#my magma discovery has opened doors…

[raebonnz]

magma

[eyeofthewolfe]

Breaking Earth (Ninjago Fanfic): Chapter 2

After a long day in the field, Jay finds himself in an awkward situation and Cole makes a scary self-discovery.

Warning: may contain brief spoilers from Ninjago Season 7.

Prologue and Chapter 1: here

Chapter 2

Cole slammed the robber onto the brick wall. “And where do you think you are going?”

The woman squirmed for freedom but Cole’s grasp was unbreakable. She tried to kick and swing her bags of money to hurt him, but the pitiful attempts were useless against his strength.

“Darn you ninja!” she screamed in desperation. “I needed this money or else I was going to lose everything!”

“Well you just did by stealing it from the Ninjago Bank.” Lloyd snapped as he approached the thief. As he said that, a cop car screeched to a stop on the street behind them. The woman growled in her throat and dropped the bags of money and raised her arms in surrender as the cops approached with their guns raised.

The woman stared at Cole with a raging fire in her eyes. “You think you help others by doing justice? Justice never served me right, instead it threw me into a world of-“

“We uphold the law,” Cole snapped. “What you just did was breaking it. It’s pretty black and white to me.”

The cops grabbed her arms as the woman sneered. “You don’t know suffering, ninja.” She spoke coldly as the police took her away in handcuffs.

Cole crossed his arms and frowned under his mask. Lloyd approached him. “She doesn’t know what she is talking about,” he murmured with a snort.

Cole tried to laugh at that, but fell short. You don’t know suffering, ninja rang in his ears. Of course he knew suffering, right?

Cole turned to the other member of the team, who was staring blankly at a movie poster nearby. “Jay, you there?” Cole asked with a laugh. Jay flinched and turned suddenly eyes wide. “I’m paying attention,” he said distractedly.

Cole and Lloyd laughed. “C’mon, it’s been a long day. Let’s head back to base.” Lloyd said and motioned to return to their vehicles. Cole scratched at the back of his head and turned to see Jay make one more glance at the movie poster of that one space samurai character before going as well.

 ________________________________________________________

“Well, Jay seems like a nice young man,” Maya smiled at her daughter as she arranged some weapons on the wall. Nya blushed and Kai gave her a look over his shoulder as he was picking up tools.

Ray frowned. “He’s the one dressed in black, right?” he asked. Kai snorted loudly.

Nya’s smile died a little as she organized weapons. “Uh, dressed in blue. Master of Lightning.”

“Ooooh,” her father said, his frown still apparent on his face. “The thin one who thinks he’s funny.” Kai snorted again, louder this time.

Nya lost her smile completely. “Well,” she said, defending her boyfriend, “I think he’s funny.”

Her father smiled at her. “Well that’s good,” he said quickly. “I’m glad he makes you happy.”

Maya smiled at Nya with a twinkle in her eye. Nya blushed again as she placed a broad sword in its pile.

“However, the black one seems very nice too-“

“Dad. I’m in love with the blue one.”

“Okay, okay…”

Kai exchanged a look with his sister. His expression was very readable: he was enjoying every word his father said about her love life. Nya rolled her eyes and went back to her job.

 ___________________________________________________________

As the sun was setting behind him, Cole was doing what he did best: punching.

Blow after blow damaged the training bot as Cole danced around it on the deck. Each contact sent the robot into a more difficult level, but it never had time to attack. Cole kept punching and punching, each one harder than the last, until his fist illuminated in the familiar magma orange blow. Before Cole could react, he punched one last time and the training robot shattered. Cole froze and stared in horror at the destruction.

“Cooooole,” Jay groaned from behind him. Cole spun around and watched Jay approach the wreckage. “Do you know how long it takes to build one of those? We can’t just destroy them, they don’t build themselves you know.” The blue ninja gestured at the pile of scrap lying in front of Cole.

Cole itched the back of his neck. “Sorry, I’m still getting used to it.”

“Still?” Jay asked. “You’ve had those weird new powers for quite some time, I would hope you would have some control of it by now.”

