#but anyways our science teacher told us that we gotta make a game

[astrochemstry]

aalso hey gguys ive been programming a game in renpy for science and i can say that my science teacher thinks im cool now

[fairestwriting]

Since our boy idia is rly

BIG

rn, can i ask for him and his gf just basically being little shits and hanging around the campus in ungodly hours, and the next day rumors of ghosts having a date just resurfaces. Thanks as always!

idia time! i havent written scenarios in so long </3

word count: 762

pairing: idia x f!reader

content warnings: none!

“Are you sure you can really get this to work?” You ask, raising an eyebrow at him, and Idia just rolls his eyes. “You don’t even need free candy.”

“Listen, I’ve been working on this robot for the whole week.” He says, rare mischief all over his face as he walks up to the vending machine, kneeling down and placing the small device onto the floor. You rock back and forth on your feet, watching the scene go down. “And it’s for science.”

His determination is nothing short of amusing, you can’t help the snicker that leaves you.

“You’re running out of things to do, Idia.”

He shakes his head, snickering under his breath. “So what? They’re not releasing any interesting anime or games ‘til the end of the season anyway.”

“So you decided to steal candy.” You say, kneeling so you’re by his side, watching the robot get to work. It’s a weird little thing, circular and metallic, whirring noises resound as it hops into the machine, Idia’s eyes narrowing as it goes up the dispenser.

“For science, y’know.” He grumbles, head leaning towards you a bit childishly. Flaming blue hair spills all over, glowing gently in the darkness of the hallway, the only illumination you had beyond the lights of the vending machine itself.

...you’re not supposed to be here in more ways than one. Class tomorrow (Or later today, you supposed) would genuinely feel awful, the sunrise only a couple hours shy of coming up. But who could blame you? The week had been tough. Idia invited you over and your curiosities got the better out of you both.

As he tended to do, he’d gotten a new passion project to fill his time with rather than getting his duties out of the way. You didn’t blame him. You haven’t been in the mood for duty lately either.

“Oh, it’s going up.” Idia mutters, looking at the screen of his tablet, monitoring the activity of the robot. A grin spreads along his face, flashing sharp teeth. “Fuhihi, I told you it was gonna work. What candy bar do you want?”

“It’s working?” You ask, wide-eyed, not that you don’t believe in his prowess, of course, it’s just that the idea was, well... “Wait, you’re putting me on the spot like that, just give me a second to—”

Clang! The machine echoes loudly as the robot hits something in its way, the noise breaking through the silence of the vacant hallway and making both of you jump.

“G-Geez, that startled me!” Idia complains quietly to himself, messing with the tablet again. “Is there some kind of lock here, or a barrier, or...”

“Hey, did you hear that?”

“...hear what?”

You jump for a second time. Were those staff voices? Upperclassmen? They seemed unfamiliar, but... Idia, somehow, stays absorbed in his tablet, tapping away at it.

“Uh, Idia. I think someone’s heard us.” You whisper at him, but hear no response.

“Just give me a second, okay, I’m trying to make this work!” He whispers back, his tone just slightly pouty. You still tug at his sleeve, looking around for what could very well mean a suspension for both of you.

“Wait, yeah, I think I can hear it. I didn’t think there’s anyone else awake...”

“Idia.” You tug at his sleeve harder, more urgently. “We gotta run. I think it’s a teacher? C’mon, you dummy.”

“Wait—” He mutters, but realization seems to bloom on his face quickly enough, he pales. “T-Teacher?”

Hurrying to get up, clutching his tablet to his chest, Idia looks around. You tug at him again.

“C’mon, we gotta run!”

He follows the command easily, you dragging him away from the scene as fast as possible even as both of your breathing got erratic — Until you find a wall to hide behind, panting and looking at each other in astonished silence for a moment, before grins made their ways onto your faces again.

.   .   .

The morning after, you slip into the Ignihyde lounge to rummage around the kitchen for your favorite source of caffeine. It’s usually vacant, since most students were such hermits, but today, you see a pair sitting on the couch together, whispering to each other.

“...did you hear? They found a weird robot by one of the vending machines.”

“No way! Do you think it’s... t-that mad scientist’s ghost? The one they talked about a while back?”

“I heard there was a girl’s voice too? Like two ghosts were having a date... so creepy.”

... you cover your mouth, stifling laughter.

if you wanna support my work, you can buy me a ko-fi or commission me!

[invisibleraven]

Ride Or Die Till The End

Day Two: Chemistry

Ain't fooling anyone now <-AO3 link

"Alright class, our next unit is on chemistry, you have one week to come up with a presentation for class explaining one chemical principle. And baking soda volcanoes don't count before you ask Mister Wilson." The teacher said, shooting Bobby a look, making him slowly lower his hand.

"Against my better judgement I'll let you pick your own partners, so choose wisely, this will be a good chunk of your grade for this block." The teacher intoned, trying not to roll her eyes as she saw the usual troublemakers flock to each other.

Luke held his fist out to Reggie as Bobby had already latched onto Alex. Reggie bumped him with a grin, then moved their desks together, but spent half the class debating the lyrics to their next big song rather than planning a project. They figured they had lots of time anyways, and their gig the next evening was slightly more important.

The next week however, they continued to goof off in class, discussing the cheerleaders and the latest Green Day album instead of working, waving off Alex’s concerns, they had plenty of time still, right?

“How is the project going, Mister Patterson?” the teacher asked as the week went on. “Are you and Mister Peters getting through it alright?”

“It’s going rad Mrs. Nolan.” Luke replied, smiling his big smile that he whipped out to stay out of trouble. “Almost done.”

“Good, then you won’t mind presenting yours first thing next class.” she said with a smile and walked away.

The boys exchanged worried glances, they had nothing done, and honestly science wasn’t either of their strongest subjects, so to pull together a project in less than a day would be a real reach, even for them.

“Come on Alex, you gotta help us!” Luke pleaded.

“No, I don’t gotta do anything.” the drummer replied. “You guys should have used the class time Mrs. Nolan gave you, like Bobby and I did. I’ve got a big History paper to do tonight, so even if I wanted to help, I can’t.”

“Don’t look at me, I’ve got a date.” Bobby piped up when the boys turned to him. “You guys are on your own.”

That evening they were hanging out at Luke’s house, the television playing mindlessly in the background as they poured over their science books, scouring them for ideas.

“We could make some atoms using toothpicks and mini marshmallows?” Reggie suggested.

“I heard Tiffany Walters tell Kimberly Dalton that’s what they were doing.” Luke replied. “And Alex already told me he and Bobby made a song to help memorize some of the periodic table, so that’s out.”

Reggie groaned and then glanced at the TV. “What about cupcakes?”

“Dude, so not the time to be thinking with your stomach.”

“No, I mean, what if we made cupcakes as our project?” Luke looked up at his friend at that, a confused look on his face. “Baking is just science for hungry people, we could make them and explain how it relates to chemistry. Plus baked goods make for perfect teacher bribing material.”

“Totally! Except I have no idea how to make cupcakes, Mom might, but she’s at a bridge game until late.” Luke said, deflating a little.

“We’ll use a recipe.” Reggie said, pulling Luke up and heading off to the kitchen. “Come on, how hard could it be?”

Famous last words.

An hour later, every inch of the kitchen and the boys was covered in flour, a cement like batter, and smears of frosting that more so resembled a wallpaper paste rather than anything you would willingly consume. Reggie sat on the floor, looking like he had just lost a battle against a formidable enemy, while Luke stood at the sink, scrubbing valiantly as the bowl that had once contained their mixture.

“I just don’t understand how it got so tough. We followed the recipe exactly!” he muttered to himself, giving a small triumphant cry when the spot he had been scouring finally came clean. “Okay, I propose we clean up this mess, go to the store and buy some damn cupcakes, and just go through the process in class with no one else being the wiser.”

“That’s cheating.” Reggie said.

“You wanna try making cupcakes again?” Luke asked, waving his arms at the disaster zone that used to be his parent’s kitchen. Reggie shook his head vehemently.

“Maybe we could try something simpler… or a box mix.” Reggie replied. “Betty Crocker has never steered me wrong before.”

“We still gotta clean up this first or else my mom will kill us.” Luke replied, pulling Reggie up, still holding him tight as he got up. Their eyes met, an unfathomable look being shared between them. “You have flour on your cheek.” He whispered, wiping it off gently, causing Reggie to suck in a breath. This thing between them, neither would deny it existing, but couldn’t define it either. Just that it simmered and bubbled every time they were close, yet neither of them dared to push them over into the unknown abyss should they cross it.

“You have flour everywhere.” Reggie stuttered back, his thumb running across Luke’s lower lip. Luke kissed it gently, then nipped it, looking up at Reggie from under his lashes. Reggie moved his thumb, tracing the line of his jaw before bringing their mouths together in a gentle kiss.

Luke immediately returned the kiss, his hands flying into Reggie’s hair, neither caring about the streaks of baking ingredients they were coating each other with. A swipe of tongue, a nip of teeth, and then the kiss deepened, a lick against their respective molars and a groan before they separated.

“Now that’s chemistry.” Reggie quipped. Luke giggled a little, then stepped away to go fetch the broom, the both of them cleaning, though constantly getting distracted by exchanging little kisses every time they could. Quick showers and changes of clothes were had, then a trip to the local store for a box mix that ended with a dozen decent cupcakes, each frosted from the tub they also had the foresight to buy.

“You think we’ll get an A?” Reggie asked as he licked out the bowl.

“A plus definitely.” Luke replied, kissing him sweetly, savouring the taste of batter and pure Reggie.

[hellogoodbye741]

Hi.. Can you do an IronHawk? I love them together.. Maybe high school AU? Thanks

Sorry, this took so long, my writing muse has been in the john for the last two years ngl.

Hope you like it! Read it here at: Don’t Know Much Bout Biology or under the cut

DAY ONE:

“New year, new school, new me,” Clint muttered to himself over and over as he walked towards the entrance of SHIELD High. “New year, new school, new- aw fuck, I’m so screwed.”

Clint came to a stop right at the doors and looked up at the huge lettering that sat close to the top of the building. “SHIELD High School. A school of Excellence.” Hawk sighed as he rubbed his forehead. “What am I even doing here, man.”

Clint Barton was a 16-year-old circus brat who had thought his education experience would be one of 20-year-old textbooks from Texas, and teachers who did tricks for a living. But here he was, at one of the best schools in the country. All because some Vice Prinicipal saw his act, and thought he would be a great addition to their archery team.

“Ohhh I can’t do this” Hawk said as he felt panic set in. Clint wasn’t a ‘school’ person. He hadn’t even stepped into a school building in almost ten years, not since Barney had dragged him out of the orphanage one night to ran away to the circus.

Yet here he was… This wasn’t going to end well.

~

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Tony said as Jarvis parked the limo.

“I’m not sir, you know I don’t kid”

Tony groaned as he looked at the high school in front of him. “But Jarvis, I’m already waaay too smart for high school! I went to MIT for christ’s sake!”

Jarvis turned and looked over at Tony. “Master Tony, we all know about your timed at MIT. But your father insists, and so do I, that a little… socialization with children your own age would be good for you.”

“I don’t need to socialize, I have Rhodey.”

“Who just got shipped off to Afghanistan, and won’t be back for a year. Also, Rhodey is 10 years your senior and treats you like a little brother. What would be wrong with having friends your own age?”

“Nobody my age gets me Jarv.”

Jarvis sighed. “One semester is your father’s deal if you want to start working in the shop.”

Tony groaned, “One semester??? How about three weeks.”

“One semester.”

“A month.”

“Two semesters.“

“One semester it is, see you at three Jarv.”

Jarvis smiled and handed Tony a box. Tony gave it a look.

“I packed you a lunch, your favorite.”

Tony narrowed his eyes, “My favorite when who’s around.”

Jarvis winked, “Me, Anna, and Peggy.”

Tony fist-pumped, “Sweet PB&J.”

“Alright, first bell will be sounding soon. Your schedule is in your bag. Go on now. Shoo.”

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes, “Yeah okay I’m going.”

“Don’t start any fires!”

Tony waved a hand, “No promises!”

~

Clint sat in silence with the Principal and Vice-Principal, his knee bouncing harder and harder the more anxious he got.

“Don’t worry Clint,” Vice Principal Coulson said with a smile. “We’re just waiting for the other new student to arrive.”

The Principal, Fury, snorted. “Student my ass”

Coulson kept the serene smile on his face, so Clint took that as a signal to pretend like he didn’t hear what he just had.

It was another few agonizing minutes later when the door finally opened, and a small dark-headed boy entered the room. “Sorry I’m late, I got lost and didn’t want to be here.”

“That’s fine Mr. Stark, please sit down next to Clint.”

The boy grimaced, “Please call me Tony. Mr. Stark is my old man” and sat down next to Clint. The boy smiled and stuck his hand out, “Tony Stark. Pleased to meet ya”

Clint blinked, but slowly reached out and shook the other boy’s hand. “Uh, Clint… Clint Barton. Nice to meet you too”

Tony nodded and released Clint’s hand, “So we got that out of the way. Why are we here?”

VP Coulson leaned back in his seat. “Since you both are new to the school, we decided that we wanted to cover the basics of our program here before we send you out to classes.”

Tony sighed, leaned over to Clint, and whispered: “Wake me up when they’re finished, kay?”

Clint blinked again, unsure on how to respond.

“I’ll take that as a yes”

~

Clint rushed out of the office 30 minutes later, more certain of his inevitable downfall than ever. So many expectations were on his head, both academically and athletically.

“I am so screwed” He whispered to himself.

“No, I’m screwed, you’re fine.”

Clint jumped and looked back to the other new kid as he exited the office as well. “Huh?”

The kid, Tony, waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. Lemme see your schedule”

Clint tipped his head, “Why?”

“Because if I’m forced to be here, I’d rather share some classes with people I know. Gimme” Tony made ‘gimme hands,’ and Clint reluctantly handed over his class schedule.

Tony quickly skimmed it and made a face. “Well how about. 6 out 7 classes ain’t bad. New school buddies for the win”

“You’re weird” Clint said before he could stop himself.

Tony just smiled and handed back Clint’s schedule. “I know, you’ll learn to love it. Let’s head to class”

Clint tucked the schedule into his backpack, “Is that one we have together?”

“Yep”

“What is it”

Tony turned and winked at Clint, “Chemistry.”

DAY TWO:

“So you’re the new kid?” A red-headed girl asked as Clint stood at his locker.

“Uhm... Yes? At least one of them anyway.”

The girl nodded, “Natasha.”

Clint slowly closed his locker, “Clint.... Nice to meet you?”

Natasha nodded, “You’ll eat with us at lunch. Don’t be late”

Clint opened his mouth to respond, but Natasha walked off before he could say anything.

“What”

~

Tony plopped down at the desk next to Clint’s and leaned against Clint’s shoulder. “Ughhhhh I’m so bored.”

Clint, unused to this sort of touching, awkwardly petted Tony’s hair. “Uhm... There, there.”

Tony snorted, “Thanks for trying bud. You sound like my father... I hate this place, I already know everything.”

“I’m sorry you’re smart?”

“I appreciate it. Anyway, anything new going on in your life since last period?”

“Some girl told me I’m sitting with her at lunch?”

Tony jerked up in his seat, “Red hair?”

“Yes?”

“Looks like we’re twinsies again, I’m being forced to.”

Clint nodded, “Okay so the girl collects new kids then. Cool cool cool cool”

“Are you panicking? You sound like you’re panicking”

“A little?”

“Hey it’s just lunch. Maybe we’ll make more friends and everything will be fine.”

Clint grimaced, “I don’t know how to socialize.”

Tony smiled and patted Clint’s shoulder. “I’ll do the talking, you just sit there and look cute.”

“Thank you... I think”

~

Clint was dragged into the cafeteria two hours later by Tony. “Come on, Merida! If I’m being forced to make friends my own age, so are you.”

“Did you just call me Merida?”

“Of course. You both do archery, right?”

“... I’m gonna ignore that.”

“Why are you booing me, I’m right”

Clint grimaced, “Why did I allow you to become my friend?”

“Because I’m special. Let’s go and find the scary red-haired girl”

“You found her”

Both Tony and Clint gave a small yelp as Natasha suddenly appeared behind them.

“Jesus Red, don’t do that to us”

Natasha rolled her eyes, “Come on. Our table is this way.”

Clint and Tony looked at each other, but quickly followed her to the table.

“Clint and Tony, sit down. Let me do the introductions.”

They both sat down.

Natasha smiled, “Everyone - this is Clint and Tony. The new kids”

The full group at the table waved at the pair, they waved back slowly.

“Okay first is Steve,” A muscular blonde waved. “Next is Bucky, his beau.” A muscular brunet with a permanent resting bitch gave a nod. Clint and Tony nodded back.

“Next we have Sam Wilson,” A black boy boy with shades and a goatee gave them a wave.

“Then there are the twins, Wanda and Pietro.” A boy and girl at the end of the table waved quickly before going back to their conversation.

“Okay after them we have Scott.... Scott, wake up!” Clint and Tony startled when a boy climbed out from underneath the table.

“Sup”

“Sup” Clint and Tony said quietly.

“Okay who do we have next... Ah, Little Peter. Late again”

“Sorry guys, I got stuck in the science lab because the teacher wanted me to go over this one scientific principle i brought up with him about the multiverse theory, you know the one I told you guys about? I was trying to explain in detail exactly what, oh hi new kids, exactly what-”

“Peter, peter, please take a deep breath you’re rambling.”

The younger boy, Peter, blushed. “Sorry”

“Hey kid, I love the multiverse theory. Ramble away” Tony said with a smile.

Peter’s eyes lit up.

“Uh oh, you just set yourself up for the talk of a century.” Sam said with a laugh.

“I’m game kid”

Peter grinned and began his ramble again, Tony listening diligently.

Clint tried to pay attention, but eventually tuned out from the conversation.

“Hey”

Clint blinked and looked around.

“Over here dingus”

Clint turned and spotted and black haired girl waving at him from a nearby table.

“Uh... yes?”

“Are you Clint?”

“Yeah that’s me.”

The girl smiled and stuck out her hand, “I’m Kate. Welcome to the archery team.”

Clint smiled and shook her hand, “Glad to be apart of it.... Though not sure how good my technique is, I’m self taught.”

Kate waved her hand, “Technique schmenique. If you can hit the target you’re better than the rest of the team. They all suck”

Clint laughed, “Well hopefully I’m better than suck“

“I’ll be the judge of that. See you on the green at 3!”

“See you then.”

Clint turned back around to find Tony smiling at him. “What?”

“You made a friend without being forced! Good for you Glen coco”

“I don’t understand that reference.”

“Oh dear god, you poor boy.” Tony turned and looked at the group. “Anyone wanna come help me destroy my father’s mansion and show Clint Mean Girls for the first time in the process”

The huge group all shouted positive exclamations, shocking Clint in their fervor to both destroy property and show him a movie he never knew existed.

“Okay... I guess I’m in too... But it has to be after Archery practice”

Tony waved a hand, “No problemo mi amor. I never do anything before 7 pm anyway”

Clint just sighed but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t the weirdest thing Tony had said to him in the two days they have known each other, and he knew he was gonna hear weirder at some point in the future.

DAY 10

“Tony, no”

“Tony, yes”

Clint sighed and rubbed at his forehead. “I am not pretending to be your boyfriend for funsies”

“Who said it was for funsies?”

Clint rolled his eyes and pushed at Tony’s shoulder. “Stop playing around.”

“Hahahayeahthatsmeplayingaround.” Tony said quickly, “See you in class.”

“Okay weirdo, see you then.”

DAY 20

“Soooo...”

Clint turned and looked at Kate and raised an eyebrow. “So?”

“Soooo when are you and Tony gonna go on a date?”

Clint blinked, “Huh?”

“Dude you and Tony are in love, go on a date.”

Clint rolled his eyes, “Kate you’re drinking the crazy juice. Tony and I are definitely not in love...”

Kate snorted, “Blind as a bat”

DAY 30

“Tony I swear to god if you don’t just tell him you want to date him, I will!”

Tony groaned and slammed his head down on the table. “Red you’re killing me. Don’t you think I’ve tried??? He’s an oblivious, adorable, moron!!”

Bucky patted Tony’s shoulder. “As someone who had to deal with Steve’s oblivious dumbass for 16 years, I feel. I can also help”

Tony raised his head up, “You can?”

Bucky shrugged, “Well I can try”

“That’s all I can ask for really”

DAY 40

“He really is a dumbass” Bucky said with an exasperated sigh.

“See?? I told you!” Tony practically shouted as he paced back and forth. “I have literally tried everything to get him to notice me as more than a friend.”

“There’s gotta be something, I mean Jesus”

Tony grimaced, “Is there though? Cause I can’t think of anything.”

“Maybe we can help”

Tony looked over and spotted Natasha and Clint’s friend, Kate. “You have an idea we haven’t tried?”

Kate and Natasha looked at each other and smiled. “Just leave it to us, okay?”

