#pride month is basically another black history month when it comes to how everyone reacts to it

[sanyu-thewitch05]

Me watching the LGBT community who almost never rarely gives black women and girls, asexuals, or aromantics genuine respect, pretend we’re all friends and have always treated us right the minute it’s June 1st and want to use black women(mainly darkskinned) and girls as their little poster girl:

[inkyjaguar]

The History of Sapnap

The second installment to The King’s Final Battle Lore: Sapnap

Sapnap was born in Camarvan in Wheat Valley. He was born to a big family of fishermen who were one of the founders of the town itself. Sapnap was a bit of a wild child who got away with a lot of trouble because he knew the town’s alleyways inside and out. Most of the trouble he got into were things like pranks and scams on the smaller children of the town. Never something big enough to get back to his parents. With his family being very friendly and big, he knew mostly everyone in the town.

He grew up in town with his best friend George Lore who basically became his brother after George’s parents died. He and George were inseparable when it came to causing trouble. That wasn’t his only friend as George seemed to fall asleep alot. He was friends with almost all of the children in Camarvan but ran mostly with Punz, Alyssa, Callahan, and Purpled. He hung out with Tommy, Tubbo, Fundy and Jack but things got strained with them as they started to listen to Wilbur Soot more; an eccentric sorcerer. 

Everything changed for him when George brought back a friend from the wheat fields. It was a boy their age who needed a home and wore a mask. Sapnap asked no questions and his family adopted Dream as if he were one of their own. Sapnap and Dream became fast friends and he forgot what it was like when it was just him and George. Dream was a private person when it came to his previous life and Sapnap thought it was because he had come in from The Arctic; a snowy place filled with weird people. Not that Sapnap cared, but he was worried for the guy sometimes. 

But Sapnap knew something was really weird about Dream when he and Tommy found a ruin. When Sapnap was 15, they were playing far out in the forest when Tommy fell into a cavern. Sapnap jumped in after him and they found an overgrown city filled with weird carvings. They couldn’t read anything and the rocks around them looked complicated and dangerous. Sapnap felt strange in that place and could’ve sworn that he heard someone in there with them. He eventually was able to drag Tommy away from the place but not before Tommy grabbed a journal stating that it “looked cool”. 

When the two got back, Tommy and Sapnap told everyone about their discovery. All the other kids thought they were heroes and begged Tommy to show them to the ruins. Dream reacted differently. He grew silent and Sapnap got that same eerie feeling. Before he could talk to Dream, Dream tried to steal the old journal from Tommy. A small chase began. Even though Tommy was 12 and smaller than Dream, he could places Dream couldn’t. Sapnap tried to laugh off the whole thing as a prank, but as he flipped between helping Tommy and helping Dream in the chase around Camarvan, the mood surrounding Dream made his hair raise. 

The whole incident over the journal lasted 2 years with many other people joining into the impromptu capture the flag game between Tommy and Dream. And no matter how many times Sapnap pried into Dream, he never told him the meaning of the journal or why he wanted it so badly. 

That, was just the first of the many battles against Tommy’s crew. Tommy and his friends started to listen more to Fundy’s dad; Wilbur Soot. And Wilbur started to get more bold in his decisions. Wilbur’s family was another founding family in the area as well and so Sapnap’s family had a messy history with theirs. Wilbur’s family had always been gifted with magic and over the generations, that magic had been used for both good and evil. In this generation, it seemed that Wilbur used his magic for more evil purposes. 

Wilbur gained a following in the village with his ideas of “new magic” and “better politics”. Tommy, Tubbo and Fundy were all his devoted disciples. Sapnap’s family, and Sapnap, were the ones who eventually forced Wilbur and his new gang, which turned out to be half the town, out into the surrounding forest if they refused to listen to the rules set by the King of the Esempe Kingdom. 

One day, Wilbur raided. Sapnap just came back from fishing to find everyone running about. Belongings were being dumped into the streets, thieves were loading their pockets and Wilbur was standing amidst it all; shouting orders to continue looting. The one thing that Sapnap prides himself on is his energy and his boldness. And in the heat of the moment, he was able to find his friends and push Wilbur and his gang back. Him, Dream, Tubbo, Punz, Eret, Ponk, Purpled, Alyssa and Callahan were able to defend the village against that attack. It was Sapnap’s first real battle. He had dueled half-heartedly with Dream and Punz but this was the first time his emergency blade actually hurt. 

It was exhilarating. 

Wilbur declared his little colony L’Manberg the next day and Dream declared war against them for the sake of Camarvan. Sapnap considered himself Dream’s right hand man when it came creating attacks and planning traps. And they were winning. The respect Sapnap earned the energy he felt on the battle field was like nothing he had experienced before. But the most intoxicating thing, was burning. He loved the arson missions and the sabotage trips. He and Alyssa were the best when it came to quick burnings. The only times they were caught, was during the Burning of the Wheat Crops and when Alyssa was executed by Wilbur. 

They had separated after being discovered. Alyssa went one way and Sapnap went the other. The next time he saw her had been back at camp a couple days later; her body being delivered in a small box. It drove him crazy. Alyssa had been one of his best friends and now she was dead. He had gone to the woods and screamed his lungs out. At one point, he had passed out from the exhaustion of his mourning. And when he came to, he was surrounded by wildfire. 

He snuck back into camp after putting out the fire and was comforted by Dream about everything that happened. It was touching but when George woke up from another nap, he left. And Sapnap was alone wondering where that fire had come from. He reported it to Dream the next day; stating that someone set a fire around him while he had been mourning. 

The end of the LManberg came about in the form of Tommy and Dream facing off and Dream walking away victorious. But LManberg won its independence. Sapnap never understood. He and everyone else asked Dream how that happened, but he wouldn’t explain. And after a month of trench battles, the King arrived and declared the same thing along with Eret, a former ally turned traitor turned double crosser for them, being destined for the throne. Eret repaid his friends in kind and Sapnap was invited to train for knighthood in the capitol.

This was his moment of a lifetime. He was surrounded by respect, friends and training in what he loved most. Sapnap devoted himself to his work while training under Captain of the Knights, Puffy; everyone called her Captain Puffy. Even in the capitol, he made more friends. He met BadBoyHalo, Sam, Quackity and Karl. He even got to repair the damage he made with old ones; not Wilbur though. Never Wilbur. 

While Captain Puffy trained them, it was a goal of Sapnap’s to one day be as great as The legendary Commander himself; Technoblade. He trained in secret to one day be able to face him during the festival duels. Dream took notice. Now, Dream came with them to the capitol, but he split off and did his own thing. Even though he wasn’t an official of any kind, he was still allowed into the castle. When the whole group would go out together, Dream would tell them tales about his life as a mercenary. It appealed to Sapnap and it even took away some of his friends. Purpled and Punz both left the knights for Dream’s way of fighting. 

Dream offered him a place after Sapnap told him about his dream of beating Technoblade. Sapnap didn’t want to leave though. He liked talking with Quackity and Karl and eating with George and Tommy in the dining halls. But then, Dream offered to train him. Sapnap eagerly took the opportunity only for things to get worse. 

After his initial blackout in the woods during the Revolution, he had been having vivid dreams where he would burn everything he touched. Most nights, it amounted to nothing, but sometimes he woke up with soot surrounding him, or in the middle of a burning forest. When he trained with Dream, he would start blacking out in the middle of the training and wake up in a completely different stance than when he blinked before. Dream didn’t think anything of it, so Sapnap brushed it off. 

But he had a feeling something was off.

In a years time, Sapnap got promoted to Captain of the Guard; taking over the position from a Lazarbeam. When he got promoted, he stopped training with Dream; disturbed by the black-outs and feeling like it was connected with Dream in someway. That split his old friend group apart even though he tried to stick with George, he felt more comfort in his new friends. 

After a year of being Captain of the Guard, the reelection for LManberg happened. Sapnap supported Quackity and George with Karl. He felt like a different person whenever he was with Quackity and Karl. He loved George and Dream, no doubt, and they hung out but whenever he was with Dream, he fell into those black-outs. He wanted to tell Quackity and Karl about them but never found the courage. Everything was going good.

