#it's so bad here but if we really wanted 2 we'd protest too & get our rights dat we deserve

[gurorori]

tbh it's still crazy 2 see progressive (ie western slash european & american i guess? yanno wat i mean. places wher we r nawt radicalised & illegalised into it oblivion) audiences have such (understandably) high standards 4 queer media or even queer representation as a whole & won't take less than. like i understand it's cause ya can expect better so ya will, in sum cases ya can even demand better. but it's simply nawt an option 4 many of us.

like idk perhaps a bit too harsh of me 2 say but regardless of the political atmosphere there's still a difference between livin' in a place where ya still have rights, have pride & can walk into a store etc & find queer literature & rep & even merch, have resources 2 support yrself & find yr community. & a place where as much as wavin' a pride flag or even havin' a pride pin, OR G-D FORBID holdin' yer partner's hand WILL get ya arrested & jailed. an' yr lucky if ya don' get assaulted or killed be4 dat can happen 🫥

[hierarchyproblem]

Reportback from the Posie Parker thing this weekend:

First off, the transphobes (mostly terfs, with some "debate bro" right-wing youtube type guys) outnumbered us 2:1, with probably close to 200 of them at peak. Now, we had a pretty good turnout, actually - we're a notoriously lethargic city for radical political activity - and a lot of theirs were familiar faces who've travelled in, but still. Numerically, this isn't great.

It was, however, good to see that the organisers were clearly experienced and well-coordinated. Consequently, even though it was mostly a placards and protest chants kind of affair, there was a bit more of a militant atmosphere than frankly most demos I've seen in town. I expect this represents a trend in trans political action across the country.

The filth, on the other hand, weren't prepared at all. There were only around five of them to begin with, and they had to call for backup in a hurry, because…

Quite a few of the terfs just really wanted to hurt someone! That's their movement's ethos, of course, but I was surprised that some of the old ladies seemed to have shown up specifically hoping for a chance to hit a trans person personally. There was some genuine physical violence before the police forced their way in between our lines, mostly pushing and shoving but some punching and kicking and grabbing at hair, etc, to try and keep us from getting too close to their speaking area.* The two battle lines vying for the ground with only our big banner between us was a little reminiscent of a pre-Norman shield wall or something. It's partly a strategic thing for them too, of course, to try and provoke violence, because middle-aged white women are likely to be presumed innocent so it'd be bad optics for us.

As far as I know none of our lot got arrested, which is a relief. One person had to be wrestled from a cop's grasp at one point, but there weren't many of them at that point and they didn't push the issue.

The big win is that (I'm told) we did manage to end up close enough that with all the megaphones, whistles, and punk rock blaring from the speakers, their livestream was unintelligible and unwatchable.

Similarly, I don't expect anyone who wasn't with them could've caught anything of their speeches, given we'd basically walled them off from the public. It didn't seem like we ended up close enough to actually drown out Parker et al. from being heard by their crowd, so I expect the transphobes still consider the event a success overall.

There was a complement of trot groups in attendance, naturally, and while a few of their people were willing to put their bodies on the line and get properly involved, most were spectators.

I basically hate the turning up to sell papers at something like this. These aren't the sort of thing where it's appropriate to be trying to propagandise or recruit for your party: we're here for a specific purpose, and that's not it. A good fraction of our people were therefore unwilling to to be as mobile as we needed, chained to their tables as they were. On top of that, while the terfs had people flyering the public, a lot of the material from our side was only tangentially related to trans stuff at all, and cost a pound! Hard to frame this as anything other than a loss on the propaganda front.

It's been part of the right-wing protest playbook for a while, but I saw surprised by the number of people spending the whole thing getting in people's faces with cameras. Even relatively "safe" trans lib demos are strictly masked events right now, and for the foreseeable future. A few of the veteran cadre had come prepared with umbrellas to get in the way of the cameras, which worked pretty well. I think I saw one of our side actually grab a camera from one of the most intrusive offenders and manage to successfully run off with it, which is hilarious.

I only had this confirmed afterwards, but a trans man from our side managed to get on their mic and tell them to fuck off, which is incredibly brave and frankly heroic.

Although a maybe as much as half of us drifted off as the day went on, we ultimately outlasted them: they all slunk off en masse after about four hours. That feels like "winning" but it's actually completely orthogonal to achieving anything meaningful.

A few of the right-wing arseholes were the last to leave, trying to start arguments with random people, before cops came over and I guess told them they'd had their fun for the day. It's pretty funny that these guys are so rancid that even the terfs ignored them all day.