Day 50

Clint frowned, “But why do I have to wear the blind fold?”

“Because I said so, keep moving” Kate said with a huff as she maneuvered Clint back and forth.

“But what’s going on? You wouldn’t tell me shit”

“It’s a surprise, okay?”

“I’m not sure I like surprises”

“You’ll like this one, okay? Now shut up”

Clint huffed and continued to allow Kate to manhandle him.

“Are we there yet?” Clint asked 5 minutes later.

“Not quite, be patient you heathen.”

“Did you just call me a heathen? You uncultur-”

“Okay, we’re here! Take your blind fold off”

Clint sighed and ripped off the blindfold, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light.”Where am I?”

“Look!”

Clint spun to where Kate was pointing, and gasped. They had walked all the way out to the archery field, and standing in a line were several targets in a line, each with a different letter on then spelled out in arrows. Clint could see the rest of their newfound crew in the background watching.

‘DATE ME’

At the end of the line was Tony with a bunch of fledglings in his hand. Clint’s head tipped to the side and he let out a little laugh. “Oh Tony”

Tony gave him a huge smiled, “Oh Tony what?”

Clint laughed, “I can’t believe what a prankster you are. Such trouble for a laugh! ‘Date me,’ I love it! And you got everyone else involved too”

Tony’s face dropped and he looked over at the crowd in astonishment. Everyone else looked shocked too.

“Oh my god, you’re an idiot” Kate whispered.

“What? What do you mean I’m an idiot.”

Kate gripped Clint by the shoulders. “Clint, this isn’t a prank. It’s real. Tony LIKES you, and wants to take you on a real date!!!”

Clint frowned, “What? That’s crazy. Tony totally thinks us as just friends.”

Kate dropped her hands, “Okay. New question... If Tony didn’t think of you as just a friend, and actually asked you on a date. What would you say?”

Clint shook  his head, “That’ll never happen.”

“Why do you think so?”

“I’m not boyfriend material. Tony knows that, that’s why he’s joking about it.”

“Why are you not boyfriend material?”

“Because I’m a hot garbage can fire and nobody can love me past those flaws?”

“Tony can you big dingus, he’s even more of a hot mess than you!!”

Clint gave her a look, “Tony hasn’t been joking?”

“No!!!”

“He really wants to date me?”

“Yes!”

“Like legit?”

“YES” Everyone shouted, including Tony.

Clint turned and gave Tony a sheepish look. “Uhm... sorry?”

Tony sighed, “Apology accepted... and?”

“And?”

“AND YES OR NO LEGOLAS”

“Oh, yeah. I would love to go on a date”

Tony gave a loud whoop and ran towards Clint. “FINALLY! HE SAID YES!!”

Clint blushed as all of their friends began to cheer in the background.

“Was I really that much of an idiot?” Clint asked when Tony got closer.

“Even more than you know” Tony said with a smile before jerking forward and planting on kiss on Clint’s lips.

Clint let out a muted ‘oof,’ but gladly kissed Tony back.

The kiss lasted a good minute before Tony pulled back. “Best. Semester. Ever”

Clint laughed and pulled Tony back in for another kiss.

DAY 75

Clint’s leg bounced as he waited outside the principal’s office. He had been waiting for almost an hour, and he was getting more nervous by the second.

Finally, the door opened.

Clint jumped to his feet and rushed towards Tony. “So????”

Tony smiled, “I’m staying.”

Clint let out a loud whoop and jumped into Tony’s arms. Tony laughed and hugged Clint back, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “Wow, it’s like you like me or something.”

“Well who wouldn’t like a boyfriend like you, hmm?”

Tony just shook his head. “Come on, we’re gonna be late for class.”

“What class?”

“Chemistry”

[fanfic-inator795]

RotTMNT/Baron Jitsu fanfiction: Dating… With Children - BONUS DRABBLES

(Also available to read on AO3)

((Just decided to post both drabbles on one post even if they don’t relate to each other since they’re pretty short. Also, just as a Heads up: The first drabble gets pretty PG-13. (Though it's probably about as far as I'm ever going to go with my writing, since I'm not really a fan of writing smut). So yeah, enjoy!))

There were very few things in this world that were more satisfying than spending a warm Sunday afternoon in the arms of the person you loved. That's what Lou thought anyways.

The boys were currently over at April’s playing with some new video game console that her father had bought her, leaving the house quiet and peaceful. It was actually Draxum that had suggested laying down and stretching out some, after the two of them enjoyed a light lunch together. But while Draxum had assumed they'd be doing this on the loveseat, but with enough coaxing Lou managed to lead him upstairs instead.

“After all, the bed is much comfier,” Lou had told him, “And much more ‘tall-person friendly’.”

“I'm only about a foot or so taller than you,” Draxum lightly argued back as Lou had continued up the stairs, “and I'm within the average male height for men of my characteristics. You're the one who's a bit on the short side.” Lou’s light laughter echoed down the hall, unbothered by this fact at all.

Still, Draxum couldn't exactly argue with his boyfriend, the bed was indeed more comfortable than the small couch, as well as more private. One kiss led to another, and another, and a few more for good measure as they held each other in their arms. As they got a bit closer, each kiss being deeper and longer than the last, Draxum could feel Lou start to tangle his fingers through his hair, undoing his ponytail with little concern. It was an action that was quickly starting to become familiar to Draxum, yet it still managed to send shivers of pleasure up his spine.

Smirking a bit, Draxum decided to return the favor. Moving away from his boyfriend’s lips, he began to kiss his neck, one of his hands gripping Lou’s shoulder. Lou moaned, squirming at each touch and kiss.

Each time they caught each other’s gaze or saw the other smile, it just seemed to lead into another kiss. They hadn’t yet said it out loud, but there was love between them. Physical (obviously), emotional, platonic, romantic - you name it, they had it. And they wanted to enjoy every second of it. At some point during their makeout session, Lou had unbuttoned his shirt - or, maybe Draxum unbuttoned it? Neither one of them could really remember, nor could they care too much. All they cared about in that moment was each other.

However, love or no, they had a while to go before they made that big next step in the physical part of their relationship. Still, they accepted this, being more than alright with what they had and willing to be patient and take their time. But as momentary lust began to settle some and their kissing began to slow down a bit, Draxum remained comfortably on top of him, their arms staying tangled around each other. One of Lou’s hands was under Draxum’s shirt, rubbing his warm back a bit. Draxum pressed his forehead to Lou’s, and Lou hummed as he returned the gesture, lazily smiling at his boyfriend as he did so. “See,” he mumbled, “Told you it was more comfortable up here…”

Draxum sighed, rolling his eyes as he smiled back at him. “Yes yes, I know, you were right…” Lou chuckled, and lifted his chin slightly for another kiss-

His ears picked up on something - something close by. It was subtle, but still somewhat noticeable. The light thud of fast feet going up stairs, the slight squeak of the old floor, the voices of- Lou gasped. In one shift motion, Lou shoved Draxum off him (and, in his haste, completely off the bed) and sat up, forcing a ‘normal’ grin onto his face as the door opened.

“-Pop?” Raph asked as he and Leo poked their heads in, “Hey, what-?”

“AH! Yes!” Lou nodded, “Hello boys! Uh, a-aren’t you two supposed to be at April’s? You know we don’t like you kids walking around outside by yourselves!”

“We all started gettin’ bored with the video game she had and wanted to come play over here instead since we’ve got the bigger yard,” Raph explained.

“And her mom walked us over, so we can’t get in trouble for it,” Leo added, “Anyway, can we have an ice cream cup before we start playing again?”

“Oh. Uh, yes, that will be fine,” Lou nodded, “I will come down and get them for you.” After last time (the ‘frozen food avalanche’ incident as dubbed by his sons), he wasn’t going to trust his boys with the task. “A-Anything else you two need?”

“...How come your shirt’s unbuttoned?” Raph asked, tilting his head a bit as he pointed at his father’s open chest.

Right. Ignoring the heat now in his cheeks, Lou answered the question as he began fumbling over his buttons. “W-Well, heh, I-I was feeling a bit warm, you see? So I thought an open shirt would cool me down. But I am feeling much cooler now so now I am just going to button it back up before I catch a cold.”

“Okayyyy… And how come Draxum’s on the floor?” Leo asked, leaning over a bit to get a better look at the two feet that were sticking out from behind the bed.

“Oh. That. Well, uh-”

“I was doing sit-ups,” Draxum explained as he stood up, shooting his boyfriend a flat look before continuing, “I forgot about my workout this morning, so I figured I would at least get part of it done here. Exercise is important, after all.” With how even his tone was and how natural his words seemed, Lou might have actually believed him himself if he didn’t know the truth.

“Oh yeah! Our gym teacher at school tells us that too!” Raph agreed. His brother in blue took a bit longer to convince, not quite believing the explanation if his face was any indication.

But eventually, Leo just shrugged it off, deeming it not important. “So, ice cream?”

“Yes, I will be down there in a moment.” The boys accepted this, and as soon as they left the room, Lou breathed a sigh of relief.

“...Did you really have to push me off the bed?”

“I panicked, okay?!”

“...So, do you really think that’s what they were doing in there?” Raph asked as they went back downstairs, “Dad watchin’ Draxum do sit-ups?”

Leo shook his head. “Nah, they were probably just kissing or somethin’ and wanted to keep it a secret. Which is weird ‘cause we already know they’re boyfriends and kiss and stuff. ...Grown ups are weird.”

“Heh, yeah,” Raph agreed, the two brothers then sharing a laugh. Grown ups were DEFINITELY weird.

()()()()()()()()()()()

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“-It's just that, they don't always get it, you know?”

He didn't really, but Draxum still nodded.

Donnie paused, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he turned a couple screws. “They don't make fun of me because I like science, but I know when I try to teach them science stuff, they get super bored…”

Draxum nodded again, giving a small hum to let the boy in purple know he was still listening.

Donnie glanced up towards the kitchen window, where he could see his father and brothers playing outside. “I know Dad says it's okay that we all like different things, an’ even if I don't always like playing their games or doing what they like, there are still things we all like to do and play together, so that's good. Pliers, please.”

Draxum handed him the pliers. “It is good. Make sure there's enough room on each wire to avoid any short circuiting.”

“I know.” He carefully cut each wire, attaching them with precision. “Still, I guess sometimes I wish they liked the same stuff as me… They call my experiments cool, but they never really wanna help with the ‘boring’ parts that you gotta do to lead up to the cool ending. ...They don't say it's boring, but I can tell that's what they think.”

Donnie could feel a sympathetic hand on his shoulder now. “Unfortunately, some people can't always appreciate that there's a process to things,” Draxum told him, “You can't skip ahead to experimentation without the proper research and preparation.”

“EXACTLY!” If it weren't for the fact that he was trying to install the last few parts, Donnie would’ve thrown his hands up in relief that SOMEONE finally got it! ...In fact, Draxum got a lot about him, and he was very much thankful for that. “Oh well… At least I'm not the only one in this family who likes science stuff anymore. So… Thanks for that, Dr. Draxum.”

Draxum smiled back at him. “Of course. Now, it looks like you're about ready for the ‘eyes’.” He gestured to the small pile of Christmas lights light bulbs that he had brought over. “Which color?”

“Purple, duh!” Donnie answered, confident that there was no other ‘right’ answer to that question.

Draxum chuckled. “‘Duh’, indeed.” He handed Donnie the lights, and watched as the boy installed them. A few more adjustments to the circuitry, and it was ready to go.

The building of the little robot had been an easy enough process, and with Draxum’s help and the teaching from a ‘Koding of Kidz!’ site, Donnie had been able to write a simple code for the bot too. “Here we go,” Donnie mumbled. He adjusted his glasses, took a deep breath, and pressed a button on his tablet.

The little bit moved forward towards the salt and pepper shakers. Another press of a button, and the bot’s arms widened. Donnie pressed the button again, and the tiny arms closed around the salt shaker. He was grinning now as he directed the robot to take the salt over to an equally pleased Draxum. “It actually works! I did it!”

“Yes, you did,” Draxum nodded, “And it's working very well at that, no bugs or need for adjustments as far as I can tell.”

Donnie nodded, agreeing. Maybe he’d try to add more functions later, make the robot a little more exciting and cool. But for now, despite its simplicity, it was still a success. It was still his .

“So, what are you going to call your invention,” Draxum asked, figuring it would be christened with some creative name that only a child could come up with, like the Salt-Transporter 2000 or the Condiment Bot or-

“I think I'm gonna call him Shelldon,” Donnie answered after a moment, driving the bot back towards him.

“Shelldon?” Draxum repeated.

“Yeah, it seems like a good name for him, don't you think?”

Amused, Draxum had to agree. “Alright, Shelldon it is. So, are you ready to show it- Er, him to everyone then?”

“Yeah!” Donnie carefully gathered both the bot and his tablet into his arms before racing outside to his family, with Draxum right behind them, both of them confident that this likely wouldn't be the last time the two of them built something together.

[platinumsupa]

Diakko highschool AU maybe?

(but isn’t it already a…?

in any case! Here’s a diakko high school au! Diana may be the popular girl at school, but unfortunately for her, she’s ended up head over heels for a certain someone at the exact opposite end of the bell curve…

1700 words, so it’s a bit long, but that’s because I was having fun with it, sorry~ ^ ^;)

Diana was what people would call the popular girl. 

Student Council president, top of the class, head of theDance Squad, and she was perhaps the prettiest in school to boot, or so that’s whatpeople told her. Boys who were unaware of things often tried to ask her out, orat the very least sit with her and hope she looked their way. Every time shewould respectfully decline, which seemed to just add to her reputation as an unattainable beauty.

Akko was a new transfer student here at school. She was continuously almostbeing kicked out of the lacrosse team because she couldn’t keep her grades up,and when she wasn’t getting into very loud, fiery conversations with herteammates, she was usually getting into trouble with teachers. Last week, Diana watched ahalf-asleep Akko walk face first into a doorframe.

And Diana had noidea how to talk to this girl without feeling like a complete moron, because god, she had it bad.

How did she let it get this out of control? She really couldn’t say.

The first time Diana saw Akko, she was walking home with fellowclub members Hannah and Barbara, and they all stopped when they saw a short Asiangirl up in a tree, tangled in tree branches. And they watched, slack jawed, asthe branch broke from under her and she came tumbling down hard to the grass.

In her arms was a small black cat. In a show of gratitude toits rescuer, it clawed at Akko’s hands and took off running back home. Akkotook a moment to suck on her bleeding pinky before she finally noticed the threeof them looking down at her on the ground.

“Hi there!” She said, still on the ground. “I’m Kagari Atsuko, but everyone just callsme Akko. What’s up?”

Hannah and Barbara laughed at her, and Akko grumbled, simplystanding up and rubbing the dirt off her sleeves, watching the cat’s rapidly retreatingtail.

Diana’s heart started pounding, for some reason.

Some time later, Akko had talked back to Finnelan and landedherself an after school detention. Diana had found her alone in the classroom,not cleaning like she was supposed to. She took no notice of Diana there, becauseAkko was too singing along to an anime theme song playing through herheadphones and dancing with her mop like it was a microphone.

Diana spent all night thinking about it.

And then soon after, Diana absently looked over in Mathclass, and spent a good five minutes staring as Akko glued plastic gemstonesto her lacrosse stick in the shape of the Big Dipper. By that point, through nochoice of her own, Diana was definitelyvery interested.

Because Akko had a very cute face, not to mention such a passion in her voice, and a swagger inher step, and one would think a student in the running for some of the most prestigiousscholarships in the country wouldn’t be so stupidly useless, but here Diana was,her standards dropping like an elevator with its cables cut.

She spent a good portion of Mrs. Lukić’s science classtrying to keep her attention on the slides, and not the opposite table whereAkko was doodling in her notebook. To the point where she almost didn’t evenhear Mrs. Lukić’s announcement.

“Why don’t you all get with a partner and work through someof the problems on the board?”

Most students simply immediately went with the same friendsthey always did. Frank looked in Diana’s direction hopefully, as did Hannah andBarbara who sought to make a group of three, but Diana only had eyes for oneperson.

“So.” Diana said, standing over table. “You don’t appear tohave a partner at the moment. Allow me to help you.”

“Partner?” Akko looked up from her notebook and cocked herhead. “Wait, we’re doing group stuff?”

“You should really pay better attention. It would be problematicif you failed, especially in regard to your games, would it not?”

Akko huffed. “I don’t need you to tell me that. I can keepmy grades up just fine on my own!”

“I was not saying you couldn’t. But in any case, the teacherintends for us to work in pairs for this assignment, so…”

Akko shoved her things to the side of the table to give Dianaa place to set her own notebook down, and the blonde gracefully took her seat.She looked calm and serene, which was surprising given the frantic thoughts runningthrough her head.

It didn’t surprise either of them how begrudgingly Akko wentthrough the questions, with Diana mostly just trying to convince her of the valueof hard work as an extant concept. In about five minutes, the most they hadmanaged to accomplish was putting both their names down on top of the paper.

“I just don’t get why teachers like to cram us with allthese little assignments…” Akko said, twirling her pencil around. “I mean, sheprobably won’t even check this at the end, so it’s a little pointless, isn’tit?”

“They’re not pointless.It’s important to have practice with these concepts if you’re going to understandthem for the exams.”

“Yeah, but her instructions make no sense anyway. What even is this stupid equation she wants us todo? Like it’s all these weird G’s and x’s…how do you keep these straight?”

Diana glanced down at Akko’s notebook. Interspersed throughall the cutesy doodles, Akko had made an attemptto copy down the equations Lukić wrote on the board. Though not all of them, andwith one of the most crucial ones, she had simply stopped halfway through.

“Take this one for example, Akko.” She gestured to it. “It’sover r squared, not just over r.”

“What? But she said…”

“Here, if think of it more like this, it should make iteasier to follow.”

What happened next was mostly Diana’s fault. She neverreally did group projects, so shewasn’t even thinking when she started writing in her notebook in front of herwithout moving it. She actually had caught herself and was about to tilt thepage so Akko could actually see what she was doing, but Akko had already leanedover, unintentionally pressing their shoulders together.

(Diana’s heart was pounding again. Mother would be ashamedif she knew how weak her baby girl had become…)

“Oohhh! Is that how you’re supposed to do it?” Akko asked, eithernot noticing or not caring that she was all but leaning atop of the other girl.“That’s not how they taught it at my last school. Weird.”

“It…” Diana nodded. “I suppose I can imagine some of the…erm,letters and such and such might change depending on the…the language. That’s whyit’s important to practice, after all.”

“Yeah, but you did a better job explaining it than Mrs. Lukićdid. I guess I’ll have to remember this way for later then. Thanks.”

Akko took her notebook for a moment so she could copy downthe explanation into her own notes, and she quickly flashed Diana a gratefulsmile as she settled back into her own seat.

(oh god, her hair smelled really nice.)

“Think nothing of it,” is what Diana said at last. “…So.Aside from this, how have you been…adjusting to the new school?”

Akko simply shrugged. “It’s okay, I guess. I miss my oldfriends, but I met a lot of nice people here already, so it’s not so bad. Yourguys’ lacrosse team is a lot better than my old one at least!”

“You enjoy lacrosse then?” And what a shockingly goodquestion to ask her that was, because obviously she carried the stick aroundjust for fun.

But thankfully, Akko leapt at the chance to talk. “It’s the greatestsport there is! We’re totally gonna be going to nationals soon, I’m sure of it!I’m gonna be the best player on the entire team before the end of the year.”

“That’s…a lofty goal. But it’s good to set your sights high.After all, you don’t get the things you dream of, you get the things you workfor.”

Akko gasped excitedly at the lyric. “Oh my gosh, do you listento Chariot’s albums too?!”

“I’ve…overheard a song or two, yes. I just thought it seemedrelevant to the conversation.”

Akko laughed out loud. “You know, you’re a nicer person thanI thought, Diana! We should do more group stuff together some time!”

“Oh, that would be nice. I’d really like to spend more timegetting to know you better.”

“Really…?” Akko looked at her curiously.

Diana clamped her mouth shut. The calm expression she tried to take was betrayed by the visiblyhot blush spreading across her features.

No, she couldn’t lose her calm here. Friends could want toget to know each other better too, after all. Right? And every second she sather staring silently at Akko made her look more guilty. All she needed to dowas calmly explain what she meant in that context.

“I-”

“5 more minutes!” Lukić called out. “I expect you all to haveeverything answered…”

Akko quickly snapped back to her. “Oh shoot, we gotta finishour assignment, right?”

“Right. Right, the assignment.”

Diana picked up her pencil and set to work, and after a moment,Akko tossed Diana’s notebook back with the rest of Diana’s stuff, and set to helpingher finish.

Fortunately, they managed to finish all the questions intime.

After the assignments were collected, everyone returned totheir seats. And as for Diana, she spent much of the remainder of class stewingin her own gay frustration. She must have run through the entire conversationin her head 5 times a minute, picking apart every stupid thing she said. Shewas supposed to be good at speech,how did she do so bad at talking to one person? Akko must think she’s an idiotnow.

