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victorianimmortal · 8 years ago

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my recent and glorious accomplisment

@thehomosexualistagenda @browherenew @corrupted-by-aftg

Remember that game I mentioned as one of the reasons I’m partially leaving Tumblr for a bit? Here’s what I posted about it a couple weeks ago:

The plot so far seems to be based around the concept of the multiverse as it affects memories. (I know, the multiverse–and tachyons were mentioned!) We, we being all of the teams involved, are supposed to try to become lab assistants for a [fake] professor here at the college who’s studying where the “hot spots” of fermion and tachyon entanglement are.) There’s all sorts of mystery, code breaking, and espionage involved, and it’s completely taken over my life.

It’s over. In fact, we just won. And I definitely want to get this story down--here seems like the best place, especially considering it feels exactly like The Flash. Under the cut if you want to hear about it. This got pretty long—there’s a lot of story. It’s 4000 words long; I’m sorry.

Okay. We show up to this fake (just assume everything is fake from here on out) talk last Saturday night, a talk by Professor Christopher Lugo, a theoretical physics professor. The chair of the theoretical physics department, Kerry Goss, introduces him, a couple of his lab assistants such as Alex Terry, Lugo’s wife Libby, and an ambiguously named person from the Ethics Board. Also present is Professor Aileen Snaut, an ethics professor who took an interest in Lugo’s research.

At the talk, Lugo tells us about what he’s researching. Apparently, the multiverse theory is real, and our universe is occasionally colliding with another one. When this happens, particles (particularly fermions and tachyons) can pass through, become entangled, and, in a “temporal pop”, suddenly unentangle, causing changes in our universe. Areas where this is particularly prevalent are called hotspots.

“Are these hotspots dangerous at all? Have their effects on humans been measured?” Snaut asks.

“No. I don’t know. I’m fine. My lab assistants are all fine,” Lugo says.

At the end of the talk, Lugo tells anyone who might be interested in becoming one of his lab assistants to email Alex. We do so, and, at a suggestion in their response, friend them on Facebook as well. They add us to a Facebook group filled with physics memes posted by Lugo’s lab assistants.

Then things get exciting. Part one: the false emails. This was a veritable epidemic at the beginning of last week--we’d get an email that purported to be from one of Lugo’s assistants and not be able to tell whether it was real or not. Messaging the appropriate lab assistant, or checking the contact information on their Facebook pages, typically solved that problem. Our group was actually the cause of a couple fakes (we managed to eliminate a team that way, but all’s fair, right?).

Part two, the real part—Alex emails us with a bunch of pictures and says that Lugo’s wife took them. Apparently, Lugo thinks that the pictures don’t quite reflect reality, and they might be indicative of hotspots. We need to find these places on campus, take more pictures, and determine whether anything changed. Surprise, surprise--seven out of eight of the pictures have differences. We email our findings to Alex and wait for the next task.

The next task, as it happens, doesn’t come from Alex at all. Eryn Hall, another of Lugo’s assistants, posts a video on the Facebook group. She’d been waiting to meet with Lugo, as he’s her advisor, but someone barges into his office before she can. Enter Aileen Snaut. An abbreviated transcript:

“Have you heard of Aiden Murgel?” she asks.

“Sure, I read his research,” Lugo says. “He was looking into the multiverse too.”

“And he stopped publishing in 2001.”

“Your point?”

“The stuff he was looking into seemed pretty dangerous.”

“You’re an ethics professor, not a physicist—”

“I have more experience in physics than you might think.”

“Look. Something happened to Aiden Murgel. Something I wouldn’t recommend repeating.”

(direct quote) “Sure. It was the fluorine, in the water—the government, right? JFK’s on the moon with a sniper rifle, and Elvis, and Tupac, right? They’re going to Atlantis, with Aiden Murgel, right now, to see what he knows about fucking multiverse theory. Get out of my office.”

Exit Aileen Snaut. Eryn posts this video and adds “Anyone heard of this Murgel guy? He’s not on Wikipedia.” Another lab assistant, Matt, comments “I know what you’re looking for, Eryn.”

Well. We’re not going to let that pass, so we message Matt and get back this:

Murgel's a fucking weirdo. His shit makes some kinda weird code. At least, the stuff I've found so far does. I’ve solved it. I’ve read it. But I’m not gonna tell you because what have you ever done for me? You can have the puzzle, though. When you’ve solved it (if you can), go talk to the library front desk supervisor, Joe, he’s a nicer guy than I am, and probably more helpful, too. He's usually in on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from like 3-10. Better hurry, don’t know how long it will be there.

