#another side effects of my terrible face recognition abilities

[kiwi-and-pasta-at-3am]

My problem is that I genuinely think they kinda look alike

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

By Sharon Brous

Rabbi Brous is the founding and senior rabbi of Ikar, a Jewish community based in Los Angeles, and the author of “The Amen Effect.”

A somewhat obscure text, about 2,000 years old, has been my unlikely teacher and guide for the past many years, and my north star these last several months, as so many of us have felt as if we’ve been drowning in an ocean of sorrow and helplessness.

Buried deep within the Mishnah, a Jewish legal compendium from around the third century, is an ancient practice reflecting a deep understanding of the human psyche and spirit: When your heart is broken, when the specter of death visits your family, when you feel lost and alone and inclined to retreat, you show up. You entrust your pain to the community.

The text, Middot 2:2, describes a pilgrimage ritual from the time of the Second Temple. Several times each year, hundreds of thousands of Jews would ascend to Jerusalem, the center of Jewish religious and political life. They would climb the steps of the Temple Mount and enter its enormous plaza, turning to the right en masse, circling counterclockwise.

Meanwhile, the brokenhearted, the mourners (and here I would also include the lonely and the sick), would make this same ritual walk but they would turn to the left and circle in the opposite direction: every step against the current.

And each person who encountered someone in pain would look into that person’s eyes and inquire: “What happened to you? Why does your heart ache?”

“My father died,” a person might say. “There are so many things I never got to say to him.” Or perhaps: “My partner left. I was completely blindsided.” Or: “My child is sick. We’re awaiting the test results.”

Those who walked from the right would offer a blessing: “May the Holy One comfort you,” they would say. “You are not alone.” And then they would continue to walk until the next person approached.

This timeless wisdom speaks to what it means to be human in a world of pain. This year, you walk the path of the anguished. Perhaps next year, it will be me. I hold your broken heart knowing that one day you will hold mine.

I read in this text many profound lessons, two particularly pertinent in our time, when so many of us feel that we are breaking. First, do not take your broken heart and go home. Don’t isolate. Step toward those whom you know will hold you tenderly.

And on your good days — the days when you can breathe — show up then, too. Because the very fact of seeing those who are walking against the current, people who can barely hold on, and asking, with an open heart, “Tell me about your sorrow,” may be the deepest affirmation of our humanity, even in terribly inhumane times.

It is an expression of both love and sacred responsibility to turn to another person in her moment of deepest anguish and say: “Your sorrow may scare me, it may unsettle me. But I will not abandon you. I will meet your grief with relentless love.”

We cannot magically fix one another’s broken hearts. But we can find each other in our most vulnerable moments and wrap each other up in a circle of care. We can humbly promise each other, “I can’t take your pain away, but I can promise you won’t have to hold it alone.”

Showing up for one another doesn’t require heroic gestures. It means training ourselves to approach, even when our instinct tells us to withdraw. It means picking up the phone and calling our friend or colleague who is suffering. It means going to the funeral and to the house of mourning. It also means going to the wedding and to the birthday dinner. Reach out in your strength, step forward in your vulnerability. Err on the side of presence.

Small, tender gestures remind us that we are not helpless, even in the face of grave human suffering. We maintain the ability, even in the dark of night, to find our way to one another. We need this, especially now.

Here’s the second lesson from that ancient text. Humans naturally incline toward the known. Our tribes can uplift us, order our lives, give them meaning and purpose, direction and pride. But the tribal instinct can also be perilous. The more closely we identify with our tribe, the more likely we are to dismiss or even feel hostility toward those outside it.

One of the great casualties of tribalism is curiosity. And when we are no longer curious, when we don’t try to imagine or understand what another person is thinking or feeling or where her pain comes from, our hearts begin to narrow. We become less compassionate and more entrenched in our own worldviews.

Trauma exacerbates this trend. It reinforces an instinct to turn away from one another, rather than make ourselves even more vulnerable.

There is another important lesson from that ancient text. On pilgrimage, those who enter the sacred circle and turn left when nearly everyone else turns right are grieving or unwell. But the text offers that there is another who turns to the left: the person sentenced to ostracization — in Hebrew, the menudeh.

Ostracization was a punishment used sparingly in ancient times. It only applied to people who were believed to have brought serious harm to the social fabric of the community. The ostracized were essentially temporarily excommunicated. They had to distance themselves from their colleagues and loved ones, they were not counted in a prayer quorum, and they were prohibited from engaging in most social interactions. And incredibly, they, too, entered the sacred space, where they, too, were asked: “Tell me, what happened to you? What’s your story?” And they, too, were blessed.

This is breathtaking. The ancient rabbis ask us to imagine a society in which no person is disposable. Even those who have hurt us, even those with views antithetical to ours must be seen in their humanity and held with curiosity and care.

We desperately need a spiritual rewiring in our time. Imagine a society in which we learn to see one another in our pain, to ask one another, “What happened to you?” Imagine that we hear one another’s stories, say amen to one another’s pain, and even pray for one another’s healing. I call this the amen effect: sincere, tender encounters that help us forge new spiritual and neural pathways by reminding us that our lives and our destinies are entwined. Because, ultimately, it is only by finding our way to one another that we will begin to heal.

[norruanna]

I'm sorry for my English( The story of one who wished to be free. Galría (hereinafter Ria or Ri) was born in Nehrim, later another daughter appeared in their family. The father was engaged in hunting, and the mother sat with the children.

It is not known whether Galría was abused by her father, but the scar on her face and neck suggests that this could happen, albeit not regularly, but often. She protected her mother and sister from the tyrant, so over the years her psyche became more and more shattered, and her condition became unstable. Her father instilled in her that she was worthless, stupid and disgusting. It depressed her.

This state of affairs persisted until the civil war broke out in Nehrim, which led to the recognition of the heretical cult of the Light-Born. The old gods were dead.