Lukić told them to remember to bring their textbooks fornext class, and Diana moved to write it in her notebook. But she paused, lookingat the top margin.

That note written there…that definitely was not her handwriting.She looked at the note more closely. It read;

‘got a game Friday at4pm!! you should come cheer me on! :3

Akko ♪’

Diana could not stop the grin from taking over her face. Hannahand Barbara would never understand the intensity in which she stared at thescribble at the top of the page.

She spent the rest the night trying to lay the perfectoutfit out for Friday.

[ihaveallthesefeelsokay]

Gabriel Bingo fic - Playing His Role

@idabbleincrazy @gabriel-spn-bingo

Playing His Role  (AO3 Link)

“Please.  Just five minutes.  Hear us out.”

“Sure.  Tell you what: survive the next twenty-four hours, we’ll talk.”

  “Oh, you’re somebody’s bitch.”

“Don’t you ever, ever presume to know what I am.”

Dean looked down at his firefighter’s uniform and back up at the horizon.  He and Sam were somewhere flat – maybe Kansas or Nebraska – and looking at a mushroom cloud in what must be the Rockies.

Great.  A post-apocalyptic show.  What ‘role’ did the Trickster want this time?  Putting out fires?  

People rushed around them franticly and Dean had to sidestep to keep from being run over by a mom carrying a baby.

Jeez.  You’d think it was the end of the world or something.

Okay, so it might be the end outside of this TV world.  But in here, Dean was pretty sure life was going to go on – if people would just calm down.

Wait.  Maybe that was the job here.  “Sammy,” he said.  “We’re supposed to stop rioting, you think?”

Sam shrugged.  “I’d’ve figured we’d be in cop uniforms for that.”

Speaking of cop uniforms, an older man in one came up to them with a swagger and looked Sam up and down. “My men and I are headed out to look for the missing school bus, Chief.  Think you got things here?”

“Uh, sure thing, uh, Sheriff.”

The man – and Dean noticed his sheriff’s star this time – nodded and put his hat on as he walked off.

Around them, lights flickered and went off, leaving the street in the dark.

“Great,” muttered Dean. Just like before, he somehow knew exactly what to say.  “How could we lose power?”

Another fireman appeared near them.  “The bomb could’ve fried the relays.”

“That’s possible,” Dean said.

“They could’ve blown up the power station for all we know,” said Sam.

A rugged-looking dark-skinned man approached them.  “Guys? It was probably just a drain on the system from Denver.”

Denver, then.  So from the angle… yeah, they were probably in Kansas.

“You a science teacher?” he asked the newcomer.

With a laugh, the man introduced himself.  “Robert Hawkins.”

Sam held out his hand. “Chief Winchester.”

Around them, the town continued to panic while three sheriff’s cars drove off.

“Guess we’re on our own now,” Dean said.

“Great.  How much longer do we have?” Sam asked quietly.

Dean reflexively at his wrist, but the watch was useless in TV land.  “Gotta be getting close to the twenty-four hour mark.”

“I sure hope so,” muttered Sam as this Hawkins guy turned back to them.

“Your town does roadwork at night, doesn’t it?”

Sam and Dean looked at each other.  Hell if they actually knew, but Sam said yes anyway and Dean followed some other firefighters to a garage across the street from the parking lot they were in.

Huh.  Roadwork had never been one of the jobs he’d taken to make ends meet, but maybe he should try it.  The equipment was kinda fun to play with.

Sam helped crank up the equipment and it lit up the sky – way too bright for road lamps.

Dean shielded his face and next thing he knew, he was staring at blue sky and a harsh sun.

“Shit,” said Sam, barely able to be heard over the whine of a plane engine close by.  “Lost.”

“Son of a bitch,” cursed Dean, although at least this was another world where women dressed scantily. In fact, if he remembered right, that Shannon chick went sunning in her bathing suit pretty early…

Sam yawned.  “Dean, we’d better find a world we can sleep in soon or I’m going to fall asleep standing up.”

Yeah.  They’d gone Trickster-only-knew how many hours since he first trapped them here – and who knew many days outside, since Cas had said they’d been gone for days the one time they’d seen him.

Dean hoped the Trickster had just blocked Cas from breaking in, not killed him or hurt him somehow. They needed the angel on their side for this upcoming fight.

The fight his stupid brother wanted to bring the stupid Trickster in on.  If they made it out of here, the Trickster better pony up or he was definitely gonna gank a demigod.

Dean noticed Sam swaying on his feet.  Okay, sleep. Maybe they could get a nap in somewhere in this world, where at least it was warm and nice – except for the polar bears and smoke monsters.

But not before people were waving them over to help pull the wounded from beneath the plane’s wings. Remembering from the show that one of the wings fell, Dean couldn’t say no.

He did tell Sam to go find a shady spot and sit down.  Dean was tired but still going.  Sam looked dead on his feet.

And maybe, just maybe, if they stopped to rest, the Trickster would let them.

Ah, who was Dean kidding? The Trickster wanted them dead as much as any other monster.  They’d probably get eaten by the polar bear.

“Do you have a pen?” someone said to Dean as he hauled a guy out from under the plane’s wing and away from the engine.  “I need a pen.”

“Sorry, kid,” Dean said. “Keep looking.”

Once everyone was safe, Dean trudged back up the beach to where Sam was wiped out and snoring.  He sat down under the closest tree, leaning back against the trunk, trying to keep his eyes open to watch out for Sam.

It wasn’t working.

  Gabriel leaned back in his chair, feet propped up on his red ottoman and dog in his lap, watching the Winchesters doze on the retro TV in front of him.  His fingers itched to send some danger their way to wake them up – they only had three hours left to go, after all.  He ought to keep them jumping.

But they’d caught on, hadn’t they?  He couldn’t get them to understand the full lesson until he went and talked to them. And humans being built as they were, they’d probably listen better after a few hours sleep.

With a gesture, Gabriel paused the Lost simulation and let Sam and Dean rest.

As the last hour of their ‘day’ came to a close, he changed the setting and brought them back to the Dr. Sexy hospital, this time as patients. Gabriel was rather proud of that set – he’d been able to embarrass Dean by exposing his obsession with the show and embarrass Sam by making him uncomfortable with that doctor’s flirting.

Yeah, that had been a good set-up.

Gabriel popped himself into the hospital room where the Winchesters slept, checked that he’d tied them down and gagged them with breathing apparatuses, smoothed down Dr. Sexy’s coat, and snapped his fingers – a little bit of flair for when he was being watched, even if it was just by his own creations.

It took them a second to orient themselves, but the Winchester quickly began fighting the straps holding them down and coughing around the tubes in their throats.

“Calm down, buckos,” Gabriel drawled.  “I’ll ungag you.  I did promise we would talk.”

He took a moment to watch the frustration in their eyes before he stepped back and opened the door to the room.  A rather busty nurse came in and fussed over the boys as she removed their intubations. Gabriel added a little wiggle to her walk, trying not to laugh at Dean’s eyes following her so blatantly.

Oh, he loved humans, but they were so predictable sometimes.

As soon as the nurse was gone, Dean rasped out a question.

“Sorry, didn’t catch that,” Gabriel said, even though he had.  He snapped again, lubricating Sam and Dean’s throats so they could talk clearly.

“What did you do with Cas, you bastard?”

Ah, that was touching. Concern for his little bro.  “He’s safe,” Gabriel said simply.  Castiel was caged up in another pocket dimension, locked up tight.  No way was Gabriel going to let him escape until the archangel/Trickster was far away – Castiel could identify him.

“Where is he?” Dean asked again.

“He’s safe, like I told you.  Keep asking and someone might start wondering about you two,” Gabriel teased. “I’ll let him go at some point.”

“So let us go,” Sam said. “We did your game.  We played our roles.”

“Ah,” Gabriel said, holding up a finger knowingly.  “That’s half of the game.”

“What’s the other half?”

Wiggling his fingers vaguely towards the windows, Gabriel said, “Play your roles out there.”

Glaring, Dean asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, you know.  Sam starring as Lucifer.  Dean starring as Michael.”  Gabriel pointed at each brother in turn.  “Your celebrity death match!  Play.  Your.  Roles.”

Sam looked betrayed. “You want us to say yes to those sons of bitches?”

No, Gabriel didn’t. He’d much rather the Winchesters find a way to stop this thing.  That wasn’t possible, though.  Destiny couldn’t be avoided, not when it’d been preordained by Father, so the only thing to do was get it over with as quickly as possible.  Like ripping off a cosmic Band-Aid.  “Hells yeah!  Let’s light this candle!”

“We do that, the world will end,” Sam tried to argue.

“Yeah?” Gabriel sneered, letting some of his frustration bleed out.  “And whose fault is that?  Who popped Lucifer out of the box?  Hm?”

Sam had the gall to look affronted.  Gabriel turned to Dean before he continued.

“Look, it’s started,” he explained.  “You started it.  It can’t be stopped.  So let’s get it over with!”

The brothers glared at Gabriel, who popped off with a charming grin to try and tamp down his anger.

“Heaven or Hell, which side you on?” Dean asked.

Oh, no.  Gabriel was not going to play that game.  “Get this straight, asshole: don’t ever presume to know me,” he snapped, dropping the cheerful façade.  “I work for myself.  You’re stuck with me and only me right now.  And listen closely, because here’s what’s gonna happen: you’re gonna suck it up, accept your responsibilities, and play the roles that destiny has chosen for you.”

“And if we don’t?” Sam said, daring to sass.

Gabriel’s fingers itched. It would be so easy to send them back into TV Land and leave them there forever, but soon Heaven and Hell would send emissaries to look for the vessels.  He didn’t have much time left to keep them.

“You will,” he said with assurance.  “You’ll say yes because you’ll want to, in the end.  Because you have to.”

“We won’t.”  Dean struggled against the restraints.  “You think you’ll fare well if we say yes? You’re just a demigod.  Michael and Lucifer will eat you up.”

Gabriel very pointedly didn’t react.  Truth was, his big brothers might very well wipe the floor with him.  He’d learned some, well, tricks that might give him an edge, but they’d only work once, with one of his brothers.  Best to lay low and stay out of things as long as he could.

Besides, he’d promised Loki.

“I think,” he said, “that I’ll survive better than a couple of humans wanted by the big dogs.  I think that whichever way this goes, it’s better for the world if it goes quickly.”

“Oh, so you’re doing this out of the kindness of your own heart, is that it?”  Dean laughed.  “Sorry, buddy, not buying it.”

Gabriel’s eyes narrowed and Sam looked at his brother.  “Dean…”

“What did I tell you, you arrogant prick?” Gabriel seethed.  “I told you to suck it up because you have no other choice.  Or would you rather stay in TV land forever, without me letting you stop and rest?”

“No,” Sam said firmly. “We get what you want.  We just don’t get why.”

“I told you.  You can’t stop Armageddon, so might as well ride it out.”

“We’ve heard from both Heaven and Hell,” Dean said.  “Doesn’t sound like there’s much room for anything but angels and demons in their plans. You really think you’ll survive?”

“I’ve survived this long, haven’t I?” Gabriel asked.  “And let me tell you, Heaven and Hell don’t care much for pagans.”

“Pagan?” Sam asked. “You’re a pagan god?  Thought Tricksters were just demigods.”

‘Just’ demigods. Hah.  Sam wasn’t entirely wrong but Gabriel would classify all pagans – even the nasty Norse pantheon – as demigods.  After all, he knew the real God and his Father wasn’t anything like the pagans.  Some of the pagans were loving, involved parents, for one.

“Which one are you?” Dean asked.  “Grumpy, Sneezy, or Douchey?”

Gabriel glared at Dean, but answered.  “Loki. They call me Loki.”

“Loki?  As in the Norse god?” Sam sounded bewildered.

“That’s right.  You thought you were tangling with some low-level mischief maker?  Puh-lease.”  Gabriel spun, doing a little twirl to show off.  “I play in the big league, boys.”

“Okay, so you’re a big dog,” snapped Dean.  “But that doesn’t make you bigger than an archangel.  If we say yes and they find out you tortured us…”  He trailed off, leaving the threat unspoken.

Gabriel had considered that. It was almost certain that his brothers would see him in Sam and Dean’s memories and realize he was still around.  It’s why he had a contingency plan – as soon as one of them said yes, he was going to ground.  Maybe Loki – the real Loki – would help hide him again.

Why not?  It’d worked the first time and he’d kept his promise. If not, he could always fortify a pocket universe and seal himself off from the world.  It’d suck, being all alone with only his creations to entertain him, but he could do it.

Funny.  Maybe that’s how Dad felt about the universes he created. Maybe that’s why he left.

He waved his hand, dismissing Dean’s threat.  “You think I don’t have plans?  Try again.” He smiled and patted Sam’s leg, making him thrash against the restraints again.  “Like I said, you’re going to say ‘yes’ or you’re my playthings forever. And I have quite the imagination,” he warned.

Going still under his hand, Sam managed to speak through clenched teeth.  “We aren’t going to say yes without a fight, you know.”

Of course they weren’t. They wouldn’t be his brothers’ true vessels if they went to their destiny quietly.  “But you will say yes.  Once you realize it’s hopeless, you’ll say yes.  When you see what Michael and Lucifer do to the Earth, you’ll wish you said yes sooner.”

“Fine,” grumbled Dean. “Let us go and if we can’t find a way to stop it, we’ll say yes.”

Gabriel could tell Dean was lying – souls pulsed in a certain way when humans hid the truth – but Loki couldn’t, so Gabriel played along.  “Soon.  If you can’t find a way to stop it soon, like say, three months from now.  February.  Make it Valentine’s Day, so you remember it.”  He paused.  “No, make it the day after.  I’ll let you boys pick up some lonely chicks on Valentine’s so you go out on a high note,” he offered magnanimously.

“Okay,” said Sam. “We’ll do it.”

Sam lied, too. Gabriel wasn’t surprised.  Still, this gave him an out – he had to get rid of the Winchesters.  He considered dumping them at the gates of Heaven – Michael wanted the fight, had always wanted the fight, so he’d be honorable and deliver Sam to Lucifer – but decided to keep his word.

You never knew how humans would surprise you, after all.

“I’ll be watching you,” Gabriel cautioned.  “Don’t try and double-cross me, kiddos, or you’ll regret it.”

The Winchesters swore up and down they’d keep their promises.

Filthy little liars. Gabriel would have to come up with other ways to nudge them into submission.

He did have one big ace up his sleeve, though.  “All right. I’ll let you go, but your friend Castiel is staying with me.  Call it my insurance plan.”

It was obvious from Dean’s face that he didn’t believe Gabriel could actually hold and hurt Castiel. Hah!  If he properly understood the power Gabriel had, both angelic and pagan, he’d be quaking in his hospital gown and compression socks.

Well, he probably wouldn’t. Dean was foolhardy like that. Gabriel remembered a time when humans cowered in fear from angels.  Hell, the very sight of him had struck the human Zachariah mute two millennia ago.

Humans these days.  So brash and unafraid of the very things they should fear most.

Gabriel sighed. Raising his hand, poised to snap, he shot off a last minute warning.  “Say yes.  Save the world some suffering.”  Save me from having to watch the storm approach. Let it just get here and be done with, he thought.

He snapped, returning himself to his little apartment and comfy armchair.  On the TV screen, nurses came and made Sam and Dean go through the full discharge procedures of a real hospital – one last little stab at them. Two hours later, they wandered out of the warehouse and into the world again.

He’d failed, he knew, just like he had at the mystery spot.  Sam and Dean weren’t going to go say ‘yes’ immediately any more than Gabriel was going to pick a side.  But he’d tried.

And he’d try again if he came up with another idea.  But how to convince humans as stubborn as archangels?

Not even the youngest archangel, the one who’d studied his Father’s creations the most, could figure that one out.

  It was tricky, thanks to Castiel’s Enochian carvings, but using pagan magic, Gabriel kept an eye on the Winchesters that winter, following them from the convention with the prophet – that one, he almost wished he could have seen in person – to the time the kid swapped bodies with Sam. Another amusing one, since Gabriel knew they weren’t in real trouble – Heaven wouldn’t let those teens kill Dean and if they brought Sam to Lucifer, well, that was in Gabriel’s best interest.

He did step in once, when Anna – whom Gabriel remembered as Ananchel, a curious angel he’d once been fond of – decided to kill Sam Winchester.  With some regret, he bound her up in the same sort of prison he held Castiel in.  He knew, someday, he’d have to kill her or let her go, but he couldn’t allow her to interfere in the Apocalypse any more than she already had.

The Winchesters danced through January, unaware of the danger they’d faced from Anna, and into February, when they met Famine on Valentine’s Day.  Without Castiel, they came closer to dying than Gabriel would have liked, but he wasn’t prepared to release his baby brother just yet.  He still needed that leverage against the Winchesters.

When he realized Dean held the rings of two Horsemen, Gabriel began to formulate a plan.

He’d known about the key to the Cage since Lucifer went in and Dad gave the rings to the Horsemen for safe keeping.

He’d just never imagined that humans could take the rings.  But if the Winchesters could depower the Horsemen… well, that would be one big hitch in the ineffable plan.

And if they surprised him even more and tricked one or both of his brothers into the Cage…

Gabriel smiled to himself. It was miniscule, but he was beginning to see a chance for everyone to live.  He just had to see how the Winchesters fared from here on out.  If they gave in like they’d promised, well, that was simply Plan A working.

He pocketed Plan B in case he needed it.

In the meantime, he needed to show up and make some noise because the Winchesters hadn’t kept their promise.  Preferably after Sam detoxed from the demon blood and they were gone from Bobby Singer’s house – that man was just a little too astute for Gabriel’s taste.

 Sam leaned against the window of the Impala, tired to his core.  He finally felt like himself again after three full days of going cold turkey, but he could stand to have another eight hours of sleep.

Dean was anxious, though, not wanting to stay someplace as obvious as Bobby’s house any longer than necessary in case angels or demons were keeping an eye on it.

Billboards passed every mile or so, the only lights on the highway besides the rare car.

KEEP YOUR PROMISES, read one that went by.

Huh.  Odd message but surely it made sense to someone.

The next one said YOU LIED.

Okay, that was weird.

“Did you see those last two billboards?” he asked Dean.

“The one for the Boobie Bungalow and the ‘REPENT NOW’ sign?”

Sam frowned. “No.  The one about promises and the one about lying.”

Dean laughed once. “Think you’re seeing things, Sammy. Get some sleep.”

Keeping quiet after that, Sam kept his eyes peeled for the next sign.

Sure enough, it was a message.  I’M TALKING TO YOU, SAM.

“Dean, that billboard had my name on it,” he said, getting antsy.  In the back of his mind, their lies to the Trickster popped up. Shit.  Were they about to have another run-in with the monster?

LOOK IN THE BACKSEAT.

Sam turned around cautiously and almost startled when he realized it wasn’t empty.

Spread out across the leather bench seat was the Trickster, legs crossed and lollipop hanging from his lips.

“Dean…” Sam said softly.

The Trickster grinned and sat up – silently – before taking the lollipop from his mouth.  “Heya, guys.”

“Fuck!” yelled Dean.  He swerved and almost ran off the road.  Once he got his composure, he glared into the rearview mirror.  “What the hell, Loki?  It was freaky enough when Cas used to do that; I don’t need you making me wreck, too.”

Sam held back a comment. Dean was being quite brash with Loki, but the Trickster hadn’t killed them outright yet, so maybe it was okay.

“Seeing if you guys had forgotten about me,” Loki drawled.  “Seems like you must’ve, since you’re still here and not being ridden by Michael and Lucifer.”

“We’re not yet convinced it’s hopeless,” Sam argued, even though he knew Loki had given them a deadline and they’d blown right past it.

“Uh-huh.  Right.”  Loki popped the lollipop in and out of his mouth between sentences.  The clacking of it against his teeth was making Sam’s skin crawl.  The Trickster was probably doing it on purpose.

He leaned forward and clapped a hand on each brother’s shoulder, squeezing hard enough to hurt. “I recall you boys swore to me you’d say yes by Valentine’s if another solution didn’t present itself and hey, it’s February eighteenth and the Apocalypse is still on the docket.  You wouldn’t have lied to me, would you?”

“We’re not doing a damn thing until you let Cas go,” Dean hissed.  “What have you done with him?”

Sam probably wasn’t supposed to know that Dean had prayed to Cas every night since TV land.  He’d prayed a time or two himself.  He didn’t know if Cas could hear them, but between the two of them, they tried to keep their friend updated.  Tried to let him know he wasn’t forgotten.

They’d spent weeks at first, trying to figure out how to force the Trickster’s hand and make him release Cas.  Of course, they’d come up with nothing.

“Castiel is safe.” The same thing the Trickster had said back in TV land.

“Safe?  Safe? He’s an angel; that could mean you stashed him at the bottom of the ocean and he could be ‘safe.’  What the hell did you do to him?” Dean argued.

