#refugee family reunions

[thoughtlessarse]

Children are being trapped in war zones as a result of “impossible” bureaucratic requirements imposed on one of the few legal routes for asylum seekers, a charity has found. The government has championed family reunion processes as a means for refugees to safely reunite with loved ones in Britain, but according to a new report by Ramfel, a charity that supports vulnerable migrants, the scheme is “not fit for purpose” and applicants have been abandoned, leaving them at risk of trafficking or even death. Ramfel said that when conflict broke out in Sudan in April 2023, it was supporting 14 people, all of whom could qualify to come to the UK under the scheme. But over a year later, eight remain trapped there and “facing extreme risks”. Several are children who previously fled Eritrea, a repressive dictatorship that conducts forcible mass conscription of men, women and children. Two other boys saw a loved one killed when their home was raided and looted in Sudan. Some of the teenagers have now fled Sudan on irregular routes, with one boy detained in Libya and another unaccompanied child being trafficked to South Sudan and raped. Just two of the children who were in Sudan when conflict erupted have arrived in the UK, and despite closing its visa application centre in Khartoum, the government has not agreed to waive requirements for applicants to register their fingerprints and biometric information in person. “Visa Application Centres are open and operating in neighbouring countries,” reads a Home Office letter. “However, travel across Sudan is conducted at your own risk, and under your own discretion, considering whether it is safe to do so.”

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[pettytiredandjewish]

They’re back! They’re back! Hell yeah they’re back! And to all the haters- F you. I haven’t stopped smiling since I saw the news. And I hope that all 4 rescued refugees and their families have a peaceful and joyful reunion!

Am Yisrael Chai ✡️

[diluc33rpm]

the romance/relationship system in bg3 is genuinely some of the worst designed shit i've ever seen in any game with that feature but at least the memes we get out of it are funny. once saw someone comment something along the lines of 'patch note: waving at gale will no longer cause him to buy a house for the two of you to retire in' and i've never recovered since

[in-sightpublishing]

My Journey

                      Publisher: In-Sight Publishing Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014 Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal Journal Founding: August 2, 2012 Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed Access: Electronic/Digital &…

[francis-mulcahys-angels]

Going to Cicero to visit my mom’s sister who she hasn’t seen in 20 years I love family reunions<3

[rouecentric]

fourth genshin brainrot this month,,

IMAGINE being one of the many servants of the tsaritsa, but you remember your past life, one where the world you were in was a game.

you had planned of resignating from your job, but with being acquaintances with most of the harbingers, you know they'll probably search for and kill you if you resign, and maybe the fact that you're an orphan teenager would make it easier for them to get rid of you.

so packing your necessities and clothing, you resigned the same day you ran away and gained an anemo vision, deciding to travel around teyvat while avoiding shneznaya as if it was the plague.

you became a frequent traveler on beidou's ship, a pirate that you soon grew close with, as you told her tales that you grew up hearing about in shneznaya.

by some extent, you also became acquainted with kazuha, the inazuman refugee that became a criminal for being against the raiden shogun's vision hunt decree.

of course, with some mora left on you not being enough to last for more than two months, you decided to become a tailor/seamstress, designing clothes to sell them to any buyer.

and as obvious as it is, your clothing and designs' values sky rocketed in liyue first, as daughters from high society loved how your clothing was not only diverse, but also were lightweight and comfortable!

words of your clothing reached far and wide, making even more people want to see your designs, which meant more mora for you! you happily complied, even starting to take personal commisions for multiple noblemen and noblewomen.

one of your most frequent commisioners were the kamisato family from inazuma, because the head of the kamisato family's younger sister, ayaka, took interest of the new rising star of the fashion industry, which was you.

your most recent stop to travel on foot was to mondstadt, as you were getting rather tired of looking at the seemingly endless bodies of water.

while gathering mushrooms, vegetables and various fruits in mondstadt's wilderness, you found the traveler and their companion, paimon.

although you wanted to do nothing with the story, you took pity on the mc, and decided to help them.

of course, by association with the traveler, you were bound to meet at least one or two of the harbingers, as you were able to avoid rosalyn by staying at the cathedral for longer.

but your "reunion" with scaramouche was anything but nice, as you were caught off guard because of his eyes softening at the sight of you after the man's initial shock. it confused you.

the story and the character's are changing, but why? why is it changing?

[deadbeatbirdmom]

Edit: I forgot to give this a title. Here's my thoughts on the RWBY Volume 9 extended epilogue animatic.

Find it here, at least while roosterteeth.com is still with us.

It was full of gut punches for me.

My mind is reeling too much to get them all down right now, but here's the main ones (they may also be slightly out of order chronologically):

Nora dropping her hammer and falling to her knees in grief.

Oscar and Ozpin struggling against the merge. Ozcar can't be far off, Oscar's running out of time.

The news that Vale has fallen, with more refugees coming to Vacuo.