As I see it, the main practical takeaway going forward is that they were prepared for our tactics. They know we're trying to drown them out: after most of them had arrived, they all quickly shuffled over 200m and had some of theirs set up a perimeter to keep us with our speakers etc. a way away from their speakers' pitch. It's a lot of the same people showing up to all the terf rallies, so it stands to reason that they had a plan for us. The organisers on our team were tactically well-informed too, but it wasn't enough to actually halt their event. It's necessary to oppose these things, but I feel like at best we earned a draw this time. While there might be tiny fascist demos where they can see they're outnumbered ten to one and don't bother to show up, someone like Parker draws numbers that are much harder to disrupt. I don't have nearly enough demo experience to confidently make tactical suggestions, but I can at least give you the lie of the land, so. Maybe this is useful to someone, idk.

[hey-its-cweepy]

Lesson 1;5: Something's Wrong

Basics here!

Part 1! Part 2! Part 3! Part 4!

Also please let me know if you would like to be tagged when more parts come out✨🕺

---------------------------------------

"What did I tell you, huh?! Everything's gone into absolute chaos and its all thanks to this stupid program!" A developer cried out, it had barely been a month since their little game's release and it was already a disaster, with allegations that their little program had a mind of its own and was causing trouble...

"Calm down, calm down, they probably just made it up like some spooky story... Just watch, it'll all die down soon. Remember, we can delete if its that bad, got it?" Replied the other.

"... Got it..." The first one sighed reluctantly.

Little did they know that someone was listening and they were not happy about it...

--------------------------------------

Its been a few days since Dell first received the USB, they've been trying to adapt to the inconveniences brought by it...

Their screen would glitch out and show static which would make them have to quickly restart themselves, their speakers would randomly turn on and off forcing them to just not use them anymore, sometimes they'd just shut off out of nowhere, it was a nightmare...

As much as Dallas tried to fix some of it, harshly yanking out the USB certainly didnt help...

At this point, Dallas feels defeated, he knows he can't fix Dell by himself. He realizes he needs to swallow his pride and ask someone who knows the subject better than he does to have a shot at properly fixing Dell...

You see, Dallas' never aimed to hurt Dell, he just wanted him to stay quiet. But of course, viruses don't work that way...

So with a deep sigh and some reluctance, he grumbles to himself as he makes his way to Momo and Roan.

"D-Dallas?" Momo asked "I-Is everything okay?"

Dallas huffed "... I need your help to take Dell to Ignihyde..."

"Momo fucking told you so-" Roan blurted out

"R-Roan! D-Don't say that!" Momo cried

"Are you gonna help me take the stupid giant box to Ignihyde or not?!" Said Dallas, a bit embarrassed and angry

Roan sighed "... Fine... But only cause if you tried to push Dell's box-screen by yourself, you'd probably push it over and break it."

----------------------------------------

Despite Dell's silent protests, the three of them try to push Dell's screen into Ignihyde together.

I'm alright! Honest! I can fix my system on my own!

Dell really didn't want fellow classmates to worry about them, so they tried their best to reassure them.

"I don't think so, it's been going on for a while..." Roan says "Besides, who knows what type of malware that thing had"

"What the hell are you first years doing?!" Questioned a residing student, in a bit of an accusatory tone.

"E-Eek!" Momo squeaked out before hiding behind Dell's box, the student seems to make her nervous...

"We're trying to get someone to fix this thing" Dallas admitted, in a rather sour tone

"Are you from this dorm?" Roan questioned.

"Well DUH! I have it on my uniform!..." The student mumbled something to himself, it clearly wasnt in a language Roan could understand...

"Good, can you help us fix Dell then?" Roan asked "Momo said that this dorm was good with technology or something along those lines"

Momo squeaked nervously at the mention of them...

"Momo"?... Wait a second, you're all part of the new first years, aren't you?"

"DUH! Idiot!" Dallas yelled out, matching the accusatory tone of earlier "If we weren't, we'd already know who to ask to help this thing or whatever!"

"About that... What's your name? It's kinda unfair you seem to know ours from that ceremony disaster thing but we dont know anything about you" Roan says

"Right... You can call me Kenzo, Kenzo Matisse" The dark-skinned student says.

"Great, now are you gonna help us with this stupid machine thing or what?" Dallas remarks in a snappy tone

Kenzo thinks to himself for a bit "... Hmmm... I suppose my whole dorm would be mad at me if I didn't, considering Dell goes here too... Eh, fine, we can try to see what's wrong with em"

"Th-Th... Thank you... M-Mister..." Momo squeaked out.

"Don't say anything just yet, I don't even know if I can fix them!" Kenzo remarked.

--------------------------------------

Kenzo plugs in a few cables into Dell's box, who seems quite nervous about the situation.

Wait wait wait! Im unsure if this is a good idea!

Words on the screen quickly flashed, Kenzo doesn't seem to pay attention to them.

"Don't be scared of the cables! You'll live! I hope..." Kenzo says as he plugs in one of the cables into his computer

Kenzo, I dont think-

Commencing system shut down...