Sam wasn’t so sure provoking the Trickster was a good idea and his thoughts were proved right when the air in the car started to get prickly and he could swear he saw Loki’s eyes flash.

“I told you he’s safe,” Loki snapped.  “I didn’t lie, unlike some people in this car.  What happened to your promises?  I ought to drag you to the gates of Heaven and Hell myself.”

There was something in his voice that Sam could just about put his finger on.  He dared to guess.  “But you don’t want to do that, do you?  You want to stay far away from Heaven and Hell, otherwise you would have already done that.”

Loki turned to him sharply and Sam felt the weight of his gaze.  How could such a small guy be so menacing?  “I haven’t done it because I keep the promises I make.  I can’t force you to say ‘yes,’ anyway.  I can just try to convince you it’s the only way.”

“Is it the only way?” Dean cut back in.  “You keep saying that.  Everyone keeps saying that.  But I don’t buy it.  There’s always a way to pull the plug.”

“Yeah.  The plug is being pulled,” said Loki.  “It’s called the Apocalypse.”

Dean glared at the Trickster.  “Still don’t buy it.  Why aren’t you trying to help us, anyway?  You oughta want to keep your schtick going and that’s not gonna be possible when there aren’t any humans left.  You gonna try giving a demon its just desserts?  An angel?”  

Sam appreciated that Dean was using his argument from three months ago, but wasn’t sure how relevant it was now.  Loki had made it pretty clear he wanted them to be the vessels.

There was something weird about his insistence, but Sam hadn’t figured it out yet.

“I might,” said Loki petulantly.  “Some of them deserve more than that.”

Dean snorted.  “That’s for sure.  Buncha self-righteous dicks.  Angels are worse than any human I’ve ever met.”

A queer smile crossed the Trickster’s face.  He let go of their shoulders – finally; Sam’s had started to cramp – and leaned back.  “So they are,” he said.  “But that still doesn’t solve our problem.  What am I going to do with you two?”

“Appreciate our plucky, can-do attitudes?”

Loki actually laughed at that.  “Nice one, Dean.  Wish I could let that be it.”

“Look, we’re going to figure out something,” Sam said.  “Just give us time.”

“While the world suffers from Death walking across it?”  The Trickster pursed his lips and nodded.  “Sure.  Because that’s great for everyone.”

“You can’t tell me you aren’t trying to brainstorm an escape,” Dean said.

Something occurred to Sam. “And you can’t take us again because Michael and Lucifer will eventually come looking for us.  You can’t keep us hidden away forever or you’d have never let us go before.”

The sarcastic expression on Loki’s face turned into another smile.  “Good one, Sam!  You’re as smart as they say you are.  I was beginning to wonder.”

“So if you can’t take us and you can’t give us to Heaven and Hell, why’d you show up?  Think you could put the fear of– of demigod into us?”

“Worth a shot.”  Loki stretched his arms out.  “And don’t be fooled.  Just because I can’t kidnap you again doesn’t mean I can’t make your lives miserable.  Or Castiel’s. Or your friend Bobby’s.”

“Don’t you touch Cas or Bobby,” snapped Dean, turning a little to face Loki.  “Or we’ll see what an angel blade does to a Trickster.”

“Less than you’d like,” Loki said lightly.  “It might itch a bit.”

“Sure.”  Dean reset his grip on the steering wheel.  “Haven’t met a thing yet it won’t hurt.”

“Well, now you have.” Loki entwined his fingers behind his head and leaned back against them.  “So we’re at a standoff now.  Either you go say yes, or I start playing tricks on everyone you know.”

“No,” said Sam.  He didn’t know why he felt the Trickster wouldn’t really hurt them – if he could, he would have already, surely – but he was certain of it.  Certain enough to argue.  “We’re going to keep figuring out a way to stop all this and you’re going to help us or get out of our way.”

“Oh, am I?”  The air prickled a bit again.

Sam held his ground. “You are.  Because otherwise we’re going to let the real big dogs know where they can find a Norse God who thinks he can play both sides.”

Loki’s eyes flashed again, all humor gone.  “You don’t know where I am,” he said defensively.  “I’m not even really in this car with you.”

Sam wasn’t sure he bought that, either.  “You think they couldn’t find you?  That’s all of Heaven and all of Hell searching for one little god.  My money’s on them.”

“Try me,” seethed Loki before he disappeared suddenly.

“Well that was fun,” said Dean after a minute.  “Empty threats from the Trickster.  Still think he’s all that powerful?”

Sam frowned.  “We know he is.  It’s obvious he’s more powerful than most demons we’ve met.  We just don’t know how he’ll stack up against angels.”

Dean laughed.  “Sure we don’t.  He as much as told us they’ll fry his ass.  He’s scared of the sons of bitches.”

“Right.”  Sam wasn’t so sure about that.  There was a lot of things about Loki that didn’t add up.  He didn’t act like the other pagan gods they’d met.  As far as they knew, he just snacked on sugar, not humans, for one.  He seemed strangely interested in the two of them, for another.  “So are we just going to keep going until he comes back with a real vengeance or are we going to consider saying yes?”

Dean shot him a look. “Are you crazy?  We’re not saying yes, no matter what.  We’re not playing their game.  Or his game.  Not anymore.”

Sam nodded and went back to watching out the window.  Hopefully Dean was right and they’d figure something out soon.

In the backseat of the Impala, unseen by Sam or Dean, Loki grinned.

  The letter in Gabriel’s hands burned around the edges without consuming the paper.

Ah, Kali, always a show-off. She wasn’t a light-hearted about it, but it was no wonder Loki – well, Gabriel in full Loki mode – had once fallen for her.  They had more in common than Kali would ever admit.

A gathering of pagans, she’d said.  Loki wasn’t officially invited, but Kali wanted him to show up anyway.

Something deep inside Gabriel told him this was all a bad idea.  Getting pagans together was asking for a battle to break out.  And then Kali telling him about it on the sly…

Well, things with Kali hadn’t ended that well and he’d heard she was with Baldur now – Baldur, who loathed Loki with a fiery passion.  As much as Gabriel would like to see Kali again, this was just fishy.

And then the letter said they were going to trap the Winchesters and use them as bargaining chips–

Yeah, that wasn’t a bad idea at all.  Wasn’t suspicious, either.

Gabriel did something dangerous and exerted some archangelic power to pop into the future – a future where he attended the meeting – and watched it play out.

Faked deaths.  Blood spells.  Slaughter of the pagans.

And Kali had known he was Gabriel when she invited him.

With a deep sigh, he plopped into his armchair.  Walking into a huge trap like that was just stupid and Gabriel wasn’t stupid.  If he didn’t interfere, though, the pagans would all die at Lucifer’s hands.  The Winchesters would be captured by his brother and Sam forced to say yes.

Going would end up interfering with his brother’s war and break his promise to Loki.  Staying back would let Lucifer get the high hand.  

Whistling for Max, Gabriel reached down and helped the dog jump into his lap.  He scratched behind the dog’s ears.  “This is a trap for all of us,” he told the dog wistfully.  “Kali doesn’t know she’s going to her death, though. If I go, I break my promise and reveal myself to Lucifer.  What do I do?”

Max gave a happy yip and flopped on his side.

Unable to help his smile, Gabriel said, “Lying low and letting it happen might be the smart thing, but it won’t be easy.  Those guys were my family for centuries.”

The dog just craned his neck for more scratches.

Gabriel thought for a while.  He still had Castiel.  He could let him loose now, with the instruction to divert the Winchesters and keep them from stopping at the hotel at all.  Castiel had enough power to break through any of the pagan’s beckoning spells.

But what good would that do, except to delay the inevitable?

The thought of the Horsemen’s rings danced in his head again.  Dean kept two rings in his pocket.  Pestilence was out there, getting ready to make his move.  Death was tethered to Lucifer and mightily unhappy about it.  There was the chance the humans could get those rings, one way or another.  Gabriel just had to tell them how to use them.

That would be picking a side, though.  Was he ready for that?

It was the side of humanity, though.  Not Michael’s side or Lucifer’s side.  He’d be setting himself up against all his brothers.  But humanity was what Dad asked them to choose in the first place, right.

And anyway, Castiel had made that choice.  If a little seraph could stand against Heaven, surely a rogue archangel could, too.

Right, then. Gabriel knew what choice he had to make. How to execute it, though?

  Another stranger walked up to Castiel as he slumped against the walls of his prison.  It’d been at least a week since the Trickster’s last visit – or at least a visit from the Trickster’s creations.

This time, the creation was a child, a young girl.  “Castiel,” it said.  “It’s time to go.”

Castiel didn’t even look up.  “You’re finally going to kill me?”

“No, it’s time to go free. The Winchesters need you.  The Trickster needs you.”  The little girl sat down in front of Castiel.  “He told you that he’d let you go eventually.”

“The Trickster has told me nothing,” Castiel growled. “Just figments of his imagination sent to torture me.”

The little girl laughed. “Torture?  Oh, Castiel, you know torture and you know this isn’t it. You’ve been in Heaven’s prison before, haven’t you?  At least here there was no brainwashing.”

Well, that was true. The Trickster didn’t have a Naomi to probe Castiel’s brain.  “What do you want from me?”

“You’re going to keep the Winchesters from stopping at a certain hotel,” the little girl said. “And you’re going to give them this.” She handed him a DVD case.

CASA EROTICA 13, read the cover.  A blonde in lingerie posed under the title.

“What is this?”

“Porn,” said the girl matter-of-factly.  “It’s a good one.  You might learn something if you watch it.”

Castiel knew the girl was simply an extension of the Trickster’s powers, but hearing that come from a child’s mouth was slightly disturbing.

The little girl started giving instructions, detailed enough that Castiel had no questions what he was being asked to do.  He just didn’t know why.

“Why can’t they stop at the hotel?”

The little girl gave him a look.  “Because they’ll be in danger if they do.  Lucifer will find them.”

Oh.  Well, okay.  Avoiding Lucifer would be good.  Castiel knew from Sam’s prayers that he was nowhere near close to saying yes, but that Dean had come close enough to run off on a ‘farewell tour’. Thankfully, Sam had found him and stopped him, even though it meant Sam and Bobby had locked Dean up in Bobby’s panic room.

Dean had come around, though, and they were headed east from Sioux Falls right now.

The Trickster wanted him to pop into their car and make them drive past this Elysian Hotels place, then give them the DVD at the next motel they found.

Did he trust that this wasn’t one of the Trickster’s lessons?  That Castiel wasn’t delivering Sam and Dean straight into the archangels’ hands?

“Stop thinking that,” the little girl said.  “The Trickster keeps his word when he gives it.  He isn’t lying to you now.”

Castiel still wasn’t sure, but he didn’t have much of a choice at the moment.  He could believe the Trickster and be set free or he could continue to stay here, with only Jimmy as company.

“Okay,” said Castiel gruffly.  “I’ll do it.”

The little girl beamed. “Good!  Ready to go?”

Castiel struggled to his feet.  “Yes.”

“Good.  Remember, the Winchesters are on I-90 now, about to be sent on a detour near the Wisconsin Dells.”

Castiel nodded. Before he’d finished the motion, though, he found himself standing on an interstate exit in the dark in the pouring rain.

He checked his coat pocket and yes, there was his phone.

Time to call Dean.

  Gabriel followed Castiel on his TV screen and breathed a sigh of relief when the Impala drove right past the Elysian Fields Hotel.

He’d done his part, right? He’d given the Winchesters the DVD – and if they watched it, they’d find out how to close the Cage again, hopefully with Lucifer inside.

The thought made Gabriel shudder.  Lucifer had already been trapped by himself for millennia.  Was it cruel to trap him again?  Would Michael try to break in – or would he go after the Winchesters to get the key?

Gabriel didn’t know. At some point in the past, before Dad left, he might have been able to predict Michael’s actions, but it’d been centuries since he skipped out of Heaven.  Gabriel had changed.  Surely Michael had, too.

There really was no telling how things would go, even if the Winchesters trapped Lucifer again. The wise thing to do would be to go to ground now and not emerge until it was over.  Let things fall out as they may – for the pagans, for humanity.

Gabriel was a wise being. Loki was not.

Which one was he these days?

  Sam, Dean, and Cas huddled around Sam’s laptop in the Briggsviille motel room, watching the opening of CASA EROTICA 13.

“The Trickster wanted you to bring this to us?” Sam asked, confused.  Nothing about the DVD seemed out of the ordinary.

“Maybe he’s a fan,” Dean said.  “It is a good one.”

Sam and Cas gave Dean a look.

“Wait,” Dean said, pausing the DVD.  “Look.”

There, on the paused screen, was Loki, dressed in a ridiculous mustache and waiter’s uniform.

“He gave you porn that he’s in?” Dean asked, incredulous.  “Dude’s crazier than I thought.”

Cas huffed.  “He didn’t tell me he was in it.”

“Guys, maybe there’s more to it,” Sam said, though he wasn’t sure himself.  He hit the space bar, unpausing the DVD.

“I’ve got the kielbasa you ordered.”

“Ooh.  Polish?”

“Hungarian.”

They watched as Loki started making out with the woman.  Sam grimaced and noticed everyone looking away.  That was not what they wanted to see.

Suddenly, the moans and kisses stopped.  Loki turned to the screen and, incredibly, started talking to them.

“Sam.  Dean. Castiel.  You’re probably wondering what the hell is going on. Well, if you’re watching this, I’ve picked a side.”

“’Bout time,” Dean grumbled.

“Humanity’s got the short straw in this fight.  And you’re right, I don’t want to see the fight happen.  I’ve got my reasons, but… well.  They don’t really matter.  What matters is that I’m betting on you three to stop the Apocalypse.”

How, Sam wondered. How could they stop it when the Trickster had spent so much time trying to convince them otherwise?

“You’ve got zero shot at killing Lucifer. Sorry!  But you can trap him.  The Cage you sprung Lucifer from?  It’s still down there.  And maybe – just maybe – you can shove his ass back in.  Not that it’ll be easy.  You gotta get the Cage open, trick the devil back into it.  And, uh, oh yeah: avoid Michael and the God Squad. But hey, details, right?”

Cas scoffed.  “This is impossible.”

“Here’s the big secret that Lucifer himself doesn’t even know – the key to the Cage?  It’s out there.  Actually, it’s keys, plural.  Four keys – well, four rings.  From the Horsemen.  You get ‘em all, you got the Cage.  Think you can handle that?”

Loki looked sad for a moment.  “Probably not.  But hey, I’ve been wrong before.  And so far, everyone has underestimated you at their peril.  So go get ‘em, tigers.”

There was a key to the Cage and they had two of the four parts already.  Sam tried to let that sink in, almost not noticing as Loki turned back to the girl in the DVD and started disrobing.

“Oh, ugh,” said Dean, slamming the laptop shut.

“I didn’t know there was a key,” Cas said.

“How did the Trickster know?” Sam wondered.

“He knows more than he should,” Cas said.  He reached over and picked up the DVD case, closing his eyes in concentration. “There’s pagan magic here.  That’s all I can feel.  If I could meet the Trickster in person…”

“Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth, okay?” Dean said.  “We’ve got War and Famine’s rings.  That’s two down.  Collect all four?  All we need is Pestilence and Death.”

“Oh, is that all?” Sam asked, rolling his eyes.  They could probably get to Pestilence if he was on the same level as War and Famine. But Death?  How could anyone mortal defeat Death?

“It’s a plan,” said Dean defensively.  “It’s the only plan we got.”

“What do we do now?”

“Turn around,” Dean said. “Get this to Bobby.  He can help us make it a better plan.”

Sam couldn’t argue with that.  Maybe Bobby would have an idea how to find Pestilence and Death in the first place, much less defeat them.  They’d been lucky before, stumbling upon War and Famine like they did.  There was no guarantee they’d find the other two through cases.

“First, we gotta sleep, though,” Dean said.  “We’ve had what, maybe three or four hours this week?  Time to crash.  Cas, you keep watch.”

The angel nodded and stood by the motel room door, motionless.  It was weird, but Sam had started to get used to the fact that angels didn’t need sleep.  He moved to the other bed and flopped out, spread-eagle.  Having an actual pillow – crappy as it was – under his head made him relax and soon he was drifting off.

  Loki was not wise – and apparently Gabriel was more Trickster than archangel these days.

He hung out outside the ballroom doors, waiting for the dramatic moment, because if he didn’t make a dramatic entrance, he wasn’t Loki.

Well, pretending to be Loki.

“Who asked you?” came Kali’s voice through the doors.  

Yeah, this was his moment.

Gabriel slammed the doors open with a gesture and sashayed in.

“Can’t we all just get along?” he asked sassily.  Every face in the room turned to him, glaring.  Yeah, Loki had not left on good terms.

“Loki,” glowered Baldur.

“Baldur!” he said happily. “Good seeing you, too!  I guess my invitation got lost in the mail.”

“Why are you here?” Baldur asked.

“To talk about the elephant in the room.”

Ganesh began to stand and Gabriel pointed at him, rolling his eyes.  “Not you.  The Apocalypse.  We can’t stop it, gang.”

“Of course we can,” said Kali, practically purring.  “If we fight together, the archangels can’t stand against us.”

Kali had never been this naïve in the past.  Too bad Gabriel knew it was an act or he might feel bad for her.

Oh, who was he kidding? He was here for her.  He felt bad even though she was going to try to kill him.

Baldur cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should disband for a bit while we sort out our… unwelcome guest.”

“Yes,” said Gabriel, sardonically.  “Why don’t you do that?  Check what Daddy says to do with your black sheep brother.”  He grinned at Odin, who grumbled something under his breath.

Mercury stood, wiping the blood from his chin.  He clapped his hands together.  “We’ll meet back here in ten?  Better to stop now and eat while the food’s still fresh.”

Kali breezed past Gabriel towards the doors.  With a waggle of his eyebrows at Baldur, Gabriel spun and followed her.

She kept her room dark, like always.  As if she didn’t know Gabriel was following her, she started undressing.

Gabriel could play this game.  With a thought, he lit the candles on her table and manifested a rose in his hands. “Bonjour, mon amour.”

Kali looked at him in the mirror.  “Leave,” she stated.

He knew she didn’t mean it. “You always did play hard to get,” he purred.

“I’ve moved on,” she said, turning around.  Gabriel’s eyes were drawn to the chain of silver skulls around her waist.  He knew that if she manifested her true form, those would be real skulls.

He always had enjoyed dancing with danger.

“I noticed.”  Gabriel raised his eyebrows.  “Baldur?  Really?”

“Baldur’s uncomplicated,” she replied.

“Oh come on,” he said. “Baldur’s a pretty idiot.  Always has been.  It’s why I killed him.”

She looked at him.  “I never took you for the type.”

“Romantic?”

“Pathetic.”

Gabriel tried not to laugh. “You’re the one who called me here.”

“Because I thought you might take this seriously.”

Gabriel gestured with the rose as he spoke.  “I’m taking this seriously!  Ship’s sinking.  Time to get off.  I mean, screw this marble.  Let’s go check out Pandora.”  The fictional planet didn’t exist, but he could create it, protect himself and Kali both while Earth sorted itself out.

“It doesn’t have to be like that,” Kali argued.

His hopeful face fell. “I’m afraid it does.”

“If we fight–”

“You die.”

“And what makes you such an expert?” she challenged.

I know my brothers.  I know our power.  “I’ve tussled with those winged ass-monkeys once or twice.  Kali, no more tricks,” he said seriously.  “I’m begging you, don’t do this.”

“I have to,” she said.

And that was the Kali he still loved – a fighter to the end.  “Can’t blame me for trying.  Still love me?”

“No.”  Her face didn’t change.

Gabriel’s did.  He softened his look into an ‘I know better’ expression.  It worked. Kali reached out and grabbed him, pulling him in for a kiss.

Oh, she was still just as good at this as he remembered.

Suddenly, Kali pushed him away and he felt a scratch along his jawline.  She held up her fingers, covered in his blood.

“Ow!” he protested, knowing this was the beginning of the end.

“You must take me for a fool,” she said, voice low and menacing.  “Gabriel, you’re bound to me.  Now and forever.”

Gabriel’s heart sunk. He’d known this was coming, had seen it, but he’d still hoped that maybe if the Winchesters weren’t here…

Oh, who was he kidding? He knew and he walked into this trap willingly.

“Kali, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he argued.

“Stop insulting me, Gabriel. I don’t know where the real Loki is, but you aren’t him and you never have been.  You’re an archangel and you’re here to infiltrate our plan.”

“No, I’m not!  I’m trying to save you,” protested Gabriel.

Kali didn’t say anything. She dressed again, turned, and walked out of the room again.

This time, Gabriel followed because he had to – he felt the pull of her blood spell deep inside him, impossible to resist.

Oh, he was in trouble.

She led him back into the ballroom and made him sit at the head of the table.  All the gods watched curiously.

“How long have you known?” Gabriel asked.  What had given him away?

“Long enough.”  Okay, so she wasn’t going to let on.  She looked at the rest of the room and spoke louder. “Well, surprise, surprise.  The Trickster has tricked us.”