The master of earth sighed. “It’s not that simple. I still have no idea how I got this ability, and maybe when I find that out, it’ll help me contain it more.”

Jay nodded with understanding. “Well until then, try not to punch as hard.” Jay chuckled as he grabbed a metal scrap from the pile and handed it to Cole. He patted the taller teenagers shoulder and walked away, whistling.

Cole peered down at the metal scrap, and instantly his blood ran cold. Hands shaking, he slipped the damaged piece into his robes and began to clean up the scattered pieces of the training robot.

 _________________________________________________________

The Bounty landed softly on the open grounds of the Temple of Airjiztu. Lloyd hit a few buttons in the bridge to deactivate the engines and then quickly joined Jay and Cole on the deck.

“Great job today guys, I always enjoy stopping crime with you two.” Lloyd grinned as he brushed back his blonde hair. Jay grinned and nudged Cole, but the black ninja was staring into space with a look of panic. “Cole,” Lloyd started, noticing his face. “Are you..okay?”

Cole connected eyes with the green ninja. “Oh, yeah..sorry,” Cole cleared his throat. “I was thinking about something. I’m also really tired.”

Lloyd nodded uneasily. “Well, if anything comes up, please let me know.” Cole nodded and began to head towards the gangway back to the temple. Jay turned to follow him. “Uh, Jay?” Lloyd called out.

Jay spun around on his heels. “Yes?” he answered with his famous grin.

Lloyd pointed at a few weapons in a barrel. “Can you drop those off at the Blacksmith shop?”

“Yes sir, that I can do!” Jay replied cheerfully as he scooped them up into his grasp. He turned to leave, but then froze. “Wait,” he said, this time his voice on edge. “Are Kai and Nya’s parents there?”

Lloyd walked past Jay, himself headed toward the Temple. The green ninja laughed. “Well, of course! They are the blacksmiths, are they not?” Lloyd walked down the gangway and walked towards the temple.

“I was hoping for a no,” Jay murmured to himself, but took a deep breath and headed down the gangway.

Jay gulped and clutched the weapons tighter as he slowly approached the smaller blue building where a stream of smoke was rising from the chimney.

He walked through the door and saw the whole family busy getting the place together to become an active shop. Nya instantly smiled and dashed over to help. “Jay! How was your day in the field?”

In the corner of his eye, Jay saw both Maya and Ray pause from their work to look up and listen to Jay. Flustered, he cleared his throat.

“Well, uh- there was-I mean- were a lot- uh- many difficult….difficulties, but-uh- nothing that I couldn’t handle.”

The room fell silent. Jay laughed nervously and quickly shoved the weapons towards Nya. “Here. These are for you.”

Nya chuckled. “I’ve always rather wanted a bouquet of weapons over flowers.” Nya joked as she pointed at her father. “Dad is sharpening blades. You can give these to him.”

Jay’s eyes widened. “Give them to your dad?” he whispered to Nya.

Nya bunched her eyebrows together in confusion (Jay LOVED that face; it was so cute-plus he got that a lot when talking to her). “Uh, yeah? What’s the problem with that?” she whispered back.

“He – is – your- dad!” Jay whispered back. “I’m gonna….mess up or something-“

“Just give him the weapons!” Nya whispered a bit more harshly and through clenched teeth.

“What are you two love birds fiercely whispering about?” Ray asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Uh,” Jay said loudly. “Nothing, sir.” He quickly answered before quickly kissing Nya. As he pulled away, he gave her a look of fear, but Nya just gave him a warm smile and a wink. The blue ninja took a deep breath and then turned to face her father.

Jay has seen too many movies where the perfect girl has the overbearing father, and Jay was secretly glad that he didn’t have to face that with Nya when he first met her. But when he turned and faced the tall man with the ash covering his hands and face with his arms crossed over his blacksmith robes, Jay felt like he was in one of those movies and he was about to get a lecture from the father.

Every step felt like a step closer to death. The harsh brown eyes, the veins popping out of his neck and muscles, the angle his eyebrows were shaped, the way that he was towering over him…Jay wouldn’t be surprised if he suddenly developed breathing problems.

