#so If you happen to be poking around and find any incorrect links

[giggly-squiggily]

,,,

[maul-of-shame]

In reply to your last post, go for number 15 😍

Okay ngl, this one made me giggle, they're such loveable idiots- 🤣🤣🤣

So this one has also been requested by @everthestormbraver so here you go dear!!

[If you want to get your number, please check this post right here!! I update with the numbers taken and I'll post the links once I heve everything!! TW: I only do Elrondriel (Elrond/Galadriel) but I can add baby Arwen for family fluff!!]

You can find the post here!

15./ Kissing someone to keep them from blurting out a secret/something they'll regret.

The halls of the great elven stronghold were quiet, bathed in the golden light of the setting sun filtering through intricate latticed windows. The air was filled with the faint hum of life, servants moving in the distance, the soft rustle of banners in the breeze. But for Galadriel and Elrond, tucked just out of sight behind a towering marble pillar, the world had shrunk to the two of them.

“Well, if you’d actually listened to my suggestion earlier, we wouldn’t be hiding like a pair of mischievous elflings,” Elrond muttered, his voice low but entirely too sassy for the situation.

Galadriel, her golden hair a bit disheveled from their hasty retreat, shot him a sharp look. “Oh, I’m the problem?” she hissed. “You’re the one who decided to argue with Lord Belarion over his own map!”

“It was incorrect!” Elrond protested, his eyes gleaming with defiance. “Someone needed to point it out—”

“Someone needed to not call him ‘an incompetent cartographer with the navigational skills of a drunken squirrel!’” she whispered harshly, poking him in the chest for emphasis.

Elrond opened his mouth to reply—no doubt with another cutting remark—but before he could utter a single word, Galadriel moved. Her hands fisted in the front of his tunic, yanking him down slightly to her level. Then, without hesitation, she pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth.

It wasn’t a dramatic kiss, nor was it meant to be. It was quick and firm, the kind of kiss meant more to silence than to seduce. But it had its desired effect.

Elrond froze.

Completely.

His words died on his lips, and his brain seemed to short-circuit as his body went utterly still. His hands, which had been gesturing emphatically just moments before, now hovered awkwardly at his sides, fingers twitching slightly as if unsure where to go.

Galadriel pulled back just enough to meet his wide, astonished eyes, her hands still gripping his tunic. She looked almost smug as she whispered, “Much better.”

“Did you just—?” he started, his voice barely audible.

“Hush,” she said quickly, glancing around the pillar to check for any sign of pursuit. When she saw none, she turned back to him, her expression both exasperated and amused. “Do you want them to hear us?”

He blinked, still clearly struggling to process what had just happened. “You kissed me,” he said, his voice quieter now but no less incredulous.

“I silenced you,” she corrected, though her cheeks had gone faintly pink. “And it worked, didn’t it?”

Before he could reply—because of course he would—she reached up and tugged him closer, hiding them both more securely behind the pillar. Her fingers curled tighter into his tunic as she leaned into him, close enough that her breath brushed his cheek.

“Elrond,” she murmured, her tone soft but firm, “you have a very particular talent for digging yourself into holes, and I don’t feel like spending the evening apologizing for you. So, for the sake of both our sanity—be quiet.”

His lips parted as if to argue, but then she gave him a look—that sharp, unyielding Galadriel look that could silence even the most stubborn of warriors.

And maybe it was the lingering warmth of her lips on his skin, or the fact that she was still pressed so close, but Elrond swallowed whatever clever remark had been forming in his mind and nodded slowly.

“Good,” she said, her voice softening as her hands finally released his tunic, though she didn’t step away. Instead, she let her fingers brush briefly over the fabric, smoothing out the creases she’d left behind.

They stood there in silence for a moment, the tension of the chase giving way to something quieter, something unspoken.

“You’re blushing,” he said finally, his tone gentler now, the barest hint of a smirk tugging at his lips.

“So are you,” she shot back, though she didn’t meet his gaze.

“Perhaps,” he admitted, his voice softening even further. “But for the record, I was going to say something incredibly witty just now. You’ll never know how brilliant it would have been.”

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t quite suppress the smile that tugged at her lips. “Oh, I’m sure it would have been truly unforgettable,” she said dryly, brushing past him as she stepped out from behind the pillar.

As she moved away, her fingers lingered on his wrist for just a moment—a fleeting touch, but enough to leave him standing there, rooted in place and thoroughly disarmed.

“Are you coming?” she called over her shoulder, her voice light but carrying that unmistakable air of command.

Elrond exhaled a quiet laugh, running a hand through his curls as he followed after her. “You’ll pay for that, you know,” he said, his voice carrying just enough of a playful edge to make her glance back at him with raised brows.

“Will I?” she asked, a teasing smile curving her lips.

“Oh, you will,” he said, his dark eyes gleaming.

[guqin-and-flute]

Holding Me Holding You [Ch. 3]

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4]

[Ao3 Link]

It takes him a cursedly long time to decide that being useless is unacceptable. Carefully, he steps around the weeping boy to retrieve his guqin from his table, settle on the bed, set it across his knees, and play. He begins with a quiet song of calming, feeding gentle power through the chords, the intention of calm and ease. His eyes are on Lan Fu’s back, watching as the stuttering sobs slow, as he rubs his eyes, wipes his nose on the carpet. Sniffs.

Xichen can still see the occasional flash of his eyelashes as he blinks--still awake. And so he continues, transitioning easily into one of the lullabies his mother had sung him, a song about the moon and a crane and loneliness. He had never been able to find it in any traveling musician’s repertoire, nor in the Lan archives. (Perhaps she had written it. She had had the time.)

Its familiarity sinks into his aching muscles and sodden mind like the memory of her warm hands, her tilted smile, the scent of the incense in the Jingshi. I know, he tries to lace into the song, as if he could speak directly to the boy’s soul instead of his young mind. This feeling you miss, I know. I’m so sorry.

She had always been able to calm them when they cried.

He watches when Lan Fu’s breathing evens as he bridges into a melancholy Gusu melody and he chances to slow his fingers and soften the plucks. When the song hangs unresolved in the middle of a phrase and the child remains unmoving, he lifts him from the floor as painstakingly careful as he can and tucks him back into his little barricade of bedclothes. Lan Fu doesn’t even twitch and something like relief trickles through him. 

Now, Xichen’s fingers buzz from the memory of song and the quiet of the night is now worming its dark tendrils into his ears. 

Alone.

Being from the Lan Clan, things like solitude and silence should be old companions, as familiar as the clear mountain air. But tonight, they simply remind him of death. The silence of wonderless snowfall. A hollow too cold to glean rest. The silencing talismans still glow from the corners of the house, therefore he is disturbing no one by breaking the rule of curfew. Though his eyes are coals burning dully in their sockets, sleep is not returning--and he would be sorrier if it didn’t hold the promise of more restless nightmares in its depths. 

And so he meditates instead. He continues to play, without design, letting his hands lead and the practice of sinking into himself is good enough to take the ragged burn off the edge of existing, flow and breath to focus on instead of inadequacy. In and out. Down and through. The tangled panic of the horrible screaming fit fades like a painting, flat, distant. Like a whetstone for his mind, a methodical sharpening--he cannot be useful if he neglects his focus. He still feels like a leaden mass of cotton wool and too tight skin that’s been given a thorough beating, but the calming of his qi is helping, however marginally. 

His fingers wander over the lullaby again, turning the ghost of his mothers voice over in his mind carefully, like cloth worn thin by handling. Breathe. Let it slip away. 

The Song of Clarity crests too brightly and so sinks into the song of laying spirits to rest, rippling out in muted twilight tones. For those I could not save. For those who cannot find rest. 

Wei Wuxian’s red rimmed eyes and awful, mirthless laugh creep into his mind’s eye, and the dark waters of the song bubble with the feeling of loss and regret, the surface darting with shadows of anger and fear and uncertainty and--

He takes a breath. Lets it go. Continues. And for him. For who he once was. For who he is to Wangji.

Perhaps it is unfair to extend such a softness to the Yiling Patriarch. A betrayal to the hundreds upon hundreds who lay dead, the hundreds more who are now bereft; parentless, childless, weeping. Alone. Xichen still holds the taint of his power as a burn in his lungs, in his wounds. Perhaps this impulse is why tragedy keeps befalling the Lan while they are under his care. But he can’t help himself. Xichen had known the boy laughing and teasing, had known him bruisingly arrogant without a shred of ill intent, had known him sunny and whole and by Wangji’s side, in his thoughts. 

For him, then. For that boy. For what he had meant. 

Gone, too, now. 

Breathe.

The memory of Wangji’s fear, etched more deeply than anything Xichen could recall on his face, the utter agony--

This aches too deeply, the heat of it tightening around his throat, and so he, too, lets that go, for now. Just for now. Breathe.  

His fingers trip over the strings on their own, formless, plucking sound from nothing. Some time ago, his eyes had closed. 

He longs for daylight and voices. Warmth. 

Warmth. 

The notes are a repetitive little rivulet. 

Gold. Hair hot from the sun. Gentle, smooth mouths. Laughter.

Da-ge. A-Yao.

That ache in him flares anew. He wants them. He wants them to hold him. He can almost feel A-Yao’s hands, soft but strong, cradling his face, smelling of jasmine and him. Breathing deep only brings sandalwood incense and the oil for his guqin strings, but even remembering loosens his chest. Breathe.

The stream of notes is tumbling slower and slower, spaces widening. They mean something….

Mingjue would take him in his arms, let him rest, let him melt onto him, warm and sturdy and familiar...he would be safe...held...loved….

The notes are words. The guqin language. I miss you. I miss you. I….

Something brushes over the back of his hand and Xichen startles upright, groggily. But it had been his own hair lowered by his dipping head. Shaking himself, he sits up straight. Incorrect posture, imperfect meditation. Selfish daydreaming. 

Start again.

When the hour to wake comes, his fingers are raw and his back and neck are knotted like a gnarled tree, but it is enough. He can rise and do this, because he must. 

Lan Fu stirs after Xichen has bathed, dressed, and set out food on the table. The calming effects of the guqin playing still seem to lay over the child and though his fingers throb, Xichen feels a distant gladness. It had not been quelling a ghost or a puppet or an imp. Just a boy. 

A boy who will apparently eat nothing but bread. “Some congee?” Xichen offers almost desperately for the fourth time this meal.

Lan Fu gnaws on one of the buns that he has in each hand, staring at him blearily with no further response. Of all the trials he has faced the past few days, this seems like it should be the most easily conquerable and yet Xichen retreats again to nurse his steaming cup. The tea is scalding and strong and he can feel it's energizing work seeping through his blood. Much needed, because Xichen is realizing that he has the tendency to slowly spiral and sink down into himself whenever he stays still too long. He needs to be afloat and alert. He downs the cup, and pours another. Lan Fu is watching him closely. Doggedly, he drains 2 more and is pouring a fourth when the child scrunches his fingers in the universally recognized ‘give me’ gesture. "Wanna?" he says through a mouth full of bun.

Xichen folds into a tired smile. "You won't like it. It’s too bitter."

This produces an insistent whine and a two handed reach, the buns falling, neglected, to his plate. "Yucky," Xichen insists, but finds himself reaching for a spare cup, into which he dribbles a negligible amount of tea before handing it to the child. “Swallow first.”

Eagerly, Lan Fu tips it into his mouth. Then screws up his face in the most comical display of dismay Xichen has ever seen and spits messily onto his plate. “Eeyurk!”

Despite himself, a laugh breaks from Xichen. “I did tell you. Yucky.”

“Yucky,” Lan Fu echoes, sticking his tongue out. He’s reaching for the buns again when Xichen is suddenly struck by a nostalgic bolt of inspiration from when Wangji had been a terribly picky eater. He presses his fingers and thumb together to form a rudimentary little head that he pokes up beside the child to use like a mouth to speak.

“Hello.”

The boy looks quickly to Xichen’s face, eyes round and mouth agape, expression clearly asking; ‘are you seeing this?’ Xichen mirrors his astonishment, eyebrows raised, as if, he too, can hardly believe it. Lan Fu returns to staring at the hand-head. 

“I’m Chatty Hand. What’s your name?”

“A-Fu.”

“Are you hungry, A-Fu?”

Immediately, chubby little hands fasten on the flat blade of Xichen’s pressed fingers, Chatty Hand’s “top jaw”, slow delight spreading across his face. “Nuh-uh.”

“I’m starving--let’s eat together! Here--” with A-Fu’s hands still attached, Chatty Hand lowers itself and pretends to munch on the congee growing cold in front of him. “Mmmm, yum. You try.”

A-Fu grins and pushes the hand back down to his bowl with enough force to drown it. Chatty Hand complies, making more exaggerated sounds of satisfaction. After this happens another 2 times instead of actual eating, Chatty Hand grabs the spoon in its ‘mouth’, scoops up a little congee, and bobs up to A-Fu’s face. “Open up!” it chirps.

Thankfully the boy does and proceeds to chew on it with his mouth wide open after it’s poured in, a fact which Xichen is both too exhausted and too willing to accept literally any victory to amend, right now. The rest of the meal follows suit, Chatty Hand feeding food bits to an incredibly entertained A-Fu. A few times, the child makes his own little imperfect pincer of his first 3 fingers and holds things up to Xichen’s mouth, which he obediently takes with proper appreciative ‘mm’ noises. 

Chatty Hand had always made Wangji smile when they were young. In some strange, sleep deprived way, it was almost nice to see it again. 

After a rather perfunctory bath that was full of far more splashing than Xichen was used to, he is dressing the boy when he looks at the door with sudden understanding and asks with excitement, “Niang?”

With difficulty, Xichen forces a small smile and ties his little shirt closed. “I’m going to take you to be with some friends. Does that sound nice? You can play.”

Thankfully, A-Fu simply nods and goes back to attempting to undo all the laces that Xichen has just fastened. 

When they finally leave, A-Fu in Xichen’s arms, they find that the day is the sort with gray, misting rain which leave parasols useless and beads in fine little droplets along A-Fu’s downy hair and face, leaving him blinking. Xichen smiles and carefully wipes his face clean with his sleeve and allows himself a wave of fond sadness at the door of the temporary house for newly orphaned Lan children. While it had been fraught and exhausting, being able to care for this little armful of life in the midst of this crisis had also been...grounding. And he is unbearably sweet. 

But every excuse was gone, now, and it’s time.

When they go inside, A-Fu is clearly unconvinced. He stands, clutching the leg of Xichen’s robes with an iron grip and staring at the handful of older women and the tumble of children under their care. (There are more than a dozen of them. The grief in Xichen’s chest tightens its grip around his heart.) A few of the caregivers beckon to A-Fu, holding out toys and Xichen nods with an encouraging smile when his serious little face turns up to him in question. It takes several minutes but, warily, he ventures over, step by uncertain, clunky toddler step to sit and becomes enraptured with a little doll one of the women holds out to him. He even smiles when a little girl rolls a ball toward him. All is going perfectly.

It’s when Xichen has given all the information he knows about A-Fu--his parentage, his peculiarities, his fondness for buns--and turns to slip out that a familiar cry shatters the scene and has him going still. 

Xichen should go. He should go out the door and continue his day. These are experienced caregivers, mothers and grandmothers--they know how to calm a fussing child. A-Fu will be happy, he will be cared for, he will be better off--

Instead, he turns, slowly. A-Fu charges straight into his shins, hands scrabbling as he wails, “No no no! No go!”

“A-Fu--”

“No! P’ease!” 

