#my computer is a beast and my father was a photographer

[four-armed-bandit]

getting back in the swing of this

bracca - partners

my screenshots | my writing

[siimjaeyun]

Chapter 8: Family Troubles 

Synopsis: When two beasts appear in Seoul, destroying buildings and businesses, it might just teach your mystery-solving group a thing or two about relationships, both friendly and family ones. 

Series Masterlist 

------- 

“I must say Mayor Lee, it was a great idea to open a Tiki Place here in Seoul.” Chief Kim commented while sipping on the drink held in his hand. 

“Anything for Seoul, and I also applaud you for keeping Seoul criminal free.” 

The two men brought their glasses together in a celebratory manner; they sat back comfortably in their seats as they applauded the singer who was on stage performing. 

“Thank you everyone for coming tonight, I hope you all had fun.” The female singer bowed down slightly, and a shriek escaped from the guests. She turned and met a giant furry body. The green giant hurled a table to the roof of the restaurant, and proceeded to destroy the surrounding places like the tables and stage. 

“Just wonderful.” 

------- 

“Uh...did I do something wrong?” Heeseung peered through the mirror at the friends who were caught up in avoiding each other's glares. 

“Jungwon is upset because Sunoo and Niki went to see a movie without him. Then, Jay and y/n got into a fight last night.” Sunghoon summarized it lighty and yes he was right. 

Let’s start with the younger trio shall we. Niki, who had recently moved and joined their friend group, had been warmly welcomed by the duo Sunoo and Jungwon, two tight knit members who were pulled into mysteries by their older friends in middle school. It just so happened that Niki who was the youngest, became so loved by both Jungwon and Sunoo, as well as everyone else. Jungwon was just upset that they couldn’t hang out the three of them instead of choosing partners in their new friend trio. 

Now as for you and Jay, that's a lot messier. It all started with your parents coming into the living room and telling Jay that he was prohibited from solving mysteries which to him was unfair considering his twin sister, aka you, were allowed to. Which ended in a battle of jealousy and reliving past trauma. 

“Well, maybe a mystery will cheer us up. There was an attack at the Tiki restaurant last night.” Heeseung pulled over, and parked the van near the now shredded sight. An awkward pause settled in and it remained when Sunghoon, Jake, and Heeseung were left staring at their other five friends who kept looking at each other. 

Eventually, they got off the van as well. They split, searching for clues and witnessing a man in a blue suit who appeared to be the owner of the construction place. 

“Been earning good money I tell you. Sham’s Construction is gonna have to thank these beasts.” The man cackled and introduced himself as Mr.Sham to you. 

“At least we know someone is happy.” You whispered sarcastically into Jake’s ear. You went off with Jake, and kept taking photographs of the site, trying to find inconsistencies. 

“Chief Kim, do you know what happened?” 

“This green giant, who I have decided to call a Humungonaut, came and destroyed the place. You should have seen the damn beast. Powerful.” 

“At least there’s only one of them.” Ah, yes, bad luck was definitely in your favor today, seeing as a red colored beast surged from the hair salon on the other block. It picked up a car and flinged it towards the site of rubble from the Tiki place. 

“Nice going Jay.” 

“Me? Please, save your breath will you sissy.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t know I wasn’t worthy of being in the same area of the great mighty Jay Park.” 

“That’s enough of the both of you.” Sunghoon gave you two a stern look before forcing you into the opposite directions. 

“We need to focus on the task here. Be mindful of others guys.” Sunoo tried convincing his friends before Jungwon came up with his own thoughts. 

“Now you want to be mindful of others? Must have been good thinking considering you didn’t bother to invite me to your little hangout huh!” Now it was the trio’s turn to start bickering which led to Heeseung dragging them down to his home. 

-------

“We need an intervention. We’re not gonna get anywhere if they keep fighting.” Jake sat on the chair with his head resting on the table, before an idea came into his head. 

“How about we do an intervention?” 

“Like therapy?” The ring of the doorbell intervened in their conversation and Heeseung happily opened the door for Chief Kim who appeared alongside materials for a BBQ. 

“I knew we’d need help so I called Chief Kim.” 

Clearly, Heeseung was not accurate in seeking the help of Chief Kim, seeing as his only response and solution to your friend issues was, “Maybe you should leave town and go your own ways.” 

“The problem here is Sunoo! How dare you hang out with Niki without me!?” 

“Because you don’t like horror movies!” 

“The real problem here is spelled J-A-Y P-A-R-K who clearly doesn’t believe in his sister!” 

“Not everything is about you y/n!” 

Another fight broke out in their session which left Heeseung to drop a giant box onto the table to cut their unfriendly conversation. 

“How about we use this pent up anger on I don’t know catching two monsters,” he opened the box and gave each member a suit, “this is our new uniform. Hurry before I grab each of you by the ear.” 

All of you looked at the uniforms, a dissatisfaction growing on your faces. The white tracksuits were clearly not what you imagined to be Heeseung’s quick solution to your problems . 

You arrived at another place that had been attacked, and while all of you appreciated and loved Heeseung with your full hearts, you weren’t a fan of the uniforms. In fact, the moment the team arrived, you all lowered your heads while you investigated the scene. 

“Tsk, look who’s here.” Sunghoon nudged you with his elbow and you looked at Mr.Sham who arrived with a giant truck carrying away the rubble that remained. 

------ 

Two signs hung on the side of the road: Bobby Minner Insurance, and right next to it Robby Minner Insurance. 

“Is trespassing a construction site really the only answer?” Heeseung ignored Sunoo’s worries and used his bolt cutters to lift the lock up. 

“Hurry before we get caught.” All of you split into teams, different ones of course. Your petty fights resulted in avoiding each other at all costs. 

Without a warning, one of the beasts appeared once more and Mr.Sham was seen running away from his office building as he managed to escape the explosives that were set from afar. 

All of you made your walks in a zigzag pattern, and crashed onto the side of the road with Mr.Sham falling afterwards with you. 

“Guess Mr.Sham isn’t the humungonaut.” Jay let out an awkward chuckle before Mr.Sham turned his head to glare at him, but later joined in witnessing how his business had been consumed in flames. 

------- 

“Looking for insurance? Well, Bobby Minner is the best place to be..” The ad played in the background before a defeated sigh left the mouth of the teen’s in the van. 

“This leaves us back at zero.” They crossed their arms and bolted up when the radio began to play a static sound and a voice was heard on the radio. 

“Why..hello Mystery Co…” It was JK. 

“Since you guys seem to have some hard time figuring this out, let me give you a riddle. Open your ears, and you’ll head the answer. Open your eyes, and pay attention to the signs. The solution will be ensured. Later kids.” 

The static once more took over, and the original sound of the radio played again, “Robby Minner’s insurance is the way to go.” 

“You know, it would be nice if he just told us the clues straightforwardly.” Niki commented as he rested his head on the seat. 

-------

“Dad, come on, this humungonaut is a threat.” Heeseung argued with his father and Chief Kim, who honestly speaking, could care less about his worries. 

“We will do something. Chief.” Chief Kim strolled over to the center of the room, setting up his presentation with a portrait. 

“Your solution is a bowl of salad?” Sunoo asked sarcastically while staring at the misdrawn image in front of him. 

“No! We’re planning to host a humungonaut event: people pay to see them destroy things. Perfect business.” 

Clearly, the money and tourism seemed to be the priority. 

“This is the best idea, people pay money to see the monster get caught in our trap.” A shocked expression fell upon Heeseung’s face before he slammed his hands on his father’s desk. 

“A trap! You’re building a trap without me!? My own father!?” He slightly quivered his lips before hanging his head low as he exited the room. Poor boy had just been heartbroken. 

“You’ll get over it,” Mayor Lee stopped mid-way as he finally took in the uniforms on your bodies, “Are you guys going to a costume party?” 

Just when it was time for you to leave, all of you responded with a hard “no,” not bothering to explain that it was Heeseung’s idea too. 

“That sucks, because you look ridiculous.” 

------- 

“They’re so stupid, they’re clearly amateurs.” Jake and Sunghoon turned their heads from the computer screen and looked at their oldest friend who was busy using his binoculars to observe the traps set in the stadium. 

“GO RED!” “GO GREEN!” In the meantime, Jungwon and Sunoo began swinging at each other with their foam fingers, hurting their other friend Niki in the process. 

“Anyway, what have you managed to find?” Both you and Jay looked at the duo who seemed puzzled at the sight and map on their screen. 

“Hmm...there’s no clear pattern, but they only attack certain sites and businesses. This humungonaut really is confusing.” Jake responded, slightly leaning towards you. 

“It’s even more confusing than JK’s riddles.” Jungwon commented, which left Jake to enter into an aha moment. 

“You’re a genius Jungwon. Come on, the humungonaut won’t be here.” Jake took your hand and helped you out of the seats as the other followed behind, leading you to the final destination for these humungonauts. 

------- 

“Got the plan? When the humungonauts appear, you use the pulley to get them, got it?” The younger trio nodded their heads and took their positions. 

It wasn’t long before the humungonauts appeared at the boat warehouse: a place where Jake had led all of you as well. 

When the two beats caught sight of each other, they immediately grabbed each other by the necks. Their large size caused the floor under you to shake violently, and they broke through a couple boats before finally rolling into the small pool of water inside a building. 

“Pull!” The net pulled them upward and the two beats collapsed tiredly onto each other in the buddle of the net. 

“It worked?” Sunghoon was surprised that his trap worked so efficiently the first time given their long history. 

“Good thing those tickets were non-refundable.” Mayor Lee and Chief Kim came walking towards them and were startled by the beasts. 

“Your trap actually worked?” 

“Hey, don’t act too surprised.” Heeseung crossed his arms and saw as Jake pulled a staircase towards the two giants. 

“Hello creatures, I would like to welcome you to our humble earth planet.” Chief Kim began his long-winded speech before Jake finally managed to reach the top. 

“Sorry to disappoint Chief Kim, but these are no monsters at all. It’s Robby and Bobby Minner.” He pulled on the masks and the Minner twins were right underneath. 

“But how did you know Jake?” 

“Remember JK’s riddle, I just had to place these businesses under each of their insurances.” The rest of you looked confused, and settled your sights on the brothers who were peaking through the mesh. 

“That’s right. Our rivalry began since our circus days as strong men. We were always a duo, but one day he just left the team and joined a rival circus. Who would have known we would join the insurance business? We used the costumes to destroy each other’s business and get revenge.” Robby Minner gave a pause before his brother looked at him, “and we would have would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for my meddling brother!” The twins yelled the phrase at the same time before fighting with each other again. Chief Kim and others had arrived to take them away. 

“Guys, that was great team work!” Heeseung exclaimed happily before you all looked at each other. 

“Sunoo, we’re sorry we didn’t invite you. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” 

“I’m sorry too.” Sunoo and Jungwon joined each other into a hug before welcoming Niki to join. 

You sighed and looked at Jay. 

“I’m sorry for hurting you. Seeing those twins really made me think that I don’t want to hate or resent you in a few years. Sometimes I get jealous of how perfect you are, but it doesn’t give me a right to be mean with you.” 

“No, I’m also sorry. Truth is, I’m jealous that mom and dad give you so much freedom, and you still do well in school. I guess the stress got to me, and I’m sorry for putting you in a situation like that.” Now it was your turn to give Jay a hug. 

“I’m so glad this is settled, see? All we need is our strong bond.” Heeseung smiled warmly at his friends before Sunghoon lifted one of his eyebrows. 

“Does this mean we also don’t need uniforms?” 

“I guess not.” Heeseung did not even complete his sentence before seeing as his friends took off the tracksuits and tossed them into the van. 

“We love you Heeseung, but maybe we should just keep the name of Mystery Co.” You comforted him and all of you took a seat by the deck. The stars glistened in the dark, and it left you to enjoy the peaceful moment with the people you loved the most. 

-------- 

Next- Chapter 9: Vampires and Prison Visits 

Tag List: @softkons @nikisboxysmile

(send an ask to join the taglist!) 

[litaxjansen]

Intro ; Lita Jansen

okay so here goes. this is my gal Lita Jansen, and she is a headstrong, independent and feisty photographer and boxing instructor. Her brother is Luke Jansen and she is secretly helping out behind the scenes(because momma does not approve) with her IT skills after majoring in Computer Science and being an all around electronics and information tech nerd. in her opinion there is no better hacker hah. think Mr Robot meets Quinn James from One Tree Hill meets well yeah a good bit of Raven Reyes. 

So if yah want a bigger insight into her, feel free to take a look at her bio below :) and all connections are oh so welcome! I’m open to anything really ^_^ 

Growing up, Lita was constantly in a tug of war with what she wanted for herself, and what her family wanted for her. Being the bratty little sister who was rarely told no did not build the best foundation for the teen and later woman she became. However, when your mother is Guillermina Jansen, a woman consumed by revenge and ruthlessness, you do learn to bend when the option is to be further broken. Her mother wanted Angelita to be so many things that she wasn’t. And Lita tried so hard to convince her that she was something else. Trough her entire upbringing, Lita could get a yes from everyone but her mother. Her brothers, babysitters, teachers, fellow peers, they all caved eventually. Guillermina however, did not. When Lita thought she was old enough to walk alone to and from school, her mother insisted she’d always have a chaperone. A tomboyish nine year old wanting to start soccer was put in Ballet instead. As the teen years approached, the youngest Jansen had a strict curfew. When it was time for college, Guillermina had already picked out her Major. Computer sciences would lead to a good paying, safe and secure job. Any dreams of a career as a firefighter were thrown out the window. Any attempts at discussions or refusals were met with a stone wall and chilled words sounding more like threats than parental advice.

Suffice to say, Lita both hates and loves her mother. She thinks of her fathers death as a curse, one that instilled misery and unnecessary obstacles in her life. Many of whom she’s convinced that would not have existed were her father alive today. The damage his supposed accident caused to his family, his wife, his children was fatal in different ways than loss of life. Yet she can’t find it in her to pity her mom. The woman is a beast with only one goal, to get revenge. And it doesn’t matter that Lita would do anything, push herself to new heights, transform her body to be ready for war, she’s simply told that she’s not allowed to take part. This and the many parts of her life which she detests, has fueled a great rage in her, one she can’t ever seem to burn out.

The best outlet she’s ever found for her anger has been boxing. And while her mother would never let her take classes as an adolescent, Lita found ways to be taught as soon as Guillermina’s attention was turned elsewhere. Her photography is her calm space, the action that fills her with peace and serenity. Its not something she thought she would be able to create a living of until her last year of college when one of her professors passed on her work to an agency who wanted to represent her and had a stack of jobs for her to consider. The opportunities were immense, and gave Lita the chance to travel to far corners of the world, have her work both in newspapers, exhibitions and galleries both in the US and Europe. Of course truly pursuing that type of career would mean wanting to travel and explore far more than she wants to, but for now its good money for what Lita doesn’t consider much hard work. Seeing as its not a job her mother is entirely pleased with either she’s expecting to have to give it up eventually, but for now its a way to express herself and explore her creativity. Because no matter how stubborn, angry or reckless Lita can be, there is something wistful to her as well. She’s always had the urge to roam freely, the need to make up her own mind, carve out her own path. At her core she is a free spirit, just one with claws and teeth when you try to cage her.

Settling back down in the city after her travels felt right for Lita. She loves the bright lights, the darker ally’s, the gruff people out on the streets. Here she can be herself, the feisty Mexican girl with a wild side, and sometimes a soft side. While its not always easy, its nice to be close to her family again. Not to mention old friends and the like. Its comfortable, yet Lita finds herself restless. Like something is still missing. She knows what she wants to devote her life to, she even knows that she’s better suited, trained and driven than half the people in her brothers crew. If only her mother would see it.

