#most of the group tasks are open world and map wide

[monstrosibee]

sometimes im trying to decide whether i want to finish up playing ffxiv for a second and then the game decides for me by the story coming to a dungeon

[fare-api]

Automated Ticketing System | Travel Automation Software

In today's business landscape, exceptional customer service is critical to success. After all, satisfied customers lead to repeat business, increased credibility, and a competitive advantage. Implementing an automated ticketing system may be the best way to achieve this goal. Automated ticketing software is critical for businesses, from managing large volumes of customer support requests to ticketing support in a highly optimized manner for improved customer satisfaction.

An automated ticket system provides benefits such as ticket assignment, internal collaboration, instant alerts, customer and agent feedback surveys, AI-powered reports, and more.

What is an automated ticketing system?

An automated ticketing system (ATS) is software that uses automation and artificial intelligence to assist support teams in providing fast and personalized support at scale while lowering operational costs and increasing efficiency.

The best automated ticketing systems do more than keep track of customer inquiries; they also help manage a wide range of customer support requests. Automated ticketing systems can open tickets with contextual information and route them to the most suitable agent. Automated ticketing systems have become indispensable tools for businesses looking to improve customer service. They not only help to organize and respond to user inquiries, but they also save time by automating repetitive tasks.

How does an automated ticketing system work?

An automated ticketing system is essential for meeting all customer needs. Choosing the right ticketing software for your business can significantly improve customer service efficiency. Automated ticketing systems make it simple to achieve high customer satisfaction in the following ways:

Changes ticket priority based on the customer.

Handles each ticket’s feedback and resolution times

Adds replies and notes to tickets.

Routes new tickets to a specific team or group based on properties

Follows your workflow

Sends updates to a specified user with an attached message

Updates ticket properties like worklog, ticket cc, and ticket category automatically.

Triggers time-based actions and updates.

Maps tickets to define customer expectations of SLA metric targets.

Why does your business need an automated ticketing system?

In today's fast-paced digital world, customer service teams require an automated ticketing system that can respond to service requests quickly while maintaining support quality. Automation is essential in any ticketing system for improving support operations and increasing efficiency. It relieves agents of repetitive tasks like categorizing tickets or sending general updates, resulting in faster resolution times and, ultimately, more satisfied clients. An automated ticketing system helps your business to receive, manage, and resolve customer support issues more quickly and efficiently. 

Automated ticketing systems make it easier to manage support requests and increase customer satisfaction. Furthermore, automation provides round-the-clock service, ensuring that customers receive an immediate initial response and are never left waiting for help. This consistent responsiveness contributes to meeting customer expectations for prompt support. An automated ticketing system is software that handles incoming customer support requests without requiring representatives to repeat tasks and processes. The three primary functions of an automated ticketing system are the following:

Collecting customer data upfront reduces the need for back-and-forth communication.

Real-time updates to automatically notify customers of ticket status via email or other communication channels.

Workflow automation to efficiently assign tickets to specific agents, escalate critical issues to higher management, and execute tasks by strict, predefined rules.

Customer support increases customer retention and boosts brand reputation. As a result, an automated ticketing system is critical to your company's smooth workflow. It acts as an additional tool for your helpdesk and helps serve your customers effectively.

Implementing an automated ticketing system can transform how businesses handle customer support. Companies that streamline the ticketing process can improve response times, increase customer satisfaction, and boost operational efficiency. These systems also provide valuable insights into customer behavior and support trends, allowing businesses to make data-driven decisions that improve their services even further.

Benefits of an Automated Ticketing System

An automated ticketing system can provide numerous benefits to your business, particularly in terms of more effective customer support management. Implementing such a system improves your team's performance and customer satisfaction.

Efficiency: Automating repetitive tasks such as ticket creation and routing reduces the time and effort required to resolve IT issues. Support teams can better allocate resources by focusing on problem-solving rather than administrative tasks.

Error Reduction: Automated ticket systems reduce the possibility of errors that could occur with manual ticket handling.

Improved Response Time: One of the primary advantages of automated ticketing systems is their quick response time. These systems automate ticket routing, ensuring that every ticket is assigned to the most appropriate support agent or team. It eliminates the need for manual ticket distribution and shortens the time it takes for customers to receive a response.

Accountability:  Accountability improves when there is a clear record of ticket creation, routing, and resolution. Support teams and individual team members can be held accountable for their work, resulting in a culture of ownership and continuous improvement.

Increased Agent Efficiency: Implementing automated ticketing systems has the benefit of increasing agent efficiency. By automating repetitive tasks, agents can devote their time and energy to more valuable work, resulting in increased overall productivity.  Automated ticketing systems can improve workflow management by eliminating repetitive tasks. As a result, these systems free up managers' time to address complex customer issues. It enables agents to engage in more meaningful and rewarding workloads, ultimately increasing efficiency and productivity.

Cost Savings and Scalability: Implementing automated ticketing systems has significant advantages in terms of cost savings and scalability. It Includes

The systems can handle a large volume of inquiries without the need for additional personnel

Cost savings due to reduced staffing requirements

Improved scalability to handle increased ticket volumes

Enhancing Deflection Rate: Improving the deflection rate is a vital goal for increasing customer support efficiency and reducing support agent workload. The deflection rate is the percentage of customer inquiries that are handled without human intervention. Businesses that use an automated ticketing system can significantly increase their deflection rate, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and cost savings.

Scalable Helpdesk Support: With automated ticketing software, the help desk can reduce call volume while maintaining high-resolution rates. As a result, investing in automated ticketing systems can significantly improve the efficiency of the help desk. Furthermore, this system assists businesses in restructuring the helpdesk by identifying areas for improvement. Moreover, it enables businesses to improve their service strategy.

It maximizes team productivity: Implementing an automated ticketing system is a good idea for teams that want to increase productivity.  By automating the creation, assignment, and tracking of tickets, this type of tool offers a streamlined approach that saves time and minimizes errors. It frees up team members to focus on more critical or challenging tasks.

It facilitates ticket prioritization: An automated ticketing system simplifies ticket prioritization by assigning levels of urgency to each request based on user attributes, message content, company data, and other factors. The ticket automation platform can also prioritize requests based on the customer's service level agreement (SLA), which specifies how quickly the support team must resolve the issue.

Features of Automated Ticketing System

Live Chat: Live chat allows customers to receive real-time support and improve their overall experience. The ticketing system explained these features, which included automated chat queues and customizable widgets.

Real-time analysis and reporting: The automated ticketing system collects data that helps the operation center make business decisions and improve customer service.

Workflow automation: Automated ticketing systems allow you to create predefined workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and ensure consistent and efficient ticket management.

Omnichannel Support: Omnichannel support is an advanced feature in an automated ticketing system that allows customers to contact support via email, chat, phone, and social media, ensuring a seamless and consistent experience. Your ticketing system will consolidate all support requests from all your channels into a single centralized dashboard.

Integration of other business tools: Integration capabilities are critical when choosing an automated ticketing system. These systems should work seamlessly with other business tools like CRM software, email clients, and project management platforms. Integration synchronizes customer information across systems, eliminating the need for manual data entry.

Security and data protection: When choosing an automated ticketing system, customer data security should be the top priority. Look for systems that provide strong security measures and adhere to data protection regulations.

Automated ticket routing: Automated ticket routing ensures that each customer request is routed to the appropriate team or representative based on predetermined criteria, such as expertise or availability. With this feature, businesses can save time while also providing prompt and accurate responses to their customers.

Advanced team collaboration: The system should enable agents to seamlessly collaborate, share information, and work together to solve customer issues. Advanced team collaboration features like internal notes, mentions, and ticket assignments help agents collaborate more effectively.

Why Choose FlightsLogic Automated Ticketing System Tailored to Your Needs?

FlightsLogic provides a complete automated ticketing system that is integrated with a B2B/B2C booking engine, online travel software, a hotel/flight/tour/package/transfer booking system, back-office management, and a variety of other travel software to help travel agents gain a better understanding of their businesses and grow them. Our automated ticketing software can help businesses achieve higher levels of efficiency in their travel processes by saving time, reducing errors, and increasing cost savings.

From booking to analyzing, our automated ticketing system provides advanced sales automation features that can be easily integrated into your existing system to manage the real-time travel process. Our Automated Ticketing System will help your business grow. Implementing an automated ticketing system is a game changer for travel businesses that want to improve their support operations and provide faster, more effective resolutions.

Our Automated Travel Module allows travel agencies and agents to automate the booking process and manage customer requests smartly and efficiently. One of the primary benefits of our automated ticketing systems is their user-friendly interface, which is designed for mobile and tablet devices, making it simple to access and use the platform. These systems can handle B2B and B2C bookings, making the experience easier for travel agents and end users.

FlightsLogic is a leading automated ticketing system software that helps travel managers reduce administrative workload. Our user-friendly interface allows you to effortlessly navigate through bookings, approvals, and reporting, saving you valuable time and effort. Ticket automation is a rapidly evolving technology that is becoming increasingly important in maintaining a successful support operation and revolutionizing the tour and travel industry.

Our end-to-end web-based automation solution boosts revenue by providing multiple booking channels and streamlining mid and back-office operations. This powerful tool streamlines operations automates repetitive tasks, and simplifies complex processes. By automating ticketing, booking management, customer support, and more, travel businesses can save valuable time and resources, allowing them to focus on delivering exceptional travel experiences. 

FlightsLogic is an automated ticketing system that improves customer service by combining inquiries from multiple channels into a single interface. It automates key processes, allowing for efficient handling of customer issues, and provides analytics for performance tracking, making it a popular choice for businesses looking to improve their customer service operations. Businesses of all sizes can benefit from using an automated ticketing system to improve customer service operations.

Steps To Implement An Automated Ticketing System

If you're looking to simplify your support processes and enhance customer satisfaction, an automated ticketing system can be the way to go. Here's a useful guide to help you get started:

1. Determine Your Support Team's Requirements

To better understand your team's workload and optimize their performance, evaluate the types of tickets they receive, the frequency with which they come, and the amount of time it takes to respond to each query. This data can help you improve response times and prioritize tasks using an automated ticketing system to maximize efficiency.

2. Understand Customer Expectations

To provide the best possible service, you must first understand what your customers expect. Consider feedback, common complaints, and frequently asked questions.

3. Select The Appropriate Tool

With various ticketing systems available, it's critical to select one that meets the needs of your team and can be linked with your existing tools. Here are a few tips:

Evaluate the system's capabilities, such as automation, reporting, and customization options.

Ensure team adoption by evaluating setup and usability.

Select a system that provides excellent customer support and training resources to assist with implementation and ongoing usage.

Consider the cost and scalability of the system to ensure it meets your current and future requirements.

Consider user reviews and feedback to determine the system's suitability for your team.

4. Map Tasks That Can Be Automated

One way to map out tasks suitable for automation is to identify those that are performed regularly and have a defined set of steps, such as ticket routing, ticket assignment, and follow-ups. Then, you can assess the feasibility of automating each task based on its complexity, frequency, and value to your business, determining which will have the greatest impact on productivity and efficiency once automated.

5. Monitor And Optimize

Once the ticket automation tool is in place, you must create detailed documentation outlining the steps in the process. This documentation should include screenshots, step-by-step instructions, and any other pertinent information that will assist your automation efforts in remaining consistent and accurate. You can test and improve the automation process over time using this data.

Key Takeaways

Businesses benefit from automated ticker systems in a variety of ways. It improves customer satisfaction by making the ticket resolution process more efficient and streamlined. It also results in an improved agent.

Modern automated ticketing solutions include several key features that improve functionality. These include natural language processing, multi-channel support, and advanced analytics capabilities.

Implementing automated ticketing systems requires careful planning. It includes integrating it with existing channels and databases, configuring workflows and escalation rules, and establishing success metrics to track performance.

For more information, please visit our website: https://www.flightslogic.com/automated-ticketing-system.php

[dorayquibol]

EDUCATION

Google Meet, Quizlet, Zoom, Merriam-Webster, and Microsoft Word are all educational tools that can be used in various settings, from classrooms to self-study. Google Meet is a video conferencing platform that allows students and teachers to connect virtually for real-time discussions, presentations, and collaborations. It is integrated with other Google apps like Google Calendar and Gmail, making it easy to schedule and join meetings. With Google Meet, students can participate in virtual field trips, guest speaker sessions, and group projects from anywhere in the world. Quizlet is a digital flashcard platform that helps students learn and memorize information. It allows users to create their own flashcards or use pre-made sets on various subjects. Students can use Quizlet to review vocabulary, memorize formulas, or practice spelling. Zoom is a video conferencing platform that can be used for virtual classrooms, webinars, and online events. It offers features like screen sharing, virtual backgrounds, and breakout rooms for group discussions. With Zoom, teachers can deliver lectures, conduct live demonstrations, and facilitate group discussions in real-time. Students can also use Zoom to collaborate on group projects and present their work. Merriam-Webster is a dictionary that provides students with access to an extensive database of words and definitions. The website and mobile app allow users to search for words, find their meaning, and hear their pronunciation. Microsoft Word is a widely used software in education for writing assignments, creating documents, collaborating with peers, and conducting research. It helps students improve their writing skills, allows teachers to create lesson plans and track student progress, and enables research by facilitating citations and data manipulation. By integrating these tools into their learning experiences, students can develop critical thinking skills.

GAMES

League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed by Riot Games. It was released in 2009 and is available on Windows and macOS platforms. In League of Legends, two teams of five players compete against each other on a map with the goal of destroying the enemy's base. Each player controls a unique character, known as a champion, with distinct abilities and playstyles. The game requires strategic thinking, teamwork, and quick reflexes. League of Legends has a massive player base and is considered one of the most popular esports games in the world, with professional leagues and tournaments attracting millions of viewers. Minecraft is a sandbox video game developed by Mojang Studios. It was released in 2011 and is available on various platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. In Minecraft, players explore a block-based, procedurally generated 3D world with no specific goals or quests. The game allows players to build structures, create items, and interact with the environment. Minecraft has both single-player and multiplayer modes, and its open-ended gameplay has made it popular among players of all ages. Call of Duty is a first-person shooter video game franchise developed by Activision. The first game in the series was released in 2003, and there have been numerous installments since then. Call of Duty games are set in various historical periods and feature realistic combat scenarios. The series has been praised for its intense multiplayer modes, which allow players to compete against each other in various game types. Call of Duty has a large and dedicated player base, with professional leagues and tournaments attracting millions of viewers. Among Us is a multiplayer online party game developed by Innersloth. It was released in 2018 and is available on Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS platforms. In Among Us, players are divided into two roles: crewmates and impostors. The crewmates' goal is to complete tasks around the map while the impostors' goal is to sabotage the crewmates and eliminate them without being detected. The game is played in rounds, and at the end of each round, players vote to determine who they think the impostors are. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is a widely played MOBA game on mobile platforms that offers an array of heroes, team-based matches, customization options, and various game modes. Its competitive scene is flourishing due to its engaging gameplay and regular updates. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang was released on July 16, 2016.

VIDEOS

Capcut, YouTube, TikTok, Filmora, and Netflix are all popular applications and services for creating, editing, sharing, and streaming multimedia content. Capcut is a video editing app developed by ByteDance, allowing users to create short videos with various effects and music. YouTube is a video-sharing platform owned by Google, enabling users to upload, share, and view videos. TikTok is a social networking service for creating and sharing short music, lip-sync, comedy, and talent videos. Filmora is video editing software with a user-friendly interface and advanced features. Netflix is a subscription-based streaming service offering a vast library of movies, TV shows, documentaries, and original content. All these applications and services have been released within the last two decades and have revolutionized the way people consume multimedia content.

[shannonlynnin]

What is a clinical mental health counselor?

A Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) is a person that went through an accredited Masters program with the curriculum that follows CACREP. LMHC’s focus is on wellness and prevention, implementing a holistic approach to counseling and effectively teaching life skills the client may have never been taught. The counselor will initially assess the emotional instability that the client is presenting and affecting their relationships, intruding on their daily life tasks. Once assessed, the counselor would diagnose the client and create a treatment plan that maps out the counselor’s and client’s goals. 

In the mid 1700s, the first asylum was opened to act as a peaceful place for the mentally ill to live. However, these “sanctuaries” eventually turned into overcrowded, abusive and unsanitary institutions. Eventually, Psychiatrists intervened and became advocates for the mentally ill. 

In the 1800s, Philosophers began theorizing the concept of the mind and the effects of the world around them. Out of Philosophy came Psychology which is also seen in Greek Mythology and Theology. Eventually, in the late 1800s Sigmund Freud coined the term conscious and unconscious mind assisting Psychiatrists in understanding the thinking processes of the mentally ill and an idea to treat the illness. 

Licensed Mental Health Counselors were not always well-regarded in the Psychology world. It was not until John F Kennedy signed the Community Mental Health Act in 1963 that opened the door for Mental Health Counselors. This Act recognized the need for counselors and prevention in our communities. After the Vietnam war, soldiers were coming home in bad shape, most showing symptoms of “shell-shock,” now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The Community Mental Health Act helped establish community wide centers to help individuals and their families dealing with disorders such as, mental illness, for example PTSD, intellectual disabilities, such as Autism, and addiction disorders, such as substance abuse, eating disorders, gambling, etc.  It established a clear need for treatment in multiple stages, like prevention for healthy people before an issue begins, programs like DARE and suicide prevention, as well as establishing a crises hotline. Prevention during,  such as inpatient care and treatment centers and finally, prevention after treatment, continuing to learn life skills and group/individual counseling in the outpatient setting. 

In 2011, after many years of lobbying for our profession, the Department of Defense finally recognized the demand for Mental Health Counseling, finally becoming eligible to be credentialed with TriCare, the military insurance for soldiers, retired military, as well as their families.  Eventually, in 1997, Mental Health Counseling was recognized by the ACA, but not eligible for licensure until 2009. 

Licensed Mental Health Counselors have come a long way, proving to be an asset to the community. Unlike other allied professions, Mental Health Counselors focus their attention on prevention and wellness. They assist in helping to eliminate the hardship that the client or their family may be experiencing. They teach important skills such as, stress management, time management and other important life skills to alleviate the feelings of anxiety, pressure and worries. They assist in the teaching steps to take care of oneself. Often, patients that are in inpatient treatment might need to be taught necessary life skills in order to get by once they are out of treatment. Such simple tasks as waking up at a normal time, brushing their teeth, showering, even washing their dishes after they eat and not leaving them in the community sink, are just some of the elementary skills that the client can use in the “real world.” Often, mental health counseling may be short term, as once the client is functioning in daily life without emotional stress, they may not feel that therapy is still beneficial. Counselors do recommend maintenance, such as a session every month or quarterly, just to check in. 

In conclusion, as one can clearly see, it was an exceptionally long road for the Mental Health Counseling Profession but we made it! We have proven to be a respectful and needed profession in the community and I can not wait to continue my journey towards licensure in Mental Health Counseling. 

References 

Gerig, M. S. (2018). Foundations for clinical mental health counseling: An introduction to the profession. (3rd ed.) Pearson Education, Inc.

[daimonclub]

Blog Links and resources

Blog links and web resources Blog Links and resources, a collection of very useful, famous and interesting websites, selected by our blog experts to help you improve your knowledge and usage of the Internet. https://www.aforismicelebri.com/ Aforismi celebri, un sito creato da Carl William Brown con varie sezioni, dagli aforismi ai saggi, dagli articoli di attualità alle risorse sull'intelligenza artificiale, dalla finanza al trading, dall'umorismo alle critiche più satiriche e via dicendo. Naturalmente in questo sito trovate anche tutti i links al famoso Daimon Club, prima creazione del nostro picaro, con tutte le risrose del caso. https://andisearch.com/ Andi is search for the next generation using generative AI. Instead of just links, Andi gives you answers – like chatting with a smart friend. Hello! I’m Andi, your smart search assistant. The more detailed your question, the better I can help. It’s an AI search engine that gives you links, information and answers to your questions. It is free and anonymous to use. https://www.perplexity.ai  Perlexity Open Search. Perplexity AI unlocks the power of knowledge with information discovery and sharing. It is an answer engine that aims to deliver accurate answers to questions using large language models. The new AI-powered chat tool that works like a powerful search engine and can show you the source of your search. https://www.english-culture.com/  English culture guide map, a quick reference navigation guide of this blog, the world of English, to give the visitors a rapid view of the different contents, so that you can find very easily what can be of some interests and usefulness. https://www.english-culture.com/  AI guide to web resources AI guide to web resources, an article that illustrates the most important AI resources available in Internet and all their applications, with updated links, search-engines and timeline. Artificial intelligence is an extremely complex science made up of machine learning, neural networks, cognitive computing, and so much more. https://www.english-culture.com/  Web software guide links. This page contains a complete collection of links to the most useful software online, both old, new and future, with many AI applications and tools for every purpose, use and enjoyment. https://openai.com/blog/  OpenAI is a company focused on AI research and development. For the businesses, organizations and individuals, Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT), the powerful natural language model implementation, developed by OpenAI, became an instant hit, because of its potential to transform the businesses. The power of continuous learning, Lilian Weng works on Applied AI Research at OpenAI. What excites you most about the future of AI? Artificial general intelligence (AGI) should outperform humans at most economically valuable work.

