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workersolidarity · 3 months

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[ 📹 Civil Defense crews work to recover the dead and wounded after yet another Zionist army airstrike targeted a civilian residence in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, killing 6 Palestinians and wounding several others. 📈 The current death toll in Gaza now exceeds 37'232 Palestinians killed, while another 85'037 others have been wounded. ]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

251 DAYS OF GENOCIDE: GAZANS STARVING TO DEATH AS ISRAELI OCCUPATION CONTINUES CLOSURE OF CROSSINGS, UNRWA WARNS OF CATASTROPHIC ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTHCARE RISKS IN GAZA, 61% OF GAZANS HAVE LOST AT LEAST ONE FAMILY MEMBER IN THE GENOCIDE, 32 DEATHS FROM MALNUTRITION, HALF OF ALL CROPLAND DAMAGED BY WAR, MASS MURDER CONTINUES UNABATED

On 251st day of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 3 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 30 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, while another 105 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

It should be noted that as a result of the constant Israeli bombardment of Gaza's healthcare system, infrastructure, residential and commercial buildings, local paramedic and civil defense crews are unable to recover countless hundreds, even thousands, of victims who remain trapped under the rubble, or who's bodies remain strewn across the streets of Gaza.

This leaves the official death toll vastly undercounted as Gaza's healthcare officials are unable to accurately tally those killed and maimed in this genocide, which must be kept in mind when considering the scale of the mass murder.

Speaking at a press conference published on its social media platforms, the World Health Organization's Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that the organization had documented “32 deaths in Gaza as a result of malnutrition, including 28 cases of children under the age of five.”

Ghebreyesus went on to add that “Since October 7, we have documented 480 attacks on health facilities in the West Bank, resulting in 16 deaths and 95 injuries.”

Continuing, Ghebreyesus went on to state that “Peace is the best medicine” to the catastrophic conditions faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Additionally, Ghebreyesus said he welcomed the resolution passed by the United Nations Security Council proposing a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal, urging all parties to "take steps to immediately implement the ceasefire decision in Gaza and put a permanent end to the suffering of millions of people."

Additionally, in separate comments, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) issued a warning about the catastrophic environmental and health risks faced by the Palestinian population of Gaza.

UNRWA cautioned that "As of 9 June, over 330,000 tons of waste have accumulated in or near populated areas across Gaza, posing catastrophic environmental [and] health risks. Children rummage through trash daily."

The Palestinian refugee organization went on to state that "Unimpeded humanitarian access and [a] ceasefire now are crucial to restore humane living conditions."

In other news, an opinion poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, conducted in the Gaza Strip, found that 80% of residents of the Strip have lost a relative or had a relative injured in Israel's ongoing genocidal war.

Further, 61% of Palestinians said that one or more members of their family had been killed during the war, while 65% said one or more members of their family were injured in the Israeli entity's war of genocide.

With regards to civilian resources, just 26% of Gazans said they were able to reach a place where they could receive assistance, while 72% say they can receive assistance but with great difficulty or risk, and another 2% said they could not.

Additionally, 64% of residents of the Gaza Strip said they only have enough food for one or two days, while 36% said that they do not have enough food for even one or two days.

According to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, which is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental academic research Institution, the sample size of the poll conducted included 1'570 people, of whom, 760 were interviewed face-to-face in the occupied West Bank in 76 residential locations, and 750 people were surveyed from the Gaza Strip in 75 locations.

In more news, according to data analyzed by the United Nations and published in the Hebrew

media, more than half of Gaza's agricultural lands have been degraded by the by the Israeli occupation's ongoing genocidal war in Gaza.

The data accumulated for the study revealed a large rise in the destruction of orchards, field crops and vegetables in the Gaza Strip.

The UN used imagery taken between 2017 and 2025 by UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) found that 57% of Gaza's permanent crop fields and arable lands critical for food security have shown a major decline in density and health.

"In May 2024, crop health and density across the Gaza Strip showed a marked decline compared to the average of the previous seven seasons,” UNOSAT said, adding that “this deterioration is attributed to conflict-related activities, including razing, heavy vehicle movement, bombing, and shelling.”

The UN also found that crop fields, orchards and greenhouses across the Gaza Strip had sustained significant damage, with an estimated 151-sq. km of agricultural land, making up about 41% of the enclave's territory.

Meanwhile, the Zionist aggression against the Gaza Strip continues unabated as the occupation continued committing massacres across the enclave.

Following a tour of West Asia by US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, where the US's top diplomat attempted to secure a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal, violent airstrikes and artillery shelling targeted several areas of the Gaza Strip.

In the Central Gaza Governate, the area's Civil Defense announced the recovery of three bodies found in a bombed-out house in the Nuseirat Camp.

In the meantime, Gaza's Media Office confirmed that the number of humanitarian aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip had decreased by 12% from levels last week, further exacerbating the catastrophic humanitarian conditions being endured by starving Gazans.

South of Gaza, the Al-Qassam Brigades, belonging to the Hamas resistance movement, stated that its forces were engaged in street fighting with the invading Israeli occupation army west of Rafah, while witnesses reported seeing Israeli Apache helicopters and Zionist gunboats opening fire towards the neighborhood.

Reporting states that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) started a new ground operation, invading west of Rafah, near the Al-Alam roundabout near the coast.

More than 30'000 displaced Palestinians were forcibly displaced again, abandoning their tents to sleep in the streets a distance from the occupation's advancing Merkava tanks and armored vehicles, while large numbers of displaced civilians were wounded as a result falling artillery shells and Israeli gunfire.

Similarly, occupation forces detonated entire residential squares in the Yabna and Shaboura Refugee Camps in the Rafah Governate, while intense artillery shelling pummeled neighborhoods east of Khan Yunis.

Local sources are also reporting intense occupation artillery shelling of residential homes in the Al-Mawasi area, north of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, wounding a number of civilians.

Meanwhile, north of Gaza, several civilians were killed, and others wounded, following the bombing of the Israeli occupation army on a house for the Shanioura family, in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.

Similarly, IOF warplanes bombed a residential home belonging to the Azzam family, also in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, killing 6 civilians and wounding a number of others.

Israeli occupation forces also began a new invasion into the south of the Gaza City, coinciding with violent artillery shelling and airstrikes.

Further, an occupation bombing on the Ezbet-Beit Hanoun area in northern Gaza killed one civilian and wounded several others.

Additionally, an Israeli drone bombed a gathering of Palestinian civilians on Al-Rashid Street near the Gaza Port, resulting in the death of one person and the injury of several others.

Zionist artillery shelling also hammered Al-Sika Street in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.

In the Central Governate, Zionist fighter jets bombed a residential house belonging to the Al-Louh family in the Al-Hasayna neighborhood of Al-Nuseirat, resulting in the deaths and wounding of four Palestinians, most of them being children. The deaths included Shams Al-Louh, his wife, and their two children.

Another occupation air raid targeted the village of Al-Mughraqa, north of the Al-Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, killing 5 Palestinians.

In a statement, medical staff from Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat Camp stated that the medical center had “received 5 martyrs and 8 injured, as a result of an occupation bombing that targeted a gathering of civilians in the town of Al-Mughraqa.”

Another civilian was murdered, and several others wounded, after occupation warplanes bombed a civilian residence belonging to the Jabr family in the Bureij Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, after which, the wounded were transported to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

Zionist aircraft also bombed an area in the vicinity of the power plant north of the Nuseirat Camp.

In more tragic news, a young man and a child, a young girl, died as a result of wounds sustained during the Al-Nuseirat massacre last weekend.

Elsewhere, another civilian was killed, and two more wounded, resulting from an Israeli bombing of a civilian home in the Bureij Camp, in central Gaza, on Wednesday evening.

As a result of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the endlessly rising death toll now exceeds 37'232 Palestinians killed, including over 15'000 children and upwards of 10'000 women, while another 85'037 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

June 13th, 2024.

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lets-try-some-writing · 2 years

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Do you have any headcanons about Megatron when he was a miner? Specifically about disability? Also do you have any headcanons on the workings of Cybertronian mines?(mining ethics are one of my special interests lol)

I have spent the past hour reading about mining operations and overall functions. And yet I can't even bring myself to be mad about it because it was so interesting. With that said I hope you enjoy this little bit of writing! I really love world building!

Mining Operations on Cybertron

Recruitment

D-16 was picked up and sent to the mines the moment he emerged from the well of allsparks and was unable to provide the guardian his name. There was no welcome package or even any explanation as to what was going on. He was just shoved into a large transport alongside the other unfortunate mechs who came out of the well without names and ferried off.

He arrived at the mines confused and innocent, however that swiftly changed after his recruitment. D-16 was put into a scout group composed of other freshly forged mechs and one to two older mechs used to the job. He spent the first couple years of his life in this group, scouting the surface for possible energon deposits and climbing into treacherous pits to examine them for his "employers". After watching several members of his scouting group die to accidents and natural hazards, he quickly learned that his life was worth next to nothing and that he and his brethren were seen as tools, easy to replace and disposable.

It was during his time as a scout that he learned about the castes and the functioning of Cybertronian society. During one of the few times he was allowed to enter into the city for some purpose or another, he was enlightened to the true difference in lifestyle for those above ground. He saw mechs living on the streets, stealing and scavenging, but at least still able to retain their freedom. He witnessed nobles parading around doing whatever they pleased and indulging in every luxury. And then lastly he saw the average middle caste mechs, working day in and day out just to live a reasonable life but never achieving anything notable for the most part.

He saw the huge gap between the elite, the middle caste, and the low caste bots and he despised it.

Open Pit Mining

After proving himself capable through training several batches of new recruits, D-16 was "promoted" and sent to work with the pit mining crew. His job essentially amounted to digging out the hole in the ground that the more experienced miners would then use to construct a proper mine.

It was dull work. Day in and day out he would swing his pick and use his saw to chip away at the metal of Cybertron's soil and haul it away to be processed. The dusk clogged his vents, making it hard for him to cool off properly. There were several occasions where other less sturdy mechs outright died due to overheating. D-16 very nearly died himself, if it weren't for an older miner taking him out of the sight of their overseers and cleaning his vents for him, he would have perished.

The energon rations were also subpar. The quality of the energon was absolute rubbish and exchanged any form of pleasant taste for nutrient value. Still, as a large mech with rations containing not nearly enough energon for a mech of his size, he consumed his rations as quickly as possible to avoid the very common fights that broke out. More often than not, the larger mecha were given rations meant for bots half their size, often leading them to fight and steal others rations. D-16 abstained from such things, even stepping in at times, but the sight did serve to further cement his distaste of the caste system even further.

Thankfully D-16 was never seriously injured or suffered from any noteworthy energon deficiency during his time as a pit miner. And by Primus is he thankful for it. He saw what happened to mecha who had a health problem that couldn't be fixed with a weld, patch, or small energon transfusion.

As the overseers of the mining operation still had to adhere to some basic laws, a medical team was called in every few weeks to look over the miners and tend to any injuries that were worth being seen to. D-16 quickly came to the conclusion that anything that cost more than a handful of credits to fix was something that medics were ordered to ignore. He could only watch in horror as one of his fellows, an unfortunate mech who had his leg torn straight off in an accident, was left to bleed out.

When he tried to help the dying mech he was pulled away by some of the older miners who hushed him and pointed out other younglings who were attempting the same thing. D-16 was once again left horrified as the mecha attempting to help the suffering miner were beat for their efforts and ordered away. There was nothing D-16 could do as his fellow miner died right before his optics even though there were medics less than a few meters away.

Underground Mining

After yet again proving his worth by working hard and training up the newbies who came from the scouting groups, D-16 was "promoted" once more and joined the ranks of the elder miners. He really wasn't all that old, but often life expectancy within the low castes, especially the mines, is not exemplary. Not only that, but if he thought that being a pit miner was dangerous, then his new station as an underground miner was infinitely more so.

Underground miners died to accidents, cave ins, injury, and any number of others things regularly. Some were even grabbed by creatures in the deep and others straight up vanished after falling into particularly large crevasses. There was no guarantee of survival, not even for miners with centuries of experience.

Thankfully the elder miners were kind and put D-16 on excavation duty until he was accustomed to the darkness and the dangers of the underground. And soon enough he learned what was required of him and joined his elders in mining away.

During his time as an underground miner he was made aware of some of the more intimate customs of his caste. He was taught to listen to the hidden songs of his comrades and swiftly figured out how to add to them. He learned how to snatch small portions of unprocessed energon and how to not get caught with it. And later, one he had lived more than a few years underground, he was invited to join his elders in their small celebrations and story telling sessions.

