#professor brought up star trek in class today!!!!!!!!!

[spocks-kaathyra]

lecture doodle #3. in honor of spocktober

[spacenutspod]

Quick: Name a woman scientist. Chances are the name you came up with is Marie Curie, the physicist and chemist who won two Nobel Prizes more than a century ago for the discoveries she and her husband Pierre made about radioactivity. But who else? In a new book titled “Her Space, Her Time,” quantum physicist Shohini Ghose explains why women astronomers and physicists have been mostly invisible in the past — and profiles 20 researchers who lost out on what should have been Nobel-level fame. “This issue around having low representation of women in physics is something that’s common all around the world,” Ghose says in the latest episode of the Fiction Science podcast. “And I’ve certainly faced it in my own experiences as a physicist growing up. I really didn’t know of any woman physicist apart from Marie Curie.” The road to “Her Space, Her Time” began with a TED talk that Ghose gave in India in 2019. That talk highlighted the case of Bibha Chowdhuri, an Indian physicist who played a key role in unraveling the mysteries of subatomic particles and cosmic rays in the 1940s. She wasn’t able to follow up on her findings, in part due to shortages brought on by World War II. Instead, it was a British physicist named Cecil Powell who won the Nobel Prize in 1950 for discovering particles known as pions. Chowdhuri’s work went largely unrecognized. Shohini Ghose is a professor of physics and computer science at Wilfrid Laurier University. (Photo via Perimeter Institute) That’s the way it typically went with the other women researchers profiled in Ghose’s book. The litany includes Annie Jump Cannon, who in the early 1900s came up with a stellar classification system that’s still in use today. (The Star Trek saga gives a nod to Cannon’s letter-based system every time it references an “M-class star.”) Another woman on Ghose’s list is Henrietta Leavitt, who figured out how to use variable stars as a cosmic measuring stick, calibrated by their periodicity and apparent brightness. Leavitt’s research opened the way for Edwin Hubble to discover that there was more than one galaxy in the observable universe, and that the universe was expanding. NASA celebrated Hubble’s legacy by naming a space telescope after him. Leavitt’s work was recognized — but not widely celebrated. “None of the major space telescopes have a woman’s name attached to it,” Ghose says. “So when the James Webb [Space Telescope] was being planned, before it was called James Webb, I was very excited. I was hoping they would name it after Leavitt or any of the other women who have contributed. But you know, that didn’t happen.” NASA’s decision to go with Webb, who was the space agency’s first administrator, drew criticism because of his reported connection to government discrimination against employees in the 1950s and ’60s based on sexual orientation — the so-called “Lavender Scare.”  After a review of the historical record, NASA decided to stick with the JWST name. But Ghose still wants to see a Leavitt Space Telescope. “There are many reasons why we can do better with our naming,” she says. “Hopefully NASA will learn and do better next time.” You could argue that NASA executives and other leaders of the scientific community already have learned their lesson, at least when it comes to naming telescopes. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a wide-angle survey telescope that’s expected to revolutionize ground-based astronomy starting in the mid-2020s, pays tribute to one of the women astronomers profiled in “Her Space, Her Time.” And NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, due for launch in 2027, honors an astronomer who led the charge for the Hubble Space Telescope — so much so that she became known as the “Mother of Hubble.” Ghose approves of the trend, but says efforts to elevate the status of women in science shouldn’t be limited to naming telescopes. “That’s just part of a much bigger issue that women have been facing for a long time,” she says. “I’d say there’s basically some very specific practical barriers that we still see. For example, there’s still a gender wage gap. There are issues around fair hiring practices.” “Her Space, Her Time,” by Shohini Ghose. (The MIT Press) Studies have shown that women in physics and astronomy continue to face discrimination and harassment, and tend to be given fewer resources than their male counterparts. “They have slower paths on their career journeys, so they don’t get promoted as much,” Ghose says. “They don’t get invited as much to give talks at major conferences, which are really important if you want to get those promotions. Grant funding levels are lower for women. So there is this whole series of issues, and these are structural problems.” Ghose argues that scientific institutions have to increase their efforts to address those structural problems. “Unfortunately, what often happens is that instead we focus on things like mentoring women or having science camps for girls … or we have work-life balance kids of approaches to, you know, help women balance their family time vs. work better,” Ghose says. “If you think about it, the common pattern in all of this is that we’re aiming at the women, as in ‘fix them, make them somehow better,'” she says. “We have to fix all these structural issues, and not just focus on ‘fix the women.’ Let’s fix the system instead.” In addition to Cannon, Chowdhuri, Curie, Leavitt and Rubin, the women physicists and astronomers highlighted in “Her Space, Her Time” include Anna Draper, Williamina Fleming, Antonia Maury, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Margaret Burbidge, Mary Golda Ross, Joyce Neighbors, Dilhan Eryurt, Claudia Alexander, Harriet Brooks, Lise Meitner, Marietta Blau, Hertha Wambacher, Elisa Frota Pessoa, Maria Mitchell and Chien-Shiung Wu. My co-host for the Fiction Science podcast is Dominica Phetteplace, an award-winning writer who is a graduate of the Clarion West Writers Workshop and currently lives in San Francisco. To learn more about Phetteplace, visit her website, DominicaPhetteplace.com. Check out the original version of this report on Cosmic Log for reading and viewing recommendations from Shohini Ghose, and stay tuned for future episodes of the Fiction Science podcast via Apple, Google, Overcast, Spotify, Player.fm, Pocket Casts and Radio Public. The post ‘Her Space, Her Time’ Reveals the Hidden Figures of Physics appeared first on Universe Today.

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

Star Trek: Facets of Filmmaking

As it turns out, before Star Trek was fully realized in the form we know today, the show was originally not going to be about Kirk and the Enterprise at all.  In fact, it was going to be about a ship called the S.S. Yorktown, captained by a man named Robert April, on a mission to explore the Milky Way galaxy.  The original concept, still named Star Trek and set in the 23rd century, was loosely based on the Horatio Hornblower novels, and took inspiration from The Voyage of the Space Beagle, the Marathon series and the 1956 film Forbidden Planet.

By the year 1964, when this idea began to take shape, Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek was an experienced writer for western television shows, and was well accustomed to (at the time) television’s favorite and most popular genre.  By 1964, however, Roddenberry was tired of the shootouts, and wanted to do something different, something with a little more depth to it.

Still, Roddenberry knew what the executives, and the public, was used to.  As a result, the first draft of this new Star Trek idea was generalized as a sort of ‘Wagon Train to the Stars’, a formulaic type of show where every episode was a standalone adventure in the continuous exploration of the final frontier: space.

As Roddenberry wrote the draft, a few things changed.  Gone was Robert April, replaced by Captain Christopher Pike, who would be portrayed by Jefferey Hunter, and the rest of the crew.  The name of the ship changed too, to the more familiar Enterprise.  As these changes came about, so too did the true nature of Roddenberry’s dream show: both an adventure story, and a thought-provoking morality tale.

Armed with his script, Roddenberry brought Star Trek to Desilu Productions, (a rather large television production company headed and half-formed by Lucille Ball herself) and met with director of production Herbert F. Solow.  Solow saw promise in the concept, and signed a three-year development contract with Roddenberry.

Star Trek moved into the next stage of development.  Further drafts were drawn up and the idea that would later become the episode The Cage was revised, until it was shown to CBS as part of the ‘First Look’ deal with Desilu productions.  CBS wasn’t impressed with the show, declining to purchase it.  They had another ‘space show’ in development that seemed too similar, a show that would become Lost in Space.

However, another company became interested: NBC.  In May of 1964, Grant Tinker, the head of the West Coast programming department, commissioned the pilot that would become The Cage (which would later be reworked into the episode The Menagerie).  After it was completed, NBC turned it down, claiming that it was ‘too cerebral’, but although this was a mild defeat, Star Trek wasn’t beaten.  NBC still showed interest in the concept, and made the highly unusual decision to commission a second pilot: the episode that would become Where No Man Has Gone Before.

With this came quite a few changes.

Christopher Pike was scrapped as a character, as was the vast majority of other cast members.  Only the character of Spock, as portrayed by Leonard Nimoy, was kept, and of the other cast members, only Majel Barrett stayed, demoted from playing the second-in-command (scrapped due to the unthinkable notion of a woman Commander) to the ship’s nurse, Christine Chapel.  With this new pilot came an onslaught of new, more familiar names and faces: William Shatner as Captain Kirk, Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Scott played by James Doohan, and Lieutenant Sulu, (originally a physicist in the first episode, but a helmsman afterwards) played by George Takei.

This pilot passed with flying colors, and with that, NBC added Star Trek to their fall lineup for 1966.

Still, there were changes to be made.  In this first pilot, the ship’s doctor was Mark Piper, played by Paul Fix.  Dr. Leonard McCoy, played by DeForest Kelley, would join the cast when principal filming for the first season began.  Also joining the cast was Nichelle Nichols, playing Lieutenant Uhura, and Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Rand.  (Whitney would depart halfway through the first season, after being on the receiving end of sexual assault from one of the executives of the show, but would later appear in the film series beginning in the 1970s.)

Besides Where No Man Has Gone Before, NBC ordered 15 episodes to start off the show.  The first episode of Star Trek, The Man Trap, aired at 8:30 PM on Thursday, September 8th of 1966 as part of NBC’s ‘sneak preview’ time slot, received with mixed feelings.  While some papers and reviewers genuinely liked the new show, (such as The Philadelphia Inquirer and the San Francisco Chronicle) others, such as The Boston Globe and The New York Times didn’t.  Variety described the show as ‘an incredible and dreary mess of confusion and complexities’, and predicted that it would fail.

Fighting for position against reruns of previous shows, despite the critics’ warnings, Star Trek won a time slot, and began with decent ratings.  However, it didn’t last long.  By the end of the first season, Star Trek was sitting at 52nd out of 94 programs.

Star Trek was sinking, fast.

But even then, it wasn’t without its supporters.

The editor of Galaxy Science Fiction, Frederik Pohl, offered up his amazement that Star Trek’s consistency remained good, with no drop in quality after its Tricon winning early episodes.  He expressed his fear that the show would be cancelled due to its low ratings, and pleaded with audiences to help save Star Trek, writing letters to prevent its cancellation.

At this time, the only thing that was keeping the show on the air in the first place was the demographics it was reaching.  NBC had become interested in the demographics of the shows it was producing in the early 1960s, and by 1967, was using that as part of the decision making as to which shows got dropped.  

And something about Star Trek’s demographics interested NBC very much: it had managed to attract ‘quality’ audiences: high income, high educated people (primarily males).

As a result, NBC ordered ten more episodes for the first season, and ordered a second in March of 1967.  The network then changed Star Trek’s timeslot, moving it to 8:30 on Friday nights, a timeslot that seemed doomed for failure among the audience that Star Trek had gathered.

The next season, things didn’t seem to be getting any better.  It was at this point that the show added on Walter Koenig as Ensign Chekov (as George Takei was working on The Green Berets and was not as available for shooting), although some might have wondered why they would have bothered.  The show’s ratings were still dropping.  William Shatner, expecting the show to be cancelled, began to prepare for other projects.  

Again, the demographics saved the day.

Roddenberry’s initial concept of adventure alongside morality tales intrigued the audiences Star Trek had attracted.  The show had values, values that had to be applied to every situation.  The show was sincere, and serious in its exploration of issues like racism, war and peace, human rights, technology, class warfare, and imperialism, far different in tone and content than the other chief sci-fi show at the time: Lost in Space.  As a result, the show generated a more interested fanbase, perhaps the first true ‘fanbase’ of any franchise in history.  In the end, it was they who saved Star Trek.

By the end of the first season, NBC had received well over 29,000 fan letters.  During the second season, Roddenberry began a campaign to persuade fans to write in to NBC, to support the show and save the program.  Between December of 1967 and March of 1968, NCB had received nearly 116,000 letters from people who did not want to see Star Trek cancelled.  Science fiction conventions, magazines, and newspaper columnists encouraged readers to save what was called ‘the best science-fiction show on the air’.

The fans didn’t stop with letters.  Over 200 students of the California Institute of Technology marched to NBC’s studio in Burbank to protest the cancellation of Star Trek in January of 1968, carrying signs that said things like ‘Vulcan Power’.  They weren’t alone; other groups of students of MIT and Berkeley did the same thing in New York City and San Francisco.

Interestingly, the letters that NBC received were not of the typical ‘fan mail’ quality.

“Much of the mail came from doctors, scientists, teachers, and other professional people, and was for the most part literate–and written on good stationery. And if there is anything a network wants almost as much as a high Nielsen ratings, it is the prestige of a show that appeals to the upper middle class and high-brow audiences.” (Lowry, Cynthia (January 17, 1968). “One Network Goes ‘Unconventional’”. Nashua Telegraph. Associated Press. p. 13)

“The show, according to the 6,000 letters it draws a week (more than any other in television), is watched by scientists, museum curators, psychiatrists, doctors, university professors, and other highbrows. The Smithsonian Institution asked for a print of the show for its archives, the only show so honored.” (Scott, Vernon (February 7, 1968). “Letters Can Save 'Star Trek’”. The Press-Courier. Oxnard, California. United Press International. p. 17.)

After the episode The Omega Glory, on March 1st, 1968, the announcement came:

“And now an announcement of interest to all viewers of Star Trek. We are pleased to tell you that Star Trek will continue to be seen on NBC Television. We know you will be looking forward to seeing the weekly adventure in space on Star Trek.” (“Letters For 'Star Trek’ Hit 114,667”. The Modesto Bee. April 14, 1968. p. 26.)

If this was intended to stop the letter writing campaign, it was a dismal failure.  A comparable number of letters came in to NBC following this announcement, full of thanks for renewing the show for the third season.

In March of 1968, NBC moved Star Trek to another time slot: 10:00 PM on Fridays, an even worse shot than before.  To make matters worse, it was only being seen by 181 out of 210 of NBC’s affiliates.  Roddenberry fought the network to move it to a better time, but he was denied.  Exhausted, Roddenberry quit working on production of Star Trek, remaining executive producer in name only.  The running of the show went to Fred Freiberger, who was with the show as it stood on its last, shaky, legs.

And it was on its last legs.

Star Trek season three was a dying breath, the death-rattle of a show that was being intentionally destroyed by its own network.

To quote Nichelle Nichols:

“While NBC paid lip service to expanding Star Trek’s audience, it [now] slashed our production budget until it was actually 10% lower than it had been in our first season … This is why in the third season you saw fewer outdoor location shots, for example. Top writers, top guest stars, top anything you needed was harder to come by. Thus, Star Trek’s demise became a self-fulfilling prophecy. And I can assure you, that is exactly as it was meant to be.”

It showed.

While I hesitate to call season three of Star Trek a mess, it is difficult to deny that the show was definitely struggling.  Episodes dropped in quality, characters became more exaggerated and less ‘true’. Star Trek stopped filming in January of 1969, and after a total run of 79 episodes, the show  was cancelled.

As a newspaper columnist advised:

“You Star Trek fans have fought the ��good fight,” but the show has been cancelled and there’s nothing to be done now.”

Rather incongruous with the image of the pop-culture giant we know it as today, wouldn’t you think?

So what happened?

As it turns out, Star Trek had enough episodes (thanks to the third season) to enter syndication.  Desilu Productions, which at that point had become Paramount, licensed the syndication rights in order to turn a profit, and reruns of Star Trek began airing in late 1969.