Looking to call? First, look just to the right of nothing. Next you'll need my personal favorite letter. It marks my favorite word. Or, in here, my favorite subject. Thirdly you'll need what once, twice and thrice have in common with effervesce but not with eternity. To fill slots four, five and six you will need something of a different stripe. If you take the midpoint of an election year, you'll have found it. The Penultimate is an ending. In fact, you just saw one and are about to see another. Lastly, the first perfect.

Solve that and it gets you #QC183.6, the call number for something in the library—turns out to be a folder. Inside is a 16-page paper written by Snaut, two recommendation letters written for her, and a journal entry from Aiden Murgel. Why all this is filed together, we don’t know, but we’ve been told Murgel likes codes, so…

Turns out the first letter of every sentence in his journal is a message—one that points pretty obviously to a couple of the hotspots we found with the last challenge. Specifically, a fountain next to one of the buildings. Message that to Matt and he’s an asshole and says to talk to Alex, message it to Alex and they tell us Lugo’ll be interested, email it to Lugo and he thanks us for the help, makes snide remarks about Snaut trying to sabotage his research, and says he’ll be in touch. In the interest of fully exploring our options, we email Snaut and ask why her things are filed with Murgel’s, and she says she’s uninterested in discussing Aiden Murgel further at this time.

It’s Wednesday by this point, and Lugo emails us later that night with a task: break into Snaut’s office and find out what she’s hiding. We accept, though one of us emails Snaut too and gains her reluctant approval. The time is set: 4:30 Thursday.

4:30 Thursday rolls around and our team, tense, enters the office. Then follows an hour and fifteen minutes of pure panic. There are numbers hidden all around the office, leading us to books on the shelf, but we can’t quite figure out the code, and the safe we’re certain it unlocks only allows three tries before locking for a few minutes (letting out an incessant, headache-inducing beep-beep-beep the whole time). Desperate, we email Lugo for help, and he sends Alex. They “don’t even want to know what you’re doing”, but help us figure out the code, just in time too (I’ll never forget the code: 629315). Entirely out of time, frantic to get out of there, I flip through the papers within and take pictures, gaining only bits of knowledge from each one—it’s correspondence between Snaut and another professor, Jo Haley—

They’re starting a relationship—

There’s a breakup note—

They’re becoming friends again—

But the last page…

The last page…

…is a name change form.

From Aiden Murgel to Aileen Snaut.

Okay. Okay, so she definitely does know about physics, then, and about what happened to Murgel. (For a little more context, Snaut is trans; the person playing her, I know in real life, she’s trans in real life. That’s not the surprise. But the fact that she’s Murgel…)

We email Lugo. We email Snaut. We get meetings set up with both of them on Saturday afternoon; Snaut first, Lugo second.

We meet with Snaut and it turns out there’s a bigger plot twist in store than just that she’s Murgel. Not only has she done research into this other universe and the hotspots, oh no.

She’s from that other universe.

Her mind, anyway. Turns out women in science aren’t really a thing in this other world, and she got fed up, so she used one of the hotspots and ran. Ran here. Somehow combined her mind with the mind of her counterpart here, Aiden Murgel (who still identified as male; he “didn’t know yet”), and started doing research on this end.

The hotspots, to absolutely nobody’s surprise, are dangerous. And Snaut’s crossing and Lugo’s continued research only exacerbated the problem. The collisions between the two universes (which Lugo calls Castor and Pollux, though which is which is unclear) are happening more frequently. The changes are getting larger. “If Lugo continues his research,” Snaut tells us, “it’s going to become irreversible.”

“So what do we do?”

“We have to stop his research.”

“And if we can’t?”

She hesitates. “Well, the other option might be to erase that other universe.”

We debrief at the convenient ice cream shop down the street, where I term the universes Earth-1 and Earth-2. The two people watching The Flash with me, currently halfway through season two, groan. But then we fall into a real discussion, because we’ve been trusting Snaut more than Lugo, who’s a bit of a dick, this whole time. But erasing a whole other universe? That’s… that’s bad. That’s supervillain levels of bad.

Curiously, there’s the ambiguously named person from the Ethics Board sitting outside the place we met with Snaut. Weird.

