#i just have 4 of those left now if my treatment continues according to plan

[mars-ipan]

it’s nice knowing i don’t have to get another infusion for 6 months

[griffin-wood]

all's well that ends well

pairing: Adam x Lya, Nate x Lili, Felix x Irene and Naya x Mason.

summary: post-mission celebration with a bit of chaos with the whole gang together.

prompt: Day 7 - ✨ celebration ✨ for @wayhavensummer

a/n: we reached the end of the prompts, thank you to the mods for creating this event ! sending much love and goodness your way, and I hope all of you enjoy this! Its quite...rusty and long, but its definitely one of my proudest one yet. Happy final wayhavensummer! 💙

"Okay, here's the plan...." Naya's voice boomed through the warehouse - her commanding tone somewhat matches Adam who nods at her.

"Wait, are you sure this is safe? We have like one chance to take them out and you plan to just barge right in Naya?" Irene raised an eyebrow in disbelief, as Naya crossed her arms.

"well, do you have a better plan than Leyva?" She snickers at her - earning an amused look from the red-head herself.

"You bet I do! We use the guns, I have a few of my inventions that might help to take them down. It makes the job much easier than risking ourselves to get hurt." Irene took out one of the techs she brought with her and place it on the table earning a whistle from Mason and Felix who looks intrigued by the whole situation.

Naya scoffs and took a seat by Mason's side on the velvet couch where he placed an arm around her waist as she leans into his touch, letting out a tired sigh.

"Lili, anything from the research that might help lighten up the situation here?" Lya asked as Lili nods with her notes in hand.

"From the research, we did earlier - Unfortunately, the group of supernatural we are coming up against are very very strong. There was stated somewhere that certain guns can take them down for a certain period..." She was cut by Nate's voice joining into the conversation.

"and they also can leave quite a pretty painful mark on their victims. If we are careful, we can take them with the agency tranquilizer gun and... unfortunately, dead man's poison." The sour tone that left him made the room quiet - somehow leaving them no choice other than to annihilate them.

"We gotta do whatever it takes, even if it's DMB." Lya states with a solemn tone in her voice - as her eyes met with Mason, who gave her a supportive nod from afar.

"Alright then, it's settled. We will take the DMB, the guns, and anything that we could use to take them down. They've been quite a menace in the town, so let's get ourselves prep and we leave at midnight." Adam's commanding tone fills the room once more, as everyone nods in agreement - before leaving the room to prepare for tonight's mission.

-

Lya and Adam were the only ones left in the room, as the others left for lunchtime. The girls decided to have lunch at Lya's apartment later to taste her 'exquisite cooking' which was quoted from Naya herself.

"How are you feeling about the mission tonight?" She took a seat beside him on the couch, as placed a hand on his back.

"I hope we can take it, it's our last chance, and - I believe we can do it tonight." His gaze softens as it's met with hers before he takes her hand and squeezes it.

"I hope so too. I can't wait for it to be done, and we can at least take a break for the weekend." She lays her head on his shoulder, letting out an exhausted sigh.

Adam nods in agreement, as he places a kiss on her forehead - a smile creeps on Lya's face at the gesture.

"I'll see you tonight, the girls and I are making lunch together." Lya stood up from the couch with adam following by her side, his hand never left hers.

"Let me walk with you there." He replies as she smiles at his words, as they walked into the common area of the warehouse where the others are having quite a fun time together.

-

Mason and Naya were talking in a hushed tone, as the smile on his face tells Lya everything she needs to know. Felix and Irene are in the middle of a battle with Nate in a fuse ball match , which earns a whoop of victory from them both as Nate tries his best to catch up on a win. Lili is stood on the side playing as the referee who lets out a fit of giggles at her boyfriend's antics.

“Who’s winning here mate?” The excitement tone in Lya’s voice is evident as Irene and Felix let out a whoop at another goal as Nate sighs with a small smile on his face.

“Team Irene and Felix leading forward, with 2-0.” Liliana announced as Lya stood beside Nate, joining him in the action.

Both teams manage to pick up their pace, as they ended up with 3-2, with Irene and Felix leading in as always.

“Good game everyone!” Liliana announces excitedly before making her way towards Nate and hugging him, and a kiss as a congratulation.

As Felix and Irene spun each other excitedly, as he kissed her - a victory kiss they say.

“Good job teammate,” Lya said as he pulled Nate into a wide hug also, with Irene and Felix taunting excitedly at their victory.

“We will come back for vengeance soon!” Lya replies in an exaggerated tone in her voice, as she gave them both a victory hug – before Naya and Mason join in the conversation.

“What is this the physical affectionate festival?” She teases the group, as Irene fires back.

“Speak for yourself, Naya.” She raises a teasing eyebrow her way before Naya lets out a laugh at the statement.

“Shut up.” Irene just smiles, as Naya scoots forward as she ruffles her hair making her let out a groan with the smile still intact on her face.

“Let’s get going, we will see you all tonight alright? Anything just calls us, we will get here as soon as we can.” Lya reminds them, as the four of them left the warehouse together in a fit of laughter.

“Our lives certainly has become more interesting with them around huh?” Felix stated with a wide smile, as Nate nods in agreement.

“Interesting is one word to say it. Now, let's get ourselves some rest before tonight.” Nate leads all of them back into the warehouse with a wide smile, as they prepare together for the mission.

-

Lya stands behind the counter, preparing their meals with Liliana by her side. Lili found herself setting the tables while Naya and Irene are making their way to the table.

“So, how are we feeling for tonight?” Lya asked, before taking a sip of soda.

“I’m pretty excited, those guns are prepared and loaded; ready to use!” Irene exclaims excitedly as she took a seat in one of the chairs, with Naya joining her on to opposite.

“Honestly, I feel like we will finally win something today. Well, hopefully.” Liliana said hopefully, as Lya nods in agreement.

“Let’s hope our plan and prepare enough, I don’t want any of you to get hurt,” Naya stated suddenly, as Lya smiles at the statement while Irene lets out a gasp (mockingly) as Naya rolls her eyes.

“Naya does care about us guys!” Irene wipes a fake tear that has fallen from her eye with a form, as Liliana lets out a fit of giggles.

“Guys, enough – stop teasing her. We love you too N.” Lya replies, as they started to eat together, talking about everything and nothing at once.

-

“Okay guys, let’s do this!” Naya took the lead, as they all are in position. Everything is ready, as they fought – as much as they could. They released the dmb, every weapon and skills were use as Everyone played their part. Everything falls according to plan - the bruises and cuts were proven as the aftermath of the situation.

-

“So, I think that’s the last of them….” Lya stated as she gestures upon the rest of the supernaturals which have been fought by them all.

“Lili, any sign of other beings tonight?” Adam asked through the agency radios as they split up with Lili and Felix at the other side, guarding it all.

“Nothing – the coast is clear. Good job guys! Felix and I are on our way.” Lili’s voice echoed from the agency radio, as Lya, Irene, and Naya pulled one another into a group hug.

“We did it, and we survive!” Irene yells before was met with a glare from Adam which says, ‘tone down’ as she zips her mouth immediately which follows with a fit of giggles from the others.

“Are you guys hurt???” Felix came and made his way to Irene who shakes her head in excitement.

“We are fine Felix, a bit battered and bruised – but, we came in one piece. Thankfully, the number of supernatural has decreased from tonight, but we should still be careful in case there’s more hiding in plain sight.” Lya replies as the others turn their heads around their environment, as Mason scoots forward using his hyper-senses to sense any unusual activity which thankfully is none.

Naya stood beside Mason, as they walked together forward.

“You okay?” He asked her, as she nods – letting out a yawn.

“Just exhausted, and I’m ready for this day to be over.” The tiredness can is true, as Mason stops her before offering a ride on his back, which shakes her wide awake from her sleepy situation.

“Are you sure?”

“Sweetheart, I’m sure. Let’s go, climb up here.”

"Wait, I forget one thing" she said, before giving him a kiss, as he smiles happily before she climb onto his back, as they lead the crew back to the SUV.

-

“Those two look very much comfortable there.” Irene wiggles her eyebrows as Lya nudges her shoulder.

“Naya deserves to the urm…special treatment, as she did took down a lot of them.” Adam states as Lya nods in agreement.

“Babe, if you wanna be carried as well – you should just ask.” Felix raised an eyebrow at Irene before a smug smile appeared on her face.

“Well, you need to catch me first babe.” Irene speeds down the road with an unexpected surge of energy in her.

“You’re on!” Felix yells before following her from behind – as they race their way to the SUV almost colliding with Naya and Mason far ahead.

Nate lets out a fit of laughter at the pair,

“I am confused on how much energy those two have even after battling a supernatural.”

Lili smiles before explaining,

“I think it’s the caffeine she took earlier before the mission – she might have the boost of unexpected energy despite it being…4 in the morning.”

“She’ll crash as soon as we reach the back, I’m very much certain of that.” Lya continues, as Lili stays behind with Nate.

-

“How are you feeling, did anything hurt?” Liliana asked with concern in her tone.

“Love, I’m okay. A bit exhausted but, we did our best and we survived.” Nate replies happily as he places an arm around her waist pulling her close to him.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t much help tonight, combat wasn’t very much my specialty.” Lili’s voice was filled with a hint of sadness, which Nate noted right away.

They both stop in their tracks, as Lili turns to face him – he is smiling at her.

“Lili, it's okay. We all have our strengths and weaknesses – and you did help us today. Both you and Felix played a vital part in our mission as well.” He grazes her cheek, as she smiles before leaning up with her tiptoes reaching his lips.

After pulling away, they walk hand-in-hand with a smile on her face as they spoke in hushed whispers together, making their way towards the others.

-

“C’mon slow-poke, we’ve been waiting for an hour now.” Felix teases Adam who took out the keys for the SUV, as they went their separate ways with the detectives taking Lya’s car.

“We should stay at the warehouse tonight, it's much safer there,” Lya states, as they follow the SUV from behind – making their way back to the warehouse.

As they arrived, they went on separate paths – as Naya joins Mason, while Irene and Felix walking together to their respective rooms – with Irene still teasing Naya along the way.

“Good night Lya, we will see you tomorrow.” Liliana hugged both Lya and Adam who is still getting used to the sudden gesture, as they bid goodnight.

-

“So, how are you feeling after everything?” Lya asked Adam, as they walked together back into his room where they will share for the night. As they start to finally be together, they have gotten comfortable with one another – and she enjoys the time she spends with him. Sometimes they would talk about their stories or anything – there was laughter behind the closed doors and it's their secret moments that made her smile.

“I’m glad it ended up the way it should – nobody was hurt and, well…you are safe.” He says the last bit slowly, as Lya smiles at the words.

“I am capable Adam, you need to trust me on that.” She sighs, as they stopped in front of his door.

“I know, I do. Always.” He says, as they ended up cuddling together – as Adam tells her a story about the knight's tale from the past, which intrigues her until they both fall into a slumber.

-

“A celebration!”

“A…celebration?” Lili asked stumbling into the kitchen while a yawn escapes her.

“Yeah, a celebration! Lya can cook and we can have a fun celebration with smores – we been fighting them for a while now, we deserve a celebration.” Irene explains as Naya joins the gang, as she saunters the group in a good mood.

“Good morning, yes – let’s celebrate.”

Lya raised a knowing eyebrow at her, before agreeing.

“Let’s do this. I’ll call Adam and we can divide and conquer.”

-

As the evening rolls, they are sat in front of a bonfire with the courtesy of Adam and Nate.

The food was set, there were also smores on the side as they all sat down together around the bonfire – as the stars above them shine brightly.

Felix and Irene were cuddled up together with a blanket around them, as the others follow suit.

“So, this is the end of a good mission then,” Naya said from her seat, as a smile is present on her lips.

“All’s well that end’s well.” Lya raised a glass of her drink with a smile on her face.

Lili pop a marshmallow in her mouth, as they all settled.

“Y’know as much as I love the madness of our missions together – this is the highlight,” Irene admits, as she leans into Felix’s shoulder as he places a kiss on top of her forehead.

"Look who is emotional now huh" She teases her, as Irene stuck out her tongue to her with the smile become much wider than before.

“It’s a peaceful night, and from what we have been doing – we deserve this,” Mason speaks up, as Naya smiles at him.

“I longed for more nights like this, just us together – no missions, no equipment, just us,” Lya adds as the others agree.

“Let's make a promise then, every once in a while – we would do this all over again. Tonight, the stars have aligned for us, and who knows when will it be next.” Nate stated as he attempts on making smores with Liliana as his assistant.

“I very much agree, it's not every day we got to be together like this. It feels…” Lya paused for a moment, meeting Adam’s eyes who nod at her in agreement.

“It feels right.” As Adam's words ring into the air. The night continues as they celebrate their wins and mistakes. Laughter fills the night, as the stars become the witness of the night - the sky shines a bit brighter for them all tonight.

As the definition of the celebration itself is to celebrate an important day or event. Tonight was a night to remember, a moment of celebration for the whole gang and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

THE END.

Tags: @wayhavenots @homeformyheart @takemyopenheart @winterkeys @mevnraels @coldshrugs @nathanielhsewell @detectivehathaway @lalizah @kelseaaa

[thelastspeecher]

Spirit Touched - Chapter 5: Nephew

Chapter 1   Chapter 2   Chapter 3   Chapter 4   Chapter 5   Chapter 6   AO3

Whoops it took me longer to update this than I planned, but it turns out that moving states takes time and effort.  Hopefully I’ll be able to update every other week for the last two chapters, but we’ll have to see.  In the meantime, enjoy the crew fawning over sick Zuko and a sudden appearance from a certain beloved uncle.

Again, this fic is inspired by @muffinlance‘s fic Salvage and fanart that @agent-jaselin did of it.

——————————————————————————————

              It started with a sneeze, the day after they fished Zuko out of the ocean for the second time.

              “Aw, you sneeze like a raccoon-kitten,” Toklo cooed. Zuko glared at him.  Then sneezed again, louder.  A few sparks appeared with the second sneeze.  “Uh, little firebenders sneeze fire?”

              “I’m not little,” Zuko growled. “But…yes.”  He sneezed again.  Toklo hurriedly stomped out any sparks that landed on the deck.

              “This won’t end well,” Panuk said quietly.

----- 

              The sneeze progressed to a full-body cough, one that was so obviously agonizing it made the crewmen wince in sympathy.

              “We need to follow you around with a bucket,” Aake rumbled, watching Panuk and Toklo rush to put out yet another fire. It appeared that accidentally producing flames wasn’t something reserved for sneezing.  Zuko sat down on the deck, even paler than usual.  He coughed again.

              “That might be a good idea,” Panuk agreed, hurrying to stomp out the new sparks.  Zuko let out a low groan.  Aake pressed the back of his hand against Zuko’s forehead.  He quickly removed it.

              “You’re sick, kiddo,” he said to Zuko.  His voice had more affection in it than he’d realized he had for the boy.  Zuko looked up at him, eyes already glazed over with fever.  “Someone better take him to the healer right away.  When someone this young gets sick, it can go bad fast.”

              “Come on, little brother,” Toklo said, scooping Zuko into his arms.  “Wow, you’re warm.”

              “No, ‘m cold,” Zuko mumbled blearily.  He let out another hacking cough.  Toklo carried Zuko to the infirmary while Panuk stayed behind to put out the third accidental fire of the day.

----- 

              As Zuko’s condition worsened further, he became less and less willing to leave his pile of furs.  Eventually, he could only leave the infirmary if carried out.  The crewmen checked in near constantly.  At first, it was just Toklo, Panuk, and Hakoda. Then Bato.  When Aake began to stop by to inquire as to the toddler’s health, Kustaa knew it was official.

              Zuko had wormed his way into the heart of every crewman.

              “I’m surprised by how frequently you poke your head in,” Kustaa remarked to Aake.  Aake stroked Zuko’s hair.

              “He reminds me so much of Sitka, especially when he’s wearing blue,” Aake said, keeping his voice soft so as to not wake up the sleeping toddler.

              “All Zuko had to do to win you over was be turned into a four-year-old.”

              “Hmph.”

              “And don’t think that I haven’t noticed you only stop by when he’s asleep.”  Kustaa smirked at Aake.  “You don’t want him to know how much you’ve come to like him.”  Aake rolled his eyes.  “Maybe once he’s better, you can be another uncle of his.”  The door to the infirmary opened.

              “Come on, Kustaa.  Let a man miss his son in peace,” Bato said, entering.  “Aake, you’re needed on deck.”

              “On my way.”  Aake’s hand lingered on the crown of Zuko’s head for a moment before he got up and left.

              “How is he?” Bato asked Kustaa.  Kustaa sighed.

              “Sick and getting sicker.”

              “Any idea what it is?”

              “Not yet.”  Kustaa looked at Zuko.  “The kid should wake up soon, and once he does, I’m going to ask a few questions about his symptoms.  I’m starting to wonder if it’s something only seen in the Fire Nation.”  Bato frowned, concerned.

              “If it’s a Fire Nation illness, would you be able to cure it?”

              “Depends on what it is.  I have the instructions for treatments of a few Fire Nation maladies,” Kustaa said.  “Not as many as I’d like, though.”  Faint stirring came from Zuko’s pile of furs, along with a weak groan.  “Are you up, nephew?”

              “I’m up,” Zuko mumbled, fighting his way free. He sat up and stretched.  “Did you want something, Bato?”

              “I just wanted to check in on the sick little pygmy puma,” Bato replied.  He ruffled Zuko’s hair.  “Feeling better?”

              “I’m not feeling worse.”  Zuko let out a hacking cough.  “Never mind.  I am.” Bato raised an eyebrow.  “What?”

              “No sparks?”

              “He hasn’t produced fire on accident for a few days now,” Kustaa said, coming over.  He put the back of his hand against Zuko’s forehead.  “Hmm.  Your fever’s getting worse.”

              “Can he firebend on purpose?” Bato asked.

              “He is right here,” Zuko grumbled.

              “Zuko, would you mind trying to create a small flame?” Kustaa requested.  Zuko held out his hands.  His brow wrinkled in concentration.  The only thing emitted, however, was a weak puff of smoke.  “Hmm.”  Kustaa stroked his beard thoughtfully.  “Bato, could you get him something to eat?”

              “Will do.”  Bato gently lifted Zuko.  “Candy and sea prunes, right?”  Kustaa frowned at him.

              “Tummy hurts too much,” Zuko said blearily. “Not hungry.”

              “Broth it is,” Bato said.  He carried Zuko out of the infirmary.  Kustaa took down his most thorough book on illnesses.

              He can’t firebend…maybe that’s the symptom that will allow me to finally diagnose him.

----- 

              Hakoda knocked gently on the door of the infirmary.

              “Come in,” said Kustaa’s calm voice.  Hakoda entered, closing the door softly behind him.

              “Any luck?” Hakoda asked.

              “Some,” Kustaa said from his spot by Zuko’s side. He gently draped a blanket over the sleeping boy.  “I’ve figured out what he has.  It’s called bender’s burnout.  It’s an illness only firebenders can have, caused by the bender’s inner flame being stifled.” Kustaa got up and walked over to his desk.  He pulled out a book.  “According to this, hypothermia or a near-drowning are the primary means by which an inner flame is stifled enough to cause bender’s burnout.”  Hakoda swore softly.

              “This happened because he went overboard again?” he asked.  Kustaa eyed Hakoda.

              “Before I identified the illness, I knew that was the cause,” Kustaa said.

              “Yes, but-”  Hakoda shook his head.  “He didn’t get this specific illness when we fished him out the first time.  Why now?”

              “Apparently, bender’s burnout is most common in the very young, because their inner flames tend to be weaker.  As a teenager, Zuko’s inner flame was strong enough to hold his own in a firefight.  As a child, well.  You’ve seen how much effort it takes him to even make sparks.”

              “What’s the cure?”

              “I don’t know,” Kustaa said softly.  His lips flattened into a thin line.  “None of my texts have information on afflictions that only affect firebenders.  I was lucky to stumble across what I did: symptoms and the cause.”  Zuko coughed weakly from his pile of furs.  Hakoda looked over at the boy.  Zuko’s already pale skin was corpse-white, his forehead shone with a thin sheen of sweat, yet he was shivering intensely.  “If we hope to cure him, we’ll need to find a healer who has expertise on firebenders.”

              “Where would we find one of those?”

              “We could try the next port,” Kustaa said with a shrug.  “People believe us when we say Zuko is a war bastard for a reason.  There’s a lot of them.  And where there are firebenders, there are healers who know how to treat them.”