Why was that ‘please’ just as effective as a knife to the heart? It sways him sickeningly. All the other children are staring at them with huge, frightened eyes, uncertain. 

“Up! Up, p’ease! No go! Up!”  He’s bouncing on his toes, hands thrust up at Xichen desperately. His face is terror stricken, crumpling. 

It’s alright. Xichen can try to explain to him. Can at least give him a proper goodbye. He kneels as several of the women converge on them, speaking in soothing voices.

“Xiao-Fu, why don’t you--”

“Shhh, not so loud, come here, zongzhu has a lot of work to do, we can’t bother him--”

A-Fu is attempting to climb him, latching onto his neck with an almost choking grip, feet scrabbling on his chest to get better purchase and, automatically, Xichen wraps his arms around him for support. The child is shuddering, crying again. “A-Fu, why don’t you go play with your friends?” He murmurs, rubbing his back slowly.

“No. No,” he moans back, refusing to raise his face from Xichen’s neck. 

“They have toys and food and games, here.”

“Yes, look!” One of the women beams, the expression overbright on her exhausted face, and twirls a shiny something on a stick, making it flutter. 

Another slides her hands around A-Fu’s torso, gently attempting to pry him off and he lets out the most earsplitting wordless shriek into Xichen’s neck, loud enough to send shards of pain through his head and, automatically, his arms clamp back around him, halting her progress. A-Fu’s frantic noise has his own pulse up, thanks to the excess of morning tea and nausea sheers its way through him, driving up a useless wave of anxiety and helplessness and what is he doing, what is he doing--

“It’s fine,” he manages to say with startling calm. “I think he just needs time. It’s fine. I can keep him with me for now.”

“Zongzhu, we know you’re very busy, are you sure? Xiao-Fu, don’t you want to come play with your friends?”

He keeps rubbing A-Fu’s back as he stands. It makes his head spin but he smiles with what he hopes is reassurance. “He didn’t trouble me yesterday. We can try again later. It’s fine.” He distantly notes that keeps saying that.

 This is selfish, he knows. He knows the boy should be with people who know how to take care of him, who can entertain him, who can maybe bear to properly explain to him that his mother isn’t coming home. He just...can’t stand any more screaming. He wishes it was empathy but fears it's something closer to cowardice, but, in any case, it's easier. Kinder. (He hopes. It's hard to tell.) And he truly doesn't mind. The inertia of him had helped thus far. 

It’s alright. It’s what it needs to be, right now. There is nothing for it.

Once they leave to start Xichen’s duties, it becomes clear quite quickly that the previous arrangement of A-Fu slung on his back is no longer satisfactory, as A-Fu keeps crying and squirming. After some trial and error, Xichen manages to fashion a rudimentary harness out of the same sash that fastens A-Fu to his chest, facing out to take in his surroundings. He likes to hold onto Xichen’s thumbs as he walks. 

Visiting Wangji is...disheartening. He is no worse, but neither is he much better. His bedclothes are thankfully clean of blood and Xichen accepts this as the gift that it is. But he is still unconscious, still white lipped, hot skinned, and breathing unevenly. The unknown boy nestled on a smaller mattress on the floor next to him is no better. In fact, he’s crying in his sleep, tiny, weak little whimpers that tear at Xichen’s chest. So he kneels beside him, using the cloth and bowl of water left by the doctor to wipe his damp forehead. “Sad,” Lan Fu remarks, pointing at him, craning his neck around to look up at Xichen’s face. He, himself, is thankfully calm, now.

Xichen nods, pats A-Fu’s chest in acknowledgment, peels the hair wisps off of the sick boy’s sweaty neck. He wishes he knew what to call him. Wangji would know. When the child’s face and neck is cleaned of sweat and he is tucked back in, Xichen sits on Wangji’s bedside, ignoring the burning pull the position puts on his neck from A-Fu’s weight on his chest, and allows himself to stroke the hair back from his brother’s face as well.

 Perhaps Wangji would not want it--he was particular about touch. Perhaps he would resent Xichen for his part in all that has happened. 

But for now, he simply lets himself sit and methodically smooth his hair. When Wangji sleeps and that austere expression is gone from his face, Xichen can see reflections of their mother in his brows and nose. Can see echoes of what he remembered of his father in his hairline and jaw. Most of all, though, Xichen can see A-Zhan, the boy that had let Xichen care for him, once upon a time. He couldn’t miss his brother if he was right in front of him, but he could surely miss the ease with which Wangji used to lean on him. Miss what he had meant. 

He lets out a shaky breath, carefully. 

Please don’t leave me. Please. Please.

Holding the order of what must be done in his mind is a bit like grasping at water by midday and whatever clarity his meditation had brought him is quickly being dulled by the grate of exhaustion. It feels as if everything is balancing on the thin edge of a knife--the Clan’s morale, Wangji and the child’s health, the future, the next necessary step. Treacherous ground. Continuously wobbling. He is failing, again. Failing to do what is necessary simply because his mind and body refuse to cooperate. 

When he requests a stimulant from their lead doctor, there is no hesitation and, in fact, he pulls it from his inner pocket. Xichen frowns. “Please make sure that you are also taking care of yourself,” he cautions. “We cannot have you falling ill at a time like this.”

The doctor bows and raises his eyebrows, but says nothing. Xichen isn’t stupid, even as he swallows the concoction and thanks him politely. He’s aware of his own pallor and dark circles--had been confronted with them in his mirror this morning. He can feel the grinding ache behind his eyes, the very weight of his own body attempting to drag him down to simply curl up in the dirt. He is aware of the hypocrisy, here; especially when he worries so when A-Yao does the same, staying up for days until he’s strung out and shaking. Until Xichen has to beg him to come to bed or he simply physically can’t go on any longer. 

He knows it’s unhealthy. He knows it’s not ideal. But there is just...nothing else that he can do. It is a morbid balancing act he is performing and with any one component removed, he feels as if he might spiral out into some yawning void of...something. Despair? Helplessness? Madness? Simply keep moving. Simply be useful. Take the next step.

The rest can come later.

[lettheladylead]

avoid the unhappy ending (ch1-2)

ships/characters: Goldie, Quackfaster, Gyro, Fenton, Lil Bulb, Manny, Boyd, Launchpad, Scrooge/Goldie words (so far): ~2800 summary: Goldie comes to town to see Scrooge. Instead, she somehow manages to run into literally everyone else. ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27108943

First two chapters are up!

It was a Saturday afternoon. Normally she wouldn’t be in Duckburg, but she was passing through on her way back north and thought a little stop could be nice. Just pop in and say hello, maybe stay for a swim in the money bin or a sleepover if Scrooge asked. He wouldn’t ask, but she was always up for it.

Security at the bin was the same as usual. It always felt like there was a gap just for her - though obviously Scrooge wouldn’t be foolish enough as to leave his guard down for a professional thief. That being said, she was in his office quicker than usual, and a brief scan of the room told her she was alone.

“Huh,” Goldie breathed out, wiping her hand along his desk and taking a seat in his big chair. She spun around a few times, then stopped and looked at the different drawers. They were all locked, which didn’t change anything for her, but she knew this desk was mostly paperwork. Nothing of note, nothing of interest. Even a spare few dollar bills wasn’t worth the effort.

She stood up and walked over to the vault. It was closed, but perhaps Scrooge went for a more...private swim. That’d be fun to interrupt (and/or join in on). Her left shoulder made a terrible cracking sound as she slowly opened the door and she groaned a bit, popped her head in, and listened closely.

No sounds whatsoever.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Goldie groaned, rubbing at her shoulder and stepping fully into the vault. She looked up and down, left and right, but there was clearly no Scrooge to be found.

She sighed and closed the vault door on her way out in a sudden burst of politeness. Alright. Often Scrooge spent his Saturday afternoons catching up on work that he missed during adventures out of town. Apparently this was not one of those Saturday afternoons. Her shoulder was still a little sore, so Goldie decided to exit the normal way. Maybe someone would see her and call Scrooge to let him know. That’d be fine with her, she didn’t want to spend the whole day just looking for him.

But she had no such luck as it seemed the majority of his administrative employees weren’t working on a weekend. Made sense. Goldie poked her head into every other room to see if Scrooge was in a meeting or doing something or whatever, but he just...wasn’t there! It was agitating. Just a little bit.

The next door she spied was to the Archives. Goldie spent very little time in this room, since she had a pretty decent memory and didn’t need a piece of paper to remind her what year something happened in. Scrooge loved to talk about himself and his accomplishments, so there was rarely anything she needed to know that she didn’t already.

With a shrug, she entered the room anyway, considering the possibility that Scrooge could just be reading through old files like the old fogey he was. The door creaked loudly and almost immediately, Goldie made eye contact with the only other person there.

“What the…”

Goldie frowned as the other woman spoke and started walking towards her. This was not someone she’d had to interact with in a long time.

“Goldie O’Gilt, is that you?”

“Ah...Quackfaster. Nice to see you,” Goldie responded with a characteristic smirk. “Still working as Scrooge’s secretary, then?”

Quackfaster snorted and looked down at Goldie’s hands, clearly checking for stolen items. “Archivist. But you already knew that.”

“I did.”

Emily didn’t see anything on Goldie, and nothing near her seemed to be missing, so she turned around and headed back to her cart. “What are you doing here, O’Gilt? I know there’s nothing in this room you’d want to take.”

Goldie glided a finger against one of the shelves and cringed at the amount of dust that accumulated so quickly. “You can’t know that for sure.”

Her response was just a brief glare before she went back to filing.

“Alright, yeah,” Goldie stepped a bit closer, relishing in the way that Quackfaster flinched and reached for the sword that Goldie knew she had on her. “I’m just looking for Scrooge. Do you know where he is?”

“He’s not here,” Quackfaster said as she struggled to shove a certain book into a spot that was a little high up for her. “I assume, anyway. I haven’t seen him.”

Goldie rolled her eyes before reaching over and grabbing the book, getting on her tip-toes and putting it in its place. “Don’t you know his schedule, Secretary?”

“Archivists don’t keep schedules, Thief,” she scoffed. “Even if I knew where he was, I wouldn’t tell you. So have fun walking around town like a lovesick puppy.”

“Excuse me?” Goldie couldn’t contain her offense at the simile and proceeded to knock over Quackfaster’s cart of books before rushing out - leaving a loud crash and a pile of old papers in her wake.

Emily sighed and looked down at the pile. At her next salary meeting, she was definitely bringing this up.

Goldie, on the other hand, was back to business. That conversation had been entirely unhelpful and mostly unpleasant and very incorrect. Lovesick puppy? What was she, a teenager? She just wanted to see Scrooge so she could brag about her latest exploits - remind him of how nice it is to not be boggled down by family...maybe get some food. Sure, she loved him (or whatever), but she wasn’t sick over him. She wasn’t some kid in a bad romantic comedy. She was Goldie O’Gilt!

Quackfaster told her Scrooge wasn’t around, but she didn’t really know. And then, even she had, she might’ve told Goldie the opposite of the truth. There were a lot of angles to consider, as there usually was. So Goldie did what any sharp shooter would do - she decided to check out the last place in the Money Bin that Scrooge might be...the weird underwater lab.

--

She didn’t normally take elevators. They weren’t safe or secure. She could still remember when elevators first became a common thing...people became so reliant on them so quickly.

This was all she could think about in the slow, slow ride down to the lab where she was desperately hoping she’d find Scrooge. It’d be a shame to find out this trip to the Money Bin was a waste. If he wasn’t down here, she’d be stealing something for sure.

The doors opened and she was welcomed by two incredulous stares. She crossed her arms and stuck out her hip, staring back at them.

The two men looked at one another and then back at her.

“I don’t have time for this. Inter- er, Employee! Go!”

“Yes, Sir!”

Goldie stepped out of the elevator and looked around to see a distinct lack of Scrooge McDuck. She frowned. The shy-looking duck waddled up to her and smiled.

“Hi there! Welcome to Dr. Gearloose’s lab!” Fenton reached out a hand. “What can we do for you?”

She looked down at his hand and then back up at his face. “You seem familiar,” she said cautiously, grabbing his hand with two fingers and giving him a single shake before letting go. “...were you ever a Sheriff?”

“No, ma’am!” He didn’t give any sort of negative reaction to her odd question. “But mi mama is a police officer, so that’s close! Sort of!”

“Mama…” Goldie paused and put a hand to her beak in thought. “Oh! Are you Cabrera’s boy?”

“Wh…” Fenton blinked several times in surprise. “You know her?”

“You could say that,” Goldie said smugly. “We had a run-in a little over two decades ago. I remember you being much smaller.”

Fenton scrunched his face and considered her words, realizing after not long that this was someone on the other side of the law. “Um…”

She strode past him and towards the other man she’d seen earlier. “Is Scrooge here?”

Gyro sighed as loudly as possible before turning around to point in her face. “ Why would Mr. McDuck be here? This is a scientific laboratory, not a bin filled with coins.”

He realized briefly after speaking that this woman was familiar - familiar, as in, he’d met her just a few months ago for him and many many decades ago for her. Considering the recent controversies regarding unsanctioned time travel, Gyro started to sweat.

“Huh.” Goldie eyed him carefully. “You look familiar, too.”

“That’s not possible,” he said quickly. “I’ve never-”

“Gearloose, right? Any relation to Ratchet?”

He paused. “Uh...my grandfather?”

Goldie smacked him on his back. “I knew it! You’re his spitting image, you know that?” She laughed and continued to look around the room on the off chance that Scrooge was purposefully hiding from her. Why would he be? Who knows. Scrooge was a mystery sometimes. “Damn, I guess I owe Scroogey some money.”

“Why’s that?” Fenton asked, coming closer when he determined the intruder wasn’t a danger to the lab.

“Well, I bet Ratchet would die a virgin. Seems I lost.”

Fenton blushed and Gyro grumbled, turning back to his work, which Goldie just realized was also quite a bit familiar.

“Hey, I know this robot, too. This whole lab is turning into a trip down memory lane.”

“Hi! I’m Boyd!”

“Yes, I remember that,” she said with her eyes on the exit. “I’m guessing you’re not determined to kill anymore?”

Gyro glared at her and Boyd just clapped a hand to his cheek, producing a metal clang. “Aw geez, no I’m not! I’m sorry if you got hurt at Doofus’ party, Miss O’Gilt.”

Goldie shrugged and looked back at Fenton, who almost looked like he had a light bulb over his head. Or, well, actually. He did have a light bulb over his head. And then it jumped down onto his shoulder.

“O'Gilt! As in... Goldie O’Gilt?!”

“The one and only.”

She didn’t react as the light bulb jumped from him to her and then from her to the grumpy scientist behind her. She started to walk towards the door when she decided she’d made a mistake in coming here.

“You’re Mr. McDuck’s longtime, ah, paramour, one might say?” Fenton asked as he followed.

“One might.” She had to admit that it was interesting to know how Scrooge described her to his coworkers, but something told her that he’d never called her that.

“Then, from what I’ve read, you’re well over 100 years old, and I have never had the opportunity to ask Mr. McDuck about that, but I’m deeply fascinated!”

He started rambling, following Goldie the entire way to the elevator, and even stepping inside the elevator with her. She frowned deeply at this fact, and then there was the giant stone horse thing with Scrooge’s head clopping its way towards them that she very much wanted to get away from.

The talkative guy didn’t seem frightened by it, though - in fact, he waved at it as he continued to rant about chronological physics or whatever the hell was happening.

Not wanting to deal with this anymore, Goldie took this opportunity to grab Fenton back the back of his shirt and toss him towards the statue thing - repeatedly pressing the Close Door button on the elevator as fast as possible.

