storybrooke doesn’t have much to offer. But even if Emma hadn’t needed to escape Boston… there’s nothing there to pull her back. No family, and only a single friend. She isn’t even attached to the city, though it’s all she’s ever known. Returning to Boston would be returning to a sparse boarding house room and a life spent looking over her shoulder. Here - well, there’s no promises, but Emma would be willing to bet it’s not any worse.

“If you don’t mind,” she responds carefully, “I’d prefer to stay. There’s nothing for me back in Boston either, believe it or not. This may not be permanent, but… for the time being, I’d prefer to stay.”

“Then we’ll be happy to welcome you.”

———

And they are. Sheriff Nolan takes her down the street to the boarding house run by a Mrs. Lucas and her granddaughter over their family’s pharmacy, where both women welcome her with open arms. Ruby Lucas, the granddaughter, is tall and willowy, every inch of her full of personality, and her grandmother is a gruff old lady poorly hiding an enormous affection for her loud-spoken granddaughter. Emma can practically see the moment Mrs. Lucas - “That’s Granny to you, girl, only strangers and enemies call me Mrs. Lucas” - absorbs her into their little fold. The room they provide is small, but clean and bright; Emma is more than agreeable to the small fee she’ll owe to rent the room each month, especially knowing that breakfast and dinner are included in the rent.

Storybrooke is exactly the quiet little town it appeared to be from the train. Besides the bar and the pharmacy and the sheriff’s station, there’s a general store and a post office, a bank and a rudimentary library. There are a handful of other buildings too - Emma’s been told that one houses the doctor’s office - but she hasn’t had cause or need to learn them. Perhaps in time, she’ll learn all the ins and outs of who belongs where in this little place. It seems inevitable; after all, that’s small town life, even when so many of the so-called residents live further out on isolated farmsteads.

As much as Granny seems to immediately see Emma as her ward, Ruby Lucas seems to view it as her duty to introduce Emma to Storybrooke’s small social scene, and attacks the task with gusto. Even if it’s just a small circle - Mary Margaret Nolan, Sheriff Nolan’s wife; Belle Gold, the town librarian; and Elsa Jones, whose husband operates the general store - Emma finds herself somewhat overwhelmed by the attention. She’s never had this before, not really; there hadn’t been much of a chance to make friends, growing up in an orphanage. There’d only really been August, who she’s come to view more as a brother than anything else. It will take some getting used to, having this number of people eager for her company and opinion.

(There’s an argument to be made, Emma supposes, that Neal had been a friend, too - but he’d been a lover, more than that, and then he’d been gone. It’s hard to justify counting him, even in her pathetically brief list.)

“It’s so nice to have a new face about town,” Mrs. Nolan - Mary Margaret gushes as she leads Emma arm-in-arm down the street to the library. “Not that there’s anything wrong with the familiar faces of course - oh no, of course not! But it is so nice to hear new perspectives and meet new personalities, you know? Oh, I’m just so thrilled you’re here!”

It is exhausting and touching, all at once - and just another thing Emma will learn to expect in this little town, she’s sure. She’s determined.

———

When Emma decides to stay, Sheriff Nolan offers to put some of Sheriff Humbert’s assets towards paying her room and board, but Emma refuses. It’s not that she doesn’t appreciate the offer; it’s a nice change to have someone else trying to look out for her, even if she gets the sense that David does this for everyone. However, she never even met Graham. They’d exchanged letters, had come to a rudimentary understanding, and that was all. She has no right to lay claim to any of his money on such a flimsy connection, no matter how obligated Sheriff Nolan feels to look out for her.

Emma resolves to get a job instead, to pay her own way, and only accept the help if she’s forced to. It’s not a particularly big deal; Emma has been working in one way or another since she was a teenager. She’s worked in factories, and shops, and more recently as a secretary in a bank and then a law office. Her favorite had been the stint as a companion to a wealthy invalid. Ms. Ingrid had had a sharp tongue and had loved to turn her quiet, yet cutting comments on passersby outside her townhome’s windows, often leaving Emma in fits of laughter and the older woman with a satisfied look on her face. She’d had a fondness for Emma, too; privately, one of Ms. Ingrid’s nieces had once told Emma she had lasted longer than any of the previous companions, a small compliment she couldn’t help but treasure. She’d ultimately left, shortly before the old lady died; one of Ms. Ingrid’s sister’s husbands had been making ever-more-insistent passes Emma had been struggling to dodge, and she hadn’t been needed much as Ingrid had slowly slipped away.

(She thinks about Ms. Ingrid often, still, and the year she’d spent in that house; sometimes, Emma thinks it was one of the only times she’s ever been purely happy.)

Her opportunities for employment are limited. The general store doesn’t need additional help, and the library is barely big enough to justify one employee, let alone two. She’d played with the idea of helping out at the Sheriff’s station; with the way Sheriff Nolan seems desperate to be of assistance, for Graham’s memory if not her own sake, she’s certain he wouldn’t mind. But the fact of the matter is that this is a tiny town, with a tiny sheriff’s office to match. What would there be to do? It’s not like Boston, where there’s enough crime to produce enough paperwork to keep her busy. Sheriff Nolan himself had said that they didn’t deal with much more than petty disagreements and the occasional barfight. Even the local pickpocket had reformed and was working at the post office, running the telegraph machine.

Instead, she turns to the Sherwood Tavern - the one place in town she’s certain gets enough business to need help. Making inquiries, she discovers that it’s owned and operated by a pair of friends: Robin Locksley, who spends most of his time just outside of town at the horse stables he runs with his wife, and Killian Jones, the sullen, dark haired man who’d been behind the bar that first afternoon when Emma had arrived. They’re an interesting pair; Mr. Locksley is all smiles and sunshine, even with that slightly roguish grin, and happy to talk about anything, while Mr. Jones barely talks at all and smiles even less. Still, it’s obvious that the two men are friends, watching the way they work around each other in the space behind the bar. Maybe that speaks well of Mr. Jones, or poorly of Mr. Locksley; Emma thinks it’s likely the former, just based on Sheriff Nolan’s own reaction to the two men. Somehow, she doesn’t think he’d allow her to take a position at an establishment run by men he didn’t trust.

Mr. Locksley is immediately amenable to giving Emma a position as barmaid. It’s Mr. Jones who has more questions, and evidently more hesitance. Emma isn’t sure what to make of him; he’s an attractive man, objectively, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes, but his silence and moroseness are jarring, even if he seems to be a beloved member of this little town. There’s a story there, somewhere, maybe related to the scars that dominate the skin of his left hand.

“This isn’t a glamorous job, you know. It’s messy, sometimes even rowdy,” he says, studying Emma carefully where she stands in her neat skirt and shirtwaist.

It only makes her draw up taller. “I know. I wasn’t expecting it to be. You run a bar, not a tea room.”

That gets her a faintly approving nod, at least. “Pay won’t be anything to write home about either.”

“Will it be enough to cover my room over at Granny’s?”

“Aye, it ought to be.”

“Then that’s good enough for me.”

When Jones finally gives his nod of approval, Locksley beams across at her. “Well, Ms. Swan, it looks like you have a job, and we have a barmaid. Welcome aboard.”

———

It is not remotely the life that Emma expected to find herself living, but it’s nice in its own way. There’s a pleasant routine to it all, of Granny fussing over her at mealtimes and Ruby dragging her out to socialize and keeping busy at the bar in the afternoons and evenings. It’s almost… cozy, she supposes the word is. The citizens of Storybrooke seem determined to absorb her into the fold and make her feel at home, and Emma even finds herself becoming fond of the regulars at the bar. There’s something constant and reassuring about Leroy’s complaints and the way Mr. Marco comes in for exactly one beer each night, no more than 30 minutes after sundown. Will Scarlet might be her favorite; he’s a mouthy bastard, a former thief who now inexplicably runs the post office and operates the telegraph line, but his particular brand of attitude amuses Emma and keeps her on her toes.

(It takes her approximately a week and one passing observation in the street for Emma to realize that he’s head over heels for Belle Gold, wife of the man who owns half the town, and most likely reformed his life for her. A brave man, too, then - or maybe just a fool. From what Emma understands, it’s a bad idea to get on the wrong side of Mr. Gold; he’s a manipulative man who always needs to be in control of everything and does not tolerate people standing up to him or encroaching upon his perceived territory. Emma imagines that Gold’s wife is very much included in that inventory.)

It’s usually just her and Jones and the other barkeep, Mr. Smee, working at the bar every day. Emma thinks Mr. Locksley - “Robin, please, I’m not the formal type” - might have been involved just as a favor to the other man; he’ll put in appearances every so often, especially when his business partner requests it, but he mostly seems happy to stay out at the horse farm he operates with his wife. There’s a story there, Emma’s sure - but she’s certain that she doesn’t yet have the right to ask.

She doesn’t know what to make of Jones, really. He’s a meticulous man, and she thinks even a good one, based on the way he takes care of his establishment and is willing to patiently listen to various gripes from patrons at the bar as they work their problems out themselves. The sullen, quiet demeanor doesn’t seem like his natural state; sometimes, she catches his eyebrows twitching or the sides of his mouth trying to quirk up when one of the regulars says something suggestive, like it once would have been instinct to reach for innuendo or even jokes in the same way. She almost wonders if this is something of an emotional shield, an affectation he’s worn for so long that it’s become comfortable. Regardless, there must have been something in his past that led him here - something that’s emphasized by the careful way that Robin and Sheriff Nolan - David, now - treat him.

Jones’ brother, Liam - who operates the general store and is Elsa’s husband - seems to be the only one that doesn’t indulge Killian’s reserved state. It intrigues Emma, and really reinforces her feeling that the younger man must not have always been like this. It’s somewhere between a matter of the elder Jones not having a tolerance of it, and trying to purposefully provoke the younger.

“Is everything alright?” she dares to ask one afternoon after Liam Jones storms away from a discussion carried on in angry, hissed tones.

“Fine. Liam’s just trying to control everything again.”

It’s probably a wonder she managed to get that much out of him.

It’s hard, though, to be expected to spend so much time with a person and barely trading ten words in any given day. It makes the day longer, and the work harder. On a particularly slow day, when there’s barely a soul in the place and no longer even any cleaning left to do, Emma finds herself scrambling to break the silence, just to cut the boredom.

It is a mistake.

There’s a tattoo on his right forearm, usually covered by his shirt sleeve and just barely allowing hints of dark, swirling ink to peek through. Emma usually only sees the edges in flashes, when the sleeve of his shirt shifts just right as he reaches for something, but his sleeves are rolled nearly to his elbows tonight, revealing the whole work. It’s a detailed piece, one he must have gotten in Chicago or Minneapolis or some other city big enough to have an artist of talent. There’s certainly not a tattoo shop in Storybrooke, of all places. The swirls of black she’s caught glimpses of frame a heart with a jagged dagger through it, with a single word on a tattered scroll at the forefront.

“Who’s Milah?” she asks, instead of wiping down the tables for the twentieth time this evening. “On the tattoo.”

It’s like his whole body seizes - spine straightening, eyes shutting down, every inch of him infused with tension. It’s obvious she’s struck a nerve, one that affects his entire being.

“Someone from long ago,” he finally mutters, before stalking off to scrub imaginary grime off already-spotless tables.

It would be stupid to wonder what she did; that’s obvious to anyone with eyes. What she’s more confused about is why that particular question set him off. It’s obvious there’s a story there, one she doesn’t know but that must be central to the man he is.

Robin is there that day, taking care of something in the small office at the back; without Emma even asking, he slides up next to Emma with an explanation.

“Milah was his fiancée,” he explains quietly. “She died, several years back, in a freak accident. He was driving her to town and the horse startled, flipping the whole wagon. It’s how he injured his hand, too.” Another question answered, then; Emma can see the way the scarred limb still pains him, seizing and spasming in ways that make him scowl deeper with irritation.

“He wasn’t always like this,” Robin continues. “He used to be the most charming man you’d ever meet, always with a smile and some saucy comment. You’d have barely recognized him back then. It’s funny, and awful, what grief does to a man.”

And that explains a lot too - the way she sometimes sees his eyes flash or mouth pull like some half-forgotten instinct. That’s the look of a man who was broken, and who forced his pieces back together with the weakest glue, where things no longer fit together in the same way as they did before, even if all the fragments are there.

It is just another piece of the puzzle that is her silent coworker, but maybe the bit that makes it all make sense.

(Emma has never been much for guilt - but she can’t help but feel some small guilt for this.)

———

The thing about living in a small town, for better or worse, is that there are expectations. Despite its small size, there seem to be a million and five social functions in Storybrooke - church picnics and sewing circles and, tonight, a social and dance in Mr. Clark’s new barn. Emma could decline to attend, technically; it’s not as if she’s contractually obligated to make a showing. But Storybrooke is a tiny town, and Emma is the new face, and she’ll be thought of as unfriendly, even odd, if she doesn’t at least put in an appearance. Besides, everyone is going - and Ruby would never let her hear the end of it if she didn’t at least make an appearance.

So she goes. She stands with Mary Margaret and David and lets Ruby pull her along and compliments Granny on her contributions to the potluck spread. She even takes a turn around the dance floor when asked, even dares to enjoy herself a little bit.

That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t get to be too much, however. The residents of Storybrooke are all so welcoming and well-meaning, but Emma’s spent so much of her life alone, and suddenly being inundated with all this good cheer is a particular variety of overwhelming. It’s not their fault - it’s entirely hers - but Emma can’t resist slipping out the barn doors to creep around the side, seeking a quiet and solitary moment.

It’s not to be found, however; as Emma rounds the corner, it is easy to see Jones in the light of the nearly-full moon, leaning against the wall with his head tipped back and clearly avoiding the festivities in the same way. There’s half a thought of just retreating, creeping around the other side instead, but he turns his head to meet her eyes before she has the chance.

“I’m so sorry,” she tries to apologize. “I’ll just leave you be —”

A brief smile without much feeling twitches across Jones’ face. “Hiding from the party?”

“Yes, but I can find somewhere else —”

“There’s no need. Stay.”

Emma stays. What other choice does she have? She isn’t exactly eager to spend this time with Jones, but it would be blatantly rude to insist on leaving after he had made such a generous offer. Carefully, she props herself against the wooden wall, ignoring the way that stray splinters try to poke through her dress.

She assumes they’ll just stand there in silence - they aren’t exactly friends, for all the time they spend together, and after the other day she’s sure he isn’t much fond of her - but Jones surprises her by breaking that silence after only a few minutes.

“I owe you an apology, Miss Swan,” he says softly, but clearly. “I’ve been less than welcoming these past weeks. I am sorry for that.”

It’s the last thing she expected him to say, and Emma has no idea how to respond. “Thank you,” she finally settles on. “I appreciate it.”

She thinks that’ll be it; that he’ll have said his piece, and they’ll go back to a more-or-less easy civility. It isn’t. “I suppose Robin, or one of the others, told you about… about Milah?” Emma nods. It’s clear this is difficult for him to speak about; she wonders a little why he’s bothering to tell her, of all people. “After she was - after she passed, I rather fell to pieces. She was gone, and the accident all but mangled my hand so it seemed like I couldn’t do much of anything with my life, and it was easier to fall into a bottle than to face my grief. Robin helped a lot, giving me something to do at the bar and eventually letting me buy into the place, but some days I still feel like all those pieces are still barely held together.”

“I understand,” Emma tells him softly, almost too softly to hear. And she does; she’d felt something of that despair when Neal had left, like she’d never find anyone or anything to compare again and there were a whole host of feelings and experiences she’d never reclaim, never experience without him. She can only imagine how much deeper that pain must run for him, when his fiancée had died and not just run away.

“Thank you,” he says, but she can tell he doesn’t fully believe her. That’s alright; she hasn’t given him any reason to. “Anyhow. It’s been five years now, and I’m… acceptant, I suppose. I don’t anticipate being that same man I was ever again, or being able to truly move on and find someone else, but I’m not actively trying to drown all my feelings anymore, which most agree is a significant improvement.”

“Most?”

“Most,” he repeats. “I believe you’re acquainted with Mary Margaret Nolan?”

“Ah. Yes.”

“Exactly. Ah. Mrs. Nolan is a very kind woman, of course. She truly does mean well, and she and David are wonderful for each other. But she is… unbearably optimistic, if I’m being blunt. Mary Margaret is of the opinion that now that I have reached an acceptance of everything that happened with Milah - everything that I lost with Milah - that it’s time I move on, and find a new ‘happy ending.’ So when you came to town - a new face, lonely, needing help…”

Emma sees exactly where this is going. “You assumed she would immediately start trying to play matchmaker.”

“Precisely. Well, not quite assumed; I’ve known Mary Margaret long enough that it was more like knew.”

“And you decided to head it off before it even started.”

“Aye. Again, I do apologize for how it means I treated you. You didn’t deserve that kind of hostility. But I didn’t want her getting any ideas about fixing us up together.”

“Then I forgive you.”

Killian stares blankly at her for a moment, clearly not quite processing her words. “Just like that?”

“You forget - I’ve met Mary Margaret too.”

His lips twitch in that almost-smile again, and Emma could swear she hears him huff out the hint of a laugh. “She is nothing if not persistent. A second chance, then?”

And Emma finds herself surprisingly happy to agree.

———

They’re still not friends, exactly. Jones isn’t exuberant, and that doesn’t change just because they had a chance to reset things behind the barn. But they’re… friendly. Amiable. Companionable. A whole host of other almost-type words. She no longer feels like he resents her very presence in his place of business, and even makes sure to make her life better in little ways, like helping her wipe down glasses and handle more belligerent patrons. She appreciates it, truly; it makes her life easier, knowing he’ll back her up, and that’s more than enough. Despite the small town-big family feel of Storybrooke, she’s still a city girl at heart who’s fine not to make best friends with everyone. She’s more than satisfied to be his employee, and nothing more; in fact, it’s a welcome change after some of the jobs she’s had.

(That’s what landed her here in the first place, after all: a man who doesn’t much care about her many, many denials.)

Even if they’re not friends, she spends enough time around the man to recognize some of his reactions, the slight variations of “sullen” that still play across his face if you’re watching closely. And as soon as Belle Gold walks in with an older man Emma can only assume is her husband, Emma sees the way that Jones’ entire body tenses up. The tension in the air is palpable between the two; even Belle shifts uncomfortably as they approach the bar.

“Could I have a small glass of beer, please?” she asks Emma softly. It’s a relief to reach for the glass instead of just waiting for whatever this is to explode. “It’s so terribly warm out there today, I found myself needing a little something to cool down.”

Beside her, her husband hasn’t broken eye contact with Jones. Emma doubts he’s fully aware of what she and Belle are doing right next to him. “You’re still here then, Jones?” he asks in an icy, sinister voice.

“Aye.” Jones’ face is just as stony when he responds. Emma can practically see the way he vibrates with suppressed rage.

“I suppose you don’t have anywhere else to go, do you, or anyone else to chase after. No one really wants to take on a man with only one functional hand.”

“Let’s go, Robert,” Belle urges. Her beer is barely touched, but her refreshment seems forgotten as the encounter turns increasingly hostile.

Carefully, Jones sets the glass he had been holding back on the bar as the rest of the room holds its breath. Emma can see the way he flexes his scarred left hand, though she doesn’t think anyone else is playing close enough attention. “That’s true,” he says in that deadly quiet voice, “but you’re stuck here too, Gold. And we both know you’re the one who trapped me in this town.”

“Strong words from a weak man —” Mr. Gold starts to say, but his target has already stalked away towards the door Emma knows hides a staircase. Jones keeps an apartment above the premises; doubtless he’s gone there to lick his wounds.

Belle quickly ushers her husband out after that, leaving the barely touched glass on the counter. Emma takes a long drag, not one to waste the beverage; she can’t help but hold some bitterness towards Belle for this altercation, even though she knows the woman is otherwise lovely and kind and even something like a friend to Jones. She must have known this might happen, bringing her husband in here. The man has a reputation, one that makes it hard to believe that his wife is so kind - and married to him. Besides, the whole exchange reeked of an unknown history between the two men, of so many words and actions leading to today’s explosion.

Behind the bar, Mr. Smee - a timid man by nature, a predilection not remotely helped by these dramatics - looks anxiously between the room half-full of patrons and the door through which Jones had disappeared. It only takes a moment to realize what needs to be done - and that Emma will have to be the one to do it.

With a nod toward the bar floor for Smee, Emma quickly climbs the stairs, a glass of rum in hand. She’s noticed Jones taking a shot of the stuff when some customer is drunk enough to buy a round for everyone. If there’s ever been a time when a drink of something biting would help - well, this is probably it.

It isn’t hard to find Jones. He hasn’t even made it into his apartment proper, instead sitting propped against the wall in the hallway with his head hung between his upright knees. He looks up at the sound of her boot heels clicking on the stairs, happy to accept the proffered spirits, only to hunch back over the glass once it’s in his hands. Emma waits patiently for the explanation she knows is coming; she’s long since grown used to silence sitting between the two of them.

“He killed her,” Jones finally says, draining the remains of his rum in one swallow. “Milah. My Milah. He wanted her, but she wanted nothing to do with him, and she chose me.” He smiles softly in remembrance, a foreign look on his face from what Emma has come to know. “I could never prove it, of course. But he hated that she chose me, hated me for supposedly stealing what was his by pursuing the woman who pursued me first. And that wagon… it never should have tipped. It was sturdy, not even a year old, and the road was even. But there was a shot, fired someplace close that I could never pinpoint, and the horse startled, and the axle was apparently so weak or damaged that it broke, and by the time it was all over…”

“She was gone,” Emma supplies softly. Somehow, in the middle of all this, she’s found herself on the floor next to him. It seems like what he needs right now.

“It was quick, at least. She broke her neck and died instantly. I just… I could never prove it, but I always knew it was Gold. The sabotage of the wagon and the shot to set everything in motion.”

It makes horrifying sense; maybe Jones is wrong, but from everything Emma has heard and seen of Mr. Gold, she wouldn’t put it past him. “And now you’re forced to see him all the time.”

“We had plans, you know,” he tells her, staring into his glass like he can make it refill by will alone. “We were going to pack up, move to Duluth or Chicago - somewhere along the Great Lakes, where I could get a job on one of the ships. But she was - she was dead, and my hand was barely functional, and when Robin offered to let me buy into the bar instead of just doing my damndest to drink myself to death… I took it.”

“And you lived.”

He snorts. “Or close enough to it.” His head falls back against the wall heavily as he sighs. “He’s gone, I imagine. I’ll come back down in a moment, I just…”

“Take all the time you need.”

(Emma knows she didn’t do anything more than listen, but there’s still a satisfaction in seeing the way he has started to pull himself back together as she traipses back down to the bar.)