In syndication, Star Trek became a cult classic, finding a larger audience on reruns than it had during its original run.  The show, which was airing in the afternoons and early evenings, was attracting a young demographic, and, ironically, Star Trek became known as ‘the show that wouldn’t die’.  By 1970, Star Trek was boosting Paramount’s ratings, and becoming extremely popular.  In January of 1972, over 3,000 fans attended the first Star Trek convention in New York City, kicking off a previously unheard-of trend of organized fan gatherings where they could buy merchandise, meet cast and crew, and screen episodes of the show.  These people, coming to be known as ‘trekkies’, took pride in their knowledge and extreme love for this series, which was becoming renowned for being a smart, heartfelt science fiction show that had been cancelled too early.

17 years after Star Trek was cancelled and started reruns, Star Trek became the most popular syndicated show of all time.  By 1987, Paramount was bringing in $1 million per episode, and by 1994, reruns were still airing in over 90% of the United States of America.

The rest is history.

It has been over fifty years since Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a wagon train to the stars first took flight, and it was a hard battle fought to get as far as it did.  Never before had a show garnered the support and devoted love from a fanbase, never had it inspired such huge leaps and bounds in television and fandom alike.  Never had a television show meant so much to so many, and continued to do so well past its end.

For a show that struggled through a third season, it seems incredible that Star Trek still holds the weight that it does today.  The show that wouldn’t die gained new life beyond the grave, still capturing people’s attention decades after it was cancelled, growing to become one of the best known and best loved television shows ever made.

Against all odds, Star Trek lives on, remaining one of the greatest television shows of all time, for very good reason.

Join me for one last article as next time we take one last look at Star Trek in our Final Thoughts.  If you have any thoughts, questions, suggestions, recommendations, or just want to say hi, don’t forget to leave an ask!  Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope to see you in the next article.  

[marcholasmoth]

OSRR: 2557

what did i even do today?

ah

i talked to student today for a bit before she went to take an exam she didn't realize was today, but she was getting anxious about it and about her grades in the class but this is the class of hers in which the professor is clearly a fuckin moron, so. i told her to not worry.

i took a shower eventually, and i ended up pulling shit out of the cardboard boxes in my room? i just felt like i needed to get them out of there, and i'll probably move my chair back to my desk tomorrow. so that'll be nice to have that back. but i was looking for my dice bags bc new d&d game started today and i wanted to bring dice to show them to friends.

game was fun! my water genasi is sassy and curious and hates being dirty, and the cleric is a bit of a wimp, the undead himbo is exactly a himbo, and the other guy is i dunno, actually. and there's an npc called severus? the only reason i remember that is because i made a bad joke about how his name was severus because they had to sever him from the tree where they found him.

it was a lot of fun. i deescalated a situation with a water elemental by being like "dude, my house also got wrecked, but give it a little bit and it'll be back to normal." because this randomass island got fuckin??? dropped??? somewhere and i made my way to shore to ask questions because this fuckin island came out of literally nowhere and is now sitting on top of my house, and a ton of other peoples' houses, including that of the water elemental that went on a rampage on this island.

so the island. moves. there's a guy, who lives on the island, who lives for a few weeks and then dies, and then comes back to life and when he dies the island disappears and when he comes back to life it reappears somewhere else. and when the island disappears, the stuff it landed on goes immediately back to how it was. fuckin wild.

also?? everyone's memories get erased. except. for a few people. which we didn't get why. so we went on an Adventure to the crypts under the city and we found a double-locked crypt and it wound up being. a lot. and when we went back up to the keep i looked in my shit and i had a key?? and everyone else did too??? and i was like, "the fuck???????" and then the island shifted a little to the left and it fuckin shifted on us but we all remembered. so we're in over our heads. most definitely.

after game, i went with my dad to get fribbles, and i brought him back to his car and i went to the bank and i sat after over to the side and i bought dice. during game i was looking for dice because id gone through the ones i brought and was like "hmmmm, i need some more" so i went and looked for them and i found this one site where everything was on sale, like, disgustingly on sale and i bought 30 sets of dice for $120. that doesn't happen. that includes shipping.

so i'm pretty excited about my dice haul. it's been a long time.

and i've been watching tv since i got home, mostly murder she wrote because it's a fantastic show. and i've been kind of working on my paper too. because i need to break down that last section so i can finish this thing up. i don't have a lot to do left, so i gotta work overtime on it in the next two days because i want it done before the wedding on saturday. it's already taken me way longer than i wanted because i wanted to get it done five thousand years ago. and then i also have the rest of my matlab to get done, and i hate everything because i have so much to do and zero brain power.

please, just kill me. great.

i did talk to joel a teeny bit though, and i'm happy i got to talk to him briefly, and then earlier i sent some memes to FF about star trek and they came back on their lunch break and was like "okay here's the deal" and they talked for twenty minutes about how the post i sent could possibly be canon and it was so awesome and it made me wildly happy because like??? focus and interest??? fun information???? yes, please. i love them.

i love joel and i love my FF and i love my new friends and i just want to sleep for ten thousand years.

[trek-tracks]

Update from my astronomy class! My professor unironically calls things "fascinating". He also specifically brought up how NASA's astronomy picture of the day yesterday shows 40 eridanus a, and informed people that that star has the homeworld of spock

I aspire to this level of teaching; astronomy seems like a class uniquely suited to Star Trek nerd profs and students. I do sometimes reference Trek in class; it’s hard to stop myself when we’re talking about logical fallacies, or something that seems relevant (well, anything can be relevant if you try hard enough). The book I’m “teaching” today does mention Star Trek. Surprisingly, it wasn’t intentional.

[thorne93]

Inside the Criminal Mind (Part 2)

Prompt: You’re married to Dr. Spencer Reid of the BAU, and are a distinguished doctor yourself on the team. You’re sent down to Miami, Florida for teaching and as a side request from the FBI, to investigate a string of missing persons. When you think you’ve figured out who the unsub is, your life becomes more complicated than you ever could’ve imagined.

Word Count: 

Warnings: (throughout the fic -->) death, blood, gore, killings, language, disturbing mental notions, mentions of rapes/murder/etc (You know, Dexter and Criminal Minds related business)

Notes: Thank you so much to @arrow-guy, @carryonmyswansong, and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo - without each of you, I couldn’t have finished, written, or properly navigated this story. Each of you helped me fish out details that were incredibly important to me. Beta’d by @carryonmyswansong and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo... Aesthetic by @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo

This is a crossover of Criminal Minds x Dexter. First time writing Dexter.

Also, the timeline is after Season 1 of Dexter, but during season 14-ish of Criminal minds into Season 15. Enjoy!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, I got a job offer,” you started as you picked at your meatloaf.

“A job offer?” Spence questioned from across the table. “I had no idea you were even looking. What about the BAU? What about being together? You and I agreed this was the only way to ensure the other person is safe--”

You held up a hand to stop his onslaught. “I’m not leaving the BAU, and I wasn’t looking for a job. This just sort of fell into my lap.” 

“Is this what Emily wanted to talk about today?”

You nodded. “Yeah. It’s a teaching position.”

“Teaching? I never knew you were interested in that.”

You shook your head. “I’m not. Well. I wasn’t.” 

Spencer and you had been married for eight years. You fell in love quickly when you came to work for the BAU. When you met him, it was like stars shone for the first time in a dark sky for you. He was unlike any man you’d ever met, thankfully. He was kind, sweet, intelligent, and slightly awkward. Almost as if he was made for you. When the two of you met, it was a meeting of the minds. He saw you as his equal, and he was yours. You might not have the IQ of a genius, or read as quickly, but you deduced things faster than anyone else on the team. At first, you were worried he wouldn’t be impressed by you or see you as a peer, seeing as he’s a genius. But that fear quickly fell to the wayside when you realized you had quite a lot in common, especially books and chess. You two bonded over Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as the nerdier side of things such as Star Wars and Star Trek. 

Even though you were the greatest of friends, spending all your time together, it still surprised you when he asked you out to dinner. Apparently to everyone else on the team, it wasn’t a surprise, as Spence had confided his feelings long ago to them and they encouraged him to ask you out. 

After a year of dating, he asked you to marry him. There wasn’t one thing you didn’t love about this man. He was everything you could ever ask for in a husband and more. You two had shared your ups and downs. Dealing with his mother, him going to prison falsely, you working on a book, somewhat like Rossi. It’s all been a lot of strain for a marriage that was just beginning. But each day, you wake up looking at him with more love than before. 

“So what is it, exactly?”

“University of Miami. They’re opening a new course and want me to teach in the Spring.” 

“And you think you might want to do this?”

You shrugged slightly. “I think… I think I’d like a break from the BAU.”

He frowned at you, concern coloring his face. “Is this because of the trial?”

“Ten, Spence,” you reminded in a calm, sad voice. “Ten cases that we solved, that we arrested the bastard and for what? So some hotshot defense attorney could get them off? To paint them sympathetically? To put that seed of doubt in the jury’s head. These are ten people who have just… just walked! They’re out on the streets. I know we like to live in this world where once we capture the bad guy it’s over but the reality is these people aren’t serving time. Justice isn’t being done. After today I just… I need a break from it all. Maybe teaching some people will help remind me why I wanted to do this in the first place.” 

“We do this because even if they don’t get sentenced they’re off the streets and less people are in danger for the time they’re jailed.”

“And what about after they get off? Hmm? What then? They just learn to be craftier, sneaker, erase their trail? Do they go overseas to torment other countries? A few months isn’t good enough, Spence. Not any more. Alan Rochester is out, hell he could be hunting us down for all we know.”

He said nothing. He knew it was true. Both of you knew the dangers you lived in from the possibility of criminals getting out to hunt you or the others on the team down. 

“I know it’s scary. I know it’s tough but just… leaving the BAU to do this…” 

“I’m not leaving, Spence. It’ll be temporary. It’s a needed break.”

“But it’s a break from me, from us. I won’t see you for almost six months.”

“I know that. We can meet on spring break though and I can fly up at least once a month to come see you on the weekends… we can video chat…. I just really think I need this sort of mental break from catching bad guys that might end up being for nothing.” 

“Are you sure this is really what you want? If it is, I’ll support if. Or we could go away on vacation, perhaps?”

You shook your head. “I’m not sure a two week vacation would be long enough, and with our luck we’d be called back after three days.”

A look of powerlessness fell over his face as he slumped slightly in his chair. “I’m just going to miss you, that’s all. We’ve never been without each other. Even before we dated, we always stayed in the same hotel room and now… now you want to leave for five months to a different job in a different state.”

“It’s not like that, sweetie. I just need the break. You teach here. I’d like to give it a go and see if it’ll help me regain some sanity.” 

He bobbed his head, understanding. “I get it. Alright. If you think it’ll help, I’m all for it.”

“Thank you.” 

------------------------

Over the course of the next month, Spencer helped you devise a school plan, a curriculum to which you could go by. You told him everything you wanted to cover, and a book you thought the students might enjoy. You tried to remember professors from college and the way they taught so that you could incorporate that into your lectures. This was daunting to say the least. 

On your last day at the office, everyone was in tears. 

“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” Garcia stated as she walked over to you as soon as you and Spence showed up. 

“It’s not forever,” you reminded with a slight laugh. “Nothing to cry over.” 

“What do you mean nothing to cry over? You’re going to be gone and Lord knows how well Reid here is going to take it.” 

You chuckled. “Spencer will be fine in my absence. So will you. All of you will.” 

“But you crack about half of our cases. Without you…”

“I’m still available for calls during certain parts of the day and all hours of the night. Emily knows this.” 

“Yeah but--”

“But nothing, Garcia. This is okay.” 

She peered at you unsure, but then she nodded, walking into the office with you and Spence. 

“Hey, you ready for this?” Tara asked as she stepped forward, putting her hand on your shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m pretty excited to be honest.” 

“That’s good. We’re going to miss you though.” 

“I know. I’ll miss all of you. I’ll be back over spring break and I’ll try to fly up on the weekends,” you informed Tara, Luke, and Matt. 

“You better, or we’ll come kidnap you,” Luke joked, slightly punching your arm, making you laugh. 

“Is that our new professor?” Rossi asked from behind you.

You grinned, blushing slightly before turning. 

“You’re gonna knock ‘em dead, kid, I know it,” he assured as he walked up. “And we all pitched in to get you this,” he stated as he handed you a wrapped gift. 

A grin popped onto your face as you took it. “What is this?”

“Open it up and find out,” Rossi encouraged with a coy grin making you chuckle lightly. 

You tore into the paper, opening the box, to discover a clear glass apple inside with the words “To your first day of class, Professor Reid,” etched on it.

Tears sprang to your eyes as you laughed. “This is great. Really great. Thank you!”

Before you could get too cozy or caught up in goodbyes, Emily called you all in the conference room for a case. The team had to start a local case, and you helped out all day while you could, but then you had to get home to finish up packing, and get sleep for your early flight. 

You had packed three big suitcases full of the essentials, you would spend the first week down in Miami in a hotel, looking for an apartment in the meantime. Once you found an apartment, Spence agreed to send down the boxes of clothes that you had already put together. 

On your way out of the door though at the office, an agent stopped you, one you had seen a handful of times before. “Dr. Reid?” he addressed, looking at you. 

“Yes?” 

“Could you come with me?” 

You peered at Spence with a curious look before nodding. “Sure. Can my husband come?”

“I believe so.” He took off and you two began walking beside him. “Don’t worry, you aren’t in trouble. The director merely wants to see you before you leave for Florida.”

You nodded, keeping with his pace. He led you two to the director’s office, and opened the door for you, announcing your arrival. The two of you stepped over the threshold and the agent closed the door behind him, leaving only you, Spence, and the director.

“Ah, Dr. Reid, I’m so glad we caught you before you left,” she stated, smiling at you. 

“Is everything alright?” you questioned, slightly worried.

“Oh, of course, of course. I brought you in because I hear you will be working down in the University of Miami?” 

“Mhm.” 

“Well, we have a case I’d like you to look at while you’re down there. Several, actually.” 

She lifted a box off the floor and put it on top of her desk, lifting the lid off of it, exposing a full box of files. 

“These are missing persons that have been going on for a few years.”

You picked up the top file and flipped through it. “Cold cases?”

“Yes, for the most part. Most of them have been in jail, prison, or suspected of illegal activity, never to be seen or heard from again.” 

“Not typical related crimes, such as a gang offing or…?”

“I want to believe that, but this is a high rate of missing people in these sort of circles compared to other cities in Florida.” 

“So why don’t you have the Florida division investigate?” you wondered, peering up at her. 

“We did. They didn’t have much of a lead or much to go on.” 

“What makes you think I will?” 

“You’re the brightest agent we have. You’ll be in the terrain. While you’re down there, we would appreciate it if you worked this case on the side. You have full range to question people. This is a real investigation, it’s not under the radar. Feel free to use whatever resources you need.”

“This… this is a lot to take on,” you commented. “I mean, by myself, that’s just... “

“I’m sure you can do it. If you need to consult your current team, feel free to do so.”

You slowly nodded. “Alright. Thank you. I’ll do my best.” 

She smiled a dazzling grin at you and shook your hand. “Thank you, thank you very much. Check back in by the end of the month, if you don’t mind.”

“I will.”

“Thanks. Have a safe trip.”

“Thank you, I’ll try.”

With that, you grabbed the box and left her office, your husband beside you. 

“So now you’re doing a case, several, all by yourself,” Spence noted. 

You let out a huff. “I guess so.” 

“This is going to be a lot. Teaching, grading, doing this case.”

You nodded. “I know, but I can handle it.” 

He grinned at you and kissed your forehead. “I know you can. I just… I’m just worried. This was supposed to be a break and now--”

“Spence, it’ll be fine. This sort of case won’t piss me off. There’s no one who is going to ‘get away’.” 