Majoring in Computer Science left Lita with a great skill set, one she utilizes both for her own, and her family’s gain. While her mother doesn’t approve of her being involved with the gang her brother is growing, Lucas has been a bit more forthcoming, in secret of course. And so Lita finds herself spending evenings and nights at the Liquor store, often bringing her notepad of ideas and her laptop, drinking and hanging out. No matter how many times she’s told no, she can’t help but feel like the opportunity to prove her worth is so close. All she needs is a break, a small chink in the armor, a chance to convince and show her skills. Until the day comes, she’ll be pouncing in the shadows, helping her brother as much as he’ll let her.

fun facts ; 

Lita is not awful fond of her name, at least not the romantic understanding of angels. so if you do know her just a little, you can be sure she’s introduced herself as ‘Lita’ not Angelita. 

she has a rather large knife collection and always carries one on her unless she’s teaching at the Energy Hub.

dreams of owning a motorcycle but knows her mother would freak if she tried to buy one. 

is a somewhat of a health freak but tries to hide this because she doesn’t want to bug people too much. 

detests bullies and will throw her hat in the ring whenever she sees someone being treated unfairly. 

will cut you and make you suffer if you touch her family... 

sometimes freelances as a hacker so if your charrie has a ear to the underground he/she might have used her or heard of her. 

used to go to anger management classes 

is a beer gal 

[whereyoursoulresides]

Without Words II - Our Orbiting Paths, Chapter 1

Summary: In their third life, Kunzite has finally won the heart of Zoisite’s civilian reincarnation, Kozakura Izou. However, as their lives become progressively more intertwined, certain challenges begin to crop up… Between the stresses of work, adjusting to modern expectations, and old familiar faces flashing from the shadows, can Kunzite maintain a meaningful relationship with his partner successfully?

Rating: T+

Characters Featured in Fic: Kunzite, Zoisite, Nephrite, Jadeite, Naru, Umino

Chapter Summary: It's been a few months of dating now, and Kunzite thinks they're ready to take it to the next step.

AO3 Link Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27826732/chapters/68145631#workskin

“Oh, you should’ve seen it, Kunihiro-sama,” the voice was saying over the phone. “Absolutely atrocious, I had never seen anything like it!”

“Hmn,” was all Kunzite said, albeit with a bit of a smile. He didn’t usually have much opinion on the matters of Izou’s latest gossip, but he was happy to hear Izou talk about anything at all. He took another bite of his dinner - plain white rice and grilled salmon. “And then?”

“Oh, I took myself right out of that business,” Izou continued, and Kunzite could just imagine his curls frazzedly waving in exasperation.

“It sounds like you might be out-growing that coffee shop,” was Kunzite’s observation.

Izou huffed over the phone. “Entirely possible. The staff is completely different now. Honestly, Kunihiro-sama, these new girls, sometimes their attitude is just appal- ow! ”

Kunzite quickly pushed some loose grains of rice past his lips. “Mn. Izou? Are you alright?”

There was a little hiss, and then a whine.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Izou answered. “Just a prick, that’s all.” The words came out mumbly as Kunzite could hear him suck on his finger. “Shoot, that smarts!”

Kunzite shook his head fondly. “Be careful,” he chided as he began to clean up the remnants of his dinner. He had about another five minutes of his break left. “Perhaps we shouldn’t chat if you need to concentrate...”

“Mn, oh no!” Izou insisted. The sound of the phone being adjusted to his ear cackled over the receiver. “At any rate, what time are you finishing tonight, Kunihiro-sama?”

“Late,” Kunzite answered. He glanced at the clock. “About midnight, I think.”

“Oh.” Izou sounded disappointed. “It’s been so long…”

It had perhaps only been a week since they'd last seen each other in person, but to both it had felt like an eternity. Between Kunzite’s long and odd working hours at the precinct and Izou’s equally erratic shifts at the coffee shop, it was difficult to set a real date time consistently, and every window of opportunity was never wasted. Although they chatted every night (and occasionally stumbled to work from either other’s homes), it seemed that their craving for the other’s physical presence was only growing exponentially by the day.

“I know,” Kunzite said kindly. He missed Izou too.

Izou seemed to gather up some strength. “Were you able to eat? You’ve mentioned before it’s tricky to get a meal in sometimes…”

Kunzite threw the plastic container out into the garbage under the sink.

“I managed to grab something. Although I must be hanging up soon, Izou…”

“Oh, okay,” Izou said in a rush. “Well, um, maybe I could drop by tomorrow, before my shift? I start late in the afternoon…”

Kunzite smiled. “That’d be lovely. Whatever works for you.”

“Okay.” Izou paused as though to say something pressing, but Kunzite chalked it up to their usual anxieties of never wanting to hang up. “Take care,” he finally said.

Kunzite tilted his head warmly.

“You as well. Chat soon.”

After hanging up the phone, Kunzite finished tidying up the break room and returned to his desk. In one corner stood the small rosebush that Izou had managed to resurrect. It was Kunzite’s pride and joy in the office, a perfect reminder in lieu of their photo from the Dark Kingdom. As he settled himself amongst his papers and computers, he thought briefly of how lucky he was. It was so surreal to think that this was where they - he and Izou -  were now.

In the past few months, Izou’s memories of his third life had rapidly solidified, and it had been fascinating to Kunzite to learn everything about Kozakura Izou. His parents - a concept that Kunzite was still struggling to come to terms with - lived in the countryside, on a small, modest farm. His mother was an artist, and his father was a photographer. Izou himself had moved to Tokyo at age fourteen to better his schooling and career opportunities. In between part time work and school, Izou loved to read, thrift, garden, and shop. His creativity energy would burst into little endeavours - sketches, doodles, collages - and was increasingly weaving into his sense of style and fashion. It wasn’t uncommon for Kunzite to hear a little yelp or hiss over the phone as he had earlier- followed by the endearing dismayed whine - from sewing accidents wherein Izou had stabbed himself at his fingertips. As Kunzite flipped through his briefing updates in his hands, he wondered which project Izou had been working on today, and if he would be seeing it soon.

“Saitou-san.”

Kunzite glanced up to see a younger officer leaning over the corner of his cubicle. He was holding two folders in one hand, while the other was scratching his head under his cap. Behind him, Kunzite caught a glimpse of the civilian as she left the precinct, her dark auburn hair swinging behind her.

“Yes, Kobayashi-san?”

“I just got another statement about the nondescript white van. That makes five so far.”

“No attacks?”

“None, just trailing.” Kobayashi scrunched up his nose. “It’s hard to get an idea though on where to begin. No identifiable markings, and none of the license plates line up. Still seems worth investigating.”

Kunzite’s eyes drifted to the other folder. “And the other case?”

“Mn? Oh. Just another sighting of the cargo truck with the black star. No attacks yet this week, but it’s definitely suspicious.” He looked at Kunzite sheepishly. “I guess you’ll probably want the more exciting one, huh?”

If it was one thing Kunzite knew very well, it was patterns. And he knew what would follow the cargo truck with the black star all too well.

“I’ll take the van,” he said curtly, taking the folder.

The younger officer grinned in excitement, holding the remaining case to his chest.

“Maybe this means I’ll get to meet a Sailor Senshi…!”

“I think you have much more pressing concerns than that,” Kunzite said crossly. He gestured to some of the boxes stacked up at the farthest wall of the precinct. “Why don’t you start setting those up instead.”

Flushing embarrassedly, Kobayashi straightened immediately.

“Yes sir!”

As the younger officer hurried off to set up the precinct’s newest surveillance testing program, Kunzite shook his head. Although he was the senior officer, occasionally Kunzite felt more like an unofficial mother hen than a leader. Quickly, he brushed the thought aside and returned to his paperwork with a sigh.

And when else had he felt like that before…?

---

It had been a long night. While his precinct also technically dealt with thefts, burglaries, and other emergencies, Kunzite found the public-facing aspect of his job far more draining. Although he usually could leave it to the younger officers, the fact remained that most of them still needed guidance and training, which Kunzite had to deliver. By the time he climbed his way up to the top floor of his low-rise apartment, Kunzite’s stomach was rumbling, and he was ready to hit the hay.

However, upon arriving at his door, Kunzite was greeted by a little surprise that woke him right up.

“Izou?”

The young man had been sitting by the door, shrouded in a thick winter jacket with a backpack to his side. Seeing Kunzite, he jumped to his feet. “Kunihiro-sama, welcome home!” It was the biggest grin Kunzite had seen all day.

Despite himself, Kunzite couldn’t help but reflect a slightly confused smile back. He gently laid a hand on the small of Izou’s back. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “Is everything alright?”

“Oh, yes,” Izou assured, lifting what looked like a large stack of lunch boxes wrapped in a spring green cloth. “I thought you could use something heartier so late after dinner time,” he said cheerfully. “It’s just some takeout, but…”  His cheeks glowed faintly. “But...I couldn’t wait until tomorrow.”

As Kunzite inserted his key, he had to do his best to keep from growing into a ridiculous grin. Izou was just so sweet and thoughtful.

“You really shouldn’t have,” Kunzite finally said, as the bolt unlocked. Izou glanced up uncertainty.

“Was it too forward of me?” he asked.

Kunzite finally let the fondness of his smile show, and gently nudged Izou into the door.

“Not at all.” I’ve missed you too. “Please. Come in.”

Splitting into a grin, Izou slipped off his shoes and leapt inside. As he got settled and began to unpack the food, Kunzite’s smile faded when he realized how late it truly was. One in the morning, and while his area was safer than Izou’s neighbourhood, the city could still be a very dangerous beast at this hour.

“How long were you waiting for?” he asked as he slid out of his own shoes, watching Izou for any indication of polite refrain.

“Oh, not long,” Izou answered merrily, now plating the food into bowls. He gathered up the paper and plastic and swirled around to throw them into the garbage, not noticing Kunzite’s knitting brows.

“Izou.”

The boy paused for a moment to look up at Kunzite hesitantly. “About an hour,” he answered quickly. “But I knew you might be late so I brought a book, so it’s okay, really.” He then returned to cleaning up and setting the kettle for some tea.

Kunzite glanced down at the key that was still in his hand, and made up his mind. As Izou began undoing the tea tin, Kunzite gently but protectively began to wrap his arms around the younger man’s waist, bringing him close to his chest. Izou was clearly delighted by the closeness and looked over his shoulder to shyly smile at Kunzite.

“The city can be dangerous this late at night,” Kunzite murmured quietly into Izou’s soft hair. “You should be more careful…”

Izou was obviously touched by Kunzite’s concern, and brushed it off. “I’m fine, I can take care of myself,” he insisted. He placed one of his own hands on Kunzite’s forearm. “Don’t worry.”

Of course Kunzite couldn’t help but worry, he’d been worrying about Izou even before he had met him in this life.  

“Maybe you should consider a different place to live,” Kunzite suggested. “Somewhere safer.”

Izou shrugged and began to swirl the tea leaves budding in the hot water. “Maybe once I have a little more money,” he agreed.

It took Kunzite a few moments to consider what his next words were going to be. Eventually, he pulled one arm away from Izou and placed the key, with purpose, onto the counter in Izou’s line of sight.

“I was thinking…” Kunzite mumbled softly, “that maybe you’d like to live with me.”

At first, Izou blinked at the piece of metal on the counter, not entirely sure if he was understanding, or had correctly caught what Kunzite had said. Unawares, Kunzite tightened his hug marginally, hoping that his suggestion wasn’t a step too far.

Slowly Izou turned his head around to look up at him. When Kunzite saw those big, bright and breathless eyes, he knew his fears were unfounded.

“Really?” Izou whispered, almost shyly. “You...think we’re ready for that?”

It was clear by Izou’s exhilarated whisper that he clearly was delighted to think they were, and Kunzite was definitely certain they were. Well, he was also certain because of how well he and Zoisite had lived together in the past… So, surely they were more than ready to move in together by now.

“Absolutely.”

It was clear Izou could hardly believe this turn of events, trying his best to hide the big grin Kunzite could tell was growing on his face. Finally, after rolling his bottom lip between his teeth, Izou beamed and nodded.

“Sure.”

It took nearly all of Kunzite’s willpower to not pick up Izou and swirl him around in his new home. Instead Kunzite simply broke into a smile again, followed by a short, relieved chuckle...Very quickly, the two of them were grinning and flushing together with excitement. Was this it? Were they really ready for this? It was as if both men were suppressing an armory of feeling that they were not yet ready to give words to, and giggling and laughing was the closest way they had to release the tension of mounting exhiliation that they were both trying to restrain.

“I’ll help you move in, the next time you’re free,” Kunzite said earnestly, seeing that he wasn’t alone in wanting to live together as soon as possible.

“I don’t have much stuff,” Izou replied, who couldn’t stop grinning behind his hands. “Although...I don’t have much money for my share of rent...”

“You don’t have to worry about any of that,” Kunzite reassured immediately. “I’ll take care of everything.”

Izou’s eyebrows stitched up together. “But...what about food?” He glanced around. “Utilities…”

“I’ll take care of everything,” Kunzite repeated again, firmly but gently. “I want to share my home with you. I want it to be our home. I’ll get everything ready.”

It was clear Izou couldn’t believe his luck. He was practically dancing into Kunzite’s arms when suddenly realization flickered across his face. Kunzite caught it instantly and his smile disappeared. “What is it?”

Izou didn’t say anything, but green eyes darted over to the bathroom. There was a moment of silence as both of them realized what Izou had just remembered... and Kunzite suddenly felt a bit awkward and unprepared.

“It’s okay,” he insisted, although he knew the memory of it wasn’t exactly pleasant. “Everything’s  been removed, I promise.”

Hesitantly Izou glanced up at Kunzite, and it was clear how conflicted he felt about the situation.

“It’s empty,” Kunzite insisted again. “You can fill it with your things when you move in. Izou’s things.”

This seemed to make Izou feel a bit better, and the smile slowly resurfaced back up a bit. “Well it’s...not like I didn’t like the stuff ,” he mumbled a bit. “I mean, I did like that stuff and I still do like it but...it was just a bit weird seeing it all there ready for you, you know?”

“I understand.” Kunzite gently gave Izou a bit of squeeze.

“Did you really throw it all out though?” Izou asked. “It would’ve been a waste...I suppose I wouldn’t mind using it if you still have it.”

At that, Kunzite paused. He had gotten rid of it from the bathroom, but hadn’t actually thrown the items out…

Izou looked up curiously. “Kunihiro-sama?”

“Truthfully?” Kunzite asked.

“Truthfully,” Izou answered, but the smile on his face gave away that he was going to be okay with whatever Kunzite answered.

“Don’t look in the closet.”

Despite himself, Izou couldn’t help but giggle, and Kunzite’s shoulders released with relief. As Izou tried to hide his laughter behind his hand, Kunzite glanced up at the clock and saw how even later it was getting.

“Let’s eat.” He slowly undid his arms around Izou and lightly grazed Izou’s cheek as he pulled away. “I’ll undress and we’ll have supper.”

“Wait.” Izou took a step forward and placed his hand on Kunztie’s chest to stop him. There was a moment, and Izou’s eyes slowly trailed up from the bottom of Kunzite’s uniform, from its hem to his belt, to finally his eyes. “...Keep them on?”

Kunzite could tell that look anywhere and, hiding a smirk, he obliged. Gathering the food from the counter, the two of them made their way over to the couch to settle in for some cozy dinner. As Izou made himself comfortable nestling in Kunzite’s arms as they flicked the television on, Kunzite couldn't help but relish this humble but incredible moment between them.

Zoisite was finally home.

[ask-de-writer]

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to Flocking Bay

MET BY MOONLIGHT

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

5740 words

© 2017 by Glen Ten-Eyck

written 2003 by Glen Ten-Eyck

All rights reserved.

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

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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. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions. I will allow those who do commission art works to charge for their images.

All sorts of Fan Activity, fiction, art, cosplay, music or anything else is ACTIVELY encouraged!