———

They’re still not friends, but knowing those bits of another’s soul bonds two people together in a way that’s hard to describe. Jones is still sullen and quiet, but it’s less off-putting when Emma knows it comes from a place of pain. What matters is that Emma feels comfortable and safe here in Storybrooke and at the tavern, in the midst of these kind - and yes, in some cases morose - people.

That all changes when a telegram arrives unexpectedly, marked urgent and portending dangers Emma had hoped she had finally escaped.

She opens it right away, of course; there’s only one person outside of this town who knows how to reach her, and August is too busy for needless correspondence. He hadn’t even responded when she’d wired him back in Boston that first day in Storybrooke just to let him know what had happened, and that she was still staying. Him sending a message can mean nothing good.

Emma sinks onto a barstool as she reads the stark letters. Even without a mirror, she can feel the blood draining from her face as her nightmares resurface.

Be aware Oz sniffing around STOP Hired private detective STOP Be on alert and do what you must STOP Will keep apprised STOP

Emma doesn’t know how long she sits there, staring at the little slip of paper. Somewhere, the yellow envelope it was delivered in has dropped away; she hadn’t noticed. She only comes back to herself when a firm hand shakes her shoulder.

“Swan!” Jones all but barks, jerking her back to attention and to meet his eyes. It’s evident he’s been trying to get her attention for a while; thank god there are only a scant handful of people in the bar at this early hour, though she’d rather Will Scarlet hadn’t had to see this either. “What’s the matter?” he presses ahead. “Are you alright?”

What an absolutely absurd question to ask as she sits here, white as a sheet. As much as Emma would like to deny it, claim everything is fine, she can’t. “No,” she barely manages to gasp out.

It’s like everything around her has become a blur, like her mind can’t focus on anything but impending doom. Jones and Will Scarlett must have corralled her into the little back office; she has no memory of how she came to be sitting in the padded chair. Jones crouches by her side, his shoes lost beneath the edge of her skirt, wearing a surprisingly tender look on his face.

“This is about what you’re running from, isn’t it?” he asks in as gentle a voice as Emma’s ever heard from him. It snaps her to alertness, eyes blown wide; it’s not remotely what she expected him to say.

“How did you know that?” she demands. Emma hasn’t told anyone in town the underlying reason why she came to this little nowhere town, and yet here Jones is talking like it’s obvious to see.

“I recognize the look of someone with demons to hide, and to hide from,” he says softly. “You’ve met mine, Swan.”

Faced with that kind of understanding, it’s like all the pride, the reticence, the fight seeps right out of her. What’s the point? He seems to see right through her front anyways, for some reason she can’t pinpoint.

“Yes,” she says, carefully making sure that neither her voice nor her hands tremble at the admittance. “It’s about the things I ran from in Boston.”

“Tell us.”

And she does. As Will Scarlet stands by the door and Jones moves to lean against the desk, Emma lets the whole tale unravel: about the law office in New York she’d been a secretary in, about the junior partner, Walsh Oz, who’d taken a sudden interest in her, about the way she’d left that job when he wouldn’t stop pressing his attentions on her. About how he’d found out where she lived, and forced her to move three times. About how she’d finally packed up and moved to Boston, only for him to track her there as well, showing up in the department store she worked in. How she’d gotten more and more desperate, finally seizing upon the idea of answering one of the marriage ads in the paper.

“It seemed like the perfect solution,” Emma explains. Against her will, tears have begun pooling in her eyes, and she blinks furiously to dispel them. “It’d take me so far away from Boston and New York that Walsh Oz would never track me down - and besides, I’d have a husband. It didn’t matter that I probably wouldn’t love him, I’d be safe. He wouldn’t be able to bother me anymore if I was already tied to another man.”

As Emma has told the whole sorry story, Will Scarlet has become visibly more upset in his stance by the door, bordering on fury, but Jones has remained implacably, unshakably calm. Emma appreciates it, in an odd way; it’s something stable to focus on, to keep the panic from overcoming her again. “And then you got here, and there wasn’t a husband to marry,” he says softly.

Emma nods. “I thought it would still be enough - rural Minnesota is so far from New York or Boston, you know? But now…”

“But now.” There’s something horribly ominous about his agreement.

“At least I have August to watch out for me - my friend, almost a brother. He works for a private detective agency.” Jones probably doesn’t much care about that, but talking and explaining keeps her in the moment. It only works for so long though, as the reality of the situation sets in. “If Oz comes here… where else can I go? What am I supposed to do?”

The silence sits for a moment, Emma trying not to cry, Scarlet and Jones looking at one another as if coming up with something. The question hovers in the room, threatening to suffocate them all.

“You came here because you thought a husband could protect you?” Jones finally asks.

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll marry you instead. If you like.”

It’s an absurd proposition, not least of all because Emma knows Jones may never get over his late fiancée. Beyond that… they barely know each other. They’ve worked together for two and a half months, and Emma has shared little bits of herself along the way and learned pieces of his own character, but that’s not enough to base a marriage on. But wasn’t that exactly what she was trying to do with Graham Humbert? To marry him, even though she barely knew him?

The difference, of course, is that Emma has worked alongside Jones for months, and knows this is not remotely what he’d ever planned for himself. It is much harder to go through with this when she knows that it isn’t something that both parties actively want.

“You don’t have to. I would never ask that of you,” she hurries to protest - but he’s already shaking his head.

“I know I don’t,” he tells her. “And if you don’t want to, that’s fine, and we’ll try to figure something else out. But I think it might be your best option.” Jones pauses, and his face softens. “Graham was a good man, and a good friend of mine,” he tells her quietly. “He waited a long time for me to be a better man, and do something with my life. Let me do this for him.”

And Emma agrees.

———

It is a small wedding - not that the occasion warranted anything different. They’re two people who barely aren’t strangers anymore, who hadn’t planned for this remotely or had even imagined such a possibility two days ago.

(Technically, it’s the second time since Emma arrived in Storybrooke that two days have abruptly changed the course of her life. Maybe it’s an omen, of some sort; Emma doesn’t have the energy, or the opportunity, to pay heed to such a thought.)

They make as much of the occasion as they can when Mary Margaret and Ruby only have two days to fuss. Emma wears her nicest dress - a summery, pale blue confection that makes her look a lot more girlish and innocent than she actually is - and there are fresh flowers along the pews of the little church that match the small bouquet in her hands. Only a small number of people attend to witness - the Nolans, Jones’ brother and his wife, Robin and his wife, and Granny with Ruby - but that’s alright. Emma may not know what her soon-to-be husband’s favorite color is, or his favorite meal, or even his middle name, but she does know that they’re both somewhat solitary creatures. Neither needs a crowd, or would be comfortable with one.

There’s something oddly comforting about his presence at the end of the aisle, waiting for her in front of the reverend. He isn’t dressed particularly elaborately, but he’s taken the effort to put on a tie and coat and comb back his hair a bit, even if pieces keep popping up again. Most of all, Emma appreciates that his hands don’t tremble when they take hers. She’s terrified out of her wits about the foolishness they’ve both agreed to, but he manages to be so calm; so certain. It’s like he’s found an odd kind of purpose in doing her this favor beyond thanks, beyond reason. He’s calm when she meets him at the altar, and calm all through the short ceremony, and still calm when he slides the thin gold ring on her finger. It feels like some kind of blessing.

Before she knows it, the words are all said, and they’re moving to sign the paperwork and make this legally official. And that’s it: some of the most momentous minutes of her life are over and done, and Jones - Killian? - is leading her back down the aisle of the little church with her hand tucked into his arm, still that pillar of stability and reassurance.

She’s married.

———

Eventually, they find themselves back in the little apartment above the bar. Emma’s pretty flowers have been set aside, her hat carefully extricated from the pins holding it to her hair, and Killian has worked off his jacket and tie. Silence stretches between them as they sit, she in the armchair by the fire and him at the kitchen table, but it’s not yet comfortable. They don’t quite know each other enough for that. It’s like they’re in a holding pattern, both just waiting for something to give, for the other to break or break through.

“I never expected to get married,” he finally says. Emma jerks her head to face him, but he carefully looks anywhere else, staring towards the opposite wall, fiddling with his fingers. “After Milah died… I expected I never would. That that would be it for me.”

It is not a good way to start a marriage - hearing that her new husband never wanted to get married in the first place. “I’m sorry, then. For trapping you in a marriage you never wanted.”

But he shakes his head at the words, finally meeting her eyes. “No, no, that’s not what I mean, Emma. I’m not trying to - I don’t want you to think I regret this. It is its own kind of honor, doing this for you and for Graham. Makes me feel like a better man than I’ve been in a long, long time. What I’m trying to say, I suppose, is…” He pauses, as if collecting his words. “I suppose I don’t have… expectations, so to speak, of our marriage. We get along. I think you’re a good woman, and I’ve appreciated the help in the bar. And that can be it. I’m not expecting anything more. I’m perfectly happy to have a paper marriage, companionship and nothing more, because that’s already more than I ever expected for the rest of my life.”

Ah. He’s alluding to sex. It’s kind of him to dance around this, but entirely unnecessary; delicacy has been out of the question for 8 years now, since she still thought Neal was her forever. It never really mattered for an orphan from the worst of Boston anyways. As kind as it may be, it’s unnecessary, and frankly too chivalrous for her purposes. In return, Emma chooses her words just as carefully as he did; at the beginning here, setting the stage for what may become the rest of their marriage, it seems important to do so. “Thank you, Mr. Jones —”

“Killian.”

“Killian.” He’s right; they’ve already traded vows, such as they were, after all. “Thank you, Killian - but the fact of the matter is that I need this to be a real marriage. If our marriage is to protect me the way I need it to… then I need there to be no reason for anyone to claim otherwise.”

———

They consummate their marriage that night.

It is not making love by any means, and it is not even particularly good - it’s been too long for either of them to be in practice, and too little feeling between the two of them - but there is no denying that it is a real marriage now. Emma can smell the shot of rum he drank for courage as Killian determinedly avoids her lips. His body is warm and firm above her, inside her, but there’s no feeling to it, except in the apology he mumbles against her ear when he finishes before she’s even close to satisfaction.

It is fine. It is no more than she expected.

But at least it is a union, in almost every sense of the word.

———

(She had been anxious about this - the idea of giving her body to a man she barely knows, no matter how much she knows it to be necessary - but as mediocre as the act itself is, Emma can’t help but feel… connected, afterwards. Despite everything, he had been gentle with her, considerate. She doesn’t quite feel an affection for him - not yet, though she hopes she might one day, if this is to be the start of years to come - but it’s the first link in a bond that they’ll strengthen with time. Consummation had been a fraught decision for both of them, an emotional minefield in many ways, but they’re truly in this together now.

All things considered - she’s glad she’s in it with him.)

#captain swan #cs ff #cs fanfiction #captain swan ff #marriage of convenience #my writing #Seeking Shelter Seeking Solace #independent!Emma #grumpy!Killian #and a bar

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thebibliomancer · 3 years ago

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Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #4: FINALE

December, 1984

So things are going well for the West Coast Avengers so far, huh?

Well, at least Tigra got out of the ocean and same for Wonder Man and the pool? That’s something??

Anyway.

How have things been going for the West Coast Avengers?

Last times on limited series: A west coast branch of the Avengers was formed on Avengers chairman Vision’s request, head up by Hawkeye and with a roster of Mockingbird, Tigra, James Rhodes Iron Man, and Wonder Man.

Their first team activity was to beat the crap out of the Shroud, a friend of Tigra’s who followed her to the new Avengers Compound under the mistaken impression that she was in some kind of trouble. Then Hawkeye offered to let Shroud join the Avengers for taking a punch so well but he declined. For some reason.

Next, the West Coast Avengers assembled to try to take down bank robber the Blank, who robbed one (1) bank before the city escalated to calling in superheroes. He also personally offended Wonder Man by escaping him but c’mon Simon, you could do better for a nemesis. Although the Blank is still a better one than the Grim Reaper. After escaping the Avengers via explosion, the Blank had Graviton pop into existence right in front of him.

In the previous issue, the West Coast Avengers help Los Angeles deal with the unseasonable winter summoned by the Casket of Eternal Winters over in the Thor book. Since Wonder Man is still bummed over the Blank, Tigra and the Shroud help him track the guy down but find out that Graviton is now the Blank’s boss. Tigra and Shroud get tossed out to the ocean along with the Blank (for being annoying) and Wonder Man is held at the bottom of a pool until he stops blubbing.

How will our heroes get out of their various water themed predicaments??

I don’t know about Wonder Man but thankfully Tigra is exceptionally good at treading water.

She has to hold up Shroud who was knocked out on impact and she activates an emergency signal beacon that’ll summon the other Avengers.

Only god and Tigra knows where she was holding that.

... Maybe pouches aren’t so bad as a costume element.

Also, Blank has gone completely missing after hitting the ocean. He doesn’t appear in the rest of this book but he’s not dead. He doesn’t have any other appearances for twenty-five years but eventually shows up in a Spider-Man #580 (also written by Stern) where he’s up to his old bank and armored car robbing and then getting in over his head with superheroes ways.

In a way you have to admire that he absolutely did not change after twenty-five years and is still doing literally everything we saw him do last issue. In another way, you have to wonder why he would move to New York when he was going to leave LA due to having superheroes.

Rob banks in the Midwest, you fool!

Anyway.

Tigra treads water until Iron Man shows up and scoops both Tigra and Shroud out of the way and wooshes them to Avengers Compound.

After dropping them off, Iron Man apparently went back and tried to find the Blank with sonar scans but couldn’t locate the dope. He speculates that he got caught up in an undertow but don’t worry. As discussed, he just goes underground for 25 years.

Iron Man wants to head off immediately and get Graviton but Hawkeye tells him to settle down.

Hawkeye is the voice of reason against the hot-heads. Its amazing where character development can take you.

Hawkeye: “I’m worried about Wondy, too... But we can’t just go smashing our way into Graviton’s lair! He’s one of the toughest guys the Avengers ever fought! The first time we went up against him, he held ten Avengers at bay... Including Wonder Man and Thor! I wasn’t there, but reading Captain America’s report on the incident made me glad I wasn’t!”

But Iron Man should know this already... he was one of the Avengers in that report.

Iron Man says he’ll need to spend more time going over the Avengers files.

Iron Man: “Iron may have fought Graviton, but I haven’t!”

Hey! Rhodey reveals his identity to the others, just like he considered doing. And just like he was afraid of, Hawkeye begins to treat him like an amateur!

Rhodey counters that he was the Iron Man during Secret Wars and did a good job saving Hawkeye’s ass during that.

But more, Rhodey’s hot-headed attitude reminds Hawkeye of himself during the kooky quartet days and wonders how Cap ever put up with him. So paying it forward, he walks back and says he was out of line to call Rhodey an amateur and that they’ll need his power to take down Graviton.

Assuming that Wonder Man is being held hostage and won’t be able to help, Hawkeye decides that the first order of business is going to need to be finding him and getting him out of whatever trouble he’s in.

For that, they’ll need to plan ahead. So Mockingbird pulls up some landsat maps and Tigra gives them the cool scoop on the layout of Graviton’s mansion.

Later, at said mansion.

Two lady escorts are whispering by the bar about what an awful creep Graviton is. Its pretty great.

Lady 1: “... He’s... certainly a striking figure of a man! But he gives me the creeps! I hate the way he paws me... I’d rather take a bath in a pool of slugs! And if you tell him I said that, I’ll call you a liar to your face!”

Lady 2: “Don’t worry! After the way he handled those super-powered party-crashers earlier, I won’t put anybody on his bad side! Assuming he has a good side! What a bore! At least he pays well!”

Its good to know that even as a super-powered guy taking over organized crime, Graviton still has absolutely no personal charisma.

There’s a wunk thwak at the door so one of Graviton’s goons goes to check it out and gets a gun shoved in his face by some new visitors.

Its popular villain Madame Masque! Head of one of the Maggia crime families! And her goon Louis!

She demands to be taken to Graviton at once and she is because would you argue with a mask with unnecessary rivets?

Madame Masque: “I heard there was new talent in the area -- working to consolidate the Southern California gangs. Talent interests me.”

Graviton: “And is that your only interest?”

Madame Masque: “No, I also love power. I’m told you’re quite a... powerful man!”

Ew.

Graviton brags about his control of GRAVITY and Madame Masque tells him he’d best watch out for the Avengers. She hears they started a new group locally and Avengers means trouble. Especially since her old enemy Iron Man is part of the new team.

He laughs off this warning because he has an Avenger at the bottom of his pool just to show off.

Graviton: “Observe... the late Simon Williams, perhaps better known to you as Wonder Man! His strength was quite remarkable, but no match for my localized gravity fields! It was a simple matter to hold him to the bottom of my pool until he ran out of air!”

RIP Wonder Man. Uh, again.

Actually Graviton mentions that even though Wonder Man has stopped blubbing, he’s still holding him to the bottom of the pool because the fool has come back to life once.

Louis, the goon, reacts in shock at seeing a dead lifeless body in the pool so Madame Masque hauls off and slaps him.

Graviton is very impressed at her management style that he begins to propose something, something salacious if I had to guess, but then some repulsors hit the pool with a KROOOSH.

In this Avengers book, an Avenger arrives to avenge.

Iron Man: “Graviton... and Madame Masque! Now, isn’t this a cozy little scene! Too bad I have to break it up!”

The armored Avengers starts aggressing at the various minions, including knocking Louis into the bushes.

Inside, the bartender takes off her bartender outfit to reveal a Mockingbird outfit underneath. I suspect that maybe this bartender is actually, in secret, Mockingbird.

She contacts Hawkeye and tells him to put phase 2 into operation.

Meanwhile, outside, Graviton uses gravity to slam Iron Man to the ground but for some reason the effort is making him feel light-headed.

Madame Masque notices and asks Graviton whats wrong but he insists that he’ll crush Iron Man but then enter Mockingbird SPANGing her stave off Graviton’s gravity shield and dunking on him.

She also reveals in thinky thoughts that as Bartender Bobbi, she drugged everyone’s drinks. Graviton still being up she attributes to him having the constitution of a moose.

Still, I’m laughing at the West Coast Avengers using their prep time to just up and drug everyone. Even if the big boss has resistance to status effects it’s a hilarious work smarter moment.

Hawkeye’s sky-cycle swoops down but Graviton just knocks it away.

In another hilarious move, that’s not Hawkeye on the Sky-Cycle.

Looks like him but it’s not.

Because ‘Hawkeye’ is a dummy and if Hawkeye came up with the idea to disguise himself as Louis, then he’s no dummy.

And if he’s ‘Louis’ then I’d bet that Madame Masque isn’t the real article either. Process of elimination leads to an obvious answer there.

But again, they put a Hawkeye dummy on a Sky-Cycle hoping Graviton would deflect it into the bushes to deliver Hawkeye’s equipment to him. Amazing!

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the pool, Wonder Man has stirred to life and has been struggling against Graviton’s power ever since Iron Man arrived. His efforts collapse one side of the pool.

Startled by that, Graviton’s concentration slips, giving Wonder Man enough of an opening to claw himself out of the pool and clobber the supervillain.

Graviton manages to cushion against the blow because, sure, gravity can do that. But then Iron Man grabs ‘Madame Masque’ and flies off to start phase three of the strategy.

The villain flies off after Iron Man, still affected by the drugs but fighting through it. Because “can’t let that Avenger make me look bad in front of her!”

Whoever decided to play on Graviton’s ego has a big brain.

Graviton hears ‘Madame Masque’ scream and swoops down to find her alone.

Because Iron Man had to do some prep.

Iron Man: “Welcome to Substation #5! They tell me that the entire southwestern power grid feeds through here! I figure that should give me enough power to beat anybody... including you! So, unless you’ve gotten smart and want to give up -- you’d better make your move, sucker!”

Graviton has not gotten smart.

But the West Coast Avengers’ plan is pretty smart.

They had Mockingbird infiltrate Graviton’s mansion and drug everybody. They had Hawkeye and a ‘Madame Masque’ show up to get Graviton to reveal where Wonder Man is, play on Graviton’s ego and libido, and I assume keep him from going wild if he has a squishy person standing next to him. And they crank Iron Man up on so many watts so he can go toe-to-toe with Graviton if he hasn’t already passed out from the aforementioned drugs.

It’s a good plan.

Probably going to cause some blackouts but... uh... look. Worthy cause?

Iron Man: This is incredible! I can feel the energy surging through my armor! There’s no sensation that even comes close to this! This is what it means to be Iron Man... this is what it means to be invincible!

Of course, Rhodey isn’t Tony. In fact, the West Coast Avengers doesn’t really have a really techy/sciencey person?

Wonder Man used to be one of Tony’s peers but he hasn’t touched science since coming back to life.

Hawkeye invented anti-gravity once but never really returned to that well.

Oh, Mockingbird has a doctorate in biology. But she’s gone full into the spy/costumed adventurer thing.

Anyway, even though Rhodey is able to blast everything Graviton throws at him, the cables he used to link to the substation can’t handle the thousands of mega-volts and begin to melt.

So just as he repulsors Graviton onto his ass, a power surge short circuits the armor.

‘Madame Masque’ runs to help Graviton but PSYCHE ITS TIGRA

She used the little cat trinket established last issue to take on her human form which looks enough like Madame Masque in the sense that she has black hair and a generically attractive body type.

Graviton manages to put up a gravity based force field and fend off attacks from Iron Man, Wonder Man, and Tigra. But knocking them away almost floors him.

Then Hawkeye and Mockingbird come Sky-Cycling by and Hawkeye shoots some tranquilizer gas arrows because, hey, why not pile on more sedatives?

Graviton brags that its a simple matter for him to increase the weight of the gas so its hugging the ground instead of his lungs.

Then he passes the fuck out.

GOOD JOB TEAM!

I honestly never thought I’d see a superhero fight end by sedating a man so much that he passed out and probably should be rolled onto his back.

The U.S. Marshals hauls away Graviton while the news shows up to interview the West Coast Avengers. But Hawkeye excuses the team saying they have another important mission to finish.

Mockingbird: “‘Important mission?’”

Hawkeye: “My barbecues are very important!”

HAH!

Yeah, the Avengers all return to Avengers Compound to finally eat Hawkeye’s steaks.

That was what was truly at stake this whole time.

Tigra says it was lucky that she was wearing a mask because she was as shocked as ‘Louis’/Hawkeye.

Wonder Man says that he can actually survive without food, water, or air but he doesn’t really enjoy it.

And Hawkeye says that just in case things had gone horribly wrong (because he’s a responsible team leader) he’d left word with the New York Avengers to assume that they were all dead if they didn’t call back by midnight.

But when he later did call back, Vision taped a congratulations message to play to the whole team.

... Vision are you so busy that you couldn’t just talk to them?

