#ke is just never referred to with kes last name apparently

[thanatos-zagreus-shagreus]

Oh Nico my beloved!!!!!

Anyway I'm just gonna do mine as a reblog

Also I do not have favorite lists of anything so I'm just gonna pick 5 characters from the media that pop into my head first (probably stuff I've been watching/reading recently)

Tagging (no pressure tho): once again @tostilunch but also @misterybusiness

ohoho @factorialsotherfandoms you are evil for making me pick just 5 characters!! i have so many little guys in each of these fandoms alone!! not even mentioning others! :0

Make a poll with your five all-time favorite characters and then tag five people to do the same!

(gonna copy you and pick 6 guys)

tagging (tho no pressure!!) @anothera @no-wings-no-angel @thanatos-zagreus-shagreus @chirpthingz @it-s-york-catch

[mageofspacemultiverse]

The Comedian - Split Ends

WORD COUNT: 1,592

SUMMARY: Trajes tries to make arrangements, but a roadblock prompts a self-care visit to a place of comfort and a meeting with an old friend. Mentions of Ashter Faurux from @memurfevur (Story begins under the cut)

“Missus Kalzir, I--“

“-DIctIr Kalzir. And, as I instructed befIre, I can’t even begin to think why any If this is my prIblem. NI means n|, even in y|ur kind’s language.”

The waiting room was abustle. Wrigglers hissed and nursed their bruised mandibular sockets with invasive grey tongues. Whimpers rose from some chairs in clouds. Trajes’ attention only loosely included them in his universe, though he was more than protected from view by transparent glass that housed the reception booth.

“I admit, it’d be more cramped on room than I first thought, but--“

“There’s nIthing mIre tI discuss. I take my jIb seriIusly.” The Cerulean huffed, an extra eye on his ear seeming to bristle with agitation. “This is a h|spital, and last I checked it will c|ntinue t| be that, and |nly that. N|w, if a pr|per venue is what y|u need, I’d suggest the bar seven minutes away. |r, better yet, the brick wall it’s attached t|.”

He would have normally shrugged such derisive remarks away, but the two beefy biceps strangling both his armpits made the motion difficult. “I can promise you--. I sent my references to Mister Ianoni three days ago--! I’ve never had a problem with this before, I have plenty of references--! Name one--! You, Tiny Timmie, ask me a hospital in the--!“

“C’mon, little guy, let’s go.” One of the lugs murmured between pastrami wheezes.

“Wait--! Wait, okay, just--!” Trajes wriggled a little in the air as he was hoisted up. “I can send a follow-up, that’s fine--! But you at least remember the other thing I asked for, right--?”

“And that’s an|ther thing with y|u.” The Cerulean glowered, arms crossing over her surgical gown. “It’s bad en|ugh t| have a l|ne cullbait like y|u l||se in the |perating r||m-“

“-Theatre--!”

“-but what use d| y|u even have f|r a bag |f hair??” 

Trajes’ eyebrows lifted in surprise beneath his mask, as if the mystery was obvious to her. “Well I’m not doing anything weird with it, I promise! Besides, it’s not like your patients need it anymore, it’s practically running off their heads--!”

“Y|u make chem|therapy j|kes at y|ur h|spital gig? G|gdamn shall|w-“

“Can you just--? Please get it--? Please--?”

“This c|nversati|n is |ver. This isn't an asylum, and I d|n't deal with nutcases. Lads, n| need t| take the elevat|r, let him take a dunk!”

“Dunk--? Your--...your hospital has a swimming pool--??” As Trajes was carried down the hallway, he beamed. “That’s great material, why didn’t you tell me earlier--??”

Dr. Kalzir simply shook her head with disapproval and vanished around the corner.

======

They did not, in fact, have a swimming pool in the hospital. Apparently take a swim had meant Trajes getting stuffed down a small rectangular chute on the other side of the hallway that led thirty stories down in claustrophobic darkness. Trajes bumped and fell through the duct yelping with dismay for 45 seconds, waiting to hear the splat of his bones on the pavement, but instead he was met with the cushy embrace of at least four dozen black garbage bags of used medical equipment. The Pyrite rubbed his elbows, scraped from contact with the metal, and smoothed out his hair. 

“Well……that’s one way to make an exit--!” Despite the heart-dropping plunge his humour quickly returned, and he popped forward on his knee, quickly adjusting to avoid the puncture of an errant syringe needle poking from a biowaste container, and peeped from the dumpster’s skyward opening.

He was on the side of the tall building, and as he remembered…yup! His cherry-red bike of 3 sweeps was still propped against the adjacent wall, waving him out. 

But before that…the doctor’s words spawned a thought, and he looked back to the bags and quickly began glancing through the bundles of refuse, giving a rough feel through the contents. Diapers, diapers, dressing gowns, face masks, IV bags. 

Seconds turned to minutes, but there was no luck. Sourness puckered at his lips, and the stink clung to him just as much as the shame did. He…hadn’t done it. He’d failed. Failed again.

Failure, failure...failure...f-failure...his chest started to feel tight, arms quaking. C'mon, keep it together, this is nothing, this is...

A buzzing from his pocket, though, distracted him just as the first traces of a tear started to fill an eye. 

32-02

& <( Did the doctor cooperate?)

Well, shit, he was hoping for a moment’s notice before she tried to pry. Sometimes, it felt like she knew exactly when he needed her advice; maybe that was a power she’d never told him? Or there was a security camera in the garbage chute…

32-02

If cooperate you mean a) say no to everything and b) make me never want to go skydiving for the rest of my existence--…

then yeah, it went swimmingly--. I was so excited to see the pool too--. 8(

32-02

& <( The resident must still be dodging his shift for bucket smuggling. It sounds like you’ve been through an ordeal. Does it hurt your feelings?)

32-02

It feels--…

I just don’t feel good--.

32-02

& <( Leave it in my hands, Trajes. I’ll straighten this out for you. Do you want a milkshake? I can transfer you some credit.)

Trajes clambered over the edge, avoiding twisting his ankle on the low slope in the guttered alcove. The thought gave him some peace. Tomorrow, the mean lady would not be so mean; he knew how Superego went about her business by now.

32-02

I want to go be with Zaldes right now--.

32-02

& <( Are you positive? Don’t be afraid to message your brother either though.)

& <( If you’re sure, send my best wishes to their spirit. I’ll let you know about the show tomorrow)

32-02

Yeah--.

Trajes lodged his flip phone back into his pocket, and grabbed his handle-bars, gripping the rubber tighter than he needed.

======

He’d grabbed the last ziplock of hair from his hive before making the short cycle down across the familiar path. Through the graveyard, past the whole in the chain link fence. Dodge the poison ivy whacking at your bangs and try not to spill your lunch for the five minutes of jerking up and down on bump rocky dirt.

Planted between autumn leaves was the tree stump where Zaldes was buried. This had once been desolate not so long ago: the arborists had made the area look much better than the desolation that once tattooed its sickly vertebrae. In the heart of the stump, Trajes placed his offering with the many others.

“Hey--! Hey, Zaldes--!” He cooed, like waking him from a nap, his fingers knitted and eyelids weary. “How’re ya, buddy pally chummy--? I hope you aren’t too lonely--…

“Anyways, look--…I know it’s been two weeks this time, so you’ve probably been wondering how I’m doing--! And, well, I’m--…” He sniffed, grinning and looking up past the treeline. “I’m doing super--! You know, I--…I met my brother—!”

He clapped to the silent audience. “I met him, finally, like I said I would, and he--…doesn’t outright hate me, I think--! That was kind of a given, you know how my energy is, my natural charm and wit, but I was really afraid at first, you know--?

“Buuuut he saw my show, oh yeaa--! The other day, actually, and he said he enjoyed it--! Not his sense of humour, but he saw the merit--! Yeah, oh, he’s a gamer, and he wears muscle shirts, and has lots of quads, and a fluffy mohawk--! You’d appreciate him, he’s really stand-up, honest and caring, not low self-esteem whatsoever, not a trace--. What else, what else--? Superego's doing great--...uumm--...

Trajes paused, feeling like he could sense the appreciation from the soil. His arms fell to his side as he looked down. The seconds ticked and locked by, tip of tongue in between teeth. 

“I miss you--………I know I--…say that, every time, but I--…do miss you, still, Zaldes--…wish I could hear you being proud of me, you know--? Wish I could know everything is going to be okay--. I’m not a wriggler anymore, I can take care of myself, but--…just--...it'd be nice--...”

………

.........

Are you even there? His thoughts poked at the endothelium of his skull, lips pursing. Am I even talking to you right now?

........

The moment of self-reflection passed though as his lips puckered, and Trajes clenched his fists and forced a smile. “Sorry, sorry--! Don’t worry, I shouldn’t ask you for so much, you’re already so busy in the afterlife--! Getting five trolls for every quad, drinking Cruel-Aid in a jacuzzi, telling tall tales to every ear that hears--! Ohahahaha, you rascal bastard, don’t ever stop, stay wild for me, alright--? I’ll hold you to it--! And I promise, next time, I'll bring you some of that cobbler from Chacho's--! I know you've been wanting it--!!” 

Bubbly as ever, Trajes clicked his fingers and winked, then grabbed his bike and left the sacred place to the mnemonics of chirp-beast song and the peeking eyes of the moons. His latest donation of hair shifted in the wind as he rang his dingy bicycle bell and headed hive.

[ketso]

Episode 52

This week, Michael and Samuel (Keith's brothers) are coming to visit us. Coming to our place is a road trip, so hey... they are coming with their wives and children. Michael's girlfriend - whom I haven't yet met - gave birth to a baby girl four months ago. So now, the two of them are coming with their son and daughter - both who have driven Masingita up the wall of all walls. Samuel is coming with his wife who's always angry at the world. She hates me so much, so I don't understand how she will be in my house. They have older-ish kids compared to Michael and Keith.

Risuna is on midterm break and he's very happy that his cousins are coming over. We let mzala go home to be with her kids for the week. Keith and I took leave. But obviously we have to be on standby.

I've fixed the bedrooms that they'll be staying in. We put up Risuna’s baby cot in the room that Michael and his girlfriend will be staying in to accommodate their baby girl. Risuna’s bedroom has a bunk bed themed and shaped in a formula 1 car... it has a top bunk and a bottom bunk. I've been trying to get rid of that bed and give him a proper bed, but he wants his bed. His dad said he will tell us when he is ready to let it go. The third guest bedroom is fixed for Samuel's kids. They are older and they are girls. They'll need their space. I had to go shopping for some more linen because I know I'll be judged. So I might as well make this a near-hotel experience.

"Baby", I hear Keith call for me.

"Baby!" Risuna.

I actually just laugh.

"Ey, she's mommy to you. She's my wife." I hear Keith say through his light giggles.

Risuna just laughs.

They find me fixing the last bedroom.

"The rooms look really nice. Thank you for this." He says.

"No problem. I hope we have fun. Samuel's wife is never in a good mood around us. I hope that she doesn't ruin the week for us." I say.

"Michael and I told Samuel to control his wife this weekend otherwise we are kicking them out. Apparently she slapped Zama."

"Ke mang Zama?"

"The girlfriend... Michael's girlfriend."

Oh. I didn't know her name. I just referred to her as the girlfriend that drove Masingita crazy.

"Why did she slap Zama?"

"It was at the welcome ceremony for Nsuku - Michael's daughter - the one we couldn't attend. No one knows how or why their fight started. But Carol slapped Zama and Zama had her arrested."

I cannot believe what I'm hearing.

"Jwale if they start hitting each other here?" I ask.

He looks at me, trying very hard to not laugh.

"There'll be kids here. They mustn't do that crap here. But apparently the issue here is that she's still team Noria and Masingita. That's why she doesn't get along with you and Zama."

"She better not do that or come here with that energy. In my house? Le nna ke tla mo tlapa", I say.

"Baby, we want a peaceful visit. Please."

"Ja, and she must stay within her limits. A re dlali le yena!"

Keith shakes his head at me.

"Can I go swim?" Risuna asks his dad.

"Risuna, it's cold. It's about to rain. You are going to get sick", I say.

"But it's not raining yet. I'll swim for five seconds." Risuna.

"Risuna, no." Me.

"Okay, I'll heat the pool."

"RISUNA!" Now I snap. I don't know why this child chances so much.

His dad looks at me like I'm being too strict. He always gives me this look when I say no to stuff then Risuna sulks for ten minutes straight until he forgets what he's sulking about.

The gate buzzer goes off and security calls on Keith's phone.

"Is it my cousins?" Risuna.

I just pick him up and not answer him.

Keith instructs the gate to "open for them" then hangs up.

"Is it my cousins?" Risuna asks his dad.

"Yes. And your uncles and aunts." Keith.

"YES!!!!"

"Do we bore you? Don't you like hanging out with us?" I ask Risuna.

"I just get bored playing by myself. And everyone has brothers and sisters. How come I don't have one?"

Keith bursts into laughter. I'm just shocked.

"Let's go meet the rest outside", Keith says, distracting this child with big questions.

"COUSIN!" MJ says to Risuna.

"COUSIN! LONG TIME NO SEE!" Risuna mara!

We all actually laugh.

He climbs out of my arms and runs to his cousin. They are so happy to see each other.

"Absheni", Samuel's daughters greet us.

We greet them back. I greet back with a simple hi and hug. Keith goes all deep in Xitsonga with them.

Zama and I greet each other. She has her baby girl with her.

"She's so cute. She's making my ovaries super excited", I say.

"Really?" Keith.

"Hai Keith. Hai!" Me.

Everyone laughs.

We all now greet each other then make our way into the house. I have baby Nsuku in my arms. Samuel's wife doesn’t really mingle with us.

We settle in the TV room. The TV is off, we just have background music playing... a nice African rnb Playlist. Obviously, I put it together. Keith takes Nsuku from me.

"I'm going to prepare us some cheeseboards while the gentlemen take your bags to your respective rooms upstairs. Babe, will you show them where they are staying?" Me.

"Sure, my love." Keith.

"I can help with the cheeseboards", Zama offers.

"Sure. Let's go." I say.

The guys head upstairs, then Zama and I head to the kitchen. I don't know where Carol goes.

"And then? Madam?" Zama starts. Lol!

I shrug my shoulders then say, "She's always been like this since I met her. I've never seen her not be like this. She has her own demons this one - demons that have got nothing to do with us." I say.

"Yoh, she's very rude."

"She's just used to the original wives - Noria and Masingita. You know how that's like... we see it all the time on these reality shows. The OGs never mingle with the newbies. They never like us." I say.

We are now cutting and setting up the boards.

"But is it our fault that these men chose us?"

Zama mustn't think we are sisters in ho-ism. Because we are not.

"Look, Zama. I'm not proud of how I got Keith. Yes, I love him. A lot. I loved him before he even met Noria or before he even married her. But I lost him to her and I had to move on with my life. Which I did do. I never intended to come between them."

"So what happened?" She asks me.

"Noria couldn't have kids. Keith really wanted kids. So they asked me to be their surrogate. I had no issues with that. It was for Keith. There isn't a thing that I wouldn't do for him. When we got to the fertility clinic, they found that Noria's body wasn't producing eggs. So, I was further asked to donate an egg. My egg would be fused with Keith's sperm, then I'd carry the baby."

"Ibhadi elingaka?! That girl... Hai khona! Kuyasho nje ukuthi idlozi belimujikele", I actually don't like Zama.

"Manje ntombo, wangena ke wena intombi yom'suthu, wathatha indoda kanjalo nje?" She continues.

"Cha. When I was six months pregnant, Noria decided ukuthi yena she doesn't want the child anymore."

"Shembe! Manje wena wenzeni ke ngengane?! Eyacelwa uyena nokwenza?!"

"I struggled. She cut all communication between Keith and I. She gave me a lot of money to kill my baby. I took the money because I needed it. But I didn't kill my child. Little did I know that Keith still wanted his child. I guess when Noria found out that I didn't kill the child and that Keith still wanted the child, she got angry. She started stalking me, then one day she attacked. She hurt me so badly that I went into labour and gave birth to a premature baby. Keith was still in hiding about him wanting this child, so he was helping me behind Noria's back. When my son was strong enough to come home, we went to stay with my mother a bit. That's where Keith and I reconnected, he connected with his son, then the downfall of his marriage began."

"Yoh! Kodwa naye lebantinti lakhe uhlanyo! It's as if she just makes decisions without thinking, then does away with them if the consequences of her decisions aren't something that she likes. Besides, Michael told me that Keith never loved her. He loved what she did for him and how she changed his life, but not her. Michael says that you've always been the love of Keith's life."

I'm flattered. This is nice to hear.

"So wena and Michael? How did the two of you happen?" I ask. Keith never tells me the truth about these two. Might as well hear it from the horse's mouth.

"Ay, ntombo... I don't come from much. After my father died, my mom and I got kicked out of amagceke wakwaMkhize - my dad's family. My mom married him then went to live in their homestead. But when he died, she and I got kicked out. We lived with my aunt for a while, my mom's sister. But my mom had an affair with her husband. When my aunt found out, she kicked us out again. The husband felt enough for my mom to actually give her money to carry us until we could find our feet. So we got onto a taxi and came to Gauteng. We've lived in shacks since we got here. I was only nine when we got to Gauteng. But we lived in shacks since. My mom did piece jobs nje so we could get by. Fortunately, I went to no-fee schools that had feeding scheme programs. Those helped us a lot. After I matriculated, my mom found me work where she was working. It was domestic work. The pay would help because hey, two domestic work paychecks are better than one. So I went to work with my mom. We arrived at this company where she worked, and I was assigned to the floor that I had to clean."

She smiles to herself.

"I remember hearing his laughter before seeing his face. It was a laughter that came from such a deep and euphoric place. It was contagious. It was beautiful. I looked up. He walked through the door. His smile matched his laughter perfectly. I had an instant crush on him."

Now I'm enjoying this story. I'm even smiling at her.

"He didn't notice me at first. And I understand. When he saw me, I was either cleaning his working station or cleaning the toilet he'd piss in. But one day, he was working late. My shift was usually 2pm to 11pm, so I was there too. He was making coffee while I was washing the dishes. And we spoke. Yaz, we really spoke. Ngamubona man ukuthi umuntu lo. From that day, we'd greet each other and chat about basic things when we'd bump into each other. Then he started having issues with his wife. And he'd tell me about it. One day, he told me about it close to a water-cooler... then before I knew it, we needed to discuss it in a more private area. So we went to hotels to talk... and we obviously started having sex."

I look at her.

"I know that I'm probably going to hell for coming between him and Masingita. Kodwa angizisoli. I have a beautiful family with him. We are happy. And my mom no longer lives in a shack. I was able to build her a house in KZN and she can be there now without being bullied or feeling ashamed. I wouldn't exchange that for anything."

Hai ke... as long as she's at peace.

We are chilling with the guys now in the TV room. Carol and her daughters are not here. MJ and Risuna are running around and causing havoc.

"Where is Carol?” I enquire.

"She said that she was feeling tired, so she wanted to take a nap." Samuel tells me.

"Okay. Maybe I can take a cheeseboard up to her?" Me.

"That would be nice. Thanks." Samuel says.

I head upstairs to give her a cheeseboard.

After a slight knock and a come in, I open the door and walk in. She's watching some soapie with her daughter.

"I thought I'd bring you guys something to snack on", I say.

"Thank you, Aunt Bassie."

At least her kids have manners.

"Would you like anything to drink?" I offer.

"This should be fine. Thanks." Carol says.

"Okay. Well, we are all downstairs if you need anything." I say.

She just nods her head at me.

I leave.

Ja neh.

We are all just chilling and chatting away! We even debate about what to eat. No one wants to cook or braai. So I decide to order food.

Carol walks in mid-laughter and mid-conversations.

She has a phone in her hand. She looks angry. We all look at her.

"Samuel, your slut is on the line, holding for you."

We all look at Samuel.