Tyrian and Mercury showing up. I knew they were in Vacuo, I have a unposted WIP with that taken into account, but... it still sent a chill through me to see Tyrian.

All the grief of RWBY+J's family and friends.

That can't be the end of RWBY. It can't. It just has to continue. Volume 10 has to happen.

At least there's still RWBY Beyond to come. I just hope that isn't even more pain for us. I seem to recall seeing something about RWBY Beyond covering at least some of the time period after RWBY+J return, so... Hopefully that's right and it's not all witnessing more of the pain those left behind in Remnant went through.

I really hope to see Raven and Yang's reunion. There's a lot of other things I hope we see too, but that's at the top for me.

[valiant-if]

When you choose the background of your character is the mining one more sad the the other’s backgrounds sorry if this does not make sense English is not my first language 

Hi, anon! No worries, the question makes perfect sense and your English is great!

I think which one is the most sad or most angsty really just depends on the reader. Just for a basic rundown, here are the origins and their corresponding choice.

The Survivor - "It looks a lot like the spacer colony where I grew up." The Orphan - "The mining platforms are similar to ones I grew up around." The Family Kid - "I've been on Archon Station my whole life and have never seen a colony like this up-close." The Refugee - "It looks nothing like the planetside colony where I grew up." The Aspirant - "It's obviously different from the Damiren Primacy colony where I grew up."

The Survivor, the Orphan, and the Refugee have a lot more angst built into them. An MC with one of these backgrounds has likely experienced more hardship in the past than the other backgrounds, but they also had a lot less to lose when they decided to help CAIT escape Archon Systems.

The Family Kid and the Aspirant, however, have more potential future angst.

The Family Kid has to deal with the reality that the place where they grew up now sees them as a fugitive. This MC left family and friends behind when they chose to abscond with CAIT, and any potential reunion is going to be very difficult.

The Aspirant will eventually be forced to confront their status as a deserter from the Damiren Primacy. Similar to the Family Kid, an MC with the Aspirant background left behind family and/or friends when they made the decision to desert, and a reunion will be very difficult.

So it really just depends on how you look at it or which of those scenarios speaks to you more.

Thanks for the ask!

[russica]

Long time no post have some BG3 brain rot!

This is Rax! Tiefling Sorceror. He/They. This boy can hold so much ✨️trauma✨️

He ran away from home at a young age and did that old cliché of joining the circus. He became quite the acrobat. His magic came in after a particularly nasty lashing from a new ringleader; said ringleader was no more and Rax was sold off to the highest bidder. Years of enslavement of various kinds came to a head when he decided he had nothing to lose and that d3ath was better than his half life. So he ran and he took out anyone in his way.

After a failed reunion with his family, he spent many years drinking away the pain and selling himself under the guise of taking control back (it was unhealthy coping mechanisms the whole time).

After getting involved with a particularly nasty and abusive high elf and very nearly unaliving at the mans hands, he runs again and tries to clean up his life. He sobered up, got a legit job working odd jobs and security for a potion maker in Baldur's Gate, got a crappy house and fed the strays (kid and cat alike). After Elturel fell he made his way to Rivington to prepare for the inevitable refugees, hoping maybe to see his family again, when he was scooped up by the mindflayers.

Fun facts: He wears gold reading glasses, enjoys basking in the sunlight, has a sharp tongue and uses flirting to deflect, is very mysteriously long lived for a Tiefling and is equally as vague about his actual age, in opposition to Astarion; Rax thinks he should be the help he never got and thus has a soft spot for orphans, the enslaved, and refugees.

[acti-veg]

how can safe routes be created for migrants? do you think immigration is a problem?

When we talk about safe routes we mean refugees, and there are a number of options. Resettlement schemes could facilitate travel directly to the country for refugees who need it. They are usually run in cooperation between the UN Refugee Agency and the Government. We saw a scheme like this in action in Afghanistan, though we took far fewer than we promised to.

There are also bespoke schemes, as saw with a small number of Ukrainian refugees in the UK and elsewhere. In that instance, families or community spaces who agreed to take refugees were found and the refugee transported there on a temporary basis, or those who had family in the UK were allowed to join them more permanently. This also leads into family reunions schemes, where refugees who have already settled can bring their family over with them.

A safe route is essentially just any means by which a refugee might safely travel to, and then claim asylum in, a country they wish to resettle in. Where such routes don’t exist, we see desperate individuals opting to take the more dangerous routes. Safety is the only issue there, since arriving by boat to claim asylum is not illegal.

Uncontrolled immigration, with no plans in place for support, integration, housing etc. is always a bad idea, but refugees is not the reason for our economic woes. They are vulnerable, powerless and they’re outsiders, so they’re very easy to scapegoat. The truth is that you have more in common with, and less to fear from, any refugee than you do from the rich who are trying to convince you that other poor people are your enemy.