Pre-recorded Vision calls the team Avengers, cause they are. But apparently it makes Wonder Man and Tigra realize that their misgivings about deserving to be on the team have gone.

Beating up Graviton is a great ego boost.

So that’s the West Coast Avengers limited series! But like the panel says, the team is coming back for Avengers #250. The big 2 5 0, two teams!

And the team will get their own ongoing book in about a year which will go on for 102 issues. Oof. Dunno if I can keep up the two a week pace but I have a year or twelve weeks to think about it.

Follow @essential-avengers because West Coast Avengers! Right? Who doesn’t love a second team in a different location? The X-Men have like three or four teams, the Avengers can have two! Also like and reblog because I’d appreciate it.

#Avengers #West Coast Avengers #Graviton #Hawkeye #Mockingbird #Tigra #Wonder Man #Iron Man #James Rhodes #essential avengers #essential marvel liveblogging

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everybodyscupoftea · 4 years ago

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idk you yet: next up forever

reggie peters x oc

and if you’re broken. you’ll make your own thing

There was nothing quite like the rush of playing in front of a large crowd. Reggie loved the band’s chemistry in the garage they used to practice in or the energy of small crowds they played for in the back rooms of record shops while they were trying to make it big, but there was no feeling greater than playing a stadium full of people screaming their name.

Luke loved it too, he ate it up, and he was always on fire, always at his best, which in turn fueled Alex to match his boyfriend’s energy, and Reggie could just feed off of them. When they got signed to their first big label, Reggie could just remember Luke’s flushed cheeks, his, “This is going to be great, guys. We’re going to be great.”

“Legends, even,” Alex added.

Which Reggie thought maybe was a bit much, they were still young, still largely untested, but he loved the enthusiasm. Bobby was a bit more chill, probably the most levelheaded of them all, and the least driven by emotion, but even he was vibrating with excitement.

Then they started planning for a tour. Reggie hadn’t even realized a national tour was possible while they were still teenagers. Hell, he didn’t even realize releasing a full album was possible.

“Boy bands do it all the time, think about One Direction,” Bobby told him quietly while Luke chattered on to Alex about songs he’d written that he thought were perfect for a first album. Reggie was grateful Luke wasn’t the one to read his facial expression that clearly was showing some sort of doubt.

The first tour was incredible, smaller venues, but they sold most of them out. Sunset Curve was new and people were curious. The second tour was where it all became insanely real. Reggie can remember the day Luke ran into the garage, beaming.

He flopped on the couch, which wasn’t unusual, and propped his head up on his hand, “So, I talked to Drew today.” Their manager.

Alex hummed, sitting down next to him, “What about?” If Luke had gone and made decisions without the rest of them, he was the most likely to react in a way that wouldn’t hurt Luke’s feelings, but would still remind him that they were a group.

“He thinks we should do a world tour after releasing our second album.”

Reggie’s eyebrows shot up. He knew they were big, he knew they were popular in a few countries overseas, but he didn’t know they were world tour big. The other two boys were also shocked into silence. Their second album was fairly close to release, they’d released a single for it the week before, but a world tour already.

“Holy shit,” Bobby mumbled, and then a few seconds later, “holy shit!”

“Yeah!” Luke was practically shaking as he jumped to his feet and onto the table, “Guys, this is it. We’ve made it.”

Reggie snorted, “Okay, well, we don’t know that the tour’s going to sell.”

“It’ll sell,” Luke clearly had the confidence to carry the rest of the group through it, which Reggie could get behind. He couldn’t quite shake one of his mom’s lessons growing up: temper your excitement because things rarely go as planned.

So they got to work. They put the finishing touches on their second album, which did extremely well, some of the songs flying up the charts to the number one spot for a few days. They announced their tour, a few weeks later the dates and locations. Some arenas sold out within minutes. When they found that out, Luke bragged, not hesitating to throw in, “I told you so,” every time it came up.

They planned a show, put together a list of their favorite songs off both their albums, worked out effects they wanted to put on something fun for their fans. Reggie was a lot more hands on in that process, not the most gifted with tech, but was the most interested in actually looking impressive outside of just the music.

Then they had to find an opening band. Someone who they could get along with, someone smaller that they could help get exposure. Reggie found them first, on YouTube, a couple called Double Trouble, also based in Los Angeles. After watching a few of their videos, Luke approved wholeheartedly and got Drew to contact them. Double Trouble was ecstatic, and thus, the details were finalized.

And the tour was great, they started in the South and worked their way up the Midwest, hit a few cities in Canada, down the East Coast and ended up home along the West Coast for a few shows.

Reggie was constantly exhausted, it felt like a daze. Travel, play, adrenaline rush, eat, crash, repeat. And everything was great, they played consistently well, and after a few shows, he thought they really got the routine down pat. It worked really well for them, and the boys were thrilled with all the choices Reggie made.

The only problem was that it got lonely. He felt like he was surrounded by couples. Luke and Alex, Julie and Flynn, Bobby and his girlfriend that showed up every so often when she could get off work. Reggie was truly the only one alone. Which was fine, they were busy, but sometimes, sometimes the loneliness was heavy.

It all built, crushing him slowly as they crawled their way through tour, more and more dinners after the show feeling like a double date he was just crashing while Bobby stayed in to FaceTime his girlfriend.

October

When it finally overflowed was after their show in San Jose. It sold out, most of their California shows did, and that one was especially incredible to him. The fucking SAP Center. He knew a lot of their fans were Californians, that’s where they got their start, but he wasn’t prepared for that.

They went to a local place, something small that they likely wouldn’t be recognized much at, and once again, he got the double date vibe. The couples talking lowly amongst each other, relaxed and comfortable, while Reggie picked at the straw paper on the table and stuck it to the condensation on his beer bottle.

He wasn’t sure if it was the fatigue that made him snap or just that the weight of his loneliness got too much to bear, he was out of his seat before his brain caught up and mumbled for them to get him something takeout, that he was going back to the bus.

Luke started to protest, hopping out of the booth to grab his arm, but he must’ve seen something on Reggie’s face that caused him to reluctantly drop his arm. Reggie wasn’t sure what expression he had, but it must’ve been something raw to make Luke give up that easily. Eyes burning, he shoved his hands in his pocket and left the restaurant, desperate to crash in his bunk and sleep it off.

Shoulders slumped, Reggie headed back toward the arena, staring at the cracks in the concrete as he walked, not wanting to attract even the slightest bit of attention. That’s when it happened.

William pretty much kept to a routine. It was easier for him, especially during the season, and it kept his dog happy. There was something that night, some anxiousness about the upcoming season maybe, that had him out and about after dark, walking Luna down the sidewalk near the arena.

There had been more traffic than usual that night, he wasn’t sure why, maybe a concert at SAP, but he wanted to see it. Before fans flocked there, and before he was contractually obligated to show up and be on top of his game.

It was something he did in college too, sat in the bleachers right before the season and soaked in the stillness of the rink. The calm before the storm. He couldn’t get into the big arena, not without keys and a certain level of clearance he didn’t have, but he could walk around, using the facade of taking Luna on a walk as his reason.

He almost ran into the boy, more focused on staring at the buildings around him than the sidewalk. It was late, he assumed no one would be out, clearly he was wrong. Luna barking and pulling on her leash snapped him out of his trance, confused as to why she’d be freaking out.

The boy obviously hadn’t seen him either, hands shoved deep into his pockets, staring at the ground, and giving off huge leave me alone vibes. William almost recoiled, he looked so sad. But maybe sad wasn’t the right word. Morose maybe.

Luna could tell too, he thought. She was pretty perceptive like that. William only had to consider for half a second before giving in. Dogs always cheered people up, right? He let her pull him over until he was right in front of the boy who stumbled back at his sudden appearance, startled look on his face.

“Sorry,” William said quickly, trying to look as apologetic as possible, “didn’t mean to startle you.”

The boy shrugged, staring at him inquisitively, eyes narrowed as if he was trying to figure him out. It made him a little uneasy, but he figured maybe the boy was a hockey fan.

“Can I pet your dog?” he asked quietly, staring down at Luna where she was practically chomping at the bit to get to him.

“Yeah, of course!”

William took the time to study him while the boy squatted down to pet her. He was cute, William realized, and looked slightly familiar, though he couldn’t quite place it. Maybe he was from the area or lived in William’s building.

The boy was gentle, murmuring quietly to Luna while stroking her head. He couldn’t be sure, but William thought his shoulders started to lower where they’d been defensively tensed around his ears before.

Luna jumped up, resting her two front paws on his knees, and licked his cheek, drawing a soft laugh. William immediately wanted to hear it again, he was entranced. Soon, too soon in William’s opinion, the boy was gently lowering Luna back to the sidewalk and standing back up.

He cleared his throat and gave William a small smile, “Thanks. Dogs fix everything.”

“I agree,” William answered quickly before taking his chance, “I’m William by the way.”

“Reggie,” the boy answered, holding his hand out for William to shake. He did happily, trying to keep the shake out of his hands as excitement started to build.

“You from around here, Reggie?” he asked, genuinely curious and not wanting to let him go.

“Los Angeles actually.”

William couldn’t stop the frown, totally unsure why Reggie looked familiar. He hummed, “Sucks, NorCal is 100% a better place to live.”

Reggie laughed, “Oh yeah? Seems a bit biased.”

“Totally unbiased,” William crossed a finger over his heart, “I’ve been there.”

“So you live around here?” Reggie crossed his arms.

“I do. A few blocks away.”

“Seems a little late to be out and about.”

“Luna wanted a walk,” William told him, and in a rare state of perfect honesty, “plus was feeling a little anxious.”

“What about?” Reggie asked before flinching, “Oh God, I’m so sorry. That was super intrusive, feel free not to answer that.”

William laughed, “Oh nothing, nerves over a new job.”

“Ah,” he nodded a bit knowingly, “stage fright.”

Narrowing his eyes, William nodded slowly, “Something like that.”

A comfortable silence lapsed, and Reggie’s eyes started to droop a bit. He blinked a few times and let out a sigh, “I should probably get going. It’s been a long night.”

“Me too,” William smiled wryly, “should attempt to get at least a little sleep before I have to be up early.”

“Feel that.”

Just as soon as Reggie went to side step him, to walk away forever, William blurted, “Wait.”

Reggie froze, head snapping up to meet his eyes, “Yes?”

“Can I,” he drew in a breath and gathered his courage, “could I get your number?”

Tilting his head, Reggie looked him over, William could see the carefully masked surprise, “Um, yeah, sure.”

William beamed, and held his hand out for Reggie’s phone. Eyebrows raised, Reggie passed it over. Typing in his number, William couldn’t help but add a shark emoji. Maybe it was a bit on the nose, but he thought it was at least a little funny.

Reggie wrinkled his eyebrows, but texted him to make sure William had his number too. His stomach swooped as it popped up on his screen.

Hey it’s Reggie

“Thank you,” he gushed, trying to mask his excitement a bit, “I’ll text you later.”

Reggie smiled, and it seemed genuine, “I’m looking forward to it.”

Reggie was oddly nervous. He’d never met anyone quite like William, the boy who either didn’t know who he was or didn’t care. Laying in bed, he passed his phone back and forth between his hands, waiting for a text that didn’t seem to be coming.

Did he hallucinate William out of pure tiredness, he wondered, scrambling to check. Nope, he’d sent a text. Maybe William fell asleep as soon as he got home. Or forgot.

A voice in his head that sounded oddly like Alex suggested, ‘text him’ which seemed a bit absurd at first, but the idea started to grow on him. Thumbs hovering over the keypad, he eventually came up with something simple.

Hope you made it home okay

The response wasn’t immediate, but came pretty soon after.

Just made it, was about to text you

Reggie smiled goofily, and stared at the message. Shaking his head, he knew he needed to respond.

Guess I’m just faster.

The next text from William was immediate.

Doubt it. Just more impatient.

Reggie snorted.

Also true.

The typing bubbles appeared and disappeared a few times while Reggie waited with baited breath.

So what are you up to?

Reggie hesitated, should he tell this boy who he was or keep it vague?

In bed, probably going to sleep soon

He figured it was probably the right move when William texted back.

Same, got an early morning tomorrow. It was nice meeting you though, talk tomorrow?

Reggie’s stomach actually fluttered, he didn’t even know it could do that.

Sounds great

He fell asleep with a smile on his face and when he woke up, phone pressed to his chest, battery dangerously low, there was already a text from William and a picture of Luna attached.

Good morning, hope you slept well. We sure did.

Reggie sighed, thankful that it wasn’t all a dream.

I did, thanks. Good luck with your new job today

William didn’t text back for a while, but Reggie didn’t really expect him too. He knew not every job was like his, so he figured William wasn’t allowed his phone much at work. Which was fine, he’d just wait with a little ball of anxiety in his chest until he got a response.

It turned into a routine after that. William always responded at the weirdest times. Sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes at night, and sometimes in the morning. Reggie never could pin down his schedule, just went with the flow as they worked their way through the western states.

The boys were never really sports guys. If they did keep up with anything it was basketball. But one night, out of pure coincidence, Reggie found himself on a channel playing a hockey game. It looked interesting, and one of the teams was the Sharks which he faintly remembered played at the arena they’d performed at the night he met William.

Maybe he could talk to William about it later, he seemed like the type to be into sports. So Reggie settled in and texted him, unsure if he’d even get a response.

You a hockey fan?

And then a few seconds later after a brutal hit.

I wasn’t but this is kinda fun. I’m sure you’re a sharks fan, they look good

He took a liking to a particular player, number 23 that the announcers kept calling Harris. Reggie found himself at the edge of his seat as the other team started to come back, the Sharks struggling to hold their lead.

“Come on,” he muttered under his breath, nervously checking the clock, “so close.”

He pulled his phone out as the other team called a timeout.

If you aren’t into hockey you should check this out, I’m so invested

The game started again and he put his phone down, paying full attention to the TV. He tapped his knee as the last minute of the game stretched out, totally confused why the other team’s goalie just dipped, but invested nonetheless.

When it ended, he let out a relieved breath as the Sharks managed to hold on and win. Reggie stood up, shaking out his fingers which he didn’t realize he’d been clenching into his pants. He walked away from the TV, needing a break, and went to find something to eat.

Their cabinets were sparse, so he left the bus, wandering to the nearest grocery store to pick something up. His phone buzzed a few times, no doubt William texting him back, and he juggled the items in his hands to fish it out of his pocket.

Hockey’s cool. Probably my favorite sport. Picked a tough game to watch though. Calgary is pretty good this year, but the Sharks will get it figured out

Reggie chuckled and typed out his response with one hand while he waited for the people in front of him in the checkout line to move.

You seem like you know your stuff

The typing bubble appeared and disappeared for a minute straight, oddly reminiscent of the first night Reggie texted him, before the next text finally came through.

Yeah, hockey’s been part of my life for a while

After setting the boxes down and paying, Reggie responded.

Long time fan then. Always liked the Sharks?

Reggie didn’t get another text for a few minutes and figured it was one of those nights William was working.

Nope, liking the sharks is a new development. Started when I moved here

Stirring the pasta, Reggie nodded and decided to text him back when he sat down to eat. It never happened. He’d left the TV on accidentally, and when he sat back down on the couch, the men on screen were breaking down the game.

“William Harris in particular was impressive tonight. He really stepped up on the penalty kill, that game would’ve been a loss if he hadn’t played like he did.”

A picture of his William popped up on the screen. Well, Reggie was pretty sure. He didn’t quite look like he did when Reggie met him, and sure he’d only seen William that one time, but he was pretty fucking sure that was him.

Hands shaking, Reggie exited their text thread and was hitting FaceTime before even realizing what he was doing. It took William a few rings to pick up, and he smiled, looking a little surprised.

“Why are you on my TV? Or at least I think it’s you,” Reggie blurted, not even saying hello.

William blinked, surprised, “What?”

Reggie flipped the camera to show where they were still talking about this Harris player he’d been enamored with during the game. He watched William’s face carefully and saw the resemblance to the guy on the TV.

William winced and put on an apologetic smile, “Um, because I played well tonight.”

“Mhmm,” Reggie muttered, still shocked, “and you didn’t tell me, why?”

“I thought you’d figure it out. That’s what the shark emoji was for.”

Staring at William incredulously, Reggie managed, “In what world do I make that connection on my own?”

William smiled sheepishly, “Maybe it was a bit of a long shot. But I mean, it’s not a big deal, right? I’m still William.”

Reggie took a deep breath and relaxed back into the couch, “I suppose, yes.”

“And by the way, you’re not off the hook. You didn’t tell me you were a famous musician.”

“Oh God,” Reggie shut his eyes, “I totally meant to. I just couldn’t ever find the right time.”

“How about, ‘hey William, I know I seem normal but I’m actually famous and definitely way out of your league’? That would suffice in my opinion.”

Sitting up, Reggie glared at him, “Hold on, if anyone is out of anyone’s league, you’re definitely out of mine. A professional athlete, are you kidding me?”

William scoffed, “And you have fans all over the world, I just have fans in the United States, mostly in San Jose.”

“But you’re hot,” Reggie countered.

“So are you,” William argued and set his jaw stubbornly.

Reggie sighed, “Fine, we’re both hot. But, I’m not sure what this means.”

“It doesn’t have to mean anything,” William sounded desperate, “we’re just two guys, right?”

“Right.”

“And we like each other, right?”

“Right,” Reggie repeated.

“Then let’s just be two guys who like each other. Not two relatively well known guys.”

Letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, Reggie nodded, “Okay, I think I can do that.”

William was silent, both of them soaking in it, and Reggie sat up, “You look exhausted, I should let you go.”

“Wait,” William protested, “I want to see you again. When are you free?”

“I probably can’t make it for a while,” Reggie admitted, “Maybe mid-November if you have some off time.”

“November we have a homestand, I can definitely do that.”

“I’ll send dates.”

William blushed, “I’d like that very much.”

“We should FaceTime more,” Reggie mused.

“We absolutely should.”

When they finally hung up, Reggie immediately hunted down his laptop to start googling hockey rules. If he was going to (hopefully) date a hockey player he should start learning about the sport.

He didn’t think William would hold it against him if he didn’t, but hockey was clearly something the other boy was passionate about, and the least he could do was support him. Maybe the next day he’d be a bit embarrassed about the texts he’d sent, but for the night, at least he’d be preoccupied enough.

Over the next few weeks, Reggie started to watch Sharks games, every one he could, and the ones he had to miss for shows, he’d watch highlights after, all the time looking for his favorite player. William was good, Reggie knew that from the praise he got in the media, but one night he started looking up William’s highlights particularly. Found some stuff from his stint in college hockey and fell down a rabbit hole. He pulled out his phone.

You’re like. Insanely good.

The response was quick.

Ha. Thanks

Reggie scoffed.

Not joking. I’m looking at your college stuff, you went high in the draft. Maybe I was right about out of my league.

William sent back screenshots of his playlist, a few Sunset Curve songs thrown in the mix.

I’m not the only one insanely talented.

Reggie’s cheeks heated up and his palms started to sweat.

Mostly my bandmates honestly

He could almost hear the tone William would use if they were talking over FaceTime, he’d used it many times before.

Lies and slander. I’ve watched videos too

Reggie got that fluttering in his stomach again, and he actually went to look at dates, something he’d been putting off, checking the Sharks’ schedule to see if there were any days that matched up.

Hey, how about November 14?

William FaceTimed him instead of responding. His cheeks were flushed, “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Yes, absolutely. Fuck yes,” William breathed.

For the first time in a while, the loneliness crushing Reggie started to lighten. He knew his bandmates would start to notice, he knew Alex at least was confused about why the fuck he’d started watching hockey, but for the time being, William was his.

It wasn’t a secret really, not a dirty one. But Reggie shared almost everything, and he wanted something for himself. For once. With a happy sigh, he walked over to his bed and flopped down, smiling widely when one last text came in.

I can’t wait

#reggie x oc #reggie peters #reggie julie and the phantoms #bi reggie #idk you yet series #julie and the phantoms

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the-lincyclopedia · 10 months ago

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I'm happy that people have bid on my sonnets and podfic recording, but no one has bid on my fan labor yet, and I'd really like to fulfill that offer for someone! As you can see above, @nerdsandthelike can vouch for my skills as a sensitivity reader, and @newtsoftheworldunite is enthusiastic about many of my fandom-related abilities.

I thought perhaps it would be helpful for me to elaborate on what I my fan labor might entail, so here goes:

Beta services: My biggest strengths as a beta are my copy-editing/proofreading abilities. I will notice your comma splices and the places where you forgot a period at the end of a paragraph. I have less experience giving feedback on plot development and characterization, but I've been writing fic for 16 years and have also gotten two (as of yet unpublished) novel manuscripts to at least draft three, so I have a lot of experience writing and giving and receiving feedback outside of just SPAG. I'm currently the in-house editor of a couple of print publications at my job, and I've got a lot of other editing experience (professional and otherwise) under my belt.

America-picking: I have lived in the Upper Midwest for my whole life, mostly in a decent-sized metro area, though I lived in a small town for four years in college. I can talk about regional weather, religion, politics, food, immigration history, demographics, cultural stuff like state fairs and summer camps, etc., in addition to general America-picking like switching spellings from British spellings to American spellings.

Sensitivity reading: I am autistic, and I'm offering to sensitivity read for the characterization of autistic characters. I got diagnosed nearly six years ago, so I've had some time to process and learn more about the diagnosis. Every autistic person has a different experience and a different combination of symptoms, so I can’t provide a universal perspective, but I can provide my own experience and ask other autistic people if needed. I really enjoy consulting and sensitivity reading, and I always approach it with the goal of mutual respect--I never want my feedback to feel like an attack.

Here's a list of characters I think can be read as autistic, whose characterization I'd love to consult on:

The Queen's Thief: Autistic!Irene x ADHD!Gen for the win. I'd also love to see autistic!Helen (homegirl thinks she's been poisoned when she falls in love) or Pheris (though his disabilities manifest very differently than mine).

Check Please: Jack is definitely autistic (which I’ve written about). I’ve also seen people make the case for Dex and/or Chowder. (Please note that I’m white and can’t speak to the ways Chowder would be treated as an autistic person of color.)

Carry On: Simon is the character I’ve seen read as autistic most often, and I think that makes sense, but I’d also find autistic!Baz or autistic!Penny fascinating.

Harry Potter: Give me all your autistic!Hermione. Also Luna. Quite possibly Neville as well. (Note: I’m happy to work with fics in the Harry Potter fandom, but I’ll definitely be happier about it if you donate to a trans cause.)

Sherlock: Sherlock is definitely autistic, and I’d love to see that explored.

Yuri on Ice: I’ve really enjoyed autistic!Yuri Plisetsky and autistic!Otabek. I’m less confident about my ability to consult on the cultural dynamics at play here, though, both because I’ve lived in the US my whole life and because I’ve never been an athlete at any level, let alone their level.