After the election and when Quackity was elected, Sapnap noticed George grow more anxious. After he heard he got sent to the Court Sorcerer, he went to help him and barely caught George on his way to The Badlands; BadBoyHalo’s home country. The only thing he could think of asking George, is to watch out for any mention of fires in magical blackouts. Sapnap couldn’t leave his post to figure out what was wrong with him either, but he could at least ask George.

He should’ve done more. 

A year after the election, Sapnap watched the kingdom grow more and more tense. Schlatt was going insane. Quackity was walking around with bruises. Karl disappeared for days at a time with no explanation. Dream was reported talking to the new rebelling state made by Wilbur called Pogtopia. And Sapnap was starting to hear a voice in his head. 

It started after George left and Quackity and Karl grew distant. He didn’t think much of it until it started to chant for him to burn everything he touched and saw. It grew too much at times when everything he could hear was the voice screaming at him to burn. But it was always there. 

Everything seemed to falling out beneath him. And then George came back from The Badlands and Dream called a meeting in the throne room. When George came in, Dream announced him King. Technoblade objected. Captain Puffy told Dream off. Quackity cheered. King Eret stepped down and George stepped up. 

Sapnap swore his allegiance to his friend that day but he knew that Dream was more than what he showed though.

Sapnap rearranges his schedule to stay by his best friend and king even while the voice tells him no. By while he stays by George’s side, he becomes his keeper for the narcolept. Every time someone found George asleep, they called for him. And most times, by the time he found George, Dream was there to scoop up their friend and take him to a chair or bed. Sapnap knew that George trusted him and Dream was his best friend, but Sapnap didnn’t like Dream taking George away like that.

And even while Sapnap tried his best, he still wasn’t there when Technoblade attacked George. Dream was. Dream was always a step above him when it came to defending George it seemed. 

It wasn’t a question anymore when the battle with Pogtopia came closer. Even though Quackity defaulted to Pogtopia, Sapnap stayed with Karl and Dream in defending Schlatt against Tommy and Wilbur. His heart wasn’t in it but the voice in his head was. Even though he was fighting a battle around him, his mind was going through one as well. Every other moment he was either slashing with all his might or holding back; switching between chaos and mercy. So when it was over, when Technoblade betrayed everyone and Wilbur died by Philza’s hand, Sapnap was just glad to take Quackity and Karl back to his place and lie down for a bit. 

Everything seemed peaceful after that. Peaceful was relative but there were no wars and so Sapnap considered it peaceful. George ruled over the Esempe, Dream disappeared, Tubbo was the new ruler of LManberg, and Quackity and Karl moved in. The voice in his head almost disappeared and with that, he revealed what he had been going through. Quackity and Karl were more supporting than ever and for once, Sapnap felt safe to fall asleep again. 

It was Karl who gave him the news though. A year after the Pogtopia battle, a year of peace fell away when Camarvan burned down. His family, his house, his history. All gone. He knew the voice left for a reason, but he hadn’t thought it would be this. There was only person who was associated with fire. One person who blacked out and woke up surrounded by flames. Sapnap was the only person who could burn everything and not remember.

But it was Tommy who was arrested. Tommy, who was thrown into Sapnap’s jail, and who yelled he doesn’t remember anything. In the jail, Sapnap couldn’t let someone else, much less a friend, take his fall. So he promised Tommy that he would get him out of there. When George called Tommy into the courtroom, Sapnap defended Tommy; swearing on his position that he was innocent. George gave an offer: Tommy must help George break his sleeping curse.

George never told him about a sleeping curse. It didn’t matter right now but Sapnap wanted to talk to him about it later. Shortly afterwards, Tommy, Tubbo, Sapnap, George, Quackity and Fundy go off to break the curse. George had figured out that his sleeping curse was connected to the ruins by Camarvan Tommy had originally gotten the journal from. And while on their way there, Dream joined them. 

After barely seeing him for a year, Sapnap was surprised to see his old friend. He had changed. They both had changed and Dream seemed to know it. Right before the ruins, Dream confronted him about the voice and the burning. He knew. Somehow, Dream knew about the burning dreams and he didn’t help Sapnap at all. Sapnap had been right all along. 

But they were working together and so Sapnap stored his feelings aside and helped George. He helped him find the ruins and an anicent lab filled with weird symbols. He gave clothes to the weird enderman hybrid as well. And when Dream freaked out and started to yell after they entered the lab, Sapnap stood up to his old friend. This could help George and if Dream was standing in their way then Sapnap would remove him. George sent Dream away though. Told him to never come back and they found something in the lab that when Tubbo roughly translated, could cure George. And it did. 

When they got back to the castle, Karl came hurtling out; talking about Dream returning. They all rushed into the throne room to find Eret on the throne again. This was the last straw. 

Sapnap threw in his shield to the throne and left with Quackity, Karl and George to start El Rapids; a fantasy dream between the four of them. It grew. And Sapnap watched from afar Tommy getting exiled and Tubbo picking up the pieces. Still, they all plotted against Dream; trying to find a way to get Eret off the throne and Tommy back. 

After a year of scheming and building a state that was actually bringing people in, Sapnap felt stronger than ever. Their militia was trained. George wasn’t sleeping as much and he was with his favorite people in the whole world; people he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Karl was finally telling him about where he goes for days at a time. He goes to a place called The InBetween and reveals he is a sorcerer to him and Quackity. And Sapnap couldn’t have been prouder of Karl. All those stories he tells at night when Sapnap is drained, might be true. And the hero of all of them, is his own Karl. 

And then the invitation came. Tubbo was throwing a festival celebrating LManberg. Karl forgets about the festival on the day they leave. Sapnap tries to remind him but Karl doesn’t remember the invitation at all. He feels feverish and so Sapnap puts Karl in bed and promises to be home soon. Whatever was happening, wasn’t good. 

The second festival goes off without a hitch, until a nether portal opens up. Dream, Techno and Tommy step out with wither skeletons and tnt alike. It’s a bloodbath from the get go. Everyone who has ever held a title is there, and the knights are back in the capitol. Sapnap tries his hardest though. He goes after Dream with George. But at one point, he hears Tubbo yell from behind him and sees Tommy overcome the President. Sapnap has to leave. George can handle Dream just fine, it’s Tommy that needs his help.

Tubbo is screaming about dreamons and Sapnap can do nothing but let his voice for fire and violence let loose. He battles with Tommy, trying to yell sense into him but the Tommy he hears sounds like someone who is conflicted; scared. He yells at Tubbo for betraying him and yells at Sapnap for being too nice. There’s only one thing he can think of to snap Tommy out of this. He takes Tommy by the shoulders and throws him off the broken balcony. Tommy screams in terror and Sapnap will never forget that face of betrayal of his friend. Tubbo is the one who grabs Tommy. And with his iron armour on, Tommy reacts in pain before going limp altogether. 

Sapnap pulls the blonde up with Tubbo and watches Dream and Techno run from the fight. He would get them though. He would see them in prison. 

George is shaken up. Everyone is. 

But George leaves El Rapids; saying something about dreamons. Is that what is happening to Sapnap? The voice in his head? The dreams and sleepwalking?

In no time at all, Dream is found. Tommy remembers something from exile after some recovery. He doesn’t take no as an answer when everyone gears up. So Tommy leads the charge. They storm Dream’s base and arrest him. King Eret sentences him to Pandora’s Vault and before Sapnap can say goodbye, Karl grabs him from behind. 

Karl is pale and shaky and Sapnap didn’t even want him to come  but Karl insisted. Right now though, he looks like he is about to pass out. He begs Sapnap to run with him and Sapnap does; without question. They run. They don’t stop at El Rapids and keep running until they find an old house that looks like a mushroom. When they arrive, Karl collapses.

Sapnap brings him back to health but Karl is faint. Sapnap builds up the tiny house and what’s left of El Rapids follows him until a new state is built again; Kinoko is what Karl wants to call it. Quackity is gone as well. Sapnap can’t get ahold of him no matter how much magic he buys. Quackity has disappeared and Sapnap doesn’t want to fear for the worse but he does. 

And the voice returns. Sapnap works tirelessly to write down Karl’s memories and build up the state to keep the voice away but at night, it tells him that he has failed Quackity and he will fail Karl. 

George comes to Kinoko with a mission a couple months later. He’s convinced that Dream is possessed and maybe that is why Sapnap is having problems. George wants to cure Dream but he needs help; he needs a guard. And who better than the old Captain of the Guards? He agrees and leaves Karl in the care of his cousins. 