With a nod, you two exited the elevators and went home. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[pastelastronomy24]

Noted

College!Chris Evans x POC! Plus Size!Reader

(College!CEvans x POC!Plus Size!Reader)

A/N: ah yes! My first CEvans fic. I just love the idea of Chris being a goof in college. He’s so cute lmao. Anyways this started off as a joke. My best friend Aliana found the picture below from an insta post about Chris in “The Perfect Score” and then when I said the prompt she gave was like actually pretty good she said I had no choice but to write it 🤷🏾‍♀️ I took some liberties with the prompt but I think y’all will still like it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘A common misconception is that JFK was the civil rights president, when in fact it was LBJ. JFK only brought up civil rights because his brother Robert pushed for more civil rights issues to.....’

Furious was the hand that held the pen, and you were that hand. History was a pretty standard subject, you had your opinions but didn’t want to risk upsetting the less... melanin-ated people of your class. Honestly you weren’t really focused on the subject, it was all about your notes.

You may have not been an academic scholar but god damn could you write the hell out of some notes. The way your various colored gel pens came together to create an easy to follow and organized masterpiece was the essential key to you passing this class. Honestly if you weren’t such an amazing note taker you would have been fucked.

‘Alright, don’t forget to read pages 165 to 210 by Friday. Tomorrow we’ll talk about the Kennedy Assassinations. Yes, Assassinations PLURAL’

With a deep sigh you closed your notebook and threw your gel pens into your pencil bag. You were about to put your (godly) notes into your bag when you felt a tap on your shoulder.

When you looked up, you were met with a smile and “hey” from a boy who screamed ‘boy next door who pretends to be a pool boy to fuck the cougar from next door’

“Uh hey? You’re Chris right?” His eyes lit up in shock. You assumed it was probably because 1). He’s never talked to you a day in his life 2). He’s never been awake a day in this class.

“Oh...yeah I’m Chris. Listen can I ask you somethin” the second thing you noticed about Chris besides his charming aura, was his thick accent. You wanted to say it was maybe a New York or Bostonian one, but you couldn’t quite place it. You quirked your eyebrows at the sound of his request. He’d walked up to you all confident but he seemed unsure all of a sudden.

“Sure, whats up??” Chris scratched the back of his neck and a boyish grin appeared on his face.

“So.. I uh, I heard you were like the master at taking notes. And well, our Professor says if I don’t start paying attention she’s gonna fail me. So I was wondering if you would ya know, let me see your notes. That way, I can compromise. I could still pass, and do my thing ya know?”

I mean, you had to laugh. You couldn’t hold in your chuckle, looking up at Chris whose grin went from boyish to confused. He laughed out of awkwardness and confusion while you put your notes in your backpack and stood up. You had to look up at him as his stature dwarfed you.

“No.” You stated simply before attempting to walk away. Chris quickly grabbed your arm before you could get too far.

“Awe come on!! Look, I really need your help to pass and I don’t have any other options. I’m too far behind for tutoring and everyone else even says you have the best notes. I’ll even pay you! Name your price.” You looked up at him, and I mean really looked up at him, analyzing his pale blue eyes and pink lips drowning in panic before you sighed.

“Alright fine. But I don’t trust people with my notes, so if we do this I’m gonna be there and I’ll help you organize and copy them by hand. You can pay me 10$, I’m not gonna bleed you dry just because you’re struggling.” The load of stress had been lifted off of Chris’s shoulders as he thanked you profusely and began to walk away. You shook your head, slapping the palm of your hand on your face before yelling out his name. You laughed as he stopped abruptly and turned around jogging back to you.

“Oh uh, whats up? Did I forget something?” You nodded a slight smile on your face. It seemed hard not to smile at the bumbling dummy.

“You don’t know my name, how to contact me, or when and where we’re gonna do this Chris”

He looked genuinely dumbfounded, but before you could speak you began filling in the missing information

“ I’m Y/N, here’s my phone so you can give me your number, and we should start tomorrow after class. I guess the Starbucks or Library could work.” Chris paused while typing in his number to look at you.

“Well see, I was wondering if we could do it at my dorm because well, I’m really hyper and public places make it hard for me to concentrate. I’m afraid we won’t be able to get anything done I have the attention span of a peanut, and I don’t want you to get mad at me.” For the millionth time that day you sighed.

“Okay I guess. Your dorm tomorrow after class. Buy a big notebook. You have a lot of work to do. “

And thus a routine had started. Everyday for the past month you and Chris would saunter off to his dorm and spend hours copying notes and helping him make sense of them before guest hours were over. The first week and a half really tested your patience as Chris really did have the attention span of a peanut if not worse. You helped him concentrate (mostly by threatening to leave if he didn’t stop “going to the bathroom” and “getting something to drink”.) and he mellowed out after awhile. You couldn’t quite place when it happened, but you and Chris had become sort of like close friends. Chris had some crazy magnetic energy that made you always want to be around him but never be able to stand him. It was a friendship forged in fire (well, gel pens).

“Hey y/n, we’re gonna have to adjust our study location today” Chris jogged up to your table where you had just finished zipping up your backpack. He grabbed your bag and slung it over his shoulder like he’d gotten used to doing for the last few weeks (he may have been a big oaf, but he was a sweetheart. He would deny it every time, telling you not to call him a sweetheart for being a decent human being but you digress.) You paused and looked at Chris confused.

“Yeah my roommate just got this girl and they’ve been going at it like cats in heat. I mean they’ve really been fuc-“

“Okay Chris I get it. “ You choked on your laughter. “I was thinking we could start studying at your dorm instead since I’m not sure when they’re gonna let up”. You shrugged “I mean I guess, but you sure you don’t want to do it a Starbucks? We have a shit ton of notes today and I know how sleepy and restless you can get.” He shook his head vigorously. “Nah Y/N it should be fine, plus you know how I am in public spaces, we’ll never finish even with all the coffee in the world.” You sighed and nodded. He was right, the poor baby couldn’t concentrate in public to save his life. It’s probably why he slept so much and zoned out during class.

“Yeah love, you’re probably right. Lemme text my roommate and tell her. Make sure she knows we’ll try to be out of her way.”

You texted Valeria, you best friend and roommate about the situation.

Of course the first thing her little messy ass had to say was ‘oh the hot one who looks at you like you’re the moon to his stars?? I’m cool with that.’ You groaned in irritation which prompted Chris to try and sneak a peek at your text. You snatched the phone away from his view before he could see it.

“Heyyy!” He tried again and you shoved his shoulder.

“ ‘Heeyyy’ nothin! Get your nosey ass away from my phone!” You giggled, and Chris couldn’t help but do the same. It seemed like nowadays your laughs and smiles were infectious to each other. “What?! I’m just trying to see what Val said! That’s my -what do you call it?- oh yeah that’s my dawg!” He was grinning like the shit eater he was as you looked at him dumbfounded.

“Absolutely not. I don’t ever want to hear you say that shit again.” He threw his head back in fake annoyance as you continued walking towards your dorm.

“Awe come onnnn! You say it all the time. Maybe it’s only cool when you say it. “ you chuckled and reached over to pinch his cheek. He whined and swatted your hand away.

“Awe! Little Evans wants to sound like me. That’s so cuteee!” It was Chris’s turn to shove your shoulder. He almost made you tumble over, but he caught you by the waist and steadied your balance. “Ugh Y/N don’t do that you know that’s not what I meant! Sometimes you just say stuff and it’s kinda... it’s kinda cool ya know? Like the way you talk.” As you continued your trek towards your dorm, he kept his hand on the side of your waist very lightly. “All I’m hearing right now, is that you wanna be like me, and that’s all I’m acknowledging.” Chris threw his head down in defeat knowing that if he kept going you’d keep embarrassing you. You were on him like white on rice with the comebacks at all times.

“Yeah whatever. You continue to have selective hearing if you want to, but it’ll get you nowhere.“ He shrugged as you used your key card to get into the lobby of your dorm. You both flashed the front desk your key cards before signing in and approaching the elevator.

“After you, my favorite note taker” Chris ushered you into the elevator while you rolled your eyes. “I’m your only note taker. You don’t even take notes dingus. That’s why we’ve been doing this for two and a half months.” You told Chris to press the button to the 5th floor then he leaned back against the corner of the elevator while you stood beside him.

“That doesn’t mean you’re not my favorite note taker.” He reached over to boop your nose, and you scrunched it up in response. “You know what? I don’t like you” You poked his chest and all he did was smile while leaning closer to you. “That’s cool. You don’t have to like the people you love anyways.” You stood wide mouthed and shocked, but before you could retort the elevator doors opened and Chris began walking away.

“Come on Y/N it’s hot as shit and you said we have a lot of work to do.” You reluctantly stepped out of the elevator and found Chris, stepping ahead to lead him to your room. “Welcome, to the most comfortable place on earth.” You very dramatically threw your arms in the air to get him to marvel at your room. It was a good thing you’d cleaned it up earlier in the week (it was a disaster before). Chris walked around looking at the various nerdy posters you had on your wall and the pictures of friends on your desk while you went to turn on your fairy lights for better lighting. When you finished, you turned around to see Chris splayed across your bed and you scoffed. “At least you’re considerate enough to keep your dirty ass shoes off my white marble comforter. It would have been a shame if I had to end you today.” He sat up and reached for your arm, pulling you with him to sit down on your bed.

“It’s because I’m nice like that. You’re welcome.” You ignored the cheesey smile on his face while he passed you your backpack so you could get your galaxy spiral note book. Chris reached into his bag and did the same pulling out the notebook he bought to match yours (more receipts to prove that he wanted to be like you). “Shush. Your mouth wastes time and I don’t wanna hear you complaining to me when it’s twelve years later and we’re still organizing and going over these notes.” You pulled out your gel pens and the work began.

Three hours. Three whole hours. That’s how long you and Chris had been organizing his notes before he tapped out. “Good god I’m fucking wiped OUT!” Chris exclaimed. He threw his pencil down and plopped his head down on your thick thigh. “Y/NNN, can we please take a break?? I’m dyin over here. My hand has never cramped harder in my life!” He looked up at you with pleading eyes and a pout. He was a human puppy dog. You couldn’t deny that the action had caused a heat to rise in your cheeks and your heart to flutter, but you played it off, amused at his exasperation. “Fine! Your whining has won me over. And you’re also right we need a break. But I get to pick the show!” Chris did a little victory fist pump in the air and you patted his head. He jumped up and sauntered over to the pantry, looking through it before pulling out two bags of Extra Butter Movie Theater Popcorn and a bowl. While he put the first bag in the microwave, you got up and looked in the fridge, pulling out two bottles of Mountain Dew.

You walked over to your TV and turned it on grabbing your Roku remote. “Hey Chris, since you think the way I talk is so ‘cool’ I’m making you watch The Boondocks.” You yelled over to him while he poured the popcorn into the bowl and walked over to you. Your TV was placed purposely in front of your bed, so you both popped up on it, with Chris getting comfortable on the corner of the wall that the bed touched and you sitting crisscross besides him. “Here” you handed him his drink and he said thank you before placing the popcorn bowl in your lap. “Okay so The Boondocks is probably the best cartoon made in television history. And I know that sounds dramatic but it’s true.” You looked over to see Chris laughing quietly. “I trust your opinion. You’ve never been wrong before. “ he shrugged and you shook your head in agreement. “You’re damn right. I’m glad we’re on the same page.” You hovered the remote over to the first episode titled “The Garden Party” and clicked play. “We’re only gonna watch THREE episodes before we get back to work okay??” Chris smacked his teeth and tossed his head on your shoulder. “That’s lame. What if I really like it?!” You pushed his heavy head off of you playfully. “What’s lame is you failing class when I’m supposed to be helping you do the opposite. We can finish it another time fool.” You vaguely heard him say ‘alright alright’ before the familiar theme song came on, you silently rapping along.

When you got to episode 2 “The Trial of Robert Kelly” Chris was dying laughing. When Huey got to his speech he was aggressively clapping, while you were aggressively pointing at the screen hollering “THATS WTF IM TALKIN ABOUT!! LET EM’ KNOW HUEY”. By episode 3, you and Chris were fighting to stay awake. Somehow, your head had drifted onto his chest, and his arm had shifted to around your waist. Your legs had been comfortably strewn on top of each other as you listened to Granddads crazy girlfriend drone on. You didn’t make it to episode 4.

You woke up before he did, groggy and confused. Your eyes were still closed as you tried to shift around only to be met with resistance. You felt a tightening around your waist as a still sleeping Chris pulled you closer into his body, nuzzling is face into your neck. “Oh shit...” you whispered, your eyes no longer closed and in fact, wide ass open. “Chris. Chrissss. CHRIS!!” Chris shot up involuntarily tightening his hold on you before looking down into your concerned face.

“Shiiiit. Y/N what time is it.” You searched the side of the bed for your phone before turning it on and checking the time. It was 7:46 A. M. “Oh fuck! We didn’t finish the notes!! Oh fuck Chris we slept past guest visitor time! How imma sneak you out?! Oh god I don’t wanna be the reason why you fail and get kicked out! I’m gonna lose my closest friend because I-”

“Hey wait...” Chris placed his hand under your chin and pulled you into him, looking up and down your face with hooded lids. All you could focus on, was him. The way his lashes brushed his freckle dusted cheek. The way is eyes peered at you mixed with a haze of sleepiness and something else more intense. “ Y/N look at me... everything is gonna be okay, I promise...” The room, the air, the god damn particles around you stilled. It was like all of time froze except for you and Chris.

You didn’t remember you had the ability to breathe until he licked his lips and leaned towards you, pulling you closer, completely halting your ability to breathe. Your lips intertwined in a soft battle of heat and passion. It was slow and intimate, you didn’t know you could muster up so much passion in a kiss. Before you knew it, Chris gripped your left thigh and swung it over the other side of him making you straddle his waist. The pillows of his lips never stopped their assault and only got more aggressive as he palmed your ass. Your body felt hot, and you NEEDED more. You rutted your core against Chris’s lap causing him to pull on your bottom lip with his teeth and smack your large thigh.

“Don’t play with the fire if you can’t put it out.” He groaned out, his voice strained as you both breathed heavily. You moved your lips down to his neck and began to nip and suck softly before smiling into his neck. “When have you ever known me to be afraid of the fire?” You heard the sharp intake of his breath before he flipped you over, slamming your back into your bed. Chris placed soft kisses all over your face making you giggle before he continued his tirade on your mouth. Maybe Chris was a good kisser. Actually, a phenomenal kisser. You gripped the back of his neck, your hands tangled in the nape of his hair. Chris’s hands were inside of your shirt feeling on your soft stomach before you both heard the snap of a camera. You both jumped up at the intrusion and sat up, banging your foreheads together on accident.

“Ahh shit!! Fuck!!” “God damn it! Fuck!” You and Chris both exclaimed as you heard the culprit, your roommate Valeria, laughing hysterically. You groaned rubbing your head and shot her the dirtiest look you could muster.

“HA! You got mad at me for saying he looked at you like you were the moon and stars in the sky, but you’re borderline fucking AND he stayed past guest hours!” You threw your head back on your pillow while closing your eyes and sighing. You could feel the pressure and warmth of Chris’s body leave you as he got up to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Val!! How’s it going big dawg?!” Valeria cringed and shook her head. She approached Chris and pat his head. “Hey Chris I think you’re great, but I don’t ever want to hear you say that again okay?” Chris grumbled an ‘okay’ and despite everything you couldn’t help but laugh.

“Anyways you guys can continue doing the do. I actually came in here to ask how note taking was last night, but I see it was pretty good.” Valeria winked before shuffling to the door and closing it, cackling after she closed it. Before you could even process what had just happened Chris took your chubby cheeks into your hand and rubbed his thumb along your bottom lip.