Percy Jackson: I’m a Solangelo shipper, but I also love Percabeth. It’s easy for me to see Annabeth and Nico as autistic (and autism and ADHD go together super frequently in the real world! I don’t have ADHD, though). I’m down for reading just about any of the PJO characters as autistic, honestly. What would interest me most would be a fic exploring Annabeth struggling academically/not enjoying school even though she’s conventionally intelligent–even if I’m not the beta/sensitivity reader on this fic, I’d love to read it, if it’s out there! Give me your “book-smart good girl” who’s fed up with the ableist educational establishment!

Lizzie Bennet Diaries (or really any iteration of Pride and Prejudice): Darcy is autistic. It’s just a fact. And I’d love to see that explored.

I'm happy to help with other characters, as well, but these are the ones I'm familiar with and have thought about.

If any of this sounds like useful expertise that you'd like to have on hand while working on your next fic, bid on my offering in Fandom Trumps Hate!

lincyclopedia's Fandom Trumps Hate offerings

Y'all, I'm so excited for the @fandomtrumpshate auction to open in a few days! Here's what I'm offering this year:

Fan poetry for the Queen's Thief: up to four Shakespearean sonnets about Queen's Thief characters, max rating T, minimum bid $5

Podfic for the Queen's Thief: up to 20k words of podfic, max rating T, minimum bid $20

Fan labor in ANY fandom: beta services, culture-picking for the Upper Midwest in the US, and/or sensitivity reading for autism, for a fic of up to 20k words with a max rating of T, minimum bid $10

Get all the details on Dreamwidth here!

If you want to read my previous fics, they're on AO3 here. Please note that they're all archive-locked, so you do have to log in to view them.

#fth 2024 #fandom trumps hate #fth #queen's thief #the queen's thief #fandom life #fandom events #qt #fan labor

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thepropertylovers · 5 years ago

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Feature Friday with Matthew Chaffee

Happy Friday, friends. Though the weeks are running together and what day it is means almost nothing anymore, we’re so happy it’s finally the weekend. The last few weeks have been some of the busiest for us (feeling grateful for that) and we’re looking forward to relaxing just a bit this weekend. Do you have any fun plans?

This week’s Feature Friday is Matthew, who shares what it was like growing up in a conservative environment, the response he got from his senior high school class when he came out in front of them by reading an essay (!), and his advice for those struggling to come out. We enjoyed getting to know Matthew and we think you will, too. See what we mean below…

What is your favorite place you’ve ever traveled to and why? Unfortunately, my answer to this question isn’t very exciting. Growing up, my family never had a lot of extra money to spend on traveling, so most of our vacations consisted of road trips around the Midwest. Don’t get me wrong, I got to see some fascinating places and make great memories with my family, but I haven’t been anywhere particularly exotic. I have been to New York City twice, both times for a music department tour in high school, and I’d have to say that it’s probably my favorite place I’ve traveled to. It was so much bigger and so much more cosmopolitan than anything I had ever seen or was used to, so it was quite overwhelming. The sheer vibrancy of it all – the lights, the smells, the languages – was intoxicating. Attending a performance of Phantom of the Opera on Broadway would probably have to go on my list of top ten life experiences thus far. It’s definitely not somewhere I could live for any length of time, but for somewhere to visit, it was phenomenal. 

Where did you grow up? What was your environment like? I’ve spent the entirety of my life living in West Michigan, which, as you may or may not know, is pretty traditional and conservative. More specifically, I’m from Grandville, which is a city of about 16,000 located in the Greater Grand Rapids area. Dutch heritage and Reformed (Protestant) Christian values play a big role in shaping the culture of the circles I grew up in. I attended a Christian Reformed Church, and I was educated in a private Christian school where my graduating class consisted of approximately seventy students. My family consists of myself, my mother, my father, and my brother, who is five years younger than me. I am very close with my parents, and I’d say my relationship with my brother is typical of siblings with our age gap. Family and faith have always been central parts of my life, and I don’t foresee that changing. 

How did your environment growing up shape who you are as a person? Growing up in a pretty conservative area definitely had an impact on my younger years. I remember in elementary school, like many children, I would parrot my parents’ political views when “discussing” politics with my peers. However, with the growing revelation about my sexuality that came with puberty, my views slowly began to change. Another catalyst for my shifting views occurred in middle school, when a good friend of mine was deported to Guatemala due to an error in her parents’ paperwork. The injustice of it all really impacted me and opened my eyes to a world that before had been largely hidden. High school gave me my first opportunity to connect with international students. As I have always been interested in learning about different cultures, I quickly befriended them and even helped start my high school’s International Club, which provided opportunities for American and international students to interact and attend various cultural events. Finally, my Aunt Dawn and Uncle Tim have played a major role in exposing me to issues concerning social justice. Although both of them grew up in West Michigan – just like my parents – their life circumstances have provided them with opportunities not experienced by most of my other family members. Because of this, they have always stood out to me as being somehow “different”, more engaged and more vibrant and passionate than most people I know. As I grew older and began paying more attention to the things my Aunt and Uncle would talk about, I began to realize the value behind the causes they were advocating. When taken together, my friends, my family, my sexuality, and my desire to continuously learn and expand my horizons have shaped me into who I am today. 

What’s one interesting fact about you? Besides English, I’m speak conversational Spanish and basic French and Korean. I also can play piano and trumpet, and I love to sing (though I don’t know if I’m any good or not, since I’m too shy to sing in front of anyone). 

What is one thing you love about yourself? Learning to love myself hasn’t been easy; it’s a process, and definitely something I’m still working on. But one thing I’ve always been proud of is my imagination. I’m a dreamer, and my mind is a wild place. I keep a running note on my phone of all the random, crazy things I think up so that maybe someday I can make them happen. 

What brings you the most joy in life? Oh boy. There are so many things I could talk about here. I love being outdoors. In particular, I love to bike. Bike trails are plentiful where I live, and Grand Rapids has begun to install bike lanes, so getting around and finding new places to ride is a cinch. My favorite ride is from Grand Rapids out to Lake Michigan, which I do a few times every summer with my best friend. Other outdoor activities I enjoy are hiking and hammocking. I firmly believe that everyone should own a good hammock. In addition to outdoor activities, I love to cook and bake. My specialties are ice cream and gourmet mac & cheese. Someday I hope to write a mac & cheese cookbook and title it “MAC: The Complete Guy to Everyone’s Childhood Favorite” (M-A-C are my initials). I also make a mean hummus. I love to learn. I’ve spent countless hours on Wikipedia reading about the most arbitrary topics. Whether it’s German political parties or the Japanese folklore, I’ve probably read about it. Nothing is off limits. As a result, my mind is a veritable treasure trove of random and mostly useless facts. Finally, I find joy in spending quality time with friends and family. Whether it’s playing ultimate frisbee, exploring a new city, dumpster diving at Krispy Kreme (a tradition at my college), or having late-night campfire talks, I’m down for just about anything as long as I’m with the right people. 

How old were you when you came out? What was your experience like? My coming out experience was a rather long process. Pretty much as soon as I began to have romantic feelings toward people, I realized that I had them for both guys and girls. This was around fourth or fifth grade, and I told myself that it was normal, that I wasn’t actually attracted to guys, but that I just knew that some guys were really good-looking. Once I reached middle school, I started to come to terms with the fact that maybe I was attracted to guys. But I continued to tell myself that I was more attracted to girls. I did the whole “percentage” thing, where I was like, “okay, I’m eighty percent straight, twenty percent gay.” I first came out as bisexual to my friend Carly. Freshman year of high school I told a few more friends that I was bi, and it went over pretty well. Sophomore year I briefly dated a girl, then junior year I began dating another girl. That lasted for about a year until we broke up early spring of my senior year. The breakup gave me a lot to think about, but even while dating her I realized that something never really felt right; I could never really imagine myself with her – or with any girl for that matter – for the long term. After much soul searching, I finally accepted that I was gay. One of the last big projects senior year was the “Where I Stand” paper. This was an essay written by every senior for English class, and it was basically an opportunity to say whatever you wanted and to be really open and vulnerable and reflect on your life leading up to that point. I decided to incorporate my coming out into my paper. It wasn’t the central focus, rather more of a side note. Thankfully, my English teacher, Mrs. Hoeve (now Dr. Hoeve) was extremely supportive throughout the process. On the day when everyone shared their papers, I concluded mine to thunderous applause, which was especially remarkable considering the fact that most of my classmates came from the same conservative, Reformed Christian background as I did. On the whole, I couldn’t have asked for a better coming-out experience at school. 

How did your friends and family take it? Did you face any backlash? How did/do you deal with that? I waited to come out to my parents until after my graduation and open house in order to not burden them with the news. Finally, after the celebrations had ended, I let them read my paper. The fifteen minutes or so that I waited in my room while they read it downstairs were the most agonizing of my life, because I knew how earth-shattering the revelation would be to them. When they finally came up to my room, their expressions were pretty much what I’d expected – reassuring, yet somehow disheartening at the same time. They assured me that they still loved me, that they were proud of me, and that they were glad I had told them. Since that time, we have only discussed my sexuality on a few occasions. When I first told them that I was dating a guy, it was almost like coming out all over again; I think that revelation finally made my sexuality real to them. In the intervening time, I have seen my mom making definite strides in becoming more open-minded not just toward me but in general, which is great. My dad, though he accepts and loves me, is very set in his ways – though, to be fair, I have had fewer conversations with him regarding my sexuality. My dad’s parents disowned me when I came out to them, though that hasn’t had much of an impact on me due to the fact that I was never very close to them. My mom’s parents, on the other hand, have always been incredible grandparents to me, so coming out to them, especially knowing their stance on other issues, was pretty nerve- wracking. Incredibly, the news didn’t seem to affect them at all, and their treatment of me since that time hasn’t differed in the least; they are still the loving, generous grandparents I’ve always known, and for that I’m extremely thankful. My friends have all been very accepting as well, though this was to be expected considering I have always associated with my more relaxed, open-minded peers. 

What did you learn about yourself in the coming out process? One of the most meaningful lessons I’ve learned about myself in the coming-out process is truly understanding what I value and stand for. I was raised as a Christian, and my faith is still very important to me. If anything, it’s actually become stronger as I’ve navigated the ups and downs of my journey with my sexuality. I’ve talked with numerous gay men who, at one point or another, renounced religion for various reasons, but often those reasons involved the church’s negative treatment or exclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals. To me, this is heartbreaking. As someone who identifies both as gay and as a Christian, seeing the false dichotomy that has been constructed around these two identities is challenging and frustrating, because I personally don’t believe that such exclusivity has any place in either institution. At its core, Christianity is about love. Sure, there are endless theological arguments to be made, but I don’t believe that these are necessary in order for a Christian to be accepting of another’s sexuality. Indeed, many of my friends are Christians; these are the same friends who accept my sexuality and wholeheartedly support me. Furthermore, the professors at the private Christian university I attend vehemently assert that Christianity and social justice go hand- in-hand, and that this includes advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights. Seeing this kind of support coming from within circles that are often viewed as hostile toward the LGBTQ+ community has been so incredibly encouraging. Not only has this served to reinforce my identity as both a gay man and a Christian, but it has also provided me with confidence when speaking about these issues. 

What would you tell today’s LGBTQ youth who are struggling to come out in fear they won’t be accepted by family, friends, society? You just might be surprised. People you’d never expect to support you will rally around you and love you. It’s also possible that people who truly care about you, but who may not be supportive right now, will have a change of heart when they find out. Sometimes it takes time. Case in point: my own parents, who are still processing and learning about what it means to have a gay son. Know, too, that family can mean more than one thing. Friends are the family you choose, so seek out and surround yourself with people who will love and accept you for who you are, especially if your actual family doesn’t. As cliché as it sounds, it does get better. Sometimes you just have to put in the effort to make it better for yourself and accept the challenges along the way. 

What is a difficult or challenging obstacle you have overcame in your life, or hope to overcome? By far the most difficult obstacle I’ve had to overcome in my life has been my struggle with mental illness, namely anxiety and depression. I was extremely anxious as a young child, to the point where I would induce vomiting before any sort of performance or sporting event so that it wouldn’t happen while on stage or on the field. Looking back, I think my anxiety was to blame for a lot of missed opportunities. For example, I don’t view myself as a particularly athletic person. But is this actually true? Or did I just never really try for fear of failure? Anxiety also manifests itself in my relationships. Elementary school friendships were rocky at best, and college presented its own challenges with meeting people and putting myself out there. More recently, depression has been a major struggle in my life. As I mentioned, I struggled initially to make friends at college (though this has since changed), and as I result, I became very depressed. I saw all the people around me getting settled into their friend groups while I felt alone. There was a point where my loneliness led me to seriously contemplate suicide, and I believe that perhaps the only thing that stopped me was when a friend checked in on me and gave me a hug. Since that time, I’ve been working on slowly but surely moving my center of identity to within myself, rather than placing it in other people and their judgements of me. I am focusing on pursuing my hobbies and interests, taking time to care for myself, and accepting my emotions as valid while simultaneously analyzing them through an objective lens. By doing this, I have become less worried about maintaining relationships and instead have been able to be present and actually enjoy them while also feeling more comfortable in the times when I’m alone. 

Who is your biggest inspiration and why? My biggest inspiration is my mom’s sister Dawn. She is one of the wisest, most thoughtful, and most gracious people I know. I actually came out to her before I told my parents; due to her close relationship with my mom, I knew she would have some good suggestions for how to break the news to them, and that she would be able to help my mom process the news after the fact. To give an idea of the type of person Dawn is, here’s a little anecdote: When I worked as a Resident Assistant in college, I had a resident come out to me. I was thrilled and honored to have him entrust me with such a significant part of his identity, and I really valued the opportunity to walk alongside him in his journey. I mentioned to him the role Dawn had played in my own coming-out process, and he asked if she might be willing to offer some advice to his mom. I reached out to Dawn, and she willingly agreed. I came to find out later from this resident that his mother and my aunt had talked for over an hour on the phone. I don’t know very many people who would go so far out of their way to help and support a complete stranger. 

Where do you see yourself in five years? Oh boy. Honestly, I try not to plan too far ahead, because that can be dangerous for an overthinking dreamer like me. But if I had to say, five years from now I actually hope to be doing exactly what you guys (PJ & Thomas) are doing. I joke that my dream is to have my own HGTV show, and while the odds of that happening are slim to none, I’d be happy to flip houses and develop property even without a TV show. I also hope to meet the man of my dreams, get married, and start a family, though this might take a little longer than five years down the road to happen. My greatest fear is actually never finding love. I know it seems a little ridiculous for a twenty-one-year-old to be worrying about that sort of thing, but it’s hard when you have friends who have been in serious relationships for years or who are getting engaged. I have to keep reminding myself that people find love at different times and in different places, and that I shouldn’t compare my own journey with others’.

Any last words you want to leave people with? Feel free to share! Feel free to message me! I always love getting to meet new people and hear their stories.

Thank you so much, Matthew! You can follow him on Instagram here. Hope you have a great weekend, friends!! xx

P&T

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ericahitshawaii · 5 years ago

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Beaches of emerald...or at least moldy green color

Today I begin my circumnavigation of the island as I leave my home base in Kona on the west side of the island and head for Hilo on the East side of the island. I will be making a pit stop at a few magical places along the way, the National Historic park of Pu’uhonua o Honaunau and the green sand beach of Papakolea.

But before I head out of Kona I decide to stop at a farmers market in Kona...because I love farmers markets. You understand so much about a place by analyzing the kind of cheesy trinkets they sell that “represent” their community. Fascinating. The one purchase I was most excited about was the fresh fruit available.

Breakfast of champions. For $5 (total) I got fresh mango, papaya and pineapple. I don’t even what to contemplate what this would have cost me in Minnesota or how gross it would have been. This may have ruined fruit for me forever. It was SO MUCH better than fruit I have ever had in the midwest. So. Much. Better.

Anyway, on to my first stop. Pu’uhonua o Honaunau. I can gladly check another National Park of the list. This national historic park was founded in 1955 and up until 1819, it was known as a place of refuge (Pu’uhonua) for Hawaiian that broke a kapu (or ancient law). Hawaiians that were sentenced to death for breaking a kapu would flee to this city of refuge to be absolved of their sins by the priests that resided there. Others that would seek refuge there included warriors that were defeated in battle or people fleeing war. This site was used for hundreds of years until the end of the practice of Kapu.Outside of the walled city of the Pu’uhonua was a village that was reserved for the powerful ali’i (chiefs) on the island. (Think of it like a vacation timeshare for island royalty.) They would stay for several months and socialize, make deals, hold ceremonies and pay their respects to past chiefs. Many generations of chiefs, 23 to be exact, were buried here and that is another reason it held important significance to the Hawaiians. The site now has recreations of some of the temples and heiau (houses) ans well as the remains of the original walls and foundations of temples within the City of Refuge.

A halea (thatched shelter) on the Royal Grounds

An ancient board game called konane.

Entrance to the walled City of Refuge.

Walls were built out of lava rock and were fitted together with amazing precision, using no mortar.

Recreation of the temple where Hawaiian chief would worship and refugees were absolved of their sins, so that they could return safely to their homes.

Temple. Some of the laws that you could be sentenced to death for under the kapu system included casting your shadow on an ali’i, fishing out of season or a woman eats a meal with a man. Harsh.

Those who wanted to visit the City of Refuge would have to boat/swim to this inlet in order to access the entrance to the city. It was very dangerous. There were strong currents and very sharp lava rock to contend with. Not for the faint of heart.

This site is still considered a sacred place with extraordinary mana (spiritual power).

My next stop was to visit the very southern point of the Big Island (and the entire Hawaiian chain). This is the site of one of only four green sand beaches in the world. (The other three are in Norway, Guam and the Galapagos Islands) I had no idea what an adventure it would be to GET to the beach. It requires a very rugged and steep 2.2 mile hike to the beach. The only people that are allowed to drive to the beach are Native Hawaiians due to the danger of tourists driving the rough roads and tourist being disrespectful to the land there. So hiking it was. The hike was beautiful I represents the strange diversity of the Big island. The west coast is more what you think of when you imagine Hawaii: perfect sunny weather and white sand beaches. But the souther area is more hilly, cool, windy and filled with huge expanses of what looks to me like prairie. Only prairie that borders the ocean. Also, prairie that is scattered with lava rocks. So strange. I made the extraordinarily windy and hilly walk with two German friends that were also making the hike in. According to my handy fitbit, I climbed the equivalent of 100 floors over the course of the hourlong hike. Dang. I’m getting too old for this. But it was worth it.

View from the hike to the green sand beach. (German friends in the background)

More views from the hike.

And here we are. The green sand beach. I won’t lie. At first I was a little disappointed. I was imagining emerald or neon green sand. It’s really more of dark “mold” colored green, that is hard to see from far away. But once you get down to the beach itself, you can really see the green and how unique and special it is. So why is the beach green, you might ask? Well...it is due to a special kind of mineral that you sometimes find in lava called olivines. You can find olivines in other beaches where there is volcanic activity, but the reason there are only four in the world has to do with the concentration of olivines. Because of the shape of the cove, the olivine crystals are concentrated into this inlet and the much lighter normal sand gets washed out to sea, leaving a mostly green sand beach.

Part of the specialness of this trip was the sheer amount of effort it took me just to get there. As many of you know, I have a fear of falling. (Not a fear of heights, more of a fear of tumbling down steep hills and unprotected ledges). I was very disappointed to see that the beach was at the bottom of a very steep hill and rock face. I was sure that I had walked all the way there and wouldn’t make it to the beach. But there was an interesting path down that included some wooden stairs and traversing narrow groves in the rock. Totally unnerving but it got me down to the beach.

Precarious path down situation.

Narrow grooves in the rock face to get to the beach.

Now you can see that the sand is pretty green.

Having successfully made ti to the beach, it was time to head back. There was absolutely no way I was making the hike back. The wind had really picked up and it was going to start getting dark in the next hour. Luuckily for me, some of the local Native Hawaiians are camped out above the beach to give silly tired tourists rides back to the parking lot. This in itself was quite an experience. You ride, standing up in the back of a pickup truck over some fo the bumpiest terrain ever. Roller coaster-esque. There were several time I feared for my life, but they totally knew what they were doing and got us back in one piece. Stellar.

After a long day, I headed to my new accommodations, and Airbnb in Hilo. BTW - I took this pic the following day. It was super dark by the time I actually got bak to the Airbnb. A lovely Bed & Breakfast with a garden in the back that had so many mysterious fruit trees. Lovely.

My room.

Next stop: Volcanoes National Park.

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jeannereames · 6 years ago

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Jobs in Academia: cautions from a Grad Chair

As the outgoing graduate program chair for our history department, and as I know quite a number of Tumblr folk are interested in academia as a career, I want to caution ALL of you seeking higher degrees (especially the Phd) to think twice then a third time, then a fourth.

Folks, we’re in a VERY dark time right now, in academia. I know this varies across countries, but even so. I’m going to speak to the specifically US situation, although some of this also affects Canada.

I see so many newer (and older!) PhD and MA students taking on multiple part-time teaching jobs with no job security or health benefits (adjuncting). This corresponds to fewer tenure-track positions. Basically, academic administration has learned that for every tenured/tenure-track job with benefits, they can hire multiple part-timers with no job security, to teach into-level classes with high tuition/butts-in-seats but low “overhead” (e.g., what they pay YOU to teach the course).

Once upon a time, as recent as the late 90s/early 2000s, adjuncting was standard job training so we could get a “real” (e.g., tenure-track) job. No longer. Increasingly phuds and MAs are getting sidelined into part-time/adjunct HELL. If not training for available tenure-track jobs, this is *slave labor*, bluntly. What used to be a couple semesters of adjuncting, has turned into interminable positions looking out on bleak job markets.

So I’m going to be really BLUNT AND HONEST with hopeful students. Before you apply to MA/PhD programs, you need to think long and hard about the poor prospects for the current job market. And about just how far you’re willing to travel, and how much you’re wiling to invest. Because if this is half-assed? Forget it. You have to be willing to go ANYwhere. If you’re not? If you can only consider schools in X-geographical locale? Well, you probably need to throw in the towel now, unless you’re really lucky because you’re not going to be able to find a viable PhD program with a specialist in what you want to study in your preferred area/era. And these days, you NEED that specialization, or you’re not competitive for a job later.

Languages: ancient history, you need your ancient languages, however you can get them. I know (we all know) this is becoming a struggle. While the blue-blood schools still offer them, it’s harder otherwise. This annoys me as it works against we “across the tracks” kids. I’m one of ‘em. We have to scrabble like rats and are looked down on because we didn’t breathe it from out younger years.