The team forms: Sam, Tommy, Tubbo, Sapnap, BadBoyHalo, Quackity, Fundy and Ranboo. They should’ve had more but that makes them slow. Sapnap is always on alert. Dream has changed since prison. He changed even before prison though. Dream still taunts. He teases that he knows how to cure Karl and how to fix him but Sapnap can’t listen. He can’t listen because Quackity is alive.

Quackity is angry though. He claims that Sapnap and Karl ran off without him and they did, but Sapnap argues the same. Sapnap tells him about Karl but Quackity doesn’t want to hear about it. It brings Sapnap pain to bring it up but Sapnap has a letter he wrote to Quackity long ago when they first separated and he gives it to him now. He can’t think properly with the voice in his head but he hopes that maybe past Sapnap can. 

They go back to the ruins of Camarvan and find a summoning circle. BadBoyHalo, Tubbo and George start their ritual and Sapnap catches on fire. He feels like he’s burning and it doesn’t stop. He can’t stay awake as the voice screams in pain as well. When he wakes up, Dream is someone else; someone without the mask.

And he feels clear. He feels as if his head as been swabbed of cotton balls and that it’s shiny and new. He feels great when he returns to Kinoko and so his heart drops when Karl is doing worse. It’s too much. He can’t keep treating Karl on his own. Karl is moved to the castle where George reigns as the new king with Prince Tubbo and Prince Eret at his side. 

And then there’s Clay. 

A new person who used to be Dream. Someone else who looks and sounds like Dream but holds no memories. It’s weird and it takes getting used to but Sapnap was raised to make everyone feel welcome. And like that time when George dragged the masked boy from the wheat field, Sapnap takes Clay in with open arms and no questions asked.  

[seagreen-meets-grey]

The Last Slide: Ch. 2

@feeisamarshmallow here is the second chapter ♥

Read on ao3

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Chapters: 1 2 3 4

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The smell of chlorine hit Jake’s nose as soon as he stepped through the front door of the Tropic Thunder Aqua Park. Following Amy to the information desk, he envied the little groups of people striding past him to the ticket window, bags slung over their shoulders, inflatable crocodiles and donuts and flamingos under their arms. Once this case was closed, he needed to find a free day for Amy, Mac and him to come back here. Or maybe to a different water park, one with less murder history.

Amy greeted the teenager behind the desk, flashing her badge and ID. The boy’s brows scrunched in momentary confusion, then he paled a few subtle shades. But when Amy mentioned his boss calling because of the case, his shoulders relaxed. Jake wondered if the boy had done something to assume they were here because of him, or if he was just nervous. The name tag on his orange t-shirt read Julius.

He picked up a desk phone and pressed a few buttons, relaying the information of their arrival. Then he fumbled with his hands and bounced on his heels. “Can I get you anything? A water? Dolphin-shaped cookies?”

Jake opened his mouth to ask for those, but Amy spoke before he could.

“No, thank you, Julius.” She offered him a sympathetic smile. “It must feel awful to be working right now.” The boy nodded, relaxing further and dropping down into his chair.

“It’s weird,” he admitted. “When I came to start my shift, there were crime techs everywhere. And they wheeled out a gurney with a black body bag. I thought this only happened on TV.” He shuddered, glancing off into his memories.

“Did you notice anything unusual lately, Julius?” While still smiling motherly, her tone was ever-professional. The kid was easy to trust her. A wave of pride welled up inside Jake. This was his wife.

Julius shook his head. “I don’t think so. I mean, Francesca said she saw the dead guy argue with Darius last week, but she also believes in yetis, so.”

“Who’s Francesca and Darius?” Jake asked.

“Francesca Roberts and Darius are lifeguards; they work here as pool attendants. I don’t know Darius’ last name, I’m sorry.”

“Did Francesca hear what the argument was about?”

Julius shook his head as behind him, a door opened and a tall middle-aged man with sandy hair and the body of a swimmer stepped through. He wore the same white shorts as Julius but his shirt was baby-blue, without a name tag.

With a polite smile, he reached out his hand over the desk. “Sam Kirkwell, I’m the head of Tropic Thunder. I spoke to your colleague on the phone this morning.”

Amy shook his hand. “Lieutenant Santiago of the 99th precinct, this is Detective Peralta. Is there anywhere we can talk more privately?”

“Of course.” Kirkwell waved them behind the desk and through the door he had just entered through. They walked through a small break room, then down a narrow, cream-painted hallway and into an office. Kirkwell sat behind the desk and gestured at the chairs on the other side, waiting for them to sit before leaning forward and folding his hands on the desk.

“Now how can I help you?”

They went over the details of the case, Amy taking notes rigorously while Jake painted a picture in his imagination, forming the scene, adding everything he’d already read in the file and everything Kirkwell told them. So far, the details added up.

The water park had opened at 9 in the morning. At 9:53, a man – Lars Pearson, 43 years old, Caucasian, warehouse worker – came out of the Disco, a popular water slide, with a poisoned dart in his neck. The first cops on the scene assumed he was hit before going down the slide, but security footage showed him happy, healthy, alive at the top. In the middle of the ride, he came through the funnel, but with the disco lights dancing around and no extra light source, the camera in there didn’t show enough to see the dart. No one followed him down in immediate succession, the next person started the ride once the victim had already been at the end.

Everyone leaving the water park since then had left their contact information. Witnesses could only describe that nothing had been out of the ordinary when Pearson had waited in line for the slide. Nobody had seen anyone with a blowpipe or dart gun. Pool attendants as well as camera footage didn’t deliver them any more information, either.

The victim had no family except for a bedridden father and a brother. Had come to the water park with two co-workers who could also not report anything unusual. No fingerprints had been found on the dart.

“I reopened the park, including the slide, about an hour ago,” Kirkwell continued. “Your people were already gone and the officers said there was no more evidence that had to be saved.”

Jake and Amy both huffed in annoyance. It was one thing to move the body if it otherwise floated around the pool. Any possible evidence left in the water slide, however, they could forget. Kirkwell didn’t seem to have thought that far ahead and whoever had given him clearance to reopen hadn’t either. But they would go and see what they could make of it.

“One more thing,” Jake said when Kirkwell was about to show them the slide, “Julius mentioned two pool attendants we’d like to talk to. Francesca Roberts and another one named Darius.”

“Darius Erickson, yes.” Kirkwell looked at his watch. “Francesca should still be around here somewhere and Darius is about to end his shift in a few minutes. I’ll have them wait in here.”

“Actually,” Amy held up a hand, “we’d like to see them before we inspect the slide.”

That didn’t seem to fit into Kirkwell’s plans, but he schooled his expression into a polite smile and nodded. “Of course. I’ll be right back.”

As soon as the door closed behind him, Amy groaned. “How careless can you be?!” she grumbled. “Now we’ll have to investigate in-between a horde of civilians!”

Jake smirked. “You mean we’ll have to ride the slide to search for clues?”

“Seems like it.” She sighed in defeat but Jake was having none of it.

“Admit it, you want to. Otherwise, you’d just order Kirkwell to close the place until we’re done with the investigation.”

“We don’t even have our swimming gear and– You packed it, didn’t you.” He didn’t have to say anything, the grin on his face confirmed her assumption.

The door opened again a few minutes later and Kirkwell pushed a man and a woman inside. Before he could close the door behind himself, Amy turned to him. “We’d like to speak to them alone, please. Mr. Erickson, if you could also please wait outside while we talk to Ms. Roberts.”

“This is stupid, I already talked to the cops this morning, my shift is over! I want to leave, right now,” Erickson ranted but Jake just sternly gestured at the door. It was something he’d practiced a lot on Mac whenever he’d come out of his room before his tantrum-induced time-out had ended. Erickson reacted similarly while leaving the room, slamming the door behind him.

“Ms. Roberts, please sit,” Amy told the woman. She looked in her mid-fifties, had bleached hair with a gray hairline and her orange t-shirt looked a size too small. “We’ve been told you witnessed an argument between Mr. Erickson and Mr. Pearson last week. Can you tell us more about that?”

