#i need to either stop following the news or start firebombing

[hussyknee]

Fuck books. I want a gun.

[strangerivy]

The Beginning - Thirteen

Summary:  The group still trapped in the school, tries to come up with a plan to get out but everything feels against them. Warnings: Swearing | Violent Depictions Pairings: Stiles Stilinski x Original Character (Kacy) Genre: 18+ | Fluff | Angst Word Count: 3.5k Author’s Note:  I hope you guys enjoy the next chapter, please let me know what you think! I’m always open to feedback! 😊

|| One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten | Eleven | Twelve | Thirteen | Fourteen | Masterlist ||

Arguments started to break out between everyone as we tried to figure out our next move. Jackson Lydia and Allison wanted to call the cops and Stiles was against it refusing to contact his dad, rightfully so considering the situation we were in. But they didn’t know the full story. They didn’t know that the killer wasn’t Derek Hale. They didn’t know it was an Alpha Werewolf.

“That’s it,” Lydia said stepping away from them pulling out her phone, I went to reach for it, but she pulled back shooting me a glare. “I’m calling,” She stated dialing 9-1-1 before anyone else could protest.

“Yes, were at beacon hills high school. We’re trapped and we need you to-” She paused as the voice on the other side cut her off, her face dropped as she stared at the ground. She pulled the phone away from her ears staring at the screen. “She hung up on me.”

“The police hung up on you?” Allison asked in disbelief

“She said they got a tip warning them that there were going to be prank calls about a break-in to the high school.” She said her voice raising as fear set in, “She said if I called again that they’re gonna trace it and have me arrested.”

“Okay well call again,” Allison suggested, Stiles shook his head

“No, they won’t trace a cell and they will send a car to your house before they send anyone here,” Stiles explained, everyone’s face dropped as we realized the severity of our issue. Allison started to shake her head in disbelief.

“What is this?” She started to panic, her hands going into her hair gripping her head. “Why does Derek wanna kill us? Why is he killing anyone?” I stayed silent looking up at Stiles who looked over at Scott.

“Why is everyone looking at me?” Scott asked

“Is he the one that sent her the text?” Lydia asked

“No.”  Scott was quick to answer before stammering out the next bit, “I mean, I don’t know.”

“Is he the one that called the police?” Allison asked, all eyes were on Scott now for answers and I kind of felt bad for him

“Okay,” I shouted in frustration “How the hell is he supposed to know that?”

“Well, you guys are the ones acting all weird!” She shouted at me; I took a step back from her taking a deep breath to calm my anger “Scott!” She yelled and I felt Scott start to get frustrated

“I don’t know!” He screamed at her; Allison frowned her lips tightening to hold her tongue at his outburst.

“Alright, why don’t we just ease back off the throttle here, yeah?” Stiles suggested pushing Scott and me off to the side to talk.

“Okay, first off, throwing Derek under the bus, nicely done.” Stiles started off talking quietly for only us to here, I shook my head rolling my eyes.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Scott panicked “I had to say something and if he’s dead then it doesn’t matter,”

“And if he’s alive?” I questioned looking up at Scott and he let out a heavy sigh

“God I just totally bit her head off,” He shook his head

“And she’ll totally get over it,” Stiles said trying to calm Scott down

“Welllll,” I grimaced, and Stiles was quick to shoot me a glare

“You’re not helping,” He pointed out, I shrugged my shoulders “We have bigger issues right now, like how do we get out alive?” Scott’s eyes were wide

“But that’s the thing, we are alive. It could have killed us already!” He pointed out, I nodded my head agree, he could have killed us right from the start, but it hadn’t.

“It’s like it’s cornering us or something,” He whispered looking past Stiles over at Allison

“So what? It wants to eat us all at the same time?” Stiles question with a hint of his usual sarcasm

“No!” He quietly shouted to not draw attention to us, “Derek said it wants revenge,”

“Against who?” Stiles questioned, I watched Scott and his eyes flicked over to Allison. I whipped my head back around.

“Allison,” I said in disbelief “Why?”

“Not her specifically,” He shifted on his feet “But her family,”

“Maybe that’s what the text was about,” Stiles suggested, Scott looked over at him confused “Someone had to send it,”

“Alright, asshats!” Jackson yelled breaking us up, I stared at him moving over to Stiles “New plan, Stiles calls his useless dad and tells him to send someone with a gun and a decent aim. Are we good with that?” He lifts his arm gesturing to all of us. I looked up at Scott and then over at Stiles.

“He’s right,” I muttered even though I didn’t want to admit it but there was no other way out, Stiles shook his head not liking the idea one bit.

“Tell him the truth if you have to,” Scott said and Stiles looked up at him, “Just call him.”

“I’m not watching my dad get eaten alive,” He whispered for just Scott and me to hear

“He won’t,” He looked down at me and I quickly looked away

“Alright, give me the phone,” Jackson lunge for Stiles but Stiles was quick and turned and punched him in the jaw knocking him back, I jumped back hitting Scott who quickly grabbed hold of me preventing me from falling.

“Jackson!” Allison screamed going over to Jackson, she looked up at Stiles in disbelief. Stiles angrily reached into his pocket grabbing his phone calling his dad.

“Dad hey it's me, and it's your voicemail,” I frowned but wait for him to finish “Look, I need you to call me back now. Like, right now.” A loud bang came from the locked doors and I sucked in a breath as new fear coursed through my veins. Lydia jumped back as she was standing right in front of them coming to stand next to the rest of us. More banging came from the door as we backed up “We’re at the school, okay? Dad, we're at the school.” The banging got louder, and I could pick up the faint sounds of growling on the other side. Stiles ended the call not breaking eye contact from the shaking doors.

“The kitchen doors,” I suggested looking up at Stiles and he nodded

“That only leads up!” Scott panicked

“Yeah well that’s better than here,” We took off heading for the stairwell through the school kitchen, I looked back briefly seeing the flash of red eyes as we disappeared quickly up the stairs. We ran out into the second-floor hall going to the closet classroom door pilling in before shut the door. Scott placed a chair in front of the door, and we stood out of sight of the classroom door window nothing but the sound of heavy breathing in the room.

The sound of growling broke the silence, I knelled down baring my face in my knees trying to quiet my breathing. The heavy steps coming down the hall and then slowly passing the door making us all let out a breath.

“Jackson, how many people can fit in your car?” Scott asked once the foots steps were further away

“5 if someone squeezes on someone’s lap,” He answered, “Could try six,”

“six?” Allison questioned in disbelief, “I barely fit in the backseat,”

“It doesn’t matter, there’s no getting out without drawing attention,” Stiles said, Scott pointed over at the other door in the classroom.

