#polar bear defending her territory

[sachertortemilktea]

Done and done

[metalomagnetic]

Hi Metalo!

Have you ever thought about potential patronus animals for the Black family? If so, what kind of animals would fit in your opinion?

As always, your questions make me think a lot. This one is sooo difficult!

Ok, so this might be unpopular but I feel Bella would be a lioness. She is a figure of strength, is territorial, she works hard, perfect hunter that takes down prey twice her size, devoted mother (to her child or to her little sisters) teaching her youngster skills they need to survive, and protecting them so fiercely.

Narcissa is a spider queen. Spiders also have *remarkable* maternal instincts, more developed than in many other species of the earth. Spiders can be aggressive, but also quite peaceful, depending on circumstances. She weaves a beautiful home, but that can also turn into a trap. She isn't showy in her strength, prefers to lure her target into her web, where she can deliver that final, venomous bite to an unsuspecting target that dared trespass against her.

Andromeda is a fox. Cunning, agile and highly adaptable. not overly aggressive, preferring to live their life in stealth mode.

Regulus is a coyote. Almost like a dog, only much shier than a dog, and more cautious. However, when push comes to shove, coyotes are quite territorial and willing to die for what is theirs.

Sirius, obviously, is perfect as a dog. (And I also used him to give Regulus and Andromeda similar patronus forms, from a canidae family, since they are related and one would assume they share traits.)

Ok, so these are the only ones we know from canon, or at least we know something about them that allowed me to try to guess their patronus.

Now, for my head-canon about the rest of the Black family and their personalities, which I depict in 'It runs'.

Waburga is a polar bear. Polar bears are aways striving for the highest possible standards. They are fierce, and they are obsessed with their children. They protect their cubs with their lives, but they also expect their cubs to behave and fall in line. It's a tough life out there, so a polar bear mother needs to teach her youngsters to be ruthless. They love their children, but can be a bit rough in handling them. They can also be very gentle with their cubs, when there's no 'emergency' situation going on. Polar bears are strong, fearless but so lonely. Something about Walburga ending up alone, defined by solitude in her last years, reminds me of a polar bear wandering alone in a harsh, cold environment (Grimmauld, cough cough). Polar bear mamas are also one of the few animals species that become depressed, distressed and vulnerable when they lose a child. They can even stop hunting after such a loss, and waste away.

Orion in 'It runs' is an eagle. Fearless, confident, quite arrogant. Extremely territorial. An eagle will never surrender, regardless of the size or strength of its opponent. It will do anything to regain its territory and it will always defend its nest. Eagles are quite paternal, like most raptors. An eagle father will bring sticks to the nest, and will bring food to the young. When babies fall from nest, a father often dives to catch them on their wings. However, an eagle father also picks favourites, and there's a food hierarchy going on, often choosing to give more food to one baby, encouraging sibling rivalry, which is apparently important for the development of a raptor. Eagle males do form a pair bond with a single female, however, if the female isn't available in mating season, he will find another one.

Cygnus would be a tiger. Not the most paternal, but a fierce predator. They're also one of the few brave enough to get into fights with bears. Tigers and dogs are amongst the few that will look at a bear and go 'yeah, I can take that' (hence why Cygnus and Sirius are the only ones mad enough to get into fights with Walburga). Also, he's a tiger mostly because I want Bella to take after her dad, the only big cats in their immediate family.

Alphard is a lone wolf, to keep up with many of the Blacks having canine counterparts. He's majestic, he's fierce, too, he loves a pack, but at some point he got into too many fights with the leaders of his pack and took off on his own, though at night sometimes he cries to the moon, missing them.

Arcturus is a hawk. Similar to his son, but a tad less fierce. Just a tad.

Sirius the old was a sphinx. He's a special badass, and the world sees him as this almost mythological creature. He has the body of a land apex predator, like many of his descendants (lion, like Bella), but he also has the wings of an eagle (like Orion). He's enigmatic, merciless, and has a gaze that will see straight into your soul. He knows everything that goes on, everywhere. A sphinx represents royalty and sacred status, which is how he views his family (and himself).

This was so much fun. I really like how they turned out, and I love that in this family of vertebrates, Narcissa is the only invertebrate (since she's always the outliner with her blonde hair). She's no less lethal, no less impressive, but she's a tad different from the rest.

I hope you liked it! ❤️

[laskume-dragon]

After going through all my Dragon AU posts to make my masterpost i noticed that I've never actually talked about any specific characters. I dropped some tiny bit of general lore once....but that was about it.

So now that I've doodled Alucard, i decided to drop some general AU lore about him!

Species:

Alucard is a so-called Iceling and would be classified as western dragon.

Icelings are quadruped, two winged, of a very lean build and tend to show a lot of resemblance to wolves. They're generally covered in white fur and have feathered wings. Their paw pads, skin and nose are black while their eyes and tailfeathers tend to have bluish tones.

They're native to high mountain ranges and very cold regions.

Their fur then helps them to stay undetected in snowy areas, while the black skin has the same use as for polar bears, to stay warm.

Even though they're dragons, Icelings aren't reptiles. They're warmblooded mammals and their evolution is thus analogous to reptilian dragons, sharing a lot of the classic characteristics of a dragon, without sharing the same ancestor. Though birthing living young has a lot more advantages in cold areas then it is to lay eggs. At least for dragons that spit ice instead of fire and don't have as specialized breeding techniques like penguins. Though in general they're quite immune to freezing. A layer of natural antifreeze (i think glucose had that ability??) right under their skin, shields them from frost. A minimized bloodflow to the extremities and the skin also keeps them from loosing too much heat, making them probably very cold to the touch, while in their core they're warm.

Character appearence:

I said Icelings are usually white but Alucard isn't. What's up with that?

Long story short: gene variation and mutation still exists in this AU. So the magic term is ✨Melanism✨

Or more like pseudomelanism, cus Alucard is not entirely black. The degree of this varies with each form.

Vladcard: probably most black form of all with a few lighter patches of fur on his chest and belly.

Usual Alucard: left frontpaw and two primary feathers on each wing white, rest black

Lady-/Girlycard: mostly white with black patches scattered across her body. Ladycard & Girlycard are basically the same form, only differentiate in the age of appearance (if you know what i mean. Language is hard), depends on what Alu is in the mood for lmao

Backstory:

Has vague similarities to canon but at the same time its very different. Its kinda of patchy and probably things will change in the future but here's a summary of what i have so far:

Alucard was born into the leader family of a pretty big Icelingpack, which was having quite a lot of problems with neighboring packs and defending their territory and shite. So... environment was tense when he grew up and finally took over the pack. At some point there was a big attack on the pack and their territory, catching Alucard by surprise. The attackers, partially Tainteds, were ruthless and killed who they could, including Alucards mate and cubs at the time. He too then fell as he got attacked by another rogue Tainted. But bc they didn't really care what they were doing, they didn't notice that they hadn't killed him completely. Instead the tainting curse befell Alucard. His turn was rough, only driven to success by his own desperate want to stay conscious and alive.

So now he was an accidental tainted, with no master or guidance, no pack and unsure what the hell he even was. For a long time he stayed on his own as he struggled with bloodlust and powers he did not understand.

At some point he stumbled upon a demon (Baskerville) who was for some reason locked out of and unable to return to hell. On his own the demon wouldn't have survived on the mortal plain, but since both had something the other needed at the time, they formed a bond. Alucard needed guidance and company, which Baskerville could provide. In turn he received protection from Alucard and a body he could possess and reside in.

After gaining control over his tainted aspects, Alucard traveled north in search of new territory. He came across a piece of land that was under the rule of the Hellsing pack, lead by a strong goldheavic with the name Abraham (wink wink nudge nudge). Ofc as a stranger hanging around in some other packs territory and also injuring some residents there, when he needed to feed, (in opposite to canon he did not kill all kinds of random people just bc he needed a nibble lmao) Alucard quickly pulled the Alphas attention to himself. Since Alucard wasn't very keen on wrecking the same kind of havoc he had pretty much just survived, he formally challenged Abraham to a duel. This served as a matter of damage control, cus it would keep uninvolved dragons out of the fight and would still provide him with a pack and territory should he win.

Turns out he severely underestimated Abrahams strength and firepower, cus he got his ass KICKED. Still, Abraham was very impressed by Alucards strength and willpower and instead of killing him or driving him out of his territory, he took him in and let him join the pack, providing him with a new home.

And thats pretty much it.

Ofc i could keep going with Alucards life in his new pack but i kinda wanna make it a post of its own, so I'll stop right here.

If you actually took the time to read this absolute rollercoaster. Thank you! Have a cookie and, if you want, a hug!! I appreciate it very much. And if there are questions...pls ask.

I'd love to rant more about my AU lmao!!

[Masterpost]

[naturally-recklessly]

NAVIGATION

｛ open starters ｝｛ about ｝｛ answers  ｝｛ visage ｝ ｛ aesthetics ｝｛ musings ｝｛ playlist ｝｛ wanted opposites ｝

STATS

GENERAL INFORMATION

FULL NAME Leif Eriksson  |  NICKNAME Greenlander  |  BIRTHDAY 9th October  |  ORIENTATION Straight  |  STATUS Single  |  RELIGION Raised pagan, but currently curious about other religions (Viking Verse) / Atheist (Modern Verse)  |  CURRENT LOCATION Verse dependent  |  SOCIAL CLASS Verse dependent  |  SPOKEN LANGUAGES Old Norse, English, Greek, Latin | OCUPATION Viking warrior, sailor & explorer (Viking Verse) / Sailing teacher & literature student (Modern Verse)

FATHER Erik Thorvaldsson (aka Erik the Red)  |  MOTHER Thjodhild Jorundarsdottir  |  BROTHER(S) Thorvald Eriksson (older), Thorstein Eriksson (younger)  |  SISTER(S) Freydis Eriksdóttir (younger)  |  PET(S) None

FACECLAIM Sam Corlett | HAIR COLOR Dark blonde | EYE COLOR Between blue and green | HEIGHT 1.84 m (6 ft) | TATTOO(S) Viking longship on his back; a line of viking runes from the ulnar side of his right hand to his elbow | SCAR(S) Claw marks from his right shoulder to the upper chest, from fighting a polar bear; a scar on the left side of his back, right bellow his tattoo

LIKES Quietness, being with his family and friends, sailing, learning new things  |  DISLIKES Gratuitous violence, injustice, seeing his loved ones suffer

QUALITIES Devoted brother and friend, very loyal, level-headed, tolerant, fair, intrepid and fearless sailor, resourceful and skillful fighter  |  FLAWS Withdrawn, difficulty to cope with loss, haunted by the fear of becoming like his father one day

BIOGRAPHY

VIKING VERSE — Born and raised in Greenland, Leif is the second son of Erik Thorvaldsson, also known as Erik the Red, a man who was exiled for killing others in Norway and Iceland. Still, his courage and fighting skills were undeniable and many followed him to Greenland, where he established a viking settlement, becoming its leader. And despite his brutality and violent temper, Erik was a good father to his children. Raised in a tightly-knit family, steeped in the old pagan beliefs, Leif grew to be very loyal to his family and friends. Always interested in boats and sailing, he also developed excellent captaining skills over the years which, together with his quick thinking and bravery, have rendered him an intrepid and fearless sailor. Naturally, being his father's son, Leif has also learned the art of fighting, becoming a resourceful and skillful fighter with all weaponry. However, adamant in not becoming like his father, he's never engaged in needless fighting nor killed a single man during his lifetime in Greenland. In fact, he'd only ever killed a polar bear, and only because it attacked him first.

Always a devoted brother and friend, Leif has always been very close to his younger sister Freydis. One day, when he and his brothers were accompanying their father and had to leave her home alone, Freydis was attacked and assaulted by a christian viking, who carved a cross on her back with his knife before leaving. Leif never forgave himself for not being able to protect and defend her that day, and swore he'd help her getting her revenge. Their father, a follower of the old viking costumes, encouraged and supported Freydis in getting her revenge from her attacker, and when the day came, Leif took her, along with a group of close friends, on a five-week journey from Greenland to Kattegat, even making it through a giant storm where many other ships were destroyed. But after Freydis did what she had come to do, it didn't take long for the siblings to find out the viking world had changed, and their father's way of thinking no longer applied, so they ended up imprisoned. To save their lives, Leif agreed to captain one of King Canute's boats to England and employ his fighting skills to help conquering this territory.

It was during this journey that Leif confirmed that a man's faith doesn't attest for his character, as his first kill was a fellow pagan viking who disrespected him as a captain and killed a christian viking on their boat. He wasn't proud of it, but it did earn him some respect. And if anyone still doubted his skills, it was his plan to take down London's bridge that granted their victory, with King Canute acclaiming him as a hero and pardoning Freydis. However, this accomplishment came with a bitter taste, for many of his friends lost their lives, and Leif started questioning his pagan faith, as it seemed it was a christian cross that granted him protection. Back in Kattegat, Leif had to take part in a battle to defend it against Jarl Kåre, a dangerous man hellbent on cleansing Norway of paganism, and Olaf Haraldsson, Harald's older brother who wanted to claim the throne for himself. This battle ended up costing the life of Leif's lover, Liv, and for the first time he gave in to the darkness he'd inherited from his father, killing several enemies in a grief-induced berserker rage to avenge Liv's death.

After that, he and Harald sailed to the Rus (namely to Novgorod), where the Prince of Norway intended to ask for his uncle's help to obtain an army and defeat Olaf. When that was denied, Harald conceived another plan — to buy furs and a boat and travel to Constantinople, where he'd exchange them for an army. Gathering the most unlikely crew, Leif captained this ship until it reached its destination, overcoming many challenges on the way, and even finding love in a scholar named Mariam, who taught him to read and write, mathematics, astronomy, greek and latin. Leif admired her immense knowledge and kindness, the way she taught him new ways of thinking and understanding the world around him, and all he wanted was to get her to Constantinople in time, where the doctors would possibly cure her sickness. However, this wasn't possible and she died in Leif's arms. Although this time he was able to cope with grieving in calmer, healthier ways.

Along his journey, Leif was able to make a name for himself, away from his father's shadow, only resorting to violence when absolutely necessary. Thoughtful and controlled, but also courageous and brave, Leif is confident in himself and his abilities, without needing to brag or show off to others. His humble attitude makes him different from the typical Viking warrior.

MODERN VERSE — Born and raised in Greenland,  Leif is the second son of Erik Thorvaldsson, also known as Erik the Red, a renowned businessman and the owner of "The Red Den", a famous local wrestling club. Despite its popularity, it's also a façade for some more obscure trades, such as money laundering, weapon selling and underground fighting, where for the right price anything can be bought and any problem made to disappear without a trace.

Being born into such a wealthy, tightly-knit family, Leif grew up somewhat privileged and wanting for nothing, incredibly loyal to his family and friends. And as his father's son, he was initiated in the family's business from an early age, also becoming a very skilled fighter. However, this has also taught him who he didn't want to become. Having watched his father and his men beating others almost to death just for the sake of it, Leif swore he'd only resort to violence if it was absolutely needed, in case he needed to defend himself or those he cared about. A calm, peaceful young man, Leif decided to distance himself from such a toxic environment in order to pursue his true interests, such as sailing, mathematics, greek and latin, as well as norse mythology. Therefore he started entering sailing competitions, having sailed alone from Greenland to North America, where he decided to settle.

Nowadays Leif teaches at a sailing academy, sharing his knowledge and passion with like-minded people, and he also goes to college in order to obtain his masters degree in greek and latin literature. Confident in himself and his abilities, but keeping an humble attitude, Leif is a very loyal friend, who'd do anything for those he loves. Due to his life experience and many journeys, he's met people from all over the world, which helped him become a very open-minded, tolerant man, who loves sharing and gathering new knowledge and beliefs. However, he's still haunted by his past, and the fear of becoming like his father one day.

CONNECTIONS

Youngest daughter of Erik the Red and Leif's half-sister, Freydis grew up in a very harsh environment that requires a survivalist mentality. Raised pagan and a fierce believer in the old gods, she was assaulted by a christian viking who carved a cross on her back. Determined to get her revenge, she counted on her brother's help to travel to Kattegat and kill her rapist, finally feeling cleansed. While in Kattegat, she received training and became a shield-maiden, and also travelled to Uppsala, where she was called "The Keeper of the Faith" and was offered a sword with the same name. Despite her faith, she ended up falling in love with Harald Sigurdsson, prince of Norway and a christian, but they are now on different paths. Reckless and driven by her emotions, Freydis is fiery, headstrong and brave, someone who never runs away from a challenge and will always fight for what she thinks is right.  ｛ # tagged posts ｝

Born into nobility and raised in the christian faith, Harald is a prince of Norway and one of the last viking berserkers. After the massacre of St. Brice's Day, where many vikings lost their lives in England, including one of his brothers, Sten, Harald travelled to Kattegat in order to help King Canute assembling an army to take revenge. There, he met Leif and his sister Freydis, whom he ended up falling in love with. Handsome, confident, charismatic and ambitious, he prefers diplomacy to violence and his passionate speeches are able to unite both followers of Odin and Christians. Harald's leadership skills and charisma immediately impressed Leif, while Leif's sailing and fighting skills, along with his willingness to avoid killing, also made a lasting impression on the prince, and the two quickly became friends. Their raid to England only strengthened their bond, and the two now consider each other brothers, always ready to jump in each other's defense. ｛ # tagged posts ｝

Born and raised in Greenland, Liv was always a good friend of Leif and Freydis', accompanying them on their journey to Kattegat and later joining Leif as he went to England. A fierce and skilled fighter, she was also very loyal and a firm believer in the old gods. Liv was in love with Leif and always tried to take care of him, cheering him up whenever he felt sad or questioned his motivations, seeing him for who he was and not a potential version of his father. After she was badly injured in England, Leif took care of her and the two assumed their love, with Leif admitting it was Liv's presence in his life that kept his inner darkness at bay, keeping him calm and inspiring him to do great things. However, Liv was killed in the battle of Kattegat and for the first time Leif gave in to the darkness he'd inherited from his father, killing several enemies in a grief-induced rage. And because he'd been questioning the pagan faith he'd been raised into, as Liv lay dying he couldn't promise her he'd one day join her in Valhalla, something he still blames himself for until today. ｛ # tagged posts ｝

Born in Aleppo, Mariam was a very well educated woman, who'd made her life's mission to travel to many places and learn as much as she could. Interested in astronomy, she studied the elements in the skies, so she had traveled to Novgorod to look for pieces of meteorites. However, due to the Pecheneg blockade of the Dnieper River, she got stuck in this city, unable to travel to Constantinople to see the doctors who could possibly treat her sickness. It was in Novgorod where she met Leif and Harald at dinner. Despite being a scholar, Leif's tales of his homeland still impressed her, and they even shared a conversation about the "rocks that fall from the sky". And when later that night Leif had a grief-induced alucination with Liv and lost his senses, it was Mariam who had him brought inside, sheltering him from the cold and probably death. Grateful for her kindness and impressed by her books and vast knowledge, Leif decided to take her to Constantinople, to get the medical help she needed. Along their journey, Mariam taught Leif how to read and write in Arabic, astronomy, mathematics, Latin and Greek. As she taught him new ways of thinking and understanding the world around him, the two fell in love, but Mariam didn't survive, dying in Leif's arms before they reached their destination. Coping with her loss in a calmer, healthier way, Leif will be forever grateful for everything he learned with her and for the navigation instruments she gifted him, things that will shape his destiny as an explorer. ｛ # tagged posts ｝

[niphuial]

Elias blinks, curiosity shining brightly in his eyes. "Auntie Katerina can swim really well though. She rescued me when I got stuck on a small piece of floaty ice going down the river when I was new to my wolf. So Alpha did a good job teaching her." He stopped, looking thoughtful. "We did end up farther downstream then she thought we were though and there was this bear too...."

A low growl left Katerina, and her eyes turned gold. "I swear I'll kill that damn sow...I already killed a male polar bear, a female can't be much harder, now can it?"

Elias nodded solemnly. "She's an enemy in our territory auntie, an affront to our very structure as a pack. Also, she tried to eat us both." He pointed out, drinking from his mug. "How can we let such an offense go? She made a mess out of your tail and pelt. Uncle Lucian laughed at you for ages."

A snicker left Lucian at the memory, and Katerina kicked him, actually hitting her target, causing him to wince. "It was funny!" He defended, shooting his sister a wounded look. "She comes home an iceball with multiple bald patches in her pelt with her tail absolutely destroyed and puppy Elias is a little iceball as well and you expect me not to laugh? No, it is still funny. Especially how it fuels her hatred of bears. I think I actually turned the whole thing into a play to show Elijah, truth be told. Made costumes and everything, just need performers now." He grins as Kol laughs and Katerina throws her remaining sausage at him, and low growl leaving her throat.

Tsking, he catches it with his mouth, smirking at his twin as she glares at him. "Thanks, sis." He murmured, smirk still on his face. "As for the drama club, you have to get the Alpha's permission to join if you're a hybrid but you aren't so..." Lucian shrugs. "Just show up to the meetings then? Although Elias will be there and according to the Child Labor Laws he gets paid per client so you'll have to start paying him as well."

this would be fun to watch

[funtimebunnyblog]

Okay so first off, I love bears! 😭 they’re so cute! I would have one as a pet if I could. How do you think the pillarmen would react to their s/o finding a bear and immediately becoming friends with it? Doesn’t matter that it’s literally a wild animal. It saw s/o and was like “this is my friend now” and it follows her everywhere. But the bear is “submissive” to her. It doesn’t attack at all and does that thing where it shows it’s belly to her all the time. The bear likes the pillar men, but not as much as it loves s/o.

Ahhh! My dear Anon, this is is such a sweet idea! 🥰🥰🥰 I have the very same feelings about keeping a Fox as a Pet ❤ I very much would if I could! 😌

This started out as a few simple headcanons buuuuut~... 😅 I got carried away and turned it into a full fic! 😘😇 Please “bear” with me and enjoy! 🐻🐻🐻

The Pillarmen’s s/o brings Home a Bear...  (A bit of a long fic; Under the cut for length!)