Through all this he really began to feel like he was part of a family, an odd family, but a family all the same. Hence he started doing what his elders had done for him, teaching the younglings and protecting them until they understood what was required of them. And against the better wishes of his peers, D-16 silently began planning for change.

Processing

Eventually D-16 became trusted enough to be "promoted" to the processing division. A function that was considered a great "honor" among miners due to how reading and writing were a skill taught upon the "promotion" being given. And while innocent enough for other miners, ones complacent with their place in life, for D-16, learning to read and write was a game changer.

During his working hours he would crush the energon crystals collected and send them through the purifier. But when off the clock D-16 watched, listened, and asked questions. He would talk with the dock workers and haulers that came to collect the energon, and through them he gained some contraband reading material. By working hard and winning a few card games against the shuttles that came by occasionally, D-16 was given the tools needed to write. With these two things, D-16 wrote his first set of poems, ones depicting his life as a miner.

Under an alias D-16 started to stir up the masses with his works that slowly stopped being poems and instead turned into controversial essays on the working of Cybertron. It wasn't a grand following by any means, but he was getting the average mecha to begin asking questions. And while he didn't know it at the time, his writing became the foundations of his revolution.

His peers kept his writing habits a secret, but eventually word got out to the overseers and D-16 knew he was done for. He was hauled out of his quarters and had the life beaten out of him. He expected death, but instead the overseers saw his build and had another plan in mind for him.

Before D-16 could even process what had happened to him, he was already on a transport to the Gladiatorial arena.

Extra

Long after his time in the mines, Megatron's vents still ache on occasion due to the constant abuse they suffered during his early years. He also feels phantom chills where old wounds he had carefully hidden from overseers once burned. And on top of that, he regularly finds his joints flaring up in pain from his time doing heavy labor nonstop.

He takes pain suppressors when he it becomes unbearable but his aches and pains are lingering scars from his origins.

#megatron #d-16 #transformers #maccadam #transformers prime #mining on cybertron #look at all the fake lore I just made up #honestly not my worst piece of writing #I hope I met all the request requirements

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rabbitechoes · 4 months

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𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐕𝐒. 𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐑

this post will be a spin-off of my May 2024 Month in Review where i cover the wild rollercoaster that was the Drake/Kendrick Lamar beef that may or may not be still ongoing idk!

After some relatively petty back-and-forth's from Kendrick Lamar and Drake over the last two months, things did seem to get pretty heated between the two over the last few weeks or so. Lamar's response to Drake's poking and prodding by way of "Push Ups" and the "Taylor Made Freestyle" on the track "euphoria" seemed to push this in a direction no one was expecting. It wasn't just light jabs at Drake's artistry, it was a light dissection of his character. It was clear that Lamar wasn't here to play games and he really did harbor some resentment towards Drake. That was the tail-end of April and only a few days into May, Lamar released yet another diss track entitled ...

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"6:16 in L.A." - Kendrick Lamar

Seemingly in response to Drake's alleging that Lamar relies on Taylor Swift features for relevancy, Lamar slides on a beat with production credits from Jack Antonoff, Taylor's longtime producer, and sort of baits Drake into a response. It's just a bit more prodding, this time with Lamar taking aim at some of Drake's associates like DJ Akademiks and the rest of the OVO crew. The former currently being sued for rape and defamation as well, which ties into the themes of later diss tracks to come.

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"Family Matters" - Drake

This is where things really got messy. Drake fires back at Kendrick with a multi-part diss filled with a bunch of pretty weak jabs, like when he says "K-Dot shit is only hittin' hard when Baby Keem put his pen to it" which is just ... like ok. He also pokes at Lamar's critical success with the bar "Kendrick just opened his mouth, someone go hand him a Grammy right now" which is such a weak diss. J. Cole tried to attack from a similar angle and it didn't work. The most damning thing to come out of this diss was Drake insinuating that Lamar and the mother of his children have a strained relationship. He even accuses Lamar of domestic violence ("When you put your hands on your girl, is it self-defense 'cause she bigger than you?"). Ok, that's .... not good. This might be getting a little bit too messy, let's hope it ends so-

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"meet the grahams" - Kendrick Lamar

Not even an hour after Drake dropped "Family Matters," Kendrick fires back with the sinister, absolutely devastating "meet the grahams" diss track. Kendrick talks directly to Drake's family in this cut with bars directed at various different family members. The song opens with this almost villainous Alchemist beat and his first words are "Dear Adonis / I'm sorry that that man is your father, let me be honest" so ... we already knew this was going to get even messier. He claims Drake is a deadbeat dad and that his son deserves a better role model. In the second verse he takes aim at Drake's parents, "Dear Sandra / Your son got some habits, I hope you don't undermine them / Especially with all the girls that's hurt inside this climate / You a woman, so you know how it feels to be in alignment / With emotion, hopin' a man can see you and not be blinded." Those bars are important to Kendrick's thesis going forward. He levies some serious, albeit vague, accusations that Drake mistreats women on the regular. The second verse also addresses his father and Lamar blames him for Drake's gambling addiction (he streams on Kick gambling live). The second verse enters its home-stretch as Lamar gets absolutely venomous, "Your son's a sick man with sick thoughts, I think *** like him should die / Him and Weinstein should get fucked up in a cell for the rest their life / He hates Black women, hypersexualizes 'em with kinks of a nympho fetish / Grew facial hair because he understood bein' a beard just fit him better / He got sex offenders on ho-VO that he keep on a monthly allowance." Ouch.

As if this couldn't get any wilder, Lamar alleges in the third verse that Drake has yet ANOTHER hidden child. This one older than his son who was pushed into the limelight on Pusha T's infamous, pretty legendary "The Story of Adidon" diss. That diss changed Drake's public perception forever and I think this track might do the same once again. Kendrick closes the song with the chilling bar "Fuck a rap battle, this a long life battle with yourself." This is getting ugly and, when you're not swept up in the excitement of two of the biggest stars in music currently fighting out in public, you just feel dirty.

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"Not Like Us" - Kendrick Lamar

After that incredibly eventful Friday night, Lamar fires back with this track not even 24 hours later. A big part of the narrative against Kendrick in these disses has been that he makes "boring music." So, Kendrick slides on a DJ Mustard beat to get his message across. The result is the biggest hit to come out of this diss battle, hitting number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's a very catchy song and it shows that Kendrick CAN make a club banger. It's just a club banger that calls Drake a pedophile. The line "Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles" has been ringing in my head over the last month. It's important to point out that Drake's uncomfortable behavior towards young and/or underage girls has long been a point of contention. From his flirting with a 17 year old on stage, to his weird friendship with Millie Bobby Brown where she said he "gives [her] advice about boys," this has kind of been an open secret almost. Anyways, this was brutal. Kendrick beat Drake at his own game, gaining the chart success in the process. Maybe it's over now.

It does make me a little uncomfortable that Lamar hasn't commented on the domestic violence allegations at all, especially on this track since I believe it was recorded after the "Family Matters" diss. Maybe he will sometime this month (spoiler alert: he did not).

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QUICK BBL DRIZZY DETOUR

Amidst the chaos, Metro Boomin made the "BBL Drizzy" beat giveaway. Allowing people to do their best Drake disses over it. The track samples the song "BBL Drizzy" from King Willonius released a month prior. I detest the use of AI in music, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't singing "BBL DRIZZY!" around the house for the past month. Anyways, besides some troubling old tweets that surfaced from Metro Boomin after his re-involvement in the conflict, this was a fun detour.

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"THE HEART PART 6" - Drake

A day later, Drake responded with "THE HEART PART 6" diss which is one of the biggest fumbles in rap beef history. Drake, in what might be a Freudian slip, mentions Millie Bobby Brown by name in response to Lamar's pedophile allegations against him. He says that his team fed Kendrick the lie that he had a secret daughter, which makes absolutely no sense if you think about it for longer than 30 seconds. He continues insinuating that Lamar's kids aren't his. It's just like ... dude. Come on. The song starts with a sample of Aretha Franklin singing "Now let me see you prove it" which, is kind of a good point, but it hurts both men involved. Both have brought damning allegations against one another, but no proof has been provided.

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CONCLUSION MAYBE? FOR NOW!!!

Now that the smoke has cleared a bit, this whole thing is just ... sad. Two of the biggest stars in music today leveled serious allegations against one another with no concrete proof provided by either party. These aren't victimless allegations. Pedophilia and domestic abuse have consequences, they're traumatizing. Using them as one-ups in a rap beef seems a bit careless. Using potential victims as ammunition. I don't know, it all just seems a bit gross to me.

Alphonse Pierre, for Pitchfork, wrote a very compelling article about the beef entitled Drake and Kendrick’s Beef Is the Most Miserable Spectacle in Rap History. I encourage everyone to read it as it gives a very nice and level-headed analysis of this conflict and its consequences.

Besides that, there's been a cryptic Twitter account that popped up that seemingly has proof for some pretty damning allegations towards Drake and posts videos in the same style as The Riddler from The Batman film. DJ Akademiks, one of Drake's biggest supporters during this beef, has been sued for rape and defamation. Drake has had violent incidents at his Toronto mansion throughout the month, although they aren't confirmed to be directly related to this beef. And it's all been relatively quiet from the Kendrick camp. Who knows where this goes from here, but this was as bowling shoe ugly as it was exciting.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ thanks for reading :3

#month in review #music #2024 #rateyourmusic #music review #drake #kendrick lamar #kendrick vs drake #metro boomin

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fratboykate · 2 years

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Hola! I came upon your post regarding someone asking you about the industry and speaking about the unions.

As someone who used to work for SAG-AFTRA and left after a year. It’s in shambles. I left SAG due do to it’s mistreatment of staff and being underpaid. The Union reps don’t get the best negotiating for those who work in SAG and mind you that organization represents over 160K people in the industry! The advise I would give that person wanting to get into the industry is DON’T! Run away and find another passion. And like you said, you have to know people’s aunts or uncles or some odd networking that doesn’t apply to normal folks.

People want to get into this industry because they think it's all glitz and glamour. Let's break it down.

Sure, the most famous actors and musicians are rich and famous but they're often lonely and isolated af. You've seen the documentaries. I'm not lying. You just saw Selena's documentary. We're not even going to talk about toxic ass fandoms because you know how I feel about them.

Unless you're Shonda, Ryan Murphy, JJ, or some famous showrunner with an overall deal that the studios value you're probably getting paid shit as a writer. Rooms are getting smaller. Series orders are getting shorter. With streaming you're also not getting paid residuals. Syndication isn't happening anymore. All the ways in which writers could make a living are disappearing. Oh oh oh...and the moment a fandom doesn't get their way they think they're within their right to harass, stalk, and abuse writers because they have no idea how this industry works and the fifty seven layers that go into decision making beyond just the name on the "written by" on an episode and because they think they know how to do our jobs better than we do.

Crews work literal criminal hours for less than stellar pay. 16-18 hours days, 6 days a week, in inhuman conditions to make your favorite shows only for you to turn around and BITCH like children when you don't get your way. There is NO work life balance. People miss their children being born on the regular. People get severely injured and have to go back to work the next day because they're essential to the functioning of the set. Look up any of the stories that were coming out when IATSE almost went on strike over the pandemic so you don't see I'm exaggerating. What Hollywood does to people isn't borderline criminal. It's criminal. Full stop. We're treated like animals half the time. People are forced to lie on their time cards constantly so they don't pay us for overtime or to skirt union turnarounds.

Yeah, I do this because I love this and at this point I'm way too deep but I wouldn't recommend anyone else getting into this. I've seen what this does to people. By age 45 the bodies of people who work on crew can be battered and destroyed. Why? Because you often don't even have the time to go to the doctor. Why? Because you work 16 hours, 6 days a week. When would you have time to go get checked out if you feel something wrong? You want to know what is one of the most common ways film crew members die? Car accidents. They fall asleep driving back home. Exhaustion. After working for weeks or months on a production. 18 hour days. They don't get you a hotel close to set so you have to drive an hour back to your house to sleep for two hours before you have to drive back then you fall asleep behind the wheel and you die. It happens more often than you'd think. We do this shit because we love it but I wouldn't wish the conditions we work under on anyone.

Don't do it. It's not worth it.

#literally do ANYTHING else #except be an influencer #I live in LA and those are the worst people you'll ever meet #Hollywood #rants #anonymous #answers

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nicklloydnow · 1 year

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“As Erik Loomis retells the story, mission commander Jerry Carr, science pilot Ed Gibson and pilot William Pogue were in the midst of what would become a record 84-day mission, the last before the spacecraft was to be decommissioned, when they rebelled against NASA’s remorseless work schedule.