              “There’s no other way to help Zuko?” Hakoda asked softly.  A long moment passed.  Kustaa shook his head.

              “Bender’s burnout doesn’t go away on its own.  It needs to be treated.  And I don’t know how.”  Zuko tossed fitfully in his sleep.

              “How long does he have?”

              “I’m not sure,” Kustaa admitted.  “But my nephew is far more stubborn than anyone else I’ve met.  As long as I can continue to manage his symptoms, he should hang on until we make port again.”  Hakoda walked over to Zuko.  He brushed sweat-drenched hair out of the boy’s face.  Zuko leaned into the gesture with a faint smile.  Hakoda’s heart ached.  Zuko was so young, too young.

              “I’ll tell everyone we’re changing course. We’ll head for the nearest port.”

----- 

              The Akhlut finally arrived at a bustling Earth Kingdom town.  Hakoda carried Zuko, buried in furs, off the ship.  Kustaa followed close behind.  They approached the first person they saw.

              “Excuse me, but we need a healer,” Hakoda said urgently.

              “Ryo is-” the man started.  Kustaa stepped forward.

              “We need one specializing in firebender ailments,” he said softly.  The man’s eyes widened.

              “I hope we can trust you,” Hakoda said.  He put as much weight into the words as he could.

              “Of course,” the man said.  “My son’s best friend is a war bastard.  The boy goes to Healer Lee, on the outskirts of town.”

              “Thank you,” Hakoda said gratefully.  He reached into his pockets for money.  The man shook his head.

              “Save your money for your…”

              “Nephew,” Kustaa said.

              “Save the money for him.”

              “Thank you,” Hakoda repeated.  Zuko let out a weak cough.  “Hang in there, Nuktuk.”

----- 

              This town was lovely.  Iroh enjoyed the friendly townspeople.  But he couldn’t help being disappointed.  It was yet another dead end.  He had yet to find any sign of his missing nephew anywhere.

              In a sea of green and brown, there was a sudden burst of blue.  Iroh looked curiously at the two Water Tribe men rushing through the crowded town square. His eyes widened.  They were the same men he’d seen shortly before he arrived at the North Pole.  Iroh’s heart sank as he realized that one man wasn’t just carrying furs; a young boy was hidden within them.

              What was the boy’s name?  Nuktuk?  Nuktuk looked deathly ill.  Concerned for the boy’s health, Iroh followed from a safe distance.  They had just exited town when Nuktuk began to thrash in his father’s arms.

              “Lemme down, lemme down!” Nuktuk whined loudly. “I gotta-”  Nuktuk’s father (step-father, more likely – the boy seemed to be a war bastard) hurriedly set the boy on the ground.  Nuktuk stumbled forward and vomited.  His father knelt next to him, rubbing his back.

              “Are you okay to be carried again, Zuko?” the man asked.  Iroh’s breath caught in his throat.  The boy straightened.  Now close enough to see him well, there was no doubt as to who the child was.  Iroh would recognize his nephew anywhere, with or without the horrid scar on his face.

              What have the spirits done?

              “Zuko, we need to go to the healer,” said the second man.  Zuko nodded. “Can the chief pick you up again?”

              “I…”  Zuko trailed off.  He had caught sight of Iroh.  Their eyes met.  “Uncle!” Zuko sprinted away from the men, directly for Iroh.  Iroh dropped to his knees.  He held his arms out.  Zuko collided with him.

              “Prince Zuko,” Iroh croaked, embracing his nephew as tightly as he could.  He could feel Zuko’s fever through his clothes.  “Nephew, what are you doing?”

              “Seeing a healer,” Zuko replied. ��Iroh held him out at arm’s length.  Zuko’s beautiful golden eyes, normally sharp like a hawk’s, were unfocused and cloudy with fever.

              “You certainly need one.”

              “Excuse me?”  Iroh looked up.  The tribesmen had walked over.  Iroh stood. He kept a hand on Zuko’s shoulder. “Are you really his uncle?  General Iroh?”

              “Yes, I am,” Iroh said.  Zuko smiled at him.  “I have many questions, but I think they can wait until my nephew has seen a healer.”  The men looked relieved.

              “That would be best, yes,” said one.  “We got directions from someone in the village.”  Iroh picked Zuko up.  Zuko nestled against his chest.

              “Lead the way,” Iroh said firmly.

----- 

              Iroh and the tribesmen sat outside the healer’s house.  Zuko had been treated, but needed to rest for a while before the healer would let him leave.

              “We should probably introduce ourselves,” one of the tribesmen said abruptly.  “I am Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe.  My companion is our healer, Kustaa.”  Healer Kustaa bowed his head.

              “Why did you need to bring Zuko to a different healer, if you had one?” Iroh asked.

              “I’m not well-versed in firebender ailments,” Healer Kustaa replied.  Iroh hummed softly.

              “By the way, thank you, General, for not attacking when you saw Zuko,” Chief Hakoda said.  Iroh leaned back.

              “You don’t get to be my age as a soldier unless you learn to take stock of a situation fast,” Iroh said.  “The immediate concern was my nephew’s health, not you.”  He chuckled softly.  “Not to offend you or anything.”

              “No, I understand,” Chief Hakoda said.  He leaned forward, his hands resting on his knees. “But I still appreciate it.  To be frank, we wouldn’t have stood a chance against you.”  Iroh chuckled again.

              “I know.  So, how did you come to have my nephew with you?  I received a letter from a friend in the Northern Water Tribe telling me you had Zuko, but the letter didn’t provide many details.”

              “We pulled him out of the ocean, half-dead,” Healer Kustaa said.

              “Thankfully, the spirits stepped in, ensuring you rescued a young boy.  If you had come across a Fire Nation teenager, you would have had a drastically different reaction.”  The tribesmen looked at him, bemused.  “I have seen firsthand the realities of war; I know what would have happened if you stumbled across someone old enough to be a soldier for the opposing side.”

              “He wasn’t a toddler when we rescued him,” Chief Hakoda said slowly.  “That particular…situation is more recent.”

              “Then you are bigger men than I would have been in my days as a soldier,” Iroh said.  The men exchanged a look.  Clearly, they were holding something back.  But Iroh knewit would be best to wait patiently for further information, rather than immediately pry.  “Thank you for taking care of him.”

              “Well, the kid’s more endearing than he realizes,” Healer Kustaa said.  “Our youngest crewmen befriended him quickly.  Once he had them on his side, it was all over.”  Iroh beamed.

              “I’m very glad to hear that he has been working on his social skills.  My nephew tends to struggle to make friends.”  Iroh adjusted his seat slightly.  “How long has Prince Zuko been like this?”

              “A handful of months.  He’s actually spent more time with us as a toddler than as a teenager,” Chief Hakoda said.  “And before you ask, we don’t know why the spirits did this to him.”

              “Zuko might know,” Healer Kustaa said suddenly. Chief Hakoda and Iroh looked at him. “The incident that made him fall overboard, which caused him to get so sick?  He’s been talking about it in his sleep.  Most of what he says is nonsense, since he’s been so feverish.  But every now and then, he mumbles something about talking to a young woman in the moon.”

              “The young woman…”  Iroh leaned forward.  “Prince Zuko wouldn’t happen to be calling her by name, would he?”  Healer Kustaa raised an eyebrow.

              “He’s called her Yue.”

              “A Water Tribe name,” Chief Hakoda remarked.

              “Yes, but also the name of the new Moon Spirit,” Iroh said.  Chief Hakoda and Healer Kustaa sobered immediately.

              “We heard about that,” Chief Hakoda said. “Like everyone else, we saw the moon go dark.  When we crossed paths with our sister tribe, they informed us of the tragedy that happened during the Siege of the North.”

              “Yes.  It was most distressing,” Iroh said solemnly.  “I was there.”  The door of the healer’s home opened.

              “He’s awake now,” Healer Lee said.  Zuko toddled out of the house.  “Kustaa, come inside, I’ll go over the continuation of his treatment.”  Healer Kustaa nodded.  He got up and followed Healer Lee inside, ruffling Zuko’s hair on his way.  Zuko sat between the two men.  He beamed at Iroh.

              “I thought I had only dreamed that you were back,” Zuko said happily.  Iroh rested the back of his hand against his nephew’s forehead.  The boy was still feverish, but whatever the healer had done clearly put him on the mend.

              “No, Prince Zuko, I’ve found you,” Iroh said warmly. A strange look crossed Zuko’s face. He looked down at his adorably minute feet.

              “Just Zuko, Uncle,” he mumbled.  Iroh hid his surprise at the request.

              “If you insist, nephew.”  The enormous smile was back.

              “Are you going to join the ship?” Zuko chirped. His grin broadened.  “You could get a fake name, too!”

              “I was hoping that the Water Tribe would be kind enough to let me accompany you, yes,” Iroh said with a nod.  Chief Hakoda grimaced.  “Chief Hakoda, I recognize that you would not be comfortable with two firebenders aboard your ship, but-”  The chief was already shaking his head.

              “You seem a sensible man, General.  As such, you should understand that it’s not my comfort I need to think of, but the comfort of my men.  They would not want the Dragon of the West on our ship.” Iroh’s heart sunk.  He bowed his head.

              “Yes, I understand.”

              “What?  But- Uncle!” Zuko whined.  Iroh put a gentle hand on his nephew’s shoulder.

              “Nephew, what is right may not be what I want to do. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do it. What is right is that the men who have helped you so much stay comfortable.  I cannot be on the ship.”  He squeezed Zuko’s shoulder, his heart heavy.  “And what is right is that you continue to be treated for your illness. You need to stay with Chief Hakoda, so that Healer Kustaa can take care of you.”

              “But-”

              “Chief Hakoda,” Iroh said abruptly.  “Is your ship headed for a specific destination?”

              “Yes.”  Chief Hakoda eyed Iroh.  “Can I trust you with it?”

              “Pakku trusts him,” Zuko piped up.  “I trust him.  Isn’t that enough?”  Chief Hakoda wavered for a moment before sighing.

              “Fine.  We’re headed to Chameleon Bay, to help the Earth Kingdom Army protect Ba Sing Se.”

              “I’ll meet you there.”  Iroh smiled at Zuko.  “Maybe during my travels, I’ll stumble across a way to return you to your appropriate age.”  Zuko’s eyes widened.  Healer Kustaa emerged from the house.

              “Come on, nephew, you need to lay down for more rest,” Healer Kustaa said, taking Zuko’s hand.  Iroh tensed.  “Oh.” Healer Kustaa managed a wry smile. “When he was feverish and ill shortly after we brought him on board, he mistook me for you and called me ‘uncle’. Since then, I’ve called him my nephew.”

              “…I see,” Iroh said slowly.  He stood.  “I should leave.  It will take me longer to arrive at Chameleon Bay, given I won’t be traveling by ship.”

              “Before you leave,” Chief Hakoda said, standing as well, “would you please tell me what happened at the North Pole?  Our sister tribe didn’t inform us of any of the specifics, just that the Avatar had been involved in the battle and that the Moon Spirit was killed and revived.”

              “It may have been too painful,” Iroh said. “I am more than willing to share with you what I witnessed.  But if you don’t mind, I’d like to say goodbye to my nephew.”  Chief Hakoda nodded.  Iroh turned to Zuko.  He knelt on the ground.  “Nephew…” Zuko pulled free of Healer Kustaa’s hold and rushed forward to embrace Iroh.

              “I don’t want you to leave, Uncle,” he whispered. Iroh rubbed Zuko’s back.

              “I know, Zuko.  But remember what I said.  I can’t do what I want.  I must do what is right.”  Iroh removed something from his pocket, an item he had been holding on to since Zuko was lost at sea.  “Here.” He handed the knife to Zuko.  Zuko took it from him with awe in his eyes. “Do you remember this?”

              “Never give up without a fight,” Zuko said softly. Iroh smiled.

              “That’s right.  You are waging many battles right now, young nephew.  But keep fighting.”

              “I will, Uncle,” Zuko said, holding the knife close to his chest.  Iroh ruffled his hair.

              “Good.  Then I will see you soon.”  Iroh stood and watched Healer Kustaa lead his nephew away.  Once Zuko was out of sight, he turned to Chief Hakoda.  “I am willing to share my stories, but I would like more information as to my nephew’s stay with you in return.”  Chief Hakoda nodded.

              “I expected as such.”  The men began to walk together.  “Where would you like me to start?”  Iroh sighed, glad to ask the question he’d had since he saw Zuko.

              “Why is my nephew dressed like a Water Tribe child?”

----- 

              “Hold that pose,” Toklo instructed.  Zuko wobbled slightly.  “C’mon, little brother, just a bit longer!”  Zuko’s legs gave out.  He collapsed to the deck, coughing.  “Maybe we should go back to the basics.”

              “No, those katas are for babies,” Zuko snapped.  He coughed again.  Hakoda, who had been observing Zuko’s practice, crouched next to him.

              “You’re only four and recovering from an illness. Pushing yourself right now would do more harm than good,” he said, his voice gentle but firm.  “Once you’ve stopped coughing so much, you can move on to the more complicated forms.  But for now, I agree with Toklo.”  Zuko scowled.

              Zuko’s treatment involved him actively practicing firebending.  The healer had informed Kustaa that Zuko developed bender’s burnout in large part due to Zuko restricting his firebending to simple meditations.

              “He said to me, ‘Water Tribe people might not be very educated, but that’s no excuse for making a young bender suppress his art.  No matter the element, if they avoid bending, they’ll become ill,’” Kustaa vented angrily once Hakoda had returned to the ship.  “I tried to tell him that the kid didn’t want to bend, but he wouldn’t hear it.”

              “Zuko needs to practice firebending, then, to get better?” Hakoda asked.  Kustaa nodded.

              “And to stave off future bending-related illnesses.  He gave me a scroll with forms for children Zuko’s age.”  Kustaa handed Hakoda said scroll.  “My nephew probably already knows most of these forms, but I guess we could use them as a reference to make sure he’s doing them right.”

              Hakoda took the scroll from Toklo and looked over the forms for the easiest.

              “Turtle-duck pose,” he instructed.  Zuko scowled, but did as he was told.  “Good work, kid.”  Zuko’s scowl was replaced with a grin that stretched ear to ear.

              Initially, Zuko had brushed off any compliments he got on his bending forms.  Hakoda had a feeling that Zuko’s reaction was because he didn’t believe them. Thankfully, it only took a week for the boy to shift gears from doubt to exuberance at being told he had done a good job.

              “Chief?” Bato called from his spot at the ship’s bow. Hakoda ruffled Zuko’s hair, handed the scroll back to Toklo, and walked to his second-in-command.

              “What is it?” Hakoda asked.  Bato handed him a spyglass silently.  When Hakoda looked through it, he swore.  “Fire Nation.”

              “Yes.”  Bato’s face darkened as he stared in the direction of the ship he’d spotted.  “And they’ve definitely seen us.  We won’t be able to avoid battle.”

              “You’re right.”  Hakoda swallowed.  “Hopefully, Zuko will sleep through it.”

              “He’s a light sleeper.”

              “Not lately.  Being sick can make you sleep like the dead.”  Hakoda handed the spyglass back to Bato.  “I’ll inform the crew to prepare for battle.”  Hakoda looked back at Zuko.  The toddler was unsteadily working through the basic firebending forms for Toklo.  “And I’ll see if Kustaa can put him to bed earlier than usual, so that he misses the fight.”

----- 

              Zuko did sleep through the entire battle. Better than that, however, was that no one on the ship had fallen.  Any blood stains or scorch marks on the deck were hurriedly scrubbed away before Zuko could see, though he did get told the day after.  Like before, Zuko sat watch with a small flame in his palms.

              The rest of the trip passed by without incident. Not just Hakoda, but the crew as a whole felt a swell of pride as Zuko became more confident in his bending practice, progressing from the basic steps to the intermediate ones quickly.  Well, the ones considered intermediate for his age. The boy was eager to begin the advanced movements, but Hakoda felt they were still beyond his ability.  Not to mention, the advanced katas seemed more likely to accidentally set the boat on fire.

              “Finally!” Zuko whooped as they landed at Chameleon Bay. “I miss dry land.”  Scattered chuckles sounded among the crew.  Bato stopped him from rushing down the gangplank after Hakoda.

              “Hold on, little warrior.  Before we come ashore, the Chief needs to meet with whoever’s in charge.”  Zuko cocked his head curiously at Bato.

              “Isn’t Chief Hakoda in charge?  I thought he was the leader of the entire Southern Fleet.”

              “He is, but it’s still important to announce ourselves to the person that has been running things.  Once we’ve settled in, the Chief will take over.”

              “The Chief also needs to let the other men know we’ve got a Fire Nation brat on board,” Aake added.  Zuko frowned at him.  “Otherwise, you might get a chilly welcome.”

              “I guess,” Zuko muttered, crossing his arms. Bato ruffled his hair.

              “Go help Kustaa take stock of the infirmary supplies while we figure things out, okay?” Bato said.  Zuko sighed and toddled off.  Bato shook his head, hiding a smile.  “Damn kid really weaseled his way into all of our hearts.”

              “I’m taking bets on how quickly he does the same to the tribesmen already here,” Panuk drawled.  “So far, no one’s put anything down on it taking any longer than a month.”

              “Well, yeah, those odds are too slim,” Toklo said. “My little brother’s gonna have everyone eating out of his hand in a couple weeks at most.  Especially with his lingering cough.”  According to Kustaa, Zuko was no longer ill.  His occasional coughs were just the result of his sickness irritating his throat.

              “I agree,” Bato said.  “‘Nuktuk’ has a very endearing backstory.”  He looked at Panuk.  “Put me down for twelve days.”

[broadstbroskis]

surprises-pt 4 | mat barzal

part 3

You’ve rescheduled your second OB visit three times just so that Mat could be there, but he’s actually beaming when he arrives, so it seems like it was worth it.

“I promise it’s not that exciting.” You tell him, as you walk toward the door of the office.

“Are you kidding? This is awesome!”

You’re inclined to agree more with that statement when Mat’s mere presence brings out the star treatment and you don’t even have to wait before the nurse is bringing you back for your appointment. 

She runs quickly through vitals, assuring you that everything looks good, and letting you know your doctor will be in shortly. 

“What if your doctor’s a Rangers fan?”

“Seriously?”

“I mean, it’s a legitimate concern!” He cries.

You can’t help but burst into laughter. “Maybe she’s not a hockey fan at all.”

There’s a look of horror on his face for a moment, before he takes a deep breath. “I think that would be a little better than a Rangers fan. Microscopically, but better.” 

Your laughter sets him off and you’re both laughing when Dr.McLaughlin enters the room. She smiles as the two of you try to compose yourself, greeting you and introducing herself to Mat. 

There’s no need to kick Mat out for the Q&A session today, most of your more personal questions answered at your last appointment. In fact, you’re actually surprised when he starts firing off more questions than you’ve got, until he ends his questions with, “Are you a Rangers fan?”

“Mathew.” You snap. He is unapologetic in his shrug.

Blessedly, Dr. McLaughlin only shakes her head. “My husband would be very excited to know you’re in the office though.”

Mat nods, apparently satisfied, and you roll your eyes, offering an apology to her for him. She merely laughs, preparing to start listening to your baby’s heartbeat. “I have spent my entire married life apologizing for my husband. You don’t have to apologize to me. I get it.”

Before you have a chance to correct her, or the situation has time to get awkward, the thud-thud of your baby’s heart is swishing through the room. Your eyes are wide; she’d pointed it out to you last appointment, but it’d been so much softer. Not today.

Mat’s hand grips yours, squeezing tightly, and you lace your fingers through his, not letting go even as Dr. McLaughlin wraps up the appointment and lets you know the next ultrasound will be an anatomy scan and if you want, you may be able to find out the sex. 

Exiting the office still hand in hand, you and Mat turn your discussion toward your orange. “It’s an orange now?” He grins.

You nod. “It’s an orange now.”

“So one day.” He says slowly. “You really might be growing a watermelon in there.” He laughs as you swat at his arm. “What are you thinking, girl or boy?”

A lot of people have asked you this, since you’ve started telling people. What’s your mother’s intuition telling you, one of your coworkers had pressed. Tito continues to insist the baby will be a girl. “I don’t know.” You tell Mat, honestly. “I don’t care either, really. Just healthy.”

Mat nods. “Yeah, me too.”

“You don’t want a mini-me to play hockey with?” You tease.

He gives you a look. “If I get a mini-you, I’m still going to play hockey with her.”

“I lack the hand-eye coordination to play stick sports; I’ll just give you that warning now. You’re in for some work.”

