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mythandlaur · 2 years ago

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Epithet Erased Week - Day 7

I had a hard time picking an AU for this but once I did holy crap. Uh. This may have gotten a bit out of hand, and some parts may be a bit extraneous, but I'm determined to keep all of them. It might also be a bit incoherent because I spat it out in a two hour sitting and didn't edit it it just kind of showed up???

This is set in the Psychonauts AU I posted about a while ago since people seemed to like it??? I guess we'll test that now.

Because one part in this nonsense might make people think it, I do not ship Molly and Sylvie. Sylvie's just being a good therapist/friend in a scene partially inspired by something I'd like to write in the future but am not sure I'll ever get around to because it's part of a whole plot I'd like to write and I don't know the details of that entire plot.

Reminder that because day 8 (redesign) is impossible to do in writing I'll be skipping straight to day 9! Holy god am I actually going to finish one of these

Warning for written potential thalassophobia triggers

"Well," Sylvie says dryly, watching the group of tiny, googly-eyed, brightly-colored octopi marching along the sand in front of him carrying a 2x4 like a colony of ants carrying a corn flake. "I don't know what I expected."

The sun beats down from some unseen point in the clear blue sky overhead, warming their faces. Molly's already opted to tie her bear hoodie around her neck by the arms rather than wear it, and Sylvie's considering following her lead with his own jacket, though Percy seems more than comfortable in her trenchcoat. The island they'd arrived on is spacious but sparse, mostly covered in palm trees with purple leaves. The only denizens are the octopi in various sizes and colors, who appear to be building a cabin at the treeline--at least, the ones who aren't goofing off on the beach.

"...Hmph." Percy rests a hand on her hip, watching the builder octopi with narrowed eyes. "Howie would throw a fit if he saw this."

"Um...doesn't he hate psychics," Molly asks tentatively, raising a hand.

"Oh, yes, in a sense. But also I highly doubt these building conditions are OSHA compliant. Not a single piece of safety equipment to be seen anywhere."

"Ugh." Sylvie begins to pace along the shore, cupping his chin in one hand and holding his elbow with the other. "This doesn't make any sense."

"I agree," Percy says with a sage nod. "Even in a mental world, safety is important."

"What--no! Not that." Sylvie shakes his head, gesturing with one hand. "This can't be all there is here. That's not how memories work."

Molly rocks on her feet, hands clasped in front of her. "You said you talked to him yesterday, right?"

"I interviewed him, yes." Sylvie wiggles his finger in a spiral pattern in the air to illustrate his point. "I've been able to get suppressed memories that way before, and we got pretty deep into his subconscious, but then he just...hit a wall. It was almost like it hurt him."

"Hurt him?" Molly frowns. "Should we really be doing this, then?"

"No, no--he was still trying to remember, he wanted to, he just...couldn't for some reason."

"May I suggest we check around the perimeter," Percy says. "There may be something here we're missing."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Molly?"

"Okay."

"And do be careful." Percy squints suspiciously at a group of octopi building an elaborate sand castle nearby. "Despite the cheerful setting, we don't know what might be lurking behind those adorable googly eyes."

Sylvie, Molly, and one of the builder octopi stare at Percy in utter bewilderment, before Sylvie tugs on Molly's arm and they start walking.

There really isn't that much more to see along the rest of the shoreline, which Sylvie supposes makes sense. Molly, Phoenica, and Trixie had only brought the mysterious and enthusiastic "Rick Shades" back to the training facility about a week ago, and he'd been all but a babbling mess for the first few hours due to starvation and dehydration. After that, he'd claimed to be suffering nearly all-consuming retrograde amnesia, though this certainly hadn't stopped him from immediately trying to make friends with absolutely everyone in the building. He had an odd way of going about things and very little social sense, but he'd proven a rather capable psychic when it came to the more physical abilities, and did not hesitate to share his bizarre techniques with anyone who would listen (and some who wouldn't).

Sylvie had tried his own brand of hypnotherapy on him, but it had gone poorly, ending up with Rick facedown on the floor apologizing for ten minutes. So, with Rick's permission, they'd decided to try to find the problem at its source. Neither Sylvie nor Molly could be dissuaded from the opportunity--Sylvie for the potential learning experience, and Molly to help in lieu of Phoenica, who had become extremely attached to Rick and extremely invested in his well-being--and, considering it was supposed to be relatively safe, had been allowed to as long as Percy supervised.

Their scouting is uneventful (aside from a brief glimpse of some censors chasing some octopi around in a circle, both parties letting out constant high-pitched screaming), and eventually Sylvie sits down in the sand with a huff, putting his face in his hands.

"There shouldn't be so little here!" He cracks one eye open to stare off into the distance, where all that can be seen is an infinite expanse of crystal blue water. "No vaults, no baggage, not even figments. Memories don't just disappear, they've got to be somewhere in here!"

"Um..." Molly sits down next to him, awkwardly patting his arm. "...It's okay if we don't find anything. He seems pretty happy."

"But I have to figure this out now."

"You really don't." Molly smiles, a little strained. "We can just go! It's fine."

"Ms. Blyndeff is correct." Percy inclines her head. "It's possible there may be something in the trees, but I'm beginning to get a bad feeling about this place."

"You don't get it, just--let me think."

Molly's face falls, and her gaze drops to the sand as she scoots away from him, eventually getting back up to do some pacing of her own. Really, it's not her fault, it's no one's fault, but--Sylvie considers himself an expert at interpreting things like dreams and mental worlds, it's the thing he's good at even compared to the adults. It's the thing people have to take seriously about him, and if he fails to figure out the first slightly unorthodox mind he comes across, then...!

"Sylvie!"

Sylvie's head snaps up. "What?"

Molly's standing ankle-deep in the water with her back to him, pointing. Sylvie pulls himself to his feet, walking over to stand next to her with Percy close behind.

"I thought I saw something in the water--a light?"

"A light?" Sylvie steps forward, until he's waist-deep, trying not to think about his soggy jacket--it's technically not real water and he isn't actually wet, but it sure feels like it. After a moment of hesitation, Sylvie pulls off his glasses, hooks them on his collar, and dunks his head to get a less distorted view.

The island's shore drops off sharply a little ways in front of them, leaving what looks to be empty, dark water extending to a dizzying depth below. As his eyes adjust slightly, Sylvie can make out vague shapes moving underneath, and--

Lights. Colorful lights, like neon signs, blinking somewhere far, far below.

Sylvie stands up straight, head breaking the water with a splash. He's sure his hair looks very pitiful, flat and soggy around his shoulders, but for once he doesn't care. "Of course!" He smacks the heel of his hand into his forehead. "Stupid Sylvester, stupid."

Percy and Molly wade forward to join him, though Molly has to stop as the water reaches her neck, looking both resigned and vaguely annoyed by her own height. "You see something?" Percy asks.

"Molly's right--there's lights, and I see some other stuff. Of course it's all down there!"

"That's great," Molly chirps, though her face is quick to fall again. "But...how do we get down there?"

Sylvie's face twists in disgust. "I guess we're swimming." He hates swimming.

"...How?"

Sylvie turns to her. "Do you not know how to swim?"

"Oh, no, I do, I taught myself!" Sylvie opens his mouth to question that, but not for the first time decides it's really not worth it. "I just figure we're gonna have an issue with...uh...air?"

"Heh." Sylvie reaches up to push up his glasses dramatically, though he forgets they're still on his collar and instead just pokes the bridge of his nose awkwardly. He pretends he meant to do that. "Oh, Molly. You're really gonna need to open your mind a little if you want to get stronger."

Molly gives him a flat look. "Uh-huh. So...you have a way around that, or...?"

"We all do!" Sylvie gestures out into the water. "Essentially, we're in something very much like a dream right now, and dreams don't always have to follow the rules of physics. The same goes for mental worlds. We can't exactly change somebody else's like you could change your dreams, but we can do enough to make a place for ourselves in it."

"You're saying we can breathe underwater?"

"Exactly! If we will it."

Molly tilts her head down slightly, though isn't able to look too far down given the fact that her chin is barely above water. "...I don't know."

"Mr. Ashling is right," Percy says with a nod. "It's been well-documented."

"I'm probably not gonna be able to do it," Molly says, backing up towards the shore.

Sylvie frowns, expression softening somewhat as he matches her steps. Molly always seems...pretty self-deprecating about her own powers. It'd been that way since he'd met her all those months ago, and he can't for the life of him figure out why, aside from the bizarre family issues she's vaguely alluded to. But she's certainly capable. The one time they'd dueled, she'd managed to completely cut off his senses of sight and sound, and blocked his attempts at clairvoyance to get at least some idea of what he was doing. He'd never been beaten before!

"...Molly, I may be a genius, but you're just as capable as everyone else." Somewhere in the back of his mind, Beefton lets him know that came out a bit underhanded. Too late now. He shakes his head. "Here, let's try something."

Sylvie steps forward, holding out both hands. Molly hesitates, but takes them, putting on his best therapist voice.

"Close your eyes. I'm gonna start walking backwards with you, and you're just gonna focus on my hands, and your breathing. Not on the water. It's pretty mild in temperature, it's basically not even here. And you're gonna keep breathing. If you have any trouble with it, we'll get you out, and we'll leave. Okay?"

Molly nods. Sylvie glances to Percy, who nods as well and moves to stand behind Molly, arms held out. Sylvie begins walking backwards, trying to make as little noise as possible as Molly's hands grip his tighter.

Her head goes underwater before his does, and he can't help but tense a bit, but she doesn't even seem to notice. Sylvie grins at Percy, who gives him a faint smile back. Man, he's good.

Another large step backwards, and Sylvie's underwater as well. It's a bit strange to keep breathing when his mind is trying to tell him he's underwater, but he gets the hang of it after a couple seconds. He keeps stepping them back until they reach the dropoff.

"Okay." His voice is maybe a bit muffled, but at least not too terribly distorted. "You can open your eyes now."

Molly does--and gasps, then clamps a hand over her mouth. Sylvie holds onto her other hand, and for a moment it looks like she's going to panic...before she smiles.

"...Feenie's gonna be really jealous," she says. "She can't swim at all. Oh! And this might help with Lori's stuff!"

Sylvie nods, though he's still not sure what that means, exactly. Molly lets go of his hand and does a messy breaststroke forward, looking down.

"And that's the light I saw!"

"It's quite a ways down," Percy says, now underwater with them with her arms staunchly at her sides as she kicks her legs like a mermaid. Sylvie can't imagine it's effective, but she looks as deadly serious as always. "Shall we get going?"

"We shall," Sylvie replies, extremely pleased with himself. Everything's suddenly coming up aces for him--and figuring out the mystery of this mental world will be the icing on the proverbial cake.

Percy's method of swimming isn't really effective--until she summons a psionic pair of flippers in translucent periwinkle around her feet, and a levitation orb to hold like a motor. Sylvie kicks himself for not thinking of it, but lets her swim ahead while he and Molly work out how to at least do the levball trick, though neither of them are quite as good at it. The glow at least helps as the water grows darker.

Sure enough, everything is under the surface. They pass some figments early on (Molly points out ones that look like her, Phoenica, and Trixie), then some surreal-looking sea life including a quite literal sea horse, then some aquatic variants of common mental denizens (there's something about a censor in a full business suit with a very sparkly mermaid tail that Sylvie finds almost unreasonably funny, though the quantity of regrets taking the form of oozy jellyfish are somewhat concerning).

Thankfully, pressure appears to be as much of a non-issue as air, though as they travel further down, the lights in the distance don't seem to get any closer. Strange shapes begin to form in the shadows cast by their levballs, and Percy bids the two to stay back as she investigates. Molly presses a finger to her temple, a green glow signaling her attempting to boost Percy's sense of sight, and Sylvie closes his eyes, mentally reaching out until he can see through Percy's eyes.

In the pale blue glow of her orb, the shape glints like metal, though it's dark as obsidian and covered in spikes. Sylvie can sense Percy's sudden spike of concern from behind her eyes, and quickly snaps back to himself, swimming backwards with Molly following after.

"Stay put," Percy says, swimming a ways back as well--before shooting a blast of blue psionic energy at the shape.

The white flash as it explodes only serves to contrast the black lightning it produces, reaching out hungry tendrils into the water around it like a living thing. There's a couple of other explosions from nearby mines, and as the ringing in his ears fades, Sylvie can hear what sounds like a very large group of censors approaching at speed.

"Go," Percy demands, and the kids don't have to be told twice. The trio speed downwards, and when Sylvie glances over his shoulder, though he can't see the lightning against the dark water, he can faintly make out the shapes of large censors beating at it--and disintegrating.

"...Judging by the speed of the reaction, these things definitely represent a major concern," Sylvie says.

"They're everywhere," Molly breathes, turning her green orb this way and that to shine its faint light on more obsidian mines.

Percy turns to Sylvie, frowning deeply. "Any thoughts, Mr. Ashling?"

"I...can't be sure if this is what's causing the problem, but it might be a sign pointing towards it. It's likely representing a desire to keep something away from this part of the mental world, but I can't tell by looking if they're artificial or not."

"Perhaps we should retreat for the moment."

"No!" Sylvie's eyes practically glint in his own orange light as he points downwards. "We're definitely getting closer now. We just need to be careful and--"

Something cuts him off.

It's a groan like a creaking ship mixed with a crooning whale, far away and yet loud enough to rattle all of their ribcages and set the water around them vibrating. Percy quickly darts out in front of them, dispelling her flippers and levball in favor of a cutlass made out of pure psionic energy, her signature weapon. Sylvie pulls Molly back by the shoulders, casting about with his mind for the sound's source.

He does find a presence, but it's a bit like turning on your headphones only to find you left the volume on all the way up, and it almost physically blasts him backwards. He only realizes he'd started sputtering when Molly shakes his shoulders.

"Are you okay?!"

"I--yes--it--very loud--"

The sound comes again, though this time with a note of anger. Something rises up before them, effortlessly pushing aside the mines. In the faint light of Percy's sword, they can make out a round, bulbous shape in a mottled, sickly blue color. As it moves up and up and up, the light shines off sunken googly eyes, over a very, very large mass of tentacles that stretch into the darkness below. The whole thing looks like a mix of the worker octopi, the aquatic variety of regrets, and Cthulhu itself, and though not all of it is visible, Sylvie guesses it's at least the size of a house.

("BEEFTON CANNOT SWIM,") Sylvie's archetype loudly reminds him in his head.

At the same time, Percy dismisses her sword and grabs them both in large psionic hands. "Retreat!"

Percy shoots upwards like a rocket just as the creature swings a tentacle at her, dragging the kids along behind with her constructs. Molly practically clings to Sylvie's arm as Sylvie looks down, trying to get a better look at the creature, but the darkness is quick to claim it. It wails again, very loud, too loud, but it doesn't sound like it's following them.

Percy maneuvers them deftly through the minefield into comparatively shallower waters, and they're high enough to find a school of regrets before she dares to stop.

They're all gasping for air despite being underwater, hearts pounding. Molly only extricates herself from Sylvie after a solid minute, wrapping her arms around herself instead. "What. Was that."

"I don't know," Sylvie admits, too frazzled to think up an excuse or explanation. "Clearly whatever it is he doesn't know it's there or I feel like he would've said something!"

"Clearly, we should leave," Percy says, already digging in her pocket for her salts. "Mr. Shades needs to be made aware of this immediately."

"W-wait!" Molly waves her hands. "S-should we really tell him about this? I feel like it'll freak him out. I mean...it was only after we got past the big do not enter mines that it showed up, right?"

"Only after we got close to the lights..." Sylvie's brows furrow. "Maybe it's...protecting whatever's down there? It didn't seem benign, but it didn't follow us, either..." Sylvie shakes his head. "You might be right, Molly. Maybe we should think about this a little more."

"I am a mere security officer here to ensure your safety," Percy says, hand solemnly over her chest. "I will defer to your judgment."

"Thank you." Though it's just Percy being Percy, he does appreciate that she's always treated him like an adult, exactly the same way she'd treat everyone else. He's never felt looked down on by her, which is why he'd been willing to have her along.

And he supposes she had saved their rears just now...Sylvie doesn't really have much combat ability outside of his aspect, and he knows Molly doesn't either--or at least, none she's willing to use, if the faint hints she's dropped to a pyrokinetic ability are correct. If either of them have a problem, they think and trick their way out of it. Something about the sheer noise of that construct's mind makes Sylvie think outsmarting it probably wouldn't have been possible.

Sylvie takes a deep breath, and lets it out in a long sigh, hand traveling to his own pocket. "Okay. Yeah. I think we're done here. Molly?"

"Fine by me." She fumbles around in the hoodie still tied around her shoulders like a cape. "But I think I'm gonna have to tell Trixie and Giovanni about the squid."

"You're--!"

But Molly's already gone. He gives Percy a sort of desperate, frustrated look, only getting her usual flat expression in reply. Sylvie huffs, and braces himself.

Sylvie's chin drops forward before he jolts upright and alert, coughing violently into his sleeve. He always thinks this time he'll be prepared for the smell, but it never gets any better--though he supposes that's the point. Doesn't make it any less unpleasant, and it sticks in his nose for what feels like forever.

"Oh! Hello!"

He looks up from his hacking fit to see Rick, sitting in the dentist's-office-looking chair where they'd left him nose-deep in a comic book. He's grinning, as usual.

"That was very strange to watch!"

Sylvie swipes at his nose with his jacket sleeve. "Mhm." He takes a moment to get his bearings, then stands, glancing over to find Molly and Percy already on their feet, Molly pulling a face (presumably also at the salts).

Rick puts the comic book facedown on the table next to him and hops to his feet, clapping his hands together eagerly. "So! Did you find anything?"

Percy bows her head grimly. "I regret to inform you that your mind appears to be full of cephalopods."

Rick continues grinning. "I fail to see the issue!"

"No, we didn't really find anything," Molly says, playing with the fur on the sleeves of her hoodie, "I'm sorry."

"Oh." Rick's smile lessens slightly in intensity, and there's a flicker of disappointment behind his sunglasses--but it's gone so quick Sylvie can't be sure he'd actually seen it. "That's fine."

"Really?"