The closer he got, the more he realized how much Ray looked like an older Kai. The facial expression became familiar- it was Kai when he was serious, and the gesture of the arms crossing was a very typical Kai gesture. The eye shape, the scowl- even the eyebrows all matched his fellow team member who stood a few feet away.

Jay came to a stop in front of the older man. “Uh, here ya go.” Jay squeaked. Ray eyed him for a second, and then easily grabbed them all in one arm. Jay nodded and quickly turned to leave.

“It’s Jay, isn’t it?”

Jay knew that was the universal sign for ‘I want to start a conversation’. He froze, then slowly turned to face Ray with a smile. “Uh, yeah. Jay.”

Ray placed the weapons on the table and grabbed a rag covered in ash. “Is that short for something?” He asked.

Jay nervously drummed his fingers on his legs. “Actually, yeah. It’s short for Jason.”

“You’re kidding,” Kai spoke up from the other side of the table. Jay shook his head. “My parents called me Jay and it stuck.”

Maya smiled. “And how are your parents?” she asked warmly.

“Oh they are fine. Happy in the junkyard as always.” Jay answered with a light chuckle.

Maya exchanged a look with Ray. “Cliff Gordon living in a junkyard?” Ray laughed. “Did his acting career fail?”

Jay felt his jaw drop. “How.. how did you know…” Jay said quietly.

“Your mother spoke highly of him everytime I saw her.” Maya said. “We were great friends until we were imprisoned. I have no clue where she resides now.”

“What are you talking about?” Kai laughed. “Jay’s parents are an older couple living in a junkyard…Ed and Edna. Right, Jay?”

The whole family turned and looked at the blue ninja. Jay exchanged a look with Nya. “Well, actually, I found out fairly recently that I was adopted. My adoptive parents found me on their trailer doorstep one day with an address and key for my dad’s estate. I…I never knew my birth parents.”

Kai’s face went pale and Maya covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, you poor thing.” She whispered.

Ray tossed the towel back onto the table and then placed his hand on Jay’s shoulder. “Look, son,” he started. Jay’s heart skipped a beat. “If there’s one thing you should know about your parents, it’s that they were madly in love. I’ve never seen love like that.”

“Well, I have.” Maya smiled at her husband. Ray smiled back. “I see it in you every day, and now I see it in my daughter and you, Jay.”

Jay felt his cheeks and ears turn crimson.

Ray patted Jay’s shoulder roughly, which actually hurt a little, and then went back to work. Maya winked at Jay and then also went back to organizing her tools.

Jay said farewell to everyone, kissed Nya just because she was there, and then exited the shop.

As he was walking back, Kai caught up with him. “Hey, I didn’t know you were adopted.”

Jay wiped his nose. “Yeah, let’s just say it’s an out-of-time experience.”

Kai chuckled uncomfortably. “Hey, when Nya and I temporarily time traveled, we saw someone who probably was your mom.”

Jay looked over, his blue eyes wide with curiosity. “Really?”

“Oh yeah,” Kai chuckled. “She was younger, maybe in her mid 20’s, and dude-lemme tell you- she was hot.”

Jay snorted and pushed Kai away. “Ew, gross- don’t ever call my mom hot ever again.”

“But she was!”

“Just-stop. That’s just weird.”

 ___________________________________________________________

Cole scratched at his neck as he closed the door to his quarters. “What is wrong with the back of my head?” Cole mumbled to himself as he itched at the same itch he’d had all day. He walked up to his mirror and grabbed a smaller mirror on his nightstand. He lifted the back of his hair and held the small mirror behind him so he could see the back of his neck.

Cole dropped the mirror.

He didn’t notice that the mirror landed at the right angle so that it didn’t shatter. He didn’t even realize that his hand had dropped to his side in shock. He stuttered backwards and sat down quickly onto his bed. “No,” he whispered to himself. “That…that’s not possible.”

But Cole knew what he saw: a small glowing green crack that had formed on the back of his neck.

The bright green scar that was on his left temple and forehead was spreading.