They knew before going up that the pace would be punishing -- 84 days of 16 hours each without a break, filled with minute-by-minute scheduling for observations of the sun and Comet Kohoutek, medical tests, photographing of the Earth below, and four spacewalks.

Other astronauts on the ground team, including the commanders of the previous two Skylab missions, advised NASA that the plans were unreasonable. None of the three astronauts on the Skylab 4 mission had been in space before, but NASA hadn’t factored in any time for them to become acclimated to conditions aloft. They were plainly overscheduled. In fact, Pogue almost immediately came down with debilitating nausea.

(…)

Almost instantly the crew fell behind schedule, and with no give in the workload, couldn’t catch up. After a month, Gibson was grousing that the mission resembled “a 33-day fire drill.” Carr informed ground control, “We would never work 16 hours a day for 84 straight days on the ground, and we should not be expected to do it here in space.”

The crew gained the reputation of “complainers,” and their exchanges with Houston lost their civility. Finally, a couple of days after Christmas, Carr wired a manifesto earthward: “We need more time to rest. We need a schedule that is not so packed. We don’t want to exercise after a meal. We need to get things under control.”

Houston’s response was chilly: The crew had to meet its schedule. On Dec. 28, the crew staged its strike. (In some accounts, it’s called a “mutiny,” which is surely too harsh.) Carr turned off the radio link with the ground and crew members spent a full day relaxing, taking things at their own pace and pursuing projects of their own.

The ground crew, stuck at the far end of a dead radio hookup, had no choice but to fume impotently. When Skylab came back online, NASA was much more amenable to discussion. Houston agreed to afford the crew full rest and meal breaks, and replace its minute-by-minute schedules with a list of tasks to be completed, leaving it to the crew to manage its own time.

(…)

But the one-day strike did force a lasting reconsideration of crew management upon NASA, contends Samir Chopra of Brooklyn College. NASA treated the crew as expendable instruments of its schedule, but Skylab 4 showed that when push came to shove the astronauts had all the control in their own hands.

Once in space, they were no longer replaceable robots and had to be treated as responsible partners if the mission was to be completed successfully. “Highly trained military types and scientists fully convinced of the value of their work are likely to push back when placed in an artificially controlled, too-tightly-regulated environment,” Chopra observed. “The lessons here are not just for manned space flight, but for any workplace environment that approximates its conditions, whether in space or on Earth.”

Loomis concludes, however, that the lessons of Skylab 4 have limited application. It’s not common for employees to have the control over management that the crew could exercise merely by turning off their radio, threatening work valued a millions of dollars a day. There wasn’t much to be learned even by 1970s labor activists from the strike in space.

“It’s hard to make new demands of employers when those employers are just going to move the jobs to Mexico, as was happening throughout the 1970s,” Loomis writes. Union organizing was heading into a dark age then, the Skylab strike notwithstanding, thanks to “the rise of conservatism and the growth of the powerful corporate lobby with the open intent of crushing the American labor movement,” he adds. We’re still living with the consequences.”

#nasa #astronauts #strike #organised labour #organized labor #union

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littlemissidontcare · 1 year

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but they damn well would put in extra hours to make sure those release dates stay in 2024. / It is literally against union rules to do that. All the unions, SAG, IATSE have very strict rules about how long an actor, a crew member can be on set and how much time they get before they can be required back on set. They can't just decide that they are going to work 2 extra hours one day. The longest an actor is allowed to be on set is 16 hours. They also have very strict rules about how soon you can be called back to set. From SAG rules - Studio Zone (Theatrical and Television): The performer is entitled to a 12 hour rest period from the time he is dismissed until the first call for the next day. When on location this is 11 hours. On location this apply from door to door, from when the actor is picked up to be driven to set and when they arrive home at the end of the day. This applies for makeup, wardrobe, hairdress, or any other purpose. So if they shoot extra hours one day the call time for the next day has to be delayed.If they are staying an hour away from a location, that 2 hours of drive time comes off the 16 hours a day they can work. There are very specific rules about this.

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hullomoon · 2 years

Text

hullomoon Voicteam 2022 works

i did a lot this VT, so here’s a very convenient post with all of the works together!

throw wishes to the well | schitt’s creek | stevie/ruth | 02:26

Stevie and Ruth make a wish

[podfic] A String of Bad Luck | schitt’s creek | david/patrick | 0:48:06

Patrick is David's good luck charm until one day the luck runs out.

[Podfic] Several Ados About One Thing | bbc sherlock | gen | multivoice | 04:35

One play, several different responses to it.

What Would You Do With 40 Oranges? | voiceteam |02:17

In which the plucky 40 Orange Glaze team Orange realize they all love gay pirates and create and perform a theme song.

[podfic] if i’m not beyond repair | schitt’s creek | david/patrick | 0:49:36

“Patrick Brewer?” the woman on the other end asks when he picks up.

“This is he.”

“Hi Mr. Brewer, it’s Stacy from Elmdale Hospital. You’re listed as the emergency contact for a patient who was just brought in?”

“Who is it?” Patrick asks, wracking his brain to try to remember who locally would list him as an emergency contact. There’s no one he’s that close to anymore. The only person here he’s ever been an emergency contact for is—

“David Rose.”

His ex-boyfriend. Right.

[podfic] night shift | our flag means death | mature | blackbonnet | 0:39:59

The man gripping on to Ed’s arm like a lifeline has wind matted hair, a rough jaw, and fingernails blackened with dirt. He’s no longer the same person Ed laid on a dock and waited an entire night for.

He doesn’t know whether to laugh, or cry.

or: Stede and his crew return to the Revenge. Ed isn't quite ready to deal with that.

[podfic] minutes into hours (hours into years) | the adventure zone | lup/barry and lup & taako | 0:21:13

Lup gets her life back, gets her body back. But those ten years in the Umbra staff have changed her, and Taako too, and bridging the difference proves harder than they expected.

[Podfic] heartless | our flag means death | blackbonnet | multivoice | 0:33:56

Stede seems determined to win Edward back. It must be why he keeps “accidentally” showing up in Edward’s life.

[podfic + script] A 40 Orange Glaze to Curb the Scurvy | our flag means death | gen | multivoice | 07:11

It had seemed like such a good idea when Stede had come up with it. A nice birthday party so his families could get to know one another. They would all gather on the Revenge in an isolated cove off Barbados. The two groups could mingle and exchange pleasantries while they had drinks, nibbles, and a ridiculously large orange glazed cake. What could possibly go wrong?

[podfic] Eternity | the adventure zone | lup & taako; blupjeans | 03:45

A glimpse of Lup's time spent in the Umbrastaff.

[Filk] Cake by the Ocean | our flag means death | gen | multivoice | 03:38

A filk about a great party

a flan recipe | original work | mature | 04:32

a sultry/dramatic reading of a flan recipe

[Podfic] Mayhem: The Chitauri Invasion | mcu and allstate ‘mayhem’ commericals | multivoice | 16:29

Audio Commercials: Just imagine what insurance would have to cover in the MCU. Then imagine Mayhem trying to sell it to you.

[Filk] We Don’t Talk About Lucius | our flag means death | gen | multivoice | 03:49

A new crew member thinks they have a stowaway. The crew of the Revenge let him know what's up.

Hello! - A Filk about Blanket Permission | multivoice | 02:58

This is a filk about requesting authors post a blanket permission statement, set to the tune of Hello! from Book of Mormon.

[Noun] Never Says [Verb] | multifandom | multivoice | 16:00

A series of madlib style stories.

#hullomoon podfics #hullomoon writes #voiceteam #voiceteam 2022 #schitts creek #ofmd #taz balance #taz #mcu #bbc sherlock #long post

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calzona-ga · 3 years

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In her unauthorized book, Lynette Rice explores the stories behind some of the ABC drama's biggest moments, including — in this exclusive excerpt — the factors that led to McDreamy's shocking death.

In How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy, author Lynette Rice recounts the ABC medical drama’s eventful 16-year history, revealing new details behind some of the show’s biggest departures. Included in the unauthorized, 320-page oral history (St. Martin’s Press, Sept. 21, $29.99) is a chapter that offers new insight into leading man Patrick Dempsey’s shocking exit in season 11 of the Shonda Rhimes-created drama. In the chapter, Rice speaks with Dempsey’s co-stars and exec producers who were present during filming of his final days on Grey’s Anatomy, and reveals claims of “HR issues” that contributed to the death of his alter-ego, Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd.

“There were HR issues. It wasn’t sexual in any way. He sort of was terrorizing the set. Some cast members had all sorts of PTSD with him,” recalls exec producer James D. Parriott, who was brought back to the series to oversee Dempsey’s exit.

In more than 80 interviews with current and former cast- and crewmembers, Rice, an editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly, also explores the show’s early days, recounts the thinking behind some of its more polarizing storylines and offers exclusive details about the show’s behind-the-scenes culture.

“After 17 seasons, fans still can’t get enough of Grey’s Anatomy,” Rice tells THR. But what went down behind the scenes was just as dramatic as what viewers saw every Thursday. I’m excited for fans to read what I learned about those early days, along with what it was like to work for Shonda Rhimes, and why the drama was so freakin’ headline-prone.”

Below, The Hollywood Reporter shares an excerpt — the full eighth chapter — from How to Save a Life, and tune in Friday to TV’s Top 5 for an interview with Rice about her book and the other big reveals she uncovered in her reporting for it.

(Reps for ABC, ABC Signature, Shondaland, and Dempsey declined comment on the reveals in Rice’s book.)

“He’s Very Dreamy, but He’s Not the Sun,” Or, How Grey’s Anatomy Loved — Then Learned to Live Without — Patrick Dempsey Ellen Pompeo may have played the titular role, but for many fans over many years, Patrick Dempsey was the real draw to Grey’s Anatomy. Some of it had to do with his celebrity: Dempsey was the most famous member of the original cast at the time of the pilot and brought with him quite a cult following from his 1987 movie Can’t Buy Me Love. But a lot of it was due to the way Rhimes wrote her McDreamy and how Dempsey depicted him. James D. Parriott I would say, “The guy would never say that,” and Shonda would say, “He’s McDreamy. He’s the perfect man. He would say that.” I’d say, “Okay. It’s your show.” Eric Buchman Shonda had a very clear idea of how important it was to keep Derek as this almost idealized love interest, not just for Meredith but for the audience. Naturally, the writers—especially writers who had been working on one-hour dramas for a while—were like, “Well, maybe have McDreamy make a big mistake in surgery and kill somebody. Or he develops an addiction of some kind. What is his deep, dark secret?” Shonda was very insistent: that’s not the character we do that with. Even when you find out he’s married, that was done in a very sympathetic way that kept him being a hero. He was wronged by his spouse and in spite of it all he was still gonna give his marriage a second chance. Stacy McKee Shonda was protective of McDreamy, but it was really with an eye toward being protective of Meredith. I don’t think the two were separate from one another. I don’t think she wanted to put something out there that maybe on the surface might seem a little frivolous. At its core, there was something really substantial that she wanted to say. She wanted to be very specific about the type of relationship values that she put out there. Tony Phelan I was in editing with Shonda once, and it was the scene where Meredith and Derek had broken up. He comes over and she’s like, “I can’t remember the last time we kissed.” And he says, “I remember. You were wearing this and you smelled of this …”

Joan Rater “Your shampoo smelled like flowers, you had that sweater on …” He described their last kiss. Tony Phelan Typically in editing you start on Derek, then you cut to Meredith for a reaction, and then you’ll go back to him. I noticed that we weren’t ever cutting back to Meredith. I asked why. Shonda said, “Because the woman in Iowa who’s watching this show wants to believe that Patrick is talking to her, and if you cut back to Meredith, it pushes them out of it.” In those special moments, we would just lock into Derek and let him do his thing. Joan Rater And he was a master at it. Patrick Dempsey He’s the ideal man, and that’s what Shonda constructed. There’s a projection [of him] onto me when you come in contact with fans, certainly with the younger and older fans. There is a certain amount of expectation. There is a responsibility to it. It made me grow, too. There were good qualities [of his] that you work on to obtain. Off camera, Dempsey was equally as charismatic to his fellow actors, crew members, and anyone who would come to visit the set. Lauren Stamile I was going in to meet him, and I remember I had this little cardigan sweater on and I took it off before I got into the room. Dempsey is one of those people—it’s almost like there’s a light shining around his body, and you feel like you’re the only person in the room. I got so hot and I remember saying, “Gosh, I would take off my sweater if I had one on because I’m so hot, but I took it off.” I was just babbling. He said, “You look nice,” and I said, “You look nicer.” I felt so awkward and he was so gracious and lovely. I was having a nervous breakdown. It’s like this “it” factor. I was like, God, whatever he has, I wish I had. I think it was very obvious how nervous I was, and he went out of his way to make sure he introduced me to everybody and made sure I felt comfortable, which he certainly didn’t have to do. But he did. Joan Rater He knew I had a giant crush on him, and he loved it. And when we’d go to table reads—I was an actress at one point in my life—they would always give me Meredith if Ellen wasn’t there. And I’d be getting my chicken tenders at craft services before the table read and he’d come up behind me and say, “Are you reading Meredith?” in my ear, like, so sexy. I’d be like, Oh my God. I mean, I could barely … I could not look at him. Tina Majorino I worked with Patrick a ton. I love him so much. We had a really great time working together. I think he’s such a great actor and he really made me laugh a lot. I feel like we had a good dynamic in scenes together, and it was always fun to play opposite him. Yes, he’s that charismatic in real life. Yes, his hair is that awesome. Yes, he is dreamy up close.

