#best four person tent review

[heart-of-ep]

Elvis: Through Her Lens (Chapter Four)

(Elvis Presley × OC Reader)

Character/Fandom: Elvis Presley

Read More Here: Elvis: Through Her Lens - Click here!

Prompt: You are Minnie Jones, an aspiring photographer working for the LA Sentinel. Your chief editor is looking for a story that will help boost the popularity of the paper, so an opportunity comes knocking when Colonel Tom Parker approaches him with a new 'snowjob.' After a tentative first meeting with the Colonel, and his star Elvis Presley, you are hired on to follow Elvis around as his personal photographer in an attempt to catch lightening in a bottle twice with the earlier success of the Alfred Wertheimer photos. Along the way, you develop a close bond with Elvis, leading to complications in your relationship when the issues of his marriage and eventual drug usage start to put a strain on your relationship. Constantly fighting your ever-growing feelings for him, you are swept up into the whirlwind of Elvis' world which forces you to see the King of Rock 'n' Roll through a new lens.

Tags: Slow burn. Angst. Drama. Friends to lovers (sort of).

TW: None? Cussing, kissing.

Rating: PG-13 (ish) (may get spicy but won't be explicit as I don't enjoy writing smut lol but cursing, possible violence, and infidelity will appear throughout the story)

Word Count: 3.5k

Author's Note: Alright guys, things are starting to get juicy now! I had such a fun time writing this chapter and I'm excited to post it today in honor of the 55th Anniversary of Elvis performing at the Houston Astrodome on February 27th, 1970.

It's crazy to think these were his first concerts outside of Vegas. He was so nervous and I loved getting to put a self insert type figure to try and support him through it. ♡

Also I definitely looked to both Kathy Westmoreland's and Joyce Bova's books for inspiration while writing since they had relationships with Elvis during this year. ~

Elvis on February 27th, 1970 (evening show) riding in on the jeep to the Houston Astrodome. (1) Elvis at a press conference March 1st, 1970 after his six performances at the Houston Astrdome. (2)

Rehearsals for the Houston show didn’t go as well as everyone hoped. You stood off mostly to the sidelines, watching as the sound engineers struggled to get Elvis and the band sounding right in the large echochamber that was the Houston Astrodome. Elvis was visibly frustrated, but he tried to stay in good spirits, telling his band to just play and ignore the bad acoustics.

Even with the poor sound quality, you were still able to get a taste of an Elvis Presley show and it was truly something else. Of course, you had heard Elvis sing before, whether it be on the radio or on TV, but hearing him in person? You now understood all those reviews you had read from the International. You figured the actual show would be even more spectacular, but you were already impressed by what you had seen. Even if Elvis himself wasn’t particularly pleased.

You had hoped to talk to him after rehearsals, but he didn’t want any company according to Charlie, which was definitely a stark contrast from the night before. But you didn’t press him, remembering that it was up to Elvis when he wanted you around. You assumed he was probably still in a bad mood after how the rehearsals went, so you retired to your room early after grabbing yourself something to eat downstairs.

The next day brought everyone and Elvis back to the Astrodome for two shows that night. Apparently, Elvis was supposed to ride in on a Jeep with a few of his guys, which seemed like an odd sort of entrance for the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, but you supposed it fit with the style of the livestock show.

Before departing for the Astrodome, everyone in Elvis’ group was told to meet upstairs at his suite so they could leave together. You still felt a bit uncomfortable around all the guys, still doing your best to remember all their names and their positions within the group dynamic. You fiddled with your camera, adjusting the settings as you, along with the others, waited in the living room as Elvis got ready for the show.

“E’s pretty nervous.” You heard Charlie say to one of the guys.

“He’s got this. Even if the sound is shit, Elvis will blow them away.” Red, one of the bodyguards, said in response.

You bit your lip, wondering if this was normal for Elvis. He didn’t seem like the type to get such intense stage fright, but you guessed that even the world’s biggest star might get nervous before a performance.

You looked up when you heard the door to his room open and you found yourself completely frozen when you saw Elvis walk out, dressed head to toe in a spectacular white jumpsuit with a beautiful embroidered green trim and a macrame belt hanging low across his waist. The jumpsuit had a deep opening in the front, leaving little to the imagination as it completely exposed his chest, and this time there was no scarf to hide anything. His hair was brushed back and styled, but it was still fluffy and long, the sideburns accentuating his sharp jawline. His signature gold jewelry accompanied the outfit, his fingers decorated in rings and the gold ID bracelet dangling across his wrist.

You were fairly certain you were staring like a dumbstruck fool, but unlike the man you had spent time with the last few days, for the first time you truly felt like you were in the presence of the star, Elvis Presley.

Elvis certainly did look nervous, a bit of sweat collecting on his brow as he crossed the room. “Is everything ready?” He asked Joe, his road manager.

Joe nodded. “The car is waiting downstairs for you and the band is already on their way to the venue.”

Elvis nodded, tapping his foot in a nervous patter against the floor as he glanced your way. He met your gaze for a moment, but he didn’t say anything, quickly looking back to the rest of the group. “Alright, let’s get on with it.”

With that, the group was on the move. They made quick work of getting Elvis through the lobby of the hotel, pushing past any fans who had managed to get through the security that Colonel Parker had set up. You made sure to stick close to the inside of the group, not wanting to get left behind in the gaggle of fans. Sonny and Red rushed Elvis into the car, where Vernon was already waiting, before you were promptly ushered in after him, the door slamming shut as the flashes of camera bulbs went off all around the car. Being on that end of the camera definitely made you realize just how overwhelming it had to be from Elvis’ point of view.

Once the car was on the move, you looked at Elvis, but his gaze was peering out the window in deep concentration as he chewed on his fingernail. You furrowed your brow a little, realizing this was more than just normal stage fright. You hesitated a little before you reached over and gently touched his hand that was resting on the seat of the car. He quickly looked at you, his eyes falling down to your hand before they looked up to meet your gaze. Again, he didn’t say anything, but he did turn his hand around, gently clasping yours in a delicate grasp. The warmth sent your heart into a frenzy, but you ignored it, forcing the feeling away as the two of you sat in silence during the rest of the ride to the Astrodome.

Upon arrival, Elvis was quickly pulled into the venue and toward the Jeep waiting to drive into the inner part of the arena where the stage was set up. A couple of the guys rode with him as security along with Joe, and you were promptly ushered off towards the stage area where you could have a better vantage point to take photos. The Sweet Inspirations, the Imperials, and the rest of the band were all up on the stage already and when you peered out at the large arena, you noticed the large crowds of people in the stands. The arena wasn’t close to being full (though that wasn’t surprising considering the sheer size), but you did bite your lip when you noticed there weren’t as many people as the Colonel kept projecting there to be. You worried what Elvis might think, but decided it was best to focus on taking photos instead.

Regardless of the crowd’s size, the fans roared with applause as the jeep drove into the arena, making a circle around the stands as Elvis stood up in the car and waved, a beautiful smile painted on his face as the wind blew through his hair. When the jeep pulled up in front of the stage, the guys quickly ushered Elvis out of the car and up the stairs to the waiting microphone.

You quickly found a spot off to the side of the stage, making sure to stay out of the way but close enough to get some good shots that the other press wouldn’t be able to get. You bit your lip for a second, still a little stunned by the sight of him as the lights turned on him like a spotlight. He truly looked like a gleaming star in the center of the massive arena. It made you wonder how this was his first time performing at a venue like this in over ten years.

You watched carefully as he kicked off with his opening song, the first song he ever recorded actually, and despite the issues with the audio, he sounded amazing. His voice was buttery smooth, and neither him nor the band missed a beat as they jumped from ‘That’s All Right’ to ‘I Got A Woman’ and onto various other hit songs that he had done in the past. The audience cheered and screamed almost the entire time, and you could tell Elvis got a real kick out of some of the fans' reactions based on his smile or the way he laughed in the middle of a song. It all seemed so natural to him, and any nervousness you saw in him before the show seemed to completely disappear now that he was up on that stage.

You eventually remembered that you weren’t just there to watch him perform and quickly started snapping photos with your camera, moving around the stage to different spots in an attempt to get the best angle possible. When you looked down at your camera to slide in another roll of film, you were surprised as you raised your lens to find him looking in your direction. It was brief and probably not noticeable to anyone else, but you quickly took the photo, capturing the smile he gave you before he looked away back toward the crowd.

Despite how fantastic the show seemed from your point of view, Elvis didn't appear particularly ecstatic once everyone returned to the hotel for a break before the evening show that same day. “Well, that’s it. I guess I just don’t have it anymore,” Elvis said, sounding completely devastated as he disappeared into his bedroom to take a nap.

Everyone looked between each other, not sure what to say to try and cheer him up. You kept to yourself, deciding to occupy your mind by taking photos of some of the guys or different objects around the room.

By the time Elvis woke up, he had settled thinking that this was it, that his career was finished, but Gee Gee directed his attention to the window when he looked out to see something curious. “Hey, E I think you should come look at this.”

Elvis, and everyone else for that matter, walked over to the large panoramic window and looked down below to see cars backed up for miles onto the interstate all heading straight for the Astrodome. “Well, I’ll be damned,” Elvis said, a grin spreading across his face. “I guess I’ve still got it after all.”

Needless to say, the evening show was a smashing hit and Elvis was practically a giddy school boy when the attendance more than doubled from the afternoon. Even the sound quality was improved. You couldn't explain it, but seeing him so happy and proud, it made you feel happy too.

You had hoped to spend a little more one on one time with him like the night before, but between the multiple shows, meeting fans before and after the performances, and one final press conference, his private time was almost fully booked up. You still managed to get some good pictures, catching some lovely interactions with the fans along with some funny moments between him and the guys when heading to his suite after one of the shows.

After returning to the hotel to pack on the last day, you wondered briefly if maybe this was it. The Colonel didn't exactly specify just how long he wanted you around. And all your film still needed to be developed and approved by the carny manager before anything more could be done with it. You immediately thought of the worst case scenario, frowning a bit as you considered already leaving the glamorous world of Elvis Presley. More importantly, though, you felt this strange sense of sadness at the thought of never seeing him again.

You knew it was silly, after all you had only just met him a week prior, and worst yet, the man was married which made the feelings you had even worse to bear. You thought back to the way his hand felt holding yours, the warmth of his skin sending goosebumps flying up your arm or the way he stayed up for hours talking with you in his suite about everything and nothing. He ended up being the complete opposite of everything you expected and it left you feeling conflicted. Now you weren't just interested in staying because of your job, but you wanted to stay for him.

Get it together, Minn. Don’t fall for his charm.

You shook your head, burying your thoughts deep in your mind as you packed up your clothes and film. You only stopped when you heard a knock at your door. You glanced at the clock, furrowing your brow when you realized that was impossibly quick for the room service you ordered. You set your camera down and walked to the door, opening it up only to see Elvis standing on the other side.

“Elvis?” You asked, looking a bit surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to make sure you were ready for the flight back to LA tomorrow.” He said, stepping into the room before you had the chance to invite him in. He was wearing the same outfit from the press conference earlier that day. It was a Texan inspired fit (minus the stetson hat) with the deputy's badge that he had been awarded by the mayor affixed to the front lapel.

“Yeah, I was just packing my things.” You said as you closed the door behind him.

He nodded as he glanced at your suitcase before looking at you again. “What did you think of the shows?” He asked, obviously curious to know how I liked it.

You smiled a little. “I thought they were fantastic. I think I might be starting to understand all the hype about this Elvis Presley fellow.” You teased him.

He laughed, no longer in a nervous mood now that the shows had proven to be a raging success on all fronts. “They were pretty good, weren't they?” He smiled. “Sound was shit, but the fans looked pretty excited.” He conceded.

“It really wasn't that bad. I'm pretty sure you could sound good under any circumstance.” You pointed out as you walked past him and went back to packing up your things.

“Did ya get some good photos?” He asked as he peered over at the film in your bag.

“I think so, but I won’t know for sure until I get the film developed.” You said as you placed your used film into a pocket of your suitcase, zipping it closed. “There was a lot of press there. Maybe the Colonel won’t be too impressed by my work.” You smirked a bit, though secretly you were worried about how the photos turned out.

“Nah, you’ve got that magic touch, Minnie Mouse. I’m sure they look great.” He reassured me, smiling down at me before he looked around your room. “What kind of story does Mr Pierce plan on writing with all these pictures?” He asked curiously.

You raised an eyebrow at him. It had been the first time he had really asked about the project since you had met him at his Hillcrest home. “I’m not sure yet, but Pierce is a good writer. He’s not exactly interested in writing a hit piece on Elvis Presley if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

He pressed his lips together, not looking entirely convinced of Pierce’s motives, but he didn’t say anything. “Maybe you should write it.” He said as he turned back toward you.

Your eyes widened a bit. “Me?” You laughed nervously. “I’m not a writer, Elvis. I just take the photos, that’s it.”

He smirked a bit. “That’s too damn bad. I thought you were startin’ to know me pretty well.” He said as he walked over to me.

You tensed up a little, suddenly aware of how much closer he was standing next to you. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to give Pierce the cliffnotes.” You said, holding his gaze for a second before you quickly looked away. “So…are you staying in LA after this?” You asked casually.

He nodded, and you could see him still looking at you out of the corner of your eye. “Yeah, I’m takin’ a couple months off until the summer.”

“Oh. Good. I’m sure you need a break after all this. I know I would.” You said awkwardly, the small talk making the tension you felt between you and him even more uncomfortable. He nodded again, watching you carefully as you finished packing up your suitcase, zipping it closed and finally facing him after a long stretch of silence. “Um…is there something else you needed?” You finally asked.

“Minnie…” It was the first time he had really addressed you by your name without some kind of teasing nickname. Hearing him say it sent a shiver running down you back, your full focus on him as he suddenly took your hand in his. “I just wanted to say thank you for the other day. Before the show, I mean. You were very kind.”

You bit your lip for a second, your heartbeat racing in your chest as you looked up into his beautiful blue eyes. “Y-yeah, don’t mention it.” You said quietly.

He took a step closer toward you, and immediately alarm bells went off in your mind, yelling at you to push him away or say something to stop him, but for some reason you couldn’t seem to do anything. Your mind suddenly felt like gelatin, and all you could do was focus on his intense gaze and his soft lips which were definitely much closer than they had been just a moment ago.

Come on, Minn use your head! He’s married and right now he’s way too close.

Logic told you to listen to that small voice in the back of your mind, but in the moment it was much too quiet for you to hear.

And then it was too late to do anything.

His lips found yours, both tender and soft as his hand came up to cup your cheek. His touch was gentle, his fingertips caressing your skin while his pillowy soft lips completely enveloped yours in a kiss that left your knees feeling weak. You felt your eyes instinctively flutter close, and you leaned in, almost allowing yourself to kiss back despite all reason telling you not to. It was almost hypnotizing, which made no sense in your mind. It was just a kiss, and Elvis Presley or not, he was just a man. And yet your mind felt fuzzy and unfocused. All you could pay attention to was how warm his hand felt against your cheek or the way his lips seemed to fit perfectly with yours.

And hell if he wasn’t a damn good kisser.