"Mama, what's a slut?" Risuna asks me.

"A very bad word. Don't ever say it again." I say.

"It's what your mothers are! It's what your uncle wants to leave me for!" This woman says this to our kids.

"Risuna! MJ! Go upstairs!" I demand.

They quickly get up and move.

"What?! You don't want your kids to know what you are?! You do these things shamelessly, kanti you want to hide it from your kids?!" She's yelling.

"Risuna! You are still here?!" I yell.

He runs off. MJ is right behind him.

"LET RISUNA AND MJ STAY! LET THEM STAY AND LEARN THE NKUNA WAY! THIS IS WHAT NKUNA MEN DO! RISUNA! MJ! COME LEARN YOUR FATHERS' WAYS!"

I slap her!

Now all the men are on their feet. Baby Nsuku is now in Risuna’s playpen.

"O so hlanya?! Are those conversations you really want to have with children?!" Me.

"Why not?! Am I lying?! These kids must know the truth! That Nkuna men toss people to the side and find sluts to replace them with. Keith, where's Noria?! Huh?! Michael, where's Masingita?! Huh?! I'm sitting here with your sluts and your brother is about to leave me too. YOU ALL HAVE YOUR FATHER'S CURSE! ALL OF YOU! AND IT'S A CURSE THAT YOUR SONS WILL INHERIT TOO! YOU LEAVE GOOD WOMEN FOR LOOSE SLUTS! I THOUGHT IT WAS A CHILD THING. BUT SAMUEL, I PUSHED TWO KIDS OUT OF MY VAGINA FOR YOU! TWO! AND I GET TOSSED ASIDE FOR A SLUT TOO?! YOU ARE LEAVING ME FOR A SLUT TOO?! NISAZOSOKOLA NINA BAKWANKUNA! OUR TEARS ARE NOT FALLING ON THE FLOOR! I'M CURSING YOU ALL! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS! IF NOT YOU, MAY YOUR KIDS PAY FOR THE KIND OF MEN THAT YOU ARE!"

She leaves the TV room, leaving us all... speechless.

...

It is 2am.

My brothers and I are chilling in my bar, drinking and talking.

"I didn't even know that shit was real between you and Carol. What happened?" I ask.

"I also knew nothing. I seriously thought that of the three of us, you are the one that got it right." Michael.

"I made a mistake. I swear. I fucked around. I'm not proud of it at all. And I certainly don't want to lose my family over it. My girls - my wife and my daughters - they are my world. I'd never leave them for anything or anyone. She just refuses to forgive me." Samuel explains.

"What exactly happened?" Michael enquires.

Sam is actually crying. He's just not hysterical. But there are tears that he wipes before he tells us that, "I met this girl while I was away on a work trip in the Northwest. She was there with her friends. She came onto me and if I'm being honest, she's hot. As she and I get talking, we realise that we both want to smash... smash and pass. No strings attached. It was that one weekend. Then this bitch just became a lunatic. She started stalking Carol, threatening me and shit, telling me that she's not the kind of woman that a man just smashes and passes."

"But you guys agreed that's all you are doing." Michael.

"That’s what I also thought. But clearly, she wasn't capable of that. Yerrr! That girl then started sending pictures and videos to Carol of me and her fucking." Sam.

"So she actually took pictures and videos of you on that day? Doesn't this sound like a set up to you?" I say.

"Yoh. She's been a fucken nightmare in my life. And now Carol won't even believe me when I tell her what I'm telling you guys. Sure, I fucked up. But, I don't want a divorce." Sam.

"So, now that Carol knows, what's this girl blackmailing you about now?" Michael asks him.

"She's upset that Carol didn't leave me. Now she's threatening to leak the photos and the videos to the public." Sam.

"Why isn't this woman in prison? Why haven't you reported her crazy ass to the officials? She took a video of you without your consent. She took pictures of you without your consent. You have laws that protect you in all of this and can have her ass locked up with many people who are like her. Why is she still walking?" Michael.

"You actually have a good point. I never thought about that." Sam.

I give him my phone.

"Phone a lawyer and have them sort this out right now", I say.

He takes my phone.

He makes the call.

...

Bassie was fast asleep when I got to bed. Now, she's up and has already left the bed, so I'm waking up in an empty bed. Hosting neh.

My bedroom door opens.

I look up.

It's Risuna.

He climbs onto the bed.

"Good morning, boy." I say.

"Hello, papa." He rests his head on my chest.

"Did you sleep okay?" I ask him.

"I did. But cousin is still sleeping. Mommy said it's rude to wake people up from their sleep just to play. So I came to sit with you. Mommy kicked me out of the kitchen and said she'd burn me with food."

My boy... I love this guy.

I feel like he's my best friend - after his mother of course.

"Well, you can sit with me. Who is mommy sitting with in the kitchen?" I ask him.

"Auntie Carol”.

I'm shocked. He lifts his head and look at me. Maybe he felt my sudden movement.

"They are not fighting. They drinking mom-juice". He says.

Mom-juice is wine.

"Do you want to watch TV in here while you wait for cousin to wake up?"

He gets excited and nods his head. He loves watching TV in here because his mother never lets him watch TV for too long.

I put in his favourite show and tell him that I'm coming back.

I get out of bed then wear a t-shirt and pants.

"Papa."

"Yes boy?"

"How come, I must sleep in pyjamas, but you sleep naked with mommy?"

Yoh!

"Because we are old. So when you are old, your body gets hot very easily. So, we keep our bodies cool that way."

He nods his head, I hope he's accepting my answer, then continues watching his show.

I walk downstairs. I see Samuel sitting just outside the kitchen. Ja, he's also here to make sure that these two don't set my house alight. I grab a chair too. I sit at the door. Sam and I nod at each other.

Carol: "He keeps saying that it was a mistake."

Bassie: "you sound like you don't believe him."

Carol: "I don't."

Bassie: "Why not? Because Michael left Masingita for Zama? Because Keith left Noria for me?"

Carol: "Yes! It's like they just do this just because they can."

Bassie: "You know Carol, I don't like you. At all. I think you are rude and unnecessary. So trust me, I'd do anything right now to tell you how much you deserve this and that it's nice to see that your marriage isn't as perfect as you think. But... I have to be honest. I think you are too invested in the issues of marriages around you, that you are now internalising their issues and making them yours. And that's not fair on you, your husband and your family. You need to look at your marriage in its own light and in light of its own experience, then judge the said mistake against that. Now I'm not saying that you should stay with Sam if you want to leave him. What I'm saying is that if you must leave him, leave him because he had a moment of weakness and ended up entertaining a lunatic when he was supposed to be faithful to you. Be mad because he slept with someone while his penis was supposed to be reserved for you. But leave Masingita and Noria out of it. Because the versions of their stories that you know are the versions that are the most suitable for whoever told you their side of their story. It doesn't mean that you know the whole story."

There is silence.

After some silence, Carol says: "I'm sorry for how I've treated you all of this time."

Bassie: "You are loyal to a fault. I respect that, it just was to my detriment in this case."

Carol: "For what it's worth, I like you better than Zama. She's ghetto and lacks class. And she needs to learn when to shut up."

Even Sam and I giggle, because this is very true. But Michael loves her as she is.

After these ladies have laughed about this, Carol says: "How did you forgive him?"

Bassie: "Who?"

Carol: "Keith. How did you forgive him?"

What the hell did I need to be forgiven for?!

Bassie: "For what?"

At least I'm not the only one that's lost.

Carol: "I mean... you guys have been in love with each other since childhood. You lost your virginity to him. He still chose another woman over you. You watched him marry her and give her everything that you had earned based on the relationship that the two of you had. You were prepared to be his surrogate with a woman that he chose over you. And he still treated you like disposable shit."

Why is this woman giving my wife ideas?

Bassie: "I guess I had years to be mad at him. I spent so much time being hurt, crying over the decisions that he made of not choosing me. When the time came for us to be together, I loved him more than I hated him. And my son deserved a chance to grow up in stability, with both parents, and in a loving home... not a blended or a broken family because I wanted to punish Keith, yet I know that my heart has only ever belonged to him."

Carol: "And if he were to cheat on you now? Would you forgive him?"

Bassie: "I don't know. But I hope that I never have to find out. There's a part of me that feels like I'd never allow another woman to kick me out of my marriage. No woman alive deserves that kind of satisfaction from my marriage. But there's also a part of me that feels like if Keith finds another woman worthy to pull our marriage apart, then it's not on me for giving up on this marriage. He's a grown man and I do expect him to control himself. If he can't do that, then he's not who I think he is and that's not the kind of influence I want around my son. I'm raising someone's future husband. That's not what I'm trying to teach my son. And if I have a daughter, that's not the kind of behaviour I want her to believe that is okay to accept."

I felt that. I feel like she wanted me to hear that.

"Girl, let's set up the table and call everyone down for breakfast", Bassie.

...

We've decided to take everyone out to the animal park. It's really a treat for the kids more than anything, but it's also something that Bassie and I haven't done since we got here. We thought it would be nice if we all went together.

We have a game drive car assigned to just us. Well, we are quite a big bunch. The mothers all have jerseys. It's a three hour drive and we are starting fairly late. When we left the house, it was warm, but there were rain threats. So the mothers thought fast.

Sam sits at the back with Carol and one of their daughters. The second daughter sits in the seat in front of them with Zama and Bassie. Right in the front sits Michael and I with the two cousins, Risuna and MJ. Zama has Nsuku in her arms, covered in a blanket. Bassie looks at Nsuku with eyes that tell me that she's ready for number two. I even asked her if she'd like a second one. This time, it wasn't a downright no. I'm making progress.

The game drive starts.

It's actually a very nice drive. The kids are the ones asking the most questions. At some point, I even see Sam and his wife cuddle - which is a very good thing right now. We actually see the entire big five. And the boys were more than excited, even the girls. Then it starts to rain.

Bassie gives me a sweater for me and a sweater for Risuna. Risuna climbs on top of me, becoming a baby nje. I think he's tired. He didn't take a nap at all today. Bassie gives us a fleece blanket. She gives a second one to Michael, who then cuddles MJ with that blanket. A third fleece blanket is whipped out and she gives it to Sam, Carol and their daughter. The three of them cuddle together. The last fleece blanket she uses for herself, Zama and Sam's elder daughter who is sitting next to them.

"Do you sell fleece blankets or something? Where did you get so many from? And they are all just packed and ready for action?" Sam.

We all laugh.

"I'm scared of the cold. And I've been in this kingdom long enough to know that rain and the cold is a thing here. I'm always prepared", Bassie says.

"We must take some for ourselves. Please." Michael.

"Noooooooo", I say.

We all laugh. It's not my fault that my wife is a woman with a plan.

It takes another hour for this game drive to be over. MJ and Risuna are now sleeping. Nsuku is also asleep. The rain is hitting so beautifully against the vehicle we are in. There are some windows here, but they don't cover everything so it's really helping that we have these big fleece blankets here.

After our game drive, we go to the bush restaurant that's on this animal farm, but safe... far away from the animals. There are gas heaters lit everywhere so it's a bit warm.

Nsuku is now in Bassie's arms. This mom thing looks amazing on her. I will not lie.

Our food arrives and we all start eating. The rain is POURING now. We have a live view of it because we are outside, but have good shade over us.

I sit next to Bassie. Risuna is sitting on top of me.

I kiss Bassie's cheek. She's so in love with Nsuku.

"Let's make another one", I whisper to her.

"Okay." She finally says.

We smile at each other.

Now I just want to take her home.

"But you must find a PA quickly, because I can't be the kind of home who's at home with a new baby for five minutes then head back to work before my baby even knows who I am." She says.

"I hear you. I'll definitely make a plan to get HR to expedite this faster."

"Make sure it's a gay man", she says.

I laugh aloud.

"Hello my love", we hear a voice. Its Diana.

And who's her love? Because it's definitely not me.

We all follow the direction of her eyes.

She's looking at Sam.

"Diana?" Sam.

"That’s not what you called me in bed. Come on, babe." Diana says.

There is absolutely no way... no way at all, that this is Sam's lunatic. What?!

"I received your restraining order. You want to get me arrested now, babe? Why?! How am I a danger to you and your little family?" Diana.

"I'm calling the police." Carol.

"Vir wat?!" Diana snaps.

"You are violating your restraining order! In front of my children, you shameless woman!" Carol.

"Whooo! This woman must not try me! Aseblief?! Who is she calling a shameless woman?"

Carol is already on the phone.

We see Diana trying to jump over the table and grab Carol. But Zama is up, pushing her away, restraining her really. Bassie gives Nsuku to me. Even Risuna is a bit protective of her. I'm carrying both of them in my arms now.

Bassie runs to the inside of the restaurant.

In no time, she's back with security guards, pointing at Diana.

The security guards handcuff her... also cuff her feet. She looks like a prisoner and she's shouting her lungs out, bringing attention towards us. Our kids are actually scared. Carol is crying. Sam feels and looks like shit. You can just see that it's hitting him now how much he has really messed up.

Nsuku is back in Zama's arms. Risuna is in Bassie's arms. Bassie is also comforting MJ.

The girls are who I feel the most sorry for. They are crying next to their mother. Us Nkuna brothers stand together, not knowing what to do.

The police finally arrive. Diana is now crying.

"Sam, why would you do this to me?! What did I ever do to you? I could lose my job. Sam, please make this stop! Keith! Do something!" Diana will not stop yelling. She's finally taken away.

The drive back home is super quiet. Yoh!

[teamsarawatshusband]

Word Of Honor - 1st watch insta thoughts - Episode 2

Here’s Episode 1

Okay, before I get started with the episode, thank you so much for your likes and kind words and explanations. Thanks @averageace​ for letting me know that ghosts aren't necessarily dead. And thanks @ pretty-much-obsessed for letting me know it's not xianxia but wuxia. K, no cultivators. Got it!

Oh, just for future reference: I love when you guys help me out in the comments with understanding stuff like this! As long as you don’t spoil the story, I'm super grateful for all the genre info and cultural insights <3

Anyway, here we go!

Episode 2:

Oooooh, it was smirky guy who stopped the whip. And everybody is watching. How embarrassing.

I kinda like purple girl. She's so feisty and sassy.

Ok, the kid wants to make friends with alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy. He's in town to buy pastries for his mom, that's so cute. I need a shorter name for alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy. Anyway, the kid gives him a bookmark like a key to where he lives. Alright.

So smirky guy really did recognize the fighting. Oh, Four Seasons Manor is a sect! Ok, ok. And that's their fighting style. Was smirky guy once a part of them? Still so mysterious.

The kids are singing about the 5 lakes. That seems to be important somehow.

K, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy wants to hitch a boat ride. And the old man looks like the old guy who got the 7 nails last time, but he's probably not, i'm just bad with faces again.

Yooo, does alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy have so much silver? Yeah, I wouldn't trust him either, old man. Oh, smirky guy intervenes. And now the old boatman wants to do the ride.

Whoaaa, nice scenery with the water and the blossoms and the music. I wanna go there.

So, now he's at mirror lake manor. Was that the kid's place? I forgot.

Wow, that boatman is really something, shouting out his insults as alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy is simply standing on the dock. Can't he be a bit nicer? LOOOOOL, yeah, so now he really dashed without paying, that's what you get for being rude.

But shame on tragic hero lord guy.You should always pay your debts. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Whoaaaaa, the blossom trees. I'm in love. Tragic hero lord guy flies over them in slo-mo.

And when it's not snowing, it's raining petals. Why is there a boat on dry land? Is that gonna be important?

Ooooh, fan fight! Must be smirky guy. Yusss! And now they're dancing.

Oh, and now smirky guy is being poetic. Dude, you sound like you’re crushing on him hard, man. Alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy isn't having any of it, lol.

There's two guys talking about war in the next scene. One of them is the dad and the other a son. Is that our kid from before? He seems older. I hate being bad with faces. Oh, he's not the kid. He's his older brother. And apparently there's one more brother even. I'm gonna get them all confused so much. Ugh

Tragic hero lord guy gets to stay in a woodshed. And likes it. I mean... whatever makes him happy, I guess.

Ooooh, back at the palace, I remember the helmets of the soldiers. And there's the guy who took tragic hero lord guy's job and... the other, like... boss guy. Maybe a king or an emperor. New at the job guy talks about... stuff. He's killed people. And seems proud of it. And now he's talking about a children's song. Oh wait, is that the song that alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy noticed earlier on? Oh, the song is connected to the glazed armor. Got it.

Ooooh, they sent a spy after tragic hero lord guy. So that's why he went into hiding.

Back in the woodshed, either the alcohol was bad, or tragic hero lord guy is having issues with the nails thing. His veins are moving and it looks disgusting tbh. And he's kinda... fuming. Literally. Looks like he's got a bad smell. And now he's... trying to meditate the smell away?

Oh, there's a fire outside.

Why?

Oh no, it's the red guys with the masks again. They're killing people.

Ooooh, tragic hero lord guy jumps into the fight, alright. OMG, I LOVE THAT TREE IN THE BACKGROUND!!! It's so pretty.

I want it.

Somebody is trying to sneak a kid out. Possibly our kid. Not sure. And the red guys are following them. Hmm.

Oh, a bird. Tragic hero lord guy calls it a sparrow and a spy from the window of heaven, which... okay, but it's definitely NOT a sparrow. Maybe it's just a not so good translation.

Aww man, and now my tree's on fire! :(((( Why can I never have nice things? :(

Now it's raining yellow paper thingies. They kinda look like those smiley potato chips thingies that you can get in the freezer section at the supermarket.

Oh, they're weapons from the red guys. And the guy who's trying to sneak the kid out... is that the boatman?

Oooh, tragic hero lord guy jumps in. If that WAS the boatman, then he's getting paid alright. Heh.

Ok, wth? Swords are not supposed to be that bendy. That does not look like a good sword. How are you gonna stab anybody with a wobbly, shaky weapon like that?

And smirky guy is sitting on the window sill watching the situation unfold like a supermodel waiting to be called onto the runway. Instead of... like... HELPING?! Wth?

And he's an alcoholic too? Hmm

K, that was a short stay, they're back on the boat

Eww, the red guys cut of somebody's arm. Wait, is that the dad from before? And the others are... the kid's brothers? Maybe? Oh, whoever they are, they're supposed to have the glazed armor, and the red masked guys want it. And they're gonna kill them all? That's brutal, man.

But if they ARE the kid’s brothers and they’re about to die, then at least I won’t get them confused, so there’s a plus side.

Anway, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy, the boatman and the kid are in some dusty place. And the boatman is savage as fuck. He wants his money, lol. I like him.

Oh no, so much information. I'm so bad at this. So the kid is supposed to hide at 5 lakes, but doesn't want to. And somebody saved somebody, I have no idea. I wanna know if alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy is gonna go meditate again, because it looks like he wants to.

And now the potato smileys are flying in again. Great. I'm never gonna unsee the potato thing now.

Anyway, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy who seriously NEEDS A NAME(!!!) is getting smelly again. And the kid wants to defend them all and instantly drops the sword. That does not look good.

So many red masked guys.

LOL, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy needs 15 minutes. To smell better, maybe.

Wow, the old boatman is a good fighter, but he stands no chance. Are he and the kid really the ones supposed to fight, while tragic hero guy is being smelly and smirky guy is still chilling who knows where?

See the stinky fumes?

Whoa the kid is willing to sacrifice himself for alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy. Who is just as surprised as me. And if it weren't for somebody intervening, they'd both be dead. Who is it?

Yooooooooo, purple girl coming in to the rescue. Of course. Need a job well done, leave it to the woman.

Wow, she's so badass. And the kid and the boatman are helping too. Alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy went back to meditating.

:O There were two nuts!!! I saw them!!! Is nuts guy one of the red masked guys?

Oh, NOW alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy is starting to fight. Probably smelled the nuts and got into it.

LOL, wth? Now that he's done fighting, he faints? And THAT's when smirky guy shows up? To catch him? And alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy wakes up again instantly to fight.