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The British Museum https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/galleries There are more than 60 free galleries at the British Museum ready to be explored. https://www.procon.org/ ProCon.org is a non-profit organization that promotes critical thinking by presenting for and against tips for role-play debates. ProCon.org presents the pro and con arguments to debatable issues in a non-partisan format. The website provides free educational resources that offer non-biased information on controversial issues and promote critical thinking and civic engagement. ProCon.org presents both sides of debated issues with supporting background information, statistics, and resources. The website is a great resource for gathering background information and gaining insight into controversial topics. https://www.biography.com/ Biography is an American documentary television series and media franchise created in the 1960s by David L. Wolper and owned by A&E Networks since 1987. Each episode depicts the life of a notable person with narration, on-camera interviews, photographs, and stock footage. The show originally ran in syndication in 1962–1964, and in 1979, on A&E from 1987 to 2006, and on The Biography Channel (later Bio, now FYI) from 2006 to 2012. After a five-year hiatus, the franchise was relaunched in 2017. Over the years, the Biography media franchise has expanded domestically and internationally, spinning off several cable television channels, a website, a children's program, a line of books and records, and a series of made-for-TV movies, specials, and miniseries, among other media properties. https://www.tasteatlas.com/ Local food around the world. World Food Atlas: 10701 traditional dishes, 5927 local ingredients, 22452 authentic restaurants. EAT AUTHENTIC. Since there are many important things in life, the first one is eating, I don't know the others, as Carl William Brown used to say https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/ BBC Learning English offers free English courses for all levels, from easy to hard. They also offer English for everyday situations, grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, English for children, English through news, business English, quizzes, English through drama, podcasts, and an app. They also discuss topics such as procrastination, artificial intelligence, and more. https://www.bbc.com/reel/ BBU reels. Browse the latest selection of carefully curated playlists that will introduce you to a new idea, concept, place or person that will expand your mind, teach you something new or change how you see the world.

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[saswathacademyworld]

5 important things to prepare for a Chess Tournament

Chess tournaments are tests of multiple skills and qualities of a player, more than just chess-related. They test the player’s ability to maintain focus, analyse their own moves, anticipate their opponent’s moves, strategically plan their way through the match, while also testing their physical and psychological endurance.

Preparing for your first, or even nth tournament can sometimes be a nerve-racking task, but with these key points to keep in mind, you will be all set to go. Read ahead for some useful advice on how to ready yourself for a chess tournament!

1. Pick a Tournament that fits your Rank

For first-timers or beginners, it is safe option to pick a tournament to play that fits their rank. A new player may find it suitable to play within a low rating category group to allow themselves to get a more comfortable gaming experience, as it will be their first experience competing in a tournament. Once they build their comfort zone and begin excelling within it, they can begin to map their way out of it and improve their skills as well as their rating.

On the other hand, players on the more experienced end might choose to go for open tournaments so that they may gain more exposure while also getting opportunities to compete with a wide range of opponents and, therefore, possibly playing against opponents with higher ratings than their own to build up their competition and practice.

2. Learn few Openings and Endings thoroughly

Openings and End-games constitute the most important aspect of the game. The way you make your way into and out of the game can very well determine your chances of winning. It is important to have a good few openings that you have practiced beforehand, it’s also useful to refresh your knowledge of some basic endgames; preferably those you can use with about 5 minutes left on the clock for the game.

Every player trying to play competitive Chess should have an opening repertoire of atleast 2 openings. The player must practice these openings with popularly played variations and the counter moves. Having an understanding of atleast 2 openings with most variations would be the sure way to have a great start in tournaments. There are a whole lot of openings and not everyone can play all of them. The most popular ones like the e4 openings, d4 openings etc and their counter moves from Black needs to be learnt thoroughly.

Similar to openings, there are certain endings such as Rook & pawn ending, Queen & pawn ending, King & pawn ending etc. There is also another dimension in preparing endgames, that is the drawing positions, number of moves and the clock time. Players needs to be conscious of these while playing endgames.

3. Learn Middle Game Tactics

The choice of moves and tactics made by a player during this middle game can either build up on or bring down how well they may have started off the game. Tactics should come like the muscle-memory while driving a car. There are certain patterns that arise out of chess piece positions. A player can identify these instantly by a lot training. The player does not even need to think a lot as their training kicks in, triggers a series of moves that bring greater advantage over opponent.

For learning tactics, it is always a good idea to watch chess games to analyse the tactics and moves of many players around the world. Watching Grandmasters play chess can always be a great way to learn something new and valuable to your play. Keeping track of recent tournaments and watching the games unfold, or even watching YouTube videos about useful tactics that you can practice, can be very useful methods to incorporate into the games.

4. Practice Spaced-Learning

Cramming multiple games and knowledge about techniques a night or two before a tournament is no good way of preparing for tournament. Spaced-Learning technique is always encouraged over such mass-learning one. Spaced-learning technique involves consistent, timely/daily practice hours with a focus on learning something new everyday as well as enforcing what is learnt earlier. Here important to note that, repeating what is learnt earlier is equally important as learning something new.

No book or self-learning can help in this regard and this is where the coaches can help, understand each player, their strengths and weaknesses, enforce the strength and mitigate the weaknesses.

5. Ensure Physical Fitness

While games can last for many hours at a time, it’s important for players to be able to give their best at all points throughout the game. For this reason, the player’s physical endurance acts as a supporting pillar in maintaining the mental presence and focus on the game as it takes place.

Games can last from up to 2 hours, to up to 4–5 hours or more at length and it is important to ensure you are able to physically sustain yourself and focus on the game for that long. Get a good night’s sleep the night before you’re playing, and try to keep this up a week or so before the tournament commences.

At Saswath Academy, our coaches train kids in Chess as a skill rather than an academic system. Preparing for tournament requires patient, consistent efforts, not just for the player but also parents and coaches. Anyone can play chess, but competitive Chess requires a more understanding, analysis-based approach. Talk to our coaches and take a free demo of our class to know more about our teaching methods.

[sturmovik]

some personal ramblings about FFXIV and GW2

Context: I am a longtime Guild Wars 2 player that tried out FFXIV for about a month before I quit* and went back. I enjoyed FFXIV for the most part, but playing it also helped me realize why I love GW2 so much. 

*disclaimer: i didnt even make it to Heavensward cuz the quests between destroying the Ultima and starting HW were so damn boring and tedious, sorry

Though, there are a couple things I really liked about FFXIV and wish GW2 had more of, so I’ll start with those:

Roleplaying. And I mean in terms of gameplay features. E.g., joining a Grand Company in FFXIV really makes you feel like you have a role there compared to GW2's Orders. In GW2, there is no interaction with your chosen Tyrian Order outside the main story quests. Once you join you can buy order-themed gear, that's it. In FFXIV, joining a GC gives access to tasks/jobs/quests and a rank system that makes you feel like you are working for this group.  Rising through the ranks of your FFXIV GC is a process, a grind, and that's a good thing. It's an RPG and you are playing the role of an adventurer rising up the ranks of the GC. In GW2, it's all just the story. You finish a questline, you get "promoted" but there is no system in place to make you feel like you’re really a part of it when you’re out in the world.  

Emotes in FFXIV are much better as well. For some, this might be inconsequential or even meaningless but this is a ROLEPLAYING game, and for people who want to roleplay, a good emote system can go a long way. You rarely see RPers in GW2 while in FFXIV they're all over the cities

Party Finders / LFG. I really cannot fathom why GW2 still doesn't have matchmaking/duty finder for Dungeons and Strikes. rn you need to form a party manually and either invite people or hope people join. Sure, I don't think GW2 Raids should have matchmaking bec. they are super difficult and technical, and bec. it's hard to automate balanced parties w/ GW2's super-flexible buildcrafting system. Though strikes share that problem afaik it's not as punishing and I think could benefit from matchmaking. But a duty finder system that rewards players for clearing dungeons, strikes, and less-popular map metas might really help give new life to older content.

Armor / Fashion. Not really better than GW2 imo, but I wanna make a point about armor variety. Making pretty armor/dye combos is one of my favorite things about GW2, and I’ve gotta say FFXIV's expansion armor sets looked really dope compared to some endgame/expansion GW2 armors (most ARR armors were ugly though, GW2 still has way better pieces than those). Like I wish GW2 had more well-designed armor sets for us to mix and match. That armor set they released for GW2′s 10 year anniversary is kinda ugly imo (no offense ANet). sadness. Will say, though, GW2′s dye and armor transmutation system is leagues above FFXIV.

Now, on the flip side, here are some of the things I absolutely love about GW2 and keep me coming back to this game:

Overall, FFXIV was fun but really every "traditional" MMORPG I try just makes me appreciate GW2 more. Really wish more RPGs would copy GW2's questing, exploration, and dynamic event systems.  Like seriously, in terms of open world questing and exploration, no MMO feels as good as GW2. GW2's zones feel so much more open and alive thanks to ANet's unique approach to map design.

Exploration and Dynamic Events. In FFXIV ARR, the maps are lifeless and boring. You unlock the entire map for a zone when you first enter it so there really is no need to explore. They look pretty and big at first glance but the invisible walls and fixed pathways quickly kill the illusion. The maps are very pretty though and there are some really sweet views. But again, there is really nothing to find or "explore" aside from the enemies your quests and hunt board want you to kill. It's a tired traditional MMO trope but I expected more from the most popular MMORPGs. 

GW2, meanwhile, has phenomenal zone design especially in its expansions. The wide open spaces actually -feel- open and vast, but they never feel empty or dead, even if you’re in the middle of a desert. Then you have some truly labyrinthine maps with so many paths, nooks, and crannies to explore, and often times you are rewarded with loot, vistas, or other surprises when you explore. Maps often have several layers of verticality as well, and many GW2 maps have underwater environments to explore as well.

As for dynamic events, the “FATE” system in FFXIV is pretty disappointing compared to GW2′s map events. Whether they be small solo events at a certain location or a map-wide meta event requiring hundreds of people, GW2′s dynamic events are probably the best dynamic “questing” I’ve experienced in an MMO. They tell stories, grand and small, that help make the world come alive - whether its defending a village or a caravan, assaulting a fortress, or taking on a dragon and its army of minions, GW2′s events pull you in and make you a part of its world.

Mounts. Some people are complaining that WoW is copying GW2's mounts but what helped make the mounts so good was that they were tied to GW2's approach to exploration and questing too. The mounts in GW2 Path of Fire felt so good because you needed them to traverse environmental challenges in the open world - and it was FUN.  GW2's mount system was built with their open world design philosophy in mind. They didnt just make travel faster; they were made to interact with the open world. New puzzles, minidungeons, and other navigational challenges around the open world were designed with mounts in mind.

okay that’s it. dont mind me, just needed a place to put this wall of text lol. i didnt talk about PvP or WvW (even thought I love GW2 WvW) cuz i’m not a big PvP person and didnt try any of it in FFXIV.

[wyofabdoms]

Undercover I Do - Chapter 7

Characters: Javier Peña x female reader

Summary: While on an undercover assignment posing as a married couple, you are attacked and nearly assaulted. Upon waking, all you remember about Javier Peña is what you remembering seeing from two photographs of the two of you posing as the happily married couple. As you struggle to regain your memories, Javi struggles with his own feelings for you.

Rating: Mature (Eventual smut)

Warnings: Memories of attempted sexual assault, fake/pretend relationship, married and undercover trope, temporary amnesia, injury, swearing, soft Javi, feelings, I have no idea how amnesia really works, brief mention of masturbation, Javi reads poetry...did you know that?!?!?...me neither!

Word Count: 4407 (again....Whoopsie!)

Notes: A trip to the office in an attempt to jog your memories ends up revealing more about Javier Peña then you expected. Plus, a trip to the farmer's market knocks some things loose and a thunderstorm brings you and Javi closer.

Read on Ao3

It had been a week since you’d come home from the hospital.

During that week, there had been so little success in regaining your memories save for those brief hopeful moments with Javi the previous weekend.  Javi had done as much work from home as he could this past week; when he did have to go in to the office, he usually returned with stacks or boxes of paperwork, spreading out on the coffee table or in the kitchen like now, grumping that he didn’t want to leave you on your own for too long if he could help it.  The time in the alone stretched on endlessly and you always felt a jolt of happiness when you heard the key in the lock and your husband strode in on a cloud of cigarette smoke, faded aftershave and cologne with (more often than not) a frustrated scowl decorating his handsome face.  You always took note of how that scowl slipped from his face when he greeted you, though, and that moment always made you smile.

The previous day you’d joined Javi at work for a short while.  You had discussed at dinner the night before that maybe more familiar surroundings would jar something loose...after all, Javi had said, the two of you usually spent more time at the office than you ever really did in your apartment.  You eagerly agreed.  If nothing else you were excited for a change of scenery.  

It had been more awkward than anything, really and you were disappointed that nothing short-term had seemed to come back to you.  Feistl and Van Ness had both greeted you warmly, inquiring as to whether you’d gotten the flowers they’d sent.  Both younger men had kindly remarked that you looked like you were doing well and then proceeded to lapse into an uncomfortable silence, glancing from one another and then Javi before quickly scurrying off to complete some menial task.  Dixon had found you as well, and had seemed a bit on edge when she had made small talk with you.  You simply chalked it up to stress, but you had seen her pull Javi a short distance away and speak furtively to him, clearly irritated with something he had said or done.  Javi’s brows had lowered over his dark eyes when the older woman had moved away and he had ushered you into his office, telling you he needed to pop into a quick meeting...shouldn’t take more than fifteen, twenty minutes and did you want to wait here or should he get a car to take you home?  

You’d been happy to settle yourself onto the worn leather couch, but as the time ticked by you grew antsy and started pacing around your husband’s office, tracing the pens on the desk, sitting in his chair and twirling in it absentmindedly, aimlessly gazing at the maps and photographs on the walls and bulletin boards.  As you wandered, the corner of your jacket caught on something on the edge of the desk, pulling it off and sending a stack of papers fluttering to the floor.  You cursed, then bent to re-stack the papers, hoping they had not been in any kind of order. You saw a thin, navy blue book also on the floor and reached to pick it up.

Rumi: The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing

You were struck for a moment: what was Javi doing with a book of love poems at work? You sat down in his desk chair again. Flipping open the small book you noticed a name written neatly in a woman’s handwriting on the inside cover: Sofia Flores

A small piece of paper, worn with time was tucked between the cover and the title page.  You carefully open it and read a small message in the same writing as the name:

Even though this marriage didn’t work out, my sweet Javi, remember: I will always love you. Xoxo

Your stomach clenched.  “This marriage” hadn’t worked out?  You felt like your mouth was suddenly sandpaper and you started to close the book and place it back on the desk when another loose paper fluttered out from the middle pages...one of many pieces of paper stuck there you realized as you flipped to the middle of the book of poetry, finding two with corners dogeared.  Two poems on opposite pages bracketed a small collection of what appeared to be newspaper clippings. The first poem read:

“Lovers find secret places inside this violent world where they make transactions with beauty.”

And:

“I want to see you. Know your voice. Recognize you when you first come ’round the corner. Sense your scent when I come into a room you’ve just left. Know the lift of your heel, the glide of your foot. Become familiar with the way you purse your lips then let them part, just the slightest bit, when I lean in to your space and kiss you. I want to know the joy of how you whisper “more”

Your breath caught at the simplicity and beauty of the poems, and it made your heart ache that your husband even possessed a book of poetry, much less one filled with such lovely words. You started to look through the clippings flattened between these two poems and were surprised when you noticed they all seemed to be about you.  

There were five total: one from what appeared to be an interoffice newsletter highlighting your work as a successful agent in a mostly male dominated field.  The short article included a photograph of you taken several years ago when you had graduated from Quantico.  The other four were in Spanish and had clearly come from local Bogota papers.  Each had grainy black and white photos of you (and two with Javi along with some other DEA agents) at different locations around the city taken during the last two years as you had worked to help unravel the mess that was Columbian drug trafficking.  In one, you and Javi and Feistl stood together surveying a map spread on the hood of a Jeep, most likely either pre- or post- op.  In another, you were escorting a minor drug crony from a building, his hands behind his back, your hand firmly on his shoulder and your torso covered in a sturdy tac vest.  The others were similar and at the bottom of the small pile of clippings, you found a polaroid photo.

It was another picture of you, but in this one you were sitting amongst a small group of co-workers.   Despite the others in the picture, you were framed at the center, clearly the focus of the photographer.  You remembered this night from over a year ago: It was Van Ness’’s birthday and you and several other colleagues had pitched in to buy him a Polaroid camera like the one that would have taken this picture.  It had been a good night out, a fun dinner with margaritas and beer flowing.  As everyone got more silly and giggly and loose, the camera had been passed around and each person had taken a turn snapping a photo.  You vaguely remembered glancing across the table just as the snap from this photo being taken had reached your ears and noticed Peña lowering the camera from his face, removing the picture from the roller as it slid from the device, growling something to the person next to him as he passed the camera. You hadn’t thought anything of it, thinking your partner had just taken a wide shot of you and your colleagues across the table. All of the photos had been collected at the end of the evening and presented to Van Ness, who had spread them all out on the table for everyone to giggle and admire one another’s silly faces and poses.  

The realization struck you that your husband must have kept the photo he had taken that night, a photo with you at it’s center.  It was worn, smudged along the edges and showing creases and a small tear in one corner.  Clearly it was handled regularly.

“Hey.”  The gruff rasp of your husband’s voice startled you and you looked up at him guilty.  “You ready to get outta here…?”  He stopped short when he saw the book in your hand, the clippings on the desk, the photograph in your other hand.

“I’m sorry!”  Your first instinct was to apologize; clearly this wasn’t something he wanted people to see. “I didn’t…” You quickly moved from being apologetic to feeling tears well up in your eyes as you remembered: “even though this marriage didn’t work out”...from “Sofia”.  You looked up at him.  “Javi?”  You could only choke out his name by way of question.

Javi’s face transformed to worry when he heard your voice say his name.  He moved quickly to crouch next to you in his desk chair.

“Hey, hey...it’s ok.  What is it?  Whatsa matter?”  He put a callused hand along your cheek, searching your eyes for an explanation.  You could only look back down at the book in your hands.

“Is our marriage over?”  You asked him, tears starting to fall.  His brows came together in confusion and he spoke softly.

“What?  What do you...what do you mean, sweetheart?”  You flipped back to the front cover of the book, smoothing out the note from “Sofia”.  

“Who’s Sofia Flores?” You held your breath, waiting for him to look guilty, ashamed, abashed at being found out, but you saw realization flutter across his eyes and his face relaxed; he released a puff of air...almost a small laugh, and he stood, leaning carefully on the desk next to you, wiping a hand across his face.

“No.  No, sweetheart...it’s not what you think.”  He looked at you for a moment, studying you carefully.  “Do you remember...do you remember me telling you about Lorraine?”  You nod and the next instant, you feel relief come over you.  Lorraine: his former fiancé back in Texas.  He had told you about her once, one late night at the office when you had both sipped a little too much whiskey and started swapping stories about miserable past relationships.  Lorraine: who had always put him down, made him feel like he was never good enough, a piece of shit, who demeaned the things he had found interesting.  You had never met the woman, but you remember feeling that night like you had never hated anyone as much as you hated her for treating Javi so poorly.  You also remember thinking to yourself that night how incredibly wrong someone could be about another human being.  But then again, you hadn’t been engaged to Javier Peña….yet.  Javi sees it click in your face and continues.

“Sofia Flores was my mom.  She gave me this,” he gently takes the book from you, “right after I left Lorraine...right before I came here.  She taught herself English with this.” He held the book up, pride sparking behind his eyes at the memory of his mother.  You nodded, remembering him telling you how she had passed during his first few months in Columbia; it had been sudden and he hadn’t even known she was sick until it was too late.  He hadn’t been able to get back in time to say goodbye…You noticed him swallow hard as he saw the articles about you spread on the desk.  