[whoficky]

Until Morning

Rating: T

Pairing: 10th Doctor X Rose Tyler

Notes: I'm a sucker for reunion fics and I've been playing around with this idea for years now. After much procrastination, I figured the best way to get me to finish writing the thing was to jump in and start posting. Hope you like it!

 

Work Summary: As a weary Doctor, Martha Jones and Jack Harkness prepare to take on the Master, they find their hideout isn't as secure as they thought.

In a burst of blue light, a dimension hopping Rose Tyler finally finds the Doctor, but time is still not on their side.

What if you only had one night to spend with the love of your life?

Chapter 1

The rumbling in Jack’s stomach interrupted his attempt at hacking into the Master’s digital database.  He glanced up to see if Martha had heard, and sure enough, she was looking at him with raised eyebrows. 

“Bit hungry?” she asked from where she was perched on one of the chairs they’d scavenged. 

“More than a little,” Jack acknowledged as he leaned back for a stretch.  “God, I’d kill for something hot and fried right now.”

“Mmm, yeah,” Martha sighed, “I’m so hungry I think I’d even eat Mum’s cooking.  And she’s never met a vegetable she hasn’t boiled into mush.”  Jack chuckled along with her, but neither of them really had their hearts in it.  

It had been a long, rough day for both of them.  

Was it really only this morning that Jack had finally caught up with the Doctor again?  He tried to calculate the hours, but it was as much of a hopeless task as it had always been when time travel was involved.  He hadn’t slept or eaten more than half a protein pack since he’d hitched a ride to the end of the universe, and being immortal unfortunately didn’t prevent him from hunger pangs or the affects of sleep deprivation.  If he listened to his body, he figured it had been about a day, Earth time.  Two at the most.     

The fact that he was already loosing track of his usual twenty-four-hour cycle wasn’t surprising.  That was typical when adventuring with the Doctor.  That man sucked you right into a different sort of reality.  Running for their lives and helping the last sentient life in the universe seek Utopia was par for the course.  Despite a complicated history the Doctor and Jack had needed to work out, he’d been having a hell of a good time.  At first.

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But then the bumbling professor Yana had opened up an old pocket watch and everything had gone to hell.   In some ways it was a miracle - another survivor of the Time War.  But out of all the billions of refugees who could have survived, it’d had to be the Master - an utterly insane Time Lord who’d stollen the TARDIS, taken over the government, and captured Martha’s family.  The poor woman was beside herself waiting to learn what had become of them.  Jack knew it had killed her to run away when her parents were being hauled into that van.  He could relate.  His own sort of family, his Torchwood team, were MIA and his guts clenched when he thought of what the Master had done to them.   Even the Doctor could barely hide how all this was pushing him towards that edge he always danced around.  Jack had seen him go over it only once before, when they’d thought the Anne Droid had vaporized Rose Tyler.  He never wanted to see his old friend go there again.  The problem for all of them was that the Master had shown himself to be very good at hitting them where it hurt.  

So, here they were - holed up in this abandoned warehouse.  Hunted, anxious, and left with limited time and resources.  The Master had had eighteen months to put together a government takeover and whatever other schemes the madman had planned.  Jack doubted the three of them even had days to come up with a way to stop him.  It was very likely that humanity was on the brink of peril.     

Jack was so distracted by his thoughts that he almost flinched when Martha spoke again.

“Have you found anything?” she asked, getting up to look over his shoulder at the computer screen.        

“Almost there, I think,” he reported as he pushed his unease aside to resume working on Martha’s laptop.  “Tosh is usually the one to do this kind of thing, but I’m not too shabby at it.”   

“Tosh?” Martha asked confused.

“Oh, she’s part of my team at Torchwood.  Great with computers.  Gets along better with tech than people most of the time…And, hang on…BINGO!  I’m in!” Jack leant closer to the screen as he searched for various key words in the database.  “Oh yeah!” he said with relief, “Torchwood Four was sent off to the Himalayas.  Well that explains why they wouldn’t pick up the phone.  But hey, I’ll take it!  Better sent on some wild goose chase then mixed up in all this at ground zero.”  The knots in his stomach loosened a fraction as he plowed into a new search.

  “Aaaaand…” he said to stall as he clicked through a few folders, “Here we are, Martha!  Looks like Mom, Dad, and Sister have all been taken into custody for ‘questioning.’  They aren’t hurt though.  Just in custody.  See there’s some video footage.  And…” he scrolled down to make sure, “No mention of Leo,” he winked at her.

Martha seemed to take heart from that, “Guess he’s not as daft as I thought!” she laughed.  “My god, I’m talking about my brother on the run.  How did this happen?  And where is the Doctor?  He said he’d be right back.”

“Still setting up a security perimeter, I guess.  Though he’s certainly taking his time about it.”  Jack had the suspicion the “security perimeter” was really more an excuse for the Doctor to get some air and collect his thoughts.  God forbid the Time Lord showed an emotion in front of the humans, Jack thought with a smirk.        