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

These had been made with fine, supple leathers taken from the destroyed village of the Marquosts. They had originally held pictographs of things that the Shamans and Totem Society leaders had thought worth recording. Their pictograms, like Egyptian hieroglyph or Chinese ideograms were a genuine written language. That was one of the ways that the Marquost society had been more than a little different from that of the Indians about them.

The men had a Society of Shamans lead by the Great Shaman. They had the charge to do the mighty magics that needed the Blackwall and its power. I was descended from that tradition.

The women had charge of the assorted Totem Societies. Most Indians drew inspiration from their totem animals. The Marquost women did more than draw inspiration from their totems. They became them. They were not lycanthropes, cursed to change with the moon. Marquost women were skin-turners. They donned the skin of the totem animal and became that creature in truth but with a guiding human intelligence and cunning. They were lead by a woman known as the Mother of Change, who could become any animal from any of the Totem Societies — and if rumor be true — any other beast as well.

The High Shaman and the Mother of Change were the ones who wrote and decided what to write.

After three hundred years, their wisdom and spells were coming to light again on my computer monitor. As the English writing was subtracted from the Darkmoon palimpsests, I began to notice something else.

My hackles rose the way that they will when you find that something is very wrong. When I examined the original photographs of the book pages more closely, I found the cause. The originals were genuinely ancient. That was almost beyond doubt. When you are a Shaman, as I am, you get a feel for such things. The problem was in the handwriting. I had a three hundred year span of books open to me. Everywhere that I sampled the Darkmoon Dairies I found the same thing.

The Darkmoon Diaries were a forgery. A unique forgery. I was willing to give long odds that there was no other such forgery in the world.

Efforts to make the handwriting different from writer to purported writer had grossly succeeded. It was the little things that betrayed the forgery. The downstroke of the f’s and s’s. The loop form of the e’s. They were common throughout. It appeared that one person had written all three hundred years worth of dairies.

The most recent volume revealed the likely author.

Just as I was pondering the diaries, Allison delivered a note from Laelia inquiring about my progress and inviting me to assist with cataloging the Hilstrom house. I put aside my problem with the dairies for the more immediate one of helping with Hilstrom house and seeing what might be of use. A Shaman may benefit from much that the ordinary person might not even find interesting. There might be things in there that could lead me to other surviving descendants of the ‘Founding Fathers��� of Flocking Bay.

Because of the age of the Hilstrom House and the contents it was known to have, it was necessary to catalog everything. We would assess what to include in the sale or even if the place should be sold at all. Some of the contents, at least, would have to be auctioned off and some kept for the library and the Historical Society museum.

The Hilstrom House was worth putting aside my petty mysteries. It would be an easy restoration to bring the house back to its original state. Most of the original hand hewn planks and timbers were still there and in place. The electricity and gas had been put in with no attempt to hide the wires and pipes inside the walls.

The fireplace still had the original hand made crane to hang cooking pots over the flames. The andirons were a recent addition. The originals we found later, cast out into a bramble thicket behind the house.

The whole place could easily become a colonial museum. When I breached the idea to Laelia she agreed that it could be done at little cost. The only problem that she foresaw was the simple one of maintenance cost. Such museums rarely paid their way and the township was simply too poor to support another one in addition to the Historical Society museum.

“Don’t give up, though,” she said, patting my hand. “You can propose it at the township meeting. If it is approved, they will find a way to do it.”

I felt that odd hackle-raising twisting that tells you where magic is. It led me to a corner of the living room. There, in a window seat made to serve as a storage chest, were many papers and books … and the source of my feeling.

The old matchlock musket appeared to be in near perfect condition. It was mounted to a plaque with an engraved brass plate just as the diary had said. It read, “This gun won us the town now called Flocking Bay. Eben Hilstrom shot and killed the Shaman with it. The gun would never fire again after.”

Laelia reached past me and took the old gun. “The Historical Society will want this testament to the shameful deed that founded this town.”

I looked at her strangely. I was beginning to fear that Laelia might be a descendant of one of the Founders. A check of ship passenger manifests from 1645 through the end of 1648 showed none who could be Laelia or her ‘ancestress.’ Something would have been in those records even if she had been a stowaway. What did she have to hide? Several things that she had said before flitted through my mind. The unique forgery of the Darkmoon diaries. The Darkmoon crest. The timing of her ancestress’ arrival in Flocking Bay. The low price of the indenture.

With a winning smile, I said, “Laelia, I think that these papers will be enough to keep us busy for the rest of the day.” “Let’s take them back to your place where we can catalog them over some of your wonderful tea.”

We strolled back to Changer’s Court in a pleasant afternoon, with the wind playing with leaves and trying to steal our booty of history.

Back at Laelia’s cottage, I breached a different topic as she puttered about her modern kitchen with its gas range, making tea for us. “Laelia, I have some of the palimpsests done. I think that you will be interested. I found your indenture contract. You can even see where Eben Hilstrom altered it.”

The puttering in the kitchen stopped for a moment. You could hear the strained smile in her voice as she see replied, “You mean the indenture of my ancestress. I’m not THAT old.” She resumed puttering purposefully about and emerged with the tea tray.

As she set it down on the coffee table, I said, “I’m afraid that you’re not telling me the whole truth, Laelia. I can prove that you wrote all of the Darkmoon dairies and I can also prove their age.

“I need to ask you some questions about your origins. I can only think of a few reasons that a person might live so long.”

She let out a long sigh and leaned back in her chair. Resignedly she said, “Have some tea and ask what you will. It was a long run from Poland for my sister and I. She was killed in France. The Crest says it all, to those perceptive enough to read it, as you seem to be.”

I raised my tea to my lips and smelled the aroma. My hackles rose again. I could smell and feel the power. It was a familiar power, like my mother’s but stronger. I had my answer.

“No,” I said, putting down the cup untasted. “You have lied long enough. You are not a werewolf and you are not Polish either. Though being one would account for your age. I know who you are.”

I spoke in Marquost, the old Indian tongue of the area when I said, “Ask me what you want to know, Mother of Change. This Shaman will tell you truthfully what you wish to know without the power of that.” I pointed at the tea.

For a second, she appeared startled. Then she let out the same laugh that I had heard and liked earlier. She replied in the same language, “Your accent is abominable! Still, I haven’t heard anyone use this language at all for years!” Her speech was the utterly relaxed, easy flow of a native speaker.

“Near enough to three hundred years, I expect,” I said softly. “You must have been lonely, living among your enemies for so long.”

“Not so lonely as you might imagine,” said Laelia with that calm that comes only from utter assurance. “I have been stalking my prey. I have got to know them and listen to their Councils and give them advice. When the time is right I take one of my skins and turn it. Then an enemy suffers. That is when proper vengeance comes. They have suffered and must suffer for a long time yet to come. That is why your killing them is not to be accepted. Do not do that. It may put them on their guard.”

Startled, and just a bit guilty, I said, “Mr. Hilstrom was the last of his line. He was old and a bachelor. The Hilstroms are gone.”

Her cheerful laugh interrupted me. “Where did you get that silly idea? That was only the end of the male line. What is the true line of descent?”

I was dumbfounded. I had forgotten, been taken in by the white man’s patrilineal lines of descent. So proud of my own matrilineal descent from the last Shaman, I had used the white man’s genealogical rules to track my enemies! I would have to start my genealogical work all over.

I hung my head in shame. Determined, I raised my head looking Laelia in the eye. “A Shaman must acknowledge his error and try to remedy it. I must begin to search for the neglected lines of descent. Our enemies must die!” I said firmly.

She rebuked me gently but with absolute certainty. “They must NOT die! Death is the END of vengeance. I swore ETERNAL revenge to the Blackwall, pouring on it the blood of my foes. When the last of them dies, so do I!”

Smiling, Laelia said, “I help them in their need and see to it that they stay within my reach.” Her eyes going lupine, she added, “I stalk them down the trail of time. In each generation, they all suffer. A few die. They go on. And so do I.”

I looked at Laelia with new eyes and a heightened respect. I said softly, “Mother of Change, I am sure that your eternal vengeance is more suitable than my slaying. This Shaman opens to you the whole power of the Blackwall.”

—THE END—

<==Previous

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to Flocking Bay

This completes Met by Moonlight. If you enjoyed what you just read, please go to the Master Story Index for links to all of the stories that I have posted on Tumblr

[dabblinginmarvel]

Bucky Barnes Masterlist

This post contains a list of the links to all stories about Bucky Barnes and will be ever-growing.

Current count: 88

A Benched Bucky

Due to her health conditions, Bucky is very protective over the girlfriend his team doesn’t know about.

        We Have A Problem

        Bucky has no choice but to tell others about you when you go missing.

        New Problems, New Tests

        Y/N’s health begins to fail and on top of that, there is a pregnancy scare.

        Scary Movie

        Epilogue to the A Benched Bucky Series.

Back to You

You and Bucky have a toxic friendship, but always can rely on each other.

Bad Reputation

Based upon ‘Bad Reputation’ by Shawn Mendes.

Beauty and the Beast

Based on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, where Bucky is in the position of the Beast.

         Part 1

         Part 2

The Baker

Bucky’s constant moving to stay hidden is brightened by a sweet neighbor and their equally sweet baked goods

         Don’t Come Back

           Bucky’s constant moving to stay hidden is brightened by a sweet neighbor and their equally sweet baked goods, but his past is getting closer every day.

         Five Minutes

           Bucky comes back to apologize to you after he is found innocent by the UN.

The Barbecue

You and Bucky go grocery shopping for the Fourth of July barbecue party.

The Bear

Thirties Bucky spends all his money on the reader at an amusement park while trying to impress you.

Believer

Part 3 in the Avengers series based on Imagine Dragons’ “Believer.” Full Believer Masterlist on the Avengers Masterlist.

The Bookworm

Reader loves reading books and is reading some books in English so she can better her bilingual skills. Bucky is there to help with words.

Cancelled

Bucky comforts a depressed reader.

Celebrate

Bucky takes convincing that Christmas today is worth celebrating.

Clingy

Bucky is a bit clingy.

Come Down with Shyness

Reader is shy and sick and Bucky brings cold care items to her apartment.

ComiCon

Bucky attends ComiCon and meets you.

         The Real Thing (Part 2)

         You meet Bucky again, but outside of the con.

Christmas Cookies

Making cookies with Bucky gets a bit messy….

Crazy in Love

Bucky and reader go to a costume party as Joker and Harley Quinn.

Date Day Disruption

Steve and Bucky have a stay-in date day, but there are a few familiar faces popping up during it.

Find Me

Reader has past demons causing frequent running away and Bucky is understanding.

Gone (Includes Infinity War spoilers)

After the Snap, Reader is distraught after watching Bucky go.

Halloween Hatter

Bucky’s crush on the reader becomes obvious when a Halloween party accident happens. (gets a bit steamy)

Haunted

Based on “Haunted” by Evanescence.

Headcanons #3

Bucky’s significant other has an abortion.

Headcanons #4

Bucky Barnes and the Reader are pen pals in WWII.

Held Back

Bucky gets seriously injured on a mission and you don’t know until he returns. He gets better and he is shocked to learn why you weren’t able to go on the mission (pregnant!reader).

Home Again

You returned by train from a long day visiting your family only to find Bucky is home early from a mission and he pampers you.

Home Alone

Reader is nervous to be home alone.

Home For Christmas

Bucky comes home for Christmas during a holiday rotation.

I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing

Based on “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith.

I Couldn’t Leave

Bucky admits his feelings for the reader after he gets injured on a mission.

I Love You

Reader does not express emotions very well and as they lay injured, they let their boyfriend Bucky know that they love him.

         Part 2

         A happy ending to I Love You.

I Thought I Lost You

After the Snap, Bucky and Steve are not sure if Bucky’s lover survived.

I Won’t Lose You

Reader has pregnancy complications.

July 4th Headcanons

Celebrating the fourth of July with Sam, Tony, Bucky, and Steve headcanons.

Just Like Rachel

Based upon the Friends episode where everyone speculates who the baby’s father is.

         The Reveal (Sequel)

         Reader reveals that the baby is Bucky’s.

         The Tickle Monster (Final Part)

         Reader and Bucky have a family.

Let’s Hurt Tonight

Based upon “Let’s Hurt Tonight” by OneRepublic.

Life’s a Beach

Reader loves the beach and grew up on the north-western corner of the United States, but hasn’t been home in a while, so Bucky plans a romantic getaway.

Little Things

Based upon “Little Things” by One Direction.

Loss

Reader has just lost a family member and Bucky is there to comfort the reader.

Matching

Reader gets trapped under rubble on a mission and has to make a hard decision: loss of life or loss of limb?

Mission Training

Reader is training for missions with Bucky and Tony.

Mission Accomplished

Bucky is grumpy, so the reader makes it their personal mission to cheer him up.

Not Without Me

Reader ends up in a hospital after surviving a plane crash.

Of a Different Family

James Buchanan Barnes is a very successful mob boss who falls in love with the mysterious singer who leaves her shoe behind in the alley behind his club.

         Part 1

         Part 2

Photograph

Based upon “Photograph” by Ed Sheeran.

Picture Imagine #4

Bucky is smitten with you after you become an Avenger.

Picture Imagine #5

You and Bucky get into a fight.

Picture Imagine #6

You’re sick and Bucky stays to care for you.

Picture Imagine #12

Bucky has learned how to play the piano and plays it when he’s upset.

Picture Imagine #18

You wear glasses and Bucky wants to distract you from your work at home.

Picture Imagine #21

The day after your first night with Bucky.

Pizza

Steve and Bucky have a moment before he has to get frozen again.

Plums

Reader bumps into Bucky at the supermarket.

Prompt 1

Bucky is always there for you, even in the middle of the night.

Prompt 3

Bucky has computer troubles and the reader helps him.

Prompt 4

Bucky and reader are on a mission and while hiding, Bucky accidentally touches the reader’s bum.

Prompt 10

Reader and Bucky are dating and Bucky stops by because he needs your emotional support.

Prompt 11

Bucky is your bakery buddy and he asks you out finally.

Prompt 15

You and Bucky have homemade dinner together.

Prompt 17

Bucky Barnes is NOT jealous… he’s not!

Prompt 20

Yours and Bucky’s child wants to hear one more time how her parents met.

Prompt 34

Bucky is very persistent in earning your affections.

The Protective Soldier

Bucky’s Winter Soldier mode is activated, but his mission is to protect you.

Recovery (contains Captain America: Civil War spoilers)

A story covering Bucky’s recovery from his Winter Soldier days. Not reader-based, includes original characters and Marvel characters. Happens directly after Civil War.

         Chapter 1

         Chapter 2

         Chapter 3

         Chapter 4

         Chapter 5

         Chapter 6

         Chapter 7

         Chapter 8

         Chapter 9

         Chapter 10

         Epilogue

Road Trip

Steve, Sam, Bucky, and the reader go on a road trip together.

Santa, Baby

Reader dresses in a sexy Santa costume.

Scared Spitless

Reader’s friends invite them to go to a haunted house, but the reader is scared to go. Bucky promises to go with them and protect the reader.

Saved

Based upon “H.O.L.Y.” by FLAGA and “I Bet My Life” by Imagine Dragons. You and Bucky are getting married.

The Shadow

You are the Winter Soldier’s shadow.

Singing Practice

Reader has been recruited to sing the national anthem for their favorite sports team and practices singing.

Something’s Fishy

You and Bucky get caught cheating at Avengers Game Night.

Strong

Tony and Bucky do their best to alleviate some of the reader’s struggles with depression.

Star Spangled Wedding

Poly relationship wedding between the reader, Bucky, and Steve.

Through the Glass

         Part 1

Bucky falls in love with the reader when he is brought in to the UN.

         Part 2

Bucky and the reader have been away from each other since their first meeting with Bucky locked up. Bucky is still in love.

Trick or Treat

You take Bucky trick or treating.