You felt your hand drift up to his chest, gently resting over the collar of his shirt as your eyes opened just enough to take in the absolute beauty of his face. And then reality seemed to finally take hold when you felt his other hand rest against your waist. Quickly you pushed against his chest, breaking away from his lips before he could kiss anymore sense out of your mind.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” He asked, his eyes so sincere that you almost wondered if you were making a mistake.

Focus, Minn!

“Elvis…you’re married.” That’s all you could really think to say, refusing to acknowledge how the kiss made you feel or why he was even kissing you in the first place.

He frowned, suddenly looking annoyed. “You don’t understand, Minnie. It’s not like that.” He said defensively.

“Not like what?” You stared at him like he was absolutely crazy. “Elvis…I can’t do this. This is insane, you realize that right?” You shook your head, feeling flustered and confused, but mostly just embarrassed.

You’re just like everyone else.

You shook the thought from your mind as you quickly turned away from him. He seemed to sense your discomfort and hesitated at taking a step toward you. “Minnie…I didn’t mean to upset you.” He said carefully before you felt his hand around your wrist. You looked down, biting your lip before you forced yourself to look up at him. “I really like you. I like being with you.” He said softly.

You held his gaze for a moment. You knew he wasn't lying, but it didn't make things any less complicated. “Elvis…” You looked down.

Suddenly he cupped your chin in his hand, tilting your head up to look at him. “I want to see you again, Minnie. When we get back to LA, I’d like for you to come over to the house.” He said as he took your other hand in his, squeezing it gently.

You swallowed a bit, parting your lips to say something, but you didn't know what to say. How could you say no to Elvis Presley? It seemed impossible. Before you could attempt to respond, Elvis shook his head.

“Just think about it.” He told you, leaning in and pressing a feather light kiss to your cheek. He then pulled away, leaving you where you were standing as he walked to the door. “Goodnight, Minnie Mouse.” He flashed you one of his charming smiles and then he was gone.

You stared at the door as it closed behind him, leaving you to question whether or not any of that had just happened. But you knew from the warm sensation on your lips that it definitely did. You sunk down onto your bed, suddenly feeling this huge weight resting on your shoulders.

What the hell am I going to do?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Likes, comments, and reblogs are much appreciated! Let me know if you'd like to be added to the tag list ~

Taglist: @60svintage @moonchild-daniella @ken-kenzie-zie @presleyhearted @eapep @i-r-i-n-a-a @iloveelvis2

[hekateinhell]

Would you ever write more about trans!Armand and his three boyfs having fun? 🥺 Yes I might be a bit hinting on something but... you know... you write it so well... 🥺

I would! I just don't know when, things shift around on my fic writing to-do list so much 😭

but I feel bad because I did say I was gonna write it months ago and then I DIDN'T so here's a snippet from what I have languishing in the google gocs that's set in the same AU! mostly armand ruminating on his changing body and the challenges it brings in the bedroom (nsfw) this is supposed to be leading to the gangbang eventually:

He shuts the bedroom door gently and deposits the little white bag on the bed. Armand still hasn't fully settled into the new place – it's home, but it's fragile, tentative – he needs to be careful. 

He starts from the bottom up. Stripping socks, pants, underwear. There's always been a peculiar distinction to him between outside clothes and inside clothes. Everything has to change, even the underwear. Next is the sweater, then the undershirt. 

Finally comes the binder. 

Black and sturdy, it binds all the way down to his belly button, compressing his chest entirely. 

He's lucky, he supposes. Armand's chest – like most of him – had always been on the smaller end of the spectrum. Each side is large enough that Lestat's palms can cover them completely and not much more. 

Still, he craves the illusion of total flatness that a binder provides, and as much as it's nice to shed it and allow his body to relax fully, it always hits him with an initial sense of loss. 

Armand hasn't quite figured out which size and brand works best, and a quality binder is a rather expensive purchase. This one, one of two he has, is a bit too tight and always leaves his chest and sides sore from where it has been pressing down into his tender skin. If anyone else were home, Armand might curl up and ask for a quick massage that would inevitably lead to kissing and fooling around. Later, perhaps. 

Besides, it's good that he has the place to himself, a rare moment of privacy that's hard to come by when four men share a one-bedroom apartment. 

He rubs at his chest absentmindedly for a moment before turning to the dresser. Slips on a fresh pair of briefs and then wonders why he did it – they're about to come off again in a minute. Skips the neatly folded t-shirts in his drawer in favor of the ratty gray sweatshirt stuffed into Daniel's drawer. 

The length hits Armand precisely above his knees, the fabric slipping off to expose his shoulder. He loves wearing their things: Daniel's sweatshirts, Lestat's band tees, Louis's collared shirts – he would wear their pants too if they didn't just fall off him entirely. 

Armand never asks, and nobody seems to mind. 

There's something extraordinarily soothing about disappearing into his lovers' clothes, the feel of each material holding a different association, drowning in their scents whenever he craves that particular comfort. 

Comfort that Armand could use. 

He takes a deep breath and drops onto the bed before reaching into the bag, pulling out the boxed set of dilators, holding it at arm's length, turning it over gingerly as if it has already personally offended him.  

Better to get this over with. 

Made quick work of the packing and did a cursory review of the instructions – nothing that the sweet salesperson hadn't already gone over with him while Armand had stood there, awkwardly shifting his weight from one side to the other, trying his hardest not to blush and failing spectacularly. 

Five purple cylinders, each with a different length and girth, starting small and gradually increasing in both measures. 

Armand's heartbeat picks up, and his throat feels achingly dry. 

It's not arousal; in fact, he's the opposite of turned on right now. His body knows this is going to be uncomfortable to start with, at best. Interesting how drastically his pain threshold drops when it wasn't tied directly to intimacy, to someone he loves inflicting it on him. And not in a bad way, no, it's just that he'd begged for sex before, even when it physically hurt — he'd delighted in the aches and the stings and in attributing each one to a particular lover. 

But this? Using these tools regularly on himself in the hope that he could retrain his front hole to regain its elasticity? 

It's been a while since anyone had managed to work more than two fingers inside before insisting he was 'too tight, there's no give'; Armand would 'get hurt.' 

Simply put, this was a source of intimacy Armand isn't yet willing to concede. He is stubborn, if nothing else. It's not enough to have his hole touched or for Lestat, Louis, or Daniel to rub against him and press their tip to his hole to ensure some cum made it in. 

[vijetatravels-12]

How to Secure Tent Booking for Maha Kumbh Mela 2025

Navigating tent bookings for the Maha Kumbh Mela in 2025 can be overwhelming, but with careful planning and the right resources, you can enjoy a comfortable stay during this monumental event. The Kumbh Mela is a grand Hindu pilgrimage, held every 12 years at four rotating sites, and draws millions of devotees seeking spiritual enlightenment. As one of the largest gatherings worldwide, early planning is essential.

The Significance of Kumbh Mela

The Kumbh Mela is an immense pilgrimage where worshippers gather to bathe in sacred rivers, believing this act cleanses the soul and absolves sins. In 2025, Prayagraj (Allahabad) will host the Kumbh Mela, where the Ganges, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati rivers converge. The event lasts several weeks, with the most significant bathing days attracting massive crowds.

Why Choose a Tent?

Finding accommodation during Kumbh Mela can be tricky due to the overwhelming number of pilgrims. Hotels often reach capacity quickly, with prices soaring. Opting for a tent offers several benefits:

Location: Many tent areas are situated close to bathing ghats, ensuring easy access to the river.

Cost-Effectiveness: Tent accommodations are typically more budget-friendly than hotels, especially during peak periods.

Community Vibe: Staying in a tent city can deepen your spiritual journey, as you’ll be surrounded by like-minded pilgrims.

Steps to Book a Tent

1. Online Exploration

Begin by searching online for Kumbh Mela Tent Booking. Numerous websites and platforms provide insights into various tent options. Look for official sites or trusted travel platforms that specialize in Kumbh Mela accommodations.

2. Local Travel Services

Consider contacting the best travel agency in Allahabad. Local agencies possess valuable knowledge about the event and can provide customized packages that meet your preferences. Their services typically include:

Tent bookings

Meal provisions

Transport arrangements

Guided experiences

Local experts can offer personalized advice on the best tent locations, crowd management, and safety.

3. Engage with Online Communities

Joining online forums and social media groups can be incredibly useful. Platforms like Facebook, Reddit, and travel forums often feature dedicated groups for Kumbh Mela discussions. Here, you can seek recommendations for tent accommodations and the best travel agency in Allahabad. Many users share their experiences and tips, which can help you make a well-informed choice.

4. Early Reservations

Once you identify a suitable accommodation, book your tent as soon as possible. Given the scale of the event, spots fill up rapidly. Early reservations also allow you to explore a wider range of options, including various tent types and features.

5. Evaluate Amenities

When choosing a tent, assess the available amenities. Basic tents may offer minimal facilities, while luxury options might include air conditioning, private bathrooms, and upgraded bedding. Consider what fits your comfort and budget. Many providers also include meal services, security, and additional features like guided tours.

Essential Tips

Read Reviews: Before making a decision, check reviews of the tent provider or travel agency. This will provide insights into service quality and overall experience.

Clarify Payment Details: Understand the payment options and cancellation policies. Some agencies may ask for a deposit, while others could provide full refunds under certain conditions.

Stay Updated: Keep track of bathing dates and events during the Kumbh Mela. This helps in planning your itinerary effectively.

Health Precautions: Given the large crowds, be mindful of health and safety guidelines. Carry essentials like hand sanitizer, masks, and any personal medications.

Final Thoughts

Participating in the Maha Kumbh Mela is a unique spiritual experience, and selecting the right accommodation can significantly enhance your journey. By focusing on Kumbh Mela Tent Booking and consulting with the best travel agency in Allahabad, you can enjoy a seamless stay. Start your preparations early, connect with local experts, and immerse yourself in the vibrant energy of one of the world’s largest religious gatherings. With proper planning, your pilgrimage can be both meaningful and unforgettable.

[seoconsultant-1]

Wenzel Beartooth Family Dome Tent Review

Sediment causes many problems in your water heater. Among these is bacterial growth. These aren't typically disease causing bacteria, only to find they do oxygenate and corrode the lining of a water heater. This is compounded with high varieties of heat and sediment are normally extremely destructive.

December 19, 1992 - Hubert Crowell, Gary Beasley, Rob Morgan and Doug Dewitt re-surveyed the Signature Room receive vertical data for cross sections. Two small areas that were unable on founded survey were gained. A small hole near to the entrance towards the Signature Room, located privately of a tiny depression that you can just fit inside. I loved to lead an associated with kids into this hole and once we collect at the back, I tell for you to turn their lights out and be genuine quiet. As each new person packs into the hole the same message is passed on until everyone is packed into the hole.

Great construction and materials is essential in an outdoor shelter. Swiss Gear's tents are made from high quality fibers that can protect you the harsh ground, rain, and sun care. The floor of many on the models are created from welded polyethylene. The tent itself being composed of polyester taffeta to be as waterproof as potential. Some even offer a double pass polyurethane coating with regard to greater safety. Then, large mesh roof vents and windows are a traditional to keeping the air flow moving, and keep the bugs out.

The Kelly Mantra 7 weighs 23 lbs 8 oz making it ideal for car caravanage. It is a big family tent that provides good protection from the wind and the rain. The 7 Person 3 Season Kelly Mantra 7 Tent is 6 feet high and offers lots of floor space and is designed for large family camping camping tents. The DAC aluminum poles are are more durable than fiberglass and the full-rainfly, sealed seams, and bathtub floor are excellent protection from rains and thunderstorms.

Security products include insurance rated locks, rim locks, night latches, door chains, door bolts and Euro locks. Door bolts always be sprung or flush door bolts that constitute polished chrome or brass, stainless satin or brass satin. Door chains are of help in restricting access when the door is opened. Euro locks include cylinders, sashes and dead bolts. Yale night latches are pretty popular plus come in packs of 1-4 and 5+.

They claim that you should try to learn to leave behind deals that aren't in your best interest dome projection . And that's helpful advice. A bad deal may cost money and hurt your reputation. How do you know when you invest in into a low deal?

A closer is a mechanical device for closing a wide open door. Overhead door closers are one of the most common shopping around. Popular brands include Eclipse, Dorgard and Briton. You encounter them in packs of 1, 1-4 and 5+.

One thing to remember about the Indianapolis Children's Museum: the Dinosphere can be the daybreak. There are still four more levels and almost countless exhibits search!

[socialspikerworld]

Expert Recommendations: The Ultimate Ozark Trail Tent ReviewClick Here for the Best Ozark Trail Tents Available: https://amzn.to/3RzuqdR

Ozark Trail Tent Review 

 As outdoor activities increase in popularity, so too do camping gear prices. With such wide disparity between inexpensive yet low-quality equipment and technical gear, and what average campers need for quality shelter within their price range. This is especially challenging for families searching for tents suitable for hosting extended camping trips with children; Ozark Trail tent reviews provide one such example that is both comfortable and budget friendly; this article covers its main features and potential drawbacks so that you can decide if it is the ideal solution for you and your camping adventures! The Ozark Trail 7 Person Teepee Tent offers a spacious family-style design that has received generally positive reviews among camping enthusiasts. It can easily accommodate four campers at once, with zip room dividers providing privacy or creating separate sleeping spaces. At 78 inches center height it also provides tall campers ample headroom. Furthermore, many reviewers appreciate its lack of sloped roof designs that may cause people to slouch while walking inside its shelters. This tent can be assembled quickly and taken down easily when packing up and leaving, with take down taking longer due to its simple no-fuss design that doesn't require special tools or skills for assembly. Weighing just 29 lbs, its lightweight nature makes transport easier compared to many steel frame canopy tents in its price range. Another feature of the tent that makes it attractive is that it's rated for all-weather use; however, most reviews caution that this claim should be taken with caution; reviewers who have used their tent in wetter climates reported moisture leaking through seams and untreated fabric components of their tent during stays in there. Due to its weight and space needs, this tent isn't ideal for hiking or backpacking trips due to the space needed to set it up, but works well on car camping trips in fields or campgrounds with leveled tent stands. Unfortunately, its low quality insulation makes this not suitable for cold-weather camping; warm nights may prove uncomfortable too. Unfortunately, the tent does not come equipped with a rain fly that would normally come standard on more expensive models; instead two small pockets sewn into its side walls provide storage for personal items and camping necessities - these handy but won't provide as much storage capacity than some competing models do.

[eazy-group]

11 Top-Rated Camping Tents for Every Budget

New Post has been published on https://eazycamping.net/11-top-rated-camping-tents-for-every-budget/

11 Top-Rated Camping Tents for Every Budget

Whether a rookie or a seasoned veteran, a camper has to have confidence in their tent. It’s your home away from home, and more so than any other piece of camping gear, it dictates how comfortable you’ll be. After all, no one wants to wake up wet or perhaps worse: covered in mosquito bites. Fortunately, tents, which were once mostly made of heavy canvas and pretty rudimentary, have gotten a lot more lightweight and technical in the past few decades. From Amazon to Ebay (although you may want to think twice about buying a secondhand tent), there’s never been a bigger selection to choose from starting at just $50. Whether you’re planning to backpack the PCT in the dead of winter or simply spend a summer weekend at a KOA with a pool and putt putt golf, here are 11 top-rated camping tents for every budget.