“What about…”you gesture to the clippings, the photo in your hand. “What about all of these?  Why do you have all this stuff about me stuck in here?  Why don’t you keep these at home?” He looked uncomfortable for a moment, like he was caught at something somehow.

“I, uh….I just...I had ‘em tucked away from...before we were…” He stopped himself, seeming to think carefully about what to say next.  Then he looked from the articles to you and then away again, almost shy.  “I guess...I had a little crush on you when we were partners and...I just never took ‘em out of there after...things changed.”  He took the photo from you, looking at it for a moment, then back at you; for a moment he looked like a little boy waiting to be yelled at for breaking a window with his baseball.  You smiled up at him and his face relaxed, returning the smile with a small one of his own.  He cleared his throat and straightened from the desk, returning the articles and picture back to their spot in the middle of the book and quickly depositing the book into a desk drawer.  He held his hand out to you and pulled you to your feet.  “Hungry?” he asked.

“Yeah,” you said, taking a step closer to him and keeping hold of his hand for a moment when he let go.  He looked surprised by your closeness, then smiled down at you again, carefully.  You stood on your tiptoes and carefully kissed him; a chaste, quick kiss lasting only a moment or two, but you felt a current dance between your connected lips, like sparks from an incorrectly attached jumper cable.  His eyes stayed closed for several seconds after you broke the kiss and settled back onto your feet; you smiled at how in awe of the taste of you he seemed to be.  Your smile turned into a grin when he opened his eyes and met your gaze, smiling softly back at you.  “I’m starving, actually.”  

You slid your arm through your husband’s as the two of you left the office and headed for a late lunch.

****

You’re a fuckin’ moron, Peña! Javier had thought to himself instantly when he had walked back into his office and seen her sitting at his desk with the Rumi book in her hand. He’d panicked when he’d heard her say his name and seen the tears in her eyes.  He’d quickly realized the confusion and had breathed easy knowing she hadn’t been angry with him.

 Once more he felt like a creep when he realized she had found the articles and picture he had kept tucked away inside it.  He saw her everyday in clearer situations: her beautiful face on the phone, tongue between her lips, determining if a tip is legitimate; listening through headphones as she giggled trying to seduce an informant; watching beads of sweat drip down her neck and the sound of her heavy pants after she’s finished running down a narco in the dusty streets.  

He’s not proud to admit that he has thrown his imagination to any one of these memories on the occasion when he would not seek out a woman to distract him and he had instead unbuttoned his jeans and pumped himself to the thought of his partner. That seemed to have been happening more and more in recent months, but he hadn’t ever used those photos for THAT.

He kept these for the even more frequent occasion when he would close his office door, stare at her face and reread one of those poems for the millionth time, feeling when he did a balloon expand inside his chest with yearning for her...aching to hold her close to him and whisper those lines in her ear; truths about how he felt about her.  

Now, he refused to acknowledge how much it made his heart sing as they walked through the outdoor market a few minute’s walk from their apartment.  They had returned home and had lunch, no new memories having made an appearance with exposure to their place of work.  She had been frustrated by and he had suggested they go for a walk, get out of the apartment some more...it was a beautiful day after all.

Now, they wandered past the tables and stalls of brightly colored pineapples, papayas, bananas, peppers and avocados, stopping occasionally to buy something for dinner or pausing for her to admire a woven bag.  She spoke Spanish to the merchants easily, a good sign, he thought, that her long term memories were strong.  

He discreetly admired his partner’s profile as she stopped to look at a bright display of flowers, enquiring about price from the kind, toothless, stooped older woman manning the stall.  She paid the lovely worker and put her nose to the large white bouquet of petals and Javi felt his heart nearly stop.  

She was so beautiful.

...It took him a moment to realize something was wrong, but when he noticed her stiffen and her brow furrow, he was next to her in an instant, his hand on her elbow, quietly saying her name.  She looked at him...but didn’t see him for a few moments, her gaze was elsewhere, seeing something else.  He knew she was remembering something.

“I remember…”she started, blinking her eyes and looking back down at the flowers in her hands. “Plumeria…” she said quietly.  “I remember we were next to...a swimming pool?  You and I?  It was nighttime.”  

Javi knew exactly what she had remembered.  He gulped, saying nothing, not wanting to distract her from remembering. She continued following the thread of memory the scent of the flowers had unlocked.

“We were…” Her face flushed suddenly and she glanced up at him, then away again almost immediately.  “...together.  You...had me up against…” she gulped, the blush in her face turning a deeper scarlet.  Javi remembered, too.

They’d made an early exit from Ortiz’s dinner party; she had feigned a headache.  They had believed Ortiz’s lab was beneath his pool, the entrance through the pool house in the back of his home.  While everyone else had been occupied with the forth course and an unknown number of drinks, the two of them had slipped back around the premises, creeping along the sparkling pool, trying to find some clue to get them into the lab, something they could use to get a warrant.  

Javi had heard the noise from the guards making their rounds first, and he had yanked his partner by the elbow, pressing her back up against one of the plumeria trees, shoving one knee between her legs, gripping her ass with one hand and holding her head carefully with the other as he shoved his mouth against hers.  She had fallen into the ruse seamlessly, recognizing instantly what he was doing.  Her hands gripped fistfuls of his hair, one leg coming up to wrap around his waist, drawing her skirt up and giving his hips more access to the space between her legs.  

Even though it was only pretend, he hadn’t been able to stop himself from growing hard...being so close to her sex he had found himself grinding himself into her without thinking, eliciting a small moan from her mouth.  He had torn his lips away and begun devouring her neck, making her gasp into the thick, flower scented air and signaling their location to the guards.  He had snaked his hand up the front of her dress and pulled down, releasing her breast to the cool night air.  She had pulled his head down and thrust her groin along the hard outline of his cock and he had gladly taken the pert nipple into his mouth, relishing in the sensation the soft pebble made between the gentle ministrations of his teeth.  

“Perdón por interrumpir, Señor Sanchez,” The two of them had sprung apart, reacting to Javier’s pseudonym, playing up the caught couple.  Despite the act, though, Javi had looked at her as she’d straightened her dress, running a hair through her hair and he couldn’t help admire her swollen lips from his kisses and the flush on her cheeks.  He had seen something in your eyes, reflecting what he felt himself.  

That hadn’t been all fake.

“I...I don’t remember anything other than...us...against the tree.”  Her voice snapped him back out of the memory; she was staring at the flowers in her hand sadly, grasping for more of the memory.  

He didn’t particularly want her to remember what had happened next.

That night they had been found out.  They had been followed back to their “home” and both beaten, separated for a time in different rooms.  He had heard her yelling and had heard over and over the sound of crashes and fists and palms meeting flesh amidst the sounds of the same happening to him.  He had shouted, too, wanting her to know he was still there, he was still with her, they were still in it together.  Later, after the sicarios had given them both a rest, they had been reunited when they were dragged into “their” bedroom and secured to their respective places, whispering to one another, made to wait through the dark hours of the early morning...until Ortiz’s men had returned when the sun had come up.  

The rest, he didn’t want to think about.

“Well…” His voice was gruff from the thought of how close he had come to losing her that day.  “That’s something.  That was...recent...just a few weeks ago.”  She looked at him curiously, clearly able to see that he was reacting differently to the memory of them kissing passionately beneath a plumeria tree.  She said his name, a question filling the sound.  He looked at her and forced a small smile.  “That’s good.” He said quietly, reaching for her hand.  “C’mon. Let’s go home.”  

+

+

+

+

Javier laid awake in the darkness of the living room, trying not to think about that night again for the millionth time.  The blanket was scratchy on his bare chest; he kicked it off of him and lay there, listening to the sound of the pounding rain outside, the occasional flash of lightning illuminating the apartment, thunder crashing and rumbling loudly.  He hated that he would always have that memory of her, calling out, yelling in terror and panic.  

He sat up….had he dozed off?  He thought he had heard her screaming his name again, just like she had from the other room that fateful night.

Then he heard it again.

“JAVI!!”

He was down the hall and next to her on the bed faster than he could take a breath.  She was curled in a ball, the covers soaked from sweat and kicked off of her, shaking furiously.  In the light from a flash of lightning, he saw that her eyes were closed tightly, her face contorted into a terrified mask.  She was having a nightmare... 

...and was calling out for him.

He carefully placed his hands on her shoulders, gently nudging her, not wanting to frighten her more upon waking, but wanting desperately to rescue her from the terror of her dream.  She screamed as she bolted upright, nearly knocking her head into his.  He gripped her shoulders firmly as her arms flailed out around her, fighting against him.

“Heyheyhey...easy, it’s me….its just me.  It’s Javi.”  She recognized him after a moment, and he continued to murmur that he was there, that she was ok, that he had her, that it had just been a bad dream; she flung herself into his arms.  He held her against him, soothing her, whispering to her like she was a child, feeling her body shake.  He felt warm, wet drops on his chest and knew she was crying.  He gripped his arms around her more tightly, trying with all of his might to will her peace, a feeling of being safe.  

They stayed that way for a long time, him stroking her hair, murmuring into her ear, rocking her gently against him.  Finally, he felt her take a shaky breath and she whispered against his chest:

“It felt so real.  I was tied to a bed and...there was a man...he was trying to…” her voice choked into a sob once more and he felt the tears start to wet his chest again.

“Shhhhh….shhhhhh.  It’s ok.” His voice was hoarse from sleep, cigarettes, fear...memories.  “You’re safe now.  I’ve got you.” He buries his face in her hair and breathes her name. “I won’t let anything happen to you.  I’ve got you.”

More time passes.  Her breathing settles and her tears dry, but he continues to hold her.  He feels the tension in her body release itself, little by little and she takes a deep, shaky breath before pulling back to look at him.  The room is still dark and the rain still pours down outside, but the thunder has passed, is getting softer. 

“It was just a nightmare.” She whispers, almost to herself.

He can’t bring himself to correct her; that it was a memory.  Not tonight, he thinks.

She’s staring into his chest, appearing to think about something carefully.  He moves to unwrap himself from her, to settle her back into bed, but she grips his forearms firmly, stopping him from pulling away.

“Stay.”  She breathes and he almost doesn’t hear it.  He thinks for a moment, telling himself he shouldn’t.  It’s not a good idea.  But then she lifts her eyes to meet his and in the near darkness he sees them sparkle and she whispers: “Please.  Stay with me.”

He doesn’t say anything.  He just carefully bores her backwards until she’s lying on her back, her head on her pillow. He hovers above her, gazing down at her like a lover...like a husband might do before kissing his wife and bringing her to ecstasy…

...He shifts himself to lie next to her, behind her and he pulls her back against his chest, feeling her legs move to tangle with his.   He reaches down to straighten the sheets and pulls them over top of both of them, then wraps his arms around her.  He listens to her breathing get heavier and slow and he’s sure she must be asleep.  Just as he thinks about closing his own eyes, she turns and rolls to face him, wrapping her own arms around him, too and burying her face in his neck.  He’s sure she can feel his pulse pounding frantically, but she simply sighs softly, her breath skimming across his skin.  Her breathing slows and deepens once again.  She’s asleep.

Javi sighs, remembering the taste of her lips during that sweet, innocent kiss in his office earlier that day. Closing his own eyes, he buries his face in her hair, drifting off to sleep with the weight of her in his arms.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 8,  Chapter 9, Chapter 10,  Chapter 11,  Chapter 12,  Chapter 13

[cursedlore]

The Favored Witch

Just another normal day at the Tower, with Alastair!

jordan.nova - Alastair DresdenG - Irriel

---

jordan.nova In a dark and desolate room hidden beneath a dark and desolate tower, a gaggle of witches crowded around the sparse furniture and made idle early-morning conversation with each other. They leaned against or perched upon the bookshelves and tables usually reserved for potion brewing. Once their tasks began for the day, there would be no time for idly sitting and chattering - as such, there was no furniture in the cramped room to accommodate being idle.

Alastair sat on the stone floor, back against an unoccupied bookshelf and chin in his hand. The chaotic din of several loud conversations carrying at once drove a stressed pain into the crease of his brow.

He hadn't slept for at least five days. This ender-forsaken tower was always so noisy. Too many people crowded into such a small space, always shouting and bustling around one another. It drove him insane.

Though Alastair loathed to think he could be looking forward to being sent on another errand, he desperately needed the fresh air and open space. And the quiet. Mostly the quiet.

Perhaps he'd get killed this time. That would be a treat. Finally reset his fatigue, at the least.

DresdenG The sound of a door opening at the top of the stairs sent the room into silence. Words died on the lips of the speakers. Several witches around the room jolted to their feet, straightening their coats and donning their hats in a rush to look presentable.

The unseen top door slammed shut, and a quick, hefty patter of invisible steps descended nearer.

The door at the bottom of the stairs leading down to this room flew open, and a short, stout witch stood framed in the doorway. She wore a long coat, similar to those most of the other witches were wearing, with one notable difference--a shimmering little badge sewn into the right shoulder.

Though she stood a solid two feet shorter than most of the group, her large, tapered hat more than made up the difference. The brim flopped and wriggled as she surveyed the room with beady, black eyes.

"All right, ragamuffins," she screeched in a voice not unlike a pickaxe squealing against the stubborn stones at the bottom of the world, "Fall in. There's a lot to do today and I won't have any of you wasting precious daylight!" She snapped her fingers at them repeatedly, devoid of anything resembling patience.

jordan.nova An exasperated sigh hissed through Alastair's teeth, his mouth twitching into a snarl. Slowly and reluctantly, he rocked onto the heels of his boots and stood up off the cold ground.

The loyal witches gathered around the doorway in a scurrying sweep, ready and at the beck and call of their 'leader'. Alastair neglected to join them. He leaned back against against the bookshelf, the brim of his hat settling over the top of it so it quit folding against his neck in an annoying way.

He crossed his arms across his chest, and crossed his fingers in the fold of his blue coat sleeve, as he waited for her to dole out their orders. He just needed her to send him outside. It didn't matter what for at this point. He'd take just about any stupid errand to get out of this tower for a day.

DresdenG Irriel smiled a wide, crooked-toothed smile as the witches gathered around her at her beck and call. She lifted the brim of her hat and looked up at them, pointing to one of her favorites.

"You!" she shrilled, "The boy on the mountain needs a visit today. See if you can't knock him off a tower or two. Delay his progress." She swiveled her gnarled finger and jabbed it at another. "You, get out and see what that so-called warden of maps is up to. I expect a full report!" She rounded to a pair of witches to her right. "The Plum brat is toying with things she oughtn't once again. A patrol will accompany the two of you to ring her doorbell." As the witches leapt into action to obey their orders, satisfaction filled Irriel's chest. She turned to one of the two subordinates left in the room, and her smile widened.

The underling quaked, shrinking back from her just slightly.

"You know where to go," she hissed, "Argue with me, and I'll make you wish you hadn't."

She gulped and nodded. "The..monster?" she questioned in a wavering voice, just to be sure.

"Yes of course the monster, now go! Scram! Shoo!" She took off her hat and scuttled over to the offending plebian witch and slapped her repeatedly with the massive article of headwear.

She started with a shriek and was up the stairs in moments, leaving Irriel alone with Alastair in the dark and desolate room.

A little giggle left the head witch as she watched the door swing shut behind the frightened underling.

jordan.nova Alastair watched the fiasco of wrangling the witches and sending them scurrying off into the wilds, and he couldn't help rolling his eyes at the commotion.

For the faintest flash of a moment, Alastair recalled a similar scene - of Edomie chasing down ocelots in the tangled thick of the jungle, her shrieks of laughter following the terrified cats as they scurried away from her.

Not quite the same, of course. That had been funny. This was pathetic.

As the last timid witch scampered out of the witch's keep with his metaphorical tail between his legs, the heavy door swung shut. Alastair stared at the door, ignoring Irriel to take a deep, steadying breath in the only silence the room had seen since sunrise.

DresdenG The sound of Alastair's breathing grated on her nerves, and the short witch clenched her fists around the brim of her hat. This spiteful, sarcastic wretch had been a thorn in her side for months. She was tired of him the day he arrived.

She spun on her heel, suddenly, eyes narrowing. She looked over him, from head to toe and back again. Her long, crooked nose twitched with a disapproving sniff.

"Where is your coat, boy?" Irriel hissed as she looked up at him, noting the vibrant, ostentatious color of his clothing. Most certainly not regulation. The chieftan demanded regulation.

jordan.nova Alastair's eyes - desperately resisting the urge to roll up to the ceiling - drifted down to Irriel. He hadn't thought it possible, but there did, indeed, exist a smaller, louder, and more annoying creature than Edomie. The wonders of Stor'Sweev truly never ceased.

"I'm wearing it," he informed her flatly, a ghost of a sneer on his face.

DresdenG Irriel sputtered like a hissing cat with hackles raised. Her twisted fingers tightened around the brim of her hat, knuckles whitening.

"You--know--what--I--meant," she seethed, stalking toward him until the distance between them shrank to mere inches. She stared straight up at him. "Where, is your proper, coat?" To emphasize the question, she reached up and poked him in the stomach with one pointed fingernail.

jordan.nova A hiss wheezed out of Alastair when she poked him, and his arms flinched reflexively. He barely managed to fight down the urge to swat her hand away from him. Instead he clenched one fist so hard his blunt nails dug into his palm.

He scowled down at her. "Oh. The ugly one." Alastair shifted casually to buy himself a little distance from her, and his scowl shifted to a far corner of the room. "I must've lost it. Again. Probably from the last time your useless 'escorts' let me get killed. Shame about that."

DresdenG A strangled, squawking squeal escaped Irriel's throat. She snaked her hand into the satchel at her side, whipping out a small set of stairs and plonking them at Alastair's feet. She scrambled up them in a huff, standing on the topmost stair and leveling her gaze with his. She reached out and grabbed a fistful of that insufferably blue coat and pulled him close, their noses almost touching.

"You think you're so special," bits of spittle flew from her mouth as she extruded each syllable, "just because you're undying, hmm? That doesn't give you leave to shirk regulation, to insult my troops! Remember your place, boy."

jordan.nova Every inch of Alastair bristled in rage as he stared at her with a wide eyed snarl. A tiny bit of spit landed on his cheek, and Alastair briefly considered planting his boot in her chest and sending her tumbling off her stupid stool.

Remember your place, boy.

"Your master has found my gifts quite exceptional," he said, voice dropping low and cold. "Or he wouldn't send his best men out to collect me every time I've been killed."

He flashed her a challenging grin. "I've no control over my coat changing. You take it, and death delivers it back. The very order of your world marks me as special. A terrible burden - but someone must bear it."

DresdenG She ground her crooked teeth together, fistful of blue fabric trembling as she simmered at his words, unable to deny them.

“Wipe that smirk off your face,” she hissed, letting go of him and holding out her hand, palm up, instead.

“Give it here,” she commanded, certainly not for the first time. How many times must he die and come back for that sickening, garish, garment to stop returning with him?

‘Special,’ indeed. The head witch dreamt often of the day she would show him how his special little gifts really made her feel.

But today was not that day. Today, he mattered to the boss he so happily reminded her existed. Today, they had work to do, and Alastair would continue to be a wart she could never completely remove.

jordan.nova Alastairs grin twitched a little wider, a little more confident, as he slowly straightened back up. "Of course," he said, feigning politeness. "Another for your collection."

He shrugged out of the old, familiar garment, the chill of the room seeping through his thin shirt underneath. It would be back, hilariously so, but he hesitated to hand it over.

She probably thought he was doing it on purpose - magicking another coat into existence upon his death, so she ended up with an ever growing pile of them. In truth, he'd always had the coat - a gift from the enders in a time he no longer remembered. He hadn't expected it to return to him if he died without it. Much less to duplicate itself.

Each new coat was an identical copy of the original. Not the first original, the last one he recalled wearing. It still had a visible wound across one shoulder hem where he'd... been attacked.

Alastair ran the pad of his thumb thoughtfully over the little lilac stitches. The coat had never healed or reset like he did. Each coat stubbornly clung to the memory of Edomie's delicate mending.

Alastair swallowed thickly, pushing down a twist of homesickness, then shoved the coat into Irriel's expecting hand with a spiteful smirk.

DresdenG His tone, that insolent posture, that conniving, infuriating grin. Her blood pounded in her ears but she waited, giving him a chance to correct his misbehavior.

She watched as he examined the stitching, tapping one foot impatiently on the little stairs. When he handed it to her, she snatched it, unceremoniously balling it up and stuffing it into her satchel. It disappeared inside, and later she'd add it to the ever-growing pile.