“Kali, don’t,” begged Gabriel.  If he got outed, his whole deal with Loki was nullified.  For all he knew, Loki would betray him to his family as soon as he found out.

“You’re mine now,” she said, lowering herself into his lap.  “And you have something I want.”

Gabriel knew what was coming.  Imperceptibly, he duplicated himself, leaving the fake Gabriel in the chair with Kali, while Gabriel was as far away as he could get, a few rooms over.

Kali reached inside the fake’s jacket and pulled out an angel blade.  A fake one Gabriel kept around for moments like this.  “An archangel’s blade,” she continued, standing up again.  “From the archangel Gabriel.”

A murmur went around the room.  Apparently no one but Kali had known about Gabriel.

“Okay, okay!  So I got wings – like Kotex,” the fake said.  “But that doesn’t make me any less right about Lucifer.”

“He’s lying.  He’s a spy,” accused Kali.

“I’m not a spy,” protested the fake.  “I’m a runaway.  I’m trying to save you.  I know my brother, Kali.  He should scare the living crap out of you.  You can’t beat him.  I’ve skipped ahead, seen how this story ends–”

Kali cut him off.  “Your story.  Not ours. Westerners, I swear, the sheer arrogance!  You think you’re the only ones on Earth?  You pillage and you butcher in your God’s name.  But you’re not the only religion and he’s not the only God.  And now you think you can just rip the planet apart? You’re wrong.  There are billions of us and we were here first.  If anyone gets to end this world, it’s me.”  She looked at him piteously.  “I’m sorry.”

Gabriel winced as she stabbed the fake him in the heart with the fake blade.  He made sure to put on a good show, with light coming from the fake’s eyes and mouth.  Just in case she thought to check, he left her a clue that he wasn’t really gone – there were no burnt wing-prints.

Conversation continued in the room as Kali pointed out that archangels could die and now they had the weapon that could do it.

Gabriel just slumped down on the bed, waiting for the inevitable.

  Screams echoed through the hotel as Lucifer made his way to the ballroom.

Gabriel hung his head, knowing that Loki was going to blame him for this, even though he was here to try and save everyone.

If only they’d listened.

He was stuck here, though. Kali had him by the short and curlies with that blood spell.  If Lucifer killed her, though, he could get out of here.

But could he stand to listen to her being killed?  She’d betrayed him, but still…

Still a part of Gabriel loved her.  He loved all of the bastards that Lucifer was killing, but Kali especially.

So when he felt Kali try to burn Lucifer and fail, he knew what he needed to do.

This might literally kill him, but he had no choice.  He teleported back into the ballroom.

Lucifer raised his foot to stomp on Kali, but Gabriel shoved a hand out, blowing Lucifer through the doors and into the hallway.

“Luci, I’m ho-ome,” he said, sing-song.  

Lucifer stood slowly, barely reacting to the fact that Gabriel was there.  Then again, he’d been in the cage so long, maybe he hadn’t known that Gabriel left Heaven.

Lurching forward, Lucifer tried to push Gabriel back with his own power.

“Not this time,” Gabriel said.  He reached down and helped Kali stand.  “Lucifer, we’re leaving and you’re going to let us.  Surely you’ve spilled enough blood tonight, even for you.”

“Gabriel, really?  All this for a girl?  A pagan?  I mean, I knew you were slumming, but I hope you didn’t catch anything.”

Yeah, that was his brother. Gabriel smiled a little.  “Lucifer, you’re my brother and I love you, but you are a great big bag of dicks.”

Lucifer frowned.  “Wait, what did you just say to me?”

Gabriel shuffled around the room, circling his brother and trusting that Kali was staying behind him. “You heard me.  Look at yourself!  Boo hoo, Daddy was mean to me, so I’m gonna smash  up all his toys.”

“Watch your tone,” warned Lucifer.

The doors opened behind him and Gabriel heard Kali run down the hall, jumping over the bodies.  He expected to feel the blood spell pull on him, but it didn’t.

She was going to let him sacrifice himself, wasn’t she?

Too bad Gabriel wasn’t going to do that.

“Play the victim all you want,” he said to Lucifer.  “But you and me?  We know the truth.  Dad loved you best – more than Michael, more than me.  Then he brought the new baby home and you couldn’t handle it.  So this is all just one big temper tantrum.  Time to grow up.”

“Gabriel, if you’re doing this for Michael–”

“Screw him.  If he were standing here, I’d shiv his ass too.” Gabriel glanced behind him.  “But you know what?  Today’s your lucky day.  I’m not going to fight you.”

“Scared?” taunted Lucifer.

“Sane,” countered Gabriel. Before Lucifer could grab onto him, he zapped himself out to the parking lot, where Kali waited, shivering in the light rain.

“Get us out of here,” she instructed.

“Oh sure,” Gabriel said. “No ‘sorry for trying to kill you’ or ‘thanks for saving me?’”

She glared and he knew that was the best he was going to get.

“Fine,” he sighed and reached out for her hand.  The quickest and easiest place to escape to was–

–his apartment.  

Max barked at the newcomer. Gabriel shushed him while Kali looked around disdainfully.

“You brought me here?” she asked.  “This is tacky.”

Gabriel grinned.  “Yeah.  Like it?”

She glared at him.

He held her gaze, refusing to back down.  “Where do you want me to take you?” he asked.  “I’ll drop you off anywhere once you undo this spell.”

“I shouldn’t,” Kali said. “I should make you my tame archangel.”

For the first time in a very long time, Gabriel let his archangelic power well up in him, turning his eyes blue and making the lights flicker.  “That wouldn’t be wise,” he warned.  “You’ve seen how easy it was for my brother to destroy the rest of you. Think of what I could do to you.”

Kali actually looked shaken. “Fine,” she said and waved her hands.

Gabriel felt the blood bond dissipate.  Lucifer must have really scared her.  If only she’d listened to him in the first place.

“Where to?” he asked, purposefully keeping his tone serious.

“Kalighat Kali?” she said.

Her temple.  Seat of her power.  Made sense.

Gabriel gestured to the door.  “Be careful.”

She opened the door, the temple appearing behind her.  “What are you going to do?” she asked.

“Like you care,” Gabriel said.  She didn’t respond and he sighed.  “Lay low. Try not to watch my brothers kill each other.”

She nodded and left, closing the door behind her.

Gabriel stood there for a moment, silent, until Max trotted up to him.

“Hey, buddy,” he said, leaning down to pet the dog.  “Looks like it’s going to be just you and me here for a long while.”

Concentrating, Gabriel made the door disappear, fortifying the walls between this pocket universe and the real one out there.

Maybe, just maybe, that’d be enough to keep safe until after the Apocalypse was over.

In the meantime, he always had the TV.

There was just one channel and everything was on.

[thelastpodcast]

Graduation Speech Transcript

[This was the working draft so there are some changes and additions I made on the fly.]

Let me start by saying what a total mindblowing honor it was to have been selected by my classmates to speak on their behalf. I already told them this once in private so they would know I really meant it and wasn’t just saying it to endear myself to the alumni, but it bears repeating. To endear myself to the alumni.

Class of 2019: It’s no exaggeration to say that I consider all of you to be superior human beings to me—you know, in terms of your career accomplishments, charitable activities… personalities. I was legitimately intimidated when I read your bios in our little binder. Especially since mine was just me drinking an iced latte and making jokes about my dog or whatever. You all lived up to the hype and the multi-hyphenates, that is for certain—and that’s why I felt so shocked, but also so validated and accepted, to be chosen.

And I don’t know if I even mentioned my dog once, this whole program, did I? Her name is Shoshanna and she’s uh, half puggle half demon, and the less said about her the better.

We’re not here to talk about my dog, luckily. We’re here to look back on our experience these past six months, and to look ahead to where we’re going now.

It all started at the Brown Center, for our opening retreat—and listen, folks. I thought I knew a thing or two about team training activities? I do a lot of that for work a little, you know, I’ve been around the block a bit, I’ve got some game.  Or, I thought I did. It turns out I have absolutely no game, because Bill from the Brown Center knocked me out with all of his Jedi Mind Tricks. Remember that activity where you had to keep a familiar person between yourself and someone who was unfamiliar? Alumni, did you do this one? If you’ve never done this, I want you to try it out the next time you are 5 hours into the process of slowly meeting 40 new people. Outside of Leadership Seacoast I’m not sure when else that might happen, maybe like a hostage situation at a grocery store? Something to keep in mind!

So, what you do is, you stand in a big circle and you look across and you find someone who is familiar and someone who is not.  You don’t say it out loud – nobody knows who picks who. Like all the best games, most of this one happens in your mind.

Fred was my familiar guy—we’d been on this Puzzle Team together so we were already bros for life. (Fred hand signal.) That’s me and Fred’s secret hand shake. And Bridget was, at the time, a person I was unfamiliar with. Luckily, Bridget, that would change! But anyway, once you’ve picked your two people across the way, you start moving out from the circle. And as each PERSON  tries to physically keep his or her familiar between their self and the unfamiliar, everybody scatters crazily around the room—it’s total chaos. Then Bill, this master of his craft, Bill! He flips the script. He says, you gotta keep the unfamiliar person between you and the familiar guy. So, guess what happens when you do that? All of the people who have scattered around the room suddenly clump together, like we were magnetized. As a physical exercise, it was stunning. As a metaphor, it’s even better. When we shield ourselves with familiar people and places, the community is disparate, chaotic, disorganized. When we reach out, to someone new, when we step out of our comfort zone, the community very quickly becomes more unified, close-knit—maybe a little too close for people who need their personal space, but undoubtedly stronger.

Feeling warmed and inspired by this, we met Peter Francese, who told us all about how we are going to die.

OK, ok, not how we are going to die—it wasn’t that bad. He just wanted to warn us about the state’s swiftly aging population, and how these trends would, you know, collapse the economy, annihilate property values and give rise to blood-harvesting robots…in the next five to ten years. So we’ve got that to look forward to!

Now, Demographic doomsaying aside– in his talk Peter highlighted something that turned out to be very important for virtually every session that followed – which is I guess what we can politely call the “structural shortcomings” of our dear granite state. I mean mostly that there’s no money, but also… you know how our stubborn independence creates an unwieldy number of local fiefdoms and gerontocracies instead of something more streamlined or cost effective or efficient or whatever? I Also mean that.

Live free or die! Maybe both.

Because from the opening retreat onward, at each program day, we were brought face to face with the open space between people in need and available services. Each time we saw problems over here with apparent solutions over there but no funding or obvious state mechanism to connect them.

Nowhere was that more clear than on Health and Human Services day. The scope and seriousness of the addiction epidemic in New Hampshire can’t be overstated. And we learned to call it an addiction epidemic and not an opioid epidemic. Because it is not new and it is far from over.

And yet, I found myself so inspired to meet the people working against it. Capable, confident, dedicated individuals from all walks of life. And importantly, there were so many of them—so many people, so many organizations, voluntarily filling in that gap between the problem and the solution.

Next up was Economic Development day, and almost every member of the class of 2019 that I’ve talked to about this day felt intimidated by the subject. Economic Development. Was there going to be math? I mean, everyone in this class is a right-brained, touchy-feely type. Even those of us who work at banks. Even Josh! Yes, even Josh is, deep down. You’re the man, Josh. You’re the football coach I wish I had.

Anyway, Economic Development. It wasn’t so bad, was it?

We all left that day excited about our community, very well caffeinated, and wondering which place we should move to: Somersworth, or into a Macy’s? Let me explain that: Eric Chinburg told us that big box stores are the mill buildings of the future. Since obviously malls are no longer a place people shop, we might as well put some apartments in there, right? That might sound crazy to you, but buy her a drink and Sarah Wrightsman will tell you why it’s not. I love the idea, if only for the rich joke potential. Did you hear about Kir’s new apartment, oh yeah, he finally left that dusty little studio and he’s upgraded to a beautiful spacious Anne Taylor Loft. Oh, the natural light!

Oh, and did you all hear about the developer who wanted to put 5 affordable units in his new building? Due to cost overruns, he’s down to just one Payless.

If you can think of a good one please let me know after the speech, I’m trying to write a standup set for the next Workforce Housing Coalition meeting.

So, I connect with science more than I thought I did – I learned that at Environment Day. I’ve never thought of myself as a science guy, nor did my chemistry teacher in high school, but I guess I am. I really connected with what people like Cameron Wake had to say. Which is why I no longer sleep at night!

And by the way, if you have to learn about catastrophic climate change, it’s best to be somewhere as beautiful as Odiorne. I mean, worst case scenario, everything looks like Odoirne, right? Sorry.

But anyway, being a person who connects with science now, and with a couple of program days behind me, I started to put the all these pieces together, and started to see better the gaps between the need and the resources, between the economic development and the education, between the government and the environment, I started to think of the state of New Hampshire itself as a kind of organism. I first thought of this metaphor at one of the Margaritas meetings, by the way, and I think it’s pretty solid. Shoutout to Margaritas, by the way, the unofficial program sponsor of Leadership Seacoast 2019.

The state of New Hampshire is like a plant that grows too close to the ground to get any sun. The sunlight, in this metaphor, is tax revenue. The stem of the plant is too weak to stand up on its own—it would have needed to add, you know, like an income tax or something in order to produce more chlorophyll. I swear to god this metaphor tracks, just bear with me here.

We’re a plant, and we grow too close to the ground. But instead of shriveling up and dying, over time, we have evolved this vast, far flung network of little leaves that push their way out into the sun and keep the plant alive despite its shortcomings.

Every person we met at every single program day, is one of those leaves. Out there, on their own, pushing toward the light, finding a gap and filling it.

I’m talking about the incredible and dedicated people we met from groups like Hope on Haven Hill and  Seacoast Family Promise

As well as people like Terry Robinson, who came to Portsmouth by way of Louisiana, on the strength of his fashion career, and is now working with the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail and is still somehow only 19 years old? What? He identified a gap in the education of Seacoast kids of color, a gap that was invisible to most of us. He’s filling it now.

And what about Anna Brown and Jacquelyn Benson, the dynamic duo from Citizens Count. They are like a walking West Wing episode and I could listen them explain the nuances of the New Hampshire legislative system all day. It might take all day to understand it, but that’s why they’re working so hard.

Emmett Soldati talked to us about the need for gathering spaces in the community. In Somerworth, he saw a gap, and he filled it in himself by opening Teatotaller, which is a really special place Where once there was problem, now there’s Kirsten Gillibrand watching a Teen Drag Show. That’s pretty good. That’s a lot of light for one leaf.

That’s also how a lot of us felt about Justin Roy, the principal of Spaulding High School: a lot of light for one leaf. From where does he find the energy? Oliver, let’s talk to Revision about hooking that guy up to the grid. On Education Day, he very appropriately gave us a lot to think about. How we felt about the education we got, however long ago. How much the system might need to change going forward. How much it would take it change it, and whether or not we had the stomach for that. Education reform is a grand and consequential experiment, and the laboratory is right there in Rochester.

Speaking of experiments—Justice Day certainly was that.

Down at Strafford County Correctional, we’re very lucky to have an administration in place that recognizes addiction for what it is: a medical issue, and we heard from some people working very hard to turn their lives around. But they’re funding these programs with extra money they’re getting from ICE to house undocumented immigrants. The jail superintendent, Chris Brackett told us: he doesn’t know where these people came from, what they did, if anything, and where they’re going next. This is a tough thing to contemplate. But we can’t look the other way. So don’t.

The most remarkable part of justice day happened at the end, and it came from within the group itself. John and Kerry, and Christine and Tim and Josh, members of our own class who have come at criminal justice reform in their own ways, in their own fields, led a spirited but respectful discussion about everything we’d just seen. I learned too much that day to even try to relate here, but more than anything, I just felt grateful for your perspectives—for all of your perspectives, across every program day and every small group and every chance encounter in the wild, may there be many more.

And I’m grateful to Lori, for carving out a big block of time on justice day to let something like that unfold. Can we just get a round of applause for Lori Waltz Gagnon, people? She was incredible. I’ll be honest, We’re kind of an unwieldy group, a little rowdy. We get cranky when we don’t have snacks. And she managed us with aplomb and also with some little chimes that she would ring to get us to shut up. Speaking of which!

Some of us were thinking—the chimes are great and all, very final savasana, but maybe you’d like some variety for the class of 2020? So --- Jay Dennett made this bag by the way – check it out. Blue Dolphin, everybody.

What we’re going to do here, is I want you all to talk amongst yourselves for a second, and then I will try to bring you back to focus with an item from the bag, OK? I will give you a topic. How would YOU have changed the Game Of Thrones finale?

That was great! OK, let’s try again. More controversial topic this time: does a hot dog count as a sandwich? Go.

We’ve got some good ones. I really like the maracas—because it’s like, Ooooh, are we going to learn about PFOA contamination… or are we going to do some salsa dancing?! Speaking of Salsa Dancing, Erika Mantz, where are you? We took some lessons together after Arts & Culture Day. Erica stepped up and collected donations from the class of 2019 to fund a scholarship for someone next year.

What do we do now? My dog, we covered that. New Hampshire is a plant that grows too close to the ground. Covered that. Webster’s Dictionary Defines Leadership as… we don’t need that. Secret hand gesture for Fred, we did that. Webster’s Dictionary defines Seacoast as… we don’t need that. Ah, OK, here we are, What do we do now?

I think for a minute there, maybe about halfway through the program, this became the sort of overwhelming question on everybody’s minds. What do we do after all this? Everything we are learning, everything we are seeing, all the need, all of the problems. Climate Change! Local Government! Single-Use Plastics! Homelessness! Oh my god! Where do we start?

And then it became less of a worry, because we were already starting. Everywhere, across the group, it was happening.

Elaine Way went back to work after Health & Human Services Day in January and pretty much immediately directed a $2400 donation to Seacoast Family Promise. See, we both work for LTC Partners, and she had that money from our company’s annual holiday basket raffle—Elaine’s department always makes the best basket. They win every year! It’s a little annoying.

Karene immediately went out and signed up to be a cuddler at Hope on Haven Hill.

Fred went to one of Sarah’s workshops and learned all the cool affordable housing lingo, like NIMBY and CAVE and BANANA. (Explain Banana.)

Kelly’s starting a New Hampshire Volunteer Chapter for Wells Fargo--

Whitney joined the board for Marsha’s Hospice Help Foundation--

The list goes on.

And our class facebook paged has been lighting up on a daily basis with volunteer opportunities and events. What I’m saying is – I don’t need to tell you where to start. We’ve already started. It’s already happening.

But keep starting, please. Keep in touch, keep an eye on what others are doing, and keep an eye out for the kind of gaps you can fill, or that you think one of us might be able to fill instead. Think about the space that other people in the class are already occupying, have been occupying for years, and keep thinking about how you could help them.  And tell other people about what they’re doing, and what you’re doing! Don’t be shy about it.

I mentioned earlier the validation and acceptance I felt when you all picked me to be your speaker – acceptance in particular, acceptance by teams, is something I’ve had in short supply for most of my life. I was never a star athlete and I think I finished school RIGHT BEFORE phys ed teachers got the memo that having kids pick their own teams was cruel and unusual punishment. I’ve told plenty of you that at the opening retreat I really resisted getting involved in some of the activities because of their resemblance to … shudder… team sports.

Well, listen, class of 2019 – I am so happy to be on your team. I am so excited to see what we’re doing already, and what we’ll do next. And if you ever get stuck – look to your left, look to your right. And the people on the ends, I guess like, look backward or forward? You get what I am saying. Look to each other. Keep helping each other help others. Grow the team. Fill in the gaps.

There will be no shortage of opportunities to help in a state like this, with an alumni network like this, with a team like this.

Thank you, Lori Waltz Gagnon, thank you all for listening – thank you to my wife and my mom and my boss for all coming—and most of all, thank you, class of 2019.

[m1serere-n0bis]

This Week at the Library...

 LOL well, yesterday... I spent a whole bunch of time just skimming around Amazon, hunting down things I wanted to read because my work mom made the mistake of mentioning that since the boss reads mostly non-fiction, our new fiction is kind of lagging behind what we’re adding in our new non-fiction.  Obviously has to be remedied.  And since the old people are super good about circulating our mysteries, which are all automatically ordered, we have to do hunts for other things.  And then the boss made the mistake of asking my opinion on what new graphic stuff from the Library Journal we should add... and... well... we’ll get to all that in a bit.

So this week’s nightmarish patron was this semi-insane lady who came to the library TWICE and more or less harangued the entire staff until she got to me, and I got suckered into helping her because I had missed the memo about her feeding on everyone else.  Basically she was trying to find books about things that start with the letter “N” and the first thing she said to me was “Is there a way you can just type it into the search?  Like ‘books that have things that start with the letter N’ and it would give you everything in the catalog?”