Mat laughs. “Well girl or boy, hopefully my genes win out on that one.”

You can’t help but agree, thinking about the one season you’d spent having to play field hockey because your middle school just needed a body to put on the field. “Yeah, fingers crossed.”

-----

“Fuck yeah!” Tito cries, as he does...something in the video game that he, Mat, and Brian are playing.

“Fuck you!” Mat shoves at him, competitive as ever, and then brings his hand up to his hair, brushing his fingers through the soft locks before refocusing, and SNAP goes the carrot in your hands.

“You okay?” Molly asks. The two of you are sitting at Mat’s breakfast bar, snacking, chatting, and occasionally laughing at how much more chill Brian is compared to Mat and Tito. Their chirps just roll right off his back. 

“What?” You ask, too busy staring at Mat’s forearms to listen properly.

“You look a little flushed.” She continues.

“I’m fine.” You say quickly, but she’s already connected the dots and there’s a huge grin on her face when you look over. “Oh my god, stop.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to!”

“Ok then, how is it?”

“How’s what?”

She lowers her voice. “Pregnancy sex!”

You give her a look. “Um nonexistent.” She returns the look. “That might be my problem.” You admit. Right on schedule, according to both the book you’d downloaded to your Kindle and the app you’ve been following on your phone, pregnancy hormones have arrived, and they’re in full swing. 

“You should just go for it.” Molly shrugs. “There’s no way Mat’ll mind, especially not when your boobs look like that right now.”

“They do look really good, right?” At least there was one benefit to all this. 

“It is a shame you don’t get to keep them.” She agrees, sending you both into giggles, attracting the attention of all three of the boys.

“What’s so funny?” Tito calls over.

“Nothing.” You and Molly say simultaneously.

He looks like he wants to press the issue, but Brian shakes his head. “You’re better off not knowing. Trust me.”

Tito gives you one more side eye, before giving up and pausing the game to bring up dinner plans. “Nothing fried.” You wrinkle your nose as they all gather round. You can smell it already and even though the nausea phase has mostly passed, the thought of something fried makes your stomach roll.

“Chinese?”

“She said nothing fried!”

“Pizza?”

“Italian?”

“Pasta.” You nod in agreement and requests go around as Tito pulls up his UberEats app. Mat’s arm drops on your shoulder and squeezes, something he’s been doing more and more often since the two of you had gone to your doctor’s appointment together a couple weeks ago. It’s supposed to be comforting, a we’re in this together, kind of thing. But now that anything he did (or well, at this point, him or any man that even so much as breathed near you) turned you on, it was starting to become a problem.

“Are you okay?” He asks and you nod, unable to trust your voice if you spoke. He accepts the nod though, turning back with Brian and Tito to go back to their game while you wait for the food, and you manage to mostly ignore Molly’s knowing smirk as you can breathe a little easier.

For now.

-----

For now doesn’t last long, as Mat starts popping over more and more often. It’s not always for long- sometime he just stops in early in the morning before he leaves for a road trip, sometimes it’s just a quick minute before or after a game, only to say hello, see how you’re feeling, and if there’s anything you need. 

Sometimes, though, sometimes he comes over and stays. You’ll come home after work and find him already in your apartment, unpacking takeout (the exact takeout that you're craving, somehow he always knows) or he’ll shoot you a text and ask if you’re up for a marathon of The Office after he finishes practice.

Those days are the hardest for you. When he’s sitting in your apartment, looking like he belongs there, freshly showered with his hair still wet, and smelling strongly of whatever scent you would have associated with him before you were pregnant. You honestly would have said it smelled amazing even before this; now, it’s absolutely intoxicating and certainly doesn’t help that thing where you kind of want to jump his bones. 

It’s a little better when there’s other people around, something else to focus on. Sometimes Tito will join the two of you (although, sometimes, that honestly makes things worse for you); Molly and Brian frequently join you two for dinner, even if they don’t end up sticking around afterwards; and on rare occasions, the schedules will line up so that all five of you can actually get together for a lengthy period of time. 

“What do you think about this one?” Molly flips her phone around toward you. She’s been obsessed with scrolling through nurseries on Pinterest during her down time, texting you pictures of her finds when she’s not in the same apartment as you. 

“Pass.” Mat answers, before you even get a chance to. He’s sitting next to you on the couch, and had pulled your legs into his lap when you were shifting restlessly a few minutes ago, so his hands are resting on your kneecaps, where his thumbs will occasionally trace the outline of. Your left patella has never felt so arousing.

“I wasn’t asking you!” Molly huffs.

“Wait, I don’t get an opinion on this?” He looks between the two of you.

“Of course you do.” You assure him. “Molly!”

“Fine.” She huffs.

“We should start thinking about that.” He mutters to you. “Like what we’re going to do when the baby comes.”

“It’s on my list.” You tell him.

He raises an eyebrow at you. “You have a list?”

You nod, unlocking your phone and pulling up the notes app, before showing it to him. “It’s very long.”

He’s laughing by the time he gets to the end of it, which shocks you because your blood pressure spikes like ten points every time you open the damn thing. “You kill me.” He says, sounding almost fond. “This’ll be easy to crush.” 

You look at him in disbelief. Easy to crush? Were you looking at the same list? Everyday you thought of something new to add to it! And sure, some of them probably would be easy enough to do, but the rest of them? “Mat, are you serious?”

“Yeah!” He says, and that sets Tito and Brian in a fit of laughter. Mat rubs your knee, in what you assume is meant to be a calming gesture but has the exact opposite effect, so you shove his hand off. You’re not going to be able to concentrate if he keeps that up. “You’re not alone here. I’m here. They’re here.” 

Tito stops laughing to nod eagerly. “Team Baby!”

It’s the first time you don’t outwardly cringe when one of them says that, too touched at their willingness to help. For how supportive they’ve all been throughout this to both you and Mat, it really never fails to make you soft and pull on your heartstrings. “Start delegating.” Mat pokes you. “And let’s pick something and do it.”

“Right now?”

He nods. “You and me. Right now, let’s go.”

Immediately you know what you’re going to talk about. Your next appointment is approaching quickly and you’re not going in without having talked about this beforehand. “Do you want to find out the sex?”

“Yes.” Molly says immediately.

“Of course you do.” Tito answers, like you’ve offended his existence by even asking.

“Don’t be stupid.” Molly continues. “There’s so much we have to plan, so much we have to do.”

Mat’s ignoring the two of them, looking only at you. “Do you?”

“I don’t think I do.” You confess. You’d thought a lot about this, going back and forth, weighing pros and cons. And sure, there were a lot of pros to knowing, to having that extra bit of preparation, but…

Mat starts to grin, as soon as you finish speaking. “Me either.”

“What?’ Molly snaps.

He shrugs, resting his arm back on your thighs, and for the first time in a while, it doesn’t set your entire body on fire. “Everything else about this has been a surprise. Why change it up now?”

You beam at him, easily able to block out Tito and Molly’s (and even Brian’s, he’s getting way too comfortable if he’s starting to join in) outrage and attempts to argue their points. “You’re right.” You agree, feeling some kind of flutter in your belly when he smiles back at you. “The surprise will be good.”

[queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm]

Daminette December Day 4: Gaming

——————————————————————————

Everyone on twitch knew, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a beast at every game she played. From multiplayer ones like Ultimate Mecha Strike III to indie ones such as “Hollow Knight” she was a goddess. Her KD ratio on “Call of Duty Modern Warfare” was 100:0.

She played under an alias, Ladybug. Not once did she show her face. All of her viewers told her to go pro, make some real money playing the games that she loved so much. But everytime she saw someone suggest that, she’d wave it off saying, “Gaming is a hobby for me. If you really want to support me, buy merch or commission me for some clothes. For those who don’t know, I run a website called ‘Miss Fortune’ and it would greatly support me and my dreams if you would check it out!”

It was true Marinette loved gaming, but her passion would always be fashion. Once her website was announced, Marinette received so many commissions from her followers, that she no longer had the time to do the free labor her class would always ask if her. She was busy and was making her dream come true they should be happy for her... right?

Wrong.

“Mariiii,” Alya elongated her nickname, “Could you babysit my sisters and Chris, please?”

Marinette sighed, “I’m sorry Alya, I just have too much on my plate right now. I’m working on a comission that will pay me a lot! It needs to be done by Monday, or I won’t be able to get it to the buyer in time for their party. Maybe next time?”

Alya would have said that it was fine, if Lila didn’t open her mouth right when Marinette finished, “Wow! Marinette would place money over her supposed ‘Best Friend?’ As Alya’s second best friend, I’ll take over the duty,” Lila then whispered lowly to Marinette, “because that’s what friends do.”

“Yeah, Girl! Why are you being so selfish?” Alya asked a little annoyed.

“W-what?” Marinette physically took a step back, “S-selfish? But I’ve done nothing but do whatever it is you ask of me?!? The one time I decline a demand from you I’M the selfish one? I have a job, a client, and my pride as a designer on the line. This is much deeper then money, but you,” she pointed an accusing finger at Lila, “wouldn’t know anything about that would you?”

Neither Lila or Alya expected, soft, timid, Marinette to explode the way she did. As the class excluded Marinette from things, she dove farther into her twitch personality. Ladybug, one of the best gamers in the word (according to some), was confident, collected, and focused. Marinette embraced that side of her and slowly grew into her own skin. Lila broke into the fakest crocodile tears she could conjure, “W-why are you so m-mean? I-I just wanted Alya to k-know she could l-lean on me!”

“Bullshit,” Marinette cursed and rolled her eyes, “You know exactly what you were trying to do. And Lila next time, take some acting lessons. Maybe then I’ll even pretend to be sorry. You cry wolf so often that I’ve become desensitized by yours and everyone else’s treatment of me. So if you want to play ball, I just want you to know: I play to win. And I never lose, especially to noobs who don’t even know the mechanics yet.”

After saying that, Marinette left the classroom stunned to slience. Lila tried to call after her, but she was already long gone. Classes had ended right before the confrontation, so Marinette couldn’t be bothered to deal with peasants that lost at games of manipulation. She had much better and productive things she could be doing with her life.

As Marinette made her way home, she had wanted to stream a bit before working on the commission. ‘What to do,’ Marinette had thought to herself, ‘A vlog? Maybe?’

20 minutes of an internal debate later, she had decided to do a vlog (in silhouette of course). The light on the camera signaled it was recording, “What is up my Macaroons? How is everybody doing today?” She stops to read the chat, “Good? I’m glad! Um.... how am I doing? I didn’t have a good day, but now that I’m talking to all of you I’m feeling much better!”

Marinette winked at the camera. She wanted to keep her mind off of the event of earlier, “I got into a fight with one of my ‘best friends’” her fingers curled into quotes, “Turns out she wasn’t worth my time.”

She continued to stream for another 45 minutes before signing off. The second it ended, Marinette began to work on her commission. The piece was for a Tim Drake. When she had first received the request, Marinette assumed the person was asking under a pseudonym. There ways no way THE Tim Drake would want her work... right?

Wrong... again.

Two for two times Marinette wa wrong lately. Unbeknownst to her the Wayne boys had grown a fondness for the goddess behind the screen on Twitch. Tim being the fan boy of the four, commissioned her for the next gala. He wouldn’t shut up about it to the rest, “I’m getting a ‘Miss Fortune’ original!” He would announce loudly to the manor, “She actually took my request!”

“And here I though Ladybug would ignore you, I thought she would’ve thought it to be a prank. Timmy boy lucked out,” Jason released a long breath.

“Can things one and two, shut up while I place an order?” Dick huffed in annoyance. He would try to commission Ladybug for business causal.

None of the boys were into fashion, (besides Damian but they don’t know that) but if it was to support their favorite streamer they would sell their kidney. No one knew the face of Ladybug, however, everyone knew of their skill.

Damian felt an eyebrow twitch at his brothers antics. Damian had been commissioning Ladybug since before she had mentioned it in that video. Admittedly he had no idea who the designer was, Damian always preferred practicality over looks and Miss Fortune had just what he was looking for. Eventually he’d learn just who Ladybug was, after months of commissioning her work she had enough trust in him to allow him the privilege of her name. Marinette. That was what he got. No last name, just Marinette.

Ladybug trusted him enough with a first name, but handing your last name to a stranger on the internet isn’t the best idea. But Damian was on a war path to sniff out just who exactly is Ladybug.

Her twitch channel was pretty popular, she was confident, and always stayed talking to her followers whenever they were sad or upset. Her last stream left him unsettled. Damian didn’t think such an angel could ever be upset at anyone, but guess there was a first time for everything.

A fire was lit under Damian and it would rage until he remedied whatever would distress his angel. This would become a game of “Clue” and Damian never lost anything. To the challenge of finding Marinette he’d say, “Game on!”

——————————————————————————

A/N: I plan on continuing this into tomorrow’s prompt of fire. I hope that’s okay with you guys. Thank you for all the sweet comments, likes and reblogs. All of those things make me motivated to continue, thank you all so much!

@daminette-december2019 @persephonebutkore

[diyunho]

The Joker x Reader - “ What Death Tastes Like” Part 5

Scarecrow’s daughter might be only 22, yet the terminal lung cancer she was diagnosed with six months ago didn’t discriminate against her age; the young woman didn’t show worrisome symptoms until it was too late. Y/N always had a fascination for the much older King of Gotham and despite the consequences, maybe it’s finally time to do something about it.

Part 1    Part 2   Part 3     Part 4

The Joker feels his face covered in soft kisses and although generally speaking he loves being pampered, this particular instance awakens his self-defense mechanism.

“What time is it?” J mutters.

“Let me see,” you stretch for your phone. “12:03 am.”

“I should go,” he lifts his head up from the pillow and you pull him back in your arms, yawning.

“Stay for a little bit longer, ok?”

“Why?”

“I wish to hold on to my birthday present for a few more minutes,” Y/N pleads with the man she senses doesn’t want to be there anymore. “Don’t worry, I’m aware it was a casual affair,” your sad smile prompts a completely out of context answer:

“If you noticed I fell asleep, you should have woken me up!” The King of Gotham complains.

“I fell asleep also,” you snuggle to him and since J is suddenly quiet you whisper. “It was amazing.”

He keeps staring which makes you wonder what the hell is going on in his mind right now.

“At least for me,” you underline after you grasp he won’t comment on the subject; you didn’t have a clue he’ll convert the night you spent together into awkwardness for no reason. “Get out of my tent!” you snap at his behavior, irritated. “Get out!” you shove him and The Clown Prince of Crime doesn’t budge.

“Why are you mad?” he finally addresses the annoyed Y/N.

“Because you’re a jerk!”

“Come again?!” The Joker frowns and Scarecrow’s daughter has a clever response; she doesn’t share his genes for nothing.

“I would but I guess you’re not a big fan of us having sex a second time!!!”

“Wow!” J bitterly scoffs. “You sure can twist a guy’s words, huh? If you really must pry into my personal life, I’ll have you know that I’m not used with small talk afterwards, understand?”

While you wonder if he’s bluffing, you can’t help offer the benefit of doubt served with a side of insolence.

“Well, maybe if you would give it a try with someone that actually cares, you’d have stuff to discuss.”

“Miss Crane, what makes you think Mara doesn’t like me?”

The Joker expects a feisty reply to his audacious remark yet he receives a piece of sturdy logic instead:

“If she was crazy in love, she wouldn’t agree and with this on and off relationship you two have.”

J is obviously displeased at your statement thus Y/N has to unleash her creativity in order to push him comprehend what she’s aiming at.

“The problem is you don’t approach anything important, you only shut down everyone. Even Emma believes she’s not yours.”

The King of Gotham was preparing to lash out but your latest sentence totally catches him off guard.

“What do you mean?!”

“You never talk about her mother granted she keeps asking so Emma presumes you probably stole her from an individual you consider your enemy and raised her as revenge.”

“Huh?!” The Joker gets on his elbow, appalled. “She is my daughter!”

“I say that to her when she panics, unfortunately random people do look similar…,” you twirl a strand of his green hair around your fingers. “Steering clear from issues we’re uncomfortable with doesn’t necessarily result in a positive outcome,” Y/N concludes and her partner is not excited at all.

“Are you psychoanalyzing me?!”

“I’m a Crane,” you peck his lips. “It’s in our blood.”

A lot of thoughts rushing behind those blue eyes and you’re confident his patience is running low; add a short fuse to the combo and according to your flawless instinct J will bite soon.

“Take me for example,” you attempt to cram in the main point of your dialogue before it happens. “I don’t care you’re older, I fancy your company nevertheless: you’re super handsome plus emotionally unattractive…”

“I’m what?!” The Joker interrupts.

“Umm… emotionally unattractive?” you hesitantly repeat while watching him jump off the pillows and start to collect his clothes in the semi darkness.

“Serves me right for sleeping with somebody half my age!” he growls at the young woman realizing she upset him with her rant.

“So you’re 46?” you struggle to joke at his affirmation.

“Listen here, Miss Crane!” J dresses in a hurry, angry at your stunt. “If you imagine you figured me out, you didn’t!! Nobody fucks with me!” he violently kicks the mattress and you can’t avoid it:

“I think I just did. Literally.”

The hate in his demeanor makes you regret opening up; your goal was to imply you like him no matter what yet the aftermath is way off what you intended.

“I apologize, OK?” you sigh and reach your hand for his.

“I hope you perish!” he strikes your fingers with such brutality it stings. “You’re dying anyway but hopefully the Cromyxillium kills you faster!” The Joker unzips the tent and leaves a shocked Y/N breathless at his hurtful tirade.

“That’s all you got? Stupid old man…” you whimper and cuddle under the thin blanket with his cushion.

Grief is not the correct term to describe what you experience for the moment: a perfect birthday turned into exactly the opposite in a blink of an eye simply because The Joker proved once more he has no concept on how to handle dynamite; fire suits him better.

***************

Next morning, 10:14am

“Are you hot or cold?” your father inquires since your intravenous therapy commenced 10 minutes ago.

“No,” you gaze at the IV bag and Jonathan lingers by your bed, reminding his offspring about their plan.

“We’ll do 3 hours on, 3 hours off; I’ll monitor your vitals and if you feel strange alert me immediately, deal?”

You nod a yes and his perseverance in aiding you with your terminal cancer evokes a sincere confession:

“Daddy…Thank you for trying to save me…I’m sorry I’m a burden…”

“A burden?!” Scarecrow mumbles.

There are a million facts you should evoke, yet the predominant one keeps hunting you.

“You buried yourself in the lab because of me…and Evelyn left…”

“Evelyn and I broke up for various motives,” your parent grumbles. “Saying I immersed myself into working because of you hints that I was forced into it against my will which is not true. I did everything out of love… I can’t bear the idea of losing you,” he kisses your temple; you wrap your free arm around his neck, squeezing him tight.

“You’re the best dad; I’m lucky you’re my father. If I die… you think mom is waiting for me?...”

Jonathan Crane has the weird sensation he’s choking; his wife died after you were born due to leukemia, now their daughter is fighting for survival: she’s plainly the last fortress separating him from utter madness.

“I couldn’t save your mother, but I’ll be damned if I let you die kid,” he caresses your cheek. “She can wait; I bet she’s not eager to take you with her,” Scarecrow reassures his daughter. “Rest honey.”

“I will…” you consent and Emma barging in the bedroom with her duffle bag switches your attention.

“I’m here, I’m here!” she exclaims. “Traffic was horrible, bad accident on the freeway!”

**************

11 am

“Are you comfortable?” Emma checks with her friend, not entirely certain how to bring up a very delicate topic clouding her usually bubbly disposition.

“Of course,” you smile and she wiggles in her recliner. “Are you?” you wink at her visible restlessness as you attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

“Y/N…,” she taps the fluffy carpet with her feet. “Mmmm… last night after we returned from the river I dropped by to see how you’re doing and… I came to your tent…,” Emma pauses seeing the stupefied expression on your face. “I…I found my father sleeping in there with you…”

You lick your lips and strain to keep your calm even if your heart is pounding out of your chest.

“Did my dad take advantage of you?” she lowers her voice and you can tell she’s torn apart by the horrible notion.

“He didn’t,” you shake your head.

“Dumb girl…” Emma admonishes without any trace of resentment; what else can she articulate in these circumstances regardless?  

“I can’t believe I’m inquiring… Did you use protection?”

“No…It just happened…”

“Oh my God!” the concerned judgement pressures you to continue:

“It didn’t end well so it’s fair to assume we’re not in any danger of me becoming your stepmom,” your tone diminishes and she leans over to scold when The Joker passes by the opened door without bothering to peek inside your bedroom; you didn’t spot him but Emma did.