"Certainly!" Rick puts a hand over the heart patch on his jacket, which is on the wrong side. His face turns stony as if he's giving a soliloquy. "I may not have my memories, but I do have something far more important."

"Oh boy," Sylvie mutters.

Rick's eyes go impossibly wide, and his smile shows more teeth than it's supposed to. "FRRRRRIENDSHIP!!!"

He says it like it's a be-all end-all and also probably a curse, leaning towards Sylvie. Sylvie quickly leans away. Rick's friendship sights had been seemingly really set on him recently for whatever reason. It was weird enough that Molly was willing to hang around with him.

"Now, we are BONDED," Rick bellows, throwing a fist to the sky. "The four of us are closer than EVER BEFORE! You cannot hope to escape the ties of our camaraderie!"

"Uh-huh," Sylvie grumbles.

"We might not have found your memory, but on the bright side we saw tiny octopi in the first stages of forming a society!" Molly beams. "You know, before the inevitable corruption sets in."

Rick clasps his hands together. "Oh, lovely!"

"They were quite adept builders," Percy agrees. "Howie would be proud, assuming I left out all the safety violations."

"Howie? Who is this Howie?"

"You'll know him when you see him." Percy waves a dismissive hand, turning towards the door. "Now, I believe it's time for some sustenance following our Sisyphean exertions."

Molly laughs nervously. "From...the cafeteria, right?"

"Yes, I am afraid I have not gathered any pinecone treats recently."

Molly sighs in relief. Rick raises a hand. "What is a pine cone?"

"I'll have to show you when I get some more," Percy says with a warm smile. Molly shakes her head very aggressively behind her. "They make a delightful healthy snack."

"We should go," Sylvie says, and thankfully the others agree without any further protest.

The four of them leave for the cafeteria together, Molly lagging behind. Sylvie slows down to walk with her, and she looks up at him with a grateful nod. Though it was destined to remain a secret, Rick's talk about bonding might not have been too far off the mark--they have a mystery to solve now, together.

#epithet erased #epithet week #sylvester ashling #molly blyndeff #percival king #rick shades #my writing

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just-dreaming-marvel · 5 years ago

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EIGHTY TWO - OUT

LEGACY: A Tony Stark Daughter Story

MASTERLIST

< previous

Word Count: 1,900ish

Summary: The reactor gets taken out of Bailey.

I was pulled out of the memory by my body being moved. Tony was trying his best to gently pick me up without waking me, but failed. When I opened my eyes, I saw that he had me bridal style in his arms and was heading for the elevator. He glanced down and noticed my opened eyes.

“Go back to sleep kid,” he whispered.

I shook my head. “No.”

“FRIDAY,” Tony called as we entered the elevator, “take us down to the Med-Bay.” The elevator started moving.

“Why are we going to the Med-Bay?”

“Because it’s time for your surgery.”

“No, it’s not. It’s still Thursday.”

“It’s Friday morning, kiddo.” Tony set me down on a bed once we arrived in the Med-Bay.

“I must have been in there for a while,” I mumbled.

“What was that kid?” Tony questioned as he pulled up a chair. A nurse walked in with a cart of stuff and started prepping an IV.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Tony glared slightly and was about to say something when Helen Cho walked in.

“You ready?” She asked.

“Always,” I quickly answered. “And no offense Helen, if I don’t see you after this is out of me, it will be all too soon.” Tony laughed at my comment.

“I completely understand,” she laughed as the nurses started rolling me out the room.

“I’ll see you afterwards dad,” I said.

“I love you. I’ll be right here when you wake up.” Tony said. He stayed in the Med-Bay room as they pushed me to the operating room.

The surgery went smoothly. The arc reactor came out without a hitch and my body healed itself quickly after. It was after surgery that didn’t. It had been three hours since the surgery ended and I should have woken up two hours ago. To say that Tony was worried was an understatement.

“Why isn’t she waking up?” Tony demanded an answer from Helen. Tony was sitting in a chair and my bedside holding onto one of my hands.

“I don’t know,” Dr. Cho responded. “All the tests are coming back that she’s fine. There’s no medical explanation on why she isn’t awake. I think—“ She paused to take a deep breath. “I think this has to do with her telepathic abilities.”

And Helen was right. My mind was lost. I knew that I should have been awake but I couldn’t find my way out. My brain was playing tricks on me. I was in a white hallway full of doors. I opened the first door slowly and watched my parents leave me with HYDRA. I quickly shut it as the tears began to roll down my cheeks. Somedays I like remembering everything, it makes me feel like I’m in control, this is not one of those days. I skipped the next 10 doors or so, fearing what could lie behind them. I finally got the guts to open another door.

I was in my bed at the old Malibu mansion. Tony was watching me sleep, Pepper beside him. They just watched me in silence. But I could feel how scared they were. By the looks of it, this was the end of my first Christmas stay with them. They were scared to let me go back, but also scared to keep me. I smiled sadly, that feeling of being scared of what could possibly happen had never left them, even all these many years later. I shut the door and heard a voice in the hallway. It was Tony. He was trying to get me to wake. I followed the voice and opened the door. I saw Tony holding my hand as I lay in the hospital bed. He was begging me to wake. I wanted to wake up too, wanted to return to him. I don’t know how, but when I finally opened my eyes, it was mid afternoon. I looked over to see Tony still beside me with his head in one hand and mine in the other. I squeezed his hand gently.

“Hey there,” I whispered.

Tony quickly straighten up and looked at me. He put his other hand on my face. “Kid! You had me worried sick.” He kissed my forehead. "Please stop doing things like that.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.”

“Something happened?” Tony was confused.

“Yes, but I don’t really know how to talk about it.” He was about to say something when I continued on. I put my hand on my chest and began to rub around where the arc reactor once was. “Just like new.”

“Just like new.” Tony repeated. He kissed my forehead again. I could feel he was wanting to continue talking about what had happened while I was asleep, but he didn’t bring it up again. It wasn’t the right time, he knew that. “You��re healing powers kicked in during surgery. Helen and her team were really impressed.”

“I’m glad.” I sat up and swung my legs to the side of the bed. “I’m going to go change and then do a few training exercises. I’ve been out of routine for too long.” I looked Tony in the eyes. “Is that okay?”

“As long as you’re feeling up to it. I have a few things to get done. How about we meet up for dinner? I’ll have someone pick us up some Chinese.”

“That sounds great.”

I skipped out of the room in my hospital gown and booked it up the stairs. It felt so good to go that fast. When I reached my room, I quickly threw on a sports bra, tank top, leggings, and tennis shoes. The bracelet that calls my suit caught my eye, I slipped it on just in case then ran down to the training area. I went at it with some punching bags before going through some target practice with knifes, arrows, and guns. After hours of target practice and punching bags, I made my way outside. It had snowed last night and looked like it might snow again, which was fine by me.

I looked to the facility gate. Reporters and photographers were still there. I rolled my eyes and started jogging around back and for the edge of the river. I ran as fast as I could once I hit the river’s edge, acting like I had new found abilities or something. I dodged logs and rocks, not missing a beat. I was quick. The cold air felt good on my body. Running outside felt like freedom. I ran for a while until the bracelet on my wrist beeped. I slowed down and it beeped one final time before I heard Tony’s voice.

“Hey, kid,” he greeted. “Where’d you run off to? I went down to the training rooms and you weren’t there.”

“Sorry,” I said as I caught my breath. “I got bored. I’m out on a run on the shoreline.”

“Well, the Chinese is here.”

“I’m heading in now.”

I turned around and ran towards the direction of the facility. I entered through a different door than I had exited, to avoid any press. Once I reached the kitchen, Tony had all the Chinese take out boxes opened and had already dished himself up some food.

“You really couldn��t wait?” I asked as I opened a cabinet to grab a plate.

“I’m starving,” Tony answered, taking a bit of food. “I don’t remember the last time I ate.”

“It was at this time last night,” FRIDAY chimed in.

“Set a reminder for Mr. Stark here to eat,” I ordered the AI.

“All over it, Miss,” she responded. “But I can’t promise that it will work.”

“I understand.”

“I don’t need a reminder,” Tony whined.

“Obviously you do,” I said as I put some food on my plate. “And I’m not your mother or your wife, so I refuse to be the one to do it everyday.”

“But you are my daughter. You should care just the same.”

I laughed and sat down on a stool next to him. “I do love you.” I stuffed some food into my mouth. “You still working on the nanotech?”

“Yeah, it will be a little while longer until it’s what I want it to be exactly. I made some adjustments to your current suit though.”

“Oh really? Like what?”

“I guess you’ll just have to wait and see.” He winked at me.

“Are you serious? You tell me that and then make me wait until when? Tomorrow? Until my birthday? That’s just rude.”

“It’s your birthday tomorrow?” Tony sarcastically asked. “I had no idea.” I playfully punched his arm. “Hey! That was uncalled for!”

“I think it was perfectly called for! You deserved it!” I laughed. “Do you have any fun plans for the rest of the evening?”

“Just finishing up a project.”

“Mmm… what project?”

Tony stood up and walked over to the sink. “If I told you, then I’d have to kill you.” He set his plate and fork in the sink.

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“That’s stupid. You know I could figure out what you’re working on if I really wanted to, right?” I gave my head a little tap.

“You could. But what would be the fun in that?” He winked again as he started walking out of the room.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to the lab. And you are going to head to bed.”

“Am I now?” I gave him a questioning look.

He turned around. “Yes, you are. It’s going to be a big day tomorrow.”

“Is it really?”

He turned around and headed down the stairs. “Good night kid!”

I rolled my eyes, put my plate in the sink, and then put the left overs away. I headed up the stairs to bed as he told me to, knowing that he was watching my every move. I’m not stupid. I looked up at the camera next to the door to my room and stuck my tongue out, giggling to myself as I entered my bedroom.

“FRIDAY,” I called as I grabbed some pjs from my dresser. “Could you turn on the shower?”

“Of course,” The AI responded. I heard the shower turn on quickly.

“Thank you.”

I walked into the bathroom. As I set my pjs on the counter top, I smirked at the realization that it was fixed from my punching it the other day. Sometimes I am shocked at how smart Tony makes the AIs. I had told FRIDAY that I’d call to get the counter top fixed but she did it any ways, knowing I would probably forget. I stripped and then quickly got into the shower. It was a nice place to think. I thought about Tony and how I hoped that this birthday would be better than some of mine in the past. As I thought about him, I focused in on his thoughts.

“I hope she likes it,” he thought.

I quickly got out of there, not wanting to spoil any surprises that he had in store. I wanted this birthday to be special, especially since he was going to remember it. I finished showering, got my pjs on, and crawled into bed. I hoped that I didn’t have a nightmare. And I didn’t, but I don’t know if the dream I had was any better. If you could even call it that.

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xsparklingravenx · 4 years ago

Text

dying light

Title: dying light

Fandom: Xenoblade Chronicles 1 / 2

Characters: Zanza, Meyneth, Klaus, Galea

Rating: T

Word Count: 5,244

Summary: On the shoreline of a dying world, they meet again for one final time.

Klaus and Galea. Major spoilers for the entirety of Xenoblade 1 and Xenoblade 2

AO3

In the dying light of a cross-shaped sun, a woman awoke.

From horizon to horizon stretched a boundless sea, the sky above scorched in red, green, and lilac tones. She drifted amidst the trembling waves, carried along by its easy caress as it handled her as careful as a mother with her child. With no direction, no obvious right way to go, she was at its mercy as it carried her across its surface, no clear destination in sight wherever she looked.

So instead, she turned her thoughts, and her gaze, back to the sky. Such an unusual sunset, she thought as the sun dipping halfway beyond the horizon. The colours were more akin to a borealis, an amalgamation of odd, contrasting tones that she was certain held more in common than their appearances would have her believe. After all, it was nothing like she’d ever seen in any natural world. Nothing like what she’d ever seen from her perch upon the Mechonis, or in any other world before that.

She continued to drift, letting the ocean take her on whatever path it deigned. She was content to simply be the passenger; there was no need to be fight it, or to try and dictate the way the waves rolled her. This was her afterlife, or, so it seemed. Surprised as she was that there was one, she didn’t question it. There were so many things she didn’t understand, and so many things she had to accept. In a very long line of oddities, this was hardly the strangest she’d ever experienced.

And yet still, the shape of that cross-like sun as it continued to dim—she’d seen it before, years and years and years ago, countless millennia gone by. It had been burned into her mind, the final thing she’d seen before her life changed irreversibly, illuminating the figure of the man she loved as he dammed them both. There were many things she’d forgotten from her life before, but that would never be one of them.

Closing her eyes, she let the darkness be a comfort as she fell between the ocean’s waves, moving, moving, her body still, the air silent. In the moments of calm, she dreamt, of the Homs girl who had leant her a body, of her final moments clashing against a megalomaniacal god. War had been forever seared into her bones, into her genetic makeup. She had been born into the world fighting, and so she had left it too. Battle was all she knew, had been all she’d known for too long. Now that there was a moment for peace, she was all too glad to take it.

“This breeze. It’s nice, isn’t it?”

“I wasn’t really considering it, but now you’ve said, I can see the appeal—”

Echoing words, voices she could hardly untangle, her own, or the Homs girl, his, or the Heir to the Monado. Memories she’d shared had become integral to her being, feelings she’d absorbed from the girl who had melded with her heart. The woman was a goddess, but she hardly felt powerful now. Lost in the ocean, she pulled herself apart and pieced herself back together, over, over, a machine replacing its own circuits, a woman searching for her own soul. Thousands of years’ worth of experiences were layered over her past like sediment, burying the truth and all that she had known with it.

So caught up in herself was she, that she barely noticed the waves depositing her carefully on a shoreline that had not been there before. It was only when she felt sand beneath her fingers that she realised she was no longer at one with the sea, but instead, on the surface of a wet, grainy beach. Surprised at the sensation, the woman sat up, looking at her hands in mystified silence.

She stared, turning her hand to look at her palms, then back to look at her knuckles, grains of sand falling with the movement. Then she flexed her fingers, clawing them, spreading them, making a fist with her hand. Tendons moved, and she noticed veins too, as faded as they were. It was not the movement that surprised her, but the fluidity, the colour, simply how normal it looked. She had grown so accustomed to her metal skin, to her silver tones, that the uneven, peach tone of her flesh stunned her into silence.

“It is horrifying, is it not? To be returned to our own flesh and see ourselves for what we truly were?”

Her breath hitched. The voice that came from behind her was one she knew intimately; though he and the Heir to the Monado shared it, she knew it was not the boy who she would find if she turned. Taking a moment to steady herself, she stood, wet fabric clinging to her body, sleeves of a white lab coat tight around her arms, drenched strands of silver hair falling past her face. The garb of a human. The garb of someone she might have once been.

She didn’t turn. Not immediately. Fists clenched at her sides, staring out to sea, she said, “I see this is not the afterlife after all.”

“What would make you say that?”

How sad he sounded. She knew it for the lie that it was. “You are cruel beyond words, Zanza. Those children, tell me, did they fail? Is this how you would remake our world? You would drag me back after you won to do war once more?”

Silence. Only the dreamy sound of the rolling waves punctuated it, her anger not matched by that of the atmosphere. Those Homs that she’d entrusted the world to, they’d had so much hope for their future. She’d given her life to make it happen, to save the boy who would save them all, yet once again, she and Zanza had been brought back to their beginning.

Zanza said, “I understand if you would hate me, but you misjudge the situation. This isn’t that world reborn.”

There was no other explanation. It was as empty as it always was at the start. As the Mechonis, she had borne witness to a world made of nothing but endless ocean, her own body and his the only habitable spaces. They would eventually give birth to life once more, and then they would divulge into needless violence. It was their cycle. It was their way. Zanza forced her into battle and she had no choice but to fight back, only ever for her people, never for herself.

“I no longer wield a Monado,” the woman said. She loosened her fists, the tension leaking out of her as she realised the futility of it all. “You saw to that. I know not how I stand here before you, but our battle is over before it begins this time. You will sacrifice everything all over again, and there is nothing I can do to stop you. This world will be yours for the taking. Is that not what you dreamt of all along?”

“Perhaps a part of me did,” Zanza said. “But in truth, there’s something else. One other thing I’ve been dreaming of all this time.”

She closed her eyes, angered tears welling in the corners. Her remorse, for everything she’d failed to do. Her guilt. Her grief. The Heir to the Monado deserved no such fate as to be obliterated. His friends deserved to defy their passage of fate, not submit to it. “And what is that?”

“To finally face you again, Galea.”

The name struck her like an arrow through her back. Finally, she turned, the breeze catching her hair as she did, her voice stuck in her throat. Her eyes took a moment to adjust, to focus on the hazy sight before her. Hands in the pockets of a lab coat matching her own, a faint smile on a familiar pair of lips, eyes as blue as the ocean she’d borne witness to for millennia.

Those eyes widened as he laid them on her, his lips parting a fraction. For a moment, she wasn’t there, on the shoreline, but instead a hundred thousand years ago, stood in the faded memory of the gardens of a research facility, seeing him for the first time below the low branches of a weeping willow tree.

The new professor was quite unlike any who had come before him. Galea had overseen several who wanted to crack open the secrets of their newfound Conduit, but none had managed to even scratch its surface—until this young man, or, so Galea had heard from her colleagues, anyway. Brilliant, alert, and yet incredibly elitist, he had apparently driven away every other assistant who had been assigned to his side.

“He has to do everything his own way,” said her friend, who waved her hands in overdramatic gestures when Galea chose to ask after him. “You’re gonna have your hands full with this one, if you even last five minutes with him.”

Galea was next in line for the role, having been begged by the higher-ups to take over the role of assistant as their last one threw in the towel. It was a mistake to say yes, and she knew it—her mother had always told her to never take a job position if she’d been passed over as the primary candidate in the first place. But she was young. She didn’t have all the time in the world to make a mark. If there was an opportunity in place, she had no choice but to grab it with both hands.

It was in the base’s gardens she found him, stood beneath a tree with one hand resting on the trunk, gazing out across the tranquil lake that bisected the grassy land in two. The ends of his white, standard-issued coat fluttered in the wind, blond strands of hair picked up and thrown about his head. Putting on her best smile, she linked her hands behind her back and went to stand next to him.