Lololol, wth? Smirky guy is like "Heh, you cute, let me wrap your sword around us." ;)

Maybe the wobbly bendy sword is a flirting technique and actually does serve a purpose.

He has really long fingers too.

Just saying.

Aww, would have been a cute moment if the boatman weren't deadly hit. And now he's smelly too. Wait, do smelly fumes mean doomed to die?

Ohh, he's gonna make him adopt the kid, isn't he?

Alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy drops a name, and says he's Zhou Xu. Is that his real name? Feels like smirky guy would probably recognize him if he gave his real name. But also maybe not. I know nothing. And smirky guy is mysterious as fuck. But I’ll take the name,because it’s shorter than the one I gave him.

Boatman is still a bit rude, threatening to curse Zhou Xu’s ancestors if he doesn't take care of the kid. Aren't they cursed already? Anyway, boatman can't know that.

Ok, old boatman has died and the kid is adopted. Cool, cool.

Oh, some fighter guys in nicely pleated skirts... who are they? Are they the guards of the manor? Are they there to help the kid? Whoever they are, they came too late and they set off fireworks.

Ok, smirky guy introduces himself. Wen Ke Xing. Oh boy, I hope I can remember that name.

Why is the kid dizzy? Did he get hurt?

Now they're discussing about the bread and nobody's willing to eat first while the kid is empty handed and very clearly hungry as hell. I feel so bad for him.

Why does smirky guy come across so snobby? I wanna like him.

Wow, they finally give the kid some food and now HE's refusing to eat it as well.

Purple girl is the only person actually getting fed tonight.

I mean, she deserves it. She fought the hardest.

Oooooh, smirky Wen Ke Xing guy is onto Zhou Xu lord guy. First stares him up and down while he's resting (lusting much?) and then flat out asks if he's in disguise.

Oh and the kid IS hurt. And smirky Ke Xing is the only one to realize too. He's redeeming himself. A little.

Zhou Xu lord guy doesn't want him to touch the kid though. Why?

Oooh, they're dancing again.

LOL, purple girl gets it. I saw that smile. I bet she's a shipper. What is the ship name? KeXu? ZhouXing? I literally had to scroll up and reread the names. We should just call them smirklord.

Okay, end of episode.

What did I learn? Names were dropped.  Zhou Xu lord guy has adopted the kid. Smirky guy is called Wen Ke Xing. He comes across a bit shady and pretentious and also flirty. Very flirty. But Purple girl is cool, and she trusts him so he must be kinda cool too. Still don't know who they really are and what they want. Like any of them. So far, I like the kid and purple girl best. I hope they all travel together to bring the kid to... wherever he's supposed to go.

Goals for future episodes: Find out who nut guy is. Learn the freaking names reliably. Find out people's connections to each other.

[eregyrn-falls]

Unable to resist looking further into this story, I wanted to share some more updates with everyone (including a suggestion of the possible culprit).

First, I need everyone to know that Old Bridge, NJ is located in the northern half of the state, near New York City, and the wonderfully-named Cheesequake State Park is located within the town's borders. (As is Cheesequake Creek, which empties into Raritan Bay. For anyone who has travelled the Garden State Parkway often (as I have), you will likely recognize Cheesequake as the former name of a big rest-stop, which has recently been renamed the Jon Bon Jovi Service Area. No, I am not joking; the GSP apparently renamed all the rest stops for famous New Jerseyans sometime in the last couple of years.)

(It's fascinating to me that the name came to be spelled Cheesequake, because there is no way that anyone can look at that and not pronounce it "cheese + quake", and yet, it is derived from a Lenni Lenape word: either "Cheseh-oh-ke", meaning "upland" or from the word "chickhake", meaning "land that has been cleared" (according to Wikipedia). Neither of those would be pronounced "cheese-quake", so who knows what the original English people who decided to spell it that way were thinking.)

AND YET. Despite all that, the 500 lbs of pasta WERE NOT dumped in Cheesequake State Park! No, they were dumped at the far southwestern end of town, near the Iresick Brook (which the article above generously describes as "the river basin"; I'm not sure that is a good descriptor here).

At any rate, another article from May 5th, a day after the one above, reports that the mystery may be solved:

A Ring security camera caught a man in the neighborhood cleaning out uncooked pasta from his mother’s house after she died, said Nina Jochnowitz, the resident of the Middlesex County township who first posted photos of the pasta mess on social media last week.

The man, who neighbors said is a military veteran, came across the hoard of dry pasta and likely dumped it in the woods because of the sheer quantity, she said.

“There was so much of it, he was probably a bit overwhelmed,” said Jochnowitz, who had previously run for town council in Old Bridge’s sixth ward.

Jochnowitz said she’s been in contact with his family. But, she declined to name the man.

“I don’t want him to relive the trauma,” she said, referring to his military career and the death of his mother. “I certainly don’t think that it’s fair that the media gets this story out of somebody else’s woes.”

And frankly, that is all well and good, but...

Very obviously, these are not mounts of dry pasta. It looks very much like mounds of *cooked* pasta. The article does go on to say that it's been suggested that heavy rains in the area are what soaked the dry pasta and made it pliable.

I guess? Apparently this is 15 wheelbarrow loads of pasta. That is a LOT of trips. (The articles do not say how far into the woods it is.)

I totally understand being overwhelmed in a case like that. I'd think that cleaning out the house would involve a dumpster or trips to the dump or even just setting bags out for trash pickup, and if I were confronted with that much dried pasta, I think I would have gone with the trash bags idea first, as involving less work. (Or trying to donate it?) But who knows. I half wonder if the guy vaguely thought that birds or animals might eat it? (I doubt any would, and it wouldn't be good for them; but I can see someone thinking that.)

We may never know, though, as I agree with the person quoted above that if this guy is responsible, folks shouldn't be bothering him further.

But I think this person is being kind of nitpicky about "the media getting this story out of somebody else's woes". The media could hardly have KNOWN that when the story broke and circulated. If she didn't want him to be bothered by people asking about it, you'd think she could have kept the explanation quieter, and just let people continue to regard it as a mystery. (Not town officials, of course; and I guess, who knows, it may have gotten out anyway.)

CBS News: Hundreds of pounds of cooked pasta mysteriously dumped in New Jersey woods

[peterpan-ouat-imagines]

More than Human: Part four

“Look I get you hate this place which makes sense because your a girl, but it is almost midnight and I don’t want to deal with keeping track of you with it being this dark,” he orders in his course, low voice as I continue talking to him.

“Whatever, as long as I get out of this horrible place I will be fine,” I huff, “Is there a tent I can use to sleep in?” I ask somewhat politely.

“No, you get to sleep on the ground because that is what your kind deserves, especially for intruding this land,” he barks.

I scoff, “I get that the female sex offends you, but you can at least refer to me as the noun I am!” Inside my body starts baking in a way I have not felt in a long time.

He does not answer and walks off. I try to go to sleep but the cold hard bumpy ground makes it impossible.  I start feeling a little sad knowing that I’ll be away from Pan for the rest of my life which makes no sense.  I decide to use this sleepless night and have a conversation with myself to figure shit out.

Why do I feel so happy when I am with Pan and he isn’t bothering me?  Even when he does bother me there is still a small part of me that helps me relax.  Why can I not get his gorgeous green eyes and devious smile out of my head?  I should not be attracted to him.  In reality we would be bad for each other. 

These kind of thoughts take over my brain until I fall asleep.

I feel my side being poked with something hard and blunt, “Eh give me a minute,” I groan, slowly opening my eyes and stretching out my back that hurts from last night and you can hear it crack which sounds disturbing.

“You get a second, everyone wants you to go away, is that right?” I hear Felix say.

I slowly get up, “Alright let’s get out of here,” I follow after him on to the canoe.

“Come on girl get in,” he spits.

“This entire time you haven’t asked for my name once, why?” I ask curious.

“Because you don’t matter, you are just something pathetic and irrelevant added to the island by mistake,” he snaps.

I start getting furious as my body starts feeling something I’ve felt before, “Look, I get it, you hate me.  But the feeling is the same towards you.  At least I am the one who is mature enough not to act like an asshole unlike everyone else!”

“Stop being so dramatic, Is it your time of the month?  Well sucks to be you because we are not going to provide for that,” he chuckles and it gets on my last nerve.

I feel my body begin reverting to something familiar and dive into the water.  My body becomes scaly as it elongates to eight feet. My scales thicken as I become extremely large and my scales turn the darkest shade of black there is and I finally feel myself revert to the creature I truly am.  I slither under the dark water, my body swiveling, as you can see the silhouette of my gorgeous body that is noticeable from far away. I come up and make a loud croaking noise, going into what feels like attack mode, speeding towards Felix.  I whip my tale around and water splatters all on him and skull rock and over on neverland, soaking everything around me and I see the terror on his face with my dark blue eyes staring deep into him.

Rather than choosing to devour him as a snack like every other serpent would I can’t bring myself to use that amount of aggression. I whip my body around and begin swimming away.  I start feeling euphoric.  Finally, I am who and what I should be.  I’m not being stuck in a trap on an island by an idiotic boy.  I start swimming and swimming just feeling over the moon.

I see a pirate ship and since I just transformed I naively decide maybe I can finally do what sea serpents are supposed to.  Like I’ve tried many times before just like my family does. 

I swim low in the water and look up until I am finally at the correct spot.  I do not think for a second and speed out of the water and wrap my heavy strong body around it, feeling the wood and sail on my scales.  I hold myself on the ship but can’t bring myself to squeeze the vessel and crush it and everyone in it.  The only thing my kind is meant to do and when I finally wrap myself in the correct position, I just can’t do it, I can’t destroy them.  Just like always.

I feel my body burn as cannons are being shot at me and I release the boat groaning loudly in pain. I start swimming away but I feel the blasts more.  Their aim being better than my speed.  This is impossible, my brother or father usually save me.  I have never had to go through and experience fearing my life like this! How do I save myself?

I continue croaking my ugly cry and I get caught in nets as they start to capture me and trap me in place and I swivel and move but I just can’t get out and I panic and start to groan of pain from everything that is happening.

I hear a blurry *whish* sound and my body is no longer cramped and I’m able to stretch out and move.  I don’t get why nothing is holding me down anymore or why no one is trying to hurt me.  I swim up and look above waters and see Pan floating. He winks at me and flies off.

Now that I think I understand how to turn myself back human I swim ashore and rest.  And rest. And rest. Apparently I was wrong with that theory.

I get very impatient and irritated that nothing is happening because I want to be human again so I can talk to Pan and thank him, and talk to Baelfire to make things right and apologize.  I decide to go swim to find my family since this human land walking chapter of my life is clearly over, but pieces start to form and I remember what happened before I washed up here.

My father was telling me how wasteful I was because unlike my three brothers I can’t kill sailors and destroy their ships.  How they are constantly saving me because I’m too afraid and too soft. He shouted at me to go away and flexed the end of his tail and made himself look bigger than he really is.  I was distraught and furious by being spoken to that way which I normally feel around them but this time it was different. I remember how I went for a swim that I never came back from. Except this time during it I got to the point where I started thinking about what I wanted, which I’ve never done before and I was trying to understand my wants and needs which slowly started to calm me down and that is when it all went black.

Now that doesn’t matter.  Family doesn’t matter.  I find a dark spot deep in the water away from shore and sleep during night being left with my depressing thoughts but that just keeps playing over and over again, keeping me awake.

I start to think of Baelfire and Pan and how they make me feel which starts to soothe and calm me.

As I become calmer I start to get tiny and have body parts and skin instead of scales.  I start choking on my breath and swim upward as fast as I can.  Oh my god I know the secret to changing forms.  I find a place to rest and the next morning the first thing I do is go to find Baelfire.

Being as discreet as possible I go and find him but he isn’t in his cave, around any of the beaches, or captured by Pan (thank god). Finally I find him in the forest with a coconut, “Bae!” I exclaim.

“Y/n?  What are you doing here? I don’t care what you have to say. I saw you the other day in the water, How are you-” he questions before I cut him off.

“It’s a long story, I’ll share with you later.  Bae I’m sorry for how I treated you.  You were only trying to help me and I yelled and was rude and you didn’t deserve that,” I apologize sincerely.

He stares at me deadpan for 10 seconds, “Okay, I forgive you.  Now you gotta tell me what happened!”

I explain everything to him and we sit around and laugh and talk for a while.

“This was fun, and I will be back, but I have someone else I need to see,” I start walking away and try to find Pan.

I go to the camp and peek around but only some boys are crowded around the fire as I hear Felix make everything that happened between us an understatement, sounding stupid as if he’s some cool guy.

I go to checkout his cave and sneak in there and I see he is busy with some person who I don’t bother getting a good look at. I go walk around and see this tall rocky mountain that I’ve found interesting.  I put one foot on a big rock I can step on and put my other foot on one higher up and pull my body.  It clicks in my mind that I could probably walk up it in that way to the top which I do.  It is quite strenuous because I have never done that kind of exercise before.  

I sit up there and admire the view as I catch my breath.  I hear a trickling noise and see that there's a waterfall behind bushes with weird thorns that are oozing some dark liquid.  I decide to brace the pain in order to drink and walk towards it.  I move my body sideways and start to scoot through.

I feel something jerk me back, “Ah!” I yelp

“What the hell do you think you are doing? Those are dreamshade bushes!” Pan exclaims as I am in shock by how worried he is.

“Peter Pan, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re worried about me?!” I smirk.

He coughs and makes his voice lower and cooler, “I’m not worried about you it’s just dream shade is extremely dangerous,” I roll my eyes, “What are you doing back here anyway? I thought you were a... a” he looks almost afraid to say it.

I cross my arms and tense up, “A sea serpent? Yeah that’s what I wanted to say,” I begin quietly, “To begin with thank you for saving my life the other day. Secondly, I need you to know how I changed back,” he stares at me waiting to go on and I put my arms down and take a deep breath, “I learned that all my life I’ve been so angry, at my family and how they treat me, at how I suck at killing people, which is like the only thing we are meant to do, and so much else,” I take a second deep breath and relax my body, ‘but when I’m here, especially around you, I’m calm. I learned that my calamity is what drives my human form and my anger and sadness drives who I really am,” I take a step closer to him, “you keep my anger at bay and make me calm,” I look at him waiting for an answer.

He takes a step back and pushes me away, “I am what keeps you calm? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? What do you expect me to say? I care about you or something equally as foolish?” He laughs.

“Actually I do! Believe it or not you have seemed to taken quite a liking to me. The only thing that needs to happen is for you to realize that you feel for me too!” I state yelling.

He slowly stops laughing but he is still amused, “Y/n, I have heard a lot of foolish things in my life, but this is the most,” he starts to get more serious, “Now go away,”

“What?” I ask confused.

“I banish you from Neverland.  I do not know how you really change forms, but magical creatures of your kind are not wanted on this island,” he gestures to the cliff for me to climb down on.

My heart drops as he tells me the last thing I want to hear and I slowly and fearfully make my way down.  Yet my heart is not dropping because of my fear of heights.  It drops because someone I really care about for a reason I don’t know sent me away.  I slowly go over to the water and try to figure out how to change.

After thinking and thinking, trying to get myself over the top furious, the only thing I can think of is Pan.  The sadness overwhelms me which turns into anger, but not enough. I can’t get myself to become who I am... and honestly, I’m not sure if that is who I want to be anymore.

I give up on using land methods and emotional methods and I straight up swim deep in the waters and let myself sink and see if that does anything.  I let myself gag with my mouth barely able to hold air, thinking that is helping the transformation but I...

[gaylienstage]

Guess who found the (possibly) most ridiculous Megaman article ever. (WARNING: VERY LONG.)

So I was scrolling down Google because I was bored, I have a tendency to type in some of my favorite things onto the search bar and see what comes up, in this case, I typed in something like "megaman x zero" or something, this was like... 5 months ago? Shortly before I started using Tumblr.

Now, this particular article came up after pressing the "more results" button a couple of times, a little bit of context: I'm from Indonesia, so I dunno whether it was just because Google knows where I live that caused the article to show up quickly.

The article was on an Indonesian site called "KINCIR", a site I rarely visited, if I'm being honest, it was called, "7 Karakter Terbaik dari Franchise Mega Man yang Sangat Ikonis", which translates to "7 Iconic Characters from the Mega Man Franchise."

Anyway, I decided to read the article, and hoo boy, this was an amusing read.

Here's a link, I'll be copy-pasting parts of the article and then translating it into English.

(PS: The article was published on the 10th of October last year, and just for the sake of it I'm gonna point out the numerous mistakes the article made, after typing out the translation of each section.)

Trust me, I was cringing all throughout the proccess of reading this.

ORIGINAL:

"Menyambut perilisan game baru Mega Man 11 yang rilis di awal bulan ini, gimana kalau kita sedikit retrospeksi mengenal lagi karakter-karakter ikonis yang ada di waralaba ini? Beberapa karakter tersebut adalah protagonis maupun antagonis yang kita temukan di dalam gamenya. Nuansa dunia futuristik dan karakter robot dengan senjata canggih membuat serial ini memang jadi favorit banyak orang."

TRANSLATION:

"Welcoming the release of Mega Man 11 that will release early this month, what if we did a little retrospective on the iconic characters from this franchise? Some of these characters can be protagonists and/or antagonists that we see in the games, the nuance of a futuristic world and robotic characters with sophisticated weapons makes this series a favorite of many people."

Doesn't seem too far off the mark, until we get into the actual list itself...

ORIGINAL:

1. Mega Man/X

"Karakter biru yang menjadi ikon Mega Man ini akhirnya mendapatkan kode yang menjadi namanya yaitu, X di salah satu game terbaiknya, Mega Man ZX. Sebelumnya, kita mengenal robot biru ini dengan sebutan Mega Man saja atau Rockman untuk serial dari Jepang. Dia adalah wajah waralaba game yang sudah populer sejak 30 tahun lalu. Di hampir semua gamenya, kemampuannya untuk bisa menembakkan energi dari tangan kanannya enggak berubah dan jadi ciri khas yang bikin dia sangat terkenal. Wajar saja kalau dia jadi langganan kalau Mega Man diangkat ke seri crossover seperti Smash Bros atau Marvel VS Capcom."

TRANSLATION:

1. Mega Man/X

"The blue character that has become the icon of Mega Man finally recieved the code that changed him into X in one of the greater games in the series, Mega Man ZX, before that, we knew the blue robot as just Mega Man, or Rockman in Japan, he is the face of a franchise that has been popular for 30 years, in almost all of his games, his main ability is being able to shoot balls of energy from his right hand, this has never changed and has made him more well-known, it's only fair that he is used a lot in other games like Smash Bros. and Marvel vs. Capcom."

ISSUES:

-Ahhh, yes, claiming that X and Rock are the same character is surely a great way to start the list!

-"...changed his name to X in one of he greater games in the series, Mega Man ZX.", Apparently the X series doesn't exist, even so, again, X and the original Mega Man are not the same character.

-Minor nitpick here, but according to the article, "his main ability is being able to shoot small balls of energy from his right hand", with no mention whatsoever to his Buster.

ORIGINAL:

2. Zero

"Karakter protagonis yang biasanya muncul pertama sebagai penjahat ini bisa dibilang sebagai karakter terbaik dan paling keren. Kepribadiannya yang acuh tak acuh ini jadi tekanan cerita yang menarik. Meski X selalu berusaha menjadi teman untuknya, Zero selalu menganggap dirinya sebagai lone wolf alias enggak perlu orang lain untuk mendukungnya. Di beberapa kesempatan, Zero jadi karakter sekunder yang bisa pemain pakai untuk bertualang. Ini mengganti sudut pandang pertarungan menjadi terkesan lebih beat-em-up karena senjata dan kemampuan Zero yang bertumpu pada jarak dekat."