“Maybe he can get some takeout while he’s at it.  I’m starving,” Martha plopped down on top of a large crate next to the fire they’d started in an old barrel.  

“So we’re back to food again?” Jack asked, shooting Martha a playful look to try and ease the lines of tension on her face.     

“Oh, I don’t know,” Martha chuckled, “I’m caught between fantasizing about it and trying to think of anything else.  Same goes for sleep.”

“Yeah I -” 

A flash of blue light illuminated the warehouse and the sharp sound of static filled the air.  Jack’s body reacted without thought, his training taking over as he leapt to his feet and moved into position to protect Martha.    

“Stay back!” he hissed at her as he stepped forward and pulled the gun from the holster at his hip.  The Doctor had disarmed it hours ago, but the intruder emerging from the crackling light wouldn’t know that.  It could still be a handy negotiating tool.  

“Hands up!” Jack barked as the light faded to reveal a humanoid who was still facing away from them.  His brain, now cleared from the fog of exhaustion, took a mere fraction of a second to catalogue the threat.  The figure was small, dressed in contemporary clothes and had shoulder length bleach blonde hair. He though he saw a flash of metal, maybe a small weapon strapped to her belt, but her hands were empty.  The figure had stumbled when she first appeared, but now was standing completely straight with her hands in the air.  There was something familiar about her posture though…

Then she spoke. “Jack?” 

He nearly dropped the gun when he heard that voice.  

But…it couldn’t be.  It was just traveling with Doctor again - she’d been on his mind was all.  He was tired and hungry and his mind was playing tricks on him.

“Who’s asking!” it was more a command for identification than a question.

“Oh my god!  Jack!” the figure turned around and this time Jack did drop the gun in favor of the blue and yellow blur that ran into his arms.

“Rosie?” he said amazed as his arms automatically folded around her.  His brain that had worked so quickly moments earlier slowed down as he tried to process this.  It was Rose.  Rose Tyler.  Rose Tyler had appeared out of nowhere in a supposedly secure building and was now in his arms hugging him hard enough that he’d be worrying about breathing if he was still mortal.  This wasn’t supposed to be possible.  The Doctor had said…ah, but then this wouldn’t be the first time the Time Lord had underestimated her.

“Oh god Jack, I’ve missed you!  But how are you here?  I thought you had di-,” seeming to catch herself, Rose stepped back out of his embrace, folded her arms, and looked him over.

“When is it for you?” she asked cautiously.  Looks like she’d kept her time traveling skills sharp, he thought grinning.

“Long after the Game Station,” he replied.  Just from a quick once over, Jack could tell that this Rose was a little older and a lot harder then when he’d seen her last, so it must have already happened for her too.  Still, a little caution wouldn’t hurt.  “And you?”

Rose stared at him in astonishment shaking her head slightly, “But Jack,” she said, “How are you here?  On Earth, right?  That’s where we are?  Oh Jack, you died!  The Daleks…”

“Yeah well, didn’t stick,” he shrugged, “Takes more than a fleet of pepper pots to kill me.  Although, I mostly have you to thank for that, sweetheart,” he winked.  “And as for why I’m here, well that’s a long story.  But the short of it is, I used my vortex manipulator to go back in time and then the damn thing burned out. Been looking for you and the Doc ever since.”

Rose’s face fell, “So we left you?  On that ship, all alone?  Jack, I’m so sorry!”

“Hey,” he said resting a hand on her shoulder, “You didn’t know.” And it was true. She hadn’t known.  Jack wondered what story the Doctor had told her to make her think he’d died.  He wondered how much she knew about her part in it all.   “And hey,” he assured her, “I’ve done alright for myself, don’t worry.”    

 She nodded and offered him a small smile, “Good Jack, that’s good.” 

She took a deep breath as if steeling herself for something.  “The Doctor…we got separated,” she admitted, eyes drifting away from his.  “I have no idea where he is, Jack.  I’ve been looking for him too.  For so long…” she looked so tired and Jack wondered what she’d been through in that parallel universe.  

“Yeah, well I may be able to help you with that.”  Her eyes snapped back to his as he continued, “Me and the lovely Miss Martha Jones here,” he gestured to Martha who was still standing a few steps behind him, “are hiding out in this stinking old warehouse because we are currently number two and three of Britain’s most wanted.”

“Two and three…” Rose said slowly, working it out, “and…Number One?”

“He’ll be back any minute,” Jack said smiling, overjoyed to be the person who got to give her the news that her search was over.  It looked like it had been a rough one for her.      

“Jack,” she said half laughing and shaking her head in astonishment before leaping back into his arms. He swung her around a few times until he faced Martha who had remained very still and quiet the last couple of minutes.  

“While we’re waiting on his Time Lordiness…Rose Tyler, meet Martha Jones.  Martha Jones, Rose Tyler.” 