1. Coleman Sundome 2-Person Camping Tent, from $50, Amazon

With nearly 35,000 five-star ratings, the Coleman Sundome Camping Tent is ranked #1 on Amazon’s list of Best Sellers in Camping Tents. It’s the perfect entry level three-season tent for car campers looking for an affordable weatherproof tent. Despite how cheap it is, the frame is designed to withstand winds of 35+mph, and welded corners and inverted seams keep water out. “Last night, I had the opportunity to put my tent to the test during a heavy rainstorm, and I must say, I am incredibly impressed. Despite the non-stop downpour for nearly 5 hours, not a single drop of water made its way inside the tent,” writes one Amazon shopper whose review is titled “Passed the test.” The two-person model weighs 7.5 lbs., and it’s also available in three-person, four-person and six-person (all of which are under $100) models. Note: while it is the cheapest tent on this list, it also takes the longest time (10-15 minutes) to set up.

2. Clostnature Lightweight Backpacking Tent, from $67, Amazon

If you’re willing to spend a little more to shave off a couple of pounds, consider the Clostnature Lightweight Backpacking Tent which has more than 1,700 five star ratings and an impressive 4.6-star average rating. This two-person, three-season tent weighs 5.7 lbs and is designed to be pitched in a pinch, even by just one person. “I came across it during a solo camping trip in Yosemite, and it blew me away with its superior construction and weatherproofing,” says Mal Hellyer, a travel blogger who has camped everywhere from the Alps to the Australian Outback. “It stood strong during an unexpected thunderstorm and kept me dry, a crucial factor when you’re miles away from civilization.”

3. CORE 9-Person Tent, $100, Amazon

Whether you have a big family or your kids are begging to bring their friends, you’ll have plenty of room for everyone in this three-season, nine-person tent with nearly 4,000 five-star ratings on Amazon (where it’s currently 33% off). With a whopping 144 square feet of space, the CORE 9-Person Tent easily fits three queen air mattresses. Although it’s an entry-level tent, it is water-resistant and it features a handy gear loft with plenty of pockets and a hook for your flashlight or lantern. It also weighs just 18.5 pounds which is remarkable given how big it is, and if it’s not big enough, don’t worry. There’s an 11-Person model (for $130) with 162 square feet of space!

4. Eddie Bauer Carbon River 4, $126 (originally $179), Eddie Bauer

If you’re looking for a bargain, consider the Eddie Bauer Carbon River 4 which is currently 30% off. This popular four-person, three-season tent weighs 10 pounds and offers 64 square feet of interior space. Like all Eddie Bauer gear, it’s designed to last for years, and it’s also very user-friendly. Pieces are even color-coded for easy setup. The double-wall construction is durable, and thanks to Eddie Bauer’s signature WeatherEdge technology, it’s fully waterproof. In addition to featuring a polyurethane coating that keeps water out, the tent is also treated with a flame retardant.

5. Kelty Wireless 4-Person Tent, $150 (originally $200), Amazon

One step up from entry level, the Kelty Wireless 4-Person Tent is a great option for car campers who want something reliable. It’s not called wireless because it doesn’t feature wires. It’s called wireless because cell phone reception and WiFi aren’t included. Still, this four-person, three-season tent does boast doors on either side and two vestibules for maximum dry storage. It has a 4.6-star average rating on Amazon where it’s currently 25% off. “The four person model is large and spacious due to the spreader bar at the top. Easy to set up for one person,” writes one shopper who opted for Kelty because her last tent, which she bought in 1977, lasted so long. It weighs just under 12 pounds and offers 59 square feet of interior space.

6. Quechua Two-Second Waterproof Pop-Up Tent, $229, Decathlon

It’s hard to find a tent that you can set up faster than the aptly-named Quechua Two-Second Waterproof Pop-Up Tent. This three-season, two-person tent doesn’t discriminate against tall campers, it’s ideal for people up to 6’8, and it’s great for people who run hot. The tent’s “Fresh Technology” feature reflects the sun’s rays to keep you cool even in the hottest temperatures. But what really sets this bestseller (it has a 4.5-star rating from more than 1,100 reviews) apart is its patented Black Out technology promising 99% darkness at any time of the day. It weighs 10.4 pounds and is built to withstand wind gusts of up to 30 mph.

7. Outdoor Vitals One-Person Trekking Pole Backpacking Tent, $290, Outdoor Vitals

Weighing about as much as a pair of shoes, the Outdoor Vitals One-Person Trekking Pole Backpacking Tent is perhaps the lightest tent money can buy. Despite weighing less than two pounds, this one-person, four-season tent is made of an uber durable nylon and has multiple “storm points” and extra-long stake lines that give you serious peace of mind even in the harshest of conditions. “I had it out in a pretty big thunderstorm, and had no issues with the rain and wind,” writes one reviewer. “The tent sets up quickly, it has plenty of room for one person, and the material seems like it is very durable. I think this is going to become my go-to tent for ultralight backpacking!” The inside has a mesh pocket and two hanging loops, but with just 17 square feet of space it may not be the tent for you if you’re claustrophobic.

8. NEMO Aurora 2-Person Backpacking Tent and Footprint, $299, NEMO

If you’re looking for a lightweight two-person backpacking tent, look no further than the Nemo Aurora. This three-season tent, which comes with NEMO’s lifetime warranty, weighs just over five pounds and has 31.8 square feet of space. And because it comes with NEMO’s signature Pawprints, which protects the footprint of the tent and provides insulation, it’s perhaps the most dog-friendly tent on this list. Another fun feature is the overhead light pockets which utilize a “light-diffusing fabric to cast an even glow.”

9. Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL2, $413 (originally $550), Moosejaw

Thousands of campers swear by the three-season best-seller that is the Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL2. On Moosejaw alone it has an impressive 4.7-star average rating from 750 reviews. At just over three pounds and 29 square feet, it’s a nice compromise between an ultralight backpacking tent and a lightweight tent. Features include two doors, two awning-style vestibules, a new TipLock Tent Buckle (which makes setting it up a breeze) and 100% waterproof seams. “I took it out for a two-week backpacking trip in the mountains of Peru, and it handled the wind, rain and even snow with no issues,” says Charles Breitbart, a travel blogger and avid camper.

10. Mountain Hardwear Bridger 6 Tent, $950, Mountain Hardwear

In terms of storage, it’s hard to beat the Mountain Hardwear Bridger 6 Tent. This six-person, three-season tent has eight interior pockets, a removable gear loft and two full-size vestibules where you can stash your gear so it doesn’t get covered in dew, or worse. Designed to function as your base camp for outdoor pursuits, the Bridger 6, which weighs about 24 pounds, has handy features including two saloon-style doors, a built-in doormat and a full coverage fly. With 89 square feet of interior space and another 94 square feet of vestibule space, it can comfortably fit six.

11. Thule Approach, $2,300, Thule

While it’s easily the most expensive and heaviest (110 pounds) tent on this list, the Thule Approach is also the most comfortable and it can be used in all four seasons. This rooftop abode even comes with a dual layer mattress. It’s available in three sizes, and all of them boast a panoramic roof with skylights, lockable mounting brackets and a removable rain cover with three different modes. While it looks complex, after all it involves a ladder, it can be unpacked and set up in just three minutes.

Katie Jackson is a writer and media specialist based in Montana’s Big Sky Country. Living and working everywhere from New York to Nicaragua, Katie is no stranger to adventure. When she’s not traveling the world (or writing about it!) she’s busy chasing after a Leonberger named Zeus. Follow Katie’s travels on Instagram @katietalkstravel.

[gearproguide]

BEST BEACH TENTS OF 2023

Get ready for your next beach adventure with our comprehensive guide to the top 5 beach tents of 2023. From the Oileus X-Large 4-Person Beach Tent Sun Shelter to the WolfWise 3-4 Person Easy Up Beach Tent, we’ve reviewed the best options for both men and women, ages 18 and up. Each tent offers its own unique features, including waterproof and windproof materials, UPF protection, easy set-up, and spacious interiors. With exclusive prices starting as low as $33.99, you’re sure to find the perfect beach tent for your next trip.

OILEUS X-LARGE 4-PERSON BEACH TENT 

The Oileus X-Large 4-Person Beach Tent Sun Shelter is a portable sunshade perfect for beach trips, fishing, hiking, and camping. It is waterproof, windproof, and offers 99% UV protection. It is easy to set up and fold back in under 30 seconds.

Don’t miss out on this amazing deal! Rating 5.0, check the price and get your hand on this top rated tent.

KEY FEATURES:

Easy to set up and fold back in under 30 seconds

Waterproof and windproof

99% UV protection

OVERVIEW

This instant beach tent features an automatic patented pop-up mechanism, which makes it fast and easy to take down and fold back in under 30 seconds. The tent is made of umbrella rated 3000mm PU coating by the newest breathable 210T polyester, anti 99% harmful UV, durable floor made of 150D PE, thick 8.5mm fiberglass poles for added stability with stakes and guy rope.

CHECK PRICING

GORICH BEACH TENT, BEACH SHADE TENT FOR 3/4-5/6-7 PERSON

The Gorich Beach Tent is a sun shelter designed for families and friends to enjoy the beach in comfort and safety. It is 30% larger than other beach tents in its price range and can comfortably fit up to 3 people. The tent is easy to set, with a compact carrying bag for convenient transport. One of the best beach tents in the list.

KEY FEATURES:

Super large space

Easy to set up and carry

High-quality, silver-coated fabric for UV protection

Water-repellent design

SPECIFICATIONS

BrandGorichMaterialPolyester, FiberglassStyleEasy Set-Up TentDimensionsLxWxH: 86.6 x 59 x 48 inchesWeight3.5 PoundsFrame MaterialFiberglass, Resin, Aluminum

OVERVIEW

The Gorich beach tent is a spacious and easy-to-assemble option for beachgoers. With a large size and UPF 50+ UV protection, it offers comfort and protection for 3-4 people, one of the best beach tent for family. Made of durable polyester and fiberglass, it’s water-resistant and features 4-sided ventilation for added comfort.

CHECK PRICING

EASTHILLS OUTDOORS INSTANT SHADER EXTENDED L EASY UP BEACH TENT SUN SHELTER FOR 2-4 PERSON – EXTENDED ZIPPERED FLOOR BLUE

The Instant Shader L is a lightweight and water-resistant beach tent with a durable PE floor and a spacious interior. It features a zippered front for privacy, roll-up windows for ventilation, and four internal mesh pockets for storage. Easy to set up with included instructions and comes with a carry bag, stakes, guylines, and a 1-year warranty.

KEY FEATURES:

Easy setup with step-by-step instructions included

Lightweight and water-resistant

Zippered front for added privacy

SPECIFICATIONS

Setup Time1 minute or lessEase of UseIncludes step-by-step instructions sewn inside carry bagSpace82" W x 47" D x 50" H with a 43" front porchDurability120g PE floor and 185T polyester with UPF 50+ protectionPortabilityWeighs only 5 pounds and compact when packedWindowsThree-sided roll up windows for 360-degree views and ventilation

OVERVIEW

The Instant Shader L is a lightweight and water-resistant beach tent with a durable PE floor and a spacious interior (82″ W x 47″ D x 50″ H). It features a zippered front for privacy, roll-up windows for ventilation, and four internal mesh pockets for storage. Easy to set up with included instructions and comes with a carry bag, stakes, guylines, and a 1-year warranty.

CHECK PRICING

WOLFWISE 3-4 PERSON EASY UP BEACH TENT

The WolfWise 3-4 Person Easy Up Beach Tent is a portable and easy-to-set-up option for a day at the beach. One Person can set it up in seconds with its spring opening system. It offers a spacious interior for up to 3-4 people and even has a 47.2″ front porch. The tent also features a privacy guarantee.

KEY FEATURES:

Easy setup

Spacious internal shelter for up to 3-4 people with a 47.2″ front porch

Privacy guarantee with a zippered door and window design

SPECIFICATIONS

SpecificationDescriptionPrice$59.99 for Large, $79.99 for X-LargeBrandWolfWiseMaterialPolyester, FabricRecommended UsesBeachItem Weight6.5 PoundsDimensions84.6" L x 49.2" W x 49.2" H with a 47.2” front porch

OVERVIEW

The WolfWise 3-4 Person Easy Up Beach Tent is a great option for beachgoers looking for a portable and easy-to-set-up shelter. It features a specially designed spring opening system that allows one person to set it up in seconds and has a spacious interior of 84.6″ L x 49.2″ W x 49.2″ H with a 47.2″ front porch.

CHECK PRICING

EASTHILLS OUTDOORS INSTANT SHADER DELUXE XL BEACH TENT

The East hills Outdoors Instant Shader Deluxe XL Beach Tent offers an easy setup for 4-6 people with a 99″ wide spacious interior. UPF 50+ double coating and an extended zippered porch provide maximum sun protection and great airflow.

KEY FEATURES:

UPF 50+ protection from the sun with Dark Shelter technology

Patent-pending opening mechanism for easy setup and disassembly

Great airflow with large mesh windows and double guyot points

SPECIFICATIONS

SpecificationDescriptionMaterialPolyesterColorDark Shelter - Pacific BlueItem Weight8 PoundsRecommended UsesBeachUV ProtectionUPF 50+Size99" W x 53" D x 57" H, 53” front porch

OVERVIEW

The East hills Outdoors Instant Shader Deluxe XL Beach Tent is a spacious and easy-to-set-up sun shelter designed for families. It offers UPF 50+ sun protection and a 53″ front porch, with a patent-pending opening mechanism for quick setup and disassembly.

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[bestoutdoorgears]

Our guide to selecting the best 4-person tent to give you blissful nights under the stars, whether you're in a campsite, at a festival or in the mountains.

We’ve rounded up the best 4-person tents of all shapes and sizes to suit any outdoor adventure – and to fit most budgets. Whether you’re off into the wilderness, heading to a festival with friends or planning the perfect family camping holiday, you'll find your ideal home-from-home here.

It should go without saying that the best tents give you excellent protection from wind and rain. Just like the very best waterproof jackets, the tents we’ve featured keep you bone dry and warm in even the most challenging conditions.

As well as this, the best 4-person tents do more than just providing shelter for up to four adults. Their features, size and weight can vary massively. From light, portable, backpacking tents to huge multi-bedroom family options, different models suit different ambitions.

You’ll find a full guide to how to buy the best 4-person tent for you at the bottom of our round-up, as there's a wealth of choice here. Multiple tent designs, such as spacious dome tents, luxurious car camping shelters and tunnel tents, are available.

Every tent featured is top of its class; your choice will come down to what you want to use it for and how much you want to spend.

Camping with the family? The Marmot Limelight 4, with its two vestibules and a fast and stress-free set-up, is perfect for a week’s holiday. Alternatively, if you’re heading for the hills, you’re going to need a compact, packable option, as even the best hiking backpacks have limited capacity. A super-lightweight, one-bedroom tent, such as the MSR Zoic, won’t compromise your experience. If you’re bagging Munros in the Scottish Highlands or if you’re taking on America’s best thru-hikes, it just might be the tent for you.