“What about this?” He suggested going over to the door, Stiles and I followed him, “This leads to the roof, we can go down the fire escape in seconds.” Stiles looked down at the lock with a frown

“That’s a deadbolt,” He pointed out, Scott frowned before quickly looking back up at us with an idea

“The janitor has a key,” I eyed him with a frown

“You mean his body has it,” Stiles corrected

“Scott no,” I whispered just loud enough for him, “It’s too dangerous,”

“Kac, I can sniff it out, I can find him by scent,” He whispered back

“Well, gee, that sounds like an incredibly terrible idea,” Stiles stated, “What else you got?” Scott looked around the room before looking back at us

“I’m getting the key,” He stated not leaving us any room for argument, he walked past us over to Allison talking to her

“You can’t go out there unarmed!” She whispered in frustration, he looked past her reach out for something and pulling out a stick with a finger pointer. I closed my eyes, pinching the space between my eyes.  He can’t be serious.

“It’s better than nothing,” He said looking around the room, Lydia was staring at something and I followed her gaze to the chemistry case. She glanced over at me and I nodded my head slowly as we both thought what she was suggesting. Molotov Cocktail.

“There has to be something better,” Stiles suggested

“There is,” Lydia spoke up gesturing to the chemistry case, Stiles looked over at her confused

“What are we going to do? throw acid at his face?” He asked and Lydia and I both rolled our eyes

“No, idiot,” I muttered “That cabinet has everything to make something like a firebomb,”

“A self-igniting Molotov Cocktail,” Lydia finished, everyone stared at us in silence, I shrugged my shoulders

“What?” She asked not sure why they were confused

“We don’t have a key for that either,” Stiles said in disappointment, Jackson sighed before going over to the cabinet breaking the glass with his elbow. Lydia and I both went over grabbing what we would need to make the cocktail.

We went over to one of the worktables as she started to mix the ingredients

“Jackson hand me the sulfuric acid,” She said, and he reached out grabbing one of the bottles, Scott tapped his fingers on the desk waiting impatiently for her to finish. Lydia put a cork in the top handing it to him.

“Stop,” Allison demanded fresh tears in her eyes, “This is insane you cannot do this,” She cried looking up at Scott

“We can’t just sit in here and wait for Stiles's dad to check his messages,” he tried to reason but she was not having any of it.

“You could die,” She argued back “Don’t you get that? He’s killed three people.”

“And we’re next.” His face was filled with guilt as he stared at her, I backed up leaning against the counter that was next to the windows biting on one of my nails. “Somebody has to do something,” He started to walk towards the door. She stopped him again and I tried to tune out the conversation recognizing the private moment and the fact it was none of my business.

“Please don’t go,” She begged, I looked up at Scott seeing the inner battle he was having with himself. He looked over at me, but I couldn’t offer any help. He looked back at her before looking at Stiles.

“lock it behind me,” He said, and Stiles nodded. Scott took one last look at us before leaving the room. Stiles was quick to lock the door, I walked over to Allison pulling her into a hug as she cried into my shoulder.

“He’ll be fine,” I whispered rubbing her back, she nodded softly pulling away. I listened closely as his footsteps disappeared down the hall. Stiles paced in the room as we waited. The air in the room was thick with tension as we waited for Scott and the minutes ticked by and they felt like hours.

“I don’t get this; I don’t get why he’s out there? Why he left us, and I can’t…” Allison broke the Silence as she tried to reason with herself as to why Scott left. She was sat on one of the worktables cross-legged. “I can’t stop my hands from shaking,”

“it’s okay,” Jackson reassured grabbing a hold of her hands, I stared at him through the corner of my eye looking at Stiles who looked away and then Lydia who was watching her boyfriend. At least I thought he was still her boyfriend. He’s up to something.

I walked back closer to the windows, leaning up against the teacher's desk and I could feel eyes on my, I looked over to see Stiles watching me but I quickly looked away staring out the windows out into the night sky.

“Jackson you handed me the sulfuric acid, right?” Lydia suddenly asked I looked up at her curiously and then over at the bottles.  “It has to be sulfuric acid, or it won’t ignite,”

“I gave you exactly what you asked for, didn’t I?” He spat and she frowned at his words

“Yeah,” She whispered looking away from him, “Yeah I’m sure you did,” The room went quiet again, but the silence didn’t last long. A howl. A loud and powerful howl broke the silence and triggered something in me because every cell in my body tingled and my body felt like it was on fire.

I collapsed to the groaned letting out a blood-curdling scream. Stiles was quick to my side shouting my name, but I could hardly hear him through the sound of my own heart beating rapidly. My body tensed up and I rolled to my stomach letting out scream after scream.

I felt my claws begin to show and I was quick to tuck in my hands out of sight, but Stiles was quick to catch on. I looked at him through the gap in my arm that was covering my face and his widened.

“Shit,” I heard him mumble, there was something else though, another scream? I looked past him to see Jackson on the floor as well. I couldn’t look further though as another scream ripped through my body as it began to change.

“Kac, look at me,” Stiles demanded I shook my head keeping my eyes closed “Kacy!” He screamed I opened my eyes and he was quick to pull me to the side of the desk out of sight of the others. I could feel the wolf inside me wanting to breakthrough. I grabbed the Stiles jacket.

“I need-” I closed my eyes as sweat trickled down my face as I fought like hell to not fully shift. An animalistic rage ran through my veins and my thoughts were beginning to cloud with something dark, very dark. Something was different about this than before. “You need to get me out of this room,” I begged through gritted teeth, he shook his head reaching his hands out cupping the sides of my cheeks, I leaned into his hand as another surge of fire rushed through my body letting out another blood-curdling scream.

“No Kac,” He shook his head tears slowly streaming down his face, my breath was becoming haggard as I slowly felt myself losing the fight. I knew I would not be able to hold back for much longer and that’s when I felt it. His lips on mine. My eyes opened wide sucking in a breath from the shock and he grabbed hold of my face pulling me closer deepening it. I felt my body began to relax as images of Stiles face came to the surface, memories of our childhood of all the happy memories we have had and flashes of the present, of the night of the full moon. The night of our first kiss.

He broke away but only for a second before kissing my softly again, he pulled away and rested his forehead on mine. I felt my body slowly start to relax; the rage being buried deep.

“Stay with me,” He whispered another tear falling down his cheek. I reached up wiping it away seeing my normal nails. I let out a small laugh and he opened his eyes his body relaxing pulling me into a hug noticing my eyes were back to the normal brown.

“Thank god,” He muttered pulling back before standing up and offer me his hand. Lydia and Allison looked over at me.

“I’m okay,” I confirmed hoping they wouldn’t ask further questions, Jackson had his head turned away from me and I noticed the faint scar on the back of his neck, he looked over at me but quickly broke contact noticing my stare.

My ears perked up as I heard something out in the hall. I stared at the door through the fogged window as footsteps moved closer. I spotted the faint color of yellow eyes staring back through the window. I sucked in a breath, holding it in, knowing it was Scott. But it wasn’t normal Scott. The faint sound of the lock turned. I could faintly hear the voices of the others talking but I couldn’t move my body staring intently at the door. Don’t Scott. Please.