But dammit, by hook or crook, get those languages: ancient Greek, Latin, reading German, and reading French, but for some fields, this can vary. Etruscan studies, get your modern Italian. For Greek archaeology, get your modern Greek. ANE/Assyriology, I’m not an expert, talk to someone who is. But there’s a field in even MORE trouble than Classics. Outside the hub unis, there are just no jobs in the ANE, which is extremely sad.

And, again, you must be willing to TRAVEL to study with someone who specializes in your field. If you can’t GO ANYWHERE, forget a PhD. You may even need to leave your country and study in another. Can you do that? If not, bail now.

Finally, what you write about for a dissertation matters. The more ground-breaking your research, the better suited you are for a tenure-track job. Dissertations that are catalogues or summaries are not going to attract the same amount of attention, for the most part. Tenure-track jobs are HUGELY competitive (I’ve served on quite a few search committees). You need to make a splash. Remember that for jobs at even second tier universities in the midwest, we get literally HUNDREDS of applicants for a tenure track job. How will you compete? That doesn’t mean give up, that means THINK ABOUT IT.

That said, forgetting a PhD entirely isn’t a bad idea right now. I genuinely don’t know where we’ll be in 10, or 20 years. An MA in history is still a useful degree. But a PhD? Okay, coming from someone who has one? It’s the most useless degree there is. Status? Yeah, sure. But it limits you to a really narrow field of jobs. Do you want to make a living, or do you want “Dr.” in front of your name?

So here’s my “boil-down” advice.... If you’re dead-set on a PhD and have your dissertation idea already, nothing I say will deter you. Go for it. But if you’re just not sure what you want to do with your life, consider carefully. Again, an MA is still a useful degree. Focus on History as giving you skills at evaluating evidence and critical thinking. The FBI and CIA like history majors. The US gov’t has various jobs for which a History MA is a qualification. Even corporations have jobs for history majors. But that may mean you’re not working in your preferred era.

And remember, digital history is an up and coming thing. If you have computer skills, look at digital history options. (Although, again...timing...this is starting to get glutted, so be careful.)

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throughtheglassdarkly · 5 years ago

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Roadblocks, part 4

Welcome back. When last you were here, we all learned where Bella got it from. Onward.

The rest of the day after we lay the bait for Aurora was uneventful. I wasn’t feeling much like anything, so I went home after dinner and the rest of my motley went their separate ways thereafter. Pam, however, had an unexpected visitor soon after she got home. She had just gotten in the door and set her things down when she heard a knock at the door. Standing there, looking as blasé as usual but clad in a much more dressed-down jeans and coat, was Stella. Pam greeted her and invited her in. Stella stepped in and asked if they could talk for a bit. Pam put on the kettle for tea and they sat down.

“I’m not very good at being gentle about things, so I’ll get right to it. Your motley listens to you. Is there any way you can talk them out of this suicide mission that is trying to break back into Arcadia?” Stella asked. Pam leaned back in her chair, considering this for a minute. Eventually, she gave Stella an apologetic smile and said, “I don’t think there’s anything in this world or the next that could stop them from wanting to help our friends out.”

Stella let out a sigh and said, “That is unfortunate. You must understand that – well, I fully understand the motivations of you and your compatriots, as do the others who are aware of your plans. But I don’t think you quite grasp the potential consequences of these actions. It would be one thing if you were just endangering yourselves, but this could and likely will have long-reaching effects on the freehold itself. You can understand some people are displaying concerns.” It was about this point that the kettle started whistling, so Pam got up and prepared herself and Stella a nice cuppa.

When Pam gave her the cuppa and sat back down, Stella continued, “The long and short of it is something might follow you back. It’s one thing to escape from one’s Keeper. It’s impossible to really speak to all of the gentry when it comes to the loss of their playthings, but we are dispensable, I suppose. But when you steal from them, that’s another story. It’s a blow to their pride. And I – and I believe I speak for the Autumn Council and at least one of the other court leaders – do not want to run the risk that whatever entity you anger will chase you and end up here.” Pam nodded and said, “That’s a reasonable concern. Would it help if I told you as much as I know about who we’re dealing with Because it's an interesting situation.” Stella agreed to listen and Pam told her the long sordid story about Amberleigh, our time in Arcadia, and all the major players.

Once she’d finished, Stella was leaning forward, looking about as interested and intent as Pam had ever seen her. She took a sip of tea and said, “That is unlike any story I’ve heard out of Arcadia. All the stories I’ve heard are unique, but this metamorphosis you’ve described for this Amberleigh woman, I’ve never heard of anything like it.” Pam told her that it did seem like an interesting twist on it, which was why she was more optimistic than Stella about the situation we were going into. “She might know anything the True Fae do. There’s a chance. But maybe we can find a way around things, especially with all that research Derek’s been doing into the contract.”

Stella let out a long breath and said, “I cannot say I’m any less unnerved, but I see potential. If you wish, I can – not advocate for but perhaps not interfere with your actions. Pam beamed at that, telling Stella that was the best news we could have gotten. Stella also asked Pam that if we could not only escape but also slay Amberleigh, she would be quite interested in the chance to study her. “I don’t expect you to bring back a corpse, although that would be lovely. A Polaroid camera might function in Arcadia. A digital one, that’s right out, but a Polaroid is old enough that Arcadian magic might not affect it. Do you think you could take some photos, if I make you a list?” “I sure can,” Pam said.

Stella was evidently pleased by this, taking a long sip of the still-scorching hot tea. After she did, she asked if she could ask one more question. Pam was all ears. Stella took a second to think about how best to ask, then said, “Your motley seems very fond of you and I’ve heard others speak well of you despite your lack of court affiliation. How do you manage it? Is there a process, could you write it down?” Pam considered this and said that she tried to give everybody the benefit of the doubt and treat them with warmth and respect and make sure they knew that if they had any problems, they could let her know: “It’s just some good old-fashioned Midwest kindness.” “I see,” Stella said. Pam reached over to the side table and held out a plate, asking, “Would you like a bar?” “…Yes?” Stella said, taking one.

After Stella finished her bar, which she admitted was delicious, she said, “Like I said, I am not the gentlest of individuals, but would you mind perhaps helping me become slightly more so?” “Oh, I’d sure love to! I guess it would start with just spending time with each other first, getting to know each other and seeing where we can work from there,” Pam said. At Stella’s blank look, she thought for a second and said, “I’ll write up a syllabus.” “Oh, good. I can work with syllabi,” Stella said. She finished her tea, thanked Pam for her time and the refreshments, and made to leave. As she did, Pam held out her arms for a hug. Stella looked at her and said, “Perhaps we can work up to that.” She agreed to a handshake and made her exit.

The next day started out uneventfully as well. None of us heard or saw anything until 4:30, when we got an urgent text from Brenda, of all people. It had an address and the order to “Get your butts over here ASAP.” I was just about to leave my apartment when I got a knock on the door from Yova. She gestured for me to go ahead. “Why?” I asked. “Because I’m standing in front of your – I’m being suave, let’s go,” she said. “Oh, my knight in shining armor,” I said. “Damn skippy, now let’s go,” she said. We collected Bella and Pam and made our way over to the address, which was in a nice residential area. It was the part of the city where people can actually afford to have nice yards. We ended up pulling up in front of a pastel blue bungalow that was straight out of Pleasantville. None of us had any idea why Brenda had us meeting her there, but we made our way up to the door and Yova knocked.

Brenda opened the door, looking relieved we were there and she said, “Okay, long story short, Day called in a favor so now I’m babysitting.” “If those are the words he used, I’m going to take a pickaxe to him,” I said. “I’m not babysitting you. I mean, you all look like you could use some supervision at some point, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to do it. Come inside and try not to panic,” she said, stepping aside so we could step in. The inside of the house was just as cheery as the outside: needle art on the walls, knick-knacks on shelves. It looked like somebody’s grandma’s house. Pam complimented Brenda on the decorations. She beamed and said, “Thank you! A lot of my friends say they’re too old-timey, but they’re relaxing. I don’t want to come home and have lots of bright colors and sharp corners, I want somewhere I can relax. Anyway, this way.” She led us into the living room. And sitting there, looking lost and shaken and holding a cup of hot coffee, was my Fetch.

I had no idea what to expect inside her house, but that wasn’t it.

The Fetch didn’t look up at us and seemed very deep in thought. Brenda said, “Apparently he called Day about something. Day dropped him off here and then went to take care of something else.” I looked over at her. “I don’t know if I should be here. The last time he saw me, he freaked out and couldn’t get away from me fast enough.” “What would you have done in my place?” it snapped without looking up. It was gripping the coffee cup so hard its knuckles were white.

Yova asked my Fetch what happened. After a moment of incredibly awkward silence, the Fetch lowered its head, took in a deep breath, and said, “She’s got James.” Yova sucked in a breath and asked, “Aurora broke in and kidnapped your boyfriend?” “She didn’t break in, she walked off with him,” it said. “Did he go willingly?” she asked. “It was his day off at work. I came home and he was talking to her and he got in her car and now they’re gone.” “Okay, that’s not disconcerting at all. So either he’s gone off to be your hero or he was in cahoots with her the entire time,” Yova said. “No, it’s not like that,” it said. “What is it like then?” I asked. “She saw me as they were walking away and she smiled. I think she’s using him as bait. For me,” it said.

It looked up at that point and narrowed its eyes at me. “So I don’t know – see this, this is why I was upset when you came back, okay?” it said. “Oh, well, excuse me for not staying in slavery forever for your fucking convenience,” I snapped back. “It’s not that you came back here, it’s that you came back to the house. I don’t care if you’re back, all right? I just wanted you and your friends to stay away from me. But you didn’t and now he’s gone and I don’t know what to do,” it said.

Bella cocked her head at him and said, “Okay, dude, I’m gonna be real honest here and it’s gonna sound harsh, but she was going to come back and mess with you whether he came to your house or not. I’m so sorry to tell you.” “Yeah, Day’s Fetch is in some sort of lockup,” I said, then pointed to Bella, Yova, and Pam in turn, “her fetch is dead, hers is in the looney bin upstate and hers is in Minnesota somewhere. She’s working her way systematically through our Fetches. So we can help you out, but you’re gonna have to cut the shit.” It glared at me some more and said, “I fail to see how any of this shit isn’t justified, all right? I didn’t ask to be what I am. I didn’t ask to be thrown into this boring-ass useless life, but I’m here anyway.” That one stung, though I tried not to show it.

“Oh, and you’ve done so much with it,” Yova clapped back. “It’s not mine, why bother?” it told her. “Listen, I don’t care what you guys think of me. I honestly don’t. As long as we keep our distance, that’s fine. But this – I mean, he knows. There isn’t exactly much going on with the life I took over that’s worth standing up for but especially when you know you’re just a two-bit replacement. But there were things that I made for myself, things that aren’t his. James is one of them. He’s one of the few things in my existence that’s mine, that’s real for me. So no, I don’t care what you guys think about me as long as you get him back.”

I was trying to get through the conversation and get out, but this was when Bella decided to get smarmy and snarky. “Hmm, see, this is where you got everything messed up, mister,” she said. I could tell what she was gearing up for, and I said, “Bella.” “Because he actually decided to do something with his life,” Bella said. “Bella,” Yova said, spotting the look on my face. “And you know what you could be right now?” she continued, not paying attention to either of us.

What happened next was something that had been building since before I was taken from Arcadia, a reaction to the constant criticism from my family, what friends or significant (or insignificant) others I’d had, and myself. I turned to Bella and roared, “BELLA, SHUT UP.” She was shocked into silence. I was trembling and I repeated, quieter but no less intently, “Shut. Up.”

That was more or less the end of the conversation. Yova turned to the Fetch and said, “All right. We’ll get him back.” It nodded and said, “Thanks.” Yova advised the Fetch to stay at Brenda’s house while we looked into what happened to James and it said there wasn’t much else it could do. “Do whatever it is you got to do,” it said. Yova turned to leave and Bella and Pam followed. I stood there for a minute, looking at my Fetch. Neither of us said anything to each other. I didn’t realize until after I walked out of the house that I was clenching my fist so hard my nails left indents on my palm.

Inside the car, Yova pulled out the list of Aurora’s hideouts and started looking them up. The rest of us were dead silent. I was in the passenger seat just looking out the window, mind racing. I didn’t pay much attention at the time, but Yova did find the nearest hideout to my Fetch’s apartment and figured it was as good enough a place to start as any. She saw that the key to unlocking it was “a handful of sunshine.” She drove off to the nearest bodega where she bought a few oranges. “I hope this counts as a handful of sunshine,” she said. None of the rest of us responded.

On the way over to the hideout, we got a text from Day, saying, “Checking up on Bella’s family. I’ll be in touch.” If any of us had been in the mood, we might have thought of it as ominous foreshadowing.

The building we got to was… not well-maintained. It could have been nice at one point in its life, but it was not in a very nice part of town and there weren’t many people around. Yova double-checked to make sure we were in the right place and sure enough, it was the right address. She and Pam both tried to address the elephant in the room. I’m not sure what Bella was acting like, but I was doing my best to keep my shit together. Pam asked me if I was going to be okay to go with them. I didn’t say anything at first. I was trying to figure out how to tell them what I needed to. “Did I ever tell you guys why I was working that dead-end data entry job before I got taken?” I asked. The rest of them were quiet for a moment. I took in a deep breath.

“After I graduated, I started looking for work and it was the same story. I could get an interview and then it wouldn’t pan out for whatever reason. And I had to move back home. Back into my old bedroom. And I was there for probably six months. Longest time I clocked without anybody saying anything to me was twelve days. Because everything was – there was so much going on, you know? My brother was getting married, my sister was gearing up to apply for law school, there was so much, just so much going on, and nothing I said or nothing I did mattered. That job was the first offer I had in eight months and it was paying fourteen dollars an hour and the day I got it, I called, I didn’t even care what the apartment looked like, I didn’t care what it looked like, I just had to get out, I had to get away. From all that. And by that point it was like I didn’t even know how to talk to people anymore. I didn’t even know how to make any connection or any communication with anybody. I was just – that’s why he is the way he is. ‘Cause that’s the way I was. He hasn’t done anything because when you have no hope, you can’t do anything.”

While I was talking, I felt the tears I’d been trying to keep back come to the surface. I’d told Yova and Pam a little bit about my life and how raw things were with my family while we were in Arcadia, but I hadn’t gone into all of the ugly details. Yova pulled me into a hug. Pam and Bella leaned forward and joined in. After a moment, Bella said, “I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t keep the tears back and said, “I was hoping he was going to make something of himself, that maybe it was just me, maybe I was just in a really bad place, but I – he has no idea how badly I wanted to go back there and find out he had moved on and he was doing something with his life that wasn’t just that same old shit over and over again.” Pam said, “Well, you know, the best way for him to know something like that is if you tell him.” I sighed and said, “I don’t honestly think he wants to listen to a thing I say. He just wants me to not be here.” Yova said, “Well, maybe after all of this, it’ll be a driving force. While he hasn’t gone off and done something else, he’s made the best of the situation he was dropped into. And this James, as boring as he sounds, it’s still something. And who knows, maybe after all this, they’ll move halfway across country and start over. I don’t know. But what I do know is that you are both living separate lives and you have made something of yourself. Maybe it’s time that Shaun finally get that chance.” I took in a deep breath, wiped at my face, and said, “Let’s just do this.”

Yova clasped me on the shoulder and unlocked the car. She pulled her shitty rapier out of the trunk and we got ready to head up. Before we did, I had an idea. “Hey, guys, do you think it would be a good idea to hide my mien so she thinks I’m the Fetch?” I asked. “That’s probably a really good idea,” Pam said. I forced some Glamour up to my skin. I didn’t feel any different, but Bella told me it looked like my feathers receded into my face. I couldn’t see anything different, but the others told me I looked more or less like I did before we got taken, except that my hair was a little flatter and smoother and I looked like I had red-orange eyeshadow around my eyes.

We walked up to the front door and Yova pulled out one of the oranges, trying to push some Glamour into it. She smashed it against the doorknob, getting juice all over the door and herself in the process. I’ll be honest, it looked really fucking stupid, but if it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid. The door slowly swung open. We peered in and could see that the interior didn’t look like a dilapidated old duplex. It was very gaudily decorated. The floor was a nice hardwood, but the walls were a disgusting floral textured wallpaper with farmhouse-style paneling. We realized that once again, the only way out was through and we stepped inside. As we did so, we could feel a change in the air. The door creaked shut and we could tell immediately we weren’t in the real world anymore.

Whoever had decorated the place had one weird-ass aesthetic. It was a mixture of folksy stuff, craftsy stuff, stuff that might have been chic in the 1940s, and some stuff that was just plain plug ugly. We walked through an arched doorway and into a room that was straight out of Alice in Wonderland. There was black and white tile on the floor and ceiling, candles flickering on the table. The lighting wasn’t great – most of what we could see was from either the candles or Yova. It took a minute for us to realize that the frames on the walls had actual pictures in them and that they were flickering. We could see different rooms and one of us, as though it were a security camera. It was oil paint, but as we passed by, the painting changed. Pam asked Yova if she was making any notes about what she could do to redecorate the place. Yova’s eye was twitching and she said, “Let’s just get this bitch and get out of here.”

We decided to start looking around and trying to figure out how to get to where we needed to go. Bella was the one who noticed that the other paintings were changing as well, as though they were capturing what was there and moving. She moved over to one that was larger, about the size of a vanity mirror. It showed a sitting room with a fireplace. What drew her attention was the figure slumped over the back of the couch. Bella reached out to touch it and her hand melted into the portrait. She said, “Guys, I found something.” We all came over and she showed us what she’d discovered. “This is some Mario 64 shit,” I said. “Yes, but if it is Mario, we’ve got seven other castles to go through before we find the princess,” Yova said. “I hope James isn’t the princess. He won’t look good in Princess Peach’s dress,” Pam said.

Bella pushed forward into the painting and the rest of us followed. Going through the painting felt, for lack of a better description, like walking through lotion, though once we got to the other side, it didn’t feel like there was lotion on us. The sitting room was somehow both better and worse than the dining room we’d left. There was a fire, so it was at least lighter, but there was a hideous zebra print couch, a large vase on the side table also in zebra print, and a pair of gas lamps which smelled horrible. “Oh. That is… a thing,” Bella said.

Despite all the other visual assaults, I had my eye on the man slumped over the back of the couch. His face was in the cushions. I moved over and put my hand out, pulling him up to have a look at him. Much to my surprise, he was almost weightless, despite how big he looked. I turned him over and it wasn’t James. It was a handsome guy, probably in his mid-thirties, staring blankly. Bella, however, recognized him immediately and ran over, saying, “Tony!” My heart sank as I realized what was going on. “Uh, Bella? This guy weighs nothing.” She got over and saw that it was staring blankly, breathing shallowly, but not paying any attention to anything going on. She stared at it for a minute and I tried as gently as I could to tell her, “I think this is why Day is looking into your family right now.” She didn’t say a word, but stared daggers at nothing.

I suggested that we tear the Fetch apart so that even if we didn’t get Aurora, she wouldn’t be able to do anything with it. Yova agreed and pulled out her rapier, activating it with Glamour and causing a slight flame to burst out along its edges. Bella told me later that as Yova was stabbing at the Fetch, she was dumbstruck by what was going on. It looked just like her brother and she didn’t want to think about what the implications were. She was completely unsettled. Yova tore the Fetch apart and we tossed the rest of the pieces into the fire. There was a sound almost of a screech as the smoke escaped the confines of whatever it was made of.

After the screech let out, we heard a faint echoing in the room, as though it was being said from far away, “Tsk tsk tsk. I spent so long stitching him together. That was so rude! What pesky little houseguests you are.” Yova shouted up to the ceiling, “You know, it’s very rude not to welcome guests yourself. Maybe you should come out and see us.” “But this is so much more fun. At least you did bring my child back to me. Mother is so happy about that,” Aurora replied. “You’re insane,” Yova said. “Aren’t we all a little bit, darling?” Aurora practically purred. She invited us to come find her and her “new little friend” in the master bedroom. She told us that he wasn’t able to talk much at the moment. None of us wanted to think about the implications of that.

Before we left the sitting room, Bella spotted a taxidermied owl on the wall and pulled some of the nails off of it. For emergencies, I guess? I don’t know. I felt like I wanted to barf looking at it, so I turned away.

There wasn’t anything else to do but press on. We passed through a few rooms and came to realize that this “house,” such as it was, was damn big. We ended up in a long corridor with more oil paintings hanging on the walls. As we walked past, I realized they were reflecting my life before I left. One was of me at my desk at work. One was of me leaving the bar I used to go to every Friday – alone, as usual. There was a family portrait where I wasn’t there. All of them were in drab, dull colors. I can’t explain it, but it felt like the house was mocking me. I felt off, like I couldn’t focus or the things I was trying to focus on were eluding me. I felt like it was wrong – or more accurately, like I was wrong.

We heard Aurora laughing and talking to us again. “I know how hard it is, baby, and I appreciate you trying to make a life for yourself and trying to be happy. But now that you know what you are, you need to be with people who understand. You’re not going to be happy in this world. You could’ve been, I hoped you would be, but now that your other’s back, you just can’t be. I know you feel you can’t talk to him. Just leave that behind and come home.” And here’s where I can’t explain why I felt the way I did. I knew it was bullshit. I knew she was gaslighting me and trying to make me feel like I didn’t have a choice. But it was working. I was feeling alone, isolated, like I didn’t have anything for me. But that’s when Pam made the unkindest cut of all. She looked up at the ceiling and said, “You know, you’re really not good at being a mom.” There was blissful silence after that.

Bella wasn’t paying attention to anything except where she was going. She led us through a few more rooms and up a staircase into a room that wasn’t as gaudy as the rest of the house. The room we emerged in looked like a dollhouse bedroom and it fit Aurora in its brightness. She was there, sitting in a rocking chair and knitting something – or someone. James was sitting on the bed, his hands bound and his lips stitched shut. He looked terrified. When he saw me, his eyes lit up for a moment, then he looked disappointed.

Aurora was mostly focused on her knitting. It looked like she’d just started whatever it was she was working on. She looked at James and his reaction, then at me. She quirked her head and said, “You’re taller than when I left you. But it has been a while, perhaps I’ve just forgotten. But it’s good you’re here.” She put her knitting down and stood up, smiling at me. She said, “You see, it’s so easy to come home.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and, almost unwillingly, took a few steps closer. When I got a few feet from her, I took in a breath and said quietly, “Well, you know what they say. You never can go home again.” And with that, before she had a chance to realize what was going on, I hauled back and kicked her in the throat with all of my supernatural might, crushing her larynx in one blow.