[dcnativegal]

Words and Language

Since I moved out here 17 months ago but who’s counting, I’m beginning to drop the ‘to be’ part of certain sentences. As in, the fence needs mended, the laundry needs done, the presents need wrapped. That’s how Valerie talks, and other folks, too, here in the rural West. The dialect here is decidedly country, especially the metaphors. “Wound up tighter than a two-dollar clock.” “I’ve had about as much fun as I’m up to.” Valerie says that the family photo album is ‘down to Paul’s’ instead of ‘at Paul’s house.’  The sheriff’s report in a local rag describes a domestic altercation. The man of the house accused the woman of the house of peeing in the tea kettle. Wow. And then, the man of the house ‘drug’ her by the hair. I looked it up: drug is a legitimate variation of ‘dragged.’  I did not know this. The sheriff’s report is the first thing I turn to, for the record, in The Community Breeze. It is a revelation.

I learned a new word: Maar. Wikipedia explains: “A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow crater lake which may also be called a maar.[1] The name comes from a Moselle Franconian dialect word used for the circular lakes of the Daun area of Germany.[2] Maars are shallow, flat-floored craters that scientists interpret as having formed above diatremes as a result of a violent expansion of magmatic gas or steam; deep erosion of a maar presumably would expose a diatreme.” There are 3 maars in Lake County. I thought Crater Lake in Klamath County would be a maar but it is not: it’s a lake in a caldera. Another word I learned. (From Wikipedia: A caldera is a large cauldron-like depression that forms following the evacuation of a magma chamber/reservoir.)  Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. Unlike the alkali lakes in Lake County, the water gets replenished by rain and snow at Crater Lake, even though, similar to the alkali lakes, there is no source underground that feeds or drains any of those lakes. It’s too dry in Lake County, being a high-altitude desert, and so the continuous evaporation leads to an increase of alkali in those lakes over millennia.

Another word I learned is coprolites, which is fossilized poop. Apparently, fossilized human poop was found in caves near Paisley, carbon dated to 14,300 years ago. That’s some old shit, right there. (Everybody’s a comedian.)

Lake County is very beautiful, although it’s not like Alaska or Colorado with dramatic mountains and green pines. There’s a primordial emptiness, with plenty of ridges and rims. I looked at the map of Lake county with keen eyes, and there is no way to get from Paisley to, say, Wagontire, without going around the lakes and ridges. A vast area where not much grows and there’s no way through. No wonder this county has only 7800 people, fewer than one soul per square mile.

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We were at dinner at Toni & Al’s place, and Valerie and Al were regaling us with stories from their days as millhands. I learned a bunch of new words, the most fun of which is ‘flitch.’  It’s the part of the wood that will be cut off on the sides of a big tree. Is that a fabulous word or not? Remember it next time you play Scrabble. The best part of the log is apparently the middle, after the flitch has been sawed off, because it’s too deep in the tree for knots. That part is called the cant, pronounced just like “can’t.” Who determines which is which and what gets cut when? The sawyer. It’s not just a last name! And the sawyer is the best paid dude in the mill. The two of them just went on and on, while Toni and I, the femmes at the table, listened and laughed along. Occasionally I’d chirp: when is it time to flitch the switch! Or some other irreverent contribution. Anything to make Al laugh.

Val tells a story (one of my favorites) about her early days working in the mill. She was in her early 20s, and the men resented her presence, but she needed the work. She was paying off credit card debt run up by her as yet undiagnosed bipolar, PTSD-laden second husband, who was off fishing in Alaska. Anyway, she knew her machinery. She was tasked with the grub work of sweeping and cleaning up the floor, and one day, she could hear the chain clanking badly. The chain that runs the saw in that sized mill was like an enormous bicycle chain fit sideways into parallel sprockets, and she knew that one side of it had come undone: broken and thwacking. She walked into the millwright’s office where the men were sitting around drinking coffee and told them that she suspected the chain was about to break. They laughed at her and paid no mind. So she tucked herself back by a particularly noisy piece of machinery and commenced to sweep. Pretty soon, one of the guys ran up to her and said didn’t you hear the whistle? The chain is down! She pointed to the machine and shook her head no. He said, well come on! Everyone was around the chain exclaiming, and a couple of men had to get into the watery ditch and fish around for the end of the chain. Valerie walked calmly over to the mess that was piling up and started shoveling. No one said a word to her about her warning, and she kept her head down. Every second a mill isn’t sawing is money lost.