Fenton just squeaked and Manny caught him without a problem. “Hm...I guess I’ll have to save my questions for next time!”

Gyro barked at him from the other side of the lab. “There won’t be a next time! This lab needs to be more secure!”

Goldie breathed out a sigh of relief as the elevator dinged and she was back to being surrounded by no one and nobody. The Bin was still mostly empty and she was very happy with that. Though now she’d have to make her way over to the manor - where she was more likely to run into Bentina. After their last interaction, she knew it wouldn’t go well and didn’t want to deal with it. She’d just have to do her best to avoid the kitchen.

She headed out the front door, but on spotting a security camera, Goldie smirked and looked around for something to take. She spotted a few umbrellas sitting in a holder by the door, and shrugged. Something was better than nothing. Plus, it was getting kind of cloudy out there. So she grabbed the nicest looking one and stepped outside.

The clouds didn’t seem as thick once she left the building, but whatever. The umbrella was going to be hers either way. And now she had an annoying journey to the manor - normally she’d find a faster way over there, but the streets were pretty empty and she didn’t have any of her fancier gear on-hand.

So: walking it was.

Her knees started to hurt after only a minute. The road she was on was not made for feet, it was made for wheels! Why didn’t Gearloose or Cabrera or Quackfaster have a car she could steal? Were they all commuters? Did Scrooge pay any of his employees well enough to afford a car?

Just as all these complaints were charging through her brain, Goldie was cut off by the sudden sight of a familiar limo coming up towards her. She couldn’t contain the big smile on her face as she stepped in front of it - bringing the car to a halt.

She brushed invisible dirt off her pants and posed - leaning gracefully on the umbrella - in anticipation of Scrooge coming out to greet her.

Instead, a tall, muscular man stepped out of the driver’s seat and rushed towards her.

“Whoa! I almost hit you!”

Goldie sighed and stood up straight. “Is Scrooge with you?”

“Huh? No, he-” Launchpad pouted as he looked down at her, clearly dealing with the gears in his head turning a little faster than usual as they deciphered the data in front of him. “Oh, man! You're Mrs. McDuck!”

“Mrs....” Goldie looked like she’d bitten into a lemon. “I’m not -”

“I was just on my way to visit Fenton, Mrs. McD! But I could take you back to the manor instead, if you want!” He took off his hat and held it to his chest, looking a little nervous. “Please don’t be mad I almost hit you. It wasn’t that bad!”

“You didn’t-! I’m not…” Goldie was so confused by his assumptions that she didn’t even know where to start. But...a good con always knew where the benefits began. “...alright. Sure. Fine. Mrs. McDuck won’t say anything to Scrooge if you drive me back to the manor and not say a word about this to anyone. Does that work for you?”

“Oh, yes ma’am!” Launchpad quickly stepped back and opened up the back door for her so she could slide in. He closed the door on her foot and she scowled - leading to another slew of apologies before he closed the door for real.

She sighed and looked out the car window, feeling like she’d lost her touch. Usually she just knew where Scrooge was. Right away, she was always able to find him. And this was going to be one of those days where she ran around like a chicken without its head.

Launchpad was humming along to a tune on the radio, and Goldie felt the urge to have him change it to something more her style. But she wasn’t here to put on a show. She needed to find something else to focus on.

“Who told you to call me Mrs. McDuck?”

The redhead lowered the radio volume and looked at her in the mirror. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” She shuffled a bit in her seat. “Did Scrooge tell you to call me that?”

There was quiet in the car for a minute as Launchpad seemed to be thinking about her question. She was ready to tell him to forget it when he finally spoke up again.

“I don’t remember! But I don’t think so,” he said with a nod. “Did I do something wrong? Do you still use your maiden name? Or should I call you something else?”

Goldie didn’t respond to that as she looked down at the seat next to her and noticed a stray white feather. She reached down and picked it up, realizing immediately that it was Scrooge’s. A hint of an embarrassed blush came to her cheeks as she tossed the feather back down - being able to recognize the smell of Scrooge on a single feather was ridiculous.

“No,” she finally said, deciding that the unfamiliar warmth spreading through her chest was kind of...nice. “That’s fine.”

[justalitlecreacher]

I’m here to prove that Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Spider-man/peter parker in The Amazing Spider-Man is objectively the best love action adaptation of the character. In this essay I will....(yes this is really happening)

Edit: 10/20/20- i want to indulge myself in spiderman content but finding non mcu spiderman content is exhausting so imma update this instead

TL;DR

Andrew Garfield is my favorite of the 3 Spider-Man actors. TAS’s Peter is more fun and dynamic than the cookie cutter “shy introverted nerd that has a crush on a girl who’s way out of his league” Peter in Tobey Maguire’s movies. I enjoy Tom Holland’s portrayal of the character, but hate the way Disney has written the movies.  I enjoy the characters, plot, and humor of The Amazing Spider-Man far more than the other 2, and i deeply wish we had gotten the third movie with the canon BIder-Man of Andrew’s (and my) dreams.

[DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NOT SEEN THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN 2 OR ANY MCU SPIDERMAN MOVIES OUTSIDE OF CLIPS AND REVIEWS ITS ALSO BEEN A VERY HOT MINUTE SINCE IVE SEEN A TOBEY MAGUIRE MOVIE]

Characterization

  Most arguments against Andrew Garfield’s Spidey( AG’s from now on) begin and ends with “he was a good Spider-Man but a bad Peter Parker”. This references an outdated post comparing all three Spidey actors.(Id attach the image here but i dont want the post to be too long(thats a lie this is so long what am i doing with my life)) The post also claims that Tobey played a good Peter and a poor Spidey; and that Tom is good at both “roles”.(Honestly I think it seems silly that this seems obey the “third time’s the charm” rule but thats just me).  Most people using this seem to be Tobey stans who have forgotten or ignored the rest of the post funnily enough, but the ones that go further into the WHY AG is a poor Peter are also incorrect. This argument also ignores the idea that there can be more than one version of Peter Parker which is blatantly incorrect.  Just look at Into the Spiderverse or the PS4 game; these provide 4(5 if you count the pig) versions of Peter themselves, and that doesnt even include the comics. 

 Arguments that go further in depth claim that the AS Peter is too cool or well liked by his peer to be a “true” Peter Parker. The evidence for this seems to be that Peter has a skateboard.(which what? didnt realize that having a skateboard would instantly make you cool brb guys). Adding to that i dont really see where people get the idea that Peter is popular or well liked. While looking for complaints i found this qutoe from reddit(theyve since deleted it looks like but i’ll add a link in the notes) “He's angsty, pretty socially awkward, has an aptitude for science, and is kind of an outsider. He gets bullied by Flash and he gets his ass kicked after trying to stand up to Flash. He isn't a "cool" person in any way (until the ending, in which he's best buds with Flash, so I'll give you that). While Maguire is more accurate to the 60s comics where Peter in high school is just a fucking loser with basically no friends, in the ultimate comics, Peter is more of the kid who has a small amount of friends, but isn't popular.”. Honesty i fully agree with this because once again, other versions of a character are allowed to exist. You can dislike one version, but its silly to dislike something for not being exactly like another thing.

Ive also heard that Peter isnt “nerdy enough” in this movie which really doesnt make any sense considering the entire plot happens because Peter was looking into some of his parents’ research. If he wasn't interested in looking further into his father’s work what reason would he have to go to Oscorp where he’s bitten by the spider? Why would he have become Dr. Conner’s assistant? If he wasn’t intelligent how did he develop the web shooters?(something that Tobey!Peter doesn't have to do out of plot convenience might i add).  

 Another complaint i see is that the quips he uses in the movie(the first one specifically it seems) makes him seem like an asshole. Honestly thats a fair complaint, but i think its a good bit of characterization; espcially if he does get better about it in the second movie like the internet suggests.The Peter in this movie is a rightfully angsty teen; of course he acts a bit of an ass to criminals(also i feel like its important to mention that he’s like that to criminals? its not like hes being a dick for no reason).

  Compare this with the Tobey Maguire(TM) movies. Like i said i haven’t seen these in awhile but as far as i’m aware TM’s Peter doesn't really do anything particularly nerdy in the film? I may have forgotten something( ok in the scene before he gets bitten he knows a cool spider fact) but he doesn’t have to invent the web-shooters because they came with his powers and he’s only at Oscorp in the first place because it’s a school field trip that he appears to be taking photos for. This Peter does fit the definition of outcast(friendless and bullied for it), but honestly i just dont like him. He’s weird and something about the character makes me feel like i should be a little grossed out every time he looks at MJ at the beginning of the movie.  

   I honestly don’t have any complaints for Tom Holland’s(TH’s)Spidey. Tom is a great actor and from what ive seen i enjoy his portrayal of the character.( He made me cry when i character i actively dislike died).  

Story

  I cant really say much for TAS story. It’s interesting but nothing special really. However, there is one scene that i don’t think i’ve seen anything like since( the closest would probably be the train scene in the original trilogy). 

 The crane scene. Early in the film Peter saves a boy from a car that has fallen off of a bridge, and at the end of the movie this becomes relevant again when it is uncertain that Peter will be able to get to the lizard to stop him in time.(as Peter is already injured and pretty far from the lizard’s location). The boy’s father is then revealed to be a construction worker who recognizes that Spider-man is going to need help to get to the lizard; he remembers how Spider-Man saved his son and organizes the rest of the construction workers to build a path out of crane arms for SM to swing from. All of them are putting themselves in danger by not evacuating, but SM’s actions in the first act of the film motivate them to do what’s right. 

  I love this scene primarily because it highlights something that i think is a really important part of Spider-Man’s character; his connection to the people he saves. SM is often shown interacting with and chatting with the people he has saved after the fact. One comic shows Peter accidentally scaring some bullies and then taking the time to ride the bus to school with them to continue their conversation and educate the students on bullying.( There’s definitely more but this is off the top of my head).

  Another scene in TAS that i love is shortly before the crane scene when Peter is originally attempting to make his way across the city to stop the lizard, and he is shot down by the police. They manage to unmask him before Peter comes to his senses( he had just been shot and fallen pretty far out of the sky in his defense). From there Peter is able to deal with the police while keeping any of them from getting a good look at his face. The one cop he cant take out happens to be Gwen Stacey’s father who had previously had an argument with Peter about Spider-Man(Peter obviously on SM’s side and Mr. Stacey against SM). Peter turns and allows Captain(?) Stacey to see his face. I believe that this is an example of an unwilling identity reveal done right. i really enjoyed this moment because Peter had just shown that he likely could have gotten out of this encounter with his identity in tact as he had just taken down however many men. This implies that it was an active choice on Peter’s end to trust that Captain Stacey would ultimately do the right thing and allow Peter to go fight the Lizard, rather than a final desperate attempt to get away unscathed. Whether or not this interpretation of the scene is correct or not it still gives the character a bit more agency than some versions have done with their identity reveals.

  In Spider-Man 2 Peter starts to lose his powers because he’s having internal conflict about wether or not he should be Spider-Man. Honestly thats kinda neat and i might want to give that a rewatch. As for the one i have seen i don’t have any complaints. I do however prefer the way that Peter was bitten in TAS because it was a result of him poking around where he shouldn’t’ve been rather than him just happening to be standing in the right place for a spider to land on him. 

  Onto TH’s movies; the way Disney has treated Spidey in the MCU is why TH’s is my least favorite version of the character. I feel like too much of the story revolves around Iron Man; Iron Man made Peter’s suit and equipment, Iron Man introduces Peter to the MCU(via blackmail but thats another rant for another annoyingly long post), its Iron Man that “makes” Spidey in this universe rather than Spidey being self-made. In Homecoming(which remember i havent seen outside of clips so bear with me) most of the conflict is cause directly or indirectly by Tony’s refusal or inabilty to communicate with the teenager he’s meant to be mentoring

 For one the entire incident with the ferry could have very easily been avoided had Tony bothered to communicate with Peter enough to tell him that the situation was being taken care of. On top of that at the moive’s climax Peter is shown trying to get in contact with Happy(from what ive picked up isnt he a chauffeur? like idk his deal i just know he’s someone Peter got pawned off onto after Civil War). Peter even goes as far as to somehow hack into Happy’s phone(i think thats what happened it was a weird tech thing that shouldve been a red flag that the call was important though) but instead of listening; Peter is ignored. If this was a different kind of movie Peter literally could have died and itd be the fault of Happy and Tony like..... A large portion of conflict comes from characters being incompetent and not communicating and thats just poor storytelling.

Before this turns too much into an anti mcu rant id also like to say that the way they did Civil War was really dumb considering that Peter defects to Cap’s side in the comics, but whatever.

 Also i loathe the way they handled the identity reveal at the end of Far From Home. With MCU movies most people know to expect an end credits scene by now, but typically that scene is not important to understand what’s happening in the films; they just aren’t important. Putting an identity reveal here makes it seem significantly less important than it is. On top of that i dislike their use of J Jonah Jameson for this scene.

  JJJ is a character who has been repeatedly shown to have a genuinely good heart. All of his anger comes from a place of love for his city(he even says this hemself in the ps4 game when May writes in to tell him that he needs help). He hates Spider-Man because SM reminds him of the masked man who killed his wife; JJJ has never been able to get past that( and Peter’s antagonism of him definitely doesnt help) However, JJJ has been shown to care for people; he has a son who he often brags about, and one comic shows that JJJ is paying Peter for “amateur” quality photos because he knows that Peter is having a hard time and “just need some help”. JJJ has even learned Peter’s identity before and kept his secret for him(seriously though i cant remember the name of the comic but its defiantly worth the read), and in the original trilogy when Goblin threatens JJJ he claims that he doesn’t know who sends in the photos of Spidey because he does it via email( this is a lie). The MCU will have a very difficult time convincing me that JJJ would ever out a teenager’s identity and put him in danger like that. It goes too far against his character.(this could be hypocritical of me to say considering how i just insisted that multiple versions of a character can exist but whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) 

This is accidentally turning into an MCU rant but id also like to say that i hate the lack of a TH!Spidey origin movie because it gives you no motivaion for Peter becoming SM or explanation of his powers; most people will know these things but if youre unfamiliar with the character its bound to be confusing(and im a sucker for origin movies)

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

The Hate Project by Kris Ripper

The Love Study #2

 Adored this Carina Adores romance! It had me smiling, caring, chuckling, and hoping for the best for two rather prickly characters. I will say that the story grew on me and I was not enamored at all by the end of the first chapter BUT by the end of the second chapter I was invested and wanted to know what would happen.

 What I liked:

* The slow build of the relationship

* That the two men were not “easy” to love from the first moment you met them

* The group of friends that go by a name that would be censored if I typed it in her…they are there for one another no matter what.

* Being able to read and understand this book without having read book one in the series first

* Stepping into a world that is not my own

* Oscar: anxiety plagued, quirky, caring, organized, interesting, a person that as explained helped me understand better someone I know.

* Jack: bright, cautious, caring, loves his grandmother, a person with potential that is tapped in this story.

* That both characters became more and more real as I read, I was invested in them and their HEA was something I truly wanted them to achieve.

* Evelyn: Jack’s grandmother is a character and oh so lovable!

* The way the hoarding aspect of the story was handled

* Finding out what “The Secret” was

* All of it really except…

 What I didn’t like:

* Having to say goodbye to the characters when the book ended…

 Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin-Carina Adores for the ARC – This is my honest review.

 5 Stars

The Hate Project by Kris Ripper is available in eBook, trade paperback and audiobook formats on April 27th!