Roberts shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. When I left the building last Thursday after my shift, I saw Darius in a heated conversation with someone. I didn’t care because he’s been moody ever since his wife left him a few months ago. I only remembered about it when I saw the body…” She gulped. “It was the guy Darius argued with, I’m sure.”

Darius Erickson confirmed that not much later. “Fine, yes. I knew Lars. That son of a bitch is the reason my wife left me.” He was sitting on the edge of his seat, arms crossed in front of him. The light from the ceiling was shining on his balding head and the crease between his brows was thicker than Terry’s biceps. (So to speak. Jake wouldn’t want anyone to actually hold him to that.)

“I know what you’re thinking,” Erickson continued, “but I already told your colleagues this morning, I didn’t do it! I was late to work, my car’s in the shop, my brother drove me. When I arrived, cops were already here.”

Amy neatly wrote everything down on her notepad. “We’ll need your brother’s contact information, Mr. Erickson.” The man threw his arms up in the air with a huff. “We need to check your alibi in order to drop you as a suspect. We ask you to not leave the city and to be ready for more questions.”

For now, they couldn’t actually bring him in for anything yet. Jake hoped they didn’t need to. Not just because that would solve and end the case way too soon, but also because Erickson would be out and about as long as they didn’t have actual evidence to link him to anything.

After the pool attendant had left, Jake relayed the information to Charles, and by the time they were following Kirkwell through the water park, barefoot and pant legs rolled up, Erickson’s alibi had checked out.

The air inside was warm and humid, tropical, with no breeze to provide a little cooling. Kirkwell showed them where the body was found. The Disco slide ended into a small pool area which in turn was connected to a large non-swimmer’s pool. If the body had been left in here, it really would have been floating around the park by now.

People were coming out of the tube and splashing into the tiny pool every thirty seconds or so. The chlorine in the water should have tainted every bit of evidence so far. And since the murder must have happened somewhere between Pearson’s start and end of the slide ride, Jake absolutely saw no other way than to don swim trunks and bikini and start the investigation. For the sake of work.

Amy grumbled a bit about feeling unprofessional in her own bikini while at a crime scene, but Jake could tell she was looking forward to this. She’d been way too overworked lately. And even though they were basically going to enjoy themselves at the water park, they were still going to do their jobs. It was a win-win situation.

The first three rides, though, brought no new revelations.

(That’s probably because Jake didn’t exactly go to great effort. Amy said she wanted to first get a feel for the slide so she could concentrate on the important things. So same thing, basically.)

(She couldn’t fool him.)

The slide wasn’t bustling with people anymore, so a race up the stairs to the top – so they wouldn’t lose precious investigating time, of course – made absolute sense.

“Ha!” Amy exclaimed as she hit the wall first. Jake made sure not to slip on the tiles as he came around the corner not a second later, out of breath and beaming. “I get to ride first this time.”

She got ready in front of the slide, the water gurgling down the dark tube. The light was green, so she put her hands on the pole over the entrance, leaned back for momentum, and flung herself down the tube. She disappeared behind the first turn, her adorable cry of “wheee” echoing back up to Jake.

He positioned himself, head turned to the side to get a good look at the light. As soon as the red would turn green, he’d use all his strength to propel himself down the slide. But the light didn’t change.

A handful of people gathered behind him during the next minutes, waiting in line and growing increasingly impatient. Was the signal broken? Was Amy stuck somewhere down the slide? Did she somehow manage to hit her head in the funnel and now she was lying there, unconscious, and whatever motion sensor was waiting for her at the end of the slide was going to leave the light red for all eternity?

Okay, maybe he was being a tad bit dramatic. But when it came to his wife, he wouldn’t take any chances. (Plus, he was so eager to go again, and he would be careful not to crash into her and everything, right?) She was probably waiting for him downstairs and he was still up here, contemplating ignoring a red light.

He had to admit, it felt slightly weird to do just that, but then he was already gone. Gravity took him down the black tube, around several corners, water splashing in his face constantly. He wasn’t able to see much until he took a sharp turn and found himself in the funnel. Strobe lights and LED cones in plenty of different colors were dancing across the walls, highlighting the path to where the slide continued.

As Jake let the centrifugal force carry him through the funnel, he almost bumped into a pair of legs.

“Ames!” he called out in surprise, his voice carrying around the funnel. “There you are!” With his feet, he decelerated, coming to a stop. It was harder than he’d imagined to climb to Amy at the side of the funnel, the stream of water constantly tugging at his feet. Not to mention the slippery ground in general. “I thought you broke the slide when the light didn’t turn green.”

“I just don’t understand,” she mumbled, narrowed eyes inspecting every inch of the funnel. “How could Pearson get hit with a dart in here? The whole slide is a closed space.”

Jake had an idea. “Maybe the killer waited for him in here. And when Pearson thought he’d waited for the green light long enough, he went in, and when he came here, all the killer had to do was shoot the dart, wait a bit and follow him out at a safe distance.”

Amy shook her head. “That’s what I thought as well, but remember what Kirkwell said? The cameras didn’t show any unusual patterns right before and after Pearson came out. The intervals in which people went on the slide and came out on the other side were all on par with the usual 30 seconds, give or take. And anyone waiting in here would have been filmed, anyway.”

“When did you even have time to look at the camera feed?”

“While you took forever to change into your trunks.”

“There was a long line by the changing rooms!” he exclaimed and gesticulated, which was a mistake. He almost lost his balance, teetering on the spot, one hand against the wall, the other hovering near Amy to use her as a support pillar if necessary.

“Careful, babe.” She took a step, one foot slipping, but she caught herself.

“Let’s try this,” he said, grabbing her hand and bracing himself against the wall with the other. She did the same and, using the wall and each other for balance, they walked through the funnel to wherever Amy wanted to go.

When she reached her destination, she pointed upwards, to one of the light machines. “This one’s not visible from any angle the camera can take. Do you see a dart pistol attached or is the light playing tricks on my eyes?”

Jake carefully stood on his tiptoes, narrowing his eyes at the small black device above. It wasn’t easy seeing clearly with the multi-colored strobes darting around. “Nah, there’s nothing. And I squinted pretty hard.”

Amy let her arms fall against her sides. “Then I don’t get it.”

“He could have brought the dart himself. Maybe he rode the slide one too many times and went crazy from the strobe lights.”

“Then he went home to prepare a poisoned dart arrow, returned, rode the slide, and impaled himself while the lights were watching.”

“Exactly– no, wait, you’re mocking me.”

She nodded with a glint in her eyes. “I am. I am mocking you.”

“Well, I feel very insulted, now I have to go to the wave pool to treat myself. Maybe some fries after?”

And there was the eye-roll he’d been waiting for. “Jake, we’re still working – okay, now you’re mocking me.”

He grinned and leaned over to kiss her, staggering a little but catching himself in time.

“Very professional, Peralta.”

“Hmm, I don’t hear you complaining when–”

Suddenly, a torrent of water flushed into the funnel, followed by a pair of feet, then legs, then the rest of a young teenage girl with dark pigtails and a red-and-black swimsuit. She eyed the pair confused while the pair stared at her, until she disappeared in the tube again, one single eyebrow raised at them.

Jake realized they made quite the sight, poising on the high side of the funnel in the middle of a dark water slide, one arm each around the other’s back while standing half a foot apart for balance, faces close, eyes wide, and Jake was sure his swim trunks were hanging a little low on his butt. He reached down to pull them up.

“Maybe we should–” Amy started, but that was when he lost his footing, and the fall was inevitable. They went down together, the water carrying them out of the funnel, Jake with his head first. The tube was too narrow, the ride too fast for him to change his position as he and Amy were flushed down the drain. All he could do was splutter and turn his face so that less water got into his nose and mouth and eyes, the tunnel’s change of lighting all but a blur of colors, like a disco lightning storm.

What could only have been about ten seconds until they landed in the pool felt more like a small eternity spent preparing for the end. Shaking his head like a dog, he wiped his hands over his face and accepted Amy’s hand helping him up.

“That was an unexpected ride,” she commented.

“Title of your sex tape.”

“Again, very professional.” But she was grinning, half the hair from her bun hanging into her face, tousled from the sudden wild journey.

He was about to retort with another “Title of your sex tape!” when he spotted something. “What if he wasn’t dead yet when he came out here?”

Amy followed his eyes, latching onto the same thing. “Oh my god!”