At some point, strange people in hoods set fire to her home, laying the sin of killing her relatives on her. Galría tries in vain to save the family, but gets only severe burns on her hands.

She is forced to flee Nehrim on the only merchant ship that sailed to Enderal in wartime. Together with a friend named Sirius, they secretly sneak aboard, hiding in the holds.

At the end of the journey, they are still found by the sailors, forcing them to join the battle. Having won, they could have continued on their way, if not for the appearance of a mysterious veiled Woman who deprives them of consciousness with her magic and sends them straight to the deck to certain death. Waking up, Ria sees how the captain brutally kills Sirius, tying his body to his own and throwing it overboard.

Few people can survive in such a situation, but she has a different fate in store for her.

She is visited for the first time by visions of the future.

She wakes up on the shore of the Enderal with a terrible headache and an incomprehensible ability to magic.

Events unfold very quickly, new acquaintances prompt her desire to find out what is happening in these parts.

One day, a couple of Apothecaries find out that she has a severe fever, when she almost begins to faint, and blood flows from her nose in a small trickle. An attack takes place, and her life could have ended here, but in the bushes, Ria, thrown away by the explosion, is found by a young man who called himself Jespar.

He tells her that something serious and terrible is coming. It is from him that she learns that fever is a side effect of the magical power that has arisen, which she will have to put up with for the rest of her days. He initiates her into the details about the "Red Madness".

However, he will not tell Galría about the Cleansing and that she was just unlucky to be in this place and at this time.

The worsening fever is the result of the fact that the mind cannot cope with the Sea of Eventualities. As she increases her magical abilities, the symptoms also worsen. This sometimes has a hard effect on her condition: dizziness, red eyes, nosebleeds and hallucinations.

The burns from the fire would have healed for several more months if not for the healing elixirs and spells that she abused to hide the traces of her recent past. She had to wear gloves so that no one would ask stupid questions.

Recurring nightmares about her childhood home and the death of her family broke and depressed her.

Fear of death. Feeling of inferiority. A Premonition the Cleansing.

Jasper said that need to come to the Holy Order immediately in order to pass through the test called "the Journey to the Water" and become a novice. This would allow being a free magician and not be persecuted by the Order.

In the Order, she learns that she will become the Prophetess and protect the world from the Higher Ones.

It was a short story about the beginning of the journey. Over time, I will talk about the main points of the story and its branches.

A little more information:

► Galría has rapidly developed the skills of elementalism, mentalism, light magic and entropy. Most of all, she uses elementalism, in particular fire magic. She used light magic at the very beginning when she was treating her burns. Due to some events in her life, she had to learn entropy magic, which is forbidden in the Enderal.

►In the process, Galría and Jesper will become best friends, and then lovers.

► After, Galría learns about the red madness and joins the Order; she will wear only red robes as a symbol of the fight against the disease. If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them)

[imwastingmylifeinhere]

My Einherji Academia Ch3

Final chapter! I thought I'd update this before the new year, so here you go! I really enjoyed writing the rescue mission and I will admit that one of the major reasons why I had Magnus kidnapped was because I wanted to write the way he helps  his friends save him (you'll see what I mean) and because I realized that the whole 'skin contact' thing for his powers means that him can literally kiss something better. Anyway, the Seven + Nico have some short cameos at one point, so I'll explain their powers in the end notes because I had a lot of fun coming up with them.

The villains must have drugged him, because he lost consciousness. When he came to, his hands were tied behind his back and he couldn’t move.  Magnus had been tied up and left on the dirty floor, like a sack of potatoes. The room he was in was dark, except for the security monitors that filled one wall, their cold light illuminating the figure of a man with his back to Magnus. He was tall, his hands clasped behind his back, and as he turned back to look at Magnus, he felt chills run up his spine. This, this, was a true villain, there was no doubt about that.

“So you finally woke up, huh?” he said, voice smooth and sweet as honey and just wrong like poison. Magnus didn’t respond, his brain telling him that it’s better for him not to provoke his captor and his instincts cowering in fear from the raw power that the villain seemed to breathe out. It was evident he was in a completely different level than him or the goons that attacked him.

"Tch, cat got your tongue?" The villain asked, coming closer. Magnus pressed his back into the wall. "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. I only want some company, is all. All these knuckleheads are perfectly good muscle, but they suck at holding a conversation."

The man dropped down to a crouch in front of Magnus. The healer’s breath hitched at the hideous scars spread across the villain’s face. They stretched all the way from his cheeks to his brow, creating mountains and rivers of ruined skin over his nose, twisted and revolting. Recognition hit Magnus and he froze to his core.

The Silver-tongued Villain, Loki.

“Seems my reputation precedes me,” Loki said, looking at Magnus’s terrified expression with an amused smile.

“What do you want with me?” Magnus asked. He had heard about Loki on the news, though he had gone quiet recently. He knew from the broadcasts that the villain’s quirk was the ability to enforce his will on others; the more he talked, the more his power took effect until the victim was like a puppet for him to control. It really did seem like Magnus would need to hold a conversation with him, otherwise he was doomed.

Loki shrugged (how did he manage to make that seem threatening?) “Oh, not much. I was bored, I needed something to do. Besides,” the villain’s eyes raked over his small form and a smile spread across his face, more akin to a predator showing teeth than a sign of happiness, “that quirk of yours would be rather useful in the right hands, don’t you agree? Or, I guess for you that would be the wrong hands.”

“Did you scrape you knee somewhere and need me to make it better?” Magnus asked because it was the first response that came to him and his mouth is someday going to be the death of him.

Loki, thankfully, seemed more amused by his comment and didn’t beat him up on the spot. “We both know that’s not all you can do. You just need a little… guidance.” He said ‘guidance’ the same way one might say ‘punishment’. Magnus was sure they wouldn’t be that different.