  BOOK DESCRIPTION

This arrangement is either exactly what they need--or a total disaster

 Oscar is a grouch.

 That’s a well-established fact among his tight-knit friend group, and they love him anyway.

 Jack is an ass.

 Jack, who’s always ready with a sly insult, who can’t have a conversation without arguing, and who Oscar may or may not have hooked up with on a strict no-commitment, one-time-only basis. Even if it was extremely hot.

 Together, they’re a bickering, combative mess.

 When Oscar is fired (answering phones is not for the anxiety-ridden), he somehow ends up working for Jack. Maybe while cleaning out Jack’s grandmother’s house they can stop fighting long enough to turn a one-night stand into a frenemies-with-benefits situation.

 The house is an archaeological dig of love and dysfunction, and while Oscar thought he was prepared, he wasn’t. It’s impossible to delve so deeply into someone’s past without coming to understand them at least a little, but Oscar has boundaries for a reason—even if sometimes Jack makes him want to break them all down.

 After all, hating Jack is less of a risk than loving him…

 The Love Study

Book 1: The Love Study (available now!)

Book 2: The Hate Project (available April 27)

Book 3: The Life Revamp (coming November 30)

  Add The Hate Project to your Goodreads!

   EXCERPT

I’d never had friends until college. And even then, I wouldn’t have had friends except that Ronnie and I were freshman year roommates (before she transitioned, obviously), and she was friends with Dec and Mase and Mia, and they came around a lot and just sort of looped me in. It happened slowly over that first year and suddenly I had…friends.

What’s that thing with snake poison, where you take it in small doses every day to grow your immunity to it? That’s what happened with the Motherfuckers. Eventually I built up a tolerance to their, like, happiness and friendliness and optimism. Now my brain just recognizes them as a part of me. The same thing probably happened to them: eventually they built up a tolerance to my moods and freak-outs.

The most important thing you need to know about my friends is that they’re all way better people than I am. You can tell because they threw me a pity party. There’s the aforementioned Declan and Sidney, who got together during the commission of a video series called The Love Study on Sidney’s YouTube channel. Then there’s Mia and Ronnie, disgustingly married to each other. And the last of the official Motherfuckers is Mason, who once tried to get married (to Dec) and was left at the altar (by Dec). Which was awkward for a while, but now it’s fine. Though of all of us Mase is the one who wants a white picket fence and 2.5 kids.

Sounds fucking awful to me, but to each his own, I don’t judge, whatever floats your life raft, et cetera.

Since I didn’t want to get my impotent rage-slash-panic germs on anyone, I took up a seat in the corner and didn’t leave it except to use the bathroom and acquire victuals. By which I mean vegan, gluten-free, cauliflower-based pizza that turned out to be delicious. It used to be that my friends had an informal rotation for who’d sit with me, trading off for the duration of the social event, but that was before Jack. Jack was new to the group. Dec had collected him from work, and for reasons I didn’t understand (I would have suspected sexual favors if I didn’t know better), he kept mostly showing up to drinks with the Motherfuckers. And was now also on the invite list for ad hoc gatherings to celebrate catastrophic job loss.

Jack and I had no other setting with each other than arguing. Since neither of us was all that nice (and everyone else in the Motherfuckers was very nice), it worked out. He thinks he knows everything, I definitely know everything, and even though for the most part we would arrive at the same point from different angles, we spent most of our fights poking at each other’s angles to prove they were incorrect.

I probably shouldn’t have been surprised when it turned out bickering was actually foreplay.

Since the party was in my honor I was obligated to stay through dinner, and I did. In my corner. Weathering the well-intended reassurances of my friends was hard enough, but when Dec brought out one of those quirky adult card games where kittens exploded I had to get the hell out of there. Too much goodness on a bad day.

Jack apparently had a similar thought. It wasn’t the first time we’d made our escape at the same moment. This time, instead of parting ways on the sidewalk with a lukewarm we know each other through friends wave, both of us stopped.

He stopped a second before I did, which I immediately decided made him more desperate. It wasn’t charitable, but I believe in keeping track of who has the advantage in any encounter. Even a one-off.

“I live ten minutes away,” he said.

“Good for you.”

His lips twisted a little, from not-smile to not-impressed. “This is a pity fuck, Oscar. Take it or leave it.” With that he turned and made for a black two-door something-something on the other side of the street.

I hesitated. For about five seconds. But following up a pity party with a pity fuck sounded about right. “Just to clarify,” I called as I caught up with him, “I don’t do relationships.”

He hit a button that unlocked his car. “Just to clarify, I’m not offering one.”

Carina Adores is home to highly romantic contemporary love stories featuring beloved romance tropes, where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters.

 A new Carina Adores title is available each month in trade paperback, ebook and audiobook formats.

●      The Hideaway Inn by Philip William Stover (available now!)

●      The Girl Next Door by Chelsea M. Cameron (available now!)

●      Just Like That by Cole McCade (available now!)

●      Hairpin Curves by Elia Winters (available now!)

●      The Love Study by Kris Ripper (available now!)

●      The Secret Ingredient by KD Fisher (available now!)

●      Just Like This by Cole McCade (available now!)

●      Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking for Love by Kim Fielding (available now!)

●      Best Laid Plans by Roan Parrish (available now!)

●      Hard Sell by Hudson Lin (coming May 25)

●      For the Love of April French by Penny Aimes (coming August 31)

●      Sailor Proof by Annabeth Albert (coming September 28)

●      Meet Me in Madrid by Verity Lowell (coming October 26)

●      The Life Revamp by Kris Ripper (coming November 30)

  Buy The Hate Project by Kris Ripper Links

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335509178_the-hate-project.html

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781335509178

Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Love-Study-The-Hate-Project-2-Reissue-Edition-Paperback-9781335509178/964923621

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hate-Project-Love-Study-Book-ebook/dp/B08FBCCK63

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hate-project-kris-ripper/1138917233

Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-hate-project/id1526452840

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kris_Ripper_The_Hate_Project?id=qpv1DwAAQBAJ

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-hate-project

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kris Ripper lives in the great state of California and zir pronouns are ze/zir. Kris shares a converted garage with a kid, can do two pull-ups in a row, and can write backwards. (No, really.) Ze has been writing fiction since ze learned how to write, and boring zir stuffed animals with stories long before that.

 Connect with the Author

Website: https://krisripper.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/405062456366636/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kris_Ripper

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krisripper/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8053438.Kris_Ripper

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kris-Ripper

[cr-scribbles]

🔪Children:Rekindled Review Chapter  4🔪

Wow, it’s surely been a while since I’ve posted one of these, right? Well welcome back to my Children: Rekindled Review! I went away from this for a bit due to losing motivation to keep on going with these, but due to Children: Rekindled taking up most of my life again and I can’t escape from it, I’m back!

This time, we are going over chapter 4 which is definitely one of my favorites! I love most of the chapters for many reasons and I hope those are went over well during this. This review is going to be much more of me rambling on about the certain situation they are in now since I just spent an entire day writing this at some point and forgot to post it here. The second part is coming soon as well, although it might take a bit.

Here’s the link to the comic itself if you want to read it!! I highly suggest doing so -> http://children-rekindled.top/?c=1&p=1 <-

And also the three other reviews I did which I suggest checking out if you haven’t already!

https://cr-scribbles.tumblr.com/post/190279246139/cr-incorrect-quotes-hello-welcome-to-my-first

https://cr-scribbles.tumblr.com/post/190281892974/cr-incorrect-quotes-oh-no-whats-this-its

https://cr-scribbles.tumblr.com/post/190287963009/cr-incorrect-quotes-i-need-to-go-to-school Let’s begin again, shall we?

Starting right off, Sammy is already being a heckie! Well sort of. While I understand how he wants Michael to come along to listen, he should also realize that pushing it a bit more would just make things worse! Either way though, surely an interesting way to start a chapter. As someone who has read the original, I already knew what this was going to be about when I read the first line since of course that plan is murder. I just didn't expect it to immediately start off with some interaction between Sammy and Michael? I have been loving their interactions recently and especially the one in Chapter 5.

WONDERFUL THING TO DROP ONTO MICHAEL SO QUICKLY HUH?? It would have been funny to be if it wasn't. Like Sammy just says that and Michael is like 'nah I'm just feeling sad because I blame myself for this' and then it's just awkward. What a turn of events that would be! Either way though, Sammy knows something is up and honestly it makes me wonder how much he really knows. He already knows the fact that they don't care about them so would there be anything else? I wonder if that is gonna be expanded on later, but who knows! Sammy probably does. Thinking about Sammy finding that out and only being six years old is heartbreaking to me as well. If he was alone during the time he was able to see that/wrap his head around it, that must have been a really hard time for him. At this point, I just wanna know more about what Sammy went through in the past, but is my babey heart ready? No.

For one, Sammy yet again shows the fact that he knows a lot more going on than he probably should and honestly that has me quite interested. I wonder if he just listens in to conversations that the others have quite often, although with the more recent chapters, he can't really do that at the moment huh- What Sammy says in the middle panel really makes a strong point! It's sad just knowing that this company will hide the fact that multiple murders have happened there, just to save themselves. It's so understandable as to why Michael doesn't want to believe any of this. Once you realize the fact that the company is really this bad, everything just falls apart. I'm sure he's feeling absolutely awful now! Oh no!

Sammy saying that Michael isn't the only one has me curious. Is he referring to himself not wanting to believe it either in the past or something else like the others? I wonder if he believes it's just a common feeling that someone shouldn't believe this is all going on and that's why he says that Michael isn't the only one. I really just hope Michael is going to be ok since being alone with your own thoughts already isn't that great on it's own, but being alone with all of those thoughts about the fact that you brought your friends to their deaths and also yours on your own birthday? That must be awful. I just wonder how Michael is doing even after this chapter, but after it ends, when we actually see him again, it's a week after.

For the first panel, of course he gIVES EVERYONE THE CREEPS, HIS FIRST INTRODUCTION WAS SO STRANGE?? Like he got out of a puppet and was laughing like a crazy person before going to his friendly little self. Being alone in this place for who knows how long really does something to your head and I'm sure of that. I really wonder how long they even think he had been there before he tells them? Also I find it interesting and even a bit funny how no one even seems happy in the slightest when he comes. I mean of course being dead surely does something, but everyone just seems upset that this isn't going to be as important as he's saying or just nervous. Poor Daniel can't even see what's going on even still which already has me sobbing!

OH GOD OH FUC WHY IS THERE THREE SAMMYS OH NO THEY'RE MULTIPLYING all jokes aside, I really do like the little detail of drawing Sammy three times in the first panel. I know it's most likely supposed to show his emotions throughout each of the lines he says and it surely does it well! A personal favorite of mine has always been the one in the middle. I don't know what it is about it, but it has that expression that just draws me in! Sammy all straightened up an with open eyes,, me and the boys love him! I also adore that smile of his a lot!! He looks so smug when he's saying that, just poking fun at his own wounded heart like it's nothing. We do get some more for Sammy which is nice! I really want to see one day how he was even like when he first came there, but that is for another day! I wonder if the way Sammy is not getting to the point right away is causing the others to get somewhat worried about what he's going to say. I would surely be impatient if someone made me wait all day and then just doesn't get to the point, but then again, maybe him just going over it slowly was good to settle them into the fact that they're going to murder soon. Saying it right away would have been much more of a chaotic time because they would have thought he was joking or something.

We finally find out that Sammy can actually take out his knife! What a wonderful thing, but I wonder how painful it is! It's basically taking apart some wound you had gotten, but I would if the pain that was already there increases any bit when he takes it out. If he has to put it back in later, would that hurt as well? It would surely be painful if anything changed with the position, but then again, his appearance and how he was before he died never really changes so I'm sure it just goes back into place. Either way, the feeling must be surely painful! It's like dying all over again by placing the knife right back into the wound that had killed you before. Everyone also lOOKS SO SCARED AND I WANT TO HUG THEM ALL SFDJGFDS Yet again, poor Daniel can't even see what's happening, but I'm sure from his expression that he knows something is definitely off. Sammy laughing and Bianca putting her arm around Daniel to make sure he's safe could have obviously made him realize that something is definitely not right here. Francis also protects Charlie and honestly I love that so much! Francis is a caring boy to Charlie and my poor babey heart just goes sfjdhgfsd

UHH MR SAMMY??? THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT WHAT THEY WANTED!! PLEASE RECONSIDER YOUR OPTION- I adore how his page looks though! The stab wound detail where his knife would be and also his eyes is just such cool details to add! The white and red also shows the intensity of this page, obviously being like 'this is something that is very important', since that is often what the white pages have been. First it was the deaths, not it was Sammy telling them that they have to kill the guard! Sammy convinces you to start killing guards ASMR I also like how this is how it's introduced that Sammy is insane! It's not like the original where he just ends up talking to himself and we all know immediately that trusting him is not a good idea, but in this, a new reader wouldn't really know fully till this scene which is a great place to reveal it! The hints were there, but this is where it's fully confirmed.

Francis being the first to react is so reasonable to me especially considering his personality already. He is so protective, yet can also be aggressive and not really up for taking what people say. When Sammy is just telling them to murder, I'm sure Francis is showing his shock through absolute anger. Sammy basically just told them that what they need to do is be just like their murderer and go and murder innocent people! That's not good at all! Poor kids need someone to get them out of there, but of course no one is there for them. Also I love how Sammy still has those spiral eyes! I love that detail a lot and adore how it stays throughout his insanity since it really makes him terrifying. I always just imagined that it's either constantly swirling or even pulsating. Either one is terrifying to imagine, but it's also great because it fits him and his evil self so much.

"Until we find the right one" So basically they just plan on killing innocent people for the sake of being free? I really wonder if there is a better way to do that than doing this. If the murderer is even smart, he would see the deaths of the night guards and begin to realize that something is going on. He would avoid taking the night guard shift because he wouldn't want to take that same fate. Even if they're hiding bodies, that is still so many people that they are going to end up murdering and stuffing all because they are attempting to find someone so they can be free. It's so sad to think about all the lives that are destroyed due to these murders, but then again, all of them had to go through the same, merciless fate. It's really sad to think about. Also I still adore how the puppet and even Sammy looks. The puppet has such a eerie and terrifying energy to it, especially with the cracks along the mask that are near it's eyes. The teeth in the mouth are also terrifying as though there is something inside of there. It makes me curious as to how it's moving. Could Sammy just possess it while talking about this conversation? If so then he's fast. I also love how the pictures in the background even changed! They look absolutely terrifying back there, just the puppet's face with those teeth and the eyes. It stares into the soul if you look long enough. Also can't Sammy just possess one of the other animatronics? If he wanted to use something stronger than the puppet, he could have just done that, but who knows.