The sound of a snap signaling to everyone else that something was at the door. Allison started trying to open the door, but it wouldn’t bug she screamed for Scott pounding on the door.

“Stop!” Lydia yelled and everyone went quiet, “Do you hear that?” I listened closely hearing the faint sounds of sirens. We all raced to the windows looking out seeing the flashing red and blue lights.

I let out a sigh as Stiles's dad pulled up to the school letting out a small chuckle of relief. Stiles pulled me into a hug, and I felt him kiss my head. My cheeks turned red and I buried my face in his shoulder.

“Thank fucking god,” I heard him whisper before we broke apart, it was not too long after that the door was busted open and there stood Mr. Stilinski and Scott. I rushed to Scott slamming into him hugging him. He squeezed tight before stepping back. He gave me a small smile before we headed out, Allison Lydia and Jackson already ahead of us.

Scott explained what happened throughout the night to Mr. Stilinski. I moved out of Stiles's grip standing off to the side waiting for the conversation to end. Another officer eventually called the sheriff over to him and he left us.

“Well, we survived dude, you know?” Stiles said trying to brighten the mood, but I could tell Scott was still worried, and I had to admit I was too. “We outlasted the alpha, it’s still good right? Being alive?”

“It’s not that simple Stiles,” I muttered, Stiles raised an eyebrow in question looking between Scott and me.

“When we were in the Chemistry room, he walked right by us. You don’t think that it heard us? You don’t think it knew exactly where we were?” Scott said trying to explain to Stiles. There was no way that the Alpha did not know. Not with our enhanced senses. Stiles shrugged his shoulders.

“Then how come we’re still alive?” He questioned

“It wants me in its pack,” Scott said, he glanced over at me, “It wants us in its pack.” He breathed, he stayed silent as an office walked by.

“Stiles,” He looked over me and I shift uncomfortably on my feet, “When- when I was shifting, I wanted- I wanted to kill.” I sucked in a breath as I said the words out loud trying to hold back tears.

“I think it wants us to get rid of our old pack,” Scott muttered; Stiles stayed quiet as he processed what we said. He crossed his arms shaking his head.

“What do you mean? What old pack?” He questioned

“Allison,” He answered “Jackson, Lydia and-”

“You,” I interrupted my voice cracking, Stiles frowned, and he looked over at me reaching up and wiping away a stray tear. He looked back up at Scott.

“The alpha doesn’t wanna kill us,” He said

“He wants us to do it,” Scott whispered turning to look out into the parking lot. “And that’s not even the worst park,” Stiles mouth dropped open

“How the hell is that not the worse part?” He questioned his voice raising

“Because when he shifted, he wanted to,” I answered for Scott just above a whisper. The words lingered in the air between us as Scott turned to look at Stiles.

“I wanted to kill you,” He confirmed his face broken at the thought, “all of you.” Stiles's eyes watered but he held back the tears as he looked up at Scott then down at me, I couldn’t look at him knowing I would break if I did. I felt his fingers graze mine and I reached out grasping his hand giving it a squeeze. I wiped away a tear as we stood there in silence. Scott looked around the parking lot before his eyes widened walking past us, I turned and mine did too as I spot his boss in the back of an ambulance.

“How did you?” Scott questioned as we got closer

“Get out?” he finished “Not easily. I’m alive because of you. I think I owe you a raise.” He joked

“Guys come on,” Mr. Stilinski walked up to us suddenly making me jump, “Let's let the EMTs do their job.” He moved us away over to his car. Stiles opened the back door for me, and I got in. Stiles shut the door and I looked through the window to see Scott running to Allison. I let out a sigh resting my head against the window for the first time that night I felt relaxed. I closed my eyes letting myself succumb to my exhaustion.

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Tags: 

@criminalyetminimal​ @itshouldbe​ @sammypotato67​ @capandbuck​

[ikesenlemonadestandstories]

Level 26

What cracking everyone? How are you all holding up? Everyone doing okay? My state’s started to lift a few of their restrictions so life seems to be picking back up. Anyone else able to go out and do a little more? Hopefully some of you have been able to get back to your normal routines!

Tagging: @loudartanimeeclipse, @ihavenotfallenyet

Master List Here :)

Warnings: 4th wall break lol

Happy reading everyone~

Level 26

You had never been to Kanazawa before, so the fact that you were on a relatively spontaneous trip on a Friday afternoon had you giddy. Most museums and parks were going to be closing by the time you arrived, but you’d never been opposed to just wandering a city at night. Maybe that’s why your mom was always so worried about you? You chuckled and swayed a little closer to Yoshimoto.

“So, where are we headed?” You asked as you left the train station for the bus stop.

“I’ve got to pick up a few things for a new project.” Yoshimoto smiled as he pointed to the Higashi Chaya District marker on the sign near the pick up point. “Then we’ll get food.”

“Sounds awesome.” You were about to say more when the bus pulled up, right on time, and the two of you shuffled in and took a seat in the back.

You knew a Chaya was a teahouse where geisha typically performed, while most of them sat on what would have been considered the outskirts of a town they were still well-loved and visited. This particular area had been trendy during the Edo period and thankfully spared in the second world war from the firebombing, meaning it still held a large part of its historic integrity. Kanazawa was supposed to have at least three of these districts, all well preserved and mostly open to the public. Maybe you were going to get some kick-ass historical tea experience.

“You look excited?” Yoshimoto wondered aloud as he leaned closer to you.

“I am.” You affirmed, nodding your head and trying to keep up. The last thing you needed was to get distracted and lost, either Yoshimoto would miss his appointment, or you were going to get left behind.

Slowly, the old wooden buildings began to change shape and color, when Yoshimoto stopped in front of a store with a rich plum-colored banner and brilliant gold lettering you froze. Hakuza?

“We’re here.” Yoshimoto smiled down at you as he walked through the entrance and bowed to the women staffing the front desk.

Hakuza wasn’t your average tea shop; that much you had gathered. The moment you walked in the door, all you saw was gold, gold leaf was everywhere. Curious, you followed Yoshi until he stopped at one of the many standing cases around the store. All manner of things were being sold here, you had your pick of jewelry, beautifully adorned dishes and artwork, statues, though you were the most intrigued by the cakes.

“Interesting is it not?” Yoshimoto asked as he leaned down to see what had caught your attention.

“Ah! Imagawa-san!” The both of you turned when you heard his named called so formally. “Welcome, welcome. Who might this be?”

“Hello Higashi-san. This is (LN)(YN); she is my date for the evening.” Yoshimoto bowed in greeting, and you matched his gesture.

“What a pleasure, (Imagawa-san I’ve got your order already for you if you’d like to come back and take a look?” The older man gestured towards the back, a friendly smile on his face.