“I’ll be back!” she hisses and you’re confused at her desire to leave you.

“Hey, where are you going?”

She ignores your question and races after The King of Gotham, catching up with him at the end of the long corridor.

“Dad!” Emma shouts and he turns around.

“Yeah?”

“What are you doing?!” she interrogates the clueless Joker.

“I’m meeting Crane. Is he downstairs?”

“In his lab compounding the next batch of Cromyxillium for Y/N,” she fumes at J’s impertinence. “Didn’t you forget something?”

He seems puzzled and Emma is not tricked by his deceiving performance.

“My best friend is in her quarters, uncertain if she’ll survive the cancer treatment. Are you pretending she doesn’t exist?”

“Meaning?” The Joker sneers.

“I know you slept with her!” the accusation follows instantly. “Don’t deny it! How could you take advantage of her?!”

The Clown Prince of Crime straightens his shoulders, aware he can’t negotiate his innocence out of this complicated riddle.

“I did not take advantage of her! How dare you accuse me of such low move?”

“You didn’t?” Emma closes the gap between them. “You know she has a crush on you and she’s vulnerable; what type of man would prey on that?!”

J is not thrilled with the innuendos and cuts her off:

“She basically begged for some and I obliged out of pity!”

Emma slaps him and The Joker gasps, enraged she had the audacity:

“Do that again and I’ll neglect you’re my daughter!” he growls and the serious threat doesn’t faze her.

“Hurt her more and I’ll forget you’re my father! If you are indeed my father,” she emphasizes while stomping away towards the kitchen.

“I am your father!” J simmers at her impeccable strategy: Emma is retreating to a different corner of the house giving him the opportunity to choose.

Who the heck knows if she’s actually his?

One thing is undeniable though: they share the same despicable temper.

****************

You discern The Joker in the doorway and your body stiffens; you stare at the TV screen wishing he’ll disappear.

“Where’s Crane?” J analyzes Y/N’s IV pole.

You don’t engage so his crankiness emerges.

“I suppose you didn’t flatlined yet!”

“Nope,” you grunt at the provocative declaration that served its goal: you did reply to The Clown’s rubbish.

“Where’s Crane?”

“I heard you the first time and I’m not sure why you focus your energy on a useless interrogation. You know where my father is!”

“Where?” The Joker’s vile attitude can’t compromise for less than instigating his fling.

“Please take your stuff that’s firm now but will get saggy in maximum 20 years and vanish!” the poisonous remark makes him groan.

“What stuff?!”

You check him out glaring at his mid-section before dismissing his presence.

“That’s the rudest fucking criticism ever!” The Joker barks and Y/N crabbily indicates:

“It’s not criticism, it’s reality! Gravity’s a bitch! Mara won’t mind, won’t she? After all, you two share a very special bond: on today, off tomorrow, hookup next week, take a break next month. Such dreamy relationship!”

“Do you have more derogatory references to my private life?!” J grinds his teeth ready to unleash several atrocities your way.

“No, too busy dying…” you show him the needle in your arm. “I don’t feel the pain from the medication burning my veins; I’m used with my sickness, with the ups and downs. What I do feel is the pain of being taken for granted.”

The Joker is not a fan of the insinuated context.  

“You said no strings attached!” he stresses the lack of commitment consented the previous evening.

“You’re the one that came to me; I thought it meant you were accepting to be the center of my universe.”

J ogles the ceiling of Y/N’s bedroom and assembles a couple of harsh disclosures in his brain when her entitled smirk halts the project.

“You’re buying it, aren’t you?” you chuckle at his astonishment. “I’m just messing with you Mister Joker; who in their right mind would make you the center of their universe?! You have 10 seconds to leave, otherwise I’ll scream and security will come!” you shelter your head with the quilt so you don’t have to see his mug anymore.

No outpour of vexation from his part which is cool: means he bailed.

The blanket is slowly pulled until your eyes emerge; J hovers your face, pissed at the unwelcomed clash.

“I’m checking if you kicked the bucket; corpses are usually covered thus my dilemma.”

“Go away!” you advise. “Or I’ll scream!”

You inhale preparing to yell: The Joker didn’t predict you’d defy him and he swiftly kisses you in order to stop the sounds.

The door is cracked and Emma witnesses the scene, reckoning bizarre elements:

Her father holds grudges and was mad at Y/N earlier due to whatever happened yesterday; nevertheless he still kissed her.

On the other hand, you were definitely miserable after your escapade, yet you didn’t reject him.

Emma may not be informed about the entire story, but one detail is crystal clear: the future is far from being simple.

 Also read: MASTERLIST

[michelle4417]

PLEASE READ!! YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID...

Hello to everyone out there... I hope all of you are doing well, as always. I really want to reach out to you and talk to you from the heart. I posted about the President of Ghana and something major he had to say to the world yesterday morning and no one paid any attention to it. It is so frustrating!!

This is hard because there is a short video that lasts for 12 minutes that is on Telegram right now but I can't share it here at all due to tumble and their Communist censoring nonsense. I was absolutely insane to even try to share the actual video here but I always give everything a try at least once... Anyway, IT IS SOOO INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY HERE NOW... I AM GOING TO JUST TYPE OUT WHAT HE SAYS ON HERE FOR YOU... I went through and listened to every word and wrote it all down for you all almost verbatim. He is kind of hard to understand due to his accent but I did my best. It took me a couple of hours to transcribe this so PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!! IT IS THE HONEST TO GOD TRUTH!!! IF YOU WANT MORE CONFIRMATION OF THIS, YOU WILL HAVE TO GO AND LISTEN TO THE AUDIO YOURSELF THAT I TOLD YOU ABOUT ON THE LAST POST...

The President Ghana reveals the entire Rockefeller's Lockstep Plan and it explains everything about *OVID and the vaccine. First off, in case you don't know, *OVID stands for CERTIFICATION OF VACCINATION IDENTIFICATION. The actual true name of the vaccine is Luciphase (might be spelled wrong) after Lucifer). The pandemic was planned many years in advance.

They literally call it a Plandemic (accident according to plan) themselves. This virus was created and patented and we were purposely, globally infected. They started way back as early as 2008-2013 and had a weaponized version of the strain by 2015. They had the strain they planned on using to kick this off literally stolen on purpose from a lab in Winnepeg, Canada and then taken to a class 4 lab in Wuhan, China, for plausible deniability and to cement the "wanted" public script as something to fall back on, if needed. The Primary script was that China created it by accident. Release the virus at the Wuhan lab itself and then blame it on a natural scapegoat-the Wuhan wet market. Roll out on a global scale, then the global vaccination identification action plan-digital ID.

Mystery of iniquity and wickedness cast in secrecy.

Next, downplay the human to human transmission as long as possible to allow the strain to spread on a global scale before any country can lockdown to respond before any infection. Once a country has seen and experience infection and it is in place, lockdown incoming/outgoing travel but keep the transmission spreading within the country as long as possible. Once enough people in a country are infected, quarantine starts and slowly lockdown overtime and expand the region.

Overhype the mortality rate by tying the strain to deaths that have little or nothing to do with the actual virus - with fear and compliance at the maximum.

If anyone dies, whether it is *OVID or not - it is to be considered as *OVID. If they have any symptoms of *OVID - it is to be considered *OVID no matter what. This is why the Americans are challenging the Chinese. They were not wrong. They were quoting the right figures. But this thing was bred and brewed in the U.S. - as the personal agenda of Fauci, Gates and the Rockefeller Foundation. The deaths - in the U.S.-a lot have absolutely zero to do with *OVID-many have some of the symptoms but are not really *OVID at all. This is why Fauci speaks with such confidence and why he did when he said we would have 200,000 deaths and so on...

Next... Keep the public quarantined as long as possible to destroy the regions economy. Create unrest, break down the supply chain, create the start of mass food shortages as well as cause people's immune systems to weaken due to lack of interaction with others, bacteria, the outside world. Making us susceptible to diseases. Downplay and attack any potential treatments (HCQ) and continue to echo that only a CURE is the answer to this virus a/k/a: a vaccine.

Continue to drag out the quarantine over and over and over again over two week intervals, causing people to finally stand up and protest or defy them.

Eventually, end Phase 1 quarantine after is enough public push back (approx. June 2020) and publicly say it's too early to end isolation but are willing to do it anyways... Once they go back to normal, wait a few weeks, then over-hype the virus mortality rate (approx. Sept. 2020). Combine it with increase of people dying from standard illnesses at a higher rate than normal due to having highly weakened immune systems from weeks of being in isolation to further pad the virus mortality rate and have the Phase 2 Lockdown set in motion.

Oct.-Nov.-make it much more extreme level of lockdown/isolation/quarantine/restriction/masking, etc. - Blame the protesters - they are the ones who do not trust the government already-the cause of the even larger 2nd Wave. - We told you... It was too early but we let you anyway... see what happened now? You should have listened to the government who is here to help you and knows best... Now it is all your fault - now, all because you needed a haircut, your freedoms have consequences.

Now - Enforce official quarantine at much more extreme level - increasing penalty for defense. Deem all travels as non-essential. Increase check-points, including Military assistance. Increase tracking/tracing of the people. Takeover control of food, gas - cause large scale shortages so that people can only get access to essential products/services if they are 1st given permission. Keep the Phase 2 Lockdown in place much longer than the Phase 1 Lockdown.

Continue to destroy the global economy. Further degrade the supply chain. Amplify the food shortages and the like. Quell any public outrage using extreme force and make anyone who defies them as public enemy number one.

To those who are willing to submit after a long Phase 2 Lockdown for at least 6 months or longer, roll out the vaccination certification program and then make it mandatory for everyone - giving priority access to those who have submitted from the start and then have those that are fooled attack those that are against the program - saying they are a threat and the cause for all of the problems - The whole reason why we cannot go back normal and we can't until everyone takes the vaccine. People that defy are the enemy. They are hindering our way of life. The "New Normal". And all the while - limiting the people that defied the agenda... Their ability to work and travel. And for this minority of people left that are going against the agenda - there will be a release of a weaponized hybrid strain of the virus with at least a 30% real mortality rate as a final scare tactic to push them into finally becoming the majority - a final "I TOLD YOU SO"-for those that wouldn't listen.

Next, ignite the new economy model Microsoft Patent 060606 Crypto Currency System USING BODY ACTIVITY DATA BASED ON HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND WILLINGNESS TO SUMBIT. Black bureau's 15 Million Merits. This will use water, food, shelter and other essentials as a form of enforcement of the new economic system. Do what we want and then you will get rewarded and gain credit and access to the things to survive/go against what we want and you will get penalized.

Well, this is the end of the information that was given for now from this brave and amazing man, the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. He is a strong Christian believer and at the end of giving the information to this diabolical plan, he prayed an amazing prayer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then declared and decreed that this plan will NOT succeed! This man is part of the Alliance with us. Trump is fighting against these deep state criminals and talking heads to keep this from coming to fruition. That is another reason they hate him so much and have done everything in their power to try and stop him. If you stayed with me and read all of this, I want to truly thank you so much. You are truly a Patriot if you did and you love this GREAT country and our world as much as I do. Please PRAY!!! God bless every one of you and your families!! Thank you. God bless America.

[the-mangled-readings]

Project AI0.043 (Part 5.5)

lA/N: Sorry it took me a long time, but I been really busy lately but I promise I'm a get back to writing!

Pairing: Five Hargreeves x Reader

Story Summary: On the 12th Hour of the first day of October 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth. This was unusual only in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began. Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and adventurer, resolved to locate and adopt as many of the children as possible. He got seven of them but never found the last one.

Chapter Summary: We get to know what happened to the Reader after Five left to the Present.

Warnings: Abuse, Violence, Language.

Word Count: 2,193

Tag List: @featuringcone9​ @lesbianismybitchname​ @fiveisadorable​ @here-in-never-land sweetingcas @whatawildone

PROLOGUE | PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 5.5 | PART 6 | PART 6.5 | PART 7

You watched the blue portal fade away right in front of your eyes, with your husband in it. Five was gone. He never meant to leave you behind, but you guys had already planned out everything since the beginning, but now that he was officially gone, your mind wasn’t at ease. All those years of being married, doing missions together, those nights where you guys would share each other's company, they were all gone. You knew he needed to come back to his family, to save them, and the world, but what about you ... You were his wife, and you were as important as his siblings. Weren’t you?

You were about to leave the area when everything stopped in time. You knew what this meant, she was here, and it wasn’t good.

“Well, well, well.” You heard a familiar voice from behind. “Looks like our beloved Five is gone for good.” The Handler smiled. You watched her walk around you like a predator, waiting to jump on its prey, but you notice her fidgeting, she would usually do this when she felt anxious. 

“Something troubling you Miss ...” You teased, earning a small scoff from her. “You know, for someone that was thaught to be a deadly mercenary, I must say, you’re going soft.” 

“Is that all you could come up with?” You quirked an eyebrow, making her roll her eyes. “No, Darling.” She finally stopped in front of you. “What I meant is that it’s a shame to see such a good Ace like yourself ...” She began to trail off, slowing getting closer to you. “Lower herself, just for a simple man.” 

“He’s not just a simple man, he’s m-” You argued but was quickly cut off.

“Your husband, yes ... I am very aware of the atrocities you guys had done. It’s like Bonnie and Clyde never died.” She teased. “But if I may, you guys were also partners at the beginning. Did it ever occurred to you that maybe ... just maybe, he might have been using you all along just to get what he wanted?” She quirked her eyebrow and a small grin began to form in her lips. You knew this tactic, she was trying to manipulate your mind, like in the past.

“He would never do such a thing. I helped him because what we do is not right ...” You argued, making your fist light up a little. She quickly took notice of this and argued back immediately. “No, but it is OUR job to kee-”

“WHO SAYS ITS OUR JOB, HUH.” You interrupted her, your eyes were now glowing. “Look, Anya ... We all have our purposes in this world, the moment we’re all born, and if we do not follow our paths, it causes an imbalance to th-”

“How do you even know that ... See, this is what I mean. This Organization is all about following guidelines, submitting to the rules, but it shouldn’t be like that. We need to let things happen on their own.”

“I’m afraid, we cannot ... Otherwise, how will the world keep its balance? Everybody is taught differently, according to their cultures, religion, and legacies. We trained YOU with logic and facts, so you could see things clearly, but I’m afraid that your emotions got the best of you once again, so I’m a have to terminate this project ... and start all over.” She looked down, searching for her black sunglasses. “What ... What pro-” You suddenly felt a sharp pain in your neck, it was warm and it spread quickly, making your drop to your knees followed by the floor. “I will see you in a bit, my Dear.” She smiled coldly and waved at you before you lost conscience. 

You suddenly woke up tied up in a bed, a shiver ran down your back, as you quickly recognized the cold and enclosed chamber, you began to panic. Its size was small but the ceiling seemed to never end. Your eyes darted everywhere, the small scratches and holes on the walls, made you remember why you were so scared of disobeying The Handler as a child.

“NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!” You yelled at the top of your lungs, with tears dripping down your cheeks. “LET ME OUT, OR I WILL BURN EVERYBODY IN THIS FUCKING BUILDING!” You clenched your fist but nothing came out. The only thing you could feel right now was anger and fear. 

“I’m glad to inform you that it won’t happen any sooner my dear, not after that little incident we had many years ago.” You heard The Handler’s voice echoed through the walls. “We modified the chamber, so it can hold your powers and absorb them, meaning you'll just become a regular human ... but don’t worry we’ll use them for a good cause, for now, you need to sleep.” 

Then a loud vibrant noise echoed through the chamber, making you feel lightheaded and nauseous. You tried to fight it but the more you tried you grew weaker and weaker. 

“No ...” You whispered. “You’re all going to pay for this ...” With an unknown force, you began to scream even louder, and move agitatedly, with the noise still ringing in your ears.

You didn’t know how or for how long you had been screaming, but now, your voice was almost gone, you felt tired and weak. Your body shivered from the cold. Your eyes slowly scanned the room and fell into a small figure, a girl, sitting by the wall, her arms crossed above her knees covering her face, making it hard to see her clearly, but you did notice some bruises in her arms, and she was wearing a gown, maybe she was another poor victim they tried using.

You slowly tried to sit up but she quickly jumped under the bed, now crying. 

“I won’t hurt you, I promise.” You tried to sympathize with the little girl, only hearing her crying stop. “You can’t help me.” Her voice was raspy and distorted. “We’re only going to make it worse if we fight, or have forgotten already?” You slowly raised your head, only to find the girl floating above you and looking down at you, her tears dripping down into your face. Her bruises slowly began to spread and darken her skin until she was completely dark. “BECAUSE I HAVEN’T!” She screamed, while her body caught on fire, dripping her remainings on your body, making you caught on fire too.

“NO!” You screamed, yanking yourself off from the dream and from one of the restraints while getting forcefully pushed back into the bed by one large male nurse. “NO! LET ME GO.” You punched him on the jaw, only earning the same treatment back. It hurt like hell, the chamber did a great job at absorbing all of your abilities because now you were spitting blood. 

You turned to the male and spit on his face, making him angrier but he was quickly pulled back by the other 3 nurses that entered the tiny room. Catching you off guard, one of the other nurses quickly injected you a yellow liquid, staining you instantly. 

“AH !” You yelled, yanking it off your arm, stabbing her on the throat, making her drop to her knees and bleed out on the floor.

“Claudia!” The large male nurse yelled and was about to throw you another punch when you heard a familiar voice enter the room. “Adam, behave yourself.” The Handler ordered. “Please, let us be, we need to speak privately, and Oh dear God, please take that thing away from here.” She turned away, pinching her nose, blocking the smell Claudia’s body was releasing, while the rest of the nurses carried Claudia’s lifeless body out of the room. “Dear, Dear, you really don’t know when to stop do you?” She finally turned to you, a mocking smile spread on her face.

“I was taught by the best if I can remember.” 

“That is true.” She nodded, still smiling. “Glad to know our training served you well.”

“Cut the bullshit, what do you want.” You snapped, making her frown. “My, my, someone is cranky today, aren’t we.” 

“What did that nurse inject me with, it burns.” 

“Well ... you put us in a very difficult situation, Anya. You see you’re the only one with enough power to stop the Apocalypse, and even to create one, so we can’t let you go ... and we can’t kill you either. So there’s only one appropriate solution, for these types of situations. We injected you with a neuro-acid which will put you in a permanent coma. Exactly what we had planned at the beginning ... ”

Your heart instantly jumped at the word “Coma”. 

“No, YOU CAN’T ...”

“It will be a simple and elegant way to ... put an end to our collaboration ... Just so you know, we will always be grateful for your help. Goodbye, my Dear.” You watched The Handler walk away, but you noticed another young woman standing by the door before being shut behind her. 

“That girl ... I remember her.” You said to yourself but the neuro-acid began to hit you immediately. Your breathing became heavier, and your vision was slowly becoming blurry. The room was spinning, and your body felt numb, it was like floating on water, but you couldn’t move nor speak. 

“No, no, no, no, no, n-” You thought before shutting your eyes.

You were now trapped inside your own mind, floating in the darkness and cold.

“Five ...” You whispered to yourself. “Help me ...”

“Poor thing ...” You heard a woman’s voice echoed through the darkness. “Such waste ... I thought you were stronger ... I guess I was wrong.” She continued. 

“Wh-who a- ...” You tried to speak, but nothing came out, you couldn’t even make a phrase in your mind. “I am what lives within you ... I’m that small spark that makes the REAL ... you.” She began. How did she even hear you, or even knew what you wanted to ask? “I believe I told you, I am part of you ... (Y/N).”

You tried moving your head around, but you couldn’t. “Help ... me.” You begged to the unknown voice.

“It’s cute how hard you try ... Look at you, you’re just weak, you’re flawed, helpless, you’re nothing.”

“Please, hel- ...”

All of a sudden, you regained your strength and sat up from the bed you had been tied up. The darkness changed into bright and warm colors, making a trail from the ceiling to right in front of you, and that’s when you finally saw the woman. Her skin was pale, and her hair was white, she was dressed in black, much to your likeless she kinda looked like The Handler, but also like somebody else, she was facing away from you. “Your mind seems to be troubled.” She asked, tilting her head to the side. You took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m ... Is this an illusion? Or a dream?” You asked, but the woman turned and stared at you blankly. “Only if you want it to be.” And with that, she turned away from you again. “What did you mean by I am what lives within you.” You slowly got up from the bed, walking towards her.