Something I really quickly wanted to point out is how much denial Charlie has been in so far. First it was her thinking that when Sammy said they were dead, it was all a dream. Now it's her not wanting to believe any of this is real. Honestly I really just want her and the others to be ok. This isn't a good situation at all and seeing them all just completely freak out is so sad to me. Like Bianca looks absolutely in shock that she had really waited all day, only to be given the option that they were going to become murderers to find their own murderer. Before, they thought they would only be there for a week or so, but this is much worse. All it is is chance. They could possibly get the murderer in a week, or they could get the murderer in a couple years. Or never depending on if the murderer ever even becomes a guard in the end. They could just be stuck there, having killed so many people, and never actually find the one that had killed them. While Sammy is reasonable to think that the world is unfair cause yes they did die and they were all innocent, but that does not mean that murder is ok. They should be more open for a choice that isn't just going around and killing innocent people till they find the right one, but in the end, from how the fnaf story goes, that is what they end up doing and it's really sad to me.

oHOHO FRANCIS HAS SNAPPED!! BABEY BOY STARTED SWEARING, LET'S GOOOO Bianca is really not wrong with her statement either. I'm sure it is really horrible to be waiting for something all day and in the end, it's just someone trying to convince you that murdering innocent people to find your murderer is ok. I'm sure especially upon hearing that he has been doing this for around 10 years, everyone is terrified because they thought they would be getting out of this quickly. Back in Chapter 3, it was shown how absolutely exhausted everyone was and how impatient they were with waiting till the night. They're going to have to wait much longer than just one day and that is probably scary. Having to stay with this constant pain for years on end. I wonder how alone Sammy was. Was he really alone for 10 years? I thought at least by then, he would have entirely snapped to no return, but apparently he still has a good hold of himself if he wants to be kind. Also it's even more going along the fact that Sammy is insane cause while they are all yelling at him, he's just trying to balance the knife on his finger! His poor finger that is being stabbed by the point of the knife. I wonder if he's numb to stabbing at this point. Throughout the years, I'm sure he would be by now. aLSO OH NO THIS IS THE SADDEST PART OF THIS ENTIRE CHAPTER IM GONNA SOBBB Daniel just beginning to realize that they might be here for a while and Sammy just proceeding to make it worse has my heart. Daniel doesn't deserve any of this! None of them do! But they are still here and the fact that they will probably not leave for so long really is something scary, especially for Daniel. I'm sure for all of them, it's bad, but him being someone who can't see and will have to stay along with that for years to come must really be terrifying. Poor boy needs a hug right now.

This is the second time Daniel has genuinely broke down and it really is a sad sight to see. This time though, it was much worse because he actually fell to the ground since in the last panel, him and Bianca are sitting and he's leaning into her, with his hands covering his face. I wonder exactly why he places his hands in front of his face. Was it a habit he used to do when he was alive where whenever he was about to cry, he would try hiding his face so that no one would see? It would surely be sad since I'm sure putting his hands along his empty eye sockets already hurts enough and is just a constant reminder that he really has nothing in there apart from the blood and flesh that is exposed. Daniel went from doing alright before back in Chapter 3, although he did have some emotional content when thinking about Mina, to him just entirely breaking down over the fact that he is going to have to stay there for so long and he really doesn't want to. Also the others have to understand that if Sammy has been there for 10 years, killing people would definitely just become a normal thing for him which is why it's not 'such a big deal'. Everyone is about to break down into tears and it's so sad to see here. Bianca is the only one that has not shown any sign of being about to break down and honestly I congratulate her for that. Probably one of the reasons for why she is one of my favorite characters is because she is always there for the others when they can't handle the situations going on. I relate to her character or at least my past self does because helping others instead of caring about my own mental health was a habit. I really wonder if we are ever going to get a scene where Bianca genuinely breaks down after she had been there for everyone else in the past and she just gets some comfort from Daniel that time since she had been helping him the most. I really want to either write, draw, or end up seeing that in the comic because that sort of content always has my heart.

Wait a moment- Was Francis actually about to beat up Sammy just then before Bianca stopped him? That would have been really funny if he did, I do want to see someone put some sense into that insane boy. I wonder if Sammy is actually wrong when saying that they don't have a choice. Is there another way they could do this that isn't just going and killing innocent people until they find the right person? They could always try waiting till the murderer comes back to kill and then going after him then, but if that was possible, why wouldn't Sammy have just done that in the first place when the others were dying? I'm sure they were loud enough for him to hear, yet he didn't come to the rescue at all to get them and instead, only appeared when they came out of it. He would want to leave as much as them so of course he would take any opportunity he got to go kill their killer, but he didn't do a thing in the end and now they're all stuck here. I really wonder what happened. I really wonder how Bianca and Daniel are both feeling when hearing them yelling at each other. I'm sure Daniel is not having a nice time at all, especially once hearing what they were saying in the first panel about being stuck there forever. His trembling is just getting worse, poor babey. I'm so glad Bianca is being there for him to give him a protective hug, but apparently it really has done something to her too due to her comforting energy collapsing as she begins to cry. Poor girl also needs a big hug and it makes me so sad that they both just have to sit there and hear this while everyone else is about to beat one another up. Her offering to do it is what Sammy wanted, but I'm sure it's not how he expected this entire thing to go. I don't know what else he expected though, to be completely honest.

Oh the first panel always hurts because you can just see the disbelief for a moment of Charlie's face as she proceeded what she just heard. Sammy also seems pretty surprised which is funny to me because he was the one who wanted to do all of this in the first place. I wonder when that eye effect stopped going over him too since by the time his eyes are shown again, they are gone. Did they leave just now or were they gone by the time he was arguing with Charlie and Francis about everything. I'm so curious as to when it even will show up again, but I love those eyes a lot. What an interesting ghost he is. The blood on Daniel's face looks like it's so much more than before and honestly that hurts a lot. Either it's just more detail on the blood or it's there to show he had been crying before and that made the blood just flow a lot more than it usually did. Either way though, the way he reacts to how Bianca is going to go kill the guard has me so sad. She was the one that was protecting and holding onto him and all she wants is for all of them to be ok, but now she is going and doing exactly what Sammy wanted her to do. Poor Bianca doesn't even realize that it's not going to be ok, especially from what she ends up saying later on in Chapter 5 about this night. It really saddens me how Daniel is just seeing his own best friend go and kill all to make them feel better. I wonder if he feels so helpless at the moment since there isn't much he can do to change Bianca's mind.

I am afraid no one would be joking about the fact that they are going to go murder some possibly innocent person for the sake of their friends being free. I feel so bad for them all since just reading through this page makes me realize how terrified they are of Bianca doing this. Of course no one would believe being murdered on a special day and then coming back as a ghost, only to be told that they need to murder people to actually leave, but what could have prepared them for that either way? Bianca just looks so serious and done with what Sammy had to say. I'm so surprised she is just able to get away those tears so quickly to stand in front of her friends and tell them what she wants to do. She's doing it so that they can have a chance at being free and if it doesn't work, they don't need to worry about it anymore and can just move on to something else that could let them be free. I still don't know exactly what they would try to get that, but either way, it would be a lot better than killing people hopefully. Daniel's small "What if the guy is innocent" is honestly a line I really want to draw because that is most likely something that is on all of their minds. Anyone they harm could be entirely innocent and they are just taking someone else away just like how they were taken. It's so sad knowing how these kids end up getting later on in the story and how they no longer act like this later. I just want to hug all of them and tell them that there is going to be a happy ending..or at least Daniel, Bianca, Sammy, and Francis. I don't think Charlie and Michael could really be hugged anymore.

Oh I absolutely adore this page since we get to see how Sammy goes from being this crazy murderer who is trying to convince everyone to this small child that is afraid Bianca might actually hurt him. Something else I really wanna draw one day is Bianca just looming over Sammy since she is obviously MUCH taller than him, especially in the first panel. If Sammy takes another bad move, he would definitely be hurt by her and that would surely be something interesting to watch. Could ghosts even get hurt? If they have the form they had before they died and it stays like that, I wonder if any of them can actually feel pain or get any more bruises. Is double death real? Honestly I would doubt it since that wouldn't make any sense. You can't just kill something that is already dead. I love how done Bianca is so much. She has been through enough with Sammy and at this point is just not wanting to deal with it anymore and Sammy knows that for sure. Even with the last panel, he looks sO NERVOUS AND IT HAS ME DYING

With the first panel, I love how everyone looks shocked or just sad. Like Francis looks as though he can't believe any of it and the two others just look so distraught that their good friend is going to go kill someone. If I was in this sort of situation, I would probably be either both or just breaking down in tears in the corner of the room because I'm dead and my friends are going insane. I'm still really interested in how there is still those drawings up of the puppet. What causes them to change to be like that? That is obviously too ominous and eerie for it to actually be something around there so do they just change depending on the time? Like if Sammy is going crazy, does the other items around him begin to alter to show that craziness? Either way, both drawings are pretty creepy. Sammy's joyful self surely came back quickly and honestly I love what he says here. He sounds much more happier and less all psycho? Bianca surely isn't having any of it and I'm sure she just wants him to shut up at this point since they both know this person isn't going to be the one. It would be so rare to get it first try, especially after the murder and all, but they are still hoping, I assume. I also wonder how hard it would be if one of the animatronics ended up actually tripping and they needed to get them back up? Like would the one possessing them need to push themselves back up or actually get on the ground as well to do it. I don't really know how possession logic works anymore.

This really makes me curious about if there is a way Bianca can just not possess Bonnie for the time being. Like does she have to be paying attention to be able to possess him? Could she ever do something like what Sammy does where he just gets entirely inside the animatronic, only really coming out when it's necessary? I don't really think that will happen to any of the main five or Sammy anymore due to the story being focused more on them, although it would still be them if they were just possessing the animatronics. Either way though, I wonder how hard it was for Bianca to get rid of those cables attached to the robots and how difficult it's going to be to get those back into place. Do they even put them back into place afterwards or do they let the employees that come around go ahead and do that? That's a question that might never be solved, but hey I'm still curious! Bianca just slamming the guitar on the floor is also pretty funny to me because Sammy seemed to get so upset at first about it just suddenly being dropped, but then he was like 'wait nah i don't even care for this company.' I just want them to mess up with all of the animatronics' stuff, but if that happens, the place would close and they don't want that cause they need more guards!

Not much to say here apart from how I love how they added the shaking to Bonnie. Since Bianca was electrocuted, she would be constantly shaking. It's almost like Bonnie is just a part of her now so her shaking is just transferring over to Bonnie in that way. While it might also just be because it's hard to control such a huge robot with powerful strength, I just love how it's done here. That small detail is really great! Also Sammy still wanting to be on Bianca's good side is really funny to me. He's just trying his best and it's not good due to what he is doing.

Bianca talking about how conflicted she is about this entire situation really pulls at my heartstrings and I entirely believe that it's supposed to be like that. With what she says in the middle panel, she knows well that what she is doing is going to completely harm her relationship with the others, but she also just wants them to be happy. She is conflicted and doesn't know what to do so she's taking the only option she has at the moment which is just follow what Sammy says and get it over with. I feel like through this, she slowly begins to doubt her plan on killing this person because they could be entirely innocent. There is so many difficulties with this risk, but it's the only risk they can really take at the moment because there is nothing else they can really do.

It is really sad to just see Bianca realizing that she doesn't even know what to think anymore. She acted so serious around the others and especially around Sammy, but right when she's actually alone, she just talks to herself about what she should do and what she wants or not. With how she was talking about how she hoped everyone forgave her, I really wanted to see her say 'I hope I can forgive myself' because honestly I feel like that is how she's feeling right now. She knows what she's doing is bad, but is taking the risk for everyone. If it is not the murderer than of course they'll just have to forgive her for what she did, but she would also need to take some time to forgive herself too because that probably stays on her chest for a long while. The fact that she could possibly kill an innocent person and she was really just hoping it was him. Watching these kids slowly fall into what Sammy wants them to do surely scares me for the future because obviously they are going to eventually do it, but it's just going to be so sad to see them go down that path. It's like the path of no return.

~~ fINALLY I GOT THIS DONE!! this took much longer than expected. The next part shall be out soon since I finished it up last night. For now, you have this! Remember to always scream. See y'all next time when I bring the other post!

[mackinmacki]

In My Neck of the Woods

Rating: K+

Word Count: 4886

Summary: Ruby thinks it's a good idea to take Weiss camping with herself, Yang, and Blake. She was mistaken.

Pairing: White Rose

Notes: This is day one of White Rose Week. First prompt: First.

Link: (FFN) | (AO3)

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"Aren't you excited?" Ruby bounced up and down in her seat, grinning from ear to ear. She was clearly excited. Weiss, who was sitting still with her arms crossed, didn't seem to be sharing her enthusiasm. "C'mon Weiss, it's your first time camping! You could at least be a little bit excited." Weiss sighed, slowly unfolding her arms. She loved Ruby to death, but sometimes she could really oversell the situation. This was a prime example.

"I've told you already that I've been camping before. My family took me several times when I was younger." Admittedly, it had been nearly a decade since she'd last gone camping, but that didn't mean she'd never gone. Saying she was a complete novice was certainly overreaching. Just because it had been awhile since her last venture into the woods didn't mean she needed to be as hyperactive about it as Ruby was. It wasn't even that fun for her back then, honestly. She had only agreed to go because it made Ruby happy. Ugh, she could hear Yang making a 'whipping' sound in her mind right now.

"Weiss, that was glamping, not camping." Blake spoke up from behind the wheel, a hand on Yang's knee as she drove the four of them to the campgrounds. "Your family took you to the woods, yes, but you were in a fully-stocked portable home with air conditioning and beds. That's like saying living in a house next to the woods is camping. You've never actually experienced the wilderness in your entire life." Between Ruby's high-pitched excitement and Weiss's stubborn attitude, she was already starting to get a headache. She'd known what she was getting into when she'd agreed to do this, though. There was no one to blame but herself.

"That's not a real word, Blake. Besides, that is camping! What else would you call sleeping out in the woods, staring at the stars through the visor in the ceiling? Don't be ridiculous." She paused when she heard Yang laughing, turning her indignant attention to the passenger seat. "And just what is so funny?" Now Ruby was laughing, and she couldn't figure out which of the two sisters she should be glaring at. How could they sit there and make fun of her camping experiences? She hadn't expected them to be so elitist.

"You can't be serious, Weiss. That's not camping!" Yang could barely get the words out because she was laughing so hard. Weiss puffed out her cheeks, which made Ruby poke them with a giggle. "Real camping involves staying in a tent with a sleeping bag, not a comfy bed. You sit around a fire and roast marshmallows, telling ghost stories and watching the stars from above the treetops. Sounds nothing like what your family did, right?" Hearing Yang's words made Weiss's face fall. Her eyes slowly widened as she stared at her in increasing horror.

"What... That's camping?" She gaped at Yang, then turned towards Ruby so fast her neck cracked. "Tell me she's lying." Ruby just shook her head, smiling sheepishly. "Are you serious?! We're going to be spending the weekend in a tiny tent like homeless people?!" Yang busted out laughing again while Blake glared at her through the rearview mirror. "Why didn't you tell me this was what you meant, Ruby?!"

"I thought you knew what I meant!" Ruby had known that Weiss's camping experience wasn't exactly typical, but that was why she'd been saying it was Weiss's first time camping. Her first real camping trip. She'd had no idea that Weiss didn't know that was atypical. It'd just seemed obvious. Everyone knew what camping was, right? Apparently not, as it turned out. "It's okay, though. It'll be fun! A weekend in the woods with your best friends!" She spread her arms as wide as she could in the car, smiling brightly. "What do you think about that?"

"I think I'm going to die." Weiss groaned and laid her head back against the seat. She should've known something was wrong when Ruby was packing sleeping bags for them. It should've raised some sort of an alarm, but she'd stopped questioning her partner's eccentricities awhile ago. That would turn out to be costly this time. She closed her eyes and tried to astral project herself somewhere with an actual roof. A weekend in the woods with all sorts of insects ready to take bites out of her skin, woodland creatures wanting to do more than that, and worse of all: Blake and Yang, who'd proven that they couldn't keep their hands off each other for more than five minutes. This was going to be hell.