Skip To Best 4 Person Tent

[slippinmickeys]

Head Canon AU Mulder and Scully as Archeologist and Scientist at a dig in ruins in the Amazon.

Anon! Thank you so much. I saw this this morning and got that rare inspiration wherein I launched myself at this, and kind of love what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it! (It is unbeta-ed)

1. The University was being cheap. That was the first thing. Piggybacking off the hard work he’d put in: years worth of toil to arrange this meticulously set-up dig. If they wanted to send a team to study advanced medical uses of the vast biome of the Amazon rainforest, they’d do far better sending this approaching medical team into the interior. His team -- his dig -- was practically on the outskirts. The forest around them had already been explored and researched, catalogued and referenced. The real biological finds -- the cures for Alzheimer’s, cancer -- would be found in the unknown, in those places even the aboriginal people hadn’t stepped. The University was being cheap, plunking in a science team on a completely separate mission with his own, just to save some cash. That was the bottom line.

If it hadn’t been so oppressively hot so early in the morning, he might not have been quite so irritated. As it was, he stood on the bank of the river and ran an already sweat-soaked handkerchief over the back of his neck, willing the putting little outboard Evinrude to chug a little more quickly upstream. It was hot and stiflingly humid, and he’d wanted to be at the dig two hours ago, before the heat of the day set in. Too late, that.

The incoming medical team -- if you could call it a team -- seemed to consist of only one person. A short-statured wisp of a woman (if the high, top-knotted messy red bun was any indication of sex) who sat low in the backseat of the approaching riverboat, surrounded by expensive-looking boxes filled with technology that probably wouldn’t operate well in the humidity. He blew an irritated raspberry and shuffled his feet in the muddy squelch of the riverbank.

The stout block of the driver hefted a rope at Mulder as they approached, which Mulder caught easily and wrapped around a nearby tree.

“Tudo vai bem?” Mulder inquired as the man cut the engine and grunted an affirmative.

The passenger stood, keeping a hand on the side of the little tin vessel, its stern fishtailing out into the current. Mulder stepped up and held out a hand, which she grasped gratefully. He pulled and she took a confident leap, landing lightly on the ground next to him.

“Dr. Mulder, I presume?” she said on a light breath, looking up at him with a small smile, having to crane her neck to do so. She had astonishingly blue eyes, a color he’d only seen once, in an ice-cave in the far north. He shook his head after a moment and realized that he was still holding her hand. He dropped it, nodding.

“I thank God, doctor, I have been permitted to see you,” she finished, quoting the journals of Henry Morton Stanley.

Mulder outright laughed. He was smitten immediately.

2. “Be careful with that!” she’d barked, as Langly handed out her equipment to a couple of waiting locals that had been working on the project for three years.

Mulder held up a calming hand.

“You’re working with archeologists, Dr. Scully,” he said softly, “my team has the gentlest hands in the Southern Hemisphere.”

She quirked one side of a grin at him even as she threw a worried look over her shoulder at her equipment.

“Come on,” he said, giving her sleeve a gentle tug, “let me show you around.”

He showed her the latrine first, watching her face carefully for a reaction, but she just nodded nonchalantly and kept walking. Then the mess, and the tent where she’d be working when she wasn’t in the field.

“And this,” he said, taking her to an empty patch of jungle, “is where your bunk will be. My apologies that it’s not set up. There’s no female barracks and we were told you wouldn’t be here until next week. The radio communique we got this morning informing us of your arrival came as something of a surprise.”

“I’m eager to get started,” was all she said in response.

Mulder walked on and she followed him.

“I’m afraid the only empty cot is in my tent,” he said sheepishly. “Dr. Byers headed home for a funeral last month and we’re not expecting him back until March. I’ll be sure yours is set up right away, but takes some time as we have to build a platform first. Have you done jungle field work before?”

“I flew here from Borneo,” she said. “It’s not a problem.” With that, she flipped back the tent’s outer curtain and ducked inside like she owned the place.

She never did move out.

3. Scully’s father had been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer and hadn’t lived long enough to see her graduate from medical school. She would not let it happen to anyone else if she could help it, she’d said. She worked like a woman possessed.

Against all advice, she would march into the jungle alone and be gone for days at a time. When her grad students finally arrived, they couldn’t keep up with her, and she’d frequently leave them at base camp to work on the equipment (which, Mulder was not really that pleased to report, did have a tendency to malfunction in the miasmic humidity and heat of the Amazon basin. It wasn’t, he admitted, that easy always being right). Occasionally she could be talked into taking one of the local hires with her, but she felt bad taking workers that Mulder’s project funding paid for, and anyway, they weren’t trained in her science, she would tell him.

“I wish you wouldn’t go out on your own,” he murmured into the cup of her ear one night, a trickle of sweat running from her hairline and onto the tip of his nose.

She turned on the cot, a feat, considering its fairly narrow dimensions, and pressed her forehead against his, the flimsy pillow damp beneath them both.

“I’m careful,” she whispered, and threw a leg over him, her dewy mons pressing into the naked flesh of his thigh.

“It’s not safe-” he began to protest, but she’d captured his lips with her own and he fell headlong into the lush heat of her -- whatever concern that had been on the tip of his tongue lost to her rapacious mouth as it trailed a slick path down his torso and latched, vitae and greedy, around the rigid length of him. It was bliss. She was bliss. If he had ever thought he knew love, he was wrong.

4. The whole camp knew they were together. Her tent had become a kind of catchall storage area, and it’s not like nylon canvas could contain the breathy moans of their pleasure. That and she’d just plunk down and sit on his lap whenever the only camp chair available around the mess tent was the one with the tricky leg.

Anyway, what happened in the field stayed in the field, unless it was up for peer review.

“Are you guys going to get married or something?” Mulder’s newest grad student asked one night when the air had actually cooled enough to take the edge off of everybody’s temper. Beer had arrived with their latest resupply and Frohike had syphoned off some LN2 to cool it and it was frosty and rich and maybe the best thing Mulder had ever tasted aside from Scully’s skin.

Scully, from atop his lap, merely shrugged and took a leisurely sip of brew. Mulder pictured it sliding down her throat, the cold blooming into her belly and he dry swallowed, then leaned forward and kissed her shoulder.

“God, don’t be such a newb,” drawled Langly, pressing his glasses into his face compulsively.

Mulder knew what Langly meant. They’d all seen their share of field romances that fizzled the second your boots stepped back onto University soil, though something about Scully felt different; the way their minds worked together, the way she felt in his arms.

“I’m married to the job, bro,” Scully said, but reached back and squeezed the skin just above Mulder’s hip. He kissed her shoulder again.

“D’you tell her about the helo data?” Frohike asked, looking at Mulder from his own camp chair. The little man sat low and back in it with his shoulders hunched up, and Mulder thought he looked a bit like a toad, or an ogre guarding a burial mound.

They’d gotten the funding from a billionaire alumni to fly a helicopter over the whole of the basin in this sector of the Amazon, using light detection radar. Basically, it shot out billions of lasers as it flew overhead that were able to penetrate the rainforest’s canopy and map the landscape below.

“You had a chance to analyze it?” Scully asked, craning her head to look at him squarely.

He nodded, smiling. He’d been saving this to tell her especially.

“And you were able to combine it with the satellite data?” she asked, excited.

He nodded again. “Sóis,” he said, smiling. The settlements they’d found took their name from the Portuguese word for ‘suns.’ They were round villages, all with remarkably similar layouts, with elongated mounds circling a central plaza. When seen from above, they looked like the rays of the sun. “Pre-Columbian.”

She jumped off his lap, spilling half her beer in the process. It dripped down the bare skin of her knee, unnoticed.

“Are you kidding?!” her excitement made him giddy.

“It gets better,” he said, and she cocked her head, waiting for him to elaborate. “They’re laid out like the cosmos,” he said, giving her a full-watt smile as he rose out of the chair to stand in front of her. “We’re already plotted three different villages, all laid out in the exact design of southern constellations.” Her mouth dropped open. “Canis Major, Hydra, and Crux Australis.”

She launched herself into his arms, practically squealing -- something he’d never heard her do -- and he held her, looking around at the smiling faces of the other scientists in the mess. The find would make his career, and her excitement for him touched him profoundly.

5. Martim, one of their local hires, came careening into camp, breathing so hard he had to put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. His face was a mask of anxiety and fear. Mulder felt dread bloom in his gut, and he dropped what he was doing -- actually dropped the computer tablet he was holding to the wet forest floor -- and ran over to the man, grasping him firmly by the shoulder.

“Martim?” he said, “O que aconteceu?”

“Dr. Scully,” the man heaved, his accent thick. He could still scarcely breathe.

“Where is she?” Mulder didn’t have the emotional wherewithal to translate from English. “What happened?”

“Hurt,” the man wheezed, “she’s hurt.”

It took nearly thirty minutes to assemble a rescue party, and they had to let Martim rest for a bit and give him food and water before he could take them back out into the jungle where he’d left Scully. Mulder was beside himself by the time they finally started off, impatient as a recalcitrant child, sick to his stomach with worry.

It took three hours to hack into the area where she’d been doing her search, and a further twenty minutes of calling her name before they heard her weak call back.

Mulder raced ahead without thought to obstacle or danger, and skidded to a halt when he was practically on top of her. She was leaning back against the base of a large tree, holding onto her right ankle, which she had elevated on her left knee. There was a length of rope beside her and a climbing harness around her butt and waist.

“Scully,” he panted, falling to his knees beside her.

She smiled at him weakly, her face pale and sweaty.

“I think it’s broken,” she hissed, pointing at her ankle.

“What happened?” Mulder asked, as the rest of the rescue party trundled in behind him, pulling off backpacks and other equipment. Someone handed Scully a bottle of water.

“I saw a fungus I’d never seen before growing on the bark midway up this tree,” she said after guzzling half a bottle of Arrowhead. “The carabiner failed on my descent.”

“Oh, Scully,” Mulder said, reaching out to tuck a damp lock of titian hair behind her ear.

“I got the sample, though,” she said with a tired, but victorious glint in her eye.

They weren’t back into camp until well after nightfall.

Mulder picked her up from the field stretcher and carried her into their tent, depositing her gently onto her cot. Langly came in behind him and handed him two fresh cold packs before ducking back out without a word. Mulder popped them to activate the chemicals and pressed them gingerly on either side of Scully’s ankle.

“I’m going to call for a medical evac,” he said quietly.

“Don’t you dare,” she said, grabbing at his hand and squeezing it. “Mulder, don’t you fucking dare.”

“Scully, we’ve got to follow protocol here,” he said, trying not to sound put out.

“Do not take me out of the field, Mulder. Promise me.”

“Scully-”

“Promise me!”

“How will you even work?” he said a little desperately.

“It doesn’t need setting or surgery,” she said, gesturing to her injured limb.

“How do you know that without an X-ray?”

“I’m a medical doctor,” she said, by way of explanation, “I can secure it with supplies we have on hand. I can work from my cot for a few days and make crutches out of tree limbs. Please, Mulder,” she said, and he could feel himself relenting, even if it would get him in trouble. “Please.”

He sighed, and she smiled up at him weakly, though he didn’t say a thing.

“Thank you,” and closed her eyes, relaxing into her pillow, “thank you.”

Six weeks later the canvas of their tent ripped back and the greenish glow of leaf-filtered sunlight shone into the murky, damp depths. Mulder rose from where he was resting on his cot and looked to the entrance. Scully stood there, armpit resting on her improvised crutch, her hair a rich autumn frizz around her head. Her eyes were wide and shining, and there was something incandescent about her in that moment -- an energy pulsing from her that lit his soul from within.

“Scully-” he started, but she held up a hand to silence him. Her hands were shaking.

“I found it,” she said, her voice breathy with the triumph of discovery, “Mulder, I found it.”

[richincolor]

Ahead of Latinx Heritage Month, here are four books by Latinx authors we read and loved this year!

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado Holiday House || Group Discussion

Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat.

People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it's hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn't help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.

But there's one person who's always in Charlie's corner: her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing--he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her? UGHHH. Everything is now officially a MESS.

A sensitive, funny, and painful coming-of-age story with a wry voice and tons of chisme, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves. -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee Quill Tree Books || Review

Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe.

When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page.

In this charming novel by Emery Lee, Noah will have to choose between following his own rules for love or discovering that the most romantic endings are the ones that go off script. -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Simone Breaks All the Rules by Debbie Rigaud Scholastic || Review

Simone Thibodeaux's life is sealed in a boy-proof container.

Her strict Haitian immigrant parents enforce no-dating rules and curfews, and send Simone to an all-girls school. As for prom? Simone is allowed to go on one condition: her parents will select her date (a boy from a nice Haitian immigrant family, obviously).

Simone is desperate to avoid the humiliation of the set up -- especially since she's crushing on a boy she knows her parents wouldn't approve of. With senior year coming to a close, Simone makes a decision. She and her fellow late-bloomer friends will create a Senior Year Bucket List of all the things they haven't had a chance to do. On the list: kissing a boy, sneaking out of the house, skipping class (gasp!), and, oh yeah -- choosing your own prom date.

But as the list takes on a life of its own, things get more complicated than Simone expected. She'll have to discover which rules are worth breaking, and which will save her from heartbreak. -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Fire with Fire by Destiny Soria HMH Books for Young Readers || Review

Dani and Eden Rivera were both born to kill dragons, but the sisters couldn’t be more different. For Dani, dragon slaying takes a back seat to normal high school life, while Eden prioritizes training above everything else. Yet they both agree on one thing: it’s kill or be killed where dragons are concerned.

Until Dani comes face-to-face with one and forges a rare and magical bond with him. As she gets to know Nox, she realizes that everything she thought she knew about dragons is wrong. With Dani lost to the dragons, Eden turns to the mysterious and alluring sorcerers to help save her sister. Now on opposite sides of the conflict, the sisters will do whatever it takes to save the other. But the two are playing with magic that is more dangerous than they know, and there is another, more powerful enemy waiting for them both in the shadows. -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

[brattyfics]

“I don’t love you anymore” | Part 2

Summary: After making it clear that he does not believe in divorce, Miguel’s wife is forced to take matters into her own hands. The previous installment can be found here. I used the following prompt lines: “How long are you going to keep this up?’ “Yeah, I remember the drill.” “Do you even know what you’ve done to me?” | Part Three |

Pairing: Miguel Galindo x Reader

Warnings: Angst, Dark-ish Miguel, domestic violence/abuse.

Word Count: 2.4K

A/N: First of all, thank you to @my-little-wolfe​ for bouncing ideas back and forth with me, and convincing me to resolve this. A lot of you wanted the reader to have redemption. This is my idea of that. It’s not what many of you would have predicted, but it’s the most realistic version of events I saw happening. I’d love hear what you all think about how things shook out, let me know :)

In the backseat of a sleek, black Mercedes s550, you sat on cushy leather seats. Clay red passed by in a blur through the tinted windows. The desert reminded you of how you felt inside; desolate. Spotty patches of green freckled the dry dirt, small but persistent life signs despite the harsh conditions. 