They were the last words on Dell's screen before it went pitch black... Kenzo quickly gets to work, typing away at the screen to get a look into Dell's code in an attempt to try and see what's wrong.

Momo seems concerned, nervously holding her sleeves as she looks down at the ground.

"Momo, don't worry, Dell's gonna be fine" Roan tried to reassure her...

Dallas, on the other hand, still seems to be in denial that it's his fault, nervously scratching at his sleeve.

"Its not your fault... No, it could never be your fault..." He mumbled to himself "It was the fault of the person who gave that damn thing to you!... But... I don't know who it was..."

"Dallas?... Are you worried about Dell too?" Roan asked.

Dallas' eyes widen a bit "Me?! Worried?! In your fucking dreams, asshole!" He snapped at him.

Unbeknownst to them, Kenzo's computer was starting to heat up just by trying to even process the code.

"Almost there... Just gotta... Type in this thing..." Kenzo muttered to himself before letting out a scream and having to shield himself from the computer.

All plans were put to a stop when Kenzo's computer screen exploded, causing bits of it to scatter all over the floor and smoke to come pouring out of it.

Momo fearfully squeaked and hid behind Roan at the sound of it as Roan, Dallas and Kenzo collectively stared in surprise. On Dell's screen, you could only see a pair of eyes glaring hatefully at them as red text was displayed at the bottom.

DON'T DO THAT

...

Dell doesn't seem to like people touching their coding...

[virgofabreakdown]

Chapter One - Double Lives AU

Prologue | Next Chapter

One Year Later

Patton's POV

Blackberry Cafe 2:30 PM

"Virgil, where are the rest of the cookies from this batch?"

"What do you mean?" Virgil shouted from the bathroom. "That's all of the ones from that batch."

"What do you mean that's all the cookies from that batch?! The recipe makes over 30 cookies, but there's only 2!"

"I just sampled some of the cookie dough!"

"Some?"

"Most of the cookie dough..."

"For the love, Virgil. Why?" Ding! The bell at the front of the store rang across the store.

"Hello, welcome to Blackberry Cafe. Can I help you - oh, hi Roman!"

"Hey Pat, can I get the usual?"

Virgil came out of the back, "depends, are you gonna pay this time?"

"Probably not," he admits. I package up two cookies and three scones and hand them to him.

"Two chocolate chip cookies and three rosemary ham and cheese scones, on the house!"

"Patton, no," Virgil sighs. "I was trying to get him to pay for once. He can't just always get free food."

"That's just the perks of having an little brother who owns a cafe," Roman states with a wink.

"Plus, if I didn't give it to him, he probably wouldn't eat until dinner."

"Well maybe that would teach him to pack a lunch," Virgil reasoned. "Or better yet, actually pay."

"But he's hungry..." I pout at him for a minute before Roman cleared his throat.

"So, guys, me and Logan are going on a date tonight, if you guys are interested in joining us...?" Virgil looks at me. "It's up to you guys, of course, you don't have to, if you don't want to."

He trailed off, looking at the two of us. I shrugged, "I have work off tonight, so it shouldn't be a problem for me. What do you think Virg?"

"I don't think I have work. Sure, why not," Virgil looked at me with a smile. "We could use a date night anyway."

Roman gave us a big smile. "So, we've got a reservation for nine, so let's plan to meet up at my place around...eight, eight thirty?"

"Wait, you were planning on us coming?" Virgil sighed in frustration over the fact that his brother made the reservation without knowing if they could come. "Let's do eight, just to be on the safe side."

"Awesome," Roman said, walking towards the door. "See you later, then?"

"See you later!" I shout, waving to him.

"I can't believe he didn't ask us first! What if we couldn't have made it?"

"Then they would have a slightly bigger table," I say. Virgil looked very worked up. "It's fine."

"Yeah, but still."

"Now," I say, placing a hand on my hip. "Mind sharing why exactly you ate almost an entire batch of cookie dough?"

Time Skip

The Black-Berry Residence 7:30 PM

"Hey Virg? What do you think of this tie?" I shout across the apartment.

"I don't know, it would be a lot easier to tell if you weren't on the other side of the house." He sounded stressed.

I walk out of our bedroom into the living room and do a little twirl. "How do I look?"

Virgil seemed to be at a lack for words. "You look great," Virgil admitted. I wasn't wearing much, just some slacks and a loose blouse. I added a small blue bow to match my shirt. It was slightly fancier than my usual attire, but Virgil seemed to like it. We stared at each other for a moment. Nothing was said, but a comfortable silence filled the air. And then my phone rang. It pierced through the air with a certain, yet annoying ring.

I sighed, "one second." I picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, we need you to come in." I walked back into bedroom.