She flew back into the rocking chair, which itself fell back and hit the wardrobe. James was looking even more terrified when he saw that. Pam ran over to start unbinding him. Aurora looked stunned and was coughing, trying to get her breath. I didn’t give her a chance to get up, stalking over and delivering an axe kick full in her face. Yova stormed up with her rapier and delivered the coup de grace straight through her heart. She wasn’t even able to make a noise. The light flickered right out of her eyes. We’d had to do this before, but just like before, it still didn’t feel right. We knew that at some point in her life, she was in the position we were – stolen, terrified, and about to go through an impossible transformation. Yova seemed to be taking it a bit harder than me, so I put a hand on her shoulder and she pulled the rapier out of Aurora and wiped it off.

James was hyperventilating by this point. Pam had gotten his wrists untied and was rubbing his back. He was trying to open his mouth, but it was visibly hurting him. I told him to not talk and that we’d get the stitches out. That’s when Yova decided to cut to the chase and cold-clock him. He went down like a sack of potatoes.

We stared at Aurora’s body on the floor for a minute. “Okay. I hate to say it, but I don’t think we should leave her here. If there’s somebody who might come across this place and can do something with her, she might still be dangerous,” I said. Yova suggested using the blanket on the bed to drag her out of the house. “No, use a sheet. If someone sees a blanket with a body in it, that’s suspicious, but if we get a gurney and there’s a body in a sheet on it, people will think that’s what something would look like getting removed,” Pam said. I’m not sure where she got that knowledge from, but it just reinforces the fact that Pam is cooler than the rest of us put together.

Yova and I started working on putting a gurney together with the materials in the room while Pam started cutting the stitches out of James’s mouth. She had a small sewing kit with her that had a tiny pair of scissors in them and made quick work of cutting the stitches out. As she finished, she noticed Bella was standing by herself in the middle of the room looking stressed and angry. She moved over and asked Bella if everything was okay. “No. It’s not all right,” Bella said. Pam told her to come sit by her and tell her about it, but Bella didn’t move. She was able to tell Bella was trying to physically hold herself back. “Bella?” she asked. “I’m gonna stay over here. I’ll wait till you’re done,” she said. “All right, if you’re sure,” Pam said. “Mm-hmm,” Bella said, not even looking at Pam.

Pam looked at Yova with one of those really intent motherly looks. Yova picked up on it and Pam motioned with her head to go check on Bella. When Yova tried to move over to Bella, Bella moved back. Yova put her hands up, realizing Bella was not in a good mental place and said, “All right. Bella, where do you think you are right now?” Bella practically spat, “I know you took what was mine. What I should have done.” Yova realized this was more than one of Bella’s usual tantrums and stood up a bit straighter, saying, “I think that we all equally have a reason to want her dead.” “Didn’t you just set my brother’s almost-Fetch on fire?” Bella asked. “I did. But if we had left that thing alive, who knows what would have happened?” Yova asked. “I don’t care about it being alive,” Bella said. “What do you care about?” Yova asked.” I want to get out of here as fast as possible before I do something that I know I’m gonna regret later on,” Bella said, still glaring at Yova all the while.

While Bella was eyeing Yova’s throat and Yova was trying to keep her from going for it, I managed to get the gurney finished and Yova gave me the keys to the car. The route back through the house wasn’t too hard to follow and Pam, Bella, and I managed to get Aurora’s body and James back to the car. Yova wanted to do some snooping and see if she could find any information on True Fae contacts. She didn’t find any, but she was able to stumble across an amulet, a little notebook, and an ornate fountain pen in the bedside table. The amulet looked very similar to the one that Cassi used to get us to Amberleigh’s camp after she and Adrian rescued us from Aurora. Yova pocketed all three and made her way back out to the car.

We put Aurora’s body in the trunk and lay James down on the back seat. He started to stir and Yova was about to hit him again, but Pam stopped her. We debated what to do with Aurora’s body and Yova decided to call the Summer Court and see if they could help. She dialed the line and managed to get hold of Cahir the Unyielding himself. Based on the look on Yova’s face, I could tell he was giving her some cheesy pickup line along the lines of “Hey, baby, wanna find out why they call me unyielding?” He initially tried to get her to drop the body off at the flower shop the Spring Court ran, but Yova was having none of it. “Ugh, you’re no fun,” he told her. He finally told her to go to a drop-off location where one of the low-ranking Summer Courtiers met us. He opened up an SUV and said, “Toss ‘er in.”

After we did just that, Yova asked him, “What are they going to do with her?” “I dunno. Probably burn ‘er,” he said. “Pity. I’d like to push her in myself,” Yova said. “We could make a bonfire out of it. Good Court bonding activity. Don’t imagine the s’mores would taste too good, though,” he said. All of us had matching looks of revulsion on our faces and we quickly made our leave.

James was awake but not exactly coherent by the time we climbed back in the car. “I’m on drugs. I must be on fucking drugs,” he moaned. “You are, darling, but don’t worry, they’ll work out of your system,” Yova told him. He thought for a second. “Are the drugs supposed to talk back? Fuck, I’ve never been on drugs before. Uggggh.” Yova managed to bullshit him into believing that Aurora had mickeyed him with a buffed-up date rape drug. “She’s gone though, right?” he asked. “Yes, she’s in the proper custody,” Yova told him. “Oh, thank God. He’s gonna be so happy. Maybe things will be like they were before,” James said, leaning back. “Yes, sleep, darling. Everything’s going to be fine,” Yova said. He said that sounded great and slumped against the seat.

Before long, we were back at Brenda’s house. As we pulled up, I asked, “Hey, guys, do you mind if I go in for a couple minutes by myself first?” Pam was practically beaming and she more or less pushed me out of the car to get me to go up the walk. I knocked on the door and Brenda answered. “Hey. Everything okay?” she asked. “Yeah, it’s done. We got him back. He still where he was?” I asked. “Yeah, he’s been watching SNL reruns,” she said. “Oh. Hopefully the good years,” I said. “Come on. Do you take me for someone who would watch the bad years?” she asked. “There were just so many,” I said, shaking my head. She let me in and I made my way into the living room where, sure enough, my Fetch was sitting, watching a Roseanne Rosannadanna sketch and giving a tepid smile.

I knocked on the doorframe and my Fetch looked up. “Oh. You’re back,” it said. I nodded and said, “Yeah. Look, I know we haven’t gotten off on the right foot. Can I talk to you for a quick minute?” It rolled its shoulder and said, “Sure, why not. Come on in.” It made a big show of patting the couch, but I went over to sit on a chair nearby instead. I took a second to gather my thoughts before I looked up and started talking.

“I know what you’re feeling like with him gone and not knowing what to do, not knowing how to feel. And I know what you feel like being in that apartment going to that job. I know. And I know it sucks. And I can understand why you’ve not been excited to see me. So I’m just going to tell you that if it’s what you want, I will leave you alone completely from here on out. I mean, I’m still living here in the city so if I happen to bump into you at Aldi or something, that’s a possibility, but I’m not going to be actively seeking you out. And I just want you to know that you’re stronger than you think you are and you can do a lot more than you think you can. And I know you’re not me any more than I’m you other than the fact that at some point you were made from something of me and you look just like how I used to do. But aside from that, our paths aren’t going to be the same. But try to find something that sparks something in you. It makes a big difference when you actually have that something to look forward to, to break up everything else. And maybe – maybe that’ll be a way for you to be happier.”

While I spoke, I could see my Fetch softening a little around the edges of its eyes and mouth. It was quiet for a minute after I spoke, then said, “You know, it wasn’t actually bad until you came back. I mean, I always thought something was off but then one day I just woke up and I knew. I looked at myself in the mirror and it wasn’t my face. Well, it was, but it was…” “Stitched?” I asked. It nodded. “Yeah. And I don’t – it’s – I thought when you came back that you were gonna want me gone, that you were going to do something to hurt me or – I mean, you didn’t have much of a life to come back to, but it was still yours. And I want to make it mine. And I’m trying, but…” it trailed off.

“You’ve already started,” I told it. It shook its head and said, “I mean, people talk about imposter syndrome, but I’m actually a fucking imposter. I can’t just go up to him and say that.” I tried to give an encouraging smile and said, “He’s not a bad guy.” The Fetch actually smiled a bit at that and said, “No, he’s a great guy. And I probably haven’t been as good to him as I could.”

I thought for a second, then said, “I think he would really like it if you were to – I don’t know, have you guys ever traveled anywhere or gone anywhere and done some stuff you really liked?” It shook its head. “Not yet. His building, there was a really bad fire and they’re still renovating, so we’re kind of saving money to take care of that. It’s why we’re still – yeah. So maybe, but not right now.” I said, “Well, maybe make some plans. You’d be surprised when you’ve got something that you’re working toward. It can make a world of difference.” It considered this and said, “I’ll take your word for it. But this is getting super awkward, so…”

I nodded and was about to get up, but there was one last thing I needed to say. “Look, we got him back, we took care of the bitch who took him. She’s not going to be bothering you anymore. Or anybody else. And… you know, count your blessings, because of all our Fetches, you probably ended up better than anybody else’s. I know it doesn’t always feel like it, but it’s true. So tomorrow when you get up, either make some breakfast or go out and get breakfast, and why don’t you guys try to make some plans?” The Fetch nodded and said, “All right. And as much as I hate to admit it, I do owe you one. So I’m not going to go out of my way to do something impossible, but if I can make it square, let’s make it square.”

I held out my hand to shake. After a moment, it – he held out his hand as well and we shook them. It felt like a resolution I hadn’t known I needed. I’d had no idea what to expect when I went looking for him the first time, but I think some part of me knew I needed to know exactly what was going on with him. He had my life now, and unlike me, he’d found a way to make it work for him, to make himself happy in an existence I’d found completely meaningless and miserable. With that handshake, it felt like I was leaving a part of myself behind that I’d been holding onto even though it made me unhappy. When I drew my hand back, I said, “If you need to get a hold of me for any reason, you’ve got Day’s number. And I hope you do good for yourself.” He smiled and said, “Thanks,” and we got up to leave.

The Fetch and James got an Uber to take them to urgent care to get James checked out before they went back to their place. After they left, Brenda came out with a cup of coffee on her own, a knit hat and scarf on. It had gotten really cold over the prior couple of days. Autumn was starting to wane and winter was clearly on the way. “You guys want to stick around or head back?” Brenda asked us. “I don’t have company that often, but it looks like you’ve had a long day.” Bella just started walking off on her own, pulling out her phone to call an Uber. Pam decided to stay and have some coffee, but Yova and I both begged off. After Pam and Brenda went back inside, Yova sent a quick text message to Marigold, asking if she was free. She was, as it turned out, and had been binging Outlander. She wasn’t sure how historically accurate it was, but she appreciated the aesthetic. Yova practically cooed and made plans with her to be there in a half hour after she dropped me off. She burned rubber getting me back to our building and bringing Gershwin downstairs for a sleepover before she was out the door and on her way to Marigold’s.

I was pretty wrecked from the day and everything we’d been through, so after I got Gershwin settled in and took a shower, I spent some time writing messages for Adrian for Paisley to look at and then went right to bed. So that’s where I’ll leave things for now. Until next time, be safe, and may your doppelganger never give you insight into why your friends sometimes want to strangle you.

#Changeling: The Lost #changeling #ctl #ic #recap #i'm sure they have a lovely vacation to des moines in their future

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drtanstravels · 5 years ago

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When I finished my previous post we had wrapped up the Midwest Ocular Angiography Conference at the Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Jackson, Wyoming the previous night and were just about to begin the holiday leg of our trip through the Pacific Northwest of the USA.

Wednesday, July 10, 2019 We had our lunch at the Four Seasons with Tony, the pharmaceutical representative from Chicago we had met at the conference, and now it was time for us to hit the road. We got in our white, rental Toyota Corolla and it needs to be said, Anna does a great job of driving on the opposite side of the road and there were some confusing roads and intersections to deal with in this area. Wifi was almost nonexistent so we had to either try and make the most of the one bar of connection we had while in a town to find our destination on Google Maps or simply resort to paper maps, something I would have to do a lot over the coming days in order to navigate, making me sometimes feel more than a little carsick. In fact things were so remote we couldn’t even get a radio reception and it looked like we’d just be listening to static for the next couple of hours until I was finally able to get my phone to pair with the car’s stereo via bluetooth, allowing us to listen to the music I had saved on iTunes. If we had to rely on Spotify, we would’ve been screwed. It really didn’t take that long to make our way deeper into Grand Teton National Park, where we would be spending that night:

Grand Teton National Park is an American national park in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately 310,000 acres (480 sq mi; 130,000 ha; 1,300 km2), the park includes the major peaks of the 40-mile-long (64 km) Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Along with surrounding national forests, these three protected areas constitute the almost 18,000,000-acre (7,300,000 ha) Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the world’s largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems.

The human history of the Grand Teton region dates back at least 11,000 years, when the first nomadic hunter-gatherer Paleo-Indians began migrating into the region during warmer months pursuing food and supplies. In the early 19th century, the first white explorers encountered the eastern Shoshone natives.

Grand Teton National Park is an almost pristine ecosystem and the same species of flora and fauna that have existed since prehistoric times can still be found there. More than 1,000 species of vascular plants, dozens of species of mammals, 300 species of birds, more than a dozen fish species and a few species of reptiles and amphibians inhabit the park.

One of many meese in the area

To be honest, neither Anna nor myself is particularly interested in fly-fishing, which is extremely popular there, but we do like the outdoors, hiking, and checking out the wildlife so we would be doing plenty of that over the coming days. In fact, we learnt an easy way for spotting animals almost immediately; if you see a whole heap of cars pulled over on the side of the road and a bunch of people staring and pointing into the distance, there is usually something worth pulling over and seeing. On the first occasion it was a female moose (above, right) grazing in a small body of water. It was obviously female, because it didn’t have antlers, but this got us immediately wondering if there might be more moose around, particularly male ones. Then I got a little irritated when it occured to me that the moose is a member of the deer family so the name is an invariant, the plural form still being “moose”, not “meese.” It seemed like such a wasted opportunity, but never mind, that wouldn’t stop me from referring to them as “meese.” Nothing could.

Another stop en route to our destination would be Jenny Lake, a popular hiking area through some of the tallest peaks in the Teton Range, in order to trek a portion of the Cascade Canyon Trail. We would take a boat, the humorously named “Beaver Dick Leigh” (which I later discovered was named after Richard “Beaver Dick” Leigh), from South Jenny Lake across to the the entrance of Cascade Canyon and hike up to the well-signposted Hidden Falls, then past the Jaw and the Rock of Ages, down to Lake Solitude, along the way passing that family from Oregon with whom we went whitewater rafting the previous day and Anna having to keep the sole attached to a busted hiking shoe with a hair-tie, before finally making our way back down to Jenny Lake and catching the “Beaver Dick Leigh” back across to our car. Besides squirrels, we didn’t really see any wildlife, but the scenery was pretty spectacular. See for yourself:

Entering Grand Teton National Park

Token panoramic shot

Our ride across the lake

And we’re off

It looks cold but it surprisingly wasn’t

I guess that’s one way to stop lake pirates

Almost there

following the river

Hidden Falls isn’t all that hidden

I’m dressed like I work there

The beginning of the trail

Still going

Anna getting a bit ahead of me

Not a bad way of spending an afternoon

One of many squirrels we would see

Looking down on some trees

Teton Range

We didn’t encounter any bears… yet!

To say the water is clear would be like saying it is also damp

Now that we were done with the hiking we had to find our way to the ranch where we were staying. That’s right, ranch. We were staying at the Heart Six Guest Ranch, which claims to be “One of the oldest dude ranches in America,” located just outside Grand Teton National Park and right near the south gate of Yellowstone National Park. Another fact to add was that the ranch stunk strongly of horse manure, an odour that you could almost taste, one that never disappeared, but also one that permeated everything until you just became acclimatised to it. One good thing about staying in this region is that it stays light until about 9:30pm each night so we didn’t have to worry about locating the ranch in the dark, but when we eventually found it, we were surprised to also see covered wagons and teepees on the grounds. We would definitely have to explore them a bit more in the morning, because I want to know how Native Americans could tolerate the cold nights here in just a teepee! When we arrived we checked in, noting the wildly swinging ceiling fan in the ranch’s reception, along with the multitude of mosquitoes and other insects in the general vicinity. Once done we didn’t go to our room, instead opting to drive down to a nearby river in the hope of seeing some animals, as dusk is apparently the prime time for spotting wildlife. Unfortunately, we didn’t encounter a whole lot, just a couple of female deer enthusiastically spotted in the distance by some fellow tourists, a large, slowly moving mound on the opposite bank of the river that was apparently a beaver (but realistically it could’ve been almost anything), and some spiders. I did, however, manage to snap the photo of the mountains with the purple sky that I used for the featured image for this post while we were there.

We returned to the “Dude Ranch” and asked the guy working in reception where there was to eat. There were apparently two options, one of which the receptionist said in no uncertain terms was “shit.” We walked outside and there was a man in a cowboy hat passing us so we asked him for his recommendation, to which he replied the other option out of the two was “shit.” We weren’t expecting to find ourselves in a culinary hotspot, but in our experience there people were more willing to tell you which was the worst out of the two restaurants, as opposed to which one they preferred, and thus far the consensus was split 50/50. Not a good sign so we opted for the closest which was on the grounds of the ranch — It was shit. There was probably only about 15 minutes until the kitchen closed and there was a family on a table behind us where the mother, similar in appearance to what you see in ‘Karen’ memes, was going to snap. She was constantly complaining to our waiter and bitching at her kids, but it was the waiter that I felt bad for. This tall, gangly guy with long, blonde hair in a ponytail with a fringe, a curly moustache, and suspenders over a t-shirt was frazzled — It can’t be easy being the only hipster in a tiny town, as well as the only employee in the town’s restaurant. When the family was ordering, the mother asked if there were any gluten-free options, to which the waiter replied that nothing they serve would be truly gluten-free, because they cook everything on the same grill and don’t really clean it. She just let out an audible, dissatisfied sigh and ordered a random dish. I’m not sure if he was cooking the food too, but it took quite a while to come out and it most likely wasn’t because they were busy cleaning in the kitchen. That family were there first so their food arrived before ours and the mother still wasn’t happy, going on a rant about the poor quality of their dinner. Ours eventually arrived and it was pretty bad too; a tough steak each and french fries that weren’t just crunchy, but hard as if they had kept all of the leftover, uneaten fries aside over the course of the evening and then refried them all at the end for our meals — It’s pretty hard to screw up fries, but they managed somehow. Still, we just smiled and gnawed on our steaks and crunched our fries, because we didn’t want to ruin the waiter’s night any further, he seemed close to tears.

Once we had got through the bulk of our dinner we decided to have a look around this part of the ranch, including the lounge area and the bar. As had been the case in Jackson and is probably a theme running through all ranches, there was a heap more taxidermy within those walls. Inside the lounge there was a kid being shown how to play pool by an older man, people sitting around reading books, and a stoned-looking guy admiring a stuffed animal head mounted on the wall, looking at it in the same way that a person takes in a renaissance masterpiece in a European museum. He giggled and pointed out to me that it had a weird horn in the middle of its head that would block its vision when it looked to the side. I mentioned that its eyes were on the sides of it head so it probably wouldn’t have had true peripheral vision anyway and the horn could just be the result of poor taxidermy. He seemed to take this onboard and continued to study this felled beast. Anna and I decided to take in other areas of the building such as the small bar with incredibly uncomfortable looking saddles on top of the barstools, when the guy staring at the head came running up, appearing relieved to have finally located me. “It’s a caribou!” he yelled while laughing hysterically, obviously having asked someone else, because he wouldn’t have been able to Google it unless he could get on one of the two occupied computers in the lounge.

We weren’t going to be staying in a teepee or a covered wagon, we just went up to our ugly room and hit the sack for the night. We were told when we checked in that the rooms in the part we were staying had only just been completed and when we got up there we saw that it was really basic; the walls were just plywood and everything appeared to be unfinished and really cheaply done so we could hear everything happening in the neighbouring rooms, all the while trying to make contact with as few surfaces as possible in order to avoid getting splinters. It also smelled of turpentine and there wasn’t a TV or wifi for a distraction so we just showered and went to sleep. A look around the ranch and our room:

Part of the outside area of our ranch at dusk

Me in the ranch’s restaurant with the angry mum behind me

Anna from the other side of the restaurant

Inside the lounge area

Some heads on the wall

The caribou with its weird centre horn

Inside the bar

Those stools don’t look comfortable at all

Our bed for the night

Thursday, July 11, 2019 Maybe it was just the jet-lag catching up with me, but I had a mild epileptic seizure that morning in my sleep. It wasn’t anything major, I still remember waking up immediately afterward and snoring heavily while trying to get back to sleep, but it would leave me feeling kind of lethargic, however, I wasn’t going to let it prevent me from making the most of the day. We also couldn’t sleep much, because there was construction going on outside our room from the early morning onward, as well as people speaking loudly just outside.

We knew that the restaurant in the ranch was terrible and we hadn’t heard sparkling reviews about our only other option so we didn’t bother with breakfast, we just went down to a convenience store, breathing in the fragrance of horse shit the entire way and passing our waiter from the previous night, a defeated-looking man now hanging out towels. We just hoped for better results than the last time we were in a convenience store and we didn’t do too badly, just a couple of average cups of coffee and I grabbed a Hunter’s Reserve Roadkill meat stick. It may sound like a bad double entendre and due to the word “roadkill” being a registered trademark, I have my doubts that it did contain any actual roadkill, however, “meat from feral swine” was one of the listed ingredients. Anyway, I ate the roadkill stick and stuck the wrapper in my pocket, because there were no bins around. We did one last look around, taking in the covered wagons and teepees around Heart Six Ranch and was surprised to see that they were actually quite modern on the inside, almost to the extent of our room, except for the fact that the people staying in them needed to use a communal toilet, something that is kind of a dealbreaker for Anna and I. A better look around the ranch in the light of day:

This doesn’t just apply to cowboys, there is crap EVERYWHERE!

The wagon accommodation

That’s where the smell is coming from

Some of the teepees

I don’t think it would be big enough in one of those for the both of us

So long, poop ranch

About to gnaw on some “Roadkill”

Before long we were back in the car, bound for the world famous Yellowstone National Park (no, not Jellystone):

Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular features. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.

Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 square miles (8,983 km2), comprising lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-elevation lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano on the continent. The caldera is considered an active volcano. It has erupted with tremendous force several times in the last two million years. Half of the world’s geysers and hydrothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone.

Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Yellowstone Park is the largest and most famous megafauna location in the contiguous United States. Grizzly bears, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in this park. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States.

That all sounds pretty cool and if you took the time to read that Yellowstone background information, you would have seen that it mentioned a geyser called Old Faithful, the eruption of which we wanted to witness that day:

Old Faithful is a cone geyser located in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, United States. It is a highly predictable geothermal feature, and has erupted every 44 to 125 minutes since 2000.