Rose turned to face Martha.  Jack held his breath, wondering how this would play out.  There was a tense moment as both women sized each other up before Martha stepped forward, offering her hand, “Good to meet you,” she said perhaps a touch too formally, “The Doctor talks about you all the time.”

“He…he does?” Rose took Martha’s hand, but glanced back at Jack as if for confirmation, “He mentioned me?”

“Er…yeah,” Martha said stiffly, “Won’t shut up about you sometimes.”

“I…I didn’t think he’d…,” Rose began before breaking out in a wide grin as she gripped Martha’s hand in a firm shake, “Good to meet you too, Martha Jones!  I bet you’ve had a time of it, keeping those two blokes in line.  How long have you all been traveling together?”

“Er…” Jack’s heart really did go out to Martha as she struggled to keep her composure.  “Well, first it was just me and the Doctor - that was for, oh I don’t know, bout a year?”

“It’s hard to keep track,” Rose sympathized.

“Yeah, it is,” Martha agreed, “And, well, I just met Jack actually…”  

Before she could finish, a rain-slicked Doctor bounded through the doors already jabbering, “Alright, that should do it.  This is now a surveillance free zone!  We’ll be able to keep here safely until…”

Jack could tell the exact moment the Doctor noticed Rose.  If he lived to be five-billion years old, he was sure he’d never forget the utterly gobsmacked look on the Time Lord’s face.  

[for-my-mind-to-run-around-free]

When I first came to the country I am in right now, I had left my home in a state of distress, a political war. I sough refuge here, and looked to make it somewhere I could call home again.

Then, I met the doctor. A man with two hearts and who feels so guilty for letting his home burn but has to move on, run from it all, travel, seek new places and friends. I loved watching him go, maybe because I was just as trapped where I am now, compared to where I was, even if I had more freedoms. I travelled with the doctor, because I couldn’t physically go and see the world I so wanted to explore.

And because every time he missed Gallifrey, I felt he understood me. The 12 year old me, catching up on all the seasons with my very broken English, who cried at Capaldi’s and Amy’s words and squealed with joy at many reunions.

We don’t get to see many representation of refugees on screen that is positive, or even neutral.

This morning when I watched the doctor finally leave a genuine part of himself on Earth, to be with his found family, and to rest, and a part of himself went off to adventures all across time and space, I found peace within myself. Because after 5 years, I finally have some sort of a passport and this summer, I can finally travel to different places I’ve been yearning to go.

I can’t go back home ever again, just like he can’t go back to Gallifrey, but I can leave the past to rest for a moment. And finally travel the universe :)

Let’s not ever forget that the doctor is a refugee running from his past.

And it’s ok to take a break and give yourself a hug and permission to rest from it all.

[we-staybhaalin]

I finally finished the game for the first time!!!

First of all, of course Halsin wore Niralei's ass out for like four or five nights in a row. I choose to believe he had her knocked the fuck out every night. The most comfortable sleep she's had in months by that point. Head on the pillow, head empty, (pussy very much not), and she's snoring like a hog!

But anyway!

So the endgame that Niralei is going to follow is that, for a time, her and Halsin will pursue their own interests, but they are very much still romantically and emotionally involved with each other. The Bells and the BG3 crew will disperse to do their own things at various points but Niralei is going to stay in Baldur's Gate for a bit to help rebuild parts of the city.

She's going to start with providing assistance to displaced folks, those that suffered injuries, and she's going to be spending a lot of time trying to find the people who stayed along the journey with her to make sure they're getting taken care of (namely thinking of the tiefling refugees from Elturel).

After a few days, her father, Ohmez, will emerge and start doling out resources to people and thanks to her leading the efforts to save Duke Ravengard's ass, his people are allowed to operate alongside the Guild to make sure folks are getting the help they need. Nettlebane, Colette, Irma, Haluen, Shadowheart, Jaheira, and Minsc remain to provide support as well, although the tieflings are pulled to different parts of the city but ultimately working on Niralei's instructions. After two weeks pass, Matari (Niralei's mother) and Yahiri (Niralei's baby sister) will make it back to Baldur's Gate and start helping to the best of their ability.

After two months of rebuilding, Niralei will have received a letter from Halsin asking her to come to Reithwin. At first, she'll be nervous to leave her family alone but also by this point, Nettie, Irma, Haluen, Colette, and Pasha will have moved on. Nettie went to stay with Gale in Waterdeep (since they ended up together) and Colette decided to go with her since Pasha is in the Hells with their girlfriend and Wyll. (Colette stays in her own tower in Waterdeep -- she's not sharing space with Gale or anyone else.) Shadowheart has gone off with her parents, Irma and Haluen returned to the fold among his people and the clan has started moving in anticipation for summer.