TRANSLATION:

2. Zero

"A protagonist who first appeared as a villain is now arguably one of the greatest and coolest characters, his indifferent personality is a compelling part of the story. Although X tries to be friendly towards him, Zero always sees himself as a lone wolf who doesn't need anyone to support him. On several occasions, he is a secondary playable character that players can use, this changes the gameplay to a more "beat-em-up" style because his weapons have a shorter range."

ISSUES:

-This seems more like a miswording, but Zero did not debut as a villain, rather he originated as one, but we were not shown until X4.

-"...he always thinks of himself as a lone wolf who doesn't need anyone to support him." Sigh... Y'know what? Lemme throw in some quotes said by the Maverick Hunter himself.

"You don't need to worry. Even though we are far away, I have a feeling that I've been protected by his power. We'll get through this." -Zero in Xtreme 2, to Iris, referring to X.

"So be it... But that's why we are the best partners... I'll do what you want... Rest for a while. I will handle it, you can count on me. I won't stop! When an enemy appears... I'll terminate it..." -Zero in Mega Man Zero, to X.

...What did you say about him being a lone wolf and not needing any support from others, author?

ORIGINAL:

3. Dr. Light & Dr. Willy

"Sebagai robot, Mega Man diciptakan oleh dua ilmuwan yakni Dr. Light dan Dr. Willy. Pemain akan menemukan Dr. Light sebagai sosok ayah yang mengenalkan Mega Man kepada dunia dan kelihatan tampil sebagai hologram yang membantu Mega Man dalam perjalanannya. Dia menjadi tokoh yang memberikan Mega Man senjata-senjata baru untuk membantu Mega Man menyelesaikan petualangannya.

Di lain sisi, Dr. Willy adalah antagonis dan mantan asisten Dr. Light yang cemburu karena namanya enggak bersinar dan orang hanya mengingat sosok Thomas Light. Kecemburuannya menuntun dia untuk memprogram ulang Mega Man untuk membantunya mengambil alih dunia. Untungnya, Mega Man mendapat pencerahan dari Light lewat sistem back-up dan meraih kesadarannya untuk menggagalkan rencana Dr. Willy."

TRANSLATION:

3. Dr. Light & Dr. Willy

"As a robot, Mega Man was created by two scientists, namely Dr. Light and Dr. Willy. Players will find Dr. Light as a father figure to Mega Man who introduced him to the world and appears as a hologram to help Mega Man on his journey, he gives Mega Man new weapons to help on his adventure.

On the other hand, Dr. Willy is the antagonist of the series and the former assistant of Dr. Light, who became jealous because Light got all the recognition, his jealousy lead him to reprogram Mega Man to help him take over the world. Thankfully, Mega Man was brought back to his original programming by Dr. Light through a back-up system and thwarted Dr. Willy's plans."

ISSUES:

-"Mega Man was created by two scientists, namely Dr. Light and Dr. Willy."

Uhhh...Proto Man much?

-D'you wanna know why I made Willy bold? IT'S BECAUSE IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE "WILY", WITH ONE L! THE AUTHOR COULDN'T GET HIS NAME RIGHT! I wouldn't even be mad if it was spelt as "Wiley", given that some official materials spell his name that way.

-"appears as a hologram...he gives new weapons to help Mega Man on his adventure."

Um, nope, sorry, that's X, and he doesn't really give out new weapons, he gives out armor parts.

-"Dr. Willy is the antagonist of the series and the former assistant of Dr. Light."

Again, minor nitpick, but they were colleauges, working together, on the same level.

-"...His jealousy lead him to reprogram Mega Man to help him take over the world."

Quint? What are you doing here? This doesn't happen untill much later!

-"Thankfully, he was brought back to his original programming by Dr. Light through a back-up system-"

Just...no.

ORIGINAL:

4. Shadow

"Selain Zero, tokoh antagonis yang juga jadi baik dan membantu Mega Man dalam petualangannya adalah sosok Shadow atau Shadow Man. Salah satu robot humanoid yang mempunyai kemampuan dan ciri khas seperti ninja ini bisa dimainkan oleh pemain dalam beberapa kesempatan. Dia punya kemampuan unik untuk kebal dari duri dan bisa melemparkan senjata khusus ang membantu Mega Man dan Zero untuk berjalan lebih jauh."

TRANSLATION:

4. Shadow

"Besides Zero, another antagonist that later reformed was Shadow or Shadow Man. A humanoid robot who reseembles and has the characteristics of a ninja who can ocassionally be playable, he has the special ability to be immume to spikes and can throw special weapons that help Mega Man and Zero go further."

ISSUES:

-If you read the article via the link, you should know that the article seems to be talking about Shadow from Command Mission and Shadow Man from Mega Man 3 as if they were the same character, and yet they use a picture of X'S SHADOW ARMOR in the article...oh god.

-How the hell is Shadow OR Shadow Man an antagonist turned good guy?

-They aren't playable, unless the author is talking about the Shadow Armor, even then the Shadow Armor isn't a character.

-"...can throw special weapons that help Mega Man and Zero go further."

Huh?

ORIGINAL:

5. Fenri Lunaedge

"Banyak karakter baru yang berubah di jalan cerita yang berkembang di dunia Mega Man. Ini berdampak kepada perubahan karakter-karakter musuh yang diganti di beberapa kesempatan. Semenjak serial Mega Man memperkenalkan jalan cerita Mega Man - X ada komplotan penjahat yang dikenal dengan sebutan Mutos Reploid. Sala satu Mutos Reploid yang paling ikonis adalah Fenri yang berwujud serigala. Dengan bisa memanipulasi es, setiap stage bernuansa dunia salju pasti berkesan kalau kita bisa menemukan Fenri di akhir perjalanannya."

TRANSLATION:

5. Fenri Lunaedge

"There are many new characters that change in the Mega Man storyline, this impacts the enemies that are changed in the games occasionally, after the Mega Man universe introduced the Mega Man X storyline, there's a gang of villains known as the Mutos Reploids, one of the most iconic Mutos Reploids is Fenri, who takes the form of a wolf and can manipulate ice, each stage with the nuance of snow is truly memorable if we can find Fenri at the end of the journey."

ISSUES:

-Oh, so the X series does exist, BUT FENRI'S A ZERO CHARACTER!

-"The enemies that are changed in the games occasionally."

Uhhh, if you mean regular bosses, those are changed nearly every game.

-Ever since when were the Mutos Reploids a gang?

-That part around the end...huh?

ORIGINAL:

6. Proto-Man

"Selain X dan adiknya, Roll, Dr. Light juga menciptakan salah satu robot yang sangat kuat yakni Proto-Man. Dia adalah robot pertama yang dibuat oleh Dr. Light. Untungnya, Proto Man jadi sosok kakak yang mendukung Mega Man untuk bisa mengalahkan Dr. Willy dan enggak menjadi jahat. Kekuatannya yang bisa dibilang cukup kuat dia gunakan untuk kebaikan. Meski bersembunyi dalam bayang-bayang, Proto-Man akan datang membantu X ketika dia dibutuhkan."

TRANSLATION:

6. Proto-Man

"Other than X and his younger sister, Roll, Dr. Light also created an exceptionally powerful robot named Proto Man, he was the first robot Dr. Light had ever built, Proto Man is an older brother to Mega Man who supports him in defeating Dr. Wily and has never become an enemy, he instead keeps using his power for good, although he hides in the shadows, he helps X when it's necessary."

ISSUES:

-Author, please understand that Mega Man and X are different characters.

-Roll is not really a younger sister, she was built alongside Rock, technically making her his twin.

-"...has never become an enemy." Break Man would like to talk with you.

ORIGINAL:

7. Omega

"Dalam cerita yang ada di Mega Man, ada satu ciptaan Dr. Willy yang sangat berbahaya. Dia adalah Omega, reploid yang diciptakan untuk menyatukan dunia baru yang dikontrol oleh robot. Dengan kekuatan dan ukuran yang sangat besar, Omega jadi salah satu Boss penting di beberapa seri seperti Megaman 3 dan Megaman ZX. Dia juga bisa menjadi Omega Fusion yang dibentuk dari X, Zero dan dirinya sendiri yang membuatnya jadi reploid paling kuat dan bisa menghancurkan apapun."

TRANSLATION:

7. Omega

"In Mega Man lore, there's a particular creation of Dr. Wily who is extremely dangerous, he is Omega, a Reploid created to make a world ruled by robots. With his great strength and size, Omega has become an important boss in several games like Mega Man 3 and Mega Man ZX. He can also fuse with X and Zero to become an even stronger Reploid that is capable of destroying everything."

ISSUES:

-Omega wasn't created by Dr. Wily, he was already long dead by then, he was created by Dr. Weil.

-Omega didn't even exist in the time of Mega Man 3, let alone be a boss in that game.

-Omega cannot fuse with other Reploids, the article may be referring to the Biometals, but even then, only Model X can fuse with other Biometals, and it is impossible for a 3-Biometal-Fusion if I remember correctly.

Whoever wrote this article must've not actually touched enough lore to make this list, I'm not trying to insult the author, I'm just saying it's very misinformative.

And why have weird choices like Shadow and Fenri Lunaedge? They aren't nearly as iconic as Tron Bonne, Green Biker Dude, Bass, Axl or Lan, have you ever met someone, asked them, "do you know what Mega Man is?" And hear them reply with, "Oh yeah! That video game series with Fenri Lunaedge!"

This list was weird.

[ikesenhell]

GLITTER & GOLD

GLITTER & GOLD, CHAPTER 1. You can find all other IkeSen works of mine here. NOTES: HOLY FUCK THIS HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMING. I’d like to thank @velociraptor-detective, @mikablazen, @kerriescreativecorner, and @selenecrawford for hanging out with me, line editing, and helping me find music to vibe with. TIME TO KICK THIS PARTY OFF AGAIN. 

They said if you saw the ship, you didn't live to tell the tale. That didn't stop some from claiming they did. You had a matter of hours, the legend said--and then came the accident. Funny; as with all tall tales, no one could really pin truth to it.

No one even knew where the ship came from. It certainly didn't belong out there in the wastes. The radiated oceans were hundreds of miles away. The closest bodies of water were the Great Lakes (still pure, still freezing, still a graveyard--not even the apocalypse could change their reputation). Those certainly hadn’t borne the kind of vessel that skimmed across the sands. Not even the ancient husks of the silos long ago filled with rainwater were large enough to justify a boat.

It always came the same way, they said: silently. First came the sandstorm, blowing wild drifts across the landscape. Then came the sails--bronze from dirt, streaked with the white it once was. No colors flew on that mast. It hovered like a mirage just beyond reach. No crew mustered at its sides. It just hung there, suspended and desolate, like the rest of the wild places they said it sailed now.

And then--gone.

But it was just a legend. No one seemed to see it first hand to know. The skeptics wrote it off as a folklore. No one had seen it because it didn't exist.

No one--no one except for Masamune Date.

And he’d paid for it.

---

The motorcycle snarled over the plains, the engine echoing. Dirt swirled behind the tires--a self-made hurricane of dust. He liked it that way. It felt fitting somehow. The past hung always a little too close to him--the more miles he put on, the more he put behind him, the farther away he could keep it.

His job helped. Society was only just getting its legs after the bombs so long ago. They’d revived the old railways and worked out some of the kinks in the engines, but the damn things still broke. That was where he came in. From the far-flung reaches of the east and the untamed edges of the north and the irradiated south, he brought the most urgent correspondence.

Hell. It paid the bills and kept him moving. That was good enough.

Usually.

Admittedly, he hadn’t wanted to take this job. It brought him right back to the scene of an old crime: his childhood home. How could he come back? Somewhere out there, somewhere on the wilderness, the ship still lingered--

“Fuck,” he muttered, putting his head down for the thousandth time. “Don’t think about it.”

Another bend in the road. The mountains and buttes around him curved and parted like water, the saplings dotting them just budding in the spring, and there--there was Waŋblí Hoȟpi. Home. He almost shivered at the thought.

“It’s just a ghost story,” Masamune reminded himself. “You’re still alive, aren’t you?”

That was small comfort.

Waŋblí Hoȟpi--the Golden Eagle Nest, as the Lakota called it--was a settlement poised on the cross of two main highways and between two silo wells. One of them had never gone off in the Fallout; centuries later, someone had exploited the clean one and filled it with precious rainwater. It was a rare luxury most towns didn't have. Crops grew well in the fertile ground, and the climate was perfect for staving off rust--well, until the bitter winter came. Until then, they were a trade depot.

And under Nobunaga Oda’s control, no doubt it would be more.

Masamune didn't need to even reach the town to see the influence his old friends exercised. The ancient fencing erected so long ago was replaced with something studier (trampling buffalo were always a problem in the old days). A water tower hovered under construction. As he puttered into town, bringing the motorcycle down to a reasonable speed, Masamune even spotted a new brick library.

“Well,” he whistled softly to himself. “I’ll be damned. Mitsunari convinced ‘em.”

The wide streets of Waŋblí Hoȟpi were clean and spacious. Painted patterns decorated the buildings in bright colors. The beautiful blend of modern structures and traditional art soothed him. God. He’d missed this place more than he’d thought, no matter how uneasy it made him. Flowers bloomed wild along the porches and splayed out into the streets, other small bikes parked around. Swinging off his bike, Masamune parked alongside the Town Hall and dusted himself down.

“Masa!”

He grinned and braced himself. Just in time; a pair of familiar arms snapped around him, pulling him back. Masamune bellowed a laugh and struggled free.

“That’s the most excited you’ve been to see me in ages!”

“It’s been ages!” Hideyoshi’s grin was infectious. All too soon, it turned serious. “How’ve you been? Are you eating enough? Are you keeping yourself safe on the road? You haven’t gotten radiation sickness out there, have you--”

“Shut up.” From the shadows of the porch, Ieyasu emerged, his face set into a hard scowl. Masamune almost laughed at that alone. The blonde always looked grumpier when he was trying not to smile. “C’mere and let me use the geiger counter on you.”

“I’m clean.”

“Like hell you are. You sent me a postcard from the outskirts of West Virginia. That’s close enough to the Fallout Epicenter for me to be nervous. Arms up.”

It was two against one. Masamune released a long sigh and swung off his leather duster, draping it over the seat of the bike and lifting his arms. Ieyasu gave him a sweep with a faded yellow device; it crackled, but didn't screech the way he’d heard it do in some places.

“Not perfect,” Ieyasu sniffed, checking the numbers. “So you’re a liar.”

“But pretty good!” Hideyoshi granted a smile anyway. “At least you’ve been watching yourself.”

“I’ve got half my eyes, not half my brain.” Masamune grinned and tossed his coat over his shoulder. “Where’s the rest of the crew?”

“Meeting upstairs. They’re getting ready to have a bit of a, err, business meeting in a few hours.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“You mean obnoxious,” Ieyasu grumbled. “It’s with the other settlement down south. The new one.”

“Oh.” Masamune paused. “I’m outta the loop. You mean the one with the Uesugi, or the one with the Takeda? I thought the Takeda one got wiped out in a raid?”

“It did. Apparently enough people survived from Kai that they migrated over to Echigo. As for them, they’re holding strong still.”

Masamune didn't say anything to that. Their township was too far out into the mountains for his liking. Instead he stretched out his legs. “Okay, what do they want?”

“The usual shit: railroad business, trade. They’ve got better access to fresh water, though.” Hideyoshi sighed and rubbed his face. “But you know how I feel about this mess. Anyway, it’s been forever. What brings you back? Come on in, take a load off!”

“Oh. You know.” Together, the three of them pushed open the door into the town hall, the familiar scent of pine filling his nostrils. Something about the smell never got old. He took a second and inhaled deeply, letting it settle in his chest like a comforting weight. “The old ‘Pony Express’.”

Ieyasu stared at him. “You’re not seriously calling it that.”

“I mean, I’m not, but Mitsunari said it was a good historic reference.”

“It’s not a great brand name.”

“So, a package?” Hideyoshi rubbed his hands. “Who from? We haven’t gotten any mail that didn't come off the train for a while.”

Masamune patted himself down, producing the letter. “Mitsuhide, apparently. Ask him what he’s doing that merits express delivery.”

The other two just shook their heads.

“I don’t want to know,” Hideyoshi groaned.

“Me either,” Ieyasu huffed. “He’s probably upstairs.”

“Great! Then I’ll just hop on in.”

“Wh--Masamune, no--”

“Masamune, yes!” Laughing, he sprinted through the hallways, dancing just beyond Hideyoshi’s chastising grasp. Up the stairs he bounded, taking them two at a time, the warm sunlight streaming in the windows warming his sore muscles. The past be damned: he’d missed this. He’d missed his friends and the gentle smell of the plains. He’d missed the sound of Hideyoshi scolding him and Ieyasu’s long, ragged sigh. And--as he burst into the office of the mayor and flung himself into a chair--he collapsed in a fit of laughter as he realized how much he’d missed everyone else.

“Well, well,” Nobunaga announced, unflappable as ever. “Look who the cat dragged in.”

“Not what I was expecting, if I’m quite honest,” Mitsuhide chuckled. “But I suppose it will do.”

“Masamune!” Mitsunari clutched his chest. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

Hideyoshi dashed into the doorway a beat too late, a thoroughly disappointed looking Ieyasu following a half second later. Masamune draped himself over the armchair and grinned cheekily at them.

“Delivery.” And he brandished the letter. “For one ‘Akechi’.”

“For me?” Mitsuhide smoothed down his jeans with a snakey smile. “You shouldn’t have. I daresay you’ve come a long way with that.”

“Damn straight. Was it your bright idea to make sure and request me, specifically?”

“My. You’ve caught on to my ruse.”

“Wasn’t that subtle. You just missed me.”

Nobunaga settled back down into his chair. The desk before him was littered with a thousand stacks of paper, each as vital to Waŋblí Hoȟpi’s success as the last. “I did wonder how you were going to lure. Well done.”

Out of all the things he expected, Masamune didn't anticipate Mitsuhide to take the letter--and promptly drop it in the trash. “It was too easy.”

“Wait.” He frowned. “Wait! You didn't even--you shipped yourself a letter just to get me back here?”

“Is that so strange?” Nobunaga fished through his desk and poured out a handful of sugar candies, ignoring Hideyoshi’s frustrated groan. “You make yourself scarce otherwise.”

“You know why.”

“Indeed we do.” Mitsuhide brushed down his stark white sleeves. How the man kept his button up and vest so pristine in all the dust, Masamune had no clue. “We’ll have to beg your forgiveness after this.”

That didn't sound promising. Narrowing his eye, Masamune rapped against the armchair. “Why, exactly?”

“We’ve had a rash of disappearances.” Nobunaga brushed aside a number of papers. “They’re all in the same proximity. We’ve reason to believe it has something to do with--”

No.

Masamune didn't even wait for confirmation. He jumped to his feet and immediately charged for the door. Hideyoshi slammed it shut and wrestled his arms into place.

“Let go of me--!”

“No! At least just listen--”

“You don’t--you don’t get it--I’m not doing this again--!”

“Masamune--!”

The two of them toppled over, tangled together on the floor. Mitsunari squeaked in surprise and backed up as they tussled. Mitsuhide just laughed.

“It’s not fucking funny,” Ieyasu snapped. “Hideyoshi, stop. Masamune, will you relax for a second? They’ve got a good reason.”

Masamune wrenched himself free of the headlock he’d been put in. “No fucking way. There’s no good reason you got.”

“Oh, but we do.” Mitsuhide’s yellow eyes glittered in the sunlight. “The ghost ship appears before each disappearance. Your old friend is the latest to spy it. If the pattern holds, she’ll be gone before the week is out.”

Finally he stilled, his heart thumping loud in his chest. “Are you fucking with me?”

“Not in the least.”

Silence. Masamune watched motes of dust flutter in the light, each of them a small world all its own. Maybe this was a bad dream. That was it--this was a bad dream, and if he just focused hard enough--

“Earth to Masamune.” Ieyasu snapped his fingers for attention. “Come back.”