(I’ll stop making bear puns from this point on, I swear! I just couldn’t pass up the chance to use this picture. in any case... Please do not attempt anything that your read here with a real life Bear or any woodland creature that is dangerous for that matter! If you happen to find a lost little Bear in your travels, do the responsible thing and contact a forestry! ~FunBun)

  "What," Your head snapped up as someone spoke from behind; your eyes trailing up a most familiar muscular torso to eventually meet the disapproving gaze of Kars looming over you. The Pillarman's eyes were wide and his face unreadable, "is that?"

There you were, sitting on the front porch which was not an abnormal occurrence as this was your house and you did as you pleased...

Except for, of course, the fact that you were cradling a LIVING BABY BEAR in your lap and hand-feeding it a peanut butter sandwich!

"...A Friend." You said after a long moment, blinking up at the behemoth of a man. The Cub in your arms grasped at your hand with two huge chubby-toed paws as you pushed the last chunky bit of sandwich into its awaiting mouth; happily chewing away as if it didn't have a bother in the world.

Kars let out a long sigh, his barreled chest heaving as he reached up to pinch the space between his painted eyes with a forefinger and thumb.

"Why?" He questioned.

It was really the only thing he could say in that moment as thousands of questions rolled through his head like flotsam and jetsam. The Pillarmen struggled to keep a hold on himself, trying to give you the benefit of the doubt first before giving you the scolding he so wanted to.

He and the others knew very well you loved animals, which pleased the Pillarmen as they were Men who valued nature and precious life; Kars was no exception. They were most especially aware of your specific fixation on Bears but Kars never so much as gave the love for the creature a second thought.

However, right now, while you held a living Bear in your lap he was beginning to wish he had thought to tell you not to do something as foolish as take one in.

"Hey! I didn't do anything!" You defended yourself, allowing the Bear Cub you cradled to lick the remnants of the gooey sandwich from your fingers. You know exactly what he was thinking; he thought you deliberately went out and took the Bear!

Really, you hadn't done anything! Well... not this time anyways.

It all started when you had gone out for your morning walk in the woods, you happened to enjoy the crisp Spring air this time of year and it was a good way to get out of the house for a bit and away from the noise of the Four Pillarmen you adored that were living with you.

It was only when you were halfway down your usual route when you realized there was a little black Bear Cub following right behind you.

At first, you had feared the worst. Normally where there was a baby, there was a Mother not very far behind and despite your love for Bears you REALLY didn't want to have an encounter an angry Mother Bear that was searching for her lost baby and happened to think you were the one that took it. You did your best to avoid the baby Bear, walking fast and pretending not to notice it in hopes that it would simply give up tailing you eventually and go on its own way back to where it came from, despite the tugging of your heartstrings.

After some time of attempted avoid and evade the Cub didn't leave your side, ambling close at your heals and beginning to cry out for your attention. It became obvious to you it was all alone and even more obvious that it was hungry; as soon as it saw you it thought to remedy both those things.

Always having a big heart, you just couldn't bring yourself to leave the poor thing all alone out in the woods; especially not when it was clinging to your leg and looking up at you with those big honeyed eyes pleadingly...

You weren't supposed to get caught. You had planned to keep him a secret for at least a little while.

You had lead the baby back to the house and left it outside to its own devices on the doorstep for just a moment. Meanwhile you slipped into the kitchen to make, not one, but two peanut butter sandwiches to feed it. You really didn't have anything else to give it, you hadn't been expecting to feed a hungry little Bear anytime soon and there was nothing in it that would hurt the Cub anyways as it was mostly protein.

Your early return from your walk had gone unnoticed by the others (at least at first).

Thankfully, Santana hadn't been in the kitchen raiding the fridge like he normally did this time of morning and had been in the Livingroom with Esidisi instead, too invested in the video game they were playing to hear you come in.

Wamuu was out back chopping up more firewood to burn, as the nights were still very cold; the Warrior too far away to hear you and unable to see you with the house in the way.

Kars was supposed to be up in his study, up to his elbows in papers and practically dead to the world but of course (just when you wanted him to be working for once) he wasn't.

Somehow, he just always knew when something was amiss.

"Peanut followed me here," you explained, peering down at the squirming black fuzz ball in your lap that was still happily licking the peanut butter from its chops.

Kars clicked his tongue, "Peanut?"

He seemed even more displeased you had already named it; if you named something, it became hard to lose it. That was a rule many people followed through ancient times.

You let out a shaky laugh, ignoring the chunky paws inarticulately grasping at your clothes as a little pink tongue darted out from a tiny chestnut muzzle, dampening the glistening black button at the very tip.

Peanut was giving you a thorough sniff, making sure that he had consumed all of the delicious food you had brought him and that he hadn't missed a single morsel.

"It fits." You told him, smiling pathetically as you shrugged your shoulders.

Ruby eyes drifted down to the little creature squirming in your lap for more than a beat before he let out another sigh; this time it didn't sound as stern and disapproving as the first but it still sent a shiver down your spine. His lips pulled into a sympathetic frown as he closed the distance between you two, crouching at your side.

"Dear one," he spoke, using the tone he typically reserved for when he was trying to comfort you or give you some advice. "We cannot keep Peanut."

Immediately, you felt your heart quiver at his words; the pulse of the muscle stopped all together as you looked up at him. His eyes, normally the epitome of inhuman and predatory, now softened.

You knew very well he would have this talk with you, albeit much sooner than you anticipated originally, but it didn't change the fact it was making your heart clench painfully in your chest.

"Why?" You questioned. Now it was all you could really say in that moment as everything else that tried to come out got jumbled up in your throat.

You really didn't need to ask such a question however, as you already knew the answer.

"My sunshine, he's a wild Animal; a predator. He may be a small creature now but Cubs like Peanut grow very quickly indeed." He explained gently, wrapping one muscular arm around you. "And as he grows, his appetite will grow; you won't be able to feed him simple sandwiches forever."

Your lips scrunched up as you peered down at the now quiescent black ball of fuzz cradled in your arms. Peanut, his belly now full and all the peanut butter thoroughly cleaned from his paws and face, had closed his eyes and was slowly falling down into a most comfortable mid-morning nap.

He was so cute; so damn cute you wanted to cry. A hand absentmindedly reached up to grasp one of his paws, your thumb tracing over the squishy pads of his feet and feeling the sharp little claws sprouting from the chubby toes like thorns from a rose.

All your life you loved Bears, no matter the kind; Panda Bears, Koala Bears, Grizzly Bears, Sun Bears, Polar Bears, even Black Bears like Peanut... and now here you were, holding one in your very own arms! Hugging it close to your body like one would an everyday Teddy Bear! A real life Bear had just waddled up to you in the forest, clinging to you as if appointing you as its new Mother and caregiver, cuddling in your arms like a loving pet and cooing as you fed it an icky-sticky delight.

It was a dream come true... and now Kars was asking you to wake up and cast it aside.

"But--... But--..." the quivering of your lip made it hard to find a foothold in this dispute.

"And there is also the matter of his behavior." Kars continued softly, one massive palm gently rubbing up and down your back as he spoke. "Bears can grow to be very territorial and temperamental creatures. Their maximum strength can out lift 10 Men and their maximum speed is faster than any vehicle you can drive."

By now your eyes were watering, the fuzzy spot in your arms no longer seemed so very fuzzy as the world around you blurred behind tears.

Kars, of course, was making sense as he always did and you didn't like it one bit.

The living God's frown only deepened as the glistening of the water pooling in your eyes caught his. Truly, he hated to see you cry. Seeing tears in your eyes was something that made him weak in places he never felt such weakness prior to falling in love with you... but your safety was in jeopardy; and that was something he, nor the other Pillarmen who loved you and dotted on you, didn't want to risk over one creature.

"We have to put him back where he belongs." He said; though his words still carried that softness it was undoubtedly an order not to be refused.

"Oh Kars," you sniffed, your nose crinkling as tears began to fall. "I can't do it!"

You turned more fully towards him, presenting the sleepy Cub; practically thrusting him into the Pillarman's arms.

"Just look at him!" You cried. "He's so small and he's all alone! I don't know what happened to his Mother but she's gone and... and..."

One massive hand found your cheek as the tears came harder, a calloused thumb swiping the raging rivers aside.

"Please Kars... I can't give him up... what if he--?...." you wimpered, unable to finish that thought. You were fully aware you had already lost for today as he shook his head sadly.

Your tears did nothing to sway him when he knew what he had to do.

His free hand slipped under the sleeping Cub, Peanut did little more than fill his palm, scooping him up and cradling him close to his chest as he stood.

Your arms had never felt more empty.

"I'm sorry, Beloved. It has to be done." He told you as you stared up at him with a crestfallen and teary gaze. "Chances are, his natural instincts will kick in and he will learn to take care of himself despite the absence of his Mother. Abandoned Cubs are more common than you think. Peanut needs to go back to the woods."

That was all that could be said, the Pillarman disappeared in one blinding flash; taking the Bear Cub with him.

You were left there sitting on the porch, scrubbing at your cheeks with the sleeve of your sweater until the sensitive skin was raw in the cool Spring morning air. You managed to pull yourself together enough to not raise suspicion and headed back inside to make some coffee.

The morning passed quietly, when Kars made his eventual return to the house (sans Bear in hand) you didn't even look him in the eye.

You didn't deny that Kars had done the right thing, Peanut was in fact a wild Animal and belonged to the wilderness, but you still felt strangely bitter over it. So inexplicably angry it almost felt childish as you couldn't stop yourself from glaring at his back as he passed the kitchen table.

More time passed, your only half-drunk mug of coffee had long gone cold and your grief for the little Bear you knew that was left all alone somewhere in the woods had managed to ebb somewhat. You were just about to get up to go get a start on some chores when all of a sudden, Wamuu came through the door.

"Shoo! Shoo!" The massive Pillarman swiped his hand as he backed himself through the door, "Go on! Go back to your Home, small one."

You tilted your head, watching the unusual display. "What's wrong?"

The blonde turned his head to look at you with a frown. "I was trying to finish up my morning task when a Bear came out of the woods." He explained, finally closing the door with a sigh. Your gasp went unnoticed as he peered through the window of the door, his frown only etching deeper. "It's too small to be a juvenile. Just a Cub. I did not want to find out if there was a Mother lingering so I came back to the House. However, it seems to have decided to follow me..."

The Warrior blinked as you were suddenly out of your seat, squeezing past him to squish against the window of the door to see for yourself.

"Peanut!" You cried, your heart fluttering in your chest as you too caught sight of the little round ink blot sitting dejectedly on the porch.

Wamuu barely had a chance to react let alone intervene as you yanked open the door again, the sounds of the crying Bear hitting your ears.

It was Peanut alright, every feature similar right down to the whiskers of his muzzle. The Bear was plopped down on his rear, feet sticking out under him like he were a simple Teddy Bear sitting on the shelf of a toy store, and staring up at the door he knew you were behind. The squeaky wailing of the Cub fell silent as soon as he caught sight of you and realized he was no longer all alone, it seemed that he missed you just as much as you had him.

Wamuu stared in disbelief, watching with wide eyes as the little Bear rolled onto his back to reveal his soft tummy and stubby paws to you.

"Peanut?" The blonde questioned, one thick eyebrow raising as he looked between you both.

This was a wild Animal and yet you greeted it like some sort of pet!

As your leaned down to give a loving rub to the exposed tummy of the Bear, cooing at it as contentment spread across its features. You intended to recount this mornings full story to ease Wamuu's obvious confusion, however, you didn't so much as get the chance to get a word out before Kars was standing in the room.

He had just been about to head upstairs and absorb himself in his work, when he caught a snippet of what was happening in the kitchen. The Pillarman's crimson eyes wide as he approached, needing to see what was happening for himself.

"Look Kars!" You beamed, grinning up at both gawking Pillarmen as the Bear grasped at your petting hand, playfully trying to gum on your fingers with blunt little teeth. "Peanut came back!"

Kars all but shared in your glee, the pinching of his brows and the drooping of his lips gave away his irritation.

He had dropped Peanut off safely somewhere in the woods, not far from your usual walking path. When he had left, the Cub had still been sound asleep, completely none the wiser to being left behind, and the Pillarman had honestly thought that would be that.

It would seem the creature had imprinted on you more than he anticipated and it only added on to his previous fears.

"I'm afraid I'm in need of an explanation, my Lord..." Wamuu spoke up, tearing his gaze away from you and the Bear Cub you were most happily playing with.

Kars swooped in, taking the Cub away from you for the 2nd time that morning, much like an Eagle dropping from the sky to snatch up a mouse. Peanut pawed at his hardened chest, becoming squirmy in the massive mans hold as he let out a couple of little grunts.

It was as if the Bear knew exactly what Kars intended to do.

"I'll explain it to you in full when I return, Wamuu." He sighed as he begun carrying the squirming woodland creature away from the House towards the woods where he deemed it rightfully belonged.

You waved at the baby Bear as it watched you from over one muscled shoulder with those big honeyed eyes, feeling a little disheartened again but the fact that the Cub came looking for you still made a sweet warmth bloom in your chest.

It would be far from the last time any of you saw Peanut.

Late morning turned to afternoon and the day bloomed into something warm and lovely, like a watered down Summer day. Linens and towels came straight from the washing machine and were headed for the clothesline to dry in the sweet air.

There was absolutely nothing better than falling asleep in bedsheets that had spent all day out on a line in the breeze.

Always happy to help you around the household, Esidisi volunteered to put them out for you as you were already busy doing other things around the house.

He had only turned his back for 2 seconds to hang the first sheet, humming softly to himself as he went, before turning to find a baby Bear making himself at Home in the laundry basket he had carried out. Peanut was rubbing his scent all over the damp linens as he rolled in and pawed at the clean sheets; inevitably dirtying them again.

Esidisi found the whole ordeal hilarious, most especially when he was fed the full story of the morning by you who had come out to see what was taking him so long with his chore.

Kars, on the other hand, didn't find it so very funny.

He especially didn't see the humor in it when he found the two of you playing with Peanut in the yard, entertaining yourselves and the Cub by draping a sheet over him and prying it off like a parachute over and over.

Peanut was taken back to the forest a 3rd time; this time much farther into the woods.

Late afternoon rolled around and Santana finally left the house to go outside; having the sole intention of taking a nap in the fresh air via the hammock that had been recently strung up in the backyard.

Unfortunately, the youngest Pillarman got sidetracked when a little Bear came out of the woodwork and crawled into the hammock with him, mewling and demanding his immediate attention as he was hungry once again.

Kars, the one and only, spirited Peanut away before you and Santana had a chance to make more sandwiches to feed it.

This happened over and over and over again.

It seemed like every time the Pillarman dumped Peanut somewhere, no matter how remote or how far from your Home, the little Bear inevitably found its way back sooner or later; ambling up to you or the others with a mighty hunger and a carefree nature unmatched.

Peanut appeared on the doorstep next morning when you were about to head out for a walk.

Peanut was found digging in the trash bin when Kars was taking out the trash.

Peanut clung to Wamuu's leg as he went out to mow the lawn; the Warrior didn't so much as bat an eye, unhindered, as the Cub held onto his ankle while he worked the mower.

Peanut approached Santana when he was eating chips on the porch; the Pillarmen didn't seem to mind the company nor the fact the Bear ended up upside down in the bag.

Peanut followed you around like you were its one true Mother while you tended the yard and carried out chores.

Peanut sat contently at Esidisi's feet as the man was Barbecuing supper in the evening; the Bear watching him and waiting for supper to be served as if he were the guest of Honor.

Each time, without fail, Kars brought him back to the woods and each time, without fail, Peanut came back.

It was only frustrating him further and further.

Eventually, one quiet and rainy morning Kars went out onto the porch to sit and read; he always enjoyed the sound of rainfall and the fresh earthen smell of a Spring downpour. He had barely been there 5 minutes, not even enough time to get truly immersed in his novel, when suddenly a very wet and cold ball of hair climbed up into his lap, actually making the Pillarman yelp at the shock of the sensation of a freezing cold Cub pressing against his bare skin.

Kars was big and dry and comfortable, like a much bigger and hairless Bear, a place Peanut deemed perfect enough to sit out of the Rain and warm up.

The purple-haired man frowned down at the chubby bundle taking up residence in his lap, Peanut grunted contently as he made himself comfortable. His normally downy soft and dandelion puffed fur was now patterned down and awry, radiating with a dank with a heady, musky Bear smell due to being soaking wet.

It was not at all a pleasant smell to anyone's nose, most especially to a Pillarman's as they were creatures with extra sensitive senses.

Kars, now feeling that this was the final straw, was just about to scoop the creature up into his arms and carry out their usual pick up and drop off routine; this time he intended to take Peanut all the way down river to the farthest side of the forest and leave him there.

He stopped on a dime when two big pools of honey locked onto glimmering rubies.

"Don't look at me like that..." the Pillarman warned, feeling his heart quiver strangely in his chest. The command didn't come out nearly as firm as he intended it to be.

Kars treasured creatures big and small and this creature was so adorable, so small it made his arms itch in ways he hadn't felt since the time he had taken care of the two infants that grew to be Wamuu and Santana. Peanut rolled in his lap, squishing his face against the Pillarman's abs and nuzzling softly; his fur stuck to bare skin in an almost icky way and made his loincloth feel very damp and uncomfortable due to the run off of water.

The Pillarman pursed his lips, forcing himself to bring to mind all the logical points on why this Bear (this nuisance, this danger, this predator) had to go.

Peanut opened his mouth and let out a little yawn and a sneeze, probably just as hungry as he was cold and damp.

Kars' huge hands balled into fists at his sides, his jaw setting tighter and tighter as he felt himself and the walls of his determination crumbling, hating every single millisecond of it before eventually, after an internal struggle that lasted seemingly millennium... he sighed.

Peanut was scooped into his arms and, this time, taken into the House.

☆☆☆

"Really?!" You cried in disbelief, hands going to your mouth as it pulled into an impossibly huge grin.

Esidisi, Wamuu and Santana just sat there, expressions ranging from shock to disbelief of their own.

Surely he couldn't be serious... could he?

Kars let out a long breath, "Yes, dearest." He groaned, still cradling the tiny dampened Bear in the crook of his arm as it clung to his bicep. "We can keep Peanut."

Immediately, to everyone’s amusement but Kars', you were in his lap just as quickly as the Cub had climbed into it. You didn't care one bit that he was a little damp and that some of Peanuts musky stink had rubbed off on him, peppering his face with thousands of kisses as you threw your arms around both the Pillarman and the Cub.

"Oh Kars! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" You squealed between your line of kisses.

Nobody had expected Kars to cave in this matter; they honestly expected this to go on and on for some time until Peanut was forced to be the one to give up on finding his way back to the house.

However, despite the fact all of them were pleased and ready to take on this idea of having an actual living Bear around, there came the next matters to attend to.

The ground rules.

"But he cannot stay inside the house." Kars said, that firm nature of his making its return. Peanut had managed to wriggle out of both of your holds and was now ambling around the Livingroom, sniffing everything and everyone in sight. Esidisi was following him around to ensure he wouldn't break anything or get himself into more trouble while Kars was feeling so generous, smiling indulgently as he scooped him up and presented him to the others.

"Ok." You hummed, that part was only to be expected.

But you wouldn't deny that somewhere in the back of your mind you had fantasized about cuddling up to a giant fuzzy Peanut in bed or on the couch.

Kars took in another deep breath and the atmosphere changed, it was as if the temperature dropped in the room. The mans eyes were serious and his features became even more stonelike than the masks he crafted as he pulled you closer to him in his lap.

"I want you to listen to me, dear one." He began, his voice was low and something akin to fridged; it only sent shivers dancing down your spine. "If Peanut grows to be an aggressive creature or too much a hassle to handle, even if he gives any of us the slightest reason to fear he would harm you in any way, shape or form... we'll have to be rid of him. Permanently."

His words hung in the air, making your stomach sink like a rock falling helplessly to the depths of the ocean. A lump was starting to balloon in your throat.

You knew very well what that meant.

The Pillarmen weren't men who took any form of pleasure out of killing Animals; Kars especially... but you knew that he would not hesitate to do so for your sake. His words spoken to you prior on the porch when you first encountered the Cub rang around quite deafeningly in your head.

"Do I make myself clear?" He asked you, his pupils burned absolute holes into your heart as he held your gaze; not unlike a strict parent after giving the scolding of a lifetime.

The best you could do was nod, praying the day you all feared would never come at all or at least not very soon; the latter was perhaps your best hope.

For now, however, you planned on celebrating the day by making a peanut butter sandwich for the newest, and perhaps hungriest, member of your little Family.

☆☆☆

Time passed, as it did for everything, and Peanut grew and grew. He grew from a small and clumsy little Bear Cub into a bigger and gangly Juvenile Bear by mid Summer.

Sometimes the Bear would disappear at night into the woods, just after supper of course, but there were also times he would just sleep close to the house; most specifically by the front porch. Peanut still followed you around outside as you did anything, always greeting you with a grunt as he flopped onto his back to reveal his belly and were always more than happy to rub it when he did.

His appetite did indeed grow and the simple peanut butter namesake was no longer truly fulfilling to him; nothing more than a sweet morsel to lick up as a treat.

Peanut had to be shown how to properly hunt for himself and that was something you and Esidisi decided to tackle together, taking him down to the river on the hottest days to teach him to to fish for himself. Those days were filled with much laughter on your part where you sat on the bank to watch the Pillarmen wading out in the raging waters with the Bear, hunched forward and making a grab for a slippery and wet flying fish with his hands as they jumped from the water to properly demonstrate.

Eventually, after much trial and error (not to mention Esidisi falling right into the river a handful of times) Peanut was able to catch all the fish he wanted to eat.

Wamuu was a big help in burning off the major energy that came with Peanut growing into an adult Bear. The Warrior often spent hours out in the yard playing with him, going so far as to push and wrestle with the creature, playing simple games like throwing a giant ball around or to even take him on a run through the woods to tire him out.

Sometimes you even tailed behind the pair on your 4 wheeler to get in on the fun and play.