We meet with Lugo, who rolls his eyes at the idea that his research could be dangerous. He won’t stop, despite us relating Snaut’s concerns. We ask what exactly the goal of his research is, and his eyes light up.

“Temporal computing.”

We stare blankly.

“If you fire tachyons back and forth between the two universes, you can convey huge amounts of information. We can have almost infinite processing power.”

All right, fine. I’ve watched The Flash, I can accept fake science. We tell him about Snaut’s plan to destroy Earth-2.

“I do not condone mass murder. Write that down. And the only device capable of destroying the other universe is the computer in my lab. She’ll have to go through me and my lab assistants—and through you, I hope—if she wants to do that. This is a waste of time. I’ll be in touch.” He heads around the corner.

One of my friends, ever the extremist, frowns. “If she’s willing to destroy another universe, who’s to say she won’t hire an assassin to stop you?”

Lugo scoffs. As the elevator doors close: “On a professor’s salary?”

Fair point.

We don’t know who to trust, so we email everyone. Jo Haley, to notify her of Snaut’s plan. Kerry Goss, to get an email for the Ethics Board. The Ethics Board, to tell them just a bit of the complicated situation. Snaut, to ask a few more questions.

Then we receive a couple of emails from Jo. She responds to our initial email, saying that she’s certain there’s some misunderstanding about Snaut’s plan. And then, to everyone still in the game, she sends a trivia quiz for us to complete. Our team, working together over chat, solves it in a couple hours and sends her the screenshot of it completed. Time filling, that seems to be all it is. We have larger concerns.

Cut to an email late Sunday, from Goss, about a formal investigation being put on by the Ethics Board. We show up at 5:30 Monday and find that it’s not just us invited—it’s all the remaining teams. Not to mention Jo Haley, Kerry Goss, Libby Lugo, Alex Terry, Ambiguously Named Ethics Board Guy, and another lab assistant, Kira Fuller. The subject? Christopher Lugo. Who’s vanished. Along with his supercomputer.

It gets worse. Snaut isn’t the only one with some crazy plan involving Earth-1 and Earth-2. Lugo wants to merge the two universes into one. Libby’s scared and has no idea where he is. Alex insists that there’s no danger in his research and that, until they see some evidence, they’ll continue helping him. Goss has no idea what’s going on and is very upset about it. Ambiguously Named Ethics Board Guy doesn’t say a word, but they haven’t the whole game. Jo supports neither of the scientists’ plans and offhandedly suggests another alternative—move the two universes away from each other. Goss challenges us—“If anyone has any more information about what’s happening, speak up now.” No one does.

In brief bits of conversation with other teams after the hearing, it’s implied that there’s another journal of Aiden Murgel’s that we’re missing, and that there’s some map indicating another hotspot. We remain unconvinced of the reality of this, but the possibility is there.

So that’s where we land Tuesday morning—caught between Lugo’s plan to meld two universes and Snaut’s plan to destroy one. Either way, a full universe of people are going to die. In Snaut’s plan, it’s clearly Earth-2 (and a couple of probing emails prove she’s not backing down), but in Lugo’s, it’ll be a mixture. Information is preserved, Snaut has told us, so it’s probably the smarter of the two doppelgangers whose mind will end up in the resultant universe—Earth-0.

Then we get an email from Lugo. He refuses to tell us where he is, but promises to send some notes of his to decipher on Wednesday at 4:30. Every path to follow seems bad, but we can’t fall behind now. Especially because only the first four groups will get to advance.

This is our gateway into endgame. We brace ourselves.

Wednesday, 4:30. The email arrives. It’s gibberish, plain and simple, with repeated words and phrases and none of it really seems to mean anything. Of course, there are three gifs: Shakespeare writing, a blue light swooping around in an infinity symbol, and a bunch of quick-running clocks.

It takes an embarrassing amount of time to realize the connection: the infinite monkey theorem. It’s Thursday, and we’re off to the comic store. There, on a display case, we find a QR code. It links to a website with the prompt “A name of an author from the last clue” and a blank text box. Enter Shakespeare, and we’re rewarded with two images. They look like steps of a dance, and are labeled “Go dance Shutesbury Reel by David Kaynor, then walk it out.” Beneath each step of the dance are w, a, s, or d—except two of them, which have “ment” and “base” in that order. Basement, all right, and the wasd must be directions of some sort. We start poking around basements, not fully following the directions (what do we count by? Buildings? Street corners?) and eventually return empty-handed to our dorm.