"I'm sorry, what?!"

"Look, I'm sorry, sir, but we need you to come in."

"No way, it's date night!" I protest. "I've got plans. Call someone else in."

"It is imperative that you come in to work," the man on the other end insisted.

"What could be so important that you need me too come in on my one day off," I demanded. "I mean, honestly, it's bad enough that -"

"Dracowitch. We have a lead on Dracowitch."

"Draco -" I shout, before lowering my voice. "Dracowitch? But how? He's been off the radar for months now."

"Which is why you need to come in. You are the best man we have."

I sighed, "fine. You better be paying overtime for this."

"Once the job is done, we will. But you must get here as soon as possible."

"I'll be there."

"Good. Farewell, and may you be fruitful."

"As to help the company grow," I say, finishing our company motto, before hanging up. Walking back into the living room, "so bad news," I look at Virgil, who had just hung up a from his own phone call. "Oh, who was that?"

"What, oh, I was just on the phone with Roman. So, what were you saying?"

"Oh, yeah. Unfortunately, I just got called into work. They need someone at the shelter for a few hours. Something about someone being delayed at the airport...? I don't know. All I know, is that I have to go to work because no one else answered the call." I felt bad lying to Virg, but I couldn't just tell him the truth. Honestly, I wanted to tell him the truth, I really did, but it was against the rules and could put him in danger. If something were to happen to him because of me, I couldn't live with the guilt.

"Oh, that sucks," he says. "Honestly, I want looking forward to sitting in a fancy restaurant and paying 50 bucks for spaghetti, anyway."

He was trying to make me feel better about the whole situation, bless his heart. This is why I love him, he was willing to do anything to make me happy and that, I lived for. Virgil restores my faith in humanity, no matter what happens, he finds a way to cheer me up.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll call Roman back and explain. You go to work."

"Okay. Thank you." I head back into the bedroom for the third time that night to get changed. I get changed and grab my bag. "I love you," I say giving him a quick kiss.

"Love you, too. Now, go take care of those dogs like no one had taken care of them before!"

I giggle. "Be back in a few hours!" I say before closing the door.

Virgil's POV

Patton closed the door. I look out the window, watching for his car to leave. A blue Prius passes by the window. Correction, Patton's blue Prius passes by the window. I watch as it rounds the corner. Poor Patton. I knew he was looking forward to this. We hardly get to go on dates anymore.

I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. Someone was calling me. Again. The first time was Roman and now it was, I look at the caller ID, work. Of course, work always picks the worst times to call. I hesitate for a moment, before picking up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, you need come here, like right now," the person on the other line spoke quickly and sharply, while also sounding rather rushed.

"What? Why?"

"We got a lead on Dracowitch and they put Morality on it. You're his backup, so you need to get here."

"Are they sure it's Dracowitch?"

"Yep. And this is the only good lead we've had in weeks, if not months."

"Alright, I'll be there in about half an hour."

"I said now."

"That's the soonest I cam be there," I insist.

"You live approximately eight minutes away, therefore you will be here in ten minutes. This is more than enough time."

"Fine, I'll be there in a few."

"Be there in five. Farewell and help guide the path."

"To lead the company to greatness."

And with that, I grabbed the keys to my car, a dark blue Honda, and ran out the door. I hopped down the flight of stairs at the front door and popped the trunk. Taking out an extra shirt, I close the trunk and climb in the car.

I hate my job, I really do. If I had the choice to just stay home, I would, but the bakery doesn't bring in enough money. So, I work for the 'print shop' and Patton has been helping by working at the local animal shelter.

My real job most definitely pays well, but it's not something that I would openly tell people about. Even if it wouldn't result in me getting fired. I am...a hacker, in a way. The term that the company hired us under is 'Personal Guide'. Which was true, we do guide people, just not the disabled and elderly. Think more along the lines of hitmen and assassins.

Our job is simple. Aide our assigned partner through their missions by briefing them on the mission, hacking into the security of buildings, giving them directions, and letting them know if anyone was up ahead. Typical hacker things. Oh, and keeping track of their location, incase they need backup. Typically, your partner will need backup occasionally, four to five months is the company average. But I've never had to call backup. Maybe it's luck, but I'm almost certain it's not.

I believe it's my partner, rather than luck. He is literally the best assassin this company has. When they paired us up, everyone was curious as to why. Based on all the rumors flying around, this guy was a legend. No one truly understood why he had been paired with a newbie with no prior experience in anything related to computers or the company.

Until they saw us work together. We just clicked. I would have locked doors slide open as he approached them, as he responded with the witty pun that made me groan. In the middle of missions, we shared our stories about life outside of the company. We'd swap jokes and recipes, recommend restaurants for the other to try, we literally would just talk about anything. Morality, as he was called, was the only thing that made this horrible job worthwhile.