And immediately this .gif flashed in my mind

So anyway, I tell her that’s not a thing and she goes “Well, the only N word I can think of is ‘nuts’” and maybe in the back of my mind I was like “Gee I wonder why...”  BUT ANYWAY.  So she makes me write down a bunch of book titles and call numbers for books in our collection and books in one of the other branches that’s closer to the school THAT SHE’S SUBBING AT.  SHE’S A SUB, SHE’S NOT EVEN THE ACTUAL TEACHER.  ASDLKSJDFLKDFLKJSLKDJLKJSDFLJKDSFLKJSDFLKJFDSLSKDJFLSFDJ.  Then she proceeds to drag me around the children’s room for fifteen minutes because she doesn’t know how to navigate a library, I guess, and in my head I’m also thinking This is something you should probably be doing with your school librarian if you have one because I feel like the school library would be MUCH BETTER EQUIPPED FOR THIS.  And then proceeds to look through every book we find and ask me if I think it’s appropriate for kindergartners like DANGED IF I KNOW, LADY.  I’M NOT THE CHILDREN’S LIBRARIAN, AND THE ONLY KIDS I HANG OUT WITH THESE DAYS ARE A BUNCH OF NERDY TEENAGERS AND A HANDFUL OF CATHOLIC BABIES/TODDLERS.  When she finally left, Not!Gareth was like “So... how are we feelin’ over there?” and my response was pretty much “I’M READY TO GO HOME NOW.”

But it was one of my evening days, so I ended up trying out a new burger place before heading home, and while I was waiting for my order to come up, these two college kids passed by where I was sitting.  And one of them stopped and was like “Hey!  You’re the lady from the library, right?” and I answered in the affirmative and he was like “Thanks for helping me find The Kite Runner the other day!  I’m reading it right now, and I’m really liking it” and I inside I was like “AWWWWWWWW PRECIOUS BEAN, I REMEMBER YOU.  AWWWWWWWWWWWW .  THIS IS THE CUTEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN. <3 <3 <3” which I don’t think is really something you say to college students.  Seriously if he hadn’t stopped to say something I would’ve never recognized him, but since he DID, I remembered I had helped him set up his library card and then released him into the wild but he came back a few minutes later and sheepishly asked if I could help him find a book that the catalog said was here but wasn’t where it should have been.  And my entire face must have lit up because I was like “I JUST HUNTED THAT BOOK DOWN FOR THE BANNED BOOK TABLE,” grabbed it for him, and sent him on his merry way... BUT AWWWW THAT WAS LIKE A WEEK BEFORE WE RAN INTO EACH OTHER AT THE BURGER PLACE SO LIKE SERIOUSLY MADE UP FOR THAT CRAZY LADY.

And then in Fandom Club some random older lady felt that it was necessary to come over from wherever she was to SHUSH MY TEENS IN THE TEEN SPACE AND KEPT TELLING THEM “THIS IS A LIBRARY, YOU GUYS.  THIS IS A LIBRARY.”  And they were MIFFED.  Lol.  AND I WAS MIFFED, TOO, IF YOU WANNA KNOW.  The kids were being pretty wild that day in the children’s room, and she didn’t feel it was necessary to talk to THEM, but anyway I digress.  APPARENTLY she felt that it was a big enough problem to bring it up with my boss... and do you know what my boss said to her?  *rubs hands together in glee*  Well, I mean she said it tactfully of course, but in no short order she pretty much told that lady 1) The teens are literally only there for an hour every week, 2) this is literally the only teen program that is being run in any of the libraries in the county right now, 3) if the lady is so bothered that she felt it was necessary to drag the branch manager out of her office, maybe she should consider avoiding the library for the one hour a friggin’ week the teen program is running.

Okay so now a BOOK LIST COMING AT YOU... and I have to tell you that this list is pretty much based on the synopses I read and pulling at loose threads from lists that the Library Journal said were good.  I’m not as well-read as I should be if you want me to be blunt... because most of what I currently have time to read are textbooks and/or journal articles my professors want me to read.

1) BASED ON THE TITLES ALONE... I decided we could bone up our fiction by ordering the two sequels to John Dies at the End... which are This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously Dude Don’t Touch It and What the Hell Did I Just Read.  So... I mean, wouldn’t you pick those up just based on those ridic titles???

2) BOOKS ABOUT WRITING... because next week is Teen Read Week, and the theme is “Unleash Your Story” and there’s NO WAY EITHER BOOK WILL ARRIVE IN TIME but... Rhett and Link’s Book of Mythicality: A Field Guide to Curiosity, Creativity, and Tomfoolery looks awesome, and I honestly don’t know anything about Rhett and Link except that they’re 1) YouTube stars, 2) Donatello and Leonardo the Renaissance artists in my favorite Epic Rap Battle of History of ALL TIME, and 3) Rhett is so tall that in certain shots, they had to make everyone else stand on boxes so they could all fit in the same frame, and I think that’s beautiful.  And then Amazon was like “WELL, IF YOU LIKE THAT... WHAT ABOUT THIS?” and it was this book that was published a few years ago called Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction.  If you have the chance to hop on a desktop/laptop to get the full preview of the book, it’s well worth a gander.  It looks freakin’ gorgeous, and such a creative way of presenting how to write fiction.  Like I was completely

over the two-page spread they made of science fiction in all its various forms and subgenres.

3) GRAPHIC NON-FICTION... which is TOTALLY MY JAM RIGHT NOW.  If I have not already waxed poetically enough about Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, consider this me remedying that fact.  Hazardous Tales falls more into the “graphic historical fiction” category, I guess since it does use a narrator... and it’s a children’s series.  First Second is also coming out with a series called Science Comics.  There’s one about dogs that’s coming out really soon.  And then in the future they plan on releasing two more series in the same vein, Maker Comics and History Comics.  BUT ANYWAY.  THERE’S A NEW ALEXANDER HAMILTON GRAPHIC NON-FICTION BOOK FOR ADULTS COMING OUT THIS MONTH, BECAUSE OF COURSE THERE IS.  And I made the mistake of pulling that thread... going to the website the Library Journal entry recommended for more expansive tips... and then realizing that the author had written a WHOLE BUNCH OF OTHER GRAPHIC NON-FICTION and then proceeded to see if we had any of the other titles... we had his book on the Gettysburg Address.  BUT HE ALSO HAD A BOOK ABOUT THE HISTORY OF BEER MAKING AND THEN I MADE THE MISTAKE OF SEARCHING ON AMAZON BY AUTHOR NAME AND FOUND OUT THAT HE ALSO JUST RELEASED A BOOK ABOUT THE HISTORY OF VIDEO GAMES, which I immediately ordered because if I order it now it will (hopefully) come in time for International Games Week at the end of the month.  Anyway, the author’s name is Jonathan Hennessey, and if you do an Amazon search it’ll pop up with all the top titles of his and you can stare at how pretty the beer-making and history of video games ones are...

ETA: I ALMOST FORGOT I FOUND SOME HALLOWEEN READS

4) The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures!  With a second volume The World of Lore: Wicked Mortals coming out in May or something... and both sound like guaranteed nightmares and definitely not things people who live alone (ahem me) should be reading.  If books are not really your jam, apparently the author of Monstrous Creatures also has a podcast, which is just called Lore.  I’ve been listening to that one, and I’ve gotta say that he has a super soothing voice and his dramatic pause timing is so perfect that almost every time I’ve been like “Oh... okay... *silence* WAIT NOW IT SANK IN WTF DID YOU JUST SAY???  IS THE PODCAST OVER?!?! WTF?!!?!?” and then he continues.  But, yes, also probably shouldn’t be listening to that sucker late at night by myself, tbh...

[parkerandstark]

Group Project... (Parker x Reader)

(A/N) HII! So, I’ve been working on all the requests so far and I’m so excited for what I have in store for you guys, in the mean time, I hope you all can enjoy something I’ve been working on for a while. While there was no official request, it was something I had a lot of fun writing, enjoy!

“I have no clue what this is supposed to be.” I said, my eyes widening as I glanced at my friends laptop screen.

“Oh, come on… it’s obviously something to do with chemical compositions of water…” (Y/F/N) said. My face read disbelief.

“You’re delusional…. how are you in AP CHEM?” I asked sarcastically. She laughed a little before closing the picture, returning to the random game of solitaire she was playing instead of working on our group project.

“Nick, you got anything on aragonite saturation? We should include that in our presentation if we decide to go in depth about the acidification effects on water.” Nick looked at me as I spoke.

“Yeah, I got some reports about the reliability of the testing, but it’s outdated and scientists have switched to more modern method of study,” Nick replied, pulling up the various articles he found to show me.

“Interesting, can you find more information about the new tests?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m on it.”

“Peter…” I called across the lab table, he looked up startled. “How’s your progress on the physical properties of water?”

“Uh… go—good.” He stuttered avoiding my eye.

“Do you think you have enough to pull the presentation together?” I asked hopefully.

“Oh… yeah—definitely…” he trailed off, glancing up once to meet my eye before blushing intensely looking back to the laptop screen.

“Good good…,” I trailed off returning to my own research.

It was obvious Peter was uncomfortable with the group he was placed in for our chemistry project, he clearly wasn’t friends with any of us, and he preferred to do his work alone as opposed to in the group, like I had been pushing for all of us to do. Peter insisted he could handle completing the work that was meant for two people on his own, leaving the three of us, me, Nick and (Y/F/N) to tackle the chemical properties of water, and its affect on the ecosystem.

“Ok, presentations are Monday, that gives us one more class day to work on it. We still need to start on the slideshow and practicing if we want a good grade,” I said with three minutes left in class.

“We’ll work on the slides tomorrow. Don’t worry, we got this,” (Y/F/N) said, still playing the solitaire game from earlier.

“Yeah, well that doesn’t make up for the fact that we’ll probably need to work on this over the weekend. We still need to incorporate all the information we’ve found into one, smooth presentation.” I glanced over at Peter who hasn’t looked up from his computer and who hasn’t said a word, apart from when I forced him to update me on his progress.

“Peter, what do you think?” I asked, curious about someone else’s opinion.

He looked up, his eyes shifting from me to (Y/F/N). He opened his mouth to respond when the deafening bell sounded instead. Nick and (Y/F/N) sprinted out of the room, having packed up a few minutes earlier, leaving Peter and yourself to pack up together.

“If you need any help at all with your part, I’m always open,” I offered Peter. He glanced up at me, mumbling a quiet thanks before looking back at his backpack.

“Honestly, I’m not just trying to be nice. Anyways, the whole project is about tying the chemical and physical properties together, so it might help if we collaborate or something…” I said, following Peter out of the empty lab room and down the hall to his locker.

“Ok, thanks… for the offer,” he said, opening his locker quickly and grabbing his sweatshirt before slamming it shut. “I’ll see you tomorrow, (Y/N).”

“See you…,” I trailed off, my voice quieting in the busy halls of the emptying school as I was left alone in a sea of people.

“So what’s our status on this project?” I asked no one in particular, closing my eyes and rubbing my forehead in attempt to alleviate the headache I have.

“We have the background and intro slide done,” Nick said, making a face as if we spent the entire class period working as efficiently as possible.

“Ugh….” I groaned, my head falling into the table as a sign of defeat. “So we definitely have to do this over the weekend…”

“Yeah… sorry (Y/N), not gonna happen. I have soccer practice all day tomorrow, and then playoffs Sunday. I’m booked solid,” (Y/F/N) said, her eyes growing tired at the mere thought of all the energy she’ll soon exhaust.

“Nick?” I asked hopefully.

“Sorry… the football tournament, we have like— three games.”

“Peter, please tell me you’ve got my back,” I begged my head on the table and giving my best pout to him.

“Yeah, yeah, I—I have no plans,” he said, his gaze quickly diverting back to the slideshow we had been working on.

“Great, meet me at the library tomorrow, noon?” I asked, hoping he’d look at me for confirmation.

“Noon sounds fine.” The bell rang, and the room cleared. Like usual, I was left the last in the room with only the teacher. I waved goodbye to him as I left.

I began my walk home, but the brisk wind cut against my cheeks, burning them raw from the cold of late October. Walking home in terrible weather was a usual for me, unless I took the subway which I hated with a passion.

I was one or two blocks from the apartment when, through my loud music I heard screams from up ahead. I stopped suddenly. They were abnormal, loud. It was a shrieking that seemed to rattle my bones. I was almost scared to continue walking—did I really want to know what was up ahead?

I took out a single earbud, listening again but only hearing the wind against my ears. Then, it happened again. A loud shriek, I swear someone must have been getting murdered. This time, it was followed by a noise that sounded like the air getting cut.

It seemed to be coming from behind me, and I turned just in time to see a red blob swinging down the middle of the street in record time. He must’ve gotten two or three blocks down before he swung to a right side street. Spiderman. I should’ve known. But, he was a legend; literally. Stories told in the streets. Rarely seen, but greatly appreciated. I was amazed I had even seen him at all.

I smiled an awestruck smile, and continued to walk to my apartment, taking extra caution, but keeping my eyes open for the man in a red suit.

“You should’ve seen him! It’s amazing! He’s amazing! I cant believe I saw him with my own eyes!” I exclaimed, recounting yesterday’s events to Peter. He sat across from me at the table in the library, and he seemed half-interested in what i was saying, half-focused on our science project.

“Imagine being that athletic, that—that fit. Having, powers—or whatever. He must feel like he could do anything,” I trailed off, my mind wandering to the hero I’d seen yesterday. “Don’t you think?”

“Sorry, who are we talking about again?” Peter asked jokingly, looking up from his computer with a small smile.

“Spiderman! Who else?” I played along, smiling back. My eyes trailed to my left, my thoughts traveling away as I began focusing on a bookshelf across from us. “But, I guess it isn’t always sunshine and flowers,” I said, I looked back at him, leaning slightly farther towards him.

“Huh?“Peter asked, maintaining eye contact with me.

“I mean, with any power, control, abilities—whatever,” I struggled to find the right wording. “There’s always gonna be responsibility…”

“I guess you’re right,” Peter said. He looked around the open room.

“Sure, he might be fighting crime and being a hero, but whenever something goes wrong—whenever a criminal gets away—who’s going to be the first person to get blamed?” Peter was glaring at me intensely now, giving me his full attention.

“And then there’s the guilt, the guilt of not being able to save everyone. I mean, he’s just a guy right? He’s gotta have a life. What happens when one day, he’s not there to save the city?” Peter looked away, his eyes lost with his own thought. “Sorry, we should probably get back to work.”

“You make a good point,” Peter said after sitting in silence for minutes. “There has to be negatives to protecting the city. But he’s obviously willing to accept them, the consequences of the ‘job’, for the better good. He’s willing to accept that responsibility, so long as someone gets saved along the way.”

“I suppose,” I started, “he’s truly one of the good ones then. Willing to risk his life, his sanity, for a bunch of strangers in New York City.”

“What a guy,” Peter said, cracking a smile at me when I looked up at him.

“What a guy,” I repeated, laughing slightly. I looked back down at the computer screen and continued on the group work that had to be done Monday morning. It was a lot of work, but I had no doubt in my mind Peter and I could get it done.

After a long four hours, Peter and I had managed to completely finish the twenty slide PowerPoint, and write Flashcards for each one of us to read from when it was our time to present our findings. It was starting to get dark out, but I wasn’t going to admit I was nervous to walk alone. Fortunately, Peter offered to walk me back to the apartments. I’m pretty sure he lived nearby anyway.

“Thanks, for offering.”

“No problem,” Peter said.

I think that in a matter of a few hours, Peter and I had actually become friends. He wasn’t awkwardly stuttering around me, and he actually made eye contact and conversation. I hope this ‘friendship’ goes beyond this weekend, because honestly he’s pretty kind.

“You’re pretty cool, you know?” Peter said after walking in silence for a bit. “You’re not like the other girls you hang out with.”

“I’ll take that as a complement?” I questioned.

“Oh! Yeah! I didn’t mean anything by that just—,” he put his hands out in defense. “You’re nice, not hanging off every boy just to get laid.” He took a breath, a bit of hesitation. “You made an effort.”

I chuckled. “Thanks, I guess.”

We walked in silence for a couple of more minutes as we approached the block that I lived on. I dreaded having to end the walk, because Peter’s company made me feel happy.

“Well, this is me,” I said, stopping short at the apartment entrance. Peter looked at the building and turned to me.

“We should do group projects together more often, it was fun.”

“We should,” I said, “we work really well together.” I smiled slightly.

Peter smiled back, looking at his shoes quickly, blush taking over his face. “We should definitely do more group projects together.”

“Definitely,” I agreed.

“Even if like, it’s just the two of us, we could still, y'know, work together,” Peter was back to his stuttering self. Now, I was the one blushing.

“I’d like that,” I said, “if you’re up for it, of course.”

“I mean, definitely, I am,” Peter said, looking up again, his arm slightly reaching towards me as he spoke. He realized he was reaching for me and blushed intensely, immediately moving it to his head, rubbing it as he turned.

“I guess I should be getting inside then?” I posed it as a question, wondering if we were done talking around this subject.

“Of course, its freezing!” Peter said. “Sorry, I babble.”

I turned to go inside, my hand pushing the door open. I turned around, leaning into the slightly open door and debated saying the words on the tip of my tongue. I got enough courage to say it. “I’d love to go out with you.”

“Oh good, you see, I was going to ask…” Peter continued to talk mindlessly, seeming to speak a mile per second, I smiled again, rolling my eyes as I pushed the door open some more.

“See you Monday, Parker,” I said, turning around and walking through the door.

“Yeah, Monday,” he waved, smiling widely as I walked away.

[amyddaniels]

Olympian Tianna Bartoletta is Ready to Defend her World Title

The three-time Olympic gold medalist's dreams for the 2020 games were derailed by injury, illness, and the global pandemic. Today, she's taking it all in stride, thanks to her yoga practice.

On a sunny Friday afternoon during the last weekend in February, before stay-at-home orders and facemasks and furloughs, I watched three-time gold medalist Tianna Bartoletta practice the long jump at UC Berkeley’s Edwards Stadium. The YTT-200’s focus was as sharp as the spikes on her shoes as she sprinted down the track and sprung into the air, seemingly weightless, before softly making contact with the sandpit. The key, she told me, is accelerating into the takeoff instead of slowing down to jump. “You gotta be crazy,” she says. “You gotta feel the fear and do it anyway.”

It’s a sentiment Bartoletta, who took home two gold medals from Rio in 2016 (long jump and 4x100-meter relay), has experienced before, particularly during the lows that have punctuated her successful 15-year track and field career. She won her first world championship in the long jump in 2005, the summer after her sophomore year in college, but didn’t earn her second until a decade later.

The latest example of Bartoletta’s fear-be-damned mentality was starting to train for this past June’s Olympic trials in February—by her own account, five months too late. An ankle injury and emergency surgery derailed her 2019 season and kept her off the track until the week before we met. She was only just easing back into her limited training schedule of sprinting, jumping, and weight-training sessions three to four times per week.

At 35, Bartoletta knows this will most likely be her last Olympics, and as the reigning champion, she feels immense pressure to defend her title. But that stress won’t deter “the USA’s Sprint and Long Jump Comeback Kid.” Her yoga practice, a tool that keeps her sane and grounded during intense phases of uncertainty, is an advantage she has over her competitors. “Going to the Olympic trials is like going to the Hunger Games,” she told me. “This is my fourth time entering that arena, and there is a lot of dread. But the mat is where I generate a lot of the momentum and energy I need to bring to go out and win medals.”

See Also Snowboarder Kevin Pearce Turns Brain Injury Into Life of Service

Girls Rule the World

Bartoletta's capacity for hard work and intense competition are traits she says she and her two sisters inherited from their parents. “My mom made sure that we understood that as females, we had to work twice as hard as our male counterparts,” she says. “And then as black females, we had to probably work double that just to get a foot in the door.” Bartoletta has been involved with sports since she was 12, but she didn’t get serious about track until her junior year of high school, when her dad told her that she’d need to get a scholarship in order to attend college. She dropped volleyball and basketball to focus on her best sport—track—and earned a scholarship to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Her freshman year, however, any signs of greatness she’d shown in high school were replaced by mental blocks that trumped her physical performance. That spring, when Bartoletta attended the national championships, she was a mess. “I got my butt whooped. I was scared. I was intimidated. I punked out of being awesome,” she says. “And my coaches were really upset because I didn’t score any points.” A few weeks later, at another meet, a coach from the men’s team approached her. “He told me, ‘Tianna, you have to commit to that first step. Once you initiate the jump, that’s it. It’s kamikaze out here—you have to understand that once you’re up there, there’s no coming back.’” Something inside her clicked, and when she jumped that day, she cleared 6.60 meters, a distance that would have won nationals two weeks prior.

“Everything they were telling me I was capable of, I totally was capable of, but I hadn’t gotten there mentally yet,” Bartoletta says.

That same year, she went to the Olympic trials for the first time. Although she took eighth place (only the top three get to compete in the Games), the experience of competing alongside her track and field heroes lit a fire inside the then-18-year-old. She fully committed to the sport. The following year she won the world championship in the long jump and, a few months later, signed a pro contract with Nike.