When she looked back to him, fury spiked her heart rate at his expression. She'd had enough.

Her hand shot out, quick as lightning, and she slapped him hard across the cheek. The sound of palm meeting face resounded in the mostly empty room. She stared at him, a twisted smile of her own emerging. That was satisfying.

"I told you, wipe that smirk, off your face," she repeated, "Don't make me tell you third time."

jordan.nova Alastair reeled at the impact, his head snapping to the side. As the shock settled, he took in a sharp gasp. His hand went uncertainly to his cheek, still stinging from the force of her blow and sensitive to his touch.

One more steadying breath hissed through his clenched teeth, and he pulled himself back together, shoving the impulse of rage back down. He straightened back up and leveled Irriel with a cold stare.

"For your sake, I hope that didn't leave a mark," he said, firmly clinging to his composure. "I'd hate your boss to ask, and discover you're undoing all his hard work to secure my place here."

DresdenG Irriel wriggled her fingers as her arm fell to her side, palm stinging from the impact. The grip of her other hand tightened on the brim of her hat. She watched, a pleased little grunt sounding at the back of her throat when he touched his face. Perhaps that would teach him to mind her.

That thought abruptly shattered at his next words. The sagging skin below one of her eyes twitched as he invoked a higher power. For all the things Alastair was, she knew he wasn't blind to his value, and that made him all the more infuriating.

A growl escaped her, and she raised her hat, bringing it down across his shoulder. She didn't waste a moment, bringing it back across the other side, whacking him repeatedly.

"How--dare you!" she shrieked, "You spineless, pathetic, absolute imbecile, I'll--"

Her words were cut off by the sound of the top door slamming open. Irriel ground her teeth together, another, frustrated growl leaving her throat as her head swiveled to look toward the stairwell.

"Oy!" came a rough, gravelly voice from the top of the stairs, muffled by the bottom door. "What's goin' on down there? Thought you lot were s'posed to be gone already."

Heavy footsteps followed the words, accompanied by a stream of unintelligible grumbling.

jordan.nova The look on Irriel's face was worth it for the fleeting moment Alastair had to savor his defiance.

Rage and hatred swept over him again when her hat struck him repeatedly, battering him into a corner of the bookshelves. His arms raised to block her blows, and just as quickly, they halted as a door slammed open overhead.

Alastair's followed the sound of approaching footsteps on the other side of the wall, descending the hidden stairwell down to the witches' keep. "Now you've done it," he muttered with a sneer.

DresdenG Irriel couldn't contain herself. She lashed out one last time, failing to hear the door at the bottom of the stairs open as she struck Alastair.

"Hey!" the man barked, stalking over to the pair of witches. Clad head to toe in the leather armor of the pillager clan, the tall, broad-shouldered individual leveled Irriel with a stern stare. "Jus' what d'you think you're doin'?"

Irriel paled, swiftly slamming her hat back onto her head and taking several steps away from Alastair.

"Why-hy-hy, hello there, sir!" she bowed deeply, the brim of her hat brushing the floor. "I was just keeping one of my subordinates in line, of course. Wouldn't want him getting cocky, now, would we?" A nervous chuckle escaped her as she did her best to stifle her frustration.

The man grunted, turning his eyes on Alastair. He took a few lumbering steps in his direction and squinted, looking slowly back and forth between the two of them. "Can't have you beatin' up on our prize. Chief wouldn't be too happy t'hear that."

jordan.nova Irriel's tirade being interrupted was immensely satisfying, especially to see her backpeddling so hard to save face in front of her superiors.

Superiors. Incredible that the thick-headed barbarians could be considered that.

Satisfaction and relief both swept out of Alastair as the brute stepped close to him. His fingers tensed on the bookshelf behind him, and it took a great deal of concentration to not flinch backwards from the much larger man.

His words made Alastair's blood run cold, and a tiny shiver ran up his spine as the chill of the room finally got to him.

Our prize.

Our prize.

The absolute, horrendous nerve of them all.

Alastair tried to say something - anything - but air seized in his lungs. His eyes flicked between Irriel and the soldier's, and eventually his gaze went to the floor.

"...thank you... sir," he seethed though clenched teeth.

DresdenG A chuckle rumbled in the officer's chest, and he crossed his arms. "Yeah, bet you're grateful I came down here when I did. You lot and your squabbles." He shook his head with a sigh and turned to leave. As he reached the door, he paused and turned back around. "You forgot to bow. Witches gotta show some respect."

jordan.nova Alastair's blunt nails dug into the underside of the old shelf and he felt his teeth grind together. He felt warmth rush to his face, frustrated and humiliated.

Slowly, he made himself bow - tilting forward enough that his ponytail swung over one shoulder, and loose locks of hair fell in front of his face.

Alastair bit hard into his lower lip and counted slowly to five. His  eyes continued to stare hard at the floor as he slowly straightened back up. He tasted blood.

DresdenG Irriel watched him bow, satisfaction curling up in her chest like a cold cat. She let the brim of her hat fall just enough to hide her grin from the officer.

"Right, good," the officer grunted and opened the door. Instead of going up, though, he held it open and gestured through. "Time to clear off. Y'know where you're goin'?"

She straightened her face, flipping up her hat to look at him more properly. "Indeed!" she croaked, smartly, "I'm escorting him to where those two academic-types have been building. My scouts have said they stay underground for long stretches. Should be more than enough time to get this one to translate the signs they've left everywhere."

He grunted, pleased. "Chief is always happier when he can learn somethin' the other clans can't. S'good thing we've got ourselves a smart witch."

The head witch felt a twist of rage in her stomach. Her eyelid twitched.

He stared at them for a moment and blinked, heavily. A span of silence filled the room before he barked, "Well go on! I have things t'do, too, y'know."

Irriel startled, her hands fluttering for a moment before she ran to her set of stairs, broke them, and shoved them down into her bag. "Of course!" she screeched, compliantly, shooting Alastair a look as she whizzed past him and up the stairs.

jordan.nova Alastair's eyes briefly fluttered closed as he sighed at Irriel's assignment. Of course she'd be escorting him. He'd almost  hoped for the luxury of her absence.

The signs written in common never said anything as secretive or intriguing as the clan likely hoped for. They just assigned names to terrible, massive structures and pointed to each other in an annoying tangle. Not at all unlike the directional signs Edomie had littered her artificial caves with.

These builders had a habit of leaving notes for each other. Usually nothing of importance, or anything beyond a friendly hello. He hoped it wouldn't be more of those. Irriel never believed him.

Alastair caught her demanding look as she practically fled the room, and realized he was expected to follow her. Reluctantly, he pried himself off the bookshelf and made his way to the door. As he brushed past the larger man, Alastair's head ducked slightly and his eyes went reflexively to the floor. It made him inexplicably angry with himself.

The chill of the forest met him on the stairwell as he made his way up into the heart of the tower. At least he'd get to spend the day outside again. Even if it had to be at Irriel's beck and call.

And... she'd forgotten to replace the coat she stole from him.

Great.

[slytherinbarnes]

Sub Rosa [37]

viii. terms and conditions

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 8.5k

Warnings: blood, death, violence, nausea, fighting, guards doing the most, Pike being an asshole, headbutting bitches that deserve it (and breaking their nose, so like, descriptions of that). 

Summary: tensions in Arkadia reach a head, and chaos ensues.

a/n: TODAY WE BEGIN THREE DAY A WEEK UPDATES!!! the new schedule is MWF, so be looking out for the next update on Friday! also i said this in a post at like 5 a.m. but I really just want to thank all of you for the love and support you’ve given to me and sub rosa! it means the absolute world to me!!! the taglist for this series is open! I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!!!

previous chapter // season masterlist // series masterlist

You and Bellamy are at Pike’s office bright and early the next morning, ready to discuss what to do next. But before you can even lift your hand to knock, the door swings open, revealing Pike. “Good, you’re both here. Hannah called and asked us to meet her at the lookout tower.”

You both nod, following him as he leads you through the camp and to the tower, climbing the ladder quickly, you and Bellamy right behind him. As you all step onto the platform, Pike comes to a stop beside Hannah, who is standing in the tower, looking worried. “Hannah?”

“Sir, we lost contact with one of our recon teams. Three teams departed Arkadia at 0800 on routine patrol. Each of them reported Grounder contact less than a mile outside of camp.” She points at three spots on the map, and you all step closer to get a better look. “As per your orders, two teams retreated and made it safely back inside the walls.”

“The third?”

“Was forced to engage. I believe they were attempting to secure a defensive position when-” She cuts herself off, taking a deep breath. “They ceased transmissions.”

You and Bellamy exchange a look, before you turn to look out at the land surrounding camp. Pike muses, “The Grounders are close.”

“Gathering from the North and West. It appears they're establishing a blockade. There's no way through it.”

Pike shakes his head. “Something's changed.”

You think about Lexa’s message, and what Bellamy said to Pike before sending you to the Grounder village. Blood must not have blood, but that doesn’t mean we can start taking over villages. You shake your head, wondering how you’re going to sneak away and update Kane, when the guard tasked with watching the perimeter turns to your group. “Sir? You need to see this.”

Two Grounders break through the trees, riding towards the camp on horseback. Pike asks, “What do they want?”

Bellamy looks at them, and then to you. “They brought a message. We've seen this before.”

You glance at Pike. “Finn. Before the alliance.”

Bellamy doesn’t wait another second, he turns and descends the ladder quickly, making a beeline for the gate, and you and Pike hurry after him. The guards pull the gate open, revealing the two men on horseback, now right outside the wall. Bellamy demands, “Talk.”

“We seek the one you call Pike.”

“Why?”

“An army has fallen. Blood soaking the earth where he took their lives, one by one. Life was taken. We demand life in return.”

Pike walks closer to the two men, now outside the walls beside you and Bellamy. “My life? What are your terms?”

Bellamy starts to argue, “Sir-”

Pike cuts him off with a wave of his hand, and the Grounder says, “Come with us, and we walk away.”

“Walk away? From what?”

“By order of the Commander, you have been surrounded by an army of the twelve clans. In every direction, warriors wait to kill anyone who attempts to cross the blockade. To greet them, as we greeted those we caught outside your walls today.”

He reaches behind him and pulls out a sack, throwing it to the ground at your feet, blood soaked guard armor spilling out. You feel a wave of nausea as you look at it, and you can hear murmuring in the crowd behind you. Bellamy tenses up beside you. 

“We left the bodies for the animals.”

Bellamy grinds out, “That's enough.”

Pike reaches out, grabbing Bellamy’s arm. “Let's go.”

“They won't leave. I have seen this before.”

The Grounder raises his voice, loud enough that the crowd behind you can hear him. “The men who wore those uniforms took a long time to die.”

Pike mutters, “Fall back. That's an order.”

Pike steps backwards, towards the gate, and you start to follow, hesitating in place when you see that Bellamy isn’t doing the same. The Grounder yells, “If you do not give up your leader, you will all take a long time to die.”

You reach out for Bellamy, grabbing his arm, but he shrugs you off. “Bellamy!”

The Grounder turns his attention to him. “Choose the side that's best for your people.”

“I do that every day.” Before you can stop him, he pulls out his gun, and shoots the two Grounders quickly, one after the next. You watch in shock as they slump, and Bellamy mutters, “So far, nothing has changed my mind.” 

He turns and stalks back into camp, and you step inside behind him, exchanging a look with Pike, who seems shocked that Bellamy took a page out of his Murder the Grounders Book. You let out a quiet sigh, aware that Monroe’s death is affecting him more than he’d like to admit. Her death has done nothing more than push Bellamy closer to Pike, a move that scares you more than you’d like to admit. Just when you start to think he’s coming around, something happens that sends him right back to Pike. 

You turn and look towards Bellamy’s retreating figure, watching as he disappears from sight, heading in the direction of Pike’s office. Pike motions for you to follow. “Guess we’ll have that meeting now.”

He grabs Hannah and Monty on the way back to his office, and when you reach it, Bellamy is standing at the door already. Pike lets you all inside, and Bellamy heads over to the map, waiting for everyone to come inside. When you do, Bellamy points at the ridge around camp. “I radioed the lookouts on the way over here, and they confirm another three encampments just over that ridge.”

“Well, they're not hiding from us. That's for sure.” Pike turns to Hannah. “How many days can we keep our population fed without being able to send out hunting parties?”

“Food and water stores were already at less than sixty percent. Now it’s maybe a week before we go critical? Two, if we start rationing immediately.”

“Immediately it is.”

Hannah nods, then eyes the line on the map that Bellamy is drawing, indicating the blockade. “What about breaking the blockade?”

You scoff at her, “We don’t have the manpower or the bullets to fight all twelve clans.” 

Pike adds, “And after Bellamy's theatrics this morning, they'll expect that anyways. Regardless, we can't engage the Grounders until we've got our own people under control, and that starts with Kane.”

He turns and looks between you and Bellamy. “I need you to suspend access to the prisoners. No contact with anyone in camp. For all we know, they've been providing intel on Grounder villages to Kane.”

“Yes, sir.”

He points to Monty. “And I want you to take over coordination of camp surveillance. We'll need new security protocols at all camp entrances.”

Pike offers Monty a radio, which he takes, and he offers his first suggestion. “Maybe, uh, changing critical passwords every twelve hours.”

“Good. Coordinate with your mom, but keep the circle tight.” Pike turns to look at all of you, one by one. “Then there's the matter of camp-wide surveillance.”

“You want us to spy on our people?”

He turns to Monty and nods. “We can't do what's needed to defend this camp, if every order I give is leaked before it can be executed. It's an old saying, but it's true. The walls have ears.”

You resist the urge to look at the bug underneath his desk. You have no idea. “We can't afford any more assumptions about who's a friend and who isn't, not your oldest acquaintance. Not your husband, wife, or lover. We're fighting two wars now, and the more dangerous one is here, inside this camp. We can't prove it yet, but Kane and his accomplices passed information to Octavia. I know none of you signed up to investigate your neighbors, but Monroe died because the traitors in this camp sold them out to the Grounders. Whoever did that will be hunted down and exposed for what they did to their own, for what they did to us. Now you get whatever resources, whatever personnel you need to make that happen.”

He looks at each of you, waiting for each nod that you understand, and you feel sick to your stomach as you think of what this means for Kane, what this means for you. A traitor and a spy. Add that to your growling list of nicknames.  

“Dismissed.”

Everyone turns to leave, but you linger, wanting to talk to Pike alone. Bellamy nods at you when you glance at him, encouraging your decision, before he closes the door behind him, leaving you with Pike.

He glances at you, expectant. “What can I do for you, Miss Griffin?”

“I wanted to talk to you about the offer you made me the other day. I’ve made up my mind.”

“And?”

“And I’d be honored to lead a team.”

He smiles, already reaching for things on his desk. “Good. That’s what I like to hear.”

He grabs a few rolled up maps, and stacks of paper, holding them out to you, which you take. “This is all the data we had from the last village, along with a few guesses on the next few villages to test. You’ll need to run your plan and who you choose for your team by me first before we send you out there. But if everything looks right, we can start looking in the next few days.”

“What about the blockade?”

“Don’t worry about the blockade. We’ll figure it out. In the meantime, you have a lot of work ahead of you, you might want to get started.”

You nod. “Thank you, sir.”

You turn and slip out the door, nearly running into Bellamy, who is just outside, waiting. “So? How’d it go?”

You hold up the stacks of paper. “You’re looking at the newest team leader.”

He smiles at you, the first genuine one you’ve seen in a while. “I’m proud of you.”

“Really?'' The words, paired with his smile, make butterflies break free in your stomach, reminding you of the boy you fell in love with. But the butterflies turn to lead when you remember what you signed up to lead and who you agreed to do it for.

“Of course.” Bellamy leans down to kiss you, slow and sweet, and you can almost convince yourself that everything is okay, that you’re not a spy hidden in the ranks of a facist Chancellor. Almost. 

He pulls away, and you both look at each other for a minute before you hold up your stacks of work. “Pike wants me to get started right away, so I should probably go do that.”

Bellamy nods, “I’m gonna get started on the campwide surveillance, come up with a few ideas with Monty, so we can run them by Pike later.”

“Okay. I think I’m gonna work outside, enjoy the sun a little.”

“If you sit under the ring, you get the best view of the camp and you’re in the best spot for the sun.”

“Thanks for the tip.”

You start to walk away, but he calls out to you, “I’ll come find you later, and update you on everything!”

You turn towards him, now walking backwards, a smile on your face. “Only if you bring a snack with you!”

He laughs and you smile back at him, before turning and heading outside, towards the ring, like Bellamy suggested. You work there for a while, pouring over the maps and data, trying to figure out how you can do this job, and still save the Grounder’s lives. 

You take a break around noon, standing and stretching, before you decide to take a walk around the perimeter of the camp to stretch your legs and take your mind off things. You roll up your maps and papers, tucking them into your back pocket as you head towards the wall, and start to walk along it. You people watch as you go, smiling at the kids playing soccer and the friends talking together underneath the afternoon sun.

As you reach the back part of camp, the crowds thin out, this part of Arkadia not as popular to spend time in, and as you start to get lost in your head, you’re surprised to hear hushed whispers coming from nearby. You slow as you hear them approach you, and something inside of you, an instinct, tells you to duck between two buildings, and use the darkness to hide you. The whispers grow closer, and though you can’t make out what they’re saying, you know it’s important from the tone they’re using. 

Seconds later, Pike, Hannah, and Bellamy walk past your hiding spot, unaware of your presence. They’re all pressed tightly together, still whispering, and every few seconds one of them looks around, suspicious. You know something is up as soon as you see them, and you wait a few seconds before slipping from your spot and following them at a distance. They walk from the back of the camp to the front, stopping their discussion as soon as they reach a populated area, all of them pulling apart slightly to blend with the crowd. 

Their suspicious glances continue though, and don’t stop as they duck inside, walking quickly down the halls, heading straight for the Chancellor’s office. You follow them until you’re sure that’s where they’re going, and then you turn and run the opposite direction, making a beeline for the hidden alcove that Kane uses to hide the radio connected to the listening device. As you reach the alcove, you slow down, not wanting to raise any suspicions, and you look around a few times before you slip through the plastic curtain and into the space on the other side. 

Kane, Harper, and Miller are all standing there, turned towards you, looking surprised. As you move closer to them, Kane whispers, “What’re you doing here?”

You ignore him, instead turning to Harper, who sits with the radio and headphones in her hand. You hold your hand out for it. “Give me the radio.”

She passes it to you, looking confused, and you turn the radio on, checking to make sure it’s on the right station before you unplug the headphones so the others can hear. “Results of this morning's mission inventory were sobering. In no way do we currently have the ammo for an extended series of firefights. Not even close.”

You hear Bellamy’s voice ask, “So what's Plan B?”

“Our lookouts say the largest Grounder encampment is in this valley. So, we deploy an assault team in Rover One, and we do as much damage as we can with automatic weapons.”

You and Kane exchange a worried look, another Grounder slaughter on your hands. Hannah’s voice crackles through, “They'll just fall back and make a run for reinforcements.”

“I'm counting on that. The only way there and back is over this ridge. We can bottleneck their warriors and pick them off.”

Bellamy asks, “We got the firepower for that?”

“We won't need it. We have a dozen concussive anti personnel devices in our armory. I've already got a weapons man rigging them with a remote trigger. We load the APDs into the rover, and mine the field before we attack. After we strike, we lure their reinforcements onto the ridge. And once we have enough Grounders in the killing box-”

Bellamy finishes for him, “We detonate. It'll buy us some time, but-”

Pike concludes, “Time's what we need. We move at dawn.”

You lower the radio, their conversation now finished, while you and Kane share a look. “All right. We need to disable that rover. If they take it out, it doesn't matter how many Grounders they kill. Ten times that number will descend on Arkadia, and no one'll survive.”

You shake your head, holding up a hand to stop him, a nagging feeling sitting heavy in your chest. “Wait. Something’s not right.”

“Of course something’s not right. Pike’s talking about starting a war.”

You cut your eyes at Miller, and he rolls his back at you. “Pike sent ten people to kill an army of 300. He had a plan, a good one. One that consisted of taking no prisoners or wounded. He was worried about retaliation.”

You turn and look at Kane. “But this plan? This is stupid. It’ll take most of the ammo we have left, and all of the APD’s, which is one of the best weapons in our arsenal. It’ll leave us defenseless against another attack or any retaliation.”