When they got to the campsite, Blake parked the car and everyone started getting to work. Ruby and Yang pulled out the tents and started to nail them down to the ground. Blake got their supply of food and drinks out of the trunk and started hauling it over near where they were going to start a fire that night. As for Weiss, she hovered around Ruby and asked a variety of paranoid, ridiculous questions.

"What are we supposed to do if we get attacked by a bear? Did you bring enough bug spray for the entire weekend? What about sunscreen? Are there snakes in these woods? There's no Wi-Fi and I can't check which snakes are venomous. Where are we supposed to use the restroom? You don't expect me to go in the woods like some kind of a barbarian, do you?" Ruby exhaled deeply, hammering in a pike with a look of increased annoyance. Across from her, Yang was shaking so hard from keeping her laughter in, the tent kept threatening to come down when she held it. She loved her partner, though. She really, really did. That didn't make her any easier to deal with when she was like this, though. 'This' being so very... Weiss-like.

"There are no bears. We have enough bug spray. We have sunscreen too. There are no snakes either, so you don't have to check how poisonous they are-" "Venomous," Weiss quickly chipped in. Ruby chose to ignore that. "And no, I don't expect you to pee in the forest. There's an outhouse near here that we can use." For once, she didn't put any excitement into her answers. Normally she was happy to answer any questions Weiss had, but being bombarded by all those questions at once, along with her generally sour attitude for most of the ride there, had worn down Ruby's normally chipper mood. She figured that had answered everything properly, but she was incorrect.

"What did you say?" Ruby just turned and stared at her, unsure of what she'd said that Weiss was referring too. She'd answered what felt like a dozen questions without pause. "An outhouse? You expect me to go to the bathroom in an outhouse?" She was visibly shaking in distress. Weiss hated public restrooms. They were usually not taken care of well, and the thought of walking into one with coarse graffiti and shredded paper towels everywhere made her gag. An outhouse was even worse, though. It was the most public of public restrooms. Absolutely disgusting. She might as well use the woods for all the good it would do her!

"Sorry, I forgot to pack a toilet for us to use."

"The joke is not appreciated." Weiss huffed and stormed over to Blake, who had hoped that if she'd been quiet enough, she'd be able to avoid Hurricane Schnee. Nobody was safe from that unnatural disaster, though. "Blake, give me the keys. I'm driving home right now. This is ridiculous." Blake sighed and dropped down onto a large log that was next to their fire pit. She'd tried to tell Ruby that bringing Weiss outdoors was a bad idea. She'd even floated the idea of bringing Winter instead, since she was like a bigger Weiss. That kind of counted. Ruby was adamant that Weiss come with them, though, even after being warned that something like this would happen. She just had to go and fall in love with the ice queen, didn't she?

"Fine, fine." She put her hands in her pockets, feeling the keys in there. However, when her hands came out, they were empty. She knew this was probably going to bite her in the butt eventually, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. "Uh, they're not here."

"What?" Weiss stepped closer, hands on her hips as she glared at Blake. "This is no time for games, Blake. Give me the keys now."

"I don't have them, Weiss!" She did her best to sell the lie, looking a bit freaked out as she made a scene out of patting down her pants. "I must've dropped them somewhere." That did it. The annoyance on Weiss's face was quickly replaced by panic at the realization that their only way home was now lost somewhere. She whirled around and ran to the car, tugging on the handle of the front door. It was locked, though, and wouldn't give way to her. Not that she could do anything if it had. She didn't know how to hotwire a car.

"Get over here and help me!" She yelled at all three of them, dropping down to her knees in desperation to see if the keys had fallen beneath the car. Then she started crawling through the grass, trying to find a hint of silver or black that would reveal them to her. When she looked up, nobody had moved from their positions, which only frustrated her further. "Why are you just sitting there?! We're going to be stranded here forever! Girls!" Finally, after finishing setting up their first tent, Ruby stood up and headed over to her distressed snowflake.

"Please don't rile her up, Blake. I'm the one who has to calm her down," Ruby muttered as she passed by Blake, heading over to the car. She went down on her knees and started massaging Weiss's shoulders, whispering calming words in her ear. Eventually she was able to get Weiss back on her feet and over to the tent, an arm over her shoulder to keep her close. As they passed by Blake, Weiss stuck her tongue out at her. So Ruby told her the truth, then. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Ruby was actually able to corral Weiss into helping her set up the other tent, though she grumbled about it the entire time. It sort of made Ruby regret asking her to help, and that was compounded when she looked up and saw Blake and Yang making out by the fire pit. She really needed to remember to have those two separated whenever they were setting things up. Seeing Blake's tongue down her sister's throat wasn't her idea of a fun camping adventure.

When everything was finally set up, the four of them ventured into the woods for a nice, relaxing hike. They were going to appreciate nature, then bring back some firewood to light up that night. It was as relaxing a walk as possible when one of the participants was Weiss. She was as jittery as a caffeine addict, jumping backwards at any sudden movement. Whether it was something rustling in the bushes or an insect that had flown near her, Weiss clearly wasn't doing much appreciating of her surroundings. When she wasn't yelping like someone was attacking her, she spent a good deal of time complaining about anything and everything.

"I wish we had something to gag her with..." Blake muttered to Yang, getting close to ripping off her own ears. Weiss acted like they were keeping her there against her will. It wasn't their fault she had a warped view of what camping was.

"We could use my underwear-" Yang started, only to get cut off by Blake's 'It's time to stop' look. "Okay, okay, we can use your underwear." Blake just sighed. Sometimes...

Ruby, meanwhile, wasn't feeling so frustrated anymore. In fact, she felt a little guilty. She could tell that Weiss was struggling, and this was the only way she knew how to react to the situation. Instead of trying to force her to enjoy it like she did, or become extra chipper to try and drown out her pessimism, she just took Weiss's hand and held it tightly. She pulled Weiss close to her and walked in lockstep with her, falling a couple paces behind Blake and Yang so she could have Weiss to herself for a bit. Sort of.

"Hey, it's okay, Weiss. Nothing's going to happen to us out here." She made circles on the back of Weiss's hand with a finger, smiling reassuringly at her. "Dad took Yang and I camping plenty of times, and nothing bad ever happened to us. Besides, if there is any wildlife out here, I'll protect you from it." She giggled as Weiss rolled her eyes.

"I doubt you can do anything to protect me from bears, Ruby." Though she was still nervous about walking around in the forest like this, she felt a bit calmer with Ruby's warmth next to her. For whatever reason, Ruby had the ability to calm her down when nothing else could. It was one of the reasons she'd began to trust her when she refused to extend that courtesy to others. They weren't like Ruby: they couldn't even hope to get close. She was just special like that. "Are you sure we're not going to get lost in here?"

"Yup! Blake's got a compass and everything. She can point us back to camp." Blake gave a wave over her shoulder, acknowledging that she'd heard her name. That put Weiss further at ease, though she hadn't forgiven Blake yet for pulling that key prank on her. However, there wasn't too much to get mad about for the rest of their time in the forest. They were able to collect a good amount of firewood: mostly with Yang ripping branches off of trees with her bare hands. There was enough wood for everyone to carry a handful back, which Weiss made sure to grumble about. It was 'work for the help' and all that.

They set the wood down by the pit and relaxed for awhile while the sun was still up. Yang had brought a deck of cards, and the four of them sat in a tent to play poker. There wasn't any betting made: it was just for fun and to pass the time. Yang did suggest betting something, but the other three unanimously rejected playing strip poker. Things were pretty calm for the next couple of hours, all in all. There wasn't anything for even Weiss to complain about, which was a relief for all parties involved.

When the sun started to go down, Yang loaded the fire pit up with wood and put some lighter fluid on it. Then she struck a match and tossed it in, quickly getting a good flame going. "Alright girls, let's get this cookout started!" She went for the cooler and grabbed out a packet of hot dogs, opening the packaging while Blake grabbed four skewers. Then she put a hot dog on each skewer and handed them around so everyone could cook their own. While everyone else took theirs without complaint, Weiss stared at hers as if she'd been handed an alien device.

"You want me to put this in the fire?" Weiss stared at it some more, then turned her attention to the fire. It crackled and burned at degrees completely unsafe for human skin. A small ember popped out and landed near her feet, making her squeal and fall backwards off the log. Yang proceeded to laugh her ass off while Ruby hurried over to help her back up. Of course, she was laughing too, so the gallant gesture wasn't as appreciated. Weiss 'hmpf'ed and folded her arms. "I'll just eat it cold, then."

"I'm pretty sure you'll get salmonella or something." Ruby gently grabbed the skewer and pushed it away from Weiss's face. "Just put it in the fire for as long as I do, and take it out when I do. It'll be cooked to perfection." She gave Weiss a thumbs up, but only got a sour frown in return. Seeing her eyes glance towards the fire, she put two and two together. She leaned in and whispered, "The fire's not gonna hurt you, Weiss. You'll be okay."

"Hmpf." She didn't answer Ruby, but she did hold out her skewer and glanced over towards her partner. "Well?" Smiling, Ruby plopped down next to her and stuck her hot dog in the fire, with Weiss following suit. Both Blake and Yang sat down on the opposite log and did the same, and the four of them just waited for their food to be cooked. The entire time, Weiss had her eyes on Ruby, her hand twitching every time Ruby moved. Finally, she pulled out her hot dog, and Weiss yanked hers out right after her.

On the other side, Yang handed her skewer over to Blake so she could grab everyone drinks while the food cooled down. She and Blake had a beer, while Ruby had a soda and Weiss had water. Originally she'd asked for wine, but Yang claimed that it wasn't very 'camping friendly', whatever that meant. She would just stick with water, then. With their drinks, they also got buns for their hot dogs once they were cool enough to grab.

"Ooh, the sun's finally gone down!" Yang exclaimed happily, chomping down on the remainder of her hot dog. Well, her second hot dog, but who was counting? The four of them had been eating and chatting amicably as the sun set on them, but now the dark had finally spread into the woods. "It's time for ghost stories!" She clapped her hands together, excitedly looking around the campfire. Ruby was the only one who appeared to be excited. Blake usually didn't tip her hand when it came to her emotions, and Weiss just looked thoroughly uninterested. That just meant she needed to come up with something super scary to freak her out.

"Did you know this forest is actually haunted?" She grinned as she looked around the campfire, the fire casting her face in an eerie orange glow. "I chose this place exactly for that reason. They say that a group of guys drove by this campground in the winter time. It was cold, and the forest was blanketed in snow. Their car ran into a snowbank, but it would've been easy to push it out. They were more than capable." She halted her story, changing out her grin for a more somber, serious expression. "However, they didn't. Something compelled them to abandon their car and venture into the cold, unforgiving forest."

"They wandered in the woods for so long that two of them ended up falling to the ground from exhaustion and perished where they fell. The other three luckily found a cabin to stay in, and if we went deeper into the woods, we could even find it ourselves. This was only delaying the inevitable, though." Blake was already curled up next to Yang, taking in the spooky story pensively. Ruby actually appeared frightened by the story, leaning forward with her hands on her knees and taking in every word. Weiss found it hard to believe that anyone would actually be scared by something like this, but Ruby had helped her with her own forest troubles...

"They stayed in that cabin for months, but no matter how long they waited, nobody was coming to help. All the snow made it too difficult to get through the forest." Weiss reached over and took Ruby's hand, squeezing it tightly. Ruby looked over at her in surprise, then smiled and leaned against her side. It embarrassed Weiss somewhat, but she would allow it for tonight. "Eventually, one of them died on the lone bed, wrapped up in enough blankets that it was like he had turned into a cocoon."

"The other two set out on foot, but it wouldn't be long before one of them died. They found his bones just outside the cabin, along with an extra pair of shoes. The two who had died in the forest, and the dead guy in the cabin? They eventually found all their bones when the Spring thawed out the snow. The fifth guy, though? They never found him. No body, no bones, no nothing. He walked out of that cabin and disappeared, never to be seen again... except some campers still say they can hear his voice on the wind on some long, lonely nights. They even say they can hear his footsteps coming closer to their tents. Closer, closer... Until it vanishes into the dark. He still haunts these woods today, and he's not the only one..." She stopped talking, tilting her head as if listening for something. "Can you hear that? I think I hear something."

"No, I can't hear anything." Weiss bit down on her lip as Ruby clung onto her arm, squeezing the life out of it. "C'mon Ruby, let go! There's nothing out there!" She looked over at Yang with disapproval, then realized something was missing. Or rather, someone was missing. "Wait, where's Blake?" Yang just grinned at her, but said nothing more. "What the hell? Yang, where the hell is Blake-"

"Boo." A voice came from right next to her ear, making her scream and jump off of the log. She flew up and tripped over her own feet, screaming again as she fell backwards into the grass. Ruby, who had just been in the process of relinquishing Weiss's arm, squealed as she fell face-first into the grass. Groaning, Weiss jolted up, only to find that the 'ghostly presence' was none other than Blake. Yang, who had held back her laughter the entire time Blake had 'disappeared', couldn't contain herself anymore. She fell off the log and rolled around on the grass, laughing so hard that she could barely breathe.

"Oh man, you should've seen your face! I thought you were gonna jump right outta your skin!" She howled with laughter while a mortified Weiss glared poison-tipped daggers at her. Her words were garbled a bit with how hard she was laughing, but the intent was clear. "I think I'm gonna die! Oh man, I can't breathe! Blaaake, that was beautiful! Help me!" She laughed and laughed while Blake trotted over to save her girlfriend from a laughter-based paralysis. Weiss considered pushing her into the fire, but she wasn't sure she could get away with that one.

"That was a good one, Yang! You really got us!" Ruby pushed herself up from the grass, laughing as well. Weiss turned and gaped at her, unable to believe that she was laughing after that little stunt those two pulled. That didn't seem to matter to her, though. Her eyes shined with determination to one up Yang's ghost story with one of her own. That was... one way to look at it. When she was focused on something, you could either walk next to her or get out of the way. She decided her best course of action was to sit back down next to her and pretend that she hadn't been scared out of her wits.

Ruby sat there for five minutes trying to come up with the perfect ghost story while Weiss held her hand and wished she could use her phone with the other. Someone needed to get wi-fi out in the forest. This was the current year, after all. Eventually Ruby came up with a story that wasn't half bad. At least, Weiss thought so. She sat there impassive throughout, however, refusing to be spooked again. Blake then told her own, but Weiss refused to budge. She even kept her eyes on all three of them, in case they tried to get up and pull a fast one over her.

"Alright Weiss, it's your turn!" Ruby patted her knee and smiled brightly, excited for whatever story Weiss was going to come up with. If she was expecting something great, however, then she was going to end up disappointed. Coming up with scary stories wasn't Weiss's forte. She wasn't really big on horror in general, honestly. Especially not with a heavy reliance on jump scares, Blake.

"Once, there was a couple who were very mean to an innocent girl. The innocent girl then left them in the woods to be eaten by bears. The end."

"That wasn't very scary." Ruby pouted, poking Weiss's arm. "And it wasn't long either!"

"It was honestly more like a fairytale," Blake chimed in. "With the 'Once' start and all."

"Scary Story Time is canceled."

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

After things had all wound down, Yang doused the fire and the four of them retired to their tents for the night. Blake and Yang were in one, while Ruby and Weiss were in the other. Weiss had considered bringing earplugs so she could sleep through any shenanigans those two were certainly going to get up to. However, impairing her hearing when there could be wildlife crawling through the forest to maul her alive made her want to have all her sensory faculties intact. She just had to hope that if a bear happened to find them, it would be attracted to the noise those two were making and she could make her escape.