But, in her haste, she hadn’t prepared an opening statement. Unknowing what to say, she floundered for words, desperately searching for something to introduce herself with. In the end, all that came out was, “This breeze. It’s nice, isn’t it?”

He turned his head in surprise, eyes a fraction too wide, his mouth downturned a tick. “I wasn’t really considering it, but now you’ve said, I can see the appeal—” his gaze travelled downwards, and she considered retracting her comment until his line of sight snagged on her nametag attached to her breast pocket. “—Galea.”

Above them, quietly, a war raged on. Humanity had taken their conflict higher, beyond the stars themselves, but down on the earth, it was peaceful, quiet. “Yes. And you are Professor Klaus, are you not?”

He nodded, facing back towards the lake. “Am I right in thinking that you’re to be my new assistant? I recognize your name, but this would be our first meeting.”

“Our first meeting, yes, but I’ve already heard a lot about you.”

“Have you now? None of it good, I imagine.”

“I don’t tend to believe in idle gossip,” Galea said, still smiling. “I judge men on their own merits, not on the hearsay of others. As they say, seeing is very much believing.”

The breeze caressed her skin, calm and gentle. Klaus didn’t reply immediately, and when she turned to look at him, she found him still staring out at the lake. “Might I ask what you’re looking at?”

“Nothing in particular,” came his quick response, one of his hands dipping into his coat’s pocket. “I do my best thinking in the quiet, though that pursuit is ruined now, given that you’re here now. Judging men on their own merits, you said, and refusing to take part in gossip? Well. You must be fun at parties.”

“As must you, given how quick you are to turn.” Galea crossed her arms against her chest as he turned to face her once more. He was, in her view, terribly beautiful, his hair golden, his eyes soulfully blue, like if she looked too hard, she might see galaxies shining within. “Let me guess; the reason for your rudeness is because you want nothing more than to examine the Conduit by yourself. My presence is only a hindrance because of that reason—but tell me. Why? What is it about the Conduit that draws you in?”

Klaus laughed then, a bitter sound in his throat. “I want to save this world, Galea. What else? That thing, it emits so much power, if only we could access its full potential. Nobody has the acumen, the knowledge, to figure it out. But I do. I will unlock its secrets on my own, with no-one to stand in my way. And when I do, the Saviourites will fall by my hand.”

“I see,” Galea said. “So it is trite heroism that drives you.”

“Trite—!”

“But here is the issue, Klaus,” Galea cut him off, raising a finger to quieten him. “I can hardly believe in a man who I know nothing about. Your words right now are just that—words, and I haven’t seen what you can do. For all I know, I will find the path to humanity’s survival in my own research.”

“You have a lot of confidence, don’t you?” Klaus scoffed, shaking his head. “I don’t need you. Or any of the others who they’ve tried to partner up with me. You’re all the same, eager to please, desperate to make some kind of mark. I don’t need that kind of overenthusiastic uselessness holding me back.”

“Uselessness? Such a strong word, considering you don’t know a thing about me!” Galea couldn’t help but be offended, planting her hands on her hips. “Well, you won’t find that ‘eagerness’ to please in me, Klaus. I’m not playing the role of your assistant to make-nice with the higher-ups, I’m doing it because the Conduit interests me, because it has so many secrets hidden within that I must know. Desperate to make some kind of mark, you say? Well. Aren’t you also? Isn’t that what you just said?”

“That’s what you took away from this conversation? That I’m ‘desperate’?”

“Indeed. But maybe you could show to me that you’re wrong, if you work hard.” He tried to speak over her, but Galea raised her finger again, cutting him off soundly. “No, you’re listening to me right now. This is my proposition to you; I will be your assistant, and you will prove to me that you are as good as you say. Then, and only then, will I have faith that perhaps you could save us all. That you could be the hero that you seem to be dreaming of being.”

Klaus’s eyebrows drew together, but he didn’t seem displeased. After a moment of what seemed like pure shock, he began to laugh, genuinely. Frowning, Galea said, “I don’t see the joke.”

“I’m not the only one they gossip about in this base, you realise,” Klaus said, shaking his head. “But perhaps they were wrong, or simply shallow. I heard you were cold, stony, even. Some even called you robotic in your methods, but from what I see now, that it is untrue. You wish to share the Conduit with me? Then you need to prove something to me also. Prove to me that you’re just as worthy, and perhaps I might consider the idea that we could be able to carve out a path to a new future together.”

Galea looked back across the lake, so still, so quiet. The sun sat in its lofty throne, perfectly circular, a beacon for their earth. A sign, she thought, of better days to come. “So it is to be a challenge then, one to another? Your arrogance is as they say.”

“Arrogance?” She could hear the smirk in his voice. “How amusing. I heard many use the same word to describe you. Perhaps we’re not so different as I first thought.”

“Give it time,” Galea said. “You will see the difference.”

“Will I? I can’t say I’m disinterested. But, for now, I think it’s time for me to go.” Klaus turned, drawing her attention back to him. He retreated away from the weeping willow, his back to her, giving a careless wave goodbye as he left. “I will meet you again, when it is time for us to do our work. You’ve spoken a big game now, so, don’t let me down, Galea.”

“The same to you, Klaus,” she replied. The lake rippled in the breeze as she looked back to it, tucking a lock of silver hair back behind her ear. Their war was one they had to win, competition or no.

Alone, or together, it mattered not.

He looked at her like he had that day, as if he was laying his eyes on her for the first time all over again. Blue-on-blue, human-to-human, flesh-to-flesh. He was gold, and she was silver, contrasting colours on the wheel of their world, opposite sides of the shoreline, opposite sides of their war. Her tears threatened to fall, but she did not let them.

Not yet.

“You would call me that, after everything?” she said. “I cast that woman out to sea as you so carelessly abandoned your past to rot. Do not invoke that name now, after I tried so hard to reach out to you. Do not speak to me so plainly, when you tore it all from me. I offered you peace, and you ripped it apart with your own hands.”

“Then you would prefer ‘Meyneth’?” Zanza asked. He looked so out of place, standing there like that in his human guise. The last time she’d seen him, his expression had been twisted with mania, his voice warped with delusional hatred. “You do not look very much like her to me, though.”

Something was wrong here. She searched him for any hint of a Monado, but there was no such weapon in sight. “This is treacherous, even for you. Appearing as you are, speaking to me this way—you revel in the fact that you’re breaking my heart.”

“That’s not true.” Zanza cast his gaze downwards, taking a single step across the sand. She took one backwards in response, and then another, her heels burying themselves beneath the grains as she wrapped her arms around herself. “Listen to me, Meyneth, Galea, whoever you wish to be in this moment. This is not your world, or mine, because those children you believed in succeeded. Your wish has been realised. They remade the world with their own desires, they cast out my twisted form and denied all gods.”

“How can I believe you?” Meyneth asked him. “When all has come to pass before, when you forced me into battle against you again and again, why would I believe a single word from your mouth?”

He stopped in his approach, closing his eyes. “I understand if you would hate me, for everything I’ve done.”

Hate? It wasn’t the right word for the way she felt. There was no word that could quite encapsulate the spectrum of emotions that she felt whenever Zanza entered her field of vison. They had clashed for lifetimes, sword against sword, collision in a thousand forms, a thousand conflicts.

“If what you speak is truth, then prove it.” Meyneth said.

“As someone once told me, seeing is very much believing,” Zanza said. He made a grand gesture towards the dying sun in the sky, a sweep of his arm. “The Conduit is gone. That boy, Shulk—his actions saw it so. What we are now, I couldn’t tell you, but we’re no longer the gods we once posed as. I believe—I believe that we’ve been reborn anew, one last time, in response to our own wishes, but that is mere hypothesis. I only know what my wish was, after all.”

She looked up at the sun. It did look like the Conduit, and it burned as brightly as it once had in the laboratories. “So if I am to believe what you say, then you are not Zanza. Is that it?”

“It would be easier to say yes,” Zanza said. “But it would also be a lie, and I can hardly hide from the blame that I deserve. I am recomplete. That day, when I made my decision, when I pressed that button, the Conduit tore my soul in two. Some of me ended up with you, in that world. I only regret that it was the worst of me.”

“Stop this,” Meyneth said. “You speak of another world? That you could possibly have—”

“It is a gateway. A gateway that will take us to an entirely new world!”

“You were right,” Zanza was looking up towards the Conduit-shaped sun for himself when she turned back, bathed in its light. “A meta-universe manifold. That was what you called it. And it was. It opened up so many possibilities, but I never should have done it. I awoke in pieces on the floor of the Rhadamanthus, half of me lost to your world, half of me still on that station. My decision was wrong. I know that now.”

She remembered the day she awoke too, the day she turned to the man she loved and saw only that crazed look in his eyes. “You never wanted peace,” she said. “First, you wanted heroism and glory. Then, you wanted immortality and devotion. You chose that over everything, even when I tried to stop you! You chose that over me.”

“I never forgot,” Zanza said. He approached anew, and she didn’t step back this time. “I never forgot your voice, how you shouted that day, how you told me to stop. I never forgot how frightened you sounded, or how tightly you held onto me. And part of me, the worst part, Zanza, he used that to fuel his hatred towards you. But me…”

“But you?” Meyneth stepped forwards now, the distance between them getting smaller. “Speak, Zanza. Respond to me.”

“My name is Klaus,” he said. “An arrogant man who thought he could change the future. A lonely fool who awoke to the knowledge that he’d sentenced everyone on the Rhadamanthus to death, a pathetic god who screamed your name over and over, hoping you would come and find me. I could see you through the link I shared with my body in your world. I knew everything he was doing, and I couldn’t stop him. He was me. I was him. And yet I could do nothing but wait and hope that someone would put us down. I carried the guilt of what I did for a millennia, waiting, waiting, constantly dreaming that I could one day see you again for myself.”

He closed his eyes, head ducked down low, hands in fists at his side. The Conduit’s sun grew dimmer still, the colours of the sky fading. What happened when it went out? Would their brief meeting come to an end?

Their lives were linked in the light of the Conduit. It was through it they had been reborn, been changed, been shaped. Klaus and Galea. Zanza and Meyneth. The same souls, different aliases. Humans and Gods, what became of them when there was nothing left?

Her voice would not come to her. Her mind would not work. It grew dimmer, and dimmer, and yet she didn’t know what to do.

In the light of the Conduit, brilliant and blinding, they kissed for the first time.

There was nobody around to see them, nobody around to interrupt. Most of the Rhadamanthus’ staff were tucked away in their dorms, and it was only Klaus and Galea left in the lab. One thing had led to another, and now she had her back against the window of stars while their lips chased one another in hungry desperation.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pushing further into him. He pushed back, his arms around her waist, their bodies pressed so tightly together that they were almost one. The solar system was their single witness as they abandoned their work for only each other, desperate and passionate. Planets watched, their legacy to come remembered by them and them alone.

Her hands found his hair. His held onto her hips. She’d never intended for things to go this way. What had started as simple rivalry had progressed into friendship, into late-night drinks and research. Travelling to the station beyond the stars had intensified things, their quarters now closer than ever before, their time spent mostly with each other.

For what felt like hours they simply existed to express their love, surfacing for air only to return once more. She was starving for him as he was her, and it was only later, when they finally tired, that she said, “I want to be with you, Klaus.”

“When the war is over,” he said, holding her close. “When we’ve unlocked the secrets of the Conduit and saved humanity, then we can do this right.”

“Are we not already?” she asked, touching her fingertips to her swollen lips. “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than this moment. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than when I’m with you.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.” Klaus rested his forehead against hers. “I want to take you to dinner, or to make you dinner. I want to take you home and sleep in the same bed as you. I want to be yours, to make a thousand memories with you.”

“We can start now,” Galea said, looking directly into his eyes, drowning in the depths. “Right this moment. I don’t want to be apart from you, not now, not ever. I want to hold onto you forever, not just in my memories. I want to do something fun. Can we dance?”

“Dance?” Klaus blinked, his surprise endearing. “But we have no music.”

“We need no music.” She pulled back from him and took his hand. “Sweep me off my feet. Prove to me that your head isn’t only for science.”

Ever one to rise to the challenge, Klaus took the lead. Clumsy as he was, he was enthusiastic, the two of them clasping hands in a not-entirely dreadful imitation of a ballroom dance. Around and around they went, momentum shared, joined in a union of movement that had her grinning, that had his eyes focused on her like she was all that existed in that moment. Perhaps they were all that existed. In her wildest dreams, she imagined a place for them, and them alone, untouched by war and fear, untouched by death and destruction.

“So do you believe in me now?” Klaus asked as they continued their duet, lab coats drifting with their movement. “That my head isn’t only for science?”

He dipped her low. She looked up at him, smiling. “I see it for myself, don’t I?”

So they went. So they carried on. And if she’d dared look away, dared catch sight of herself in the window’s reflection, she might have seen a future echoed in the mirror, illuminated by the Conduit itself.

A god dressed in golden tones dancing with a goddess made of steel, hand in hand, face to face. Their lips touched anew, and in the window, conflict sparked; but for Galea, all she knew in that moment was love.

“This burden is mine to bear,” Zanza said. “Everything that happened to our world. Everything that happened to you. Everything I put the innocent through.”

Meyneth turned her head, looking behind her to where the sea continued to roll on in. How unassuming it was, to not know of the conflict within her heart, to not understand and respond to her thoughts, her feelings. The sky had morphed into dusky tones, violets and emeralds and scarlets. She had the feeling they were running out of time, but she couldn’t explain why.

“You said you have a hypothesis,” she said, still looking out over that deep blue. “You believe the Conduit granted us one last wish each?”

“It is what I did for the world I came from,” Zanza replied. “After I had given up hope, a boy came to me with his friends and showed me there was still more to life than death. Perhaps the Conduit took pity on us. I for one know I’m pitiable.”

Such fascinating words coming from the mouth of the god who had decried anything that came beneath him. “Then what was your wish?”

“Have I not already told you?” His tone spoke volumes of his surprise. “It was to see you one last time, Galea. To beg your forgiveness.”

“Prove it to me,” she whispered. “Prove that you’re not him. Prove to me that you’re Klaus, not Zanza.”

“Done,” he said, and she heard his voice shatter on that single word. “I love you, Galea, more than the earth, more than the stars, more than anything. And I was wrong to choose the Conduit over you, I was wrong to submit us to destruction, and though I know forgiveness is out of reach for me, I needed to tell you that I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

Finally, her tears ran free. She blinked hard as they ran down her cheeks, and, cruel illusion or no, she could hold it back no longer. He was right there, the man she’d searched for in the eyes of a crazed god, looking at her like she was the world, and it broke her in two. She ran to him, arms outstretched, and he caught her as she collided with him. Together, they went down in the sand with a whumph, a flutter of coats and a mess of sobs. He pressed his lips to hers, and she let him in, responding lightly, her hands shaking as she clung to his back, his fingers gripping the back of her coat just as tightly.

“I searched for you within him for so long,” she said as they broke apart, as she buried her head into the crook of his neck. She shook off Meyneth like a snake shedding skin, searching deep within herself for the woman she might once have been. “Take me back to the start, Klaus. Let us begin again.”

“I would give anything to do that,” he said. The sky darkened further overhead. “But I fear this is all the time we have left.”

“No,” Galea lifted her head to look him in the eye. “If we are to be reborn again in the light of the Conduit or not, know that I will find you, no matter what it takes, because I never stopped searching, not even in our darkest hours.”

“And I will find you, Galea,” he said, one hand brushing against her hair. He closed his eyes and smiled. “This breeze. It’s nice, isn’t it?”

Breathless, tearful, Galea found it in her to smile; genuine and true. Her words echoed his of countless years ago. “I hadn’t noticed—but now you’ve said, I can see the appeal.”

The sun continued to die. The sky grew darker still, the colours fading from sight one-by-one, yet it mattered not to the lovers who had reunited in their final moments. They remained amidst the grains of sand, hand-in-hand, awaiting the end.

#Xenoblade Spoilers #Xenoblade Chronicles #Zanza #Meyneth #Xenoblade #My Writing

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warofshadowstheorder · 4 years ago

Text

Chapter 08

The search party continued looking all night and into the next day for the man who had escaped. Agent Taylor was especially furious when their efforts met with no success. He hated the fact that Odin had pulled off the assassination to begin with, but the thought of him getting away with it was even worse. What added to Taylor’s frustrations was that Odin had just, there was no other word for it, disappeared.

Taylor was now in the base commander’s office where he’d just gotten off the phone with Assistant Director Andrews. Taylor had expressed his belief that with the assassin at large there was a threat to the President and had been granted some time to stay and help with the search. The authorities were already sending out Odin’s booking photo to every news media station in the world and telling them to regard him as armed and extremely dangerous and to not approach him.

Bledsoe had gone back to sleep after her altercation with Taylor. She tried to sleep, but found that she was restless after all that had happened. She spent most of the night lying awake on the cot that had been provided for her and staring at the ceiling trying to fall asleep, to no avail.

She eventually decided that the only way she could move on was to look into the matter herself. After that, sleep came to her and she passed the rest of the night in peace. The only time she had anything but a peaceful rest was when her dreams turned to memories of the night that had led to her pending suspension.

She couldn’t get the Prussian blue eyes out of her mind. Not knowing what the rest of the man looked like was driving her crazy. Ever since she was a little girl she hated not knowing anything that she wanted to. This trait had been what led her to study as hard as she did in school and eventually earn her a full-ride scholarship to Yale, where she became a staple on the Dean’s List.

Since this trait had gotten her most of the success she’d acquired over the years, she decided to go with it. She had three months of free time coming her way that she was determined to use to find the other man.

She woke up at dawn, then dressed in the sandals, cargo shorts, and white t-shirt she’d brought with her. Having no need for formality, she let her hair down and did her best to look like a tourist.

She packed her bag with everything else she’d brought, careful to put her Secret Service badge and Passport where she could get to them quickly, and called the airstrip to let them know when to expect her. She put on her sunglasses and left the base, turning in her visitor’s pass on her way out.

She walked out to where she’d met with Taylor and remembered where she’d seen the guards and others pursuing Odin. Her first impulse was to go down the same way and see if she could find anything that the search party missed. But then, in a moment of realization, she thought of what she would do if it had been her fleeing the facility.