Chandra Wilson Patrick Dempsey will forever be known as Grey’s Anatomy’s McDreamy. Derek Shepherd is a permanent part of television history.

Norman Leavitt He is a big, personable guy.

Jeannine Renshaw We all love Patrick. Patrick is a sweetheart. If I saw him on the street, I’d give him a hug. I love the guy.

Mark Wilding I’ve always had a soft spot for Patrick. He really does try to do the right thing. Brooke Smith, who played Dr. Erica Hahn, remembers how Dempsey defended her when the decision was made to fire her from the show in 2008. Brooke Smith I remember calling him and saying, “Oh my God, they said they can’t write for me anymore, so I guess I’m leaving.” And he was like, “What are you talking about? You’re the only one they’re writing for.” Which at that time, it kind of did feel that way. But I guess someone didn’t like that. They gave me a statement [to release, about her departure] and I never said it. Patrick said that he actually took it out of his jacket on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and read the statement. He won’t let me forget it. He was like, “I defended you, see?” And it was true.

By season eleven, however, fans saw a disturbing break in MerDer’s once unbreakable bond. Six episodes had gone by without a peep from Derek, who was supposedly in Washington, D.C., where he had apparently made out with a research fellow. Fans began threatening to bolt if their hero didn’t return soon to Seattle. “I have never missed one episode,” wrote a fan on Dempsey’s Facebook page. “But I swear if [Rhimes] kills you off I’m done.” But there was a critical reason for Derek’s strange absence: behind the scenes, there was talk of Dempsey’s diva-like fits and tension between him and Pompeo. To help manage the explosive situation, executive producer James D. Parriott was brought back in to serve as a veritable Dempsey whisperer.

Patrick Dempsey [That] was the first year that I haven’t been in every episode. I [was] in every episode since the pilot— close to 250 episodes. That [was a] huge run. James D. Parriott Shonda needed an OG to come in as sort of a showrunner for fourteen episodes. There were HR issues. It wasn’t sexual in any way. He sort of was terrorizing the set. Some cast members had all sorts of PTSD with him. He had this hold on the set where he knew he could stop production and scare people. The network and studio came down and we had sessions with them. I think he was just done with the show. He didn’t like the inconvenience of coming in every day and working. He and Shonda were at each other’s throats.

Jeannine Renshaw There were times where Ellen was frustrated with Patrick and she would get angry that he wasn’t working as much. She was very big on having things be fair. She just didn’t like that Patrick would complain that “I’m here too late” or “I’ve been here too long” when she had twice as many scenes in the episode as he did. When I brought it up to Patrick, I would say, “Look around you. These people have been here since six thirty a.m.” He would go, “Oh, yeah.” He would get it. It’s just that actors tend to see things from their own perspective. He’s like a kid. He’s so high energy and would go, “What’s happening next?” He literally goes out of his skin, sitting and waiting. He wants to be out driving his race car or doing something fun. He’s the kid in class who wants to go to recess.

Patrick Dempsey It’s ten months, fifteen hours a day. You never know your schedule, so your kid asks you, “What are you doing on Monday?” And you go, “I don’t know,” because I don’t know my schedule. Doing that for eleven years is challenging. But you have to be grateful, because you’re well compensated, so you can’t really complain because you don’t really have a right. You don’t have control over your schedule. So, you have to just be flexible.

Longtime Crew Member Poor Patrick. I’m not defending his schtick. I like him, but he was the Lone Ranger. All of these actresses were getting all this power. All the rogue actresses would go running to Shonda and say, “Hey, Patrick’s doing this. Patrick’s late for work. He’s a nightmare.” He was just shut out in the cold. His behavior wasn’t the greatest, but he had nowhere to go. He was so miserable. He had no one to talk to. When Sandra left, I remember him telling me, “I should’ve left then, but I stayed on because they showed me all this money. They just were dumping money on me.”

Patrick Dempsey It [was] hard to say no to that kind of money. How do you say no to that? It’s remarkable to be a working actor, and then on top of that to be on a show that’s visible. And then on top of that to be on a phenomenal show that’s known around the world, and play a character who is beloved around the world. It’s very heady. It [was] a lot to process, and not wanting to let that go, because you never know whether you will work again and have success again.

Jeannine Renshaw A lot of the complaining … I think Shonda finally witnessed it herself, and that was the final straw. Shonda had to say to the network, “If he doesn’t go, I go.” Nobody wanted him to leave, because he was the show. Him and Ellen. Patrick is a sweetheart. It messes you up, this business.

James D. Parriott I vaguely recall something like that, but I can’t be sure. It would have happened right toward the end, because I know they were negotiating and negotiating, trying to figure out what to do. We had three different scenarios that we actually had to break because we didn’t know until I think about three days before he came back to set which one we were going to go with. We didn’t know if he was going to be able to negotiate his way out of it. We had a whole story line where we were going to keep him in Washington, D.C., so we could separate him from the rest of the show. He would not have to work with Ellen again. Then we had the one where he comes back, doesn’t die, and we figure out what Derek’s relationship with Meredith would be. Then there was the one we did. It was kind of crazy. We didn’t know if he was going to be able to negotiate his way out of it. It was ultimately decided that just bringing him back was going to be too hard on the other actors. The studio just said it was going to be more trouble than it was worth and decided to move on.

Stacy McKee I don’t think there was any way to exit him without him dying. He and Meredith were such an incredibly bonded couple at that point. It would be completely out of character if he left his kids. There was no exit that would honor that character other than if he were to die. Patrick Dempsey I don’t remember the date [I got the news]. It was not in the fall. Maybe February or March. It was just a natural progression. And the way everything was unfolding in a very organic way, it was like, “Okay! This is obviously the right time.” Things happened very quickly. We were like, “Oh, this is where it’s going to go.”

So that was that: McDreamy would die in episode twenty-one of season eleven, even though Dempsey was in year one of his recently signed two-year contract extension. Rhimes wrote a script that was befitting of her lead’s heroic persona: she began “How to Save a Life” by having Derek witness a car crash and helping the injured. Once it appeared everyone was out of harm’s way, Derek continues on his road trip but is suddenly broadsided by a truck.

Rob Hardy (Director) The paramedics leave. He’s there by himself. He’s having a moment. The nice music is playing, and all of a sudden, bang. It comes out of nowhere, which, you know, is how accidents happen. So as opposed to watching it as a viewer, we saw the accident happen through Derek’s perspective. Derek ends up at Dillard Medical Center, a hospital far from Grey Sloan and the talented doctors who work there. His eyes are open, but his brain is severely damaged. No one hears his plea for a CT scan; he can’t speak. To help keep the episode a secret, the scenes were shot in an abandoned hospital in Hawthorne, California, about twenty-two miles from the show’s home studio in Los Feliz.

Mimi Melgaard It was really hard on all of us because it was so secretive and we had so many different locations. We shot at this closed-down hospital that was absolutely creepy haunted. All the scenes there were so sad anyway, and in this yucky-feeling haunted hospital? It was really weird. His whole last episode was really tough. Patrick Dempsey It was like any other day. It was just another workday. There was still too much going on. You’re in the midst of it—you’re not really processing it. Rob Hardy Here’s a guy who’s immobile. Now you’re inside of his head. We were trying to make that feel scary from the perspective of a person who’s used to being in control, from a person who usually has the power of life and death in his own hands. But now he doesn’t have the ability to speak on his own behalf.

Samantha Sloyan When I went to audition, I didn’t recognize any of these doctors’ names. I assumed they were just dummy sides so people wouldn’t ruin the story line or anything like that. All we knew is that we were dealing with a man who’s been in a car accident. I had no idea that it was going to be Derek. I just figured I was going to be a guest doctor and that whoever this person was who was injured, was going to be just a character on the show. Once it became clear what we were working on, I was like, Oh, my gosh. I can’t believe this is the episode I’m on.

Mike McColl (Dr. Paul Castello) I signed an NDA before they would release the script to me. I was reading it in my house, and I was like, “Oh, my God.” I didn’t tell anyone, including my agents. I just said, “This is a really great booking. It’s a great role on Grey’s.” And they didn’t know anything until it aired.

Savannah Paige Rae (Winnie) The first scene I shot was actually the sentimental scene when I’m saying, “It’s a beautiful day to save lives, right?” I’m in the hospital room with Derek and talking to him. Even though I never watched the show, I recognized the value of the episode I was in and just really took it to heart. It was so special that I got to be a part of it.

Rob Hardy [Patrick] had a lot of emotions during the whole shoot, which evolved. I think when we first started, he was very calm and cool … the same Patrick that I remembered when I worked on the show a year or so before. With each passing day, he was a lot more emotional. A lot more was on his mind, and that would show itself in different ways. The finality of the episode and for his character was setting in. You’ve become a global icon on this show and then in five, four, three, two, a day … it’s over.

James D. Parriott Patrick was very cooperative and good.

Mike McColl When I met Patrick, he’s lying on a stretcher and we’re rushing him into the ER. I just introduced myself, shook his hand, and was like, “Man, I cannot tell you what an honor it is to be the guy to take you down.” He loved it. He could not have been nicer to me and was funny through the whole shoot. He was on the table in front of me there when I cut his chest open and all that stuff. He gave me a hug at the end. It was a real privilege to be a part of TV history in that way.

Samantha Sloyan I remember him being incredibly kind. They had his neck in a brace, and he’s strapped down to the board, so there wasn’t a ton of chatting. I remember him being really kind, but it was clearly intense for him.

Stacy McKee It was such a beautiful piece of storytelling. I knew this event was going to be a really sad, horrible event for Meredith, but I also knew it was going to be the beginning of such an incredible chapter for Meredith.

Dempsey completed his final hours of shooting on a rainy night. There was no goodbye party, no goodbye cake. Maybe that’s because some cast members were left out of the loop. James Pickens, Jr., told ABC News that the cast “didn’t know a whole lot. It was kind of on the fly. So whatever information we got, we pretty much got it kind of right before it happened.”

Caterina Scorsone (Dr. Amelia Shepherd) I didn’t get to say goodbye to Patrick when he left. I do think that helped, because I’ve been using the character of Derek in my internal landscape since Private Practice. Derek was the stability in Amelia’s life. He became a father figure after they watched robbers shoot their father. When he was suddenly gone from the show, we didn’t have that closure, so I got to play it out. She’s about to use drugs again before Owen confronts her in a way that she finally talks about her feelings about losing Derek. She doesn’t end up using.

James D. Parriott The day he left, that was my last day. There was a certain sadness to it, but I think he was relieved. I mean, I think it took a toll on him, too.

Rob Hardy I didn’t see other actors showing up and saying, “Hey, it’s the last day! Wanted to come and wish you well.” I didn’t get that. It was more the Patrick show. We were in the Patrick world, and then Ellen came, and there was definitely a lot of emotion that both of them had individually … not necessarily together. It was more so her being there on the day that he died. He had his own way of being with that, and the same thing with her. It was like two people who grew up together and … here we are. They had their own way of reflecting.