He swallowed, his throat dry. “Are you sure she saw it?”

Hideyoshi looked ashamed. “We wouldn’t have called you otherwise. We all know you had a thing for her--”

“Yeah.” Masamune choked. “Yeah. Where is she now? Anyone keeping an eye on her?”

“Down at the general store, same as always. She runs it now, since her old man passed.”

He hopped onto his feet. “I’m going down there. You need someone to put their eyes--eye--on her. Otherwise--”

No one said a word. They didn't have to. Even Ieyasu averted his gaze from Masamune’s bad eye, as if the whole chasm of the space around them echoed in that one spot. He realized he was clutching his eyepatch; immediately he snapped his hand away.

“She needs eyes on her,” he repeated. “Or shit can happen.”

“Understood.” Nobunaga replied calmly. “But we need to get to the bottom of this. I don’t believe in the supernatural. Whatever it is that causes these disappearances, we must track it down.”

“Gotcha.” Masamune shrugged his duster back on. “Yeah. Well, I guess I’m back in the gang.”

---

The general store smelled like bergamot and old memories. Overhead, the horn bells clanked together, the hollow sound a familiar backdrop against the soft creak of wood. The geometric murals on the beams and the framed beadwork glowed with color. Dense shelves stocked with essentials lined the small building: flour, sugar, yeast, firewood… Masamune hesitated in the doorway and just inhaled it all.

Once upon a time--and it felt like a lifetime ago--the six of them would lounge in the cramped spaces of the general store and sip on lemonade and tea her father made them. More than once he’d clambered on top of the shelving and listened to her hiss protests (he’d only broken one), swinging down only once he’d gotten good and tired of the heat. Now it all came back to him in a gentle tide, like the soft current of the southern rivers at his feet, like the way he imagined the ocean did, were it not so polluted.

“Hello?”

He didn't answer at first. Her voice was the same as ever, and that warmed him all the way through. How did he even confront her? It had been so long, so, so long since they’d last seen each other. Thinking fast, Masamune dipped behind a shelf and rattled a tin of expensive coffee to attract her attention.

“Mitsuhide? If that’s you, it isn’t funny. You can’t scare me again.”

Masamune nearly laughed. Somehow he stifled himself. After a prolonged silence she got tired of waiting, her footsteps creaking over the worn boards.

“If you jump out at me, I will punch you in the face. You’ve been warned.”

He chanced it and did anyway. She shrieked and punched him square in the chest; he staggered backwards and fell, too winded to laugh properly and too entertained to do anything else.

“Fucking hell! You weren’t kidding!”

“Masamune?” She appeared over him like a vision, all dark eyes and dark hair. When had she gotten this beautiful? Of course, she always had been--he remembered that all too well--but somewhere in his absence she’d grown into something almost beyond his heart. “Masa, is that you?”

“That wasn’t my face, you know,” he wheezed. “My face is up here. So you missed a little.”

“Cut it out. I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Mitsuhide is taller than me. You wouldn’t have gotten his face, either.”

“You’re right. That was, what, Ieyasu height?”

Masamune choked another laugh, bracing his stomach. “God, you didn't hold back.”

“No, I didn't!” But she bent over anyway, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Her hair draped thick and lovely around her shoulders, the sweet scent of ylang-ylang and lavender surrounding her, and without thinking he pulled her tight to him. “I missed you, you big lunk.”

“Of course you did,” he chuckled, rocking her. “Who wouldn’t?”

“Oh! Listen to the ego on you! Did that bike make it swell? I’ve got ice for that!”

“Shit, if I wanted ice, I’d just go drive up to the mountains. You can keep it. That’s expensive stuff to use on me.”

At last she released him. Together they climbed to their feet and picked their way through the aisles. He watched her hands as she pushed product back, practiced fingers straightening labels with casual glances. “I thought you weren’t ever coming back.”

Masamune shrugged. “Mitsuhide had other plans, I guess.”

She cast him a look. “He certainly has a way of making them, doesn’t he?”

“Don’t he, though.”

Her gaze flitted over his bad eye. Right. She’d barely seen him without it. He pressed a hand to the eyepatch and grinned despite himself. “Does it work for me?”

“Does--are you seriously referring to that like it’s a fucking accessory?”

Masamune roared. “Gotta live with it somehow! Does it make me look dashing? C’mon. Do you want me to say like, ‘arr’ or something? I could be a pirate!”

She snapped a towel at him. “We’re not near the coast, and you can’t sail.”

“I could learn! Or I’ll just be a sand pirate--”

“Masa,” she chided. “You came here cause they told you I saw it, didn't they? The ship.”

He paused. “Yeah. Yeah, they did.”

Silence fell between them. He watched her pick her way behind the counter, wiping a hand over the spotless top. What was there to say? A sharp pang of melancholy surged through his stomach as he watched her expression shutter and fold. It had been so many years--so many without her that he suddenly felt the absence float between them.

“Look.” Masamune cleared his throat. “It isn’t gonna take you. That’s just a story.”

She cast him a dubious glance. “It took your father.”

What could he say to that? He ran his thumb over a rough patch of countertop and tried to measure out his words again. “He took him.”

“Are--” Her words caught in her throat. For a second, he was afraid she would ask--but then she didn't. “I guess you’re still here.”

“Damn right.” He shot her a wink, doffing an imaginary hat and bowing before her. “And you’re gonna be here, too. Ain’t nothing gonna take you, not on my watch.”

“Oh? What do you plan on doing, sleeping in my bed to make sure?”

“Sexy. Is that an invitation?”

She flung the towel at him. He caught it with a laugh, shaking it back. “So violent! First you punch me, now you throw things--”

“I warned you with the punch! Do you want some lemonade or something? I’ve got some tea brewing…”

“Tea works, thanks.”

Brushing aside the blanket that covered the doorway, she vanished into the back. For a split second, Masamune was afraid she wouldn’t come back out--that somehow, some way, the ship would appear outside of the general store and ghost her away from him. He cast a wary glance out the window and over the plains, the thick prairie grass bending and swaying in the wind, the dirt swirling like a dancing dervish. All that comforted him was the sweet scent of bergamot and the gentle clink of glasses in the back.

“Honey?” She called out.

“Sure. Not too much, I know it’s expensive.”

Quiet again. Masamune strained for the faint sounds of spoons and pouring water. It was better than the bad memories of his father threatening to break through, better than the archaic smell of gunpowder pervading everything, better than losing himself into the past and dissociating into his worst nightmare again--

She emerged and he almost breathed a sigh of relief.

“Here.” She passed over the cup with a smile. “It’s a little hot.”

“That’s alright.” He wrapped his fingers tight around it and let the scald bring him back to earth. “I like it hot sometimes.”

[tellywoodtrash]

ebss 19.08.19 lb

sigh. we in the home stretch. hope they wrap up this show decently. meanwhile imma take this one last month to soak in as much of shrenu's face as possible.

———————————————————————

pooja is me. mauka dekha nahi, slinked the fuck out of a social sitch.

bloody kabir. the way he framed it at first i genuinely thought there was a good motive behind all this and he was trying to protect pooja and maa from something. but nope. he just hired goons to watch over maa.

(with what fucking money??????? WHO IS FINANCING ALL THIS WHEN YOU PPL WERE STRUGGLING FOR EVERY DAMN RUPEE TILL LIKE 3 DAYS AGO??)

oh great. that eye medicine has kicked in.

LMAO WHUT??????? HER FIGHTING SKILLZ ARE BACK???? IS SHE DAREDEVIL, KI EK SHAKTI GAYI TOH DUSRI AA GAYI???? KYAAAAAAAA KUCH BHI.

but will i ever get tired of seeing shrenu parikh beat the shit outta men 3 times her size? nope. this needs to be a personality feature in every character she plays.

badi jaldi aa gaye kabir baba.

hein???? "kuch nahi hoga tumhe, pooja"?????? kuch zyaada hi pyaar nahi ho raha? *geet from jwm voice* chakkar kya hai boss?????

"ek ladki ke saath aisa behave karte hain???"

LMAOOOOOOOOO OK. TU BADI IZZAT KE SAATH PESH AA RAHA THA USKE SAATH HUH? CHALL HATT BC.

[dulhan hum le jayenge music plays]

lol sonali's face journey on the question "kabir aur pooja kahan gaye hain???"

official story here is "stress se behosh ho gayi." kabir quite well versed in indian govt and media's whitewashing ways.

ranjeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. *pulls his cheek* i think i'll miss him the most out of all these characters. who will give me my daily 80s-90s ghaati references after this???? a boy after my own heart onlyyyy he is.

doctor ko nahi, amma, police ko bulaiye. aur is mushtande ko arrest karwaiye.

"uske saath deal karna itna mushkil hoga, maine socha nahi tha."

LMAO REALLY????????? SHE WAS JANHVI FUCKING MITTAL, BITCH. TUM NE TOH BOHUTTTTT HI EASY LIYA HUA HAI.

sonali tu toh iske saath mil ke criminal mastermind banti jaa rahi hai.

~genius~~ plan of the day: pretend to be seriously behosh, get admitted to hospital, delay the wedding, profit.

amma, kuch zyaada hi overacting.

lo aa gaya. *ashaji voice* dekho woh aa gaya! *horny panting*

(quite apt for zain in all black. petition to keep him dressed like this always and forever.)

"main ek baar try karoon?" lol oh noooooo.

oh hoooooooo, pooja. tum toh kachchi khilaadi nikli.

kabir reminding everyone Tellywood 101: fucking look if the fucking door is open and if someone is fucking standing there listening to your ~amazinggggggggg~ plans.

it used to be janhvi's MO of choice no, skulking outside doors and overhearing shit? how she forgot sooooo easily???

sis khoon kar iska. baap ka tu kar nahi paayi, iska hi karle.

"main bhi koi bewakoof nahi hoon!" says the biggest bewakoof within indore city limits.

dayummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, girl. can't say the outfit is great, but you're looking fireeeee.

idk why you explaining to this bitch, pooja. live your damn life, man.

sonali has come as messenger ki mehendi ke liye ready ho jaao.

kabir is informing ki some "kalyani bua" is coming. who is apparently a fasaadan. ofc she is. mittal haina. which one of you is fucking normal?

oh her name is being used because pooja's never seen her, only heard the stories.

lmaoooooooooooo she's closing the door.

amma is like you stop trying so hard. let me handle this.

shaadi toh honi hi hai. ab chaahe show khatam ho raha ho ya aur kuch. shaadi toh karwaake hi chodenge tera channel waale.

oooooooh, i like this look.

mummy ka paara chadha hua. what's new?

lmao the fuck is this outfit??????? why is that dupatta thing so awkwardly pinned on his shoulder? and why does that one sleeve look like a fish fin?????

omfg zain wtf, why are you holding the cone like that, you savage?????

JESUS CHRIST, MEN CAN'T DO ANYTHINGGGGGGG RIGHT. WTF IS THIS?????

"tumhare haath pe mera naam, i just love it. khoobsoorat lag raha hai ekdum tumhari tarah!"

you know that new twitter meme where ppl force bots to watch a 1000 hours of something and come up with an automated script? kabir is like one of those bots, who watched 1000 hours of cheesyass tellywood wedding episodes and is parroting those lines.

lmao i’ve been noticing this since the NK days, that zain doesn’t know how to wink. it makes me crack up every single time i see him try.

literally who is surprised, huh?

lmao sonali, such bad acting.

OUFF CHAACHI.  

lol crime partners ki shaqalein.

dadu also getting into this mess. saying kalyani, pooja ko aashirwaad do.

lolololol idiots.

pooja also suddenly very raazi to get rando mittal bua's aashirwaad.

reverse k3g ho gaya yeh toh.

———————————————————————

either a red herring, or kabir is the biggest dumbass ever.

[papersandkeyboards]

5/23-30: A Week of Hangouts

35th WEEK, MAY 23-30, 2016.

Seniors at Rainier Beach High School skip so much in general, I thought there would be no Senior Skip Day like in other schools.

Speaking of which—Senior Skip Day, I guess you could say, is some sort of unofficial agreement between seniors to skip the whole school day on an agreed day. And yes—it is indeed a thing, apparently.

But as I said, seniors—if not students in general—at RBHS skip so much, it doesn’t seem like Senior Skip Day would be a thing to be excited about. In my fourth period—which is IB Lang and Lit for seniors—there are suppose to be, like, 24 kids or something, but there are only 10ish students in average every day. One day the number hit 14, Mrs. Shaw got so excited she could’ve cried.

Tuesday, another sparsely populated fourth period. We were in the middle of something when a couple of seniors got into the classroom and handed out papers to us that turned out to be a permission slip to go to Seward Park on Friday.

“...what’s this?” I asked Imi.

“Oh, it’s Senior Skip Day,” she said.

Well—turned out we did have a Senior Skip/Ditch Day. Unless that it was school-approved, chaperoned-by-teacher Skip Day... quote on quote.

Call me a nerd, but I didn’t want to skip first period on Friday. If it were a normal first period I would probably be delighted to skip, but since mid-end May until mid-June, there’s this big event called Seattle International Film Festival, which is one of the most famous film festivals in the world. A whole bunch of films from some one hundred countries around the world, different styles, different genres. One of the films from USA is called “The First Girl I Loved”, and the director was coming to my first period on Friday. The world of filmmaking has always been interesting to me, so no way I would pass this opportunity, although he wasn’t a big block-buster movie director.

So I went to first period. Which I think was worth going. However, on the way to and during second period, I started getting down for not going to Skip Day. I didn’t even turn in the permission slip. I was so ready just to skip fourth and sixth on my own and finish reading The 5th Wave in the library (ok now I really have no defense if you call me a nerd).

I walked to third—Tomchick—and welcomed by his question, “Aren’t you going to Senior Field Trip?”

I shrugged. “I don’t want to miss first period.”

“You can still go. They haven’t even started yet.”

That lit up a speck of light in my face.

I still endured third period, then went to the Activity Center as Tomchick instructed, where he said I would find a ride there. I ran into Mr. Henderson instead—Henderson and Tomchick were the chaperones. I asked him, then he told me to go to the main office since there were also other seniors who would be getting a ride to Seward Park. I met Sadia there, she turned her and my permission slips, then get a ride with her and Naimo to Seward Park.

In front of the park, right at the sign, a white poster that says “RBHS Seniors—follow the balloon!”. There were balloons tied up to road signs along the way, until we found a clearing filled with people.

Seward Park is a really nice park. It’s wide, it has open plains and tree-shadowed plains, benches, a shelter, a big swing set. I saw Mr. Christopholus by the shelter preparing the grill. The tables in the shelter were filled with unopened food, drinks, and utensils, and the benches outside were packed with backpacks. I got out of the car and Price shouted my name... which I totally didn’t expect would happen since we never really talk.

Anyway, I looked around. I saw people in the grassfield, playing frisbee. Some people in the shelter. Some people by the benches playing ping pong and bean bag toss. I put my backpack on one of the benches and slowly joined the others playing bean bag toss. Me, Nina, Alex, Jeremiah, Rony, Mr. Jefferson—the ceramic teacher—and later, Bobby.

Honest opinion—in second period, I was so close to giving up and hoping I won’t miss anything. I thought it would be boring (since when I asked what’s going to be there, Tomchick said “just hanging out”), I thought there would only be people I wouldn’t connect with (baca: anak-anak berandal hits), but it turned out to be really fun. Seriously, it was really fun—it was worth skipping a whole school day for.

(playing this game Tomchick dubbed “Chinese numbers”--which, apparently, is also a game I happen to know later back in Indo, also dubbed “angka Cina”)

Kapan lagi bisa bolos bareng-bareng seangkatan? Kalau niat sih, aku juga bisa bikin ginian di angkatan sekolah Indo. Bedanya 1) bakal susah buat ngerayu semuanya, dan 2) kepsek dan guru bakal marah besar sebesar-besarnya, rapor/SKHU bisa ditahan, seangkatan bisa dijemur seharian pas upacara (which isn’t new to us, hufft), dan beragam jenis kemurkaan guru lainnya. Belum lagi di angkatan memang ada anak yang superduper baik dan santun dan 99% bakalan nggak mau dirayu (mengacu ke poin 1).

Oh, satu lagi. Kalau memang kejadian, aku—sebagai anak AFS dan pioneer ‘hari bolos’—bisa lebih berabe lagi.

Uh. Okay.

I should’ve realized things like this always have an advantage—and one big major advantage that I would totally skip school for is getting to know people. There are people I have the same class with, people that also went on the Salish Sea field trip but were in a different group than me so I didn’t really talk to them, people who were just in the hallways—on this day I got to talk to them if I haven’t, and if I have, I got to socialize with them more (this might sound petty to you social butterflies, but as an introvert, I felt happy with it).

So yeah. Thanks for that.

Aside from that, this week really has been a week of hangouts—referring to the title. With friends, with family, and with myself.

Hey. I love me some me-time.

I wrote about this in the last post(s). Last week, I watched CA: Civil War, but before then, I had an hour to kill, so I went to Barnes and Noble. And I discovered this book, read the back of it, read a few first pages, and just like that, I was hooked.

Since then, I’ve been going to Barnes and Noble just to read the book without actually buying it. (well only three times since it’s a short read) On Monday I went there and finished the whole thing. I was dying. I went home empty-hearted, needing a closure.

(please refer to the previous post)

Not a perfect book, but then again, I’m not a perfect book reviewer, I was mostly just there for the emotions and intense storyline. If you like intense thriller books that wring your soul out of emotion, you probably will like it.

(“why not borrow it from the library?” you might ask—well, it’s a newly published book, that’s why, plus I looked it up on Seattle Public Library website and found jack)

On Wednesday, Kira and Tania and Victoria and I hung out downtown. Mostly because Tania is leaving on June 8th and Tania and Victoria’s school is close to my and Kira’s school so we gotta hang out after school at least once. So we did.

And on Thursday, Livia (this Indonesian girl I met in SCC) and I went to Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle Center. A good catch-up session, plus she’s transferring to San Francisco after this summer quarter.

Friday, after that senior skip day, my host parents and I went to Whidbey Island with Tommy and Anna—their friends—and their kids and rent a vacation house for the long weekend (Monday, May 30, is Memorial Day—which means no school and work). We didn’t go there right after my school day, so even though it’s not too long of a ride, we got there at around 9.30pm, where Tommy and Anna and their kids were asleep already.

In the morning, I woke up, went downstairs, and was welcomed by a 4-year-old and 2-year-old running around the house excitedly, stark naked.

“Naked baby!” that’s exactly what they said, over and over, until like an hour later Anna successfully put a shirt on Colin, the 2-y.o.

Cute kids. Typical loud, running-around, cute kids. Good thing the vacation house we rented had a huge sand box as its front yard (apart from the fact that the houses around were facing the beach, where there was... well, sand), plus the pails and sandcastle-making tools and all. There was also a bunch of tree trunks which unexpectedly formed some sort of cave (or maybe people in the past made it on purpose?) in which Colin and Anna liked to play.

It was probably the chillest weekend I’ve ever had. No planned activities, mostly spent walking along the coast, playing with the kids, reading (and finishing) my book, chilling in the front yard under the bright sun but cold breeze, and tagging along with Karen to shop for groceries and other trinkets (<--referring to the time she took me to a quilt shop).

OH WAIT. We also spend the nights watching Lord of the Rings. Hehehe.

Another thing that is the highlight of this weekend was how it has planted the first seed of what would affect my future life decisions since, which I will always be grateful for. But that part shall come later.

---

There it was. A week of hangouts. With fellow seniors, with AFS friends, with Indonesian friend, with my host family, with little kids, and of course, the most important, with myself.

Salam dari pelajar yang bermental main (in my defense, guru aku pernah bilang kalau punya mental main itu penting!),

Nabila Safitri.