We Take Care of Each Other

Reader defends Bucky from rude SHIELD agents’ comments after the events of The Winter Soldier.

We’re Still Friends (includes ReaderxTony platonic)

Tony is your best friend and is jealous that you have been spending so much time with your boyfriend, Bucky.

What Happened in September?

Bucky learns about September 11, 2001 in the United States.

Who Needs Plans?

Bucky comes home from a mission to the reader on their period.

[bountyofbeads]

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/07/12/us/jeffery-epstein-witness-intimidation/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Famp.cnn.com%2Fcnn%2F2019%2F07%2F12%2Fus%2Fjeffery-epstein-witness-intimidation%2Findex.html%3F__twitter_impression%3Dtrue

.@KaraScannell and @brynnCNN⁩ report on alleged intimidation tactics Epstein’s accusers and witnesses told police they faced after Florida authorities opened their first investigation:

Jeffrey Epstein allegedly hired private investigators and engaged in a campaign of intimidation against accusers in Florida

By Kara Scannell and Brynn Gingras |

Updated 8:12 AM EDT, Fri July 12, 2019|

CNN | Posted July 12, 2019 |

(CNN)Not long after a 14-year-old girl reported Jeffery Epstein to authorities in 2005, she says she received a warning from someone who claimed to be in contact with the well-connected financier.

The girl would be paid cash if she agreed not to cooperate with law enforcement, the person told the accuser, adding that "those who help him will be compensated and those who hurt him will be dealt with," according to a Palm Beach, Florida, police report reflecting the accuser's statement.

The threat was one of many intimidation and bare-knuckle tactics that accusers and witnesses told police they faced after Florida authorities opened their first investigation into Epstein.

Epstein was charged Monday by the US Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York with sex trafficking of minors. He pleaded not guilty and faces as much as 45 years in prison if convicted. But the first investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against him began over a decade ago.

During that probe, at least three private investigators who police believed were working on Epstein's behalf tracked down accusers and possible witnesses to the alleged attacks, according to the police reports. They sat in black SUVs outside the homes of accusers, questioned their current and former boyfriends, and chased one parent's car off the road, according to police reports and a lawyer for three accusers. Epstein's current attorney Reid Weingarten denied in a court filing Thursday any knowledge of the alleged car chase and said if it happened, it was not authorized by Epstein.

"It was incredibly intimidating," Spencer Kuvin, an attorney for three accusers, told CNN. "You have to remember these girls were 14 and 15 (years old) when this was happening."

Prosecutors weighed filing charges of witness intimidation

The aggressive tactics didn't stop with witnesses or accusers, according to court filings, police reports, and attorneys, but also extended to the prosecutors.

Prosecutors with the US attorney's office for the Southern District of Florida, led by Alex Acosta at the time, considered charging Epstein with obstruction of justice or witness intimidation in 2008, according to court filings. Weingarten, in Thursday's filing, said it was a hypothetical idea prosecutors debated with Epstein's previous counsel and prosecutors "ultimately did not believe there was factual support for the allegations."

Acosta described a "year-long assault on the prosecution and prosecutors" in a 2011 letter that was cited in part in court filings and published in its entirety by the Daily Beast.

"I use the word assault intentionally, as the defense in this case was more aggressive than any which I, or the prosecutors in my office, had previously encountered," he wrote.

Epstein loaded his legal team with some of the biggest names in the defense bar. He hired Alan Dershowitz and Roy Black, the attorney who helped exonerate William Kennedy Smith in a rape trial, eventually switching to an all-star line-up including Jack Goldberger, Jay Lefkowitz and Ken Starr, the special prosecutor who investigated President Bill Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

Epstein's multipronged response to the investigation included suing Bradley Edwards, a lawyer representing accusers, in 2009 alleging his representation of accusers was linked to a Ponzi scheme. According to the Miami Herald, this suit ended in a monetary settlement, and Epstein admitted that he had filed the lawsuit in an "unreasonable attempt to damage [Edwards'] business reputation. He also filed a complaint with the Florida bar association, which investigated and found no wrongdoing.

Acosta said in past court filings that not all of the accusers were willing to testify.

Kuvin, the attorney for three accusers, said of Acosta's office, "They folded under the pressure."

In the end, Acosta negotiated a controversial federal nonprosecution agreement for Epstein and four alleged co-conspirators. Epstein served time on two state charges of solicitation of prostitution. The alleged co-conspirators were not charged, and Epstein was not charged with obstruction or witness tampering.

Kuvin said one of his teenaged clients endured "a rigorous deposition where she was heavily cross-examined by Epstein's lawyers" and was prepared to testify at his trial.

Epstein's attorneys at the time alleged prosecutorial misconduct and overreaching and used their heft to appeal to the very top of the Justice Department in Washington, even after Epstein signed the nonprosecution agreement.

"He had this team of maybe six to eight lawyers all pressuring not only the state's attorney but the feds to drop all of this, saying that they were going to make these girls' lives miserable," recalled Kuvin.

The private investigators

The Florida investigation began in 2005 when the parent of one of the accusers, a 14-year-old girl later represented by Kuvin, reported Epstein to the local police.

A few months later, private investigators police believed were working with Epstein appeared. One private investigator contacted one of Epstein's former house managers looking to "meet with him to ascertain what he was going to tell the police," one police report said. Epstein's local attorney told authorities that "they" were under the direction of Black, the other attorney, according to the police report.

"Our firm, like most lawyers, engages private investigators who typically worked in law enforcement for many years, when appropriate to assist in gathering information in support of our clients' interests," Black, Srebnick, Kornspan & Stumpf said in a statement. "We have no knowledge of any improper conduct by any of the private investigators who assisted us."

The private investigator often made telephone contact with accusers either just before or after a police investigator spoke with them, according to the police report.

Several months later in February 2006, as the state grand jury was underway, Dershowitz provided the state prosecutor with information apparently intended to discredit the accusers. He provided postings from MySpace, the social media website, that appeared to show some of the accusers using drugs and alcohol, according to the police report and court documents.

"I had absolutely no role in investigating or arranging any investigation," Dershowitz wrote in an email to CNN. "I'm an appelate lawyer who did only legal research and negotiation. I don't own a computer and wouldn't even know how to access (MySpace)."

The next big question about Jeffrey Epstein

The father of one accuser later told authorities that a private investigator was "photographing his family and chasing visitors who come to the house," according to a police report. The police identified this investigator as the second one involved in the case and said the investigator was likely hired by a new attorney Epstein brought into the case. Black was no longer on the case at the time.

One week later, according to the police report, that accuser was approached by the person who claimed to be in touch with Epstein and given the warning about cooperating for compensation or facing consequences.

Kuvin, the lawyer, said Epstein's team also tried to obtain the medical records of his accusers.

By June 2006, the same month the state announced an indictment of Epstein on soliciting prostitution, one parent called the police multiple times alleging he was followed by someone; police later identified the vehicle as belonging to a third private investigator. It isn't clear which lawyer hired that investigator.

The father "stated that as he drove to and from work and running errands throughout the county, the same vehicle was behind him running other vehicles off the road in an attempt to not lose sight of (the father's) car," according to the police report.

The same car, which was linked to a private investigator, according to the report, later ran the mother of the same accuser off the road.

No charges for Epstein

By 2006, the FBI and the US attorney's office for the Southern District of Florida were investigating Epstein and had identified 36 potential accusers. In September 2007, Epstein's legal team had negotiated and signed a nonprosecution deal.

But his lawyers, led then by Leftkowitz and Starr, weren't satisfied and appealed to Acosta challenging the terms of the agreement. They alleged the prosecutors were overreaching by trying to make a federal case out of a state crime. They also said two of the prosecutors acted improperly when they recommended lawyers they knew to represent accusers, and a third with speaking with a reporter, according to more than half a dozen letters filed in court.

At one point, Florida prosecutors considered charging Epstein with obstruction or witness tampering for, among other things, allegedly having private investigators force the parent off of the road.

"There were discussions between prosecutors and the defendant's then-counsel about the possibility of the defendant pleading guilty to counts relating to 'obstruction,' as well as 'harassment,'" according to the letter filed Monday by the federal prosecutors in New York.

In a filing on Thursday in the New York matter, Epstein's legal team, now bolstered with Weingarten, said of the allegation that an investigator drove an accuser's parent off the road "the defense is without knowledge as to the basis for this allegation and the conduct, if it occurred, was not attributable to or authorized by Mr. Epstein."

No obstruction or witness tampering charges -- or any federal charges -- were brought by Acosta's prosecutors against Epstein. Epstein pleaded guilty to two state charges of solicitation of prostitution in 2008 and served 13 months in prison. During that time, he was allowed to leave for 12 hours a day, six days a week, to run his business.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #189: Wings and Arrows!

November, 1979

But is there any outrageous fortune? You’ll have to read to find out.

Anyway, this is one of those ‘name several things that happen in this comic’ style of covers. If you can’t think of a single intriguing image, you can always just list plot points and hope that’s interesting enough.

Last time: The Avengers lost their priority status because Count Nefaria throwing Wonder Man through a wall led to bad security and also Hawkeye personally offended Agent Gyrich by tying him up and then making breakfast.

Some time was spent without this priority status leading to humor and hijinks but finally Gyrich agreed to compromise with the Avengers provided they do everything he wants them to. So he mandates a new roster of Iron Man, Vision, Beast, Captain America, Falcon, Wasp and Scarlet Witch. This roster immediately changes as Scarlet Witch goes on vacation with an old man that tried to kidnap her. Ms Marvel substitutes in.

Also, a doomsday robot from World War II is accidentally reactivated under the Avengers Mansion and is defeated when Tony Stark realizes that a computer is his mom and makes her explode.

Why do I mention this? Why did I cover Avengers Annual when I did considering the publishing dates are enigmas?

This issue follows right out of Avengers Annual #9! And starts with Thor leaving after that team-up!

I mean, he enjoyed Avengersing again but he has Celestial problems. And I mean the big Kirby dudes, not just of or relating to the heavens.

He’s actually considering calling in the Avengers to help him with that, should the situation suddenly escalate. And Celestials are bad news. They’re so judgemental.

Thor is so lost in thought about the Celestials and their genocidal ways that he completely ignores Falcon and accidentally knocks him out of the air.

Rude, Thor.

This, of course, just fuels Falcon’s insecurity complex.

Falcon: “The dude didn’t even notice me -- and that downdraft he caused is knockin’ me for a loop! Got to pull out of it! Not that anyone’d miss one more hero, more or less! Nobody ‘cept me!”

He manages to pull out of his plummet only a few feet from pavement with onlookers convinced that he was just showing off.

Falcon returns to the mansion and conversations with Iron Man. Iron Man tells him that the Arsenal thing has been taken care of and Falcon tells him that he sorted out that embassy slaying in Marvel Premiere #49.

But speaking of the Arsenal thing, they brought on extra members to deal with that and now they have to sort it out. Once you bring someone into the mansion, they never want to leave. You have to shoo them away or else they’ll set up on the couch, eating grapes.

And yeah. There’s a bunch of supplementary Avengers just hanging out.

Hank Pym is taking a collect call from the Wasp, who got involved in Defenders #76-77 biz and is now stranded and needs help leaving Las Vegas.

Wonder Man is chatting with his bestie Beast and also Cap.

Scarlet Witch and Vision are avoiding having a serious conversation about how she maybe wants to have kids but she’s not sure if she actually does.

And Hawkeye is standing there glaring at Falcon. Because of course he is.

Hawkeye: (So, the Falcon returns to active duty, and I’m back out on the street! Where was he when we were fighting Arsenal? Out solving some murder he should have prevented in the first place!)

Since they’re in the room anyway, Iron Man introduces Falcon to the new security check-in scanner. Which is in the lounge instead of more logically being near the front door. But if that’s how the NSC wants it, who am I to complain?

Based on Ms Marvel threatening to maim someone, its a retinal scanner instead of fingerprint.

So Falcon feeds his peepers to the machine and it confirms him back to active duty and gives him his ID card.

Falcon is in weirdly high spirits considering we saw his self-pity wagon on the way into the mansion. He’s all cracking jokes about the scanner. “You mean, that’s it? Just a card? Don’t I even get a swearin’-in ceremony?” before changing his tune and saying that this Avenger gig is the best thing that ever happened to him.

Which is a far cry from how he’s been acting. Hating being the token, hating that he thinks his teammates are looking down on him, and hating being ineffectual in fights.

I don’t really know what changed his mind.

Its possible that he’s just hamming up how much being an Avenger rocks to get back at Hawkeye for being a dick but Falcon probably isn’t that exact amount of petty and besides, it doesn’t seem to gel with how he reacts to his conversation with Hawkeye which I will now quote.

Falcon: “Uh... say, Hawkeye! Got a minute, m’man?”

Hawkeye: “For what?”

Falcon: “Hey, look -- I just want you to know that I’m sorry about takin’ your place! I...”

Hawkeye: “Feed it to the rubes, Falcon! I’m more of an assest to the Avengers than you’ll ever be! I just hope it won’t be too late when they find out... (jerk!)”

Falcon: “(Whoa!)”

Geez, Hawkeye.

Yellowjacket dismisses the tantrum, saying that Hawkeye is never happy unless he can complain about something. But then he flies off to go fetch Wasp from Vegas.

Wonder Man decides he’d better skedaddle too. Apparently, his dream of becoming an actor is really taking off. He’s got a role on an off-Broadway stage and a lovely young starlet as a girlfriend. Yup.

Falcon and Cap go to the communications center to let Gyrich know that Falcon is back on active duty, that the internal security has stabilized, and that the stand-by Avengers have all departed.

Agent Gyrich: “Excellent! Thank you for your prompt report, Captain... and I notice you’ve been doing your paperwork on time, too! I knew you Avengers could get in the habit of standard operating procedure! Now all that remains is to reinstate the Scarlet Witch and return Ms. Marvel to stand-by status!”

Oh god. He’s smiling.

He... he actually seems happy. I don’t think he’s the tyrant the Avengers see him as because if he was, he’d be instituting new rules just to keep the Avengers from getting comfortable.

But he’s gotten them to take security seriously, do their paperwork, and has the roster he likes and he’s content.

And then Scarlet Witch walks in and announces that she’s still got a lot of work to do on herself so she’s going to take some more me time.

To the surprise of Vision and Cap and the annoyance of Gyrich. He was in his happy place only too briefly.

Agent Gyrich: What is it with you people?! Why can’t you cooperate with me just once? Doesn’t anyone up there speak English?! Stay right where you are! Don’t move... don’t even answer the telephone! I’m returning to New York in a few days... and then, I’ll settle this mess -- once and for all!”

And then he hangs up, leaving a befuddled Wanda wondering what she said and Cap to facepalm.

Also, you’re your own woman, Wanda, but I feel like this is something you should have mentioned to Vision before anyone else.

But before we follow up on that, its time for a lengthy Hawkeye digression.

Although digression feels like the wrong word. Its more like... this is a Hawkeye issue and there are some Avengers bits tacked onto either side.

Which, fine. Wanda got her time to shine recently. I guess Hawkeye can have his too.

Hawkeye, of course, spends his time to shine bitterly complaining about the Avengers.

He can’t believe the Avengers are letting themselves be pushed around by Agent Gyrich.

Hawkeye: “They wouldn’t have stood for it in the old days! Maybe this is nature’s way of telling me I’m better off on my own. Who wants to be an Avenger under these conditions, anyway? Stop conning yourself, Barton! You do!”

He returns to his crappy apartment and checks his crappy mail. He has some replies to job applications he sent out but they’re all rejection letters.

In a rare case of reality intruding onto this fantastical comic adventure, Clint Barton can’t get a job because the only experience he has under that name is carny work and ‘Clint Barton’ has been out of work for several years because he’s been Hawkeye. But he can’t explain that without revealing his secret identity!