Nestor sat in front of you, eyes glued to the road ahead with the driver to his left. Next to you in the backseat sat your husband, Miguel. None of you dared to speak, save for Miguel asking for the ETA. Everyone knew a few simple words had the potential to spark a flame between the two of you. Almost a month had passed since your marriage had been irreparably damaged. You confronted Miguel about his infidelity. He made his position on divorce clear. You were no longer under any delusions of a happy or at the very least amicable ending. 

Security around the house had doubled. Multiple guards were with you at almost all times, inside or outside of the house. The only time you got a semblance of privacy was when you locked yourself in one of the guest bedrooms. He always sent someone to return you to your shared bedroom at night, but you were grateful for any time away from him. You spent dark, lonely nights on opposite sides of your California King Bed. The distance between you was not only physical. Besides a simple 'yes' or 'no' when necessary, you didn't speak to Miguel. He had you temporarily trapped physically, that much was obvious, but you refused to let him have the satisfaction of capturing your spirit.

The only reason you sat next to him in the confined space was Santo Padre's annual charity event. Miguel was obligated to attend, and by extension, so were you. Like the good little wife you had been groomed to become, you dressed and accessorized to impress. You wore a designer cocktail dress, large diamond stud earrings, and a full face of makeup. All of it was to distract people from the real picture. Your reflection reminded you of how things used to be. The bells and whistles were expected of Mrs. Galindo. What you couldn't dress up were your eyes. Gone were the twinkles that once shone bright. They had been replaced by marble--hard and pretty but ornamental.

"How long are you going to keep this up?" You kept your eyes trained on the desert as your husband spoke. He should've already learned to respect you weren't talking to him. Out of your periphery, you saw Miguel make quick work of his sunglasses, stashing them in the case. "You're going to have to talk to me sometime." He used the same condescending tone that made you want to throw things at his head. Your fingernails dug into your palm as you resisted the urge to spew venom. Stop talking to me, asshole.

It was Miguel who struck first, strong fingers gripping your chin tightly. You jerked back at the invasion of personal space, swatting at his hand as if it were a pesky fly. He took your fiery reaction as a challenge, snatching you forward by your neck. You clawed at his hand, but his grip remained firm. Nestor eyed the two of you in the rearview mirror. He knew better than anyone how vicious Miguel could be when provoked. The driver's gaze didn't stray once from the road. They were trained to protect Miguel and if things got ugly, even Nestor would not step in to protect you.

"I know the drill…" His grip loosened when your eyes met. "Don't worry. I won't embarrass you in front of your colleagues, Mr. Galindo." Your shared last name was said with a sneer. Miguel didn't appreciate the sass, but he finally let you go, recoiling back into the seat. He shrugged his shoulders, adjusting his suit jacket while you rubbed your throat. You had been wheezing moments earlier, and his first priority was to preen.

If looks could kill, Miguel Galindo would be six feet under. 

"Do you even know what you've done to me?" You growled out. The accusatory tone had both men in the front seat on edge. With bated breath, Nestor watched Miguel casually pick up his phone. The cartel boss tapped at the touch screen as if you didn't even exist. 

It all happened in a blur. 

Your hands clenched into fists, and then they were flying, raining down blows everywhere. The car jerked, then swerved, and eventually pulled over. Angry red patches littered Miguel's skin where your fists made contact. At one point, he had you pinned down in the seat. The entire thing was like an out of body experience. As much as you wanted to stop, you couldn't control yourself. He was whisked off to another car by one of the guards, leaving behind a trail of buttons and blood on the nude interior. Nestor claimed the driver's seat, riding you around in circles while waiting for you to calm down. You were hysterical, batting the bulletproof glass repeatedly and yanking wildly on the childproof looks. It took hours. In the end, your knuckles were bloody and bruised, throat raw from yelling.

For the first time since you got married, you slept alone.

Several days passed without Miguel returning home. You didn't care if he was across the border or down the street at his mistresses' house. He could take an extended vacation to hell for all you cared. All you cared about was using the time alone to your advantage.

Miguel had carefully selected four guards to stay behind and watch over you. You didn't know any of them well, and that was on purpose. Since your first falling out, Miguel had gotten paranoid about you escaping. Anyone he thought had a soft spot for you was banned from the house. What Miguel didn't consider was that you could run circles around the new guys. You ran the household as normal, keeping them busy with errands and the occasional household chore. You were sure no one suspected anything. Plus, it allowed you the time and privacy you needed to execute your plan.

You received a call an hour earlier that let you know the plan could proceed as planned. Miguel could be home at any moment, and you had no more time to waste. Your purse was packed to the brim with essentials-- travel-sized toiletries, underwear, and wads of cash. You couldn't even fit a change of clothes, but you would have to make due.

With one last glance around what had been your shared bedroom, you made peace with never seeing it or him again. 

"I need you to take me to the mall." You instructed one of the guards as you made the trek down the stairs.

"Mrs. Galindo, I don't think—-" You paused at the bottom of the steps, cutting your eyes at him. The guard, Rick, was unsure of which order to follow. Miguel didn't want you out without pre-approval, but you were the one in front of him saying differently. 

"I wasn't asking." He didn't look convinced, looking over his shoulder nervously for back up from one of the other guards. "I have necessities to pick up. Do you want to be the one to explain why I don't have what I need to my husband?" 

"Mr. Galindo said—"

"I say." Your hands found your hips, preparing to dig in for an argument. Anxious energy bubbled up in your belly as another guard, Brian, approached. You could tell by the look on his face his answer would be no, so you spoke before he could. "I didn't want to get into details, but since you're determined to embarrass me, I'll just say it…" You rolled your eyes and crossed your arms for good measure, looking every bit the part of a spoiled brat. "I'm tired of fighting with my husband, okay? I want to pick up a gift for when he comes home, and I need it to be nice."

That did the trick. They all knew very well what gift was code for. What could a woman possibly get for a man that already had everything? Lingerie. 

Rick and Brian quickly discussed it with the others, and soon enough, you were in the car. The other two stayed behind to keep watch of the house, a decision they'd all regret soon enough. You spent the entirety of the car ride reviewing your plan from start to end, step by step. Any potential roadblocks that popped up, you had a tentative solution for.

Your heart beat intensely in your chest as the large building came into view. Each step brought you closer to your new life, to freedom. Slowing outside the store, you turned to face your guards with a sweet smile. "Do you really have to follow me everywhere?" Nods in the affirmative were your only response. You made a face.

"We'll wait for you inside, ma'am. You'll be able to shop privately." Brian gestured for you to step inside. You expected as much so it didn't bother you.

"Thank you." 

A saleswoman greeted you as soon as she saw you, her face lighting up like a Christmas tree. Like everyone else, she knew who your husband was and that your presence could mean a big commission. You declined politely, eyes scanning the store for the woman you had come to see.  

Ariana turned the corner at the perfect time, appearing as a beacon of light. She had been one of your best friends growing up, but over time you grew apart. She had her hand in the pot of illegal activities in and around Santo Padre, with Miguel's oversight, of course. You would never have thought the shoplifting pre-teen she had once been would climb the underworld ranks to be in a position to save your life.

Tears welled in your eyes as you hugged. "It's okay." She whispered in your ear, patting your back gently. "Smile." She instructed before pulling away. 

You shopped the store as if nothing was amiss, picking out different merchandise. Eventually, you separated, Ari sneaking off to the dressing rooms while you approached your guards. Your breath quickened at the scowl on Brian's face. 

"All the stress eating has finally caught up to me." You laughed, but he remained stone-faced. "I need to be measured." You gestured over your shoulder to the dressing room. "It'll only take a few minutes." You did your best not to overthink each step you took, feeling his intense glare on your back.

Once out of his eyesight, you bypassed the dressing rooms, choosing to step inside the door marked 'Employees Only.' Ariana waited for you there, shoving a full backpack into your arms. 

"Everything you will need is in there: a new ID and a passport. I even got a hold to a social security number for you. Memorize the information on your paperwork. You don't want to get caught up over something stupid."

You trembled as you processed the information, trying your hardest to breathe in and out deeply.

"Here's a set of keys. The silver Camry is parked directly across from the stairway on level three. The car's clean, registered with insurance and everything so you don't have to worry about being stopped. It has a full tank, and that should last you 600 miles if you're even going that far..." You adjusted the backpack on your back, squeezing the handles of your handbag extra tight. "...There's a cooler with a couple of waters and sandwiches so you won't have to stop." The large handbag hit the floor with a thud. You clasped her hands in your own to stop her rambling. 

"Thank you." She swallowed hard, and this time tears welled up in her eyes. "Don't worry, okay? No matter what happens, you did everything you could for me. I'll never be able to repay or thank you enough. I know you're risking a lot..." She shook her head, silencing you.

"You're worth it. Just do me a favor: live a happy life and never come back."

With one last hug, you were off, gaining a head start in the race against El Diablo.

You knew Miguel inside and out--how he would react to the news, and how he would respond. The Galindo Cartel had eyes and ears everywhere. Gas stations, airports, train stations, bus stations were all danger zones. All it would take is a single phone call for you to be caught. He would send men out to scour the city, figuring you couldn't have gotten far. While they wasted their time above ground, you'd be on the move underground.

Miguel would never expect you to use his tunnels to escape. When you had gotten married, he handed over a packet of papers. Among them were resources, numbers you could call, people you could trust if something ever happened to him, and you needed to get out. Also, among the papers were maps of the tunnels. They were hard to make sense of at first, but you studied them relentlessly. One wrong turn could spell disaster, send you in the wrong direction and right back into his arms but you had faith in your abilities. 

Besides human error, there was the issue of danger in the tunnels. People associated with him (and some not) used the tunnels to have meetings between shadowy figures or cross between California and Mexico. Smugglers used them to transport El Diablo's heroin. You could run into someone who knew you or worse someone who didn't. Without your husband's protection, you were just a lone woman making a long, perilous journey. It was entirely possible you'd meet your demise, and it'd have nothing to do with Miguel.

There was a very slim chance you'd make it out alive. If you were lucky, you'd eventually make it to the great state of Louisiana. You had friends there that would take you by boat to Mississippi. From there, you’d drive another car down to Florida. If you made it that far, you'd take the risk of getting on a plane. You’d fly to Europe where it would be easier for you to travel between countries. 

No matter where your journey ended, it would be well worth it. You wouldn’t live under Miguel's thumb any longer.

GENERAL TAGLIST

@WOAHITSLUCYYLU @BRIANNAB1234 @SHEESHGIVEMEABREAK @BREAKINGNEWSIN-NO-ONEASKED @ANGELREYESGIRL @BLESSEDBOO @GLIMMERGLITTERGIRL @APANTHERINMYPASTLIFE @BROWNSUGARCOFFY @MARVELMAREE @STARRYNITE7114 @SCUZMUNKIE

MIGUEL TAGLIST

@thesandbeneathmytoes

PART TWO REQUESTS

@blacvenus @myakai13 @losolvidad0s @my-little-wolfe @karensraisns @krysiewithak @langiinspirations @veryfastspeedz @stitchesbystults @itskiranbitch @fanficfavesofthephoenixfangirl @thisobssessionofmine

[echo-three-one]

Whatever It Takes

Alex relives the old days as he single-handedly embarks on a mission to help local German Militia regain their village from the hands of Augustus. But he seemed a little distracted. I wonder why.

Previous Chapter : Roach - A Walk to Remember

Chapter 7 to another story made by Ray (echo-three-one) Comments and Reviews appreciated! I hope you enjoy! Love you all ❤️

"Just Like Old Times"

"Alex"

Task Force 141

1 km East of A Local Militia Settlement, Germany

"Guten Morgen. Hallo." Alex muttered as the plane slowly descended toward his drop off area. He was readying his accent for the negotiation. A few more walks and he'll be on potential enemy territory or ally territory, depending how well he seals the deal. For the whole duration of the flight, he cleared his head on Samantha, how she has no clue about him, and focused on his new task. He was confident he'd get this one right, as this was his playing field. The CIA days were almost nostalgic as he plopped his metal foot on the ground and signaled the chopper goodbye.

Leading small armies to help create forces to counter terrorism. That was his role in the Special Activities Division of the CIA. He was Kate Laswell's favorite when it comes to these kinds of activities and he's confident enough that he could convince them to fight.

The walk was long and quiet, no one was around, most of Alex's trails were just forest upon forest upon forest. He started heading to the sound of the water, and immediately spotted four men, armed and possibly his ticket inside the settlement. Taking a deep breath he emerged from the forest and greeted the gentlemen.

"Hello. Does anyone here know anyone named Blitz?" Alex asked in fluent german. The four of them pointed their guns directly at him and he quickly dropped his bag and raised his hands showing surrender.

"No no. I'm here to help." He kicked the bag as it started to pour out heavy grenadier weapons and bullets. One of them grabbed a radio and called the base.

"What is your name?" he asked.

"Call me Alex." he replied with a grin. The next thing he knew is that he was being tied and escorted to the village. He didn't mind, it's always normal for them to be cautious, especially when facing an unknown person.

They trod the dense forestry until they got to a small settlement buzzing with activity.

Alex found himself seated on a small wooden table, his bag of weapons in front of him while Blitz slowly stepped out of the shadows. Blitz was the leader of the said settlement. He has a pale white skin and almost bald hair, his brethren surrounded him, guns pointed at Alex.

"What brings you to this little town, Alex?" he asked. 

"Augustus." he replied confidently, all the other brothers whispered with each other.

"Shhh!" he silenced the group. "What about him?"

"I want answers from him and I need your help." 

~

Alex took a sip of their popular soup recipe, they were all gathered by the campfire outside but Blitz wanted to talk to him in private.

"Augustus, has done a lot of bad things in our village. He has slaughtered our animals, stolen some of our men and worst of all, he took away our village." he frowned.

"My wife and kids, they are still there… He's using them as shields so your heavy weapons have no use to win them back." he pushed the bag back to him.

"I still have friends who can help. If you're willing to lend us your strength." Blitz looked concerned at Alex's eagerness.

"Tell me, why do you want this Augustus man so bad?" he asked, his eyes reflected the little burn they had on their campfire.

"He's our only hope to save a lot of people," he replied.

"Good. Join us later for our plans. If we are able to evacuate my people, we can have time to play with your toys." he smiled and Alex nodded. Tomorrow, the 141 is going to have Augustus for interrogation.

~

"Don't get your hopes too high, Alex. I don't want to live waiting for uncertainty. I'm done with that." Samantha's words hit him like a brick. Alex peeked at the scope and took a general sweep of the view looking for possible hostiles. It's been months since they last met and if she's true to her word and lives a normal life, she must have someone else looking for her right now, someone else she currently loves and he just had to suck it up when his suspicions were to be true.

He had his chance to tell her everything back at the infirmary but seeing her smile like that made him hesitate. Bringing back memories of him would just cause him pain, like what Maxine felt when she heard her name. And he didn't want her hurt, he just wanted her back.

He started to crumple her letter as he fished it from his pocket. It was inside the ziploc he had to protect from the rain, but now he just wanted to forget. He had been hurt many times in the past days that he couldn't handle facing her anymore. The feeling that he isn't reciprocated the way he expected was pushing him down.