“Hey Y/N... you know how Val said I look at you like the moon and the stars?” He trailed off and his eyes darted down to your lips. All you could do was nod, too entranced in the way his lips moved and the shine in his eyes.

“Well, she’s not wrong. I don’t know exactly when, but for awhile you’ve been the sun and moon and the stars and everything in between. And god, every time you smile I wanna kiss you until my smile becomes as bright. Every time you laugh I can’t help but join in, because even when it sounds like a Windex spray bottle it’s the only sound I wanna hear.” You softly smacked his chest and buried your head in his neck running your hand down his chest.

“I love the way your cheeks puff up when you get irritated at me, and the way you look at me when you have no idea what the fuck I’m trying to say.” some how, you moved impossibly closer into his neck.

“You gonna let me take you out some time doll?” Chris sounded so soft and unsure of himself. It reminded you of the first time you’d ever talked to him. When he didn’t know you knew his name. You rose up from his neck and placed a long soft kiss on his pink lips.

“Of course Chris. I can’t say no to my favorite note copier.” Your foreheads pressed against each other and you both stayed completely still, trying to make the moment last. Chris moved first, taking his forehead off of you to place a kiss on top of your head and pull you into his embrace.

“I’m your only note copier.” He couldn’t help himself. You both started to giggle into each other.

“And it’s gonna stay like that. Just like I’m gonna be your only note taker.” Chris squeezed you tighter and pulled you into his lap, placing one last kiss on your curls.

“Noted.”

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Bloop! I’m finished. This took all day man yeesh. Anyways y’all know I’m a slut for comments so please for your favorite comment starved plus size POC writter, leave a comment.

Taglist

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(Sorry some of the tags dont work)

[zoequeenz]

Plain Sight (Part 1)

MASTERLIST

PREVIOUS CHAPTER

3rd Person POV at Brenda Samms’s Home

The powerful vocals of Aretha Franklin are all Brenda Samms could hear as she danced her way through her workout of the day. While the woman was distracted she didn't hear the arrival of an unknown man coming through her downstairs window. He stalked the kitchen, observing the china and decor of his victims house. As he ascended the stairs the sound of the music and workout video grew louder. Brenda continued to dance as the man opened her bedroom door. She turned right into the hands of her attacker. Hours later she was found by her children. The police were quick to the scene. There was a mess of silverware on the floor and a message on the mirror. This person wanted to be known.

“Get a good shot of her face.” the lead detective said.

The photographer did. Brenda’s eyes were glued open.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Persephone Chase’s POV

Today was a very exciting day. It is Spency’s birthday. Yes, my best friend is 24. I couldn’t wait. I actually was itching to go to work. I had his gift for months now and I knew he would love it. It was a box set of Star Trek. Sure, we could just watch reruns but every Friday Spency and I would have movie nights and he always likes to focus on the facts. I loved whenever he added some little detail and I knew that he wanted to do it with Star Trek. I excitedly walked into work. JJ and I had a little surprise planned. I had the trick candles and a stupid hat while she brought in a cake. As soon as I got out of the elevator I bolted to her office.

“Okay, Spencer should be here in about three minutes, do you have everything?” I ask not even greeting the blonde.

“Well hello to you to P. Yes, I have everything. Breathe, he’s going to love this.” JJ tells me putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.

I let out a sigh.

“I hope so. What kind of best friend would I be if he didn’t.” I say.

I check my watch again and see that the three minutes had passed and Spencer would be here now.

“Okay, it’s go time.” I say walking out of JJ’s office.

I make my way to the bullpen and just like I said, there he was. I sneak around so he won’t see me. I am right behind his desk now and I walk up behind him and cover his eyes.

“Guess who?” I say teasingly.

“Hmm...Hotch?” he replies jokingly.

I laugh and lean over his shoulder.

“Happy Birthday Spency.”

“Thanks Percy.” he says with a small smile.

“I got a surprise for you.” I say putting the hat on his head.

“Oh wow, thanks.” he shyly replies.

“I meant this.” I say handing him the small bag.

He digs out the present and looks at it for a bit. I grow nervous, maybe I was wrong.

“I love it.” Spency says getting up to hug me.

“Yay! But there’s more.” I tell him as Derek, JJ, and Elle walk towards us with the cake.

I put the candles on and light them.

“Make a wish!” JJ says.

Spency begins to blow at the candles. But once they go out they come back on.

“Come on, man. Blow, baby! Blow!” Derek encourages.

Spencer keeps trying.

“I thought you were full of hot air, Reid.” Elle jokes.

‘Come on, Reid.” Morgan says.

“They’re trick candles, Spence. OK? They’re gonna come back on every time.” JJ finally tells him.

I giggle as he turns to give me a fake glare.

“Oh. Mommy to the rescue.” Morgan teases.

“Mommy?” Spencer asks.

I walk up to him and hug him around the shoulders.

“Happy birthday Spency.” I tell him again planting a kiss on his cheek.

He blushes, what a cutie.

JJ then begins cutting the cake.

“Hope you like chocolate.” she says.

I grew kinda uncomfortable with their flirty nature but know that JJ would never do that to me. We all crowded around the cake as Spencer got up to talk to Gideon. Derek nudged me.

“Happy birthday Spency.” he mocks dramatically scooping me into a hug.

“Stop, it’s not like that.” I brush him off. It was exactly like that.

“Whatever you say, Percy.” Derek replies.

“Hey, Spence, first piece for the birthday boy.” JJ tells him holding out a plate.

Morgan then calls him over and he accepts the plate. We all stood around eating.

“So, not that I don’t love the gift but why the Star Trek box set?” Spencer asks me.

“Well, on movie nights you like to give little facts or corrections. You mentioned one night that you wanted to do it with Star Trek so I got you the box set instead of just reruns.” I explained.

“Aww you actually listen to me.” he says pulling me into his side.

I nod. If I try to say words I will only fail.

“Sorry, guys, the party’s over.” Hotch announces hanging up the phone.

Shoot we had a case.

“Sorry Spency.” I say.

“It’s okay.” he smiles as we walk to the board room.

“We’re going to San Diego.” Hotch says entering the room with JJ.

“Not for surfing, huh?” Derek asks, already knowing the answer.

“They’re calling him the Tommy Killer.” JJ says as she sets down the files.

“Six women raped and murdered in their homes in the last three weeks.” Hotch adds.

“Six in three weeks?” Elle asks.

“Seems Tommy moves quick.” I say.

“That’s a short fuse.” Gideon puts out there.

“And getting shorter. The first two were eight days apart, then the next four in two weeks.” Hotch explains.

“Rapid escalation. Do you think he’s regressing to a psychopathic frenzy?” Spencer asks.

“No, he’s too controlled for that.” Hotch answers.

“See you on the plane.”

“Why the Tommy Killer?” Derek asks.

“You know the rock opera?” Hotch asks turning from leaving.

“Well, this unsub glues his victims’ eyes wide open.”

We all looked down in disgust. These unsubs just keep getting weirder and weirder. The photos are haunting. The women’s faces are pale and expressionless but their eyes give off a frozen state of fear.

“He wants them to see him.” Spencer says.

“And feel him.” Gideon adds.

I cringe. That is vile. Unsubs like this deserve to rot.

I quietly get up and collect my go bag. I needed a minute. This case was gonna be difficult. These poor women. I know how they feel. It may sound bad but I’m glad they won’t have to live the rest of their lives scarred. As I get on the plane I sit across from Spencer. I smile at him as I get situated. We lift off and once it was safe enough Hotch began debriefing us.

“Brenda Samms was found yesterday by her children when they got home from school. She had been strangled with a thin ligature, possibly a wire.” he explains.

“No weapon left at the scene?” Elle asks.

“Residue on the wrist and mouth indicate that duct tape was used and then removed.” Spencer adds.

“Also not found at the scene.” Hotch says.

“So he’s smart enough to not leave anything behind.” I say.

“Brought it with him, took it with him.” Elle says.

“He also started leaving messages at the fourth scene. This was on the mirror.” Hotch says showing a photo of the message to everyone. He then begins to read it. Spencer, of course, finishes it.

“It’s a ballad from the late 1600s. A dialogue betwixt death and a lady.” he explains.

“A 17th century ballad.” Elle states.

“Yeah, essentially, a woman begging death to live.” Spencer adds.

“What kind of person knows this ballad? Are we looking for a literature professor?” she asks.

“Anyone with an internet connection, actually. You should see what comes in when you type the word “death” into a search engine.” he geeks out.

“Reid, no wonder you can’t get a date.” Derek says. I glare at him. Sure, it’s only a joke but Spencer didn’t take it that way. The poor boy is so socially awkward but there is no reason he can’t get a date. Women practically throw themselves at him whenever we got to lunch or something. I rub his arm to comfort him in a way. He gives me a fake smile. His pride was hurt.

“Reid, you stay on the messages. See if there’s a deeper meaning.” Gideon tells the genius.

“Well, it definitely looks like he ransacked the crime scene pretty well.” Derek points out showing us a photo.

“A lot of damage, nothing taken.” Hotch adds.

“Maybe he still had some rage he needed to blow off, these things might remind him of a life he once had or one he could never have.” I suggest.

“The eyes are the thing, the signature. The behavior that isn’t necessary for the murder, but necessary for the emotional release. That’s what he’s there for.” Gideon says.

“There used to be a widely held belief that the eyes record a snapshot of the last thing a person sees before they die.” Spencer says.

“Yeah, that’s right. People used to write poems about talking to death.” Derek adds on.

“Ballads.” Spencer interjects.

“Whatever.” Derek replies.

“You think they’ll ever run out of new things to do to their victims?” Elle solemnly asks.

“Well, finding new ways to hurt each other is what we’re good at.” Gideon answers.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Persephone Chase’s POV

We had arrived at the police station in San Diego. We all went our separate ways ready to work. I guess Hotch and JJ met with the Chief because I walked in straight to the boards with all the victims and scenes on it. The photos are chilling, some of the women, others of the messages, and even photos of their families.I was looking to see if I could see any mistakes or evidence he may have left behind when Derek started speaking.

“He strikes during the day in upper middle class neighborhoods. Extremely high risk victims at high risk times.” Gideon adds.

“He’s confident in his ability.”

“Looks to be about a five square mile radius.” Derek informs.

“So he probably has a vehicle.” Gideon says.

“And one that isn’t too out of the ordinary in these neighborhoods.” I say.

“You wanna see that crime scene?” Detective Martin asks us. “It’s still taped off. The husband won’t go back inside.”

Derek looks back towards Gideon and I.

“Let’s go.” Gideon says.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

3rd Person POV at San Diego Police Headquarters

After Agents Gideon, Morgan, and Chase left. Hotch and Elle discuss what they need to figure out.

“Alright, so we need answers to these questions.” Hotch begins.

“What does the evidence tell you about the sexual aspect? What kind of rapist is he independent of the homicides?”

“I’m on it.” Elle replies.

“It looks like what he’s written at the scenes are most of the first three verses of the same ballad.” Spencer starts as he walks over to the pair. “Most of?” Hotch asks.

“Yeah, it’s only one part of the conversation. There’s no “betwixt.”” Spencer answers. Both Hotch and Elle look at him confused.

“Uh, death speaks, but the lady never answers.” Spencer clarifies.

“Maybe he feels like their bodies are answer enough.” Elle suggests.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

A/N: AHHH the second part of June!! I really like this two parts a month thing. Maybe it will be a forever thing. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!! A reader gave me some constructive criticism saying she wanted more of Percy and her own lines and thoughts. I tried my best to do my girl some justice and also make the story as how I usually write them. I have been waiting for this episode because this is a big Spencer episode because of his birthday!!! It's also my birthday so yay all around!! Love, Zoe!!

NEXT CHAPTER

TAG LIST:

@thesailbells​

[the-colony-roleplay]

Josephine Parker | Twenty Six;  Survivor

House: Calyset Status: Uninfected Elite Specification: Teacher Teachers: History and Literature, ages 10-13 Alignment: New Age Rebels

History

Some people weren’t ever quite suited to the fast paced, high-tech modern life. Jo Parker was one of them. Her parents were both scholars; her mother was a librarian, her father a history professor at the University of Washington. They lived in an old campus neighbourhood up in the woods, away from the city. The beliefs of Jo’s parents matched their surroundings: traditional, old school. Jo grew up surrounded by books, taking walks in the forest, indulging her father’s taste in ‘classic’ rock. She used modern technology as much as she had to, but her parents taught her an invaluable lesson, that nothing could replace the lessons to be learned from her surroundings, particularly in books.

For all her traditional settings, Jo had a fairly unusual education. Her father had always rejected the tradition of desks in a row, teacher at the front, for eight hours a day. He encouraged exploration, creativity. No question was too small. Jo took advantage of that to its fullest extent, sometimes waking her parents up in the middle of the night to ask why the moon changed shape. Both to temper her questions and encourage them, Jo’s mother homeschooled her. Or rather, she brought Jo to the library every day, worked with Jo on her breaks, and set her to reading while she worked. Jo absorbed every book like a sponge. As she got older, and the books in the public library no longer satisfied her, her father began bringing her along to the university. Sometimes she would sit in on a class, other times she’d curl up in a chair in the ancient library with its high-vaulted ceilings and equally ancient books.

To her parents’ relief, the university turned into more than just a place to study. Jo had always been on the quiet side, but even quiet people had friends. She found hers in the classic literature club, exchanging ideas on humanity and the stories that made them human. When she was sixteen, a new girl joined the lit club. Rosalind was clever, funny, outgoing; everything Jo wasn’t. A few weeks after she joined, Jo began dating her first girlfriend.

Attending the University of Washington officially didn’t change much from being an un-official homeschooled kid. She still spent too much time in the library, according to Rosalind. The only thing that really changed was the scenery. Jo never quite adjusted to living in a dorm full of girls and booze and parties. Halfway through the year, she moved in with her now girlfriend of two years. Rosalind worked at a bookstore, and part of her pay was an apartment above the shop. It only had one bedroom and the kitchen barely deserved the name, but the way the golden sun lit on Rosalind’s face as she curled on the couch in the morning, frowning at a sketch, made it totally worth it.

Life was never perfect, but for those nearly three years, it came awfully close. With permission from the University, Jo began working on a master’s thesis. The bookstore never crowded with shoppers, but it made enough to support Rosalind’s art classes. Some days she would bribe Jo into posing, other days they would head out into the market. Jo listened to people's’ stories, and Rosalind sketched them. Each thought the other’s work turned out much better than their own. Jo and Rosalind began to think about the future. Graduating, adopting a dog, maybe, and teasingly, where they might honeymoon. The day before D-Day, Rosalind had tried to be subtle in asking what kind of ring Jo liked. The next day, their knuckles turned white as they held onto each other, watching the news while a storm tore the world apart outside.

Their once quiet haven quickly turned to chaos. As high above the harbor as they were, the ocean came steadily lapping at their door. Jo managed to get a hold of her parents once, to learn they were travelling inland. That was the last time she heard from them. Rosalind wanted to inland as well, but getting there would be next to impossible with the amount of traffic and crowds streaming that way. Instead, they travelled the opposite direction—out to sea. Jo and Rosalind managed to catch one of the last boats out of Seattle, with suitcases half-crammed with books and Rosalind’s sketches.

No one really knew where they were going. Every port they radioed for contact either reported severe flooding or just didn’t reply at all. And then other news came in, about what was happening to the inland countries, about the meteors that had apparently decimated the population. The more they heard, the more it seemed like mankind stood facing the end. Everyone dealt with it in different ways; some sailors drank, Rosalind sketched her parents over and over, and Jo reread the books they’d brought, trying to memorize every last trace of rapidly disappearing humanity.