[metzili]

Things that Have Happened To Me at School: January-March

Boy: I’ve lost all faith for the human race. Do you know how many things people have managed to get stuck in their rectum?

Teacher: you need to stay away from the internet

Boy: the internet needs to stay away from me. It depends on who gets the restraining order first

...................

(My teacher plays music while he teaches)

Teacher: *stops* oh yeah, this is a good one.

Boy: what is it?

Teacher: what? Have you guys never listened to Spoon?

Girl: oh yeah. I love Spoon. I also love when they did that song with Fork

Girl 2: and that Spork fanfiction? Omg that was great

...................

Music: starts playing Ke$ha

(The only music my teacher plays is classic rock)

Everyone: *gets quiet*

Teacher: the fuck is this shit

Class: OHHHHHHH

...................

“Hey, listen to this song about grilled cheese”

...................

(In band class)

Boy: *playing around*

Girl: Adam, stop acting like your chair placement!

Everyone: oooohhhh

Boy 2: low blow, man

Boy:*slowly melts to the floor*

Me, who rejoined band a week ago and took his chair placement:

...................

Teacher: I have to warn you that at the end of Act II of Macbeth-

Girl: SATAN SHOWS UP

Teacher:...you’ll have to read the last scene by yourselves

................

My Latin giving a lesbian dating advice. He told her to not even bother with the girl she liked if she won’t even text back because that’s just rude

..............

Teacher: okay so who can give me an example of a paradox?

Girl: Spaghetti is a noodle and a noodle is spaghetti?

Teacher:..no

....................

Girl- oW HE HIT ME Teacher- I don’t blame him you’re more annoying than my nephew

.....................

Teacher: apparently it’s bad luck to say Macbeth before a theatre performance

Girl: wait how is it bad luck

Teacher: it’s like...how it’s bad to say Voldemort

Class: ohhhhh

Boy: see, if you want us to understand, just talk in harry potter references

Teacher: noted

Girl: okay but why is it bad luck

Teacher: weird stuff happens if you say it, like one time someone traded the prop knife for a real one and an actor accidentally killed someone on stage

Girl 2: what I want to know is if that person was charged with murder

Boy: yeah because it was accidentally

Girl 2: I’m gonna look it up

Teacher: you can’t find murder charges from hundreds of years ago in a different country.

Girl 2: I can if I hack into the British government’s FBI

Teacher: what

Girl 2: what

...................

“So, how’ve you been? Been bothered by any fuckboys lately?”

...................

Teacher: why are you looking up where I’ve lived before

Girl: Just because

Teacher: but how

Girl: okay so in tech class we found this code thingie that literally told you everything about someone so we looked up our teacher and found out everything like we even found out where he was holding his wedding in a month

Teacher: great. I’m teaching a class full of hackers

...................

“I get to write short essay introductions because I’m a short girl”

...................

My math teacher wrote the number 8 really weirdly and everyone noticed and this one girl, Riley, made fun of it so my teacher changed the 8 into an R and proceeded to write “Riley sux” on the board for revenge

...................

Teacher: Justin stop acting like a lazy piece of crap

Girl: You can’t say that!

Teacher- I can say it because I’m a lazy piece of crap

...................

Boy- I betted on the Patriots winning and I got $5 from my coach

Teacher-Betting is illegal

Boy-

Teacher-

Boy-

Teacher-

Boy- *runs out of room*

Teacher- YOU’RE GOING TO JAIL

...................

“Boy shut your turtle-looking Michelangelo face up”

“Excuse you I’m Donatello”

...................

Teacher: I mean, who wakes up in the morning wanting to do evil to other people

Boy: Donald Trump

(This was Inauguration Day)

...................

Teacher: *singing* My name is Riley and I’m a loserrr

Riley: True

Teacher : And I have no frieeends

Riley: tHAT’S NOT TRUE

Teacher: I DIDN’T MEAN IT

Riley: YES YOU DID

Teacher: You got me there

...................

Teacher: So why is Macbeth angry about *sees a girl taking pictures* Zipporah taking sELFIES UNDER THE DESK

Zipporah: he’s just jealous of this nude lip gloss

...................

Teacher: Mussolini spoke of reviving Roman greatness-now where have I heard that before? Sounds kind of like “Make Italy great again”

...................

“Why does Snoop Dogg need an umbrella?”

“Fo’ drizzle”

...................

Teacher: We’re going to be outside this period so let me put on my jacket so I can look like a full on pimp

...................

We were doing IRL geometry questions outside and the last question was if the tree in the parking fell, which administration's cars would be screwed. (Yes, that was how it was written) When we were done, our teacher said to just screw it, we’re going to walk straight through the office instead of going around the school to look like gangsters. He also said to wink if we saw any administration and say that we figured out how to destroy their cars.

...................

Teacher: *reading an email* important weather information is being sent to you

Girl: can we leave

Teacher: it’s just a thunderstorm warning

Girl 2: SEVERE thunderstorm and tornado warning

Teacher: why do you care so much? I thought all you kids wanted to die

Girl: yeah but I want to die in the my aesthetic house not this dump

Teacher: you don’t want the firefighters looking for your body saying “ew can you believe this girl died in this place it’s total trash”

Girl: yes

...................

Girl: *clearly distressed* DID YOU KNOW CRAYOLA GOT RID OF DANDELION YELLOW

Boy: *also distressed* I KNOW

Girl: It was the best yellow! W H Y

Teacher: wtf

Girl: I mean why did they add another blue they already have like six of them

Teacher: I’m sure if you find the volume of this metaphorical 100 meter crayon Crayola will re-instate dandelion yellow

...................

Girl: can you please check your email for the weather email

Teacher: there’s nothing there because no one cares whether you live or die

[voyagerafod]

Star Trek Voyager: A Fire of Devotion: Part 4 of 4: Hotter Than Hell: Chapter Ten

“A party?” Brian Sofin asked.     “Well, yes,” Neelix said. “I’ve been shirking my duties lately as morale officer, and things may seem normal, but I think you know as well as I do, Brian, that morale hasn’t recovered any in the past two months.”

    “Can you blame them?”     “Of course not,” Neelix said. “But I knew Commander Chakotay pretty well, and he would not want us to use his death as an excuse to stop living.”     “Neither would I, but... A party?”     “It’s the best way I know to boost moral for the majority of the crew,” Neelix said. “And it’s not like it’s completely random, I have a justification.”

    “Which is?”     “We’re a few days away from the the 315th anniversary of Vulcan-Human First Contact. Without that event, the Federation you know and love probably wouldn’t exist today.”     Sofin winced. “Right, I forgot this week was First Contact Day. My parents always liked to watch old recording of Zefram Cochrane speeches on FC day. I would watch with them when I could, unless I was on assignment, before, well…”

    “Exactly!” Neelix said. “I’ve already thrown one FC day party before; five years ago for the 310th. I think I even still have the decorations that Kes helped me make in storage.”     Brian looked like he was considering Neelix’s idea carefully. He smiled, and Neelix knew he had a helper to put this thing together for the crew. He knew from experience that nothing would be 100% exactly as it was before the Commander’s death, just as things changed to one degree or another after the loss of any crewmember, but at least the ship would start to feel like a home again.

---

    “Enter,” Joe Carey said, staring at his unfinished ship-in-a-bottle. The tiny Voyager inside only had one nacelle left to go. It had had only one nacelle left to go for months. Work on the project, despite it being his favorite hobby, came to a screeching halt when Commander Chakotay died.     “I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” B’Elanna said as she entered Carey’s quarters.

    “No,” Carey said. “How can I help you?”

    “I’ll get straight to the point. You know I’m starting my maternity leave next week. The Doctor thinks I should start it sooner but, screw him. The point is, I need you to take over as chief engineer while I’m on bed rest, and for at least the first few weeks with Miral.”

    “Mir- Oh, I didn’t know you and Tom had picked a name,” Carey said.     “I said it in engineering the other day, Joe. Which you’d know if you’d shown up on time.”     “Sorry, about that,” Joe said. “I just-”     “I know why,” B’Elanna said. “I know what survivor’s guilt looks like, Joe. I let it slide for a good while, made everyone else keep quiet and not report it to the captain, but you’ve been slacking. Showing up late, doing the bare minimum…”     “Then why are you asking me to take charge?” Joe said.     “Vorik’s not ready for a leadership role, Mulcahey’s a floater between engineering and transporter control, and Gilmore hasn’t earned back all her clearances yet. That leaves you. I know you took it hard and that you blame yourself, but two months is too long. Especially when it’s not like we can just pop over to a Starbase or colony and give you extended shore leave.”     “Yeah, you’re right,” Joe said. “Fact is I’ve been feeling guilty about my survivor’s guilt. Don’t tell me how silly that sounds, I know. I’ve been thinking for awhile I need to just get back to work. I guess I just needed a kick in the pants to do it.”     B’Elanna smiled and gave Joe a friendly slap on the shoulder. “Well, that went easier than I expected. I was worried I’d have to shout at you.”     Joe laughed. “Better that than breaking my nose.”     B’Elanna shook her head. “Seven years later and you still won’t let that go huh?”     “Hey, I forgave you a long time ago, you know that. But forgiveness doesn't automatically mean I stop ribbing you about it.” Joe laughed. He was pretty sure it was the first time he’d laughed in awhile.     “There’s the Joe Carey I know and tolerate,” B’Elanna said with a wink. “Now get your ass to engineering so I can give my last set of orders to the team.”

---

    Captain Janeway sat in her chair as the current bridge shift started, coffee in hand. Tuvok, still looking like he felt out of place in command red, sat in the first officer’s chair, looking at his monitor. Sue Brooks was at the helm today. Harry was at ops, and Lieutenant Ayala at tactical. Seven of Nine and Samantha Wildman were on the bridge for this shift as well. All was normal, or at least the new normal.

    A beeping from the ops console broke Janeway’s train of thought.     “I’m picking up a signal from an emergency beacon. It’s degraded considerably, the beacon looks to be decades old, at least.”     “Can you decipher the signal?” Janeway said.     Harry tapped a few buttons, and Janeway saw his eyes go wide.     “I recognize this,” he said.     “Harry?”     “The signal. It’s a distress beacon, I can tell that much. Text, no audio, or at least none I’ve registered yet. References to a ‘generation ship,‘ I think. Captain, the message is in an old dialect of Talaxian.”     “Well, that’s certainly unexpected,” Samantha Wildman said from the main science station.     “To put it mildly,” Seven said.     “Shall I have Mister Neelix summoned to the bridge?” Commander Tuvok said.     “Absolutely,” Janeway said. “He’ll want to see this. And maybe have some idea how a Talaxian signal got out this far.”     “If Mister Kim’s translation is correct,” Seven said, “I believe the phrase ‘generation ship’ may be the answer.”     “I don’t recall him saying anything his people having sent out generation ships before,” Harry said, “but then again based on how old the sensor data tells us that beacon is it’s older than he is. It’s possible it just never occurred to him to mention it.”

---

    Neelix watched the viewscreen, pacing because he was too excited to sit down. Upon being informed of the situation he had to give it considerable thought, but a quick skim of his old ship’s historical database confirmed what he suspected; this was from a ship that his ancestors had launched in the early days of their exploration into space.     Its name was in a dialect that hadn’t been used on his homeworld since before he was born, but it’s name translated roughly as The Future. It had left Talax with 7 female and 5 male crew members, plus 1300 Talaxians from all walks of life in cryogenic sleep. His people had gone looking for it once they’d developed faster-than-light drives, and made contact with other species, but no sign of The Future had ever been found, and it was presumed lost. Neelix wondered how it had gotten this far out. Even back then, according to Seven of Nine, the Borg were active in the Delta Quadrant, along the most likely path the ship would’ve had to take to get from Talax to where the beacon had been found.     “Perhaps the Talaxians found a wormhole that we missed,” Harry said.     “Possible,” Seven said, “though the timeframe, based on our estimations of when the emergency beacon was deployed, would place the generation ship’s passage through Borg space at the height of our conflict with the El Aurians.”     “How long did that last?” Neelix said.     “Hundreds of years. Prior to Species 8472, the El Aurians proved the most difficult species to assimilate,” Seven said.     “I’d always wondered about that,” Janeway said, “but El Aurians in the Alpha Quadrant are notoriously reluctant to talk about it. I hope they got a few good kicks in before they went down.”     “While only a few hundred survived to make it to the Alpha Quadrant as refugees,” Seven said, “before the end they managed to destroy nearly a dozen cubes, more than half of them in the final year of the conflict.”     “I apologize for interrupting,” Harry Kim said, “but I finished the translation of the message. The translation program Neelix gave me was a big help.”     “So what happened?” Neelix asked.     “Apparently there was an engine failure caused by their main computer. Apparently it was a very crude A.I. and, for want of a better phrase, lost its mind.”     “I didn’t even know my people had ever tried to create artificial intelligences,” Neelix said, surprised.     “When did this happen?” Janeway asked.     “Only about fifty years ago, surprisingly,” Harry said. “The crew was able to get control back, but the computer shut down several dozen of the cryo pods, killing the occupants. The next paragraph is corrupted, I can’t tell what it says, but after that it says they sent the last of their probes out to find a suitable place to land.”     “A lot of habitable planets between here and Rinax,” Tom said. “Wonder why they didn’t pick any of those.”     Neelix shrugged. “Maybe they didn't want to settle any place that already had sentient life? That’s just a guess, don’t quote me.”     “We won’t know until we find any of the crew’s descendants,” Janeway said. “If this was only fifty years ago, there’s a good chance we may find some. Seven, do a full long range scan. See where the most likely place the Talaxians would’ve ended up and give the data to Tom. Mister Paris, once you have a location, plot a course.”     “Aye, Captain,” Tom said, while Seven simply nodded and manipulated the controls at her console.

---

    “There is definitely an M-class planet on the other side of that asteroid field,” Samantha Wildman said, looking at her console while both Neelix and Captain Janeway looked over her shoulder. “And I’m pretty sure I’m getting lifesigns from it, but something in the field itself is interfering with the sensors.”     “It is awfully dense,” Neelix said. “I don’t think I’ve seen an asteroid field that densely packed before.”     “I have,” Janeway said, “but it’s not common, no argument here.”     “I could dodge those rocks easily enough with Voyager,” Tom said, “but given that interference Sam’s talking about I’d rather not risk it.”

    “Captain,” Sam said, “now that we’re closer, I’m thinking this interference might not be naturally occurring.”     “Agreed,” Janeway said. “Which could mean the Talaxians set-up makeshift bases in the the larger asteroids. Or they could’ve settled that planet on the other side and are mining the asteroids. Either way, if there are survivors from The Future, we’ll find proof in that asteroid field. We’ll take Voyager around the field to go to the planet. A small team can take the Delta Flyer through the field itself. If nothing else, they can confirm if the interference is naturally occurring or not.”

    “Captain,” Neelix said, “I’d like to be on the Flyer team.”     “Why?” Captain Janeway asked.     “Call it a gut feeling,” Neelix said. “If I’ve learned anything travelling with you Captain, it’s that it’s a good idea to listen to one’s instincts.”

    As long as I don’t have to go, I’m happy, Samantha thought. Me, the Delta Flyer, and giant rocks? No thanks.

---

    The Delta Flyer entered the asteroid field, and Neelix marvelled at how close together all the rocks were while not appearing to collide with each other.     “I wonder if maybe someone put this here,” Neelix said to Lieutenant Ayala, who sat at the tactical console, while Tom Paris piloted the craft.     “Just because it’s rare for asteroid fields to be this dense,” Ayala said, “doesn’t mean it’s not naturally occurring.”     “Could be the debris from an exploded planet,” Tom said. “Last dense field like this I ever saw in the Alpha Quadrant had been a planet a thousand years before the Federation existed. Well, I only saw it in pictures taken by the Enterprise, but still.”     “Sounds interesting,” Neelix said. “What happened?”     “Well, there was this war between two ancient-”     “Mister Paris,” Ayala said, “I’m picking up lifesigns at bearing 108, mark 26. They appear to be Talaxians. Hundreds of them, inside three of the larger rocks.”     “Well, that answers one question,” Neelix said. “Can we hail them?”

    Ayala touched a button, and waited.     “No response. No sign they didn’t receive it, it looks like they’re ignoring us.”     “Maybe if we try greeting them in Tal-”     Neelix wasn’t able to finish his suggestion, as a loud noise, followed by the ship shuddering, cut him off.     “What was that?” he said.     “A thermalyte explosive,” Ayala said.     “How close was that?” Tom said.     “30.6 kilometers to port,” Ayala said. “If it was that close and shook us that little-”

    A much more severe shudder passed through the ship.     “That one was closer,” Ayala said. “Are these mines or did we accidentally stumble on the Talaxians blasting these rocks to get the raw materials?”     A third shudder.     “That one took out our shields,” Ayala said. “It threw the impulse drive out of alignment too.”     “Switching to thrusters,” Tom said.

    “The main Talaxian asteroid is close enough for us to make a landing,” Neelix said, looking at his own console.     “If they’re doing this on purpose that might be a bad idea,” Tom said. Before anyone could reply there was another explosion, and the Delta Flyer shook so violently everyone was thrown forward painfully into their consoles.     “Dammit, main propulsion is off-line,” Tom said. “I’m gonna have to put us down on that rock anyway before we crash into one without people who can help us fix the damage. Better get ready to do some fancy talking, Neelix.”     The Delta Flyer jerked forward. Neelix watched the main viewport as the asteroid, structures sticking out one side of it, got closer and closer; much too fast for his liking.

    “This landing’s gonna be a bit rough,” Tom said, “but if it’s any consolation, the Flyer’s been through worse.”

    Upon impact, Neelix was knocked out his chair. He winced as his head hit something, and everything went black.

---

    Neelix groaned as his eyes fluttered open. He heard before he saw the sound of a medical device, or at least what he hoped was a medical device, hovering centimeters above his head. When his vision cleared he saw a sight he hadn’t expected to ever see outside of old family photos or the holodeck.

    A Talaxian. A woman, who held the device, sitting on the edge of the bed Neelix was in.     “Stay still,” she said when neelix tried to sit up. “Don’t worry. It’s not serious.”     Her bedside manner is about as warm as The Doctor’s used to be, Neelix thought.

    “I’m inside the asteroid,” he said.

    “Yes,” the female Talaxian said.     “Where are my friends?” Neelix asked.     “If you mean the aliens who were on the ship with you,” the female Talaxian said, in a tone that suggested she wasn’t using the word alien in the nicest sense of the word, “they’re safe.”     Define safe.     “I’d like to see them,” Neelix said.

    “You need your rest,” the female Talaxian said, standing up quickly. “What were you doing in the asteroid field?” she asked as she placed the device on the table by the side of Neelix’s bed.     “Looking for you, actually,” Neelix said. “We found the old beacon.”     “Really? It still works after all this time?”     “Yes,” Neelix said. “Our ship, Voyager, came across it, so we came to look for any survivors.”

    “Well, here we are.”     “I see. My name’s Neelix, by the way.”     “Dexa,” the female Talaxian said. “It’s funny, I had an uncle named Neelix.”     “Really? I had no idea my name stretched back that far. Your generation ship left so long ago it took us awhile to translate the message on the beacon.”     Dexa looked puzzled. “Then how come I can understand you so plainly?”

    Neelix pointed to his comm badge, which had been left on him. “It’s called a universal translator.”     “Interesting,” Dexa said. “I’d like to know more about this translator, but first, I’m curious, are there any other Talaxians aboard your ship?”     “No, just me,” Neelix said.