“I saved you many years ago when you were a child ... you were just a lab rat back then, they have been using for their stupid experiments. Their preservation of the time continuum ... It’s just a Fantasy, no one, but US can actually keep the timeline intact ... we can even alter it.” She finally turned to face you, her eyes were dark, lifeless, but her stare somehow had a heavy feel to it. “We’re the creators of Worlds, (Y/N). We can do whatever ... we ... want.” She spoke, raising her hand, the colors changed drastically, forming stars and planets. “When I came to this planet, I heard a call, YOUR call, they had been torturing you for years and I could feel it. They tried to understand the origin of your powers, but little did they know that they were just looking at the tip of the iceberg. (Y/N) do you have any idea of what you are truly capable of?”

“Why do you keep calling me like that ...” You asked, bewildered. “Because that is your real name before they stole it away.” This time, her tone changed into a more warm and comforting. “Your real name is (Y/N) (Y/LN). You were born just outside (THE CITY YOU WERE BORN), your mother and father, (YOUR PARENTS NAME), loved you dearly, but they had no idea of what they were getting into.”

“What happened to them?” You looked at her, tears falling down your cheeks.

“My dear (Y/N), this is going to be painful to hear but, now we have an eternity to talk about it, so let me tell you what really happened, from the beginning and to the reality you know today ...”

[wisconsinprelawland-blog]

The Implications Of Juvenile Solitary Confinement

By Mersadie Murray, University of Wisconsin-Platteville Class of 2020

July 23, 2020

"Being in isolation to me felt like I was on an island all alone [,] dying a slow death from the inside out." This is a quote taken from a juvenile inmate who was kept in solitary confinement (as cited in Human Rights Watch, 2012). Solitary confinement can be a type of punishment, a way to keep vulnerable inmates safe, or even used as a treatment for inmates that attempt suicide (Human Rights Watch). It consists of being put into an individual cell for 22 hours or more of the day; this confinement can last for up to months (Scialabba, 2016). One could imagine the effects this would have on an adult physically and mentally. Now imagine this was used on a child-- unfortunately, that is the reality for juveniles nationwide in the United States' corrections system. Juveniles spend days to months isolated with nothing to do or see (Scialabba, 2016). Some may argue that solitary confinement is a way to punish serious juvenile offenders and protect less violent inmates. However, the effects of this type of confinement are irreversible and ineffective Solitary confinement affects juveniles physically and mentally, and legislation is not doing enough to deter this type of devastating confinement.  

A person's brain does not fully develop until their mid 20's. Specifically, the frontal lobe. This lobe controls things such as judgement, planning, impulsiveness, and the ability to see consequences (Scialabba, 2016). While some argue that most juvenile facilities do not have harsh solitary confinement like adult prisons, they do not take into account juveniles who are charged as adults or the ages between 18 and mid 20s that still have developing brains,. In fact about 93,000 juveniles are held in adult jails, and approximately 2,2000 in prisons. (Human Rights Watch, 2012). According to Scialabba (2016), solitary confinement does irreversible harm to the development of a juvenile's brain; they cannot handle the effects of isolation (Scialabba, 2016). With things like the ability to see consequences and judgement on the line, does our justice system really want to damage these aspects of the brain? It will only make for a person that is likely to reoffend. We should be rehabilitating these juveniles and training their brains to develop in a positive way, rather than the exact opposite.  

When it comes to the mental health of juveniles kept in solitary confinement, the effects are devastating. Juveniles that are kept in solitary confinement are more likely to commit suicide, as well as have depression, anxiety, antisocial behavior, and similar mental health issues. These are also all attributes of a criminal profile. Therefore, by keeping juveniles in confinement, we are actually making them more likely to commit additional crimes when they are released (Scialabba, 2016). One child kept in solitary confinement, according to Scialabba (2016), stated that he had tried to break his own finger just to get out (Sciablabba, 2016). One quote taken from Human Rights Watch (2012) from a juvenile kept in solitary confinement really grasped the effects:  

The only thing left to do is go crazy—just sit and talk to the walls.… I catch myself [talking to the walls] every now and again. It’s starting to become a habit because I have nothing else to do... Sometimes I go crazy and can’t even control my anger anymore.… I can’t even get [out of solitary confinement] early if I do better, so it is frustrating and I just lose it. Screaming, throwing stuff around.… I feel like I am alone, like no one cares about me—sometimes I feel like, why am I even living?

We can assume from this quote that solitary confinement has done nothing but make this inmate angrier and confused. It has not made her want to come out and be a productive part of society; it has just made her angry and alone.

Not only does solitary confinement affect juvenile's mental health, it can affect their physical health, as well. According to Human Rights Act (2012), many juveniles who are placed in solitary confinement resort to self-harm, such as cutting, in order to cope with how they are feeling. They feel as if they have no other outlet for their pain. Another physical repercussion is the lack of exercise the youth gets when they are in solitary confinement—only getting out of a tiny cell for at most two hours a day. Even when they do get out of their cell for those couple hours, the options for recreation are often limited to walking the hallways due to understaffing and a limited budget, according to Human Rights Act (2012). In addition to limited exercise, inmates in solitary confinement also are provided little as far as nutrition. One juvenile inmate stated, “They only give you a little food, so that’s hard. You lose weight…. I went in 150 and came out 132. That’s more than 15 pounds!” (as cited in Human Rights Act, 2012). Proper nutrition and exercise are especially important in youth who are still growing and developing. How can one expect to be reintegrated into society if they are not even able to grow into healthy adults? Changes need to be made so that we can punish offenders, without putting their health at risk.

While legislation has begun to address the issue of solitary confinement for juvenile offenders, with the Obama administration ordering the Department of Justice to review the overuse of this confinement, the struggle is far from over. According to a 2015 report, there is still a significant overuse of solitary confinement in many states, such as Illinois, Iowa, West Virginia, Texas, and New Jersey, despite many reforms that are supposedly decreasing the use of isolation (Teague, 2015). Solitary confinement will continue to be a controversial topic in the justice and political system for years to come. As more research on the issue is discovered, one can assume that legislation will also develop; therefore, it is important to make solitary confinement, specifically in juveniles, a talked about topic. The more people know about its devastating effects, the more they will push for stronger laws against it.  

In most cases, solitary confinement is making juveniles more likely to recommit crimes and is not fulfilling the need of rehabilitation in youth offenders. Solitary confinement is hurting the development of juveniles physically and mentally, with effects that are irreversible. This type of confinement should be considered cruel and unusual and be deemed unconstitutional under the eight amendment. Society and the criminal justice system should be held to higher standard than this.  

________________________________________________________________

Human Rights Watch. (2012). Growing Up Locked Down. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/report/2012/10/10/growing-locked-down/youth-solitary-confinement-jails-and-prisons-across-united

Scialabba, N. (2016). Making the case to end solitary confinement for juveniles. Children's Rights Litigation, 18(4), 9-14. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=f1adc996-ccc9-4dd7-a0a4-539f2a8d35a5%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVpZCZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=116821848&db=a9h

Teague S. (2015). Incarcerated Youth in Solitary Confinement: A Growing Concern. Retrieved from https://www.childtrends.org/incarcerated-youth-in-solitary-confinement-a-growing-concern/

[lyssismagical]

there will be a day when you can say you’re okay and mean it

Whumptober 4 & 5 - Human Shield/Gun Point

Read on AO3

“Detective,” Harley greets from the front desk, barely looking up from his computer. Not that he’s working, Peter knows he’s playing a game or maybe watching something on Netflix.

“Mister Keener,” Peter replies, tipping his head in acknowledgement as he makes his way towards the Captain’s quarters. “He busy?”

Harley finally looks up, blue eyes sparkling under the fluorescent lights. “Yeah, on a call, I think. But he wants to talk to you. He’s not happy.”

Rolling his head back with a long sigh, Peter nods. Of course he isn’t happy. Peter’s going to be the reason everyone has another one of those obligatory Self-Care Seminars about how you can’t always put work before yourself. They’ve had about six of those since Peter’s started working as a detective.

“Yeah, Boss nearly blew a gasket when Harley told him what happened,” one of Peter’s coworkers speaks up. It’s Detective Jones from her desk. Her leather jacket squeaks against the chair as she drags herself to her feet, face set in nonchalance and carelessness.

“You told him?” Peter gasps, spinning on Harley.

“I’m his assistant! I don’t know why you think I wouldn’t,” Harley says, rolling his eyes. “Plus, nobody really had to tell him. It’s kind of obvious.

“You stayed in the precinct for ninety-six hours.”

It’s the drawling voice of the captain, full of sarcasm and obvious anger. Right behind Peter.

The young detective spins around, shoulders slumping. There’s no getting out of this now.

“I know, Captain. I’m sorry,” Peter tries.

“Not only did you spend ninety-six hours in the precinct,” the captain continues like Peter hadn’t said anything. “I checked through all the footage. You barely ate, you drank thirty-six cups of coffee, you slept for exactly twenty minutes over the ninety-six hours. At your desk. Do you even understand how bad that is?”

“Careful, Cap,” their sergeant, Maximoff, speaks up, a smile touching the corners of her mouth. “You’re starting to sound a little too much like a dad.”

“Captain Stark, if I may-”

“No, you may not do anything. You’re taking the day off. Go home, Parker. Please,” Captain Stark says, eyes suddenly tired. “Go home.”

Peter’s gaze drops to the floor. He knows an order when he hears one, but he’s sleep-deprived and he wants them to understand, at least just a little bit.

“I caught them,” Peter says, swallowing thickly. He keeps his gaze on the floor, curls falling over his eyes. His hair is greasy and longer than he likes to keep it.

Tony sighs. “I know you did, Parker. Trust me, we all know. And if this is some weird way to prove you’re a good detective-”

“It’s not,” Harley says, speaking up from his desk. He hasn’t moved, but everyone around the floor is at least partially tuned in to their conversation. Even Detective Jones has stopped moving, watching them carefully.

“Do enlighten me, Harley,” Tony says, turning on his personal assistant. “Why does our fine detective here put him through so much bullshit if not for recognition?”

Peter can’t help but flinch, hearing his captain swearing in front of all of them. It seems unprofessional.

“He just wants to catch the bad guys.”

It’s the easiest answer in the world, but it’s truer than anybody would like to admit. Peter needs to catch the bad guys or else he’s sure he’ll crumble with every new crime he sees in Queens.

There’s a long few moments of silence, before Tony sighs again.

“Go home,” he repeats to Peter. “We’ll all be here when you get back. I’ll even make it a paid sick day, if you’re worried about money.”

Peter’s chin wobbles, hands clenching at his sides. They still don’t understand. No matter how many times he tries to explain to them that he has a reason to do what he does. But he won’t cry and he won’t defy orders. The last thing he needs is for everyone to think he’s more of a child than they already do. As the youngest detective, at a mere twenty-three-years-old, Peter can’t afford to look childish.

“I’ll drive you. C’mon,” Harley says, more gently than Peter feels he deserves. The man stands, tall and lanky, and all legs and not enough torso to match. He’s the only one who doesn’t have a dress code to follow, wearing a flannel and jeans.

“My car-”

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning too.”

Harley’s hands are gentle on his elbows. He’s normally a douche, a sarcastic smart-mouthed southern jerk to everyone around him. Peter must look really pathetic to be getting such nice treatment from Harley, not that Peter really minds the sweetness.

“See you tomorrow, Parker,” Jones calls out. Followed by quick goodbyes and get well soons from Maximoff and Thomson and Lang, and Leeds when he gets out on the elevator.

Harley’s car is warm and beat-up, like he’s had it for way too long. The gas is running low, but Harley refuses Peter’s offer to pay for gas. There’s a little green air freshener tree hanging from the mirror.

“You okay?”

Peter looks up, startled by the sudden noise in the otherwise silent place as Harley starts driving towards Peter’s apartment.

“I, uh, Yeah, I’m okay,” Peter says, tears in his eyes betraying him. He doesn’t know why he’s so emotional. He supposes putting himself through what he did over the past four days is enough to do it. “I just- I’m tired.”

Harley nods. “Why do you do that to yourself?”

“You said it yourself, I have to catch the bad guys.”

The words hang in the air, caught between them and Peter wonders if the warm air pushing out of the vents made them fly away, before Harley answers.

“But why?” Harley’s hands are clenched around the wheel, a little too tightly for Peter’s liking. He’s suddenly on high alert for potential danger from his coworker. “Why does it have to be you? Why do you have the responsibility to keep everyone but yourself safe?”

“I am safe,” Peter says. “Maybe not… okay. But I’m safe.”

Harley suddenly swerves onto the side of the road, turning to look at Peter properly. His blue eyes are alight with anger, jaw clenching.

“Fine!” his voice is loud in the little car, but Peter suddenly doesn’t find himself scared of Harley. “Fine, okay, why does everyone else need to be okay, but you, Parker? What makes you different?”

Peter’s silent as he tries to mull over an answer that’s both truthful and will calm the conversation.

“For the love of fucking god, Peter,” Harley exclaims. His hands are back on the wheel, knuckles white. “Why do you work so fucking hard to get everyone else home to their families, but you don’t seem to give a shit whether or not you’ll get to go home to your family”

“I don’t have a family to go home to,” Peter answers simply. He’s watching Harley carefully, like he’s waiting for Harley to break and attack him, even if rationally he knows Harley’s a good person.

“What about us?” Harley’s staring at Peter like everything is wrong, like it’s the end of the world. “What? You don’t think that we would miss you? You never, I don’t know, thought that maybe, just maybe, people fucking care about you?”

“I’m sorry.”

Harley sighs exasperatedly, but it seems like the anger’s left him. He shakes his head, eyes rolling as he pulls back onto the street and floors it.

*

They make it back to Peter’s apartment in record time. Barely fifteen minutes.

Harley’s the middle of creatively threatening Peter if he were to come back to the precinct before at least twenty-four hours when Peter’s phone rings.

“It’s Ned, one second,” Peter says, hushing Harley and answering the call.

“I know it’s like your day off or whatever, but there’s a good chance we may need backup ASAP and you’re the closest person we’ve got. The next precincts over are on their way, but-” Ned’s cut off by the sound of gunfire. “I’ll text you the address.”

“Shit, shit, shit. We gotta go. Start driving,” Peter says. The call ended as soon as Ned had finished speaking, almost immediately followed by a text from him with the address for a nearby warehouse.

Harley doesn’t even question it, throwing the car into reverse at Peter’s urgency. They fly down the streets to Peter’s instructions, definitely breaking at least a few road rules, but Peter’s a detective and the rest of the precinct are probably at the warehouse already, so Peter doesn’t really care too much.

It vaguely occurs to him, not even close to the top of his priorities, that he doesn’t have anything he’s supposed to bring out on missions. He’s wearing a loose long sleeve with jeans, his gun strapped to his side just in case, but no armor, no defense. He won’t have time to change when he gets there. He pushes it all down though. Whatever’s happening there is more important than changing into proper gear.

Harley parks lopsided and half on the curb, but it’s good enough for Peter.

“I won’t give you a ticket,” Peter says jokingly as he opens the door. “Either stay right where you are or go back to the precinct. You’re not a detective.”

Harley mocks a salute and parks the car. “I’ll be here.”

Sending him one final grin, probably one filled with exhaustion, adrenaline beginning to make its way through his body, Peter takes off.

The other detectives are all huddled around the front entrance.

“What’s our plan?” Peter asks quietly, taking a spot in the little circle. There’s not enough of them right now. Nowhere near enough to be safe if this is a big enough deal.

“Parker around the back. I’ll take Maximoff through the front. Thompson and Jones on the West, and Lang and Leeds on the East. According to our sources there are at least four-armed people inside the building. Be safe,” Captain Stark instructs. He pushes an earpiece into Peter’s hand.

“In position,” Maximoff says, waving her hand.

Peter follows Cassie and Ned around the East side of the building, keeping close to the wall, gun in hand just in case it’s necessary. They both stop at the side door, but Peter continues all the way around the back of the building, turning on his earpiece.

“Everyone in position?” Stark asks. There’s too much worry in his voice, it makes Peter’s heart race even faster.

A chorus of Yes, Sir’s fill their earpiece. Maximoff counts down from three and on go, Peter kicks open the back door to the warehouse, the loud clanging noise making him flinch.

A long, dark, empty corridor is laid ahead of him, doors on either side closed and quiet. He can hear the sounds of his other detectives across the warehouse, but he tunes them out, trying to find anyone else. According to the captain, there should be at least four people here.

He keeps his gun up, body tense as he slowly moves down the hallway, tracking every noise and movement he sees around him. Nobody so far, just a rat.

And then he hears a commotion behind him, where he’d just come in from. He ducks into one of the side rooms, peeking around the side of the wall. The light is pouring in from behind them, so they’re just dark silhouettes. Three of them.

They turn into one of the rooms and Peter ducks after them. Briefly, he thinks about calling for backup, but figures they have things to deal with. At least one other man.

So, he goes solo, carefully moving across the hall and peering into the room they went into.

To say he’s horrified, is an understatement.

Harley fucking Keener tied to a chair in the room, a gun pressed against his temple.

He acts before he really thinks.

“Hey!” he calls out, making himself known. “Pointing guns at people isn’t very nice. Especially regular civilian people.”

One the men points a gun at Peter who puts his hands up. “Put your weapon down.”

“Alright, alright. Suppose it would be hypocritical if I didn’t follow my own rule,” Peter continues as obnoxiously as he can, setting his gun down slowly on the floor.

“Kick it away,” the second man says.

Peter does at told, not because there’s a gun pointed at him, but because there’s still a gun pointed at Harley.

“Parker, don’t be a fucking idiot-” Harley starts to say, but Peter quietly hushes him.

“You have a gun against your head, let me do my job.”

Harley looks like he wants to argue, but there’s not much he can argue with. And his wide, misty eyes aren’t doing much for his tough pretenses.

“Let him go,” Peter says, turning to the two men. He tries to remember his negotiation tactics, but he doesn’t really have a lot to go off of. He doesn’t know anything about what’s happening. His coworkers are talking in his ear, but he can’t say anything without potentially killing not only Harley, but his other coworkers too, if they come to help him.

“Why would we listen to you?” one man says, almost laughing.

The other man does laugh. “On your knees, kid.”

The concrete is cold and rough through his jeans. “Let him go. I don’t care what you do to me, leave him out of this.”

“You’re really not in the position to be making requests,” the first man says. Peter decides to call him Bob to make him less intimidating and the other one John.

John pushes the gun a little harder against Harley’s temple, making him flinch, eyes desperately trying to find a way out.

“Take out the earpiece,” John says. “Off and out.”

Bob steps on it the moment it’s on the ground, crushing it beneath his heavy boot.

“You don’t have to do this,” Peter says. “Whatever your motivation is, it can be solved another way. You don’t have to kill anyone.”

John laughs again. “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into, kid. You look like you should be a frat party, not trying to talk yourself out of death.”

“I don’t care about me,” Peter repeats. “Just, please, leave him out of this.”

It’s not about being a detective. It’s not about his job. It’s not about negotiating. It’s about Harley and the gun pressed against his temple.

Harley looks about ready to cry, hands pulling at the ropes tying his wrists to the wooden chair. He knows the outcome of this. He knows how this all goes down if the other detectives don’t get to them in time.

“That’s a pretty shitty cop move, ain’t it?” Bob says, gun moving with his hand gestures.

Peter shouldn’t be moving, but he pulls the badge off his belt and tosses it to the ground in front of him. There are tears stinging his eyes, but he refuses to let them fall.

“Not about being a cop,” Peter says. “About you taking the gun off him.”

There are footsteps coming closer to them, down the long hallway.

“We don’t want to kill anyone,” Bob admits suddenly. John looks about ready to turn the gun on him. “We just need some money.”

“What was your plan here? What is all of this?”

“You stupid, boy?” John leers, his free hand clenching into a fist. “Drugs. Ransom. Anything we could get our hands on. I’ve managed to pay off my sister’s tuition out of this warehouse.”

Peter’s running out of time. John’s angry and he’s the one who has the gun on Harley. He’ll shoot if Peter doesn’t stop him, so the detective acts on pure instinct.

He stands abruptly, trying his best to get all of the attention on him. Immediately, Bob’s gun is trained steadier, safety clicked off, but John’s weapon stays on Harley.

So, in true self-sacrificial Peter Parker fashion, he throws himself at John.

*

When Peter comes to, he thinks he’s dead.