On the dorm bulletin board, though, there’s another QR code. This one links to a different question-and-answer setup from the same website, asking only “The answer to the previous puzzle (one word, no punctuation)”. That’s too vague—clearly they want us solving these in order. Still, it means we might be able to find all the codes just by exploring campus. We set off on a grand adventure to check out the most obvious places: the library, the student union building, etc. Nothing found, we return to various dorms and continue to think.

Then, one of us discovers that the website these QR codes are hosted on? There’s a directory. It’s got all the questions and all the images, though there seem to be some red herrings in there; some of the puzzles are repeated in slightly different ways. Both can’t be real. Most likely, an attempt to keep us from doing what we just did.

Still, we get to work on all the easily discernible puzzles. Random guessing at the question seeming to come from the dance code, asking “what are the northernmost and easternmost streets you walked on”, gets us a logic puzzle asking about birds, locations, and activities.

By the time we receive it, another of us has already solved it via the pictures. Plug in the answer “Pelicans plotz in the pergola” and we see a crossword—also already solved.

The next question asks for a few of the crossword answers, and gives us a dice code with the clue H=(2)(6). Turns out, each blank die is a break between letters, and the sum of the dice in between the blanks corresponds to a letter, the standard 1-26. That actually yields an obvious location, a certain statue on campus.

Go there, and there’s a QR code and the keyword amaranth. Two questions are asked: “Read down the column of the previous clue”, and “Your favorite color”. Down the column of the dice clue is “khek”, and our favorite color, well, who cares what it was before—now, it’s amaranth.

The next puzzle has a large grid, with only a few blocks shaded in: a few forming a rectangle in blue near the left, and a single block closer to the bottom in red. Along the top and left side are lists of numbers, everything from 0 to 1,4 to 1,1,1,2,5,1 to 17. Weird. We stare at it for a while and then one of us, doing some googling, realizes it’s a nonogram; the numbers correspond to chains of filled-in blocks in that row or column. Plug it into a nonogram solver and it yields something that looks awfully familiar—a map of North Quad. The red indicates the statue where we found the last clue and the blue is a dorm.

Unfortunately, we explore that building thoroughly and there’s nothing there. We’re certain we’re right, so we email Lugo and all go to bed.

Next morning, Friday, there’s a reply, something vague about “probabilistic interference last night”. We snicker. That’d be gamerunner code for “someone took it down we’ll replace it right away.” We’d know—we took down a few QR codes ourselves. Still, we revisit the dorm and find a QR code right away. It asks for the keyword in the previous URL, and we enter “amaranth” again.

This is it. It has a picture of a fireplace, something in one of the academic buildings, and the instructions, “The machine is calibrated, and in the location above. Contact me with the keyword ‘topiary’ to arrange a time on Saturday to turn it on.”

We do so, also informing everyone else we’ve been in contact with during the game—Snaut, Libby, Alex, Jo. Lugo agrees to 3 pm Saturday. Snaut doesn’t reply. Neither does Libby. Alex says only that they’ll be there. Jo says she’s working on a plan and asks if we have any ideas.

Well.

My Flash fanfic-writing soul isn’t about to let that opportunity pass. With way too much time until Saturday at 3, I start thinking, and eventually email her back with a complex but airtight plan—assuming, that is, that we trust Earth-2 people not to destroy our universe when they realize they’re in danger. She points this out, and adds that, because Snaut’s move from Earth-2 to Earth-1 exacerbated the collisions, maybe sending something to Earth-2 would fix it.

“I just don’t know how we could do this or what we would send…” she says.

Unable to resist, I email back, “The question might not be what we send, but who…” and then immediately backtrack as though I was joking.

We show up. Friday. 4 pm—I know, I know. We got a call at 2:30, a real one from a gamerunner, requesting that we push the time back an hour. A few frantic texts and we agree.

Friday. 4 pm. We find Jo waiting outside on the steps, and eventually Alex joins us, letting us into the building. Lugo’s in there with some crazy machine, mostly constructed of wood and wires, with a desktop and keyboard sitting atop it, not to mention some weirdly colored chemicals.

He starts yelling at us not to touch anything, and something about how we have to be careful what we do around the machine to keep things from aligning wrong as the universes merge. Mostly this means we aren’t allowed access to phones, and instruction sheets for how to finish the calibrations, written by the poor, overworked Alex, have to be kept on the balcony above the main floor.