They had to land eventually. With almost no ports still open—or even still there—they’d drifted aimlessly. After nearly a month, they made land in northern Mexico. The few survivors they found were wary, but allowed the ship to stay long enough to resupply. Jo had never actively spoken Spanish, but she’d learned enough to read Don Quixote and that was enough to get by with the survivors. She started chatting with them, in the broken, mixed Spanish she could muster up. And then she started writing. It was just little things at first; who ran the crumbling bakery, whose son had died in the flood. The small things gradually grew into stories. By the time the ship had resupplied, Jo had filled the margins of an entire book with the history of the town. More importantly, she and Rosalind had made a decision. The two of them gathered as much food, water, and survival gear as they could manage. The locals promised to take good care of the majority of Jo’s books, which she replaced with empty journals. Rosalind scrounged for any blank paper she could get her hands on. Hand in hand, they waved goodbye to the survivors and set out into the broken world.

The next four years were a blur. Jo and Rosalind trekked north, staying with survivors when they could, and sleeping alone under the stars the rest of the time. Jo collected stories from every community they found, and many more lone travellers in between. Rosalind filled one sketchbook, then another with eyes, hands, broken cities, and faces. Somewhere along the way, Rosalind found, then traded an old polaroid for passage on a ship across the Atlantic. They were married, as officially as possible, on the voyage. In Africa it fell to Rosalind to translate, combining French and English. The couple travelled across Africa all the way up to Arabia. The intense destruction from the Asian meteor stopped them dead in their tracks. Even if the continent hadn’t been completely destroyed, there was no point. There was no way anyone would’ve survived. Jo and Rosalind turned back west, where they might find more hope. Europe was still a mess, but at least they wouldn’t be walking across a graveyard.

News was hard to come by in the new world. Most things travelled by mouth; Echo chips were useful only for passing information from one person to the next. Still, the uprising was hard to miss. Jo and Rosalind had their first encounter in the French countryside. A young girl and her father, terrified and starving. They’d been running for days, from what Rosalind could translate. Some people had taken over their camp. It hadn’t been so bad, until they caught one of the boys lifting rocks with his mind. They’d beaten him badly, and they warned the rest of the camp that any other unnatural acts would be punished similarly. They’d called themselves the New Wave. Rosalind had started getting headaches about a month before, and they’d been getting worse. Both of them had heard the stories, even seen some of the effects of Infected. They knew what came next. And now they knew to be afraid.

After that, they travelled more cautiously. Jo scouted ahead, making first contact with any clans to make sure they were safe before Rosalind joined her. As they travelled down the Iberian peninsula, they started hearing other stories about hunting groups. Clans disappearing. Bigger colonies being taken over by the Reformists. More than once Jo tried convincing Rosalind to turn back, to find a clan with other Infected. But there ships on the coast, probably their only way back to the United States. Those were some of their only fights, and the only ones that ever stuck in Jo’s mind, but eventually Rosalind always convinced her to keep going.

The crusaders caught them by surprise, just after breakfast. They’d been camping with a small clan; a dozen people, maybe two or three Infected. One minute they were laughing over weak coffee and taking down the tents, the next minute everyone was screaming, running. Jo’s hand reached for her wife. Their fingers found each other for the briefest moment, and then Rosalind was screaming. Jo tried to hold tighter. Someone was pulling Rosalind away. Rosalind was screaming to run. Her ring slipped off in Jo’s hand. Jo ran.

Jo Today

Jo ran north, as hard and as fast as she could. She didn’t see a single soul for weeks, not until she reached the English channel. Every time she stopped, she heard Rosalind’s voice ringing in her ears. Run. Someone gave her passage across the channel in exchange for her necklace. Rosalind had given it to her on their first anniversary in college. To replace it, Jo strung her ring and Rosalind’s on a chain around her neck. In the quiet moments, resting in the old English forests, Jo slipped her finger through Rosalind’s ring and wrote down every detail she could remember about her.

There were still small clans hiding in England, but Jo only contacted them when she had to. When she ran low on food or water or memories of what another person sounded like. She managed to evade hunters from the colonies twice, but the third time she was stupid. She’d stayed too long in one spot, and they caught her as easy as that. They told her she was being rescued by the New Wave and it was best not to resist. They gave her good food, a warm bed, even a nice job teaching due to her background with history and literature. But all that time, all she could hear was Rosalind screaming, feel her cold ring on her chest.

Five weeks after her capture, Jo tried to organize an escape. Some of her children were Infected; she knew what would happen to them once they got older. She couldn’t let that happen on her watch. She’d planned well; supplies, list of guard movements and rotations, a map of the grounds. But she’d never attempted anything close to this before, and one small slip up was all it took to raise the alarm. Even then, she tried to get the children over the wall. The first one was halfway over when a soldier grabbed her. She remembered hitting him back, grabbing for his gun, and then nothing.

After her recapture, Jo was confined to the correctional ward for a month and given a spare. Her little stunt had earned her much worse, but the Head of her House vouched for her, and teachers were already in short supply. Her punishment she could deal with, but the threat that cut her to the core was the possibility of her job being revoked. As much as she couldn’t stand the colony, teaching was a bright spot in her life. The idea of being stuck there without that welcome challenge, being unable to show the next generation a better way, was almost unbearable. Maybe if she were Rosalind, she would have defied the order. Maybe she would’ve rebelled again, tried to run as soon as she was released. But Rosalind was gone, so Jo kept her head down and performed as expected, all the while compiling her stories.

Jo is constantly battling between her shy, non-confrontational attitude and her desire to do what’s right. She’s not a fighter by any means, but when the people she cares about are threatened she can summon up enough courage to defend them. Most of the time, however, she’s just tired. Tired of trying to survive, trying to fight the NWRF, trying to rebuild the world. She wants to do what’s right but it’s hard, and sometimes she doesn’t know if she has the strength to do it.

RELATED BIOS: ROSALIND STEIN

CLOSED FC

[apencilandpen]

I was in my fiction writing class last week, taught by one of my favorite professors, and we were talking about Anthony Doerr’s short story “The Deep” which is about a boy, Tom, who has a heart condition and probably won’t live past 16. We were talking about what makes a story set between 1914 and 1935 and published in 2011 stay relevant and relatively timeless to read. We talked about how timeless stories are character based, not plot based and stuff like that, and I brought up a section I felt also made it particularly relevant for today. There a part in the story where 21 year old Tom is working at a hospital during the early years of the Great Depression and he meets a maternity ward nurse. She tells him “World goes to Hades but babies still get born.” In that same section the narrator describes the homeless villages that grew up in the cities and the horror of the Depression. But Doerr pulls back and writes, “And yet is there not goodness, too? Are people not helping one another in these derelict places?”

“World goes to Hades but babies still get born” and “And yet is there not goodness, too? Are people not helping one another in these derelict places?” I brought these specific lines up, saying how important these ideas are, how important it is to remember that people can be good, people want to help, that even in the worst places individuals will help each other. And my professor, who I admire and respect, said something along the lines of potential melodrama and oversentimentality, mostly referencing an idea another student had brought up earlier in class. I love this professor a lot and am super glad to be taking this class, but I almost physically bristled.

You don’t get to take “write me of hope and love, and hearts that endured” (Emily Dickinson) or “There is some good in this world, and it is worth fighting for” and Sam’s whole speech at the end of RotK or “What is done with love is done well” (van Gogh) or “The sun will rise again, no darkness, no season, is eternal” (”Spring Day,” BTS) or the story about the Carpathia rescuing the Titanic survivors or the world’s goodbye to the Mars rovers or “Goddammit be kind” (Kurt Vonnegut) or the whole concept of hopepunk or “let there also be hope. It may be a grim, thin hope, an Arthurian sword at sunset, but let us know we do not live in vain” (Terry Prachett) or “Yes, there are assholes who just don’t care, but they’re massively outnumbered by the people who do” (Andy Weir, The Martian) or “Look for the helpers” (Mr. Rogers) or  “To all mankind -- may we never find space so vast, planets so cold, heart and mind so empty that we cannot fill them with love and warmth” (Garth, Star Trek, “Dagger of the Mind”).

Don’t you dare try and take this goodness from me. I don’t care if it’s melodrama or oversentimentality, you’ll have to take it from me by force and I promise that is a fight you will lose.

[darkhymns-fic]

Poetry Isn’t Your Strong Suit

Lloyd's feelings for Colette could no longer be denied, but how else could he express them to her than just through second-rate necklaces?  

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia Characters/Pairings: Lloyd Irving/Colette Brunel, Genis Sage, Raine Sage Rating: G Mirror Links: AO3, FF.net Notes: Someone showed me a prompt and I ran with it.

Lloyd knew that he liked Colette ever since he was little, but it was only at thirteen years old that he was finally able to put his feelings for her into words.

Kind of.

Colette had sat at lunch alone when he first saw her, hair so bright that it reminded him of the polished metals his dad would use to craft. After that, his young mind then began to process other things; the way her voice lifted whenever she saw Noishe at the village entrance, how her white dress stood out in the classroom against the brown oak of the walls, and the day she held his hand when she brought him to her grandmother, hoping to share with him the baked cookies her family had made.

There were other girls in the class that he thought were also pretty, especially Professor Raine and her silver hair. But before he could join her fan club with the other boys, she had yelled at him loudly in front of everyone for sleeping during a lesson, and then gave him extra math assignments as punishment. The way she had shouted had been so frightening, which took away any pretty shine Lloyd once had for her.

Colette never shouted – sometimes she barely said a thing at all, and it took a few days for Lloyd to have her speak to him beyond simple polite greetings. After that, she would make faces at the math questions he showed her, and always marveled at the tiny little carvings he drew on the school desk (until Professor Raine found out and had him sit on the floor for the rest of that week). And when she smiled – when she really smiled, and not the kind she showed to adults from the Church or nodded with while in class – it made him happy. How her teeth would show, how it stretched her cheeks, and how bright her eyes would become, so much so that he tried to do all he could to keep them shining.

There would be many girls around with pretty hair, but no one smiled like Colette. On her last birthday, she had smiled so much, holding the necklace he made for her, shaped like an uneven star. It didn’t seem to matter to her that it wasn’t as good as the work his Dad would do. She had held it tightly between her fingers, and the feelings that he had been building for her in his chest, suddenly filled him to the point of overflowing. Something that made his heart beat fast, that nearly made him reach for her hands again until he held it back.

Lloyd wanted to tell her how he felt, but he was never very good at words, and…. he was afraid of saying so to her face. He then asked the smartest person he knew for help – his eight-year old best friend.

“You want to write what?” Genis asked. Both boys were seated before the small pond in front of Genis’ home. There was a tiny mound of pebbles placed between them, each trying their hand at skipping stones. Lloyd had the stronger arm to flick the stone straight past the pond’s perimeter, while Genis just lopped his own straight into the water.

“Just… like, a letter.” Lloyd didn’t look at Genis, keeping his eyes on the water and suddenly feeling very, very self-conscious about the whole thing. “For Colette. I want to write something for her. And I think I need your help doing it.”

He didn’t have to look to know Genis was frowning. “Sis says that your handwriting’s really bad.”

Lloyd started. “She’s not supposed to tell you that!”

“Sis tells me everything! And I’ve looked at your homework enough to know that already.” Genis continued their game, throwing another stone, once again smacking into the center of the pond. “I mean, I guess Colette might still be able to read it. What did you want to write her? Are you going away somewhere?”

“Um, no,” Lloyd said, confused. “Why?”

“People send letters to others when they’re far away, dummy. But you see Colette every day, so I don’t see why you need to? If you want to tell her something, just tell her!”

“I can’t… um…” Lloyd messed up his aim, the stone going off course to the left. “I can’t really say it out loud. Writing it just… seems easier... And you’re good at all that word stuff!”

A pause. “Just tell her you like her already.”

Lloyd’s stone hit right into the moss-covered fence, missing the pond completely. “How did you know?!” he asked, in awe of Genis’ insurmountable knowledge.

“Lloyd, after so long hanging out with you, how could I not know?” Genis finally succeeded in skipping a stone, hitting three splashes before it sunk. “Also, sis told me.”

Lloyd decided to be a little sulky at this, bringing his knees to his chin and staring ahead. “Jerk.”

Still, that was one hurdle overcome, and it gave the boy an opening that he took advantage of before it went away.

“You should just write my letter for me!”

“What?” Genis cried. “I’m not doing that!”

“Well, you owe it to me for being a jerk!”

“How was I a jerk?!”

Lloyd stood up, hand still clasping a pebble. “For saying my handwriting is dumb!”

Genis followed suit, his young face turning a light shade of red. “When did you ever care about that? And it’s true anyway! Besides, me writing your love letter for Colette is super weird!”

Lloyd stuttered out, “It- it’s not a love letter! And don’t say that so loud!”

“Oh, come on! Everyone already knows!”

“No, they don’t!” Lloyd countered, but struggled to think of a follow-up. It took him a full five seconds, fists clenched as he wracked his brain for something good to say. “And what do you know? You’re… only eight after all!”

Genis rolled his eyes. “That’s so lame.” With that, said eight-year old then turned around and lopped numerous pebbles into the lake, which shocked Lloyd to his core.

“That’s cheating! You can’t do that!”

“It’s my pond! So, it’s not!” Genis finished by crossing his arms, standing tall with a smug smile. That stance sparked a competitive beast within Lloyd, one that always seemed to come out whenever they played games together.

“Oh yeah?” He wound up his arm, aiming it at the pond again. “Check this out then!”

“Boys!” A shout reverberated from the house behind them. Raine had both hands on her hips, staring daggers at the children. “Please quiet down while I’m working. You two have been yelling the whole afternoon.”

Raine’s interruption was sudden. Her shout especially threw Lloyd off balance. Just when he was about to throw the stone, he wobbled and threw it at a completely opposite direction – toward Raine’s head.

“Ow! Lloyd!”

Lloyd had never run out of a place so fast.

Genis had come by his home the next day, lugging a giant textbook in his arms, and saying no words about his sister. He dropped it on Lloyd’s worktable, making the structure rattle from the weight. “That’s a thesaurus,” Genis said to Lloyd’s befuddled expression. “To help you find good words for your letter to Colette.”

Lloyd looked blankly at the book. “…Do I have to read all of it?”

“No, just find the page of the word you want to say, but better. It’s in alphabetical order.” Genis then raised an eyebrow. “You… do know your alphabet, right?”

“I’m not that dumb!”

“I’m just making sure!”

The book was as thick as one of his dad’s arms. Lloyd was wondering just how exactly Genis was able to make it through the long trek in the forest while carrying that around. He was good at magic, but shouldn’t he need at least one hand free to do any of that…?

Genis answered his unspoken question. “Sis came with me. She’s just outside.”

“Oh.” Lloyd grew nervous. “Um, is she…”

“She’s fine, though she’s got a nasty bump on her head.”

Lloyd was already not looking forward to Monday.

“Anyway, just use this so you can write your love letter to Colette. I even bookmarked the pages with the words you might want. Like ‘nice’, and ‘pretty’, and ‘the’…”

“I told you, it’s not a love letter!” That sounded so uncool! “But, um, thanks,” he said in a more somber tone.

Genis smirked. “Don’t think too hard on it anyway. I’d help, but Raine wants to try out a new recipe today and I have to make sure she doesn’t melt our cooking pot again.”

Lloyd had intense sympathies for his friend just then. “Sorry.”

Before Genis turned to go, he said, “If you really don’t like what you wrote, I guess I could try writing your letter for you. It’ll be really weird, but only if your letter is that bad. You’d have to rewrite it in your handwriting though. Colette would at least recognize that it wasn’t your writing for sure.”

Lloyd was tempted to jump at the chance. Since Genis let him copy his homework all the time, how was this any different? But then he thought about it, and about Colette’s smile. Is that something Genis would even notice?