Turns out, he isn’t dead, he would’ve maybe preferred it though, because immediately, there’s a lot of angry faces in front of him.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Harley demands. He’s standing not very far away from Peter’s hospital bed, hands waving in anger. “You just- We only needed a few more minutes. You could’ve, I don’t know, stalled them? Instead, you threw yourself at an angry armed man! What the fucking hell was that?”

“What Harley means to say is that you got shot, Peter.” Ned looks sad. Everyone’s there except for Captain Stark. “You got shot three times. You nearly died and we’ve all been worried sick.”

“No, what he means to say is that you’re a fucking dumbass, Parker, and if you ever pull something like that again, I will be the one to shoot you,” Michelle says, arms crossed tightly over her chest. There are obvious tear-tracks down her face, but Peter won’t mention it.

Cassie sighs. “Why would you do something like that? You could’ve called for help.”

“We were all there, Parker. We were right there and you went in yourself and nearly died. Do you not trust us? Is this your ego coming into play?” Eugene demands, eyes blazing with anger.

“Let’s not bombard Parker with all of this right now. He only just woke up,” Captain Stark says, appearing in the doorway. “Go clean yourselves up, you can come visit him tomorrow.”

Everyone looks ready to argue, but the Captain isn’t someone to argue with, so in the end, they all leave with quiet wishes good luck.

Stark sits beside Peter’s bed.

“Quentin and Adrian got three shots in. Adrian got on in your shoulder blade, Quentin got one in your side and one in your hip. The one in your side very narrowly missed severely damaging your liver. I don’t know how much biology you know, but that wouldn’t have been a good thing.”

“I’m sorry,” Peter says. It’s a lie. He’s not really all too sorry. Not much regret. Maybe he regrets not getting Harley out faster.

Stark sighs. “I’m not talking to you Captain to Detective. I’m talking to your friend to friend here. Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why can’t you understand that you mean something?” There are tear tracks on his face too, bloodshot puffy eyes and wet eyelashes. “You mean a lot. We’re family now. Our little group out there. We’re a family. You, me, Cassie, Michelle, Ned, Harley, Eugene, Wanda. We’re family and I just- I can’t understand how you don’t see that.”

Peter swallows thickly, pushing himself up a little bit. It sends searing pain through his body, but he pushes it down as much as he can.

“I haven’t had a family in over a decade,” Peter admits quietly. He blames the tears burning his eyes on the medications and the pain. “I don’t know what that means. I don’t- All I know, is that I saw Harley there with a gun against his head and I couldn’t- I couldn’t let that happen.”

“I get that, but Peter,” Stark never refers to him as Peter, “you need to understand that we don’t want anything to happen to you either. If something went south, that wouldn’t be your fault. You’re not the one who would’ve pulled the trigger.”

Peter shoves himself up a little higher, ignoring the pain in favor of the anger that blossoms.

“I might as well have!” His bottom lip is trembling and he doesn’t want to break down in front of his captain.

“What happened?” Tony’s voice is too soft and just that alone is nearly enough to push Peter over the edge to a breakdown. “What happened that made you feel like everything is your fault?”

“My parents died when I was five. Plane crash. Left me with my aunt and uncle. My uncle died when I was twelve. I was- I was there when it happened. He got shot. Armed robbery. I should’ve done something, I just- I froze, and my uncle did it to protect me. But he- he didn’t make it. Police were about thirty minutes late.”

The tears are cold and salty as they slide down his face, but he makes himself look up at Stark who has one of those awfully pitying expressions on his face.

“If they had just gotten there earlier. If they- If I had done something. Maybe- Maybe it wouldn’t have gone down the way it did. Maybe my uncle would be around. Maybe my aunt wouldn’t have gotten drunk and crashed the car. Maybe I would’ve spent time being a kid. Maybe I could’ve had a family.”

“You have one now,” Tony says instead of anything else. “And you nearly lost that today.”

Peter glares at Tony through his tears, breath hitching with the lump in his throat. “What was I supposed to do? Let Harley die? I couldn’t-”

Tony’s hand is warm and calloused over Peter’s on the bed, a gentle weight. Grounding. “I didn’t say that. I just mean, maybe, using yourself as a human shield wasn’t the way to go.”

The silence that follows is suffocating.

“What am I supposed to do?” Peter finally asks, tears cutting down his face. “How do I fix this? How do I fix myself?”

But Tony smiles, squeezing Peter’s hand. “Start by taking a break. Rest up. Let us take care of you. We all love you, kid. Let us.”

“Okay,” Peter whispers.

And Tony’s smile widens like Peter hung the stars in the sky. “Okay. Go to sleep before everyone else comes back angrier than before.”

[deniscollins]

The Hardest Questions Doctors May Face: Who Will Be Saved? Who Won’t?

If you were a medical director and had 10 ventilators with 30 people needing the, thus can only save the life of 10 out of the 30, how would you determine who gets a ventilator by: (1) age (preference to young), (2) highest likelihood of survival, (3) most in need, (4) lottery, (5) first-come, first-served, (6) combination (if so, which ones), (7) something else (if so, what)? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

The medical director of the intensive care unit had to choose which patients’ lives would be supported by ventilators and other equipment. Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on Bellevue Hospital in New York City in 2012, and the main generators were about to fail. Dr. Laura Evans would be left with only six power outlets for the unit’s 50 patients.

Hospital officials asked her to decide which ones would get the lifesaving resources. “Laura,” one official said. “We need a list.” After gathering other professionals, Dr. Evans checked off the names of the lucky few.

Now, she and doctors at hospitals across the country may have to make similarly wrenching decisions about rationing on a far bigger scale. Epidemic experts predict an explosive growth in the number of critically ill patients, combined with severe shortages of equipment, supplies, staffing and hospital beds in areas of the U.S. where coronavirus infections are surging, hot spots that include New York, California and Washington State.

Health workers are urging efforts to suppress the outbreak and expand medical capacity so that rationing will be unnecessary. But if forced, they ask, how do they make the least terrible decision? How do they minimize deaths? Who even gets to decide, and how are their choices justified to the public?

Medical providers are considering these questions based on what first occurred in China, where many sick patients were initially turned away from hospitals, and now is unfolding in Italy, where overwhelmed doctors are withholding ventilators from older, sicker adults so they can go to younger, healthier patients.

Choosing between patients “goes against the way we used to think about our profession, against the way we think about our behavior with patients,” said Dr. Marco Metra, chief of cardiology at a hospital in one of Italy’s hardest-hit regions.

In the United States, some guidelines already exist for this grim task. In an effort little known even among doctors, federal grant programs helped hospitals, states and the Veterans Health Administration develop what are essentially rationing plans for a severe pandemic. Now those plans, some of which may be outdated, are being revisited for the coronavirus outbreak.

But little research has been done to see whether the strategies would save more lives or years of life compared with a random lottery to assign ventilators or critical care beds — an option some support to avoid bias against people with disabilities and others.

Some commonly recommended rationing strategies, researchers found, could paradoxically increase the number of deaths. And protocols involve value judgments as much as medical ones, and have to take into account the public’s trust.

If hospitals withhold treatment by age, where do they draw the line? If they give lower priority to those with certain underlying health conditions, they may in effect be offering black Americans less treatment than white Americans. If physicians try to redirect resources — putting a patient on a ventilator for a few days, then giving it to someone else who appears to have better prospects — more people may die because few would get adequate treatment. And if many patients have a similar chance of survival, what fair way is there to make a choice?

The federal government, so far at least, is not providing national rationing guidelines for the coronavirus outbreak. Officials from various states, medical associations and hospitals are discussing their own plans, potentially resulting in very different decisions on life-and-death matters about which there are deep disagreements, even among medical professionals.

“You have to be really clear about what you are trying to achieve,” said Christina Pagel, a British researcher who studied the problem during the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic. “Maybe you end up saving more people but at the end you have got a society at war with itself. Some people are going to be told they don’t matter enough.”

‘The Most Good’

Just before the coronavirus outbreak, Dr. Evans, the physician at Bellevue, moved across the country to direct the intensive care unit at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. The city became one of the first areas in the United States to see community spread of the virus.

The hospital is doing whatever it can to prevent the need to ration — what Dr. Evans referred to as “an ethical obligation.” Like other institutions, it is trying to increase supplies, training staff to act in roles that may be outside their usual jobs and postponing elective surgeries to free up space for coronavirus patients. Some cities are racing to construct new hospitals.

Strategies to avoid rationing during the pandemic were published by the National Academy of Medicine. But hospitals across the country vary in their adherence to such steps. At the University of Miami’s flagship hospital, surgeons were told last Monday to cancel elective surgeries, but across the street at Jackson Memorial Hospital, they were “given wide discretion over whether to cancel or proceed,” according to an update sent to physicians.

Dr. Evans is working with health leaders in Washington State to figure out how to implement triage plans. Their goal, she said, would be “doing the most good for the most people and being fair and equitable and transparent in the process.”

But guidance endorsed and distributed by the Washington State Health Department last week suggested that triage teams under crisis conditions should consider transferring patients out of the hospital or to palliative care if their baseline functioning was marked by “loss of reserves in energy, physical ability, cognition and general health.”

The concept of triage stems from Napoleon’s battlefields. The French military leader’s chief surgeon, Baron Dominique Jean Larrey, concluded that medics should attend to the most dangerously wounded first, without regard to rank or distinction. Later, doctors added other criteria to mass casualty triage, including how likely someone was to survive treatment or how long it would take to care for them.

Protocols for rationing critical care and ventilators in a pandemic had their beginning during the anthrax mailings after the Sept. 11 attacks, but have not previously been implemented.

Dr. Frederick M. Burkle Jr., a former Vietnam War physician, laid out ideas for how to handle the victims of a large-scale bioterrorist event. After the SARS outbreak stressed Toronto hospitals in 2003, some of his ideas were proposed by Canadian doctors, and they made their way into many American plans after the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. “I have said to my wife, ‘I think I developed a monster here,’” Dr. Burkle said in an interview.

What worried him was that the protocols often had rigid exclusion criteria for ventilators or even hospital admission. Some used age as a cutoff or pre-existing conditions like advanced cancer, kidney failure or severe neurological impairment. Dr. Burkle, though, had emphasized the importance of reassessing the level of resources sometimes on a daily or hourly basis in an effort to minimize the need to deny care.

Also, the plans might not achieve their goals of maximizing survival. For example, most called for reassigning a ventilator after several days if a patient was not improving, allowing it to be allocated to a different patient.

But rapidly cycling ventilators might not give anyone enough chance to improve. When the coronavirus causes severe pneumonia, doctors are finding that patients require treatment for weeks.

In Canada, a study of H1N1 patients found that 70 percent of those who would have been withdrawn from ventilators after a five-day time trial if a rationing plan had been implemented actually survived with continued care.

Researchers at a British hospital had similar findings, concluding that “a new model of triage needs to be developed.”

A Score Card and a Lottery

Many of the original plans in the U.S. were developed exclusively by medical personnel. But in Seattle, public health officials gathered community input on a possible plan more than a decade ago.

Some citizens feared that using predicted survival to determine access to resources — a common strategy — might be inherently discriminatory, according to a report on the exercise. Citing “institutional racism in the health care system,” they were concerned that the metrics for some groups, like African-Americans and immigrants, would be skewed because they had not received the same quality of care.

There were similar findings in Maryland, where researchers at Johns Hopkins engaged residents across the state in deliberations over several years.

The researchers presented them with several options. Hospitals could assign ventilators on a first-come, first-served basis. Some thought that could disadvantage people who lived far from hospitals. A lottery struck other participants as more fair.

Others argued for a more outcome-oriented approach. One goal could be saving the highest number of lives, regardless of factors like age. A different goal could be saving the most years of life, a strategy favoring younger, healthier patients. Participants also considered whether those playing a valuable role in a pandemic, like medical workers who risked their lives, should be made a priority.

After the project ended, the Hopkins researchers designed a framework that assigns scores to patients based on estimated probability of short- and long-term survival. The latter was defined by whether the person had a pre-existing life expectancy of at least a year. Ventilators would be provided, as available, according to their ranking. The framework recommends a lottery for lifesaving resources when patients have identical scores. Stage of life may also be used as a “tiebreaker.” Decisions should be made by designated triage officers, not individual doctors caring for patients, and there should be a limited appeals process in cases of resource withdrawal, the protocol said.

The public input led the Hopkins researchers not to incorporate most exclusion criteria.

Dr. Lee Daugherty Biddison, one of the effort’s leaders, said that was because most participants were uncomfortable excluding patients with underlying health issues. Preconditions don’t always predict survival from respiratory viruses, and having chronic diseases like diabetes, kidney failure and high blood pressure often tracks with access to medical care. Rationing based on these conditions would be “essentially punishing people for their station in life,” Dr. Biddison said.

The Hopkins group published a description of the framework last year, and doctors from other Maryland hospitals are teleconferencing twice a day to prepare to implement the plan if conditions grow extreme. Dr. Biddison has also been sharing the recommendations with doctors across the country.

In Pennsylvania, Dr. Douglas B. White, chairman of ethics in critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, is using the Hopkins protocol to help prepare hospitals in his state.

In Colorado, Dr. Matthew Wynia, a bioethicist and infectious disease doctor, is working on a plan that would also assign a score. In his rubric, the first considerations are odds of survival and expected length of treatment. He said there was wide agreement among planners “not to make decisions on perceived social worth, race, ethnic background and long-term disability status,” which some fear could happen if doctors had to make seat-of-the-pants judgments without guidelines.

He is also trying to ensure that patients on admission to Colorado hospitals are asked whether they would forgo a ventilator if there were not enough for everyone. “One thing everyone agrees on is that the most morally defensible way to decide would be to ask the patients,” Dr. Wynia said.

He supports the idea of reassigning ventilators in certain cases. “If things are clearly getting worse, it’s really hard to justify a stance of once you’re on a vent, you own it, no matter how many people have to die in the meantime,” Dr. Wynia said.

Unlike in Italy, where age has been used in rationing treatment, some people developing protocols elsewhere have de-emphasized it. “There are arguments about valuing the young over the old that I am personally very uncomfortable with,” Dr. Pagel, the British researcher, said, including that young people should be a higher priority because they have more life ahead of them.

“Where is your threshold? Is a 20-year-old really more valuable than a 50-year-old, or are 50-year-olds actually more useful for your economy, because they have experience and skills that 20-year-olds don’t have?”

A Right to Know

As Hurricane Sandy intensified outside Bellevue in 2012, Dr. Evans referred to New York State guidelines, since updated — which some hospital leaders have said they will follow if overwhelmed by the coronavirus — on how to allocate ventilators in a pandemic using a scoring system that tries to estimate someone’s chance of survival. She pulled together an ad hoc committee of doctors, ethicists and nurses. “Having a system and procedures gave us a sense we had some control of the situation,” she recalled.

For those about to lose electricity, she and her colleagues stationed two staff members at the bedside of all patients who relied on ventilators, preparing to manually squeeze oxygen into their lungs with flexible Ambu bags.

Looking back, Dr. Evans feels the patients and their families had the right to know that their machines would lose power, but in the crisis they hadn’t been told. The doctors also did not think to ask whether any patients or their families might volunteer to give up a power outlet so that it could be provided to someone else. “It wasn’t even on my radar,” Dr. Evans said.

In the end, it was improvisation that prevented tragic rationing at Bellevue. The generator fuel pumps failed, but a chain of volunteers hand-carried diesel up 13 flights of stairs. Dr. Evans’s patients were all maintained on backup power until they were transferred to other hospitals.

“I remember it really vividly,” she said of the experience. “It’s going to stay with me my entire professional career.”

[tinylorando]

Translation of “Team Brian III”

-- from section 9 & 10 in chapter 4, talking about the conversation in Brian's first meet with Yuzu (at apartment lobby) after 2017 NHK, and how Yuzu made training plans for himself before being back to the ice (x)

Yuzuru appearing with being on the crutches

How serious Yuzuru's injury was, no one knew the truth. After being injured in NHK Cup, Yuzuru went to the hospital in Japan to do MRI, but then he immediately returned to Toronto. The entire treatment was received in Toronto.

After realizing the injury was quite serious, the first thing Yuzuru did was changing his plan. "Recover first", "listen to doctors' advice and patiently receive treatment". He put these two things in the first place of priority, temporarily removing the stuff like training and competition from his mind.

Yuzuru reanalyzed current condition, thinking about what he could do to control the situation at hand. In other words, instead of "the problem occurred, and what should I do", it was an image like "I meet some difficulties that need to overcome, and I face some challenges that need to exert my abilities". I'm the same about this point. When dealing with something, I’d like to use the word "challenge" rather than "problem" because it makes you feel positive and be able to do one thing in a bullish mood.

Normally, I always say to everyone, "Team Brian's friends don't have PROBLEM". What we have is CHALLENGE. Yuzuru's challenge is recovery, paying all effort to cure his feet. Because he understood this subject, rather than remaining in Japan and taking a rest, he returned to Toronto first, thinking of doing as much as possible for the Olympics.

According to Yuzuru's report, the situation was "It will take about six weeks to return to practice. Only the ankle is partially injured, and there is no problem with the knee. To not increase further burden on my feet, now I'm using a STICK while walking". For this reason, first I decided to discuss the schedule with Yuzuru again, so I visited the apartment where he lived. In my office, there were lots of mail items sent from Yuzuru's fans. The fans who worried about his injuries sent many letters and gifts to him. The floor of my office was full of them, so I visited him as a way to give him these items.

When I was waiting for him at apartment's lobby, Yuzuru appeared by turning from the corner of the elevator. I was extremely shocked at that time. I never thought what he used was CRUTCH. Because what he wrote in the e-mail was "stick", so I thought it was only a degree of needing some necessary support. At that time, Yuzuru's ankle was fixed, and he could not walk on his own strength, so he came with being on the crutches.

Seeing his appearance, I couldn't help saying "OMG, what's going on! Isn't it a serious injury?" Yuzuru sat in the chair in the lobby and looked calmer than I expected, then talking about the next thing. He talked about how bad his ankle condition is, until what time he was not able to practice on the ice. He also said he would try his best to do some preparation like image training and muscle exercise.

However, I noticed this Yuzuru wasn't same as the Yuzuru who had always been strong. It seemed like he was being afraid of something or felt uneasy. Carrying the mission of winning at the Olympics, at the same time he had to change all his plans due to the injury. Even for people like Yuzuru, it was commonplace to become more sensitive/neurotic than usual.

Therefore, I said the following to him.

"You practiced a lot this summer and did open practice on media day in August. At that time, Yuzuru was already prepared for the Olympics, wasn't it? You had been accumulating practices from July to early August, and you were ready by only using six weeks, right? Because you completed your preparation so early, we were all a little worried about it. In other words, with only six weeks, Yuzuru can complete all the preparations. Performing with music and accomplishing all quads, you just need six weeks to reach this state.”

Actually, during the open practice in August, I saw the situation and took some notes in my mind. "It's quite early to reach this condition. Yuzuru is able to arouse the state to this level in just six weeks. Conversely, because of the ability to reach the peak in only six weeks, if you did high-intensity practice for two months before the Olympics, there would be a possibility of missing your peak state in official competitions. Therefore, facing the Olympics, starting the final adjustment in January will be enough."

Hence, I continued saying to Yuzuru.

"Participate in the show during spring, take a break, then rework programs, and move forward at full speed in the next six weeks. It was your original plan, right? In that open practice (media day), your performance was terrific. So, it's still in November now, and there're three months away from the Olympics. Even if step on the ice in January, there're still six weeks left. Judging from Yuzuru's physical condition, after returning to the rink and training on the ice, it will take about five to six weeks or perhaps five weeks at most to complete the preparation. So you will be in time for the Olympics.”

Yuzuru listened to me quietly. It seemed the word "six weeks" was engraved on his mind. So I continued.

"It's really nice you have done lots of hard training this summer because those practices are all deposited in the bank now. You have already completed all necessary training and immediately packaged and deposited them into the bank.”

At that time, I felt Yuzuru seemed to smile a little. So I asked Yuzuru again, "What is your goal?" Then he responded immediately, "Win at the Olympics". I said: "Got it. If it's your dream, the possibility of achieving it is very high." I added: "I don't know if you will break the record, and I don't know if it will become the highest score in the world, but you can win."

Yuzuru looked at me with serious eyes. I also seriously looked at him and said those words.

"So let's focus only on winning and find out what we have to do in order to win. If so, we may not need 4Lutz. No, there will be no 4Lutz. Depending on the recovery of your feet, perhaps you are able to jump it, but you can win even if no 4Lutz included. You have skating technique accumulated over the past six years, as well as outstanding jumps and choreography. So you can win. Don't need 4Lutz if your pride permitted. In this way, you can aim at your goal."