Niralei's mother will convince her to go see Halsin and Niralei will make the journey. Reithwin will be barely two months out from the lifting of the curse but she will see scaffolds, half put up buildings, people shuffling about the streets and laughing children running circles around everyone. Halsin will meet her at the Last Light Inn with a gift in hand--an old book containing a collection of music, all from a time well before hers but also bearing a few of the ones she kept pestering him to teach her during their journey. He'll greet her with a sweeping hug, kisses her when he sets her on her feet, and forgets that four of the children he brought back with him refused to let him take this journey on his own until he hears their rapid-fire questions after their reunion kiss ends.

Niralei will walk with him, hand in hand and book tucked under her arm, just taking in the city's progress. She'll want to help and he lets her for a little while, mostly at her insistence because he intended for her to get some much needed rest while she's out here. She's got connections and even better connections now though so she's going to step up in a pretty big way helping to get resources and deals struck up to help with rebuilding efforts.

Prior to leaving Baldur's Gate, she's been looking into starting a business as well. On the outskirts of the city are estates that have sat abandoned for a while. She's going to purchase one of them and spend time fixing it up. The soil around the land was used to grow acres worth of vineyards on and that's what she's been working on building up prior to visiting Halsin.

She'll spend much of her time bouncing between Baldur's Gate and Reithwin, especially after Yahiri takes off for Waterdeep. Several different ventures will pop up that will have Niralei's hand in it--a bard school started by Alfira and Lakrissa with a generous benefactor donating resources to it, two festhalls by the name of the "Spitfire" and the "Dancing Cups," and an old estate that once sat abandoned now steadily flourishing with gardens and acres upon acres of vines weaving through it with the promise of a luxurious bounty just on the horizon--just among a few.

Reithwin will have a home built specifically chosen for her at a point and she'll see the opportunity to nurture something she had forgotten was a sticking point to so much of her personal journey--hope. She'll argue and haggle with contractors for the best resources for good prices to help with building up the city. Halsin will support her while he wrangles together as much of the artisans and folk that are looking to make this place home. They'll work together to form up a circle of leaders to represent the growing landscape and both of them will take seats on that council to make sure development is processing smoothly.

Every day, when another council meeting concludes, they'll walk home hand in hand chatting about things they never got to talk about during the crisis that brought them together--mundane things, important things about their next steps, and their friends--

And this is only the beginning between the two of them.

[if-tomorrow-never-comes]

THE LIBERTINES: ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE

Back in action - and in truly festive spirit - for a Margate knees-up ahead of forthcoming fourth album 'All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade', the likely lads are writing a positive new chapter onto their wild career.

Words: Lisa Wright  Photos: Ed Miles 20th December 2023

The Libertines have been known for many things over the years. As one of the most storied indie outfits of the ‘00s. As an example of that rare magic that can happen when two people - in their case, rollercoaster bromance frontmen Pete Doherty and Carl Barât - spark in a way that makes something far bigger than the sum of its parts. As a band whose generation-defining first two albums dressed the genre up in romance and red military garb before imploding in a mess of destruction and addiction.

Two decades and two reunions on, and all these things remain true. But right now, in the fireside belly of their Margate hotel The Albion Rooms, the band have got other things on their mind: namely, what a Libertines Christmas single could entail. “‘Can’t Stand Tree Now’. No wait, ‘Death on the Sledge’…” suggests Doherty with a glint in his eye as photos are taken and his massive dog Gladys snaffles a mince pie clean out of his hand. “‘Tell It To We Three Kings!’” pipes up bassist John Hassall, as all four signal their approval and break into impromptu festive song - not for the first or last time this afternoon.

The Libertines’ forthcoming new album - their first in nearly a decade, and second since reforming - might be named ‘All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade’, but on the titular Margate street, on a blustery December day, the mood is anything but sedate. The band have congregated for a special weekender of events to launch the record, beginning with an intimate show at the Lido down the road later in the evening - a working men’s club-type room with chintzy Christmas dressing that clearly hasn’t seen this sort of rowdy action in decades. At one point we turn around and someone’s bag is on fire. It gets hastily stamped out. The show goes on.

A few weeks before this, however, and the two frontmen are gathered in the oak-panelled backroom of a posh London pub, viewing The Albion Rooms from a different angle. They’ve just been delivered the mock-ups of their latest LP sleeve, on which a cast of colourful characters line the street outside their Margate space. “That’s Sister Mary from the song ‘Mustang’; that’s the ‘Man with the Melody’; that’s the refugee from ‘Merry Old England’,” points out Doherty. “Look she’s got a bottle of rum in the pram as well, she’s shoplifting. That’s good, that. Very clever,” he nods with satisfaction.

The pair have a lot to be satisfied about, too. They’ve come out the other side of the metaphorical tornado with their band and their friendship largely intact; ‘All Quiet…’, we suggest, sounds like an album made by a group of people that genuinely want to be there. “I’m glad it sounds that way because it’s utterly true, and it’s an album we actually did want to make and we really put everything into the songs,” explains Barât. “Even saying that is a bit emotional for me…”

“He’s [Doherty] a part of my life that I’d miss horrendously if it wasn't there.— Carl Barât

The path to The Libertines’ latest was a very different one to any of those that have come before for the band. These days, both frontmen live comparatively sedate family lives on their respective coastlines - Barât in Margate and Doherty in France. Doherty has been clean for several years since relocating during the pandemic; his day-to-day world is clearly a whole universe away from the not-so-good old days.