Our current target was an online personality by the name of Dracowitch. It seemed to be a German, or possibly Russian name, seeing as it was pronounced Draco-vitch. They've been untraceable, up until now.

I pull up to the print shop. Even though the store was a small local business, it seemed to be bustling with life. The lights were on and about half a dozen people were running around doing various things.

Taking a deep breath in, I walk inside and straight to the counter, where a man sat, attempting to hide the fact that he was watching cartoons with a book. I cleared my throat, before simply giving him a "hey."

"Ah, Mr. Black-Berry. I don't believe you have work tonight," the man said, pausing his show and closing his book.

"Got called in."

"I see, your husband must be mad."

"Doesn't know, he got called in too, so I left after he did."

"Be careful with that. Do it one too many times, you'll get accused of cheating. I did that once and she signed us up for therapy."

"Oh, how is the Mrs.?"

"She's fine. Been a bit better since therapy."

"That's good. Well, have a good night, Larry. Say hi to Dot for me!"

"Will do!" And with that he pressed a button under his desk. The door behind him slid open, revealing an elevator to the basement.

End of Chapter One.

@vaugleysassygrunt

[join-the-joywrite]

Women in War -- 2

All Maggie Maravillla ever wanted was to help people. She never imagined losing damn near everything when winning a war.

WiW masterpost

Chapter 2

1935

"I would've enlisted today if the war had gone on now, Buck, no hesitation. "

Maggie's laugh was long and had Steve not known how she meant her different laughs, it would have been mighty insulting.

Bucky grinned. "You wouldn't have lasted two days in training, pal."

Steve rolled his eyes, which caused him to wince as his headache protested. He pressed the ice pack against his forehead even harder. "Always a bully somewhere," he grumbled, "first Hodge, now these jerks."

"You just need to learn to pick your battles," Maggie said, smiling. "Or you could, you know, enjoy your birthday like a normal person."

"Not an option," Steve said, grinning at Maggie, "and aren't you supposed to be preparing for college? With Becky? In Cambridge?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't miss little Steve's birthday. Besides, you should cagar on Bucky. He brought me out to Brooklyn to see you. Becky has a couple of bonus quizzes tomorrow for the really -- desalado? -- the eager ones, and she really wants to excell. She's been talking about moving to London permanently. Apparently, the boys there are cute."

"How would she even know?" Steve asked. "She spends all day in your dorm studying."

"True," Maggie said, shrugging.

"All she knows is that American boys aren't," Bucky said.

"Ow," Steve said flatly, staring at Bucky.

"I actually had an orientation session this week," Maggie said, staring off to the side, "but it doesn't matter. As long as I keep my grades above average, I get to keep my scholarship. I didn't even expect to get in, let alone earn a scholarship."

"Don't sell yourself short, Mags," Bucky said, leaning back in his chair, "you're brilliant. We're proud of you for even going to college."

"It's hard sometimes. I know I've been here my whole life, but I grew up learning from Papá. Do you know how smart I am in Spanish?"

Steve smiled. "Yeah, we know."

"I actually have a hard time keeping up with you when you're mad, and I've been studying Spanish for like, six years. Tio Hugo is a miracle teacher, I'll give him that."

"You're just dumb," Steve said, rolling his eyes again.

"You'll make a fine doctor," Bucky told Maggie, ignoring Steve, "just set your sights on becoming the great Doctor Maravilla and never look back."

Maggie smiled. "Doctor Maravilla," she repeated, "sí, that's gonna be me."

The table was silent for a while. In the background, Evie could be heard chatting away from some friend of hers. The Barnes household was never truly silent. It was something Maggie always loved about Bucky's home -- her home, as Winnifred always made her feel. Maggie hated silence. Silence filled her own house on the days where her father went to work and she was left alone with her mother. Silence was what happened when the teachers caught her and Becky fighting with Hodge or any of his cronies. Silence was what happened when Angel had friends over. Everytime Maggie was subject to silence, it was around someone she didn't quite like.

Maggie hated silence more than she hated bullies. Maggie learnt English curses just to swear biligually whenever she was told to be silent.

So Maggie loved the Barnes household, where someone or the other would always be doing something. Sometimes it would be Allie and Steve arguing about who had the homework answers right. Sometimes it would be Evie loudly chatting on the telephone. Often, she could hear Winnifred and Becky bustling about in the kitchen, trying out new recipes and experimenting with bizarre flavours. Every odd weekend, George Barnes would make a loud noise in the garage, fiddling with some old piece of tech. Becky would join him too.

And very rarely, Maggie would hear Bucky humming to himself as he went about doing whatever he did.

"I ought to get going," Maggie said, wishing with all her heart that she could just stay in her home.