What a fix! Plus, I don’t think he has any marketable skills other than hitting people and shooting bows.

Makes one wonder what he did for money during those other times he was not on the Avengers. I know he did some solo Hawkeye work but it apparently didn’t work out. Oh, and he got a job on a ranch when he was being a cowboy.

Also, Hawkeye’s apartment has a scenic view of a brick wall and he has reacted to that by taping a picture of Scarlet Witch up.

Not his once flame Black Widow, not his surrogate father figure Cap, or any of his other Avengers buds. Just Scarlet Witch.

Geez, Clint had it bad for a woman that at no point had any romantic interest in him. Or maybe she’s his best friend at this time? That would be a more charitable interpretation.

So its either a bit creepy or cute that he has a picture of her taped to a brick wall.

He also seems to have a picture of Falcon he’s using as a dartboard. Which. C’mon, be better than this, Clint.

I mean, be less of a petty person but also be better at darts. For the marksman, you don’t seem to have gotten any bullseyes and one dart isn’t even on the picture. Get your shit together.

Its also revealed here that part of the new organizational policies at Avengers, the stand-bys are being put on retainer. $100 a month just for being available to maybe being called in to save the world. Clint just scoffs that its not even enough to pay his rent.

We later learn when Tigra joins the team that active Avengers get $1000/month. That’s not bad in back then money but even my job pays more then that.

Presumably the Avengers paycheck would have gotten adjusted. There’s a reason Spider-Man hugged Tony when he offered him a paycheck in New Avengers and didn’t say ‘c’mon man, I’ve got a wife and a constantly dying aunt to take care of! Being a freelance photographer is more worth my time!’

Also I wonder if other superhero teams give their members an allowance. I’m thinking with the X-Men, definitely. But every time, Professor X lectures them on fiscal responsibility and Jubilee is just rolling her eyes.

Fantastic Four... probably the same. But with Reed instead of Xavier and with Ben going ‘material possessions are one of the few ways I can forget this nightmare you trapped me in.’

I assume that when the Champions were still around, Angel showered them in money to prove he had money.

With the Defenders, you’re lucky if Dr Strange doesn’t lecture you about fiscal responsibility arbitrarily. He’s not giving you money. He barely has enough to buy a sandwich for Wong. Nighthawk might give you money but that involves interacting with Nighthawk.

With the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Magneto will give you all the money you want as long as you somehow relate your purchase to defeating the X-Men or overthrowing humanity.

‘So you see Magneto, this meatball sub will give me the energy and determination to punch Cyclops in his stupid face’

‘... Purchase approved. SO SPEAKS THE MASTER OF MAGNET!’

And I’ve driven this joke into the ground. Lets move on.

Clint bemoans that nobody is looking to hire ex-Avengers and then immediately after spots an add from Cross Technological Enterprises looking for a new security chief.

It doesn’t strictly say ‘ex-Avengers’ but it does say “must have experience” and also “good benefits.”

This looks like a job for HAWKEYE!

Hah.

Of course, we remember how Hawkeye applies for a job, right?

Because, yeah. That’s his idea of how to make a first impression.

When Mr. Keeshan arrives at Cross Tech he finds that Hawkeye has broken into his office despite CTE having the most sophisticated security system known to man.

And then when Mr. Keeshan tries to sound the alarm, Hawkeye shoots him with arrows.

BECAUSE HAWKEYE.

To be fair. It works.

Hawkeye: “That was just a sample of what I can do. I read how you’re having problems with theft around here -- and then, I saw your ad. I need a job right now... so I figure I’m your man! I got through your security, after all! And if I can save the whole planet -- like I have -- I ought to be able to protect your crummy plant for you!”

Mr. Keeshan: “Hmmmm...”

And two nights later, Hawkeye is on the job.

He’s got a new, better apartment, his own personalized coffee cup, and the satisfaction of spitefully comparing Cross Technological to Stark International. Also, he gets to read lewd magazines at work.

Finally, a job for Hawkeye!

But the alarm goes off for Warehouse 12 so Hawkeye is actually going to have to do some work at work.

Which he’s actually excited about. Because he wants to show off. Plus, they’ll be less likely to fire him if he actually accomplishes the thing he said he could accomplish.

Hawkeye: “Hoo-hah! Action at last! Now I’ve got the chance to show everybody how good I really am! I feel great -- just like back when I was starting out... only this time I’m on the right side of the law!”

When he gets to warehouse 12, he sees a giant hole melted through the roof. And to be fair to Hawkeye, he shows off some analytical skill here. Befitting an experienced Avenger slash thief.

He knows nothing came down the halls because he would have seen it on the monitors so he was expecting the intruder to come through the floor or ceiling. Since a helicopter or small plane would have been spotted, he’s expecting that the intruder flew in under their own power. And since the guards are knocked out but nothing is missing, the intruder(s) must still be here somewhere.

And he sees a winged shadow and immediately assumes its the Falcon.

C’mon, Clint. Don’t be like that.

Actually, the intruder is Deathbird, Shi’ar renegade and “first-born of the Aerie.”

She was actually one of Ms Marvel’s enemies but Ms Marvel is pretty generous with her rogues gallery.

Always loaning them out to other people. Like giving Mystique and Rogue to the X-Men.

The fact that she’s in Ms Marvel’s league causes Hawkeye a flicker of doubt but he wouldn’t be Hawkeye if he let that stop him.

He uses a sonic arrow but all it does is piss her off. She pulls out some giant knitting needles she calls energy javelins and uses them to shoot electrical blasts at Hawkeye.

Hawkeye: “Electricity? You gotta be kidding, lady! This is Hawkeye you’re dealing with -- I’ve walked away from fights with Iron Man! Problem with you is -- you’re way too used to tangling with Ms. Marvel... and she was new at this game when you met her! I’ve been around a lot longer -- and I know there’s a lot more to this than just hitting people! Like -- electricity can’t hurt you when you’re not grounded... and you don’t have to point a weapon at someone to make it useful!”

And he uses a cable arrow to swing from a girder and THOK Deathbird in the back.

He raises a good point here. Experience can be more important than sheer power and he’s been doing this since 1964.

Experience and cunning is a lot of how characters like Hawkeye and Captain America keep up in a world of Ironed Men and Spidered-Men.

Strength is still worth a lot though. As Deathbird just grabs Hawkeye off her back and flings him into a pile of boxes, leaving him sprawled humorously head under heels.

He’s too used to working on a team where someone is watching your back. Allegedly. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of Avengers fights where people go down because nobody was really watching their back because Avengers love to get in one-on-one fights.

Deathbird reveals a somewhat sympathetic motivation. She’s just stealing equipment from Cross Tech because she wants to go home and get off this crazy planet. She doesn’t even want to really hurt Hawkeye. Well until he kicks her in the head. Then she throws a javelin into his shoulder because seriously, who does that?

The javelin doesn’t pierce his chain-mail shirt that he always wears but it did hit a nerve, paralyzing his left arm. But that’s one of his archery arms!

Also she’s still trying to zap him so he does some quick thinking and throws an electro-arrow into a fusebox, casting the warehouse into darkness.

Deathbird can’t see in the dark so she assumes Hawkeye fled. But others will come and she doesn’t want to be discovered.

Deathbird: “Again I must abort my mission! Again I fail to redeem myself in the eyes of the Aerie! For this, I swear -- on my warrior’s oath -- both the archer and Ms. Marvel will pay!”

So time to skeedaddle. And she flies towards the hole in the ceiling.

Which is what Hawkeye was waiting for. With a net arrow.

The net is titanium-steel so she can’t break it. And the way it snagged her, her razor-sharp wings are pinned back so she can’t cut it.

She’s caught.

Later, some guards show up to take Deathbird away and to stretcher the injured guards to an ambulance.

Hawkeye is looking like a real big shot to his subordinates. One even asks if he can teach them how to fight like he does.

As she’s being led away, Deathbird tells Hawkeye she won’t forget this.

Hawkeye: “Birdie, if you want something to remember me by, I’ll give you something to remember me by!”

And Hawkeye gotta Hawkeye.

Which in this context means 'non-consensually kisses someone.’

Which reduces Deathbird to symbol swearing at him while he smugly says “I can’t say it hasn’t been fun, Deathbird -- but my datebook’s all filled up for a while! So don’t call me -- I’ll call you!”

Hawkeye, why you gotta be like this?

I mean, we can all agree that this is not a great thing to have done, right?

One of the guards even seems to be facepalming and planning a letter to HR. Someone is in for a sensitivity seminar. And its going to be Hawkeye and absolutely none of it is going to stick.

Also, I don’t believe that Hawkeye does have any dates lined up. Don’t be lying, Hawkeye.

I think Gambit does this kind of thing too, in the 90s. Kiss female opponents in the middle or aftermath of battle. And I know that he never gets sensitivity training.

Don’t be like this, people writing these characters.

Anyway, finally back to the Avengers and Jocasta (REMEMBER HER??) returns from a nice walk.

She’s got problems.

Jocasta: “The Avengers! Am I capable of facing them again? I cannot bring myself to communicate with them...”

I wonder what appliance Gyrich eventually decided to classify her as so as to spare himself the headache of sorting out her legal identity.

Also, it seems that she still hasn’t been able to connect with any of the Avengers and she keeps not showing up in the book and the Avengers don’t comment on it so it seems they still just see her as a piece of the furniture.

=(

Anyway, she has returned right in the middle of a blazing row between Iron Man and Gyrich.

With Cap having to hold Beast back from just punching Gyrich in the back of the head.

Remember, Gyrich’s fantasy league Avengers roster has Scarlet Witch on it. And the fact that she asked for more time off is just ruining that for him.

Iron Man’s counterargument is simple and convincing.

Iron Man: “Blast it, man -- I don’t care what your regulations say! We cannot force people to be Avengers against their will -- and if the Scarlet Witch doesn’t want to stay, there’s nothing we can do about it!”

Agent Gyrich: “Have it your way, Iron Man! But you won’t be able to do anything about anything -- ever again! As far as I’m concerned, this is the end of the Avengers!”

Beast: “Again? But that trick never works!”

Captain America: “Shut up, Beast!”

Which is apparently a Rocky and Bullwinkle reference. That thing Beast said.

Joking about his fantasy roster aside, I wonder why Gyrich is suddenly putting his put down. He was pretty lenient when the Avengers were taking personal days so long as they submitted their paperwork.

I feel maybe its because due to circumstances outside their control, the Avengers have kind of been overusing that?

Like I’ve joked about, Gyrich’s roster is barely set up when its been subverted to hell and back.

Scarlet Witch instantly took some time off and had to be replaced with Ms. Marvel (who threatened to maim somebody). Iron Man took time off to be accused of murder and had to be replaced by Wonder Man. Then there was the Arsenal thing where Falcon, Wasp, and Ms. Marvel are on personal biz and Yellowjacket, Hawkeye, and Thor are brought in to help out.

There hasn’t been a single point where Gyrich’s roster has actually been a thing and it might seem like the Avengers are doing it just to undermine him.

Or maybe he’s a petty Walter Peck sort. Its hard to tell. Jim Shooter wrote Gyrich as the asshole with a point. Other writers often just write him as an asshole.

Hm.... I wonder if the title Wings and Arrows was supposed to be a red herring that Falcon and Hawkeye were going to throw down. That would explain the scene where Hawkeye mistakes Deathbird for Falcon.

Anyway, the Avengers are on trial next time?! I wonder what cool celebrity lawyers will be involved!

You should follow @essential-avengers. Because I’m a cool person who doesn’t throw darts at a picture of the Falcon.

[xivdoctorivx]

More Tag Stuff

Was tagged by @fahrenflame  Thank you for the tag!

Pick your top ten favorite bands and answer the questions

In no particular order:

1. Jethro Tull

2. Pink Floyd

3. Led Zeppelin

4. Sticky Fingers

5. Tool

6. Dio

7. Black Sabbath

8. Rush

9.  Def Leppard

10. Iron Maiden

++++

1. First song you’ve ever heard by 6?

This is the first song I’ve heard from Dio, so Children of the Sea! 

I’ve been listening to it since the third grade. I love the song, and I can sing it well!

2. Favourite song by 8? 

Closer to the Heart, the live version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcjAeWWGr-s

3. What kind of an impact has 1 left on your life? 

I love Jethro Tull. I remember first hearing Aqualung in a biker shop in the fourth grade. I didn’t have a computer till the seventh grade, so I had a lot of music to catch up on. I discovered the rest of their music in high school. Some of my favorite albums from them: Aqualung, Benefit, Stand Up, Thick As A Brick, A Passion Play, Minstrel in the Gallery, Songs From The Wood and Heavy Horses (they lost their mystical charm in the 80s). Songs From The Wood is my favorite album, because Thick as a Brick is one song! Thick as a Brick is one of my favorites from them. 

4. Favorite lyrics by 5?

Fetch me the spirit, the son, and the father

Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended

It's time now!

My time now!

Give me my, give me my wings!

5. How many times have you seen 4 live? 

Once! That was such a nice day. It felt like a dream! When the line opened, it was a mad dash to the stage! We had to get to the front! I banged my right foot against the stage and stood in agonizing pain for four hours. That really messed it up for me, but it was all worth it. I’m glad I was able to take Jenna. I got tickets to see them again in June!

6. Favorite song by 7? 

I’ll do one from Ozzy and Dio.

Under the Sun. My brother showed it to me last year, and it renewed my interest in Ozzy’s work in Black Sabbath and solo.

Heaven and Hell. I love this song. I have always thought the last part of this song would play if the world ended. It is so beautiful.  

7. Any songs by 3 that make you cry?.  

They don’t really have songs that make me cry. I love their songs and experiencing them. Going to California probably, because I made an unfortunate trip to Florida last year and really was “Going to California.”

8. Favorite song by 9? 

Just one? There are so many! Rock of Ages, Photograph, Foolin, Pour Some Sugar on me! There’s been a funny coincidence with the last song and me for years now, and I’ll only mention it the car ride it doesn’t happen.

Rock of Ages, cause I sing it at Karaoke, and cause I love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4CZfac0N0E

9. When did you first get into 2? 

I was still in grade school. I didn’t know what to get into, they have so much music! I first heard Time on the radio and asked my dad about it. He told me about Pink Floyd. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwYX52BP2Sk

One of my favorites from them. 

“And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking Racing around to come up behind you again The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older Shorter of breath and one day closer to death”

These lines have always stayed with me, especially now that I’m ten years older. I had very bad asthma when I was growing up, and this line always reminds me of it. 

Then I got into Wish You Were Here, The Wall, Animals, but then discovered the past of Pink Floyd. I fell in love with their early work, The Piper At The Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets. I love every one of their albums. I could write on and on about each one. Spotify added so much of their unreleased stuff too, like The Man and The Journey concert! I was super into Pink Floyd for years as I went through their music. I don’t listen to them as much as I would like to because of the memories of those times. Their Live in Pompeii concert though, amazing. Truly breathtaking and empowering, and it has my favorite version of A Saucerful of Secrets. Spotify has this too!

10. How did you get into 10?

My dad had this album when I was five called Best of the Beast! My brother’s and my favorite song was Run To The Hills! This album has the best live version of Fear of the Dark, and it has the only recorded version of Virus! 

It was such a nice album to help us discover their music. I would stare at the cover and make stories for each of the Eddies! When I was in the second grade, we got in a crash and lost a lot of our music in the wreck. I went to Amoeba four years ago and bought the album when I saw it! Because I did that, I didn’t have money for ice cream, but I got to share. I should have played it on the way back.

Since then, my uncle unearthed his record collection, and revealed his Iron Maiden records! Iron Maiden, Killers, The Number of the Beast, and Piece of Mind.

I tag fellow music lovers @betweentimeand42 and @clevergirl and whoever else wants to do this!