“Of course. Thank you.” Yoshimoto walked towards the back, just before they both turned your way.

“(LN)-san, do please look around. If you have any questions, either of my daughters would be happy to help you.” Before you could respond, though, both of them disappeared into the back.

It was clear, based on the machines showcased in the back of the shop and the wares on display, Hakuza specialized in the creation and use of the gold leaf. Now, all you wanted to know what Yoshi was planning on doing with it. You hoped he showed you when whatever he was working on was finished.

“Excuse me, (LN)-san?” The older gentleman, Higashi-san as Yoshimoto had called him, peaked his head around the corner and waved a hand at you. “This way, please.”

Not a single thing could have prepared you for what you laid your eyes one when you rounded the corner. It was very clearly a room for tea ceremonies, but the entire thing was covered in gold leaf! The walls, the table, even the teapot and instruments, and utensils were gold plated, all in amazing contrast with the bright red tatami flooring. When Yoshimoto chuckled, you snapped back to reality, hoping you hadn’t caught any flies with your mouth hanging open like that.

“This is amazing.” You whispered, careful as you inched closer, trying to get a better view of the room.

“Isn’t it.” Yoshimoto’s smile was bright as his eyes crinkled. “This is a replica of the Golden Tea Room created in the 16th century by Toyotomi, Hideyoshi. Isn’t it grand?”

“Maybe a little too grand? How did anyone get anything done in that room? It’s way too shiny.” You shook your head, still unable to grasp exactly how they had managed to cover the shogi with the leaf without a single crease visible.

“Not a fan of something so lavish, my dear?” Higashi-san chuckled as the three of you began walking back towards the front of the shop.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong it’s beautiful; it just doesn’t feel like a good idea?” You offered. “Think about it, you’re just out of the warring states period, you’ve taken power and mostly unified Japan, and you’re going around bringing people into your golden tea room? There’s going to be tons of awe but also lots of jealousy. It feels like a bad idea to me.”

“I can see your point.” Yoshimoto’s brow creased as he thought about it.

“Either way, it was wonderful to meet you (LN)-san, and it’s always a pleasure doing business with you, Imagawa-san.” All of you bowed to one another before Yoshimoto and yourself exited Hakuza.

You walked in silence back down the road you had just recently traveled, so maybe that wasn’t what you were expecting, but it was still really cool anyway. Like a tiny piece of history wrapped up and disguised as a city. Unable to contain your pleasure, you smiled and skipped ahead of Yoshimoto before turning and walking backward to take a photo.

“Wait, I wasn’t ready. You should have told me you wanted a photo.” He blinked as the tiny black bag in his hand, swayed with each step.

“And you should have told me to wear a kimono, so now we’re even.” You smiled and showed him the picture you’d taken. Making sure to keep your phone just out of reach so he couldn’t delete the image.

“So it would seem.” Yoshimoto smiled at you and rocked his head to the left, gesturing towards a small looking restaurant. “What do you say we stop for some actual tea?”

“Sounds like a good idea to me. Think they’ll have that cake with the gold leaf on it.” You wondered aloud.

“I’m afraid not.” Yoshimoto smiled as he raised the banner flap for you to enter ahead of him.

“Well dang it. I guess I’ll just have to get by without it.” You joked, feigning dissatisfaction before heading in and taking your seats.

[blindtaleteller]

TEASER : Chapter 8 - Ocean Eyes

                                       (Still looking for the artist!)

-------====CLINT - (out of the frying pan..)

“ That encroaching fire, -is- going to be a problem… “ was annoyed, at the very best. He could see the force behind his motions bringing up a few screens to the side and then; just stopping. He was focused on a corner of the main view. “ Dark screen up. Iggy, enhance LLQ 1. Are those -civilians?- “

The side screen shifted, and sure enough well behind the line of ground troops holed up behind what had once been a fence lined with flower pots in the woods and running, trying to keep ahead of the fire and what was falling in behind them; was a whole pack of people. All sorts; number unconfirmed but the visible was somewhere between a hundred and one-twenty. Loki zoomed and scrolled back, to the tail end where the fire was pulling down trees; just in time to watch an explosion from what was probably distance napalm delivery take a good dozen of the living out of the laggers behind. “ Shit. “ from Quill as he sat up and set his tablet aside, as Clint grit his teeth.

It took a moment to realize they were adjusting course. And another moment to realize the heat had kicked on; but the temperature inside the Stiletto had dropped, by almost five degrees. “ Lau. “

The consoles under his fingers were showing cold-stress; fog ringed fingerprints that might have only stayed a few seconds for the heat combating it, but it was there. “ Lau. We .. “ a breath when another shot went off. Clint knew very well what he was thinking. “ ..do we have -time- for this? “

“ Are we going into that? Like; -in-, to that? “

“ -I- am. Even if I -could- ignore that. Even if. “ he heard the bite and hiss to those particular two words. No, he couldn’t; ignore that: and Quill was up heading for the table where he’d hooked his holster, checking everything else he had gearwise otherwise. Apparently, they were all on the same page. “ That fire -has- to be stopped. “

And Clint was all in for this. They were already here, and watching that: no, just no. He’d seen them; there were kids out there. “ What’s the plan babe? “

“ Peter isn’t ready to try his hand at the Stiletto yet. Not like this. I am more durable, and the both of us know the equipment we'll be deploying better: so you will take her.. “ he was bringing up extra screens he hadn’t played with yet. They both heard the cha-kunk of panels opening on either side. “ I’m dropping shield beacons behind the barricades. So long as they remain undamaged, that will help keep any more firebombs from being dropped from this side at least and to an extent. Once the back wall is dropped and raised, you’ll need to put out what’s already on that side. Iggy, translation program; drop a small volley of relay drones with the message I’ve prepared. Let the men behind those barricades know we are friendlies here to assist their civilians. They don’t need to know anything else, yet.  Make it fast, I want in without excess incoming fire. We’ll pick them up again on our way out if possible. “ Seven round metallics about the size of track and field balls were dispatched almost immediately, as they veered further north-west along the road at a much higher speed: and dropped stealth.