That said, we have limited time and we have to start the calibrations. Two of us run up to get the instructions and start shouting down at the others. One: line up the colored chemicals in a certain order. It’s just after we finish when Aileen bursts into the room and starts shouting at all of us to stop.

We don’t have time for that. Jo (after advising us to read all the way through the instructions) goes to talk to Aileen, Aileen tries confronting Lugo, something weird happens and Lugo’s hand seems to be experiencing the other universe? We have to keep going, though.

Ambiguously Named Ethics Board Guy, of course, says nothing.

We read all the way through the instructions and turns out Alex had an idea on the last page. They suggest that, if half of the steps for calibration are right, i.e., aligned to merge the two universes, and the other half are wrong in a very particular way, i.e., set to destroy Earth-2, maybe—maybe the two universes will be pushed parallel to each other. It might solve the problem.

Okay. Okay, but that still means we have to solve all the problems. They’re all puzzles, and it’ll take coordination. We start working to set up a grid of tiles. Getting them lined up correctly, when the instructions and the grid are a full floor apart, isn’t the easiest job in the world. Eventually, we get it done. The next step is a logic puzzle, one that’ll be far easier to solve by one person than by shouting. I tell everyone else to get to work on the next step, a cipher, while I puzzle out the logic. We reconvene once that’s done and keep working.

We have four of seven puzzles right now, one of which, according to the instructions, doesn’t actually have a ‘destroy’ setting. Time to get some things wrong.

There’s a Mandela effect challenge, and we struggle to remember what things actually look like in our universe. Easy enough—I nearly wrote a novel about the Mandela effect once.

Then come the hard two. Certain objects need to be set on a grid, and we have to decode a cipher whose keyword we can’t quite figure out. Time is running out—and then everything goes to hell.

Lugo and Aileen burst back into the room and yell at us to stop. Those of us on the balcony clatter down the stairs and we gather on the floor.

“What did you decide?” Jo asks.

We explain—“We’re doing half right and half wrong, it should push the universes apart, according to Alex, but we’re not done—”

“Okay.” Jo, pushing Lugo out of the way, enters the correct code on the machine, which immediately demands more information. She turns to me. “Remember what you said in your last email to me?”

It takes me a moment to remember, but I do. “You said—you said that pushing the universes apart might take an information transfer from here to there, but you didn’t know what. I said it might not be what… it might be who.”

My intrepid team member immediately volunteers, but Aileen (to whom all attention has already turned) shakes her head.

“…I came over to begin with. It started this whole thing. I have to go back.”

Jo, who clearly, clearly knows that there isn’t another option, nevertheless protests. “You can’t.”

“I have to.”

They’ve drifted toward each other; they clasp hands.

“Over there,” Jo says. “You have to find me. The other me. You have to find me and make me fall in love with you.”

Lugo complains in the background. Ambiguously Named Ethics Board Guy hovers ominously.

Aileen goes to the machine, grips the wire, screams, and falls to the ground. Jo scrambles to her side, sobbing.

A beat.

Then Aileen moves, turns over, looks confused and pushes away from Jo. “What…what’s happening?”

“Aileen…” Jo murmurs.

“Who’s Aileen? My name is Aiden Murgel.”

“Of course it is,” we whisper to each other.

Murgel stands and leaves.

“All that grant money, and all I have to show for it is a machine that goes swoosh?” Lugo demands.

Swoosh goes the machine.

Alex is freaking out in a corner somewhere.

Jo is still crying on the floor.

Ambiguously Named Ethics Board Guy crouches next to Jo and hands her a business card.

“Keep in touch,” they say.

#college life #i am such a nerd #and i had a GREAT time #long post

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salty-dracon · 7 years ago

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ACAU- Food poisoning! (redux)

While at the island hotel, some of Arthur’s classmates fall sick. They learn later that they will die in only a few hours if they don’t comply with a mysterious demand. A redux of my oc-insert thing from a scene from... you guessed it.

Dessert had just been served in the hotel dining hall. The E class chatted with each other while eating pieces of cake, pie, and other delicious desserts.

“So, this is a flan.“ Lily poked a tiny flan pudding with her fork. She sliced it with her fork and took a bite. “Holy shit, it’s good!“

“Can I try?“ Michy took a bite of Lily’s flan.

“Hey!“

Tawny leaned over, broke a piece off with his fingers, and ate it. “Mmm, good!”