Both her and Ruby had their own sleeping bags, but that wasn't acceptable to Ruby. She suggested they put them together and unzip them from opposite sides, so that it'd be like they had one big sleeping bag. Weiss acquiesced, because it was Ruby and she hadn't yet figured out how to follow through on 'no' most of the time when it came to her. She could say no all the live-long day, but when Ruby gave her those puppy-dog eyes, she'd crumble like a house of cards. She had a power over her that no one else could dare dream of.

"This was a nice day. Good food, good stories, good company." She rolled over to kiss Weiss's cheek, smiling at the blush she knew would be there, though it was too dark to see for sure. "I know you thought camping was something else, but I'm glad you stuck it out with us. Even though you did try to take the keys and drive off without us." She laughed and wrapped her arms around Weiss, pulling herself as close as she could beneath the dual sleeping bags.

"I would've come back for you. Once the trip was over." Weiss rolled her eyes, but she didn't try to push Ruby away. She'd gotten too used to her body warmth. Whenever she had to sleep alone, she could feel that something was missing. Now she found it unacceptable if she had to fall asleep without Ruby by her side. Not that she had admitted that in as many words. "It wasn't that bad, though. I mean, besides the bugs, and the scary stories, and having to be outside all the time."

"So the only thing bad about camping is camping, huh?"

"Yes, exactly." That sounded like Weiss, alright. Ruby giggled, continuing to snuggle up with Weiss. She could feel Weiss moving in her arms, which turned out to be so she could hold her as well. That made her smile brightly, happily squeezing her partner. Weiss's skin was always so cool to the touch, which was nice when they were out in the humidity of a spring forest. It was like having a bit of air conditioning she could always take with her. Feeling very content at the moment, she searched out Weiss's lips in the dark, pressing her own against them.

Weiss was more than happy to reciprocate that kiss. She held onto Ruby and closed her eyes, even if there wasn't much she could see with them open anyway. Maybe staying out in the wilderness wasn't where she thrived, but in that moment, it didn't matter. Because to her, wherever Ruby was was where she belonged. That was completely cheesy and undoubtedly cliche, which is why she wouldn't say it out loud. Well, that and it embarrassed her to even think of it. That didn't make it any less true, though. Maybe she'd put it in her vows if and when they got married. That'd be nice.

"I love you, Ruby." She could at least say that. It wasn't hard for her to express those particular feelings anymore. They weren't sleeping in a comfortable bed together, but they were together, and that was what mattered. Maybe not to her back when she would inevitably wake up with it all out of wack, but to her heart it would.

"I love you too! See, I knew this trip would be good, and now you can say you've gone camping for real for the first time!" She nestled her head against Weiss's chest and sighed contently. "The next two days are going to be just as good. I can feel it!" Oh yeah, they were going to be camping all weekend. Well, in that case...

"Pardon me, Ruby. I'm going to go get the keys from Blake."

[shipaholic]

Omens Universe, Chapter 1 Part 1

And here’s 600 years later. Gem powers activate!

Link to next part at the end.

---

(Prologue)

Chapter 1

3404 BC

Aziraphale pushed a hanging tree branch out of his face with a stick. All around, the sun baked the leaves to a gentle crisp. While angels didn’t sweat, his curls were perhaps a little frizzier than usual. He had been out here all day, wandering around the wooded savanna and poking the trees on the chance something would fall out of them. This was as much work as he felt equipped to do.

It wasn’t fair, sending him in unarmed. The main problem was that as far as Heaven knew, he was still in possession of a flaming sword. His stick was a poor knock-off; the best you could say was that it was at least flammable.

The branch swung back into his face. The angel frowned at it until it sidled out of the way, looking sheepish.

A voice from above said, “Is that a permitted use of a miracle, angel? Tree-shaming?”

Aziraphale jumped back and squinted into the canopy. “Reveal yourself, demon,” he said, without enthusiasm.

A pair of golden eyes blinked back at him, followed by a flicker of forked tongue.

“Oh, it’s you.” Aziraphale relaxed. “I see you’re a snake again.”

Crawly yawned, which in his current form was very impressive. “Why veer from a classic, I say.”

“It’s got you plenty of attention, I’ll say that much.”

“Oh yes, the apple thing. Still can’t believe Satan got all the glory.”

“Imagine, the Prince of Lies taking credit for someone else’s work.”

“Point taken.” Crawly slithered to the end of his branch. His long neck [1] glowed and then extended several feet to be closer to Aziraphale. The angel tried not to look perturbed. All angels and demons could shape-shift, but he found it unsettling.

“Is that your form… permanently, or are you still human-shaped most of the time?” he asked.

Crawly uncoiled from his branch and dropped to the forest floor like a silk rope unwinding. The serpent glowed, a ribbon of white among the leaves, and shifted back into a man.

Aziraphale had forgotten Crawly was an inch taller than him. His clothes had changed again since Eden - an ankle-length linen tunic with a waist tie, and a headdress covering his long hair. He must have been discorporated at least once more since they’d last met.

“Still not convinced, to be honest,” the demon said. He held out his bare arms and frowned at them. “Might just go snake full-time. It’s switching between them that’s the bugger. Always worried I’ll forget how to shape-shift back.”

Aziraphale raised an eyebrow. “Can that happen?”

Crawly looked pleased, for some reason. “Ah - no. But I have an irrational fear that it will. I call it a ‘pho-bia’. I invented it,” he said, proudly.

Aziraphale didn’t see the point, and said so.

“No, no, it’s brilliant. Filling the world with useless things for humans to get upset about. It’s very demonic. I might get a second commendation out of it.”

Aziraphale didn’t even have one commendation. He said, a little stiffly, “But you’ve given yourself a… foe-beer. That can’t be very enjoyable.”

“It’s awful,” Crawly said, smugly. “That’s how I know I’ve done well.”

Aziraphale decided it wasn’t worth his while to argue. “Well. Congratulations.” He began to sidle away. He could probably find more trees to poke.

Crawly did not take the hint. He began to stroll side by side with Aziraphale. “I take it we’re both here on the same mission?”

Aziraphale eyed him. “I don’t know. You seemed to be taking a nap up a tree.”

“Surveillance,” the demon said, breezily. “I saw you coming a mile off. That’s a very nice stick. I hope Heaven gave you their best stick to replace the flaming sword you gave away. Got to admit, I wouldn’t want to swing a fiery blade around a forest. Might set the whole thing alight. Bit of a double-edged…” Crawly snapped his fingers, irritated. “Er. Thing.”

Aziraphale had forgotten how chatty the demon was.

“So,” Crawly said. He managed to imbue the syllable with a lot of meaning. “What have your people told you about -?” He did something significant with his eyebrows.

Aziraphale sighed. “Look, even if we were here for the same reason, which I cannot confirm, there is absolutely no chance I would share confidential intelligence with a demon.”

“Mmm. Fair enough.” Crawly walked by Aziraphale’s side in silence for approximately three steps. “I heard that one of your lot shagged a human and now a bunch of us are down here looking for its unholy offspring.”

So much for avoiding that PR nightmare. “Holy offspring, I think you’ll find.”

Crawly gave a triumphant, “Hah!”

“I’d ask for your discretion, but…”

The demon grinned. Aziraphale didn’t dignify his sentence by finishing it.

“Mind you, it’s not exactly fair to the poor bugger,” said Crawly. “The forces of Heaven and Hell descending on it - ascending, in my side’s case. Must have no idea what’s going on. It’s probably spent its whole life thinking it’s just a big human with a few extra pairs of eyes or something. Any idea what your people have in store for it?”

Aziraphale shook his head. “I imagine the first order of business is to confirm that the creature even exists. I’m not personally aware who… er, sired it. Apparently the culprit has gone to ground [2]. I haven’t been upstairs for a few centuries or I might know who it is.”

“They’re calling it a ‘Nephilim’,” Crawly said. “Means ‘giant’.”

Aziraphale glanced from side to side. The trees were thinning out. “I rather hope I don’t find it,” he confessed.

Crawly waved a hand. “You’ll be fine. You’ve got a stick.”

Aziraphale looked at his stick. It wasn’t even pointy.

He moved fractionally closer to Crawly.

“Ah. Perhaps, if we’re combining our efforts, it would be good of you to manifest your weapon?”

“Mmmm.” Crawly suddenly was interested in looking at a distant point off in the trees.

Aziraphale waited. The demon continued to act as if he hadn’t heard. “I said -”

“Yes, yes,” Crawly snapped. “I’d love to.”

Another pause.

“...Are you going to?”

“Don’t have one,” the demon said, all in a rush. “Stop asking.”

Aziraphale stared in a manner he would have had to admit was rude. The only angels made without weapons were at the very bottommost rung in Heaven. Celestial typists and coffee-fetchers, essentially. [3] Even the ones who were mass-produced in the last throes of the War got something you could lob, slice or stab with.

“My dear fellow - I beg your pardon -”

The demon moved like a whip. His nose almost touched Aziraphale’s; his breath was hot and hissing on the angel’s face. Behind him, his wings unfurled with a fwump and filled Aziraphale’s peripheral vision. The angel felt like a mouse getting its last glimpse before the snake’s jaws snapped tight.

“Do not. Beg. My pardon. Under any circumstances.”

Crawly’s golden eyes, at this distance, blurred into a single sun. Aziraphale, who had fared well in the African sunshine all day, felt a prickle of sweat.

“Quite so,” he stammered. “I meant no offence. Please forgive me.”

A pin could have dropped in the stillness [4]. Crawly slowly backed up so he could glare at the angel from a less intimidating distance.

“You don’t need my forgiveness. Go back upstairs, there’s a limitless supply of the stuff.”

He strode away, wings whipping like a cloak.

Then he took in the same thing as Aziraphale, and stopped dead.

The woods had entirely thinned out. They were in a clearing of tree stumps that had been sliced through so cleanly you could measure them with a slide-rule. Their tops looked lightly cooked, as if they had not just been severed but cauterised.

A young human stood in the middle of the felled trees. She held an enormous blade over her head. It was the kind of weapon that excitable types gave names to like Kingslayer, or Bane of the Damned. To say it was enormous was incorrect; if it was possible to take the concept of enormous and square it, that would be closer. It glowed like an electric coil and hummed an ethereal whine. It shone with the bright, clean light of Heaven.

The teenage girl holding it was the same size as the blade. She had frozen midway through swinging it at another tree. Her eyes were huge as she stared at Crawly and his open wings.

In the middle of her forehead was a glimmering gemstone. Aziraphale recognised it. He knew the angel it belonged to.

He swallowed. They’d found the Nephilim.

“Be not afraid,” he began.

The human screamed and ran towards them.

Crawly decided his wings had got him into this mess and they could damn well get him out. He took to the air so fast he left a demon-shaped afterimage. Aziraphale threw up his clenched right fist. The ring on his smallest finger glowed, and a shield extended from it.

The human barrelled into the shield face-first. She bounced off it and came back with her fist swinging. Her knuckles cracked against the shield with a noise like a wooden xylophone being struck. She seemed uninterested in using her blade, which came as a huge relief to the angel.

The Nephilim turned red in the face as she swung at Aziraphale over and over. The angel awkwardly parried, unsure whether it was a good idea to fight back. So far, this was the level of combat he felt comfortable with.

Crawly flapped cautiously back in range. He hovered behind the human’s head.

“I don’t know why, but I thought you’d be good at fighting,” he said.

Aziraphale was panting slightly. He gave himself a stern reminder that he didn’t need to breathe.

“I mean, they made you a guard. Gave you a flaming sword, for Hell’s sake.” The demon drifted sideways to keep pace as the fight inched to the right.

Aziraphale didn’t know how to explain that his job in Eden was to guard two humans with the trusting nature of toddlers. In fact, there would exist no words to put his role into context until the job of ‘mall cop’ got invented.

“Any chance you could lend a hand?” he asked, testily.

“With what?”

The angel lobbed his stick at him. He heard cursing and gathered it had smacked Crawly in the face, but he seemed to have managed to grab it all the same.

The Nephilim was tiring; her punches came in slower. Aziraphale saw an opportunity for diplomacy. “My dear. Would it not be easier to sit down and discuss this?”

“You are with this devil!” the girl panted. Her dialect was from one of the local villages. Aziraphale wracked his brains trying to recall the grammar. “You’ve come to take me to Hell!”

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t tell her,” Crawly muttered.

She did seem rather well up on what their plans were, Aziraphale had to admit. Or at least Crawly’s plans. Obviously Heaven’s intentions were benign, whatever they turned out to be.

“I assure you, I have no ties to Hell.” The girl aimed another punch at him; Aziraphale raised his shield to block it, but they were both just going through the motions by this point. Perhaps he should cut to the chase. “Actually, I’m an emissary of Heaven. That’s where I’m trying to take you.” He said it in the tones of one offering a trip to a magic chocolate factory.

The Nephilim lowered her fist, but tightened her grip on the scythe-axe. “You want to... take me to Heaven?” Terror dawned on her face. “You’re going to kill me?”

“Er…” said the angel. Heaven had been very vague on the subject.

The Nephilim stepped back. Aziraphale’s heart lifted, until she hefted the battleaxe and he realised she was just taking a run-up. She yelled, a throbbing desperate cry, and rushed him.

Aziraphale had time to wonder if discorporation was going to hurt.

The blade clanged down on his shield and Aziraphale splintered like a pane of glass.

---

[1] Basically all of him.

[2] Which really means something for an angel.

[3] Celestial coffee is served at 10,000 degrees and must be extracted from a neutron star, so in fairness, this is quite an important job.

[4] Displacing any angels hypothetically dancing on it.

---

(Chapter 1, Part 2)

[perpetually-jungshook]

Without You: Bloodstone (Part 23)

Genre: AU, bts!werewolf, fantasy, angst

Warnings: language, violence, suggestive content

Word Count: 2.8k

Summary: Werewolves, contrary to popular belief, are usually gentle creatures. Except for a very specific set of circumstances, they would never hurt a human (on purpose). The few unfortunate times when mistakes were made put a permanent dark mark on the beasts and people began labeling them as monsters. What the human population failed to recognize was the fact that they were protecting us from something much more sinister. Luckily, a few survived and the gene was passed down hereditarily until one day finding its way to me… in the form of my best friend.

Link to: Storyboard (reference pictures) | General lore post | Intimacy lore post Prologue | Previous | Masterlist | Next

Loyalty is often as blind as justice should be, as unstable as a lightning storm ought to be, and as misplaced as an opinion in the truth.

Chapter 23:

“I loved you.”

A wave of warmth pulses through my veins, culminating in my stomach and my cheeks. Those are words I’ve been waiting to hear for years. My best friend, the person I couldn’t leave behind even after he literally became a monster, my sweet, smart, handsome Jungkook just said he loved me.

Yet the way that he said it was distant and past tense. Loved.

I take a deep breath, “Not anymore?”

Jungkook’s tongue pokes out, wetting his lips, buying time, “As a friend, I’ll always love you. But it’s not… the same. It’s an instinct thing.”

An instinct thing. How am I supposed to respond to that? Maybe by trying to be supportive. Maybe by telling the truth.

“Jungkook?”

“Yeah?” he looks up, softening.

My words are quiet, but not hesitant, “I still love you.”

His gaze drops again, almost shamefully. The hair on the back of my neck prickles in humiliation and anticipation, but I’ve known him, been close to him, and been in love with him for so long that I couldn’t ask him to leave even if I wanted to.

“I’m sorry, Eun.”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.”