Having decamped to Jamaica as a duo “to plot up together a while and see what was what”, they set up camp in a glass studio on top of a hill where, Doherty notes, “the glass was so well-polished, all the local birds kept flying into the walls”. “Every so often you’d just get a thud, and it wouldn’t kill ‘em but they’d be stunned and slowly come to life and then I’d draw them. They’re on my wall,” he says. The musical results of the trip were slim pickings (“When we got back and sat down with everyone and played the demos, we were a bit shocked at how bad they were…”), but the willingness to keep going together was cemented.

Reconvening with Hassall and drummer Gary Powell, the following sessions in Kent and Normandy were surprisingly wholesome affairs. “Some of those nights when we were doing backing vocals, it felt like we were getting a bit lashed up but we weren’t, we were all really sober. But it had that same energy,” recalls Doherty. Barât chuckles: “The energy that’s imbued in us from years of lash!” And whilst we must all pour one out for a song left on the cutting room floor, ‘What A Time For The Bellhop’, which Barât describes as sounding “like the Blackadder theme tune”, what did emerge was a record that doffs its hat to the albums that made their name whilst creating notable differences along the way.

Though the flights of fancy and arcadian dreaming are still present and correct, there are splashes of cold reality to the likes of ‘Merry Old England’’s acknowledgement of the refugee crisis that feel like an important update. “It’s hard not to be [more rooted in reality] when it’s right in your face so vividly, especially in Margate,” Doherty says. “Thanet Council has had to house more refugees than any borough in this whole country; the two years I was in Margate, that was my everyday world.

“Even when we were looking for staff to work cash in hand at the hotel at the start, we were helping people out who’d come straight out the camp and then discovering a lot of them were fucking amazing artists, or mothers, brothers and sisters looking [for a place to exist] in the same way that our ancestors came over from Ireland or wherever. We’ve got a right old mix between us [in the band]; we’ve got about twelve different waves of immigrants, probably like most English people. There’s probably only about seven people in the depths of Wales who have pure Ancient Britain DNA.”

“It’s never felt normal - these characters, this chemistry. It never feels normal, but it’s certainly a lot more normal than it has been in years.— Carl Barât

In the years since 2015’s ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’, there had been a lot of talk of new music, but nothing by way of action. “I’d been saying, ‘New music’s just around the corner!’ in interviews cos you don’t wanna not say that, but it had started to wear a bit thin,” says Barât. “We had this thing for ages in interviews where we’d list the songs but we’d just be coming out with titles on the spot,” remembers Doherty. “‘Yeah we’ve got a song called ‘Bottle Your Mum’ or something like that. And then we’d have to read back through the interview to write songs with those titles.”

It’s perhaps unsurprising that it took so long to record ‘Anthems…’’ follow-up when you look at the spectres that were still swirling around the band during its writing and release. “When I think back to that time, it’s all a blank. Not even a blur it’s just a jumbled blank,” muses Doherty as Barât mumbles: “Yeah, well there’s a reason for that…”

“It’s hard not to be [more rooted in reality] when it’s right in your face so vividly.— Pete Doherty

Today, the magnetic, see-sawing nature of the chemistry that’s been the pair’s greatest asset and biggest source of upset is in full swing. One moment they’re bickering about grammar and flinging hilariously petty insults (Barât: “You said ‘my bad’ the other day…” Doherty: “I have NEVER said ‘my bad’. EVER”); the next they’re breaking into random Cockney songs; a few minutes later, a topic will come up that looks like it might bring either or both to tears. These days, with a literal sea between them, they don’t get to hang out much outside of the band. “That’s why we come back and do it, I think,” says Doherty. “Because we want to check up on each other.” But there’s still the sense that the two musicians are bound together by something stronger and more innate than most. As Barât puts it: “He’s a part of my life that I’d miss horrendously if it wasn't there.”

Doherty has an analogy. “It’s like two shopkeepers that have got this massive backload of stock in the back room, and one of them decided he wanted to sell something else for a while and now he’s come back, not cap in hand exactly, but he’s like, ‘Actually, some of this fruit’s still good to go’,” he says, picking up steam. “‘Let’s pump out some tangerines in the early morning rush’, and it turns out they’re as juicy and ripe as they ever thought they were. And maybe it was just the glass that was dirty rather than the actual produce.”

Barât raises his eyebrow in mock indignation: “For me, I was selling tangerines and then he went into insurance. So now he’s back from insurance, he’s realised that tangerines taste nice and oranges aren’t the only fruit!” Cue both men breaking into a simultaneous rendition of ‘Let’s All Go Down The Strand (Have A Banana)’.