“Let me try!“ May snatched Lily’s fork and took a bite. “Mmmmm!“

“Aw, shit, I’m outta flan... “ Lily stared sadly at her empty plate.

Arthur smiled as he watched them. He remembered Lily, especially, at the beginning of the year- quiet, unwilling to socialize, and rude. She had grown so much since then- she had become friendly, and developed a quick wit that had been their saving grace multiple times. She had grown especially close to Michy, thanks to their shared interest in a number of topics.

Next to Arthur, Julien had just finished their fourth slice of apple pie. Brooke was still stuck on her first slice of double-chocolate raspberry cake.

“Peoplewatching again?“ Brooke asked. “It’s nice, isn’t it? Watching them hang out like they’ve been friends for years?“

“Yeah.“ Arthur took a bite of ice cream. “Even though we’ve only been together for four months, it’s like we’ve always been like this.“

“Jule, how much are you gonna eat?“

Julien laughed. “Stop me.”

----

Arthur reached for the endtable and checked his watch. Midnight. He curled himself back under the sheets.

He had been warm and cozy all night. Why couldn’t he sleep?

He was sharing a room with Flynn, Julien, and Venus. Julien appeared to be sufficiently asleep next to him- their head was pressed against the pillow, and Arthur could hear quiet snoring. Venus had all the sheets bunched up around him on the bed he shared with Flynn, who was wearing a jacket over his body.

His eyes went to the crack under the door. The hallways were still lit up. That must’ve been it. He turned around. The moment he did, he saw a shadow pass over the door, and heard footsteps.

An assassination? Arthur thought. They’re heading right towards the teachers’ rooms- where Narcissa is. But she said that the diamond she was in was unbreakable...

Arthur quietly slipped out of bed and opened the door. A boy was walking down the hall. Arthur recognized the head of hair- it was Jake. He didn’t have any weapons on him. Strange.

Arthur followed him down the hall, to the... bathrooms? As soon as Jake entered, Arthur positioned himself near the door.

He heard something that sounded like a spill, and then a lot of coughing. From the hallway, he heard more footsteps. Arthur hid himself behind a large vase in the hall.

The next person to come down had heavy footsteps. He entered the bathroom.

“Dude, you too?” Jake’s voice.

“Yeah, I’m not feeling so hot.“ Larke’s voice.

“You’d think we wouldn’t get food poisoning at a high-end hotel.“

More footsteps- this time, from the floor above. Arthur hid in a little nook as he heard footsteps running down.

“May! Are you okay?“

“I don’t think so.“

More footsteps. Very heavy. Probably an adult’s.

“What are you kids doing out here- what happened to you?” Mr. Kraus’s voice. “Give me a moment, I’ve got some medicine.“ Mr. Kraus ran away.

Arthur decided to run back to his room.

----

Mr. Kerri was asleep in his room. He grumbled when he heard a knock. He opened his eyes when he heard three more.

“... I didn’t call for room service... “ He wandered over to the door and opened it.

A butler was standing there, holding a basket full of fruit. An envelope was taped to the front, labeled “To the E class”.

“Couldn’t you have waited until morning?“ Mr. Kerri asked.

“I apologize, sir, but the person who asked me to deliver it told me to as soon as possible.“

“Thanks, I guess.“ Mr. Kerri took the basket and ripped the envelope off. He opened it up and read its contents out loud, while placing the basket next to the bed.

“To the E class, by the time you receive this note, you will already be experiencing the early symptoms of a deadly... shit. Shit!“ Mr. Kerri threw the door open. “Vince! Tiffany! Everyone! Get the kids up! We have a huge emergency!“

“What is it?“ Mr. Kraus asked, running back. In response, Mr. Kerri handed him the note. Mr. Kraus read through it. “Oh no. No, the kids... ”

----

“... That makes twelve sick.“ Arthur counted the number of people lying against the back wall, wearing face masks. All of them had flushed faces and were sweating. The entire class was crowded in a meeting room, most of them wearing pajamas.

“Sorry for waking you guys up, but this is important.“ Mr. Kraus held up the letter for the class to see. “I’m afraid it’s more than bad food. Please do not panic while I read the contents of the letter.“ He cleared his throat. “To the E class. By the time you receive this note, you will already be experiencing the early symptoms of a deadly virus that will kill you by morning. It is likely that most of you are only experiencing a fever at the moment, but your faces will soon blah blah blah... killing you over the course of sixteen hours. You will likely be dead by around eight o’clock.