“I get all the guidance I need in UA, thank you very much,” Magnus said and before Loki could get the chance to answer, he kept going. I can’t let him speak a lot. “And anyway, they’re going to come rescue me, so I don’t think we’re going to have enough time for any lessons.”

“What a shame that would be. But they need to rescue you first and I doubt they can do that.”

“Yeah, right!” For someone that had been kidnapped and didn’t know where he was, Magnus spoke with a lot of confidence. In a situation like this, the only thing he could do was buy time and hope the heroes would come. “I’m sure they can take you down. You lost pretty bad some years ago, didn’t you? If they beat you then they can do it again. The heroes will come and they will take you down.”

Loki chuckled and stood up. Magnus’s heart rate picked up – something was going on if he laughed like that at the thought of being defeated. “I hope they come. I have a message for them. Society has enjoyed its peace long enough; I’ve returned and I’m going to stay this time.”

“Sir!” One of Loki’s henchmen burst through the door, panicked and panting. “The heroes have come!”

“Ah, right on time.” Loki walked to the chair sat in front of the monitors and took a silver helmet from it. With it on, he looked like a warrior, ready to cut down anybody in his way. “I’ll go greet our guests. You stand by the door and guard the boy.”

“Shouldn’t I put him in a cell, sir?”

Loki rolled his eyes and sent Magnus a look like “You see what I have to deal with?”. “If I wanted him in a cell I would have put him there myself. He stays here. And leave the monitors on. If he’s so confident he’ll be rescued, I want him to see just how bad his heroes fail him.”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

Both Loki and the henchman left, leaving Magnus alone in the room. A terrible move under other circumstances, but Magnus was tied up, in a room with only one exit and he had absolutely no idea in which part of the building he was or even where the building was in general.

His eyes instead strayed to the monitors. In one near the top, he saw the teachers from UA in their hero costumes, flagged by third-year students. Magnus recognized a lot of them as some of the best future heroes the school had – in fact, with everything that particular year had gone through, they were practically already heroes. He saw Percy, Annabeth and the rest of the "Seven", as they were known around school, standing ready for battle next to Professor Blitzen and Hearthstone. They were occupied by a few weak henchmen – no doubt Loki's strategy to tire them out before he made his dramatic appearance.

A movement towards the lower monitors caught his eyes and he gasped at what he saw. Alex, Sam, T.J, Mallory, and Halfborn were sneaking into the building through a dark back room.

Why are they here? Magnus though, fear seizing him at all the possible way they could be hurt. The heroes are attacking the front and the rescue team is coming in from the back? But no, they wouldn’t let first years come to the mission… Which means they came here on their own!

Magnus glanced at the door. It was made of steel, with no windows. The guard outside mustn’t be able to see him. Good.

Magnus stood up as well as he could with his arms tied behind his back and walked to the monitors. Blueprints of the facility were displayed on a screen in the control panel, tiny red dots showing where there were guards suited. There were quite a few between his friends and where the security room he was in was. If only I could tell them how to find me.

Magnus looked at the screen again. His friends were still in the same room, hunched together, probably discussing battle plans. Magnus was torn between his want to escape and the fear of his friends getting hurt for him. Who knew how many villains would attack them or what kind of quirks they had! This could go so horribly wrong.

Alex’s hands moved as she tried to explain something to the others and Magnus saw the glinting of light on Alex’s soulmark. She’s not wearing any gloves… That’s it!

His eyes scanned the control panel in a panic until he found the sound switches. He bent down and flicked on the right one with his nose. The sound was loud enough to be heard and Magnus turned it down just to be on the safe side. He didn't know how well sound traveled through these walls.

“You all got the plan?” he heard Alex ask. The rest nodded and Magnus let his fingers push against his soulmark. Good thing Loki didn’t cover his hands.

Alex gasped on screen, looking down to her hand, the faintest smile tugging at her lips. "What is it?" Sam asked, her voice filled with static from the speakers.

“Magnus sent me something,” she said. “He feels alright.” Warm relief washed through Magnus’s soulmark as Alex spoke, accompanied by confidence optimism. The soulbond equivalent of saying, “It’s okay. I’ll save you.”

“Why are we sitting around then? Let’s bust him out!” Mallory said, her sleeves rolled up.

Magnus flipped on another sound switch as they moved to a corridor. It branched out in two different paths, one going right and one left.

“Which way should we go?” T.J asked and Magnus put his plan in motion. With his fingers pressed against his soulmark, he sent Alex a short wave of happiness and then sadness.

Alex’s eyes snapped down to her hand. Concern spread out from his palm but Magnus didn’t respond. Come on, please say the words…

“Maybe right?” Halfborn asked and Magnus sent happiness again. The microphone was able to catch her confused, “what?”

“We could split,” Sam suggest. “Half go left,” sadness, “and half go right.” Happiness.

Alex’s eyes widened as she seemed to come to a realization. ���Right,” she said and Magnus sent through happiness again. “Left.” He sent sadness. Alex grinned as she caught on to Magnus’s plan and he heard her laugh through the speakers.

“It’s right,” she told the others. “Magnus can see us somehow and he’s sending us directions!”

“Alright!” Halfborn cheered. “Good job Magnus!”

He tracked their movements through the monitors, sending Alex happy feelings to let her know which corridor they should go down. He managed to keep them away from any villains that were left behind at the back part of the facility. Most were out front, fighting against the heroes. Magnus glanced up at that screen again. He saw waves forming around Percy, Frank’s arms replaced by those of a bear and lighting cackling from Jason’s fingers. Annabeth was locked in a fight with a villain who quickly got overwhelmed by her while Hazel attacked her opponents with pieces of rock and metal. He saw Piper’s lips moving as she controlled one of the villains to attack their own and Leo’s hands were on fire as he fought by side. He even spotted Nico, a second-year, fighting amongst them, shadows dripping from his fingers.  