Santana found himself spending his days playing with Peanut too, more often content to help you take care of the beast. You and Santana tried to bath Peanut at least once every 2 weeks to fight against his stinky Bear musk, lathering him up nicely where he sat contently in an old kiddie pool in the yard and hosing him off. Santana would spend a lot of time with Peanut as the Bear napped, scratching his back and finger combing the knots out of his fur; even plucking annoying ticks from the Bears body when he found them.

You found it quite disturbing, and more than a little gross, as to how Santana could hold the bloated insects between his fingers and pop them upon finding them. You swore you could hear the red-head chuckle lowly each time you let out a disgusted gag when he done it.

And Kars, he found himself dotting over and spoiling Peanut with affection just as much as you did.

The Pillarman would deny any claims that he snuck the Bear peanut butter sandwiches between meals or even peanut butter straight from the jar but you knew the truth. It was hard to miss as it seemed Peanut would immediately give Kars a good sniffing upon seeing him, obviously checking for any delicious treats he happened to be keeping concealed.

By late Fall, Peanut was a fully grown Adult Bear.

In fact, he had swollen to such an immense size, he was something of a rival to the Pillarmen; by that time it was something of a relief he was a gentle giant. He was still a wild Animal but he was also a loving pet to you and the 4 Pillarmen.

One day, Peanut stumbled out into the woods and didn't return. Snow came not long after and then the brutal and fridged season of Winter truly begun.

Peanut had disappeared but you knew he wasn't far in the woods, hopefully holed up in a cave and hibernating.

Winter passed slowly, more slowly than it ever had before. As December ticked away to January and eventually February, the others didn't miss how much you missed your Peanut; he was all you could talk about somedays! You weren't the only one who missed him however, not missing the wistful looks passing over the faces of the others upon seeing a segment on Black Bears airing on National Geographic or opening the fridge to find the jar of peanut butter sitting there; untouched and almost begging to be eaten.

March went bye, then April and the snow had long melted away due to the heavy rainfall but still, Peanut did not make his return.

You were seriously starting to worry by this time. What if he hadn't been hibernating all along? What if a Hunter had gotten to him? Or what if... he forgot about you?

The Pillarmen could only console you so much, trying their best not to give you false hope by saying things along the lines of "I'm sure he'll be around!" and make things worse as they really did not know of Peanut's fate either...

It was well over a year since you had first taken in the Cub and now there was no sign of him anywhere.

But just when you were starting to give up all hope of seeing your prized Bear and companion again, you opened the door one morning as you prepared to go on your morning walk to be met with shock.

You just about jumped out of your skin as an earth rattling roar hit your eardrums, sending a jolt of fear striking through your body like lightning and screaming in primal terror at the sight before you. A Black Bear that was larger than life stood on its haunches off the porch, its maw open and its breath showing like hot puffs of steam as it growled out into the cold Spring air; asserting its presence for miles.

For one terrible and too long of a moment, you thought you would be slaughtered on your own doorstep by your most favorite Animal on Earth.

Your terror was short-lived however, as the monstrous beast you feared would devour you whole suddenly flopped onto its back and turned its belly to the sky.

"PEANUT!" You cried, spreading your arms wide as you ran to flop on top of the creature; your friend and pet.

It wasn't long after when all 4 Pillarmen were standing out on the porch, your screech having been heard from inside the house.

"Look Kars!" You beamed, rubbing the gargantuan tummy with a wide grin; eliciting a content grunt from the Bear. "Peanut came back!

Kars could only smile this time and shake his head.

Peanut had come back again, without fail; just as he always done and the Pillarmen were quite happy he was here to stay...

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Changed by pandemic, many workers won’t return to old jobs (AP) There’s a wild card in the push to return to post-pandemic life: Many workers don’t want to go back to the jobs they once had. Layoffs and lockdowns, combined with enhanced unemployment benefits and stimulus checks, gave many Americans the time and the financial cushion to rethink their careers. Their former employers are hiring again — and some, like Uber and McDonald’s, are offering higher pay—but workers remain hesitant. Employers and business groups argue that the $300-per-week federal unemployment supplement gives recipients less incentive to look for work. But Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist who researches low- and middle-income workers with the Economic Policy Institute, said health concerns and child care responsibilities seem to be the main reasons holding workers back. In April, she said, at least 25% of U.S. schools weren’t offering in-person learning, forcing many parents to stay home. And health concerns could gain new urgency for some workers now that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said fully vaccinated people can stop wearing masks in most settings. Some workers say the pandemic helped them prioritize their mental and physical health. And in a tight labor market, some workers are also finding that if they hold out, they might get a better job than the one they left.

Unhealthy Dose of Litigation (CNN) It’s not personal, it’s just business. Tell that to tens of thousands of individuals sued by hospitals for ‘medical debt’ they have no way of ever paying. Community Health Systems, Inc. (CHS) is one of America’s largest hospital chains. A CNN investigation found that since March 2020, company-owned hospitals filed at least 19,000 lawsuits against their patients over allegedly unpaid medical bills, even as other hospitals around the country have curtailed similar lawsuits during the pandemic. CHS’s 84 hospitals are concentrated in the South, but stretch across 16 states from Alaska to Key West, Florida. The hospitals have sued patients for as little as $201 and as much as $162,000. Most defendants didn’t hire a lawyer or fight the lawsuits, and judges often rendered a default judgment in the hospital’s favor. Attorney’s fees and interest are often tacked on. Once a court rules against a defendant, a hospital can proceed to put a lien on the defendant’s house or garnish part of their wages. Many garnishments were against people working for low-wage employers like Walmart. A researcher who has studied hospital lawsuits said that it’s typical for hospitals that sue patients to only make a tiny fraction of their revenue from those lawsuits. “It’s not keeping the lights on for the hospitals—they don’t need to be doing this,” she said. “But for the patients... They’re choosing between medical care and food.”

Argentina Halts Beef Exports for 30 Days to Contain Prices (Bloomberg) Argentina’s government is limiting exports of beef, a staple in the country, in the latest unorthodox move to try to contain runaway inflation that’s approaching 50% annually. President Alberto Fernandez told a key beef export association that they won’t be allowed to sell the product abroad for 30 days, according to a Production Ministry statement released late Monday. “The president expressed his concern over the sustained growth in domestic beef prices over the last few months,” according to the statement. The country’s beef exports in 2020 amounted to roughly $3 billion, but the government may be more focused on the political cost of falling domestic consumption.

Spain Turns to Corruption Rehab for Officials Who Can’t Stop Stealing (NYT) Carlos Alburquerque isn’t your typical rehab candidate. He’s a 75-year-old grandfather living in Córdoba, a city in southern Spain. He was a town notary before he retired in 2015. He hasn’t touched drugs or alcohol in years. But his isn’t your typical rehab program: It’s an 11-month boot camp to reform corrupt Spanish officials and “reinsert” them into mainstream society. “Repairing the damage is what is left for me in this life,” said Mr. Alburquerque, who is serving a four-year prison sentence for stealing around 400,000 euros, nearly a half a million dollars, in his work drawing up contracts and deeds. That such a program exists in Spain may say much about the country’s belief in second chances as it does about how corruption has captured the public imagination here. Flip open a newspaper or turn on the radio: You will hear of schemes, scandals and skulduggery which almost always lead back to the public purse. According to Ángel Luis Ortiz, a former judge who now runs Spain’s prisons, the boom-bust cycles of Spain’s economy had led it to a long history of fraudsters and betrayals of public trust, he said. But at least, corruption rates in Spain were no worse than in other European nations, Mr. Ortiz said, just 5 percent of all crimes.

Russia’s northernmost base projects its power across Arctic (AP) During the Cold War, Russia’s Nagurskoye airbase was little more than a runway, a weather station and a communications outpost in the Franz Josef Land archipelago. It was a remote and desolate home mostly for polar bears, where temperatures plunge in winter to minus-42 Celsius (43 degrees below zero Fahrenheit) and the snow only disappears from August to mid-September. Now, Russia’s northernmost military base is bristling with missiles and radar and its extended runway can handle all types of aircraft, including nuclear-capable strategic bombers, projecting Moscow’s power and influence across the Arctic amid intensifying international competition for the region’s vast resources. Russia has sought to assert its influence over wide areas of the Arctic in competition with the United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway as shrinking polar ice from the warming planet offers new opportunities for resources and shipping routes. China also has shown an increasing interest in the region, believed to hold up to one-fourth of the Earth’s undiscovered oil and gas.

Cyclone kills 19 in India, heavy rains lash parts of Gujarat state (Reuters) A cyclone on India’s west coast has killed at least 19 people and damaged infrastructure and agriculture, while heavy rains continued to lash some regions even as weather officials said on Tuesday that the storm’s intensity had weakened. The cyclone Tauktae, which made landfall in the western state of Gujarat late on Monday, has hit power supply in 2,400 villages in the state as a thousand electricity pylons were damaged, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said in a media address. Nearly 160 roads have been destroyed, 40,000 trees uprooted and several houses damaged, Rupani added.

India reports record day of virus deaths as cases level off (AP) India’s total virus cases since the pandemic began swept past 25 million on Tuesday as the country registered more than 260,000 new cases and a record 4,329 fatalities in the past 24 hours. The numbers continue a trend of falling cases after infections dipped below 300,000 for the first time in weeks on Monday. Active cases in the country also decreased by more than 165,000 on Tuesday—the biggest dip in weeks. But deaths have continued to rise and hospitals are still swamped by patients. Infections in India have surged since February in a disastrous turn blamed on more contagious variants as well as government decisions to allow massive crowds to gather for religious festivals and political rallies.

In Gaza, grief and destruction (Washington Post) In a conflict already marked by harrowing scenes of tragedy, one image stood out. Rescuers in Gaza City on Sunday pulled out Suzy Eshkuntana, a 6-year-old, from the rubble of a building that had once been her home, but which was flattened by Israeli airstrikes. She was covered in dust but alive. Her mother and all four of her siblings were dead. It’s not clear why the Eshkuntanas’ home was brought crashing down. Israeli authorities told reporters that they had targeted a network of tunnels used by Hamas militants that may have run beneath the area where the family lived. “The collapse of the tunnel system,” Reuters reported, “caused the houses above to collapse and led to unintended civilian casualties, the military said.” In Israel’s telling, there are many more “unintended” casualties in Gaza. According to local Health Ministry officials, the death toll in Gaza climbed to 212 people, including 61 children and 36 women, as fighting entered its second week. Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, home to some 2.1 million people, the majority of whom are classified as refugees by the United Nations. That’s a legacy of the displacements that followed Israel’s creation in 1948 and the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Children make up about half of Gaza’s population. The territory has been under Israeli blockade since 2007, after Hamas took power following a rift within the Palestinian Authority. “Living conditions in Gaza are bleak: 95 percent of the population does not have access to clean water, according to [the United Nations], and electricity shortages periodically bring life to a halt,” my colleagues reported. “The territory has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, World Bank statistics show, and the United Nations estimates that roughly 80 percent of the population relies on international aid to survive and access basic services.”

The New Arab Street: Online, Global and Growing (NYT) The video traveled at 4G speed, leapfrogging across international borders, social media platforms and social justice movements: a young Palestinian woman in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, shouting in furious English at a Jewish man, “You are stealing my house!” “If I don’t steal it, someone else will steal it,” he retorts. Within days—as Israel bombed the coastal territory of Gaza, Palestinian militants there launched rockets at Israel, and Arab and Jewish mobs faced off in Israeli cities—the video had rocketed from young Palestinians’ social media feeds into the Arab diaspora, then lit up the internet, kindling outrage around the world. It used to be that when Palestinians were under fire, protests would follow in the streets of Arab cities. That potential for combustion forced Middle Eastern and Western leaders to keep a wary eye on the temperature of what was called the “Arab street.” This time, a week into an Israeli bombing campaign that has killed 212 Palestinians in Gaza, the reaction from Arab capitals has been muted and protests small and scattered. Instead, solidarity with the Palestinians has shifted online and gone global, a virtual Arab street that has the potential to have a wider impact than the ones in Middle Eastern cities. The online protesters have linked arms with popular movements for minority rights such as Black Lives Matter, seeking to reclaim the narrative from the mainstream media and picking up support in Western countries that have reflexively supported Israel.

Ransomware hits AXA units in Asia, Irish healthcare (AP) The Thai affiliate of Paris-based insurance company AXA said Tuesday it is investigating a ransomware attack by Russian-speaking cybercriminals that has affected operations in Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Meanwhile, a cyberattack on a public health provider in New Zealand took down information systems across five hospitals, forcing staff to cancel some elective surgeries and creating all sorts of other problems. It was unclear if the event was linked to a cyberattack that has nearly paralyzed Ireland’s national healthcare IT systems. The Irish government’s decision not to pay the criminals means hospitals won’t have access to patient records—and must resort mostly to handwritten notes—until painstaking efforts are complete to restore thousands of computer servers from backups.

The Places Ranked Best for Expats in 2021 (Bloomberg) Taiwan, Mexico and Costa Rica have been ranked as the top spots to live and work abroad in 2021, based on their cost of living, ease of settling in and overall quality of life. The U.S. was ranked only 34th out of 59 places, largely because of how expats viewed quality of life in America, according to a new survey published Tuesday. Taiwan topped the charts for the third year in a row in the survey of 12,420 expats conducted by InterNations, a Munich-based expat network with about 4 million members. The top 10: Taiwan, Mexico, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Portugal, New Zealand, Australia, Ecuador, Canada, Vietnam.

[razieltwelve]

How does an Oerban timber wolf compare in size to a Polar bear dog?

Both the Oerban timber wolf and polar bear dogs can be ridden once they are fully grown. However, polar bear dogs can reach a larger maximum size. In Final Rose, Naga is still growing. She’s about 75% of her final height whereas her current height is basically the size of a fully grown Oerban timber wolf.

In Final Rose, polar bear dogs can only be found in areas where there is snow and ice all year round. Although they can survive outside of those locations once they get older, pre-adolescent polar bear dogs struggle mightily due to their having a pelt designed to maximise heat retention. Older polar bear dogs that have reached adolescence or adulthood are better able to deal with warmer climates due to their relying not solely on their pelt but also on stores of fat they’ve built up. 

Trained polar bear dogs are quite rare. In general, they are solitary animals that will hunt down and kill anything smaller than they are, which is almost everything. Like most other apex predators from Remnant, they are capable of using Aura to add to their prowess. The only trained polar bear dogs are found amongst the Water Tribes. At some point, in the distant past, the ancestors of the Water Tribe unlocked the secrets of communicating with polar bear dogs.

A polar bear dog may approach a settlement and make its desire to cooperate known. This usually takes the form of the polar bear dog aiding the settlers in hunting or in defending their settlement. In exchange, the polar bear expects a share of the hunt and to have its own young safe guarded from predators while it hunts or defends it own territory. This is how Korra met Naga. Naga’s mother helped Korra’s village fight off Grimm in exchange for food and shelter for herself and Naga. During the attack in which Korra’s parents were almost killed and Korra awakened her Semblance, Naga’s mother fell alongside many of the village’s warriors. 

Since then, Naga has stayed alongside Korra. In the years since, a young pair of mated polar bear dogs has made an agreement with the village. Naga doesn’t mind since she doesn’t live there anymore, and it’s generally understood amongst polar bear dogs that settlements in these circumstances count as neutral ground. When polar bear dogs clash over territory it is generally well away from settlements and only when necessary. Battles between polar bear dogs are brutal affairs, and it is not unusual for both combatants to be so badly injured that they are easy prey for other polar bear dogs or Grimm, which is why it is actually rare for things to go beyond the posturing stage.

Fun fact: Polar bear dogs find reptiles weird. Due to the bitterly cold environments in which they live, polar bear dogs do not frequently encounter reptiles, so most of them don’t meet any reptiles until they venture outside of their natural environment.

[subtleshenanigans]

I guess I’m just gonna make a list of my original work stuff???

I’m mostly posting them to AO3 because I know I’ll keep rights over my stuff, and so that people can enjoy them for free. Writing is personal to me, and I want to share it!

The Tale Of Dark Forest

This series is in a made up world called Arath; it’s full of anthropomorphic animals (all of which are wild cats, wild dogs, or hybrids) and is sort of medieval-esque; there’s also heavy emphasis on “Legend Figures”, which are historical figures known in certain regions. They don’t have modern tech, weapons are carried by everyone (it’s more about the skill and being able to defend oneself), etc. It mostly focuses on the town (once a kingdom long ago, a budding kingdom many years after the first book) Dark Forest, which is under tyrany at this period of time. Most of the information is from a smaller world-view as Dark Forest is kinda isolated, but is expanded in the sequel as the protagonist (the grandson of two of the protagonists from the first book) ends up leaving home. The first story is completed; the sequel is in the works and for now called Rius, after the protagonist.

Confused Chicken and Ashen Feathers

This story is about a few hundred-year-old (but stuck at fifteen) kid named Jake, and a girl named Zero. Jake somehow became an avian shapeshifter - he can shapeshift into any bird that has existed - but his default is a chicken (so when startled/scared/can’t think, he turns into a chicken.) Zero, which is a nickname, doesn’t know she’s a shapeshifter known as a Darkbird until the day she dies and comes back to life (she’s basically a Phoenix but dark and ashy, which fire inside; she basically heals herself from the brink of death and deadly wounds. There’s a set amount she can heal.) They end up getting chased by the guy who killed her and are on the run. It’s a one-shot series currently, mostly hurt/comfort(?) Zero and Jake are platonic.

To Wander

This one is about a person (a persona of me) named The Wanderer, also known as Ander. It’s more expiremental but it’s also a one-shot series about them wandering around and encountering different things. They currently have a companion animal simply known as the fox cub. (Kinda playing around with world-building on this one.)

The Arath

This one will probably never be completely done, but it’s about this girl who gets cut on a fossil (she has an older friend who works on a dig site????) and gains the ability to seperate into four aspects: A’eth the cat (who is her anger and justice and fiery feelings concentrated; represents fire, has a jaguar-like form and the human form is warmer colors), Araaknasan the wolf (ice; cooler emotions like apathy, distance, absolute justice before mercy, etc. Animal form is bigger than a dire wolf and human form is cooler colors, has a sword), Antethnesan the bird (wind; warm, balanced emotions like mercy, kindness, wisdom. Bird form is sorta Hawk-like, human form has wings that can curl forward and drape over shoulders like a cloak of sorts, is in soft/faded earth tones. Uses bows and arrows.), and Mescarnog (darkness element; hatred, similar feelings. Human form is faded, almost colorless, black hair and gray eyes, doesn’t speak much. Beast form is rarely used but it’s HUGE, fur kinda like a polar bear but with a shean almost like the Aurora. It’s definitely mammal looking.) I don’t have much besides that - eventually she gets an animal form with no human form (Green earth/plants; it’s a raptor of sorts) and vice versa (water; she’s in deeper blues, can grow algae in her throat that produces oxygen when she keeps her mouth and nose shut underwater so she can breath; this form is mute as well.) All the animal forms are big. Like, human sized maybe a bit bigger. Her name/title is The Arath.

Yaguara

This one is about a society(?) of jaguars but it’s not. Jaguars are still solitary - females’ territories still overlap males’ to a degree, but male territories never overlap - and don’t really have reason to interact beyond the odd hello if they pass by. But there is appointed leaders, Yaguars, who will meet up if there’s a crisis. One male goes off to find his mate (he only ever took one) who was to have had his Cubs soon, only to find her and two of the Cubs murdered. One lives and he names him Sun, for his golden eyes (also as a pun on Son). He grows up raised by his father (which is HIGHLY unusual but jags keep to themselves so he’s not ostracized.) He tells his son stories and legends, especially about the Yaguara, an ancestor from the distant past. His eyes burned with the sun and he alone fought and killed the vile one ((I’ll need to check my notes on some names obviously.)) One day, as he’s almost three years old (an adult for a Jaguar), his father is murdered and when he goes to the council it’s to find that this villain Jaguar is taking over things, perverting their laws and order, killing who he pleases. He runs away, and makes friends with a puma around his age, despite pumas and jaguars usually having disdain for one another. Of course Sun, the protagonist, will one day become the Yaguara.

Unnamed story

This one is complicated so I’ll talk about it another time.

[anamuseinglife]

Iditapod: Rainy Pass, Race Rookies, and Rohn Axe-Throwing

[sound of an axe hitting wood]

[men cheering]

Discordant voices: Ayyy! That was it! That was it hitting the bullseye

[theme music plays]

Casey Groves: Welcome to the Iditapod! It’s a podcast about dog mushing and the Iditarod, and… axe throwing? We’ll get to that in a few minutes. But first, here’s a word from our sponsor

[ad plays]

CG: Well, my friends, since the last time we talked, the more than four dozen sled dogs teams competing in the 2019 Iditarod have mushed, or are mushing, into the mountainous Alaska range. When mushers say these are the most technical sections of the trail, they mean it is an area where mistakes can be especially dangerous, and expert sled driving is of the utmost importance.

So, the Rainy Pass checkpoint on the frozen alpine Puntilla Lake, is a spot many mushers stop to prepare for the often tough trail ahead. But, not last years second place finisher Nic Petit, who stayed only a few minutes, long enough for race officials and veterinarians to check out his team and gear. In fact, looking at Petit’s checkpoint times on Iditarod.com, he hasn’t stayed more than a few minutes at any checkpoint in the face, except for Rohn, where he stayed a whopping 20 minutes. Instead, Petit has opted, as mushers will do sometimes, to avoid the hubbub of the checkpoints and camp his team out along the trail. They pick up straw, they pick up supplies from their drops bags, and they take that along with them down the trail and just do their own thing. That’s why, after having the lead earlier in the race, severals teams passed Petit on the way from Rohn down to Nikolai. That is a village on the upper Kuskokwim River, roughly 250 miles into the 1000 mile race.