“Maybe Pike isn’t expecting another attack. I talked to him earlier, and tried to get him to give himself up, but he refused. He said the best way to handle things was to crush the Grounders so badly, they never move against us again. Maybe this is his plan to crush them.”

You shake your head, ignoring Kane’s words. “No, you don’t get it. Pike is smarter than that. I hate to admit it, but he is.”

Something about the plan pulls at a memory, something locked deep inside your brain. You let out a huff, trying to chase the lead, but lose it. “Mine the field, the only way out, then attack from the front using everything we’ve got. The Grounders retreat, into the killing box, then boom, take them out.”

You rack your brain, repeating the plan quietly to yourself again and again, and Miller, Kane, and Harper watch on in confusion. And then the memory hits you like a train, and you almost laugh at your stupidity. “It’s a Lasker trap, of course!”

“A what?”

Three confused faces watch as you roll your eyes. “It’s a chess move. Offer an unprotected pawn, which your opponent takes, thinking it gives them the advantage. But the unprotected pawn is a decoy, a trap. It distracts your opponent from the real threat, which you put into place while they’re focused on the other pieces on the board. Then you force them into the poisoned square, the disadvantageous position, and take out their King.”

Harper tries to make sense of your ramblings. “So, the attack is set up as a Lasker trap? So what?”

You shake your head. “No, no, no. The attack is the unprotected pawn. It doesn’t make enough sense on its own to be legitimate, which is why I think it’s a decoy meant to distract us. If we take the bait and sabotage the attack, he has us. We’re done.”

Kane looks at you in alarm. “So he knows we’re listening?”

“He must have found the bug. Monty is head of security now, I’m sure the first thing he did was sweep the office.”

“So what do we do?”

Miller glances at Harper, answering her question.“We do nothing, right? If what she says is right, and we sabotage the rover to stop the attack, then they’ll know we’re listening.”

“And we’ll be stuck in camp, behind a blockade, with a facist leader still in charge.”

You look at Kane, getting an idea. “What if we do fall for it?”

“What?”

“You said you tried talking to Pike to turn him over, despite knowing what they'll do to him.”

He squirms a little, and you know he’s thinking of Gustus, and the cut from every hand in the village, finished off by Lexa. “Yes, but if it’s what’s best for-”

You cut him off, “You don’t have to explain why. I get it. But Pike won’t give himself up to the Grounders, even if they guaranteed it would end things. He likes the power too much. Which is why we have to turn him in ourselves, set a decoy of our own.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“At any given time, Pike is surrounded by a handful of guards and strong supporters, like Hannah, Gillmer, and Bellamy. If you want minimal casualties, on both sides, then you need to get him alone. Best way to do that is a big distraction.”

And finally, Kane catches onto your line of thinking. “The prisoners.”

“No one can visit them, and it’s too risky to send one of us over there because Pike thinks they’re giving you information, so they’re gonna be watching anyone who gets close. But if someone gets locked up…”

Kane finishes, “They can deliver a message.”

“Start a riot, security goes on high alert, Pike is now alone. Shocklash him, deliver him to the Grounders, no more blockade.”

“I’ll talk to Sinclair, get him involved. We do this today. Our people shouldn’t have to suffer anymore than they already have.” He looks at you, “Stick by Bellamy’s side today, make sure he’s suspicious about the rover.”

“I want to be there when you deliver Pike.”

“Meet me at the rover at sundown. We’ll take care of the rest.”

You nod, passing Harper the radio. “I have to get back, Bellamy’s supposed to meet me soon.”

“Be safe.”

“See you tonight.”

You slip out from the hidden alcove and heab back to the arch, jogging quickly though the halls to reach it before anyone realizes that you’re gone. As you step out into the sun, and move back to your spot, you see that Bellamy is already there, waiting, hands on his hips, eyes searching for you. You slow your approach, telling yourself to be casual, and smile as you near him. “Did you bring my snack?”

He turns towards you, eyes narrowed in suspicion as he answers, “No. Where have you been?”

“Looking for you actually. I need help picking the guards for my team. You know a lot of them better than I do, and I don’t want to take anyone that you and Monty might need for security.”

He loosens up, “Oh. I can help you with that, but it has to be later. We have more important things to do now.”

“What’s going on?”

“Not here.”

He grabs your arm, leading you through the camp and inside, down a few hallways, until he pulls open a door, revealing a small room with a row of lockers along the wall, and a large radio set up on the wall opposite of you. He closes the door, and turns to you with a serious look. “Pike found a bug in his office.”

You feel the satisfaction of being right, and the relief from already warning Kane, which makes it easy for you to feign surprise. “What? Where?”

“Underneath his desk.”

“So Kane’s been listening all along.”

He nods, “Looks like it. But Pike has a plan. We pretended to plan an attack, and we talked about it openly in front of the bug. We’re gonna watch Kane, and the others that we suspect, and see if they try to sabotage the attack. If they do, we have our proof.”

“I’m a little hurt you conspired without me, but I’ll let it slide since this might solve the Kane problem once and for all.”

“There wasn’t enough time. I wanted to come get you, but Pike’s eager to get this handled.”

Something about his explanation is too similar to the one he gave you weeks ago when they tried to attack the army. You get a sneaking suspicion that these aren’t Bellamy’s words, but Pike’s, fed to Bellamy to create a sense of urgency so that he won’t have enough time to contemplate what Pike is asking of him. “I get it.”

“Good.”

He walks towards the radio, pulling out a chair, and motioning for you to sit. You do and he pulls out the other chair, plopping into it, before reaching forward and turning on the radio. “Monty, come in.”

“I’m here.”

“Anything yet?”

“Not yet. He’s just sitting outside and reading.”

“Let us know if anything changes.”

“Copy that.”

He leans back and you look at him, “What now?”

“Now, we wait.”

-

It takes a few hours before you hear from Monty again, and you and Bellamy spend the time talking about the details of Pike’s fake plan to capture the traitors. You pretend to act impressed and surprised, despite knowing all of it already. When you finally hear from Monty, he sounds excited. “Bellamy, you were right. I've got eyes on Kane.”

Bellamy turns to you, keeping eye contact as he lifts the radio and asks, “Anything suspicious?”

“Yeah, he's got something going. And I think Sinclair's part of it.”

“Copy that. We'll stay on Sinclair.”

As time passes, you feel your nerves building, becoming more aware of how much hinges on Sinclair getting arrested in time. You turn to Bellamy, prepared to make him suspicious. “You said the plan hinges on the rover, right?”

He nods, so you continue, “Well Sinclair’s an engineer, what if he’s going to sabotage it? He’d know exactly what to do.”

You see the realization pass over his face and he lifts the radio again. “Monty, what’s Sinclair doing now?”

“Heading into the hangar bay.”

“The one with rover one?”

“Yes.”

“He’s going to sabotage it! We’re heading that way.”

You and Bellamy run out of the room, heading towards the rover. As you hurry there, Bellamy grabs a handful of guards, and when you’re just outside the room, he turns to them. “Go inside, act casual. On my command, we’ll take Sinclair in.”

The guards all walk inside and spread out in the room, some talking to other guards inside, some just standing there. You and Bellamy walk inside, going straight for the rover, and as you come around the corner, you can see a pair of feet just underneath the vehicle. 

Bellamy nudges you, motioning across the room, where Kane sits, reading a book. You give Bellamy a nod, playing along, before turning to the rover and asking, “Sinclair, what are you up to?”

He slides out from underneath the vehicle and looks up at you and Bellamy. “Raven said the solenoid’s acting up, so I thought I'd swap it out.”

Bellamy gives him a doubtful look. “You got a work order for that?”

Sinclair stands, nodding, “Sure... I think it's on my desk.”

He stands there for a second, looking between you two, before he abruptly takes off running, trying to escape. Bellamy nods towards him, commanding the guards, “Go.”

They descend on him quickly, cornering him until two of them can take him down and cuff him. You and Bellamy walk towards Sinclair, and Bellamy keeps his eyes locked on the man. “There is no work order and there is nothing wrong with the rover, though if you had another ten minutes, I'm sure there would be.”

You sense movement and you glance up, meeting Kane’s eyes, who gives you the smallest of nods. He stands and slips out of the room, as Bellamy charges Sinclar. “You're under arrest. Charge is treason.”

Bellamy walks out of the room, and the guards follow, dragging Sinclair with them. He leads your group through the Ark, towards an abandoned room used for small meetings, and motions to the guards to take Sinclair inside. He looks at you, expression unreadable, “You should go get Pike, I’ll see if I can get anything out of him in the meantime.”

“Be right back.”

You turn and walk towards the Chancellor's office, confident that you won’t miss anything, because Sinclair won’t say a word. When you reach the office, the door is open and Pike is inside, pouring over maps in front of him. You knock and he looks up, waving you inside. “Ready to tell me about your team?”

“Yes, but that’s not why I’m here.”

“Later then. Why are you here?”

“We arrested Sinclair.”

Pike stands, already reaching for his jacket so he can follow you. As he steps towards you, you add, “Bellamy took him to a room to question him, but we caught him trying to sabotage the rover.”

“I should have known Sinclair would be with Kane.”

He follows you from the room as you lead him back to Bellamy and the others, and when you step inside, you see that Hannah is now there, standing near Sinclair. Bellamy is leaned against the wall by the door, arms crossed, and Pike walks right to him. “Anything?”

“Not a word.”

Pike walks over to Sinclair, and you and Bellamy follow him, stopping to stand at his right, while Hannah comes around to his left. Pike reaches into his pocket and pulls out the bug from his office, placing it on the table in front of Sinclair. “Perhaps you'd like to talk about that.”

He leans forward, inspecting it closely, before leaning back again. He shrugs, “Never seen it before.”

“Really? I thought you engineers like to take credit for your work.” He turns to Bellamy, holding out his hand. “Give me your gun.”

You and Bellamy exchange a look, both thinking the same thing. He’s about to shoot Sinclair. You shake your head slightly, urging him not to. Whether it exposes you as a spy or not, you don’t care, because you’re not about to watch Pike kill Sinclair for something he didn’t even do.

But Bellamy pulls out his gun anyway and passes it to Pike. You drop your hand to the knife that stays strapped to your thigh, ready to grab it if Pike aims the gun at Sinclair. Instead, he turns it around, using the end of it to smash the listening device into pieces. You let out a quiet sigh of relief, moving your hand away from your weapon, trying to fall into a relaxed stance again. 

You feel Bellamy sag with relief, before turning to Pike. “He'll talk eventually, let's put him in lock up.”

Hannah steps forward, glaring. “He's a traitor. On the Ark-”

You turn towards her, looking at her in shock, trying to figure out if she’s suggesting what you think she is. Pike confirms it when he finishes, “We would have floated him. But we're not on the Ark. Lock him up.”

The guards pull Sinclair to his feet and drag him from the room, straight to the prisoners. Straight to Lincoln. You feel relief flow through you when you realize that the plan is on track. Pike turns to you and Bellamy, “See if you can get me more. I want Kane. I want this handled.”

You and Bellamy reply in unison, “Yes, sir.”

You turn and leave first, eager to get away from Hannah, who seems a little too excited at the prospect of killing her own people, treason or not. Bellamy is right behind you, jogging to catch up. You decide to push the boundaries with him for a second day in a row, too bothered to stop yourself. “Was Hannah serious in there? Float him? Are we really going to kill our own people?”

Bellamy gives you a confused look, brows pulling together. “Of course not. You heard Pike, we’re not on the Ark anymore.”

You nod, but say nothing, still unconvinced. You sense that Bellamy is about to say something up, when a guard comes around the corner up ahead, smiling when he sees you. “Kane’s looking for the two of you. He’s by the bar.”

“Thanks.”

You glance at Bellamy before you continue down the hall, muttering, “Wonder what this is about?”

“Not sure. But maybe he’ll turn himself in.”

You nod, “Yeah, maybe.”

As you walk into the room, your eyes immediately find Kane, standing in the place you last saw him in. He’s staring at the unsabotaged rover, expression blank, and he doesn’t turn when you stop beside him. Bellamy turns to him, shaking his head. “It wasn't much of a plan, sabotaging the rover. Keeping an eye on Sinclair was an easy call.”

Kane turns to him, shocked. “Was it? Spying on your friend, that was easy?”

“People here in camp are losing focus. There's a threat outside these walls-”

Kane cuts him off, “The threat's inside the walls! Can't you see that? Pike's turning us against each other.”

“He's the Chancellor. Have you forgotten that?”

“No. No, I haven't.”

“Then do the right thing.”

“That's the problem. No matter how I look at it, I am.”

“Really? Because the way I see it, Monroe died because of you.”

You shake your head when he says it, still disagreeing, watching as the two men go back and forth.

“And now Pike's locked up Sinclair. You don't think he'll be the next to die?”

Bellamy gives Kane the same confused face he gave you, genuinely convinced that killing his own people isn’t something Pike would do. “Of course not.”

“Think about where this ends. Half the camp behind bars while the other half starves. People won't stand for it. They'll turn against Pike. But by then it'll be too late.”

“Pike has a plan.”

Kane shakes his head, “Pike's always got a plan, and it's always the same one. Take the fight to the Grounders. That's what got Monroe killed.”

Bellamy sneers, “You're crossing a line, Kane.”

“No. No, I crossed it. I asked you here because I hoped you'd both join me. It's still not too late to choose the right side.”

Bellamy sets his jaw, the muscle in it clenching, giving away his feelings even though the rest of his face is blank. “That's exactly what we came here to tell you.”

Kane shakes his head, turning on you. “You think Mount Weather affected you? The guilt from pulling the lever, the despair you felt when you couldn’t stop the assassin. That’ll be nothing compared to the guilt and despair you’ll feel after you help Pike lock up and kill your own people. You think you’re doing what’s best for us, but you’re killing us. All of us.”

The words hit you hard, the truth in them a little too powerful. But that truth is the same reason you agreed to be a spy in the first place, and it’s the same reason you’ve stayed on Kane’s side the entire time. Still, Bellamy doesn’t know that, and he doesn’t know that you’ve been a traitor to the cause from day one, so he steps between you and Kane in your defense. “You don’t get to say stuff like that to her. She helped keep us alive when you were the one that sent us down here. She runs straight into danger if it means keeping our people safe. She’s made the hard decisions for our people when you couldn’t, something that you don’t seem to understand.”

“Don’t I? Why do you think I’m trying so hard to get through to you? I’m trying to keep you from making the same mistakes I did! Floating our people, your mother and her father among them, sending all 100 of you down here, the Culling, those were all hard decisions that I made for our people, and I hate that I made every one of them.”

Bellamy lets out a harsh laugh, disbelieving, before he turns and abruptly walks away. You watch him leave, unsure what to do. Kane whispers, “It’s almost time. If he won’t help us, you have to find a way to get away.”

You jog after Bellamy, catching up with him quickly as he stalks down the hall, pissed. You reach out and grab him, pulling him to a stop. “Bellamy, wait.”

He spins, letting out a scoff. “Can you believe him?”

“What if he has a point?”

“What?”

“Hannah says we have enough food stores for two weeks, and that’s with rationing. How exactly are we going to get through a blockade, especially one that’s being enforced by 12 different clans? We’ll starve.”

“Pike said he’s working on it.”

“Is he? Because to me, it looks like he’s working on locking up our own people.”

“They’re breaking the law! Going against our Chancellor.”

“Funny, I’m pretty sure we did the same thing on more than one occasion.”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“Because we were doing it for our people.”

“Right.” You shake your head, tired of arguing. “I’m gonna go get some air.”

You see Bellamy’s face fall, aware that you’re starting to slip away. Little does he realize these are the very things you’ve wanted to say for weeks, but couldn’t. You hate arguing with him, but it’s the only thing that will give you enough time to steal a shock baton and meet up with Kane. It’s the only thing that will give you enough time to fix this. 

His voice is soft, almost pleading. “We'll be in that room I took you to earlier, the one with the radio? Bryan is gonna meet us there, said he had some news about the security of the camp. You should meet us there.”

“Okay.”

You turn away from him, mind already distracted from the fight, and now on your next task: Pike. But before you make it down the hall, Bellamy calls your name. You turn to look back at him and he whispers, “I love you.”

You feel your heart constrict, and you try to ignore the hurt expression on his face. Maybe you’d never agree on Pike, and Bellamy would always believe in what he was doing for him. Which is exactly why you needed to deliver Pike to the Grounders, and save him from himself. “I love you more than the stars.”

You see relief on his face when you say it back, and you have to force yourself to turn away and continue on your earlier path, instead of running back to him and trying to fix things. Because you know that getting rid of Pike is the best way to do that.

As soon as Bellamy can no longer see you, you run through the halls, tearing through the building and out into the evening air. You check for the position of the sun, realizing that it’s nearly time, and you run to the armory and slip inside to grab a shock baton. You attach it to your belt and head back towards Kane, stepping inside just in time. “Pike is almost here, hide behind the rover.”

You do as he says, stepping into the shadow of the rover and peeking through the windows to watch as Pike comes inside the room with a handful of guards that spread out and block the exits. He comes to a stop right in front of Kane. “Marcus. I hope you're ready to negotiate the terms and conditions of your surrender.”

Kane ignores the jab, and starts, “On the Ark, you taught your students about the promise of our future. About the responsibility our descendants would bear when they finally set foot on the ground.”

“We didn't start this war. But you can be damn sure I intend to finish it.”

“What happened to you, Charles?”

Pike gives Kane an incredulous look. “You committed treason! You acted against your own people! Don't stand there and try and take the high road with me, it's demeaning.”

“I did nothing wrong.”

“Nothing that I can prove yet. Sinclair will give you up, it's only a matter of time. It's over, Marcus.”

“Is it?”

Right on time, the alarm sounds, ringing loud in the space, repeating, “All available guards to lock up.”

Pike looks at Kane in surprise, turning to yell to the guards, “Go!”

You watch as they all run from the room, leaving Pike alone. You pull out the shock baton, holding it by your side as you creep around the rover towards the two men. “I don't suppose you know anything about this?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” 

Kane nods and you light up the baton, the sound loud enough that Pike turns to face you. He starts to lunge towards you but you press the baton into his side, holding it there as he cries out in pain and drops to his knees. He looks up at you, surprised to see you, and before Kane knocks him out, he mutters, “You left us no choice.”

As soon as he hits the ground, you pull open the back of the rover, and Kane helps you load Pike inside. He zip ties him to a pole in the back, as Harper’s voice comes through the radio at Kane’s side. “It worked. We're clear. The guards have their hands full.”

You check the ties as Kane grabs his radio and asks, “Is the gate open?”

“Waiting on you. Cargo locked and loaded?”

You look at Kane and nod, and as you close the back, he answers, “Affirmative. On the move.”

You run to the driver’s side and Kane takes the passenger's seat, both of you sliding inside as quickly as possible. You start the rover and fly out of the building, cutting across the camp in the shortest path possible, even if it means you aren’t following the roads. As you reach the final stretch of road that leads to the gate, feet left between you and the outside of the walls, a row of guards jumps into your path, right in front of the gate. Kane yells, “Stop!”

You’re about to run them over, acceptable losses, when you realize the guard right in front of you is none other than Bellamy. You slam on the brakes, stopping feet from him, both of you staring at each other as he points his gun at you. You can see the surprise on his face, but you ignore it and yell, “Get the hell out of the way, Bellamy!”

But he doesn’t move, just stands staring at you. You watch a look pass over his face, one you can’t identify, and he starts to lower his gun, but it’s too late. The guards have caught up now and they yank the doors open, pulling you and Kane from the seats and slamming you into the side of the vehicle. You push back against them, pissed at their aggression, pissed that you failed.

They press into you harder, pinning you against the vehicle, leaving you no room to move. You turn and lock eyes with Bellamy, your gaze never leaving his as they pull your knife from your holster and drop it onto the hood beside the shock baton. They start to cuff your hands together and you fight them, until you feel more guards join the mix and hold you in place.

As soon as they have you restrained, they pull you away from the vehicle and lead you back towards the building. As you pass the back of the rover, Pike stands and watches, now free from his restraints. He smirks, “Should've killed me yourself.”

His smirk and his amusement at your failure make your blood boil, and weeks of anger, hidden deep so it wouldn’t betray you, bursts free. You let out a scream of rage and run towards him, slipping out of the two guards' grip as they reach for you. Even with your hands cuffed behind your back, you want nothing more than to hit him, so you put your head down and run towards him, hitting Pike in the stomach with your shoulder, knocking you both to the ground.