[xmasqoo-haineke]

Tom Anderson MySpace creator

Tom AndersonFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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For other people named Tom Anderson, see

Tom Anderson (disambiguation)

.Tom Anderson

Anderson in 2008

BornThomas Anderson

November 8, 1970 (age 50)

San Diego

,

California

, U.S.

[1]

NationalityAmerican

Alma mater

University of California, Berkeley

(B.A., English, 1997)

University of California, Los Angeles

(M.A., Film, 2000)

[1]

Occupation

Internet entrepreneur

Known forCo-founder of

Myspace

Thomas Anderson (born November 8, 1970)[3] is an American co-founder of the social networking website Myspace, which he founded in 2003 with Chris DeWolfe.[4] He was later president of Myspace and a strategic adviser for the company until he left in 2009.[2][5] Anderson is popularly known as "Tom from Myspace" and "Myspace Tom", because, until 2010, he would automatically be assigned as the first "friend" of new Myspace users upon the creation of their profiles.

Contents

1Early life

2Career

3Media appearances

4Personal life

5References

6External links

Early life[edit]

Anderson's father was an entrepreneur.[6] As a teenager at San Pasqual High in Escondido, California, Anderson was a computer hacker under the pseudonym "Lord Flathead" (friends with Bill Landreth), and prompted a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raid after he cracked the security of Chase Manhattan Bank. He was not arrested because of his young age (14).[7][8]

Anderson studied English and rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, prior to becoming the lead singer of a band called "Swank".[6] Anderson then lived in Taiwan for some time, before returning to the United States to study for a degree in critical film studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.[4][9]

Career[edit]

Anderson was a product tester and copywriter at XDrive, a digital storage company in 2000, where he first met DeWolfe.[9] He initially joined XDrive as a product tester after answering a flyer advertisement, while still at film school and looking to earn extra money.[10] After XDrive went bankrupt in 2001, he and DeWolfe founded the direct marketing company ResponseBase.[4][9] They sold ResponseBase to Brad Greenspan's eUniverse in late 2002.[6]

With other eUniverse employees, Anderson set up the first pages of Myspace in August 2003. He founded the site partly as a reaction to Friendster and its policy of blocking accounts that did not use real names.[11] Intermix Media was then founded as the successor of eUniverse, and it was under Intermix that Myspace garnered the level of popularity for which it is notable. When Intermix Media and Myspace were sold to News Corp, Anderson became president of the company.[4]

Myspace was sold to News Corp in 2005 for $580 million.[12] Following the News Corp acquisition, Anderson said: "Before [the acquisition], I could do whatever I wanted. Now it takes more time to get people to agree on things. All the budget reviews and processes. That can be a pain. But it's not stopping us."[6] Reuters quoted an unnamed News Corp executive as saying: "Tom [Anderson] was responsible for the product, but ended up being a complete bottleneck on getting things done."[13] Anderson was replaced as president in April 2009 by News Corp;[14] by 2010, he was no longer the default friend on Myspace, and was replaced by a profile called "Today On MySpace," or "T.O.M."[15]

In late May 2012, Anderson announced that he would be joining RocketFrog Interactive as an adviser to the 16-person Los Angeles–based company, which created a Facebook app.[12] However, in a September 2014 interview, Anderson did not mention any advisory roles in his life at the time, while his Twitter blurb in November 2018 read: "Enjoying being retired” and similarly in January 2021, “Enjoying the good life / New Hobby: Photography.”[16] He explained in the interview that he is not interested in returning to his previous vocation, but concluded: "I'll never say 'never' because, more than anything, I like the idea that anything can happen. I don't know exactly where my life will lead. Adventure and the unknown has always been appealing to me."[17]

Media appearances[edit]

Anderson made a cameo appearance in the 2009 American comedy-drama film Funny People starring Adam Sandler.[18]

Personal life[edit]

Anderson is active on other social media platforms, including Facebook and Reddit. Following an experience with photography at the 2011 Burning Man festival, Anderson's interest in his own photography was piqued. In a September 2014 ABC Newsinterview, Anderson credited friend and photographer Trey Ratcliff for facilitating his skill development and explained: "I'm not necessarily trying to represent nature exactly. I'm trying to make something beautiful like a painter would." Anderson travels globally with friends to locations such as Thailand and Myanmar, where he primarily focuses upon landscape images.[17]

Anderson also explained in September 2014 that his personal interests have always been diverse:

If you knew me before Myspace, you'd probably thought I'd have been a scholar teaching philosophy in a university my whole life. If you met me before college, you'd probably have thought I'd be a musician for my entire life ... I like change.[17]

References[edit]

^ Jump up to: a b "Entry: Tom Anderson", NNDB

^ Jump up to: a b Angwin, Julia (March 29, 2009). "Putting Your Best Faces Forward". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 14, 2010.

^ Bennett, Jessica (October 27, 2007). "Is Age Just a Number?". The Daily Beast. Newsweek. Archived from the original on October 29, 2007. Retrieved December 21, 2011.

^ Jump up to: a b c d Gibson, Owen (June 23, 2008). "200 million friends and counting". The Guardian. London. Retrieved February 24, 2010.

^ Rosenbush, Steve (July 29, 2005). "MySpace: WhoseSpace?". BusinessWeek. Retrieved February 14,2010.

^ Jump up to: a b c d Sellers, Patricia (August 29, 2006). "MySpace cowboys". Fortune. Retrieved December 21, 2011.

^ Arrington, Michael (August 30, 2008). "MySpace Cofounder Tom Anderson Was A Real Life "WarGames" Hacker in 1980s". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 21,2011.

^ Gorman, Tom (December 11, 1986). "A Hacker Vanishes : Computer Whiz, Missing Since September, a Source of Mystery". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 21, 2011.

^ Jump up to: a b c Penenberg, Adam (2010). Viral Loop: The Power of Pass-It-On. Hachette UK. pp. 108–110. ISBN 1-84894-524-8.

^ Krantz, Matt (February 12, 2006). "The guys behind MySpace.com". USA Today. Retrieved December 21,2011.

^ Agger, Michael (April 16, 2009). "Dude, Murdoch Friended Us!". New York Times. Retrieved December 21,2011.

^ Jump up to: a b Chapman, Lizette (May 23, 2012). "MySpace Co-Founder Tom Anderson Leaps To RocketFrog As Adviser". Venture Capital Dispatch Blog. wsj.com. Retrieved July 22, 2012.

^ Adegoke, Yinka (April 7, 2011). "Special report: How News Corp got lost in Myspace". Reuters. Retrieved June 9, 2018.

^ Angwin, Julia; Emily Steel (April 23, 2009). "Founders Step Aside at MySpace". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 22, 2011.

^ Nakashima, Ryan (March 10, 2010). "MySpace outlines makeover after exec shake up". Associated Press. Retrieved January 3, 2012.

^ "Tom Anderson". Tom Anderson on Twitter. Twitter. October 21, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2014.

^ Jump up to: a b c Jared T. Miller (September 9, 2014). "Myspace Co-Founder Tom Anderson's New Life as a Landscape Photographer". Retrieved October 21, 2014.

^ Errett, Joshua (August 19, 2009). "MySpace walks into a bar..." Now Toronto. Retrieved December 22, 2011.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to

Tom Anderson

.

Tom Anderson's Guest DJ Project on KCRW

Interview with Tom Anderson – Founder of Myspace on The Hour

[four-armed-bandit]

//puts this on to edit some bracca screenshots//

[profoundbond-n-tfw]

Random ‘To Read’ Destiel Fic List

So with my computer dying and me losing all my info, photos, fics I was writing, my reading lists, etc. I’m starting over and rebuilding. So this list is mostly for me and my files but thought I’d share it in case anyone sees something they might like to read. 

I figure I will finish reading the fics on this list this week…But it might take two depends on how busy I am…lol so with no further ado and in no particular order…

Warning all fics are rated Explicit!

Unintended by emwebb17:

Castiel is a successful defense attorney beginning to doubt the integrity of the work he does. After winning a date with a firefighter named Dean at a charity auction, Cas decides that he needs to make a change in his life. He just has one more case to take care of, but his involvement has devastating consequences.

As The Ink Flows by  CheshireMoon, RexxieConverse

AU- Dean Winchester, known to the world as the gun-slinging western writer Kurt Smith, loves his career as an author, getting to spin his dreams of grand adventure and heroic deeds into best selling novels. Where blood, guts and glory may be Dean’s choice of entertainment, fellow author Castiel Novak, pen name Emmanuel Anael, chose the more philosophical route, using religion and narration of humanity’s condition to drive the plot of his tales. The two could not have more disdain for each other’s style of storytelling, which is made very much known through a happenstance meeting turned heated blow out. As fate seems to have a very interesting sense of humor, Dean and Castiel find themselves accidentally frequenting the same cafe after their disastrous first encounter, and both stubbornly decide to make The Caffeinated Moose their permanent go-to writing destination despite each other’s infuriating presence. Through spilled coffee, ruffled papers, blossoming words, and steam-fogged glasses, will something other than ink flow between these two talented writers?

KAZ by  OnceUponADestiel (Jems_of_Grace)

Dean has always had a weirdly strong attachment to his car that he has never been able to satisfactorily explain, even to himself. He knows that he chose the Impala for his dad on that first infamous time travel experience that Cas sent him on. But now he has another chance to take a trip into the past and this time he finds out exactly why he’s always felt such a weirdly profound bond with this particular vehicle.

Just Pretending by lilypaws

A cool job, a nice apartment, a hot girlfriend. Dean had it all. And lost everything. That’s when he gets the chance to be featured in an article in the famous magazine “Heaven on Earth” and reside in a luxury hotel for four weeks. And win a shit ton of money. The catch: it’s only for married couples. And because Dean’s life is a disaster the only person who is willing to play along and marry him is the person who despises him the most. But playing Couple with Cas Novak for a month can’t be that hard, can it?

Basileus by SillyBlue

A basilisk’s egg is said to be able to break any spell or curse and dissolve any claim on a human’s soul. With the ten years he had been given quickly coming to a close, Dean has no other option but to follow this one desperate lead. While Dean’d love to be able to escape the clutches of hell (and make sure that Sam doesn’t take the bait and follow him directly down into the fiery pits), he really, really doesn’t want to go hunt a probably extinct monster in Europe. But he needs a basilisk and apparently a town in Switzerland just happens to have one as its guardian beast.

It’s just Dean’s luck that this one wears a trench coat and is the hottest guy Dean’s ever seen.

All Your Lies by Speary

When Sam is captured in East Berlin, in the summer of 1953, there is some fear that he’ll be lost to them forever. However, Agent Dean Winchester catches a lucky break. His agency has captured a KGB agent. They’ve negotiated prisoner exchanges before, but only after they had extracted what secrets they could. And Dean has enviable skills when it comes to interrogations. His prisoner, Dmitri Krushnic, though, seems to know too much, and he also seems to be somehow familiar. The more time he spends with the prisoner, the more questions he has, about the past, about what he lost in the war, and about the truth that he wasn’t ready to see.

The Other Shoe by Cliophilyra

It has been 10 years since two scruffy boys arrived at Castiel’s home in the Men of Letters bunker. Dragged along by their father, in search of help with a hunt.

10 years since he fell in love with a green eyed teenager.

10 years since the first and last time they saw each other.

They’re all older and supposedly wiser now and Cas could at least pretend to have forgotten all about that day. Until two familiar men turn up out of the blue, dripping blood on the bunkers doormat.

On Gossamer Wings by CKLizzy

Castiel Shurley is an angel. Yes, angel - because that’s what flight attendants of 8th Heaven Jetways are called. Sky Angels. Flying is Castiel’s freedom. Boarding a plane, working above the clouds, to him it’s like spreading his wings. Lifting off and leaving the world behind - how could anyone not enjoy it? Castiel doesn’t understand how there are people who rather stay on the ground. It’s almost ironic that he should fall in love with someone who fears flying more than anything else.

The Devil’s Music by Amazonia_8

The Hunters have been getting on just fine without him, but when his brother gets into a jam, Dean’s called out of exile and given one more chance to strap on a guitar and hit the road with his family.

One tiny problem. None too happy with the group’s hard rock reputation, the investors have sent an agent to keep the brothers out of trouble. The hot as sin, socially awkward agent who Dean may have accidentally propositioned on the flight over.

But you know what’s more fun than misbehaving on the road to the roar of thousands of fans? Seeing if he can get Castiel to misbehave, too.

Kinetics by kittenbot

Dean Winchester can count on one hand the number of good things that have happened to him in his life. With fingers leftover. When Sculpture Magazine wanted to do a piece on him as the new up-and-comer in metal sculpture, he was guarded. But when he met Castiel, who was sent to document his work, he decided to take a chance on the growing connection between them. They learn that they are both in the BDSM lifestyle and agree to explore that together. Dean has a traumatic past, both in childhood and with bad Doms. They have to negotiate their relationship carefully.

Set in the modern world without the supernatural, Dean is a sculptor and Castiel is a photographer. Castiel is also a Dom and Bakushi—an expert that ties people up in the traditional Japanese way; his specialty is suspension ties. Dean is a sub who was never taught the meaning of Safe, Sane, and Consensual. Cas wants to show Dean how wonderful submission can be and he’s absolutely dying to tie Dean up and suspend him. Dean wants to let him. If only he wasn’t being targeted by a psychopath.

Reality of Dreams by kumofu

Dean Winchester has been living a boring life. At least until his brother is missing, the police think he has something to do with it, and a group of people who call themselves ‘Liberi Somniorum’ and live in an underground bunker ask him to join them so they can teach him how to use his dreaming abilities. As if that isn’t bad enough, the police also took his car and then there’s this guy in a trenchcoat who’s guarding him, and some dark secret. Dean does his best to convince himself it’s a dream. But somehow, sometimes, dreams can be very real, and this time, he just can’t wake up.

[blackphoenixalchemylab]

Lunacy/Eclipse Update!

If you felt left out of our summer travel plans (SDCC and Midsummer Scream were outstanding!) then perhaps the following will make it up to you: a cluster of small scent collections serving as a veritable sampler platter of the best 2017 has to offer.  

Firstly, the path of this month’s solar eclipse has inspired a Limited Edition series of thirteen scents, in addition to our usual Lunacy fare -- Harvest Moon 2017 to set you soaring into September, and Single Note: Honeysuckle to make sure you turn every head along the way.

We’re also rolling out the long-awaited next installment of Neil Gaiman’s 15 Painted Cards From a Vampire Tarot, bringing the number of scents in this collection up to 7. These bottles, accompanied by an actual tarot card drawn by Madame Talbot, will raise funds for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Last but far from least, the latest winner of our #BPAL7WordStory contest (ENVY Edition) has finally been announced… and you’re gonna want to sniff those words.

In all, that’s a gallery of 19 new creations to wander through as the world outside swelters and the sun itself threatens to go out.

++ THE GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE

On Monday, 21 August 2017, all of North America will experience an eclipse of the sun, with a total eclipse stretching from Oregon to South Carolina. During this event, the moon will completely cover the sun, and the sun’s corona will extend its golden tendrils from behind a shadowed veil. Solar eclipses have been held responsible for the fall of empires, the onset of wars, the birth and death of great people, and the onset of terrible plagues and natural disasters. Is this rare and awe-inspiring event an omen? Grab your nearest soothsayer or augur; it’s big business for seers this year!

This series is a paean to this once in a lifetime event: an amber-gilded sampling of the poetry, prose, notable persons, mythology, and historical accounts surrounding solar eclipses.

++ SONGS OF MIDDAY DARKNESS

ALL RUINOUS DISORDERS

These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us. Though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects. Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide, in cities mutinies, in countries discord, in palaces treason, and the bond cracked ’twixt son and father. This villain of mine comes under the prediction—there’s son against father. The king falls from bias of nature—there’s father against child. We have seen the best of our time. Machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders follow us disquietly to our graves. Find out this villain, Edmund. It shall lose thee nothing. Do it carefully.—And the noble and true-hearted Kent banished, his offense honesty! 'Tis strange, strange.