While Petit rested from Rohn to Nikolai, the race GPS tracker shows the defending champ, the Norwegian by way of Willow, Joar Leifseth Ulsom, passed Petit’s team, as did several others, including Bethel’s Pete Kaiser, Montanan Jessie Royer, and Two River’s musher Aliy Zirkle. Ulsom was the first to arrive in Nikolai a little after 6:30 Tuesday morning. And, remember, the race just started Sunday in Willow with the race clock ticking, at the restart, so they’re covering a lot of ground here very quickly, as they do. And we’re looking forward to hearing more about how it went for the team’s runs from Rainy Pass to Rohn and Nikolai. While the race reached Nikolai Tuesday morning, we’re going to go back to Rainy Pass, where as Iditarod mushers make their way over the Alaska range, they find the last checkpoint for supplies and a rest at the Rainy Pass Lodge on Puntilla Lake. As Alaska Public Media’s Zachariah Hughes reports, it’s a good place to pause, maybe reflect, and definitely to prepare before heading towards the most technical sections of the trail.

[sounds of dogs and supplies moving]

Zachariah Hughes: Sarah Stokey pulls onto Puntilla Lake with a team of dogs that has been gradually climbing the Alaska Range.

Sarah Stokey: Hi

Unknown Voices: Bib number?

SS: 52

Voice 1: Perfect. We’re going to give you your bags here

Voice 2: Are you going to stay or are you going to rest? SS: I’m going to stay

V1: She’s gonna stay, ok

ZH: Stokey grabs three heavy drop bags full of supplies, and parks her dogs for a rest. She’s in good company, except for Nic Petit and Pete Kaiser, who flew through mid-morning, almost all of the teams at the front of the pack are taking a break. Checkpoint at the Rainy Point Lodge has a festive atmosphere. Frozen lake is covered with planes and helicopters that bring tourists for day trips, the rustic wooden building is ringed with picturesque mountain peaks. It’s not where Matt Hall would have chosen to stop, but he wanted a veterinarian to check out a dog’s toenail problem.

Matt Hall: Little noisy, but they rest good.

ZH: Hall came off the Yukon Quest a few weeks ago, and likes camping out with his team beyond the hubbub of checkpoints, but he knows that enough teams are likely to stop here that he can keep toward the front of the pack.

MH: It’s definitely an advantage, being toward the front early on, just because of that, you know, you get 20,000 dog feet over it, and 50 sleds, and it starts getting softer and softer, then as the heat of the day comes on to.

ZH: Hard packed, smooth trail that gets punchy and pulverized after heavy traffic is slower and more effort for the dogs. In the cool, early hours before many mushers had gone over, Linwood Fiedler says the trail heading up toward the Rainy Pass checkpoint was something to behold.

LF: I don’t think I’ve ever seen it better. It’s certainly one of the best trails ever. Yeah, I mean, it’s the Iditarod trail, but boy it’s pretty good shape.

ZH: Fiedler also wants to take advantage of the midday warmth, rest his dogs while the bright sun and relative warmth soften the trail.

LF: It’s just gonna get warmer and warmer and warmer, when it’s like this, 5 degrees, going up makes a huge difference. I mean, it’s just, you can just see that team kind of wilt [laughs] I mean, they’re like a car with no antifreeze in the radiator

ZH: After the lodge, the route keeps going up, until it hits Rainy Pass itself, it weaves back and forth, over a river, enveloped by steep mountain peaks on both sides. This year, trail crews had to build 20 bridge crossings over sections of open water. From Puntilla Lake, it’s 35 miles up and through the pass to the Rohn checkpoint. It’s a kind of dog driving that requires some finesse.

Jessie Royer: I’d have to say, my team is pretty controlled anyways.

ZH: Jessie Royer is in a good mood as she straws her dogs. It’s not just the pass that’s challenging, she says, what follows is the drops and turns of the gorge, and the bumps of the tunnels. Royer’s approach is to rest and charge her dogs, before embarking on the hours over the pass, but keep them moving, winding down their power, until all the technical stretches are behind them.

JR: I don’t stop until we get out of it all, so I do it all in one run. Cause otherwise, if you don’t if you stop in Rohn, you’re leaving with a fresh team right away on the buffalo tunnels, which is even worse. Buffalo tunnels is always worse than the gorge.

ZH: It’s a stage in the race when there’s strategy not just in reading the trail, but in using a dog teams relative restedness or fatigue to help navigate perilous terrain. From the Rainy Pass Lodge on the Iditarod Trail, I’m Zachariah Hughes.

Casey Groves: So between Rainy Pass and Nikolai, is the checkpoint of Rohn. To get there, the teams navigate some pretty treacherous sections, reaching the races highest elevation of 3,160 feet. I mean, it’s a mountain pass. You’re going on some pretty narrow trail, and there’s mountains and ravines, there are twists and turns, ups and downs, there’s some mushing on the edge of the ravine - it’s intense. If you want to get a look at it, I encourage you to google “Jeff King Dalzell Gorge”. The first video that should come up is from a very low snow year in 2014. Those sections of trail destroyed some sleds and destroyed some mushers dreams of reaching Nome that year. I first saw those sections of trail that same year, in 2014, from the safety of a helicopter. That was my rookie year on the Iditarod. But as a rookie, in the race, it must be daunting to hear the stories and then finally get up into the pass and see what you got yourself into. And, Jeff King’s a four time champion. He’s very experienced musher. He’s run the Iditarod as much as anybody competing in the race these days. But, in addition to the really competitive slate of mushers in this year’s Iditarod, which includes five past champions (King, one of them), nearly one in five Iditarod mushers this year is brand new to the race. As Ben Matheson reports, the ten rookies each set out on the trail with a deep range of skills and experiences.

Ben Matheson: 21 year old Martin Apayauq Reitan is coming off of Yukon Quest, in which he took home Rookie of the Year honors. But, he had a tough time managing his sleep during the race, something he wants to improve upon in his second 1000 mile race.

Martin Apayauq Reitan: We need to have a good time, and we’ll see if I’ll be able to race or if I’ll oversleep again, and then, you know, I’ll have to adjust my expectations, but I’ll try my best and have fun.

BM: Reitan lives on the north slope of Kaktovik, where, among other things, he guides polar bear viewing expeditions. After the race, he’ll skip the jet and instead mush his team north, to Kotzebue, where his dad will run the Kobuk 440. After that, it’s hundreds of miles north to and to the east, to Kaktovik, the same epic trip he made two years ago with his dad. Mushing is also a family affair for Jessica Klejka, who grew up the oldest of 7 kids running dogs in Bethel. Her passion for mushing also overlaps with her professional life - she’s a veterinarian. But Klejka says her professional knowledge can cause her to overthink things with her dogs.

Jessica Klejka: And so I see something happen and, you know, like if I toss a dog a piece of fish and he doesn’t eat it right away, I start going okay wait, what’s going on, why doesn’t he want to eat the fish. And I start smelling the fish, like is it okay, and - but for the most part I think it’s very advantageous because I get a lot of calls from mushers the last few weeks before Iditarod, asking a lot of questions, and it’s kind of fun.

BM: For more than two decades, Ed Hopkins from Tagish Yukon Territory, has been running the Yukon Quest, notching several top five finishes. But, after watching his wife, Michelle Phillips, running the Iditarod in recent years, he says the Iditarod temptation became hard to ignore.

Ed Hopkins: Actually, you get the itch, and I got the itch

BM: His team has already completed a 1000 mile race this year. Phillips ran the team to a 4th place finish in the Quest last months. Hopkins says the race-hardened dogs know more about the trail than he does.

EH: I’m a rookie in a lot of senses, like I don’t know some of the little hidden things that are out there that give advantage to a lot of other people, so, I’m just gonna go and do my own thing pretty much.

BM: Norwegian Niklas Wikstrand has worked with Pete Kaiser in Bethel for a few years, and gotten his race experience in brutal, Kuskokwim river conditions, and he’s been on a specific schedule to get the dogs the right racing experience.

Niklas Wikstrand: Going a little slower, rest enough, and that’s our teams main goal, to rest and run quite conservative, and make sure that as many dogs get to Nome, and just keeping the dogs happy and healthy.

BM: As the rookies navigate the races most technical and steep sections in the first couple days in the race, they’ll be one step closer to joining the elite club of Iditarod finishers. I’m Ben Matheson, in Anchorage.

Casey Groves: These rookie standings are definitely subject to change as teams leapfrog each other here in the race. At least check, Ed Hopkins was leading the rookies in 32nd place; then Richie Beattie in 34th; Sebastien Dos Santos Borges in 37th. There’s Jessica Klejka, who we just heard from, in 38th place; Niklas Wikstrand in 41st, Blair Braverman in 42nd, Ryan Santiago in 46th, Alison Lifka in 47th, Martin Apayauq Reitan in 48th, and bringing up the rear, in 52nd place, Victoria Hardwick.

At least check, all the rookies in this years race still yet to reach the checkpoint of Rohn, and I want to mention Rohn real quick. It’s not really a community or anything, they’ve listed it at population zero, it’s basically just a cabin or a roadhouse they call it, and definitely the population swells when it’s an Iditarod checkpoint. They’ve got veterinarians there to checked the dogs, they’ve got race officials - and of course, they’ve got mushers coming in. And, different Iditarod checkpoints have totally different flavors. Some are hectic, full of visitors and volunteers; others are literal ghost towns, nestled quite deliberately in the middle of the wilderness.

The Rohn checkpoint is the latter, with hardly any amenities or distractions. The volunteer staffers have to find ways to amuse themselves, in the lulls, when there are no mushers - it might be a little boring, they’re trying to entertain themselves. This year, as Alaska Public Media’s Zachariah Hughes found out, they are throwing axes.

[sound of an axe hitting wood, men cheering]

Men’s voices: Aha! That was it? That was the bullseye, dead center, that’s perfect!

Zachariah Hughes: Like, what’s the right technique for doing it? Like, when you’re giving someone an introductory lesson, how do you explain it?

Man’s Voice [Unknown]: Uh, normally I ask, you know, right or left handed. If you’re right handed, you want your left hand on the bottom, right hand on top, you know I try to keep everything in a straight line and use your whole body.

ZH: What are you guys doing right now? MV: Axe throwing? Yeah, we’re axe throwing

[sound of an axe, throwing]

MV: [loudly] Yeah! That was it, that was perfect

ZH: The Rohn checkpoint is mostly just a cabin, it’s in a clearing in a pretty wooded area, just after the Dalzell gorge, near a river, they’ve got some arctic ovens set up, some snow machines, there’s an outhouse, but - mostly it’s a one room cabin from 1910 that the Parks Service maintains. Nowadays, it’s a shelter cabin.

Woman’s Voice: We find something to do, we tell our stories

ZH: Throw weapons

WV: Well, we don’t allow guns out when the mushers are here, but pre and post race we do a little target shooting. But, I asked Mark to bring an axe, because I’ve always wanted to do this. I’ve never done this before.

ZH: Oh, and you guys knew each other before this?

WV: I met him last summer at the lumberjack show.

ZH: Mm.

[sound of axe thudding]

ZH: The volunteers here have to be a little bit more hardy than at other places, because they’re left out here mostly unsupported, it’s basically camping.

WV: Well, there’s nobody lives here year round, so we all come out for Iditarod, because we like dogs, we like going to remote places in Alaska, meeting people from all over, and it’s a satisfaction of helping people get down the trail, whether it’s snow machining, or walking, or mushing dogs, so it’s a good camaraderie feeling of Alaska.

ZH: Do you like throwing the axe? WV: Yeah, it feels good. You should give it a try.

[sound of axe thudding, woman yells “nice!”]

Man’s Voice: And when you release, you want kind of to release high so the axe carries down into the target, because it’s heavy

ZH: Do you guys always do this every year, out here? MV: This is my first year, so no, I don’t think so? But maybe from now on [laughs] I got started in college as a collegiate sport, so it’s called the woodsmen’s team in college, and so I competed collegiately. Me personally, I ended up doing well enough at the end of my four years, I was able to go pro, and then I competed professionally and also did lumberjack shows.

ZH: Is that what brought you up to Alaska?

MV: Yeah, I did a show for Great Alaska Lumberjack Show in Ketchikan Alaska, I did that for four years, one of my good friends, Tina Sheer, owns a show in May, and she’s the one that did a show at the Alaska State Fair, and she’s actually worked the Rohn checkpoint too, in the past.

[axe thuds]

Casey Groves: I still have a lot of questions about Zach throwing axes. And, that’s a contrived segue to today’s listener question! It’s actually two related questions in Aaron Knight’s language arts classes out in Unalaska

Alyssa; My name’s Alyssa, I’m also from Unalaska, and my groupmates are Michelle, Natalie, and Alyssa-Marie, and our question is have any of the mushers got hurt, and did they have to stop participating in the race?

Aaron: Hi, my name is Aaron, my groups are Matius and Zach, what happens if the dogs got hurt?

CG: Thanks for listening, and thanks for the great questions everybody. So, what happens when there are injuries on the trail? Here’s our trail reporter, Zachariah Hughes, with the answer.

Zachariah Hughes: If the dog’s hurt, his or her musher will leave it at a checkpoint. The veterinarians take care of it and the Iditarod takes over, they’ll take groups of dogs who are hurt, or dropped, or sick, and move them back to Anchorage, or somewhere where a handler or somebody who knows the musher picks up the dog and takes care of it for a while. Mushers, unless they’re really really hurt, will keep going. One time, Aaron Burmeister broke his knee coming down the Dalzell Gorge, and he finished the Iditarod hundreds of miles later, limping over the finish line, but he made it. So, other times mushers will fall of their sleds and crack ribs and maybe withdraw or maybe keep going, they are pretty tough and it’s really up to them, if they’re hurt, if they want to keep trying to finish the race.

CG: Thanks for getting that answer to us Zach, and as always I want to remind the listeners that you can send your questions to iditarod@alaskapublic.org. The best way to do that and maybe get on the podcast is to open up your smartphone, find that voice memo app, record your question in your own voice, and send that to iditarod@alaskapublic.org and that’s the best way to get your answer. Well, everybody that’s all the time we have for today, our theme music is by the band Sassafrassh, I’m your host Casey Groves, and until next time - happy tails.

Linwood Fiedler: You just gotta be ready to be game on and not be sleepy [laughs] so.

ZH: How are you gonna do that?

LF: How am I gonna do that? I’m gonna try and take an hour nap here. [laughs]

ZH: Out here, like in the sled bag?

LF: You know, I may lay down with them, or I guess there’s a little cabin we can get in if we want.

ZH: But you don’t have like an exoskeleton for the gorge?

LF: [laughs] No. My head hits a tree, is what’s gonna happen.

ZH: Well I hope you make it out in one piece, thanks a lot man, take care

[ra3lynn3]

Blind Date

Chapter 13

A/N: Hey, Blind Daters! Here’s the latest chapter for your reading pleasure :) Here’s Chapter 12 in case you need to catch up. Thanks for taking the time to read, like, review, and reblog. I super appreciate it! Special thanks to my trusty beta @pip117. You rock!!

“You did what!?” Johanna’s voice went off like a bomb in the meditative quiet of the yoga studio.  

Katniss shot her a warning look.

“Let’s remember this is a place to recenter our focus and quiet our minds.” The yoga instructor passively chastised as she walked between Johanna and Katniss’ mats.

The two women glanced at each other, faces flush from holding their downward facing dog position, both suppressing a chuckle. Johanna was not quite so  successful.

“It was totally innocent.” Katniss whispered to Johanna once she was sure the instructor was out of earshot.  Her friend gave her a look. “Ok. Mostly innocent.” Katniss corrected, knowing that the other woman knew her well enough to know she was withholding the truth.

“I don’t believe you! Weren’t you just telling me what a jerk that guy is?” Johanna asked as the two folded into their next pose.

“Maybe I was wrong.” Katniss offered with a shrug. “I mean, I’m not saying he’s perfect, but the more I get to know him, the less of a jerk he is.”

“I’d be careful if I were you. It’s always the unassuming ones that are like snakes in the grass. Maybe he’s just trying to seduce you so he can earn your trust and snatch your account out from under you!” Johanna offered as the other yogis shot her annoyed looks.

“You’ve been watching Soap Operas again, haven’t you?” Katniss whispered with a smirk as they all moved in to their next pose.

“Irrelevant.” Johanna replied flippantly. “I’m just seeing the bigger picture here. I'm trying to protect my best friend. You’re welcome!” She said with a huff and closed her eyes, pretending to focus.

Katniss rolled her eyes, wondering if Johanna was right about any of it.  She rationalized that since Peeta had been the one to give the Crane account over to her there didn’t seem to be anything backhanded or conspiratorial going on at all, even though her response at the time had been less than gratuitous.

“Is he a good kisser at least?” Johanna asked after a long moment of silence.

Katniss turned her head, opening an eye to peak at Johanna. Johanna turned her head and peaked at Katniss just the same. A bashful smile coaxed it's way onto Katniss’ face. Johanna closed her eye and turned back to her pose looking smug.

“He asked me out again this Wednesday.” Katniss admitted as the women rolled their mats and walked out at the end of class.

“And?”

“And I told him yes.” Katniss admitted as they saddled up to the nearby drink counter. Johanna shot her a look before ordering some green concoction off the menu for the two of them.

“You’re falling for him, aren’t you?” She asked finally.

“Why would you say that? Because I agreed to see him again? I’m giving him a chance. We’re working on being friends.” Katniss protested defensively.

“Friends?” Johanna chortled. “You are no good at being friends.”

“That’s what I said! And then he said he wasn’t either, and then we started making out right there in my dark room!” Katniss recounted breathlessly.

She and Johanna each took a sip of their drink, “This is terrible!” Katniss managed to choke out.

Johanna pulled a disgusted face, swallowing hard. “This is terrible,” she agreed. “Let’s go get a burger. I feel like we earned it ” She suggested, getting down from her perch.

Katniss gave her a nod and followed her to a nearby diner.

“Ok, now back up. You let this guy in your dark room?” Johanna mentioned suggestively as the two sat down.

“Why does everything you say have to sound so...dirty?”

“It’s a gift.” Johanna replied with a shrug.

“Well, we randomly ran into each other at Cinna’s. He asked to see my work and I agreed. I mean, it was actually really nice to spend the afternoon together. I showed him how to develop pictures. He was pretty horrible at it, but I think we got one good one after about an hour.”

“First of all, you are so boring.” Johanna accused. Katniss gave her a tired look in return. “You have a hot guy alone with you in the dark and all you do is develop pictures? You’re sure he wants to see you again?”

Katniss felt a blush filling her cheeks as the two ordered. “I never said he was hot.” Katniss replied petulantly.

Johanna gave her a knowing look.

“Ok, he’s totally hot.” Katniss agreed. “What was I supposed to do, jump his bones?”

Johanna maintained her look, doing little more than quirking her eyebrow. Katniss huffed at her in response. “You are so totally falling for this guy!”  

“I am not! We’re working on being-“

“Friends.” Johanna finished her sentence with a roll of her eyes. “Right.”

Katniss quickly changed the subject after that, not wanting to deal with any further scrutiny. Although now she found her mind wandering into dangerous territory about a man she was still desperately trying to figure out.   

__________

To: k.everdeen@heavensinc.com

From: p.mellark@heavensinc.com

Subject: Wednesday

Hey,

So there’s this exhibit I’ve been wanting to check out. Would you be willing to meet me at the art museum this Wednesday?

Peeta

__________

To: p.mellark@heavensinc.com

From: k.everdeen@heavensinc.com

Subject: Re: Wednesday

Hi,

Sounds great. Why are you emailing me? You’re literally two cubicles away.

Katniss

P.S. Muffins in the staff lounge = divine. Get one before they’re gone!

__________

To: k.everdeen@heavensinc.com

From: p.mellark@heavensinc.com

Subject: Re: re: Wednesday

Thanks! I was trying a new recipe… Wasn’t sure if anyone would like them. Glad you’re a fan.

Peeta

P.S. Let’s meet at 7 on Wednesday

__________

To: p.mellark@heavensinc.com

From: k.everdeen@heavensinc.com

Subject: Re: re: re: Wednesday

You, sir, are my new best friend ;)

Katniss

P.S. Sounds good!

__________

To: k.everdeen@heavensinc.com

From: p.mellark@heavensinc.com

Subject: Re: re: re: re: Wednesday

Is that all it took?!

Peeta

P.S. Looking forward to it!

__________

Katniss fiddled with the fabric of her skirt as she and Peeta walked around the gallery slowly, taking in the different pieces. Suddenly, her conversation with Johanna from earlier in the week came flooding back to her mind.

“Can I tell you something weird?” She asked, finally breaking the silence.

“I told you about polar bears being left handed, I definitely think it’s your turn.” Peeta mused as he turned to glance at her.

“Ok, promise not to think I’m totally insane?” She asked. Peeta folded his arms over his chest, waiting. “So I have this running list in my head of things that I want to do in my life,” Katniss began, looking bashful. “And one of those things is to touch a famous piece of art.” She pressed her fingertips to her lips giving Peeta an uncertain look.

He chuckled. “So, do it!” He pressed her.

“I can’t! What if I get in trouble?” She said, a nervous excitement taking over her body. She gripped Peeta’s wrists quickly, looking at him wide-eyed. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest at the idea.

“Hey, this is your list. I’m just here to support you in the uprising.” Peeta said nonchalantly, a smile playing at his lips while turning to look at the artwork nearby.

“Ok, pick one. I’m going to do it.” Katniss said finally in a low whisper, looking around cautiously. She was determined to prove to herself (and Johanna) that she was not so boring after all.

Peeta gazed around the room for a moment, considering her proposition. “That one.” He said, nodding in the direction of a large oil painting hanging on the other side of the gallery.

“Alright.” Katniss replied taking a deep breath. “Be ready to run.” She warned.

Peeta chuckled, “Katniss, they’re not going to chase you out of her. Just be cool, and no one will notice.” He coached her.

It felt like every nerve in her body was tingling on high alert. She enjoyed the feeling of rebellion that had sparked within her. She normally liked to live quietly and not rock the boat, but something about being around Peeta made her feel alive and adventurous. Even if that meant doing something as silly as touching a little part of a painting.