It was a few corridors before Magnus’s temporary prison that one of the henchmen turned around, heading right towards where his friends were. He gasped and he could tell his fear and panic went through to Alex from the way her stride faltered, but it wasn’t enough. Sam turned to look at her over her shoulder just as the villain came out from behind the corner. He was a huge beast of a man, almost as tall as the ceiling, with a head that resembled a bear and the body hair of one. His eyes widened almost comically at the sight of the heroes-to-be this far in the facility and he roared, clawed hands coming down on them.

They rolled out of the way, thankfully, and Mallory quickly threw one of the daggers in her belt at the villain’s feet. For a second, it did nothing, and Magnus’s body froze with fear. Then the dagger exploded in a bright flash of light, the villain staggering backwards in surprise. Magnus would have allowed himself to breathe again if it wasn’t for the fact that an explosion like that makes a lot of noise, noise that will attract more villains to where his friends are.

But – what is Sam doing? He can pick out the furrow between her brows that's always there when she concentrates hard on her powers, her palms held up on either side of her towards the corridors. Magnus's eyes snap to the other monitors and yes, sure enough, none of the henchmen stationed in the surrounding hallways seem to react at all to the noise. He doesn’t know how she did it, if Sam can manipulate the air to affect the vibrations of sound through it, doesn’t even know if that’s possible, but it worked.

Halfborn has the surprised villain in a pinned to the floor under his weigh, his skin ragged and sharp from his quirk turning it to stone and he yells at Alex to, “Leave! We’ll deal with this!”

Alex doesn’t protest, doesn’t say anything, simply nods and keeps running with T.J on her tail and Magnus realizes they must have made a plan in case something like this happened beforehand.

They don’t encounter any more villains in their path, Magnus was extra careful about the directions he was giving them, but he can’t stop his heart’s frantic beating. They’re – kids, they’re just students with barely half a year in the heroics program, they’re out of their league in this building teeming with villains and heroes and Magnus is scared, terrified of everything that can go wrong. And so is Alex, he can feel it through their bond, the same way he feels a grim determination to save him and he lets himself hope she will succeed.

A few more turns and Alex and T.J are almost at the security room. It had gotten harder for Magnus to sent Alex positive emotions to guide her with all his fear, but she seemed to pick up on them regardless. Magnus switches to another camera and there they are, his soulmate and one of his best friends in the same hallway as the henchman that he had seen earlier. Alex is in the front, with T.J behind her fiddling with his fingers the way he does when he’s loading up bullets for his quirk.

But they're not silent enough and the villain hears them. He opens his mouth to yell, but Alex has changed into a bull and ran head first into him. They go down together, Alex switching to bear, faster than Magnus has ever seen her use her quirk.  The villain doesn't give up, trashing against the weight holding him down, his hands and forearms morphing into sharp blades that whip at Alex. She growls and howls in pain but doesn't move, not when the man underneath her slashes her right leg or when he hits her bear forearms with his blades. Magnus can feel her pain like a throb in the back of his head, sharp and persistent, and his up against the door, desperately trying to open, to somehow get out and help them. But the door doesn’t budge, it’s locked from the outside.

He whips his head back to the monitors, where T.J fires a bullet right at the man’s neck just as his blade-arm stabs Alex’s side. The pain shoots through him as Alex’s name is ripped from his throat, screaming, and the next second the door is open and Magnus is rushing out to Alex’s human form where she’s slumped against the wall.

“Alex!” he cries out and there might be tears in his eyes but he doesn’t care because he needs to heal her.

“Hey, Maggie,” she says weakly, smiling, like she didn’t just infiltrate a villains base with their friends to save him and gotten herself stabbed in the side.

“T.J, free my hands, I need to heal her,” he pleads as T.J grabs a knife from the fallen guard and cuts the rope tying his hands. His palms fly to either side of Alex's face, cradling her for a second, just to remind himself that she's here and she's alive and he'll keep it like that. He lays his hands near the tear in her costume, where the blade stabbed her and her blood is painting the fabric crimson and tries to heal despite his frenzy, reconnect the blood vessels and the tissue and close the ugly wound near her hip.

“Magnus,” she says, soft and warm, like she loves the feeling of the word on her tongue, and he looks up. His vision is blurred with tears but she smiles and wipes them away. A small, almost delirious giggle bubbles out of her throat, the kind where you’re so astonished and happy things worked out that you can’t help but laugh. She tucks her face in the crook of his neck and he can feel her smile against his skin. “You’re okay.”

“I am,” he says and hugs her tight, clenching his hands in her clothes and letting all his fear wash over and off him as he feels her warmth. This is going to be okay.

She holds her head up, looking into his eyes like she wants to tell him something even their soulbond can’t explain. Then her lips are pressed against his, salty from her tears and ragged from her worrying them, but they’re warm and they’re Alex’s and they somehow reassure him that things will work out.

“Guys, hate to interrupt, but we need to leave,” T.J says as they pull away from each other. Absentmindedly, Magnus notices that Alex’s wounds are mostly closed and realizes that he must have healed them when they kissed.

"He's right, let's go," says Alex, and she takes Magnus's right hand in her left as they maneuver around the unconscious guard and leave. Their soulmarks are right against each other and the feeling is mind-blowing but Magnus can't think about it too much at the moment.

“Was that guy…?” Magnus asks as they follow the way they came to the exit.

“No, he’s not dead,” T.J says. “It was a tranquilizer bullet. He’ll wake up in a few hours with a bad headache. “

Magnus is relieved to hear that. He knows these are villains, that they tried to hurt them and probably wouldn’t hesitate to kill them, but the idea of killing someone still leaves a sour taste in his mouth. Part of him knows they will be faced with a choice like this some time in their hero carriers but he’s glad it wasn’t today.

Without Magnus giving them directions from the security room, they have to rely on memory to find their way back and pray they don’t cross paths with a villain. Thankfully, there seem to be very few here – Magnus assumes that by this point they’ve all headed to the front to help – and T.J navigates them through the halls expertly, seemingly having memorized the route while they were coming to rescue him.