She thought to herself that she would want to throw them off from the beginning so that she could stay at least one step ahead of her pursuers. She took a look at the detention facility and got an idea. She realized that there was a direct route to the sea, but that a roundabout route was also available.

She walked to the rear part of the facility and took a look at the ground before returning her gaze to the facility. She then walked the route she would have taken, which happened to be the same one that Odin had used the night before. She walked until she came to the sea. Thinking for a moment, she decided to hop a ride on a ferry instead of swimming across.

When she reached the other side, she started walking along the shoreline, careful to look for any sign of where someone swimming would have surfaced. She expected to find something very early in her search, so much that she double checked several areas.

She began to think that her instincts were starting to turn against her. There was no way that anyone could have swam as far as she had walked, while simultaneously avoiding an entire search party, and not be passed out on the shoreline. Then, she remembered who she was dealing with. Specifically, she remembered the man she had fought with at the pavilion and had heard incredible stories about in reports she had read during her plane trip to Miami.

Remembering this, particularly the account of him dodging bullets, she kept moving forward. She was finding it difficult to focus on the task at hand due to the fact that she had those Prussian blue eyes stuck in her memory and still gnawing at her thoughts. They were expressionless in her memory, but it was still as though they were taunting her.

Pushing that image and the feelings she associated with it aside, she continued in the task at hand. After a while longer, her diligent search was rewarded with her discovery of some strange-looking marks in the sand. The shape and structure were obviously not footprints. Bledsoe was not an expert in tracking or in identifying different kinds of prints, but it was obvious to her that someone had crawled from where she was standing.

She looked around and saw footprints a short distance away, she could tell that they had been left there recently. She eagerly ran to where the prints were and followed them up a small ridge that led to an outdoor cantina. It looked deserted, but as she got closer she could hear something from inside the small enclosed area behind the bar.

She walked up to the bar and heard a splash behind the door. She wondered at this and knocked on the bar counter a few times. She waited patiently for a few more moments and was about to knock on the bar again but decided on calling out ‘hello’. When she still heard nothing, she briefly considered drawing her weapon and barging into the backroom. Her desire to not potentially cause an international incident restrained her, and a moment later she heard another splash followed by the door opening and Eduardo walking out. She could immediately tell that he had splashed water on his face, but wondered why she hadn’t heard a faucet running.

There were a few moments where Bledsoe’s suspicion coupled with Eduardo’s surprise at a beautiful and unexpected guest caused an uncomfortable silence. Both of them were waiting for the other to make some kind of indication of their intentions. Bledsoe waited for Eduardo to indicate if he had anything to hide. Eduardo waited to see if Bledsoe was a tourist or one of the people Odin had alluded to might be pursuing him.

“No ingles,” Eduardo said breaking the silence.

“That’s okay,” Bledsoe answered in Spanish to Eduardo’s surprise, “I think that no one should go someplace on vacation unless they speak the language.”

“Que bien,” Eduardo answered genuinely impressed to hear Bledsoe speaking Spanish, “but I’m afraid we’re closed. I came in here to clean up, it was quite rowdy last night.”

“Just one drink please,” Bledsoe answered doing her best to sound alluring while not being completely flirtatious. Eduardo relaxed and nodded his approval.

“What can I get for you?” Eduardo asked.

“Do you have coffee,” Bledsoe asked, “I’ve wanted to try real Cuban coffee for a very long time.”

“We do,” Eduardo said with a slight smile, “I trust that you know something about our particular blend?”

“I take mine trong anyway,” Bledsoe answered with a smile.

Eduardo returned the smile and set about getting Bledsoe’s request. Bledsoe let out a deep breath and looked around the bar. Despite not drinking, in between college and hangouts with colleagues in the Secret Service she had been in enough bars to be able to compare Eduardo’s to other establishments. As such, she could tell that it was a dive. She figured that any place like this that had an enclosed area complete with a deadbolt was trafficking in a lot more than booze. Her eyes eventually found the Wurlitzer and she wandered over to have a look at the selection.

It only took a glance for her to see that it screamed pre-embargo. Unable to resist, she put in a coin and selected Buddy Holly’s “Maybe Baby.” Bledsoe couldn’t help but smile as the small records moved before stopping at her selection where a small mechanical arm picked it up and put it on the turntable.

As her song of choice played, she couldn’t resist dancing back to the bar. She was puzzled to see a shot glass on top of a coaster by her seat. She sat down and, her native customs taking hold, downed it in one gulp. She realized her mistake before swallowing it, and felt her eyes open as wide as they could. She involuntarily let out a loud gasp and looked toward Eduardo who let out a light chuckle as he looked on.

“I heard that Cuban coffee was strong,” Bledsoe said with fainted breath, “but I had no idea it was that concentrated.”

“Everyone has a similar reaction when they try it for the first time,” Eduardo replied jovially, “can I interest you in some more?”

“Okay,” Bledsoe answered, “but I’ll sip it this time.” Eduardo filled another shot glass and set it down on the coaster. Bledsoe took a sip and looked around, her eyes wandered the area searching for anything out of the ordinary, any clue that might help her know if she was on the right track, or that she could use as leverage to pressure Eduardo. After a few moments, she noticed that the door to the enclosed area was ajar just enough that she could see an item that was completely out of place in that location. She took the best look that she could inside the enclosed room while unconsciously moving her head up and down in time to the music and humming along.

She chose to act as though she had just noticed the strange object behind the door and decided to commence with the reason she had come.

“Senor,” she called out to Eduardo, “where did you get that?”

Eduardo froze for a few moments when he realized the object of her inquiry. He frantically tried to think of a reply that wouldn’t raise suspicion. He got a little distracted when he looked in her direction and saw Bledsoe looking expectantly at him with her beautiful face as she took another sip from her shot glass. He shook his head, remembering his wife at home, and then blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Oh that,” he scoffed, “my wife’s family owned that, some kind of antique. My mother-in-law gave it to my wife but we can’t keep it in the house so I’ve just been leaving it in the backroom.”

“That’s interesting,” Bledsoe said, “I only ask because my brother has something nearly identical to this. He told me that he got it in Istanbul when he was out that way with the Navy. Do your wife’s ancestors come from that area?”

“I don’t know how they got it,” Eduardo said after a pause, “all my mother-in-law told me about it was that it was made anciently and designed for executions by boiling in oil.”

“Interesting,” Bledsoe said still looking at it, “I’ll have to ask my brother more about his the next time I see him.”

“I have no idea what it was used for,” Eduardo said, “all I know is that I’m stuck with it here. Although I do make good use of it, especially in the summer.”

Bledsoe looked at him quizzically, Eduardo picked up on her body language. He walked through the door, got on his knees in front of the cauldron, cupped his hands together, and quickly plunged them into the water. The motion created a small wave, which flowed back into his hands. Once the wave was over his hands, he brought them up to his face.

“I hate to say this,” Eduardo said after a few moments, “but I need to get home to see my family for a while before business starts picking up.”

“Damn,” Bledsoe remarked as she finished her coffee and put an American 5-dollar bill on the bar, “there isn’t much of an opportunity if someone wants to grab a drink in the morning.”

“What can I say,” Eduardo remarked doing his best to be friendly and to not let on that he knew something serious was going on after seeing what Bledsoe had placed on the bar, he knew that Americans did not come to Cuba unless it was for something official, usually related to the government, “pretty much everyone here works during the day and drinks at night. I try to accommodate them.”

“So,” Bledsoe asked, “am I the only one that’s been here this morning?”

“Claro que si,” Eduardo said after pausing for a few seconds, “as I said, the locals work all day and drink at night. So, for now I am completely at your service.”

Accustomed to receiving sleazy comments from strange men, Bledsoe ignored the remark about him being completely at her service. She knew that he was lying now because she had heard him talking with someone when she had arrived. She wanted to keep pressing Eduardo for information, but she didn’t want to be too forward.

“Are you sure,” she asked attempting to put on a tone of curious interest, “because I could hear you talking with someone when I got to the bar.”

Eduardo knew he was caught. He attempted to do his best to tell the truth while leaving out important details.

“A friend called earlier,” Eduardo said struggling to sound casual, “the phone is in the office.” He gestured to the door as he uttered the word ‘office’.

“May I please use your phone,” Bledsoe asked, “I need to call my hotel to make some arrangements.”

Eduardo was surprised by the request, but he answered quickly. “I’m afraid that I can’t let you do that,” Eduardo answered, “but I can call a taxi for you to take you to your hotel.”

“Senor,” Bledsoe started as she set down her bag and took out her ID, “I’m going to be honest with you.” She took her badge out and showed it to Eduardo. “I’m an agent with the United States Secret Service and I’m looking for a murderer who escaped from the prison. I believe that he may have come this way.” Bledsoe gave a brief description of Odin’s appearance, “have you seen him? I ask because he seems to have escaped by way of the water and I think he came ashore close to your establishment.”

Helping Odin had been Eduardo’s only assignment up to this point, and he was now wondering if it would be his last. He was panicking inside, and then he realized that there was no way she could prove that Odin was ever in the cantina. He also knew that she could search up and down, even tear the entire place apart, and not find any trace of him.

“I will certainly keep an eye out for him,” Eduardo answered after a little while, “who should I contact if I do see him?”

Bledsoe thought for a moment and then suggested that he contact the local police. “Just to put myself at ease,” Bledsoe said, “may I go look through your office? You may feel free to observe if you are concerned about me going through your things.”

“Feel free,” Eduardo answered with no hint of the anxiety that had threatened to surface moments before. All Bledsoe found during her search were materials typical of any business owner’s office. Her eyes continually wandered back to the cauldron, unable to get over how similar in appearance it was to the one she had seen at her brother’s house.

She thought of everything in her search, even checking the floorboards for trap doors or other hidden compartments. After several minutes, she was forced to conclude that Clark Kent had not come this way, or that if he did there was no way to prove it.

“I’m finished,” Bledsoe said trying to mask her disappointment at her lack of findings, “I appreciate your cooperation Senor Gomez.” Bledsoe extended her hand to Eduardo as she finished speaking.

“No problem,” Eduardo replied, taking her hand, “I hope you and your friends find this man. He sounds dangerous, and we do not need men like that running around in Cuba.”

“No one does,” Bledsoe replied coldly, “que te vaya bien.”

Eduardo repeated the phrase and watched Bledsoe walk away. He waited for a little while until he saw Bledsoe going back the way she came. When she was out of sight, Eduardo quickly went inside the office and back to the cauldron to write a quick note:

Eduardo Gomez, Cuba, needs to talk.

He repeated the same procedure that he had done with Odin’s note. Dropping it into the cauldron and waiting. While he waited, he went over what he was going to say in his mind. He wasn’t sure how long he’d need to wait, but he had plenty to go over in his mind before then. After a while, Eduardo saw the water change and the image of a beautiful young Asian woman appear in it.

Eduardo stared into the water, this was his first time communicating with the Monastery and he wasn’t sure about any protocols that might be involved. The woman looked up at him from the cauldron, waiting for him to speak.

“Hello?” Eduardo eventually got out still unsure of how to proceed.

“Is this your first time doing this?” the woman asked in a tone that was simultaneously serious and understanding. Eduardo could only nod in response.

“Okay,” she said, “the only thing you need to know is that normally in the note you’ll want to also list how high a priority your message is.”

“Well,” Eduardo answered, “I think what I have to say is very important.”

“Then tell me,” the woman said, “and I will relay it to one of the Shepherds here.”

“Earlier today,” Eduardo began, “I helped a Knight get back to the Monastery. Right before he even left, an American Secret Service Agent came looking for him.”

“Did he find anything,” the woman asked, “would he have any way of suspecting how he got out?”

“The agent was a woman,” Eduardo answered, “and even if she suspects anything, she doesn’t have any proof and it would be difficult for her to describe any suspicions she might have.”

“Good,” she answered, “but the Shepherd will probably want to know about this just in case. Did you happen to catch the agent’s name?”

“Bledsoe,” Eduardo said remembering the name on the badge, “Alexis Bledsoe.”

“I’m certain we have a contact in the Secret Service,” the woman answered, “I’ll talk to our U.S. Shepherd. Thank you very much for this information, Watcher Gomez.”

“It is my pleasure,” Eduardo answered, “let me know if I can ever do anything to assist the Order.”

“We’ll do that,” the woman answered, “and we hope that nothing bad comes to you through your service.”

“If it does,” Eduardo answered, “I will accept it gladly. It would be a small price to pay for helping such a great cause.”

“We’re glad to have a Watcher like you Eduardo,” the woman replied, “remember to take the rock out of the cauldron when I send it back to you.”

Eduardo nodded and soon the water returned to its normal state. A few seconds later, the rock he’d tied the note around was at the bottom of the cauldron. Retrieving it promptly, he put it back with the others and took a breath of relief. It had been an eventful morning for Eduardo and he needed a few moments to unwind. He decided that now was the time to do what he had said he was going to do. He locked up his office, put up a cerrado sign, and went home to see his family.

Bledsoe searched the area around the cantina. Finding nothing, she retraced her steps back to the ferry station. Finding nothing, she boarded the next available ferry and made her way back to the base, the return trip giving her an opportunity to consider her next move. She concluded that any further efforts on her part in Cuba would be fruitless.

She thought of what she would do when she got back to the states. She knew she had to meet with Assistant Director Andrews to start her suspension, but after that she had three months to do whatever she wanted.

She had originally planned on being on the campaign trail for the next several months, but that was out of the question. She figured she could stay around the D.C. metro area or even take a long overdue vacation. But inside, she knew that she couldn’t relax while Clark Kent was still at large and could not leave the matter alone until it was resolved. She didn’t have much information, and could not investigate through the Secret Service, but she had more than enough motivation to justify investigating by herself.

With her plan for the next three months resolved, Bledsoe finished her journey to the airstrip. She met up with the pilot and he informed her which plane they would be using. She got on the plane and took a seat. Quickly taking out a pen and small notebook she had in her bag, she began writing everything she knew about her pending investigation.

The main things she wrote down were fifteenth century cauldrons (ask Hunter about his), and Secret Service insider (?). She had decided on investigating, but she needed to know where to begin. The pilot came back and the plane took off soon afterwards. Bledsoe had nothing but time to think during her flight back to Miami and the flight that would put her back in D.C.

Relaxing into her seat on the plane, she figured it would be a good idea to be quiet about her investigation, the last thing she wanted was to get jumped again. The mania now running rampant inside her provided the perfect distraction to her dislike of flying.

#novel #action-adventure #fantasy #historical fiction

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laurelcovecommunity · 3 months ago

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elderperfect · 5 years ago

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2020 Best Nursing Homes - California

ElderPerfect a leading publisher on senior healthcare across the United States, today announced the recipients of the Best Nursing Homes in California for 2020. These awards are designed to recognize providers based on their ability to consistently deliver excellence in the areas of Health Inspections, Quality of Residence Care, Penalties and Staffing. We’ve evaluated over 1,194 facilities, of which 324 (29%) met our top rating. This report marks the Gold Standard in terms of care for seniors. 0 Ranked Best Facilities  5/5

US Standard vs. Best Facilities

Average Number of Beds: 106 vs 95 Average Occupancy: 81% vs 83% Average Health Inspection Rating: 2.82 / 5.00 vs. 3.90 / 5.00 Average Government Rating: 3.01 / 5.00 vs. 4.49 / 5.00

Rating Methodology

Health Inspections Every year, the government assigns inspectors to conduct a formal review of nursing homes for regulatory purposes to meet the mandates outlined for Medicare and Medicaid, this aims to measure and improve the safety of residents across providers. Facilities may also be inspected when complaints are submitted or based on a reported incident. When noncompliance is identified, the facility is served a citation that indicates which regulation that was identified, along with the severity of the incident. Nursing homes are subsequently required to execute a program of resolution in order to meet compliance. Some scenarios require enforcement actions to be applied, such as a civil monetary penalty or withholding of payment(s), to incentivize resolution in a timely manner. Penalties Facilities are applied 2 types of penalties due to non-compliance / accumulation of incidents. Civil penalties are monetary fines that may be applied to a facility based on citations / infractions identified during a review. The severity of a penalty is defined primarily by the size and frequency of the infraction. Quality of Residence Care There are 3 types of resident care ratings, but for this exercise, we primarily focused on the overall quality measure rating. The quality measures (QMs) include 17 data points that are derived from clinical information reported by the respective nursing home and also from Medicare claims data submitted for payment. Ratings are calculated for the QM domain using the 4 most recent quarters for which data are available. A nursing home receives points contingent on performance on each measure (weighting distribution is not equal). Staffing Staffing research is submitted regularly by the facility and is adjusted for the requirement of the facilities residents. For each of registered nurse staff and total staffing, a 1 - 5 rating is applied according to definitions established for each category. These ratings are subsequently combined to assign an overall staffing rating. As an example, to get an overall staffing rating of 5 stars, nursing homes must earn a rating of 5 stars for both registered nurses and total staffing. Nursing homes could also be assigned a 1 star rating should they not have a registered nurse on-site daily, and do not submit staffing data, or which the data cannot be verified.