'Don't you dare forget about me.' he sighed. 

He wished it would be the same as last time. She rejected him at first but convinced herself to give him a chance the next day, but even with Maxine badgering her about him, it didn't seem to work.

"There they go Alex. The 6 am supply drop." Blitz whispered over comms. The plan was easy: Augustus supplies a lot of boxes to the base. They contain food and weapons stolen from farms or delivered to them from their higher leaders. This is the opening where most of their forces carry boxes, Anja, Blitz's wife, would lead all their members to a small tunnel they built in cases of invasion. Once everyone is out and accounted for, we will barge in and surround them, taking back what's rightfully theirs.

It's also important that most forces will focus on the northern ridge as that was the place where they came from before they invaded, and Blitz believes that a bigger base is situated there. Alex quickly relays this intel to the Task Force and reconnaissance has since begun.

"Ready, Alex?" Blitz asked one last time, holding their guns.

"Let's go." he said as they slowly creeped towards the entrance.

Alex's fingers gently felt the trigger through his gloves, he was alone with new found friends and he's not going to let Augustus slide past his hands. This has to end now. For Samantha.

For Samantha, who doesn't recognize him anymore, those days in Brazil were Alex's best days as a normal person. He got to experience living full of love for a while and he got into it. He liked the idea.

One huge explosion on an open area inside the settlement. They were smart, they're reclaiming the base so they didn't destroy anything in there. They just set out a warning.

"Alex! These weapons are top-notch!" One of the soldiers he's with roared, dashing across the field and started firing rounds. 

Alex quickly covered himself by an empty barrel, peeking with his sights and firing at the tangos who were defending, slowly pressing themselves inward onto the base.

"Brothers! Let's take back what's rightfully ours!" Blitz yelled in their language, followed by a collective "Ja!" from the men.

Enemies scattered, those with weapons slung on their shoulders immediately retaliated while some of them retreated far back into the village. Alex took note of this and shot runners when he could.

"Brothers, they're going to reinforce themselves with weapons!" Blitz yelled, commanding the rest of the forces to flank, putting pressure on the back exit where most of them could retreat.

"Alex, come with me. Let's get Augustus." The leader commanded and Alex nodded, fighting their way inside the central tent. It was heavily guarded and the duo cautiously made their way in shooting hostiles one barrage of bullets at a time. By the time they made it in a huge chunk of metal caught their attention, it had some sort of satellite components and it hummed dangerously.

Alex and Blitz successfully entered the base but it was Augustus-less, more bad news were reported as their weapons cache was already empty.

"Scheisse!!" Blitz cursed loudly as the village fell quiet. They had won their fight back, but at what cost? Alex consoled the leader and turned to the machine which hummed louder.

"We gotta get out of here!" he yelled, escorting Blitz to the door. But it was too late, the machine whirred and released some sort of small scale EMP blast, forcing their comms to ring in static followed by a loud side effect of ear ringing and minor dizziness.

Alex felt himself drop on the floor, trying his hardest to remove his earpiece. The feeling was mind bending, the ringing didn't stop and it felt piercing straight to the brain, unlike standard military EMP grenades, these lasted longer and rang louder. Whatever this contraption was, he needed it to be destroyed.

With the last of his strength, Alex covered his already bleeding ears and dragged Blitz outside the tent, threw a grenade and hid to safety. It was a slow and steady action but as soon as the machine blasted into pieces, the ringing stopped and everyone started to recover.

The group slowly recovered and got up. Some of Blitz's men began puking as their minds were assaulted by the big machine. If this is one of Nero's big plans, then the team must prepare. Alex still pondered how these blasts weren't familiar on his previous mission and how they could potentially tie to the missing person cases that continued to spread across America.

Alex was afraid of what this thing is capable of and he must report this immediately to the rest of the squad, who he thinks is making their way inside Augustus' base just beyond the mountains behind them.

Next Chapter : Experiment 001

@enderio

@samatedeansbroccoli

@whimsywispsblog

@smokeywhalee

@beemybee

@ricinbach

NOTIFICATION SQUAD, MY BELOVED

[miracleonice87]

Say You Won’t Let Go

a Sidney Crosby wedding series

Part Three

a/n: read part one here and part two here. Part four will be the wedding and probably also the wrap-up! again, please pardon any French errors — relying heavily on Google Translate and my singular conversational French class.

summary: rehearsal dinner with some sweet Sid and Mario.

warnings: mention of deceased father. social alcohol use. otherwise, so damn fluffy it’s practically cotton candy.

_____

The rehearsal had thankfully gone off without a hitch and also without too many further comments from Nate and Mike, our personal peanut gallery. Even Geno, Tanger and Marc behaved themselves, and the kids were all champs. After two full walk-throughs of the ceremony, Sidney and I both felt comfortable enough with the flow to wrap things up and head back to Mario’s place for dinner and drinks with our wedding party and family.

When he and I arrived back at Mario’s, we walked hand in hand through the house and out the back door to the yard, where the tent was set up with all our tables and chairs for tomorrow, flowers and decor only along one long table in the center where our smaller group would be eating tonight. The fairy lights strung through the boxwood bushes lining the yard and also wrapped around the eucalyptus and peonies under the tent gave a soft, dreamy glow to the space. The decorators, under Nathalie’s careful direction, had made my vision come to life and far exceeded my expectations. Our guests themselves seemed to be enchanted by the decor as they pointed out different aspects of the set up, finding their way to their seats.

I stood still on the patio for several seconds in complete awe, my hand falling limp at my side when Sidney moved forward, expecting me to come along with him. He turned back toward me, then looked at the ethereal scene laid out in front of us. He chuckled as he grasped my hand once more.

“I take it you like what they’ve done with the place,” Sidney teased, kissing the side of my head. I simply nodded.

Nathalie emerged from the house just then and wrapped her hands around my shoulders.

“So... what do you think?” she asked, sounding a bit nervous.

“Tantine... (auntie)” I whispered, turning to face her. “This is so perfect. I couldn’t have pictured anything better! Thank you.” I hugged her tightly. She cradled my head as she returned my embrace.

“Oh, sweetheart, you deserve it,” she insisted, pulling back and kissing my cheek. “Only the best for our girl.” We both watched tears well in each others’ eyes as we held hands for a moment, Mario walking behind Nathalie and gently placing his hands on her hips as he smiled at both of us.

“Well, shall we? I have a few words I want to say before we eat,” Mario said. I inhaled dramatically, making Sidney and Nathalie laugh as the four of us made our way to the long candlelit table.

“I hope you brought that hankie I asked for, mon chérie, (my dear)” I told Sidney, squeezing his hand as I leaned my shoulder into Mario’s chest playfully. “I have a feeling I’m going to need it.”

We four made our way to the center of the tent where the rest of our guests now sat, chatter and laughter floating through the night air. When we reached the table, Sidney pulled out my chair and tucked me into my seat, as Mario cleared his throat, a hush falling over our family and closest friends.

“Can I have everyone’s attention, just for a minute?” Mario asked gently, taking hold of the glass of champagne at his place setting that matched the other flutes dotting the glittering gold table runner. Sidney draped an arm easily across the back of my chair and I leaned back into him to look up at Mario beside me.

“I just wanted to say a few words ahead of our dinner this evening, but more importantly, ahead of tomorrow’s events. First of all, thank you all so much for being here. I’m really thrilled to be throwing this celebration for Juliette and Sidney, and you all are such an important part of this as the people who walk alongside them every day. I know it means so much to them to have you all here. I also... I just want to say how proud I am of Juliette and of the woman she has become. She is my only niece, and that has been special enough, but she has really been more of a daughter to me, to us.” Mario stopped to clear his throat and glanced down at the table, and I felt my chest tighten as I looked on.

“As those of you who are here tonight know... we lost Juliette’s father, my brother Robert, unexpectedly when she was twelve years old. Robert, he... he loved Juliette more than anything he ever loved his whole life.”

I felt tears fall from my lashes at last as Sidney pulled me closer to him, kissing my cheekbone softly. He tucked the aforementioned handkerchief into my palm with his free hand and I whispered my thanks as I dabbed at the corners of my eyes.

Mario’s voice was quivering as he continued.

“He would always say that she was his ‘cadeau le plus précieux’ — his most precious gift. And that’s what Juliette has been to us, too. A precious gift. And... I know that that’s what she is to Sidney as well. I see it in the way he treats her every day. He truly treasures her. I’ve known Sidney for a long time now, and I know what a remarkable man he is. I can tell you that Robert would be so pleased that Sidney has taken over as the most important man in his daughter’s life, the person who cares for her and protects her. It’s a big responsibility, and I truly cannot think of anyone more perfect for the role.”

I squeezed Sidney’s thigh as he dropped his head and sniffled. Mario smiled at us both, as did Sidney’s parents seated across from us. Trina reached for Sidney’s other hand and squeezed it once as he blinked back tears.

“Juliette, Sid — I can’t wait to watch the two of you continue to grow together, now as husband and wife. I’m so grateful, as we all are, to be able to bear witness to your love. So, let’s all raise our glasses,” he instructed. All of us at the table did as he requested, holding our flutes skyward.

“Cheers to Sidney and Juliette — two precious gifts — and the love they share. Love you guys,” Mario finished, a round of “salud” and applause sounding as I clinked my glass with Sidney’s, sharing a quick kiss with him before we both stood.

I threw my arms around Mario’s neck, hugging tightly and delighting in his fatherly embrace.

“I love you, oncle,” I whispered. “Thank you so much. For everything. You mean the world to me.” Mario breathed a solemn chuckle and replied, “Oh, ma petite princesse, I love you, too. You truly are a gift to me.” We held each other for another moment before pulling away with soft smiles and damp eyes, Sidney following by leaning in to hug and exchange words of gratitude with Mario.

Once we were all seated again, dinner and more drinks were served as we all fell into gleeful conversation, sharing stories from Sidney’s and my childhoods and also from our time as a couple. Our families and friends rotated retelling tales of the moments they each knew Sidney and I would be together forever, warming both of us and also occasionally making us blush. We talked of our Italian honeymoon itinerary and Sidney’s and the other hockey players’ plans for the remainder of the summer, and we reviewed once more the men’s and the women’s schedules for tomorrow.

Eventually, long after the plates had been cleared, our guests began to rise from their chairs, saying their goodbyes. Nate and Mike were staying at Mario’s with Sidney and of course Austin. Nathalie and her girls, along with Taylor, were coming back to my house with me for the night. Our couple friends with children had opted to head back to the hotel nearby where we had booked a block of rooms.

After hugging Troy and Trina and excitedly promising to see them tomorrow, I planned to make my way back inside and prepare to leave soon. Instead, Sidney grabbed my forearm gently, spinning me toward him as he smirked.

“Not so fast,” he giggled, the drinks in his system having turned his cheeks pink and his eyes sparkling.

“What are you doing, goofball?” I asked, noticing that Mario was the only other person left under the tent. He simply winked at me and carried his highball glass away with him, through the door and into the house.

“Well, the DJ’s all set up, but he has to do a sound check before he leaves... I thought maybe we could help him out,” Sidney suggested, smirking at me with his palms extended. I took hold of his hands and laughed, “What do you mean?”

Before I could say anything else, I heard the first strains of the song that Sidney and I had selected for our first dance at tomorrow’s reception. Only then did I notice the DJ at his booth at the back of the yard, past the walls of the tent. Sidney smiled warmly at me.

The first time we listened to the song together, it came on Sidney’s car radio during a road trip, and we couldn’t stop looking across the vehicle at each other as we realized how closely it reflected our relationship. Since then, we had danced to it many times alone in our home. It was the only song that seemed worthy of accompanying our first dance as husband and wife.

I met you in the dark

You lit me up

You made me feel as though

I was enough...

Shaking my head in disbelief at his thoughtfulness, I followed Sidney’s lead out to the empty dance floor.

“You set me up,” I joked, pushing a finger into his hard chest. “You’re good.” He chuckled.

Then you smiled over your shoulder

For a minute I was stone-cold sober

I pulled you closer to my chest...

“Just figured we could get in a practice run is all,” Sidney grinned, pulling my hips toward his as we moved slowly as one, my head resting on his chest, hands intertwined. “Not that you need one, but I do.” We both snickered and I hit his shoulder playfully.

I knew I loved you then

But you'd never know

'Cause I played it cool when I was scared of letting go...

“God... can you believe this day is finally almost here?” I asked, feeling Sidney hum softly into my hair.

“I really can’t. It’s been a long time coming, love,” he spoke, kissing my forehead and breathing me in. I squeezed his hand as we continued to sway together.

I knew I needed you

But I never showed

But I wanna stay with you

Until we're grey and old

Just say you won't let go...

“Yeah, it’s been coming since I was eighteen and you came over for that bonfire. You walked up and I was sitting with Lauren right over there,” I recalled, motioning to the brick patio nearby and making Sidney laugh against the top of my head.

“And I couldn’t believe how beautiful you were,” he told me. “And I really couldn’t believe that I was falling for Mario’s niece.” I giggled, fingers folding against his collar.

“I know it sounds crazy to everyone else, but we knew that night, didn’t we?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, baby,” I replied sincerely. “We did.”

I'll wake you up with some

Breakfast in bed

I'll bring you coffee

With a kiss on your head

And I'll take the kids to school

Wave them goodbye

And I'll thank my lucky stars

For that night...

“How are you doing... with everything?” I knew Sidney so well that even by the tone of his voice and the pause in his question, I understood what he was asking — how I was handling not having my parents around for this momentous weekend. I inhaled and picked up my head to look at him. I gave him a small smile as he eyed me attentively.

“I’m honestly doing okay,” I promised him. “I have my moments, you know? Especially just thinking about my dad. Mario looks so much like him and sometimes I—“

My breath caught in my throat and I swallowed thickly. I looked at Sidney with hesitance and shrugged slightly. He sighed softly and hugged his arm tighter around my hips as moisture coated my eyes.

When you looked over your shoulder

For a minute I forget that I'm older

I wanna dance with you right now, oh

And you look as beautiful as ever

And I swear that every day you'll get better

You make me feel this way somehow

“I know, Juliette,” Sidney told me, lips close to my ear, sensing what my words had failed to convey. “I know this isn’t easy.”

After a deep breath I said, “No, it isn’t. But Mario and Nathalie, they just make everything so much better. That alone is so incredible. And then... your parents, and Taylor, and you.” I shook my head, looking up into his gaze. “That’s enough. You are more than enough. You’re my family.”

Sidney stood up a little straighter, becoming visibly emotional as I uttered the declaration. He leaned down to capture my lips in an ardent kiss, then rested his forehead against mine as we continued our dance.

I'm so in love with you

And I hope you know

Darling, your love is more than worth its weight in gold

We've come so far, my dear

Look how we've grown

And I wanna stay with you

Until we're grey and old...

“I’ll always be your family, Juliette,” Sidney assured in a low voice. “And someday we’ll have a family of our own.”

I grinned against him, head resting in the crook of his neck. He continued, and I allowed my eyes to fall closed, his promises soothing me.

“God, they’ll be so beautiful — our kids. And they’ll know just how much their mom and their dad both love them, and how much the rest of their family does, too,” Sidney said, kissing my hair. “They’ll never have to wonder. And you’ll never have to wonder how much you’re loved, too.”