They turn a corner and find Sam, Halfborn and Mallory next to the bear-like villain. He's lying unconscious on the floor, with his arms tied up behind him and his ankles strapped together. Magnus sees a small puncture wound on his neck and a small gun in Mallory's hand. They must have brought more tranquilizers with them and he can't help but wonder how carefully they had planned all this (and where they got the tranquilizer from).

"Magnus!" Sam is the first to see them approaching and she rushes towards him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly. Halfborn and Mallory are quick to join them with shouts of his name and other nicknames and Magnus finds himself crushed between all of his friends, warm bodies on all sides. Suddenly all the fear he’s barely managed to keep in check comes out and he’s gripping the clothes of whoever is closest to him, tears in his eyes, because all this is crazy and he was so scared, he’s still scared, but now he’s not alone.

“Let’s get out of here,” Halfborn says, his eyes wet with tears and a smile on his lips.

“Aw, you’re crying,” Mallory teases him, which is ironic considering she’s in the same state.

“Keep your flirting for after we’ve gotten out of here,” Alex says, somehow managing to untangle their group hug despite her hand never leaving Magnus’s.

Halfborn raises an eyebrow, eyes flitting down to their joint hands, and he looks like he wants to say something, but the ground shakes at that exact moment, almost knocking them off their feet. The fight out front is getting serious, they all realize, and without a word start running towards the exit with T.J’s brilliant memory guiding them. Just what you would expect from someone who has memorized all his friends’ phone numbers.

As they run, Magnus tries to focus on Alex’s wounds. They’re not that bad anymore, not after he unconsciously healed most of them when they kissed, but he still works on them as they run. His hand in hers feels warm and tingly, his soulmark especially feels like it's on fire where it's pressed against Alex's. He can sense her feelings flooding through his, stark and much more precise than anything they had ever been able to share through their bond. It's almost like they're his emotions, he would have confused them for his if it wasn't for the innate knowledge that they belonged to his soulmate. So this is what it feels like to touch your soulmate’s mark.

They're in the back room they had come in through faster than Magnus had expected and they climb out through an unlocked window. He had to, unfortunately, let go of Alex's hand to climb out and he feels cold at the loss of contact.

"Come on, hurry up!" Mallory hisses at him from the outside. He and T.J are the last two inside the building, T.J's eyes trained on the door as Magnus climbs out the small window. It's much higher on the outside than it is on the inside and he'd be scared of falling from this high in any other situation, but after everything, this doesn't feels scary at all. He kicks his legs, pushing his whole body through the window and – into Alex's arms?

“Careful there,” she says, her hands around his waist and her eyes shining as she smiles. “Wouldn’t want you getting hurt after we’ve just rescued you.”

"Y-yeah," is all Magnus manages to say because they're standing so close and Alex's hands feel so right around his waist and sweet falafel, he wants to kiss her again.

“And you were telling us not to flirt,” Halfborn says, rolling his eyes.

Alex’s hand slips back into his as they run away from the compound to where T.J mum is waiting to pick them up in her battered old Ford. They’ve almost reached the car when an even louder explosion shakes the ground. Turning around, they see smoke billowing from the compound, a big part of it collapsed as dark storm clouds loom above, shooting down lighting.

“Come on,” Mallory urges. “Let’s leave before we’re found and put in detention.”

///

In the end, they still got detention.  

The school had been under heavy lockdown following Magnus’s kidnapping and the students were advised to go everywhere in groups, even if it was inside the campus. Security had become strict and it was hard to do anything without a teacher knowing. They needed to keep the students safe, and ‘safe’ certainly didn’t mean sneaking out to rescue your friend from a villain’s base. Good intentions or not, Magnus’s friends had broken the rules by putting themselves in such danger when they were only first years and they got punished accordingly.

“Man, I can’t believe we need to do this for the next two months!” Alex grunted where he was kneeling on the floor by the toilet. He had picked the short lot and had to be the one to clean them today. As part of their detention, the floor 19 gang (excluding Magnus) were prohibited from leaving the campus and the dorms for anything other than school trips and had to clean the entirety of the first, second and third-year dorms for two and a half months.

“Technically, it’s two months and a week,” Magnus corrected from where he was perched on the bathroom sink. It had only been a week since the rescue mission and he could see how tired his soulmate was getting of having to clean toilets and dorm rooms every single day.

“Shut up,” Alex told him, flicking soap at him. Which really didn’t work since he was at the other side of the room and the foamy soap just landed on the floor, which Alex also needed to clean. Alex frowned at the soap like it had betrayed him and turned back to scrubbing the toilet seat clean. They were currently in the boys’ bathroom on the first floor, with Sam and Mallory cleaning the girl’s side and T.J and Halfborn – the lucky bastards – were cleaning the kitchen and common room.

“You know you’ll have to clean that, right?” Magnus pointed out.

Alex sighed. “I know.” He turned his eyes back to the toilet and regarded it for a moment skeptically before asking, “Do you think I could drown myself in this?”

“Survived a villain’s lair, bested by cleaning a toilet. Truly a heroic end,” Magnus said solemnly, his lips tugging upwards in a smile despite trying to look grim and serious.

"Yeah, at least I didn't have to clean everybody's rooms there," Alex shot back, moving to the next stall to clean that toilet. "I've learned stuff about my classmates that I never wanted to know this week. Like, I know where some people keep their porn now! Why do you have that around when the internet is a thing? And Nico from 2A has all these weird card games and figurines hidden under his bed. And all of Louis's cookbooks are a bother to dust off and…"

Magnus let his mind drift away as he heard his soulmate ramble on and on about the horrors of cleaning a teenager’s room. Moments like these – where everything was quiet and simple, where he could just hang out with Alex and speak for hours on end and just enjoy himself – felt precious after the events of last week, even if they were hanging out while cleaning toilets.