There were a few shots, before the view locked onto various points along the flowerpot-and-sandbag littered barricades those drones had arrived at started to pop up. A grunt as Loki took note of the large clearing furthest nor-west. It was set up clearly as a refuge camp, but well down the first set of cliffs the falls were roaring over. “ That’s Chilsipnisi Park. There are two major drops in the terrain, that the falls drop over; one right on it’s edge. Our main target is in between, near the first drop. I’ll drop and run with them; “ was not exactly a plan he liked, but. “ I’ll take a set of hover lifts and Iroga rings with me. That will get them, and me; down to the next level, and into Chilsipnisi. Clint, get closer, ready to switch. Peter, you said you’ve used propulsion boots. If you reach up above the table, there’s a long black handle tucked into the ceiling. Pull it down. I don’t use them myself, for other reasons; but there should be a set and stabilizers on the left side, underneath. Can you handle taking a few extra drones and putting out the larger incoming weapons fire; and if possible neutralizing some of those single mobile shooters? “

Okay, it was a little nerve wracking, but he did like a couple things about this. Firstly, he didn’t think he had ever experienced this side of Loki, to this extent. Or if he had, he didn't remember it. Clint knew he thought fast; was an amazing tactician when it came to manipulating a situation; but he had never really seen him go at this kind of bigger, military confrontation. Thor had made very brief mention of an instance or two since he had come back and they had started their training and war games at night. But this was an entirely different speed. In a matter of minutes, his trickster had assessed started up and brought a solid plan to deal with .. everything, on the field that was an immediate danger. He had come across four star generals who couldn't be that decisive without more intel.

“ Yeah I think so? “ was given a nod as Loki set things up for him so he could concentrate on flying, and just press buttons and follow prompts. It was almost a turn on how fast he worked; and he said as much even as Pete reached and pulled that handle, bringing the whole ceiling down behind him: the huge rack-like tables locking into place with the one they usually ate at; taking up space between the rail and the shut-in bed. Quill whistle, getting it a glance. And okay, he wished he had known that arsenal had been up there. Armor and other worn equipment on the right, everything else --quite a lot of everything else-- to the left. There was something there that caught his eye, briefly; a bow; some hundred arrows quivered or lined up in packs by type to the far left. He wondered, if those were his; before he refocused.

“ Take extra armor too, and as many other toys as you’re comfortable with. After fire suppression, Clint; you’ll stabilize a line just past the west bank. Iggy is now picking up anti-aircraft as well as mobile launchers on their way from the south and south-west. He is tagging them through satellites now. I only have four EMP packets on board, but those should stop them outright; if not slow them down… “ and he started to stand, switch was easy enough; they had practiced a few times and Clint was glad for it now. “ Babe, what’s the plan for the stone? “

A nod as he drew his hair back in a messy loop at the back of his head snapped up a few items Clint couldn’t pay attention to at the moment. “ That will depend on whether any of the plan changes, but mostly: the area needs to be secured first. “ The retreat of his voice told him he was already on his way past the steps. “ Once you’ve taken care of those things, and I’ve set up a better perimeter for the civilians at the least; we’ll go after the Stone and leave the rest to them in favor of getting it out of play here. So long as the beacons have power and remain undamaged -- “ the alarm, the rush of air below as eh switched to his headset; and he saw a second one come online on another screen. “ --they should hold. As it is they have a five day charge, at best. I would say three under this kind of fire though. So.. hopefully they will be able to hold out long enough to evacuate, or at least move their civilians somewhere more secure. “

“ And if things go bad? “ from Clint made him pause, as Clint brought up the view of the loading ramp. “ The only thing we can do, of course. “ He watched him pat Quill ahead; and their favorite almost-ginger dove out without hesitation; immediately making an aerial beeline for his targets, and immediately dodging incoming bullets. “ We improvise. “ and the next moment he looked, Loki was gone; the tether to what he had unlocked from cargo yanking after him and rolling out .. well things he didn’t think anyone else among them could even think to drop out of an airborne craft with, moving at this speed. “ Love you babe. Starlord ..watch your butt out there too. “

“ You got it Loxley. “ made Clint smirk a little at the next Robin Hood reference in line as he tracked them both. Loki being the showman he was and probably wanting to spook the ones taking shots at him; didn’t bother with any from of deceleration; which.. Made his stomach lurch a bit, but less so, knowing he’d dropped from much further heights in New York alone. “ Same applies, dude. And speak up, if you need an extra hand. These things are a lot speedier and more responsive than mine. Might be able to finish my end up faster than usual, with the HUD zoom engaged. “

Proved to be pretty true as he flicked his gaze back to the screen tracking Quill while he dropped the first line of fire suppression. “ Sooo been holding out on us, you asshole. I am getting you to my range back home, or into the training gym in New York when we’re done. I wanna know which of us is more accurate. “

“ I suck with a bow. “

“ You ever even shot -one- arrow in your life, Starbutt? “

“  Nope. That’s how I know I suck at it. “

“ We’ll trade back and for--  the FUCK was that  ?!  “

Middle of the second pass, the shadow fast-dropping for the woods below was big, intimidating, and hard to miss. Iggy was catching up with it still as Quill called it. “ Shit! Lo! Incoming interspatial! “ but it was the next, familiar combination of letters that followed that instantly raised the hairs on the back of his neck and had him loading up the first EMP on an immediate adrenaline spike. “ P.C.C.! ... “

][][][][][][][][][][[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][

READ FROM THE START AND MORE ON AO3 HERE:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19248328/chapters/45772732

[nautilusopus]

I’m feeling angry today so here are all the entries of the Compilation listed from least terrible to “Nojima and Nomura are incompetent hacks and should be fired”.

8. The Case of Denzel OVA is the most bearable entry in the Compilation, because it does what a sequel is supposed to do: expand upon the lore of the established setting while showing us more about the characters in it. It's a shame, because I think this also might be the least acknowledged entry in it, apart from maybe Before Crisis, perhaps partially because it has no official English dub. In this case, we get to see Denzel finally fleshed out beyond "the littlest geostigma patient that Cloud needs to win the big game for!" He joins up with a group of salvagers, and we see everyone trying to piece the world back together following the complete collapse of the government, the economy, their primary energy source, and the deaths of millions, where they're immediately set upon by disease and societal tensions between what used to be the "upper class" and the slum dwellers that have always had it this way, more or less. 

What the fuck, this is what Advent Children should have been entirely. Except with Cloud and his friends, and not Denzel, because screw Denzel, I wanna see what Avalanche has been up to. (We never get to see what Avalanche has been up to, and we never will.)

That being said, even Case of Denzel didn't manage to not fuck up royally, and it has a giant huge plothole in the form of forgetting to account for an entire goddamn year because it forgot Advent Children was set two years after the OG and not one. Whoops.

7. Advent Children Complete, which I'm treating as a separate entry from Advent Children -- Advent Children is a fucking mess with a nonsensical plot and wonky character motivations that, word of god, were literally just there because they figured it's how the fans wanted to be pandered to the best and not because they thought the motivations would be good or interesting (nothing like a content creator that openly states he thinks his target audience are morons!). It's slightly lower on the list than Advent Children vanilla because A) it looks slightly less ugly due to the Bluray release, B) Denzel's and Marlene's child actors got too old and they had to find younger ones for the redub, and these newer actors are actually better and significantly less obnoxious, and C) it has My Chemical Romance doing the theme song. 

These are all very shallow reasons, admittedly. You'd think it'd be lower because the added scenes help fill in some plot holes, but they were badly added scenes that meshed very poorly with the story at large, and because of that they actually created about as many new plot holes as they filled in. Shite movie. 