Patrick Dempsey I very quietly left. It was beautiful. It was raining, which was really touching. I got in my Panamera, got in rush-hour traffic, and two hours later I was home. Big news like this doesn’t stay quiet for long. Both Michael Ausiello—who left EW in 2010 to launch the news site TVLine—and Lesley Goldberg of The Hollywood Reporter learned two weeks prior to Dempsey’s final episode that he would be leaving the show. No reporter worth their salt wants to sit on a scoop—least of all one as huge as this—but Ausiello and Goldberg didn’t want to spoil the outcome for fans, so they agreed to hold the story until after the episode aired. I eventually found out, too, but in the nuttiest way imaginable: I was standing on the set of CSI: Cyber, watching Patricia Arquette talk about some droll techno-criminal. Unfortunately, the publicist also cc’d Dempsey’s manager and ABC publicist while trying to give me a major story, so I couldn’t immediately report the scoop. But I did use the information to successfully negotiate the one and only exit interview with Dempsey. Two weeks before his final episode, I met him and his publicist at Feed Body & Soul in Venice, California, for a story that would hit newsstands on April 24. He seemed a little shell-shocked and at one point choked up, but at the time he said nothing about how his on-set behavior may have contributed to his ouster. My editor, Henry Goldblatt, wanted to put him on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, but he couldn’t guarantee to ABC that no one would see it before the episode aired. Good thing we didn’t: some subscribers got the issue on the morning of Dempsey’s final episode— and one actually tweeted the story. Our PR department tried to get the tweets removed, but the cat was out of the bag: some fans found out early that McDreamy was about to be McHistory. Outlets like Variety reported how the story got out early, while our PR department released this statement: “We are surprised that an EW subscriber may have received their issue a day earlier than planned. We always try our best to bring readers exclusive news first. We would like to apologize to fans of the show that learned the news ahead of time.” Dempsey’s final episode was watched by 8.83 million viewers—the show’s largest audience since the premiere that season. Variety even pontificated whether the ratings boost was due to my exclusive with Dempsey.

Lesley Goldberg (The Hollywood Reporter) I’m used to working with networks to hold news as part of their efforts to guard against plot spoilers. But the way Patrick Dempsey’s exit was handled involved a layer of paranoia and secrecy that has been unlike anything I’ve seen in my reporting career. News that he was leaving, and his character being killed off, would have been a major story considering how big the show is domestically and internationally. However, it also would have meant spoiling the episode and, more important, damaging key relationships I’ve worked hard to build. At some point, publishing the news of Dempsey’s exit before the episode aired became an ethical question of what was more important—a big story and its subsequent traffic, which would have come no matter what, or the relationships and trust that it took years to craft. Ultimately, I still published early because EW subscribers received the issue with Lynette’s Dempsey interview before the episode aired.

Mike McColl The morning after Derek’s last episode aired, my daughter sent me a link that was on YouTube or Facebook or something. I actually pulled it up to look at it, and it was a Grey’s Anatomy showbiz cheat sheet. It asked the question “Who is the attending doctor who killed Derek ‘McDreamy’ Shepherd?” It included a photo that I posted from the set. I had on a bloody rubber glove and was in my scrubs and mask. I never obviously would have posted this before it aired. I posted it well after the episode aired, and I [captioned it] “McDeadly.” This writer said something like, “Kill McDeadly.” Maybe that’s why the producer didn’t choose a big-name actor to be the one who killed our beloved McDreamy! I want to be ultrasensitive to these hard-core fans because it means so much to them, and I certainly didn’t mean in that case to make light of it. It’s just, I’m an actor, and I recognize it for what it is. Is everybody clear on the fact that this is just pretend and Patrick knew he was going to be leaving the show? It was just like, “God. He’s okay. He really is okay.”

Peter Horton Derek was going to be there forever with Meredith because you went through a whole journey with them. That was incredibly fulfilling. So even if he’s not there, he’s there. I don’t think any of us really worried about that going away because by then you were so invested in it. The show can last as it has for years.

Patrick Dempsey Lots of people [miss him]. “It’s good to see you alive” is the comment I get. I’m like, “Yes, I’m very much alive in reruns.” People were really invested in that relationship. I knew it would be heavy. Very happy to have moved on with a different chapter in my life.

Samantha Sloyan The montage just killed me, when Meredith says, “It’s okay, you can go.” God, I’m getting choked up just thinking about it. The chemistry they have as a pair and the way they were able to build that and sustain it! So many of these relationships are, like, “Will they, won’t they,” and then it wears thin. They sustained it for the duration of their relationship on the show, and it’s just, I think, a testament to what those two created. It was just unbelievable.

Pompeo addressed Dempsey’s departure with a tweet that focused solely on his character, not on how she spent eleven years working side by side with him: “There are so many people out there who have suffered tremendous loss and tragedy. Husbands and wives of soldiers, victims of senseless violence, and parents who have lost children. People who get up every day and do what feels like is the impossible. So it is for these people and in the spirit of resilance [sic] I am honored and excited to tell the story of how Meredith goes on in the face of what feels like the impossible.” Meanwhile, fans futilely created a Change.org petition to reinstate McDempsey, while other, more desperate ones simply tweeted “We Hate You” to Rhimes.

Shonda Rhimes Derek Shepherd is and will always be an incredibly important character—for Meredith, for me, and for the fans. I absolutely never imagined saying goodbye to our McDreamy. Patrick Dempsey’s performance shaped Derek in a way that I know we both hope became a meaningful example— happy, sad, romantic, painful, and always true—of what young women should demand from modern love. His loss will be felt by all.

Talk about the mother (father?) of all postscripts: In November of 2020 Dempsey reprised his role as McDreamy in the season opener—but only in Meredith’s dreams. Stricken with COVID-19, an unconscious Meredith “imagined” reuniting with her husband on the beach. After talking exclusively to Deadline and saying how it was “really a very healing process, and really rewarding,” Dempsey would return for more beach-based episodes that would ultimately stand out as the best moments of season seventeen. “It was a second chance thing,” one ABC executive told me at the time. “Shonda likes a comeback. Also, they wanted him in their last season.”

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usafphantom2 · 2 years

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FAB: Search and Rescue Aviation Day

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 06/27/2022 - 07:58 AM in Brazilian Air Force, Military

Watch the video and read the FAB Agenda in honor of Search and Rescue Aviation Day, celebrated on June 26. For 55 years, with the mission of locating, rescuing and rescuing the military who work so that others can live.

"Exactly 55 years ago, on June 26, 1967, this emblematic phrase was eternalized when it was heard by a rescue team. One of the survivors of the tragic FAB 2068 accident expressed it at the time he spotted one of the rescue men of that team.

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The Search mission of the C-47 was marked in the history of the Brazilian Air Force, and on the date of its sighting, the Day of Search and Rescue Aviation is celebrated. The SA-16 Albatross registration FAB 6539 located the wreckage of the C-47 that had been missing in the Amazon jungle nine days ago. During this time, more than a thousand hours were flown, with the massive involvement of 35 aircraft, whose effort was rewarded with the result of five lives saved.

Going back in time, more precisely in World War II, when many aircraft were shot down, it was realized that the material loss was insignificant compared to human losses. The large factories worked hard producing hundreds of aircraft in order to replace those that were shot down or damaged, however, the lives of the crews were not replaceable. In the meantime, the safeguarding of human life gained strategic relevance and, consequently, the idea of rescue.

Thus was born the embryo, still in the collective imagination of the time, of a mission in which courageous crews would fly over hostile skies with the aim of saving a human life, despite their own, this being the beginning of a new aviation that would come to be known as Search and Rescue Aviation. In its genesis, its communication and survival equipment was modest and the preparation of the crews was precarious. However, the will, courage, self-denial and body spirit of its crew members were solid foundations for overcoming obstacles and consolidating successful missions.

Over the years, the lessons learned have been incorporated into the employment doctrine, contributing greatly to the evolution of this new aviation. Equipment has been modernized, techniques improved and doctrines sedimented. The crews were trained and trained to perform the noble mission of Search and Rescue with excellence.

Strategically, the Brazilian Air Force has been following technological advances, investing intelligently in the acquisition and modernization of its vectors and seeking continuous doctrinal improvement. Our Force, operationally modern, acts in an integrated way using the vectors SC-105, P-3M, P-95M, KC-130, KC-390, H-50, H-60L and H-36, being ready to fulfill, with perfect efficiency, missions that require great challenges, putting the Brazilian state in a position to honor international Search and Rescue agreements efficiently and masterfully, consequently increasing the safety of air and maritime activity, with regard to safeguarding human life.

To allow readiness 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year, aircraft and crews specialized in Search and Rescue of the Pelican, Falcon, Harpy, Panther, Puma, Hawk, Phoenix, Neptune, Orungan, Zeus, Gordo and Para-Sar Squadrons operate in a harmonious and coordinated manner with regulatory and enforcement level organizations. Thus, the role of three major commands that act in the appropriate strategic-operational alignment is highlighted: DECEA, responsible for standardization; COMPREP, which establishes the preparation of its units and COMAE responsible for the use of means.

The synergy of these three major commands allows, at the highest level of professionalism, the fulfillment of the mission at any point in our area of responsibility, whether acting on the ocean, or on the immense continental extension, including with unfavorable weather conditions, maintaining daytime readiness.

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Finally, as we celebrate the 55th anniversary of this valiant aviation, in the same year that we celebrate the bicentennial of our independence, we can say that our vectors will always be ready for employment, with men and women motivated in the art of saving lives. At the "touch of the siren", they will certainly take off, regardless of the time, putting the mission above their personal interests and well-being. And they will do so with courage, dedication, spirit of body and perseverance, values inherent in these military personnel who keep alive the flame of this noble mission..."

“.. So that others can live."

Air Lieutenant General Sergio Roberto de ALMEIDA

ORDER OF THE DAY OF THE PREPARATION COMMANDER Brasília, June 26, 2022.

Tags: Military AviationFAB - Brazilian Air ForceSAR - Search and Rescue / Search and Rescue

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in a specialized aviation magazine in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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judgemark45 · 3 years

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Battleship USS West Virginia underway in the Pacific, circa 1944. Severely damaged by Japanese torpedoes at Pearl Harbor, USS West Virginia returned to service in October 1944. When the Japanese surrendered on September 2, 1945, she was in Tokyo Bay, a symbol of the resilience of the United States Navy. By all accounts, she shouldn’t have been there. She had suffered damage beyond any expectations her designers had. But she was an American warship, a fulfillment of Alfred T. Mahan’s ideas of power projected around the world. Her salvage and repair were a feat of engineering and determination. A phoenix rises from the ashes, but USS West Virginia (BB-48) rose from the waters of Pearl Harbor to contribute to the defeat of the Japanese empire.

Pearl Harbor was shallow, and on December 7, 1941, West Virginia was moored outboard of USS Tennessee (BB-43) at Ford Island in 40 feet of water. As the Japanese attack began, West Virginia, her port side laid bare, became an easy target for enemy torpedoes. The first two struck simultaneously, at 7:55 a.m, as General Quarters sounded. Men poured from hatchways as she began to list. A third explosion rocked the battlewagon. Spotter planes atop main turrets were aflame when a massive explosion on USS Arizona (BB-39) sent chunks of steel flying into the air. Moored nearby, pieces as large as five inches rained down on West Virginia. Gun crews fired on approaching enemy aircraft, adding to the cacophony of the first day of a new war.

Torpedoes ripped into her hull below the waterline and bombs fell from enemy aircraft, one causing the sections of the superstructure to collapse. As fires broke out, the ship’s damage control parties fruitlessly attempted to extinguish them. All hands not severely wounded were at work, fighting fires, manning guns, or assisting with damage control. Up on the bridge, the ship’s commanding officer, Captain Mervyn S. Bennion, had been mortally wounded in the abdomen by an explosion. Mess Attendant second class Doris Miller helped pull sailors through oil and water, up to higher decks not awash as West Virginia began to settle on the bottom. Miller assisted with moving the wounded Bennion, and even though he’d had no instruction in the weapon’s use, manned a machine gun, firing at incoming Japanese planes.

Eventually the order to abandon ship was given. As the wounded were loaded into whaleboats and other small craft, others either crossed over to Tennessee, or dove into the oil-covered water, swimming to Ford Island. When the crew was finally accounted for, there were two officers, including her commanding officer Bennion, and 106 enlisted men killed. Numerous others were wounded, and some would need months to recover from the attack. West Virginia, known by her crews as “Wee Vee” would need much longer.