“Here I go.” She whispered to herself, and began casually walking toward the art in question. She stood near it for a moment to consider the beauty of its brush strokes and technique. As she leaned in for a closer look, she reached out her finger making quick contact with the canvas in an inconspicuous corner.

“What are you doing?” A voice whispered harshly behind her causing her to jump.

She turned around suddenly, ready to make a run for it. Instead she found herself slamming into something soft and sturdy. Realizing quickly who it was, she buried her face in her hands; embarrassed. Katniss pressed herself into Peeta’s chest as she felt his strong arms wrap around her protectively, feeling his body shake with a quiet breathy chuckle.

“You scared the crap out of me!” She chastised, giving him a playful shove feeling her pulse slowly return to normal.

“I couldn’t help it!” Peeta defended, trying to suppress his laughter. “You looked so cute trying to be defiant.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, “Well I did it, didn’t I?” She remarked stubbornly.

“Yes, you did!” Peeta replied, coming alongside her. He threw his arm casually over her shoulder, ushering them out of the room. “I think that kind of bravery deserves some dinner.”

Katniss turned to glance up at him, slipping her arm around his middle. He smiled down at her and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead.

“Maybe you can tell me some of the other things that made your list.” He remarked, as they made their way out to the bustling city street.

[scubabot-blog]

Sword Art on-line Franchise Opens Job Applications for Game, Anime, Spinoff Novel Writers

Kazuma Miki, editor of the Blood Lad  blade Art on-line novels and head of artistic management company Straight Edge, place out a accomplishment appeal Wed for writers to figure on varied comes inside the blade Art on-line franchise. elaborated data of the series isn't an important demand, he says.

 The jobs can comprise 3 types: Anime script author, game story author, and writer. previous expertise with skilled fiction writing within the anime, novels, or games businesses may be a should. Writers may be expected to figure on manuscripts associated with different Reki Kawahara comes.

 The payment and schedules are going to be negotiated on a per-project basis. The comes square measure expected to begin from January or February next year, however individual comes will be rescheduled in line with the writer's wants.

 Straight Edge can perform as support and a treater for the writers, though writers might typically be expected to act with Kadokawa, Aniplex, A-1 photos, Bandai Namco diversion, EGG FIRM, and different firms associated with blade Art on-line directly.

 Applicants should email sao@straightedge.jp with their nom de plume, resume, extent of data on SAO, and their desired position. The point in time for applications is Dec seventeen, 23:59 JST.

Magical woman Special Roman deity Asuka Anime's New Key Visual discovered

The anime can premiere on the "Animeism" programming block. The show can air on MBS and TBS on January eleven at 26:25 (effectively January twelve at 2:25 a.m.), before airing presently BS-TBS, AT-X, and CBC. The anime can stream in Japan solely on Amazon Prime Video. the positioning failed to specify the streaming services for outdoor of Japan.

 Seven Seas diversion authorised the manga series in English, and it describes the story:

 When the planet is vulnerable by the unexpected look of undead creatures, a gaggle of young girls endued with powers from a mysterious supply rose to defeat them. Now, when 3 years of apparent peace, identical malevolent creatures have resurfaced. 5 magic ladies square measure yet again conscripted to war because the magic woman Special-Ops force, to defend human race from associate degree unholy nemesis.

Hideyo Yamamoto (Strike the Blood, Code:Realize -Guardian of Rebirth-) is guiding the series at LIDEN FILMS (The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Terra Formars). Makoto Fukami (Berserk, Yuruyuri San Hai!) and Norimitsu Kaihō (School-Live!, Danganronpa 3: the tip of Hope's Peak High School: Despair Arc) square measure responsible of series composition, and Yoko Suzuki (animation director for Bleach, Polar Bear's Café) is planning the characters. R.O.N (FLCL different, Kuroko's Basketball) is composing the music.

Staz Charlie Blood may be a powerful lamia World Health Organization rules the japanese district of Demon World. in line with rumors, he's a sanguinary and hard monster, however actually, Staz is simply AN otaku passionate about Japanese culture and utterly bored with human blood. exploit the management of his territory to his underlings, Staz spends his days lazing around, gratification in anime, manga, and games.

 When Fuyumi Yanagi, a Japanese woman, accidentally wanders through a portal leading into the demon world, Staz is joyful. however even as he's commencing to feel AN uncommon attraction to her, his territory is attacked, leading to Fuyumi's untimely death. She turns into a wandering ghost and therefore the dejected Staz vows to resurrect her as this might mean having the ability to travel the human world, one thing he has forever unreal of.

 Blood Lad follows Staz and Fuyumi, before long joined by the spacial magician Bell and therefore the half-werewolf Wolf, as they travel realize a magic that may bring humans back to life.

 Blood Lad  EP.1

Blood Lad  EP.2

Blood Lad  EP.3

Blood Lad  EP.4

Blood Lad  EP.5

Blood Lad  EP.6

Blood Lad  EP.7

Blood Lad  EP.8

Blood Lad  EP.9

Blood Lad  EP.10

[ladyseaheart1668]

Endless Summer Fan Novel (Book 2, Chapter 11)

With a violent crash, Estela and Lila smash through a glass door, tumbling into the snow. I follow them out, watching helplessly, not daring to intervene. Estela's hands are wrapped around Lila's throat as they roll over and over each other in the drifts.

“Wait!” Lila gasps, clawing at Estela's hands. “Please! Let me explain!”

“Shut up!” Estela snarls. “It was you! You killed her!”

She drives her fist into Lila's face again and again. Lila doesn't even raise an arm to defend herself now that she can breathe again.

“P-please...I'm sorry...”

The commotion draws the rest of the group outside.

“Estela!” Quinn cries. “What is she--?”

“There was a video in the Lodge,” I explain flatly. “It showed Lila...killing Estela's mother.”

“What?!” Sean cries. He rushes in to break up the fight, but Estela catches him by surprise, shoving him into a snowbank.  

“Estela, come on!” Sean snaps. “Enough!”

I take the opportunity to dive between Estela and Lila, who huddles on the ground, shivering. I very nearly catch a fist to my face.

“Woah! Easy!”

“Get out of my way, Alodia!” she growls.

“Estela, please! We should talk to Lila. Find out what she knows.”

“I've had enough talking! She has my mother's blood on her hands!” She tries to push past me, diving at Lila again, but Sean and Craig grab her by the arms, barely managing to hold her back. “No! Let me go!”

“Lila, you'd better explain quick,” I snap at the woman on the ground.

“Tell us it's not true,” Quinn pleads.

“I wish I could,” Lila answers sorrowfully. “It's true. Olivia was my friend and I...I ended her life. Mr. Rourke said it was the only way. She was going to ruin us. He insisted that I do it.”

“Oh, my god...” Aleister whispers. He looks like he's about to be sick. Estela strains against Sean and Craig's hold.

“Is this supposed to save your ass?” she snarls. “Because it isn't working!

“Please! I know it sounds bad, but my mission now is to protect you! All of you!”

“Somehow, I get the feeling that won't mean much if he changes his mind!” I answer flatly. “God, Lila, what could possibly be worth all this?!”

“This oughta be good,” Craig mutters.

Lila shakes her head. “You wouldn't understand. What Mr. Rourke is doing will fix the world.” Her gaze flicks from one stunned face to the next as if she's trying to outrun her own thoughts.

“So she's a killer and crazy,” Jake mutters.

“It's the culmination of Mr. Rourke's experiments!” Lila protests. “His life's work! He has a machine at MASADA...”

“The Lernaean Gate,” I supply.

“No. A different machine. One that can erase all of the pain and suffering people like us have had to endure.”

I feel my veins turn to ice. “...What?”

“Heard enough yet?” Estela growls. “I have!” In a burst of strength, she tears free of Sean and Craig and shoves me aside to lunge at Lila. I nearly land in a snowbank, but Jake reacts quickly, catching me before I topple. That's when I notice Diego staring at something in the opposite direction. I follow his gaze and see several large clumps of snow fall simultaneously from the Lodge's roof. I feel a faint tremor pass through the ground beneath my feet. And then another.

“Guys...?” Diego's voice trembles. “I think something's coming...Something big.”

And then it comes around the corner. A massive creature, at least twenty-feet high all white fur and black claws with the body and head of a polar bear, with a ram's black horns curling out of the top of its head.

“By the Endless,” Varyyn breathes. “The Mountain Guardian!”

“Guardian!” Jake exclaims. “That's a goddamn Yeti!”

Even Estela freezes when she catches sight of the massive creature. “What the hell?!”

With Estela distracted, Lila scrambles to her feet and makes a break for it.

“She's getting away!” Grace cries. Estela whips around to go after, but slips on a patch of ice under the snow.

“Grace!” Aleister screams. “Watch out!”

Grace whips around just in time to see the beast looming next to her and shrieks in surprise. Apparently angered by her cry, the Yeti reaches down and scoops Grace up in one of its huge claws, roaring.

“Grace!”

“Let her go!” Aleister shouts. He immediately runs to her defense, but stops short, unsure of what to do. I don't know what possesses me to do it, but I run up to the creature, waving my arms, ignoring Jake's shouts of protest as I pull away from him.

“We're not your enemy!” I cry. That's when I notice the wounds along the Yeti's left arm and side. They look like they might be bullet holes. The creature turns towards me, teeth bared, but it slowly returns Grace to solid ground. Grace collapses against Aleister, quaking violently and struggling to catch her breath.

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod...”

“Are you all right?” Aleister asks anxiously, quickly ushering her to safety. I hear a yipping sound and turn to see Murphy bounding over towards me. He plants his paws in the snow beside me and exhales a cone of frost at the enormous beast. Icicles sprout from the Yeti's fur, but it does not appear to be harmed. It bends down, bringing its huge, wet snout to sniff the tiny fox. It grunts softly. Then, in one swift motion, it plucks Murphy out of the snow and bounds toward the forest.

“Murphy!” I scream, running after the beast even though I know I can't hope to catch up. “Get back here! Where are you taking him?!”

“Oh, man!” Raj moans. “Is it gonna eat him?!”

The Yeti is gone in a few massive steps, vanished into the trees. Everyone stares in disbelief.

“What even just happened?!” Diego cries. “Are we into full-blown Christmas special territory?!”

Estela's gaze flicks from the direction the Yeti took off in to Lila's fresh tracks in the snow. “She ran away. Like the backstabbing coward she is.”

Varyyn kneels to examine the Yeti's footprints. “The guardian is larger than I'd expected from Uqzhaal's stories. We'll need to move quickly to catch up.”

“A frickin' abominable snowman?” Craig exclaims. “Really? And there are still super evil soldier dudes out there? I dunno, guys...”

“We might never make it to the Gate if we try to save him,” Michelle says uncertainly.

“Listen, if it weren't for Murphy, most of us would have been torn to shreds by that sabertooth,” Sean points out. “We owe him this!”

“And leave that murderer to get away with what she did?!” Estela snarls. “We need to catch her!”

“Estela, please!” I cry, feeling tears in my eyes. “It's Murphy! I want to hold Lila accountable as much as you, but that creature could kill him!”

Estela huffs in frustration. “Fine! For Murphy. But when we do find her, none of you better get in my way!”

Endless rows of pine and fir trees stretch ahead, lining the trail left by the Yeti's footprints. As we weave from one print to the next, I notice tears dripping down Estela's cheeks. She weeps softly, enough that I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't look right at her. I make my way over to her.

“Estela...”

“...What?” she asks sharply. I don't balk.

“I'm so sorry about your mother. I can't imagine what this must be like, but I'll do whatever I can to help.”

Her expression softens just a little. “...All this time, I thought it was Rourke. ...It was easier that way. Knowing that someone she trusted so deeply...betrayed her...it's just...” She draws in a shuddering breath, raising her eyes to the sky. “...It goes to show that you can never really trust anyone.”

“...You can trust me, Estela.” She scrubs at her eyes. I place a gentle hand on her back, and we walk on in silence.

“Hey, guys!” Jake calls. “You see that snow coming down up ahead?”

“Uh, yeah,” Craig replies. “That's actually how it gets all over the ground.”

Michelle rolls her eyes. “Craig, give it a rest.”

“What? He's from Louisiana! I didn't know if he knew about that stuff.”

“Thanks, Al Roker,” Jake snaps, glaring at Craig. “What I'm saying is, that snow's only falling in an isolated area next to that tree.”

“Something's up there!”

I squint. Murphy is clinging to a branch on the top of the tree, his breath crystallizing and turning to snowflakes.

“That's totally where I'd put a snack if I wanted to save it for later,” Raj remarks.

Movement among a distant cluster of firs catches my attention. The ground shakes with the Yeti's footfalls, but it doesn't seem to be approaching.

“I think it's far enough away that we could try to get him down,” Sean says. I immediately search for footholds and begin to scale the trunk. “Woah! You sure you got this, Alodia?”

“Hope so. I guess we'll find out in a minute or two.”

“Be careful!” Quinn calls.

“Foolish is more like it,” Aleister hisses. “Now is not the time to throw caution to the wind!”

I ignore him. Moving from branch to branch, I gradually make my way up towards Murphy. I'm nearly halfway there when the pine needles around me begin rustling.

“Kongzilla incoming!” I hear Jake hiss below me. “Everybody hide!”

Everyone scatters below me, running for cover. High among the branches, I try to hold perfectly still. The Yeti emerges from the trees with, of all things, a buzzing beehive grasped in its claws. It doesn't seem to notice anyone. It's just a little further to reach Murphy. I reach for the next branch, only to have it snap loudly in my hand. Shit!

The Yeti roars furiously, dropping the hive and whirling towards the tree where I'm huddled. In the commotion, Murphy tries to scurry down the trunk, but loses his footing. To my horror, he falls, plummeting dozens of feet to the snow-covered ground below.

“No!” I scream. “Murphy!” Frantic, I scramble down the trunk. The rest of the group stops and turns towards the spot where Murphy landed. The beast also stops, apparently concerned. I jump the last few feet to the ground, scrambling back from the Yeti towards my friends, hardly daring to look at the spot where my little fox landed.

“Oh god, please no...” Quinn whimpers.

There is no movement from the hole in the snow where Murphy landed. The Yeti lumbers over and brings its face down, sniffing at the spot. A cloud of snowflakes swirls out towards the Yeti's nose. It flinches, pawing at its face. Murphy digs himself out and shakes off, looking annoyed but unharmed.

“He's okay!” I cry, feeling tears of relief in my eyes.

“I dunno if I am!” Diego declares. “Almost had a heart attack!”

The Yeti leans towards Murphy and gives him several gentle licks with its massive tongue. The gesture is...almost tender.

“Um...I don't think it wants to eat Murphy,” Grace says. “I think its trying to care for him like a parent!”

“Aww, that's adorable!” Quinn cooes. Murphy whuffles, clearly finding the whole situation much less adorable than Quinn. He backs away and scampers over to her. She picks him up. “You're a good li'l pupper, Murphy.”

Seeing Murphy in Quinn's arms seems to awaken the Yeti's protective instincts. It growls at her deep in its throat, a warning sound.

“Quinn!” Zahra hisses. “I think you're pissing it off!”

The Yeti lets out a furious roar, rising to its full height and advancing on Quinn.

“Quinn!” I shriek.

“Shit, this is like the custody battle from hell!” Diego cries.

Quinn glares at the Yeti, standing her ground. “You know what, I've had just about enough of you!” she snaps. “Just...stop!”

… I hear something in her voice on the last word. Something I've heard once before and never forgotten. It's faint enough that the others might not pick up on it, but I can. I can hear the voice of the Island inside Quinn's voice. The Yeti seems to hear it, too. It seems suddenly hypnotized, a faint glow appearing in its eyes. It continues walking forward, causing snow to slide off the surrounding trees with each heavy step.

“Quinn, what are you doing?!” I scream.

“I...I don't know. It feels like I'm somehow in her mind...”

“...'Her'...?”

“I think I can bring her to our side, Alodia.”

I swallow hard, looking from Quinn to the hypnotized Yeti. “...Okay...everybody stand back! Quinn, go for it!”

“This fox is our friend,” she tells the Yeti, her voice at once commanding and soothing. “We're not going to hurt him.”

The Yeti growls lowly and continues to advance. I feel my heart pounding in my throat.

“It's not working!” Grace cries.

Quinn gulps audibly. “Please...” Her voice wavers. But when she speaks again, the island's voice is back, still buried inside her own. “...We need your help!”

Abruptly, the creature stops, dropping down on all fours. She lays her head low in submission to Quinn.

“Hell yeah!” Craig says triumphantly. “I think Quinn just got us a Bigfoot!”

“Quinn, are you the Three-Eyed Raven?” Diego asks. “Can you wharg into animals?!”

“Guardian,” Quinn says, addressing the Yeti. “We need to get to the northern penninsula. Can you help us?”

The Yeti drops her whole body low, and Quinn carefully climbs on her back, hoisting herself up in the creature's shaggy fur. She reaches her shoulders and tentatively reaches out to pat the side of her new mount's head. The Yeti nuzzles her rider affectionately. Quinn giggles delightedly.

“I think she likes me! Come on, Alodia!”

“Wooooah,” Zahra breathes. “That's, like, a legendary-level mount...”

“Aaaand, we have a Yeti now,” Michelle sighs. “That's a thing.”

“Yeah,” Sean agrees. “I'm just rolling with it at this point.”

Quinn beckons for me to join her. I shake my head in disbelief. “This is totally crazy...”

“...Says the woman who mind-melded with Varyyn,” Diego mutters.

“...Fair point. What the hell. Here I come!” I climb up behind Quinn. “Think the Guardian will let us grab our supplies from the Lodge first?”

* * *

The Guardian indeed does allow us to stop at the Lodge for our supplies. Properly supplied and bundled up, my coat and backpack of idols and Island's Heart on my back, I ride the Yeti with Quinn and Murphy, the rest of the group following beside us. The ride is surprisingly smooth, certainly no rougher than a boat on calm waters.

“This is amazing!” I breathe. “I can see for miles up here!”

“This is the only way to travel!” Quinn agrees. Murphy yips, and it sounds like agreement.

After a few hours of travel, we emerge from the evergreen forest at the shore of a vast, frozen lake. The Yeti comes to a stop and bows to let us off her back. Quinn climbs down and strokes the beast's snout.

“Thank you, my friend.”

The Yeti whuffles, nuzzling her. I climb carefully down, clinging to the long tufts of white fur. As I descend, something dark catches my eye. Looking closer, I find strands of black, metallic netting wrapped tightly around the Yeti's shoulder.

“Hang on...there's something stuck to her...” I work carefully to detangle the net, and discover it's connected to a central device with a spider-shaped mark etched into it. “There! It's off.”

“That's an Arachnid tracker!” Jake says, coming up behind me. “What the hell would Lundgren want with her?”

The Yeti raises an enormous paw to point across the lake, indicating the direction of our goal. She gazes down at Murphy. Murphy holds her gaze steadily for a long moment. Then, the Yeti turns and heads back into the forest.

“I...don't know how I know this,” Quinn says, “But I think she'll come back to us if we need her.”

“The Guardian recognized her own kind,” Varyyn murmurs.

“What do you mean?” Diego asks.

“She must believe that Murphy will one day take her place. It is the only reason she would try to keep him safe.”

“That would explain his unusual abilities,” Aleister concedes.

“Our very own guardian-in-training,” I remark. “Who knew?”

Murphy skitters across the shore toward the icy surface.

“Those cliffs are gonna be too steep to climb,” Sean points out. “Looks like we're headed over the lake.”

“Is it solid enough?” Michelle asks. “I don't need to deal with hypothermia from anyone falling through.”

“The ice is clear,” Grace says, “which means there's less air trapped inside.”

“Well-observed,” Aleister agrees. “Given the thickness and high density, it should be safe enough.”

“Good thing we brought Pierre and Marie Curie along,” Jake remarks, earning himself raised eyebrows from Grace and Aleister. “What? Don't give me that look! I know scientific...stuff!”

I put a tentative foot down on the ice. It holds under me, and I take another step. Diego follows, his feet sliding a little.

“Woah! It's slippery!” Varyyn comes up beside him, taking his hand.

“Don't worry. I will keep you steady.”

We all gradually make our way across the smooth, glass-like surface.

“If only I had my ice-skates,” Quinn sighs ruefully. “This would be a great place to perfect my double axel.”

“I didn't know you figure skated,” Michelle remarks.

“Well, I'm not great at it or anything.”

“If we ever get home, remind me to show you my medals from the Collegiate Championships.”

“Medals...plural?” Quinn asks, incredulous. Michelle just grins.

As we near the center of the lake, Estela abruptly stops and kneels.

“Estela? You all right?” She doesn't respond immediately. With one gloved hand, she brushes away the frost from the ice, revealing an object frozen a few inches below. My knees almost give out. The object gleams faintly gold. Amber. Half of my brain is screaming at me to run. To grab Estela and tear her away. But that half is rapidly being drowned out by the part of me that is convinced that if I know what is to come, I can save her life. I can save all of them. I can prevent the future my own idol revealed.

“I...don't know how I knew it was there,” Estela murmurs.

“Draco,” Varyyn says. “I remember Uqzhaal talking about that vaalta.”

Raj is rummaging around in his messenger bag. He produces a blowtorch and presents it to me. “You could probably melt it out with this, right?”

“...Where did you get this and what were you going to do with it?” I ask warily. He blinks at me, confused.

“In the kitchen at the lodge. It's for making crème brulee, but I thought we might find other uses for it in a snowy mountain.”

“...Oh. That...actually makes a lot of sense. Never mind.” I switch on the torch and hold the flame over the spot where the idol is frozen. It takes several minutes, but we melt enough of the ice to dig out the idol. It's a partially-clad woman with long, flowing hair and dragon wings sprouting from her back. I almost wonder if anyone notices me bracing myself as I pass the idol to Estela. The sensation of falling though time is almost familiar by now, even though it seems to become rougher each time...

… The Hartfeld University library. Estela sits alone at a table, her attention focused on a thick, black volume. The title on the spine reads, The Executioner's Song. Aleister comes up to the table, a stack of law textbooks wobbling in his arms.