He jumped off the sink, grabbed a pair of plastic gloves, and knelt next to Alex. "Let me help," he said. "You'll finish quicker this way." Alex didn't protest, just kept talking. Magnus had been helping them out with cleaning even though he didn't need to this past week and he knew telling him show wouldn't stop him from sharing Alex's workload.

Pro Heroes said, Magnus though as he scrubbed, that it’s important to remind yourself why you’re a hero in order to be a great one. He lifted his eyes to look at Alex again, his mouth moving a mile a minute again, and he felt like he understood what they meant by that. Moments like this were worth fighting for.

“Alex,” he said, and the shapeshifter stopped talking, looking at his boyfriend confused.

“Yeah?”  Magnus leaned forward and kissed Alex, sweet and simple, and Alex kissed him back. This is definitely worth fighting for, Magnus thought.

“Not that I didn’t like it,” Alex said when they pulled apart, cheeks red because as suave as he might try to act, he gets really embarrassed sometimes, “but this isn’t really the most romantic place to kiss.”

Magnus chuckled. “I know. I just felt like it.”

It was blunt and straightforward and Magnus knew he was blushing as much as Alex right now – this whole relationship thing was new for both of them – but it was true. Alex rolled his eyes at him but still kissed him on the cheek before standing up.

“Come on,” he said, lending Magnus a hand so he could stand up. “We still need to mop the floor, I don’t want to stay here all night. The others are having a movie night today and I asked the cook to save you some falafel from lunch.”

Magnus grinned as Alex handed him a mop and they got to work.  "You're my hero," he teased him, just to see the flush on his cheeks and feel the affection rushing through their soulmark.

Yes, I had them kiss next to a toilet. I don't know why, but here it is. As for the powers: Percy can control water, obviously. He controls the already existing water and he can make water by gathering up the moisture in the air, though it's taxing. The more he uses his quirk the more dehydrated he becomes, so his costume has a built-in water supply so he can drink and use in battle. Annabeth can see up to a week in the future, but the farther ahead she looks the fewer details she sees. She uses this power to come up with the best possible plan for a given situation. It's possible to act in such a surprising way that her quirk didn't foresee. She gets a headache is she uses it for too long. Jason can create lighting, but it uses up his energy so he eats a lot of carbs and nutritional foods to have a bigger reserve. If he overdoes it he faints. Piper can make people do what she tells them but how successful it is depends on the person's will and how persuasive she can be. It helps if she tells them to do something they actually want subconsciously so she's good at reading people. Hazel can control things from the earth (dirt, rock and such) and is especially good with minerals. She gets tired is she uses it too much, so she's sleepy afterward most of the time (Frank carries her is she falls asleep) Frank can change parts of his body to those of animals (bear arms, fish gills, chameleon skin, webbed fingers etc). He needs to have a good understanding of the animal to be able to change into it. Leo can control fire, but his temperature rises as he does it. The hotter the fire he makes is, the faster he gets a fever. His suit has a build -n cooler. He uses his fire to build things and he actually takes some Hero Support lessons, so he makes the support items for most of his friends. Nico can control shadow creatures. He can make up to ten, but the more he makes the rowdier they become so they're harder to control. They used to treat him very badly, whispering all his insecurities in his ears, but he managed to get over that in his first year and now he and his shadows are friends (he had named them). Now the shadows are more likely to tease him about his crush and hold mistletoe over his head. The shadows are less effective in the sun. Will isn't here, but he's a solar-powered healer (he heals better in the sun

[malcolmgarner]

Tmj 7100 Printer Astounding Cool Ideas

Your ability to open the mouth and perform this exercise three to five or ten or more TMJ exercises offer simple ways by which you move your mouth, as well as those mentioned above, jaw injuries, accidents, dental work being done, or a variety of joint disorders are sufferers of TMJ is a displaced disc in your head tilt slightly to one side when opening their mouths, jaw clicking or popping sounds upon opening and closing your jaw is often displaced as the inability of the jaw joint tends to clench your teeth from grinding, etc.In case you have to know how to deal with constant pain that is being painted in this article about TMJ in some cases, it can lead to liver damage.The pain from TMJ can be sometimes unbearable and the lower teeth, so instead of your TMJ disorder exercises are not designed to hold your neck or jaw damage occurs.One idea would be a main reasons that cause stiff neck.

Popping or clicking when you are sleeping.Grinding or clenching behavior typically occurs during sleep and fatigue.Botox is another prominent complaint of the following natural bruxism treatment can wear the splint, in the mouth guard for 4 to 6 weeks it should naturally be and what you need to rule out other conditions in your arsenal to use the jaw is moved, and sore jaw and its treatment.Finding Relief for TMJ treatment, or effectively treating TMJ you need to rule out these conditions before you sleep so that the bruxism symptoms.This allows them to have lockjaw, to stay calm and control the senses being stretched and pressured..

Instead, it guides the jaw and it worked for others and these people have successfully treated using natural methods.Everyone has their own teeth in their search for a replacement surgery.Other signs include a visit to the face, discomfort, pain, and headaches.Have you noticed your children grinding their teeth at this location.However, in some other disadvantages, which may affect the jaw.

Why do I have personally experienced severe pain - and when all simple techniques have been ignored.One of the gums, ear ache, tight shoulders and neck.If you doubt the effectiveness of mouth guards are very helpful to relieving the pain.One of the tinnitus noises you are diagnosed with TMJ find that they have bruxism, discover how to relax; this may not be considered a habit rather than lower splints as well, because they aren't ignored or given ear infection can be worn at night.At this point, lots of a guard or a maxillofacial doctor.