Then Yuzuru said, "I successfully jumped once." So I said, "Aw, indeed you made it once. You have succeeded. OK. Checkmark. Let's delete 4Lutz from your To Do List!"

Yuzuru looked relatively relieved a lot. I'm not sure whether this feeling came from the confidence of "Perhaps I can win", or the sense of relief from “It's still possible to win”. I guess his actual mood should be very complicated, but I told him the two keywords "six weeks to be in time" and "No 4Lutz". That was all I could do at that time, or it was enough for me to do these two things.

Visualize images of jumps and spins in mind

Two weeks after the conversation, I visited Yuzuru's apartment with Tracy. To our surprise, Yuzuru has already begun to do as much as possible toward the Olympic Games. He also became back to that confident and motivated Yuzuru as usual.

In Yuzuru's words, it was "visualization". In other words, he did a lot of practice like doing image training while watching the videos. Watch past videos many times and put those images in the body. Yuzuru has done lots of this training for a long time, and it was a very effective practice that in order not to forget the feeling of jumps. While receiving treatment, he also developed some land training plans for the part outside the injury and completed them.

One thing I must tell everyone here is that the treatment, rehabilitation, and strategic plans for the Olympics were all made by Yuzuru himself rather than us. Yuzuru developed these plans independently based on the advice of doctors and physiotherapists. He was able to overcome the difficulties and walked through that extremely hard road to the Olympics. It was not our credit. After the injury, Yuzuru tried his best to set foot on the Olympics stage. He independently made various plans and actually implemented them. By constant conversations with himself, Yuzuru became stronger both mentally and physically.

Looking at Yuzuru being strong again, we also became optimistic and discussed plans for the Olympics. Yuzuru said that no matter how fast, the day of returning to practice on the ice should be in December. Until then, he would not appear in the cricket club and wanted to concentrate on the care and training that was decided by himself. Because the treatment had been left to doctors and physiotherapists, certainly I said "OK" for Yuzuru's plan.

When asked about the injury degree, he said it was all concentrated on the right ankle area. It was the salvation that at least there was no pain in his knee. If knees were injured, he could not make it in time for the Olympics.

November and December passed without Yuzuru appearing in the club. However, he kept in touch with me during that period. What's the condition of the foot injury, what kind of training is he doing, and what did doctors say. Without the time for his favorite games, without having a leisure time for daze and relaxing, he truly did the 24-hour image training. From bystander's view, it seemed he was only standing or sitting there, but Yuzuru was constantly visualizing images of jumps and spins in his mind. He had been doing image training to make his body not forget those feelings.

Yuzuru spent the two months in a very intelligent way. I felt very reliable to see his growing and becoming a mature young man. Every time I opened the email sent from Yuzuru, I felt like seeing the light of hope for the Olympics.

[husheduphistory]

The Groundbreaking Brain of Phineas Gage

Those who knew Phineas well were astonished by his recent behavior. He was rude, outspoken, impatient, and unpredictable, traits that never would have described him only a few years earlier. What should have shocked them more was that he was even still around to exhibit these behaviors. The accident should have killed him in the blink of an eye.

In the fall of 1848 Phineas Gage was twenty-five years old and working as a blasting foreman tasked with preparing a railroad bed near Cavendish, Vermont. Gage had no formal schooling, but he developed an excellent reputation of being a savvy businessman armed with intelligence, precision, and a huge amount of energy. He was described as a very physically fit and healthy young man who almost never succumbed to any form of illness. When Gage went to work on September 13th of that year nothing seemed out of the ordinary despite the work being extremely dangerous. Setting up a bed for the new railroad required a large number of explosives and blasting away rock to make way for the new lines.  A large hole was bored into the rock and filled with explosive materials and a fuse. Once the explosives were in place inside the rock the rest of the hole was filled with sand or clay which was then tightly packed in with a long metal rod called a tamping iron in order to ensure the force of the blast was contained inside the rock. At approximately 4:30pm Gage was hard at work when a tamping rod clipped a rock that was armed with an explosive charge. The hit created a spark which ignited the explosives inside sending the metal tamping rod shooting through the air…and straight through Gage’s head.

Dr. Williams heard Gage’s claims that he had been shot through the head with an iron rod but he initially didn’t believe him. He was here, alive, speaking and joking, how could his story possibly be true? But, the horrifying tale was quickly proven accurate to Dr. Williams who recounted:

Gage hit the ground and probably had no idea what just happened to him. The tamping rod was1.25” in diameter, forty-three inches long, weighed thirteen pounds, and sailed clear through his left cheek, through his brain, and out the top of his skull landing eighty feet away from its victim. What was even more shocking than the accident was that Gage was not just alive, he was fully conscious and able to walk himself to an oxcart and request a ride into town to see a doctor. Once arriving at the practice of Dr. Edward H. Williams he even quipped, “Here is business enough for you.”

 “I first noticed the wound upon the head before I alighted from my carriage, the pulsations of the brain being very distinct. Mr. Gage, during the time I was examining this wound, was relating the manner in which he was injured to the bystanders. I did not believe Mr. Gage's statement at that time but thought he was deceived. Mr. Gage persisted in saying that the bar went through his head… Mr. G. got up and vomited; the effort of vomiting pressed out about half a teacupful of the brain, which fell upon the floor."

Later that evening the case of Phineas Gage was handed over to Dr. John Martyn Harlow who treated the wounds and continued to observe his new patient. According to Harlow’s later description, Gage remained fully conscious that night, was able to recount what happened, recalled the names of his coworkers, and even said he didn’t need to see any of his friends because he would be back to work in “a day or two.”

 Gage may have anticipated bouncing back to work in a matter of days, but his plans were derailed when he developed an infection. Laying in a semi-comatose state, the doctors believed Gage’s luck ran out and this was the long-delayed end of their patient. From September 23rd to October 3rd Gage languished but then he suddenly began to improve. On October 7th he took his first steps out of bed and by the 11th his intellect began to re-emerge. Gage could remember the accident, the day and time it happened, and his coworkers. But, he now had difficulty with other functions like understanding size and calculating sums of money. While there were some obvious changes, most did not question them. After all, the man just survived a metal spike being launched through his head. By the end of the month Gage left medical care and went to his parent’s home in New Hampshire to continue his recovery.

Illustrations of the injuries suffered by Gage.

Gage amazed those around him by continuing to physically heal and improve, but the changes in his personality became more and more concerning. Before the accident the foreman was hard working, intelligent, and highly respected by his employers who considered him “the most efficient and capable foreman in their employ.” However, as time moved on deep transformations revealed themselves. In later observations by Dr. Harlow he noted that Gage:

 “Remembers passing and past events correctly, as well before as since the injury. Intellectual manifestations feeble, being exceedingly capricious and childish, but with a will as indomitable as ever; is particularly obstinate; will not yield to restraint when it conflicts with his desires.”

 “He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint or advice when it conflicts with his desires.... A child in his intellectual capacity and manifestations, he has the animal passions of a strong man.”

 By the middle of 1849 Gage was eager to get back to work but there was a problem, his personality changes were so severe that his former employers refused to hire him back. They were not the only ones seeing the massive shift in the man. His friends put it bluntly. The man appeared the same, but he was “no longer Gage.”

 Unwelcome at his former job Gage was forced to find other ways to support himself and he took on a variety of new professions, one of which was to simply show up. He took work at a livery stable in New Hampshire, but Gage also made appearances throughout New England where he promoted himself and his impossible survival. His most high-profile venue was none other than the Barnum American Museum in New York City. In 1852 Gage was given the opportunity to travel to Chile and work as a stagecoach driver while caring for horses. He remained in Chile until approximately 1859 when his health declined. He left the country and made the journey to San Francisco where his mother and sister relocated to at the same approximate time that he moved to South America. According to his mother, the sight of her son was grim and he was “…in a feeble condition, having failed very much since he left New Hampshire…Had many ill turns while in Valparaiso, especially during the last year, and suffered much from hardship and exposure."

An advertisement for Phineas Gage appearance shortly before his move to Chile.

 Once Gage recovered in San Francisco he was again eager to get back to work and he found employment on a farm, but his time there did not last long. In 1860 Gage began having seizures that rapidly grew in severity. On May 16th 1860 Gage went into violent convulsions and never recovered, he died at the age of 36 years old.

 Dr. Harlow had not treated Gage for many years but when he heard of his death in California he requested that the family send him his former patient’s skull. They obliged and sent Harlow not only Gage’s skull, but also the thing that made it so desirable. The tamping iron that went through his skull was Gage’s near constant companion for some years, it was even inscribed with its story:

 “This is the bar that was shot through the head of Mr Phinehas[sic] P. Gage at Cavendish Vermont Sept 14,[sic] 1848. He fully recovered from the injury & deposited this bar in the Museum of the Medical College of Harvard University.

Phinehas P. Gage  •   Lebanon Grafton Cy N–H  •   Jan 6 1850”

Gage pictured with the tamping rod that went through his head.

After studying the skull and iron Dr. Harlow donated both pieces to Harvard Medical School’s Warren Anatomical Museum where it remains today. The rest of Gage was originally buried in San Francisco’s Lone Mountain Cemetery but in 1940 his remains were moved to Cypress Lawn Memorial Park located in Colma, California.

Throughout his treatment of Gage, Dr. Harlow had suspicions about why his patient’s personality changed so drastically after his accident but the connection between personality and brain injury were still years away from being recognized. It took another decade until the experimental work of David Ferrier came to light describing how damage to the frontal cortex of the brain resulted in “a very decided alteration in the animal’s character and behavior.” Gage, who sustained extreme damage to up to 4% of the cerebral cortex and 1% of the white matter in the frontal lobe, became one of the earliest examples in medical history that the frontal cortex was involved in personality and behavior.  

 September 13th 1848 was a life changing day for Gage in ways that he never could have expected. It was the day he almost died, the day he became a legend, and a day that changed the early days of neuroscience. To this day the skull of Phineas Gage is still being studied and still giving insight into the connection between brain and behavior, a horrific workplace accident still making medical history 171 years later.

The skull of Phineas Gage and the tamping rod from his accident.

[michipeachiii]

Hello, please stay safe and I wish you well! I don’t really understand what’s going on but you deserve happiness ❤️

Thank you so much Nonny! ♥

It’s a very long story but I’m gonna try to condense it as much as I can. I was raised in a doomsday cult. I realized I was being brainwashed in my early 20′s and tried to distance myself. Instead, I was outed and ostracized from my community. All the friends I had, my entire support system of over 100 people, was gone overnight because I was having doubts and wasn’t sure that I wanted to continue to be a part of the cult.  

Growing up, I grew up in a toxic environment. My father, an abusive alcoholic who left when I was 4. And my mother, an emotionally/verbally/mentally abusive and ableist person (I’m very positive she’s a narcissist as well). My mother has continued to be abusive over the years. Sometimes she says my disability is my fault, sometimes she stops talking to me for a week because I didn’t complete a chore when she demanded me to. It goes beyond this and I go more into detail on @michipeachiii-sideblog

My mom is still involved in the cult and she listens to the meetings on the phone 4 times a week (twice on Sunday, twice during the week). This is extremely triggering for me and I don’t have any way to avoid being exposed to their propaganda. It’s a negative environment to be in. 

Many of the cult members still live in my area and I have reason to believe certain people are stalking me. After leaving, I had more random/cryptic followers, suddenly elders (the equivalent of a pastor) were making accounts on the same platforms I already had accounts on, in an attempt to keep tabs on me and investigate who I was in contact with, random unknown phone calls etc. Am I in danger? Not necessarily but I hate the idea that people are keeping tabs on me because they want evidence I’m a sinner. 

The cult has a no-blood transfusion policy and my mom is the only “next of kin” I have who can decide medical treatment should I ever be unable to do so myself. I am against this but my mom would rather let me die. When I move, my boyfriend and I will set up legal paperwork so that he can override my mom in case of emergency. I refuse to be a martyr. 

I practice witchcraft and this is a major sin in the cult’s eyes. My mother would not allow me to practice freely. I am at a point where, I cannot keep my craft a secret? It weighs heavy on me to have to hide so much of myself because my mother would deny who I am? I’m also bisexual and demisexual, another big sin to them. I would like to be out IRL as well. I want to be in environment where I can just… be myself. I’m tired of lying and minimizing myself. 

To try to wrap this up… my boyfriend wants to help me get out of this environment. He and his family, brothers included, are on board and want to help me get out of this toxic environment. They all realize how much this is wearing me out. So for the past few months, we’ve been trying to figure everything out and get a plan together. The issue is, they’re halfway across the country. 

A couple of things have unexpectedly fallen into place, and they’re going to be nearby and in a position to get me out. 

This entire situation is really stressful, bringing up a lot of negative emotions and memories for me, causing me a lot of distress. I feel bad for orchestrating all this without telling my mom what is going to happen, but in the past when I’ve tried to have a conversation with her, she tells me I’m a terrible person, that no one would want to live with me, that I’d be a burden and a bother to others, that they’d be desperate to kick me out. Recently, when I brought up the fact that I can’t secure medical treatment here she was very apathetic about the situation and told me that I wasn’t trying hard enough to secure medical care. [more info here]

Basically, I have tried to have a conversation with my mom several times, about the way she treats me, about letting me move out, and about my medical care and nothing really seems to get through to her. In her mind, Armageddon (end of the world) is going to be here any day now, so what’s the point of planning for the future. And I can’t subscribe to those beliefs. She’s asking me to put my life on hold because according to the cult, “everything will be cured and fixed in paradise.” This and other things she says on a regular basis are very triggering to me as well and induces anxiety. My mental health is not… good. And it won’t ever get good if I stay here with her. 

If I let her keep controlling my life and holding me back, I’m gonna be stuck here until the day she dies and I can’t do that. 

[mintfaline-blog]

Final report of KWHS investment competition

From October to December, I have been participating in an online competition held by Warton Business School- KWHS Online Investment Competition. Being the leader of the team, I (and my teammates) developed a thorough investment strategy and asset portfolio in order to maximize the return in the long run. We achieved a satisfying return and ranking in the end. Our final score was ranked 4th in Region 1. Below is the 25-page final report that I completed for this competition.

Final Report of KWHS

Section1: Team investment strategy:

Cautious trading with “right” timing to buy in

  Our team believes that there will be a lot of ups and downs in the world-wide stock market throughout Q4 of the year. For the whole US stock market, it did undergo a lot of variations due to the trade war between the US and China, as well as political factors such as the mid-term election. The continuous rise in interest rates has also driven down the whole US market. We will choose companies cautiously with the right timing to buy in and then hold them firmly for the long term.

Asset allocation + Risk diversification

  We as a team strive to find some relatively stable individual stocks that could offer the highest rate of return as possible. We invest in 5 different sectors to diversify our risks in case any sector is not doing well. Under the risk factor, we, therefore, try our best to diversify our portfolio allocation by investing in different sectors, therefore gaining the possible best return.

Investment on the leading companies in each sector for long-term return

  Our investment strategy is focused on the leading enterprise or BIG names in each sector to gain a stable return in the long term.

Buying large-dividends companies for short-term cash generation

 In the meantime, we also look into several companies that offer GOOD dividends at the end of the year, to generate the short term cash for our client Sachin Rekhi, who has the plan to make a donation to ASPCA annually. Those are normally “blue chip companies” with impressive dividends at the end of the financial year.

In summary, our main focus is to build a portfolio with long-term wealth creation while generating short-term liquidity.

The leading ompanies that we choose may undergo fluctuation, but our team look at them from a long-term perspective and therefore would not buy low and sell high. Under our assumptions, when there are slumps in the whole industry or market, these companies would suffer the least.

   We hold a weekly meeting to monitor and discuss the performance in each sector, after which we modify and improve our tactic under each sector. In addition, we are also left about 5% of the total asset, which is about 2000 dollars as cash flow.

Sector analysis:

   The relative proportion of our team's sectors allocation is as followed:

Next, we're going to analyze each sector, industry and the stocks we selected, as shown in the above form.

Consumer discretionary sector

   Consumer discretionary sector involves goods and services that are non-essential by consumers but are desirable if consumers have enough income to purchase them. Amazon is under the industry of retail while McDonald's is considered in the industry of leisure.  

    One reason behind the selection of Amazon as a top stock holding is due to the following industry trends: Discretionary sector will focus more on Amazon as the whole discretionary sector becomes more volatile, slower and more dependent on Amazon, like Netflix, Tripadvisor and media companies move to the communications sector. Since Amazon is one of the largest e-commerce companies, it is really matched with the trend in the consumer discretionary sector as spending on traditional retail has been cautious and reluctant. Consumers are now turning to e-commerce as a source of purchase.

    We believe that Amazon’s strategy of gradually merging online and offline retail looks promising. Looking into the qualitative data such as P/E value and EPS, cash flow as well as the growth of profit, we believe the long-term return of Amazon would be very promising.

Porter's Five forces analysis of retail industry:

Amazon: retail industry

Bargaining power of supplier - Low to medium

Amazon set a supplier code of conduct which has to be followed by its suppliers, including a few key areas: Child labor, involuntary labor; safety and health; working hours; anti-discrimination; fair treatment, immigration compliance, freedom of association, as well as ethical behavior.

Bargaining power of buyers -Medium to high

Amazon has focused on Customer retention by ensuring customer satisfaction as well as product quality.

Consumers can easily switch to physical retail and other sources of online retailing without any costs

Very elastic demand of consumers

The buyers from AWS (Amazon Web Services) have less power due to switching costs when turning to its alternatives.

Threats of substitutes -High

Physical retail

Increasing entrants of online retailers

Online retailers that are specific to a sector (Noble books, Best Buy, IKEA, BHS…)

However, substitutes for AWS are minimal.

Threats of new entrants -medium

Although there are barriers to entry existed such as economies of scale and retaliation from Amazon, innovative features and services may serve as a threat to Amazon.

New-entering firms will have easy access to different distribution channels such as UPS

The increasing popularity of online shopping will attract more entrants due to the abnormal profits

SWOT Analysis:

Strength: Low-cost structure, the largest online retailer in the world allowing a huge number of sellers

Figure 1. Amazon growth rate compared to e-commerce sales growth in U.S. (Source: Amazon financial reports and Digital Commerce 360)

The figure shows that Amazon has grown faster than the entire US e-commerce market, which implies that the company has taken its competitors' market share. According to the founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, the company follows a cost leader strategy that is illustrated in the diagram: A lower cost structure leads to lower prices, which increases the customer experience. Customers will occasionally return back to the company to purchase more products, which thereby create the ever-growing traffic. It, as a result, attracts more sellers from the market, all of which leads to the large growth undergone by Amazon.

Figure2: Source: Seeking Alpha

In the meantime, the customer service rating of the company has remained the highest in the industry (a score of 85 on ACSI), higher than eBay, the biggest competitor. This also means that the customers have great confidence and satisfaction, and we believe that this could also reflect on its stock's future performances.

Figure 3: ACSI of Amazon from 1995 to 2018

 Weaknesses:

Increasing debt-to-asset ratio: Amazon's debt-to-asset ratio has been increasing so rapidly through 2013 which has far exceeded its main competitor, Wal-Mart.

Low-profit margin.

Opportunities:

The e-commerce sales of Amazon worldwide has been estimated to reach 4.5 trillion dollars in 2021 by forecasting, maintaining its largest e-retailer in the world.

Figure 4 total e-commerce sales of Amazon

Threats:

Wal-Mart has made great effort to establish itself as a leading online retailer

Due to the trend that the market of e-retailer is continuously being replaced by physical retail, the Walmart has also established e-commerce websites in more than 11 countries and its e-commerce sales had increased by 29% in 2016. However, we believe that it is extremely difficult to reach the magnitude or status as Amazon due to insufficient start-up capital, and it's hard to reach the same service and quality provided by Amazon.

In conclusion, low price, a huge product diversification as well as leading branding are essential factors that demonstrated the first place of Amazon being the largest retailers in the world as it has an operation in more than 100 countries.

It must be pointed out also, the other key reason that we are convinced to set a large proportion of our capital into the company is the fact that Amazon has not only been a leading E-business company, it has also successfully developed itself into a technology leading company. Amazon is leading in the key technology, such as Big Data, Cloud Computation, and AI.  Kindle E-book, Echo/Alexa, AWS and the Amazon Go are examples of a very successful product or service in the market. As a matter of fact, the R&D spending in the year 2017 from Amazon was the biggest in the world, as high as the US $ 23 billion!