Best Nursing Homes in California

REDLANDS HEALTHCARE CENTER COUNTRY MANOR HEALTHCARE EDGEMOOR HOSPITAL FAIRFIELD POST-ACUTE REHAB MOUNT SAN ANTONIO GARDENS MARY HEALTH OF THE SICK CONVALESCENT & NURSING HOS MOTION PICTURE AND T.V. HOSP D/P SNF GOOD SAMARITAN REHAB AND CARE CENTER PLEASANT HILL POST ACUTE PALOMAR VISTA HEALTHCARE CENTER VILLA CORONADO D/P SNF MISSION VIEW HEALTH CENTER ARBOR HILLS NURSING CENTER LINDA MAR CARE CENTER BERKLEY WEST CONV HOSP COUNTRY VILLA PAVILION NURSING CENTER MONTEREY PARK CONV HOSP FOLSOM CARE CENTER HERITAGE GARDENS HEALTH CARE CENTER GREENFIELD CARE CENTER OF FAIRFIELD PROVIDENCE ST ELIZABETH CARE CENTER MARYCREST MANOR OAKLAND HEALTHCARE & WELLNESS CENTER VICTORIA HEALTHCARE AND REHABILITATION CENTER EAST BAY POST-ACUTE WILLOW PASS HEALTHCARE CENTER FAIRMONT REHABILITATION HOSPITAL MERCED NURSING & REHABILITATION CTR LOMPOC VALLEY MEDICAL CTR COMP CARE CTR D/P SNF LOMITA POST-ACUTE CARE CENTER LA SIERRA CARE CENTER WINDSOR PARK CARE CENTER OF FREMONT KEARNY MESA CONVALESCENT AND NURSING HOME FALLBROOK SKILLED NURSING CANTERBURY WOODS GRANT CUESTA SUB-ACUTE AND REHABILITATION CENTER MOUNTAIN VIEW HEALTHCARE CENTER UNIVERSITY CARE CENTER LA PALOMA HEALTHCARE CENTER CULVER WEST HEALTH CENTER VISTA PACIFICA CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL SAN JOSE HEALTHCARE & WELLNESS CENTER SAYLOR LANE HEALTHCARE CENTER WINDSOR GARDENS CARE CENTER OF HAYWARD ROCK CREEK CARE CENTER SEQUOIAS, THE THE CALIFORNIAN-PASADENA VIENNA NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER LA MESA HEALTHCARE CENTER ROCKY POINT CARE CENTER ARROYO VISTA NURSING CENTER REDDING POST ACUTE WOODLANDS HEALTHCARE CENTER NEWPORT NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER CRENSHAW NURSING HOME THE REUTLINGER COMMUNITY ARTESIA CHRISTIAN HOME INC. SANTA MONICA HEALTH CARE CENTER MISSION CARE CENTER HILLSIDE SENIOR CARE COASTAL VIEW HEALTHCARE CENTER GROSSMONT POST ACUTE CARE MISSION SKILLED NURSING & SUBACUTE CENTER PALO ALTO SUB-ACUTE AND REHABILITATION CENTER HIGHLAND CARE CENTER OF REDLANDS SOUTH COAST POST ACUTE BETHANY HOME SOCIETY SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY THE CALIFORNIAN MONTCLAIR MANOR CARE CENTER VENTURA POST ACUTE VALLE VERDE HEALTH FACILITY HARBOR VILLA CARE CENTER CLOVERDALE HEALTHCARE CENTER ENCINITAS NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER CHAPMAN CARE CENTER SAN LUIS CARE CENTER THE TERRACES AT SAN JOAQUIN GARDENS VILLAGE VICTORIAN POST ACUTE REDWOOD COVE HEALTHCARE CENTER HAYWARD HEALTHCARE & WELLNESS CENTER SAN TOMAS CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL RIVER BEND NURSING CENTER BERKELEY PINES SKILLED NURSING CENTER ST JUDE CARE CENTER APPLE VALLEY POST-ACUTE REHAB COURTYARD HEALTH CARE CENTER FRIENDSHIP MANOR NURSING & REHAB CENTER ST. FRANCIS HEIGHTS CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL FRANCISCAN CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL COVENTRY COURT HEALTH CENTER HY-LOND HEALTH CARE CENTER-MERCED MISSION TERRACE CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL LA JOLLA NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER EMPRESS CARE CENTER, LLC COUNTRY VILLA BAY VISTA HCC PACIFIC COAST MANOR PETALUMA POST-ACUTE REHABILITATION SACRAMENTO POST-ACUTE TOPANGA TERRACE DEVONSHIRE CARE CENTER PIEDMONT GARDENS HEALTH FACILITY DYCORA TRANSITIONAL HEALTH - SANGER ROSEWOOD POST ACUTE REHABILITATION COMMUNITY CONVALESCENT CENTER OF SAN BERNARDINO WOODLAND SKILLED NURSING FACILITY AVALON HEALTH CARE - SAN ANDREAS STOLLWOOD CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL GREENFIELD CARE CENTER OF FULLERTON, LLC COLLEGE OAK NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTER EXTENDED CARE HOSPITAL OF RIVERSIDE GRANADA HILLS CONVALESCENT EXCELL HEALTH CARE CENTER MID-WILSHIRE HEALTH CARE CNTR LAKE BALBOA CARE CENTER TUNNELL SKILLED NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTER PACIFICA NURSING AND REHAB CENTER PACIFIC GARDENS NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER TAMPICO TERRACE CARE CENTER RAMONA REHABILITATION AND POST ACUTE CARE CENTER NORTHBROOK HEALTHCARE CENTER CALIFORNIA PACIFIC MEDICAL CTR- DAVIES CAMPUS HOSP RED BLUFF HEALTH CARE CENTER SIERRA VIEW HOMES DYCORA TRANSITIONAL HEALTH MEMORY CARE OF FRESNO BIXBY KNOLLS TOWERS HEALTH CARE & REHAB CENTER LOS GATOS MEADOWS GERIATRIC HOSPITAL ALCOTT REHABILITATION HOSPITAL REO VISTA HEALTHCARE CENTER SAN LEANDRO HEALTHCARE CENTER SUMMERFIELD HEALTH CARE CENTER BETHESDA HOME REGENCY OAKS POST ACUTE CARE CENTER PARADISE VALLEY HEALTH CARE VALE HEALTHCARE CENTER PLEASANTON NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER WHITNEY OAKS CARE CENTER DELANO REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER GEORGE L MEE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL D/P SNF COMMUNITY EXTENDED CARE HOSPITAL OF MONTCLAIR HILLTOP CARE CENTER CASA COLOMA HEALTH CARE CENTER CARLSBAD BY THE SEA PROVIDENCE LITTLE CO OF MARY TRANSITIONAL CARE CTR THE ROYAL HOME PORTERVILLE DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER SHANDIN HILLS BEHAVIOR THERAPY CENTER SONOMA DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER D/P SNF RIVERSIDE BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE CENTER VISTA PACIFICA CENTER DYCORA TRANSITIONAL HEALTH-SAN JOSE RADY CHILDREN'S CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL D/P SNF LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR CRESTWOOD MANOR - 104 DEPT OF STATE HOSPITALS - NAPA D/P SNF VILLA SIENA CRESTWOOD WELLNESS AND RECOVERY CENTER CRESTWOOD TREATMENT CENTER SAKURA INTERMEDIATE CARE FACILITY CRESTWOOD MANOR - FREMONT PARK MERRITT CARE CENTER TUSTIN CARE CENTER LONG BEACH POST ACUTE

GOLDEN STATE COLONIAL HEALTHCARE CENTER ST JOHN KRONSTADT CONVALESCENT CENTER ORANGEGROVE REHABILITATION HOSPITAL BEACHSIDE NURSING CENTER LODI NURSING & REHABILITATION MCCLURE POST ACUTE PROVIDENCE HOLY CROSS MED CTR D/P SNF TRACY NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER DEL MAR CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL VALLEY POINTE NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTER KINGSLEY MANOR CARE CENTER PACIFIC COAST POST ACUTE VETERANS HOME OF CALIFORNIA - YOUNTVILLE - SNF ESKATON CARE CENTER GREENHAVEN SAN MIGUEL VILLA INLAND CHRISTIAN HOME MCKINLEY PARK CARE CENTER ARARAT CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL MOUNT MIGUEL COVENANT VILLAGE POWAY HEALTHCARE CENTER GRANCELL VILLAGE OF THE JEWISH HOMES FOR THE AGING THE BRADLEY COURT TOWN AND COUNTRY MANOR WESTLAND HOUSE REDWOOD TERRACE HEALTH CENTER SHORELINE CARE CENTER FRIENDS HOUSE NORTHPOINTE HEALTHCARE CENTRE LINCOLN SQUARE POST ACUTE CARE ENGLISH OAKS CONVALESCENT & REHABILITATION HOSPITA DEL ROSA VILLA SARATOGA PEDIATRIC SUBACUTE ADVENTIST HEALTH SONORA - D/P SNF EXTENDED CARE HOSP WESTMINSTER SHARP CHULA VISTA MED CTR SNF VINEYARD HILLS HEALTH CENTER TAHOE FOREST HOSPITAL D/P SNF SAINT FRANCIS MED CTR DP ACC CARE CENTER CASTLE MANOR CONVALESCENT CENTER UNIVERSITY POST-ACUTE REHAB SUN MAR NURSING CENTER SPRING LAKE VILLAGE DIAMOND RIDGE HEALTHCARE CENTER STANFORD COURT SKILLED NURSING & REHAB CENTER REGENTS POINT - WINDCREST REMINGTON CLUB HEALTH CENTER VILLA POMERADO D/P SNF VILLA RANCHO BERNARDO CARE CENTER AVIARA HEALTHCARE CENTER CARMEL MOUNTAIN REHABILITATION & HEALTHCARE CENTER LA PALMA NURSING CENTER VALENCIA GARDENS HEALTH CARE CENTER LINCOLN MEADOWS CARE CENTER VALLEY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL SNF MANORCARE HEALTH SERVICES (CITRUS HEIGHTS) REDWOOD CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL, INC SUNNY VIEW MANOR CASA DE LAS CAMPANAS SHIELDS NURSING CENTER BAYSIDE CARE CENTER DANVILLE POST-ACUTE REHAB ASISTENCIA VILLA REHABILITATION AND CARE CENTER ALAMEDA HOSPITAL D/P SNF CREEKSIDE CENTER CORONA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER D/P SNF FREEDOM VILLAGE HEALTHCARE CENTER DESERT REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER D/P SNF ST FRANCIS EXTENDED CARE STONEBROOK HEALTHCARE CENTER THE DOROTHY & JOSEPH GOLDBERG HEALTHCARE CENTER LIFE CARE CENTER OF ESCONDIDO VILLA GARDENS HEALTH CARE UNIT EASTERN PLUMAS HOSPITAL- PORTOLA CAMPUS DP/SNF CAPITAL TRANSITIONAL CARE MANORCARE HEALTH SERVICES (SUNNYVALE) MANORCARE HEALTH SERVICES - ROSSMOOR GLENWOOD CARE CENTER MARINA GARDEN NURSING CENTER MOUNTAINS COMMUNITY HOSP DPSNF ALTA GARDENS CARE CENTER MARSHALL MEDICAL CENTER D/P SNF USC VERDUGO HILLS HOSPITAL DP/SNF MIRAVILLA CARE CENTER RIVERWOOD HEALTHCARE CENTER PALM VILLAGE RETIREMENT COMM. HERITAGE PARK NURSING CENTER COMM. HOSP. OF SAN BERNARDINO DP SNF HEALTH CARE CTR AT THE FORUM AT RANCHO SAN ANTONIO EDEN VALLEY CARE CENTER PIONEER HOUSE THE COVE AT LA JOLLA THE TERRACES OF LOS GATOS DANISH CARE CENTER ESKATON VILLAGE CARE CENTER OAKLAND HEIGHTS NURSING AND REHABILITATION GROSSMONT HOSPITAL D/P SNF ARARAT NURSING FACILITY TOTALLY KIDS REHABILITATION HOSPITAL - D/P SNF HEALDSBURG DISTRICT HOSPITAL DP/SNF SAN LUIS TRANSITIONAL CARE O'CONNOR HOSPITAL D/P SNF EMANATE HEALTH INTER-COMMUNITY HOSPITAL- D/P SNF WINDSOR MANOR ARROYO GRANDE CARE CENTER REDLANDS COMM HOSP D/P SNF ZUCKERBERG SAN FRANCISCO GENERAL HOSP & TRAUMA SNF GARDEN PARK CARE CENTER NORWALK SKILLED NURSING & WELLNESS CENTRE, LLC TERRACE VIEW CARE CENTER LEGACY NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER BARTON HOSPITAL D/P SNF SIMI VALLEY CARE CENTER CHAPMAN GLOBAL MEDICAL CENTER D/P SNF HILLVIEW CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL ROWNTREE GARDENS LAUREL CREEK HEALTH CENTER SAN FRANCISCO TOWERS CHILDREN'S RECOVERY CENTER OF NO CA D/P SNF SIENA SKILLED NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER BROOKDALE CARLSBAD COVENANT VILLAGE CARE CENTER SAMARKAND SKILLED NURSING FACILITY PALOMAR HEIGHTS POST ACUTE REHAB BELLAKEN SKILLED NURSING CENTER UNIVERSITY RETIREMENT COMMUNITY AT DAVIS CAMARILLO HEALTHCARE CENTER KAISER PERMANENTE POST-ACUTE CARE CENTER CEDAR CREST NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER VI AT LA JOLLA VILLAGE MISSION CARE CENTER BEL VISTA HEALTHCARE CENTER GLENBROOK PROVIDENCE ALL SAINT'S SUBACUTE LOMPOC SKILLED NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTER VI AT PALO ALTO JONES CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL ALHAMBRA HOSPITAL MED CTR DP/SNF BAY AREA HEALTHCARE CENTER VETERANS HOME OF CALIFORNIA - BARSTOW BAYWOOD COURT HEALTH CENTER OAKVIEW SKILLED NURSING KINDRED HOSPITAL BREA D/P SNF VILLA SCALABRINI SPECIAL CARE SIERRA VISTA HEALTHCARE FOREST HILL MANOR HEALTH CENTER LAUREL HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CARE BELLA VISTA HEALTH CENTER SOMERSET SUBACUTE AND CARE CHAPARRAL HOUSE BROOKDALE CAMARILLO ALL SAINT'S MAUBERT CLEAR VIEW CONVALESCENT CENTER CLEAR VIEW SANITARIUM LAKESIDE SPECIAL CARE CENTER MOUNTAIN MANOR SENIOR RESIDENCE VETERANS HOME OF CALIFORNIA - REDDING FOOTHILL HEIGHTS CARE CENTER CREEKVIEW SKILLED NURSING MOCHO PARK CARE CENTER VETERANS HOME OF CALIFORNIA - FRESNO ANBERRY TRANSITIONAL CARE

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yjkyungwan-blog · 6 years ago

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𝐒𝐔𝐏 , 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐎𝐒 𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐎𝐒 ! i’m very excited to finally be here ! the name’s ysa ( she / her , pst ) and i’m coming to you live , acai bowl in hand , to introduce you to the biggest pain in my ass , CHOI KYUNGWAN . okay ... maybe not the biggest , but he’s up there . he’s been at the yujaen sharehouse for about a month now and currently works as an employee at the LAVISH DRAGON SPA as well as a part time DELIVERY BOY for kentucky fried chicken . his detailed profile and connections page will be linked below and if you’d like to plot with him , please GIVE THIS POST A LIKE and i’ll be sure to make your hotline bling via the tumblr ims . or if you’d much rather prefer to figure things out on d*scord , feel free to add me @ stream me by clc#5398 . * mark lee vc * let’s get it !!

profile . connections . // trigger warning for death mention .

NAME: choi kyungwan .

FACE CLAIM: jung jaewon .

PREFERRED PRONOUNS: he / him .

AGE: twenty two .

DATE OF BIRTH: october 30 , 1996 .

ZODIAC: scorpio sun , gemini moon , cancer rising .

PERSONALITY TYPE: istp .

ROOM: yugji building , room 1b .

+ witty , perceptive , flexible , leisurely , charming . / - blunt , dishonest , reserved , unorganized , noncommital .

AESTHETICS: #being paid on time , #vegetarian-friendly food options at restaurants , #tyrian purple , #winning bets , #smoking cigarettes , #getting the last laugh , #cats , #pineapple on pizza is good you just have terrible taste , #denim jackets , #staying up late , #cold beers , #spraying febreze , #buying lottery tickets , #sarcasm , #bragging rights , #sour gummy worms , #the rush of adrenaline from catching your bus or train at the last second , #wellness shots , #the nightmare before christmas , #happy delirium , #when the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline , #finding money in your pocket that you forgot you had .

born in yongsa , south korea . only child . grew up under the care of both his parents and lived quite comfortably . his family owns lavish dragon spa , which is considered to be the biggest and most popular bathhouse in town . his father is the primary owner and keeps an eye on all the day-to-day activities , while his mother runs the books and takes care of everything from a public relations standpoint . as his parents worked full time , a lot of his childhood was spent in daycare facilities or with his late paternal grandfather .

out of all his immediate family members , kyungwan considered himself to be the closest with his grandfather . his most favorite memory of them spending time together was when he was three years old ; in the middle of summer , he distinctly remembers , walking along the seashore of yongsa beach , holding hands and laughing as he eats an ice cream cone and accidentally drops it into the sand .

when he passed away , kyungwan took a long time to process and accept it . the concept of death was a hard pill to swallow for a kid his age ; he was a little confused and a lot sad , and didn’t exactly know how to deal with it . he also wasn’t one to be outwardly emotionally expressive , still isn’t to this day , so instead of spilling tears or talking about it , he withdrew into this shell for a good chunk of his first year of middle school .

things took an upturn when he got involved with tennis . his mother , worried sick about his well-being , forced him into the idea in the midst of his “ i don’t want to do this , you can’t make me ” tantrums because she believed he needed to do something , anything to get him out of the rut he was in , and she was not going to stand by and watch her son sit tight-lipped and grieving . turns out , he had a knack for the sport ; he didn’t want to admit it at first but he liked it , and he liked that he could channel all of his negative energy out on the court . it was a way for him to express himself without actually having to express himself ... verbally .

unfortunately his interest in tennis lessened over time , just as his interests in other things grew over time , and he doesn’t play much anymore . he still considers it a hobby , though .

as briefly mentioned above , kyungwan works as an attendant at lavish dragon spa . it’s a job some may consider a “ hand out, ” due to the fact that his parents are the ones in charge , but don’t let him catch you saying that . he doesn’t mind it , working there ; it’s basically a second home to him . his father keeps on insisting to groom him for management but he’s not entirely sure he wants to commit to that yet . it’s nice to think about , a good backup plan , but he’s not 100 % sold . he doesn’t want to be tied down . wants to explore all his options .

aside from his job at the bathhouse , he also makes money through a part time job doing deliveries for kentucky fried chicken . which is so ironic , given that he doesn’t even eat meat , but who is choi kyungwan if not a walking paradox ? he responded to a wanted ad one day , went in , got the job , and it sticks . he’s not complaining . most nights he’ll come home smelling like grease and fried chicken . and depending on who you ask , that could not be a bad thing .

to be specific: kyungwan is pescetarian-vegetarian , which means he follows a strict plant-based diet with an incorporation of seafood . he doesn’t eat meat for any extreme reason , he just doesn’t like it . feels nauseous and sluggish after eating it . he’s not going to go out of his way to hound people who do eat meat , and he doesn’t get bothered if you eat some infront of him . he merely won’t have a bite . period .

kind of charming , kind of an asshole . knows how to use words to get by and truly believes karma doesn’t apply to him . sugarcoating isn’t in his vocabulary ; he’ll tell you how it is , plain and simple . sometimes he can come off insensitive in this regard , but he doesn’t mean to hurt people intentionally . nine times out of ten , the things he says or does are for his own benefit and the people around him are an afterthought . but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about his friends and loved ones . he does . he just understands that at the end of the day , the only person that’s going to take care of him is himself , and he wants to protect his heart above all else . he’s been careless before , too trusting , and has had ex friends and ex relationships walk all over him .

has an affinity for smoking . it’s a habit he picked up from those he’s been hanging around with these days . he won’t smoke in the sharehouse , he knows better not to , but he’ll light a cigarette outside . there are times where he has tried to quit but it hasn’t broken ground yet . the longest he’s gone without smoking was two months ... let’s see if he can beat that .

tends to get into fights . mighty prideful . his parents , or more so his father , hates the kind of person kyungwan is becoming and they never see eye to eye on his choices . his mother , on the other hand , always gives him the benefit of the doubt and stays perpetually worried about him . she’s been like that ever since he was young and he knows she’ll never change .

he moved out of his parents’ house because he couldn’t stand the suffocation he felt from living under their roof . they constantly argued and went back and forth , and at the time things seemed definite and final . he then moved in with his now ex girlfriend and lived with her for a few months before their imminent break up , prompting him to find a new place to stay . he contemplated going back to his parents ; was actually about a block or two away from the front door before he talked himself out of it and went to look into hostels and every other possible affordable accommodations .

and that’s how he wound up at the yujaen . this living situation is more tentative than anything , though it’s already been a month and he’s still there . he’s not the worst roommate or housemate in the world but there are definitely some things he needs to work on .