Simultaneously, they turned to each other and exclaimed, “The vents!”

They went to find Kirkwell who confirmed that, indeed, the vents were big enough for a person to fit into. Someone could have fired the deadly poisoned dart from up there as soon as Pearson exited the slide. Kirkwell promised to have every employee who had access to the vents at the precinct by the next day.

Jake tried to convince Amy to stay at Tropic Thunder a little longer, but she threw one look at him and he knew he didn’t stand a chance against the Amy Santiago Stern Mommy Look. It always worked on Mac, and it never failed to make Jake at least a little bit horny.

That night, Amy left a little late to Rosa’s as Jake hurried to meet the landlord.

He can’t remember if he ever arrived.

[leoninapelliolovesconchitawurst]

ENGLISH TRANSLATION (Mandy Pitulle)

FM4 INTERVIEW with TOM NEUWIRTH

https://radiothek.orf.at/podcasts/fm4/fm4-interview-podcast/fm4-interview-mit-tom-neuwirth

Queer visibility also plays a role in the life of Tom Neuwirth, also known as Conchita Wurst. Seven years ago he won the Eurovision Song Contest. In an interview with FM4, he tells us like it is to grow up as a gay boy and experience pride for the first time.

. "Hello Tom, nice to have you here." "Yes, hello, I'm happy to be here." "It's June and that's a very special month for many people. It's Pride month and for queer people it's Pride all year. How are you feeling with that? How is June for you?"

Tom: "It's very special, it's been relatively commercialized in the last few years, which makes it special in another way. It's more visibility than it used to be. Pride has always been" The place to be ", especially when I was 16 / 17. Oh God, that I am now at an age to be able to say that. It was suddenly possible to visibly live out our sexuality, even if it was just being there, to hold hands and to have a save space and to know "Nothing will happen to you". It might sound strange, but being able to be an LGBTIQ person out on the streets was not easy back then and is still not always easy now.

FM4:" On 19th, it is the Rainbow Parade in Vienna. Do you have plans?"

Tom: " Not really concrete plans, but since the lockdown has fallen, we all feel the need to go out and celebrate. That is why the spirit to celebrate that I feel has not necessarily to do with June, but also with the current situation. I will of course be there. After 1 1/2 years where you couldn't see a lot of people and queer visibility has not taken place, I think it is important that we go out to the streets together and maybe come back to the origins of Prides . We noticed that the pandemic was not good when it comes to questioning ways of thinking, to stand up for more equality and that is why it is important to go out "as fabulous as we can".

FM4:"Do you still remember your first Pride and your first rainbow parade? How did you feel and how old were you?

Tom: "At my first Pride, I was with my best friend, Flo. We were 14/15 and told everyone we were in Graz, but secretly drove to Vienna. We then went to trendy scene bars and the rainbow parade and it was the amazing feeling of not having to hide, to not have to expect people to talk bad to me or look at me for walking in the street with my boyfriend. It was an extreme feeling of freedom. It still is a little, I have to say. I always dismissed it when you kiss in public and then get harsh comments. “I couldn't care less.” ...But then you ask yourself “Does that have to be?” “Why do you have to put people in a situation that is uncomfortable in some way. "So this year I am a little more aware of why it is important to have a rainbow parade. The first memories ... it was just Heaven ..You danced, met new people every minute and made out on the dance floor. It was "everything you can ask for".

FM4: "Do you know how old you were?"

Tom:" At my first Pride kiss? 15....*mumbles*...14/15"

FM4: "Nice. You have certainly been to many Pride events. Have you ever been to Prides outside Austria in June?"

Tom: "If you're known in the queer community, people like to book you for Prides. That's how it was for me and it has increased exponentially since the Eurovision Song Contest. One of the most impressive Prides was Amsterdam when I was there for the first time. I didn't know it from Austria when you turn on the TV and the country's TV stations are flagged with rainbow flags and Pride is advertised in the mainstream. Then the canals and streets were full. The whole city celebrated this part of society. The kids were all painted with rainbow flags and these floats that drove through on the canals. It was extremely impressive. And I didn't know that from Austria. With the Europride, that changed. That was extremely cool. You really had the feeling that the whole city celebrated with us. I also think that Vienna has the potential to become a queer Hotspot. Barcelona and everywhere else too, but Vienna has such charm and courage. Vienna is so uncompromising. I love that. Uncompromising in any way and especially with this topic. I think that's cool. I would like it to get bigger in the next few years. It's Pride month and we have so much to offer. From queer history in all museums to theaters and clubs. Lectures, artists ... we talked about queer footballers today ... This city has so much potential.

FM4: You already gave the cue. Queer Visibility. Where does it start and where does it end?

Tom: "That has to be viewed individually. I think, a drag queen, for example, that is activism as soon as she steps out of the dressingroom. For me it is ... well I don't know. I've spent a lot of my life, pushing myself into the hetero norm and I don't do that anymore. So not at all anymore. I'm hysterical and loud and scream and laugh and talk to everyone and wear what I like. I've come to a point where I'm no longer afraid because you think “it has to be like that.” And that's where it starts with me. Everyone should start with themselves. Sometimes I find it difficult because I don't want to ask anybody, “Now be extra bad”. Everyone should be what he or she is. I express myself a lot ... Now I want to say, through my clothes, but that's not true. I'm just uncompromising and try to break the boundaries again and again and make people think. Yesterday we were on the Donaustrand and did a photo shoot wearing black lace underwear. The people who watched, the reactions differed. But they'd go home and say, "Well, I've seen something today ..." And they'd talk about it, it's the first step in a conversation.

FM4:"This month is Pride month. Do you remember the first time you were proud of yourself? That you "owned your space"

Tom: "I think that was already at the first Pride events. Although I still have it. Pride means to me .. that's a power. When many people work together towards one goal. Or something in common ... It has so much power. You are not alone as an individual, you are among so many like-minded people where you have the feeling "I breathe". The visibility. That makes us strong against everything queer people struggle with."

FM4: "You already talked about Vienna. You have been living in Vienna for a long time. But you grew up somewhere else, in Bad Mitterndorf. I checked, it has about 5000 residents."

Tom: "They have grown."

FM4: "How was it for you to grow up as a queer person in the country?"

Tom: "It was a bit ambivalent, I never really held back in my being. I often heard from my mother" You can't wear that now. You can't wear a dirndl or a first communion dress, none of that works. "But I'd always found my ways to portray myself and just did what I felt". On one hand, I totally demanded it, but on on the other hand, it was bad for me to get the attention because it wasn't positive. My parents run an Restaurant and they were a bit dependent on the opinions of their guests. They don't think like that anymore. I am happy about that. To do everything right for everyone is simply not possible. It was this duality of "I am there" and "It hurts" when you are insulted, laughed at. And so many queer people feel like that. And you ask yourself "Why?" For example, if it's a child and the adults react like that. You think "Get yourself together."

FM4: "You said there were painful things. What helped you?"

Tom: "Definitely my friends, but I also loved to go to the attic. I never wanted to work, there were too many people and too close for me ... I told my mother." I'll sew every button on you, but please don't let me work in service." And then I fled to the attic and did everything there. Drew, sewed, danced, sang. I sang out loud because nobody heard it. My Idol: Celine Dion ... high and loud. Of course I had to train that first. Yes, me and my friends. It was always my safe place. It is still like that today.

FM4: "That is also very important to have."

Tom: "I'm also very grateful that I can feel myself and enjoy myself ... not in all situations ... that I can love myself. And I have fun with myself.

FM4: Many queer people have queer role models. That help even in difficult times. Did you have someone there too?

Tom: "The first time to hear" I will always love you "was eye-opening. And the first time to hear" My heart will go on ", I think it was my" queer wakening "and comforting. Power balades, the 90s. .. then I could shout it out. That's why maybe I can let myself go so well when I sing emotionally. Because that was always my outlet and still is today. If I don't sing for a long time, it's still like that today. ..I'm in a bad mood and singing, the bad mood is gone. Singing does something to us ... it's like jumping. You have to grin and get in a good mood.

FM4: When we talk about Conchita Wurst, we also talk about identities and breaking the binary system, which has stood in our way for billions of years. You also show that identities can be fluid and can change and can be many things. Can you still remember when you let Conchita "wake up"? And maybe also when you first appeared as Conchita?