"Chin up, Mags," Steve said, "give it time, you'll be one of America's most sought-after doctors sooner or later."

Steve had no idea how right he was.

1939

Four years later, they found themselves in well into the midst of a world war.

Mi dulce Magpie,

I'm going to bind Steve to the leg of my dining room table and lock the table in someone's safe. He's heard about the war, you know. Do you remember when we had just graduated? You came from Cambridge for Steve's birthday. The little pedazo de mierda got it in his head then already about signing up for war. Now he tells me it's fate. Won't you write him a scathing letter, doll? Maybe he'll listen to you. I'd love to sit and write more, but Evie says she just saw Steve get dragged into an alley. Do remind my scatterbrained sister to read my letters. You're still coming home for Christmas, right? Allie misses your dumb face, doll. I hope to see you here at least a week in advance.

With love,

The better Barnes twin.

P.S. I'll only stop calling you Magpie if you stop calling me Buckwheat.

Maggie smiled as she folded up the letter again. She slipped it into her purse as she walked along the hallway.

"Can I help you, Miss?"

"No, thank you, I'm just here to visit someone."

The young woman raised her eyebrows at Maggie. "Ma'am. . . I don't--"

"I've been here before, angel, I know my way around the office. Mr Edwards' is straight down, right?"

"Er, yes. Uhm, good luck, ma'am."

Maggie never used the endearment 'angel' to mean anything other than 'estúpida mierda'. Making sure the letter she'd read thrice now was still tucked into her little bag, Maggie walked along until she came up on the open office out side Mr Edwards'.

"Rebecca Latimer Barnes, we'll be back after New Year's. We're not going off to war!"

The group of young women dispersed, allowing Maggie a glimpse of the woman that had previously been in the centre of the laughs and smiles. "Felicidades por el engagement, Peggy. Beck, we're gonna miss the plane."

Peggy Carter smiled. "Gracias, Maggie. Do say hello to everyone at home from me."

"You should send a photo, Pegs," Becky said, leaning on Peggy's desk, "although it's a pity Fred proposed. I was sure Buck would've liked to take you out."

Maggie laughed, despite being upset that Becky still hadn't left the office. "If that were true, we'd be offering Peggy condolences. Vamanos, Beck, your bag's already in the car."

Becky sighed dramatically. "I'll see you in the new year, ladies. Let's go, Dr Maravilla."

"Almost a doctor," Maggie said as she waved goodbye to the Bletchley Park women and left, Becky trailing behind.

"Back to work, ladies," Mr Edwards said as he opened his office door. "Miss Carter, a word?"

"Of course, Mr Edwards."

"Has Miss Barnes left already?"

"Just missed her, sir."

"Pity. Remind me to speak to her when she returns in the new year."

///////////////

Becky pulled her suitcase along behind her. "How'd you even meet the guy? And what are you doing for him that he's paying for both your education and our visits home?"

Maggie frowned as she thought back. "I was waiting tables in our eleventh year, you remember? He stopped by and I waited on him. He was a mess -- he still is -- and his food and drink fell everywhere. Last time I cursed like that was when that perra Lucy Kinney stole my shift at the hospital and I had to work the graveyard shift."

"You know, given that you work part-time in a hospital, I really wouldn't suggest calling it the graveyard shift."

Maggie smiled. "Very funny, Becks. Anyway, so he's surprisingly super apologetic about it. Turns out he was stressed over some college exams or something and long story short, we got to talking about college and he felt really bad about ruining my shift at the diner that he offered to pay for my college tuition -- provided I didn't slack off or things like that."

Becky shook her head. "I don't get it. Why? Why would someone just randomly decide to pay for someone else's tuition?"

"Well, he comes from a rich family."

"That makes it all the more unlikely that he'd be so generous."

"Look, Becks, I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. If the man sees potential in me and is willing to pay for college, I'm grabbing it with both hands and hanging on until I graduate. You and me both know my father could never afford getting me into medicine."

"Your mom could."

"Yeah, but who needs her help? I'm actually going to see her before I come by your place."

"I thought you were meeting your darling benefactor?"

"I am. I'm seeing them both today and then I'll come home. Do me a favour and fetch my father?"

"Sure, no problem. Did your darling benefactor call you a cab?"

"I called you a cab." Both women stopped walking at the new voice. "And we all know I'm not Maggie's darling benefactor."

"Howard," Maggie greeted, "good to see you."

Howard dipped his head slightly. "Mags. Mr Jarvis will take your bags to Ms Barnes' taxi, if you'd like?"

Maggie smiled at the young man following Howard. "Hola, Eddie, como estas?"

Jarvis smiled back. "Bien, gracias, Mags. ¿Y usted mismo?"

"Always a pleasure, Eddie. Thank you so much."