We also purchased McDonald's as part of our portfolio allocation due to the short-term return: the dividend that it generates (2.5% annually) will be able to fulfill the donation requirement for our clients.

Consumer staple sector: Nestle and Moutai

Our strategy of investing in the Nestle in consumer staples sector is that the performance of the sector is relatively stable even when there are slumps in the market- the performance of food industry is always better than other sectors. On October 11th, the American stock market experienced a large decrease in value. Almost all the industries experienced a huge decline in the value per share. However, when we looked at the market of the food industry, the share values of these monopolies have increased a lot and still show a trend of going up. Compared with Coca Cola and Hersey and other big companies in this sector, Nestle had just begun to increase in the share value, and as this is the largest food company with diverse products portfolio as well as stable internal business performance, it successfully spreads its risks to a range of sectors that offers it great stability in the long run. As a result, we all agreed on the potential increase in the share value in the future.

Also, another reason why we choose to invest in the consumer staples sector is that the companies in this sector are always invested or having business activities in emerging markets, which shows a continuous growing demand in recent years, especially in the staple sector.

As for Nestle, it involves in the markets in big emerging markets like China, India. Also, it has a big percentage of business in developed countries like America and Britain. With stable revenue gained in the developed countries and stable growth in the emerging markets, the multinational food companies like Nestle will have good performance relative to other kinds of business.

We also purchased Kweichow MOUTAI, as it is symbolized as the ‘ National Wine’ in China, we see it as a potentially strong stock due to the following reasons:

First of all, it is the #1 Chinese Baijiu Company with unique brand image, as it is served as the national wine in the important banquet for visiting foreign government leaders. In addition, it is a high-end product that is viewed as a luxury brand, especially for Chinese consumers. Thirdly, Moutai company possess unique brewing techniques that can't be replicated, which All of these factors allows the company to enjoy a very high selling price, gaining an impressive net profit more than 50% in 2017, according to its financial statement. Last year, the dividend payout from the company also reached as high as 51%. This impressive dividends rate also persuade our members to buy it as a major of our short-term return that could be used for client's needs. Finally, the company has a very light asset without any heavy debt. It also possesses a large cash flow. Therefore, we believe the stock will continue to be the market STAR in the long run as well as short term, especially for the increasing demand as it is close to the Chinese New Year.

So, finally, we were happy to see the 13% return in the final result.

Technology sector

We invested a combination of 16% into the technology sector, 12% into Twitter Inc and 4% into Alphabet Inc, both of which are leading technology companies with large growth.

Our group chose Twitter seeing its constantly growing estimated earnings from 2014 to 2018 and a final reach of 2865.10 thousand at the end of 2018. The sales growth of the entire company was 28.57% in the previous year and 6.69% in the previous quarter. It also even experienced a 500% EPS growth in the previous year and 33.33% in the previous quarter. According to the Zacks Consensus Estimate, Twitter was expected to witness an increase of 11.3% to 79 cents per share, which reflects a year-over-year growth of 79.6%. Besides, its fiscal earnings have increased by 19% to 25 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2018. It shorter term, it also experienced a 7.96% growth in its price change in the last four weeks. This demonstrates a relatively steady growth of revenue as well as a similar a rapid increase, seeing that Twitter has an imperative growth driving by currently focusing on adding new features and security initiatives, which can boost user engagement level and eventually boost its revenues.

Figure 5 sales revenue (source: Nasdaq)

In addition, Twitter’s ad revenues, which consisted 85.7% of its total revenues, are expected to be improved due to its deals with Disney’s ESPN, NBC, Universal, Viacom, Activision Blizzard, etc. It also begins to provide broadcasts of live sports which suits more for consumer’s tastes. Moreover, its another revenue source is enhanced currently, which is that its sources for new outlets and regular users to distribute instant information becomes estimated as invaluable. This helped to see its revenue jump 25% to $108 million in its ad revenues. Therefore, we believe the performance of Twitter in Q4 will be promising.

However, it is necessary to mention that we’ve invested only a small portion into this sector as our teammates agree that technology sector has been overvalued, demonstrated by several slumps in this sector in October and November.

Utility sector: American Electric Inc.

Our team has purchased 65 shares from American Electric Inc. from the utility sector. Listed at New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), it is among the largest generator of electricity in America, providing electricity for more than five million customers in eleven states.

Our investment in the utilities sector and industry accounts for 5% of total purchase. The sector contains stocks for utilities such as water, electricity, natural gas, etc.

Those companies within the utility sector provide consumers with very basic needs such as power and gas, so the goods are necessities that consumers are not likely to exit the market of this sector. In other words, goods and services of public utility have inelastic demand. Consequently, under regular circumstances, the prices of stocks within the sector tend to be reliable and steady. In light of these advantages, it is wise to include a percentage of stocks from the utility sector as a defensive portion.

Health care sector

Health care is always the most significant part that everyone would care about so we can not ignore this sector. The reason why we chose JNJ as 12% of our proportion mainly because it is a worldwide famous brand in medical products and providing health care service.

Final Trading results

In general, our team earned a satisfying trading result of 5.82% return and gained class rank 4th out of 259 teams. Our portfolio has performed stronger than class average as well as S&P index, which justified our strong portfolio allocation.

Team decision-making process

   In order to gain a thorough and deep understanding of the sector to which we are dedicated, within the first 2 weeks we barely bought any stocks; instead we spent time researching in different sectors in order to find its prospect; the structure of the sector; government policies and legislation and competition pattern, monopoly, etc. We did research on the big, dominant companies in the sector as a means to achieve the long-term source of return. In the meantime, we also had research on good companies that would offer a good return in the short run.

    On choosing the individual stocks, we briefly looked at the data overview of each company such as debt/capital ratio, market cap, 52 weeks high-low prices and such. In addition, we did compare the P/E value relative to industry to see whether there is a potential for the company to be overvalued. The most importantly, we looked at the trend of EPS value, revenue and earnings; cash flows to see whether the company is making a profit by glimpsing into their financial statements. Finally, we looked at the periods of the stock graph and the general trend in 5 days, 1 month and 1 year.

   Apart from the qualitative data, we also take into account the recent news of the company: such as M&A, litigation, innovation, improving services that match the new demand of customers, investment. We believe an incidence of any listed above would affect the performance of the stock market, but it won’t have a large impact in the long run. Finally, we made a balanced investment in the companies of our choice to generate long-term and short-term profits.

   The financial statement is a great qualitative tool from our perspective, as we believe that stock is about the confidence by customers’ perceiving to the company in the future and profitability is one of the key factors. Looking at the trend of the revenue growth of a company is a direct method for us to analyze.

   We believe that Porter's five forces are a very compelling tool for us to use, as it offers a clear view of the industry that the company is in such as its competition intensity, upstream and downstream firms, bargaining powers of suppliers and buyers. We really have a better knowledge of the general framework of the company in a certain industry and therefore able to analyze the profitability it could possibly gain in the future according to these forces.

We believe seeing the trend of a company's stock value may not be good to foresee or make accurate predictions of the future, as past incidents of the sudden slumps of big tech companies has all taught our teammates a lesson about how stock market is unstable due to external factors such as political incidents or monetary policy. Thus, an increasing trend of the past does not mean that it will continue to grow in the future.

Overall, we didn’t rely heavily on a specific tool, instead, we synthetically give each tool a proportion and eventually we view them only as assistance or reference to help our decision-making.

Section 3: team dynamics

Each and every member of our team is in charge of a sector of our investment: trade, research as well as report. We face a challenge of sector allocation in the first place as we couldn't decide how much proportion to set for each sector respectively. In addition, since we have a member of 5 students in our team, it is difficult for us to keep track of each student's progress as well as attendance.

We overcame the problem by establishing an online group and have a weekly online meeting every week to ensure every member is able to express their ideas and opinions. We didn’t have a lot of disagreement since we are only focused on one sector. However, some students are prone to quantitative analysis whereas some students like to be qualitative on research. Therefore, cooperation has helped us a lot. we helped each other in the area of what we're good at. For example, the member in our group who is good at math will help other students in quantitative research, for example. The members who have difficulties in analyzing the financial statement and indicators may receive help from other members, vice versa. On writing the final report, other students also dedicated in improving the language or grammar of students who are less skilled at writing.

Our advisor has also helped us especially when encountering the situation when the stock plummets, he always offers the prior notice or news and encourage us. Also, he has taught us some strategies to allocate our capital and when to make the trade.

Section 4: Takeaway

It is very unusual for teenagers like us to have an actual operation in the US stock market and this platform is just amazing for us to have a chance to give it a try without worries about losing practical money. The competition is more difficult than what we think in the first place as we never thought about risk diversification, asset allocation or industry analysis before.

Through this competition, we as a team have come to realize the importance of long term strategy. Shortly after inception, when we had not done much research and developed a plan for investment, we chose our stocks simply by looking at the price charts of stocks in each sector. During the competition when we were considering writing mid-review, we recognize that investment is not only about “buying low and selling high”. We became interested in how miscellaneous factors such as consumers, government policies and features of sectors and companies influence the price of stocks. Though it is almost impossible to predict precisely the prospect of each enterprise. Learning not to be frustrated by the short-term fluctuation of prices, we put a lot of effort into framing a strategy for a steady return in the long run.

We held the weekly meeting and in the middle of the competition, we have met some difficulties as we believe that since the US stock market has been of high-valued (high stock price) throughout the years, due to rising interest, trade war or other political reasons, the variation and fluctuations are of high possibility. The stock of Apple, as well as some other tech stocks, have proven the point that there is going to be periods of dumping. We even sent email to ask if it's possible to short-selling. I think through this competition all of the members have gained a deep understanding of the stock market operation and the condition right now, but more importantly, we thought deeply and tried a best to find solutions.

Due to the short length of the competition, our members could only choose stocks that may generate a relatively short-term return as it has to have an impact in 3 months. But if we're truly viewing this from the long-term perspective, we would probably choose some other stocks like Apple Inc. Although it hasn’t been performing well in the stock market, mainly because of  being unable to generate innovative products in recent 2 years, we believe it has great potential for great growth in the long run, considering its unique Chip+OS+Terminal+ Service as well as its great branding worldwide, for example, when it introduces is in the market.

In a summary, we enjoyed this competition a lot and all our members hope to have more chance to get deeper knowledge with real operation on the stock market, and we can’t wait to do so in the future.  

[bloojayoolie]

Being Alone, Andrew Bogut, and Animals: "A PLAYFUL AND BEAUTIFUL DOG #26027 NEUTERED 5 YEAR OLD, 84 LBS OF LOVE BROOKLYN ACC DUKE TO BE KILLED 4/30/2018 “Such a playful and beautiful dog” are the words that Duke’s owner used to described him, as he was left in a scary, strange place. The rest of the notes tell a sad story of a dog who was not socialized with other animals. He lived a lonely existence with just his owner for company- an owner who could not be bothered to take Duke with him when he moved. Instead Duke was dumped in a place surrounded by the UNKNOWN. Duke’s needs are pretty simple – he is crate trained, house trained and well behaved. He just liked to spend time on his dog bed. But now, he is scared and alone. Please give Duke a chance at knowing love and loyalty and consider opening your home and your heart! Please help #SAVEDUKE now! Duke #26027 Neutered male white dog @ Brooklyn Animal Care Center About 5 years old Weight 84 lbs Oowner surrender on 23-Apr-2018 due to moving - no pets allowed. HE LOVES HIS TREATS!! - https://youtu.be/OBsE3NHifnk Sorry, this pet is for new hope partners only. Duke is at risk for behavior reasons. Duke has allowed only minimal handling, and rapidly escalates to threatening behavior when startled. We are seeking placement only with a New Hope partner able to provide details of a behavior plan and trainer to address Duke's behavioral challenges. Medically, we have no concern for Duke, who presents as a healthy dog. My medical notes are... Weight: 84 lbs Vet Notes 24/04/2018 [DVM Intake] DVM Intake Exam Estimated age: 5y Microchip noted on Intake?y Microchip Number (If Applicable):941000015383815 History :o surrender Subjective: Observed Behavior -shaking. allows exam. muzzled as precaution due to reported growling Evidence of Cruelty seen -n Evidence of Trauma seen -n Objective T = P =60 R =30 BCS 5/9 EENT: Eyes clear, ears clean, no nasal or ocular discharge noted Oral Exam:limited. underbite, teeth seem clean PLN: No enlargements noted H/L: NSR, NMA, CRT < 2, Lungs clear, eupnic ABD: Non painful, no masses palpated U/G: neutered male MSI: Ambulatory x 4, skin free of parasites, no masses noted, healthy hair coat CNS: Mentation appropriate - no signs of neurologic abnormalities Assessment; healthy Prognosis:good Plan:no treatment 29/04/2018 H: Monitoring for diarrhea S: BAR. No csvd noted. Exam: cageside EENT: Grossly appropriate OU. Unremarkable AU. No nasal discharge. PLN: WNL L: Normal RR/RE. UG: Normal external genitalia. No discharge. MS/N: Ambulatory x 4 with no appreciable lameness. INT: Unremarkable haircoat. RECT: Not performed. Externally normal. Assessment: No diarrhea noted today Plan: continue to monitor Details on my behavior are... Behavior Condition: 2. Blue Behavior History Behavior Assessment Duke growled barked and lunged when I approached. I was home able to collar or scan him. Spay/Neuter Status: Neutered Basic Information:: Duke is a 5 year old large mixed breed male dog that came into the shelter as an owner surrender.The owner is surrendering due to them moving and the new residence not allowing pets. The owner states that they received Duke from a friend How is this dog around strangers?: Duke is said to show aggressive behavior around strangers by growling and barking. When Duke does know the adult his play with them is described as exuberant and is known to hump How is this dog around children?: Duke has never lived or spent with children so his behavior around them is unknown How is this dog around other dogs?: Duke has never lived or spent time with other dogs so his behavior around them is unknown How is this dog around cats?: Duke has never lived or spent time with cats so his behavior around them is unknown Resource guarding:: When Dukes food or bowl is touched when he is eating he is said to hover over his food,eat faster and growl. The previous owner has never taken a toy or treat away from Duke so behavior is unknown Bite history:: Duke does not have a bite history Housetrained:: Yes Energy level/descriptors:: Duke is said to have a medium level of activity Other Notes:: Duke isn't bothered when he is disturbed while sleeping/resting,given a bath or brushed. The owner states they never attempted to trim dukes nails so behavior is unknown When Duke hears fireworks he is said to get nervous Has this dog ever had any medical issues?: No Medical Notes: Dukes most recent veterinary care was approximately 1 year ago For a New Family to Know: Duke is described as a friendly, affectionate, playful, confident and excitable dog with a medium activity level. Duke was crate trained in the past but doesn't need it, due to now being house trained and he rarely has accidents indoors. When Duke is indoors with his owner he tends to stay in his favorite spot on his dog bed. Duke is said to not have any particular toys or games he likes to play Duke is used to eating Nature Balance lamb, rice and carrot dry food When Duke is left alone at home he is well behaved and he knows the command "sit" For exercise Duke gets walked 2 times a day. When on the leash Duke is said to pull very hard and his behavior off leash is unknown The owner said their favorite things about Duke was that he was such a playful and beautiful dog Behavior Assessment Date of intake:: 4/23/2018 Spay/Neuter status:: No Means of surrender (length of time in previous home):: Owner surrender Previously lived with:: Adults Behavior toward strangers:: Growls, barks Behavior toward children:: Unknown Behavior toward dogs:: Unknown Behavior toward cats:: Unknown Resource guarding:: Yes, he will hover over his food, begin to eat faster and growl. Bite history:: None reported Housetrained:: Yes Energy level/descriptors:: Friendly, affectionate and confident with a medium activity level in the household. Other Notes:: When counselor approached Duke to say hello he became stiff, stared at her then growled, barked and lunged forward. His previous owner stated he is not good with strangers so he walks him with a muzzle. Date of assessment:: 4/25/2018 Summary:: Duke is difficult to handle in the care center, lunging and growling at the handlers upon approach. He has allowed very minimal handling from care-takers and seems to rapidly escalate to threatening behavior when startled. Out of concern for his stress levels and his response to restraint, we feel Duke is not a great candidate for a handling assessment at this time. Please see his owner surrender profile for a full summary of his behavior in his previous home. Summary (1):: According to Duke's previous owner, Duke never lived or spent time with other dogs so his behavior around them is unknown. 4/24: Due to an early incident with Duke redirecting on a handler when becoming reactive on leash, a gate greet was conducted before an attempt was made to collar him. Duke immediately froze, lunged and snapped at the greeter when she approached the gate. He was safely removed from the pens. Date of intake:: 4/23/2018 Summary:: Barked, growled, lunged Date of initial:: 4/24/2018 Summary:: Trembling, growling. Muzzled use for precaution. ENERGY LEVEL:: Duke is reported to have a medium activity level in his previous home environment BEHAVIOR DETERMINATION:: NEW HOPE ONLY Behavior Asilomar: TM - Treatable-Manageable Recommendations:: No children (under 13),Single-pet home,Recommend no dog parks,Place with a New Hope partner Recommendations comments:: New hope partner: Duke has not acclimated well to the kennel environment and has allowed only minimal handling. Because of his rapid escalation to threatening behavior when startled, we recommend placement with a New Hope partner who can provide any necessary behavior modification (force-free, positive reinforcement-based) and re-evaluate behavior in a stable home environment before placement into a permanent home. Single-pet home/No dog parks: Due to the concerning behaviors that Duke has shown during playgroup (see GROUPBEHAVIOR SUMMARY), we feel that Duke should not visit dog parks and be the only resident dog. The Behavior Department recommends that he be socialized in a more controlled setting until his behavior towards other dogs can be further addressed. Reward-based, force-free training can be utilized to help Duke associate dogs with things he enjoys like toys or treats. Potential challenges: : Resource guarding,Fearful/potential for defensive aggression Potential challenges comments:: Resource guarding: Duke is reported to growl over food items. It is important to leave Duke alone while he is eating and never to take anything directly from his mouth. When he is asked to drop something he should be traded for an item of equal or higher value, in order to reward Duke for relinquishing the item he has. Fearful/potential for defensive aggression: Reactivity towards other humans was noted by the counselor during intake and from the owner (lunging, growling). Because this has been observed in the care center and also appears to present a challenge outside of the care centers, guidance from a professional trainer/behaviorist is highly advised to assess this behavior and modify/manage as needed. * TO FOSTER OR ADOPT * If you would like to adopt a dog on our “To Be Killed” list, and you CAN get to the shelter in person to complete the adoption process *within 48 hours of reserve*, you can reserve the dog online until noon on the day they are scheduled to die. We have provided the Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan information below. Adoption hours at these facilities is Noon – 8:00 p.m. (6:30 on weekends) HOW TO RESERVE A “TO BE KILLED” DOG ONLINE (only for those who can get to the shelter IN PERSON to complete the adoption process, and only for the dogs on the list NOT marked New Hope Rescue Only). Follow our Step by Step directions below! *PLEASE NOTE – YOU MUST USE A PC OR TABLET – PHONE RESERVES WILL NOT WORK! ** STEP 1: CLICK ON THIS RESERVE LINK: https://newhope.shelterbuddy.com/Animal/List Step 2: Go to the red menu button on the top right corner, click register and fill in your info. Step 3: Go to your email and verify account Step 4: Go back to the website, click the menu button and view available dogs Step 5: Scroll to the animal you are interested and click reserve STEP 6 ( MOST IMPORTANT STEP ): GO TO THE MENU AGAIN AND VIEW YOUR CART. THE ANIMAL SHOULD NOW BE IN YOUR CART! Step 7: Fill in your credit card info and complete transaction Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC) nycacc.org HOW TO FOSTER OR ADOPT IF YOU *CANNOT* GET TO THE SHELTER IN PERSON, OR IF THE DOG IS NEW HOPE RESCUE ONLY! You must live within 3 – 4 hours of NY, NJ, PA, CT, RI, DE, MD, MA, NH, VT, ME or Norther VA. Please PM our page for assistance. You will need to fill out applications with a New Hope Rescue Partner to foster or adopt a dog on the To Be Killed list, including those labelled Rescue Only. Hurry please, time is short, and the Rescues need time to process the applications. Shelter contact information Phone number (212) 788-4000 Email adoption@nycacc.org Shelter Addresses: Brooklyn Shelter: 2336 Linden Boulevard Brooklyn, NY 11208 Manhattan Shelter: 326 East 110 St. New York, NY 10029 Staten Island Shelter: 3139 Veterans Road West Staten Island, NY 10309