6. Advent Children vanilla. This is a good place to discuss why they're both on the bottom of the list, since they're pretty much the same movie. Shitty plot, characters are a sad shadow of what they used to be, and they did some weird thing with Cloud where he unlearns everything from the original game for the sake of cheap conflict and the fans try and defend it like it's actually deep and coherent. Not to mention some more bad decisions: Renu and Rude are good guys now and friends with Cloud and Tifa despite murdering their friends along with everyone else in Sector 7, Marlene is no longer Barret's daughter because ewwww, black people, and Tseng and Rufus are retconned back to life for literally no damn reason at all (they contribute nothing to the movie. Nothing. They even waste the dramatic reveal with the sheet by having him say "yeah it's me Rufus but I'm gonna wear this sheet for no reason and rip it off dramatically revealing ME, RUFUS SHINRA"). As far as I'm concerned they both just died again right after this movie. 

Basically, Advent Children was bad and stupid, but it was pointless as well, which in this case works to its advantage: we relearn the exact same lessons but in a shittier, more juvenile way, wind up at the exact same point we started at by the movie's conclusion, and get confirmation that there were, in fact, zero fucking stakes. At least it didn't take a scalpel to the franchise lore at large, like everything else on this list. 

5. The Last Order OVA is basically Square Enix frantically trying to save face after they've realised that, "Oh shit, our complete inability to proofread the first drafts of the scrips we've been running with have resulted in every single bit of VII lore introduced in these things wildly contradicting one another!" Basically, Last Order is a very pretty fight scene with Zack in it animated by Madhouse that occasionally tries to have a plot. This is the entry that began the handwave of "oh, all the entries in the Compilation are different because they're all told from a difrerent point of view! It's up to you do decide what really happened!" Lazy, bad, the beginning of the end. It looked nice, but I can't even enjoy the fight scene in the reactor properly because Zack doesn't immediately get bodied like he should've, which wouldn't have been very much fun to watch but at least would've made more sense; as well as the weird bit where they tried to imply Cloud was always infected with Jenova and mako-enhanced from birth? Somehow?

Also, the "Last Order" in question seems to be Zack telling Cloud to run. Cloud, who is in a vegetative state, and even if he weren't, can't even walk. Sure, he'll get right on that.

4. Case of Novels. These things suck and are terrible and look like they were written by a third grader. That's not just a "lol these are terrible" jab, either. I mean they literally read like they were written by a child with a very basic grasp of how to put sentences together. All of them are structured like so:

Tifa was very sad, because Cloud wasn't talking to her. Tifa thought that maybe Cloud felt sad because his friends were dead. Then Tifa thought about her adventures with her friends from Avalanche, the friends that she was best friends with two years ago. Cloud and Tifa had lots of adventures with them, but they were sad by the end of it because Aeris died, and then Tifa thought that Cloud was probably thinking about that too. Tifa felt bad about that. 

They are bad to look at, just objectively, regardless of the content in them. Case of Barret's is by far the worst in that regard, to the point where I'm not entirely certain I didn't read a bootleg fake version of it, because there is no way Square Enix would charge actual money for a product that was meant to be released to the masses and presented as canon to Final Fantasy VII. Except that they did. (I can also believe it because it further works towards the goal of erasing Barret from the story entirely, more on this later.)

As far as the actual story content, I'd probably have to say Case of Lifestream White/Black are the worst, due to some weird nonsense where Aeris just hangs out in the Lifestream and watches people like it's a spectral break room, and Sephiroth grumbles and pines over Cloud like a jilted ex-boyfriend because Nojima forgot there was anything else to his character. These, like Advent Children, are pointless, but they’re pointless to the extent that it’s absurd they even exist -- there's apparently an entire third Shinra bastard running around out there, and he has zero bearing on anything ever, and never will again. What Shinra bastard? Who? Kadaj murdered a whole town offscreen or something, but I guess it wasn’t relevant, don’t know why we brought it up.

3. Before Crisis. Japan-exclusive mobile game where Square stops even bothering trying to hide their contempt for anyone not in the "marketable niche" (i.e: all the white male characters ages 16-27) and begins writing them out of the story. It's not enough that they take his goddamn daughter away from him on the basis that he's prospecting oil, which is fucking stupid in and of itself -- this is the story that decides Avalanche, the group Barret founded in response to Shinra murdering everyone in his hometown because they didn't want any competition in the form of coal, wasn't actually even Barret's. It was some other guy's, and grrrr he was a terrorist even more terroristier than OG Avalanche was because moral ambiguity is gonna go over our audience’s heads so let’s just make it nice and cleanly black and white for them. I've ranted about this before, but it's even worse that the fans seem to have no problem incorporating these changes into everything, because who gives a rat's ass about Barret, right? There was some dumb thing about Nanaki finding a girl catdog to have those babies he has in the epilogue, and the Ravens, but it's all just more of the same introducing samefaced teeny boppers that the fans love so much at the expense of everything else.

2. SPEAKING OF WHICH, Crisis Core, the king of samefaced teeny boppers consuming the franchise. I flipflop a lot on whether this one is the worst or not, but in addition to having the same problem as Before Crisis times fifty, I consider it as bad as it was because you could tell it could have been really good, and that's honestly heartbreaking. The first hour or so kicks things off with a really good start, introducing Zack as this cocksure jackass trying to make a name for himself, and his mentor Catchphrase Man. Then around the point where Banora gets firebombed it all sort of goes downhill, and you realise a lot of the credit you were giving it wasn't actually due. Zack being a gloryhound for Shinra and believing Soldier to be a bastion of good wasn't supposed to be a character flaw like it should've. Genesis almost singlehandedly ruins the entire thing by eating all the screentime in the word with his obnoxious motivations that made zero sense, and in a flashback we see he was always a fucking tool so there's no reason to feel sorry for him in the first place. He's actually secretly responsible for the iconic Nibelheim scene, of all fucking things (GENESIS DID NIBELHEIM would make a good bumper sticker). Tifa gets thirty seconds of screentime. Cloud doesn't fare much better, which is a seriously huge problem considering he's the goddamn protagonist of the entire franchise. He gets a single 49 second cutscene of them establishing "okay he's best friends with Zack" and then nothing else, ever, unless you want to count the three emails he sends him that you could tell were supposed to lead to more bonding cutscenes that were ultimately cut for more GENESIS, YOU LOVE HIM SO MUCH RIGHT GUYS??? Aeris fares even worse than Cloud and Tifa combined, being barely in it, and Square having decided that Zack actually made all her life decisions for her. That's right -- literally everything about her character? Zack did it. Fuck you. 