However, I have the antidote with me- enough for your entire class. I will give it to you on one condition- that you send two blonde boys, as well as Narcissa in her little diamond, to the Prime Suite at the top of the Stellar Mountain Resort. Don’t even think of sending more than those three- I have bodyguards stationed at the entrance that will kill anyone else who tries to enter. I will be using these boys in my assassination scheme. Their survival is not guaranteed. However, I’m sure you’d like to trade two lives for many more. Signed, an assassin.“

“Two blonde boys?“ Lumi asked. “That means Arthur and Venus. They’re the only blonde boys in the class.“

“I won’t fail you,“ Venus said, standing up. “Don’t worry, I’ll-“

“No.“ Aditi’s voice rang out. “Didn’t you hear the letter? Even if both you and Arthur manage to get up there, your survival isn’t guaranteed. Neither of yours. Meaning that unless whoever it is sends a messenger, which there is no conformation of, there’s no guarantee that the virus will be cured. Furthermore, if this person’s scheme works, they will kill Narcissa and claim her bounty.“

“Also,“ Ares said, “judging by the tone of the letter, if they’re going to kill Arthur and Venus for their scheme, they’d probably do the same to the rest of us in a heartbeat.“

“Not to mention the secret identities that you kids need to hide,“ Mr. Kraus said.

“So, what’s our best option?“ Lily asked.

“We have three.“ Lumi walked to the front of the class. “We do nothing, and let the people in the back die. The worst option, for many reasons. We send Venus and Arthur to the top of the Stellar Mountain Resort, and face the very real possibility that both of them will end up dead, but possibly save the sick people as well. We would have a net gain of ten lives, possibly, but also likely lose Narcissa and her bounty in the process.“

“What’s the third option?“ Val asked.

“The third option is that we take matters into our own hands. All of us that are healthy break into the Stellar Mountain Resort and take on this self-proclaimed assassin, no matter the odds. If the antidote even exists, this will be our best chance of retrieving it.“

“Sounds fair to me.“ Adrian raised his hand. “All in favor of busting heads in that place ourselves?“

“We’re not busting heads, we’re just-“

“Yeah, whatever.“

Everyone raised their hands.

“Then it’s settled,“ Mr. Kraus said. “We’re sneaking into the Stellar Mountain Resort, stealing the antidote, and getting back in time to save the sick classmates.“

“I’ll stay behind to help out the sick,“ Mr. Kerri said.

“So will I.“ Verona stood up.

“I’ll join the party. You’ll need me.“ Ms. Turner walked over to Vince and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. “Rich hotels are where I shine.“

“I, of course, will be joining you.“ OARA appeared on Miss Turner’s phone.

“Everyone who’s going, gear up,“ Vince commanded. “Aiden, Verona, protect Narcissa just in case our assassin tries to come for her.“

“No.“

Narcissa’s voice piped up from the inside of the diamond. Everyone stared at Verona’s hand, which was holding the diamond.

“Whoever this bastard is that’s trying to kill my classmates... I want to see their face. I want to tell them exactly what I think of them stooping so low to kill me.“ Narcissa’s diamond gave a slightly brighter glow. “Furthermore, it would be a treat to see my kids in action. Vince, this would be a great opportunity for you to assess their progress as well. If I won’t be too much extra weight, I would like to come along.“

“Of course.“ August gently took the diamond from Verona and placed her in her fanny pack. “We’ll let you know when we’re there.“

“Okay, everyone get ready. No weapons. Bring bug spray and whatever you need to look like normal kids in there. We’ll meet up in the lobby in thirty. All right, go.“

This is it. Arthur walked back to his room, following the other boys. They were all silent. All of them were worried. One failed assassination later, we have to stop another from succeeding any way we can. Our classmates are counting on us. Narcissa, too. I never expected this kind of a twist on our vacation, but we’re assassins in training- we’re here to take out the trash.

#life as an aj #halfwaydead #secretagents #tmx #weareanml

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prohealths · 7 years ago

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Day in the Life – Morning Hustle Edition

This post is sponsored by The Quaker Oats Company, but all opinions are my own.

Now that summer is here, our family is enjoying a much more low-key lifestyle, but during the school year, weekday mornings start bright and early at 5:00 AM when Mal’s alarm clock goes off. Here’s a snapshot into one of his final days of school!