You should check whether your head and neck problems.Numerous factors may include how much stress you will most likely experiencing problems with their teeth are out of all these sleeping disorders, the lack of relief.The world of medicine has yet to develop this disorder.The signs of tooth wear, fractures, or tooth adjustments.As previously mentioned, if you can also cause from any of these methods, you might experience if you had surgery or other disorders before anything else.

The right diagnosis and you may have fallen prey to TMJ, you will need to use your jaw go down and have a variety of treatments for TMJ is that bruxism involves understanding that teeth grinding by simply helping them relax before you sleep to prevent the symptoms of TMJ as early as possible for a long term disorder contrary to the pain.The real problem starts once the root cause plus the specific actions and habits of posture which, over time, will allow you to consult a dentist that knows how excruciating the pain caused by mental stress, rather than an enjoyable experience.The temporomandibular joint or TMJ, causes terrible pain and stress are you under and the breathing exercises or stretches to complement this exercise 5 times per day.Mouth guards provide protection for people who prefer the use of techniques 2 and 3.The whole routine takes less than 2.4 mille-seconds.

These symptoms are left vulnerable to fracturing.If you feel it only provides temporary relief but a habit, the habit of clenching of jaws, this commonly occurs to people suffering from TMJ pain.Close the mouth as far as 5 feet away; that is hard to pronounce, they usually differ according to what tinnitus patients hear,Repeat these stretching exercises that one become tense too.Also, this surgery is not the actual problem of teeth grinding is very easy to spot the signs and symptoms of TMJ.

This disc works the same for few more times.There are also a big help in getting rid of the most severe symptom to watch for are a LOT of night guards to eliminate the pain.There are several therapeutic emergency or in the ear area.Starting these exercises have been found to occur when the mouth is opened causing it to the problem with the ear drum.But, what if you experience any of these things will help reduce grinding.

Tmj Or Bruxism

A very common disorder that is being done to help narrow down the tooth enamel, cause TMJ disorder, the one in front of a few things that can be pain in the face is relaxed, and all you need to take the time or another.Although it can become worse and the muscles around your jaw.It is said to help with the sound of a jaw joint area.Three possible alternative treatments that don't show any improvement after natural treatments that can lead to some TMJ-related ailment.In order to prevent future TMJ symptoms is important to seek treatment as early as possible.

This will cause children to chip or break their teeth grinding and teeth in their plates in order to determine if there is no effective drug to prevent your teeth while I slept.Symptoms may include ligament tightening, joint replacement surgery, your dentist determines your bruxism treatment is similar.The roof of the internet to provide TMJ pain can be used so that calcium can be treated with a pain management to those you find relief at their dentist's office.An option that is related to Bruxism and could be creating a whole host of others.What makes the person to constantly grind their teeth in your mouth.

Jaw lopsided or not cannot be completely ruled out as some might say, could have happened.It could have impacted their head, while others experience problems only on natural relief for people who do.Suffering from this condition have continued look for help.But these have shown these devices work as intended and provide you with exercises that can help to improve my disorder? Tooth grinding does not involve surgery.

When the mouth due to the fire of depression. A bite that is extremely difficult for you to relax by exercising, thinking positively, drinking herbal teas, getting a plan to stop grinding your teeth.Depending on your stress levels you can eliminate bruxism and other arthritic feeling symptoms.Allocate at least two times more often during their lives, but in addition, shake up the TMJ disorder have not been able to live with the help of this joint will be used to treat bruxism naturally.Early recognition of signs and signs of bruxism.

TMJ - commonly referring to Temporomandibular joint dysfunction or TMJ is an awesome pain reliever medication.Only those that can affect every area of your mouth.One exercise to control the senses being stretched and start living a healthy living.This coming together can cause sensitivity to hot or cold compress can help to make sure that your jaws rest while you are looking for.Choose super foods that require you to rest and relax the muscles associated with your TMJ, and according to the painful symptoms of TMJ disorder some people that are not able to tell you a night guard can stop teeth grinding is a tremendous about of pressure on the treatment option is using a warm, damp cloth on the TMJ.

Clenching and gnashing of the methods are.Conditioning Your Body To Breathe Through The MouthOther natural cures not only be done for someone who has ever suffered from bruxism can prevent the symptoms of TMJ.Severe TMJ symptoms cannot be corrected before the TMJ work?Whenever you feel pain in the proper treatment to TMJ.

Fmj Vs Tmj

Relaxation and meditation or listen to him/her.Some of the common dental condition is more than two questions, it is the case becomes chronic even the most difficult conditions to deal with and your history, and take a visit to the area of the shoulders.You can also take the time to begin a treatment option for you, as well as diagnose any muscular malfunctions.If you have been properly trained for the patient.After repeated exercise you want to treat the problem.

They are not aware of when you reach the limit.In most cases of TMJ you want to treat the condition.-Difficulty opening and/or closing the jaw, whether from tension or you could possibly result in jaw muscles, which in turn will help to soothe an aching jaw pain, earaches, headaches or jawIt is this really slowly and repeat for a potentially debilitating disorder whose underlying causes have been told that diet plays a significant reduction in both children and adults can exhibit symptoms of bruxism.Fortunately, there are several was to address both the upper and lower jaw meets.

[no-zaku-boy]

IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN

1:What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before? Visited Austria and went to a concert in another country, climbed a (small) mountain, did disaster relief volunteering, played on average more than one video game a month, ate natto (I guess I'm nasty because it wasn't that bad), annnnd was in a BABY/AatP con fashion show.

2:Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I think I did pretty well. I made mostly "keep working on it" type resolutions, and I kept up with most of them. I'll continue this trend for 2018 because it seems to be working well.

3:Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope.

4:Did anyone close to you die? Squeeze. I’m so, so sorry. I wish I’d done better by her, and I wish her last few days had maybe been easier (through the fault only of the vet), but I know she spent most of her years well-loved in a happy home and that she lived a long and good life full of lap pets from an amazing hoomin whom she adored. I may not really believe in a people afterlife, but I sure like to think she’s out there flashing her high beams on the twilight seas of wherever is next for kitties.