The damage inflicted in a matter of minutes took over two years to repair. To say the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, left West Virginia crippled is understating the true extent of the damage. In an official report of ships damage at Pearl Harbor, West Virginia hardly sounds worth repairing:

“West Virginia sank at her berth as a result of four or five aircraft torpedo hits and at least two bomb hits. The vessel rests on a hard bottom with all spaces flooded up to two or three feet below the main deck. Most of the damage from torpedoes is in the midship area, which is badly wrecked both below water and above water. A large bomb passed through the foretop and the boat deck and apparently exploded near the port side on the main or second deck. This explosion caused considerable wreckage and a terrific powder and oil fire, which burned out the whole area and extended to the foremast structure up to and including the bridge. A second bomb hit the top of turret III and passed through the 6-inch top. The nature of the penetration indicated defective material. This bomb did not explode but caused damage to the slide of the left gun. Recently another torpedo hole, and parts of the torpedo, have been located aft under the counter. The steering engine room appears to be wrecked and the rudder is lying on the bottom.” Her salvation was due to the actions of one man, which resulted in West Virginia remaining upright at her moorings, unlike USS Oklahoma (BB-37), which capsized. Lieutenant Commander John S. Harper, the damage control officer aboard West Virginia, quickly initiated counterflooding, keeping the battlewagon upright. As a result, West Virginia was found to be drawing 50 feet 6 inches forward, and 40 feet 10 inches aft, compared to her usual draft of approximately 30 feet. The midship area was considerably damaged, and the oil fire, which had burned for 30 hours, caused extensive damage to the upper works. The hull crinkled as the ship settled on the bottom, and one torpedo had knocked the rudder off. Despite the damage, the decision was made to salvage the ravaged ship, modernize her, and return her to service. Salvage was undertaken in several stages. Patches had to be placed on holes in the hull by divers. These patches were made as cofferdams, which were large wooden structures braced with steel and attached to the ship by divers. Special concrete that would harden in water was then poured into sections around the cofferdams, sealing the bottoms and making them watertight. With the major holes patched, 800,000 gallons of fuel oil, all projectiles and other supplies were removed from the ship to reduce weight. As water was pumped out of the ship, salvage crews began to work through compartments, removing the remains of 66 trapped sailors. Marks on a bulkhead in one compartment indicated three sailors survived there for 16 days. With access to food and water, they held on until the breathable air ran out.The work was done in earnest, performed by naval and civilian personnel and a skeleton crew of sailors and marines which remained attached to West Virginia. Specialists from various companies arrived in Pearl Harbor to break down and repair equipment such as electrical panels and the steam-driven turbine engines which powered West Virginia. Seventy tons of fresh meat had been aboard Wee Vee when she sank, all of which the crew removed via 10 gallon cans. Crews took care to wear rescue breathing apparatus or monitor the air quality as they cleaned compartments. Those containing large stores of paper were some of the most hazardous to empty, as the decaying paper gave off noxious gasses.

On May 17, 1942, West Virginia was once again floated. The first step in her recovery was done, and she was moved to Drydock #1 at Pearl on June 9. Her draft had improved to 33 feet, just barely allowing her to enter the drydock. There, repairs were made to the hull to make it watertight once again. Machinery and other equipment were removed and either repaired at Pearl or marked for later installation stateside. The oil residue left behind had to be removed from surfaces. At the time of the attack, West Virginia still had her original cage masts, both of which were removed in Pearl. Some guns were repaired so the ship could defend itself on the trip home. Crew spaces were cleaned up and returned to a usable state, and while the enlisted galley had burned, the officer’s galley was repaired and put to use for the entire crew. The ship was safely floated again after just three months, but work on the ship continued pier side until April 1943. On April 30, after more than a year of work on temporary repairs, West Virginia was stabilized, repaired, and ready to make the journey to Bremerton, Washington, for final repairs and outfitting.

In early July 1944, over two and a half years after the attack at Pearl Harbor, West Virginia began her sea trials from Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington. She had been at the yard in Washington for over a year undergoing permanent repairs and modernization. The ship that took to the seas in July 1944 looked nothing like the old battlewagon that had been a target of the Japanese attack. Equipped with updated radar and fire-control equipment, she was ready to unleash the power of her 16-inch main battery on the enemy who had sidelined her years before.

Her first opportunity to exact her toll on Japanese forces came on October 19, 1944, as Wee Vee bombarded targets in Leyte, Philippines, flying the same flag which had been hoisted on that fateful Sunday in December. The next day, she covered landing forces there, providing fire as needed. What might be her crowning achievement came on October 25, when she participated in the battle of Surigao Strait. In what was to be the last engagement of battleships in history, West Virginia opened fire on an enemy ship, firing 16 salvos from her main battery. When the smoke cleared, the target was discovered to be the Japanese battleship Yamashiro, which sank in minutes. Though West Virginia’s captain let the crew claim credit, the damage had been inflicted by five battleships, plus cruisers, firing on the Japanese ship and making it a group effort which sank her.

After her triumphant engagement at Surigao, West Virginia continued her tear across the Pacific, supporting the landings at Mindoro, Luzon, Iwo Jima, and finally, Okinawa. After spending years in dry docks and shipyards, West Virginia put in 223 days in battle, where she shot down eight would-be Kamikazes and assisted with 12 others. Her number came up on April 1, 1945, when one successful Japanese pilot plowed his aircraft into Wee Vee, killing four sailors and wounding 23. But after Pearl, one enemy aircraft was akin to a mosquito bite, and she stayed in the action. On August 31, 1945, West Virginia steamed into Tokyo Bay. A Japanese harbor pilot had come aboard to navigate the battlewagon to her berth. Five members of the ship’s crew, all musicians, were transferred to USS Missouri (BB-63) to augment the band which would play at the official surrender ceremony.As the Japanese delegation boarded Missouri on September 2, West Virginia lay in harbor some distance away. She was the only survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack present in Tokyo Bay that morning. (The cruiser USS Detroit (CL-8), had also been present at Pearl, but received no damage.) As the most important ceremony of the war got underway, West Virginia had no role in the somber occasion. She lay silently, ghastly in the distance, a triumphant reminder of how Japan had gambled and lost.

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workersolidarity · 4 months

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[ 📹 Scenes of carnage and horror following another Israeli occupation airstrike on the tents of displaced Palestinian families in the so-called "safe area" of Al-Mawasi, where civilians are being directed by the occupation. The bombing occurred shortly before publishing, where a number of civilians were killed, including women, and others wounded in the strike. ]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

235 DAYS OF GENOCIDE IN GAZA: ISRAELI OCCUPATION FORCES HAMMER RAFAH OVERNIGHT, DISPLACE THOUSANDS MORE CIVILIANS, UNRWA: OVER A MILLION DISPLACED FROM RAFAH, NEW TENT MASSACRE KILLS 16, ALL HOSPITALS IN THE RAFAH AREA CLOSED, SECURITY COUNCIL TO MEET OVER ISRAELI ATTACKS ON RAFAH

On 235th day of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 5 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 46 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, while another 110 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

This leaves the official death toll vastly undercounted, as Gaza's healthcare officials are unable to accurately tally those killed and maimed in this genocide, which must be kept in mind when considering the scale of the mass murder.

Member-state Algeria called a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) after the occurrence of the "Khiam massacre", when, over the weekend, Israeli warplanes fired several missiles which exploded into a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) camp for displaced families in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah, resulting in a conflagration among resident's tents that took the lives of around 50 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, and wounded 250 others.

The UNSC will meet in a closed-door session at the request of Algeria to discuss the situation in Rafah, and the latest Israeli massacre in the Governate.

The massacre comes just days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague ordered an "immediate halt" to any and all Israeli operations in the Rafah Governate, and ordered the Israeli occupation to cease actions which could inflict on Palestinians "conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."

The Israeli occupation, for its part, continues to ignore the ICJ orders, deploying yet another brigade to Rafah today, the Bislamach Brigade, belonging to the School for Infantry Corps Professions and Squad Commanders during War Time, which joins the other Brigades of the 162nd Division operating in the Rafah area since earlier this month.

The additional brigade was deployed along the "Philadelphi Corridor" overnight, which will attack so-called "terrorist infrastructure" in the Rafah Governate.

According to the Israeli occupation army, troops belonging to the Bislamach Brigade located "tunnels, weapons and killed numerous [Resistance] operatives in the Rafah area."

In other news, Ireland has joined Norway and Spain in officially recognizing a Palestinian state today, implementing the decision by the three states issued last week.

The three countries hope their recognition of Palestinian statehood may excellerate a peaceful resolution to the war, and the eventual implementation of a two-state solution.

In a statement, the Irish government said "The Government recognises Palestine as a sovereign and independent state and agreed to establish full diplomatic relations between Dublin and Ramallah."

“An Ambassador of Ireland to the State of Palestine will be appointed along with a full Embassy of Ireland in Ramallah," the statement said.

"This decision of Ireland is about keeping hope alive. It is about believing that a two-state solution is the only way for Israel and Palestine to live side by side in peace and security,” the statement added, concluding with "I again call on Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel to listen to the world and stop the humanitarian catastrophe we are seeing in Gaza.”

In more news, the UNRWA said on Tuesday that approximately one million Palestinians have now been displaced from the Rafah over the past couple weeks as the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) intensified airstrikes and shelling on Gaza's southernmost Governate.

"This happened with no safe place to go amid the bombing, food and water shortages, and piles of waste," the UNRWA said in a statement.

The organization for Palestinian refugees emphasized that providing assistance or protections has become almost impossible in the Gaza Strip as Israeli attacks continue.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation committed a new tent massacre over Monday night, bombing civilian tents in the vicinity of the UNRWA barracks in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, northwest of Rafah, resulting in the deaths of another 16 civilians and wounding a number of others.

Initial reporting put the number of deaths at 7 in the strike, however, updates have since revised that number upwards, to 16 killed, and dozens of others wounded.

Bombing and shelling hammered the Rafah Governate overnight, hitting various homes and sites, resulting in several casualties, while thousands of civilians were forced to leave their homes and shelters to escape the occupation's American-made shells.

As a result of the intensifying bombing and shelling campaign in the Rafah Governate, all hospitals in Rafah are now out of service, with the sole exception being the Tal al-Sultan Maternity Hospital, which struggles to stay open under the continued blockade and bombing of the city.

Since the start of the Israeli assault on Rafah, 6 hospitals in the area have been forced to close under intense bombardment, including Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital, the Abu Al-Walid Central Clinic, the Rafah Field Hospital, the Kuwait Specialized Hospital, the Indonesian Field Hospital, and the Tal al-Sultan Clinic.

At the same time, occupation bombing and shelling effected areas across the Gaza Strip, pummeling areas of Gaza City, the Bureij Camp, and the Jabalia Camp, along with several other neighborhoods.

Local medical sources said that a number of civilians were killed, including several children, while others were wounded, after the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) bombed a house belonging to the Aqel family in the Bureij Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

At least two more citizens were killed, and a number of others wounded, following an Israeli air raid on another house in the Bureij Camp, while IOF fighter jets bombed a residential home belonging to the Al-Ghussein family, in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, killing two more Palestinians.

In another criminal attack, occupation forces bombed a tent for the displaced belonging to the Abu Jarad family at the UNRWA barracks gate in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, west of the city of Rafah, killing at least three civilians and wounding several others.

Another bombing in Rafah City killed a young man last night, while occupation artillery shelling and gunfire targeted various areas of the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood.

Yet another war crime occurred with the occupation's bombing of the upper floors of the Indonesian Hospital in the same neighborhood of Rafah.

Dozens of civilians were also displaced by the bombing of the Zionist army in the vicinity of local shelters, camps, schools and the Tal al-Sultan Clinic, all of which were struck by occupation shells.

IOF warplanes further bombed a residential apartment west of Rafah, killing a civilian and injuring another, while several other homes and apartments were also targeted in occupation shelling.

Violent bombing also targeted in the vicinity of the Zoroub roundabout, in the city of Rafah, coinciding with sounds of gunfire and tank shelling, while occupation aircraft buzzed overhead in between the sounds of exploding munitions.

Families were seen fleeing the city at sunrise, fearing the bombs and missiles flying overhead, migrating towards coastal areas of Khan Yunis, and moving other areas in southern and central Gaza, and towards the west of Deir al-Balah.

Zionist army tanks and armored vehicles were also seen advancing towards the Zoroub roundabout area, while occupation forces were also seen excavating inside the Zoroub cemetery in Rafah, while continuing to fire machine guns, along with tank and artillery shells into the city.

Occupation artillery shelling also targeted Haret Tabasi, Barika, Zaarub, Al-Zar Street, the Indonesian Hospital, and the Tal al-Sultan Clinic, west of the city of Rafah.

Meanwhile in the north, Israeli fighter jets bombed a gathering of civilians attempting to return to the Al-Faluga area in Jabalia, resulting in several injuries, some serious.