Eruptions can shoot 3,700 to 8,400 US gallons (14,000 to 32,000 L) of boiling water to a height of 106 to 185 feet (32 to 56 m) lasting from 11⁄2 to 5 minutes. The average height of an eruption is 145 feet (44 m).

The time between eruptions has a bimodal distribution, with the mean interval being either 65 or 91 minutes, and is dependent on the length of the prior eruption. Within a margin of error of ±10 minutes, Old Faithful will erupt either 65 minutes after an eruption lasting less than 21⁄2 minutes, or 91 minutes after an eruption lasting more than 21⁄2 minutes.

The drive to Yellowstone took us through some gorgeous scenery, bringing us within six miles (10 km) of the Idaho state line, through mountains and alongside rivers until we were finally where we needed to be. Old Faithful wasn’t due to erupt for another 30 minutes or so when we arrived, but remember there is a ±10 minute margin of error, meaning it could be anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes. We had a look around the stores nearby, used the bathroom and grabbed a drink, then we went outside and pulled up a seat on the wooden, colosseum-like benches and waited for the show to begin:

Anna killing time

A lot of people show up to see this thing erupt

youtube

Once the geyser had finished doing its thing the bulk of people watching began applauding for some reason, however, a lot of people here do that when their plane lands as well and you know for a fact that that pilot has successfully landed every single flight he’s flown. Others complained that the geyser was three minutes early which was kind of amusing, mainly because it doesn’t follow a set schedule, rather people make educated guesses with reasonable accuracy as to when it will erupt and within three minutes is a pretty decent guess.

We then spent the bulk of the day hiking around the grounds, although this left me a little breathless at times, probably a combination of the altitude and the seizure that morning, but we saw some incredible sights. Photos don’t do justice to hydrothermal features so before I post the pictures from around the park, I’ll add some more videos of individual ones we came across:

youtube

Anna and a pool

Me on a pathway

A closeup of the pool

Looking over the general vicinity

Another closeup

Something erupting

Overlooking some of the pathways

That’s a really bright flower!

Once we were done in Yellowstone National Park it was time to start driving toward the state of Montana, our home for the next couple of nights, and twice along the way we saw a bunch of cars pulled over to the side and people staring out at something. As I mentioned, that means there is something worth seeing and we wouldn’t be disappointed on either occasion.

First we would be stopping by one of the numerous geyser basins that follow Firehole River to see yet more hydrothermal spots. This area was crowded and the features there were incredible yet again. On this occasion I had a middle-aged guy with a big beard start laughing at my “Let’s Summon Demons” t-shirt, asking his 14-year-old daughter over to admire it. As it would turn out, she and a group of friends had recently got in a bit of trouble with both teachers and police for conducting satanic rituals and dad was more than proud, both him and his daughter wanting to find where they could get the shirt as well. Ultimately just settling for a picture with me.

We ended up stopping further along the river, this time to stop and watch and entire herd of elk that were making their way upstream. At this point we hadn’t seen a whole lot of wildlife so it was a sight for us to behold:

At the geyser basin

Flowing into the river

This shirt got me a bit of love

A panoramic shot of the area

Another part upriver

Just a small portion of the elk from a distance

Some of them feeding

The next stop would be our last one for the day, we would be traveling to Bar N Ranch, but we wouldn’t be staying in their regular accommodation, not by a long shot. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, or May 23 until September 8, when there isn’t too much snow, the ranch opens Under Canvas and Anna had booked for us to go glamping in a tent in the middle of nowhere. That’s no typo, for those unaware of the term, “glamping” is a conjunction of “Glamorous Camping.” I mentioned earlier that Anna doesn’t tend to like roughing it and despite the fact we were going to be staying a tent, she would by no means be getting in touch with nature. We were going to be staying in a Stargazer tent, described on their website as:

Stargazer

The Stargazer has its own viewing window above the king bed to stargaze at night. The ensuite bathroom in your tent includes a shower, sink and toilet. A wood stove keeps the tent warm at night and a private deck allows you to enjoy the outdoors.

Sleeps up to 4

Private bathroom

Key Features

Superior view with night sky viewing window

King size bed with luxurious linens

Private bathroom complete with shower, sink & flushing toilet

Additional camp cots and bedding can be provided for up to 2 people

Definitely an upgrade from staying in a sleeping bag under a tarpaulin, the type of camping that I was used to. Hell, it turned out our tent even had its own indoor fireplace with a sealed flue going outdoors. We drove down there, but there are a lot of cattle surrounding the entrance due to a cattlegrid stopping them exiting the premises so we couldn’t enter until a woman coaxed all of the cows away from the road. Once down the path we checked in and were chauffeur-driven in a golf cart, along with our luggage, to our super-luxurious tent and this wasn’t like anything I was expecting. We got everything arranged, then went to the main area of Bar N Ranch to have dinner, which turned out to be a great meal, and then it was back to our tent. It was a cold night and our shower had hot water, but it took a little while to kick in. Also, the only way to keep the hot water running was to be continually pulling down on a handle, otherwise it it would just cut off, leaving you standing there naked and wet on a freezing night. Anna discovered the best approach was to put soap on the sponge and toothpaste on the brush before getting in, that way you never had to release your grip on that handle. While I was in the shower, she also thought she had found some biscuits on the fireplace, but wasn’t really hungry — It was a good thing, because they turned out to be firelighters. I was pretty tired by the time I got into bed, our tent had a clear panel above the pillow area so I put on an eye-mask and we both went to sleep. This is where we would be spending the next two nights:

Waiting for the cattle to move

Anna out the front of Bar N Ranch

The view from our tent

Inside the restaurant

Another area of the restaurant

…and another

Glamp Montana

Inside our tent

Looking toward the bathroom

Anna ready for bed

Our shower

Pretty luxurious for a tent

Another part of the bathroom

Anna’s biscuits

Friday, July 12, 2019 Anna was already awake and reading by the time I awoke, which was still quite early. She hadn’t worn her eye-mask to sleep so she woke as soon as the sun rose over the clear panel above us in our tent, but no mask could block out the glare, waking me not long after and helping me avoid getting sunburnt. Factor in the jet-lag that was still affecting us and it becomes clear we yet again weren’t really destined for a long sleep.

The plan for the day was to do a little backtracking from Montana into Wyoming to Gallatin National Forest, an area near where we were the previous day, first stopping off at Gibbon Falls and then making our way down into the Mammoth Hot Springs area of Yellowstone National Park for some hiking, hopefully encountering something a little bigger than an elk this time. Before we left we took a look around where we were staying, this time in the broad daylight, me realising as we were walking that the previous day I hadn’t discarded of the wrapper of my roadkill jerky, instead just stuffing it in my pocket. This wasn’t a particularly bright move because, although we were hoping to see some bears from a reasonable distance, I didn’t want the smell of meat attracting any to me directly. I’ve never even really been in a fight before so I don’t like my chances of fending off a grizzly bear, I’d more than likely just instinctively play dead. Probably should pop that wrapper in a bin. The place where we were staying felt bad about some of the food we had been served in the area so far so they allowed us to buy packed lunches from their really good restaurant and we were off. We drove down to Gibbon Falls, a waterfall currently with a drop of approximately 84 feet (26 m) and constantly growing as it erodes the rock below, and we noticed what we had seen time and time again not only the day before, but had also noticed on several previous trips spent exploring the outdoors — That a lot of women traveling from a country that shares its name with the material from which fine teacups and saucers are made choose fashion over function. We particularly noticed it in Turkey where these women would be walking around caves and other geological features wearing high end dresses and heels when hiking attire is far more appropriate, preventing injuries and allowing you to access more areas. Now a lot of them had been wandering around Yellowstone, some even rocking a pair of stilettos, and we hadn’t seen the last of them. Anyway, Gibbon Falls was really nice, here’s a look at our morning up until that point:

Anna waiting outside our tent

Some of the other tents in Under Canvas

An area for outdoor dining

Not the worst heels we saw, but still not appropriate outdoors footware

Gibbon Falls from the side

Looking over the falls

Gibbon Falls from the front

Next we were going to make our way to a kind of unnamed town in the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District, first to eat our packed lunches, then to go to the Horace Albright Visitor Center to get us some information about where we could go hiking and potentially see some big furry things. A little more about the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District, an area that looks a hell of a lot like a town, operates like a town, but apparently isn’t a town:

The Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District in Yellowstone National Park comprises the administrative center for the park. It is composed of two major parts: Fort Yellowstone, the military administrative center between 1886-1918, and now a National Historic Landmark, and a concessions district which provides food, shopping, services, and lodging for park visitors and employees.

Fort Yellowstone is a carefully ordered district of substantial buildings that clearly indicate their military origins. The U.S. Army administered the park from 1886 to 1918 when administration was transferred to National Park Service. The park headquarters is now housed in the original double cavalry barracks (constructed in 1909). The Horace Albright Visitor Center is located in the old bachelors’ officers quarters (constructed in 1909).

The concessions district contrasts with the military district, with a less formal arrangement and style and includes the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and Dining Room, a gas station, and retail stores. The Yellowstone Main Post Office, itself on the National Register of Historic Places sits just north of Fort Yellowstone. The residential area includes houses designed by architect Robert Reamer.

So despite having a residential area, retail stores, and even a post office, it still doesn’t qualify as a town, just a “Concessions District.” That explains why I was so confused trying to figure out the location when I first started writing this part of this post, even the locations on the photos I took aren’t accurate.

Anyway, as we were driving into the town concessions district our path to the main parking area was obstructed by a couple of deer making their way across in front of us, which was not a bad start. We ate our packed lunches from Under Canvas then, as we were making our way to the Visitor Center we had to walk pass the town concessions district square, a patch of grass between the two main streets that was teeming with female elk, all just hanging around, some laying down, others eating. I took some pictures, but as I went in to get a slightly closer shot I was accosted by a park ranger. “You must remain 25 yards or 22.8 metres away from all wildlife at all times!” he screamed in a well-rehearsed fashion, but you would think that if it were really that important they would put up at least one sign in the town concessions district. In fact, the only place it was even mentioned was on a flyer from the Visitor Center, however, you needed to walk past the animals to get the flyer. Once in the Visitor Center we stocked up on some supplies such as sunblock and insect repellent as the mosquitoes and horseflies in this area are awful! Anna wondered whether we should get some bear spray, but to me it all seemed like a bit of a scam; the stuff is US$50.00 (currently about AU$72.50) per can and we hadn’t even seen any bears! It was also possible to rent bear spray from some places, but the stuff doesn’t act as a repellent, more like a form of mace for use on bears, and I figured if a grizzly bear was intent on attacking you, spraying mace in its face would only piss it off more so we opted against it.

We got ourselves some maps and were soon on our way, hiking on an uphill path, walking for about 15 minutes when we were approached by an excited looking tourist from New Zealand and her two young children coming the opposite direction. She told us that just a bit further up the hill was a female grizzly bear with two young cubs and it was a bit angry, scaring her kids. We asked her if she thought it was safe for us to continue and she replied, “Oh, sure, you’ll be fine as long as you have your bear spray.” Shit. We walked back down into the town concessions district, forked out the US$50.00 and got us some bear spray.

Take two. We started to make our way uphill again, this time equipped with our bear spray in a hip holster, a liquid with its ingredients listed as 2% capsaicin and 98% “Other ingredients”. This stuff must be pretty strong, possibly even working on the power of suggestion, because after over an hour of anticipating encountering a defensive grizzly bear and its cubs we came to the conclusion that there were now three possibilities:

The bears were substantially further away than the woman had led us to believe,

The bears were gone, or

The woman was working for the bear spray company

I even began to wish I had now kept the Roadkill wrapper in my pocket in the hopes of attracting one. Still, we kept going, hiking for about five hours, covering over 15 km (9.3 miles) of rugged terrain, getting caught in the rain and mauled by mosquitoes, just to see a couple of does, which quite possibly could’ve been the same one multiple times, one male deer, plus a couple of squirrels here and there. As our hike continued, I became more and more annoyed at how anticlimactic it had been; I was now exhausted, wet, and extremely itchy, yet we had seen hardly anything, encountering not only more wildlife, but cooler-looking animals in the town concessions district! We stopped off briefly to have a look at the Mammoth Hot Springs and then decided to head back. To add insult to injury, there was a female elk sitting right next to our car, but screw that 25 yard rule, I wasn’t in the mood to let this thing stop me from getting in our car. If I needed to be 25 yards away from the wildlife, it could do its part on this occasion and move away from me. Some scenes from the town concessions district centre and the little we saw on a disappointing, albeit trying, hike:

Parking the car

Interesting name

The centre of the “Concessions District”

A closeup of some elk

Looking over the concessions district as we begin our hike

Heading back to the store

Now equipped with bear spray

Seems like there’s some around

It’s all good, I’ve got bear spray

2% capsaicin, 98% other ingredients

Safety first

How to use our spray

A small portion of the area we hiked

A doe we saw

Possibly the same doe later

Mammoth Hot Springs

A nearby deer

Mammoth Hot Springs from a distance

She can get 25 yards away from me

That night we went into a real town, West Yellowstone, Montana for dinner with the intent of eating a bison or bear steak out of spite, because we sure didn’t encounter any on our hike. Instead, we settled for a ribeye and some damn good devilled eggs, all of which we shared between us, and then we headed back to our tent for a final night before moving on to the next stop.

Initially I was going to try and tell the story of this trip in two parts, but it turns out I will need a third and final post in order to tell it properly. Where would we be staying next? Would we encounter any wildlife worth writing about? And would I have to wear that hideous cowboy shirt again to a rodeo? Stay tuned for the conclusion of our journey through cowboy country!

Embarking on the vacation leg of our trip through Wyoming and Montana When I finished my previous post we had wrapped up the Midwest Ocular Angiography Conference at the Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Jackson, Wyoming the previous night and were just about to begin the holiday leg of our trip through the Pacific Northwest of the USA.

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blog-sportsupdatenews-blog · 6 years ago

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The best way to enjoy the actual 2019 March Madness With no Cable television – Acquire Everything

The best way to Observe March Madness 2019 Live Stream On the internet – Acquire Every detail

March Madness can be shutting inside and also growing in excess of people, so it’s about time all of us find anxious about the particular spectacle the actual gamer are likely to deliver all of us because match kicks off. Consequently, in the event that you’re looking towards enjoying the actual 2019 March Madness on the internet, could simply just in which it is best to seem.

Your NCAA Department My spouse and i Men’s Baseball Event, which is also known as March Madness takes place each and every spring in America. The tradition extends back to help 1939 when only ten teams was in the levels of competition. From the time that next, the amount is growing to help 68 clubs that may enter this 2019 competition. The very first several is going to be played out between the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and also the several lowest-seeded at-large squads, with the those

Who win evolving towards major sketch on the competition.

Any time to view March Madness?

Based on the schedule produced so far, all this commences about March 19 all of which will stop in April eighth. Here’s this list of functions that are to take place prior to these kinds of dates.

Celebration Time frame Location

Initial 4 19 – 20 March Dayton, Oh

1st & 2nd Rounded 21 & 12 March Hartford, Connecticut

Des Moines, Iowa

Jacksonville, California

Salt Sea Metropolis, Utah

twenty-two & all day and March Columbia, South Carolina

Columbus, Oh

Tulsa, Okla.

San Jose, Florida

West Regional March 28 & 30 Anaheim, California

South Regional Louisville, Kentucky

Distance Regional March up to 29 & thirty-one Oregon, Deb. H.

Midwest Local Kansas Area, Missouri

Ultimate A number of Apr 6 Minneapolis, Minnesota

Title 04 8 A final will need place in the Ought . Azines. Standard bank Arena within Minneapolis, Minnesota, the actual fortieth location to be able to sponsor the wedding. As being a fun fact, on the site of the brand-new arena, at this time there were standing the particular Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome which usually did sponsor the final Some within 1992 and 2001. Record the state bracket intended for much more messages.

Where you should Enjoy March Madness?

Enjoying the game this particular returning March won’t be way too hard to accomplish due to the fact you'll find countless programs that you can check out in. In short, the CBS Sports along with Turner Activities would be the sites which have your broadcasting protection under the law, meaning CBS Sports, TBS, TNT, in addition to truTV. This video game titles are to be televised as such:

Initial 4 – upon truTV

Very first and also 2nd Models – on CBS, TBS, TNT, as well as truTV

Local Semifinals as well as Finals – CBS and TBS

Remaining 4 – upon CBS

Tournament – on CBS

How to View March Madness Devoid of Cable connection?

Individuals are generally numerous alternatives to watch the actual golf ball video games this time around as well as hopefully you’ll exploit all of them. Luckily, these include programs which have been easy to find online also.

For those who have any wire deal that also includes these several programs, you’ll be capable of check out the are living for with the aid of the cable qualifications. There’s in addition the option associated with making use of surging providers which characteristic live TV programs, which are aplenty. Plus, this can assist you to discounted vinyl flooring and also cut your cable, hence gaining tons of independence to view TV anywhere you will be – so long as you produce an Internet connection along with a works product.

Loading Products and services

Mentioned previously, you will discover quite a few internet products and services readily available these days, and also they’ll most offer many routes we’re sure you’ll like to check out. In addition, you will discover loads of various other added benefits involved, along with the flexibility that accompany seeing written content on-line.

FuboTV

Fubo TV Overview

Lots fubo ($34. 99/mo primary month, $44. 99/mo after), fubo More ($39. 99/mo 1st calendar month, $49. 99/mo after), fubo Latino ($17. 99/mo), fubo Portuguese ($19. 99/mo)

Creating to order Added funnel packages, Showtime

Unit assistance Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, iOS, Android, Chrome cast, web browser

DVR 35 time, unrestricted time storage space, expandable for you to 500 hrs by using more element

Trial offer Sure, one week

Visit fuboTV

Towards the top of the particular checklist, we have now fuboTV, any program that has been fashioned with sporting activities followers in mind, offered the actual many sports programs obtainable. It is possible to choose among a number of lots to start off – fubo ($44. 99/mo, $39. 99 with the initial month), fubo Added ($49. 99/mo, $44. 99 for that very first month), fubo Latino ($17. 99/mo), along with fubo Portuguese ($19. 99/mo). There's also an abundance of sales channel packages in addition to premium communities to boost the number of cpa networks readily available.

Luckily, fuboTV houses each of the programs you'll want to observe your March Madness on. You’ll discover CBS Sports, TNT, TBS, in addition to truTV within equally fubo as well as fubo Additional.

In order to ensure you don’t neglect the online games, you possibly can collection fubo TV to help history the item for you. Buyers get 35 several hours regarding cloud DVR storage space, with all the chance of expanding for you to 500 several hours by means of spending $9. 99 each month. With fuboTV, end users can watch articles with two units at once, but incorporating a third stream can even be accomplished when you’ll pay out a number of further cash. Be sure to understand Tech Nadu’s fuboTV evaluate to have everything.

Sling Television

Sling TV SET Summary

Packages Sling Lemon ($25/mo), Sling Violet ($25/mo), Sling Lemon + Azure ($40/mo)

Customization Channel lots (Kids, Athletics, Reports, Way of life, Artist, Heartland, Worldwide, Espanol, Comedy), top quality programs (HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, Epix, Curiosity Stream, Pantaya, IN PLACE Religion & Loved ones, Dove Sales channel, Stingray Karaoke, Outdoors TV)

Product assist Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chrome cast, Android TV, AirTV Participant, Xiaomi, LG Sensible Television sets, Samsung Smart Television sets, iOS, Android, Fireplace pills, Console 1, Opera web browser

DVR Nearly 50 several hours, unlimited safe-keeping time period. Expandable by means of another 50 time together with additional characteristic

Free trial version indeed, 7 days

Stop by Sling

Future upwards, there’s Sling TELLY, which in turn is one of the platforms many of us beloved given it presents numerous personalization alternatives. Anyone begin together with several lots you need to select between – Lime ($25/mo), Violet ($25/mo), and Lime + Glowing blue ($40/mo). You may then include quite a few quality sites or perhaps choose almost any interest-based station delivers you’d just like.

As you move the system doesn’t web host CBS, you can view all of those other programs. truTV is actually in Azure along with Lemon + Azure, whilst TNT and also TBS are usually in all several lots.

Sling TELLY gives absolutely no cloud DVR room having its subscribers, therefore you’re gonna have to fork out a supplementary $5 every month regarding 50 hours associated with recordings. You’ll also need to take care which bundle you choose mainly because the amount of simultaneous revenues you’re allowed to work is determined by it. Orange subscribers get a sole steady stream, although Violet buyers get a few, as well as Red + Glowing blue clients obtain some. Always give the Sling TV SET evaluation some sort of understand for getting all the facts you need.

Hulu

Hulu Overview

Packages 1 package deal -- Hulu having Live TV - $39. 99 a month

Personalization Premium programs - HBO, Showtime, Cinemax

System service IOS, Android, Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, Console, Chrome cast, Samsung Smart Television sets, windows

DVR Endless space for storing, recordings rescued intended for 9 weeks

Risk free Sure, seven days

Visit Hulu

An additional platform that has the particular programs you'll want to watch your March Madness game titles will be Hulu. Greater acknowledged for your video-on-demand assistance it’s also been giving for a long time today, Hulu also offers a reside TELLY insurance policy for $39. 99 each month, which includes entry to many stations along with the total VOD stockpile. Also you can personalize the ongoing a little by adding advanced communities as well as additional sales channel delivers.

Within the major package deal associated with channels Hulu delivers, you’ll discover all programs you need to check out your basketball fits that March – CBS Sports, TNT, TBS, along with truTV.

Hulu even offers end users the chance to record any kind of information they need to this cloud, as well as 50 time involving foreign DVR living space together with every single registration. If you would like much more area, you are able to often pay out an additional $14. 99 monthly to pick up this cap to 190 a long time. Stay TELLY subscribers can watch articles upon a couple equipment at once, but if that’s too few, generally there the particular “Unlimited Screens” option. This costs $14. 99 per month and also will allow a good infinite quantity of simultaneous water ways though connected to the property multilevel, as well as with approximately 3 equipment even though absent. Tech Nadu’s Hulu examine will be hanging around if you wish guidance of what the platform offers some.

YouTube TV

YouTube TV Overview

Bundles 1 bundle - $40 a month

Modification Top quality programs : AMC Elite, Curiosity Stream, Seibel Baseball In addition, Showtime, Starz, Shiver, Sundance Currently

System support Chrome cast, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Xbox 360 system 1, Samsung and LG Clever Tv set, iOS, Android

DVR Unrestricted space for storage, recordings saved for 9 many weeks

Free trial version Yes, few days

Go to YouTube TV

On its way right from your Pile Watch technology massive Alphabet Inc., YouTube TV is actually quick and simple to work with. There’s just one bunch associated with routes to do business with and it fees $40 a month. The cost contains many routes and several rather great incentives. In order to modify that at all, you are able to merely add top quality networks.