#yj:intro #hotline bling??? in 2k19???? ...... who am i #neways i'll get to messages soon!#𝟏𝟎 › 𝗈𝗈𝖼.　 / 　 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒐 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒌 𝒕𝒆𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒆

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polinaivanchenko45 · 3 years ago

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50 Insanely Awesome Things to Do in Seychelles for a Fantastic Tropical Vacation

Seychelles is a beautiful island nation rich in natural beauty. Everything from white sand beaches to high mountains may be found here. Aside from the breathtaking scenery, Seychelles offers a plethora of engaging activities to keep your trip fun and exciting.

During your time here, you have the option of rock climbing, hiking the difficult trails, exploring the rich flora and wildlife, and much more. So, if you're planning a trip to Seychelles soon, here are some of the greatest things to do in Seychelles for an enjoyable vacation.

Don't worry, not everything will put a dent in your vacation spending. There are a lot of things you can do here without spending any money.

In Seychelles, there are many things to do.

So, before you become confused about what to do here, here is a comprehensive list of all the fantastic activities available. Take a look at these activities and make a list of interesting things to do on the island aside from staying at the best beach resorts in Mahe, Seychelles for your trip.

Explore the Islands as if you were a local.

Walking, cycling, or taking the bus to get around is one of the greatest methods to see Seychelles. This will not only save you money but will also provide you with an insight into the culture that you would not get if you took a taxi or rented a car.

The majority of inhabitants utilize the public bus to get around, which costs 7 Seychellois Rupees regardless of where you want to go. You wind up talking to the locals on the bus ride and hear about their jobs, life in the Seychelles, and much more. Walking and cycling about the islands is another fantastic way to get a feel for the Seychelle’s way of life. You'll be able to take in the scenery that you wouldn't see in a car.

Local Creole Cuisine is a must-try.

One of my favorite things to do in Seychelles as a foodie was to drink at the best bars in Mahe, Seychelles and sample Creole cuisine, and broaden my gastronomic horizons. It was a joy to try such interesting foods because the local cuisine is a blend of European, African, and Asian ingredients.

There's a vast variety of delicacies to taste here, from Carotte Bananas to Indian Samosas. Don't let this opportunity pass you by.

The classic Creole supper, which consists of curry, rice, and veggies, is a popular dish to sample here. This curry can be vegetarian or meat-based, depending on the preferences of the diner. A lunch costs only 30 to 50 Seychellois Rupees (120 to 200 INR). This meal is widely available at any Seychelles takeaway or snack shop.

Aside from that, try Carotte Banana, a local dish made by wrapping a banana in banana leaves and adding honey and vanilla. Then it's let to dry, and the finished result is quite tasty. You'll also find bananas cooked in coconut milk, which you can taste.

Praslin's Hidden Waterfall

Are you someone who enjoys going on adventures and discovering new places to visit? If so, the secret waterfall in Praslin is one of the best spots to see in Seychelles. Yes, there is a lovely waterfall here that isn't included in most guidebooks, and there isn't much information about it on Google either.

No signs are indicating the position of the waterfall here, so you may need to enlist the assistance of a local to locate it. This location is only a few minutes away from the Vallée de Mai UNESCO World Heritage Site and is well worth a visit. Furthermore, because it is not well-known, you will find it to be private and will be able to genuinely enjoy yourself here.

How to Get There: Drive to the Grand Anse Beach from the Vallée de Mai National Park. On the route, you'll come across some waterworks; stop there and begin walking uphill from the entrance. Voila! You'll come across this lovely but secluded waterfall.

Take a swim in the crystal-clear ocean water.

Of course, if you're visiting Seychelles, you should also go diving. Because the water is pure and crystal clear, a great swim along the beaches can be quite refreshing. It is one of the best resort activities in Seychelles you can participate in that is free.

You can easily spend your days swimming and making the most of your visit by doing so. However, keep in mind that due to the strong ocean current, a few beaches are not ideal for swimming. So, be cautious when swimming here, and notify at least one person before going out to swim in the turquoise-colored water.

Beau Vallon where you can find Story Seychelles’ Villas, Anse Forbans, Anse Lazio, Anse Reunion, and more popular bathing beaches can be found here.

At the casino, you can try your luck.

If you have never tried your luck at a casino before, it is one of the most interesting things to do in Seychelles. It was my first time, and it was a lot of joy for me. Yes, if you aren't careful, you could lose a lot of money. However, you do not need to spend a lot of money to enjoy it.

You can try your luck at one of the casino slots here with just 50 Seychellois Rupees. It's also free to enter, so you might as well have a good time here. Just make sure you don't go overboard and lose all of your money.

Here you can try the world-famous Takamaka rum.

If you're a rum connoisseur, you might be interested to know that Seychelles produces a native rum known as Takamaka Rum. You may acquire a bottle of this rum for 180 Seychellois Rupees from local shops and party all night! You can also choose between two flavors: chocolate or coconut. So go out and get a bottle, go to the beach with your friends, and take in everything Seychelles has to offer.

Spend Time on the Islands Observing Endangered Birds

Over 200 bird species call the Seychelles home, the vast majority of which are native to the islands. Thousands of tourists and researchers visit this island nation every year because of its distinct and diverse flora and fauna. So, one of the best (and free) ways to enjoy the Seychelles is to look for endemic birds on the many islands you visit.

A few birds, such as the Seychelles Flycatcher, Magpie Robins, Blue Pigeon, and others, will be easy to spot. To see these birds, all you need is a map and binoculars. Veuve Reserve (La Digue), Fond Ferdinand (Praslin), and Vallée De Mai are a few areas where you may go bird watching (Praslin).

At night, enjoy cycling around the island.

The night I was cycling around La Digue Island with two new acquaintances is one of my favorite memories from my Seychelles trip. The roads were virtually deserted by 10 p.m., and the entire island was silent.

The majority of tourists and locals were either sleeping or relaxing in their rooms or apartments. We were cycling along the shore, watching the beaches pass us by as the moon and stars illuminated the sea. The chilly night breeze was pleasant, and cycling around the island at night was the most tranquil feeling I'd ever had.

Allow yourself to be pampered at a luxurious villa or resort.

Staying in one of the exquisite resorts in Seychelles is one of the best things to do if you're seeking a luxurious stay in Seychelles. You will remember your trip to Seychelles for a long time because there are so many beautiful resorts with heavenly views and incredibly nice rooms.

The Story Seychelles Villas is one of the greatest options available. A wanderlust's dream, the one-of-a-kind Grand Beach Pool Villa. They are located near the beach and feature a canopied king-sized bed, living area, sofa, separate dining room, and a long list of luxury facilities. With a big outdoor pool, deck space, relaxing pavilion, and outdoor rain shower, the private terrace area redefine heaven.

They are completely private and only a stone's throw from the resort's azure ocean. This is our greatest recommendation for a once-in-a-lifetime vacation.

Story Seychelles’ Beach Pool Villas are both lavish and large, combining real Seychellois elegance with the finest in sophisticated modern décor. They provide a haven inside a haven, with a private pool, pool deck, and cabana that all lead directly to Beau Vallon Beach.

The bathroom leads to a second private patio, providing a completely natural bathing experience in the stand-alone bathtub or the indoor and outdoor showers. The bedroom is dominated by a king-size bed under a draped cotton canopy, which is close to a chaise lounge and leisure space, as well as a dining table.

Sunbathe on the Seychelles' Beautiful Beaches

This should go without saying, but if you're visiting Seychelles, you must make use of the island's beaches. And one of the finest ways to do it is to sunbathe alongside the blue shoreline on the white, beautiful beaches here.

You will feel as if you are relaxing in paradise, surrounded by Takamaka trees and brilliant ocean water. Beau Vallon, Anse Lazio, Anse Georgette, and Anse Source d'Argent are some of the nicest beaches for sunbathing. And the best part is that this is an entirely free activity! All you need is a great, secluded beach, a few towels to layout on, sunscreen, a cap, and a pair of sunglasses.

During your stay, take in the breathtaking sunsets every day.

Seychelles has some of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen, and I'm not kidding. During my two-week stay here, I saw so many beautiful sunsets that I've lost track of how many I saw. But, certainly, I recall those sunsets and the feeling of seeing them as vividly as if it were yesterday.

The entire sky would turn a gorgeous mix of orange, pink, and blue, and you could watch as the huge, red sun was slowly swallowed by the wide ocean. Nothing beats viewing a sunset here, and you'll thank me later when you've seen some of the most stunning sunsets you've ever seen.

Make Amazing Memories with Other Travelers

Yes, you read that correctly. Opening yourself up to meeting new people and experiencing the islands with them is one of the finest ways to enjoy Seychelles. I met several other single travelers in Seychelles on my solo trip and had a great time hanging out with them.

Interact with the locals to have a better understanding of their culture and way of life.

I believe that the best approach to discover a new location is to do it with a local who knows about hidden gems that you would never find on your own. Not only that, but interacting with locals provides you a glimpse into their culture and way of life, as well as allowing you to learn more about the area you're visiting.

So, if you truly want to experience everything the Seychelles has to offer, talk to the people in this area. During my trip to the Seychelles, I met a lot of locals who gave me a lot of interesting stories about their lives, their homes, and everything else. I discovered that many Seychellois people travel to India for shopping because clothing and spices are inexpensive there. That's fascinating, isn't it?

Learn about the world's heaviest seed.

Visiting the UNESCO Heritage Site Vallée de Mai or another reserve, Fond Ferdinand, to learn about the local black parrot and Coco De Mer plant is one of the greatest things to do in Seychelles. Coco de Mer is a rare palm tree that is only found in the Seychelles islands.

The nuts and seeds of this palm tree occasionally washed up on the shores of India and the Maldives, where no one recognized them. As a result, several legends evolved in response to the appearance of this "sea coconut."

When the true Coco De Mer trees were discovered by the French in the Seychelles in the 1700s, Praslin was dubbed the Garden of Eden, as recounted in the Bible. This was thought to be the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

All of this is attributable to the Coco De Mer plants' form and production method. Male palm tree nuts are required to pollinate the fruits, which only grow on female trees. The male trees have phallic-shaped fruits, while the female trees have buttock-shaped fruits, and because of these seductive features, many traditions and beliefs have developed over time.

So, if you're interested in learning more about this unusual fruit, a visit to one of these reserves is one of the greatest things to do in Seychelles.

Take a look at the Island-Saving Bird.

Yes, I realize this seems absurd, but it's true. Cousin Island, located in the Seychelles, was once a prominent coconut plantation. The discovery of the endemic Seychelles Warbler on this small island, which had only 26 individuals at the time of discovery, changed everything for this small island.

The BirdLife International organization purchased it in 1968, and the coconut trees were removed to restore the original flora. The island was also designated as a Special Reserve in 1975, allowing ornithologists and bird watchers to study and learn about the Seychelles Warbler.

Seychelles fody, Seychelles magpie-robin, Seychelles sunbird, Seychelles blue pigeon, Malagasy turtle doves, and other species can be found in addition to the Seychelles Warbler. It is simple to schedule a boat journey from Praslin Island to this reserve and tour this beautiful island.

In Seychelles, go to the local nightclubs and party spots.

While Seychelles isn't Bali or Phuket, the nightlife in the islands isn't as bleak as it appears. There are a few pubs and casinos here where you may have a good time with the locals on weekends.

One intriguing aspect of Seychelles nightlife is that the islanders like to party on weekends, therefore the few clubs in the country are largely deserted during the week. Weekends, on the other hand, are when the fun begins.

One of the best bars in Mahe, Seychelles is the Ripples Pool Bar in Story Seychelles. Ripples, a casual yet stylish establishment close to the pool, serves a wide variety of drinks, light nibbles, and snacks. If you're searching for a calm day, this lovely pool bar in Seychelles is the ideal place to unwind.

Feed the majestic Aldabra Giant Tortoises & Spend Time With Them

Spending time with the native Aldabra Giant Tortoises is one of the most unusual things to do in Seychelles. These magnificent creatures can be seen in considerable numbers on Curieuse Island and La Digue Island, but there are a few on Praslin Island and Mahe Island as well.

You may go among the tortoises on Curieuse Island and interact with them in the open, which is a fantastic experience. And on La Digue, inside the L'Union Estate, there is an enclosure where these tortoises are housed, and you may feed them the leaves that are stored there for visitors.

A small nursery is also located here, where you can observe the small Aldabra tortoises going about their daily routine. Overall, this is something that you should not miss out on while visiting Seychelles.

Scuba Diving and Snorkeling in the Most Beautiful Location

Of course, you must go snorkeling or scuba diving in the crystal-clear waters of the Seychelles when you visit. Seychelles is bordered by the gorgeous Indian Ocean and boasts diverse marine life, making it a popular scuba diving destination.

Thousands of visitors come here each year to explore the underwater world and see the beautiful coral reef and animals that call this region home. The best part is that there are several nice snorkeling beaches here, so all you need is your snorkeling mask to get started.

On one of the islands, go rock climbing.

Rock climbing is one of the top things to do in Seychelles for adventure seekers. Whether you are a seasoned rock climber or a novice, Seychelles provides the ideal rock climbing sites for you. While practically any rock may be climbed here, there are a few specific locations with graded climbs that are a lot more fun.

Many resorts have built their own rock-climbing centers in the jungles so that tourists can enjoy rock climbing there. If you enjoy rock climbing, you will be able to locate a plethora of magnificent rock cliffs to climb here for free. However, exercise caution and carry the essential safety equipment when doing so.

Take a Drive to the Stunning Viewpoints

If you rent a car in Seychelles, one of the nicest things you can do is drive to the picturesque places around the island to take in the scenery. The La Misere Viewpoint, for example, provides a stunning view of Eden Island and Victoria City in the distance.

Apart from that, the Mission Lodge Viewpoint, as well as several other overlooks on Praslin and La Digue Island, may be reached by car. So, while you're in Seychelles, go for a drive to take in the stunning beach vistas.

Spend the Night on the Beach Under the Stars

You know how nice and calm it is to spend a night on the beach if you've ever done it. One of the nicest things to do in Seychelles is to spend a night on a beach, soaking up the calm and tranquility. As the moon slowly makes its way to the sky, you will be surrounded only by palm trees and the sound of the ocean waves.

The moonlight will illuminate the water below, creating an exquisite scene for you. To be honest, seeing a full moon on an ocean or a star-studded sky near an ocean is the most amazing feeling in the world. Just keep an eye out for crabs that emerge from the water in the middle of the night and begin scrambling around the beach.

Adventure awaits you on the Copolia Trail.

If you enjoy trekking, the Copolia Trail in Mahe is one of the most popular trails to visit in Seychelles. This hiking trek takes you to the summit of a granite mountain for a stunning view of the white sand beaches and the turquoise Indian Ocean.

Not only that, but the trail also provides access to the region's distinctive vegetation and is a relatively easy climb for anyone. It's also one of the free tourist attractions in Seychelles, so it won't break the bank.

Take a lot of pictures to remember the trip.

Taking a lot of pictures around here is one of the greatest and cheapest ways to make the most of your trip to the Seychelles. You will not find such breathtakingly lovely vistas anyplace else on the planet. The massive granite rocks that surround a white glistening beach next to a brilliant blue ocean have their allure.

Honestly, during my stay here, I couldn't stop taking pictures. And now, whenever I look at those photos, I can relive my trip and recall my favorite experiences from it. So, my friend, grab a nice camera and start clicking!

Visit the Vallée De Mai, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

While not a free activity, a tour of the Vallée De Mai National Park is required if you truly want to enjoy the finest of Seychelles. On Praslin Island, there is a UNESCO World Heritage Site where the rare Coco De Mer thrives in its native state.

Many indigenous species such as the Seychelles bulbul, blue pigeon, Seychelles Warbler, black parrot, and others can be found here, making it a bird watcher's paradise. Aside from that, there are various hiking routes to discover, as well as guided tours to learn about the diverse flora and wildlife found here.

From Mahe, visit the beautiful islands of Curieuse, Cousin Island, and St. Pierre.