Tom: "The first time was ... now I forgot the club, but it was with the Saloon Kitty Revue. Kitty Willenbruch is one of the most famous burlesque dancers in Austria and I was out in drag once and moderated something. She was in the audience and then asked me whether I would like to present the revue. At that time it was every week, I think, and I said “Yes, I would love to.” And then thought to myself that I shouldn't shave. I look like 12 without beard. I let my beard grow and then the day of the revue came. I love to entertain the audience. I think that's my greatest talent. To be able to let go on stage. First was Starmania, then I finished school, and it was basically my first show business experience again. That's when I noticed. Despite all the worry about whether you can make a living from it, I want to go this way.

FM4: "When you think about your queer future, where are you going? What should change?"

Tom: "It would be nice if at some point no one asks the question," Are you into boys? "Because I think, or in my circle of friends, we sometimes also discuss that. We are just gay and that is totally one-sided and totally restricts you. What if I miss the love of my life, which is a woman. It would be nice if the understanding of the world goes so far that it just doesn't matter. Then we would all be Queer, which we all actually are.

FM4: "A good final word. Thanks Tom."

[thephoenix-hq]

☞ NAME: James Potter. ☞ AGE: Nineteen (03.27.1960). ☞ BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood. ☞ HOUSE: Former Gryffindor. ☞ GENDER: Cis-male. ☞ FACECLAIM: Maxence Danet-Fauvel.

+ THE STORY SO FAR +

Euphemia and Fleamont Potter thought they couldn’t conceive. They tried for years with no success, even using non-magic, holistic practices to discover what the problem was with no answers. In 1959, they were elated to find out that their hoping and waiting had finally resulted in something. On 27 March 1960, their pride and joy came into the world. James was a pampered little boy. Though he was an only child and lived in a village that housed mostly older witches and wizards, he could hardly define the word lonely. The three Potters went to church in the square on Sunday morning’s and listened to the minister tell fascinating stories that taught lessons about life. He went to the town pub with his father and sat at the bar yapping to the keep as Fleamont and a number of his mates sat around a small table playing some muggle card game involving chips that they traded for drinkings.

When James got a little older, his dad taught him how to play and James quickly became exceedingly skilled at Poker. They’d leave the pub and play Quidditch in the fields behind the cemetery. Or he would explore the few boutiques lining the center street with his mother dragging him along behind her. On special occasions, they would go to the nearby muggle town of Cornwall and visit the beaches there. Saturday afternoons were reserved for tea with Bathilda Bagshot. James had an extensive knowledge and love of wizarding history because of the colorful stories he grew up hearing from her.

Going off to school meant sadly waving goodbye to his beloved village every fall. James had such a happy childhood, leaving for Hogwarts was equal parts exciting and devastating. Sorted unsurprisingly into Gryffindor, James would find himself on the quidditch team by the time he was in second year and become Captain after Frank Longbottom graduated in 1975. By way of his invisibility cloak gifted to him by his father, he would explore every expanding inch of the school with his three best mates in tow. In his fifth year, he would succeed in becoming an animagus and take on the form of a stag. James would start dating in his fourth year, though his attention was always more focused on quidditch causing quite a few problems for him throughout the years. James was appointed Head Boy in his seventh year, procured the girl of his dreams, and graduated thinking he had the world in his palms.

- J U N E 1 9 7 9 -

In the year after James graduated, he had turned down multiple job offers. From chasing for Puddlemere United to being inducted into the auror program. He had excellent marks, been head boy, a historic quidditch captain… it made sense that people were lining up to take him. And yet, he turned every single one of them away. He loved quidditch, but didn’t want to ruin the joy he found in it by making it a career. And he wasn’t going to work for the ministry. The Daily Prophet remained inadequately positive when he knew that things were growing steadily darker in the world around them. When Albus Dumbledore came to tell him about the Order of the Phoenix, James merely nodded, affirmative and determined. It had been the outlet he had been searching for.

← C O N N E C T I O N S →

← Lily Evans

James would only admit to the first two instances in which he asked Lily Evans out being genuine. The other times were split between a prank, the constant desire to piss her off, and the incessant need to fulfill all of his desires no matter how trivial. Perhaps it was the first time in his life that he didn’t get what he wanted simply by stretching out his fingers and grabbing it. He had to work for her and though he had hated it as a fifteen year old, a few years later, he recognized it as the best thing that had happened to him. James might have never grown up if it hadn’t been for her forcing him to. Lily was an enigma right from the start. The way she approached love didn’t make sense to him and he wanted to learn about it. Then he figured it out and there was nothing in the world he wanted more than to show her what it really meant. They became friends some time in their sixth year, but it was extremely casual. It started with her laughing quietly at something he said and James, perhaps too coolly, trying not to react to it. It progressed to having to maneuver around each other as head students (they had completely different tactics that caused quite a lot of bickering) and ended with a kiss that left them both grinning stupidly. They were great together. They were two opposing forces that somehow met in the middle to form a dynamic, undeniably immovable force. They graduated and she started staying over, night after night. And before either of them knew it, they were basically an old married couple. They reminded James of his parents, and it had a calming effect on him he didn’t know he was capable of. School-age James needed constant excitement and loved her because she was wildfire. Old-man James enjoyed the quaint, quiet life of domesticity. When he decided to propose to her, he had a ring the very next day. There had been no doubts in his mind that she would say yes, but as was unnecessarily common for Lily Evans, she surprised him again. She said no. She said no and while he was sitting there processing it, she apparated. He figured she’d just go home, but when he got there a few hours later, (finally ready to talk about it and tell her it was fine that she wasn’t ready, he just wanted to know that it was possibility) she and all of her stuff was gone. Four months would go by until the first Order meeting, where he knew without a doubt she’d be. She was too passionate, too brash not to be there. His loud-mouth, short-tempered, opinionated muggleborn had always gotten herself in trouble that way.

→ Sirius Black

James met and befriended Sirius Black immediately on the train to Hogwarts for the very first time. They talked quidditch most of the way, inquiring after what houses they wanted to be in and what their opinions were of the other ones. Sirius told James that he hated the idea of being in Slytherin house and James immediately decided that was the house he wanted nothing to do with. Even early on, James could tell Sirius struggled with the way he had been brought up. Most days he wanted nothing to do with his family or their twisted viewpoints, but some days that barrier was blurred slightly and he could almost see where they were coming from. That side of the spectrum was always fleeting. One look at James, the way he had been raised, the friends they had and the friendship they kept was enough to make him see the light. Sirius, unbeknownst to him and most everyone else, was considered James’ first real friend of his own age. No ugly thought his mate had would change the sparkling opinion James saw of him. That is, until their sixth year. Sirius pulled a prank on Snape involving Remus that could’ve resulted in death if James hadn’t stepped in. It made James realize that Sirius saw the wolf as a beast and separate from his nice, gentle friend Remus. James realized that it didn’t occur to Sirius that it was Remus who would have to deal with the consequences of the cruel joke. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t control it, it was still him and Remus would never forgive himself for hurting another human. They made up eventually, James forgiving Sirius for his wrongdoings, but he could tell that Remus lost his comfort in Sirius. They would perhaps never be quite the same. He would never tell either of them, but the rift between his friends weighed heavily on James’ shoulders.

← Remus Lupin

James loved a good conquest. Befriending Remus Lupin had been a valiant one that he won honorably. He took notice of the way the scrawny kid seemed to crawl into himself the second after the sorting ceremony had ended. The excitement wore off and it was like he realized something about himself he had momentarily forgotten. James spent days pondering over how to get his attention. So much so that Sirius got to the point where he would merely roll his eyes and tell him to get over it. ‘I can’t,’ James would tell him. ‘We’re roommates, we might as well be friends, too.’ or even the trivial, ‘Gryffindor’s have to stick together.’ So he watched him. Remus would gather enough food at lunch time to get him through dinner and breakfast of the next day, keep his head down during classes as if putting his full attention into his work, and generally avoid all conversation that didn’t directly pertain to school work. James came up with the idea about a week into classes. Using his invisibility cloak, he sneaked out past curfew and went in search of the kitchens. Bathilda Bagshot had told him a story years before about how there was a rather large portrait of a bowl of fruit at the bottom of the staircase off the great hall. ‘Tickle the pear and you’ll find the kitchens!’ So he put the theory to the test and had (so easily he laughed about it) found the kitchens in no time at all. A house elf came up to him with an empty tray in her hands, asking him what he needed. James drew a blank, realizing he had never actually paid attention to the kind of foods Remus grabbed when he stocked up at lunch. After some deliberation, James simply told her his favorite foods and a few minutes later, she came back to him with a tray piled high. That next morning, Sirius and Peter were waiting for him at the door to go to breakfast when he told them he’d catch up. Confused but shrugging, they left him. James pulled the food out from under his bed, scrawled something on a piece of parchment and tossed it on the tray. He left it beside Remus’ bed without saying anything. He had a feeling it would get the job done. And, amazingly, it had. Remus showed up for every meal after that. He fit in like James always knew he would, effortlessly turning their threesome into a four.