Somewhere nearby you can hear Kane and Bellamy yelling at you to stop, but you ignore them, only focusing on your rage. You scramble to your feet and pull your leg back to kick Pike, but before you can, you are tossed to the ground by one of the guards. With your arms behind your back, you can’t catch yourself, and you hit the ground hard, rolling along it. The guards descend on you and when you try to fight them off, they fight back, hitting every inch of you that they can reach. All you can do is curl in on yourself and try to protect your middle. 

You hear Bellamy yelling, seconds before the guards all stop. Two of them yank you to your feet as Bellamy moves into your line of sight, concern written in the lines of his face. “Are you okay?”

You turn and spit blood, the metallic taste thick in your mouth. “Fantastic.”

Before he can check on you further, you are pulled away, dragged through the camp as you continue to fight back, kicking and dragging your feet, giving the guards a hard time the entire way to the interrogation room. When you reach it, you can see that Knae is already inside, and the guards pull you to a stop at the door, each standing beside you and making sure you don’t go anywhere. 

Pike, Bellamy, and Hannah walk by a few minutes later, none of them looking your way, but you can see that Bellamy is struggling with this, his expression distressed, his shoulders sagging with the weight of the world. 

You don’t know how long you wait outside, unable to hear anything going on in the room, but when the doors finally open and Kane is led out, his head is held high, but you can see the sag of his shoulders, like a weight is bearing down on him. He turns as he is led past you, and whispers, “Don’t fight it.”

And something about the defeat in his voice makes you sick. His guards yank him away, muttering, “Quiet.”

You are led inside, and your eyes scan the room, looking for Bellamy. He is standing near Pike, but half hidden in the shadows of the room, and you can see the shock on his face. You feel fear build inside of you at the uncertainty of your fate, but you set your jaw and lift your head high, letting your anger carry you.

You are shoved down into the seat, and the room is so silent it’s deafening, as Pike just stands there, looking at you. For the first time, you can see emotions on his face, something other than the blank, unreadable expression he normally wears. You still can’t tell what it is, but it seems like two emotions are warring for dominance. Finally, he steps forward, pressing his palms into the table, one of the emotions now victorious. “How did you know? How did you know the plan was a trap?”

You realize that he looks bothered, bothered at the idea that you outsmarted him, even if you did fail. He adds, “You weren’t in the room when we laid it out, and Bellamy says you were by his side all day, and that there’s no way you could have told Kane after he told you.”

“You’re not the only person who played chess with my dad.”

He lets out a short laugh. “Of course. The one time I beat Jake was with a Lasker Trap. I should have known he would teach you.” 

You say nothing, your eyes looking back to find Bellamy’s, whose gaze is locked on his feet. “What would your father say about you now?”

Your gaze snaps towards Pike, the cooled anger boiling to life again. “My father got floated for doing what was best for his people! He knew what it would cost him, and still he did it.”

You give him a look of disgust. “Though I do wonder, what would he think of you? A man whose only interest is feeding his own ego and saving his own skin.”

“Everything I have done has been for the people in this camp!'' His voice echoes in the room, and you see Bellamy jump slightly at the volume. 

“If that was true then you would have walked out of camp this morning with those riders and ended this blockade.”

“Like when you gave up that boy Finn?”

“Finn gave himself up to save his people. He knew that his death would give us peace with the Grounders.”

“Until their Commander left you in Mount Weather.”

“You still don’t get it. Lexa made a deal to save her people, and broke our alliance, but she still upheld our treaty for peace. Everyone of us inside Mount Weather could have died, but the people left behind in Arkadia would have been safe from the Grounders. We had peace for months before you came along! You ruined everything, and you manipulated Bellamy to do it. Used his pain to blind him to anything other than revenge, and then used his influence to get yourself elected. You think you’re better than the Grounders, but you're not. You’re worse.”

“Enough.” He glares at you, clearly bothered by your words, and you lean back in your chair, as he continues, “The terms of martial law and of the Exodus Charter give me both latitude and ultimate authority in determining your punishment. Miss Griffin, for the crimes of treason, kidnapping, and attempted murder, I hereby sentence you to death.”

You hear ringing in your ears as soon as he says the words death, but you’re careful to keep your head high and your expression blank. Bellamy steps forward now, into the light, his expression one of anguish as he tries to argue, “Sir.”

Pike holds up a hand, stopping him, before glancing at the guards behind you. “Take her.”

You look towards Bellamy, and he meets your gaze for the first time since you entered the room. Any anger you had for him dissipates, now nothing more than disappointment. Because despite everything, you know that Pike used him, and even if Bellamy never realizes that, you tried. You tried to tell him, you tried to save him. As the guards pull you to your feet, you whisper, “How will you carry this, Atlas?”

You see his face fall, and he lifts a hand to hide the tears that start to fall from his eyes. You allow yourself to be led from the room, through the halls and straight to lock up. Kane, Lincoln, and Sinclair stand as they see you coming, watching your approach. You are pulled to a stop outside the door as the guards work to release your restraints, and Gillmer stands at the door, smirking at you. “I always knew we couldn’t trust you. Being a traitor runs in your blood.”

You don’t think, don’t process what you’re doing as you pull your head back and slam it forward, smashing it into Gillmer’s nose. He immediately pulls an arm back and punches you, fist smashing into your eye, pain exploding in your vision. You hear Kane and Lincoln yelling in protest, but their cries go ignored as the guards pull the door open and shove you inside, the force of it knocking you to the ground. You turn and look as Gillmer glares at you, clutching his nose as blood rushes between his fingers, and you return his earlier smirk with one of your own, “Need a bandaid?”

He launches towards the door, ready to pull it open and drag you out, but the other guards pull him back, yelling, “Let it go, Gillmer!”

He shrugs them off and storms away, and you watch on in amusement, letting the moment distract you from the fact that in less than 24 hours, you’re going to be executed.

-

next chapter

[mistymark]

VIGILANTE/S IV

part four // 2.8k words // superpowered!au // (sort of) gang!au // series masterlist

summary; in which you consider yourself somewhat of a vigilante.

warnings; swearing, mentions of death, weapons and killing, gang shit really 

notes; this fic is now 10k words and that's a personal record so damn

“I hear training was a success,” Doyoung says when he returns from Jaehyun’s ‘errand’.

You roll your eyes, your jaw set. You don’t look at him, focusing instead on the camera footage Mark had given you to watch. A notepad sat in your lap as you sat cross-legged on your bed, the computer in front of you. The footage was over 12 hours long, showing only a large gate leading to an estate that looked to be the size of a museum. The leader of the Red Crown lived there, you knew, and you were supposed to watch and record who was entering and exiting through the gate during the 12-hour time period.

“I’m being serious.” You finally look over at Doyoung, standing in the doorway, and the expression on his face almost resembles pride. He’s never been anything but serious, but he seems more playful now. “You beat Johnny.”

“He beat me about fifty times,” you deadpan, giving him a pointed look before shifting your attention back to your notepad. Doyoung walks in and looks around the room, as if it’s his first time seeing it – like it would help him understand you.

“What was your time?” He asks, his back to you.

“Fifteen twenty?” The worst fifteen minutes and twenty seconds of your life, probably. He looks at you, and for a moment you can’t read the expression on his face.

He quirks an eyebrow at you, but doesn’t say anything. Briefly turning his attention away from you, he stops to look at the drawings and photos attached to the wall, his face stoic again. He’s looking at the detailed sketches of weapons  – disturbingly realistic, in your opinion – that adorn the wall by the door. The others were strangely anatomical – surprisingly accurate hand-drawn outlines of bodies were pinned against another bare wall. One had a skeleton, another vital organs, and one had the bloodstream mapped out beautifully. Hand-written notes were scribbled across the paper – you’d attempted to read them but the messy scrawl was illegible.

“What’s this?” When he turns around, you hold up one of the leather-bound journals you’d found on the bedside table. It was quite possibly the creepiest thing you’d ever read. One of the entries had just read, January 16th, tried knives again. Sixteen stab wounds. Mostly torso, though heart was avoided. Twelve hours exactly. Another, only two days later, was simply: January 18th, bullet between the eyes (removed). 6.4mm. Four hours.

You’d wondered if the owner was an interrogator like Doyoung – or just a torturer. Part of you was glad you hadn’t had the opportunity to meet him. From what it appeared, none of the others really missed him, either.

Doyoung furrows his eyebrows, “Don’t read that. It’s personal.”

“The guy’s dead.”

You’re unsure if Doyoung hears you, as he chooses to focus on the pictures on the walls once again. Your personal favourite was in the closet, attached to the inside of the door, otherwise hidden from sight. It was a mix of charcoal and red paint, barely resembling a face, but it felt more personal than the ones on the walls, tucked away in the closet where no one would see. It wasn’t nearly as detailed or clear as the other posters, and you had stared at it for almost two minutes before realising what it was.

“The first time Donghyuck fought Johnny, he didn’t even get a time.” Doyoung’s voice sounds far away as he recalls the memory. You wish he hadn’t blocked you from using his powers so that you could see whatever he was remembering.

“What about you?”

“About fifteen seconds.” He snorts at your expression. “Don’t be discouraged.” His attention suddenly moves to the door, and you follow his gaze, though nothing is there. With a nod, he leaves.

You’re left alone again, and you wonder what it is with these boys and never saying goodbye.

You’ve managed to speed up the footage just enough to make your task bearable but have to pause it when a familiar black van enters the shot. It’s identical to the one you’d seen at the Den on the night you met the team, but the number plate is different. This number plate is familiar in a different way. Unlike every other vehicle that had passed through the gates, the driver’s window does not slide down. No ID card is able to be captured.

You know exactly who it is – the only person who can enter the estate without having to show credentials. The Red Prince.

Even though the footage is far too grainy to make out anything in the mirrors, you swear you can see his reflection. Eyes that stare directly into the camera, as if he knows you’re watching. You wonder if he knows he’s being watched, that a group of Supers had managed to hack into his security system.

The gate slides open wide, and the eyes disappear. You shiver.

“Y/n?” You’re shaken from your thoughts when a voice calls you from the other side of your door.

“Come in!”

“Wow,” Mark offers you a small smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Donghyuck never lets me in his room.”

“Well-,” you shrug, then hesitate. You realise you have no idea what to say to him. At least, you don’t have anything to say that isn’t insensitive. Clearing your throat, you push your notepad to the side, “What’s up?”

“I, uh,” his eyes scan the walls, taking in the inside of the room, “Johnny needs the notes from the security footage by tonight. I thought I’d let you know.”

“Thanks, Mark.” You can feel how tight your smile is, but he doesn’t seem to notice.

He turns to leave, but just as the door’s about to close, he pops his head back inside the room, “Oh, by the way, don’t be worried about training today. Johnny was impressed.” He smiles. “Have a good night, y/n.”

It’s almost midnight by the time you get to the end of the footage. 14 vehicles entering, 10 leaving. And you know the licence plates and drivers of them all.

You feel uncomfortable watching the footage, being right at the gate but unable to enter. Your determination to get in there and take down the Red Crown is strong, frustration bubbling inside you. Everything they’re doing goes against what you believe in, and there’s something about your anger that makes you stand up and head to the kitchen. The walls of Jaehyun’s office are transparent again, and the light is on , even though you know he can’t see you, you freeze when his eyes snap up from his laptop.

It’s weird being unable to hear or see the other team members walking around, and the warehouse feels much emptier without them. Soft snoring makes you jump, and you smile at the sight of Jaemin passed out on a couch nearby, his breaths steady, though slightly too fast. Part of you was surprised by how fast he seemed to live his life, though he had told you he had to consciously slow himself down most of the time. “It’s like letting someone win in a race by running slower than them,” he’d explained. “You know you can go faster and beat them, but you don’t. Like constantly coming second place.”

“Does it get frustrating?” You’d asked.

“Almost unbelievably so,” he’d smiled at you, though you could see some inner turmoil behind his eyes.

When you’re filling a glass with water, Jaehyun steps out of his office, the door closing loudly, snapping you out of your thoughts. His feet are soft on the floor – you almost don’t hear him coming. “Can’t sleep?” He’s reaching for a mug on the shelf behind you, and you sidestep to move out of his way.

“I just needed to clear my head,” you swallow, and quickly take a drink of water as an excuse not to elaborate.

Jaehyun slides the mug under the coffee machine, and watches it whir to life. Only now can you read the words printed on the side, ‘World’s Greatest Boss’. You snort when you see it. He turns his head to look at you, and raises an eyebrow. There’s something different in the way he does it. Normally, when he does this, it’s questioning, analytical, intimidating. Now? You’d say it’s borderline flirtatious. It takes you a second to realise why it seems so different.

He’s standing in front of you, leaning over the counter top, waiting for his coffee – in sweatpants. He’s mindlessly biting the inside of his cheek, and you realise you’ve never noticed he has dimples. Probably because he never smiles.

“What?” He’s frowning slightly, but when he looks like this, it just looks cute. The furrow in his brow almost looks guarded, as if he’s worried you’re about to say something offensive.

“Uh,” you look down, collecting your thoughts, then a smile appears on your face. “Your mug, I-”

He looks down at it, and there’s the ghost of a smile on his face, “The first birthday present Johnny ever got me.”

“It’s…cute,” you say it more like a question than a compliment. A loud thud makes you both stand tall, staring into the darkness to make out any movement. There’s a quiet yawn, and the sound of retreating footsteps. You turn back to Jaehyun, and any emotion he’d displayed in the last two minutes was wiped from his face. His face is hard again, and he looks more like the man you’d seen earlier. He looks older, authoritative. “I’m gonna get some rest. I hear training tomorrow is going to be intense,” you offer him a smile.

His attention has moved from you again, staring into the darkness of the warehouse. He bids you goodnight without looking at you, carrying his coffee gently to his office, his mind somewhere else.

You leave your glass in the sink, promising yourself you’ll wash it in the morning, before making your way back to your room.

You can hear faint murmurs coming from another room, but the walls are so thick you can’t make out any of the words. Moving the laptop from your bed to the set of drawers next to the door, you prepare for bed.

The door suddenly bangs open, and a duffel bag is dropped onto the floor noisily. You gasp in shock and the person in the doorway looks just as surprised to see you. “Who are you?” He asks, frozen right there in the middle of the doorway.

“Y/n. Who-” His eyes are wide and calculating, searching the room.

“Well, what are you doing here, y/n?” He crosses his arms, looking at you skeptically.

“I’m part of the team. I-”

“I meant, what are you doing in my room?”

You’re struggling to keep up with the conversation at this point. You shake your head. “Your room – ? Wait, you’re Donghyuck? You’re dead.”

His gaze is fierce, “I was dead. I’m not anymore. Now, I’m tired. And I’d like to sleep in my own bed.” He walks into the room, rifling through the drawers of the dresser, looking for something.

Reaching out for his power, you can feel it thread through your body, though it’s more painful than invigorating, very different to most of the power you can feel in other Supers. “You’re immortal.”

“Obviously,” he doesn’t even turn around.

A lightbulb goes off in your head as the journals on the bedside table catch your attention, “So the journals – you… you were killing yourself?”

Donghyuck rounds on you, “You read my – ? Okay, you’re clearly new to the team. Rule number one; never read anyone’s journal.” At the confused look on your face, he rolls his eyes, “We all have them. You’ll get yours soon. To track your drawbacks; track your strength.”

You raise an eyebrow at him from where you’re sitting on your – his – bed. “Drawbacks?”

“Damn, okay. Rule number two; know your drawbacks. The limits of your power. We all have them. Jaemin’s is how much he has to eat and sleep. Chenle and Mark lack control.” He gestures to his journals before turning back to the drawers, “As you can see, mine is time. Takes a long time to come back to life.” You barely hear it when he mumbles, “Surprise, surprise.”

“You just kill yourself over and over again?”

“Pretty much.” He finds what he’s looking for but doesn’t take it out from the drawer. He turns to face you again, leaning against the dresser with his arms crossed once again. “What do you do?”

“I mimic other people’s abilities.”

His eyebrows raise slightly and he whistles lowly in appreciation, but he doesn’t say anything. “Drawback?”

“Uh… I guess it’s distance. If they’re too far away, it’s like I can’t reach their power.”

He nods in understanding, then furrows his eyebrows, “Johnny will have you training with all of us, then. Have you done ability training yet?”

You shake your head.

“How long have you been here?”

“One day,” you shrug.

“Wait, you’re the one Doyoung brought in?”

You pause, then nod.

“Ah, Jeno killed me before we could meet, I guess.”

“Jeno killed you?!” Your voice is high and loud. Jeno was much stronger, much faster, much more skilled than you were. You had no chance against him if he ever decided you were his next target. Donghyuck’s eyes widen at the loud noise, and he crosses the room to shut the door, “Shit, calm down. I’m immortal – it’s not like it’s a big deal. Almost everyone here has killed me at least once, though he does hold the record.” The side of his mouth quirks up to the side in a smile that you would almost call cute. Maybe if he wasn’t talking about his friend murdering him, he’d be cute.

You don’t know what to say to that. “You’re insane.” That works.

He shrugs, “Jeno’s always been impatient.”

“So he just kills you. Logical.” The disbelief in your voice makes him laugh.

“Rule number three; never get Jeno angry. His drawback is his anger.”

“Holy shit, where were you when I joined? I could have used some of this information.”

He raises an eyebrow at you, “Well, first of all, I was dead. Then I had to go out of town for a day – and here I am.”

You nod, “Right.”

Donghyuck grabs his bag and turns it upside down onto the top of the bed. You aren’t quite sure what you were expecting to come out, but it certainly wasn’t guns. You wait for something – anything – normal to drop out, yet it seems like it’s just guns. At least fifteen of them, ranging in size. You don’t say anything.

He takes one look at your face and immediately explains, “I just bought them. Our weapons dealer is based in China – Winwin? He’s a friend of Jaehyun’s – and he just got into the city two days ago. Jaehyun made me go pick them up.” Under all the posters and sketches on the wall, the walls are painted a bright red, and the subtle blush on Donghyuck’s face almost matches them completely.

“I didn’t realise there was more of you,” you say.

“Us.” You look up in confusion, and he offers you a smile, “More of us.” He clears his throat, his attention going back to the weapons on the bed, “Yeah, Jaehyun has connections everywhere. Japan, China, you name it.”

Carefully, he places the guns in boxes and stacks them in the corner of his room. He brushes off his hands on his thighs, “Look, I’m happy to take the couch tonight, but don’t get any ideas. This is my room, and I fully intend on taking it back after –“ He cuts himself off with a yawn and you raise an eyebrow at him. Rolling his eyes, he heads for the door, giving you an awkward bow of his head as he closes the door.

You feel a little bad about stealing his room, but you’re so tired, you don’t have enough time to think about it before you’re drifting off to sleep in his bed.

[revlyncox]

Origin Stories 2020

The stories we tell about our past affect the way we view the present and orient toward the future. This is true about the myth of Thanksgiving, stories we tell about  Ethical Culture's past, stories we tell about our individual journeys, and more. When we recognize the impact of origin stories, we can be intentional about how we tell them in the future and how they guide us to bring out the best. 

This Platform Address was written for the Washington Ethical Society by Lyn Cox, November 29, 2020. 

Has anyone seen the movie, Captain Marvel? You know I did. Back when going to movie theatres was a safe thing to do, I saw it in the theater. The nostalgia for the music of the mid-1990’s alone was enough to catch my interest. I don’t want to spoil it for those who are waiting for a quiet evening to watch it at home, so I’ll try to speak in general terms.

The movie opens with an interstellar super soldier named Vers, who is having trouble with memory, but nevertheless goes out on a mission with her team, part of the Kree empire. Throughout the movie, she learns more about where she comes from, and more about the origins of the conflict with the people she thought were her enemies. Once she has come around to a different understanding of who her people are, the personal qualities she has been criticized for are reframed, and she can draw from them as strengths. This revised worldview moves her to an entirely different sense of her mission in life, as well as a different sense of connecting and belonging.

The paradigm shift that the main character goes through in Captain Marvel reminds me of the power of origin stories. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves--as individuals, communities, and countries--affect how we reach out to others and what we think we’re capable of. As we reflect on this holiday weekend, we’re confronted with one version of the origin story of the United States, the one some of us were presented with as children at this time of year. That version of the story is infused with myths and half-truths, and depends on the erasure of the historical and contemporary perspectives of Native Americans, among other groups of people. Whether we are dismantling the settler-colonial narrative, incorporating new insights into our understanding of ourselves as a community, or finding personal empowerment in reframing our individual origin stories, returning to the stories about beginnings or turning points with open minds can help us reshape our future.