Seychelles is well-known for having some of the most gorgeous islands in the world. Many people use boats, kayaks, or pedal boats to explore the islands. If you genuinely want to appreciate these islands, though, a Seychelles cruise is the ideal way to do it.

Cruises from Mahe allow you to visit islands like Cousin Island, Curieuse, and St. Pierre, which have gorgeous topography, rich foliage, and exotic beaches. This, however, may be an expensive event and is not suggested for budget tourists.

Morne National Park is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna.

Morne Seychellois National Park, which covers 20% of Mahe's total land area, is home to a diverse range of flora and animals, ranging from coastal mangrove forests to Seychelles' highest peak, Morne Seychellois.

This densely forested mountainous region can only be reached on foot, as there are various pathways built out here. In this national park, there are approximately 12 trails that can be explored on full-day or half-day outings.

Beautiful sceneries and the remnants of cinnamon distilleries can be seen on these walks. So, if you want to escape the chaos of the world for a bit, a walk in this national park is the ideal method to do so. And, once again, this is a 100% free activity!

On La Digue, go to the Vintage Plantation House.

Visit the classic plantation house on the L Union Estate in La Digue, which is one of the most popular things to do in Seychelles. This 300-hectare region today serves as a well-known national monument, displaying the history and culture of La Digue.

Other attractions on the LÚnion Estate include coconut plantations, a coconut oil factory, a historic cemetery, a Copra home, and a Giant Aldabra Tortoise sanctuary and nursery. The famed Anse Source d'Argent beach is also located here, and admission costs 125 Seychellois Rupees.

Play a Round of Golf While Taking in the View

Another enjoyable activity in the Seychelles is to play golf while admiring the breathtaking scenery. To have some fun, you can go to the Seychelles Golf Club or The Lemuria Champions Golf Course in Seychelles. These golf courses are demanding and offer a beautiful perspective, making golfing here even more enjoyable.

Spend a day at the beach barbecuing or taking a boat tour.

Enjoying a BBQ on the beach was one of my favorite things to do in Seychelles. I was invited to their monthly BBQ party because I was staying at a local's house on Mahe Island, and it was a lot of fun.

Swimming in the ocean, relaxing on the beach, and eating barbecue food were all new experiences for me. Another alternative is to go on a full-day boat trip to Therese Island, which is one of the most enjoyable activities on the island. You can snorkel on the beach, relax, and eat traditional Creole BBQ on this boat excursion.

Embark on a tour of the islands.

To be honest, there isn't a scarcity of things to do in the Seychelles. Island hopping in the Seychelles is one such activity that you may add to your itinerary. There are many islands to explore in this island nation, which is made up of an archipelago of 115 islands.

You may admire Silhouette Island's topography, spend a day on La Digue Island or Denis Island, take a trip to Bird Island to see the indigenous birds, and much more. Island hopping in Seychelles is a lot of fun because of the gorgeous mountain ranges, sparkling beaches, and unusual biodiversity.

A Helicopter Ride Over the Islands Will Show You the Best of the Islands

Are you seeking a way to have even more fun while visiting the Seychelles? If so, a helicopter tour of the islands is required to enjoy the greatest views of these pristine islands. Believe me when I say that the view from above is completely different.

The huge Indian Ocean stretches on all sides, with numerous little islands strewn across the water, each with lush foliage, white pristine beaches, and distinct geology. A helicopter ride over the islands will provide a spectacular perspective of the islands.

Visit Anse Lazio, one of Seychelles' most beautiful beaches.

Anse Lazio is known as the most beautiful beach in the world because of its golden sand, massive granite formations, and crystal-clear azure-colored sea. This means that during the tourist season in Seychelles, it might get fairly crowded, but if you prepare ahead, you can enjoy the beach when it is quiet.

You can swim and snorkel here because the water is rich in fish, and there is usually a lifeguard on duty to keep you safe when you venture out into the ocean. There are various shops and restaurants here where you may enjoy a dinner with a view and spend an entire day relaxing or swimming. Furthermore, there are no fees associated with visiting the beach and enjoying its beauty.

Spend a Day on Moyenne Island, an undiscovered gem.

Moyenne Island, one of the nicest islands in Seychelles and a popular tourist destination, is recognized for its massive rocks and diverse flora and fauna. As you fall in love with Moyenne Island, a walk on the island could be a terrific approach to rest and refresh.

You may also order some delectable cuisine and cool beverages here. In Seychelles, this is a popular island for both lone visitors and couples.

While zip-lining, take in the breathtaking views of the forest.

Ziplining is another great sport to attempt in Seychelles, and it will provide you with incredible views of the forest canopy as well as the unique flora and wildlife found here. The zip-lining center SMAC Adventures is located in the Constance Ephelia Resort in Port Launay, Mahe.

Available are eight zip line possibilities there, ranging in length from 85 to 120 meters. The best aspect is that this exercise is suitable for people of all ages. So, while zip-lining, you can take in the beauty of the big granite boulders and rich foliage.

Take a lot of pictures at the world's most photographed beach.

Have you ever wished to go somewhere that looks like it belongs on a postcard? If so, you must go to Seychelles' Anse Source D'Argent Beach on La Digue. This is the most photographed beach on the planet, which comes as no surprise given the breathtaking scenery.

Palm trees, coves, and pink granite boulders dominate the entire beach area, which is said to change color. And because of its hypnotic beauty, you'll notice this setting in a lot of wedding images and commercials. During my visit, I noticed at least three wedding photographers here creating the ideal backdrop for the newlyweds.

Visit the bustling Victoria Market.

If you are staying in Seychelles for a few days, you must visit Victoria Market, the island's most popular shopping destination. This bustling market is brimming with vendors selling everything from vegetables to trinkets, all at extremely low costs. You can shop and haggle here until you're weary and hungry, then dine on true Creole cuisine at a few of the nearby restaurants.

In Seychelles, pay a visit to the beautiful Hindu Temple.

The only Hindu temple in Seychelles, Arul Mihu Navasakthi Vinayagar Temple, was completed in 1992 and is a famous tourist attraction. This temple, which is near Victoria's city center and features a very magnificent and colorful decorative tower, is set against a beautiful backdrop of green hills.

The temple is dedicated to Lord Vinayagar, the Hindu god of safety and prosperity, and is a wonderful spot to come if you want to relax. The temple's magnificent carvings are also a sight to behold and will take your breath away when you first see it.

Hike around the lovely beach of Anse Georgette.

The hiking trail near Anse Georgette Beach is one of the top things to do in Seychelles. This trail, also known as the Mont Plaisir Georgette walk, is particularly popular in Praslin because it provides panoramic views of the ocean.

This is a 2-3 hour hiking trail that begins from Anse Lazio and leads to the north point of Praslin. If you don't have much time, start the route from the Lemuria Hotel and enjoy the views before returning the same way. The best part is that this hiking trail is completely free, so you may enjoy breathtaking vistas without spending any money.

Seychelles' Specialty Seafood

Because Seychelles is surrounded by water, there are many delicious seafood meals to be found here. It is entirely up to you whether you go on a street food tour to sample the local delights or dine in proper restaurants.

Grilled fish, octopus curry, shark chutney, octopus salad, and other dishes are among the must-try items here. I tried the Octopus Curry here for the first time and found it to be quite tasty.

This cuisine is made with a blend of spices, curry powder, and coconut milk, and it is as tasty as you can imagine. If you enjoy seafood, you must sample the fresh seafood dishes served here.

Explore the Leprosarium's Ruins

If you enjoy visiting historical sites, the Curieuse Island, which is home to the ruins of the Leprosarium, is a must-see. Curieuse Island has a stunning coastline with sculpted granite boulders in a reddish hue, but it's the tragic history of the island that makes it noteworthy. Many years ago, people were quarantined because they had contracted leprosy.

There is a structure here in ruins where they were quarantined. In 1829, British Indian Ocean Territory's first leprosarium was built. The lepers were maintained in appalling conditions, and this structure was largely occupied by Mauritian and Seychellois slaves.

It was shut down in 1965 since leprosy had been nearly eradicated in the country by then. A tour through these ruins, on the other hand, might send shivers down your spine.

Hike the Seychelles' Amazing Trails

Now, we've already covered a few hiking paths in this post, but it doesn't even scratch the surface of what Seychelles has to offer hikers and adventure seekers. There are approximately 100 hiking routes on the islands that lead to either an incredible vista or a secret beach.

Visit the Aride Island Nature Reserve, which has remained untouched.

Aride Island, one of the greatest islands in Seychelles, is a hidden jewel of the Indian Ocean and one of the country's most important National Reserves. This island has remained lovely and wild all this time due to its natural abundance, and it is now administered by the Island Conservation Society.

The island is home to over a million seabirds from ten different species, as well as a few indigenous birds such as Magpie Robins, Brush Warblers, Fodies, Blue Pigeons, and others. There is also numerous indigenous flora such as Wright's Gardenia, Turtle Beaches, and others that may be found here.

Because this is a protected area, no outside vessels are permitted to land on the island, but you can join tours to see the island's diverse flora and fauna. If you want to include this island in your Seychelles itinerary, November to February is the best time to go because you may see migratory birds.

Take a tour of the La Misere Exotics Garden Center, which is kept hidden from the general public.

If you enjoy botany, one of the nicest things you can do is visit the garden, which is situated in a sloped area with numerous staircases, pathways, and trails leading to the property. There are about 300 plant species in this garden, as well as 50,000 flowers and other plants growing on the property.

This botanical garden, hidden in the heart of Kennedy Road, is a must-see on your Seychelles vacation. The park is open Monday through Saturday, and there is a cafe inside the building that serves refreshments.

Explore the Man-Made Island near Victoria City

Eden Island, despite being a manmade island, is no less gorgeous and is only 3.5 kilometers from Victoria city. This island was formed in the 2000s and is best known for its sheltered beaches and bays, which make it a popular tourist destination.

Eden Island, which is home to some of the greatest hotels around Victoria, is ideal for those looking for a more isolated area to stay in Seychelles. You can also rent an apartment here for a longer visit and enjoy the natural beauty of the area.

If it doesn't pique your interest, you may always take a day trip from Mahe to see this famous island.

With the help of a local, visit the secluded Anse Marron Beach.

Anse Marron Beach, an isolated beach on La Digue Island, is a great place to unwind and rest because it is usually deserted. You can take a dip or paddle around in one of the shallow saltwater pools here.

The beach is completely picturesque because these pools are bordered by massive granite outcrops. However, finding Anse Marron beach on your own is difficult, which is why most tourists hire a tour guide to take them there. While the path leading to the beach is a little slick and treacherous, the effort is well worth it once you arrive at the beach and see the breathtaking vista.

The golden sand beach, which is surrounded by big granite boulders and several shallow saltwater ponds, is breathtaking. While swimming in the ocean is not recommended due to the lack of coral reefs and deep ocean water, you may still snap photos and relax on the beach.

On Mahe Island, take a Sunset Cruise.

Another fantastic activity in the Seychelles is to arrange a Sunset Cruise from Mahe Island to visit the exclusive beaches and have a lovely evening. While sunset cruises are a favorite activity for couples since they are romantic, that doesn't mean you can't go on one on your own or with your friends.

While you're here, savor the great meals onboard, have a glass of wine, sway to the onboard music, and simply rest. If you're lucky, you might even witness dolphins or a flock of flying fish dancing about the boat. Trust me when I say that this is an incredible event that you will never forget.

Stay in a Beachfront Hotel for an Unforgettable Experience

If you genuinely want to make the most of your time in Seychelles, one of the best things you can do is stay in Seychelles hotels near the beach. In the Seychelles, such hotels can be found in Mahe, Praslin, and even La Digue.

Story Seychelles is one of these hotels. Located near Beau Vallon Beach, one of Mahè's most opulent neighborhoods, only 10 minutes from Victoria (the capital), 5 minutes from Morne Seychelles National Park, and 20 minutes from Seychelles International Airport. These hotels have breathtaking ocean views as well as spectacular sunrises and sunsets.

You won't have to travel far to find a nice area for sunbathing or swimming in the water because these hotels are beachfront. You also have free access to the loungers and are free to relax on the beach all day.

Seychelles offers a variety of water-based activities.

If you've already done your snorkeling and scuba diving in the Seychelles, here are some alternative activities to consider. Windsurfing, paragliding, water skiing, and other water-based activities are available at various beaches and resorts in the area. The equipment can be rented by the hour of the activity. A few hotels also provide these activities for free to their visitors.

Teddy's Glass Bottom Boat Tour in Mahe is a must-do for anybody visiting the island.

For those who aren't comfortable with underwater activities, Teddy's Glass Bottom Boat Tour is a fantastic option. Teddy and his team will take you on a boat tour that will show you the underwater world through the boat's glass bottom.

Through the glass, you'll be able to observe the coral reef, rainbow fish, and other aquatic species. Then, if you like, you can snorkel to get a closer look at them. After that, you'll be escorted to a private beach where you may relax and have a fantastic BBQ lunch.

Here are some of the most beautiful landmarks and monuments in the area.

Because Seychelles was colonized for more than two centuries, there are some beautiful monuments worth seeing. On this island nation, there are approximately 30 monuments that are protected due to their historic, architectural, or archaeological significance.

The iconic Clock Tower, Old Courthouse, Bicentennial Monument, State House, Mission Lodge, and other attractions and Creole architecture can all be found on Mahe Island. So, if you want to learn about Seychelles' history, visiting these monuments and learning the background behind their construction is one of the greatest things to do in Seychelles.

Summary

Seychelles is a stunning country, and I can't express how stunning and full of stories it is. So, make sure you spend enough time here and participate in as many things as possible to get a true sense of this magical area.

If you're on a budget, there's no need to worry because you may simply find activities that are either free or inexpensive. At the end of the day, it's all about creating memories, and the Seychelles is the greatest place to do that.

#hotel #resort #booking #travel #staycation #adventure #Seychelles

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marblesarelost · 7 years ago

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Some Things You Have To Work For (don’t give up on the Dream)

(Author’s note: I honestly had no idea that changing my Tumblr name would make this disappear. My humblest apologies.)

(Author’s Note: I love soulmate tropes. In this universe, there are two types of soulmates: platonic and romantic. Platonic soulmates’ words are written in silver on one’s skin once activated. Romantic soulmates have golden words, once said. This will be a serial, updated on the last week of the month. Hope you enjoy!)

The only sound for miles around was that of the night birds and bugs, and Kurt’s soft humming as he did the supper dishes. Logan settled a little better into his lawn chair, fishing pole in hand, beer between his legs. Yep. Things were good.

“Is this what you always do?” Nightcrawler called through the screen door. “When you go off on your rambles?”

“Not always,” Logan admitted after a minute. “I like this best, though.”

“Ja. I can see why. It is beautiful here,” Kurt replied softly.

“Peaceful. It helps with…things.” Logan shrugged, sitting up a little; the slouch was starting to hurt his back. “Mind bringin’ me a fresh beer when you come back out?”

“Almost done,” came the promise, and Logan settled back again for a second before a new scent crossed his nostrils, bringing him up and out of the lawn chair in an instant, a low growl rising in his throat.

“Logan?” He heard Nightcrawler say, but he didn’t respond, holding his hand up instead in the team sign for wait, quiet. He sniffed again, tested the wind, judged the angles, then gave the sign for come, quiet, trusting that Kurt would sneak instead of teleport, since there wasn’t a way to dampen the noise. A minute later, he felt the give of the dock behind him.

“Somebody’s down the shore,” Logan said quietly. “I can smell their adrenaline, they’re trying to work themselves up into something, but they’re scared. They’re real scared.”

“So you would frighten them more by having me come outside?” Kurt whispered.

“You only look scary, Elf. You got a better way with folks than I do,” Logan replied. “Come with me an’ do the talkin’.”

“Mein Gott. How do I let you talk me into such things?” Kurt grumbled, but he followed Logan down off the dock onto the path beside the lake, both of them well able to see in the dark. They moved quickly and quietly, Logan leading them up into the patch of underbrush and Kurt careful to put his feet precisely where Logan had as they went. Logan held up his hand again, and crept forward, a little further, little further…

The girl leapt at Logan like a wild thing, fists flying, kicking, biting, but the old brawler whirled her around, picking her up and holding her as she writhed and struggled. "Calm down, little bit, we ain’t gonna hurt ya,” Logan said, before that telltale sound rang through the forest.

SNIKT.

“Logan, no!” Kurt shouted, bursting through the underbrush as Logan dropped the girl, blocking -- “Mein GOTT!”

Two blades gleamed in the half-moon’s light, swinging wildly at Logan, whose own claws rose to block hers. She stopped then, backing away, looking at Logan with a face neither man could read. “Shiny, sharp,” she muttered. “Shiny sharp.”

“Oh, hell,” Logan said, and dropped to a knee. “No. No, I won’t kill another. No.” He retracted his claws, watching the girl. “Hey. Hey there.”

“Hey,” she repeated. Kurt got a good look at her then; her cheekbones were sharply accented, her cheeks sunken. Her shirt was at least three sizes too large, and she held the waistband of the pants she wore tightly, the pant legs raggedly cut, and she was barefoot. She was at least a teenager, he thought, but he wasn’t precisely sure.

“Hey. You got -- you got writing on you, honey? Words? Written words?” Logan asked softly. “Can you tell me your name?”

“Words?” She said, and Logan nodded, keeping his gaze fixed firmly on her.

“Yeah. Words. Writing.” He reached down with one hand, tugged his shirt up over his belly, exposing the silver words written there. “See? Like this?” The girl dropped to her knees, crawling forward slowly, looking up at Logan with wary eyes every other second. “I won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt me, baby girl,” he rumbled. Tentatively, the girl reached out with one finger, tracing the words on his skin. “You know what it says? Can you read?” She shook her head, sitting back on her haunches. “It says, shiny, sharp, shiny, sharp,” Logan told her. “Your first words to me. Do you have words?” In answer, she tugged up her left pant leg, showing Logan’s scrawling handwriting winding around her leg. “Yep. Those are my first words to you. Silver, like mine,” he said. “Means we’re gonna be real good friends. You know what friends are?”

“Friends,” she repeated, still sitting there in a pistol squat position. “Friends. Not hurt.”

“Yep,” Logan agreed. “Can you tell me your name, little bit?”

“Name?” She cocked her head to the left.