It's also this high up for what it represents, I suppose -- in the fanbase, you see a whole lot of "Well, Cloud lost Zack and Aeris so now he has no friends and nothing else to live for in this world because he didn't really care about anyone else besides them". It seems everyone forgot that not only was there more to Cloud’s character than "his friends are dead so he’s sad” and his friends being dead was only a small part of it, but that there were seven other people we spent about sixty hours establishing in no uncertain terms that they loved him unconditionally and that he felt the same way. Crisis Core is what finally got people to start disregarding the rest of the main fucking cast from the OG, and it was very, very deliberate. An old unwashed man in his late thirties jaded about his future in spaceflight, a catdog with daddy issues, a black man with a character arc revolving around fatherhood, a triple agent paper-pusher that had a furry phase right in the middle of his midlife crisis, two women that are both alive and have agency of their own, and hell, even a young man with severe psychological issues that had a very strong bond with all of these people even though most of them aren't young and attractive white people and realises he can count on them all for support, are not as marketable as the cast of Crisis Core. Square knows this. You can't wring any sex appeal out of "happy supportive environment" or "female characters", since most of the fanbase tends to be straight women in their late teens and early twenties. So, everyone in both those categories gets shafted. And, as mentioned, the fans seem all to happy to run with this, given the overwhelming amount of material that seems to disregard everyone else in Cloud's life that wasn't Zack (and sometimes Aeris gets acknowledged because all she's good for anymore is a corpse to motivate Cloud) as unimportant, and not really his friends. 

The fact that the entire game seems to undermine the original's tone very badly almost seems like a nitpick at this point next to very intentional racism and sexism and pandering, but I'm gonna bring that up too. The new version of Zack's death scene flies directly in the face with how they were handled in the original game, and is more in line with Cait Sith's than anything else's -- that death isn't heroic, or glorious, or profound. It's just sad and fucking hurts, and it's something that happens. They made that pretty clear the first time around when he just gets gunned down on a cliff in complete silence. You can practically hear the "so it goes" in the background. Naturally, this time around they gave him an entire speech about dreams an honour and then when he dies he goes to heaven (on a planet with no heaven) and he's successfully become a hero. Fucking bravo. Or the bit where, as has been pointed out, you have a wacky scene where Zack meets a young Yuffie, and she skips off amongst the corpses of her people that Zack himself just finished making in the name of glory and imperialism (not a character flaw, though! He’s a good guy!). There's an astounding lack of self-awareness in everything the game does. 

AND IT COULD HAVE BEEN SO GOOD, and that's why I still debate whether or not it belongs in the Worst spot or not. It could have been great to see a non 49-second version of the friendship that eventually motivated Zack to die for Cloud, but then they forgot to write it, because why write that when you could have these four cutscenes with Genesis? It would've been great to see Aeris and her relationship with running from Shinra that caused her to grow up street smart and how that caused Zack to maybe question Shinra's motivations, but them they forgot to write it because HEY LOOK HERE'S SOME MORE WING SYMBOLISM WITH ANGEAL DO YOU GET IT THERE'S ONLY ONE OF THEM AND HIS NAME IS SPELLED ALMOST LIKE ANGEL, I'M WORKING WITH GENESIS NOW HIS NAME MEANS BEGINNING LOL. It could have been great to see Tifa getting her start with Avalanche, but after her obligatory cameo in Nibelheim she's swallowed into the void again because they forgot she was ever anything besides Cloud's love interest, and fuck you we gotta show you this Genesis scene in Modeoheim. It could have been great to meet a younger Barret, and wonder how at odds he would've been with Zack, a man who's been drinking the Soldier kool-aid for years, but instead we got Genesis reciting poetry. It could have been great to see the workings of Soldier before it all went to shit, but instead we got fucking goddamn Genesis. Genesis Genesis Genesis. 90% of the screentime in this game that should've gone to developing Zack's character for one fucking second, let alone other things, just gets eaten up by Genesis. God I hate Genesis.

1. Dirge of Cerberus.

I'll try and keep this brief because I can go on about Dirge of Cerberus all fucking day if you let me. 

If Crisis Core is terrible because it had the shadows of great ideas that were terribly mishandled in the name of turning a profit, Dirge is sort of its opposite, in that at no point did anything even remotely resembling a good idea come anywhere near the building this was being written in during the entirety of its production. It's bad. Thoroughly bad. There are no redeeming qualities. It's ugly, it plays badly, 90% of it is cutscenes* and the remaining 10% is invisible walls, the plot is a fucking mess by anyone's standards whether you're familiar with the franchise or not, it is the reigning fucking king of tone issues, the design choices are the worst of what Nomura has to offer by a country mile, and the characters are the worst Square has ever made in the Final Fantasy series. 

Vincent is the protagonist, and since he just wants a nap and is too cool to care that means you don't really give a rat's ass about what's going on either, which you wouldn't have anyway, because Dirge's plot isn't so much rife with plot holes as it is a giant, gaping hole, where bits of plot occasionally drift by, mangled beyond recognition by the plane crash in 1976 that claimed their lives. Did you know there was an even more secreter army living under Midgar that somehow survived the entire city being demolished with cosmic hellfire, a pandemic with no cure, and a giant sword battle dropping more debris on them? Did you know Hojo actually didn't die, he invented the internet in 30 seconds in his death throes and then invented the technology to upload minds to computers, AKA created a fucking goddamn technological singularity, and then uploaded himself in a .zip file until he could blow up the world for shits and giggles completely unrelated to anything even remotely having to do with Jenova? Did you know Lucrecia wasn't actually a terrible person that willingly carried Hojo's child and injected it with science juice for the sake of their careers, but was actually a really nice lady and is really sorry you guys, and was just an unwilling womb for Sephiroth to be birthed from, and was pretty much the Madonna? Did you know that apparently the Actual Goddamn Apocalypse wasn't enough to convince the Planet it was dying, but someone stabbing a few thousand people was? Did you know Reeve decided to call the events of the main game the "Jenova Wars" because he doesn't actually know what a war is? Did you know mako actually makes you live forever instead of giving you brain damage and killing you? Did you know the Lifestream is pretty much the same thing as the internet? Did you know Vincent was a paedophile? Did you know someone decided Genesis still needed to be fucking alive? 

Oh yeah, and also there are such stellar characters such as Red the Red, Blue the Blue, White the Clean, Black the I-Have-A-Jockstrap-Taped-Over-My-Mouth-Because-Fuck-You-Why-Not, and Orange the Clear, who is physically 9 years old but mentally 19 so it's totally not paedophilia if we have a weird romance between her and Vincent (never mind that if we're going by that logic, you now have a 19 year-old dating a 61 year-old, which is... not a whole lot better.) 

And hey, remember that one scene where Shalua completely unnecessarily died by holding a door she could've easily ducked through, and then she pissed herself upon death, and the game took the time to show the piss puddle, and Yuffie was super upset about it despite the fact that they never interacted even once but the writers forgot about that, and then after all that shit she didn't even die in her own melodramatic death scene, and then she did die anyway at the end of the game and all you can think about is the piss and god Shalua is so fucking pointless and looks so fucking stupid. Look at this hot mess: 

She’s a scientist! Or something. 