“Do you mind if I sit here? All the other tables appear to be full.” Estela nods without looking up. He sets his things down, and ventures a glance at her book. “True crime. I also enjoy that genre.”

Estela hums disinterestedly, her eyes flicking toward him just brieftly before returning to her book.

From a nearby row of shelves comes the sound of soft giggling and whispers.

“Did you see that transfer student? Her face looks like she got in a fight with a Slap Chop and lost.”

“She's way creepy. I heard her entire family died a bunch of years ago.”

Estela's fingers tighten around the edges of her book. She glares at the page, but I don't think she's reading anymore.

“Yeah, super sketch. I hope she doesn't come on the dorm retreat. I don't wanna worry about getting stabbed in my sleep, you know?”

“Oh my god, for real!”

The two girls walk toward the library's exit. Estela sits in silence. She closes her eyes, but not before I see the film of tears coating them. Aleister seems to notice as well.

“I...ah...I wouldn't worry about them,” he ventures a bit shyly. “Even the sorority queens and head athletes end up falling to the bottom of the pecking order eventually. Trust is a fragile thing, and nowhere is it more brittle than among the 'popular' crowd.”

“Longing for acceptance from those kinds of people is a waste of time,” Estela concedes.

Aleister ventures a smile. “Indeed. And if they underestimate people like us, they do so at their own peril.”

“Exactly.” She gives Aleister a slight nod, and then returns to her book. Aleister smiles to himself and pulls a weathered textbook from the top of his stack. The two of them pour over their reading in comfortable silence...

...I'm moving faster than ever before, away from the past, toward the future...

… A red cloud billows in the reflecting pool of The Celestial's grand atrium. Lila's body is crumpled over the basin. The fountain's jets sprinkle onto her, washing away the blood of several stab wounds. Estela, a spear resting in a sling on her back, stands over her. Estela's shoulders heave, her breath coming out in hard puffs. A knife slips from her bloody grip, falling to the floor.

“...It's over, Mom...I did it...”

A figure looms in the shadows on one of the balconies. Rourke, nude as he was when I saw him through the Centaurus idol, with double the madness in his eyes, sneers down at her.

“I owe you so much, Estela.”

Estela whirls to face him, fury in her eyes. “You!”

“Gratitude, apologies...perhaps a bereavement package? Lila was a liability, and I should have seen to her eradication long ago. Now you've saved me the trouble.” Estela draws her spear and makes ready to throw it. Rourke continues, apparently unconcerned. “As for Olivia, I respected her greatly--”

“Snake! Don't you dare speak her name!”

“I would never have been able to bring myself to kill her. That's why I needed Lila. What an elegant development that her own daughter would finally close the loop.”

“Die, you filth!”

Estela puts everything behind her throw. Every tear. Every ounce of rage and hatred she has. It flies up into the balcony and right through Rourke. His image flickers as the spear sticks in the wall behind him.

“If only I had your perfect aim.”

The sound of a gunshot cracks through the air like a whip. Estela gasps in agony and slumps to her knees. Bloodstains blossom like roses across her abdomen and lumbar. She clutches the wound at her abdomen in disbelief.

“...No...” She turns to see Rourke—the real Rourke—standing behind her with a gun in his hand. The figure on the balcony disappears, and a small, spherical drone floats down to hover beside him. “You...bastard...!”

She staggers to her feet and lurches towards him. He shoots her again, ripping another bloody hole in her abdomen. She cries out, but she keeps advancing.

“I...didn't come...this far...” Her voice is somewhere between a furious snarl, a sob of pain, and a frightened whimper. Rourke's lips curl into an angry sneer.

“Stay. DOWN!” he growls.

He shoots twice more. Blood oozes from wounds in her chest. Her legs betray her and she crumples. But she continues to advance, clawing her way across the floor, eyes burning with fury and hatred.

“K...kill...you...”

“My god. You're persistent, aren't you?” There is admiration in his voice. “Like mother, like daughter, I suppose.” He squats down over her and presses the barrel of the gun to her forehead. She looks up at him with furious tears in her eyes.

“...Rourke...”

“Goodbye, Estela Montoya. I wish this could have worked out differently.”...

… I am returned to the frozen lake. Estela looks at me with concern.

“Are you all right? You look frightened. What's wrong?”

I swallow. I'm tired of hiding the truth, but I don't know what else to do. The longer I hide, the more unbearable the thought of telling becomes. “...Let's...just keep moving,” I murmur.

Estela still looks concerned, but she doesn't argue. As we move onward, the lake narrows sharply, becoming a strait lined with imposing cliffs. Jake suddenly stops walking, a look of alarm on his face.

“Oh, crap,” he groans. “Bad timing.”

“You eat the raw octopus at the Vaanti feast, too?” Raj asks. That's when we hear the chorus of revving motors.

Arachnid troops on ski bikes roar out from around the cliffs. They speed across the frozen lake, encircling us before we can flee, staring at us through whatever eye slits exist in those mechanical masks. Leading the group is the hulking brute with the mechanical fists.

“Surprise!” he sneers gleefully, stepping off his bike. “Looks like you've reached the end of the line.”

“You're new,” Jake says flatly. “Lundgren ain't what you think, pal.”

“I'm not just a recruit,” Mecha-Fists replies, smirking. “I'm your replacement, Jakey-Wakey.”

“Listen up, Amateur Hour. If you can't even come up with a decent nickname, don't waste my time. Lundgren must be packin' those cigars with something funny if he thinks he can put Inspector Gadget's idiot cousin in my spot.”

“That's Tetra to you!” Mecha-Fists—Tetra—growls. “And talk all you want, traitor. I have the upper hand. In fact, I have two.”

The motors on his mechanical fists whine as he takes up a fighting stance. Jake gets on the balls of his feet, prepared to defend himself. That's when Sean catches my eye. He looks at me intently, mouthing something I can just make out: keep talking.

“So, Tetra, was it?” I ask. “Why do you want us dead so badly?”

“Oh, it's nothing personal, cupcake. A job's a job, and Mr. Rourke happens to know how to put his money where his mouth is.”

“It's too bad that Rourke always seems to kill his hired help.”

“You would be smart to get out now,” Estela agrees.

“And that's if Lundgren doesn't stab you in the back first.”

“Which he will,” Jake confirms. “I'm with the ladies.  I don't think you know what you've got yourself into, Tin Man.”

“Oh? And why would he backstab me?”

“Lundgren's loyal only to himself. The moment that bastard thinks he can get you to take the fall for him, you're gone. You'll never see it coming.”

“And if you somehow survive Lundgren, you'll find that Rourke is far too paranoid to leave you alive.”

Tetra ignores me, focused on Jake. “Last I checked, it was you who did the betraying, Jakey-Wakey.”

Sean rushes at a pair of soldiers, but Tetra spots him and raises one of his mechanical arms. He deploys a fist toward Sean, who barely manages to jump out of the way. The hydraulic limb slams into the surface of the lake. The ice heaves beneath us, cracks spreading over the surface like veins. I feel my feet slide out from under me and I land hard on my back. The collection of idols in my backpack jams painfully into several points along my spine, hard enough to bruise. I can't hold back a cry.

“Alodia!” I hear a series of clicks as the surrounding soldiers raise their rifles at the group.

“Freeze!”

As I sit up, winded, Tetra retracts his arm and grins at Jake, stepping between him and me. “You can come with us, or we can kill you right here.” He points one fist at me. “Your choice.”

No one seems keen to stop me as I climb back to my feet, but I feel something slip out of my bag and go rolling across the ice.

“The Island's Heart!” Varyyn cries.

“Someone grab it!”

I dive for it, but I land just short. It slides over the ice towards Quinn.

“Got it!” she calls, reaching for it.

“No, Quinn! Don't!”

An unseen force lifts Quinn into the air as she takes the Heart in her hands. Her eyes shift from sapphire blue to blazing green, the whites vanishing in the glow. Everyone gathered stops, staring at her hovering form.

Diego backs away, murmuring, “...What kind of freaky B-grade...”

“...Mushrooms did I--” Raj stops himself and clears his throat. “I mean...are we in a horror movie?”

“Shoot her!” Tetra shouts.

“Sir, her radiation levels are off the--”

“Do it!”

The Arachnid troops open fire, all at once. I scream. But Quinn has already extended a hand, her expression placid.. The bullets slow until they're crawling through the air. She drops her hand, and they clatter harmlessly to the ice.

“I didn't sign up for this kinda stuff...” Jake mutters.

Quinn reaches toward a group of soldiers, as if to push them away. She speaks with the voice of the Island, just as she did back in the village.

“Get...out of here!” she orders, her voice reverberating like thunder. Green fire erupts around the soldiers. Their bodies gradually become translucent, as if they're being phased out through time. Their screams seem to cut in and out.

“Run!” Sean shouts. The remaining soldiers hurry to block our path. Estela, Michelle, and Raj manage to evade them, racing towards solid ground.

“Oh, yes! Run!” Tetra snarls. “With your tail between your legs! Not that it'll do you much good!” He points both fists at the ice and deploys them again and again. The web of fissures under our feet widens until it crosses the lake.

“He's freakin' crazy!” Craig yells.

“The ice is breaking up!” Grace cries.

Tetra grins manically at us, his eyes wild. The remaining troops scatter, fleeing towards the cliffs. Everyone else follows their lead.

“Wait!” I cry. “We can't leave Quinn!”

Quinn is ascending, the ethereal green light that engulfs her catching on falling teardrops.

“I am in pieces,” she moans. “They've taken everything.”

“Quinn! Or...whoever! Please, listen!” I glance around wildly and point to Tetra. “That man broke you!”

“...What...?” She turns her eerie green gaze on Tetra, still jamming his mechanical fists repeatedly into the thick ice.

“Yeah!” Zahra chimes in. “Look at him! Now he's breaking more stuff!”

The Quinn-creature hisses, stretching a hand towards Tetra, who finally seems to realize what we've done.

“This time...” she growls, “YOU WILL BREAK!” Her voice rises into a shriek that sounds like a bird of prey. Tetra's mechanical limbs rust and implode before his eyes. He screams, eyes rolling in terror, and sets off fleeing across the fracturing ice. Quinn hovers after him.

“This is just like Frozen!” Diego cries, his voice breathy and strained with fear. “Except with, like, The Exorcist happening at the same time!”

“She has to let it go!” Varyyn shouts. “Quinn! Let it go!”

Diego looks at him with disbelief. “Wait, how did you--” He's cut off by a sharp crackling noise that rises from the ice to fill the air around us. We barely have time to register the inevitable before the ice sheet gives way.

“Go!” Jake shouts. “Get off the lake!”

I look around frantically for a path to solid ground as the jumble of uneven surfaces shifts beneath my feet. My friends...where are my friends?! My eyes find Sean, just in time to see him slide off an ice block, straight into the frigid water. As the brutal cold hits him all at once, I see his strength immediately fail him.

“Sean!” I scream. I leap onto an ice floe beside him and drop to my belly to stretch a hand toward him. Trilling anxiously, Murphy follows me. “Sean! Grab on!”

His skin is already turning blue. He tries to call out, but his teeth are chattering so badly that he can hardly speak.

“Al-alod-ia, I d-d-don't...”

“Do it, Sean! Please!” Summoning his strength, he reaches out and grasps my arm in both hands.

“Aleister!” Grace wails. “Somebody help him!”

“Zahra!” Craig cries.

I glance around and see that Zahra is trapped on a fast-moving ice floe, hurtling toward the far end of the lake. Aleister clings to a sheer cliff face above churning plates of ice. I pull at Sean's arm, dragging him through the water toward me. As he gets closer, Murphy grabs the collar of his coat and tugs with all his might, planting his paws firmly on the ice. Between us, we manage to drag Sean onto the floe. He slumps into my arms, soaking wet and shivering violently. He struggles to open his eyes and find my face, his blue-tinged lips curving into a feeble smile.

“Th-thanks...”

“Hold on, Sean,” I murmur. I'm trembling myself, but it's not from the cold. “Oh god, please just hold on...”

I look around. Zahra has managed to pull herself up onto a rock ledge with Craig's help. Blood drips from a dark gash at her side. Grace helps Aleister struggle to shore. He holds one arm to his chest, his expression twisted with pain. Behind me, I hear the roar of water crashing down, and feel a spray of mist on the back of my neck. I dare to twist around and see the floe beneath me is rapidly approaching a massive waterfall.

“Allie!” I hear Diego scream.

“Oh, god! Alodia!” I look up and see Jake standing at the shore, watching me with helpless terror. “Alodia! Get to shore! Please!”

“Sean, we have to get to shore! We have to jump!” I brace him, dragging him upright with me. There is a larger floe just a foot away, and a clear path to the shore. “You can do this! I've got you!”  

He nods, struggling to control the tremors in his limbs. A shadow appears on the water before me. Quinn...or whatever creature is inhabiting her, descends from the sky, blocking my path.

“Broken...” she moans. I feel hot tears running down my cheeks. I gulp, reaching out to touch her. She glares at me, emerald flames smoldering in her eyes. “I will never be whole...Never!”

“Quinn, it's me! I need you to fight it! Please! Remember who you are! Think about the things we've been through together!” My voice cracks with a helpless sob. All the terror I have been carrying around since we emerged from the portal, since I first touched the Pavo idol, seems to come pouring out of me in a rush. “Remember the bridge at Elyys'tel? I've never been more devestated in my life than the moment I thought I lost you. We'd won the battle and I thought everything would finally return to normal. Instead, my worst nightmares started coming true, and there was nothing I could--”

“...But you did.” Hearing Quinn—my own Quinn—speak, I glance up sharply.

“Quinn?!”

“...You saved me, Alodia...”

She closes her eyes. The roaring waterfall is suddenly silent. The bobbing of the ice floe beneath my feet ceases. Even the churning tide stops in place. The quiet presses heavily on my ears, almost painful, but so, so blessed. Quinn slowly floats to the shore. Sean leans heavily on me as I guide us after her, Murphy following behind me. Varyyn and Diego rush over to take him from me while Jake catches me in a crushing embrace.

“...Get him warm...” I manage to murmur before surrendering to Jake's frantic kisses. He pulls back just enough to take my face in his hands and look me over.

“You okay, Princess?” he asks, brushing sweat-damp strands of hair from my forehead. “You okay?”

I manage to nod before he presses his lips to mine again and then crushes me in his arms. I wrap my arms around his neck, clinging to him as if he's my anchor to the world.

Crack! Estela's fist connects with the Island's Heart in Quinn's hands, knocking it from her grasp. Quinn drops to the snowy ground, crumpling into Estela's arms. The pounding of the waterfall resumes instantly. Quinn's eyelids flutter.

“Estela...? What...happened?”

Estela clears her throat. “...Sorry. You were...uh...um...you were...”

“You were floating in the sky using superpowers!” Raj cries. “Super powers!”

“Is she all right?” Michelle asks. “Let me see her!” She hurries over to help Quinn to her feet. The others look at her, not quite knowing what to say. I manage to free myself from Jake just enough to look over at her.

“Are you okay, Quinn?”

“I...I think so...” She looks past us, her gaze focused somewhere in the distance. She frowns. We all turn to look.

A tall building looms atop a spire of rock that rises out of the lake, alone in the white haze.

“Oh, god...that's it,” Aleister murmurs. “My father's facility.”

Quinn swallows. “...Our way home...”