I wanna live with you

Even when we're ghosts

'Cause you were always there for me

When I needed you most

I’m gonna love you ‘til my lungs give out

I promise, ‘til death we part

Like in our vows...

“I love you so much, Sidney,” I whispered, pushing myself up on my toes to take his face in both hands and kiss him firmly. His strong exterior melted palpably in my grasp.

“Say you won’t let go,” I murmured against his lips.

He shook his head.

“I’m never letting go of you, Jules.”

_____

After a lengthy and intimate goodbye in Mario’s driveway, with our respective bridal party members periodically calling our names trying to speed up the process, I finally attempted to pry myself out of Sidney’s hold. With one last heated kiss that made my lips tingle and toes curl, I smoothed my hands across his broad shoulders and sighed.

“Let’s leave on that note,” I suggested. “Because that right there... that’s gonna leave me wanting more,” I added in a whisper. He ghosted his fingers down my bare arms as he let out a soft moan.

“I wish I could take you now,” he growled, pulling me into himself once more. I laughed, holding him close then finally backing away, squeezing his hands in mine.

“One more day, handsome,” I promised. “Then I’m all yours... forever.” His eyes flashed with pride.

“Forever,” Sidney repeated, nodding once. He squeezed my hands with another sigh and said, “Okay, you better go now, because I’m just never gonna be ready to let you go.”

“Okay,” I whispered with a cutesy laugh. “I’m going.” I walked backwards slowly, drinking in his fit figure and biting down on my bottom lip. His eyes widened.

“Juliette!” he warned in a strained whine. “Please don’t do that.”

I tipped my head back in a slightly maniacal laugh. “You can punish me tomorrow,” I whispered with a wink. Sidney’s own head fell backward as he groaned.

“I love you, Sidney Crosby,” I told him, nearing Lauren’s Mercedes. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I love you, Juliette,” he returned. “How ‘bout tomorrow I make you Mrs. Juliette Crosby?” My heart fluttered as I giggled like a schoolgirl.

“I’ve never wanted anything more,” I told him earnestly.

I blew him a kiss as I got into Lauren’s passenger seat and was whisked away from Sidney, with him watching us pull down the driveway until we were out of sight.

On the ride home, Lauren and Stephanie teased me about the never-ending farewell between Sidney and me. All I could do was roll my eyes and smirk as they poked fun.

Alexa, ever my protective little sister, stepped in for the second time of the evening.

“You guys are mean! I find it adorable,” she announced. “We should all hope that we find someone who loves us as much as Sid loves Jules.” I turned in my seat and threw my youngest cousin a grateful grin.

“Thanks, Lex,” I said. “You always were my favorite.” Lauren and Stephanie, resigned to Alexa’s sentiments just a moment ago, now launched into hysterics once more as they fought over who was indeed my preferred cousin.

For the rest of the short drive, the nonsense had only morphed into giddy slap-happiness as we piled out of the SUV and made our way into Sidney’s and my house. We pushed the door open to find Nathalie already waiting for us inside, shaking her head at our antics.

“You girls! You’re never goofier than when you’re all together,” she laughed.

Stephanie hooked an arm around my neck and touched our heads together, her athletic frame towering over me.

“Together’s our favorite place to be,” Stephanie mused, causing us all to groan and needle her about her sappy statement as we made our way into the living room.

“Hey, Jules, why don’t you go put on some comfy clothes, then we can sit out back and have some wine?” Lauren suggested.

I nodded quickly. “Sounds perfect to me,” I replied, beaming. She mirrored my smile and I started up the grand staircase.

“Not too much wine!” Nathalie scolded from the kitchen. “No hangovers or puffy eyes for us tomorrow.” All of us younger girls giggled again amongst ourselves, though we knew that we would be best to follow her motherly advice, especially on this occasion.

As I reached our second story, my heart flickered with a distinct emptiness as I realized that Sidney wasn’t here, and wouldn’t be. The two of us spent so few summer nights apart that I could probably count them on only one hand each year. Since his in-season schedule was so strenuous, he made sure that he was home every summer afternoon or evening in plenty of time to catch up about our days, to have dinner together — whether at home or out — and to unwind with a cocktail or a beer. On those summer nights we spent in Pittsburgh and not Cole Harbour, we could often be found with drinks in hand on our bedroom balcony, watching the late evening sun set behind the trees.

I stepped out of my heels when I reached our master suite, flicking on the light switch before scooping up my shoes with two fingers. As I headed for my walk-in closet to change, I gasped at what was before my eyes — on the mirrored glass table in our sitting area sat a massive bouquet of red roses, in an enormous glass vase adorned with a white silk bow. Tucked into the ribbon was a folded piece of paper. My breath caught in my throat, and I scampered to the table on the balls of my feet.  

I pulled the letter from its resting place — “To My Bride,” the outer leaf read. I splayed my fingers across my chest as I began to get misty-eyed. The paper smelled faintly of Sid’s cologne. I pulled it open with shaking hands, eyes flickering over the familiar handwriting.

My dearest love,

Just think — by this time tomorrow, you and I will be husband and wife! What a journey it’s been so far. I can’t wait to travel this road with you for the rest of my days, and to fill this house for years to come with laughter, love, and lots of children with you.

My Juliette, never forget how intensely I adore you, how incredibly much I cherish you, how deeply you amaze me, or how proud I am to call you mine. Tomorrow is the first day of our forever. I can hardly stand the thought. I’ll see you at the altar, princess.

With all my love, for all my life,

S

P.S. Six dozen roses for the six years I’ve loved you. I’ll love you for an eternity more. XO.

I moved my hand from my mouth to wipe a few fallen tears that had dropped onto my cheeks, sniffling as I refolded the paper. Though I had promised my cousins that I would avoid talking to Sidney tonight, I knew in my heart that even they would allow an exception to the rule for a gesture as remarkable as this one.

I dug through my purse on the floor beneath me and found my phone, calling the most recent contact in my history. It rang only once before the line was picked up.

“Hi, princess,” I heard my groom say, the smile in his tone evident.

“You are incredible,” I remarked in a shaky voice, trying to swallow the evidence of my happy tears. “I just walked into our room and found your flowers. Thank you, baby.”

Sidney let out a hum, pleased with himself. “You’re welcome, love. Gotta hand the assist to Nate on that one — he dropped off the roses when you and I left for Mario’s earlier,” he told you.

“Love you, Jules!” you heard Nate exclaim in the background, followed by a couple of whoops from the other men. You laughed as their volume faded, guessing that Sidney had stepped into a more private location as he chuckled.

“Well, thank him for me, too,” I said into the phone. “I was just thinking of how much I already miss you. Normally on a night like tonight, we’d be together on the balcony or in the yard.” He let out a contemplative hum.

“I miss you too, Jules,” he admitted. “We don’t spend too many nights away from that porch this time of year, eh?” I breathed a laugh at how he seemed to be able to read my thoughts, and he continued. “Soon enough we’ll be sitting there together again, with rings on both our hands.” I smiled at the thought.

“Sounds perfect. Listen, I won’t keep you. I just wanted to say thank you for the flowers, but mostly for the letter,” I told him. “I can’t wait to spend a lifetime with you, Sidney.”

He sighed contentedly into the phone. “Good news is we don’t have to wait much longer. I’m glad you enjoyed the surprise. Have a nice night with the girls and I’ll see you tomorrow, beautiful. I love you so much,” Sidney said warmly.

“I love you, too,” I responded. “See you tomorrow, babe.” We both hesitated slightly to hang up the call but I finally did after we exchanged yet another set of goodbyes. I clutched my phone to my chest and stared at the bouquet once again.

“Forever,” I whispered airily.

[officialwagnerrant]

Wagnerrant Review #3: Das Rheingold  im Hafen

Work: Das Rheingold House: Theater Regensburg Date of performance: 03.07.2021

Team Director: Andreas Baesler Conductor: Chin-Chao Lin With: Adam Krużel, Brent L. Damkier, Oliver Weidinger, Philipp Meraner, Seymur Karimov, Selcuk Hakan Tiraṣoğlu, Vera Egorova-Schönhofer, Deniz Yetim, Tamta Tarielashvili, Anna Pisareva, Vera Seminiuk

Review: @dichterfuerstin

It’s already a tradition and always sold out: For the third time Theater Regensburg rented out the Bayernhafen, a port in the east of Regensburg, to put on an opera. Two years ago, it was Tosca, four years ago, the first open air spectacle of this kind, it was Der Fliegende Holländer. This year the  theater took on the ambitious challenge and produced Das Rheingold. Needless to say, when 800 additional tickets got released, I grabbed a front-row seat and went to check out this production.

Abridging an opera is one thing. Abridging a Wagneropera is another. With lyrics and music being so tightly connected, with leitmotifs and nothing even remotely resembling an aria, it seems nearly impossible to put on anything that isn’t the original. Theater Regensburg did it anyway: They staged a version of Das Rheingold edited and abridged by  Eberhard Kloke, lasting merely 90 minutes, reducing the libretto and completely omitting Donner an Froh. I’m not sure why they went for an edited version. There aren’t any restrictions on how long an opera can be, and as long as you have a testing concept you can also have productions of unlimited size. They also don’t lack singers. I could name a handful of singers working at Theater Regensburg not employed this evening.

Much to my surprise the abridged version worked out musically. Without having a score or libretto at hand, which I obviously did, you’d barely notice the changes, especially as a non-Wagnerian. However, some of my favourite parts got omitted. I never again want to se a Rheingold without Donner’s iconic call. The abridging was actually most noticeable in the plot. Due to shortened conversations the only characters ever mentioning Freia’s golden apples were the two giants, which resulted in a rather sudden decision to go to Nibelheim, and Froh’s absence eventually resulted in Loge being low-key in love with Freia. This however turned out to be a showcase for Brent L. Damkier who not only proved he could sing an excellent Froh but was also a more than satisfying Loge. He isn’t what I’d call a character tenor, yet his voice fit the part perfectly. Together with his nice acting he made up for the weaknesses of the shortened libretto and his costume, which could have been way more fiery. While he profited from the shortened libretto, Fasolt, sung by Seymur Karimov, suffered. The abridged libretto left him with not much more than two lines. One of the nicest characters in the entire opera got lost this way, together with an amazing voice. Karimov is one of the best singers Theater Regensburg has to offer. His voice and acting would have landed him Alberich, or at least a longer Fasolt if I had been in charge of casting this production. Overall, the singers were good. An important mention is definitely Adam Krużel who has sung at Theater Regensburg for 30 years and who will now retire, after having done a fine Wotan. Singing this powerful role must be a satisfying last performance for him. The audience thanked him with lots of applause.

Being open air, the theatre obviously used micmicrophones and speakers, and sitting very close to one of the speakers, it was clearly audible for me that the sound was not coming from the orchestra and singers performing live on the other side of the water, which is why it took me a while to get into the performance. This got better during the performance and in the end I was fully invested in the musical experience, until the director decided that the best time for the finale fireworks is while the final orchestra bit is still playing. This is not only unfair towards the audience, but also towards orchestra and composer.

The rest of the production is more difficult to judge as it initially was supposed to be put on indoors. As this wasn’t possible due to corona, director Andreas Baesler had to move. Adapting a concept for a moderate sizes opera stage to the 200 meters long harbour stage is a challenge that needs to be kept in mind. Andreas Baesler made the best of it: Following the tradition of previous open air productions he incorporated the setting into his production, for example by letting the giants sit in two cranes. However only for their first appearance, after this they walked on the ground and were the same size as anyone else. As the audience sat far away from the stage it was hard to recognise the singers, especially ALberich, who’s costume had the same colour as the backdrop. This is why the production was supported by projections on the Stadtlagerhouse, a huge building serving as the backdrop of open air productions, created by Clemens Rudolph. While the pictures were hard to recognise at first, they helped understanding the plot after dark, by establishing the setting of the scenes and sometimes showing close-ups of singers. The only thing I did not like about the projections was the lack of continuity regarding the Rhinemaidens, who’s singers only got on stage for the final bows, during the performance they remained in the orchestra tent. In the final scene Rudolph projected video footage of swimmers, in the opening scene three dancers on a boat acted as the rhinemaidens, thus making the water part of the stage and allowing Alberich to actually pull the gold, a giant golden ball, out of the water. Personally, I’d appreciate it if the same characters were portrayed by the same singers. However, I understand why the decision was made: Recognizing projections in daylight is hard, and having three women dance on a small boat in the dark is dangerous. Overall the lack of continuity is something I noticed in this production a lot. The costumes did not fit together at all. While Alberich was dressed in gray, old-looking clothes, the giants had neon coloured suits resembling rain jackets, while the Rhinemaidens on the boat wore flapper-style dresses with fishtails underneath. It seamed like Baesler struggled to decide on a concept.

While the fireworks and the lack of continuity were off-putting, I’d still be lying if I said I did not enjoy the evening, as did the rest of the audience. The singers were good, the atmosphere nice, and it’s a pity the planned second performance had to be cancelled due to the weather – when cast, crew and audience had already arrived at the location.

[popentertainmentconcertreviews]

Firefly Music Festival – The Woodlands- Dover, DE – September 23 to 26, 2021 (A PopEntertainment.com Concert Review)

Although this was the first Firefly Festival back after a year and a half off due to the COVID-19 pandemic – or perhaps because of it – fans were more eager than ever before to run through the gates to the four-day-long festival.

This was the second year of Firefly being under the ownership of AEG Presents, and the hard work the company put into creating the best possible experience for fans and artists definitely was clear. Taking place in The Woodlands of Dover, Delaware, right next to Dover International Speedway, this year’s lineup included Billie Eilish, The Killers, Tame Impala, Lizzo, Phoebe Bridgers, Cage The Elephant, Megan Thee Stallion, and many more fan-favorites. The diversity of genres of artists performing is what makes Firefly such a special experience. 

What makes Firefly unique isn’t just the performances, but the atmosphere and the overall experience. Since its start in July 2012, festivalgoers are offered the chance to camp at the festival, whether that be in an RV, a glamping site, or just a pop-up tent and sleeping bag. The ability to camp on festival grounds gives festival-goers easy access to the music, activities, shopping, and food that Firefly has to offer.

The festival has several options of different price ranges for camping at the festival. These includi South Tent Camping (within walking distance from the festival) and North Tent Camping (within walking distance from the festival and includes a private entrance to the event, as well as exclusive hang-out spots). There is also Meadows Glamping (includes twin or queen-sized beds, air conditioning, and concierge service), Infield Glamping (includes pre-set tents in the race track, complete with a private lounge, air-conditioned restrooms, shower passes, power courses, and shuttles to the festival), Then there is infield RV Camping (includes a plot big inside the race track, spacious enough for an RV and plenty of space to spare), and many more options from affordable to a well-deserved splurge! 

Even if festivalgoers are unable to camp at the festival, they are still able to have the full Firefly experience with the various activities inside of the festival.  This year, the experience includes The Treehouse, The Thicket Silence Disco, The Nest, The North Hub Beach Club, The Roller Rink, The Hammock Hangout, Firefly’s first-ever Pride Parade, and much more!