Mal heads downstairs for breakfast while I get a jump start on my work for the day. I typically only work for 20-30 minutes, often checking email and replying to blog comments, but even checking a few tasks off my to do list first thing in the morning gives me some awesome momentum for the rest of the day. Plus, I don’t feel like I have 8 zillion tasks weighing me down!

After a little work, I take Murphy for his morning walk. I used to rush through our walks because I wanted to get back to my laptop, but now I really savor our time together. The exercise – for the both of us – is such a great way to start the morning. I always return to the house feeling energized and ready to start the day!

I have a busy day ahead and won’t have time to get to the gym or take a class, so I get my butt moving with a high-intensity kettlebell workout in our basement. It’s just 15 minutes long, but I’m a sweaty mess by the end!

After that, I immediately hop in the shower and get myself ready for the day. I’ve actually become quite the get-ready ninja, so I’m cleaned, dressed, and makeup-ed in no time! Mal leaves the house promptly at 6:40 AM, so I need to (mostly) have my act together before he goes to school and Quinn is awake for the day. Otherwise, trying to work out and get ready with a 3 year old takes soooo much longer!

Then, I head downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. I recently had the opportunity to try Quaker’s new Overnight Oats, and I am a huge fan. (If you follow me on Instagram Stories, you’ve probably seen them a bunch!) They are super convenient, and I love that you can have a nutritious and hearty breakfast in the morning without spending a lot of time preparing it. They’re an easy choice, especially when I need as much time as possible to get all sorts of things accomplished in the morning!

I love overnight oats and know that a lot of you guys do, too. It’s definitely a popular breakfast choice in the blog world and beyond, so Quaker saw this as an opportunity to bring added convenience to the trend with their single serving cups. To do this, they brought together key ingredients of a typical homemade recipe into a convenient cup, so all you need to do is add milk (or your non-dairy option of choice) at night to the single serve container, let it cold-steep in the refrigerator overnight, and then wake up to a cool and hearty breakfast for a hassle-free morning.

Each single-serve container features a flavorful blend of oats, fruits, quinoa, flaxseed and nuts – giving you the nutrition you want to help start your day. They’re made with 100% whole grain oats (+ other grains) and have no artificial flavors or added colors. Nutritionally, each one has at least 11g of protein when prepared with ½ cup of non-fat milk and 300 calories or less per container (before adding milk/non-dairy options). Quaker Overnight Oats are available in four delicious flavors: Blueberry Banana & Vanilla Bliss, Toasted Coconut & Almond Crunch (obviously, the first one I tried – so good!), Orchard Peach Pecan Perfection, and Raisin Walnut & Honey Heaven.

At night, simply add milk or your non-dairy option of choice and stir to the fill line within the single-serve containers. You can also use nut milks, coconut, and soy milk!

Then, just let the mixture cold-steep in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours+ (but not longer than 24 hours). Take it out of the refrigerator the next morning and enjoy a cool and hearty breakfast option with no morning prep required. It’s as easy as steep, sleep, and eat!

Quinn wakes up a short while later and the morning hustle continues. Typically, we have a solid hour or more to play and get ready for daycare, but, this day, we need to be efficient. Kerrie and I have a 9:00 AM meeting in the city. With rush hour traffic, we need to give ourselves at least 1.5 hours to get there, so, long story short, Quinn and I need to boogie through our morning routine. We do, however, have time to tease Curious George with offers of “banana juice.”

I feel bad rushing Quinn out the door, but I picked my battles and let him wear his rain boots and bring his Scooby Doo Mystery Machine to school.

At daycare, I give Qman lots of hugs and kisses before saying goodbye. Then, I grab a couple of cold brew coffees before meeting Kerrie at her house to drive together to our meeting. Go, go, go!

Boo. We hit lots of traffic, but we have plenty of time to catch up and chat about the 8,000 things that we need to do.

Meeting time!

After our meeting, we battle more traffic and then finally grab a late lunch together. We’re both starving!

After that, I swing by daycare to pick up Qman. His teachers tell me that he had a great day!

Mal and Murphy are waiting for us at home, so it’s time to unplug for the day!

Question of the Day

What’s your favorite no-hassle breakfast?

The post Day in the Life – Morning Hustle Edition appeared first on Carrots 'N' Cake.

Day in the Life – Morning Hustle Edition syndicated from http://ift.tt/2krk6T3

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