“Thanks, Genis,” he said simply, still mulling over his thoughts, barely noticing when his friend finally left the room.

After that, Lloyd put all his willpower into just trying to open the humongous book. He immediately regretted this decision. He already had to write. Why did he need to read, too? Couldn’t he just copy one of those dumb love poems that the Professor made them read for literature class and be done with it?! Not that it was a love poem to begin with!

Lloyd sat at his desk, eyes glazing over the pages, idly noticing the bookmarks that Genis had placed. Why did he want to write this so bad? When he could barely write an essay to save his life, and his grade?

Colette had been so busy with her Church duties lately. She left class early to attend even more lessons, walking a far stretch of land to the temple. Despite how long Lloyd would wait for her, hours after school was already over, the sky would start to darken once she returned. So little time left together before he had to march back home with a whining Noishe. Colette would always apologize on those days, her hands unconsciously touching the necklace he made for her. If only he could have made a better one, if only he could say something that would make her magically stop apologizing and thinking everything was her fault.

He hoped that this letter would make her happy at least, if he couldn’t do all that. He wanted her to smile without fear, and he wanted her to cry whenever she wanted. There were tears in her eyes when he and Genis found her on her birthday, seated on the grass, away from the village. But she had wiped them away before they got close. Lloyd wondered how often she held those tears back. He wanted to tell her that she could cry in front of him if she needed to.

There were too many things that he wanted to say. He dug his fingers through his hair and pulled at them in frustration. “Argh, why does writing have to be hard?”

But like when he made her the necklace, he decided to push through. His skills may not be the best, but he could at least try! He searched for a piece of paper and pen, both so dusty from their lack of use. “Okay! I’ll do it!” he shouted to no one in particular.

It was the first time Lloyd ever pulled an all-nighter.

Lloyd could barely think straight the next morning.

The problem with getting little sleep was that it made his journey to Iselia a bit harder. Luckily, no monsters attacked him this time, and Noishe was more than willing to guide the boy. He was so tired that he was nearly falling asleep atop the dog. Colette, who liked to greet Lloyd everyday (and his cute doggy!) was waiting by the village entrance for him. She immediately noticed the bags under his eyes.

“Lloyd, you look so sleepy,” she commented with worry.

He smiled at her tiredly. “I’m okay, just… had to do chores and junk.”

She smiled back, going over to pat Noishe’s head, scratching behind his big ears and laughing as she did so. Her shoulder brushed past Lloyd, just against the inside pocket of his jacket.

The letter was in there.

Colette didn’t seem to have noticed it. “Ready to go?” she asked him, already starting on their way to the schoolhouse.

This was the time to give it to her. His hands still ached from holding the pen for hours. Bunches of balled up paper littered his room, which would result in an angry Dirk later for not cleaning up. All he had to do was hand her the paper he held close to his chest and tell her what he felt. He had done it so easily with the necklace, despite how much his heart trembled. But the way she was looking at him, so expectant, suddenly froze Lloyd’s limbs.

“Uh…” he started, throat all dry. Noishe sneezed behind him, making him jump. “Um, uh, y-yeah! Let’s go!”

Ah, damn it.

Colette was already leading the way as Lloyd followed her. He could call out and stop her at any time, but his hands were shaking. He had worked so hard on this! Just give it to her!

His numerous chances completely vanished once they finally walked into the classroom. Immediately, he was greeted to Raine’s face – and the small bandage on her head.

“Good morning, everyone,” Raine said as she was seated at her big desk. Sharp eyes latched onto Lloyd quickly. “Good morning, Lloyd. Glad you could join us.”

Wow, that bump really was big! Lloyd winced at the sight, shifting nervously on his feet. “Sorry about… um..” Why could he suddenly not talk today?

“It’s fine. Go take your seat. And Colette, you don’t need to be late yourself just because Lloyd is, too.”

“I- I know! I’m sorry.”

Lloyd watched forlornly as Colette rushed far to her seat, all the way on the other side of the classroom. He had missed his chance…

“Lloyd.”

“Uh, yeah! Sorry!”

It was normal for him to barely pay attention in class, but never before had his mind buzzed so much as it did now. Lloyd’s desk was shifted all the way to the right wall, ever since the ‘desk carving’ incident where Professor Raine thought it best that his acts of vandalism would not be spurred on by a gleeful audience (ie: Colette). Lloyd shifted every so often, unable to take sitting there for six hours until he could finally give it to Colette… but then, didn’t she have to go to the temple later for her Chosen stuff? Argh, he was never going to get it to her then!

Lloyd glanced at the blackboard ahead and saw Raine writing down some math equations. So boring! He knew Colette didn’t like math that much either. Sometimes, he would pass her notes while in class, usually with badly-drawn pictures of dogs (he could carve well enough, but drawing wasn’t his strong suit). But now she was rows away, so that was a bust. Maybe he could have handed her the letter then…

A brilliant idea lit up Lloyd’s mind.

“So, we will be going over the basics once more.” A collective sigh from most in the classroom. “Yes, I know most of you have this down by now, but this will be a good refresher. As well as help catch up those who are behind.”

A furious crinkling of paper whispered from Lloyd’s desk, but luckily Raine’s voice was louder, overpowering any other sound. Genis heard it however, turning around to spy at his friend who was bent over his desk. He was folding up something. Was he making those paper cranes again? Lloyd knew he could just do that during art class, didn’t he?

“Now, from the beginning. When you have one apple, combined with another apple…”

But Genis had never seen Lloyd work so hard on those things before. Being around two rows ahead of Lloyd, he couldn’t see very well, but strained his neck trying to anyway.

“Obviously, it amounts to two apples. This only increases the number of said apples, and not, as some would say, their apparent strength. Numbers can denote different values, and they are not equivalent for all situations.”

Lloyd sat up straight suddenly and seemed to smile at his own handiwork. It was a simple paper plane, though one miles better than what Genis could ever make. Then Lloyd turned to his left, one where Genis knew Colette was sitting.

That was how he was going to deliver his love letter?!

“Ms. Raine,” spoke up one student, a girl with thick glasses, who sat just ahead of the young Chosen. “Would it be alright if I can open the window? It’s getting very humid.”

Lloyd didn’t notice Genis’ open-mouthed stare. This was the best thing he ever thought up! He didn’t have to wait for who knows how long to give this to her. That and he wouldn’t need to just stand there awkwardly while she read it either.

He paid no attention to what was happening up front.

“Alright, Laura. You can do so. Now, let’s review fractions.”

Lloyd calculated the arc of his flight, and then flew his paper plane with careful force. Not like skipping stones, but he was usually better at this. The plane circled just above Colette’s head.

Then the window opened.

The breeze was a bit sudden, ruffling the pages of some open books. Colette brushed back some loose strands over her ear to keep them from flying in her face.

She never noticed the plane above suddenly change direction.

“Aw man!”

Lloyd’s cry of dismay was a bit loud, attracting numerous eyes. The paper plane continued to fly drunkenly above the ceiling, buffeted by light winds before it finally decided to settle on a flat surface with a less than graceful landing.

And it did so on top of Raine’s desk.

Raine looked to it, then back to Lloyd. “What’s this, Lloyd?”

The boy went very pale. Wow, this… did not go as planned at all.

The kids in the classroom then started to voice their own theories on the mysterious paper.

“Is it those doggy drawings again?”

“I bet it’s a gross picture of Ms. Raine!”

“No, it’s a love letter to Ms. Raine!”

“He can’t do that! He’s not in the club!”

Raine ignored all the mutterings and went to pick up the paper. “Well, if this is so important that you needed to interrupt our lesson, Lloyd, then I suppose you won’t mind if I share this with the rest of the class.”

“Wait!” Lloyd shouted. He got so frantic that he jumped right onto his desk, flailing his arms. “Don’t look! That’s not-!”

“Lloyd Irving, get down!

Raine already unfolded the paper plane, not checking if Lloyd heeded her words. He didn’t, standing stock still as she read aloud.

“Roses are red, violets are blue, out of a million people, I chose you…”

Genis slapped his forehead. “You started off with that?!”

“I – I was stuck on the first sentence, okay?” Lloyd yelled.

Raine continued, her voice completely stripped of all emotion.

“Please take my hand, and also know, that whatever you say, I will like the…” Raine squinted. “More? Moist? Oh, it’s ‘most.’” She sighed. “Lloyd, your handwriting has improved, but only slightly…”

The other students laughed, pointing at the boy who was still standing tall on his desk. He quickly scampered back down, but Raine continued to read. Did she know no mercy?!

“The rest doesn’t rhyme, but I want to say, I really like you and want to see you smile. But if you want to cry, that’s okay, too. You are…” Raine squinted her eyes again, though this time in confusion than out of any reading difficulty. “The superlative lassie with the prevalent aortic pump that myself comprehend of.” Silence followed shortly after.

“Wow, and it started off so romantic, too,” a student critiqued aloud.

Genis turned to Lloyd. “Why.”

“I was using the thesaurus like you said to! I wanted to sound all smart!”

“You could’ve just said heart!”

There was apparently more, as Raine’s eyes scanned the lower parts of the letter. But then she folded it up, deciding enough was enough. “Lloyd, while I am flattered you feel that way about me, please don’t throw your proclamations of love around in the classroom. Someone could lose an eye.”

The kids laughed, shouting popular love rhymes as Lloyd looked down, his face red. Though a few remained pointedly silent; the boys of Professor Raine’s club, muttering vengeance for Lloyd taking their beloved’s attention, Genis who was still wrapping his head around it all, and Colette, her eyes still that bright blue. Lloyd had sneaked a quick glance at her, and immediately felt like complete crud.

“Now, I appreciate a man that can transcribe his thoughts neatly. So, we will be going back to our handwriting lessons, Lloyd, after school.”

“Now he gets private lessons too? Come on!”

Unlike the other boys, Lloyd was not so thrilled. This was just another punishment, with even less time he would have with Colette. He looked back to the girl, but her eyes were forward again as Raine restarted her lesson. He hoped he hadn’t messed anything up.

Next time, he was just sticking with jewelry.

Genis couldn’t help but feel bad about the entire thing.

The day dragged on, Raine’s lessons already erasing the previous incident with little impact, except to Lloyd’s pride. The boy had tried to sneak away when class ended, but not before Raine called out to him.

“Now, Lloyd. If you really want to see me smile, you will do these extra lessons for me.”

Most of the class had already left, Colette earlier than most, as she once again had gone off early for Temple training. Only Genis straggled, as he always did to talk with his sister. He watched as Lloyd sulked, walking up to the front of the class.

“You know that wasn’t meant for you,” Lloyd mumbled, still embarrassed.

Raine’s face betrayed no surprise. Instead, she spoke, “Of course. I saw her name on it, no matter how sloppily written it was. And I was there when Genis decided to hand you our thesaurus, after all.” Then, her voice turned a fraction softer, preceding her words with a sigh. “I suggest you tell her your feelings in a more discreet manner, preferably not during class time.”

The boy had no defense to that. “Fine. Sorry.”

Genis wondered then if he really should have written the letter himself.

Lloyd was already morosely writing out sentences on the chalkboard once Genis left, the excuse given to his sister that he would start making her dinner. Despite being only eight, he was a fast learner when it came to cooking (and most other things too, of course). Besides, when one lived with Raine, learning to cook was a necessity.

Instead, he went down the path that led to the temple, where the shore was outstretched. He wasn’t really allowed to go out by himself, but his window of opportunity was short! He had to hurry before Raine would finally leave the schoolhouse.

He barely turned the corner to go outside the village before bumping into someone.

“Genis! I’m sorry!”

Colette had landed on her back, looking up at the young boy with apologetic eyes. Genis remained standing, looking down at her with some bewilderment.

“You know, Lloyd has a point. You really do apologize too much!” He reached for her hand, trying to pull her up as much as his little body was able to. Colette mostly got up through her own strength, but she thanked him all the same.

“Hey, Colette, I actually wanted to tell you something. Is now a good time?”

“Oh, of course!” she answered, hands clasped politely. No priests were with her now, not even her grandmother. This was probably the first time Genis had ever seen her walk by herself from the temple. “Grandmother had to finish up some things,” she said to the question in his eyes. “And they say it’s good training if I walk around this place by myself more often. So that I can prepare for my journey!”

She said this with such positivity that, for a moment, Genis saw something in her eyes. But it vanished so fast. Perhaps it hadn’t been that important.

“It’s about Lloyd and his letter, from today.”

“The letter he wrote to Professor Raine?” She smiled again. “She is really pretty though.”

“But that was for you!”

Colette paused, hands still clasped before her. Genis couldn’t read her face. He decided to just explain further.

“Lloyd wanted to write how he felt about you, but he’s so thick-headed and just didn’t give it to you like any normal person would. He even asked me for help and everything. So, all those things about red roses and your smile and…” A sigh, so much like his sister’s. “Aortic pumps, were for you. This is so weird for me to talking about, but Lloyd’s my friend and I just thought you should know!”

Colette remained silent. Genis then wondered if maybe this was the worst thing he could’ve done for his friend actually, but not like the other options were much better! “You don’t have to tell Lloyd or anything if you don’t like him back. I don’t think he’s going to be writing anymore love letters anytime soon.”

“I do, though.”

Very soft, a breath, one that was swallowed up by the ocean’s waves from far off. Even Genis’ nimble hearing could barely make out a sound.

“I do like him. A lot. So much… I’m sorry.”

Genis considered. “And you’re apologizing… why?”

Colette shook her head, though kept on her smile. It was wider, showing a bit of teeth, and her cheeks stretched enough to create dimples.

“I’m really glad all those things were for me. I’m so happy.”

This worked out even better than Genis had hoped for. He really was smart! “Great! Then you can tell him too and be all happy together.”

That smile faltered. Colette looked off to the side, where her home was. The sky was painted with hues of orange and gold, inviting a certain sleepy air to the world. “I, well, I can’t.” She looked like she would say more, but instead just shrugged.

Genis already had to cut short his self-praises. “Huh? Wait, why can’t you tell him?”

 “I can’t.” She repeated. Then a shaking of her head. “I can’t.”

Genis blinked owlishly. Everything that had suddenly made sense to the smartest kid in class just as abruptly didn’t at all. “What? I don’t get it. If you like Lloyd, too, then why not…”

Colette smiled, with closed lips, and her cheeks as unstrained as possible.

“I don’t want him hurt, that’s all. So, keep this a secret between us, okay?” Hands fiddled before her, clasped together so tightly. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, well… okay.” Genis frowned, then just let out a tired breath. “I really don’t get you older kids though. Is this how I’ll be later?”

Colette giggled. “You’ll be great, I think!” She pressed her hands down her dress, addressing any invisible wrinkles. “Um, is Lloyd still in the village? I was hoping to see him after, but my training always lasts really late now.”

“He’s getting tutoring from sis, and suffering.”

“Oh no! Poor Lloyd.”

“I think it’s going to be done soon though. This is usually the time she gets hungry.” Then Genis flinched. “Argh, I have to start making dinner!” Before he rushed off, he said to Colette, “I bet Lloyd would be happy to see you!”

It was the last thing he could do for his friend, despite all this weirdness about feelings and secrets. He was glad to see that Colette nodded to that idea.

“I’ll go see him right now!”

“Great! I’ll see you guys tomorrow!”

While he rushed through Iselia, already catching Colette going through the school doors, Genis really had to wonder. Maybe this was what love was about, after all?

But what do I know, he thought to himself, pushing all the questions aside. I’m only eight years old, after all.