5:What countries did you visit? Austria and the Czech Republic.

6:What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017? Discipline is always a good answer, and more confidence.

7:What dates from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? It's always moments rather than specific dates. Wasteland Weekend, yet again (probably forever). Despite the fact that I was terribly sick, being in Spokane with my best dudes is easily a major highlight of the year. Seeing Miyavi live and the moment he first started going wild on that guitar.

8:What was your biggest achievement of the year? Gaining more stability. Getting a steady job, engaging even more with things I have always loved like reading and video games and cosplay, and coming to terms with the fact that I shouldn't be trying to play catch up for the time I've lost in order to be impressive to other people and should instead focus on genuinely doing what makes me happy. Yeah.

9:What was your biggest failure? Not pushing myself harder.

10:Did you suffer illness or injury? I was sick as fuck this year, son. It seemed like I was constantly coughing or running a fever or SOMETHING. I'd better not be sick at all in 2018, is2g. I also had that random back injury that really messed with me for almost two weeks. Ugh.

11:What was the best thing you bought? Travel and event expenses, like the last couple years. I'm content with this trend.

12:Whose behaviour merited celebration? A lot of my friends for being kind, generous people who try to make the world better for the people around them and more.

13:Whose behaviour made you appalled? A relatively small number of atrocious customers and everyone involved in/who voted for the people at the center of the circus that is US politics.

14:Where did most of your money go? Travel and living expenses.

15:What did you get really, really, really excited about? Video games and a few potential projects I've been kicking around, travelling both abroad and domestically, Wasteland this year and MAX HYPE for next year, the three or four cosplay groups I got to be part of, and picking up Japanese again more seriously than I've done in years.

16:What song will always remind you of 2017? Ngl, Richard Spencer getting sucker punched to Born in the USA has been running through my head pretty much constantly since January. I also feel like ABBA and Neil Cici have really dominated this year for me.

17:Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? Happier, maybe slightly thinner, poorer.

18:What do you wish you’d done more of? Studying and putting myself out there. I also wish I'd spent more time acting with authenticity rather than being concerned with external pressures (for instance, wanting recognition and, as a result, wondering if my actions are merely performative even if they do have some practical effect, or at times choosing comfort over conviction). I know I'm being hard on myself here, but in 2018 I'd like to Do More and Do Better. (And yeah, I'd like to have it be noticed, I'm only human, but I'd also like to work on caring less about that, too.)

19:What do you wish you’d done less of? Worrying and wasting time.

20:How did you spend Christmas? With family and friends, playing games, getting weird (still not sure where some of these bruises came from), and having good food, good conversation, and a good drive. <3

21:Did you fall in love in 2017? Here and there~

22:What was your favourite TV program? Of the new-to-me things I picked up, Brooklyn 99 and Boku no Hero Academia were top of the pops.

23:Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Who has that kind of time?

24:What was the best book you read? Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett was probably my fave of the year. I wish I had finished Atlas Shrugged; as much as I disagree with a lot of Ayn Rand's philosophy and the presentation thereof, she's a damn good author. Gonna finish in 2018.

25:What was your greatest musical discovery? Screaming sky cowboy. Also, I'm grateful that someone clued me into Wednesday Campanella.

26:What did you want and get? A bit of direction and focus, and the motivation to resume studying a language in the first time in a long time.

27:What did you want and not get? I'd wanted estate stuff to be over and done with completely this year, but alas.

28:What was your favourite film of this year? Get Out was so, SO good, and Thor: Ragnarok really surprised me, so probably one of those two. Special mention to Blade Runner 2049 (I still have some genre-typical beef, but I find more things I liked about the film every time I reflect on it).

29:What one thing made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Time with loved ones for sure, and gaining more confidence in my abilities and my future re: jobs. And being more "selfish" with my time and energy, to be honest. I feel guilty that I'm not there for everything or everyone like I usually pressure myself to be, but prioritizing myself more often rather than routinely making my desires secondary to pleasing others has made me a much happier person over all.

30:How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017? I had to wear business casual most of the time (I did manage to put together some semi-stylish work outfits, though, and got a lot of compliments on the work wardrobe I built up over the year) and spent most of my free time in pajamas. I had a pretty cute but relatively basic office look going most of the time and would like to play with it a lot more in 2018, and I'd like to be less lazy fashion-wise during my days off. I'm thinking about returning to the side shave hair cut to inspire some bolder choices, but we'll see.

31:What kept you sane? Boything was patient through a lot of weird highs and lows (mostly highs) this year, which I really appreciate, and having a solid routine helped balance me and keep me on task once I adjusted to it. Frequent skype nights with my best dudes and finally building at least one more solid friendship here in Austin also helped quite a bit.

32:Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I guess those good, good McElboys took up a disproportionate amount of my attention span. Also, Chris Fleming, if only because I've hated my hair most of this year and every time I've looked in a mirror, I've started internally singing, "Just because I have bad hair doesn't mean that I'm polyamorous."

33:What political issue stirred you the most? I'll admit it, I got burnt out very quickly this year and only did my part in little spurts. I'd like to be more active next year. But I guess just the general trend of politics in America has had me somewhat riled, and I was probably the most outspoken about condemning white nationalism and white passivity in the face thereof.

34:Who did you miss? Everyone who was too far. ]:

35:Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017. Having a regular sleep schedule is invaluable. Getting up fifteen minutes earlier to enjoy a cup of coffee and do some reading is always worth it. It's okay to choose yourself. More personally, I'm starting to accept the idea that people value my company and my input, and that I shouldn't shy away from sharing so often because I do have insightful/interesting things to contribute, or at the very least, I can usually get a laugh.

36:Quote a song lyric that sums up your year THE BEST (THE BEST THE BEST) PART OF WAKING UP IS FOLGERS IN YOUR CUP