Jarvis nodded as he took hold of Maggie's suitcase and gestured for Becky to walk with him.

"So, darling benefactor?"

"She's insane. Leave it to the great Becky Barnes to see through the rosiest of rose-lenses."

"Isn't she a really good codebreaker?"

"Surprisingly, yes. She's actually one of two top codebreakers at Bletchley Park. Our friend Peggy is the other."

"Peggy . . . that wouldn't be Margaret Carter, would it?"

"It would. What a small world, Mr Stark."

"Indeed, Dr Maravilla, it's a very small world. Come on, we have business to discuss."

"Business?" Maggie echoed with a frown as she placed her hands around the arm Howard offered her.

"Business," Howard repeated with a nod, pulling Maggie through the busy airport.

///////////////

"Hypothetically? No. I went to Cambridge to study and become a doctor. I wouldn't want any part in your whimsical ideas, Howard."

"What if the situation weren't hypothetical?"

Maggie sipped her tea slowly. "No. Besides, you can't make superheroes. ¡Eso es ridículo! Maybe when you've got proof this . . . super soldier thing . . . will work, I will consider helping you out."

"Maggie, hear me out, you're England's finest and you're not even qualified yet. How they hate to say your name, because you're better than them all. I could really use your help on this."

"This was never hypothetical to begin with, was it?"

Meekly, Howard shook his head. "No. Look, there's this German doctor who's developing a formula. If I can just persuade some people upstairs to go after the doctor, we could have that formula. We could win the war before it's fully begun."

"I'm sorry, Howard. I truly appreciate all you've done for me, but this isn't the way to repay you. I can't understake . . . missions . . . without any solid proof that I'm doing something right. I'm really sorry, Howard, truly."

Howard nodded as Maggie gathered her things and stood up.

"What about a nurse?"

Howard's voice stopped Maggie. She stood behind his chair, staring at the door. Howard stared at her vacant seat.

"I wanted to be a doctor, Howard."

"You'll have to climb that ladder, Maggie, and you can either work as a nurse in that shitty hospital and sit through years and years of college until they finally think a young Hispanic woman is capable of being a fully-fledged doctor, or you can start as a base camp nurse and actually put your skills to use as you climb the ranks. Your skill is beyond the average nurse, Mags, and you'll get everyone to call you a doctor within months at best."

Maggie squinted at the door.

"Think about it," Howard said, stirring his cup. "I expect an answer by New Year's. Enjoy the Christmas week, Miss Maravilla."

"Likewise, Mr Stark," Maggie said as she left, realising just how much she loved being called Dr Maravilla.

///////////////

Bucky was waiting on the front steps when Maggie got out of the cab. She stood behind the front gate and smiled. "How long have you been sitting there, Buckwheat?"

"Not long, Magpie. How was your meeting with your mother?"

Maggie's expression twisted as she pushed open the gate and walked up to the steps. "I didn't go see her. I was with Howard all this time. He offered me a job."

"That's brilliant, Mags!"

"Sí, but not the job I want. Bucky, I want to be a doctor. Howard wants to make me an army nurse."

Bucky turned his head to look at the woman sitting beside him. "Why do you want to be a doctor, Maggie?"

"I want to help people, I want to fix them, I want to make them better."

"Well, doll, then maybe being an army nurse is more suited to you than studying forever at a college that doesn't really want it's girls to go out there."

"I don't know, Buck. I think I can be one of the lucky ones. I . . . just don't know."

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WiW masterpost

[la-appel-du-vide]

05•28•21 - Zion National Park

Back in February, we applied for permits to hike The Wave over Memorial Day weekend - a hike Brady has wanted to do for awhile - but we didn't get picked. BOO. We'll try again someday, but in the meantime, we still wanted to do a Memorial Day trip.

We settled on a Southern Utah road trip. We drove down to Hatch on Thursday night, and stayed at the cabin, so we could get up at 4:30 in the morning to make the drive to Zion National Park in order to hike Angel's Landing as early as possible (to avoid crowds and the heat of the day). I've always heard that Angel's Landing is a terrifying hike, that you have to hold on to chains to conquer. In my mind, I was prepared to have to sidle a cliff face while hanging on to a chain for dear life - but in reality, it wasn't a big deal at all. You can't park in Zion's near any of the hikes or sight-seeing spots, so we had to take a shuttle. Because it was Memorial Weekend, they were enforcing a line at the bottom of Angel's Landing to restrict how many people were hiking at a time. They'd let six people up every 10-15 minutes or so. We were FREEZING standing in this line when we first got there. It was so windy, and we were dressed for hiking in 90 degree weather. Not a good combination!