See also A Meditation for Finding Inner Balance

Finding Yoga

Two years after her first world championships win, Bartoletta was having trouble sleeping, and someone suggested she try Yin Yoga. “It was like a gateway drug,” she says. Next came Yoga Nidra and meditation. “Really good yoga teachers do what I call dharma drips. They teach you the philosophy when you’re not looking,” she says. “Now I use yoga for everything—to wake up, to sleep, to show up for training.” In 2018, Bartoletta embarked on her 200-hour yoga teacher training at Love Story Yoga in San Francisco. “I just wanted to learn as much about the practice as I could,” she says.

Practice Bartoletta's sequence for staying grounded. 

Behind the Scenes with Cover Model Tianna Bartoletta (; 0:27)

In hindsight, the timing couldn’t have been better. In July 2019, while Bartoletta was in training at Papendal, the Olympic Training Center in the Netherlands, her health took a turn. She experienced dizziness and was physically and emotionally exhausted. Part of her believed it was just a natural consequence of pushing herself as an elite athlete. That is, until she got an alarming set of emails from a doctor associated with both the World Anti-Doping Agency and World Athletics, which oversees Olympic track and field hopefuls. They’d discovered something abnormal in her blood work: She was severely anemic. Elite athletes should have a level of ferritin (a blood protein that contains iron) around 40; hers was 5. “They were like, ‘Go to the doctor right now. These levels are bad,’” Bartoletta recalls. But she didn’t listen. Instead, in July she flew to Iowa where she took last place at US nationals. Six weeks went by before Bartoletta finally saw a doctor in Colorado, who misdiagnosed the cause of her anemia as heavy menstruation and put her on iron infusions. By December, Bartoletta couldn’t get through her regular training sessions: “I felt like I was dying,” she says. “My heartbeat was erratic, and sleeping was like going into a coma—it was hard to wake me.” Frustrated and exhausted, she demanded to be seen by a gynecologist at the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center. That doctor discovered she had a noncancerous fibroid tumor in her uterus that was causing severe blood loss and anemia. If left untreated, her doctors said, she was weeks away from organ failure and one intense training session away from an actual coma. Bartoletta had emergency surgery that night and a blood transfusion two months later.

It was a devastating blow to her shot at another Olympic gold. “In a normal year, the work you do from October through March is the work,” says Bartoletta. “Only fine-tuning and polishing can happen during the competition season.” But for six weeks following surgery, she wasn’t allowed to train. “I just cried and cried,” she told me in February. “I wanted to be able to put up a damn fight to defend my title. Now it feels more like I’m Miss America, and I know I have to give my crown to someone else at the end of the year rather than fight to keep it.” But lessons she’d learned through yoga helped her stay grounded and accept the discomfort of her reality. Every day, she practiced pranayama and some form of gratitude, and meditated on the mantra “Everything is as it should be.”

“The Bhagavad Gita is like, ‘Look, kid, you’re not even entitled to the fruits of your labor, so keep showing up and keep doing work,’” she says. “That kept me going.”

See Also Find Calm and Boost Your Immunity with These 9 Yogic Breathing Exercises

Grace Under Pressure

In early spring, Olympic uncertainty was escalating with the rise of the covid-19 crisis. By mid-March, training facilities globally were closing and drug testing had ceased, but no announcement had been made in regard to the Games—even the athletes were left in the dark.

Finally, on the morning of March 23, Bartoletta was scrolling through her social media feeds when she saw the headline: The Olympics were postponed until 2021. Many athletes, including Bartoletta, expressed understanding at the unprecedented move, but also heartbreak.

Ever the Comeback Kid, Bartoletta chooses to view the delay as an opportunity to embrace the present. The postponement, she says, is a chance to strengthen her body, to make up for the time she lost to injury and illness: “I wasn’t interested in my Olympic title going to someone else because of things I couldn’t control. It’s just not the way I wanted to go.”

See Also 2018 Olympic Hopefuls Share the Yoga That's Helping Them Get to the Games

“People will never fully grasp the level of perseverance it takes to do what she does at the level she does it,” says Bartoletta’s coach Charles Ryan, who’s also her housemate. “It would be unimaginable if everything was right in her life, and for her to accomplish what she has in the face of years and years of difficult traumas and setbacks—she is the strongest person I know.”

Today Bartoletta is not only cherishing the extra training time but also her body and all that it’s been through. “There’s a moment in yoga class when we rest in Savasana with our right hands on our hearts and our left hands on our bellies, and we say, ‘I’m grateful for this body.’ This body of mine had done so much for me, but it wasn’t until this moment that I appreciated it enough,” Bartoletta says. “I wasn’t in awe of it enough. Every body is a work of miracles and magic and science, and it’s perfect in whatever form it manifests itself, and that is what I have learned this year.” And she’s going to use these lessons she’s learned to be at the top of her game for the next Olympics whenever they may be.

Practice Bartoletta's sequence for finding energy. 

[krisiunicornio]

The three-time Olympic gold medalist's dreams for the 2020 games were derailed by injury, illness, and the global pandemic. Today, she's taking it all in stride, thanks to her yoga practice.

On a sunny Friday afternoon during the last weekend in February, before stay-at-home orders and facemasks and furloughs, I watched three-time gold medalist Tianna Bartoletta practice the long jump at UC Berkeley’s Edwards Stadium. The YTT-200’s focus was as sharp as the spikes on her shoes as she sprinted down the track and sprung into the air, seemingly weightless, before softly making contact with the sandpit. The key, she told me, is accelerating into the takeoff instead of slowing down to jump. “You gotta be crazy,” she says. “You gotta feel the fear and do it anyway.”

It’s a sentiment Bartoletta, who took home two gold medals from Rio in 2016 (long jump and 4x100-meter relay), has experienced before, particularly during the lows that have punctuated her successful 15-year track and field career. She won her first world championship in the long jump in 2005, the summer after her sophomore year in college, but didn’t earn her second until a decade later.

The latest example of Bartoletta’s fear-be-damned mentality was starting to train for this past June’s Olympic trials in February—by her own account, five months too late. An ankle injury and emergency surgery derailed her 2019 season and kept her off the track until the week before we met. She was only just easing back into her limited training schedule of sprinting, jumping, and weight-training sessions three to four times per week.

At 35, Bartoletta knows this will most likely be her last Olympics, and as the reigning champion, she feels immense pressure to defend her title. But that stress won’t deter “the USA’s Sprint and Long Jump Comeback Kid.” Her yoga practice, a tool that keeps her sane and grounded during intense phases of uncertainty, is an advantage she has over her competitors. “Going to the Olympic trials is like going to the Hunger Games,” she told me. “This is my fourth time entering that arena, and there is a lot of dread. But the mat is where I generate a lot of the momentum and energy I need to bring to go out and win medals.”

See Also Snowboarder Kevin Pearce Turns Brain Injury Into Life of Service

Girls Rule the World

Bartoletta's capacity for hard work and intense competition are traits she says she and her two sisters inherited from their parents. “My mom made sure that we understood that as females, we had to work twice as hard as our male counterparts,” she says. “And then as black females, we had to probably work double that just to get a foot in the door.” Bartoletta has been involved with sports since she was 12, but she didn’t get serious about track until her junior year of high school, when her dad told her that she’d need to get a scholarship in order to attend college. She dropped volleyball and basketball to focus on her best sport—track—and earned a scholarship to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Her freshman year, however, any signs of greatness she’d shown in high school were replaced by mental blocks that trumped her physical performance. That spring, when Bartoletta attended the national championships, she was a mess. “I got my butt whooped. I was scared. I was intimidated. I punked out of being awesome,” she says. “And my coaches were really upset because I didn’t score any points.” A few weeks later, at another meet, a coach from the men’s team approached her. “He told me, ‘Tianna, you have to commit to that first step. Once you initiate the jump, that’s it. It’s kamikaze out here—you have to understand that once you’re up there, there’s no coming back.’” Something inside her clicked, and when she jumped that day, she cleared 6.60 meters, a distance that would have won nationals two weeks prior.

“Everything they were telling me I was capable of, I totally was capable of, but I hadn’t gotten there mentally yet,” Bartoletta says.

That same year, she went to the Olympic trials for the first time. Although she took eighth place (only the top three get to compete in the Games), the experience of competing alongside her track and field heroes lit a fire inside the then-18-year-old. She fully committed to the sport. The following year she won the world championship in the long jump and, a few months later, signed a pro contract with Nike.

See also A Meditation for Finding Inner Balance

Finding Yoga

Two years after her first world championships win, Bartoletta was having trouble sleeping, and someone suggested she try Yin Yoga. “It was like a gateway drug,” she says. Next came Yoga Nidra and meditation. “Really good yoga teachers do what I call dharma drips. They teach you the philosophy when you’re not looking,” she says. “Now I use yoga for everything—to wake up, to sleep, to show up for training.” In 2018, Bartoletta embarked on her 200-hour yoga teacher training at Love Story Yoga in San Francisco. “I just wanted to learn as much about the practice as I could,” she says.

Practice Bartoletta's sequence for staying grounded. 

Behind the Scenes with Cover Model Tianna Bartoletta (; 0:27)

In hindsight, the timing couldn’t have been better. In July 2019, while Bartoletta was in training at Papendal, the Olympic Training Center in the Netherlands, her health took a turn. She experienced dizziness and was physically and emotionally exhausted. Part of her believed it was just a natural consequence of pushing herself as an elite athlete. That is, until she got an alarming set of emails from a doctor associated with both the World Anti-Doping Agency and World Athletics, which oversees Olympic track and field hopefuls. They’d discovered something abnormal in her blood work: She was severely anemic. Elite athletes should have a level of ferritin (a blood protein that contains iron) around 40; hers was 5. “They were like, ‘Go to the doctor right now. These levels are bad,’” Bartoletta recalls. But she didn’t listen. Instead, in July she flew to Iowa where she took last place at US nationals. Six weeks went by before Bartoletta finally saw a doctor in Colorado, who misdiagnosed the cause of her anemia as heavy menstruation and put her on iron infusions. By December, Bartoletta couldn’t get through her regular training sessions: “I felt like I was dying,” she says. “My heartbeat was erratic, and sleeping was like going into a coma—it was hard to wake me.” Frustrated and exhausted, she demanded to be seen by a gynecologist at the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center. That doctor discovered she had a noncancerous fibroid tumor in her uterus that was causing severe blood loss and anemia. If left untreated, her doctors said, she was weeks away from organ failure and one intense training session away from an actual coma. Bartoletta had emergency surgery that night and a blood transfusion two months later.

It was a devastating blow to her shot at another Olympic gold. “In a normal year, the work you do from October through March is the work,” says Bartoletta. “Only fine-tuning and polishing can happen during the competition season.” But for six weeks following surgery, she wasn’t allowed to train. “I just cried and cried,” she told me in February. “I wanted to be able to put up a damn fight to defend my title. Now it feels more like I’m Miss America, and I know I have to give my crown to someone else at the end of the year rather than fight to keep it.” But lessons she’d learned through yoga helped her stay grounded and accept the discomfort of her reality. Every day, she practiced pranayama and some form of gratitude, and meditated on the mantra “Everything is as it should be.”

“The Bhagavad Gita is like, ‘Look, kid, you’re not even entitled to the fruits of your labor, so keep showing up and keep doing work,’” she says. “That kept me going.”

See Also Find Calm and Boost Your Immunity with These 9 Yogic Breathing Exercises

Grace Under Pressure

In early spring, Olympic uncertainty was escalating with the rise of the covid-19 crisis. By mid-March, training facilities globally were closing and drug testing had ceased, but no announcement had been made in regard to the Games—even the athletes were left in the dark.

Finally, on the morning of March 23, Bartoletta was scrolling through her social media feeds when she saw the headline: The Olympics were postponed until 2021. Many athletes, including Bartoletta, expressed understanding at the unprecedented move, but also heartbreak.

Ever the Comeback Kid, Bartoletta chooses to view the delay as an opportunity to embrace the present. The postponement, she says, is a chance to strengthen her body, to make up for the time she lost to injury and illness: “I wasn’t interested in my Olympic title going to someone else because of things I couldn’t control. It’s just not the way I wanted to go.”

See Also 2018 Olympic Hopefuls Share the Yoga That's Helping Them Get to the Games

“People will never fully grasp the level of perseverance it takes to do what she does at the level she does it,” says Bartoletta’s coach Charles Ryan, who’s also her housemate. “It would be unimaginable if everything was right in her life, and for her to accomplish what she has in the face of years and years of difficult traumas and setbacks—she is the strongest person I know.”

Today Bartoletta is not only cherishing the extra training time but also her body and all that it’s been through. “There’s a moment in yoga class when we rest in Savasana with our right hands on our hearts and our left hands on our bellies, and we say, ‘I’m grateful for this body.’ This body of mine had done so much for me, but it wasn’t until this moment that I appreciated it enough,” Bartoletta says. “I wasn’t in awe of it enough. Every body is a work of miracles and magic and science, and it’s perfect in whatever form it manifests itself, and that is what I have learned this year.” And she’s going to use these lessons she’s learned to be at the top of her game for the next Olympics whenever they may be.

Practice Bartoletta's sequence for finding energy. 

[cedarrrun]

The three-time Olympic gold medalist's dreams for the 2020 games were derailed by injury, illness, and the global pandemic. Today, she's taking it all in stride, thanks to her yoga practice.

On a sunny Friday afternoon during the last weekend in February, before stay-at-home orders and facemasks and furloughs, I watched three-time gold medalist Tianna Bartoletta practice the long jump at UC Berkeley’s Edwards Stadium. The YTT-200’s focus was as sharp as the spikes on her shoes as she sprinted down the track and sprung into the air, seemingly weightless, before softly making contact with the sandpit. The key, she told me, is accelerating into the takeoff instead of slowing down to jump. “You gotta be crazy,” she says. “You gotta feel the fear and do it anyway.”

It’s a sentiment Bartoletta, who took home two gold medals from Rio in 2016 (long jump and 4x100-meter relay), has experienced before, particularly during the lows that have punctuated her successful 15-year track and field career. She won her first world championship in the long jump in 2005, the summer after her sophomore year in college, but didn’t earn her second until a decade later.

The latest example of Bartoletta’s fear-be-damned mentality was starting to train for this past June’s Olympic trials in February—by her own account, five months too late. An ankle injury and emergency surgery derailed her 2019 season and kept her off the track until the week before we met. She was only just easing back into her limited training schedule of sprinting, jumping, and weight-training sessions three to four times per week.

At 35, Bartoletta knows this will most likely be her last Olympics, and as the reigning champion, she feels immense pressure to defend her title. But that stress won’t deter “the USA’s Sprint and Long Jump Comeback Kid.” Her yoga practice, a tool that keeps her sane and grounded during intense phases of uncertainty, is an advantage she has over her competitors. “Going to the Olympic trials is like going to the Hunger Games,” she told me. “This is my fourth time entering that arena, and there is a lot of dread. But the mat is where I generate a lot of the momentum and energy I need to bring to go out and win medals.”

See Also Snowboarder Kevin Pearce Turns Brain Injury Into Life of Service

Girls Rule the World

Bartoletta's capacity for hard work and intense competition are traits she says she and her two sisters inherited from their parents. “My mom made sure that we understood that as females, we had to work twice as hard as our male counterparts,” she says. “And then as black females, we had to probably work double that just to get a foot in the door.” Bartoletta has been involved with sports since she was 12, but she didn’t get serious about track until her junior year of high school, when her dad told her that she’d need to get a scholarship in order to attend college. She dropped volleyball and basketball to focus on her best sport—track—and earned a scholarship to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Her freshman year, however, any signs of greatness she’d shown in high school were replaced by mental blocks that trumped her physical performance. That spring, when Bartoletta attended the national championships, she was a mess. “I got my butt whooped. I was scared. I was intimidated. I punked out of being awesome,” she says. “And my coaches were really upset because I didn’t score any points.” A few weeks later, at another meet, a coach from the men’s team approached her. “He told me, ‘Tianna, you have to commit to that first step. Once you initiate the jump, that’s it. It’s kamikaze out here—you have to understand that once you’re up there, there’s no coming back.’” Something inside her clicked, and when she jumped that day, she cleared 6.60 meters, a distance that would have won nationals two weeks prior.

“Everything they were telling me I was capable of, I totally was capable of, but I hadn’t gotten there mentally yet,” Bartoletta says.

That same year, she went to the Olympic trials for the first time. Although she took eighth place (only the top three get to compete in the Games), the experience of competing alongside her track and field heroes lit a fire inside the then-18-year-old. She fully committed to the sport. The following year she won the world championship in the long jump and, a few months later, signed a pro contract with Nike.

See also A Meditation for Finding Inner Balance

Finding Yoga

Two years after her first world championships win, Bartoletta was having trouble sleeping, and someone suggested she try Yin Yoga. “It was like a gateway drug,” she says. Next came Yoga Nidra and meditation. “Really good yoga teachers do what I call dharma drips. They teach you the philosophy when you’re not looking,” she says. “Now I use yoga for everything—to wake up, to sleep, to show up for training.” In 2018, Bartoletta embarked on her 200-hour yoga teacher training at Love Story Yoga in San Francisco. “I just wanted to learn as much about the practice as I could,” she says.

Practice Bartoletta's sequence for staying grounded. 

Behind the Scenes with Cover Model Tianna Bartoletta (; 0:27)

In hindsight, the timing couldn’t have been better. In July 2019, while Bartoletta was in training at Papendal, the Olympic Training Center in the Netherlands, her health took a turn. She experienced dizziness and was physically and emotionally exhausted. Part of her believed it was just a natural consequence of pushing herself as an elite athlete. That is, until she got an alarming set of emails from a doctor associated with both the World Anti-Doping Agency and World Athletics, which oversees Olympic track and field hopefuls. They’d discovered something abnormal in her blood work: She was severely anemic. Elite athletes should have a level of ferritin (a blood protein that contains iron) around 40; hers was 5. “They were like, ‘Go to the doctor right now. These levels are bad,’” Bartoletta recalls. But she didn’t listen. Instead, in July she flew to Iowa where she took last place at US nationals. Six weeks went by before Bartoletta finally saw a doctor in Colorado, who misdiagnosed the cause of her anemia as heavy menstruation and put her on iron infusions. By December, Bartoletta couldn’t get through her regular training sessions: “I felt like I was dying,” she says. “My heartbeat was erratic, and sleeping was like going into a coma—it was hard to wake me.” Frustrated and exhausted, she demanded to be seen by a gynecologist at the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center. That doctor discovered she had a noncancerous fibroid tumor in her uterus that was causing severe blood loss and anemia. If left untreated, her doctors said, she was weeks away from organ failure and one intense training session away from an actual coma. Bartoletta had emergency surgery that night and a blood transfusion two months later.

It was a devastating blow to her shot at another Olympic gold. “In a normal year, the work you do from October through March is the work,” says Bartoletta. “Only fine-tuning and polishing can happen during the competition season.” But for six weeks following surgery, she wasn’t allowed to train. “I just cried and cried,” she told me in February. “I wanted to be able to put up a damn fight to defend my title. Now it feels more like I’m Miss America, and I know I have to give my crown to someone else at the end of the year rather than fight to keep it.” But lessons she’d learned through yoga helped her stay grounded and accept the discomfort of her reality. Every day, she practiced pranayama and some form of gratitude, and meditated on the mantra “Everything is as it should be.”

“The Bhagavad Gita is like, ‘Look, kid, you’re not even entitled to the fruits of your labor, so keep showing up and keep doing work,’” she says. “That kept me going.”

See Also Find Calm and Boost Your Immunity with These 9 Yogic Breathing Exercises

Grace Under Pressure

In early spring, Olympic uncertainty was escalating with the rise of the covid-19 crisis. By mid-March, training facilities globally were closing and drug testing had ceased, but no announcement had been made in regard to the Games—even the athletes were left in the dark.

Finally, on the morning of March 23, Bartoletta was scrolling through her social media feeds when she saw the headline: The Olympics were postponed until 2021. Many athletes, including Bartoletta, expressed understanding at the unprecedented move, but also heartbreak.

Ever the Comeback Kid, Bartoletta chooses to view the delay as an opportunity to embrace the present. The postponement, she says, is a chance to strengthen her body, to make up for the time she lost to injury and illness: “I wasn’t interested in my Olympic title going to someone else because of things I couldn’t control. It’s just not the way I wanted to go.”

See Also 2018 Olympic Hopefuls Share the Yoga That's Helping Them Get to the Games

“People will never fully grasp the level of perseverance it takes to do what she does at the level she does it,” says Bartoletta’s coach Charles Ryan, who’s also her housemate. “It would be unimaginable if everything was right in her life, and for her to accomplish what she has in the face of years and years of difficult traumas and setbacks—she is the strongest person I know.”