The next time she heard a chain having difficulty, she walked into the millwright office and didn’t look at a soul, just shared that there just might be another chain coming loose. I picture the millwrights dropping their coffee and running out of the office so fast she just spun in circles. Val says they didn’t move that fast but they sure got up and passed her in record time.

She tells it better than I ever could. She told it again to Al. It bears repeating.

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The other day, I had a mammogram. The radiation tech had on a mask, because the hospital had mandated that all staff who have contact with patients and refuse to take the flu vaccine has to wear them. She told me that the efficacy of the vaccine is only 10% this year so she’d rather where the mask. For the mammogram, she asks me the questions: when did I first have my period, how many live births, did I breast feed… I answered precisely and quickly, and she said, you are so easy to question! I said, I used to be the social worker at the breast care center in a D.C. hospital.  The inevitable question came: why did you move to Paisley?  I was candid: because my partner of 5 years lives in Paisley half the year, and I wanted to see her the whole year ‘round!  The tech told me that one of her sons is gay, and had a hard time at Lakeview High School. He graduated and moved to the Big City (Portland). He’s getting himself together up there in a radically, more gay friendly, world. We rejoiced for him together.

That was nice. We are everywhere, even in Lake County, Oregon.

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I had another chat with a woman I’d never met. I opened a checking account at a credit union in Lakeview. No more mailing in checks and always paying ATM fees. So I sit down across a desk from a gal who’s a little bit younger than me, and there’s another woman in the bank in an office, who’s wrinkled face means maybe she’s a little bit older than me, and then there’s the teller, a lovely African American woman who has false eyelashes. We talk about Paisley (oh you live in Paisley! I love that little town!) and somehow, I wish I could remember the conversational path, I mention icon pee-proof panties. I guessed that it would be okay to joke around and tell her my most favorite discovery of 2017. She’d never heard of them! Immediately, she asked me to write down the world ‘icon.’ She declared she would promptly buy several pairs for her AND her mother. We agreed that peeing while coughing, sneezing, or lifting something heavy was no fun. And we are too young for depends. She looked up the web site. Her boss heard everything and laughed along. And the young teller rolled her eyes so vigorously that her false eyelashes started a breeze. We chatted like old friends: the benefits of menopause, how much harder it is to lose weight, how you can miss your grown children and be happy with an empty nest at the same time. Those panties are expensive, but they fit amazingly well and really work. Now you know.

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I don’t feel like the stranger anymore. In Christmas Valley on Friday evening, I went in for some cash at the ATM in the Chevron/Grocery Store and saw not one, not two, but five clients. I got smiled and waved at all over the store. The week before, I went into Willows Two, which is a gift shop with yarn that I dare not go into very often, and the owner is the sister of the Paisley Librarian. Turns out that one of the store workers’ aunt and uncle met me at church in Bend. So meeting someone from Lake County was a topic of conversation! I go into the Sage Hen Café and the waitress on duty, doesn’t matter which one, goes and asks immediately if there’s cornbread. Their cup of chili with cornbread is my favorite take out meal. One of my clients works at the thrift store next door to the Café. The gal who serves up 3 lattes with sugar free vanilla is named Patty at the Boots & Spurs Coffee Shop. One for me and my two coworkers.  I know Dale at the Summer Lake Store, where I get gas. He’s a liberal. We bonded over that fact long ago. We know the owners of the Pioneer and the staff at the Homestead. I know the cashier at the Paisley Mercantile (the Merc). I’ve done errands to and from Lakeview, Paisley and Christmas Valley for a wide variety of folks. I have a favorite cashier at Safeway in Lakeview. It kinda feels like I belong here. My ‘personal brand’ includes the following words: knitter, therapist, errand volunteer, liberal, lesbian, Episcopalian, sugar-free vanilla latte drinker. That’s about right.