- William Shakespeare, King Lear

Amber, bergamot, and honeyed saffron blackened by smoked oudh, patchouli, ti leaf, scorched thistle, leather, and yew.

DISASTROUS TWILIGHT

As when the Sun, new risen,

Looks through the horizontal misty air,

Shorn of his beams, or from behind the Moon,

In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds

On half the nations and with fear of change

Perplexes monarchs.

- John Milton, Paradise Lost

Star-touched blue amber, gurjum balsam, pale orris, Somalian myrrh, benzoin, red sandalwood, and ylang ylang.

ECLIPSES BE

Eclipses be – predicted –

And Science bows them in –

But do one face us suddenly –

Jehovah’s watch – is wrong.

- Emily Dickinson

Rose amber, carnation, and clove.

THE SUN HAS PERISHED

…and the Sun has perished

out of heaven,

and an evil mist hovers over all.

- Homer, the Odyssey

An evil mist hovers over all: Tunisian amber, wilted asphodel, myrrh, and smoke.

++ HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS, LANDMARKS, AND PERSONAGES

18 JUNE 1860

On this date, the first wet plate photograph of an eclipse was taken. Shimmering amber, collodion, silver nitrate accord, and white lavender.

NOTHING IS UNEXPECTED, NOTHING IS FORESWORN

Nothing is unexpected, nothing is foresworn and

Nothing amazes now that father Zeus the Olympian

veiled the light to make it night at midday

even as sun was shining: so dread fear has overtaken men.

From this time on everything that men believe

will be doubted: may none of us who see this be surprised

when we see forest beasts taking turns in the salted field

with dolphins, when the echoing waves of the sea become

Dearer to them than the sand, and the dolphins love the wooded glen

- Archilochus

Red amber and heady red wine, benzoin, ash, and bourbon vanilla.

THE DRUNK ASTRONOMERS

Credit for some of the first recorded accounts of eclipses are attributed to the legendary Drunk Astronomers, Ho and Hsi, circa 2137 BCE. Ho and Hsi were royal astronomers in the court of Chung K’ang. They were in charge of predicting the celestial dance – all movements of the Heavenly Bodies. They were also reprobates, and spent a fair amount of their time in debauch, drinking and carousing. In a drunken stupor – though they knew an eclipse was imminent – they failed to notify the emperor of the event, and they failed to perform the sacred rites that would prevent the celestial dragon from consuming the mighty sun. They were summarily decapitated for creating chaos and confusion in the celestial chain by leaving their duties unperformed.

Here lie the bodies of Ho and Hsi,

Whose fate, though sad, is risible;

Being slain because they could not spy

The eclipse which was invisible.

Jasmine tea, blood musk, and pale yellow amber.

IN HIDEOUS DARKNESS

The elements manifested their sorrow at this great man's departure from England. For the Sun on that day at the 6th hour shrouded his glorious face, as the poets say, in hideous darkness, agitating the hearts of men by an eclipse; and on the 6th day of the week early in the morning there was so great an earthquake that the ground appeared absolutely to sink down; an horrid noise being first heard beneath the surface.

- Historia Novella, William of Malmesbury on the death of Henry I

Golden amber and ambergris, sage and white cedar, rockrose, bourbon tobacco, and vetiver.

MABEL

Mabel Loomis Todd is probably best known as the first editor of Emily Dickinson's poetry and editor of publications of Dickinson’s posthumous works. She was also a fearless and experienced adventuress, eclipse chaser and astronomer, and trekked over the globe locating unobscured sites to witness solar eclipses. She published Total Eclipses of the Sun in 1894, a list of past and future total solar eclipses, and recorded her experiences in her travels through painting and journals.

Rose-tinted amber, golden chypre, ambergris, tobacco leaf, and clove.

THE SUN IN ANGER SWORE

And the moon in haste eclipsed her,

and the Sun in anger swore

He would curl his wick within him

and give light to you no more.

- Aristophanese, Chorus of Clouds

A withdrawn, seething red amber spiked with dragon’s blood resin, black pepper, red musk, and red oudh.

OIL AND PITCH

It has been known since antiquity that looking directly at an eclipse can cause serious damage to the eyes. Islamic scholar, Al-Biruni, observed that you could minimize the damage by viewing an eclipse reflected in the surface of still water. In his Naturales Quaestiones, Seneca observed, "Whenever we want to watch an eclipse of the Sun we set out basins filled with oil or pitch, because the heavy liquid is not easily disturbed and so preserves the images it receives."

Amber swirled in opoponax, black labdanum, and poplar tar.

THE THALES ECLIPSE

In the sixth year a battle took place in which it happened, when the fight had begun, that suddenly the day became night. And this change of the day Thales the Milesian had foretold to the Ionians laying down as a limit this very year in which the change took place. The Lydians however and the Medes, when they saw that it had become night instead of day, ceased from their fighting and were much more eager both of them that peace should be made between them.

-    Herodotus, on a prediction of by  Thales of Miletus

Red amber and leather, patchouli, champaca flower, frankincense, oudh, castoreum accord, and black musk.

++ BIBLICAL CATASTROPHES

The Bible is filled with the eclipse’s ill-omens. Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s blood-red moons and midday darkness have indicated to Biblical historians that the date of the crucifixion was November 24th AD 29 (solar eclipse) or April 3rd AD 33 (partial lunar eclipse).

THE CURTAIN OF THE TEMPLE WAS TORN IN TWO

By now it was about midday and a darkness fell over the whole land, which lasted until three in the afternoon; the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus gave a loud cry and said, 'Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit'; and with these words he died.

Radiant golden amber suffused with holy incense smoke compounded from acacia, myrrh, cassia, balsam, frankincense, cinnamon, onycha accord, and galbanum.

++ 15 PAINTED CARDS FROM A VAMPIRE TAROT

V. THE POPE

This is my body, he said, two thousand years ago. This is my blood.

It was the only religion that delivered exactly what it promised: life eternal, for its adherents.

There are some of us alive today who remember him. And some of us claim that he was a messiah, and some think that he was just a man with very special powers. But that misses the point. Whatever he was, he changed the world.

Life everlasting: clove-smoke, benzoin, rose maroc, Jerusalem cedar, cistus, and frankincense.

VII. THE CHARIOT

It was genetic engineering at its finest: they created a breed of human to sail the stars: they needed to be possessed of impossibly long life-spans, for the distances between the stars were vast; space was limited, and their food supplies needed to be compact; they needed to be able to process local sustenance, and to colonise the worlds they found with their own kind.

The homeworld wished the colonists well, and sent them on their way. They removed all traces of their location from the ships’ computers first, however. To be on the safe side.

The scent of white-hot metal and stardust, limned with glowing bergamot aldehyde.

X. THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

What did you do with the doctor? she asked, and laughed. I thought the Doctor came in here ten minutes ago.

I’m sorry, I said. I was hungry.

And we both laughed.

I’ll go find her for you, she said.

I sat in the doctor’s office, picking my teeth. After a while the assistant came back.

I’m sorry, she said. The doctor must have stepped out for a while. Can I make an appointment for you for next week?

I shook my head. I’ll call, I said. But, for the first time that day, I was not telling the truth.

An antiseptic white scent, splattered with blood.

++ BPAL 7 WORD STORY

ENVY

“Galatea wept as Pygmalion carved new statues.” -- Tyler Butler

Marble-white sandalwood, vanilla blossom, and orris root veined with whorls of ambergris accord, rose-touched with life, slowly shattering tears of bitter carrot seed and cistus.

++ A LITTLE LUNACY

HARVEST MOON 2017

Harvest Moon is celebrated in almost every culture, and the bounty of the season is marked in a myriad of ways. Harvest Moon touches the Equinox, the festival of Janus, the culmination of Homowo, the "crying of the neck" in Cornwall, and the Women's Festival of the Moon. This is a day that celebrates abundance and beauty, fertility and progress, and the light of this full moon blesses new undertakings and reunites lost loves.

The Harvest Moon, by definition, is the Full Moon that falls closest to the Autumnal Equinox, and thus, it shares some of that Sabbat's characteristics. This Full Moon was thus named because it rises within half an hour of the sun's setting, in the Northern Hemisphere, and at this time farmers are able to work longer into the night by the light of this Moon. As the year draws to a close, the Full Moon rises an average of fifty minutes later each night, with the exception of a few nights surrounding the Harvest Moon, which only rises 10-30 minutes later. This moon is also, to the human eye, the fullest and largest of the year's Moons, hanging gloriously huge, yellow and low in the night sky, and many lunar illusions play tricks our eyes at this time.

The Harvest ushers in many celebrations, including the Equinox and the Festival of Janus, God of Doors. Janus is the Roman Lord of Gateways, beginnings and endings, and transitions. Thus, the Harvest Moon is a time for blessing new ventures, the onset of new and progressive phases in one's life, and rites of passage into adulthood. This time of year also marks one of the Festivals of Dionysus, Lord of Ecstasy and the Vine.

This Harvest lunacy combines the autumnal scents of dry leaves, mulling spices, balsam fir and spruce tips, cedar, juniper berry, clove, saffron, wild apple, sage, yarrow, and lily twined with Dionysus' sacred grapes and ivy, a bounty of blackberry and pumpkin, deep russet sunflowers, the amaranth and lingum aloes of Janus, all touched by a gentle breath of festival woodsmoke and sweet wine.

++ SINGLE NOTES

WILD HONEYSUCKLE

[ashswritingplace]

Flanders Field

This is a short story I rewrote based on this flash fiction. I went over my word limit, but I think the story is better for it. This one is about a man whose life changes when his sister is attacked by a monster.

“Flanders Field”

11 November, 2018

“On this and every day, may we remember those who have fallen for our freedom.”

Lincoln Hyrix was not a history buff. His knowledge of the past came more from video games than from textbooks, and though he had generally enjoyed his time in school, he couldn’t care less about the significant dates that had littered his exams throughout his school days. Today, however, was the one date he couldn’t forget, partially because it was plastered across his Facebook feed.

He remembered reading about World War I and Flanders Field from his freshman history class in high school. He didn’t remember the significance of all those poppies, but as he scrolled through the fields of red on his computer screen, he found himself thinking back to photographs of those flowers. They marked the end of a bloody war, and an annoyance to clog up his social media.

He pushed away from his desk and absently glanced at the clock hanging above his bedroom door. His sister still wasn’t home yet. Lilee was twenty-five, only half a decade his senior, but she had been more a parent to him than a sibling. Their mother had died giving birth to their stillborn brother when Link was a kid. That child had been a bastard, the proof of his mother’s cheating that had caused his father to leave the family. He had seen his father sparingly since, making Lilee the only family he was close to.

They had plans that night. Link was off from work due to some plumbing incident at the theatre, so he and Lilee had agreed to get comfortable, bring out the beers, and make some progress on whatever video game they picked out that day.

Lazily, Link plucked a book off of his bookshelf and leafed through the pages. He took a moment to admire one of the illustrations, and it was then that he heard the front door open. “Lil?” he called. “Jeez, what kept you? I could have finished a whole pizza in the time it took you to get home. Thank god we can order now.”

His sister didn’t respond. Link set his book down and listened for his sister. “Lil?” he called again. He got up and walked from his room to the living room.

Lilee was absent. Drops of scarlet led to her bedroom, thick, haphazard. Link shivered. “Lilee?” he called, more cautious this time. “Are you alright?”

Silence. Panic seized his breaths as he followed the ominous trail, creeping towards his sister’s bedroom. The door was open, so he peered inside, and there he finally found her.

Lilee, the definition of stability, of strength, of reliability, was on her knees, clutching the threads of her neon-colored rug. Her skin was several shades too pale, and fresh blood soaked her pores. Her once luscious brown waves were kinked and matted. Red ran from her lips, thicker than any lipstick. Her teeth poked from her mouth, two fangs that had not been that long before. When she looked up at him, her eyes were too pale, vacant, filled with a hunger he would never understand.

“Lilee?” His voice quivered. He was struggling to make sense of what he was seeing. Fear clutched at his hands, shaking wildly at his sides. “What… what happened?” he dared to ask.

The smile that split her face was mirthless. “Lincoln, my sweet baby brother, I’m so thirsty. Won’t you bring me some water?”

Link tried to ignore the chill that ran down his spine. “Of course,” he started, but Lilee held out a hand to stop him from moving.

“On second thought,” she mumbled, “I think I will visit your father. I think he has what I need.”

Link couldn’t understand what she meant. “Lilee,” he said, stern voice wavering. “Leave Dad alone, would you? We can get you some help. Let me get you water.”

Lilee was still; it appeared she hadn’t heard him at all. She looked to the door, to the drops of red. Then, she shot out of her room, faster than Link could react. By the time he’d gotten up to chase after her, she was out of the house.

Link scrambled to gain composure. He hastily grabbed his car keys from their dish, nearly knocking over the glass in the process. As he started for the front door, his eye caught on a decoration.

It had been hanging on the wall in their foyer since Lilee had bought it for Link, on his eighteenth birthday. They had passed by it every day, a conversation starter, a piece of furniture. Link prayed it would not become more than that.

Link’s hands were shaking so hard that it took him four attempts to get his keys into the ignition. His father’s house was fifteen minutes away by car, thirty on foot. Would he get there before his sister? Fear clawed at him the entire way.

Lilee hadn’t even looked human. Link couldn’t make sense of it. She was a kindhearted person, always willing to lend an ear, always working hard to help everyone around her. Just what had happened to turn her eyes so cold, so lifeless?

Link’s car hadn’t even stopped moving by the time he ripped the door open and leapt out of it. He hadn’t visited his father’s family in years, and as he desperately jogged up the stairs leading to the front door, he could feel his heart throbbing. The door had been torn open, and its hinges lay bent on the walkway, broken. Link swallowed, hard, and ran inside.

There, in the living room, he saw it.

Flanders Fields.

Dark red poppies bloomed all over the room. They spiraled on his sister’s skin, splashed on her clothes, spilled from her mouth. She was hunched over Link’s three-year-old half-sister, Penny, a garden of liquid flowers and stark white stems. Her brother, Henry, held petals in his hands, between his eyes, through his throat. He slumped in his field, lifeless. Their mother, Link’s stepmother, a statue of stem and petal, back and red, another poppy buried in a sea.

Link felt the nausea push past his lips. His vision was blurring, his hands were growing numb. Somewhere, he heard his father sobbing, crying words no one would ever believe.

Tears pierced Link’s eyes. As he looked over the thing hunched over a toddler’s body, he understood. His Lilee had died the moment she’d been attacked. The thing that stood before him was no kin of his.

Choking back a sob, Link reached for the gift his sister had gotten him. For two years it had remained untouched, an immobile part of their home. Now, that changed.

He could not bring himself to look at her. His hands trembled as the broken man grasped this gift. His voice, small, childlike, kept repeating, “I’m so sorry.”

And finally, he found the strength in him to bring the sword down into the beast’s heart. She looked to him, panic and pain crossing her monstrous eyes. With a fading voice she begged him, “Why?” In silence and confusion, she fell dead.

Link could not move. His hands fell from the handle of his sword. He couldn’t believe what he’d done.

Outside, he heard sirens racing towards him. He shook his thoughts clear, and in a hurry he pulled the sword from the defeated monster. He shot out of the house, threw his keys into the ignition, and returned to the place that was no longer home.

Link would never know what had bitten his sister. He’d never know how she was attacked, how she fought, how she turned. But Link vowed he would not allow anyone to feel the pain he now felt.

Link was twenty years old, with a whole life of opportunity ahead of him. Suddenly, he understood what he had to do with his years.

He had left a garden of poppies, dark as death, in his father's home. The posts from his feed returned to his mind.

Flanders Field had marked the end of a war. This field marked the beginning of a new one.