Whether we are speaking individually or collectively, origin stories matter. Events get baked into information we regard as fact, or perhaps legend. Left unexamined, these stories can divide people who need not be divided and disempower people who could be living fruitful, generous lives. It matters how we tell those stories. The inclusion of truths or half-truths, and which facts are emphasized or glossed over has an impact. In communal stories, whose perspective is centered makes a difference.The way we understand the narrative structure of the story is also a choice. The good news is that stories can be reframed, even within the bounds of verifiable facts. Origins are not destinies. We can rearrange the emphasis, lift up silenced voices, and find strengths that had previously been minimized. That’s what we’re talking about today. With regard to both individual and collective narratives, (1) Origin stories matter, (2) the way we tell origins stories matters, and (3) stories can be reframed.

Origin Stories Matter

Earlier, we heard an excerpt from a talk by Emily Esfahani Smith. She has done interviews and followed studies in positive psychology, first asking the question about what makes people happy, then shifting to the question of what helps people live meaningful lives. She said, “Creating a narrative from the events of your life brings clarity. It helps you understand how you became you.”

In her review of the available research (excerpt from her book on the TED talk website), she found that the stories people tell about the pivotal events of their lives can affect how they feel about themselves, their level of confidence or anxiety, and what behaviors they choose in the future as they subconsciously live by their stories. I’d like to add a caveat that not everything in our personal narratives is about perspective or attitude; sometimes a person’s anxiety or adaptive behaviors are shaped by oppression, trauma, or other circumstances. Even so, examining our lives for the agency and resilience that we do have gives us some extra tools and is worth a try.

When you add humans together to tell a collective story about the turning points of a community or a movement or a country, origin stories can have an even wider impact. Last month, I drew from An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz when we discussed Christopher Columbus. In the introduction to her book, in reference to Thanksgiving, Dunbar-Ortiz wrote:

Origin narratives form the vital core of a people’s unifying identity and of the values that guide them. In the United States, the founding and development of the Anglo-American settler-state involves a narrative about Puritan settlers who had a covenant with God to take the land.

Then, in chapter three, Dunbar-Oritz picks up this thread again:

The United States is not unique among nations in forging an origin myth, but most of its citizens believe it to be exceptional among nation-states, and this exceptionalist ideology has been used to justify appropriation of the continent and then domination of the rest of the world.

In other words, Dunbar-Ortiz credits the mythological version of the Thanksgiving story, a particular version of the origin story of the United States, with fueling some of the worst behaviors of the United States and many of its citizens. A story that was framed to make heroes out of the Pilgrims and inspire patriotism has also inspired exploitation, theft, and violence.

Dunbar-Ortiz is not alone in this observation. James W. Loewen, in Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American history Textbook Got Wrong, also unpacks the Thanksgiving story as an origin myth with devastating consequences.

Loewen says that, in the cases where the Thanksgiving holiday is observed without examination or critique, “the civil ritual” marginalizes Native Americans. That marginalization comes not only from perspective or emphasis, but from actual falsehoods that are re-told in mythic versions of the story. These false myths serve to reinforce what Loewen calls white “ethnocentrism.” He says that when textbooks promote this version of the story, they diminish the capacity of students to understand the culture they are in or how to relate to each other.

At the time of his original writing, the term white supremacy culture was not as widely in use as it is now, but it is apt in this case. The outdated version of the Thanksgiving story idolized the colonizers and erased the humanity of the Indigenous people they encountered. This is both a manifestation of and fuel for white supremacy culture.

We’re finding that, just as our personal origin stories can lead us to make choices so that we live by those stories, national origin stories guide our future behavior. Origin stories matter.

How We Tell Origin Stories Matters

Now that we’ve established that personal and collective origin stories can have an impact on our self-concept and our future choices, let’s talk about how we tell those stories. We have choices in the perspectives and events we emphasize, and in the shape of the narrative arc.

Earlier, we heard a passage from A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present by Howard Zinn, in which he draws an analogy between historians and mapmakers. Zinn is more generous toward mapmakers or cartographers than I would be, saying that the choices about what projections to use or what details to include in a map are mainly technical. I think maps are much more political than he implies in this comparison, but the point stands that both historians and cartographers have to make choices in conveying information. It is incumbent upon us to examine our purpose in making those choices, and to think about the impact of those choices. How we tell the story matters.

This is where the collective storytelling and the personal storytelling intersect. As we are figuring out how to tell our personal stories, we’re also trying to figure out how we fit into the larger picture. When we are not truthful in our collective stories, we make this task of fitting into the larger story much more difficult for everyone, especially those who have been marginalized. If we have the privilege and responsibility of telling a collective story, we should try to ensure that all of the people in that story are reflected as their whole selves. Incorporating multiple perspectives into our stories makes it easier for the community and for individuals to understand ourselves and to find meaning and purpose.  

My colleague Jone Johnson Lewis from the Riverdale Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture has demonstrated this beautifully in her research about the history and historiography of the Reconstruction era. She notes that narratives of the Civil War and the Reconstruction period that were taught in school for decades do not match the evidence. (Here’s her August 2 Platform Address as a guest at the New York Society.)

Starting in the 1920s, professional historians who were collectively known as the Dunning School were training school teachers to talk about the Civil War as a matter of “states rights,” despite the fact that all of the documents about secession referred to slavery, and the founding of the Confederacy did not allow states to have the right to opt out of slavery. This tradition referred to Reconstruction as a disaster, a burden placed on the South (meaning the white landowners of the South) by opportunistic northerners. The Dunning School presented an egregious misrepresentation of the facts of Reconstruction, and was part of perpetuating the idea that African American people were not capable of self-determination. This view lent support to voter suppression tactics such as literacy tests, and fed racist white resentment that is still an active force in politics today.

The deliberate revisions of the Dunning School were partly the work of David Saville Muzzey. Muzzey was not only a professor of history, but also an Ethical Culture leader. Muzzey wrote a history textbook that was heavily in use from 1927 to 1938, and was source material for textbooks for at least another generation. If we’re going to note the successes of Ethical Culturists throughout history in promoting justice, we also have to examine the ways that Ethical Culturists supported white supremacy culture. By learning from the mistakes of our kindred in the past, we can help prevent ourselves and our successors from repeating them.

According to Jone Johnson Lewis, part of Muzzey’s goal was to tell the story of the United States as a gradually unfolding arc of human rights. Acknowledging the initial flowering of human rights and democracy immediately after the Civil War--before the backlash against Reconstruction led to voter suppression, Jim Crow laws, and the great nadir of civil rights--didn’t work for Muzzey. Being honest about the steps forward and then backward did not match the shape of the gradual arc Muzzey was trying to fit history into, and did not comport with Muzzey’s racist views about what African American leaders and thinkers were capable of. He rejected evidence that did not fit his hypothesis, and because of that, generations of students were taught a false history of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

There are a couple of things we can learn here. We can learn that impact matters more than intention. We learn that stories about a community or culture should include the perspectives of all of the groups in that community or culture. Primary sources from the people who are most deeply affected are important in lifting up a complete history. In our local communities, we should be asking whose voices are missing.

As a point relevant to both collective origin stories and personal origin stories, sometimes the truth that is most important to tell does not follow a smooth narrative arc. Neither our individual lives nor our shared history necessarily follows a three-act structure or a linear path. History does not always make narrative sense even if the events follow a logical sequence of cause and effect. Trying to force our personal or shared history to follow a straight line might lead us to cut off important branches of truth.

Anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson wrote about how this affects our personal stories in her 1989 book, Composing a Life. (Here’s Bateson in an episode of On Being with Krista Tippett.) She wrote that how we grow and change is less like building a linear brick wall and more like improvisational cooking or quilting, putting a life together with the bits and pieces we have in the time available. Noting that people who have been marginalized don’t have the luxury of being able to hold a singular focus, Bateson said that a non-linear art of living has equal dignity and grace.

How we tell our stories matters. It matters that we include truth. It matters when we include multiple perspectives in a collective story. It matters that we allow our stories to take their natural twists and turns. When it comes to our personal stories, we need not be ashamed when our journeys don’t follow a simple or well-recognized path. Meaning can arise from growth and learning, and we don’t always arrive at growth and learning by the direct route. Realizing that stories need not be linear helps to remind us that it’s not over until it’s over - we are not bound to keep going in what is now the wrong direction. Make some room. How we tell our stories matters.

Stories Can Be Reframed

A corollary to the idea that we can choose how to tell our origin stories is that, at any time, we can choose to reframe those stories. We are not stuck with narratives that are inauthentic. We can emphasize different events and different voices to help us figure out a path for the future.

Taking the myth of Thanksgiving as an example, if we are going to treat it as an origin story for the United States, we can reframe that story by correcting falsehoods and expanding the sources we consult.

In 1970, the Massachusetts Department of Commerce asked the Wampanoag People to select a speaker for a Thanksgiving event to mark the 350th anniversary of the English arrival at Plymouth Rock. Frank James, also known as Wamsutta, had to show the event planners what he had written. The organizers did not allow him to read it, and offered him a different speech, which he refused to read. Instead, Frank James gave his original speech on Cole’s Hill, next to the statue of former Wampanoag leader Ousamequin, to a crowd of supporters. This became the first Day of Mourning, now an annual event of the United American Indians of New England. It was a turning point in the Native American movement in the United States.

James’ speech included this acknowledgement of history:

It is with mixed emotion that I stand here to share my thoughts. This is a time of celebration for you - celebrating an anniversary of a beginning for the white man in America. A time of looking back, of reflection. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my People.

Even before the Pilgrims landed it was common practice for explorers to capture Indians, take them to Europe and sell them as slaves for 220 shillings apiece. The Pilgrims had hardly explored the shores of Cape Cod for four days before they had robbed the graves of my ancestors and stolen their corn and beans.

James goes on from there, addressing more of the history of oppression against Native Americans, the way history was being taught in American schools, and the continued persistence and resilience of the Wampanoag and other Indigenous people.

Remembering that the English colonizers who arrived at Plymouth Rock were not innocent or peaceful, remembering that they committed theft and violence on the original inhabitants of the land both before and after the event that is remembered as the First Thanksgiving, means that we can no longer base a national identity on trying to emulate this origin story. It means we can’t pretend ignorance and wonder where it all went wrong when we look at the atrocities committed in the name of the United States in the intervening 400 years. But it also means we have a choice about what to do differently. We can commit to not repeating the past. We can learn to tell our stories differently. The history of Frank James and the first Day of Mourning is incorporated in materials for the 400th anniversary of the landing at Plymouth Rock. An origin is not a destiny.

Collectively, we are the authors of the future of our communities and our nation. Individually, as Emily Esfahani Smith reminds us, we are the authors of our own stories. As we heard earlier, “Your life isn’t just a list of events. You can edit, interpret, and re-tell your story, even as you are constrained by the facts.”

Just as with the process of updating our collective stories, reframing our personal stories may be hard, even painful. We will have to face uncomfortable truths. Yet out of those truths, we may find an ability to learn and grow, a sense of meaning and purpose, and capacity for acceptance and compassion that comes from whole-hearted experience. By changing the emphasis of our stories, we may find a call to service, or a desire to make amends, or a sense of connection with those who share a similar experience. The power to reframe our stories is in our hands.

Conclusion

The stories of our beginnings as individuals, as communities, and as a nation have power. They can move us toward compassion and connection, or they can move us toward division and disrespect. But that power is not absolute. We can take responsibility for comparing those stories with the available evidence, and for examining the story from a variety of perspectives. We can reframe a story as we learn from both mistakes and successes, seeking purpose amidst the patchwork of love and care that sustains the best in us and in those around us. May it be so for each and all.

[realtimedashboards]

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[ask-de-writer]

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT : Part 6 of 83 : World of Sea

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to World of Sea

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT

Part 6 of 83

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

140406 words

copyright 2020

written 2007

All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

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Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users  of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may  reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact.  They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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New to the story?  Read from the beginning.  PART 1 is here

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Kurin and her class watched the tides carefully.  At the highest tides, they could get useful data to guide boats doing traditional soundings.  The boats were a necessity to get the detail vital for so dangerous an area.

The task was complicated further by the seaweed mats growing everywhere and making it difficult going for the boats.  The shoals were thirty to sixty feet down, most of the time.

For a reference point to base all of her measurements from Kurin chose a shoal that was easily seen at all tides by the violently swirling currents that it created.  Small boats were sent out to take soundings, their positions controlled by the officers using the range finder and Kurin’s quick, precise beating of directions to the boatmen on the hailing drum.  

As quickly as one boat was positioned and began its sounding, she turned the big tubular drum in its swivel to repeat the process for the next boat.  Its sound carrying great distances across open water, enabled them to map a mile from the ship in all directions, a circle two miles across.  The chart began to grow, as each new reef or safe channel was added, circle by overlapping circle.  It took nearly a whole Wohan to finish it to Kurin’s satisfaction.

A Dragon tide could drop the sea level twenty five feet in under three hours if conditions were bad.  That was not enough time for a ship to escape these reefs, as others had found before.  This necessitated keeping the Longin in safe waters beyond the shoals at all times.

With the Captain’s encouragement, Kurin’s class in how the oceans spoke with the deep waves, and what they told, began to understand what she was teaching.  Children and young people fared best at feeling the waves.  Older people had spent a lifetime filtering out what they were now trying to feel but were often best at making and reading the charts, based on what others told them.  The older folks teamed up with the younger ones made a formidable combination.  Only a few of the adults, Captain Mord among them, were able to set aside a lifetime’s habit of ignoring the ship’s roll and pitch and learn to feel the sea anew.

As the two charting methods worked together, the true form of the Ship Killer began to emerge.  It was a large group of nearly circular areas of coral with central lagoons filled with dangerous coral heads and other obstructions.  Each ring or group of rings had wide, shallow, treacherous edges.  There were safe passages and some that were trickier.  At most tides, the whole complex could be sailed over with serene security.  The Longin only drew twenty four feet.

At the celebration to mark the end of the charting, a copy of the new map was weighted down on a big table in the mess for all to see.

Master Juris was looking at the plot with a jaundiced eye.  He was soured that his new journeyman, actually still his apprentice, had got so much attention and spent so much time away from the boat shop.  As a result, he had paid as little attention as possible to the whole process.  His mood was worsened by the fact, plain to see, that he had been right in the first place.  It was time well spent.

He ‘accidentally’ slopped a little of his water on a note in one corner of the parchment sheet as he leaned forward to stab with his finger at a feature.

“Pulled a Silor there, didn’t you Kurin?  That whole big lagoon’s not charted,” he sneered.

Before Kurin could react to such an outrage, Silor finally took his chance to even a score, even if it meant defending Kurin.  “White Head, there did the right thing!  If you were able to pay attention to anything at all,” he riposted, “You’d have seen the note that you slopped water on!  ‘L-24 not charted —  Wide Wing rookery!’  We all talked about it at meals, trying to figure a way to do that lagoon.”  He grinned triumphantly and held a sounding line out to Master Juris.  “Go on, you do it!”

Master Juris looked around the mess hall for support and found none.  In a small voice he said, “If those Sea Hawks even thought I was a threat to their young, they’d all attack at once.  I’d be ripped to shreds!”

Gently and utterly crushingly, Silor said, “I know.”  He laid the sounding line on the table by Master Juris and left before anything could spoil his moment.

“Look here, Captain,” Old Sorra, one of the Longin’s most experienced fishermen, gestured at the new Cliftos Reach chart.  “Here’s my notes on places where we’ve had luck before, and here’s that chart we made just a few weeks ago.”

Captain Mord opened the window of his cabin for more light, illuminating the precise navigational water-clock hung in a gimbal on the forward wall, and above it and to both sides of it the shelves of books.  The Logs of the Longin occupied nearly an entire shelf.  There were books of tables of the angles of all three moons and the sun, for navigation.  In addition there were books full of the Laws and traditions of the Naral fleet and others besides.  His bed occupied the space between the bookshelves and the window.  It, like almost everything, including the ship itself, was made of glue laminated Strong Skin.  The surface layers of the glue in his cabin had been tinted in light blues and greens and inlaid with expensive iridescent shell in abstract fish-like designs around the door and portholes. Fish and seabirds of shell sported along the edges of his book shelves as well.  

He studied the notes and the chart together, a few minutes.  He smiled the smile of one who senses a fortune near at hand.  “Glue Fish,” he pronounced.  We always catch them near here in the early part of the day.”  He pointed at the three underwater hills near one end of their Cliftos Reach home waters.

“It appears that if we set our drag net to fish about a hundred feet or a bit deeper, we might find the Glue Fish schools where they are sheltering for the day.”

“Exactly my thought,” Sorra replied, gesturing ahead, toward the bow.  “We are already making for the place, in hopes of a few Glue Fish and some those tasty little Skelt.  If we drag a net deep down through there, what harm?”

Two days of sailing later, they deployed a net and adjusted the lines to pull it behind the ship, a hundred feet down.  Only an hour later, it was pulled in filled with flopping riches.  Glue Fish.

While the big boats were out fishing deep for the Glue Fish, smaller four and six oared boats spread nets near the floating seaweed mats to ensnare schools of Skelt.  The wild paddle ducks nesting on the mats thought that concentrating the Skelt was a fine idea and promptly made a nuisance of themselves by diving into the netted fish and helping themselves.

Marad, a journeyman cook was in charge of the big solar cookers used to process the fish.  The reek of boiling Glue Fish permeated the ship, but nobody minded.  It was the scent of wealth.

“Hi, Marad, can I help?”

“I don’t know Kurin.  Can you reach high enough to skim the cooker?”

“Sure, if I stand on something.”

I’m not comfortable with that, Kurin.  The tallow is awful hot, and the sea isn’t the smoothest today.  Why don’t you bring molds for me to fill from that stack?  Then you put them over there to cool.  When the tallow gets hard there is a big tub of water that you can quench them in.  The deck-hands can take the finished blocks to the cargo handlers for stowage.”

“You’ve given her my job,” protested Gren, one of the apprentices.

“Well you can have the job, if you want it, but I thought that you and Mikka were ready to handle cookers number three and four by yourselves.”

Gren visibly swelled with pride at being given the responsibility.  “I think that we can handle them,” was his answer, along with a fast check of the cookers’ alignment with the sun.

Kurin had used the time to get several molds ready.  Tallow from the Glue Fish was already rising to the surface of the big cooker.  Marad let it get to a thick layer before he began skimming with a wide scoop. Each scoop load went into the waiting mold until it was full.  Marad was careful not to let any water flow into the molds along with the tallow.  Kurin took them away to cool and quench, which freed the blocks from the molds.

The deck-hands were fetching the tallow blocks of the apprentices, but not Kurin’s.  Silor told them, “Let the little show-off do some real work.  She can bring her blocks to us.”

When Kurin saw that they were not coming for her blocks, she began carrying them to the deck-hands, without complaint.  Captain Mord came on deck to take a sighting of Carsis, the middle sized of the three moons, and saw at a glance what was happening.  He took his sighting and went below.  Shortly, he came up a companion-ladder near the bow and quietly watched.

After a bit he wrote on a tallow-slate and came down the deck to Silor. Kurin could not hear the exchange, but it was short and sharp.  Silor signed the tallow-Slate sulkily.  As Captain Mord went back to his cabin, deck-hands began picking up her finished blocks, too.

“Mumph,” grunted Marad looking into the cookers, a measure of fish in hand, “Doesn’t look like I can fit any more fish into either of these. Kurin, drag over the spare pots and put them into their cradles. Don’t want to spill anything.”

“Sure, Marad,” returned Kurin, glad to be real help.  “I thought that the pots were only half full of water when we started.”

“They were, but we’ve been adding fish steadily.  As they cook down, we get tallow on top, but what on the bottom?”

“Glue,” she replied chagrined, “should have thought of it.”

Marad attached lifting tackle to the big pots.  One by one he brought them over, clamped on a handle, and poured the boiling water off into the new pots.  Setting the glue filled pots aside, he lifted the water pots into the focus of the reflectors and added more fish and water to make up the losses from boiling.  He used the crane and handle pour the glue through a strainer, and into more molds that Kurin had waiting.

Soon a procession of glue blocks, one of the two monetary standards of all of the world of Sea, was heading to the hold for stowage.

Every so often, Marad had to clean the detritus of muscle, bone bits and skin from the strainer.  He dropped the waste onto a sheet of greased cloth and let it cool and harden so that it could be thrown away.

The cycle repeated itself endlessly, and would for a week.

On that first day, Roper came by to watch.  He and several of the other children were too small to help.  He grabbed several of the chunks of Glue Fish waste.