YouTube TV’s report on stations contains everything you need – CBS Sports, TNT, TBS, as well as truTV, therefore you’re perfectly protected to view almost all stages in the March Madness.

With YouTube TV, people obtain plenty of perks, you start with the truth that many people are able to appreciate endless impair DVR place. Plus, your recordings produce an cessation time frame collection being unfaithful weeks in the future, so you can observe these people for your own rate. On the subject of simultaneous streams, YouTube TV makes it possible for approximately three gadgets to watch at the same time, that's a significant treat, especially in comparison with other systems where they have to cover of which next supply. Read the YouTube TV examine if you would like more information.

DirecTV At this point

Overview

Packages Reside a little ($35/mo), Perfect ($50/mo), Get Major ($60/mo), Gotta Are ($70/mo), Todo ful Mas ($45/mo)

Personalization A few more sales channel bundles, advanced stations (HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Starz)

System help Apple TV, Chrome cast, Flame TELLY, Roku, Samsung Wise Televisions, iOS, Android, internet browsers

DVR Around 20 several hours, calendar month restrict, absolutely no expansions

Free trial offer Sure, seven days

Go to DirecTV Right now

In place following, we now have DirecTV Currently, the industry good instrument for individuals who need good services along with methods to customize the monthly subscriptions. You will discover a few packages available right here – Dwell just a little ($40/mo), Ideal ($55/mo), Get Big ($65/mo), Got to Contain it ($75/mo), along with To-do y Mas ($45/mo). Once you've that choice made, you are able to make a decision if you wish to put one of the high quality cpa networks available here, or maybe any additional route packs. There are also a few global bundles readily available when you need many community channels far too.

In terms of just what lots to have therefore you have the programs for March Madness, you need to know that will TNT as well as TBS exist in most all 5 bundles. Subsequently, truTV is present in the first a number of bundles – Reside slightly, Just right, Move Major, and also Gotta Contain it, while CBS Sports helps make an overall look in just a couple ones – Proceed Massive and Gotta Have it.

On DirecTV Today, users simply get to take pleasure in 20 hrs. involving fog up DVR place, so that you don’t are able to file an excessive amount content. Even so, it is going to ideally sufficient due to the fact there’s absolutely no way to help develop that restriction. The service makes it possible for users running two simultaneous streams, however 1 / 3 anybody can end up being additional intended for $5 monthly. You should definitely examine Tech Nadu’s DirecTV Right now review.

PlayStation Vue

PlayStation 3 or Xbox Vue Introduction

Lots Accessibility ($44. 99/mo), Core ($49. 99/mo), Top notch ($59. 99/mo), Extremely ($79. 99/mo)

Creating to order Route bundles (sports, Spanish programs, movies), top quality programs (HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, He Little league Plus)

Unit assist Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Chrome cast, iOS, Android, Roku, PS3 SLIM, PS4, cell phone browser

DVR Up to 500 software programs, 31 days to weeks restrict

Free trial Indeed, 5 times

Stop by PlayStation Vue

Ps Vue will be an additional software used to watch March Madness. The program fascinated people enough it squeezed the best score while in opinions, regarding quite a few good reasons. 1st, you can find a number of packages to start off with – Entry ($44. 99/mo), Central ($49. 99/mo), High level ($59. 99/mo), and Extra ($79. 99/mo). Then, you can include a number of more sales channel delivers, along with top quality networks.

On Dsi Vue, you’ll see that truTV, TNT, and TBS come in all four bundles, while CBS Sports should be only within the last a few – Primary, High level, and also Ultra.

The particular podium makes it possible for end users in order to record as much as 500 applications towards the fog up, that is very impressive, nevertheless the recordings only hang around for the thirty days. The particular support offers a different good feature, permitting customers to observe content about around all 5 devices concurrently, for not any more cost. In addition, Dsi Vue features a Split Monitor feature that allows one to view 3 software programs immediately, for a passing fancy tv screen. Study TechNadu’s Ps3 Vue evaluate to find out more for the subject matter.

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thatschicfashionblog-blog · 6 years ago

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SoCal Thrift Shopping Guide

Previously I had written a post on thrifting 101 where I gave you thrifting tips for the best trip. Since thrifting was and maybe still has become a “trend” a lot of thrift stores are popping up or becoming more popular. For that reason, I will be giving you some thrift stores/vintage stops where you should shop. Some of the stores which I will mention are in the LA area but I encourage you to try to visit them sometime because you never know what you will find.

The first thrift store which I definitely would want to visit and one which you should stop by too is Out of the Closet. This thrift store has locations all throughout Los Angeles and even on in Pasedena. It is open Monday-Saturday from 10 am to 7pm and Sunday at 10am-6pm. Purchases at this thrift go towards people with HIV/AIDS. With every purchase Out of the Closet donats 96 cents to the AIDS Helathcare Foundation or AHF. They are pretty big advocates for this issue considering they have a lot of information about the foundation on their website and make it clear that they help this issue. Aside from this OOTC offers free HIV testing by certified testing counselors at certain locations. Overall this place is highly rated for their large and trendy inventory. Based upon reviews many considered this place to have friendly employees who are quite knowledgeable about their inventory. Depending on what you are looking for items are reasonably priced. The only problem I came across was the donation process which some people did not have the best experience. For that reason I recommend to just shop there and to donate someplace else.

Website: https://outofthecloset.org

Savers and Value Village are pretty big in the Midwest but there are locations here in California. Both stores are part of what they call the same family or chain of retail which is why I put them together in one category. Both thrift stores are typically in large locations and carry a good amount of inventory. Personally, I have visited the Savers down in Riverside. My experience wasn’t one which I expected. One thing I did like however was how organized the thrift store was. If you were looking for something specific you won’t have to look very hard to find an item here since the merchandise is categorized specifically. Aside from that I was disappointed in their inventory. Now this isn’t to bash the store but rather share my experience for purposes of this blog. The jeans were very worn out and old for the price and there weren’t many good quality tops. However, all stores are very different and merchandise in thrift stores are constantly changing. However, you tubers and other bloggers have found some really good pieces at both locations so I recommend giving it a try because you never know what you can find. One thing interesting about both stores is how big they are on reusing and according to their website they have kept over 700,000,000 pounds of reusable items out of landfills. For more information about the causes they support visit their website at https://www.savers.com

Although the Melrose Trading Post technically is not a thrift store I just had to include it because the majority of the items you can find here are second hand or homemade. The melrose trading post is a large flea market held only on Sundays from 9am-5pm at Fairfax High school in Los Angeles. To enter you do have to pay a small fee but it goes towards supporting the vendors. This month of January it is $4 per person or $5 regular price year round except when discounted entries are offered. This place is amazing for all the different varieties of items you will be able to find. The Melrose Trading Post has always been pretty popular but lately it has become more recognized for its trendy and unique clothing. Some items which can be found are steal while others depending on brand and condition are bit more pricey than your average thrift store. This is definitely a place to stop by at least once and if you do, make sure to come early because not only can it get crowded but you will be able to browse and shop the best inventory.

Website: http://melrosetradingpost.org

Now I could talk about a million other thrift stores which I know and love but I wouldn’t want to make this post too long! So I will briefly mention other places where I have found good items, want to visit or love to shop at.

https://mydeelux.com First known in the 90s as the “Cool Jerk” selling primary denim Levis. Now is a place where you can buy, sell, and trade and is known for inventory of contemporary and vintage clothing. Has locations in Orange and Claremont, CA.

http://redwhiteandbluethriftstore.com/covina-ca/ Popular local thrift store with large inventory. Thrift store with really good deals including 50 percent off daily and has everything for houseware to clothing. Has locations in Covina, Azusa, and Van Ays, CA.

http://fullcirclethriftshop.org Small but very aesthetic thrift store with reasonable prices and good inventory. I have found multiple sweaters at good prices from this location. Deals include a red tag $1 section and different price reductions on colored tags.

https://boysrepublic.org/auxiliary-thrift-shop/directions/ Very close to Full Circle thrift. Is small but has interesting inventory mainly vintage and 90s clothing. Is part of Boys Republic school which helps youth with behavioral, emotional, and educational difficulties by leading them back on the right track.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post and I will be back with more next week!

-Thatschicfashionblog :)

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the-firebird69 · 3 years ago

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Did you hear them shortly and 5,000 horsepower it should be easily able to go about a few thousand miles an hour at least and it should be able to keep up and the style and design at those fees it should be able to handle enough to stay in a straight line so we're off to the desert hot flats salt flats sorry is it salt flats and we thought Vegas but he's thinking the salt last but his rethinking it back to Vegas which are the hot flats and I was right and you didn't know to call the hot plants it's a lot of things he's not aware of because he's deceptive to you you always fall for it and he goes around making fun of you because you correct his words but his concepts are way better and they are they make fun of you too cuz you missed the concept for your stupid word hot versus salt and now corky hasn't missed it but he's got it wrong salt is not you in this case but okay. No you don't you don't have my permission it's a man and a woman they deserve their car but I want you to try and copy one cuz I'm tired of hearing from you that you're the balls if you can't copy one of those including the engine then you're fired. Okay well you have to try and will and Bill want to so finally the engine to be curious but he said was to have a pressure release valve on the intake because your motor will blow if they don't have control over the pressure and it's so much pressure and doesn't look like the regular well enough that they probably should do that and they did and they don't blow the motor anymore. Billy I'm like you guys want to work with you you have a class act you came up with the whole car and it's very high-tech and a new motor which is very impressive to them and after your secrets but they want to know what you'd want to work on with them and secrets and stuff okay yeah you're going to say about transformers so the laughing so who's going to come down here the devil color or the Devil himself is an out so if you unless he's out by the time we have the race it would be I think Mephastopheles and it's the first son of the Devil and Lilith off planet.

We accept the race they say of course and we want to see who this fella is or what he is or what he looks like and we see a picture of him and it's been circulated around and he has been seen and he is evil as hell you've seen him crush people as a skinny guy without any trouble but he's not there to crush us he says and he's under my directive if you don't try and harm them and capturing then you'll be fine is there for the race just as we are out there in Las Vegas even though it's not a true gentleman's area it is an area where the race is valid and as a race and then we will vacate the process we appreciate that it's the word and we won't do anything and you guys home and it usually works out even with that massive massive idiotic race with the Hard knock kicker people which was crazy as hell but they are a group and they're not aggressive to each other and it was fun to watch it was amazing to watch amazing so we should probably do that afterwards to cover our tracks have a Harley versus Hard knock race all classes you can pick the day you said Saturday and we agree I'll give you time to prep and test and blow a few stacks laugh yeah Billium and they're going to find you and they want to help out if they can they accept and we will be there. Mac wants to fund you and they accept and what Las Vegas and you guys to get together and come up with a name for the type of race because it is a momentous race there's hasn't been one like this for quite a while it was with the fly cars I think yes no they say with long cars and other odd cars that couldn't do it so it's kind of a romantic because it's in the right format it's the right type of motor and it's right type of car for the race and we are in that LeMans class race these days and your car would make it into it with just a few races like this and this will probably get it in with no questions asked and ours as well cuz this is a new car that he's wanted to race and it's a challenge and if we could of course get Jesus there to sing where the champions and you can say it's you and we'll see it's us but it is my brother and he says no not him then he says what about Brian Gerard he's always considered himself to be a brother and he says we think so but we'll strive to get JC out for it and Max says we will and he's getting loose now like a loose tooth and he shows hasn't show an image and it's gross he laughs he's still a young man be nice if I have something to go down there with like a city I can fly out rent a fitty. But I don't know if I'd stay in Vegas because there's so many gangland shootings but really I added all of the month throughout the whole entire soprano series and watch it all at once it was a bit much we agree for crying out loud.

We accept and we're hoping this guy has a place because I'd like to see you with a house goes because this is intense they're losing the Midwest and it's too an Angel and it's one of him and he's the guy that we've been struggling against and we thought it was Ken we thought it was his dad George or Tommy F maybe no. Tommy F says no and tell me that you have a casino that you can easily put me up in and I can rent a fitty there. Who are you there renting a fitty why the hell are you a jailer. No it's just that we should move you around it causes problems for us not really fix things in the past but okay we will sit here and take it like a man okay Tommy you've had enough so they know you taught me off Tommy f... And yes I raise Mr Chris and I'm pretty good at so I'm going to have to try and figure out how their motor is made and the car too because it's intense and you say that all they did was make it an actual high performance car that you have motorcycle that are in ships and so forth that's true so I'm going to go ahead and work on one and it's not open class it's going to be gas and certain type of gas motor per the requirements of LeMans and really to me now the man sounds like some sort of lounge chair and laid back and slow compared to maybe Indy which sounds like Indiana Jones it's true too LeMans is about the same speed that sounds weird I seen your cars they go flying off the road to go so fast and I don't stay down very well but if they did they might crush the stuff so we're going to make hours out of titanium and they're going to too they say and it's all it's going to be a huge race and we're wondering if other people in virus can make it down there and maybe make it into an event Salazar has a car and says he has a new one now and has Goddess Wife has one too that's new. All of us are going to be there now and I think you're going to have company devel... I appreciate it and I'm getting respect too and I'm getting funding which I need doesn't support really they have facilities they support me with them and their test facilities and they're also supply and repair and storage and protection all that is important you're trying to do something like this and they're going to have their own cars too but they're really interested in the motor and I see how it is I should patent it and sell it is what he says and I might go ahead and do that and hold the patent as well because they're going to find out a scanning and so forth so I think I might do that and also make some conditions because they'll make it for resale this is smart guy and it'll probably work maybe 50% or better or who knows what a percentage is better than nothing and being mad and turning into Infinity the Chuck beef head person that everybody thinks of doing all the time it's a great idea and I can also try and sell the car on the open market and I have offers already and he says it's really easy you can sell the car for enough to build several factories already a lot of people want to have and you can build a fly conversion it's nothing illegal about it because you can copy us and he says well that's great so he's going to have to do that and Sebastian still has his plants

Thor Freya

You said most of it but he got a little tired

Hera Zues

Olympus

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swldx · 4 years ago

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Radio New Zealand Int. 1355 7 Feb 2021

6115Khz 1259 7 FEB 2021 - RADIO NEW ZEALAND INT. (NEW ZEALAND) in ENGLISH from RANGITAIKI. SINPO = 55334. English, bellbird int. until pips and news @1300z anchored by Adam Cooper. More than 100 feared dead after Himalayan glacier bursts in India collapsing a damn and causing a flash flood. A former Pullman Hotel guest who had been isolating at home in Hamilton for a week tested positive for Covid-19 but the Health Ministry said the case was most likely historical. Dunedin City Council providing free fruit and vegetables during blood tests as lead water contamination scare continues. West Auckland is on edge after a man was taken into custody today after allegedly firing two shots into the air during a fight due to possible gang activity. @1304z trailer for "9 to noon" program. @1305z Weather forecast. partly cloudy in the south. north island mostly fine with occasional showers. @1306z "all night program" music DJ'd by Adam Cooper. he mentions a message from "Steve" describing the "magical" coast road of NZ. Backyard fence antenna, Etón e1XM. 100kW, beamAz 35°, bearing 240°. Received at Plymouth, United States, 12912KM from transmitter at Rangitaiki. Local time: 0659.

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: Rodney Johnson

Date: Sun, Feb 7, 2021, 3:16 PM

Subject: Re: My Son and I catch your program every morning!

To: AllNight <[email protected]>

Hi Adam,

Aaron was inspired to draw a picture of his experience this morning and I have attached it. Also, if you are interested I made some phone video recordings of your show this morning if you care to hear some airchecks from almost 13000Km away! The youtube links below:

https://youtu.be/SEitD4VTfCs

https://youtu.be/cu6D10WUE2w

https://youtu.be/A40qAFWXagc

https://youtu.be/ro9lN3R_lms

Oh and I don't know if you know it but at 1259 GMT (1:59am your time, I believe) the 6115kHz frequency signs on with a bellbird interval signal before the top of the hour pips followed by the news. Both Aaron (6 years old) and Leonard (4 years old) loves the sound of that bellbird and here's a rendition of it by 4-year-old Leonard:

https://youtu.be/hsGLfwLeKDQ

Thanks again for the shout out! Aaron is still beaming about it!

-Rodney, Aaron, and Leonard

Hide quoted text

On Sun, Feb 7, 2021 at 8:38 AM AllNight <[email protected]> wrote:

Great photo Rodney, thanks for sharing! Must have been a bonus catching a nice clear sunrise in the middle of winter!

It brings back plenty of memories from my road trip down that coast. In fact that image suddenly made me think of the Bixby Bridges further south which were a highlight when I did the trip.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Kind regards

Adam

From: Rodney Johnson

Sent: Monday, 8 February 2021 3:26 AM

To: AllNight <[email protected]>

Subject: My Son and I catch your program every morning!

Once again with the photo!

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: Rodney Johnson

Date: Sun, Feb 7, 2021, 8:24 AM

Subject: Re: My Son and I catch your program every morning!

To: AllNight <[email protected]>

Hey Adam!

Yes we heard you mention us on air! You should have seen the smile on Aaron's face! Thanks so much, you made our day! And yes, very could here, the coldest day so far this winter by far! Thanks for warming it up a bit for us.

Thanks for mentioning the coast road in the pacific Northwest. Indeed a very rugged and beautiful place! I've attached one of my favorite winter sunset photos I took during a trip back in the 80s. It was at a place called Cannon Beach in Oregon.

(Sorry for all the typos, I'm all thumbs when trying to type on the phone!)

Have a great day, and enjoy your summer there. We're certainly missing it here!

-Rodney and Aaron

On Sun, Feb 7, 2021, 7:37 AM AllNight <[email protected]> wrote:

Good morning Rodney and Aaron!

That has made my morning to know you are tuned i. It’s great to have your company!

Yes, the West Coast road is quite a special road in a remote part of New Zealand’s South Island – they even have signs up telling you to fill up with gas as there is quite a distance between gas stations. Quite rare for a small country like ours! The land and geography actually reminds me of the Pacific Northwest road through Oregon and California which I assume you’re familiar with Rodney – the rugged coastline, harsh (but beautiful) sea conditions, and the occasional spotting of a seal or whale if you’re lucky!

I had a look at the weather forecast in Plymouth out of interest – MINUS 2 is your high today?!?! Goodness me, that is cold. (That translates to minus 19 Celsius in the way we measure temperature) – I cannot quite believe that after a day at the beach on New Zealand’s Kapiti Coast, just north of Wellington, where our high today was a very enjoyable 75 Fahrenheit.

I trust you’re keeping warm, and great to hear from you over the other side of the Pacific. If you keep listening, at about 0250 NZDT in about 10 minutes I’ll pass on my best regards to you both on air and share your note with our listeners.

Thanks so much for your continued correspondence.

Adam

From: Rodney Johnson

Sent: Monday, 8 February 2021 2:12 AM

To: AllNight <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: My Son and I catch your program every morning!

Hi Adam!

Aaron and I are Listening to you right now on the all night program! Great to hear about your memories traveling the magical coast road in NZ!

You sound quite cheerful, keep up the good work!

-Rodney and Aaron!

On Mon, Feb 1, 2021, 4:33 PM Rodney Johnson <[email protected]> wrote:

Greetings from Minnesota, Adam!

Aaron and I were listening to RNZ on Shortwave this morning at 1300GMT (2 am NZST), and the signal wasn't as good as it has been, but I thought we heard Johnny Blades reading the news, maybe you were on the hour before? It is noisy shortwave, so I certainly might be mistaken! Yes, Vicki and John have been so nice, and Aaron treats all of this correspondence like gold because he's just learning to read. This reception report and letter were certainly the first correspondence he's written, let alone getting such a warm response. The whole thing has been a great experience for him and definitely gets us both up in the morning!

So you stayed in British Columbia, Canada? I grew up in Eastern Washington State near a town called "Pullman" about 100km south of Spokane and about 500km east of Seattle. When I lived in Seattle (for about 12 years starting in the late 80s) I often make the trip to Vancouver BC for the Fringe Festival there. A very beautiful city! I'm glad you had the chance to experience what we call "The Pacific Northwest". It really is a wonderful area. My reading about your trip makes me think you might have seen more of the country than I have! For Instance, I have never managed to make it down to New Orleans. I'm afraid we just moved to this area myself and between work and kids were just starting to explore Minnesota when the Pandemic hit. We have been meaning to make it up north to Duluth and what they call the "North Shore", we've heard a lot of good things about it, so you might try there. Also, if you enjoyed Yosemite (I have gone backpacking there a couple of times during my time living in San Francisco California from 2000 to 2015), You might also Try Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming (and also the Grand Tetons, if you find the time) and Glacier National Park in Montana. Both of these Parks are along the Rocky Mountain range featuring the continental divide (one side all rivers flow to the Pacific, the other side the Atlantic!).

Great to hear from you Adam. We'll be listening for you on the air!

Cheers!

- Rodney, Aaron and Leonard!

On Mon, Feb 1, 2021 at 5:47 AM AllNight <[email protected]> wrote:

Kia Ora Rodney, Aaron and Leonard!

Adam Cooper here – one of the fill-in presenters on the ‘All Night Programme’ – I’m on this morning, so your message has come to me. Vicki actually mentioned your correspondence to me when I was out working in the newsroom the other night when she had received your message – it’s so nice to know you’re turning in all the way from Minnesota. It’s quite amazing the global community we have tuning into RNZ, either via traditional radio or online. I know when I lived overseas, in British Columbia, Canada, that RNZ was a perfect way for me to keep in touch with everything that was happening back home – and to of course remind myself what the New Zealand accent sounded like!

Vicki is on her rostered days off but I have saved your latest message for her so she will see it when she returns to work a bit later in the week.

I hope all is well in Minnesota – I have a real love of the United States, which culminated from a six-week road trip a friend and I did in a hired 25-foot long RV in the summer of 2016 – starting off in California, and going up and down the country across many states, and finishing up in Chicago (which would be the closest I’ve been to Minnesota) – before flying to Washington DC then catching the train up to finish in New York. It was a magical trip and everywhere was just brilliant. My highlights were the pristine Yosemite National Park in California and the vibrant live music scene of New Orleans. I managed to see a lot of Washington State and Oregon too when I lived in Vancouver Canada for two years between 2018 and 2019. Once this nasty pandemic dies down, exploring more of the US is top of my list again – I’ll happily take any recommendations of “must-see” places around the Midwest or Great Lakes area!!

Thanks again for your note, it really is great to know you are keeping us company from the other side of the Pacific.

Take care,

Adam Cooper

RNZ All Night Programme

0 notes

murilloautumn · 4 years ago

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