Zionist armored vehicles and tanks stationed along the "Netzarim Corridor" fired dozens of shells towards various neighborhoods of Gaza City, including the Tal al-Hawa, Sheikh Ajlin, Al-Zaytoun, Al-Sabra and Juhr al-Dik neighborhoods.

In another incident, IOF soldiers opened fire near Kamal Adwan Hospital, in the town of Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, killing at least 6 Palestinians and wounding a number of others, including a doctor with the hospital.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) also reported that three people were murdered and others wounded, following their targeting by the Israeli occupation army in the Al-Iskan Al-Abyad area, west of Rafah.

As a result of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the death toll in Gaza has risen to exceed 36'096 Palestinians killed, including over 15'000 children and more than 10'000 women, while another 81'136 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

May 28th, 2024.

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cutieodonoghue · 2 years

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invisible string (16/18)

summary: modern soulmate birthmark au; After Omera lost her soulmate, she lost hope she’d ever find love again. Then, a short time before Earth’s first colony ship will be sent to a place they call the Outer Rim, she meets a Mandalorian whose touch makes her Soul Mark burn. (Mandomera!)

rating: hard T

word count: ~5.2k

prev. chapters: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen

read chapter 16 down below or on ao3!

an: Quick reminder that I'm updating every day now so don't miss yesterday's update! :) Thanks for reading!!

Chapter 16: Engine Trouble

“Incident report one. 01.02.09.

The ship is in good condition following a small leak we encountered in the cryo bay. One of the nozzles was loose on the pumps on Pod 95. All souls are healthy and accounted for. Primary power is still engaged and fully operational. [Attached: Security Log 01.02.08 - Cryo Bay] [Attached: Personal Video Log 0001, Crew Member: Din]

>Personal Video Log 0001 (Crew Member: Din)

Personal log one. Day two. It’s been smooth since we took off. A few hours ago, the computer alerted us to a leak in the cryo bay. Easy fix. The colonists are all okay.

The computer almost triggered the wakeup procedure on the bridge when the alert came through. I reset it and ran a dry test. Hopefully it was just a bug.

[sighing]

I’ve been keeping busy with the bridge imaging monitor. Not a lot to report. Got this shot of Saturn on the first day. Made me think of someone. [Attached: Photo - Bridge Capture 01.01.11.96]

I’ll check back in later if anything interesting happens.” - Transcribed Crew Flight Video Logs, The Razor Crest (Crew Member: Din, Entry 0001)

“Leia wants you on the ship.”

Din looked up from his tablet to see Fett enter the office with a casual sigh. He sat down at his desk and lifted his eyebrows as he awaited a response.

“I told you. I’m not going.”

Fett nodded. “Yeah. That’s what I told her, but she insists you need to be there. You trained the bridge crew. You’ll be an asset on Planet Alpha and anything that comes after. What do I have to do to make it happen?” The man waited. He sat forward in his seat. “I can get you pretty much anything you want.”

Din shook his head. “I can’t leave.”

He looked back down at his tablet, done with the conversation, but his boss sighed again.

“Djarin, you’ve been… stiff and miserable for months. I’ve been respectful. Thought you needed the space. But then you took your name off of the manifest with less than a week until launch day. What happened?”

The way Fett spoke to him reminded him of his own father. There was kindness in him that didn’t want anything more than to help.

Din thought about the kid. It was all he could think about lately. After things ended with Omera, he had to make the choice to move on and instead focus on what he was staying for: Grogu.

The ship would leave in a few days. Omera would be on board. As much as he wasn’t okay with that, he’d found peace in it.

Din lifted his gaze. “I’m Bonded to Omera.”

Fett’s eyes grew wide in immediate surprise. “Omera.”

He nodded. “We… were going to go together to the Outer Rim. Then, the Mandalorians found out. They decided to take the kid and gave me the choice between staying with him and getting clean or losing my job here. It would’ve thrown the whole mission off track, so I chose to go with them.”

His boss sat back again. “That’s what those reports are for.”

“Right,” Din replied. “They wanted to make sure I’m not seeing her while I’m at work.” His jaw clenched. “I took my name off the manifest because I can’t leave without the kid.”

There was understanding and patience in Fett’s eyes. “We can fix it.”

Din narrowed his eyes. “If you’re going to suggest taking the kid and running now that the work is finished, I’ve thought about that already.”

His boss frowned, confused. “Why won’t it work?”

He sighed. “They’ll claim a Mandalorian child was sent into space without consent. It would put Falcon underwater. Bad press would kill any future missions and funding. I won’t do that to you.”

Fett nodded slowly. Then, as if he made up his mind, he stood and grabbed his phone. “Come with me. We’re going to meet up with Leia. Tell her what you told me.”

Din stood. “I can’t ask you to-”

“You had a path.” Fett shook his head. He lifted his phone to his ear. “Let’s get you back on it. We need you out there.” He became earnest, “Omera needs you out there. I was there when she lost her Bond. Took every ounce of hope straight out of her. I won’t let that happen again.”

Armas was silent. If it was in surprise, or if it was a mechanism to inspire dominance over the situation, Din wasn’t sure. She was outnumbered and hadn’t been given the chance to prepare for this meeting.

In the chairs opposite her at her desk at the covert were Din, with Grogu in his lap, Leia Organa, and Boba Fett.

They’d gone straight to the covert from the office when Leia learned what was keeping him from joining the crew on the Razor Crest. Her exact words were: “Like hell they will. Come on, I’m going to give them a piece of my mind.”

In the time since then, Leia had come up with a solution that felt foolproof. It was almost upsetting that Din hadn’t thought of it himself. Although, it wouldn’t have been possible without leverage that only Leia could provide.

“When we made our agreement to hire a Mandalorian, we mentioned the possibility of them being sent to the Outer Rim,” Leia said calmly, “but how could we have known he was given guardianship over this child? It seems unfair to separate them.”

“The stipulations of our agreement have not changed,” Armas replied coolly. “Din Djarin will simply no longer be the Mandalorian sent to the Outer Rim on this ship.”

“You’re right,” Leia agreed. “The Mandalorian that Falcon Aerospace Industries would like on board this ship is Grogu.” She gestured to the child in Din’s lap with both of her hands. “If you deny us this, we have grounds to sue you for breach of contractual obligation.”

Armas stared at Leia. Din wasn’t sure how she felt, if she felt anything at all. She was always impossible to read.

Finally, after several seconds, she leaned forward.

“The child is not Mandalorian. He cannot teach the Way. He can barely speak. We cannot in good conscience agree to send him as our ambassador.”

“He is being raised here,” Fett spoke up, “which makes him Mandalorian in title, regardless of what he knows right now.”

Armas looked at the man. “How do you know this?”

“My father and I were both Mandalorian children,” he replied evenly. “I was lucky I got out before it was too late.”

Din felt Grogu’s fingers on his. The boy had been quiet since he arrived, but he was made even more anxious by Armas and didn’t hesitate to show it. He sat facing the opposite way, looking out the windows in her office, and held onto Din as tightly as he could.

“If your suggestion is that we don’t care for our children, you are incorrect,” Armas said. “Everything we have done for the child, Grogu, and for Din Djarin, has been to protect them as they live according to our beliefs.”

“I don’t doubt that,” Leia said in an effort at cooling things down. “I think we’ve lost track of what’s important. We want Grogu on our ship.”

Armas looked at Din. “Does the child wish to go to the Outer Rim?”

He swallowed as he looked down at the kid. “Grogu?”

His boy looked back up at him, glad to hear him speak his name.

“Do you want to go to space?”

For a few seconds that felt so impossibly long, the boy was dead silent, and Din worried that he had clammed up because of Armas. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Grogu go to space,” he finally replied. He smiled at Din and reached up to the edge of his helmet to touch it gently. “Daddy go to space.”

Din held Grogu closer. He didn’t want to look away. “What’s in space, buddy?”

His smile reached his eyes. “Home.”

Din nodded, proud of him, and felt tears in his eyes as he looked up at his Mandalorian mentor.

Armas sighed heavily. “We will allow the child, Grogu, to be the Mandalorian sent to the Outer Rim.”

Leia beamed at Armas. “We appreciate your willingness to take our meeting.”

She stood, leading Din and Boba to do the same, but before they could go, Armas held up a hand.

“Din Djarin, have you decided to leave the covert having unsettled your atonement?”

He swallowed thickly. “I have.”

Armas nodded in understanding. She stood up. “I had hoped you would be able to overcome your attachments, but I see now that your heart is set and there is no changing it.” Her hands extended outward. “Relinquish your helmet. You won’t need it anymore.”

Din stood there in shock for a few seconds before he finally touched his hand to his helmet. Grogu helped him push it off, something he thought poetic, and when he was free of the Mandalorian face covering, he set it into Armas’ hands.

“It is the Way to forsake attachments to focus on what’s important,” Din told his mentor. “It was only when I Bonded that I realized what true focus feels like.”

Armas set his helmet down on the desk in front of her.

“I will raise him with Mandalorian beliefs,” he added, “but he will be allowed attachments.”

She was quiet. “A new type of Mandalorian for a new world.”

Din nodded.

“You have my blessing,” Armas shared, surprising him. “Teach many this new Way.”

He gave Armas a small smile. “I will. Thank you.”

As he followed Leia and Boba out of the covert, Din squeezed Grogu closer and kissed the top of his head, filled with relief that the worst of it was finally over.

Just outside of the building, Leia climbed into a private car. Boba had brought his truck. Din would have to ask for help for just one night before the ship was scheduled to depart.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell Omera,” Din said to Leia at her car door. “I need to apologize. I don’t want it coming from anyone else.”

Leia looked between him and Grogu. She nodded. “Of course.” She smiled. “You’ll be our Primary Team lead pilot. I’ll have Fennec send your paperwork and schedule tonight. Where will you be staying?”

“They’ll stay with me,” Fett spoke up.

Din’s eyes widened with surprise, but he said nothing. He and Fett exchanged nods.

“Thank you,” Din told Leia earnestly. “I couldn’t have done this without your help. I was ready to stay behind.”

“I’m glad you’ll be on the ship. You’re important to the mission.” She looked at Grogu and her smile became warmer. “You were both worth fighting for.”

After Leia’s car pulled away, Din was left with hope that burst through his chest in a way it hadn’t before. For the first time since he was a small boy, he no longer had to fight one way or another.

“Let’s get your things,” Boba told him. “Will you want a ride over to Omera’s tonight?”

Din’s heart leapt. There were too many uncertainties about how she might react to what he’d done and he didn’t want to face them head on just yet. He would talk to her in the morning, before the ship took off when they were both locked into their roles and there was no turning back. She deserved to know for certain that he was all in and that nothing would pull them apart again.

“No. Not tonight. There should be time tomorrow morning.”

“I need your help.”

His soul was immediately assaulted with a tight burst of fear. And then there was the noise. The wail of the alarms was familiar but still so foreign.

He forced himself to focus as he stepped out of his pod, leaving behind blissful dreams of what he hoped his future would look like and a heart at peace for nothing but chaos.

To his surprise, Omera was the only one awake. She had a hazmat suit on, which could only mean one thing: a chemical breach in the engine.

They had trained for this. There were weeks of training that the crew had done to prepare for literally every possible scenario, ranging from small to massive scale. The simulators in training were part of that, though being in a real scenario felt very different than any of the preparation was.

In an uncontrolled environment, he and Omera would have to work in perfect tandem. The lives of everyone on board were at stake. The lives of their kids were at stake.

There was a glaring sense of urgency, but amidst that urgency, he couldn’t help but realize that this was the first time they’d been awake in the same room in weeks - flight time notwithstanding.

He’d missed her. He’d missed everything about her. And he had no idea if she was ever going to be his again.

Those thoughts didn’t matter, though, with a hot alarm in his ear and the main bridge console lit up with alerts and procedural guidelines.

“There’s been a breach,” she explained. “I’m going to go fix it, but I need you to walk me through it from the bridge.”

He nodded. “Did you power down the air filtration on the lower deck?”

“The vents were closed while I brought you out of cryo.” Omera hesitated. “Life support was disengaged in the engine room immediately to prevent spillage, so I’ll only have a few minutes at most.”

Now he understood the fear in his soul. She was fearful that she’d fail. It was a one person job, and in the event that something went wrong, he was her choice to do what he could to fix it.

He couldn’t help but think back on her training in the simulator. She had been one of the best in the final simulation test, but it hadn’t been without bruising their trust and connection with cold, clinical language and an even colder shoulder.