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #101

“be the wildest of the pack, screaming amen and attack“

you run into the ex that hurt you the worst; what do you say to them? i wouldn't say anything. i'd at least hope i wouldn't, but i have a pretty big feeling i'd smile and do a really bitchy wave at him. but i'd hope i'd just smile and pass by him. do you think everything happens for a reason? i guess. do you watch stand-up comedy? i don't actively seek it out usually, but yeah. do you attend church regularly? no. personally believe you can be a perfectly good christian without going to church. what is your preferred video game console (if any)? playstation 2 had the best games. if you got a call from a friend in jail, would you bail them out? nope. one, i don't have that kind of money, and two, if you're rightfully in jail, i'm not helping your ass. do you need things thoroughly explained to you for you to understand them? yes, particularly academic stuff. have you ever felt pressured to do something you weren’t ready for?  yeah have you ever worn jeans that were red, purple, blue or pink? i used to have maroon skinny jeans. loved those things. do you have a criminal record? no. have you ever been asked out by someone you didn’t want to be with? yes. have you ever had to spend the night at a hospital? too many nights. have you ever dated someone with longer hair than yours? no. have you ever worn flip flops in the snow?  dude, it doesn't matter what the weather is, i always wear flip flops if i have to have something on my feet lol have you ever broken a heart?  i don't know, but i doubt it. ever been though a really tough breakup? it was more than "tough" have you ever struggled with substance abuse? no. how about self-harm? yeah. how long have you been listening to your favorite genre of music? since the 6th grade. what is a common misconception that people have about the country you live in?  everyone knows america's stereotypes, so i'mma talk about nc. more than anything, everyone's a redneck, according to the rest of the country. that and we're all conservative as actual fuck. do you always shut your computer down when you’re finished with it? no. do you dread filling out the about you box on most websites?  no. starting it can be kinda hard tho. did you ever have those glow in the dark stars on your ceiling? i think so... would you ever get a matching tattoo with a s/o? i actually plan on doing so once/if i get married. i want to get a simple, kinda crooked heart with the words "you're awful; i love you" written inside of it in a childish font. it's a reference to the song "love me dead" by ludo. do you have a lock number or pattern for your phone? no. just don't feel that i need to. just another thing i have to remember. what was the hardest language you’ve ever tried to learn? latin. fuck that shit. do you have any food intolerances or allergies? bananas give me heartburn that makes me want to actually die. do you have any pets? how long have you had them? teddy, 9-10 years, cali, four years, bentley, year-ish, venus, not even a month. do you prefer female or male vocalists?  don't care, but i know i listen to more males. were you ever into that gel bracelet craze?  no. what do you do when you have ‘me time’?  watch mark or more rarely listen to music, rp have you ever met someone online that you wanted to meet in real life?  just to name a few: sara, connie, mini, megan (at least, once i did), emma, shaylee... give me an example of a sick death metal band. cradle of filth, brother. have you ever worn your boyfriend's clothes?  ex's, yes. has the school ever taken away your cell phone? no. i didn't use my phone in class. is there a name that you hear and cringe? rachel. do you and your dad get along? yeah. amazingly. he had no reason to forgive me for that letter i wrote him. have you ever made your own layout for myspace? lol myspace. but no. i don't know how to do 99% of css stuff. would you rather be called cute or hot? cute. i don't like being called hot. do you use youtube more for music videos or for funny videos? funny videos. what’s your favorite thing about summer? literally the one and only thing i like about summer is swimming. would you rather own a pet polar bear or pet penguin? if it was entirely docile and you put aside the fact that they need to live in the cold, a polar bear. but considering i don't live in a cold habitat and they're not docile, realistically, a penguin. do you prefer ice cream on a cone, in a bowl, or in a cup? cone, although it's difficult for me because of my lip ring. it gets in the way lol. are you someone’s best friend? i think i'm colleen's, if you're not including her husband. do you have a secret life? kinda. would you live with someone without marrying them? yeah. do you prefer bar or liquid soap? liquid. is your favorite animal endangered? no. how many schools have you been to in your lifetime? five do you carry pain relievers with you at all times? no, but maybe i should. i get headaches a lot. have you ever done something outrageously dumb?  more than once. last person who gave you a ‘good morning’ text? no clue. maybe tyler, but i'm not sure. what is the weirdest or cutest aesthetic you enjoy? weirdest, gore. cutest, pastel goth. strawberry shortcake or strawberry cheesecake?  neither. did you ever own anything from lisa frank as a kid? SO MUCH SHIT what are your most used emoticons?  c:, ;v;, ;-;, etc. have you ever used a bath bomb?  no. who is your favorite water pokemon? vaporeon which fictional character can you not stand? hmmm. oh my god, maybe ashley from re4. she's fucking annoying. what common advice do you think never works?  for those depressed: "just do this and that, it makes you happier!" people don't fucking realize how hard it is to do simple things, and usually doing them only stresses the individual out. what seems obvious to you that doesn't seem to be for other people? in most cases, spelling. what's a joke that you like? i actually don't like things that are general, accepted jokes. they're almost always cheesy. i like more witty things that aren't intended, if that makes sense? what single thing makes someone instantly undateable to you? does drugs. how short is too short for shorts/skirts? if your ass is showing do your parents trust you? should they trust you?   yes to both. what’s your favorite led zeppelin song? "kashmir." dat beat tho. if you knew you couldn’t get caught, would you rob a bank? no way. wouldn't be able to live with myself. have you ever dated someone in the military? no. i personally wouldn't be able to. like can you say stress. ever been prescribed narcotics? yes, xanax. maybe another or so. what is an irrational fear that you have? whale sharks. there's no possible way for them to swallow a person due to their esophagi being so small, but my mind doesn't care lol best part about winter: snow<3 did you attend your high school prom?  i went when i was a sophomore because my boyfriend of the time was a senior, then i went for my senior year. would you give your bf/gf a second chance if they cheated? absolutely not. what foreign language do you wish you spoke?  german. would you rather get money or presents for your birthday?  money. buy my own shit. do you have any exes you can’t stand anymore?  i'll talk about each one that's ever had the title "boyfriend." aaron and i are fine; it was a total puppy love deal so we never had a real relationship. he was cool, but we don't really talk anymore. we're facebook friends, though. juan, yes, i can't fucking stand him because he's a goddamn pig that keeps getting into trouble. jason, i wouldn't say i can't stand him. i loved him once and will always have residual feelings for him. tyler, i wouldn't say i hate him, but i definitely want nothing to do with him. how old do you think you’ll be when you move out on your own?  that's a question i don't like to think about much. i firmly believe i'd never properly survive on my own. so probably not until i move in with a significant other or i mature a lot more to where i can handle myself living alone. what’s something people always assume about you that isn’t true? that i'm a cold person because i don't say much. people tend to think i hate humanity in general and want nothing to do with anyone. on a scale of 1-10, how much do elevators scare you?  a seven, maybe. i'm really scared of them getting stuck. do you like slim jims? they are my true loves have you ever received a hickey from the last person you kissed? that is a fucking disgusting thought that literally makes me cringe. no. do you still talk to the person you had your first kiss with? no. if you had to live off one type of fruit, which would you pick?  strawberries. kiwi is a close second. how often do you drink monster? never. tastes like poison. when is the last time you did something illegal?  a few days ago when i downloaded some songs. do you give a good back massage? well considering giving jason one always ended up becoming more than a massage... what has been the scariest experience you’ve been through? overdosing on otc things and just waiting to see how badly it would fuck me up. thankfully, it literally did nothing other than almost make me puke briefly. you can bet your ass my sinuses were clear as fuck tho lmao what’s your greatest insecurity?  weight would you strongly prefer to go out with someone of your own skin color/racial background?  nope. i don't care. say you’ve started seeing someone you really like. as far as you’re concerned, how long will it take before you have sex? there's a lot of variables here. one, i think i'm going to continue being abstinent, but i'm not entirely sure anymore. two, it depends on the person. exactly how rapidly are we becoming close to the other? is jealousy healthy in a relationship? i think it is at a very mild degree. being a bit "territorial" with your partner is a good sign, to me. it's defending someone you love and showing you don't appreciate someone else showing them romantic affection, even if you trust your partner. should evolution and creationism be taught side-by-side in school?  i personally believe both of those branches should be electives. neither should be in the mandated curriculum. have you ever cosplayed? no, but honestly, i'd love to. is it wrong to sleep in a bed/cuddle with a friend (of the sex you’re attracted to) when you’re in an exclusive relationship with someone else? cuddling, yes, but sleeping together with a person not of your preferred gender doesn't seem wrong to me. how do you feel about government-subsidized food programs (free lunch, food stamps, etc.)? they're beneficial for people who need it. do you believe that heterosexual pornography is degrading to women? why just women and heterosexual? pornography is degrading to everyone involved. do you support the exploration of outer space? if yes, would you consider taking a trip into space, or even to another planet? i think it is important, but we shouldn't spend as much money as we do on it; we need to be more concerned about the planet we live on. and i personally wouldn't. is it okay for men to wear makeup? what’s your opinion of male crossdressers?  sure. wear whatcha want. would you let your children under 13 watch movies with full nudity?  HELL NO will you teach your children to believe in santa? i don't want kids, but hypothetically, i would. i really don't like the idea of lying, but i absolutely adore my memories of my own raising believing in santa. christmas was so magical. what is your opinion concerning strip clubs?  honestly? cesspits. is there any aspect of your sexuality that you would be too embarrassed to ever share with a match? i wouldn't say "embarrassed," but i know i wouldn't like to share the fact i find penises remarkably hideous. i find both genitalia to be extremely unattractive. what’s your passion?  meerkats, youtubers, silent hill, world of warcraft bc fuckin' nerd, heavy metal music have you ever been harassed and/or bullied?  no, thank christ. pick one: crash bandicoot or spyro? SPYRO! i like crash too, though. do your parents drink? dad doesn't anymore, mom almost never does. could you forgive a boyfriend or friend who physically hurt you? fuuuuck to the no son are you a funny person? lol no how do you feel about bob marley? his voice is fucking awful when you were younger did you have a neopets account? i sure did. do you have any gay family members? yes, an uncle. do you look intimidating? besides having a serious resting bitch face, i don't know. your last ex calls wanting to hangout, what do you say? nah son. could you go the rest of your life without drinking alcohol? yeah. what’s one fruit you love in drinks? strawberries have you ever tried wine? no, don't particularly want to. i know it's really bitter. have you ever just laid outside and looked at the stars? i used to do that while catfishing with dad. it was on a cement decline for boats to get into the water, and it was pretty comfortable to just lay on your back and look up at the stars while waiting. some of my favorite memories. could you date someone shorter than you? yes?? why would height have anything to do with it?? have a crazy side? not really, no. ever been kissed by a legal adult when you were a minor (or vise-versa)? yes. i like to forget it ever happened. ever been kissed by someone you didn’t want to kiss? see above. ever been walked in on while you were making out with someone? lol almost. thank god for fast reflexes. ever stopped kissing someone because they had bad breath? ha ha yep. i don't do morning breath. ever thought of someone else while you were kissing someone? no. did the one person who hurt you the most in your life apologize? yes, but i sincerely believe he didn't mean it. what's the last thing you and your ex talked about? jason, a lot. i was trying to gain closure, and i think i did. pretty sure the last thing he really said was stop saying "i'll try" and start saying "i will" or something like that. tyler, essentially to stop fucking texting me. have you ever thought about getting your lip pierced? it's been pierced before and it is again now. are you on medication for anything? bipolarity, anxiety if i need it, birth control, and an allergy med. what was the worst mistake of your life? letting jason become the entire universe to me. could you ever be friends with somebody who was homophobic? i am friends with a homophobe. i don't necessarily "respect" her opinion, but i tolerate it. i firmly believe everyone has the right to their own. does virginity matter to you?  i personally believe you should save it for someone you really, sincerely, absolutely love and plan to stay with, but i don't demean people who don't wait. regardless though, i firmly believe that you should at least feel that you love the person. how would you describe your sense of humor?  extremely dry. ever written fanfiction for anything? believe it or not, no. i don't even read it. would you rather get a tattoo or piercing? a tat do you listen to a band a lot of people don’t seem to know about?  ugh, otep is agonizingly underrated. how do you feel about children swearing? i'm against it. i believe a certain level of maturity is required to really know when it's appropriate to swear or not. what's a unique thing about your fashion sense? probably the fact i can look like a geek one second then a goth the next lol how do you feel about your weight?  i loathe it, but i feel better about it ever since finding out my weight gain wasn't my fault; it was a mood stabilizer i was on for a year or more called abilify. it's unbelievable how much that shit fucked me over, and it did absolutely nothing in terms of my mental health. my current psychiatrist pointed out how it absolutely destroys your metabolism, and he was honestly stunned when i told him no one else that i'd been seeing pointed that shit out, especially my primary doctor, who had some training in psychiatric meds; and the disgusting thing is, she occasionally acted angry towards me about it and really did make it seem like i didn't care about my health and wasn't trying. ugh. i am still remarkably bitter that i'd been put on a medicine that has a side effect of weight gain anyway considering i've explicitly told every psychiatrist i've ever seen DO FUCKING NOT put me on something that causes weight gain, because i've been through it before and worked my ass off to lose all the weight i'd gained from paxil years before. but thankfully, since being taken off abilify and loads other medications, i've been losing weight rapidly since my body can no longer sustain what i'd gained. it helps that my appetite has returned to normal; well, maybe even less than normal, but i'm not complaining. like it's brazenly obvious it was medication considering it's not like i started exercising or something, and i haven't gone on some diet. i legitimately pray that i can return to what i used to weigh. do you like to comment on other people's surveys?  only on close friend's. do you have any racist friends? yes, and it's the same story with the homophobe: i don't like your opinion, but i'm not going to generalize you as a whole terrible person just because of one belief. i'll never agree with you, but still. do you wear glasses? what style do you like better?  yeah. mine are kinda like big, geeky ones. do you prefer lemons or limes? lemons. would you consider your voice high, low, or in the middle? definitely low for a woman. any songs that make you laugh out loud when you hear them?  "i just had sex" by the lonely island ft. akon will, at the bare minimum, always make me smile. it's so silly. was your first kiss perfect? i wouldn't have had it any other way. how do you handle breakups? welp. if jason's and mine was any indication, i sob for over a year straight, get PTSD from it, want to die daily, and y'know, shit like that. i couldn't be more thankful that i'm over that shit. if you had to get a tattoo, where would you get it? there's a few that i'm debating on being my next. there's a big, very detailed one i want on my right, upper arm, but i'm sure it won't be my next because it's going to be fucking expensive. one that has a good chance of being my next is a cool design i found that is geometric and has a badass-looking ram in the center, then in an arch over it, i want the lyrics "maybe i'm a misfit, maybe i'm different; it will never be an average existence" from "rise, rebel, resist" by otep. i think it looks really cool with the design because the graphic kinda radiates a sort of dominant, resilient aura. i'm not sure where i'd get it, though. another that has a good possibility being next is a design that has a few tiny koi fish going around the wrist in a slight angle. it's really cute; i'd get it on the top of my left wrist. i also like this triangular design that has a watercolor, fire-like texture sprayed over it; in a pretty chiseled font, I want "Gefährlich ist wer Schmerzen kennt" ("whoever knows pain is dangerous") written over it, from "feuer frei" by rammstein. i'd get it on top of my right hand. this one has a high chance of being my next one considering the budget will probably be kinda small. lastly, another with a good shot is getting the anxiety ribbon with the lyrics "you can't kill what you did not create" (from "just when you thought we couldn't get any more emo, we go and pull a stunt like this" by motionless in white; yes, seriously) beside it. i'm thinking of getting it on my right forearm, on the side. WOW that was long pardon me and my tattoo ideas. do you wear your seat belt in the car? always. what's your biggest turn off? if you believe illnesses are only real if they're physical, i will immediately fucking hate you. like i know i say a lot i respect other's opinions, but that is one i will never, ever, tolerate. have you ever set a marshmallow on fire? yes. i'm awful at roasting marshmallows. thinking back to your relationships, who ended it? counting everyone who's had the "boyfriend" title, plus a "friend" who i briefly acted like more with: me, me, me, him, me. do you know anyone who's been arrested? i think i don't... have you ever tried to reconnect with someone from your past, but were unable to find them/get in touch with them? multiple online friends. do you believe that the more that you give, the more you will get?  in general, but not always. what is something you've recently discovered that you're absolutely in love with? how did you come across it? this is by no means recent, but the last thing i discovered that i fell in love with was rhett and link, whom i started to watch daily over a year ago. i was first exposed to them by my ex, but back then, i never watched them with him. big mistake lol. i actually don't recall how i re-discovered them... what was the first social network website you joined?  myspace. what is the worst natural disaster you've experienced firsthand? hurricane floyd. do you like to receive feedback on things you've made or done? i mean, sure. it's nice to see what others think. do you own any webkinz? ... i have ~40 in a bag in our attic. do you swoon over british accents?  O BOI do you prefer wolves or foxes? foxes. do you prefer opossums or raccoons?  opossums are cuter. did you ever have tea parties when you were little? only if nicole wanted to. she had this disney princess tea set that she loved to play with. choose one character: pooh, tigger, piglet, eeyore? eeyore was adorable. tigger's cool too, tho. choose one character: mickey, minnie, donald, daisy, goofy, pluto?  goofy do you listen to kpop, jpop, or cpop? no. have an acquaintance who's obsessed, though. which baby animal is your favorite? meerkats. like, have you seen pups?? chocolate or strawberry milk?  strawberry milk is fucking repulsive, so chocolate. does your job allow piercings or tattoos? currently unemployed, but i wouldn't work anywhere that didn't allow either. do you like rollercoasters? never been on one, probably never will. i'm too scared of throwing up. how old is your oldest and youngest friend? oldest, 30 or 31. youngest, 17. did you tease freshmen in high school? no, why would i?? i was one at some point. what is your favorite... bird? mammal? reptile? fish?  barn owl; meerkat; cobra; koi, maybe. what's your favorite bubblegum flavor?  i really like that watermelon one from i think hubba bubba? tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it? i got a moose from the huge cabela's hunting store in ohio when i was young, and i named it brownie. i have him still sitting on my dresser<3 what are your favorite memes of the year so far? this is such a millennial question lol. are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub?  hateclub. idk, i just find them remarkably annoying. have you ever been a featured member on any website? yes. a sh fan site. do you prefer hot chocolate with or without marshmallows? without, but i can do both. who’s the last person you had a sleepover with? chelsea. who do you talk to about personal problems? sara, more than anyone <3 what would you do if you got pregnant? be fucking terrified, angry, but keep the baby, but give it up for adoption. when was your first kiss? 2012 ideal weather conditions? like 55 degrees, cloudy. the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done? if it's the *most* embarrassing thing i've ever done, why would i want to talk about it? can you name 5 people that you used to be close to, but aren’t anymore? explain why. 1.) megan - she lied to me about essentially everything. 2.) mini - she just... stopped talking to me and now only does on her time. 3.) jason - he just about ruined my entire life so i no longer want any association with him. 4.) brianna - she found a new group of friends in middle school. 5.) jenna - we also just kinda stopped talking. it was hard to keep up considering we never went to the same school. she did call me the last time i was in the hospital though, which i thought was incredibly sweet. have you ever been told that you were good in bed? not explicitly, but i think the actions spoke for themselves. do you think you would make a good mother? no. i don't like being around others a lot and also don't fancy being responsible for another person. then there's the fact that there's a chance that after investing all that time into someone, (s)he could just grow up hating me. do you hate slang words like ‘tits’ and ‘shag’? depends on the word. do you ever watch wildlife shows? they're my favorite shows. would you pose naked in front of a million people for a million? no, actually. i am way too self-conscious and the embarrassment wouldn't be worth it. do you download music illegally? yes. been a habit i've had too long to break. favorite snapchat filter? i don't use snapchat, but of those that i know, i like the flower crown one. ... or is that instagram? idk. what's the worst thing you have ever done? acting in a way i shouldn't have with "just a friend." how many times have you been to the hospital? too many times. i don't know anymore. maybe six. top 10 favorite songs? in no order, here are some that i really enjoy atm: 1.) "false flags" by massive attack; 2.) "do i wanna know?" by arctic monkeys; 3.) "third day of a seven day binge" by marilyn manson; 4.) "pumped up kicks" by foster the people; 5.) "trap door" by ozzy osbourne; 6.) "face down" by red jumpsuit apparatus; 7.) "milk and cookies" by melanie martinez; 8.) "deep six" by marilyn manson; 9.) "daddy issues" by the neighbourhood; 10.) "why'd you only call me when you're high?" by arctic monkeys. i'm sure they're more that i like more than some, but i can't think of all right now. what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc) dry in most places, oily on my face. what is your crush’s first and last initial? DM are you going to change your last name when you get married? yes. what is your favorite condiment to go with french fries?  ketchup do you like to eat stir fry?  ew. what color is your mp3 player?  my ipod's hot pink. have you ever laid in a hammock? yeah. we used to have one. have you ever lost a pet in a tragic way? how did you cope?  our goldendoodle got spleen cancer and declined in health in literally like a week. he had to be put down, and i was there for it. it was hard to get over. what can���t you go a day without doing?  eat, drink, use the bathroom, watch mark & do other shit online, watch gmm if it's a weekday. have you ever led someone on? why did you do so? don’t you think that it’s mean to do that? rather just not talk about it. i was a stupid kid. do you like gore? ... it's my aesthetic lol. but i have my limits about it. do you own any choker/collar necklaces? i have multiple. my favorite doesn't fit anymore and the other probably doesn't either. did you have a “scene” phase? no, i had an emo phase lol do you find it easy to trust others? nope if your s/o smoked pot/did drugs would you care?  i wouldn't date him if so. do you like hickeys? i don't not like them if they're private. what time do you go to bed? any time from like 10:30 to 3:00 or so. do you hate the person you fell hardest for? no, but i don't like him. do you curse around your parents?  totally open with dad, usually don't say "fuck" around mom. are you monogamous or do you prefer open-ended relationships?  monogamous ever made out with a friend? no. how would you rate your sex drive? normal, i'd say. if you had to have a color for a name, what color would it be?  uhhh. of those off the top of my head, maybe blue. if you had kids, would you worry about what they did online? of course i would. the internet has some things kids should never see. i doubt i'd go through their history though, if i'm being honest. i'd hold issue with that if my mom did it, so i'm sure my own kids would. have you gone mental?  oh you have no idea. would you take your kids to visit a black santa clause? why or why not?  yes?? what the fuck is this question?? do you remember the first conversation you had with the person you have feelings for? i don't remember, i just know he first called me "lip ring girl" because he didn't know my name lol do you know your best friend’s middle name?  colleen, and i think sara's is jane, but i'm actually not sure if that's just part of her first name. have you had sex with a black person? no, but i'm not opposed to it. have you ever had a serious conversation with your dad?  yes. he took me out to lunch one day and we talked about my recovering from jason. do gay, lesbians, bisexuals or transgender people bother you? nope. can you tolerate children for a long period of time? NO. just another reason i shouldn't be a mom. have you ever became attracted to someone you weren’t at first because their personality made you find them physically attractive?  yeah, jason. were you more fond of swings, monkey bars, or seesaws as a child?  boi i charged for the swings every time. what is the worst way to break up with someone? through text/any kind of messenger, omg. what must you have in order to sleep well at night? a fan on. what will you name your future son or daughter? i don't want kids, but if i did, the girl would 100% be alessandra and the boy would probably be luther. have you ever thrown a party for a pet? no, but i always give teddy a peanut butter sandwich "cake" for his birthday. what do you consider the greatest threat to mankind? greed. what is your favorite thing to do with your girls? just chill. if your one true love hit you would you still love him? fuck that shit. would you want to meet the man of your dreams if he dies in a year? no. like can you say traumatic. how did you meet your best friend(s)? colleen, girl scouts. sara, youtube. who introduced you to the band you love? all others besides ozzy, metallica, and korn, myself. what song reminds you of your first love? "easy to love you" by theory of a deadman. i couldn't listen to it after the breakup until very recently. what do you think of teenagers getting married? probably a bad choice. it works sometimes, sure, but you still have a lot of growing up to do. what movie that johnny depp plays in do you really like? "alice in wonderland" can you introduce yourself to a new person easily? NOOOOOO which disney princess had to go through the most pain? good question! maybe rapunzel? like can you imagine being locked in a tower for that long?? do you believe you can only be in love once? absolutely not. do you believe in premarital sex? i have mixed feelings. i'm more accepting of it than i used to be, tho. “once a cheater always a cheater.” true or false? no. just because you cheated once doesn't doom you to cheat again. do you believe its possible to fall out of love? yes, i lived through that experience. do you know your blood type? yes, a- are you catholic? i was raised roman catholic, but i'm not anymore. what kind of job did your mom have when you were growing up?  she was an assistant teacher for the special needs kids. have you ever stayed up all night on the phone?  this one time with jason. do you think that fishing and hunting are wrong and why or why not?  hunting is wrong if you don't eat the meat, imo. i have no problems with fishing because it doesn't kill the animal. what do you put on your french fries?  ketchup, sometimes. do you like mustard? yup. what’s the funniest nickname you have?  i don't really have a funny nickname. would you ever keep your favorite animal as a pet?  no. meerkats are very destructive pets. it's not legal in the u.s., anyway. what is something you eat but everybody else thinks it’s gross?  i've heard a lot of people don't like peanut butter. which celebrities would you have a threesome with? i wouldn't have a threesome with anybody. i don't support them. favorite character from "finding nemo"? it's always been dory. through time, i've also developed a respect for gill. do you change your type of music regularly? my music "type" hasn't changed since i was in the 6th grade. ever met somebody who seem like they hated life? i know a lot of people like that. do you look forward to the spring? absolutely not. welcome to the life of one allergic to pollen. which area of the sciences do you enjoy the most? genetics do you care about your weight? of course i do, everyone should. if you could spend the day doing absolutely anything with anyone anywhere, what would it be like? go to the zoo with my mom. is there anyone who lives in the same house as you that you can’t stand? nicole's dog. i tolerate him, but i do not like him. are all of your friends virgins?  to ask an adult if all their friends are virgins, realistically, has an obvious answer. not saying all adults aren't virgins, but you get me. it's more rare. but who are virgins and who isn't is none of my business. who's the last person who gave you a "good morning" text?  girt messaged me good morning via facebook, if that counts? i don't text a lot of people, so no one really tells me good morning. do you have something you’re supposed to tell someone, but you haven’t yet? no. do you like going to museums? yeah! what is a cliche thing that happens a lot in anime? the most unique-looking character is always the protagonist. if you believe in a god or higher being, do you think that they are vengeful and will punish you for your wrongdoings? vengeful, no. will one be punished, probably. what is your favorite scene from your favorite film?  it's super cool when alice fights the jabberwocky. do you have a hard time being around people whose opinions on alcohol and drugs differ from yours? nope. so long you don't do drugs or drink excessively around me, i don't care. what is something you thought could/would never happen to you that has happened to you? i attempted suicide. how often do you get on facebook? sometimes multiple times a day, sometimes none at all. do you think girls deserve more respect just cause they are girls? no, that's ridiculous. is there anything specifically that you’ve been worrying about a lot recently?  job stuff. where do you spend a majority of your time when you’re at home? i am literally always in my room. which deadly sin are you most guilty of?  sloth. who makes you feel the most unappreciated?  my grandmother. if heaven and hell are real, which one are you going to?  i ask myself that. there are a number of things in the old testament that i 110% disagree with, but then there's the fact that according to the bible, jesus' resurrection is kinda what nullified the "old" sins. hence why, for example, christians can eat pork or whatever. the old and new testaments are what separate christians from jews. but i'm quite sure the more "common sense" sins weren't suddenly made fine, but hell, how do we really know what's a "common sense" sin to a god and which ones aren't? idk. have you ever seen your dad cry? i've seen him tear up only once in my life. have you ever had a pet rat?  tezzeret, rhoka, rhett, link. i want another pair. could you go a year without sex? i've gone 21 years without it, so. do you like pudding? chocolate pudding, yes. what’s your favorite kind of doughnut? i like original cake, glazed, and chocolate frosted. do you ever trip over your pets? occasionally, teddy especially. teddy always lies on the side of my bed when i'm there, and he will not move when i get up for something until he's sure i'm not coming back to the room, so i have to step over him. do you think polygamy is wrong or acceptable? i don't support it. what is one natural disaster you are afraid of? TORNADOES do your wrists ever hurt from typing too much? that's some amateur shit, brother. haven't had that issue for years. is there any song that makes you think of your dad? "sweet child o' mine" by guns n' roses. if i ever get married, i really want that to be the father/daughter dance, although i don't see how to really dance to it... have you ever taken a picture of you kissing someone? once. what is the last thing you did on powerpoint? a final project for my art class my senior year. if you were upset, who’s the first girl you would go to? sara, most likely. are you afraid of falling in love? yes, because i'm afraid of being hurt. could you forgive your best friend for sleeping with your bf/gf? definitely not. if you’ve ever had and quit a job, did you actually call in and quit or put in your two weeks notice or did you just stop showing up? my first boss and i talked in the back room and he was so understandable. he was super chill and a great guy. second job, i texted my boss. do you tend to baby or take care of the people you date, or do you tend to date alpha types that take care of you? both. depends on situations in regards to how i act. how would you feel if the person you were interested in refused to perform oral sex on you? fuck, i'd be happy. i don't like oral. honestly, does it bother you when your friends make questionable choices? or are you usually unaffected by how others live their lives? of course i care, because i care for them. i don't want them to make mistakes that they'll regret. have your parents ever expressed interest in you taking up a certain profession or hobby? they don’t have to have had pressured you into it, but maybe just as a suggestion? yes, my mom reminds me i should be a vet a lot. hypothetically speaking, if you ever give birth to a son, would you have him circumcised? yes, for health purposes. do you ever get frustrated because you have great ideas for a talent you don’t have? for example, you have a good idea for a song but you don’t play an instrument so you can’t share it, or you have a great idea for a video but don’t know how to use video software, etc. yep, with drawing. i can picture things so vividly, but when it comes to drawing them... nnnope. who was the last person you talked to on skype/video chat? we've never actually video chatted, but sam and i used to use skype for voice chat every day when we played wow together. does your significant other/crush know about your tumblr? does he/she look at it? no, but i wouldn't be embarrassed if he did. but he'd probably judge me for it being a fandom trashcan lmao have you ever had shower sex?  no, and i never want to. sounds uncomfortable and dangerous as fuck. did you masturbate today? i don't masturbate. do you believe in karma as in “what goes around comes around?” no. not everyone who has done wrong ever gets what should be coming to them. how many brothers does your father have?  none. does your best friend have any tattoos?  sara, no, colleen, yes. are you a skittles person, or an m&m person?  skittles have you ever had a seizure?  no what was your gpa in high school? over a 4.0 are you better at telling stories or writing them?  writing them. name a band that you can’t decide whether you like them or not.  i pretty much know whether i like a band or not. nothing's coming to mind. what’s one word that annoys you when people use it out of context?  "retarded." don't fucking abuse it around me. what fast food restaurant(s) can you absolutely not stand?  arby's. ew. does it annoy you when people say “omg” or “idk” in a normal conversation?  it's a weird pet peeve i have, yes. do you have any best friends that you only know online? most of the best friends i've ever had are online. are you afraid of needles?  no. like don't get me wrong, the needles used for shots make me uneasy because they're so long, but i think that's kinda natural. do you have any plans set out for your future? if so, what are they? obtain a steady job, hopefully as a photographer, probably get married before moving to the mountains of nc because fuck the coastal plain. have you ever had a concussion? if so, what from?  yes. i passed out and landed on my chin. do gay people make you uncomfortable? no, unless i'm being flirted with. have you ever heard of the cranberries?  i've heard of their song "zombie," which i enjoy. who has the ability to hurt you the most emotionally?  my mom. do you have the same political views as your parents? we're all mostly conservative, but we have some varying views. be honest, do you miss your ex? not anymore, no. if he couldn't handle me at my worst, then i don't need him. if you have siblings, who do you think will be married first, you or them?  i'll go through them. ashley is married, misty's in a serious relationship so maybe she will be next, i don't think bobby or katie are dating anyone, nicole's got a boyfriend but so do i, so between us two, idk. do you like pastel colored hair?  omf aesthetic are there any cracks or scuffs on your phone?  no. how old were you when you got your first car?  i haven't had my own car. do you feed your leftovers to your dogs?   teddy will get something occasionally because he doesn't fucking beg like cali and bentley. what tricks does your pet do?   teddy can sit, say hello (shake), lie down, and say please (beg).  cali can sit.  bentley can't do jack shit. who is your favorite character on your favorite television show?   fma: edward elrich; that '70s show: probably hyde. who is your pet most attached to in your family?   teddy, me.  cali, mom.  bentley, also mom because nicole gives him zero fucking attention.  i'm the only one who gives venus attention because yeah, snake. out of all the colors of the rainbow, which one is your favorite?   assuming shades and tints are not included, purple or red. would you ever be interested in going on a proper african safari?  OMG YAAAAAAAAS if you had to be a teacher, what subject would you be able to teach best?  english have your parents met the person you’re currently interested in?   mom knows him well, dad's seen him a good number of times before the divorce. are your eyes the same color as your siblings’ eyes?  only bobby and i have blue eyes. do you prefer glazed or powdered donuts?   glazed. when you first meet somebody, do you stick out your hand for them to shake?   i usually don't initiate it, no. do you know someone who has asthma?   yes, my mother and grandmother what is the most controversial thing you've done?   uhhh... download music, maybe?? how many people have you kissed in your life?   three, but i like to pretend one never happened. what’s your favorite restaurant?   olive garden. do you act on impulse or do you think things through?   it varies depending on the situation. do you think the usa bullies other countries?   sometimes, honestly, yes. have you ever taken a shower with someone else?   with my little sister as a kid. can you taste the difference between pepsi and coke?   immediately. what was your first pet? do you still have this pet?   a beautiful collie named trigger; she was my dad's dog.  but no, she died when i was very little, so i barely remember her.  don't remember how she died.  i was told she swallowed her tongue, but i know you can't technically do that, so. what is your favorite thing to learn about?   meerkats. who’s one person who changed how you viewed something?   a number of people. what annoys you most in a person?   um.  maybe closed-mindedness?  intolerance? whose bed did you sleep in last that wasn’t yours?   colleen's. in a relationship, do you think about the future, or now?   both.  you need to consider both if you want a healthy relationship. are you a patient person?   NO.  i am the most impatient fucking person. are you pale or tan or kind of an in-betweener?   the irish is strong in this one. is life pointless?   i fail to believe we'd be here if it was. would you ever spy on a boyfriend/girlfriend if you were suspicious?   no, what the fuck.  be an adult and be upfront about it. when was the last time you were bitten by an animal? what kind of animal was it?   some weeks ago by our dog bentley, but it was just a playful nip.  he needs to learn to stop doing it, though. what was the last band or artist you discovered?   boyfriend's kinda got me into powerwolf.  heard of them a looong time ago, but never actually listened to them. do you have a favorite song by the cure?   "she sells sanctuary" are there things you’ve never told for fear that others would judge you?   yes. can sex ever be casual?  i do believe it's possible to have it casually, but i don't support it. what celebrity are you dreading the future death of?  there are many.  there are some who i think when they die, i will probably die with them. do you neglect your friends when you have a significant other?   no. do you own a gun?  no.  i know i by law can't because of my suicidal and depressed history, but i'm unsure if those i live with can for the same reason. if you had to delete one year of your life, which year would it be?   20fucking16 what is your favorite christmas song?   if you wanna count "the nightmare before christmas" songs bc who the fuck knows if that movie's more about halloween or christmas, i love fall out boy's cover of "what's this?"  if i can't include the movie's soundtrack, i like "the most wonderful time of the year." what is something that has really impacted your life?   more than anything, my breakup. what did you and your ex fight about most?  me and jason, uhhh... i don't really know?  we argued sometimes, yes, but i can't really think of a main topic...  as for tyler and me, we only fought once and that was the end of it. do you have a foot phobia?  it's not a phobia, but omg i still hate feet are you embarrassed by any of the songs in your itunes?   lol yes.  my collection of melanie martinez songs is so random. do you like raisins?  omg no have you ever gone on vacation with your boyfriend/girlfriend?   not with my current one, nor with any exes. have you met the last person you kissed's parents?  no.  known each other seven years and i have literally never seen his parents lmao have you ever been to a sports game?  yeah.  dad and i have been to like three hockey games. do people ever misspell your name?   yes.  people want to spell it as "brittney" all the time. have you ever had roommates?   yes.  when jason and i lived together, our friends, who were also a couple, lived with us. have you ever made a sex tape?   no, and i never would. do/did you skip class?   never one class exclusively.  i would fake sick to stay home occasionally lol have you ever felt yourself fainting?   twice.  one occasion where i did, and another not that long after where i know without a doubt i would've if i hadn't gotten down on my knees. have you ever been friends with someone with bipolar disorder?   yes. who’s the last boy to make you cry?   jason last girl?   my mom has anyone ever threatened you?   yes. would you ever own a rat?   i've had four and would like two more, but this time from a breeder.  i just don't like getting pets from pet stores... they honestly give no shits about them. has your mouth ever been washed out with soap?   no, but i'd be threatened with it as a kid. would you genuinely be okay with having a woman as president?   yes??  what the fuck is this question?? what’s the worst feeling in the world?   heartbreak, in various forms. what’s something you wish you could take back?   things i don't want to talk about. what happens to you when you get nervous?   i sweat, my heartrate goes up, i fidget a lot, i knead my hands, and i stutter badly. have you ever snuck out? how many times?   no. who’s the first person you kissed, and would you like a do-over?   jason, and no. who scares you?   jason, because i know what he was capable of. what’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do in your life?   learn to let jason go. do you prefer cupcakes or muffins?   muffins do you and your dad get along?   yes.  i wrote him a letter after the divorce though that he never should've forgiven me for, but he did.  he is a wonderful person that i am so so thankful for. <3 who was your high school crush?   first was kyle, then girt, then jason. do your nails grow out round or square?   round have you ever been on crutches?  no. did your mom sing to you when you were young?   i don't think so. does your boyfriend have a job?   way to assume everyone has a boyfriend.  but whatever.  yes. do your siblings dye their hair?   no. did you have a role model growing up?   yes, steve irwin. what's the greatest lost you've endured?   jason. is there a situation or person you haven't been able to get over, forgive or what-have-you?   i'm over him, but i haven't exactly "forgiven" jason. did you give anyone their first kiss?  no. what animal did you last pet or hold?  pet, dog, hold, snake. were you born perfectly healthy or with some (or a lot) of health issues?   i was perfectly healthy. did you ever catch any bugs or insects with your friends as a kid?  me and my neighbor hunter would catch SO MANY bugs. have you ever been disrespectful to one or both of your parents?   yes to both. do you believe in sex before marriage? is it against your religion?   eh, mixed feelings.  i think abstinence is for me tho.  as for if it's against my religion, i actually don't know if it's mentioned in the new testament, so idk. when you sign your name do you use your middle name?   no. do you have a shower curtain or door?   curtain has anyone ever mistaken you for being gay/lesbian/bi?   i've been mistaken as gay before. does the thought of being pregnant gross you out?   let's be real here, pregnancy is disgusting. did you ever have to share a room with one of your siblings?   my younger sister and i did when we were little. do you remember those "the land before time" movies and if so, who was your favorite character?   i loved those movies.  pretty sure my favorite was littlefoot. what band, musical artist or song do you feel you’ll never get sick of?   more than anyone, ozzy and metallica.  my first metal loves. do you think you’ll be a good mother/father?   no, and thus i don't want kids. is it hard leaving people behind?   if you actually gave a shit about the person, it always is. do you watch "the walking dead"?   no, i don't watch tv. have you ever had to get a tooth pulled? if so, what for?   no, but i may have to get this wisdom tooth on my bottom left jaw out.  it causes me to bite my cheek a lot. if you’ve ever babysat, do you like it?   i did once and i never will again. have either of your parents gone to jail?   no. do you know a hoarder?   i know two. what’s a reasonable amount of time before two people get engaged?   i mean... it depends.  people get close at different rates.  but i'd probably be doubtful if it was any less than like two years. what’s something you’ve done that not many people can say they have?   uhhhh... hm.  i don't really know.  i mean not many people can say they've been to a mental hospital at least five fucking times, but that's nothing to be proud of. what tv shows did you grow up watching?   just to name a few: "pokemon," "bear in the big blue house," "rugrats," "spongebob squarepants," "the amanda show," "rolie polie olie," "the crocodile hunter," etc...  lots of stuff on nick, disney, and animal planet. what were your favorite toys to play with as a child?   these plastic dinosaurs that i had. do you enjoy the arctic monkeys?  they have three songs i really love, one being one of my all-time faves.  i've heard a few others that are all right. what type of criminal would you be?   i wouldn't be a criminal to begin with.  but if you're asking like, what am i most likely to do to make me one?  idk. do you get attached easily?   once you start showing me i can trust you, yes.  but i don't mean this in a romantic sense; i learned my damn lesson.  i'm doubtful and very cautious when getting attached romantically, but as far as friendships go, once i think you're all right?  yeah, i get attached. what were you like when you were a kid?   i was hyper, weird, and really talkative.  only thing i've maintained is the weirdness lol would you go against your moral code for money?   no.  i have a really devout moral compass. what is your happiest childhood memory?   really, i have a lot.  the memory of me waking up early to play any of the original "spyro" games is strong with me.  i also used to love swimming on the first day of spring with nicole; we'd always pester dad to put the pool up as soon as spring was here.  we wouldn't even wait for the water to warm up lol.  then i have a distinct memory of dad teaching me to ride a bike, and i loved that.  playing baseball with dad was fun, too.  all things considered, i had a good childhood. have you ever had an imaginary friend?   no. if you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?   that's a hard question, but i'd probably take away greed.  it is the fuel behind a LOT of things. is there someone you don’t ever want to be out of your life?   many people, but more than anyone, my mom.  i have no fucking clue where i'd be without her. do you think you can love someone without trusting them?   not sincerely, no. what is a career you dream of pursuing but realistically you shouldn’t?   meerkat biologist.  i wouldn't survive in the heat. do you like 80s music?   quite a bit, mostly '80s metal. what kind of food is your favorite? (Ex. mexican, chinese, thai, etc.)   american how would you feel if you were drafted for the military?   NNNNNNOPE who is your favorite harry potter character?   i don't know much about hp. what is your favorite queen song?   "bohemian rhapsody" is the only correct answer what topics are you really shy about and don’t like discussing?   i don't talk about my hobbies period. who did you last pinky promise with?   probably colleen. do you drink bottled water?   if i absolutely have to drink water, i'll get it from a bottle or preferably a water filter that's been in the fridge.  i can't drink tap water. do you donate blood?   i did once in high school, but i don't think i will again.  it was a very stressful experience for me because i was afraid of fainting. have you ever swam in a river?   yeah.  welcome to the south. in what month do you start christmas shopping?  i don't have my own money, so i can't christmas shop to begin with. have you ever posted a question on yahoo questions?   no. do you still have clothes from your high school dances?   i have both my prom dresses have you ever felt manipulated?   yes. what is your stance on getting revenge?   childish. do you have a ceiling fan located in your bedroom?  no, but mom wants to install one.  my room is extremely hot, and the one desk fan i have in here is far from enough. disney’s "frozen": yay or nay?   nay.  so disappointing.  the pacing was awful and the story was so predictable. what does your best friend think of the person you love/like?   sara doesn't know him, colleen loves him. ever thought you knew someone, but it was all a big lie?   meet my former best friend. any music videos make you cry?   "hurt" by johnny cash really gets me, as well as "one" by metallica, but i wouldn't say i cry. do you delete people from facebook if their views are vastly different than yours?   no.  however, if they start pushing their views on me or straight-up bash mine, then yes. do you like to climb trees?   i wouldn't know, as i've never climbed one.  like 99% of trees here in nc are pine trees, so no branches are low enough to climb. have you ever played the "tomb raider" games?   omg so we had two.  i remember buying the first one, but my brother had the second one, i'm pretty sure.  might have been the first.  i got too frustrated with the first one, which i played as a teenager, but when i was very young, my sister and i loved the second one.  only our brother was good at it, but ashley and i would love to play and always lure the old butler into the freezer lmao. beatles or rolling stones?   i legitimately only like one song by the beatles.  i enjoy the rolling stones. what is your favorite accent?   british or scottish what was your first favorite band?   green day do you feel uncomfortable sharing drinks with other people?   yes. do you call any of your friends by their last name?   i call my boyfriend by a portion of his last name have you ever cried in school?   yes, but only in the bathroom comes to the top of my head. do you remember the first computer game you ever played?   not the absolute first, but i remember "putt-putt," "freddie the fish," "oregon trail," then there was this one i LOVED where i think some friends were preparing for a friend's birthday?  i think it was a lion?  i have very strong memories of a game that it think is called "amazon trail 3;" i played that game obsessively. were you baptized?  yes.