“What do people call you? I’m Logan,” he said, pressing one hand to his chest. “Logan.”

“Not doctor.”

“No, baby,” Logan agreed, his lips curling back from his teeth in a feral snarl. “No doctors.”

“Doctor talk. Doctor talk, X-23 successful. X-23 weapon. Doctor talk X-23.”

“The doctors called you X-23?” Logan asked in a low growl. “They didn’t even give you a goddamn name?”

“X-23.”

“You ain’t a number. You’re a person,” Logan snarled. “Did you run? From the doctor?” She nodded fiercely. “Did you get’em, baby girl? Did you make’em bleed?” A snarl to match his own crawled across her face as she nodded again. “Oh, good job, dolly.” Logan swallowed. “Okay. So. You want somethin’ to eat?”

“Yes…” her voice trailed off as she looked to the side. “Please?” She added uncertainly.

“Yep. Come here, I’ll carry ya over these rocks, some of’em are sharp as hell. You like fish?”

“Fish?”

“Swimmies.” Logan pointed to the lake, made a side to side motion with his hand, and she smiled.

“Swimmies, fish. Yes.”

“Okay. Come here,” he held out his arms. “Promise, we’ll get you some fish, let you take a bath with bubbles, get you some clean clothes, you can sleep in a nice soft bed.” Slowly, she crept forward, and Logan picked her up like a princess, leaving her hands free. “Jesus, you’re too skinny, dolly.” He turned to where Kurt stood at the edge of the forest. “Go get Chuck, Elf. I think we’re gonna need him.”

“Jawohl,” Kurt agreed. “I think you are right. Take her to the cabin, I do not wish to startle her with the noise and smell.”

“Good plan. Come on, dollface. Let’s get some food. You like chocolate? I think I got some Oreos, too,” Logan said, and began to make his way down the lake shore back to the cabin, its lights gleaming in the dark. Kurt waited until he heard the screen door slam, then

BAMF!

Jumped

BAMF!

Back to

BAMF!

The mansion, appearing in Professor X’s study. “Charles, there is -- we need you,” he said quickly to the man behind the desk.

“What is it, Kurt?” Charles asked. “Should we rally the team?”

“No. No, just you, look,” Kurt offered, and felt the slight tingle as Charles Xavier touched his mind telepathically.

“Oh my God,” the older man said softly. “They did it again.”

“I think so. And this time, they have made the gravest of mistakes; she is his soulmate, platonic, but --“

“Yes, I see. Well, if you wouldn’t mind, Kurt?” Charles asked with a wry, small smile, wheeling himself out from around his desk. With a nod, Kurt picked up the older man from the chair, and

BAMF!

Jumped again

BAMF!

Back to

BAMF!

The cabin in Saskatchewan, arriving beside the lake. “I would have jumped into the cabin, but I am afraid I will frighten her, the noise,” Kurt offered as he made his way up the shoreline path to the house.

“A very good idea. Yes, I can feel her. She is…oh, the poor child,” Charles said softly as the back door opened, Logan stepping out.

“I’m fuckin’ glad ta see ya, Chuck,” Logan said, his eyes wet. “I don’t…she’s…”

“Feral, or nearly so,” Charles agreed. “I’m already picking up on her fear, and her pleasure? She’s eating?”

“Fish, we had lots left over from dinner. Won’t touch the goddamn green beans,” Logan said, a tiny grin pulling at his whiskered face. “The hell did they do, Chuck?”

“I’m not sure yet, Logan, but I have a bad feeling,” Charles admitted as Kurt carried him in through the open door. “Easy; easy, child,” Charles said as the girl looked up from the table, and in the light…

“Gott im Himmel,” Kurt murmured, taking Charles to the couch at his gesture. She was filthy, long brown hair matted against her back, and she was desperately thin. Logan hadn’t even tried giving her silverware, her plate containing half a piece of fish yet and a handful of fried potatoes, one slice still between her fingers, hovering over a puddle of catsup as she watched them come in, scowling.

“It’s easier here than to try to sit up at the table. Thank you, Kurt.” Charles sat up, staring at the young stranger, who stared back, one claw popped in defense for a long moment before it slid back into her fist, much -- no, exactly like Logan’s. She looked around, then back at Charles, shook her head, put her fingers in her ears, took them out again.

“Most of her memories seem to be of a facility of sorts,” Charles murmured. “White coats. Metal tables. A collar around her throat, shackles on her feet. She has claws on her feet, as well. I’ll have to have Jean or Moira look at her to be sure, but I think she’s about sixteen. Perhaps a bit older. She has no name.” He winced suddenly, and shook his head before looking up at Logan. “Happy Father’s Day, Logan. She’s yours, or at least, a clone. There are memories of men talking about the original Weapon X…and what she will be capable of, since she has been created and treated differently.”

Logan’s jaw worked for a moment before he gave a sharp nod. “Yeah. Yeah, I figured when I seen her claws. And our scents are real similar.”

“Well. And you’re soulmates, Kurt said.”

“Yep.” Logan crossed his arms over his barrel chest. “You find’em, Chuck. You find’em.”

“You will not go on a suicide mission, Logan, no matter how good you think your reasons are,” Charles warned him. “She seems to be highly intelligent; she planned her escape, and she’s been living on her own, scavenging, for at least a year. I find two different sets of winter memories.”

“Jesus, tryin’ to make it on her own in the winter -- up here?”

“I’m not sure, though there is a great deal of snow. The facility was, I believe, in the desert somewhere. She escaped during a transfer. It was…a common routine, that they would transfer her from one place to another, but she was always returned to the desert.”

“Course she’s smart. She’s mine.” Logan puffed up, the epitome of a proud papa, and Kurt burst into laughter, drawing the girl’s attention.

“Lo-gan. Who?” She pointed at Kurt, then Charles. “Friend?”

“Friends, lil’ bit, even if one of’em’s a pain in the ass Elf,” Logan agreed, taking a seat at the table. “That’s Charles,” he pointed. “That’s Kurt.”

“Hello,” Charles said kindly, leaning forward as best he could. “I’m very sorry to just poke around in your head without so much as a greeting, but we need to know what’s happened to you. Tell me, would you like for us to give you a name?”

“No number, person. Lo-gan say,” she insisted, reaching and finding Logan’s big hand.

“No. You are not a number. You are a person, with a person’s rights. Let’s see. I will suggest names, and you tell me if you like them, hmm?” He asked, and she nodded. “Excellent. Jane?” She shook her head. “Hannah.” She wrinkled her nose. “Maggie? Megan? Laura?” She nodded at the last. “Laura? You like that?”

“Yes. Laura. My name Laura.”

“It’s the first syllable,” Charles said, smiling. “It sounds like --“

“Fuck,” Logan, said, shaking his head. “Yep. I get it.”

“Yes. You’re like her, and she recognizes that, and you’ve made her feel safe. I don’t think she’s ever felt safe.” Charles’ voice and face took a sympathetic tone. “Poor child.”

“She’s safe now,” Logan growled.

“So she is. But she is not safe, herself, to bring to the school. She needs to be…gently acclimated to society. Taught how to behave around others. She is rather feral.” Charles turned his attention to Kurt. “Kurt. Would you be willing to stay here and help? I may need to ask you to come and go between the mansion and here, bringing Moira or Jean out to help with checking her over, et cetera.”

“I would be glad to help,” Kurt agreed.

“Good. I’ll begin making arrangements in the morning. Would you mind taking me home for now? It’s very late in New York.”

“Not at all.”

When Kurt returned, he found Logan on the porch, beer in one hand, cigar in the other. “Where is Laura?”

“Sleepin’.” Logan took a long drink. “I’m gonna find the bastards who did this.”

“I know you are,” Kurt agreed, crouching on the porch rail, wrapping his tail around it for balance. “And I will go with you. Mein Gott.”

“Nope. You’re gonna stay behind an’ make sure she’s okay,” Logan said, looking up at him from his chair. “Done told her, Uncle Kurt, he’s an annoying brat, but he’s a good man.”

“Too kind,” Kurt chuckled. “How long do you think it will take to…” he searched for words, and Logan spoke up.

“Tame her? Dunno. But she’s smart as hell. Asked why you carried Chuck. Why you’re blue, except she didn’t say blue. She don’t even know colors, Kurt.”

“Then what did she say?”

“Asked why you were night sky man,” Logan said with a fond grin. “An’ why yer fingers an’ toes are different.”

“It will be like having a larger, smarter, easily angered toddler,” Kurt sighed. “But I am used to being around you, so it will not be so hard.”

“Ass,” Logan said, shaking his head and grinning. “We gotta do somethin’ ‘bout her hair, that’s a mess.”

“Yes. It might be easier to cut it very short, to begin with.”

“I was thinkin’ the same thing. But all that’s for tomorra, I reckon.” Logan sighed. “Fuck. I’m a daddy.”

“So you are,” Kurt agreed softly. “And you missed the diapers, yes? She is toilet trained?”

“Yep. Reckon they had one in her fuckin’ cell.”

“So. You are a daddy. And you will have the luxury of teaching her all the things about the world, Logan. Think of it that way,” Kurt offered.

“I don’t…” Logan looked down at his beer bottle. “I don’t know if I can, Elf. I ain’t exactly role model material.”

“Kitty and Jubilation would both disagree with that,” Kurt replied. “And you know I am right.”

“Yeah, but --“ Logan began, and Kurt jumped down from the porch rail, coming to stand beside his friend, laying his hand on the bulkier man’s shoulder gently.

“Nein. You are not alone in this; I am here, and I will help you. And we can and will get help from the others, as well. She is no longer alone. She has a family. You have a family. We will raise her properly and well, Logan, I know we will.”

“Yeah, well. Say a couple prayers, if’n you would. Who’s the patron saint of daddies?”

“Saint Joseph,” Kurt responded automatically. “And I will.”

“Okay.” Logan nodded with a sigh. “Okay. You’re right. We’ll…we’ll raise her right. Teach her how ta not just gut whoever pisses her off.”

“How to read, and write.”

“How ta track and hunt an’ fish.”

“How to draw? Do you think we should get crayons?”

“How to lay a trap.”

“How to use silverware.”

“Hell. We got a lot o’work ta do, Elf.” Logan shook his head. “Ain’t gonna be easy.”

“No. But things that are worth having, are worth work. And I can already tell that Laura will be worth it.” Kurt squeezed Logan’s shoulder. “You were.”

Next month: Laura’s first birthday party, and more soulmate shenanigans.

STAY TUNED, TRUE BELIEVERS!

#Logurt Challenge #@logurtproject #logurt #Kurt Wagner #Nightcrawler #X-Men #Logan #Wolverine #X-23 #Charles Xavier #90s X-men #@amusewithaview #logurt prompts 2018

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humansofmuskegon-blog · 5 years ago

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"What I love about Muskegon. Is the simple things, its past, its present and its future. Growing up in a small town, Muskegon's Pere Marquette Ovals was the place to be. The beautiful shoreline still holds many memories and still has many more memories to be made. The beautiful sunsets, the excitement of incoming storms and a magnificent place to hold birthday parties, or spur of the moment photo opportunities with my kids just being kids. The thing that amazes me the most is that all though I've lived here most of my adult life is there are tons of hidden treasures that I still have never seen or opportunities that I still haven't participated in. What I'm looking forward to most is that we also have more medical facilities popping up with people who are educated and experienced in fields we used to have to travel many miles for and now these future medical advancements are on our door steps and people are now getting the proper medical care they need."

#mlive #muskegon #thisismuskegon

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laurelcovecommunity · 3 months ago

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At Laurel Cove Community, we pride ourselves on being a top memory care facility in Shoreline. Our facility is dedicated to providing specialized care for individuals with cognitive impairments, offering a secure and supportive environment. With personalized care plans, engaging activities, and 24/7 supervision, our team works tirelessly to enhance the quality of life for our residents.

Laurel Cove Community 17201 15th Ave NE, Shoreline, WA 98155 (206) 895–6953

My Official Website: https://encorecommunities.com/laurel-cove Google Plus Listing: https://www.google.com/maps?cid=12650576864004299796

Other Services

Assisted living facility Independent Living Memory Care Skilled Nursing Respite Care

#memory care facility Shoreline

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2whatcom-blog · 6 years ago

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Native Flood Forecasting Has Been Dangerously Imprecise—That’s About to Change

When Hurricane Michael barreled into the Florida Panhandle final October, the punishing waves whipped up by its winds blasted a 900-foot-wide hole within the sands of Cape San Blas, a slender peninsula only a few miles east of the place the storm made landfall. A lot of a preferred state park there was become an island in a single day. The transformation left officers with the possibly pricey dilemma of whether or not—and the way—to bridge the hole to revive entry; it additionally uncovered a weak spot within the laptop fashions that warn coastal communities about impending storms. These simulations can predict how a lot ocean water will inundate a broad space, however are lacking the small-scale particulars of coastal geography and wave physics which are wanted to foretell localized harm such because the washout of Cape San Blas. New, extra detailed information and improved computing energy are permitting scientists to revamp their fashions to offer coastal communities extra exact info on which areas shall be most susceptible throughout a storm. Past forecasts, scientists additionally wish to hyperlink fashions to an unlimited community of seaside cameras that would present real-time alerts. “This is really going to help communities understand what roads might go underwater, what bridge access could be cut off and where to stage equipment,” says Kara Doran, an oceanographer with the U.S. Geological Survey in Florida. “That’s going to help protect lives and property.” Storm surge and waves fully eroded and breached a low, slender spot on Cape San Blas, creating two new inlets and severing the one street entry to T.H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park. The world had solely a 26 % chance of flooding, however the scale of the flood fashions probably didn't resolve the low, slender space that breached. Credit score: NOAA and USGS Lacking Items Coastal storm fashions do job of predicting how excessive storm surge shall be primarily based on the facility of the storm and the broad form of the shoreline. However as a result of a mix of an absence of detailed information, restricted funding and slower computer systems, the fashions have been lacking a number of different key items that decide extra localized flooding ranges—from particular coastal geographies to the timing of storms. One vital lacking piece is accounting for the waves that act on high of the storm surge—the rising water the storm pushes forward of it. The power of these waves can have a huge impact on coastal flooding. “It’s really important, because that’s the energy that really moves the waves up the beach” and causes main erosion, says USGS oceanographer Hilary Stockdon. The grade of the coastal seabed and the terrain of the coast—equivalent to sandy seashores, marsh or rocky cliffs—affect wave power. Marshes, for instance, attenuate waves, offering pure safety in opposition to flooding, in contrast with sandy seashores. At the moment’s fashions assume all coasts encompass sandy seashores as a result of that panorama was of most curiosity to the U.S. Navy, which supplied a lot of the funding for early mannequin improvement. Larger-resolution coastal surveys accomplished from planes have now given researchers the detailed information they should embrace extra shoreline varieties in fashions, Doran says. The information can seize even small coastal options analysis has proven could create alternatives for severe erosion. The breach at Cape San Blas occurred at a spot with a big, unpaved parking zone, the place water may rush in unimpeded. “Had that parking lot been a tall, vegetated dune, things might have been different,” Doran says. Having such fine-grained particulars in flooding fashions might need tipped officers off to the foremost flood harm that will ensue. Present fashions additionally don't account all through storms, a shortcoming that grew to become obvious within the aftermath of Hurricane Florence final September: Despite the fact that it didn't have a large storm surge, “it pounded the coast for days with large waves,” Doran says. At one spot seaside sand was moved greater than 650 toes inland by the persistent surge, rising the coast’s vulnerability to future storms. Improved fashions will search to think about storm velocity and period, utilizing Nationwide Hurricane Middle forecasts to seize this interaction. Along with the flooding risk coming from the ocean, rains and swollen rivers can add large quantities of water to a area and mix with storm surge, an occasion known as compound flooding. The deluge Florence unleashed over the Carolinas set at the very least 28 flood information there and helped preserve floodwaters elevated for days. Now scientists are including salinity readings—which present whether or not fresh- or salt-water is impacting a specific space—to the fashions to allow them to higher predict compound flooding. The USGS can be working with the Nationwide Climate Service to mix river flooding and climate fashions to higher seize the added flood influence from rain throughout a hurricane. Seeking to the Dutch and Surfers Excessive-resolution coastal fashions that function these elements exist already—pioneered within the Netherlands, a nation that has to take care of a low-lying shoreline, Doran says. “They have models that nearly track grains of sand moving in the water,” she says, and use them to proactively determine the place seawalls or flood tidal limitations are wanted. The U.S. is at the moment enjoying catch-up to that work, and should overcome a number of scientific, computing and coverage hurdles to make fashions that may be helpful as storms hit. For one factor, the extra particulars which are packed into fashions, the extra pricey and time-consuming they're by way of the computing energy wanted to run them. So though the added element may make simulations extra helpful for planning for varied forms of storms, “we can’t run them in a real-time mode for an approaching storm,” Doran says. Which means scientists have to discover a technique to steadiness the wealth of obtainable information with the necessity for fast solutions throughout storms. One technique to incorporate extra real-time info is by way of the rising community of personal surfer, seaside and climate cameras which have cropped up alongside U.S. coasts and have already generated viral clips of gnarly crashing waves across the Internet. A public–personal partnership known as SECOORA is sharing real-time info, together with video, alongside the east coast that can be utilized to, for instance, be certain that surge fashions replicate precise storm harm, says Joe Lengthy, an affiliate professor of oceanography on the College of North Carolina Wilmington. The cameras may be helpful in offering real-time warnings as they collect information on situations within the thick of storms. Lengthy envisions a system that integrates these with climate fashions throughout the subsequent 5 to 10 years. One other problem is placing all of the items collectively in a kind that native officers can use to arrange residents. “We're still in this learning period of trying to get the right information out, to the right person, at the right time,” Stockdon says. “It’s going to involve a lot of conversations between the scientists and the people in the communities who need that information.” The hope is that ultimately forecasts and warnings will enhance sufficient to anticipate—and doubtlessly even stop—harm just like the breach at Cape San Blas that has taken communities unexpectedly. Doran, for one, is optimistic: “I think there’s not really a reason that we can’t improve our models to reflect those small areas that turn into a big problem.” Read the full article

#2what #2whatcom #coastal #models #storm

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