→ Peter Pettigrew

Even when they were only eleven years old, Peter was devious. It was one of the things that occurred to James first about the other boy. He wasn’t quiet and timid, he was pretending to be quiet and timid. James, who was someone who never pretended to be anyone other than exactly who he was, found this oddly compelling, but extremely alarming. Why would a kid need survival skills such as going unnoticed by those around him? So, being the extremely transparent bloke that he was, one day James asked him. There was a bit of spluttering and all-around avoidance of the question. He had caught his small friend off guard. James approached this subject in various different ways over the course of a few months in their first year. In fact, it was the start of his experimenting with different ways of speaking to people. Most people found it endearing that he could recognize that he didn’t always have the best methods. Others (Lily Evans, for instance), found it to be a problematic flaw of character. On about his fourth try, it had just been James and Peter sitting in the quiet common room. They were playing chess on the floor in front of the fireplace when he approached it with extreme caution. Peter pondered in silence for a moment and when James thought he was once again not going to answer the question, he started talking. Peter unloaded to James the story of his childhood and James listened intently. He took in every detail, wishing he had known him back then to maybe change it all in some way. It strengthened their friendship, the honesty that passed between them. In the summers, James would begin to invite Peter over and the small boy would graciously deny it until the last week before they went back to school, every time. Soon it became Marauder’s tradition that the last week of summer be spent at the Potter’s in Godric’s Hollow.

JAMES POTTER IS CURRENTLY CLOSED FOR APPLICATIONS.

[phynxrizng]