The Treehouse is perfect for festivalgoers who want to unwind and listen to acoustic performances, as well as interviews with budding artists. If you are looking for a dance break with friends complete with your own personal set of headphones to hear some tunes, The Thicket Silent Disco is right up your alley. If you want to continue the party with DJs nestled among the trees, even after headliners are finished performing, you should definitely check out The Nest.

The North Hub Beach Club, running all weekend long, is the perfect spot to relax, cool down with drinks from the Tiki Bar, play volleyball, and return later in the night for an electric silent disco. Need a break from the performances and want to let loose and have fun with friends? We would totally recommend checking out the new Roller Rink in the North Hub! Our favorite spot to literally hang out is back-- The Hammock Hangout! This year, we were so excited to attend the festival’s first Pride Parade, led by Monique Heart and LaLaRi! 

Firefly has always had the most fire food options, and this year was the best yet. The food option lineup included everything from “BBQ Bueno”, “Island Noodles”, and “Two Guys Chicken & Fries” to “Nomad Coffee”, “Carvel Ice Cream”, and even “Rita’s Water Ice”! The eating options at the festival have definitely been more inclusive and aware of food sensitivities and allergies, veganism, vegetarianism, and the basic picky eater. You can’t have a great festival without great food, and Firefly nailed it. 

Another aspect of this year’s festival that we love is that nearly almost every performance was live-streamed powered by Mandolin, so people unable to attend could watch from the comfort of their own home or campsite. Virtual meet and greet experiences were also offered this year to assure the safety of fans and artists, alike, which definitely makes the experience just as special for those who could not physically be at this year’s Firefly Festival. “Live From Firefly” also offered fans the option to be notified when their favorite performers would be on, so they wouldn’t miss a second of the action. 

Thursday night’s headliners included Billie Eilish, Phoebe Bridgers, Girl in Red, Marc Rebillet, and more. Even though there was a bit of a rain delay, festivalgoers kept their electric energy when the gates finally opened that night. While some walked onto the festival grounds admiring the sparkling LED lights all around, others ran to secure a spot at the stage at which their favorite performances would be held.

Phoebe Bridgers lit up the stage, stepping out in her iconic rhinestone-covered skeleton top. She played hits such as “Motion Sickness” and “Kyoto” as well as a cover of comedian Bo Burnham’s “That Funny Feeling.”

Up next was the iconic Billie Eilish. We spoke to several fans before the show and they said they ran straight to the Firefly stage the second the gates opened to see Billie, nearly 4 hours before she would come out. Once the stage lights went out, the audience went wild in anticipation of Billie’s long-awaited performance. She played new songs like “Happier Than Ever” and “Oxytocin”, then some older hits for her die-hard fans including “Ocean Eyes”, “bellyache”, and “ilomilo.”

Friday’s performances were definitely ones for the books. Headliners included Cage the Elephant, The Killers, Wiz Khalifa, Band of Horses, and Ian Dior. Multiple time performers, Cage the Elephant, took the stage by storm with hit songs “Come a Little Closer”, “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked”, and obviously “Cigarette Daydreams”. By the way that the fans sang their hearts out, we could tell this this performance was much needed. Up next on the Backyard stage, Wiz Khalifa fans who waited all day, finally got to catch his performance. Wiz got the crowd dancing with “Black and Yellow”, “Roll Up”, and “We Dem Boyz.”

 Saturday’s thrilling performances included those by Tame Impala, Roddy Rich, Diplo, Glass Animals, and many more. Tame Impala’s “The Less I Know the Better” and “New Person, Same Old Mistakes” took fans on a spiritual ride, complete with astonishing visuals on the screens, and a captivating light show. Though it was late in the night, Diplo got festivalgoers on their feet with his performance featuring rhythmic remixes of various hit songs. Fans were adorned with glowsticks throughout the audience, adding to the festival’s ambiance. 

Though it was the last day, headliners Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, and Machine Gun Kelly finished off Firefly Festival 2021 with a bang. Lizzo fans were ecstatic to hear top hits “Juice” and “Rumors”, accompanied by a breathtaking performance, Megan Thee Stallion fans were not close to disappointed after hearing and shaking it along to “Savage” and “Body”, and Machine Gun Kelly fans rocked out to “I Think I’m OKAY”, “ex’s best friend”, and even a cover of Paramore’s “Misery Business”. It is safe to say that this year had one of the best lineups yet. 

This year’s festival most definitely made up for lost time during the pandemic. Though this is only AEG Presents’ second year of ownership over Firefly, they did an outstanding job of organizing an insane lineup, fun activities, and creating a weekend that people will never forget.

While we are all sad to see this year’s Firefly Festival come to an end, we cannot wait to see what is in store for next year! 

Kayla Marra

Copyright ©2021 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: September 28, 2021.

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[arcticdementor]

Martin Gurri's The Revolt Of The Public is from 2014, which means you might as well read the Epic of Gilgamesh. It has a second-edition-update-chapter from 2017, which might as well be Beowulf. The book is about how social-media-connected masses are revolting against elites, but the revolt has moved forward so quickly that a lot of what Gurri considers wild speculation is now obvious fact. I picked up the book on its "accurately predicted the present moment" cred, but it predicted the present moment so accurately that it's barely worth reading anymore. It might as well just say "open your eyes and look around".

…

In conclusion, 2011 was a weird year.

Gurri argues all of this was connected, and all of it was a sharp break from what came before. These movements were essentially leaderless. Some had charismatic spokespeople, like Daphni Leef in Israel or Tahrir-Square-Facebook-page-admin Wael Ghonim in Egypt, but these people were at best the trigger that caused a viral movement to coalesce out of nothing. When Martin Luther King marched on Washington, he built an alliance of various civil rights groups, unions, churches, and other large organizations who could turn out their members. He planned the agenda, got funding, ran through an official program of speakers, met with politicians, told them the legislation they wanted, then went home. The protests of 2011 were nothing like that. They were just a bunch of people who read about protests on Twitter and decided to show up.

Also, they were mostly well-off. Gurri hammers this in again and again. Daphni Leef had just graduated from film school, hardly the sort of thing that puts her among the wretched of the earth. All of these movements were mostly their respective countries' upper-middle classes; well-connected, web-savvy during an age when that meant something. Mostly young, mostly university-educated, mostly part of their countries' most privileged ethnic groups. Not the kind of people you usually see taking to the streets or building tent cities.

Some of the protests were more socialist and anarchist than others, but none were successfully captured by establishment strains of Marxism or existing movements. Many successfully combined conservative and liberal elements. Gurri calls them nihilists. They believed that the existing order was entirely rotten, that everyone involved was corrupt and irredeemable, and that some sort of apocalyptic transformation was needed. All existing institutions were illegitimate, everyone needed to be kicked out, that kind of thing. But so few specifics that socialists and reactionaries could march under the same banner, with no need to agree on anything besides "not this".

…

Gurri isn't shy about his contempt for this. Not only were these some of the most privileged people in their respective countries, but (despite the legitimately-sucky 2008 recession), they were living during a time of unprecedented plenty. In Spain, the previous forty years had seen the fall of a military dictatorship, its replacement with a liberal democracy, and a quintupling of GDP per capita from $6000 to $32000 a year - "in 2012, four years into the crisis there were more cell phones and cars per person in Spain than in the US". The indignado protesters in Spain had lived through the most peaceful period in Europe's history, an almost unprecedented economic boom, and had technologies and luxuries that previous generations could barely dream of. They had cradle-to-grave free health care, university educations, and they were near the top of their society's class pyramids. Yet they were convinced, utterly convinced, that this was the most fraudulent and oppressive government in the history of history, and constantly quoting from a manifesto called Time For Outrage!

So what's going on?

Our story begins (says Gurri) in the early 20th century, when governments, drunk on the power of industrialization, sought to remake Society in their own image. This was the age of High Modernism, with all of its planned cities and collective farms and so on. Philosopher-bureaucrat-scientist-dictator-manager-kings would lead the way to a new era of gleaming steel towers, where society was managed with the same ease as a gardener pruning a hedgerow.

…

Realistically this was all a sham. Alan Greenspan had no idea how to prevent recessions, scientific progress was slowing down, poverty remained as troubling as ever, and 50% of public school students stubbornly stayed below average. But the media trusted the government, the people trusted the media, and failures got swept under the rug by genteel agreement among friendly elites, while the occasional successes were trumpeted from the rooftops.

There was a very interesting section on JFK’s failure at the Bay of Pigs. Kennedy tried to invade Cuba, but the invasion failed very badly, further cementing Castro’s power and pushing him further into the Soviet camp. Representatives of the media met with Kennedy, Kennedy was very nice to them, and they all agreed to push a line of “look, it’s his first time invading a foreign country, he tried his hardest, give him a break.” This seems to have successfully influenced the American public, so much so that Kennedy’s approval rating increased five points, to 83%, after the debacle!

…

In Gurri's telling, High Modernism had always been a failure, but the government-media-academia elite axis had been strong enough to conceal it from the public. Starting in the early 2000s, that axis broke down. People could have lowered their expectations, but in the real world that wasn't how things went. Instead of losing faith in the power of government to work miracles, people believed that government could and should be working miracles, but that the specific people in power at the time were too corrupt and stupid to press the "CAUSE MIRACLE" button which they definitely had and which definitely would have worked. And so the outrage, the protests - kick these losers out of power, and replace them with anybody who had the common decency to press the miracle button!

…

Any system that hasn't solved every problem is illegitimate. Solving problems is easy and just requires pressing the "CAUSE MIRACLE" button. Thus the protests. In 2011, enough dry tinder of anger had built up that everywhere in the world erupted into protest simultaneously, all claiming their respective governments were illegitimate. These protests were necessarily vague and leaderless, because any protest-leader would fall victim to the same crisis of authority and legitimacy that national leaders were suffering from. Any attempt to make specific demands would be pilloried because those specific demands wouldn't unilaterally end homelessness or racism or inequality or whatever else. The only stable state was a sort of omni-nihilism that refused to endorse anything.

(I’m reminded of Tanner Greer’s claim that the great question of modernity is not “what can I accomplish?” or “how do I succeed?” but rather “how do I get management to take my side?”)

Gurri calls our current government a kind of "zombie democracy". The institutions of the 20th century - legislatures, universities, newspapers - continue to exist. But they are hollow shells, stripped of all legitimacy. Nobody likes or trusts them. They lurch forward, mimicking the motions they took in life, but no longer able to change or make plans or accomplish new things.

…

How do we escape this equilibrium? Gurri isn't sure. His 2017 afterword says he thinks we're even more in it now than we were in 2014. But he has two suggestions.

First, cultivate your garden. We got into this mess by believing the government could solve every problem. We're learning it can''t. We're not going to get legitimate institutions again until we unwind the overly high expectations produced by High Modernism, and the best way to do that is to stop expecting government to solve all your problems. So cultivate your garden. If you're concerned about obesity, go on a diet, or volunteer at a local urban vegetable garden, or organize a Fun Run in your community, do anything other than start a protest telling the government to end obesity. This is an interesting contrast to eg Just Giving, which I interpret as having the opposite model - if you want to fight obesity, you should work through the democratic system by petitioning the government to do something; trying to figure out a way to fight it on your own would be an undemocratic exercise of raw power. Gurri is recommending that we tear that way of thinking up at the root.

Second, start looking for a new set of elites who can achieve legitimacy. These will have to be genuinely decent and humble people - Gurri gives the example of George Washington. They won't claim to be able to solve everything. They won't claim the scientific-administrative mantle of High Modernism. They'll just be good honorable people who will try to govern wisely for the common good. Haha, yeah right.

…

Gurri divides the world between the Center and the Border. He thinks the Center - politicians, experts, journalists, officials - will be in a constant retreat, and the Border - bloggers, protesters, and randos - on a constant advance. His thesis got a boost when Brexit and Trump - both Border positions - crushed and embarrassed their respective Centers. But since then I'm not sure things have been so clear. The blogosphere is in retreat (maybe Substack is reversing this?), but the biggest and most mainstream of mainstream news organizations, like the New York Times are becoming more trusted and certainly more profitable. The new President of the US is a boring moderate career politician. The public cheers on elite censorship of social media. There haven't been many big viral protests lately except Black Lives Matter and the 1/6 insurrection, and both seemed to have a perfectly serviceable set of specific demands (defunding the police, decertifying the elections). Maybe I've just grown used to it, but it doesn't really feel like a world where a tiny remnant of elites are being attacked on all sides by a giant mob of entitled nihilists.

…

At the risk of being premature or missing Gurri's point, I want to try telling a story of how the revolt of the public and the crisis of legitimacy at least partially stalled.

Gurri talks a lot about Center and Border, but barely even mentions Left and Right. Once you reintroduce these, you have a solution to nihilism. The Left can come up with a laundry list of High Modernist plans that they think would solve all their problems, and the Right can do the same. Then one or the other takes control of government, gets thwarted by checks/balances/Mitch McConnell, and nothing happens. No American Democrat was forced to conclude that just because Obama couldn't solve all their problems, the promise of High Modernism was a lie. They just concluded that Obama could have solved all their problems, but the damn Republicans filibustered the bill. Likewise, the Republicans can imagine that Donald Trump would have made America great again if the media and elites and Deep State hadn't been blocking him at every turn. Donald Trump himself tells them this is true!

With this solution in place, you can rebuild trust in institutions. If you're a Republican, Fox News is trustworthy because it tells you the ways Democrats are bad. Some people say it's biased or inaccurate, but those people are Democrats or soft-on-Democrat RINO traitors. And if you're a Democrat, academic experts are completely trustworthy, and if someone challenges them you already know those challenges must be vile Republican lies. Lack of access to opposing views has been replaced with lack of tolerance for opposing views. And so instead of the public having to hate all elites, any given member of the public only needs to hate half of the elites.

You could think of this as a mere refinement of Gurri. But it points at a deeper critique. Suppose that US left institutions are able to maintain legitimacy, because US leftists trust them as fellow warriors in the battle against rightism (and vice versa). Why couldn't one make the same argument about the old American institutions? People liked and trusted the President and Walter Cronkite and all the other bipartisan elites because they were American, and fellow warriors in the battle against Communism or terrorism or poverty or Saddam or whatever. If this is true, the change stops looking like the masses suddenly losing faith in the elites and revolting, and more like a stable system of the unified American masses trusting the unified American elites, fissioning into two stable systems of the unified (right/left) masses trusting the unified (right/left) elites. Why did the optimal stable ingroup size change from nation-sized to political-tribe-sized?

…

The one exception to my disrecommendation is that you might enjoy the book as a physical object. The cover, text, and photographs are exceptionally beautiful; the cover image - of some sort of classical-goddess-looking person (possibly Democracy? I expect if I were more cultured I would know this) holding a cell phone - is spectacularly well done. I understand that Gurri self-published the first edition, and that this second edition is from not-quite-traditional publisher Stripe Press. I appreciate the kabbalistic implications of a book on the effects of democratization of information flow making it big after getting self-published, and I appreciate the irony of a book about the increasing instability of history getting left behind by events within a few years. So buy this beautiful book to put on your coffee table, but don't worry about the content - you are already living in it.