[ruffsficstuffplace]

And The AWRD Goes To... (Part 20)

1:30 PM

“Welcome to General Mechanical Engineering, kiddos!” Nick said as he gazed at the rows of worktables before him, nodding slightly as he came to AWRD’s. “In this class, you’ll learn the basic principles of engineering, and the most commonly applied and used technologies that make our day-to-day life here in Remnant a little easier.

“You’re going to learn how our various types of airships fly, ships sail, and vehicles roll out; you’re going to learn the intricacies of the massive utility systems that keep our capital cities humming, like Mistral’s indoor plumbing, Mantle’s central heating, and Shade Academy’s famous air-circulation vents; and you’re definitely going to learn how duct tape is one of the most ridiculously useful and versatile tools you could ever have here or out in the field!

“It’s why I always keep a roll on me at all times—never know when something might break down and need it, which is especially important if you’re a knock-off Dustman like myself.

“Anyway, though this is mostly going to be a practical application class where your grade depends on how well your future projects work—or as is more often the case, don’t work—there’ll still be a written component, in keeping in line with the international standards of Huntsman Academies, plus plenty of research and reading on how to go about understanding, designing, dismantling, and putting machines back together, and especially figuring out just why the hell it burst into flames this time.

“Don’t think you can skip the manuals, and especially not the engineering standards and codes, kiddos—sure, strapping rockets onto a model ship will give you a great score in distance and speed, but if it crashes and blows up my wife again,…”

Nick narrowed his eyes. “… Failing your final exam is going to be the least of your worries.”

He relaxed. “As with all semesters, though, we’re going to start with a basic rundown of machineshop safety rules and equipment, the tools you’ll most likely be using both in here and out in the field, and how I expect you kiddos to be dividing the work. Don’t think you can unload all of this on your team’s gearhead if you want to pass, and as cliché as it sounds, you’re going to thank me some time in the future.

“Believe me, you’re going to thank your lucky stars you’ll eventually know how to do simple repair jobs on vehicle engines, stop plumbing leaks, and fix up the most commonly found power generators in the cities and remote villages.”

3:00 PM

“Welcome to your first of many Transportation and Navigation classes, students!” Professor Nelson said, shouting over the hum and clamour of Haven’s airship/vehicle hangar. “Today, you will begin learning and mastering one of the most important skills any huntsman or huntress should have: getting to where they need to go, in the most efficient and effective means possible!

“The world of Remnant is a vast place, and not every mission location will conveniently be on the path of mass transportation.

“There will also be times when you just can’t wait for the next airship flight out of any of the major cities or the larger settlements; or you’re too far away to get a good signal on the CCT; or you need to venture out to the very outskirts of civilization and beyond; or really, any of the many other situations where you will be forced to rely on your own wits, your knowledge, and the same tools the First Settlers had when they were just starting to explore this vast, wide, and wild world!

“In time, you will be trekking all over Mistral, cutting down vines and thick brush in the jungle, slogging it through the swamps and bogs, or fighting off the biting cold and howling winds as you make your up several mountains, but for now, you will be learning the very basics: everything everyone needs to navigate and travel through the city of Mistral and its outskirts by themselves, without the help of modern technology!

“Any questions?”

Amanda raised her hand.

Nelson nodded. “O’neill.”

“Ma’am, if we already happen to be masters of Trans-Nav—like, say, we lived in Vacuo all our lives—can we skip all the boring lessons about how to use compasses and read physical maps, and just skip straight to the races, the scavenger hunts, and going on delivery jobs...?” Amanda asked, smiling.

“Absolutely not!” Nelson replied, her face stern as ever.

Amanda blinked. “But--!”

“No ‘Buts!’” Nelson snapped. “I’m aware of how they do things in Vacuo, O’Neill, but we do things differently here in Mistral! Here, those that find themselves ahead of the rest swoop back, and look out for those lagging behind!

“And since you brought up the topic...” Nelson turned to the other students. “I will be expecting that sort of altruistic behaviour from all of you, for every other aspect of this class—save for all forms of cheating such as sharing answers during written exams, copying homework from each other, or agreeing to team up and sabotage the others during practical exams and especially the races, I will expect you all to help each other to pass this subject, regardless of your loyalties in or outside of Haven!

“Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, ma’am!” the students said, save for Amanda, who just stood around with a scowl on her face.

Nelson scowled right back, and stepped right up to her, students breaking formation and parting to the sides like water. “O’Neill: do I make myself clear?” she said, narrowing her eyes.

Amanda gritted her teeth, before she sighed heavily, and muttered, “Yes, ma’am...”

“Good.” Nelson said quietly. “Work on that attitude, O’Neill, or I promise you you won’t be here long enough to see the starting line,” she said, before she headed back to the front and the students reformed in her wake.

“This is bullshit...” Amanda muttered as Nelson entertained another student’s question.

“Just hang in there, Amanda,” Yang whispered as she stood beside her. “We’ll be roaring up and down the mountain roads soon enough.”

Amanda smiled, until she found out that day’s lesson was going to be basic map reading, using tools like compasses, and other essentials of field navigation. Her mood didn’t improve as Nelson grouped up the more experienced students with the ones less so, had the former supervise an assessment test involving practice maps.

Lists of locations to be found were given out, along pins with heads styled like various landmarks and symbols, and tools like compasses, dividers, and pens; Amanda was somewhat okay when they started, but as the wrong answers and the wild guesses started to pile up, so her patience wore thin.

“So… is it… here…?” Jaune asked as he pinned a section of their group’s map.

“AGH!” Amanda cried as she put her hands to her head. “Dude, does this seem like it’d be the sight of a thriving farming village to you? Look at the area around it, for fuck’s sake!” she said, throwing her hands toward it. “Do you see any rivers, notes about mountain springs, or maybe even a marker that there’s a giant underground well that they could tap into?”

Jaune flinched. “Uh… no…?”

“Exactly!” Amanda cried. “Water sources, man, think water sources!” she said as she threw her hands up. “That’s what a village like this would need—hell, what any settlement short of a temporary camp needs!”

“Okay, okay, sorry!” Jaune said as he pulled out the pin, looked at the vast sea of still unlabeled, colourful splotches and symbols. “Ah… ah… is it this one…?!” he said as he pinned a large section of water.

Amanda made a choked noise, her eye twitching violently, her hands shaking; Jaune paled as the other members of their group either began to hide behind him or move out of the way.

Then, Nelson stepped up behind Amanda, and put her hand on her shoulder, gripped it firmly. “No, no it is not, Arc; you just put your village straight in the middle of a bog, where it’d be impossible to grow anything. You and the others try and solve your exercises on your own for a while, O’Neill and I will just be taking a short walk.

“No objections from you, right, O’Neill…?” Nelson asked.

Amanda sucked in a breath, and started getting up on her feet. “No ma’am...” she muttered.

Jaune sighed and turned limp, everyone else in the group had expressions of relief or impending dread as Nelson escorted Amanda out of the lecture area, to a walkway on the outside of the hangar.

Amanda smiled as she saw the afternoon sun, felt the fresh air on her face, before she looked at Nelson with a scowl. “Am I in trouble right now...?” she asked flatly.

“No, I just figured I needed to cool that hot-head of yours before you actually exploded, say something you might come to regret,” Nelson replied as they walked.

“Well, I’ve got a suggestion: how about you not put me in charge of teaching the newbies, and just let me practice my riding skills somewhere? I promise I won’t use it as an excuse to jet off out of class,” Amanda said, holding one hand up as she discretely crossed the fingers of her other.

Nelson nodded. “Noted, but here’s a suggestion back: how about you suck up your pride, and do the job that was given to you?” she barked.

“I’ve read your file, O’Neill, and I’ll admit, your achievements in the wilds are impressive, and your performance for the practical section of the GCD was outstanding, but if you want to have a hope in hell of graduating from Haven and getting your license, much less not getting put on probation just after you got in, I suggest you put your bad attitude on hold, and learn to have much more patience when helping your fellow students out.”

“But this is basic stuff!” Amanda cried as they neared the end of the catwalk. “I know all this by heart—hell, I used this shit every single day I was out there in Vacuo! I could probably even tell you what direction a compass is pointing in while blindfolded!

“Why do I have to teach the newbies and do your job?” she snapped as they turned around and began to head back.

“Because, it gives you experience in teaching your skills to others, which will be incredibly useful if you need civvies to know what know, or improve your team’s performance as a whole and your shared GPA; it forces you to learn and get used to working with other hunters, like you will be out in the field and many of your classes from second year onward; and it’s faster and more efficient if we have student instructors getting everyone up to speed, so we can get to those races you want so badly much sooner,” Nelson replied.

“No one survives alone in Vacuo, right? ‘Tend to a lend a hand to others, so they’ll do the same when you’re on the other end.’?”

“Yeah, I know, I know, we say that all the time!” Amanda said. “But we also say that there’s just some people you should just toss out to the sands because they’re more trouble than they’re worth...”

“And you don’t think that someone might be you…?”

Amanda gritted her teeth, tried to make a comeback, found she had none.

“You’re skilled, Amanda, there’s no denying that,” Nelson said as she stopped before the door leading back into the hangar. “You’d have made an excellent ranger back out in Vacuo, but the life you chose is to be a huntress.

“And unlike rangers, huntresses do not work alone, so I want you to think: do you really want this life, do the work it takes to get a hunting license, whether or not you find it fun…?” she asked, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed at Amanda.

She cast her eyes down, and didn’t reply.

“Don’t feel the need to give me a verbal reply,” Nelson said as she turned back to the door. “Your performance from here on out will be answer enough.”

She opened it, and the two of them were surprised to find Ruby waiting just inside. “Oh, hi Professor Nelson!” she said, waving awkwardly. “I was just waiting for you here, till you were done saying whatever it is you needed to say to Amanda.”

“I appreciate the courtesy, Rose,” Nelson replied. “Did something happen while we were out?”

“Oh, no, nothing bad!” Ruby replied. “It’s just that, you know, I finished teaching my group early, and I saw Amanda’s struggling with their work, and I had nothing else to do, so I stepped in to help them, and now they’re done.”

She paused. “Sorry. I can’t help it when I see someone struggling with a problem I can help fix, especially when it’s actually really easy.”

“You didn’t happen to place all their pins and draw their routes for them, did you…?” Nelson asked warily.

Ruby’s eyes widened, before shook her head. “Oh, no, not at all! I just helped them figure out where something probably won’t be or they definitely wouldn’t want to go, so they had an easier time figuring out where it might actually be, or what’s a good stop or not. Or just better odds at guessing the right answer, I guess.”

Nelson smiled. “Good on you for stepping up when you saw the need, Rose. Hey, could you do me a favour?”

“Uh, sure, what is it?”

“Can you talk to O’Neill here about your teaching method?”

“Ah, I’m not really sure if I could call what I did a ‘method,’ but sure…?”

“Great, I owe you for this, Rose,” Nelson said, nodding at her before she returned to the others.

Ruby looked at Amanda, awkwardly stood there for a while. “So, uh…” she started. “Any questions, since I don’t really know where to start?”

“How did you not get pissed off when they got simple questions wrong?” Amanda asked.

“Oh! That’s easy, I just put in the same attitude I have when I build something and it doesn’t go right—I can just get frustrated and angry, or I can also start figuring out WHY it isn’t working the way I wanted it to.

“Or I guess in this case, why they’re having such a hard time and getting things wrong. Turns out, Jaune and a lot of them were from Vale or Atlas, where the geography is a lot more uniform, and water sources all tend to be fresh, or just frozen. Any other questions?”

Amanda shook her head. “Nah, save your breath; I’ll just convince Nelson not to put me on tutor duty anymore, thanks...”

“You really think you can convince her?” Ruby asked. “I heard from Weiss who heard from her grandparents that she was ex-air force than a huntress, which is why she’s so, uh, strict.”

“Tch, I’ll figure it out, Ruby, don’t worry...” Amanda said, before the two of them rejoined the rest of the class.

Soon enough, the students were all lined up in front of Nelson once more, the maps resting on a long table nearby.

“I will admit, I am NOT happy with what I’ve seen from most of you today...” Nelson started, eyeing students like Jaune. “It seems far too many of you have gotten to used to relying on others when it comes to navigating the wilds, be they your chaperoning huntsmen and huntresses, your fellow students in combat school, or the CCT’s GPS…

“… However, since the rest of you are capable to masters of map reading, basic cartography, and navigating the old fashioned way, and have been doing a good job of teaching your skills to the others, there’s a good chance we can still cover the entire syllabus, including the Yamasachihiko Relay for your final exam.”

Yang and Amanda brightened up.

“Let me emphasize, however, that it’s a chance—spend your time between now and Friday wisely, students, and start brushing up on your skills, asking others for help, or give yourself a crash course in the very basics of wilderness navigation; we as a class will be moving to each new component as one for safety reasons, so how soon or how late we even start going through the practice courses are on each of your shoulders.

“Teams JAYS and AWRD, stay behind; the rest of you: dismissed!”

Most of the students cheered, some of them sighed, and trudged off in the direction of the library. Among JAYS and AWRD,  expressions were a mix of nervous, curious, and annoyed.

Nelson stepped up to JAYS first. “Arc: please tell Manbavaran that it is in her best interest to attend all of her classes regularly and punctually; I don’t care about whatever duties Dr. Freya has given her now that she’s part of her intern army, she should find some way to honour all of her obligations, especially with her probation.

“O’Neill, Xiao Long: I strongly suggest you help impart your knowledge to Arc; again, the sooner he and the rest of the lagging students have an adequate grasp on the basics, the sooner you’ll all be burning rubber on the tracks.

“Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” they replied with varying levels of enthusiasm, Jaune nervously giving an awkward salute, before he sheepishly put his hand down.

“Dismissed,” Nelson said, before she turned the last students. “As for you AWRD...” she started, a stern look on her face.

Everyone but Diana tensed up.

Nelson broke into a smile. “You all have an excellent grasp on the essentials, and I would really appreciate it if you could find the time to lend some help to your struggling classmates. All completely optional, of course, but there’ll be extra credit and other benefits if you do.”

“Thanks, Professor Nelson!” Akko said, smiling again.

“It won’t be likely, considering we have our other classes to attend to, but we’ll keep it in mind,” Diana added.

Nelson nodded. “Good to hear, AWRD. Dismissed!”

“Haahh…!” Akko sighed happily, smiling as she and the others turned around headed to the exit. “Our first official day of classes is over! Man, I thought it’d never end! It’s so good that our Wednesdays are still free, right, guys?”

Diana frowned. “Akko, you do realize we still have to work on our reading assignments, acquiring our textbooks, and all the other work we missed from yesterday’s classes, yes?”

“I know,” Akko whispered, still smiling. “Just please, let me enjoy the fantasy that I have all this free time to do whatever I want, just for a little while...” they kept walking in silence for a few moments, before she sighed, shoulders slumping as a gloom fell over her. “… Okay, I’m done… let’s get to work…”

She sucked in a breath, straightened herself up, and raised her open palm skyward. “Team AWRD: to the library!” she cried, beaming.

“To the library!” Weiss cheered, raising her own hand to the heavens.

“What was that all about?” Diana asked.

“Oh, do you not know the show Starlight Crusaders?” Akko asked as she resumed walking.

“Pardon...?” Diana asked.

“Oh, I know that!” Ruby chirped. “It’s that kid’s show that’s really popular here, like a new season every single year, merchandise, video games, live events, pretty much everyone and their grandparents in this kingdom knows it?”

“The one and only!” Weiss replied.

“And I’m assuming that was an imitation of an iconic element of that show?” Diana asked.

“Yep!” Akko replied. “They do it all the time before they head to adventures.”

Diana nodded. “Well, I certainly won’t stop you two from doing that, but I won’t be joining in, especially not here in public.”