Even by Final Fantasy standards these designs are fucking ridiculous.

There is nothing redeeming about this game. It's like a gift that keeps on giving -- every time I look back at it, I discover a new plothole that I didn't catch the first time before. It's easier to hate than Crisis Core, though, which just makes me sad. At least Dirge never had anything going for it in the first place. I paid two bucks for my copy and I still feel ripped off.

* Okay, that’s an exaggeration -- 50% of it is cutscenes. Four hours out of an eight hour game is cutscenes. Do you realise how fucking many cutscenes that is? It’s a lot. (And yet not one of them has any plot in them HEYOOOO)

[nataliesnews]

Thank you facebook, threats against those who would normally be Netanyahu's cohorts, the hypocrisy of the filth from the Balfour house, a marathon by Palestinians 6.6.2021

I started writing this letter a few days ago. But today before I send it there are two things I want to write about and the one is the threats that are not being made not even to those on the left…..but now also to Bennett, etc. who are pretty much on the same political line as Netanyahu but are trying to form an alternative government. As for the allegations by the right that the threats being made now are the same as those we at Balfour made against the criminal they support never called to kill or harm him or any of his Mafia brood but just to get rid of him legitimately. All this proves that what I said about the attacks against Palestinians and Arabs …..that it would eventually turn back on their own kind was true. Was there not an animal which ate its own tail. During protests outside the homes of Yamina members over the past week, some characterized Bennett’s move to sit in a coalition with centrist Yesh Atid and the Islamist Ra’am party as “treason,” and carried placards proclaiming “Leftists. Traitors.” In other words anyone against the criminal is a traitor. One of the members of the new hopefully government has also been harassed and a member of Meretz has left her home with her children

 The piece of filth from the Balfour house which will have to be decontaminated when they leave now made a statement to the effect that all the statements and demonstrations of the right against candidates of the parties hoping to replace him are completely democratic and again saying that the “threats” made against him and his family were much worse. He forgets when he stood on the balcony before the assassination of  Rabin where his supporters were showing Rabin with a Kafia, portraying him as a Nazi, an enemy of the Jewish people and calling for his assassination  and one of the speakers at this rally was the filth from Balfour.

    Shin Bet head in rare warning: Stop violent discourse now, someone will get hurt

Citing spike in online incitement, Argaman urges leaders to speak out; statement comes as 'change government' set to oust Netanyahu, who posted Friday about the Biblical spies

https://www.timesofisrael.com/shin-bet-head-in-rare-warning-stop-violent-discourse-now-someone-will-get-hurt/

And another very worrying thing

   This was written much before all the above.

 I had just got into bed when my phone peeped. I was taken back to my first years in Jerusalem. My friend, Tamar, had made friends with a teenager, Nachum, from Jerusalem,  who was with a youth group  on the kibbutz. When we came to Jerusalem, we visited the family, Carmela and Shmuel Dunkelman. They made me a “daughter of the house”.  Having no family here, it was a warm place for me. When my mother died and I went looking for a flat it was Shmuel who went with me each time. We found a wonderful flat but I was a trifle short of the price  and there was nowhere I could borrow it…or even take on myself extra debts. The following week I saw the same sort of flat advertised in the next block. I said  to them what is the use. I cannot afford it and Shmuel said go and see and I did. It had fewer accessories than the previous flat including no cupboards but I could afford it and lived happily in it for nearly 45 years with wonderful neighbours. And suddenly here living in Nofim, there is a message from the youngest daughter, Zippie,  whom I never thought would remember me,  that she had seen me on facebook at a demonstration. I was thrilled. I had  moved into the flat with a rackety bed, an even more rackety small cupboard, a carpet bought in the old city and the wooden carrier for my goods from SA when I had come to Israel. A friend from SA who had brought her mother to see the flat said that when they walked out her mother burst into tears and said, “Such poverty” and she said,” Now she has a roof over her head which is her own and she will slowly buy what she needs.” I never forgot my friends, Shmuel and Carmela who had encouraged to take this big step.  I fell asleep feeling the warmth of those in the past who had helped me.

 I again say that it is not that I am indifferent in any way to attacks on Jews by Arabs but because the other side of the picture is often not published.  I just know that things here are getting more and more violent. As you can see from these reports below. Also the pdf which I have just attached is the story of a grandfather who wanted to return his granddaughter

to her mother in one of the streets in Sheikh which has been turned into a ghetto. Only the residents are allowed in and out and the religious who have “bought” houses in the area. I guess we learned from other countries where they pushed us into ghettos.

  Yesterday we went as on every Friday to Sheikh Jarrah. When we arrived shirts were being distributed to many young people who were to run a marathon which they did from Sheikh Jarrah to Silvan. Here they are warming up dafke with a young Palestinian woman leading them.

  I had a bad feeling about it and was sure that the soldiers would  not allow it to pass without at least stun grenades. Nothing of course was published on the Israeli media but on El Jazeera I saw that stun grenades had been thrown and also rubber bullets but I am not sure about the latter. Nothing on facebook either but when we marched and stopped outside one of the houses which has been taken over by the religious,  the commander of the soldiers was just looking for a chance to arrest someone and did. A woman who should have minded her tongue and called on of the soldiers a Nazi. The commander told her he would arrest her for standing in the street (just so) and then afterwards when we went back they rushed into the crowd and pulled her out and arrested her. He also tried to arrest this woman who was standing outside on of the houses but the crowd seemed to be able to stop that. Notice the young woman who is standing with arms crossed and a tough guy stance. She stood there with such a smirk on her face that I would have loved to slap her. But I just went up and told her that in some time in the future she would look at the picture and be ashamed.

   For a full report on the marathon you can read this

  https://megafon-news.co.il/asys/archives/335002

  And as a titbit:

Jewish extremists reportedly attempted major firebomb attack on Palestinians

Group gathered Molotov cocktails and arranged to target bus stop used by West Bank workers near Afula this month; attack didn't happen since they failed to find the hidden weapons

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-extremists-reportedly-attempted-major-firebomb-attack-on-palestinians/

 Meretz MK flees her home after right-wing threats to her baby, protests outside

Prospective gov't minister Tamar Zandberg comes under attack after article on right-wing site falsely claims she wants to imprison Chabad members who offer phylacteries to minors

https://www.timesofisrael.com/meretz-mk-leaves-home-after-right-wing-threats-to-her-baby/

 And at least one light in the darkness

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/arab-student-awarded-medal-from-college-for-saving-jewish-man-from-lynch-669841

  Thank you facebook, threats against those who would normally be Netanyahu's cohorts, the hypocrisy of the filth from the Balfour house, a marathon by Palestinians 6.6.202