[cryptodictation]

'Fine print': Griselda busting Antenor during dinner

Be a blow to the woman (photo: TV Globo / Reproduo)

In this Wednesday's chapter (1/4) of the compact edition of Fine print you can see the bust of Griselda (Lilia Cabral) on son Antenor (Caio Castro). The boy is lying to the bride's family, saying he is rich and has hired an actress to impersonate him, but he will be exposed.

* Abstracts are the responsibility of broadcasters and changes may occur due to editing decisions.

Malhao – Every way to love

Indicative rating 12 years

Abstracts from Wednesday (1/4) to Friday (3/4) will not be released.

New world

Indicative rating 12 years

Dom Joo and Carlota expel Nomie from the royal palace. Joaquim declares himself to Anna and asks her to date him. Thomas suspects the intimacy between Joaquim and Anna. Elvira discovered and forced to work on the ship. Pedro promises Nomie that his marriage to Leopoldina will not disrupt their relationship. Thomas offers Anna a romantic dinner. Joaquim approaches Piat. Anna agrees to date Joaquim. There is a passage of time. Anna and Joaquim exchange vows of eternal love. The ship docks at a stop before arriving in Brazil. Thomas sets up so that Joaquim can't get on the ship.

Totally awesome

Indicative rating 12 years

Dino tells Gilda that Eliza tried to kill him. Arthur publishes the recording of Carolina having fun in Australia and embarrasses the journalist. Bino takes Eliza to Rio de Janeiro and gives her directions to look for Ftima's pension. Dino tells Gilda not to settle down while Eliza is not in jail. I don't think Jessy steals Eliza's money. Rafael asks Lu to appoint him as a photographer for Carolina. Eliza ends up being expelled from the dressing by Ftima. Jacar watches Eliza.

Fine print

Indicative rating 12 years

Griselda invades the Velmont dinner. Tereza Cristina accuses Griselda and her son of trying to deal a blow to their family. Patrcia demands an explanation from Antenor. Rafael dates Amlia, and Zuleika criticizes the boy for Edvaldo. Ren apologizes to Griselda. Antenor suffers an accident with Juan's car. Amlia warns me of Antenor's accident, and Ren takes her to the scene. Patrcia meets Antenor at the hospital. Rafael tells Amlia that Antenor stole Juan's car.

The adventures of Poliana

Indicative rating 10 years

Violeta edits the audio recorded during the conversation with Branca and shows it to her father. Filipa tells the school girls to be the poster girl for the friendly mirror. Roger offers himself as a new investor in the Ruth Goulart school and suggests some technological implementations. The police investigator goes to the school and asks to speak with Luca and Gabi. Mirela starts to exchange messages with “Leandro” and makes an appointment with the boy. O11O computers crash and Roger suspects it is some OTTO frame. Mosquito asks for the job back to Durval. Gleyce and Vernica accuse Arlete of taking the money from the CLP. Filipa arrives at O11O to record the commercial for Espelho Amigo. Jeferson discovers that there are hackers trying to break into the O11O system. Bento overhears Ruth talking on the phone and thinks the director is going to kick him out of the house.

My heart

Indicative rating 10 years

Ana is recovering from the anxiety crisis, but the sadness she feels is infinite. Jennifer, Soledade, Johnny and Icelo are beside her. Isabela is very happy, because with her revenge against Ana, she can also take revenge on the children. Jennifer and Johnny work out the last details of the pole dance school. Ana is very fragile and ice is not separated from her. Bruno and Manuela are very concerned about the situation of Ana and Fernando, but they think that they should support the Lascurain family. Edith faces Fanny, thinking that she was never his friend. Magda calls ngelo and is jealous when she finds out that he has not separated from Ana. Henrique calls Isabela and says he killed his gynecologist. Alicia calls Ana and on the cell phone in person, everyone talks to her, saying that they want to take care of her while she is sick. Ana cries. Children ask permission to visit her. Ana talks to ngelo about what happened to Fernando, ngelo doesn't judge her. Jennifer goes after Fernando to speak in favor of Ana and the love they feel, but he makes it clear that he does not want to hear about the babysitter. Jennifer insists and asks him to forgive her, as she forgave him for something worse, which was marrying Isabela. Yolanda is right in the asylum, and there she meets Rubi, Rmulo and Radams. The children arrive at Ana's and she is immensely happy. Ana's pressure rises when the children see her, they are very distressed by her. ngelo tells Fanny that Ana is soon recovering, but needs rest. Leon gives Lena the letter he wrote to Fanny, and asks her to deliver it. Fanny tells Fernando that Ana cannot stay away from her brothers, but Fernando reacts coldly. Luz tells his father that he does not want Ana to die, Fernando touches her hugging and says that this will not happen. Ana tells Soledade that she wants to make things very clear for freezing. Fanny is angry at Nando's reaction, and Lnin says she needs to understand him. Jennifer tells Ana that she can't feel defeated, even though Fernando doesn't want to forgive her. ngelo is exalted when Magda says that he conforms to the crumbs that Ana gives him. He claims to go and win her over. Johnny tells Ana that Dorival is missing and that he and Jennifer are going to hand the video over to the deputy. Fanny cries when she reads Leon's letter and realizes that she still loves him. Lnin is very sad to see Fanny's reaction to reading Leon's letter.

Cmplices of a rescue

Free indicative rating

Tomas gets the fake pilot piece to make a frame against Safira, who denied him help. Isabela and Manuela meet to switch places for the show. Laura appears and sees the two. Oflio says: “Now out of tune”. Priscila goes to the Vaz brothers' house to pass information to Regina. Pedro says he is happy with his courtship with Helena.

Betty the ugly in New York

The broadcaster SBT requested the classification for 10 years and awaits a final decision by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security

Armando becomes a beast and risks his own life to defend Betty from the boys in the neighborhood. When he gets home he lies to Marcela and says he was attacked on the street. Betty gets Smith to give Sofia a new opportunity on the condition that she publicly apologize to Jenny and give her a new cell phone. Sofia talks to Charlie and he is invited to live in her house, but she does not accept. Marcela changes her blouse in her office and Ricardo watches her. Then the two will meet Armando at a restaurant. Ricardo takes advantage that Marcela drank demis, takes her home and makes pictures of her in underwear. Ncolas goes to V&M and takes Betty a bag of clothes. Patricia mistakes him for an executive and is believed to be the boyfriend of the ugly millionaire. Ricardo leaves a love card and a gift in Betty's office so that she thinks it was Armando who sent it.

The post 'Fine print': Griselda busting Antenor during dinner appeared first on Cryptodictation.

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[courtneytincher]

Trump’s Hamza Bin Laden Declaration Is a Diversion From Administration’s Weak Foreign Policy

AP/ShutterstockOn Saturday morning, the White House officially confirmed information leaked in July to the effect that Hamza bin Laden, son of the infamous killed-by-Obama Osama bin Laden, had been snuffed in a U.S. counterterror operation.Oddly, the statement did not come out as a Trumpian tweet, but as an official press release from the office of the White House press secretary. It didn’t say how the younger Bin Laden was killed. It didn’t say when. It didn’t say where, apart from “the Afghanistan/Pakistan region.”Although it’s conceivable that it took until now for forensic scientists working on whatever was left of Hamza to confirm his DNA (they presumably have his father’s on file), but the timing raises questions about the administration’s larger foreign policy, mainly whether the president’s tough guy credentials can actually coexist with an approach that’s been incoherent and, fundamentally, weak.The headline of the week was Trump’s dismissal of John Bolton, his third ill-chosen national security advisor. Donald J. Trump said he made all the decisions anyway, so it should be an easy job to fill. But in an increasingly chaotic world where much of the chaos is of his own making, without a strong and knowledgeable adult at the national security council, Trump is going to find himself, as my daddy used to say, “up shit creek without a paddle.”Can Secretary of State Mike Pompeo navigate through the Augean gloom? Probably not in a way that resolves the looming crises to the narcissistic satisfaction of his boss. A few examples: CrippleD Saudi Oil ProductionIn the dark before dawn on Saturday, a group of Iran-backed Yemeni rebels claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s enormous Abqaiq oil facility, as well as a large oil field, hundreds of miles from what is considered rebel held territory. The Houthis, as the rebels are called, claim to have sent 10 drones on the attack, a veritable swarm. Years ago, former CIA operative Robert Baer called Abqaiq “the Godzilla of oil-processing facilities” and warned that a moderate-to-severe attack would slow average production by about 5 million barrels a day, equal to about a quarter of the daily consumption in the ever-thirsty United States. As a result of the drone swarm Saturday morning, Saudis have indeed cut their oil production by almost half—that is, by 5 million barrels a day. The threat will continue, and we can expect prices to soar. Given the level of logitistical and technological sophistication shown by the drone attack, will Iran be blamed? And if it is, what will be the response? Will the Saudis dare to retaliate? Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, best known for the butchering of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, is nothing if not impetuous. Will Trump back him up? ... And then what?  ROCKET ManTrump may still “love” Kim Jong Un, and dismiss the North Korean tyrant’s several test launches of short range ballistic missiles, including those this week, as relatively unimportant. His reasoning: they couldn’t come close to hitting the continental United States like the ones tested in 2017. But a detailed report to the United Nations Security Council at the end of August made it perfectly clear that North Korea’s development of short range ballistic missiles is directly integrated with its development of intercontinental ballistic missiles perfectly able to hit any city in the U.S. The goal is to use solid rather than liquid fuel, making the missiles much easier to transport and to hide from American satellite surveillance (the capabilities of which America’s enemies know more about now, since Trump tweeted a classified satellite photograph earlier this month). All this as North Korea continues to build its arsenal of nuclear warheads.(At the same time, the report to the Security Council said, North Korea continues on a cyber-criminal rampage, stealing huge amounts of money by hacking into accounts or through extortion. Example: the WannaCry ransomware that shutdown computer systems all over the world in 2017 and only reopened them for a price paid in bitcoins which then were laundered thoroughly on their way to fill Kim’s coffers.)  The Taliban And PUTINJust a week ago, Trump suddenly scuttled a hard-won agreement with the Taliban that he had hoped would set up a reality show allowing him to declare on his electoral resume his own Trump-branded Camp David accords. The key elements of that deal were a ceasefire and a Taliban promise never to harbor terrorists intent on attacking the United States. But as Trump became aware of the agreement’s tone, which smacked of an American surrender, he instrumentalized the tragic death of an American soldier in a Taliban attack as a reason to back out. With the agreement “dead,” as Trump put it, the Taliban are heading back to the battlefield. They can expect to target Americans whenever they get the chance. And they have told The Daily Beast that they may actually strengthen their ties with what has been of late a relatively low-profile Al Qaeda organization directed not by Hamza bin Laden, but by the venerable Ayman al-Zawahiri for whom the United States remains enemy number one. Adding a further level of complication to the Afghan mess, aTaliban delegation went to Moscow this week to consult with the Russians. Perhaps they think Vladimir Putin can “mediate” in some fashion with the Americans. Trump, for his part, has long believed that his buddy in the Kremlin could help him solve difficult international problems.Hey, thinking outside the box, maybe the Great Disruptor should name Putin as his new national security advisor. Or, you guessed it, maybe he already has.Sami Yousafzai contributed reporting from Islamabad.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

AP/ShutterstockOn Saturday morning, the White House officially confirmed information leaked in July to the effect that Hamza bin Laden, son of the infamous killed-by-Obama Osama bin Laden, had been snuffed in a U.S. counterterror operation.Oddly, the statement did not come out as a Trumpian tweet, but as an official press release from the office of the White House press secretary. It didn’t say how the younger Bin Laden was killed. It didn’t say when. It didn’t say where, apart from “the Afghanistan/Pakistan region.”Although it’s conceivable that it took until now for forensic scientists working on whatever was left of Hamza to confirm his DNA (they presumably have his father’s on file), but the timing raises questions about the administration’s larger foreign policy, mainly whether the president’s tough guy credentials can actually coexist with an approach that’s been incoherent and, fundamentally, weak.The headline of the week was Trump’s dismissal of John Bolton, his third ill-chosen national security advisor. Donald J. Trump said he made all the decisions anyway, so it should be an easy job to fill. But in an increasingly chaotic world where much of the chaos is of his own making, without a strong and knowledgeable adult at the national security council, Trump is going to find himself, as my daddy used to say, “up shit creek without a paddle.”Can Secretary of State Mike Pompeo navigate through the Augean gloom? Probably not in a way that resolves the looming crises to the narcissistic satisfaction of his boss. A few examples: CrippleD Saudi Oil ProductionIn the dark before dawn on Saturday, a group of Iran-backed Yemeni rebels claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s enormous Abqaiq oil facility, as well as a large oil field, hundreds of miles from what is considered rebel held territory. The Houthis, as the rebels are called, claim to have sent 10 drones on the attack, a veritable swarm. Years ago, former CIA operative Robert Baer called Abqaiq “the Godzilla of oil-processing facilities” and warned that a moderate-to-severe attack would slow average production by about 5 million barrels a day, equal to about a quarter of the daily consumption in the ever-thirsty United States. As a result of the drone swarm Saturday morning, Saudis have indeed cut their oil production by almost half—that is, by 5 million barrels a day. The threat will continue, and we can expect prices to soar. Given the level of logitistical and technological sophistication shown by the drone attack, will Iran be blamed? And if it is, what will be the response? Will the Saudis dare to retaliate? Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, best known for the butchering of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, is nothing if not impetuous. Will Trump back him up? ... And then what?  ROCKET ManTrump may still “love” Kim Jong Un, and dismiss the North Korean tyrant’s several test launches of short range ballistic missiles, including those this week, as relatively unimportant. His reasoning: they couldn’t come close to hitting the continental United States like the ones tested in 2017. But a detailed report to the United Nations Security Council at the end of August made it perfectly clear that North Korea’s development of short range ballistic missiles is directly integrated with its development of intercontinental ballistic missiles perfectly able to hit any city in the U.S. The goal is to use solid rather than liquid fuel, making the missiles much easier to transport and to hide from American satellite surveillance (the capabilities of which America’s enemies know more about now, since Trump tweeted a classified satellite photograph earlier this month). All this as North Korea continues to build its arsenal of nuclear warheads.(At the same time, the report to the Security Council said, North Korea continues on a cyber-criminal rampage, stealing huge amounts of money by hacking into accounts or through extortion. Example: the WannaCry ransomware that shutdown computer systems all over the world in 2017 and only reopened them for a price paid in bitcoins which then were laundered thoroughly on their way to fill Kim’s coffers.)  The Taliban And PUTINJust a week ago, Trump suddenly scuttled a hard-won agreement with the Taliban that he had hoped would set up a reality show allowing him to declare on his electoral resume his own Trump-branded Camp David accords. The key elements of that deal were a ceasefire and a Taliban promise never to harbor terrorists intent on attacking the United States. But as Trump became aware of the agreement’s tone, which smacked of an American surrender, he instrumentalized the tragic death of an American soldier in a Taliban attack as a reason to back out. With the agreement “dead,” as Trump put it, the Taliban are heading back to the battlefield. They can expect to target Americans whenever they get the chance. And they have told The Daily Beast that they may actually strengthen their ties with what has been of late a relatively low-profile Al Qaeda organization directed not by Hamza bin Laden, but by the venerable Ayman al-Zawahiri for whom the United States remains enemy number one. Adding a further level of complication to the Afghan mess, aTaliban delegation went to Moscow this week to consult with the Russians. Perhaps they think Vladimir Putin can “mediate” in some fashion with the Americans. Trump, for his part, has long believed that his buddy in the Kremlin could help him solve difficult international problems.Hey, thinking outside the box, maybe the Great Disruptor should name Putin as his new national security advisor. Or, you guessed it, maybe he already has.Sami Yousafzai contributed reporting from Islamabad.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

September 14, 2019 at 09:31PM via IFTTT