“I don’t know, it could be kinda fun!” Ruby said. “It could be our team unity thing, like getting matching T-shirts with our initials on them. Though, I guess if we do get T-shirts, we’d always have to either walk side by side in the same order all the time, or lined up in a row also in sequence, so people don’t misread our team name…

“Maybe we should just get decorative sashes and wear them around our waists, kind of like what Weiss’ grandpa did with his lucky scarf.”

“Schoolwork first before discussing coordinating our clothing and accessories, please, Ruby,” Diana said as they neared the library, joining the sea of students pouring in or out of its many entrances.

They tried to stay together, but soon the crowds got too thick; Akko and Weiss smiled and waved goodbye, before they split up with their respective study buddies, and found their own way into the library.

Note: A writing book once said scenes should accomplish one or ideally two goals at the same time: advance the plot, and show character. I hope you guys don’t mind that my brain decided to put in some extra detail about all the classes in Haven, and what a huntsman’s education looks like.

It’s really funny to me that for as how the show revolves around technical colleges, we only know of two classes: history and intro to Grimm, as taught by Oobleck and Port.

I promise, next chapter, we have some study buddy antics, along with the return of Weiss’ condition she’s so ashamed off…

[dork-empress]

AUvember Day 10 Star Trek DS9/College

This....this scenario right here....this is truly what AUvember is all about. wipes tear.

“Shit! I’m late for class!” Sisko said, darting out the door and running down the quad to his poli-sci lecture.

Luckily for him, his best friend Jadzia had saved him a seat in the lecture hall. “Cutting it close there, ey Ben?” She said, raising her eyebrows at him.

“Buzz off…” He muttered, the adrenaline wearing off and so he yawned. “I was working all night on my cooking final.”

Jadzia smirked again. “I didn’t even know it was possible to minor at cooking in this school.”

“It is for a Sisko.” They quieted down as their professor, commonly called ‘The Admiral’ walked through the doors.

Jadzia took notes like the dutiful student she was (or pretended to be) While Ben quietly dozed to himself. Once the Admiral’s voice had become complete background noise, he let his mind and eyes wander down to the front of the lecture hall. There was Jennifer. They’d met at some party Jadzia had dragged him to, and Ben knew he was struck right then and there. The more they talked the more sure he was. She was kind, but not afraid to call him out when he said something wrong or implied something she found disagreeable. Just…perfectly his type.

He was pulled out of staring as Jadzia poked him in the side with her pencil. “Careful. You’re starting to go from pining to creeping.”

“I’ll be careful not to step that line,” he whispered to here, “Though you would know all about that, wouldn’t you?”

She chuckled, “I’m maturing in my old age, she said, “Especially as Jadzia now, instead of you know, toxic masculinity bullshit.” Sisko nodded. When they met, it had been Curzon Dax who befriended him, dragging him out places, getting drunk and getting girls. Ever since she transitioned, though, Dax had become more laid back. It wasn’t as though she NEVER felt male anymore, she assured him, but the new body made her feel more comfortable, more confident.

Ben had relaxed with her, and he’d been grateful for it for himself. If Curzon had dragged him to that party, he’d be drunk out of his mind before getting to talk to Jennifer. Which of course, brought him back to his pining.

Several minutes later, Jadzia poked him repeatedly again. “Come on, up and at ‘em. Class is over and you were going to go talk to her, remember?”

Ben blinked at her. Now that he thought of it, he had made her swear to force him into a confession last time they spoke. “I…I can’t!” He protested, “I haven’t even had my morning coffee yet, I can’t possibly—“

“She’s getting away,” Jadzia said, poking him more.

“Ow! Stop that!” I can’t!”

“Go go go go og go go,” She said poking him with each word. Finally he half jogged into Jennifer’s direction just to get away from Jadzia. Which, of course, was Jadzia’s intention.

Of course, by glaring at Dax, he accidentally ended up not only walking TO Jennifer, but walking IN to her. “Uh,” he grunted out as her notebooks went spilling over the floor, “Oh, I’m so sorry, prophets help me, here, let me help you with that.”

“Its. Fine…” She said bitterly, picking up her books and shoving them in her bag, “Hey…you’re Ben Sisko, right?”

“Uh,” he swallowed, “Yeah! You’re…Jen?” He asked as though he hadn’t been thinking of her name for days.

“That’s me,” She said, “Are you going to the party at Quark’s this weekend?” Ben nodded, words not coming, despite the fact he had no idea what party she was talking about. “Great! I’ll see you then!” She smiled and walked off, leaving Ben a befuddled mess.

“Quark’s party, huh?” Jadzia said, “Interesting. You know it’s invite only, right?”

Ben’s smile fell. “Dax, please tell me you have an invite to that party.”

“Oh, of course,” She said, “Quark loves me. But, I already promised Kira to be my plus one.”

“Kira?!” Ben said, “But she HATES Quark!”

“Yes, but she likes me!” Jadzia said, “And she needs to get out more, I thought this would be a good opportunity to let loose a bit.”

“Come on, Jadzia,” he said, “There are a thousand parties on campus, bring Kira to one of those.”

“Hey, it’s her invite to do with what she will,” Jadzia sad, “If you can convince her—“

Ben was already off. Jadzia shook her head behind him. “Boys…ah, I remember being like that.”

Luckily, Kira Nerys was never exactly difficult to find. “SAY NO TO DOMINION ON CAMPUS!” Kira shouted into her Megaphone, “DOMINION ALLIES HAVE CONTINUALLY HARMED BAJORAN PEOPLE AND THEIR FAITH! SIGN OUR PETITION TODAY TO HAVE THEM PERMANENTLY BANNED FROM CAMPUS!”

“Hey Odo,” Ben said, approaching the sadly small campus protest. It…It was mainly just Kira and Odo, “How’s the petition going?”

“We have a few signatures,” Odo said, “Are you here to help out?”

“Oh,” Sisko said, wincing from the loud sound of Kira’s megaphone, “Um, maybe. I have a lot of homework today, but, I need to talk to Kira. What kind of mood is she in today?”

“DOMINION PROPOGANDA IS HURTING US ALL, I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE FOR PUNCHING A CARDASSIAN ON CAMPUS!” She said, pointing her megaphone in the direction of a couple running across the quad avoiding eye contact, “YOU’RE ON THIN FUCKING ICE, GARAK,”

“I think it’s safe to say, she’s feeling…righteous.” Odo said.

Ben nodded, steeling herself. “Uh, Kira?”

“WHAT?” Kira said, making Ben cover his ears as the megaphone was pointed at him, point blank range. “Oh, Sorry, Ben,” She pointed the megaphone away, “What?”

“You got a second to talk?!” He yelled over the ringing in his ears.

Kira jumped down from the metal chair she’d been perched on. “What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you’d be willing to trade your invite to Quark’s party to me?”

“Oh, yes, absolutely,” She said with no hesitation. “Take it, I see that toad enough already.”

“That’s great!” He said, “I mean, thank you, thank you so much!”

Kira smiled at him, “No problem, Ben. Hey, you wanna help us pass out some flyers?”

Ben looked at the rather profane anti-dominion pile of flyers sitting beside her. “Oh, I would, but…I’m just swamped right now, and I don’t…know…”

He was rather impressed by her ability to make her mouth disappear into a thin line of anger. “Are you sure you REALLY want that invite, Sisko?” She asked with disdain.

He sighed in defeat. “Hand me a pile…” He said, reluctantly. She beamed, passing him one.

By the end of the day he was sure he’d lost a good deal of his hearing standing next to Kira’s megaphone, but he had an invite.

[iluvsexyvoltageguys]

Mr. Silver

[theresawelchy]

Hackathon Winner Interview: Penn State | Kaggle University Club

We believe today’s university students are tomorrow’s leading data scientists. As such, we decided to launch Kaggle University Club — a virtual community and Slack channel for existing data science clubs who want to compete in Kaggle competitions together. As our end-of-year event, we hosted our first-ever University Hackathon!

18 total kernels were submitted and the three top scoring teams won exclusive Kaggle swag and an opportunity to be featured here, on No Free Hunch. Please enjoy this profile from one of the top scoring university teams, ‘Team NDL’ from Penn State!

  To read more about the Hackathon and its grading criteria, see here: Winter ‘18 Hackathon and to read this team’s winning kernel, visit: Team NDL: Algorithms and Illnesses.

  MEET THE STUDENTS

Neil Ashtekar

Major: Computer Science Hometown: State College, Pennsylvania Anticipated graduation: Spring 2020

  What brought you to data science?

I had read a lot about machine learning/artificial intelligence in the news, and I wanted to see what all the hype was about. So, I decided to complete Andrew Ng’s machine learning class on Coursera. I learned a ton, and I really enjoyed the material. After finishing the class, I wanted to apply what I learned, so I turned to Kaggle. I started out with the basic competitions (Titanic, MNIST), then moved on to work with some more interesting datasets (Kobe Bryant Shot Selection, World Happiness Predictors).

  What are your career aspirations after graduation?

I want to get a job as a Machine Learning Engineer (not sure where!).

---

  William Wright

Major: Mathematics

Hometown: Dallas, Texas Anticipated graduation date: Spring 2019

  What brought you to data science? I originally wanted to become a math professor, but after reading Smart People Should Build Things by Andrew Yang and Zero to One by Peter Thiel, I became more interested in pursuing a career involving technology. In his book, Yang claims the decisions we make in the next decade will decide whether society moves towards the future of Mad Max or Star Trek. This comment really stuck with me and inspired me to start learning python and to join Nittany Data Labs (the Penn State data science club).

  What are your career aspirations after graduation?

I’d love to work as a  data scientist or machine learning engineer.

---

  Izzi Oakes

Major: Integrative Arts

Anticipated graduation date: Fall 2020

  What brought you to data science?

I went to my university’s first data science club meeting by random chance, and within five minutes I was hooked. This was about a year ago, and I had never programmed anything before and was in a completely unrelated major. I’ve spent the past year grabbing any and all resources online I could find related to data science and devouring them, as well as moving towards studying higher level math and statistics.

  What are your career aspirations after graduation?

I’d like to be in a position where I do work related to some kind of intersection between machine learning and music / visual arts.

  TEAM QUESTIONS

How familiar was your team with Kaggle competitions prior to the Hackathon?

A few of us had completed Kaggle competitions in the past, but they were mainly the beginner ones. This was our first time working on a competition as a team, as well as on a longer term project, as this competition lasted about a month.

  How did your team work together on your Kernel?

We started out working individually to explore and understand the data. After a week of exploration on our own, we met up to talk about our findings and ideas moving forward. At this point, we created a shared kernel and implemented our ideas in code.

  What was the most challenging part of the hackathon for you?

Working with text data! None of us had any experience with natural language processing, so understanding how to represent the written review data was challenging.

  What surprised you most about the competition?

We were surprised by how well a very simple linear regression model worked with the problem. We had a long conversation about whether we should be using Neural Networks to solve the problem, and potentially why other approaches would work just as well.

  What advice would you give another student who wanted to compete in a Kaggle competition or even a hackathon?

If you’re just starting, definitely start with one of the beginner challenges. Try to work your way through it as much as you can by googling things if you get stuck, then begin looking through existing kernels people have once you’re finished. These will give you great approaches to the problem, and you can begin on improving your own model.

Also, try to build your way up to this if you’re just starting. If you really don’t feel like you’re understanding anything you’re doing, there are many great free ML courses and books online!

  Anything else?

Thanks a lot for featuring us!

You’re welcome!

  Team NDL from Penn State University (from left to right: Neil Ashtekar, Izzi Oakes, Suraj Dalsania, Will Wright, Ming Ju Li).

  No Free Hunch published first on No Free Hunch

[brucesimpkinsblog]

Matthew 2:1-2 / Daniel 2:48 Christmas

So what’s the real deal about the Wise Men?

 Matthew 2:1-2

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Wise Men from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

 It is believed that they came from Persia because of something that occurred 600 years before Jesus birth.  Do you remember Daniel from the Old Testament?  He was taken captive when Babylon overthrew Jerusalem.  Later he was able to interpret the kings dreams with God’s help when none of the kings own prophets and wise men could.  

 Daniel 2:48

Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men.

 This is the Daniel whose friends were not burned up in the fiery furnace because they served the same God as Daniel.  This is the Daniel whom during the 4th king he served under, was thrown into the lions den because he would not worship the king, but God alone.

 Daniel was well known in that country as the wisest man of all wise men, for decades.  Now, no one can say for sure if these Wise Men were from Persia, but if there were any foreign dignitaries who would travel a long distance to find a Jewish king . . . it stands to reason it would be from Persia because of Daniels influence on that country.

 It also stands to reason that they were not Jewish themselves, but they knew enough about the God of the Israelites that they thought it would be worth their efforts to get in good favor with the God of Daniel.  So they kept watch for a sign from Daniel’s God for 500 years after Daniel was gone . . . and then they saw “the star”.

 These Wise Men were of a special class of professors, and philosophers, and brilliant scholars.  They would be proficient in medicine, history, politics, religions, prophecy, astronomy, and astrology.

 They were pagan to be sure, but they were the cream of the crop and most important people in the land, just under the king.  They moved about with much pomp and circumstance.  If they deemed it important enough to go to a foreign land that far away, they would most certainly have brought with them a small army to protect them along the way and help carry provisions for such a long trek.

 We also have no idea how many of them there were.  From the grammar, it appears there were more than one, but how many is not mentioned. People have speculated 3 because there were 3 gifts . . . gold, frankincense, and myrrh but there would certainly be more.  Clearly, they also had a very impressive appearance since they got in to speak with King Herod very quickly.

 The search

 Matthew 2:7-11

7 Then Herod called the Wise Men secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

 9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

 This is perhaps the biggest mystery.  What was this star?  Current day astronomers have looked at all the charts and determined there might be some unusual bright light from some planets aligning just right AROUND that general time frame.  There is speculation that maybe a comet or a meteor, but how could it stop over a specific house?

 I tend to agree with the people who say, it was simply a miracle.  God provided a great light in the sky for them to follow.  It was a special light that appeared out of nowhere. Only the Wise Men could identify what that new star meant.  Then it beamed a shining light on the house.  No matter where you stood, you could see that it had stopped over one particular house.  Then it was never seen again.  I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to ask when we get to heaven just how that actually worked.

 You know, not every miracle has to have an earthly explanation for it.  In fact, the very definition of a real miracle means that there IS NO scientific explanation. That’s what makes it a miracle.

 Liar, liar, pants on fire

 Matthew 2:12-13,16

12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

 13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

 16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Wise Men, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Wise Men.

 It is believed that Mary and Joseph could have never escaped without the gifts of the Wise Men.  It is an expensive and difficult trip to Egypt from Bethlehem.

 Throughout this entire encounter with the Wise Men, God’s hand was just as much at work as it was with Daniel, and John the Baptist, and with the shepherds and angels.

 I think there are 3 take aways from this story:

 1.    If God can use a star to reach these pagan astronomers, then He can use anything to reach anybody.

Sometimes it seems no matter what we say or how hard we try, we are not having the slightest effect on our friends and family.  But we have hope.  God is infinitely creative and can use many different things to break through.  A star, a book, a tract, a T.V. show, a song, a person’s testimony, a hunting trip, or anything else He desires.

 2.    If the Wise Men could find Jesus by what God used in their life, then so can you.

The Wise Men had many barriers to overcome searching for Jesus.  It may or may not be easy to find Jesus but if you seek Him you WILL find Him.

 Deuteronomy 4:29  But if you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

 3.    If the Wise Men offered Jesus gifts fit for a king, then so should we.

 It is good to give gifts to each other at Christmas, but it is better to give gifts to Jesus.  This is the true reason for the season.  Worship the Jesus who brings peace on earth to those on whom his favor rests.