PREDICTIONS 2017

Predictions 2017 by mistressmyst Predictions 2017 a message from Selacia To view more of Selacia's insight, visit her website, Selacia and the Council of 12 Predictions 2017 In the year 2017, a crisis of trust long in the making will be surfacing across the world. This will have far-reaching consequences for us as individuals and for our entire planet. Continue reading to understand what this means, why we should care, and what we as divine changemakers can do to make a difference. As you read, too, you will learn about the seeds of hope being planted in 2017 and what they mean for you. Background – Crisis of Trust First, some background on the crisis of trust we face. This energy of distrust is more primordial than evolutionary, stemming from humanity’s fear-based conditioning. In other words, it’s very old and more tribal than inclusive. Tribalism has been with us throughout the ages, but in recent decades since the 1990s, the tribalistic “us-and-them” mentality is having a big resurgence. Examples: Brexit, the 2016 US elections, Middle East violence driven by ancient tribal structures, extremist Islam reflecting a tribal-mindset involving warrior pride and hate-fueled jihadism, corrupt business practices including bribes, and a general tendency of superpowers to believe that it’s their role to facilitate regime change in other countries. Regardless of how tribalism manifests, it poses a threat to a peaceful and loving world. A tribal-mindset is black-and-white, with a narrow sense of belonging. Anyone outside the group is suspect, not to be trusted, and a threat. Building trust and cooperation between tribal-based groups is painstakingly difficult. Meanwhile distrust fuels division and causes people to feel even more separate from one another. Distrust and Division Distrust is a learned fear-based response. People learn to distrust others who don’t look like them, don’t think like them, or don’t practice the same religion. Many times, this distrust is in ancestral DNA, coming from centuries-old experiences of the generations. Example: When I do personal DNA intuitive healing sessions for someone trying to cope with discrimination, I often intuitively see DNA-level patterns show up in the energetic field around the DNA. We then can trace things back to times when the person’s ancestors were impacted by religious intolerance, class discrimination, or racism. Being able to see where this comes from and to heal it at the genetic level for ancestors is a powerful antidote for present personal struggles with discrimination. Shift in What and Who We Trust As our society has become more polarized and everyday life more uncertain, there has been a shift in what and who we trust. Last century, for example, it was more common to put our trust in institutions like governments, banks, the health system, and international forums. Today with that trust waning and new technologies available, we are more likely to rely on others outside the system – even strangers. Examples: many now use technologies like Lyft and Uber for rides, Airbnb for hotels, WebMD and Mayo Clinic apps and websites for health assessments, and mobile apps for blood pressure and heart-rate readings. Having a growing array of life tools outside the norm has boundless benefits and can help us to take charge of things that we used to delegate to others. A bonus: as educated consumers, we take back our power and become more actively engaged in managing our lives. A red flag: if we label the established systems as inherently bad in a black-and-white way, our linear thinking can backfire. No traditional system is all bad or all good. There are shades of gray. Sometimes we really need to see a doctor and use services of a bank. Governmental bodies and police forces carry out essential services needed for a stable and workable society. In summary, if you realize that you distrust institutions, be open to seeing both the good and the bad. Reforms of unworkable systems and institutions can occur when problems are brought to light and conscious citizens use their voices and actions to affect change. When we don’t do this, the crisis of distrust escalates. Distrust and Division Distrust and division go hand in hand. We see it every day in society. Distrust shows up in countless ways - as racism, gender bias, bigotry, national extremism, and religious intolerance. Division follows – people feeling separated by race, gender, class, religion, or political views. Contributing Factors When people are afraid enough and misinformed or lied to with propaganda, they are vulnerable to control and manipulation by those in power. In such circumstances, people can be convinced to accept unimaginable atrocities and loss of freedoms. People can be influenced by fake news and a twisting of the facts, feeling divided against their neighbors and even their own families. In extreme situations, people will even kill one another. There are countless examples of this throughout humanity’s history - including in the next phase of history that humanity is now creating moment-by-moment in present time. Response to Distrust When the societal tide turns towards distrust on a big enough scale, people may respond with anger or apathy. If people feel that their voice isn’t heard by political decision makers, they may withdraw from active engagement in typical channels like voting or peaceful protests. This is usually an emotional response, and is self-sabotage because personal power is unconsciously given away. A disempowered group of people is even more susceptible to control and abuse by those in power. Tyrants and power-hungry leaders seeking to make their mark on the world can take advantage of the void created by a disempowered and silent populace. The unsuspecting people may even see the unscrupulous leaders as “saviors” – as though they are the only ones who can fix things. In a distrustful society, people can be convinced of falsehoods by politicians, media, or special interest groups that know how to craft a disinformation campaign. This has happened throughout history. However, today the potential negative impact is substantially greater than ever before. People often get their news online through infotainment disguised as facts. A lie told repeatedly over weeks or months can be accepted as truth. It’s like the public becomes numb to the information, unconsciously reacting to it without question. Cycles of Distrust Throughout history, we’ve had cycles of distrust followed by times of building trust and collaboration. Examples: Italy’s notorious dictator Mussolini in the 1920s capitalized on distrust and used propaganda to fuel his rise to power – founding fascism, dismantling constitutional limits on his power, and creating a police state. From 1941-45, the Nazis under Hitler systematically carried out a mass genocide of Jews. The UN in 1948 adopted a universal set of human rights, sending a signal to oppressive leaders that disregard for human rights is intolerable. The International Space Station, first launched in 1998 to study the Earth and space, was made possible through a trusted partnership between several countries. The tide turned abruptly on September 11, 2001 with terror attacks on US soil –leaving a marker of distrust still witnessed today. Distrust of crisis proportions doesn’t appear overnight, but develops in a gradual process as people lose trust in each other and in the very institutions that keep things working. In an atmosphere of distrust, society does not function well. Without trust and cooperation, basic things like markets and long-term planning are compromised. Chaos reigns, slowing progress in addressing key issues impacting not only quality of life but continued sustainability of life on Earth. Examples: climate, peace, and global resources. The Personal Level What’s unfolding in society is not just something outside of you. There is a very personal level involved. It is about you and everyone you love. Here are a few examples to help you understand the big picture. As you are reading this portion, too, keep in mind that this personal level applies to countless people across the world. Some may be in your family or other circles. Some may be strangers. All represent some piece of the whole – now being played out across the world as a crisis of distrust. Every single one, including you, needs your love and compassion. First, it’s not easy as an individual to live in a society that doesn’t function well due to division and distrust. Daily life routines can be disrupted because of ongoing intensity, uncertainty, and dramas that often are of a startling nature. Not knowing what’s going to happen next can keep you on edge. The unknowns now are greater than most of us have experienced in this lifetime. If you are an empath - sensing the chaotic and nervous pulse of society - these times can be even more challenging. Second, you likely are processing your own pieces of distrust. Some are influenced not only by recent events, but by past life influences recorded in your DNA. You may distrust certain individuals, categories of people, or those who serve society in key roles. Examples of people: politicians, wealthy people, lobbyists, journalists, police, and other authority figures. Examples of institutions and business: government, media, multinationals, big retailers, and things representing the status quo. Third, living in a climate of distrust may catalyze self-doubts and a deeper soul searching about your life purpose and how you fulfill it. Any tendency you previously had to distrust yourself and your decisions may be amplified in this cycle. One way this could play out is an increased worry about the future. You may not trust that things will get better, or that things will get better for you personally. When faced with a deadline to make a life-changing decision, you might distrust yourself to choose the correct option. Fourth, a world filled with distrust and division can feel unsafe. There are countless reasons you might feel insecure. A big one many people fear is a possible terror attack. It’s also common to feel unsafe about potentials for identity theft or cyber bullying. In places with recent regime change bringing dictatorial-type leaders to power, people are insecure about preserving their freedoms. And, of course, in the background for people everywhere is the concern about world peace and the tenuous nature of preserving it given the number of power-hungry leaders. Fifth, a climate of distrust between countries can negatively impact the economy and your standard of living. Example: a tribal-mindset to trade has historically backfired. In 1930 after the US stock market crash, the US enacted the Smoot-Hawley Tariff to raise taxes on imports. The idea was to keep out cheap imports and create jobs. This backfired. US consumers had to pay more for imported products, so they were not better off, and the economy took longer to recover from the Depression. Sixth, resurgence in tribalism is likely to bring to the surface humanity’s ancient unresolved patterns of discrimination in all of its forms. This supreme distrust of the “other” could involve things like race, religion, gender, national identification, and sexual orientation. You may not personally experience discrimination. However, you likely know of someone impacted. As long as discrimination exists, the loving world all of us want cannot fully manifest. Seventh, countries having tribal squabbles can delay or even reverse progress to address climate change. What this means on an everyday personal level is more extreme weather, increased air pollution, adverse health effects, rising sea levels impacting heavily populated coastal areas, species die-off, and an increasingly less sustainable planet for future generations. What’s Needed Next With a crisis of distrust coloring everyday life, it is imperative that we divine changemakers take an active role in transforming our world and our way of life. This is not the time to take a back seat and silently watch as leaders govern through lawmaking and executive orders. We must have a voice. Elements of a Democracy A democracy functions and upholds freedoms when citizens are actively engaged. This means that people become educated on issues and candidates ahead of elections, vote, observe how leaders conduct the business of government, and feel free to criticize leaders without retribution. Criticism can take the form of peaceful protests. Citizens are allowed to assemble freely to discuss views. Elections are free and fair for all. A workable democracy has a free press with regular access to governmental workings and leaders. The government in power does not censor information, news sources, or specific journalists. Divine Changemakers – Making a Difference Here are suggestions for making a difference in 2017 and beyond. As a divine changemaker, you are alive now to make changes for a more loving world. You stand at the forefront of the massive shift happening now. This role is actually encoded within your very DNA. Having this role means that you are on the leading edge of change, experiencing many things before others do, and helping to lead the way forward. Indeed, you are at your best when you are actively engaged in your divine changemaker role. What You Can Do in 2017 Stay conscious and aware of yourself - including your thoughts, emotions, and actions. Extend that conscious awareness outside of you, to other people and world events. Remind yourself daily that your energy matters, and use that energy for good. No matter how crazy things seem, remember daily that you are not a victim. You are a conscious being at cause in life, co-creating your own reality and your world. Use your thoughts and actions constructively to make a difference in big and small things. Be the one in your circles who smiles, finds humor in the bizarre, and applies kindness. Do not give up on yourself or on humanity as a whole. Strive to see the good in yourself and others. Do this even when focusing on someone you dislike. Do this for yourself after you have had a bad day and feel discouraged. Remembering the basic goodness in all people helps you to go on during difficult times. Cope better with unknowns and fears about the future by coming back to yourself in the present. No one knows for sure exactly what will happen next, on a personal level or in the outer world. On a quantum level, there are endless possibilities for what tomorrow might look like. Rest your overthinking mind, then, and put your focus on the present moment. Treat it as the precious time that it truly is. Upset about what you see in the outer world? Get in touch with your feelings and why you have them. Once you are conscious to your feelings, turn your criticism into benevolent action. Rather than simply complain to others, find your positive voice of change and act on it as a citizen of the world. Voice your thoughts within your community, on a grassroots level in your country, and to the political leaders who represent you at all levels of government. As you voice your opinions, visualize your words being received and acted upon. Become one who helps repair division through consciousness and peaceful actions. Invite a knowing of the causes and places that most need you in this role. Add power to your role with daily visualizing and intentions – seeing yourself as a bridge builder and peacemaker. Become vigilant about your intake of information and apply a healthy skepticism. Avoid becoming duped by fake news and political propaganda by becoming astute in digesting news. Slow down, be present, and question what you hear. Avoid getting your news by scanning headlines. Get your news from multiple sources. Insist that it be reliable, with several credible named sources that you can validate. If something seems too outlandish to be true, that should be a big red flag to check out the information. Fair news won’t report only one side. A fair story will be current – watch for stories that recycle information or photos to create bias. Most likely, we’ll be witnessing a number of unprecedented events in 2017. Some may be shocking, some simply surprising. A big underlying theme throughout the year will be unpredictability. Continue reading to find out about the silver linings and the seeds of hope that indeed exist side-by-side with the disarray. Discover what these mean for you. Future Seeds of Hope Regardless of how crazy things become in 2017, life will go on. Your plans and projects can be re-energized within the new energies. Spiritual transformation potentials can be amplified by leaps and bounds. Relationships – new and current – can manifest in ways more supportive of you and your path. One silver lining in 2017 is the potential for new beginnings. The energies will support this. On a personal level, think of this as a blessing for your life and what you want to manifest. Even your established projects having success could benefit from adding something to the mix – like an additional collaborative partner or a new specialty that adds to what you already have. Revive a current relationship by finding an additional shared focus or introducing new ways of being with each other. A second silver lining in 2017 involves change and your response to that change. The acceleration of change is not slowing down. Change is like a palpable force stimulating transformation of all things that need to evolve. Interestingly, while we humans are wired to dislike change, when the momentum of change becomes super-charged and we realize we’re better off going with it, we find ourselves at a beneficial tipping point. At that stage, the sheer force of this momentum ironically can make it easier to adapt and evolve. Think of this year as a crucial time to build a new infrastructure for your life – inner and outer. The energies support this! As you focus on the specifics of what you want to create, you will be planting seeds of hope for your near and longer-term future. This kind of seed planting is happening already during these unique moments on Earth. Humanity as a collective is regularly planting the seeds of the next creations. The key for you now is to become conscious of your personal role in the planting. It’s you taking charge of you and your new directions. It’s you accepting your quantum power to create, change creations, and invent new ones. This is big! Doing this is what your soul wants for you. You are not a cog in a machine, or a hub on humanity’s wheel of evolution. You are an eternal and timeless divine being who can create in boundless ways. Trust this. Trust in your ability to make a difference. Trust in the power of your love to fuel the perfect next steps for your life. Trust in the divine voice within you that knows truth. Know beyond a doubt that you are meant to be on Earth now for a grand purpose that only your soul fully understands. Trust that this is valid, and let it guide you step-by-step throughout the year. REPOSTED BY, PHYNXRIZNG