    “Why are you living with aliens?” Dexa asked, her nose scrunched up as if she’d smelled something offensive.     “They’re my friends,” Neelix said. He’d considered telling Dexa the truth; that he just didn’t like what the bulk of his people had become in recent years, and that apart from a few good friends he largely did not miss his people at all. He realized though that if the other Talaxians on this and the other two asteroids were as xenophobic as Dexa appeared to be, that would probably be the worst thing to say. “We attempted to contact you from our shuttle,” he said instead. “Did you receive our hails?”     “Yes,” Dexa said.     “Why didn’t you respond?”     “We avoid contact with outsiders,” Dexa said.     “There were explosions,” Neelix said. “Did you-”     “No,” Dexa said. “Not deliberately, I mean. We were making holes in the surface of those particular rocks to start mining them for resources. They weren’t supposed to go off so soon though. Perhaps something from your shuttle triggered them early. My turn to ask a question now. Why were you and your.. Friends, carrying weapons?”     “Standard procedure for an away mission,” Neelix said. “On stun of course.”     “Stun? Non-lethal energy weapons? I didn’t even know such a thing was possible.”     “Oh, absolutely,” Neelix said. “We had weapons similar to phasers on Talax not too long after The Future left. We never got as good at mass producing them as Starfleet did though, so they fell out of favor after a while.”     “Starfleet?”     “Oh, the organization our ship belongs to. Our ship is called Voyager by the way. The shuttle that crashed is called the Delta Flyer.”     “Is Starfleet a military organization?”     Neelix thought about that for a moment. “Sort of, but not really. It’s like a hybrid of a military organization, a scientific one, and a diplomatic corp. There’s no real analog to it in Talaxian history, so that’s the best way I can explain it.”     Neelix thought he saw someone moving behind Dexa, so he shifted. He smiled when he saw a child, holding some kind of toy, peeking around the corner of the entrance into the room.     “Hi there,” Neelix said. “What’s your name?”

    Dexa looked confused, but then turned around when the child responded.     “Brax,” he said. “What’s yours?”     “I told you not to come in here,” Dexa said, bending down to look the child in the eyes as she took his hands.     “I wanted to see him,” Brax said.     “You’re supposed to be helping Oxilon,” Dexa said.     “He doesn’t look dangerous to me,” Brax said, an inquisitive look on his face not too dissimilar to the one Naomi Wildman would get when she was convinced that adults were not telling her the whole story about something.

    I guess some things are just universal, Neelix thought.

    “I think you might have the wrong idea about us,” Neelix said.     “I’m not supposed to be talking to you at all,” Dexa said.”   

    Neelix had a suspicion about the room he was in. He stood up. “I’m feeling better,” he said, which was mostly true. His head still hurt, but it was a dull pain. He’d been through much worse. This year, even. “I think I should go see my friends now.”     Dexa stepped back and touched something that was out of sight, and a force field visibly snapped into place.     Yep, I’m in a cell, Neelix thought. Not a terrible one though, I’ll give it that. The bed is comfy.     “I’ve been told not to let you leave,” Dexa said.     The look on her face was all too familiar to Neelix. He’d seen looks like that before, on those among his people who’d bought the propaganda about the Haakonians “hook, line and sinker,” as Tom would say.

    They’re repeating the same mistakes their descendants made back on Talax, he thought sadly. I suppose I should be grateful there isn’t an alien race nearby for them to launch an unprovoked war against.

---

    “Captain,” Harry said, “there’s a ship approaching from astern. We’re being hailed.”     “Good,” Janeway said. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and they can explain why we lost contact with the Flyer. On screen.”

    “Identify yourselves,” the captain of the other vessel said. He wasn’t Talaxian, that was for sure.

    “I’m Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager,” Janeway said.

    “Commander Nocona,” the other ship’s captain said, his tone immediately shifting to one more polite than the one he’d had when asking for identification.

    Perhaps in his culture it’s acceptable to be rude to people if you don’t know their names, she thought.     “I request to know why you sent a vessel into the asteroid field,” Nocona continued.     Janeway gave the thumbnail version of how Voyager had ended up here, and how they’d hoped to make contact with the Talaxians.     “Ah, I see,” Nocona said. “Perhaps your friend, this Neelix, can convince the Talaxians to move on.”     “Assuming he’s alive,” Janeway said. “We registered multiple explosions in the field and lost contact with our shuttle.”

    “Likely just mining charges,” Nocona said. “The Talaxians have never been violent. Smug and verbally abusive, but not violent. Your shuttle likely just got too close.”     “I take it you’ve had problems with them before,” Janeway said.     “Ever since they came to our world seeking shelter years ago,” Nocana said. “But for now, if you require our assistance, our ship is more heavily armored than yours. We have few weapons, this is a patrol ship, but if any charges go off we won’t be harmed.”     Janeway appreciated that the alien captain was being so direct with her. It was something she wished were more common in this quadrant.     “If I may ask, what exactly were the problems the Talaxians caused?”     “To be fair,” Nocona said, “it’s largely the younger generation, those born after their ship arrived, that are the issue; they settled in that asteroid field without permission and began mining resources that by rights belonged to us as the field is in our solar system. As it stands, we have no way to remove them without violence, and neither the government nor the public wants that.”

    Oh great, Janeway thought. We stumbled into a political mess. I’d hoped we wouldn’t have another one of those for a good long time.

---

    Neelix heard a noise, and turned to see Brax standing on the other side of the force field with a weapon that was clearly too big for him to be using. If it wasn’t a dangerous weapon, the site of him trying to look intimidating with it would be amusing.

    “I don’t think you’re supposed to be here,” Neelix said.     “This is my home,” Brax said. “You can’t tell me what to do.”     “No, I suppose I can’t,” Neelix said. “I just don’t want you to get in trouble.”

    Brax moved the object in his arms and Neelix realized he’d made an error. It was a not a weapon at all, the child had just been handling whatever it was like one.     “What’s that?” Neelix said.     “A model ship,” Brax said.     “Really? A Talaxian one?”     “You don’t recognize it?”     “Our people’s ships haven’t looked like that for a long time,” Neelix said, trying to get a better look at the model. “I think I saw something like that in a museum once though, on Rinax.”     “People live on Rinax now?” Brax said.     Neelix winced. “Well, they did, but something bad happened. It’s complicated, and sad to say it was kind of our own fault. Maybe I can explain it to you later.”     “I overheard you tell my mother your ship was named Voyager,” Brax said. “Is it big?”     “Not as big as the ship your ancestors came to this asteroid field on, but she’s a decent sized ship,” Neelix said. “But she is fast. Nothing faster than her within a hundred light years, I bet.”     There was a clanging noise, and Brax gasped. “That’s my mother.”     “Well you better hide then,” Neelix said.     “You won’t tell her I’m here?”     “No, of course not,” Neelix said. Brax ran off. Another clanging noise followed by footsteps drew Neelix’s attention to his right, and he saw Dexa walk in with a male Talaxian, who had to duck slightly to get through the door. Neelix was pretty sure he’d never seen a Talaxian that tall before, and figured that it must’ve had something to do with having been born in lower gravity environments.

    “Neelix,” Dexa said, “this is Oxilon, our Council Regent.”

    “I wish I could say it was nice to meet you,” Neelix said, “but this isn’t exactly the welcome I was expecting.”     “You’re free to go now,” Oxilon said, touching a button. The force field dropped and Neelix walked forward. He looked at Oxilon, expecting him to say something else, but he gave no indication he planned to.     “What about my friends?” Neelix said.     “We’ve determined they’re not hostile,” Oxilon said. “They’ve been treated for their injuries and asked to leave.”     “They’re aboard your shuttle, making repairs,” Dexa said. “I’ll take you to them.”     “Well,” Neelix said, “now that everything’s been cleared up, maybe we could talk? Get to know each other a little?”     “If you’d like,” Oxilon said, though he sounded to Neelix like he was just humoring him.     Probably figures the faster he gets me to talk the faster he can get me to leave, Neelix thought.

    “My friends too?”     “No,” Oxilon said.     “May I ask why not?”     “We’ve learned to keep to ourselves,” Oxilon said.     “Oh. Well, if they’re not welcome, I’m not staying either,” Neelix said. “I had just hoped…”

    “Hoped what?” Oxilon said.     “This may be my last chance to speak to any Talaxians before Voyager reaches the Alpha Quadrant,” Neelix said. “That’s where my friends are from. Long story. I may not have left Talaxian space under the best of terms, but-”     “Were you a criminal?” Dexa said. Oxilon glared at her, and she sheepishly looked at the floor.     “No,” Neelix said. “Well, my government certainly thinks I am, but I’d be lying if I said I cared.”     Oxilon looked confused at that comment.     “I’m going to go see my friends,” Neelix said, choosing not to elaborate. He felt put off in Oxilon’s presence, like the man only tolerated being the same room as him because they were both Talaxians. Neelix knew that kind of attitude all too well; had seen it in his own home in the run-up to the war with the Haakonians. He’d heard it in Dexa’s voice earlier that day, but had hoped that she was an outlier.     “Escort him,” Oxilon said to Dexa, then unceremoniously turned and left.     “I apologize,” Dexa said once the door closed. “I know he seems overly cautious, but we’re not used to having visitors. Brax is young enough to have never seen a non-Talaxian before.”     “I was curious about that,” Neelix said. “Our ship picked up what looked like, at least from where we were, a perfectly livable M-Class planet on the opposite side of the field from us.”     “That’s the homeworld of the Badoon,” Dexa said with a hint of contempt in her voice.

    “Did they mistreat you?” Neelix said.     “Not directly, no,” Dexa said. “It was more subtle than that. But I’d rather not talk about them right now.”

    “How many of you live here?” Neelix asked.     “Close to 500 here,” Dexa said, “about a hundred each on the other two asteroids.” She sighed. “And there are a dozen or so who chose to stay with the Badoon, but we don’t talk of them much.”

    “From a ship that had 1300 people in stasis?” Neelix said. “The beacon said some of them were killed when the generation ship’s computer went bad, but-”     “Few of the survivors had children,” Dexa said. “Procreation has been placed on hold until we can hollow out another asteroid. None of the children you see running around were actually conceived here, though a few were born here.”

    “It must’ve taken years to build all of this,” Neelix said.

    “Almost five,” Dexa said, pride in her voice. “We had to completely scrap The Future, and, well, borrow some Badoon tools to get it done, but we did it. Mostly. There are some places that aren’t at a hundred percent yet. If you look over there you can see our medical bay. My husband designed that.”

    “I’d like to meet him,” Neelix said.     Dexas sighed. “He’s dead.”     “Oh,” Neelix said. “I’m sorry. I… I suffered a loss recently myself, though yours is certainly-”     “I’m not… I don’t feel like talking about it, right now. Your friends are just this way,” Dexa said, leading Neelix down a neatly excavated cave.     Neelix saw the Delta Flyer. It looked pretty scraped up on the outside, but he imagined that Tom was going to save fixing the non-essential parts until they returned to Voyager. The priority would be engines and life support.     He stepped inside.     “Neelix,” Tom said. “Good to see you. They told me you were okay but wouldn't let us check in on you.”     “Yeah, they seem to be really shy about aliens around here,” Neelix said. “Dexa, this is Tom Paris. And this is Ayala.”     “Given name or surname?” Dexa asked.

    “I don’t really talk about that,” Ayala said.     Dexa looked confused for a moment but shrugged it off.     “Okay then,” she said. “It was nice to meet you.” She turned and exited the ship before anyone could reply.     “Guess that was as much politeness as she could muster for the day,” Tom said,.     “So, what can I do to help?” Neelix said.     “Well, you can help me with this plasma manifold,” Tom said. “How’d it go by the way?”     “I didn’t exactly get a welcoming committee,” Neelix said. “I was in a cell for most of the time I was recovering. I get the feeling their leader doesn’t like me very much.”     “You sound disappointed,” Ayala said.     “Yeah,” Neelix admitted. “I guess my expectations were a little high. I’d just assumed that since they were the descendants of people who left Talax before our society went bad they’d be more open minded. A shame really. This could be the last time I ever see another Talaxian, and they remind me so much of why I was so willing to leave them behind and travel with you in the first place.”     “We’ll probably be another night,” Tom said. “I’m sure you can meet a few more before we go. Here’s your phaser back by the way.”     “Thanks,” Neelix said. “And maybe you’re right. Maybe I’ll meet a Talaxian who’s not as stiff and xenophobic as Oxilon. That would be a nice way to remember my people.”     After another hour of work, the lights inside the Flyer flickered back to life, and the consoles were active again.     “There we go,” Tom said. “Now we just need to run a systems-”     “Intruder alert,” the computer said.     “Well, at least we know internal sensors are working,” Tom said, as Ayala pulled out his phaser and moved towards the rear compartment. Neelix followed him, hand near his own phaser.

    The lights in the rear compartment were still out, so the two of them descended the steps slowly. Neelix took out his tricorder with his other hand and did a quick scan.     He chuckled when he saw the lifesigns he were picking up from behind a panel were Talaxian.     “I think I can guess who this is,” he said. “You can come out, Brax.”

    The child climbed out of his hiding place, and touched a button on a panel that turned the lights back on. Ayala lowered his phaser.     “Friend of yours?” he said.     “Dexa’s son,” Neelix said.     “You said you’d take me to see Voyager,” Brax said.     “I said no such thing,” Neelix said. “I told you she was a good ship, not that I’d bring you aboard. Besides, your mother wouldn’t approve. Now come on, I’ll walk you home.”

    Brax didn’t argue, something Neelix was grateful for. He realized that child rearing was not really something he had that much experience in. He’d been spoiled in a sense, the only children he’d really been around as an adult were Naomi, who matured rapidly as a result of her mixed parentage, and Icheb, who had matured rapidly as a result of the Borg. He was ill equipped to deal with a tantrum if it were to come to that.     “Okay,” Brax said.     “I’ll be right back,” Neelix said to Ayala. The two walked back the way Dexa had brought Neelix before. Before he could reach Dexa’s home, however, he saw Oxilon arguing with an alien he didn’t recognize.     “They’re free to leave once their ship is repaired,” Oxilon said.     “I’d like to confirm that for myself,” the alien said. “I’m sure it is what their captain, Janeway, would do if she were here. Assuming you didn’t try to blow up her ship with mining charges of course.”     “How dare-”     “Excuse me,” Neelix said, waving. “Hi. I’m Neelix, the Talaxian member of Janeway’s crew. You’ve spoken with Voyager?”

    The alien nodded. “Commander Nocona,” he said. “You must be Neelix. Are the other members of your team harmed?”     “You know this… thug?” Oxilon said.     “Calm down,” Neelix said. “Commander, may I ask why no one from my crew is here?”     “Our ship is better shielded against explosions from mining charges,” Nocana said. “And with good reason,” he added, glaring at Oxilon. “Captain Janeway agreed to let us come for you.”     “Right,” Oxilon said dismissively, “and I’m sure intimidating us with how thick your ship’s armor is had nothing to do with it. You’re trying to scare us into giving up the asteroids again.”     Nocona groaned.     “Believe what you want, Oxilon. My people own the rights to these minerals, and we will get them back. Without violence. You’ll see.”     “Well, Commander,” Neelix said, “our shuttle is almost repaired. We’ll be able to leave on our own in a few hours. Our communications array is still damaged, so perhaps you could tell Captain Janeway-”     “Yes, do so. Once you leave,” Oxilon said, sounding like he was trying to make a threat.     “Very well,” Nocona said. “Good day to you, Mister Neelix.”     “Thank you,” Neelix said.     Once Nocona was gone, Neelix was about to tell Brax to head on home when Oxilon rushed him with unexpected speed and shoved him against a wall.     “Why did that Badoon know who you were?!”

    “You heard him,” Neelix said. “He spoke to my captain.”     “You expect me to believe that?” Oxilon said.     Neelix saw a crowd gathering. Some smiled, as if silently cheering on Oxilon or maybe hoping for a fight. Other just shook their heads, like disappointed parents.     “Yes, because it’s true,” Neelix said, finally shoving back. “He’s a Badoon then? Seems nice enough. Why do you really have a problem with them? I get the feeling there’s more going on than asteroid mining rights.”     “Get out,” Oxilon said. “Get back to your ship and leave us alone.”     “I know that look,” Neelix shouted at Oxilon’s back as he walked away. “It’s the look our leaders on Talax had on their faces when they argued for a war based on lies. Now, I don’t know what’s going on with you and the Badoon, but if I look into it, who’s really going to be the bad guys here?”     “Go home,” Oxilon said. “Go to your alien friends.” There were murmurs among the crowd as Oxilon walked away. Neelix got the feeling that most, but not all of the people here were completely on Oxilon’s side. He took a small amount of comfort in that.

---

    “I think I can see why they’re so suspicious of outsiders,” Tom said when Neelix told him what had just happened. “Did the kid make it home safe at least?”     “Yeah,” Neelix said, looking frustrated.     “It’s good to know the Badoon were willing to help the Captain,” Ayala said, “but we don’t have the full context for what’s been going on between them and the Talaxians here.”     “I think we do, at least a little,” Neelix said.     Tom was about to ask what Neelix meant, but the latter continued as if anticipating that question.     “Oxilon never actually denied what Nocona said was true. I think that except for a few stragglers, the survivors from the generation ship and their children and grandchildren settled these asteroid without permission from the race that holds the mining rights to them. It would be like if someone just walked into your quarters, set up a tent, and threatened you if you tried to kick them out.”     “Plausible, sure,” Tom said, “but there’s decades worth of context we don’t have, like Ayala said.”

    Neelix sighed.     “Yeah, you’re right,” he said.     Tom put a hand on Neelix’s shoulder. “I’m sorry this trip didn’t turn out like you hoped, Neelix. I really am.”     “Thanks, Tom,” Neelix said.

    Tom was about to say it was time to go, when a noise from his console alerted him to someone standing just outside the entrance to the Delta Flyer. He checked his monitor, and saw Dexa, and a young boy, presumably Brax.     “Looks like you’ve got visitors, Neelix,” Tom said. Neelix came over and looked at the monitor. He shrugged.     “Go ahead and let them in,” he said.     “No problem,” Tom said, pushing a button to open the door remotely.     When the two Talaxians made their way to the cockpit, Neelix asked them why they were there.     “Brax told me about what happened,” Dexa said, “and I thought you deserved to hear our side of the story. Oxilon, he, can let his anger cloud his judgement sometimes, even though he’s been a good leader for us overall.”     “Okay,” Neelix said. “I’m willing to listen.”

    “Actually,” Dexa said, “I’d like to talk to your Captain, if I could. If your ship is as powerful as I imagine it based on what I’ve gleamed from scanning your shuttle-”

    “Wait, you were scanning us?” Tom said.     “Of course,” Dexa said. “Security precaution.”     “It’s what I would do,” Ayala said.     “My point is,” Dexa continued, “if your Captain is going to be working with the Badoon in any capacity, she deserves to know the truth.”     Neelix didn’t seem to like the idea very much, but rather than say no himself he turned to Tom.     Oh great, make the buck stop with me. Thanks, Neelix, he thought. Minus sarcasm he said aloud, “Well, okay, but I don’t think there’s going to be much need. I’m pretty sure that once she knows her team and the Flyer are okay we’ll just be moving on.”     “Or maybe, once she hears about what we’ve gone through, she’ll be willing to help us.”     I doubt that, Tom thought.     “Okay,” Tom said, “but I won’t promise anything more than asking her to speak with you.”

---

    Captain Janeway looked up when Neelix and the Talaxian woman named Dexa walked into her ready room.     “Hello, Dexa,” Janeway said, standing up and offering her hand. “Neelix told me you’d be coming. Where’s your son?”     “He’s playing with… what was her name?” Dexa said.     “Naomi Wildman,” Neelix said. “With Samantha and Seven’s permission of course.”     “So strange,” Dexa said, “to see a cyborg so well adjusted. Granted, we never had any real cyborgs on Talax, only ones in stories, but they were always cautionary tales. This Seven of Nine though seems like a perfectly normal humanoid.”     “There still aren’t any cyborgs on Talax,” Neelix said, “but that’s mainly because we don’t really have that level of technology yet.”     “Neelix says you have something you wanted to discuss with me about the Badoon?” Janeway said. Of course, this was all a polite formality. Neelix had warned her ahead of time that he had concerns that the Talaxians in the asteroid field were unnecessarily mistrusting of the Badoon.