But once we started the hike, we were grateful to have the wind and to be hiking in the shade. It's really not a bad hike, other than the "wiggles" which are 21 quick-paced switchbacks. No one likes switchbacks. Once we got to the chain portion of the hike, it felt like more of an adventure than just a hike (which is great, because it's more fun and less of a chore). It was a long way down, for sure, but I never felt like I was in danger. This is where we really felt the congestion of the busy hiking weekend. It's narrow enough that traffic can only flow up or down, not both at once. So we were waiting a lot for our turn to keep going. We thought it would probably be a better idea for them to have the line at the chained portion of the hike, rather than at the bottom. People hike at different paces once they start, and you don't feel the congestion until the chained portion anyway. But we could be patient.

It was absolutely gorgeous, and getting to the top felt like such an accomplishment! Poor Beach hiked all the way up there and then was feeling so sick that she basically had to turn right around once we reached the top to hike down and find a bathroom. But the rest of us sat up there awhile and enjoyed the view. I was mad because I brought my old Nikon DSLR to take some pictures with once we got to the top (I don't trust bringing my nice one, plus it's nice to have a wider lens), but the memory card in it was jacked. It only let us take 12 photos. What a waste for poor Brayden who had it in his backpack the whole time. DUMB.

It was a much quicker hike down, and I was feeling bad for all the people waiting in line to start the hike, because it got hot quickly.

Once we got to the bottom, we tried to make a game plan for what to do next. We wanted to hit at least one of the Emerald Pools and the Narrows, and it made the most sense to start with the Emerald Pools since the trail was nearby. The Narrows required us to take a shuttle all the way back to the starting point, and then a different shuttle out to the trail head. And then we would have had to do the same thing to return to the Emerald Pools. So we thought it best to just start there.

We hiked to the first one, but it was so hot by that point, and everyone was already a little tired and hungry. The pool was nothing like what we expected, and it may be because we are in such a drought this year, but it wasn't really worth finding haha. The pool was so low, and not even green. It was pretty disappointing, especially when you consider the emerald pool we saw in Thailand. We could have continued on, hoping that the upper pools were more impressive, but we were running out of time quickly, so we called it good.

We hiked back down to the lodge and ate a quick lunch there. The food wasn't great by any means, but we needed it and were so happy it was an option. Then we took the shuttle back to the visitor's center, to prepare to go to the Narrows. We wanted to rent water boots and socks, since none of us had really great options, so when we got there, I set off to do that while everyone else scattered to change. It was about 2 PM, and the girl I first spoke to said the boots needed to be back by 8, or there would be late fees. I told her that wasn't a problem since our last shuttle left at 7 anyway. She went to get them when her boss came out and told me he wouldn't rent them to me because it was "too late" in the day. I told him we weren't planning to hike the whole 10 miles - just wanted to experience some of it - but he didn't care. He said it would take 45 minutes to drive to the trailhead, an hour to even get to the water, and six hours to do the actual hike. He said he knew we'd be late and would have to keep them overnight, so he wouldn't do it. Glen and Brayden showed up at some point and heard the guy's unwillingness to help us out. I protested a little, but it was no use. He was set on his decision.

We were frustrated by that, and Glen goes, "I know you don't care about my opinion, but I think we should just not do it. You know you only live a few hours from here - you can come do it some other time." We were worried about him acting like this after our experience hiking with him in Havasu, so we were quick to shut that down and tell him he was welcome to wait around, or go off on his own (luckily he had his own car), but that we were going to do as much as we could - that was the whole reason we were down there. Kena and Brady also agreed that we should just do our best, so we did.

That guy was such a liar too. We got on the shuttle, and I prepared myself for a 45-minute drive, but it took us literally 10 minutes to get to. We flew down the mile or so trail to get to the water, and then it was all fun and games! We didn't have the best shoes, and we only had a couple of walking sticks, but we made the most of it.

The water was so so refreshing after being in the hot sun the entire day. We could have done the whole 10 miles and not been miserable! The only issue was that it was SLOW going. Walking on unstable river rocks in knee deep water takes time, to ensure footing and make sure you plan the best routes in order to not fall.

Again, a new, beautiful experience. Maybe we'll go back one day and do the whole thing?!

Glen repeatedly wanted to turn back, but we kept telling him he was welcome to, but we were going to keep going as long as we could.

It ended up just fine. We made it back in plenty of time for the last shuttle, and were back to the visitor's center by 7. I wanted to go rub it in that rental guy's face that he was wrong, and lost out on like $100 by not renting to us... but I refrained.

We were more than ready for dinner by this point, but we had to drive to St. George first. Once we got there, we settled on eating at The Pizza Factory. It was such a great meal after a long strenuous day.

Our hotel turned out pretty great, despite having major troubles trying to book a place (turns out you shouldn't wait until the last second to book a place to stay over Memorial Day weekend), and we were all dead asleep in the blink of an eye.