“Gravity?” he asked.

She nodded. “Still operational, but there’s no airflow.” She began to walk backward toward the door off of the bridge toward engineering. “Warn me when the integrity is near ninety percent. If it gets that low, we’ll have to wake someone else up and see if there’s a hidden leak.”

Once she was gone, Din looked directly at the primary engineering console that sat next to the piloting station.

“Engine integrity at ninety eight percent,” the computer shared.

He sucked in a breath as he brought up the camera feed for the engine room. She hadn’t arrived just yet, but would very soon.

It would be hard to calm down. Her fears were strongest in his soul but his fears were close behind them.

Since the computer woke her up first, she’d had to take on the mantle of leader whether she wanted it or not. Per the programming, she would always be chosen to wake up first in the event that something went wrong with the engine. She knew it better than anyone here- even the crew engineers were a step below.

He wondered what she thought of him being on board. Was she surprised? Upset? Had she somehow known beforehand?

Through huge carefully sealed doors, Omera entered the engine room.

The sheer scope of the engine was always a concern of his. There was a lot of room for failure, but they’d tested it on its own for four full years before they committed to using it for long-term travel. Chemical leaks were common and easy to fix, so there wasn’t any need to panic.

Once it was done, they would have time to sit down and talk about what happened. He really hoped she wasn’t so upset with him that they’d have no future, but he would understand if she wanted to put space between them. He had been distant and cold in their time apart to try and make it easier.

“The breach is in the forward quadrant,” he told her through the comms in her suit. “Left hand side. Station three.”

Omera made her way toward the station carefully. “I can see the fumes. The chemical hasn’t been fully vacuumed out.”

He glimpsed at the screen on the console that indicated how much integrity the engine sat at. Still above 90%.

“The only way we’ll be able to get it cleaned up is by opening an airlock when you’re done.”

Omera was quiet. Focused. He watched through a new camera angle when she went straight toward the breach.

Beside the engine, there were workstations at quadrant intervals that contained what they would need to perform for scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.

She pried open the workstation lid at the forward quadrant and reached inside for the kit and bolt drill. He’d seen her operate them before. He knew she could handle them. This step was the simplest.

It would be fine, but he couldn’t help feeling uneasy. From what he could tell, this was the first major setback during their journey and if the problem wasn’t resolved, lives were at stake.

“I’m shaking,” she admitted with a trembling breath.

He closed his eyes briefly. “You’re doing fine. It should be easy. When it’s over, we can talk.”

Omera released a purposeful breath. “We definitely need to talk.” She returned to the leak site and asked, “Can you disengage the forward part of the engine?”

Din set his thumb on the authorization button on the console. “Done. Need you to give consenting authorization.”

“Computer, power down the forward part of the engine,” she said. “We will re-engage in five minutes.”

“Powering down.”

The system went dark. The glow of the engine dimmed. A light on Omera’s helmet flicked on.

“Eight bolts,” he told her. “That’s all. Then you’re done.”

Then, they could sit down and talk the way they needed to.

Omera pressed the thick metal sheet against the leak with one hand. With the other, she operated the bolt drill. It was virtually foolproof, but he could hear her breathing tremble through the mic in her suit.

He tried to quiet his soul. Anything he could do to help her.

“I just-” Omera’s voice cut off with a crackle.

He analyzed the video, narrowing his eyes some. She continued to work. Whatever happened to her mic’s feed must have been related to her suit.

“There’s some interference. Can you hear me?”

She stopped what she was doing and turned to face the camera. Tapped her ears.

Din cursed. He didn’t like the idea that she could need help and he wouldn’t know.

“Keep going,” he said on the off chance she’d hear. The computer alerted him of the engine integrity. 96%. “There’s not a lot of time.”

Omera returned to work. He watched her finish six of eight bolts before something happened to her. She bent over halfway and clutched at her chest.

Shit. Shit. The suit had been punctured.

Din scrambled into action. He ripped open the door beside the engineering door and grabbed a hazmat suit that he fumbled his body into. He couldn’t go fast enough.

He felt her soul cry out. It burned him like he’d started on fire and it was terrifying.

Once he was in his suit, he ran the entire length of the ship to the engine room and didn’t let up until he was next to her.

She’d soldiered through and finished bolting the metal sheet, but she remained doubled over and coughed violently.

“Computer, re-engage the forward engine and restore ventilation in the engine room.”

He went to Omera’s side just in time for her to collapse onto the floor. His soul immediately went ice cold. It fractured. Bent. He could feel her fading heartbeat in it.

“No!”

In one swift movement, Din leaned down and lifted Omera off of the floor. He tossed her over his shoulder like she was a rag doll and rushed out of the engine room. He only stopped to put her down once they cleared the doors. They sealed behind him with a heavy thud.

“Computer, open airlock six for five seconds,” he ordered, breathless.

“Opening airlock six.”

Din quickly yanked Omera’s helmet off and was forced to watch her pale face lull to the side. She was out cold, but he could still feel her with him. It was just so small.

He took the rest of the suit off for her and then carried her away from the toxic suit to place her body into the decontamination tank. It was an upright machine that was positioned next to a small emergency medical bay.

Inside the tank, her body was propped up by prongs on the back wall, limbs limp and head hung against her chest. He touched his fingers against her neck to check her pulse. It was weak.

Once he stuffed her suit into a decontamination bin, his next course of action was to grab the medical supplies he needed from the nearby wall while the machine sanitized her to cleanse her skin and lungs.

His soul ached. It throbbed. It felt increasingly worse, to the point that he physically knew he might lose her because his body almost doubled over in sheer agony.

He ripped his suit off and tossed it aside as he prepared an oxygen mask that had a gauge to detect the chemical toxicity in a user’s breath.

Din winced when he was hit with a fresh crippling wave of pain that came from seemingly nowhere within him. This time, he had to stop moving to try and breathe through it.

They still hadn’t been able to talk about what happened. He hadn’t had the chance to apologize.

They hadn’t had any time to build the life they dreamed about. The kids were still young. He couldn’t raise them by himself. He didn’t want to.

He wanted her to wake up so they could go to the Outer Rim together. What time they’d shared on Earth wasn’t nearly enough.

It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

Was this his reward for everything he’d done? Was he about to lose his soulmate because he couldn’t stay faithful to the Way? Because in everything he did, he chose her?

Din waited impatiently for the tank door to open. When it did, he hauled her limp body against his and carried her to the floor immediately beside it.

Another pang wracked his body. This one was so much worse than before. His soul swirled frantically, like it cried out to its companion. Strangely, his Mark began to burn impossibly hot. It hadn’t done that since they Bonded.

“No, no, no.”

He forced himself to move, physically fighting against his own body to get the breathing mask.

Tears leaked free from his eyes on their own accord. He could feel nothing but darkness, an endless pit that he felt his own soul getting sucked into.

His body felt stiff. His muscles tightened and his lungs refused air. He felt himself get dizzy as the Soul Mark beneath his ear became increasingly more inflamed. His vision blurred and his hands both trembled violently, unable to keep still enough to hold the mask properly.

He became furious with himself. She was dying and his body wouldn’t cooperate long enough to save her.

A growl wretched out of his chest when he tightened his fingers around the medical tool and pressed it against her face so it covered her nose and mouth.

His chest heaved, gasping for breaths that just weren’t coming, as tears ran down his cheeks. His body acted on its own, unable to hold anything back while his Mark grew somehow hotter.

Was this what it had felt like for her before? This dark, terrible, awful torture? Knowing he’d lost her- that he’d failed her?

She had been so willing to let him go before. She’d given him countless ways out. The only time she’d panicked was when he suggested breaking their Bond. Now he understood why.

“Breathe,” he instructed through gritted teeth. “Come back. Wake up. Please.”

All at once, everything changed.

She bolted upright with a sharp gasp and the dark pit within him became light again. The grip his own soul had on his body was released and he could breathe once more.

“You’re okay,” he told her, more for himself than for her.

She sucked a clean breath from the device he still held against her face.

His eyes watered as he touched his other hand to the back of her head and kissed her forehead out of pure relief that the worst of it was over; that he hadn’t lost her.

“You’re okay,” he murmured again, his lips pressed against the crown of her head. He closed his eyes tightly. “It’s okay. Just breathe.”

Omera held onto his gaze as her breathing slowly returned to normal and he dragged his hand over the side of her face and into her hair, unable to stop feeling how warm she slowly became. Her skin felt clammy and wet, but there was life surging through her that felt tangibly beneath his fingertips.

It took a few exhales for the red color on the indicator to go away. He only pulled the device away once it turned green, and even then he was careful and made her breathe out a few more times before he tucked it back into the kit.

“You should take a shower,” he told her. “Have the computer scan you after. Make sure it’s all gone.”

Omera nodded, but she was silent with the shock of what she’d been through. He helped her to her feet and she clung to him with her arm tight around his waist.

“Engine integrity restored,” the computer trilled overhead. “Life support on the engine deck has been reinstated.”

“Computer, is there any indication of a leak in the engine?” Din asked as they walked slowly toward the crew quarters.

“Negative. The engine is presently free of damage. System is fully operational.”

They’d done it. It was over.

Now, they could both breathe easier.

The crew showers were in one small room. There were dividers that separated into three stalls, should more than one need to be used at a time, but it seemed unlikely to him that it would ever be the case.

When he got Omera positioned beside the first shower stall, he took the initiative to turn the water on for her. She waited quietly for him to return.

“I’ll go find you something to wear,” he told her. “Do you need help getting out of your suit?”

He gestured to the skin-tight cryo suit she wore. He’d have to change out of his, too. They were going to have to stay up for a day per protocol anyway, so he might as well do it comfortably.

Slowly, her eyes went from him to her body. She shook her head, still wordless.

“Be right back.”

Din was out of the showers before Omera could say anything. He found her something to wear in her locker and kept them in a neat pile as he returned to find her beneath the stream of water hidden behind a privacy wall.

He left the pile of clothes out for her with a towel and said, “I’m gonna go get changed.”

Omera didn’t reply. Maybe it was for the best. It took everything in him to not picture what she looked like behind that privacy wall.

While he walked toward his cabin, he had to remind himself that they weren’t together anymore. He ended things so he could show honor to the Way and to the Mandalorians, but to her as well. She owed him absolutely nothing. If she wanted to put distance between them and keep things neutral like they were before, that was fine.

Inside his cabin, he changed out of his cryo suit and into a pair of lounge sweats and a loose cotton knit top. It felt so much gentler than the unrelenting pinch of the all-purpose fabric of the cryo suit.

He sat down on the edge of his bed and a pang of guilt hit him in the chest when he thought about Omera again.

What if she didn’t want him in her life anymore?

The fact that he was on the ship, that he’d been the one to revive her, might have been the final straw.

He’d done all of this, come all this way, so they might get a chance to be together again the way they dreamed. He hadn’t talked to Omera individually since that day in her office, and he knew he hadn’t been good to her after that.

Their interactions were always stilted. Always cold. Always brief. He couldn’t crack because if he did, there was no telling where it would have led him.

If Omera wanted to talk, they would, but he didn’t want to force it. He didn’t want to make her do anything she wasn’t comfortable with- especially after he almost just lost her.

It was uncanny- he could still feel the ache of loss in his bones as if their souls were pulled taut in the aftermath of a near death experience.

All he knew was he was grateful he hadn’t severed the Bond by force. He was also glad they were going to age in tandem so that she wouldn’t have to deal with that pain on her own from galaxies away.

Din stared at the floor of his cabin for a long time before he decided to search for Omera in case she might need help.

She wasn’t in the showers, but her cabin door was sealed closed when he made his way up the hall to check if she went to lay down.

Good. She was probably exhausted and overwhelmed. She should rest.

His fingers twitched at his sides restlessly as he stood in the hall with his eyes set on her door as if he could see through it. With a small shake of his head, he made his way out of the crew quarters and instead onto the bridge.

He’d wait for her to make the first move. He didn’t want to push. He wanted to tell her everything, but only if she wanted to know everything.

It was ridiculous. He had somehow survived months apart from her, but the prospect of another hour or two felt unbearable and impossible.

Din sat down in a chair at one of the computer consoles and ran a hand over his face.

An hour. Sixty minutes. Three thousand six hundred seconds.

It was much better than the alternative of a lifetime apart.

Read Chapter 17

#mandomera #din x omera #the mandalorian #my writing #invisible string fic #hihi it's a surprise daytime update :)#this chapter...........#me @ din in the last scene: tell me you're in love without telling me you're in love

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