    Dexa went on to explain in great detail about what had happened to The Future, though Janeway already knew some of that from the beacon.     “When the Badoon found our ship, they brought us here, to their world. They set aside some farmland for us, but wouldn’t interact with us for years. I was born under what they called ‘quarantine.’ But it was just an excuse, they didn’t want outsiders mixing with their people.”     “But,” Neelix said, “you told me that a few Talaxians still live on the Badoon homeworld. Are they still in quarantine?”     “Well, no…”     “Dexa,” Neelix continued, Janeway deciding it best not to interrupt. “You weren’t born yet. Is it at all possible that it really was a quarantine? I mean, there are procedures for first contact with new species aboard this ship too.”     Dexa looked hurt that Neelix would think that.     “My husband died on one of those farms,” she said.

    “Did the Badoon kill him?” Janeway said.     “No,” Dexa said reflexively. Then paused. “I mean… it is their fault but…”     “Do you really think that,” Neelix said, taking Dexa’s hand in his, “or is that Oxilon talking?”     “Please,” Janeway said, “Dexa, tell the rest of your story.”     Dexa nodded. “It wasn’t long before we realized there wasn’t enough land to feed all of us, especially once babies started being born. Our leader at the time, Oxilon’s uncle, told us we would just have to conserve resources.”

    “That doesn’t sound very unreasonable,” Janeway said. “Was any attempt made to negotiate with the Badoon for more land?”     Dexa looked down.     “In the past, whenever children asked me about our time there I’d say no, but what Neelix just said… I don’t know, truly. Many have said that we tried and failed, but some of the elders claim that we tried to take land from poorer Badoon citizens. I never believed it before, but why does it seem so plausible to me now?”     “I imagine meeting Neelix had something to do with it,” Janeway said. “He’s giving you a perspective you’d never considered before. Back on Earth we have a saying. ‘A fresh pair of eyes.’ It doesn’t literally mean replacing your eyes of course, it means that sometimes getting input from someone who hasn’t been directly involved with a thing long enough to form a bias can be very valuable.”     Dexa nodded.     “Tell me more,” Neelix said, “about what happened to your husband.”     “He didn’t like being told what to do by Badoon authorities, so he started farming outside the restricted zone. The owner of the land killed him.”     “What happened to the landowner?” Dexa wiped a tear away from her eye.     “He was arrested,” she said. “Oxilon liked to tell me that they only did it to save face, but now I wonder if that’s true. The Badoon imprisoned him on grounds of unnecessary use of lethal force. I remember now, they told me that the landowner killed my husband after only one warning, and there was no sign my husband had used violence. I never thought to find out but…” Dexa stopped for a moment and looked up at the ceiling, “Yes, I think it’s possible he’s still in prison.”

Neelix put a hand on Dexa’s shoulder. Janeway stood up and walked around to do the same on the other shoulder.     “Oxilon is going to get you killed,” Neelix said. “I’ve seen this happen before.”     “What do you mean?” Dexa said.     “Years ago, when I was a young man, the Talaxian people launched a war against a people called the Haakonians. They’d done nothing to us, but the government spent months convincing the people they were an imminent threat. A few people like me saw through the lies though, and fled the system before we could be drafted to fight. Our people were ruthless. Killed civilians without any concern or remorse. Eventually, as an act of desperation, the Haakonians used a weapon of mass destruction on our colony on Rinax. The moon had been terraformed nearly a century after The Future left, but our colony there is gone now. Including my family.”     “And you aren’t angry at the Haakonians?”     “I was, for a little while,” Neelix admitted, “but in the end, that weapon would never have even been built let alone used if our aggression hadn’t driven them to it.”     “And you see that kind of aggression in Oxilon,” Dexa said. It wasn’t a question.     “I do,” Neelix said.     Dexa cried, and Janeway felt for her. She had no idea what it felt like to grow up surrounded by xenophobia your whole life, but she had some experience with being lied to so she could empathize at least. She looked at Neelix.     “So, what now?”

“I don’t know, Captain,” Neelix said. “I’m really worried, like I said. But at the same time, what can I do? Oxilon seems so dead set on hating the Badoon for perceived injustices there’s no way we could get him to come to a negotiating table.”     “We can talk to him together,” Dexa said. “He listens to me, sometimes. He helped take care of me and Brax when we came to the asteroid.”

Neelix looked at Janeway.     “It’s worth a shot,” she said. She watched as Neelix and Dexa left her ready room together, and sighed. She wasn’t completely sure, but she had a nagging feeling that when Voyager left this region of space, they would be leaving without Neelix. And the possibility filled her with so many mixed emotions, she decided to forego her afternoon coffee and asked the replicator to give her tea instead.

---

    “This is what Talaxian ships look like these days?” Dexa said as she and Brax climbed into Neelix’s ship.     “On, no,” Neelix said. “This one’s older and smaller than most. Still, we’ve been through alot together. Some of those superficial scratches on the hull you might’ve seen on the way in? Some of those the old crate got without even having to leave Voyager’s shuttlebay.”     Neelix continued his pre-flight check, glad he’d taken Tom’s advice to keep in practice despite the fact he rarely left Voyager with it, especially since they left the sector of the Delta Quadrant he’d known the best a mere three years into their journey.     “Why are we taking your ship to the asteroid?” Dexa asked.     “Lieutenant Ayala and Commander Tuvok convinced me that a ship with a Talaxian signature would be less likely to get mining charges blown up in it’s face. Deliberately anyway. Plus, Voyager’s too far away to use transporters if I need to leave in a hurry.”     “You think Oxilon will try to hurt you?” Brax said.     “It’s possible,” Neelix said. “Though I hope it won’t come to that.”

    “Shuttle control to Neelix, you’re cleared for launch,” Harry Kim’s voice said over the ship’s comm.     “We’re just about ready, Harry,” Neelix said.     “Good luck,” Harry said.     “Thanks,” Neelix said. I’ll need it, he thought. He strapped in after helping Brax and Dexa do the same. The inertial dampeners were in excellent shape of course, but if there were any shockwaves or some other cause to do evasive maneuvers, best not to risk the child getting thrown around into walls.

    The trip to the main asteroid was less dramatic than the Delta Flyer’s had been, much to Neelix’s relief, but it had taken informing the Talaxian that Oxilon had left in charge of communications that he was returning two of his people to convince him to allow a landing.     When the three stepped off the ship, Oxilon and two armed men waited for them.     “I was ready to fear the worst,” Oxilon said. “That you had kidnapped them. I am relieved to see I was wrong. Thank you for bringing them home. You can go now, Neelix.”     “Not yet,” Neelix said. “You and I need to have a conversation about your situation here in the asteroid field and the Badoon mining rights.”     “What is there to say about it?” Oxilon said. “They had no people and only a smattering of probes to take samples here. It was open territory based on every space law I know of.”     “I believe a peaceful solution can be found,” Neelix said, “but it needs to happen now, before you antagonize them too much. There’s no popular support on Badoon for just forcing you out right now, but I doubt that’ll hold forever.”     “We’ll be more than ready to defend ourselves,” Oxilon said. “We’ve got mining charges on rocks with low ore count, we can use them to force back any potential invasion.”     “You can’t be serious,” Dexa said. “If we damage or worse destroy their ships, they’ll bring a whole fleet to bear on us. Neelix was right, your ways are going to get us killed.”     “Have the aliens been poisoning your mind, Dexa?” Oxilon said.     “No, that would be you,” Dexa said. “Filling it with hate. The Badoon aren’t perfect, they’ve done things they shouldn’t, and I will never forgive the one who murdered my husband but we can’t keep living like this. We can co-exist with them if we make a real effort.”     “Nonsense,” Oxilon said. “They’re aliens. It’s what aliens always do in the end.”

    “How would you know?” Neelix said. “How many other species besides the Badoon had you met before the Delta Flyer crashed here?”     Oxilon was moved to silence by that.     The guards looked even more furtive, one even lowering his weapon as he appeared to contemplate what was being said.     “The Badoon have traded with other worlds before,” Oxilon said. “My uncle told me he’d sometimes see other aliens at the spaceports on Badoon. And he said they always looked at Talaxians like we were less than them.”     “Maybe that’s just how he interpreted it,” Neelix said. “There’s a race in the Federation, the government that Voyager belongs to, called the Bolians. In their language, the word Frederick is a vulgarity. Among the most offensive words a native Bolian speaker could use. But to humans, the word Frederick is an uncommon but not rare name given to boys upon their birth. And yet, despite this, the humans and Bolians have gotten along for over a century. In fact, Bolians are one of the most common races to be found on Federation ships, apart from Humans, Vulcans, and Betazoids. How could your uncle, who had so little experience with aliens, automatically know what their facial expressions would mean, especially after only a few encounters?”     At some point during the conversation, a crowd had gathered. Quietly enough that Neelix had actually failed to notice while he was maintaining eye contact with Oxilon.

    “Tell them about Rinax,” Dexa said.     “Rinax?” Brax said.     “It was one of our moons,” Dexa told Brax. “back from the system our ancestors came from before they ended up here.”     “What’s this about Rinax? What is she talking about?” Oxilon said.     Neelix told Oxilon, and the whole crowd, everything, including details he’d not shared with Dexa aboard Voyager. Some of the crowd looked shocked and horrified, though if it was at the war, or Neelix’s refusal to fight he couldn’t be certain. The angry ones though, them he was pretty sure resented Neelix for refusing to fight.     “That won’t happen here,” Oxilon said. “If the Badoon just let us keep this asteroid field, there need not be any bloodshed.”     Some of the gathered crowd shouted at him.     “You had us set up mines!” one Talaxian yelled.     “You’ve been telling us the Badoon are savages for years but we’ve never seen them actually do anything!” another shouted.     Some other Talaxians began shouting back at the shouters, defending Oxilon, but as best Neelix could tell from the din they were the minority.     Oxilon was losing the crowd, Neelix could tell. He dared not push his luck though.     I didn’t think it would be this easy, Neelix thought. I can’t afford to tempt fate.     “Get off my asteroid!” Oxilon shouted at him, taking a gun from one of the guards standing next to him, causing gasps to ripple through the crowd.

“Leave him alone!” a Talaxian woman Neelix couldn't see yelled.     “Send him back to his alien friends!” a man shouted.     Brax tried to get in between Neelix and Oxilon, but Dexa grabbed him and struggled to hold him back. Neelix took a deep breath and walked forward.     He had not planned to say what he was about to say next, but the words came to him anyway. He hesitated to say them, knowing there was no walking back from it, and already feeling the guilt starting to well up at the thought of abandoning his crew of the past seven years, especially when they had not yet recovered from the loss of Commander Chakotay.     “No,” he said to Oxilon, quietly hoping that the angry Talaxian in front of him wouldn’t fire. “I’m staying. I’m staying, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure that what happened to Rinax doesn’t happen here.”

Oxilon snarled at him, so angry that he appeared to forget what kind of weapon he was holding and swung it at Neelix instead of trying to shoot him.

Neelix did not have the best rating with a hand phaser on Voyager, even after having done some training with Tuvok, but he was good enough to pull it out and fire it at Oxilon, stunning him.     “He’s not dead,” Neelix shouted, holding up this phaser. “This weapon has a stun setting. He’ll wake up shortly.” The guards who had been flanking Oxilon seemed unsure what to do. Dexa walked up to them. Neelix had to admit to himself he found her confidence in that moment inspiring, and even a little attractive.     “Take him to his room,” she said, pointing at Oxilon. “He is not under arrest, but don’t let him have a weapon. I think we can still convince him to see reason, and if he does that will only make him a better leader.” That last part was directed more at the crowd than the guards.     Eventually, the crowd cleared, leaving Neelix alone on the landing bay with Dexa and Brax.     “So,” Dexa said, “now what?”     “Now,” Neelix said, sadness in his voice, “I go and say goodbye to my friends.”

---

There were times when Captain Janeway hated being right, and as she finished her personal log entry about her mixed emotions regarding Neelix’s impending departure, this was one of those times. She’d seen this coming the moment Neelix told Dexa about Rinax and the Metreon Cascade, but a part of her had thought, or maybe hoped, that Neelix would stick around.     It was unsurprising that Naomi had, according to Samantha, been the one to take the news the hardest. She’d grown up with Neelix. He was her godfather after all, and up until the time when the little girl was mature enough to walk around the ship unsupervised and until Seven of Nine entered her life, she’d spent more time with him than anyone apart from her mother.

That didn’t mean that anyone was happy to see him leave, though.     She heard the chime noise, and said “Enter.”

She looked up, surprised to see Brian Sofin enter her ready room.     “Mister Sofin,” she said, “I wasn’t aware we had a meeting today.”     “We didn’t, Captain,” he said. “In fact we haven’t really spoken much beyond the odd ‘good morning’ since the last time I was on this deck, two years ago.”     “When I stripped you of you rank, yes, I remember,” Janeway said. “You’ve done a good job since then. I know I’ve failed to make that clear, but I’m really proud of how well all of you from the Equinox, even Angelo Tassoni, have integrated into this crew.”

“Thank you, Captain, but that’s not why I’m here,” Sofin said. “It’s about Neelix.”     Janeway nodded. “I’d heard the two of you had become good friends,” she said. “But if you want me to try and talk him out of leaving…”     “No, Captain,” Sofin said. “I mean, I’m requesting permission to stay as well.”     “I’m sorry, what?”     “He told me what the situation on those asteroids is like, Captain, and it seems to me that if this Oxilon has as many supporters as Neelix thinks he does, and if they’re angry enough…”     “You want to be Neelix’s bodyguard,” Janeway said, deducing where the young man was going with this. “I appreciate the thought, but what about your family in the Alpha Quadrant?”     Sofin looked down, the most ashamed he’d looked since after the Equinox had been destroyed.     “I can’t face them, Captain,” Sofin said. “With what I did, what I was party too. My parents are pacifists to the core. They didn’t even fight the Dominion. Not that they oppose self-defense mind you, just, well, I mean Mom’s a fifth generation member of the diplomatic corp. Her great-grandfather was the first Federation ambassador to set foot on the Gorn homeworld. And Dad, Dad’s a xenobiologist. He studied creatures like the ones we killed for fuel.”

“You think they won’t forgive you?”     “They already did,” Sofin said. “I got letters from them through the Midas array. They say they understand I was in a difficult situation, and that I never actually killed one of the Ankari Spirit of Good Fortune directly but…”     Janeway was tempted to just reject the request outright, but looking at the man standing at attention before her, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Mostly because she realized she couldn’t think of a good reason to.     “What do you want me to tell your parents?” she said.     “Tell them that I’m staying behind to help protect a friend,” Sofin said. “And that I hope one day that I can reach a point where I can forgive myself for letting them down by agreeing to help Captain Ransom kill those creatures. Tell them that I’m looking for a second chance to be someone that Paul and Elisa Sofin can be proud to call their son.”     Janeway smiled a sad smile.     “I think you already are, Brian,” she said. “The ceremony for Neelix’s departure is at 1300 hours tomorrow. It’ll be in the shuttlebay, by Neelix’s ship.”     “Thank you, Captain,” Brian Sofin said, smiling as he left.     Janeway sighed.     “Shit, might as well update the log entry.”

---

    Seven of Nine, holding one of Naomi’s hands while Samantha held the other, thought back on some of her experiences with Neelix. She found that, even when she thought about some of the more annoying ones, like him trying to get her to try foods she wasn’t interested in, or his early attempts to convince her to go by her birth name, she was still going to miss him. Sam and Naomi seemed to be using all their strength to keep from crying. They’d known him longer than she had, so the reaction was not unexpected.

She looked at Icheb, who luckily seemed to be taking it better than most. He said he was going to miss hearing old Talaxian stories, but that he felt that what Neelix was doing was admirable enough to warrant celebration rather than sadness. Seven decided she’d explain it to him later.

    The door to the shuttle bay opened, and Captain Janeway gave the order to stand at attention. Everyone did, even Naomi and Icheb. Not every crew member could fit in the shuttlebay of course, but as many as could fit were here for the send off. Janeway and Brian Sofin, whose announced departure had been as shocking to the crew as Neelix’s, stood by Neelix’s old ship. Neelix walked in, looking at everyone, saying goodbye to each crew member, a Starfleet issue duffel bag over his shoulders. Seven realized that without any warning, she was ready to cry too, and had to choke back a sob when, after shaking Marla Gilmore’s hand and giving a Live Long and Prosper salute to Tuvok and Vorik, he walked up to Seven, Sam, and the kids.     “Good luck, Neelix,” Sam said. Naomi grabbed Neelix in a big hug while Icheb shook his hand and offered him some tips on how to spot possible assassination attempts.     I’ll have to find out how he knows that, Seven thought.     “You know,” Neelix said, “I think the four of you are gonna be the ones I miss the most. It’s been a pleasure to watch you become a family.”

    “Thank you,” Seven said. “It has been a pleasure knowing you. Even the times when you could be… vexing, proved valuable to my learning how to be more human.”

    Sam, Naomi, and Neelix all laughed at that comment, and Seven smiled.     “Neelix,” Captain Janeway said. “Before you go, I have one last gift for you.” She motioned to Lieutenants Ayala and Anderson who lifted a crate and carried it onto Neelix’s ship.     “What is it?” Neelix said.     Seven stepped forward. “It is a small version of the technology that allows this ship two-way communication with Starfleet,” she said. “It is limited unfortunately. Much like our own communications prior to Project Watson, it’ll only be usable every 31 days. However, it will allow you to contact us as well. And if we make it to the Alpha Quadrant sooner than projected by any means, be it new technology, or wormhole, or some other phenomena, we’ll be able to let you know.”     “That’s amazing!” Neelix said. “Thank you so much, I don’t even know where to start with how much I appreciate this.”     Janeway stepped forward, and gave Neelix a hug. “Show your appreciation by saving this Talaxian colony from making the same mistakes your homeworld did. Show it by surviving. Show it by bringing the Talaxians and the Badoon together. That’s an order, Mister,” she added with a smile.     Neelix saluted the Captain. “I won’t let you down, Captain.”     Neelix turned around and looked at the gathered crew.     “Goodbye, my friends.”     He waved at everyone, and turned and climbed into his ship, Brian Sofin walking in with his own duffel bag on his shoulders. Ayala and Anderson exited and retook their places in the procession. Everyone stepped back as the ship’s engines powered up and began to move towards the open shuttle bay door. They all watched quietly as it passed through the force field out into the stars.     Seven leaned against Samantha, who kissed her on the the cheek.     “I’m sure he’ll be fine, Annie. They both will.”     “I agree,” Seven said.     “I’m surprised Jaffen wasn’t here,” Seven overheard Tom say.     “He didn’t know Neelix that well,” Janeway said, shrugging. “At least that was his excuse. I get the feeling he’s not a fan of farewell ceremonies. Which is fair. Plenty of people don’t like goodbyes.”     Seven tuned out the rest of the conversation and she and her family left the shuttlebay.     “Mom?” Naomi said.     “Yes, sweetie?” Sam said.     “Could you and Seven tuck me in and tell me a bedtime story tonight?”     “I thought you were too mature for those now,” Sam said, repeating words that Naomi had used over a year ago back to her.     “I know, but…” Naomi didn't finish the sentence, looking embarrassed. Sam hugged her, and looked at Seven. “Neelix used to do that for her almost every night when she was real little, before you and I got together.”     “I see,” Seven said. “Well, in that case, I see no reason not to to do it tonight.” She looked at Icheb while Sam and Naomi headed towards their quarters. “Icheb, before we do any of that, we need to have a talk about how you know so much about assassination attempts.”     “Well, there’s this holonovel that Mister Paris invited me to play with him last week…”     Seven sighed. “Dare I hope this one was age appropriate?”     “Lieutenant Paris does still regret that previous incident,” Icheb said.