[rk-9s-blog]

Sword Art on-line Franchise Opens Job Applications for Game, Anime, Spinoff Novel Writers

Blood Lad  Kazuma Miki, editor of the blade Art on-line novels and head of artistic management company Straight Edge, place out a enlisting appeal Wednesday for writers to figure on varied comes at intervals the blade Art on-line franchise. careful data of the series isn't a necessary demand, he says.

 The jobs can be 3 types: Anime script author, game story author, and author. previous expertise with skilled fiction writing within the anime, novels, or games businesses may be a should. Writers may additionally  be expected to figure on manuscripts associated with different Reki Kawahara comes.

 The payment and schedules are negotiated on a per-project basis. The comes ar expected to start from Jan or Feb next year, however individual comes will be rescheduled in keeping with the writer's desires.

 Straight Edge can perform as support and a intermediator for the writers, though writers could typically be expected to act with Kadokawa, Aniplex, A-1 footage, Bandai Namco diversion, EGG FIRM, and different firms associated with blade Art on-line directly.

 Applicants should email sao@straightedge.jp with their nom de plume, resume, extent of data on SAO, and their desired position. The point for applications is December seventeen, 23:59 JST.

Magical woman Special Roman deity Asuka Anime's New Key Visual unconcealed

The anime can premiere on the "Animeism" programming block. The show can air on MBS and TBS on Jan eleven at 26:25 (effectively Jan twelve at 2:25 a.m.), before airing anon BS-TBS, AT-X, and CBC. The anime can stream in Japan solely on Amazon Prime Video. the location didn't specify the streaming services for outdoor of Japan.

 Seven Seas diversion accredited the manga series in English, and it describes the story:

 When the planet is vulnerable by the sudden  look of undead creatures, a gaggle of young girls blessed powers from a mysterious supply rose to defeat them. Now, once 3 years of apparent peace, constant malevolent creatures have resurfaced. 5 wizardly ladies ar once more conscripted to war because the wizardly woman Special-Ops force, to defend world from Associate in Nursing unholy nemesis.

Hideyo full admiral (Strike the Blood, Code:Realize -Guardian of Rebirth-) is directional the series at LIDEN FILMS (The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Terra Formars). Makoto Fukami (Berserk, Yuruyuri San Hai!) and Norimitsu Kaihō (School-Live!, Danganronpa 3: the tip of Hope's Peak High School: Despair Arc) ar responsible of series composition, and Yoko Suzuki (animation director for Bleach, Polar Bear's Café) is planning the characters. R.O.N (FLCL different, Kuroko's Basketball) is composing the music.

 Staz Charlie Blood could be a powerful lamia World Health Organization rules the japanese district of Demon World. in line with rumors, he's a bloody-minded and implacable monster, however in point of fact, Staz is simply associate degree otaku keen about Japanese culture and fully tired of human blood. exploit the management of his territory to his underlings, Staz spends his days lazing around, pampering in anime, manga, and games.

 When Fuyumi Yanagi, a Japanese woman, accidentally wanders through a portal leading into the demon world, Staz is joyful. however even as he's beginning to feel associate degree uncommon attraction to her, his territory is attacked, leading to Fuyumi's untimely death. She turns into a wandering ghost and also the chapfallen Staz vows to resurrect her as this might mean having the ability to travel the human world, one thing he has perpetually unreal of.

 Blood Lad follows Staz and Fuyumi, before long joined by the spacial magician Bell and also the half-werewolf Wolf, as they travel realize a magic that may bring humans back to life.

 Blood Lad  EP.1

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[algarithmblognumber]

Nature Polar bear and cub kill Canadian hunter

Nature Polar bear and cub kill Canadian hunter Nature Polar bear and cub kill Canadian hunter http://www.nature-business.com/nature-polar-bear-and-cub-kill-canadian-hunter/

Nature

Image caption

File photo of a polar bear

A hunter has been killed in northern Canada in an attack involving a polar bear and her cub, and two other hunters received minor injuries. The hunting party from Naujaat, Nunavut, an Inuit hamlet located on the Arctic Circle, were out seeking narwhal and caribou when they were attacked. Both the mother bear and cub were shot and killed following the incident. This is the second fatal polar bear attack in Canada’s northernmost territory this summer. Naujaat Search and Rescue went looking for the men after they failed to return as planned on Thursday from their hunting trip. The two survivors of the hunting party were found off the shore of Lyon Inlet, about 100km (60 miles) east of Naujaat. They had been blocked in by sea ice that was making it dangerous to navigate out to open water and leave the area. They also had mechanical issues with their boat. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Nunavut and the coroner’s office are investigating the incident and have not released more details about the attack. It is not clear whether the mother bear and cub were killed by the hunters in retaliation, or if they were destroyed by the authorities. The CBC reports three other bears were also killed in the following days after they were drawn to the location.In July, a father died protecting his children in a rare polar bear attack in Nunavut.Aaron Gibbons, 31, was on Sentry Island, a popular fishing and hunting spot on the west coast of Hudson Bay, when he encountered the bear on 3 July.He told his daughters to run and placed himself between them and the bear, which was later shot and killed. Robert Hedley, Naujaat’s senior administrative officer, told the BBC on Wednesday that the community is always concerned about polar bear incursions and wildlife management in general. He said in the wake of this second fatal attack, both the hamlet and Nunavut government have to take a close look at the reasons behind the two incidents.A 2017 study looking at polar bear attacks in Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia and the US found they were likely to be caused by hungry male bears or – more rarely – females trying to defend cubs. Polar bear attacks are uncommon. Researchers documented 73 attacks between 1870 and 2014 across the five countries, but warned a loss of sea ice habitat and increased interaction with humans could increase their frequency.

Read More | BBC News

Nature Polar bear and cub kill Canadian hunter, in 2018-08-29 18:42:46