Holding them, he asked Kurin, “How deep is the bottom around here?  Silor says that it’s so far down that you couldn’t hit it if there was no water and you fell all day.”

She grinned, “Either Silor is pulling your leg or he’s run up on dry land.  Either way, he’s wrong.  It’s only about two hundred feet down, not as deep as the Longin is long, from stern to forward cargo hatch.”

“Oh, then I’ll need about two hundred fifty feet of number two cord,” said Roper scampering off with his offal.

“What was that about, I wonder?” Marad asked.

“I have no idea, but he wants to reach the bottom for something.  Maybe he wants to try for flounders.”

TO BE CONTINUED

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[gondalgroupofmarketing]

Highlights of the Blue World City

Highlights of the Blue World City

Presentation

The Blue Group Of Companies right now possesses a blue World. It is situated between the Rawalpindi and the Islamabad City. It would be one of its lodging social orders. It is the main lodging society that is being built by the Chinese. It is one of the most reasonable lodging plans in Pakistan. The territory has gotten very famous among the speculators and the individuals who need to make their homes there.

Proprietor and Developers:

The proprietor and the venture engineers are Saad Nazir, the child of EX-Deputy Commissioner Lahore, who is Ch. Nazeer. The organization has additionally marked a MOU with the Shan Jian Municipal Engineering organization which is from China.

Highlights of the Blue World City:

All the highlights of the Blue World are coordinating International Standards. The squares are extraordinarily intended for individuals who need to have the most recent offices in their lodging social orders.

Savvy Security

Keen Building

Keen Transportation

Savvy Resource Management

Savvy Connectivity

Savvy Facilities

Tasks of the Blue World City:

Saad Nazir is one of the best land designers in Pakistan. He has developed PIA co-usable society, Blue Sapphire, Blue innovations, and Blue Mart. The most recent task is being dispatched under the umbrella of the Blue Group of organizations.

Subtleties of the Project:

The all out land covered by the task is around 5000 waterway, and the entire zone is additionally isolated into four stages. There are numerous squares and plots, additionally in the lodging plan. The general public is right now offering long term and four-year portion plans for its clients. The booking begins with a 10% initial installment, which is as low as Rs. 80,000/ –

Area of the Blue World:

The abroad square has direct access from the Charki Road. It has an assigned entryway that enters straightforwardly into the principle door of the general public. The venture likewise has direct access from the Rawalpindi Ring Road. This would straightforwardly associate The Blue World City Islamabad and the Motorway M-2 in the following two years. The venture is assembling a great deal of fascination from both the neighborhood just as worldwide financial specialists.

The city is right now found away from society’s hustle, which gives it an extraordinary and quiet climate.

There are likewise many neighboring towns and tourist spots close to the general public. These towns incorporate Top city, Khaniyal Homes, Star Argo ranches, and Mumtaz City.

Blue World City Map:

Numerous different towns and lodging plans as of now encompass the city. This is encircled by Chakri Road and Proposed Rawalpindi Ring Road.

Purposes of Access:

There are additionally many passageways coming into society. The general public can be gotten to by the Lahore_ Islamabad Motorway M-2 to the Chakri Road. On the off chance that you are going towards Islamabad, at that point it is available through the Ring Road. The Ring Road presently abbreviates the Travel time. This can likewise be utilized to go to territories like Bahria Enclave, Bahria Town Islamabad.

Blue Group of Companies (BGC):

The organization was established in 1989. The organization began by giving development and design administrations. The organization was before long begun to be perceived all over Pakistan for its quality and greatness. The organization is viewed as very dependable and expert The Company has caught the eye of numerous unfamiliar and nearby customers. The organization has ventured into numerous skylines at this moment and is presently zeroing in on making an incentive for some other land roads. The organization as of now offers Marketing, Architectural, Construction, IT, Support, and business printing. The organization has likewise right now entertained itself with different business roads, which are retail. The organization presently claims many garments and retail locations all over Pakistan.

Blue gathering of organizations has more than 300 experts that are working for them at this moment. This makes them the most broadened organization in Pakistan.

Blue World City Master Plan:

There is a proposed end-all strategy for the Blue World City which is given beneath:

Moza:

Sehal is the town of the Blue world, which is likewise its Moza.

Size of streets:

The streets of the Blue world are extremely open. This interfaces it to all pieces of society. These streets’ measurements are the principle street is 80 ft, and the roads are 40ft wide. Simultaneously, the primary road is 120 ft.

Ground breaking strategy of Blue World City

Developing urbanization, practical turn of events, computerized challenge, clients’ inclusion, monetary and social appeal, administration is important for the primary stakes urban areas need to handle. To confront this plural metropolitan reality, it has gotten important to discover adjusted intends to consider urban areas and regional turn of events. Better contemplations of the utilizations, the production of genuine discussion techniques have need.

Areas

At first, the administration has dispatched 2 areas that are simply hold for private reason. Notwithstanding, different regions will be revealed when the improvement work began on them. Declared squares are recorded underneath:

Squares of the Blocks:

Chief Block

Abroad Block

Private Block

Business Block

Blue Hills Farm Houses

Awami Complex Villas

Chief Block

The chief square is held for Pakistani occupants who wish to carry on with a savvy life. This square will be bound with all the contemporary conveniences that make life helpful. As of now, plots are offered in the accompanying classification

5 Marla

10 Marla

20 Marla

Over Seas block:

The blue world organization has additionally incorporated a square for the Overseas Pakistani that need to settle here. The square is turning into a focal point of fascination for the individuals who need to settle here and need to have a serene life. The square is extraordinarily intended for abroad Pakistani who needs to make a mind-blowing most can book a house at the abroad square of the Blue World. There are a set number of plots accessible in this square. So clients are given need dependent on the principal come or first-come premise.

5 Marla

10 Marla

20 Marla

Private Block:

Blue World City Islamabad is offering Residential Blocks for Public and Government Community.

Blue World City Apartments:

Blue World City has wonderful condo’s territory. We associate individuals with lofts, and it’s our objective to discover you the most lovely spot to live at the most perfect cost. We are here to remove the problem and stress from finding stunning condos in Blue World City.

Blue Hills Farm houses:

Blue World City ranch houses have sentiment of unadulterated living with contemporary comforts at entirely sensible cost rates.

Awami Complex Villas:

Blue World City set up a Block with the name of Awami Complex Villas. Blue World City realizes that Pakistan is a financial country, individuals can’t bear the cost of significant expense along these lines, and they remember and offer minimal effort houses for the simplicity of individuals.

Blue World City Houses:

Blue World City has present day houses, for example, no heap shedding, sterile water and dishwashing security which offer luxurious living models.

Structure of the Company:

The organization has a significant different portfolio and has the accompanying auxiliaries presently:

Brands Square

Blue Media

Shop Blue

Artimmix

WPZ

Blue Palms

Blue Technologies

Blue Bricks

Blue Properties

Offices and Amenities

The occupants of Blue World City will encounter a cutting edge method of living. One of the principle reasons is the arrangement of extreme offices and civilities in Lahore Smart City. Additionally, using the front line innovation guarantees all keen offices in this first world city of Pakistan.

Moreover, coming up next are the primary highlights of Blue World City that make it supreme.

Door Entries

Films

Emergency clinics

Mosques

Budgetary Square

Occasion Park

Instructive establishments

Stockrooms

18-opening green

5-Star Hotels and Restaurants

Transport and Public Transport (BRT) Stations

Shopping Mall and Complex

Amusement Parks and Bird Park

Burden Shedding free climate

CCTV with Facial and Object Recognition Cameras

Water and Sewerage Treatment Plant

NOC of the Blue World:

The Rawalpindi Development Authority has given a NOC to the Blue World, which is Vide Letter no. RDA/MP&TF/F-PHS-PTR-10/148. Dated: 19-02-2019. To begin with, around 427 channel development consent was truly, at that point around authorization of 5000 trenches was asked, which was allowed further to extend the lodging plan. The application is as yet under the cycle and is as of now being outlined by the RDA. The authorization for stage 1 is allowed. The circumstance is a lot of like that of Capital Smart City.

Why Blue World City is Smart City?

Blue World City is primarily based upon a selective Urban-administration. Resolved to guarantee ideal effectiveness and control, it likewise guarantees dynamic investment. Likewise, it’s endeavoring to get progressed Information and Communication Technology foundation that will prompt improved productivity and administrations.

Moreover, the fundamental point of this uber lodging plan is to inspire the expectations for everyday comforts while boosting monetary development in the locale. It’s a Grade-8 improvement alongside self-supporting Eco-Friendly methodology.

Ideal Elements

Additionally, Blue World City focal thought rotates around the accompanying 3 components

Brilliant Housing

Brilliant Economy

Brilliant Environment

Subtleties of every one of these components are shared beneath

Savvy Housing

Blue World City Islamabad endeavors to give quality and up to standard living experience. Besides, with cutting edge framework, it conveys a wide scope of administrations for each individual.

Shrewd Economy

Further, once being operational, this venture will hope to be one of the fundamental center points of monetary exercises in the area. As of now, it’s hypothesized as a uber business focus in the zone.

Brilliant Environment

The site is improved as far as Natural Scenic Beauty and Topography. 30% of the all out region held for regular resources. Besides, engineers likewise expanded their endeavors to maintain a strategic distance from the danger of harming characteristic landscape.

Installment Plans of the Blue world:

[blogaholik]

Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding

What is crowdsourcing?

Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers. The term crowdsourcing was coined by journalist Jeff Howe in the issue of Wired (Bannerman, 2012).

Crowdsourcing is optimistically depicted as a way of putting to use the creativity of the public for free, or for a moderate charge. ‘Turkers’, a term for online workers who use the sites, apparently makes small amounts of money by executing online tasks.

For example, a website named Mechanical Turk operated by Amazon, grants individuals or organizations to post micro-tasks, such as “find the email address for a company” (payment: $0.01/each address), “vote for the best translation” (payment: $0.05/each link), or “rate adult-oriented videos for quality and relevance” (payment: $0.15/each rating) (Amazon, 2010).

Other crowdsourcing platforms include:

Innocentive

Focus on crowdsourcing research and development for pharmaceutical and biomedical companies,

99designs

The world's biggest graphics design marketplace, associates customers requiring custom design work, for example, websites and logos to a thriving network of talented designers who present a new custom design to the site each 7-10 seconds.

Social media and crowdsourcing

Social media has played a significant role throughout the years in catastrophic natural disaster as an information propagator that can be utilized for disaster relief. After the devastating and disastrous Haiti earthquake on 12 January 2010, individuals published numerous photographs and texts about their own encounters during the earthquake via Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, blogs and videos were posted on YouTube. In only 48 hours, the Red Cross received US$8 million in donations legitimately from texts, which represents one advantage of the incredible propagation ability of social media sites.

Survivors likewise utilize social media to stay in contact with the world after a disaster. The jammed cellular network in Japan brought about by the tsunami and earthquake made it difficult for people to communicate with one another. In response, they used Twitter, Facebook, Skype, and local Japanese social networks to communicate and keep in touch with their loved ones (Bannerman, 2012).

Although social media can positively impact disaster relief efforts, it does not give an innate coordination ability to effectively plan and share information, resources, and plans among different relief organizations. All things considered, crowdsourcing applications dependent on social media applications, for example, Twitter and Ushahidi offer a ground-breaking ability for gathering information from disaster scenes and picturing data for relief decision-making.

Research has shown that it is possible to leverage social media to generate community crisis maps and introduce an interagency map to allow organizations to share information as well as collaborate, plan, and execute shared missions. The interagency map is intended to allow organizations to share data in the event that they operate on the same platform or utilize comparative data-representation formats (Bannerman, 2012).

What are the advantages of crowdsourcing for disaster relief?

Compared to traditional relief methods, leveraging crowdsourcing for disaster relief has three advantages.

First, crowdsourced data including user requests and status reports are collected almost immediately after a disaster using social media. Ushahidi-Haiti was set up two hours after the 12 January earthquake by volunteers from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts (Heinzelman and Waters, 2003).  Soon after, organizations were able to borrow a short message service (SMS) short code phone number (Mission 4636) to send free SMS texts (Munro, 2012). News of this free emergency number was spread through local and national radio stations.

As of 25 January, the Haiti crisis map had more than 2,500 incident reports, with more reports being added every day. The large amount of nearly real-time reports allows relief organizations to identify and respond to urgent cases in time.

Second, crowdsourcing tools can collect data from emails, forms, tweets, and other unstructured methods and then do rudimentary analysis and summaries, such as by creating tag clouds, trends, and other filters. These can help partition the data into bins (such as most-frequently requested resources) and requests into predetermined, most-urgent categories (such as medical help, food, shelter, or people trapped). Relief agencies can then concentrate on the issues and events that are most important to the relief effort.

Third, providers can include geo-tag information for messages sent from some platforms (such as Twitter) and devices (including handheld smart phones). Such crowdsourced data can help relief organizations accurately locate specific requests for help. Furthermore, visualizing this type of data on a crisis map offers a common disaster view and helps organizations intuitively ascertain the current status.

What are the shortfalls of crowdsourcing for disaster relief?

Despite the fact that crowdsourcing applications can give precise and convenient information about a crisis, current crowdsourcing applications actaully miss the mark in supporting disaster relief efforts (Gao et al., 2011).

Above all, most applications do give a common mechanism explicitly designed for cooperation and coordination between different relief organizations. For instance, microblogs and crisis maps don’t give a component for distributing response resources, so various organizations may react to an individual request simultaneously.

A subsequent inadequacy is that data from crowdsourcing applications, while helpful, do not generally give all the correct information required for disaster relief efforts. The accuracy of the report’s geo-tag and content is not guaranteed, in spite of the fact that relief workers enormously need the ability to naturally and precisely locate crowdsourced data on the crisis map. That is, a geo-located tweet does not really allude to the geo-location point. Somebody may message the emergency guide's telephone number to report something they saw earlier, potentially messaging from a shelter about a bridge that collapsed 10 miles not far off.

Furthermore, there are regularly duplicate reports, and information essential for relief coordination isn't promptly accessible or effectively available, for example, arrangements of relief resources or correspondence systems and relief organization contact information.

Lastly, current crowdsourcing applications do not have adequate security features for relief organizations and relief operations. For example, crowdsourcing applications that are publicly available for reporting are also publicly available for viewing. Although it is important to provide information to the public, this can create conflicts when decisions must be made about where and when relief resources are needed.  

In conclusion, crowdsourcing supporting applications don't have sufficient security features for relief organizations and relief operations. For instance, crowdsourcing applications that are openly accessible for revealing are additionally freely accessible for viewing. In spite of the fact that it is essential to give information to people in general, this can stimulate conflict when decisions must be made about where and when relief resources are required.

What is crowdfunding?

Out of crowdsourcing has developed a new phenomenon: crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is the act of funding a project or venture by collecting modest amounts of money from a large number of individuals, ordinarily by means of the Internet.

Crowdfunding is related to crowdsourcing in that both draw on the power of intensity of groups of people and networks. Notwithstanding, crowdfunding is additionally very unique. It works through an open call for funding for specific projects. Funding is requested online, typically in moderately modest quantities, from individual donors or investors, nd goes towards specific projects: personal loans for small businesses, the production of design t-shirts, production of movies or music, or covering medical expenses for the less privileged.

There are four basic models of crowdfunding:

1. Donation-based - funders donate to a project without any expected compensation. An example of a donation-based crowdfunding platform would be:

GoFundMe

GoFundMe is a free crowdfunding platform tailored to fundamentally support people and causes. Since GoFundMe is fit to individual causes— anybody can make a campaign—sponsors on here tend to only support campaigns that originate from inside their own community and personal networks.

GoFundMe isn’t intended for business crowdfunding campaigns, unlike the other platforms. However, if you’re an entrepreneur who has run into difficult times, or you need to raise money to overcome a personal challenge, you can have a go at leveraging this platform for support from your personal network.

Governments, political parties, and the public sector have also experimented with crowdfunding. Barack Obama relied on small donations solicited online during his presidential campaign in 2008. Many government parties fundraise online, as do a wide variety of other initiatives and projects (Pricco, 2014).

2. Reward-based - offers non-financial rewards to funders, such as t-shirts or the opportunity to see a band backstage. An example of a reward-based crowdfunding platform would be:

Kickstarter

This platform is designed around recurrent donations that permits content creators to monetize their videos, blog articles, music and even software developments. On the off chance that people like the project, they can pledge money to get it going. If the project succeeds with regards to arriving at its funding goal, all sponsors' credit cards are charged when time expires.

3. Lending-based - funders expect repayment of the funding they contribute to a project. An example of a lending-based crowdfunding platform would be:

Kiva

Provides the ability to lend money via the Internet to low-income entrepreneurs and students. Kiva's mission is "to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive."

4. Equity-based -  funders receive equity, revenue, or a share of the profits in a project. An example of an equity-based crowdfunding platform would be:

StartEngine

StartEngine is one of the world’s biggest equity crowdfunding sites. StartEngine pulls funds from an investor's account once the company has exceeded their minimum funding goal, and the escrow account has been opened (StartEngine, n.d.).

Crowdfunding platforms encourage the assembly of ideas, the interconnection of funders with creators, the uniting of ideas and resources, and new entity prospects.

In conclusion, a few key inquiries should be posed as crowdfunding moves past its outset: How can crowdfunding work in the interests of the public, creating new opportunities, contributing to public spheres, and guaranteeing a reasonable appropriation of benefits? Should the principle that publicly-funded research be made openly available apply to crowdfunded projects?

On top of the potential advantages crowdfunding brings to individual corporations, it likewise can possibly improve the efficiency of the development sector as a whole. Numerous development organizations are dependent on traditional support mechanisms with pre-set up measures for performance defined by external donors and tested by anonymous authorities. Crowdfunding, by contrast, empowers joint development of projects and dialogue. During the selection of projects, its only reference are the organization's values and quality measures, which need to be communicated to potential supporters. Projects that are attractive and significant receive adequate sufficient support - not simply those that meet the current (political) support priorities.

References list

Bannerman, S. (2012). Crowdfunding Culture. Web. Wi: Journal of Mobile Culture, [online] 06(04), p.4. Available at: http://wi.mobilities.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/sbannermanwi_2012_06_04.pdf [Accessed 13 Oct. 2019].

Amazon. (2010). All Hits. [online] Available at: https://www.mturk.com/mturk/findhits?match=false [Accessed 26 Oct. 2020].

Zeng, D., Gao, H., Barbier, G. and Goolsby, R. (2010). Ieee InTeLLIGenT SySTemS Harnessing the Crowdsourcing Power of Social Media for Disaster Relief. [online] Available at: https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a581803.pdf.

Heinzelman, J. and Waters, C. (2003). About the RepoRt Crowdsourcing Crisis Information in Disaster- Affected Haiti Summary. [online] Available at: https://mirror.explodie.org/Crowdsourcing%20Crisis%20Information%20in%20Disaster-Affected%20Haiti.pdf [Accessed 27 Oct. 2020].

Muralidharan, S., Rasmussen, L., Patterson, D. and Shin, J.-H. (2011). Hope for Haiti: An analysis of Facebook and Twitter usage during the earthquake relief efforts. Public Relations Review, 37(2), pp.175–177.

MP, H. (2011). Japan Tsunami & Earthquake – Use of Twitter, Facebook, Skype & other Social Networks. [online] Bubblecube. Available at: http://bubblecube.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/japan-tsunami-earthquake [Accessed 27 Oct. 2020].

Munro, R. (2012). Crowdsourcing and the crisis-affected community. Information Retrieval, 16(2), pp.210–266.

Gao, H., Barbier, G. and Goolsby, R. (2011). Harnessing the Crowdsourcing Power of Social Media for Disaster Relief. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 26(3), pp.10–14.

Flannery, M. (2007). Kiva and the Birth of Person-to-Person Microfinance. Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, 2(1–2), pp.31–56.

Pricco, D. (2014). Political Crowdfunding - how politicians are learning to harness the crowd. [online] CrowdExpert.com. Available at: http://crowdexpert.com/articles/crowdfunding-in-politics/ [Accessed 27 Oct. 2020].

CROWDFUNDING INDUSTRY REPORT Market Trends, Composition and Crowdfunding Platforms THE INDUSTRY WEBSITE TM. (2012). [online] Available at: http://www.crowdfunding.nl/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/92834651-Massolution-abridged-Crowd-Funding-Industry-Report.pdf [Accessed 27 Oct. 2020].

StartEngine. (n.d.). Investor FAQ. [online] Available at: https://www.startengine.com/investor-faq [Accessed 27 Oct. 2020].