Watching The Libertines barrel through the hits as lucky Margate Lido ticket holders holler back every word; seeing the quartet mess about like old mates in front of a Christmas fire, and listening to a new record that feels like a band reinvigorated, there’s something undeniably heartwarming about this current era of the quartet. There’s still an aura of charming chaos around them, but these days it’s in a jolly, eccentric way rather than something that could genuinely rip them apart at any minute. “It’s never felt normal - these characters, this chemistry,” says Barât. “It never feels normal, but it’s certainly a lot more normal than it has been in years.”

“It makes me think of those two young lads tramping down the Holloway Road - how much we believed in the music - and in many ways that hasn’t really changed,” Doherty nods. “We’ve been a little pattern on the wallpaper of the great Albion tapestry. If you could dig up Shakespeare or Graham Greene or Oscar Wilde from the dead and say, ‘Hey! People are still fucking having it with your writing’, they’d be overjoyed. Sometimes I’ll be thinking maybe we aren’t relevant any more, and then some kid will come past on a bike in his muddy boots and leather jacket and say, ‘Ah Pete, I fucking love ‘Up The Bracket’ mate’, and that’ll reinvigorate me with the force.”

‘All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade’ is out 8th March via Casablanca/ Republica Records.

[dickarchivist]

For the make your OC clones suffer questions.

Oh boy there's some good ones. I would love to hear about Dax and Banshee if that's okay?

It's hard to choose, but I'm going with these. Could I hear:

16: What haunts them?

21: What's their relationship to sex? Modesty?

25: Have they tore someone to shreds with their bare hands?

Thank you

I'm so excited to tell you about Banshee, but first:

For Dax too? Oh thank you for asking about Dax'Malkin, he is so complex and lore rich, thank younfor asking about him too ♡♡♡

What haunts them?

Dax: Ready for some lore? The thing that haunts Dax'Malkin most is the lose of his twin brother, Krazus. The two were younglings together with the jedi, twin sons, always together. This made it easy for the Night Sisters of Dathomir to take them together. In a ritual to turn them both dark side for The Night Sister's favor, something went wrong. Dax'Malkin's body was changed, beastial spikes growing from his back, his teeth pointed and sharp, the whites of his eyes now an inky black. But still, his heart stayed in the light. When he awoke, the jedi who saved him told Dax that his brother had been lost to them... Dax didn't question this, thinking that his brother had died in the ritual.

After this, Dax'Malkin has always had darkness whispering in his mind, in his heart. He fights hard to keep it at bay, but the ghosts of his past never leave him. He sees them in his reflection every day.

Banshee: Aside from o66, something that haunts Banshee is his first botched mission. He and his brothers were trying to save some refugees from a war-torn planet, but things didn't go exactly as planned. He was moving forward with a small group of the refugees, taking them from a covered area through a field, back toward transport. He didn't see the separatist forces closing in from above, silent as the night... the only one that didn't make it was a kid. The mother screamed and yelled in pain the whole way to the camps, it was the only time Banshee didn't try to drown out the sounds of the battlefield.

If Banshee were ever to have a child, he'd insist on naming them Jaia, after the kid Banshee feels responsible for losing.

Have they torn someone to shred with their bare hands?

Dax: Yes, and it terrifies him. Once Athena fell and Dax went full dark side, he fucking lost everything. He's killed every single clone in the 404th except for Grave Squad, and he does everything he can to hunt them down for the death of Athena. (Don't worry he gets better and gets a reunion with Grave and Athena its not even an AU or a fix it fic its for real)

Banshee: Not with his bare hands, but he is an explosives expert. He's juiced a few people. But Droids? Yeah, he's ripped them apart many, many times.

Modesty and sex question under the cut ✂️

What's their relationship to sex? Modesty?

Dax: oh for sure this Jedi Master fucks. His view on the "No love" policy is "fuck that. Have objectivity. Do not sacrifice the good of the many for the good of the one. Obsession is not love." For this he would straight up hate Anakin lmao, because Anakin is obsessed with Padme. Yeah he loves her, but he's also obsessed with her.

But anyway back to Dax. He's not like, running around telling everyone about his exploites, but he's open about them when he's asked. His padawan and adoptive daughter, Annika Cree, asked once when she was little, "Have you ever been in love?" He replied no, not romantically, but physically, and has experienced deep familial love. When she was older, he told her about the safety and precautions she'd need to take around sex and relationships, and he made sure to create an environment where she could always come to him for guidance and advice on these things.

Banshee: it takes Ban a good while to finally be intimate with a partner. That's not to say he doesn't have the drive, often he has it right away, but he's very sensitive and docile. He wants to make sure everything is true on both sides, that they both want it, that it's not the only thing they both want, and that sex isn't the end of their time together. Ban's sex drive is very very high, but his need for intimacy is even higher than that.