Today Bartoletta is not only cherishing the extra training time but also her body and all that it’s been through. “There’s a moment in yoga class when we rest in Savasana with our right hands on our hearts and our left hands on our bellies, and we say, ‘I’m grateful for this body.’ This body of mine had done so much for me, but it wasn’t until this moment that I appreciated it enough,” Bartoletta says. “I wasn’t in awe of it enough. Every body is a work of miracles and magic and science, and it’s perfect in whatever form it manifests itself, and that is what I have learned this year.” And she’s going to use these lessons she’s learned to be at the top of her game for the next Olympics whenever they may be.

Practice Bartoletta's sequence for finding energy. 

[ecotone99]

[SF] 'Chris Allen' part 2 by Connor J Lukasik

So I woke up in a hospital in the year 2070, after being shot and killed in the year 2019. When I woke up, I had no idea about the passed time. My younger brother paid big money to have me brought back, and he also brought back my deceased Mother, Father, and Sister. They died decades after me, and were overjoyed when they saw me again. We went to the house my brother had bought, and that's where my parents filled me in on what happened. My name is Chris Allen, I am 15 years old but technically 66. My story continues here. I stayed at the new house for a week, trying to catch up on history. All of my friends are dead or old now. School is gonna start soon. So in 2033, the US annexed Greenland, and Germany started a world war(again). The third world war lasted 15 years, with Germany, Australia, Venezuela, and Brazil fighting in the name of Modernistic Intrinism, a form of government that centered around extermination of any and all religions. The war ended with the annihilation of Germany. Nuclear weapons, however, were not resorted to in this war, somehow. In 2048, at the end of the war, the UK annexed the land that was once Germany, Russia annexed Australia, and Venezuela and Brazil became Karga, a capitalist nation. Throughout these decades, technology became better and better, and the average human lifespan increased so much that no one had or has gotten the chance to die of old age yet. Again, because of technology. In 2067, the US annexed Canada, and Mexico began considering joining the US. Relations between the US and Russia became better, as the two countries had become allies in the Third World War. Nothing too major has happened since 2067, three years ago. Now it's the first day of school and well... I gotta say I'm nervous. I mean come on... I'll be the only one there from Gen z, and I'm technically 66 years old. Awkward as hell. But maybe I won't be the only one there who is from an older time, I wasn't the only one who was killed in the shooting...aaand I'm here. The school was made mostly of glass, chrome-looking metal, and various wood types. It was a work of art. There's trees everywhere, and flowers and lots of green grass. Butterflies and bees flew around, the bees never bothered anyone and no one seemed anxious around them. I had all my school supplies, I was registered for school, so I walked into the school. No one payed any attention to me, my friends weren't hanging out in the plaza when I got there, everyone was different, I recognized no one. The bell rang, so I got to class. Everyone is tall, even most of the freshmen are at least 6'6". I am 5'10", so I'm pretty short compared to all these kids. I thought that maybe the average person in this time would have skinny arms and legs, but no. It's very common to use medicine to make people strong without working out, apparently. I got to my first period history class, and took a seat. The teacher was this guy who looked to be in his 60's. He introduced himself, and HOLY SHIT that's Jordan, my old best friend. But he's in his 60's now. He looks at me and smiles, recognizing me. The other kids were wondering why this old fuck seemed to know me. Jordan explained to them that him and I used to be friends, back in 2019 but I had died. They seemed at least slightly intrigued by this, but it wasn't like it was anything too alien. When Paul told us to put on the headsets, I was confused but everyone else just swiped there finger across their desk, then headsets materialized on their heads. I did the same, and the headset came over me. I was now in the year 1900, but the rest of the class and Paul were there. I realized that this was VR, and that this is how history is taught nowadays. We were in a busy town, with people rushing to the train station, people rushing to the store, and people reading the news papers. No one payed any mind to us, like we weren't even there, when in reality, it was them who weren't there. Paul began his lecture on the early 1900's and late 1890's. After history class, I went to living economics class, which seemed to be seen as more important in modern schools. I should mention that algebra, geometry, pre-cal, different sciences were electives, because not everyone needs or wants to study those things. In Living Economics, I learned quite a bit about modern society. People seem to be a lot more extrovertive and social, and getting a job is easy. As a matter of fact, doing your job is easy. People usually work around 2 hours on Monday through Thursday, and they didn't work at all on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Some people still make more than others, but pay fully based on how much work you put in, how productive you are, and creativity can get you bonuses in certain jobs. I went to lunch after Living Economics, because school started at 10 am, and it was already noon. I sat with some people that were obviously gamers and memelords, and they seemed very eager to meet me. Word had gotten around that I was from 2019, and some people thought that was cool. I talked to all of these kids, they're names are James, Kevin, Jason, and Sven. The name Sven became more common in the US after Pewdiepie became president of the US and declared war on t series. T series was destroyed, and frankly no one was disappointed. Their YouTube channel got deleted, and pewds tooks over YouTube once again. He is still alive in 2070. Anyway, the group filled me in on how the internet works nowadays. Most of the old websites still exist and thrive, and there are also new ones. Minecraft is still the greatest game of all time. Something I had noticed is cell phones are different. Everyone has a wristband on, and they press it lightly with one finger, then a glass phone materializes in their hand. The screens can only be seen from the front, for privacy. Jason threw his phone on the ground to show me that they just don't break. After lunch I went to PE. To be frank, it was kind of embarrassing but everyone understood. I was the shortest and the weakest in the class. All of my friends were in there though. We had fun, but I had a harder time with the workouts then everyone else. But as I said, they all understood. When PE ended at around 1:00, school was out. The schools in the future recognize that education is important, but it should not be the central focus if our lives. And also, we just google everything, duh. Me and the gang went to the river after I told my parents via a video call. They were so happy that I was making friends so quickly, then I told them how extrovertive everyone is, and I also told them about Jordan. They were like 'damn, ok' then I said goodbye and hung up. Many other kids from the school were there. The river had clear water, and was filled with healthy fish and plants. Around the river was trees and grass and rocks, we hung out on a river back which was made of pebbles and was very clean. A drone flew by and picked up our trash that we had bagged up already. We had no homework, so we spent the rest of the day at the river. At the end of the day, we all said goodbye and headed home. Everyone seemed to like walking places rather than biking or driving. I walked home and ate dinner with my family when we heard the doorbell ring. A screen appeared above the table, and my little brother Mark was at the door. We let him in, and he was, well, overjoyed at seeing us. He lived in northern Canada(still in the US), we live on the East coast. He had to finish up a project for work, then he was able to make his way down here. He was in his late late 50's now, but looked younger, probably due to technology and/or medicine. We all hugged and continued eating dinner, with Mark joining us. He owned a business in north Canada, which is why he had enough money to resurrect 4 people. We gave him one of our many extra rooms, and we all headed to bed not long after dinner. I lay in bed, thinking about the day. I made four friends in not just one day, but on the first one. I speculate that the extrovertiveness and lack of depression is probably because of medicines and/or vaccines. I look up to the ceiling as it turns into a 1 way mirror and I see the stars. The sky is so clear tonight, as it probably always is now. I close my eyes, and I fade into sleep.

(Thank you so much for reading part 2! Feel free to criticize and critique in the comments, and let me know your thoughts on the story! I might make a part three, but don't expect it too much. I feel like this is a good ending. Thank you!)

submitted by /u/ConnorJLukasik [link] [comments] via Blogger https://ift.tt/2ZWprK5

[joshuazev]

On fiction, part II:  a roundtable

The seven members of group therapy were of varying ages and backgrounds.  This was their second meeting together and for the most part, everyone got along fine.  Unlike other therapy groups this one was manifested in a neighborhood by the people themselves.  Each session a different member was assigned as the proctor and was asked to lead the discussions and make sure the environment was healthy and safe.  The group would meet in the home of the proctor.  Nobody expected anything crazy to happen per se, but there were a few people in the group who were trained in deescalation, just in case.  It was vital and necessary because there were a couple of wild members—not surprisingly, the two youngest.  Six of them arrived on time and the discussion began.

Proctor:  Thank you all for coming again and welcome to my home.  I sort of have a loose plan for today, but I was hoping we could focus on relationships at home.  I know some of you are married.  Some of you are dating.  Some of you live alone.  I think it would be great to listen to everyone’s unique perspective and how they’re dealing with their current situation, good or bad.  It looks like we’re only missing Vincent at the moment, so I’ll shoot him a text to see where he is.  In the meantime why don’t we get started.  Lisa, would like to begin?

Proctor takes his phone out to text Vincent.

Lisa:  Sure.  Well, I’m 35 years old.  My last relationship was with Jerry and we dated for five years.  I really thought he was going to be the one.  The one I married, the one I was going to grow old with, but that turned out to not be the case.  I found another lady’s underwear in the home and when I confronted him he ‘fessed up and told me had been seeing someone on the side for the past year and a half.  I couldn’t believe it.  I moved out immediately.  I was blindsided.  When I look back it I suppose I can see some of the signs, but hindsight is 20/20.  It’s just really too bad because I think about my age a lot.  I know what the statistics are.  I was comfortable with Jerry because I thought we were going to have kids, but now that that’s not a reality anymore I worry about rushing into the next relationship.  I want kids so badly, but I don’t want to scare any potential men away when they find that out.  

Proctor:  Vincent said he’s been stuck on the train.  He’ll try and get here as soon as he can.  Lisa, I appreciate you being so willing to share such personal information.  I hear what you’re saying loud and clear and think you have a solid grasp of the situation.  I encourage you not to stress out.  I know how much you loved Jerry and I’m sure you’ll find someone else.  You’ve got too good of a personality not to.  It can be hard to be patient nowadays and after a turn of events like you experienced it can be easy to feel rushed.  Just like we spoke about last week, we have to stay the course.  Positive action brings about positive results.  Optimism not pessimism.  Does anyone have any advice or words they’d like to share with Lisa?  There is no pressure to talk.  At your own discretion.

Meredith:  Well if you wanted kids so badly with him and you were together for five years why didn’t you have any?

Lisa:  I tried, but he always told me he wasn’t ready.  Wasn’t ready to start a family.  Wasn’t ready to have kids.  There were a couple of times where I did get pregnant, but…well I didn’t have the baby.

Meredith:  Took care of it?

Lisa:  Not exactly.

Meredith:  Ah.  I’m sorry.

Lisa:  Yeah.  It’s ok.  The doctor hasn’t said anything final.  That’s why, well…  I hope I can find someone.

Meredith:  I bet.

Proctor:  Ok, Meredith.  We don’t need to speak in order.  Would you like to share next?  

Meredith:  Not really, but I’ll go anyway.  Ok, well, I’m dating Jimmy.  He’s alright.  He kind of treats me like shit.  I think it’s because he’s a tattoo artist and he likes causing other people’s pain, but he’s bearable.  He puts up with me.  I’m not exactly getting catcalled on the street, you know.  So, maybe I should just be happy with what I got right now.

Mark:  Maybe it’s cause you look like a dyke.

Proctor:  Mark, I want you to take that back immediately and if you say anything like that I’ll have to ask you to leave.

Meredith:  Prick.

Mark:  Really sorry, Meredith.  Jimmy sounds like a great guy.

Meredith:  Well he’s really not, but like I said I have no choice.  I don’t know if anyone feels like this or has been in a similar situation, but even though Jimmy isn’t peaches and cream all the time, he makes me feel safe.  I can’t stand being alone.  It makes me uncomfortable.  I feel like I don’t have a purpose.  Jimmy might be a pig sometimes, but at least he’s around.  He cooks.  It tastes like shit most of the time, but it’s serviceable.  He belches a lot.  Isn’t the “excuse me” type.  Rough around the edges, you know.  Listen, until I meet someone else I’m staying exactly where I am, healthy or not.  

Proctor:  I think those were all very valid statements, but I want to stress the hope and possibility of being fully happy.  It’s very easy to feel like we’re trapped and very easy to feel like we have to go out of our way to stabilize the situation.  The feeling of being safe is a very tricky feeling because even though we might feel safe, the situation might not be optimal.  We should always be aware that happiness can be found in many different areas; we have to be careful not to compromise ourselves.  

Meredith shrugs:

Proctor:  Mark, do you have something you’d like to contribute.  

Mark:  Uh, yeah, sure.  (Looks at Meredith and kind of rolls his eyes).  Can I be candid?

Proctor:  Of course.

Mark:  Can i cuss, because I have a lot on my mind?

Proctor:  Just don’t be gratuitous.

Mark:  Alright, so basically, I feel as if there are no good women out there.  Yeah.  I get it this is a great city and all that and there are plenty of fish in the sea and all that, but by and large, all these women out here are bitches.  To like varying degrees.  I’m these dating apps, right?  I’m on POF, Clover, Tinder, Happn, Bumble.  I’m literally on all of them.  It’s disgusting.  And I match with a lot, don’t get me wrong, but that shit never goes anywhere.  Some ask me all sorts of dumbass questions when we start talking.  Some literally ask me what my intentions are and I’m like “are you fucking serious!?”  This is a dating app.  What the fuck do they thing I’m on here for?  To get bubble tea and go to a science fair?  Just stuck-up, man.  Women nowadays.  They think they’re above the law.  They think they can want as much dick as they desire and act all coy and sensitive and nosy towards the guys who really just want the same thing.  “What are your intentions with me?”  To go somewhere and get naked and then do what normal people do when they both get naked.  I don’t know Proc.  It’s all a whole lot of bullshit if you ask me.

Proctor:  It sounds like there is an underlying lack of trust and anger towards women in what you’re saying, Mark.  Have you ever been 100 percent honest with them?  Did you ever just put in your profile that you’re just looking to hook up?

Mark:  You sound like a middle school teacher, Proc.  Nobody just says they’re trying to hook up.  You can’t say that.  No girl will talk to you.  That’s what I’m trying to tell you.  You have to play their dumb little game.  You have to tell them you’re interested in dating and you want to be organic blah blah blah, let me buy you dinner, blah blah blah.

Proctor:  Has any interaction on these dating apps led to anything serious?

Mark:  Depends on what you call serious.  This one girl and I were hooking up like nonstop for a couple of weeks.  That’s probably the most serious its gotten.

Proctor:  Maybe you should try an alternative to dating apps?

Mark:  Are you kidding me?  Nobody just meets people nowadays.  You gotta swipe, man.

Meredith:  Maybe you’re just a piece of shit and you need to take a day to look at yourself in the mirror and start treating women better.

Mark:  Who asked you, Rosie?  Keep having fun with good old Jimmy back at the shelter and mind your own fucking business.

Proctor:  Mark, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.  

Mark:  Cool with me, Proc.  I wasn’t really getting too much from your Dr. Oz sounding ass, anyway.  There’s only so much I can learn from Ellen Degeneres’ wife, a woman with a faulty womb, and two people that don’t talk.  Have a good session.

Mark leaves.  On his way out, Vincent comes in.

Vincent:  What happened to Mark?

Meredith:  He found out that this wasn’t a gay group therapy meeting and decided to leave.

Vincent:  Wait, is that what this is?

Lisa:  Not that I’m aware of.

Meredith:  He’s just a fuckboy, Vince.  Proc doesn’t allow fuckboys.

Proctor:  I most certainly do not let people into this meeting if they can’t behave like adults.  Mark’s desire not to do so had run it’s course and he has since parted ways.  Speaking of which, does anyone have someone that might like to join us next session?  Dwyane?  Hattie?  No?      

Hattie:  How about other family members?

Proctor:  Would you feel comfortable with that?  

Hattie remains silent.

Proctor:  If you think they would be interested Hattie, feel free to bring them along.

The session continues…

[umichenginabroad]

14. Shanghai Shenanigans

I’m so close to leaving. As I’m writing this, it’s my last full day in Shanghai; I leave tomorrow morning at 6 am. I’m gonna miss this place when I’m gone. But anyways back to what I did this week.

We had a farewell party the weekend before exams started, so it was a little study break from intense studying.

And there was so much fooood! I think Viva saved up a lot of money for the program, because she told us to just order whatever we wanted and we got like 30 pizzas and quesadillas and all this food and it was such a great night now I’m hungry wow.

I talked to Viva about me doing my final performance here and she agreed, so after eating we turned off the lights and I did my final show in front of my biggest crowd here.

https://goo.gl/photos/LzrBLWDivkMFDhWG9

Video Cred: Mohammad Eddir

Here’s a couple of Snapchat videos from the great Mohammad Eddir who was kind enough to record some. (And a picture of Peter of course)

https://goo.gl/photos/bphjk4qHxouBzHzYA

Video Cred: Kaelan Oldani

https://goo.gl/photos/5SpzHmosE5c5UF6y5

Video Cred: Kaelan Oldani

And two more from Kaelan Oldani, who was nice enough to give me her Snapchat videos.

I was really nervous leading up to it because Peter and Mohammad both hyped me up a lot before I performed, and most of the people I performed for have never seen me perform and some didn’t even know who I was. But they also both helped me calm down before the show and I am very glad that they were such great helps.

After the show, I taught some friends some glowsticking moves and it was so much fun to teach them.

https://goo.gl/photos/zEpgCyGXd8QgPjUq7

https://goo.gl/photos/qoeSvKzbkwPbLZVJA

But then we all had to go home because we had exams in 36 hours.

The next day was intense studying mode. Several people from linear algebra were all studying together, trying their best just to pass the class. Some people had to stay up all night everyday last week just to prepare for this. Everyone was so worried, but we were able to get through it together. We were able to take the exam with a lot more confidence than in the previous ones, and many people walked out feeling a lot better since it was all over. Also that night, Peter organized a small get-together for his friends and got cake for us.

Ain’t it gorgeous?

https://goo.gl/photos/8N4RmwJpEcHuwMA7A

The cake was supposed to be a joke and we weren’t supposed to actually order it, but Leon ordered it anyways. It was great cake though.

Then Peter got up and said a speech to everyone about how much he loved us all, and how we all changed him as a person. Then everyone else got up and said their own little speech, mine being the shortest cause all I said was “We cleaned this room. Appreciate it.” The others’ were more emotional than mine, saying things like “I really enjoyed being in Shanghai with you guys” and things like that, but mine’s was clearly the best.

The next day was the final for Chinese, which wasn’t that much studying really. It was just sad to see my teacher for the last time.

She’s taught me so much Chinese here, and I can finally go home to my Chinese friends and say more to them than just “Nihao” and “Xiexie yeye.” And it’s all thanks to Anna.

After our final, Mohammad, Fahim and I were all done with school for the semester, so we went to get quesadillas to celebrate

We could finally relax in China without stressing about school.

Peter was done too, and Derek joined us to make a toast for the end of classes, even though he had one more exam the next day before it was over.

The next day was Peter’s last full day here, so we went downtown and had some fun.

First we went to Jing’an Temple, which was a Buddhist temple that Peter has been wanting to go to for a while.

On the way there we saw this cool piece of artwork and got donuts for the first time in 3 months.

Jing’an Temple, a great buddhist temple with a lot of rich history.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but there was a cool religious event that took place outside of the temple.

So Leon did this while he was here, and I’m not an expert but from what he told me, you light the incense sticks on fire and let the fire die to produce a lot of smoke, and you lay the incense sticks down on the burner in the first picture, and smoke will waft from it, and the smoke will remind people about buddhism. Leon says he did it so people don’t forget about the religion, even though he isn’t religious.

Afterwards, Leon left us to eat barbecue and we went down to D-mall and K-mall after asking to go for weeks now.

Just like any mall, it has places to shop and places to eat food, but you can also do a lot of cool activities inside the mall.

Like archery!

https://goo.gl/photos/n8zL6XapdzyNFs277

https://goo.gl/photos/KSwqrhUUYnVKAHEA6

I did not even expect to see archery in the mall, but it is so great.

When I came here, I was looking for K-mall, and could only find D-mall. We kept walking around, playing more games, until we eventually ran into it!

And the place I was specifically looking for was the arcade, which we found as soon as we went in

https://goo.gl/photos/zLKLQyXwiGFrboyj9

And it was nice just to explore around the mall a bit because there was so much stuff to do here! And it looks so nice too.

When we left we realized why we couldn’t find K-mall so easily

It seems like D-Mall is the main mall, which you can find on google, but K-mall is only a part of the mall, which is why it is so hard to find.

If you ever want to come here, which I highly recommend, it’s at People’s square station while exiting out of exit 1. It’s really easy to find.

The following day, Mohammad, Fahim, and I went to explore the place we found last week, where we got shaved ice, and there was some event for children while we were there.

This stuff looks so cool, it makes me wish I was a kid again.

The next day, I went to La Bamba again to get some burritos, and I met a professor from California, who’s teaching to high-schoolers in China right now. He’s been living here for 7 years and used to be in the military. We talked for a long time and he gave me a lot of life advice, and I was able to learn so much about his life. It feels great when you get to meet new people and learn about their life, giving you a new perspective on the world and coming out a more knowledgeable person. I came into La Bamba alone, and came out with a new friend, even if he is 62.

This isn’t my last post though. I’m gonna make one more once I get back home, saying my final farewells to this program. It will be shorter though so don’t worry. But now I gotta get ready to go home. See you in the states!

- Timothy Pichardo

- Computer Science major

- UM-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute in Shanghai, China