“But I could’ve-”

I shake my head, “There was nothing you could’ve done- nothing you can do now that it’s done. It’s okay. Even with this stupid imprint thing, we’re still best friends. Right?”

Jungkook’s gaze doesn’t leave the floor, but he smiles sadly and nods, “Of course. Best friends.”

“Can I hug you? Or is that against the rules?”

His shoulders sag a little, “I’d say yes, but I don’t want to leave my scent on you. Being in this room is already… going to make him mad.”

Him, Jimin. I’d almost forgotten how possessive he might be. He’d showed self control around Munhee but would Jungkook be more of a threat?

“Besides, no offense, but you smell like him and pheromones and it…” his nose scrunches in faint disgust, “Does stuff to my brain.”

“Instinct thing?”

“Instinct thing.”

Pause.

Jungkook bows politely, another distant gesture, considering what’s usual for us, “I’ll see you soon okay? Hopefully noona and Namjoon hyung will be able to help and… and we can go back to normal.”

The suggestion is empty. Both of us know things well never be the same as they were before. Jimin will be sensitive and will probably make my life miserable. Jungkook’s instincts will prevent us from being close. But I appreciate the gesture of him saying it.

“Hopefully,” I agree. There’s an awkward pause before I continue, “You should probably get back to training.”

Jungkook nods and hesitates, but leaves without another word. I miss him already.

It takes a few seconds of boredom for me to realize I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing. Am I allowed to walk around? To go to the living room and watch a movie? To grab a snack? To go to the workshop? Or will all of these things make Jimin aggravated?

My concern doesn’t stem from sympathy for him, but rather not wanting to make my own life difficult. I’m not in the mood for more confrontation. I look down at the blankets on the bed to find a few limp yellow petals. The Calendulas. Maybe I could try something. I pick them up and place them in my palm.

There’s probably a difference in the energy for reactive magic or the approach toward culminating it, but why not experiment? No one else is around. I’ve not nothing to do.

The green flame ignites directly over the petals. As magic does not actually create heat, nothing happens. The color doesn’t change, they don’t disappear, they don’t even burn. I try crushing them with my fingers by closing my hand, but this has the same result. Nothing. Figures.

I decide to take a nap and am woken up by the sound of… silence. Uncannily pure silence. The dripping water has stopped. The air vent has gone quiet. I sit up and look down at Yoongi’s watch on my wrist. The second hand races around the face.

A scream splits the air like metal on glass.

It’s not so much a scream as a mixture of a wail and a screech, dozens of voices of all tones, pitches, ages, and genders. Demon. The sound of growls, snarls, and barks are interwoven in the noise, making it easy to lose them, but they’re still present. The wolves are taking care of whatever it is. I decide to stay in my room. There’s nothing I could do to help. I have no special “powers,” I don’t have extensive training, and I don’t even have any silver to ward them off. I’d just be in the way, a liability.

The door opens, amplifying the sound for a moment before Jimin stumbles in and slams it closed. He only glances at me for a second, lower lip bleeding, bruising vivider, clothes more tattered. He’d lost his shirt at some point.

I recoil despite the moderate distance between us, curling up on the furthest corner of the bed. I’m not sure what to be more afraid of, Jimin or the demon outside.

He shoves his shoulders against the door, then sinks down to sit. He’s breathing hard, eyes closed. Beyond all else, Jimin looks like he’d just sprinted through a rock pelting to get into this room.

As per usual, he says nothing.

For a few seconds, the screaming stops and there’s the sound of a scuffle, a body hitting the floor or a wall (or the ceiling, I shouldn’t leave out that possibility). My heartbeat and Jimin’s heavy panting are both eerily loud. Naturally, fear creeps into my stomach physically, into my stream of consciousness mentally. What if Jungkook had been injured? It’s a thought that’s constantly flitting around my mind.

He’ll be alright. He’s always alright.

I loved you.

A chill crawls down my spine. If this were a romantic drama, that would’ve definitely been the last conversation we’d ever have.

“You okay?” Jimin finally speaks, though his tone is flat.

“Good enough, considering.”

He nods, “I hate demons. This one can crawl up walls. Fucking jumped me.”

“Jumped you?”

So he was outside of the bunker.

“Yeah, I barely made it back in time.”

“You brought the demon here?”

Jimin scoffs, “What was I supposed to do? Die? Well, no one would care anyw-”

The door lurches inward and Jimin’s whole body tenses, bracing himself and throwing his shoulders back against the metal barrier. It closes again and he lets out a huff, flicking his head to get the coffee brown hair out of his eyes.

Anger boils up inside my stomach. He put Jungkook in danger, he put me in danger again because he couldn’t… the anger dissipates. I’ve seen demons. I’ve seen them almost overpower several wolves at once. How could I expect Jimin to deal with it on his own? It’s only natural that he would seek help, no matter how ostracized he is from the pack. But then something occurs to me. Why come in here? Why not help the pack? Is he hiding?

The door lurches again and I can hear a distant screech before Jimin closes it. Distant? If the demon is the one screaming and it is somewhere else in the bunker, who or what is at the door?

A feminine, child’s giggle reaches my ears, causing my skin to crawl.

“Eun,” the voice is oddly melodic. “Remember me?”

No… the little girl. It couldn’t be. Munhee told me that she died. Wait. That’s incorrect. The little girl’s soul- dormant, displaced, dead, or otherwise- is gone. Munhee had said that the demon would keep the host body alive. Halsahm kept the host body alive.

How had it gotten out of the room? How had it gotten out of the hallway? With all of the silver and the sigils that blocked the way… had someone let it out?

The door handle turns and Jimin’s whole body visibly tenses. I shrink back against the wall. If we all live through this, I need to ask Munhee for a weapon. Something. Anything.

“If you open this door, I’ll shred you, body and all,” Jimin practically barks.

“You’d do that to a little girl?” the voice is muffled, but clearly amused. The handle jiggles again.

Jimin’s face starts turning red with effort, his jaw clenched, “You aren’t fooling anyone with the skin you’re wearing, fuckface.”

“My poor innocent ears,” Halsahm laughs, a sound that rings with uncanny delight. “All I need is the girl. There’s no reason you can’t hand her over like a good doggie-”

His body ripples, a snarl tearing up his throat, “I’ll kill you first.”

There’s a pause.

“You’ve imprinted on her. Haven’t you.”

Jimin tenses in surprise, causing the door to open just a crack as Halsahm pushes it. His eyes flood with the piercing amber color, but it promptly recedes as his feet find traction again. I can just see the face of the little girl, blood red stare and all. Summoning magic?

Its gaze meets mine immediately, with no pause, almost as if Halsahm knew exactly where I was, where I would be.

“You can feel it, can’t you. My connection with her,” the demon seems to continue addressing Jimin. “She belongs to me.”

“Eun belongs to no one. She’s not yours. She’s not mine. She’s not even… Jungkook’s,” Jimin abruptly looks up at me, as if in realization, a small crease forming between his eyebrows.

Before I can even begin to consider his expression, with too much power for a little girl, Halsahm throws open the door. Jimin tumbles forward and I can hear his head hit the concrete floor.

The little girl steps forward into the room and I can hear my own pulse, but even that fades as the world around me becomes muted, distant.

Your little pet knows. That’s why he came to protect you. Do you know?

“Know what?” I’m not even surprised by the voice in my head at this point, though the panic that’s probably supposed to be there is muffled by a strange, though vaguely familiar mist in my mind. My thoughts swim, moving in slow motion.

How connected we are. You were meant for me.

“Meant for you?”

Has she not told you? About the spirits?

“Told me what? I know about demons vaguely,” I can’t seem to stop myself from answering honestly.

But what about the good spirits? Like the one inside of you.

“What do you mean by ‘one inside me?’ What good spirit?”

The opposite of us…demons, as you like to call us. What is source of your magic, hmm? Curious little one, did you ever ask? Did you think it was your own skill? Wrong. Not just anyone can harness this kind of power. And even those who can… you’re special. You’re mine.

My gaze is fixed on Halsahm’s blood red eyes.

You are my opposite. My exact opposite. Together, we will be powerful, Eun. Together-

The little girl in front of me, directly in front of me, hand outstretched, begins to transform. Her jaw grossly dislocating like a snake, skin charring, white foamy bile dripping from the corners of her lips, her physical image becomes the manifestation of the demon within her just as its head is torn from the body.

Sensations slam into me. The distant screeching. Heavy panting. Heartbeat.

Bu-dum bu-dum.

My head throbs and I only just manage to stay conscious this time. No, it’s not only my head, it’s my muscles, my veins, everything. With every pump of my heart, I can feel it throughout my body, fingertips to feet. I start to fall, but catch myself on my elbow, which digs into the mattress.

The world around me blurs into and out of focus; yet I can clearly make out the coffee colored massive lupine figure on the floor, not moving. Thankfully, after a moment or two, I see shallow breathing.

“J-Jimin?” my voice cracks.

The wolf huffs in acknowledgement, but it’s a weak sound.

My thoughts continue to swim, but I manage to get up. The room swims too. I almost trip on the body, but I stay upright long enough to kneel down next to Jimin. Something’s wrong. Don’t werewolves heal fast? Shouldn’t he be up by now?

I reach out and press my hand into his fur. He relaxes, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.

The screeching stops and after a minute or two, the air vent begins hissing, the water starts dripping. The demons are gone- or at least taken care of, contained. The immediate danger is gone. Now time to assess the damage.

I can’t seem to get up. Jimin’s breathing has evened out, but he hasn’t moved otherwise.

Halsahm has stayed dead, contrary to my expectations. Had it… evaporated? Or whatever it’s called? Or had Munhee marked it with sigil magic, locking the spirit inside? I hadn’t seen the symbol anywhere on the body and I’m much too tired to look. Exhaustion hits me as the door opens, revealing a haggard looking, human Hoseok.

His keen eyes sweep the room, voice hoarse as he nods to himself, “Thought I smelled blood…”

“Eun?” Jungkook skids to a stop in the doorway, panting hard. Despite his speed I can see he’s limping.

“I’m alright,” I croak, suddenly feeling the nausea well up in my tummy. Jungkook looks conflicted and remains in the hallway, as if he doesn’t dare get any closer. I clear my throat, “But Jimin might be in trouble.”

Hoseok breathes deeply, “Nothing too serious. We’ll have Munhee look at him.”

Jimin growls, but the sound fades almost immediately.

The throbbing in my head and in my body begins to get worse. Despite the fact that I’m kneeling, the world around me sways dangerously, “On second thought, I think I need to… see Munhee too.”

“Why-?”

I shudder, an involuntary action, “Please get her. Halsahm…”

I realize too late that I’ve said the name out loud. More powerful now or not, the girl is dead, which means the demon has been released from the body. Released? Expelled. Left. Whatever the case it’s gone, no longer trapped in the bunker.

A set of hands moves Jungkook aside and Namjoon takes his place behind Hoseok. The look of concern is immediate on his expression, “Hoseok, go get noona.”

“But-”

“Go,” Namjoon barks, causing Hoseok to push away from the door and jog down the hall. The man with the blue-grey hair then turns to Jungkook, “You are going to help me get Jimin in his room. Jimin, we have to do this. Don’t fight me.”

The coffee color wolf attempts another growl, but the sound fades just as quickly as the first.

“Can you change back?” Jungkook asks quietly.

There’s a pause before Jimin whimpers.

My friend exchanges a look with the pack leader before both boys step into the room. I don’t even flinch when they transform. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve now gotten used to the sounds, or if I simply don’t have the energy for aversion.

Between the black wolf and blue-grey wolf, they’re able to half carry, half drag Jimin away with minimal protests. This leaves me with the body. I can’t help but look. Blood continues to spill from both ends of the mangled neck, though it’s slowed to a trickle that feeds the growing puddle, which inches closer and closer to me on the concrete floor. I force myself to scoot back, away from the blood, away from the spattering and the corpse. I can only hope that the little girl has found peace somewhere.

With my back pressed against the opposite wall, I refuse to look at the head directly. The matted hair has covered the face, hiding it. But nothing seems to stop the spread of the foamy white substance as it mixes into the crimson.

I turn away, nausea coming over me in another powerful wave. My whole body begins to tremble as the footsteps cause me to look up. Munhee, blood trickling from her nose, staggers into the doorway. She looks at the demon, then looks at me.

“Jimin did this?”

I nod and she mirrors the action in affirmation, reaching up to wipe her nose with her sleeve.

“Okay, let’s get you away from that first, then we can see what’s wrong. Can you walk?”

✩✩✩♔✩✩✩

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Do Chinchillas Have Bones?

Every chinchilla owner knows that a chinchilla's bones are delicate. You may have also heard that the issue specifically relates to the chinchilla's rib cage. So, do chinchillas have skeletons, and if so, why do their bones break so easily?

Chinchillas have leg bones, spines, skulls, leg and foot bones and ribs like other mammals. Their bones are made from the same solid material as those in other animals, although they are mostly thin and flexible.  Chinchillas do have a rib cage, not floating ribs, although much of the rib cage is cartilage so it is weak.

Because chinchillas' bones can bend, fracture or break easily, correct handling guidelines must be followed. This will prevent unfortunate accidents. Everything you need to know about the chinchilla skeleton and how to deal with fractures, you can find below...

Do Chinchillas Have Bones?

Chinchillas are so delicate around the middle that they shouldn't be held there. However, while delicate, chinchillas do still have bones. The bones are what gives a chinchilla its bodily structure, meaning it can walk, run and protect itself. Like other animals, chinchillas have:

A skull, which is solid and thick to protect the brain and eyes

Leg bones and paw bones to stand with

Ribs, the purpose of which is to protect the vital organs (heart, lungs, liver, etc.)

Tail bones which stretch out from the chinchilla's behind, which are for balance when moving

These bones are essentially the same as those in other species of rodent. Take the paw, for example. A paper in the journal PeerJ compared the paws of chinchillas to those of other rodents. They have shortened thumbs, and have lost a toe through gradual evolution. But this is broadly similar to what has happened in other rodent species.

What this means is that chinchillas are little different to other rodents, except in certain specific ways.

Chinchilla Skeleton Diagram

As can be seen in the picture below, chinchillas have a normal-looking skeleton. From the outside, a chinchilla is instantly recognizable, but by looking only at its skeleton you could mistake a chinchilla for a large rat or squirrel.

The large skull and teeth, long tail and posture all mark this skeleton as one of a rodent, but it is indeed specifically a chinchilla. It appears far smaller because a chinchilla's fur accounts for a large amount of its overall volume/size.

Do Chinchillas Have Spines?

Chinchillas are fluffy, making their spines hard to see.

Chinchillas are vertebrates. Vertebrates are animals which have spinal cords. The term comes from 'vertebrae', which is the name for the individual bones in the spine. You can see the spine running along the back of the skeleton in the diagram above.

The vertebrae protect the delicate spinal cord within. The spinal cord is what the animal uses to relay sensory inputs to the brain, and signals from the brain to the outer limbs to make them move. Without vertebrae to protect it, the spinal cord is easily damaged. Damage to the spinal cord can cause disability to limbs below the point of damage. You can feel a chinchilla's spine through its fur when you handle it.

The tail is a continuation of the spine. It has the same structure of one vertebrae after the other as the spine does. Each vertebrae is smaller than the last as you approach the tail tip. The fact that the bones of the tail are the same as those in the core spine is reflected in their scientific name (caudal vertebrae).

Do Chinchillas Have Delicate Bones?

A chinchilla's bones are no more delicate than those of other rodents. They are of the same thickness and density as those of other rodents, and are no more easy to break. What's more likely to happen is for the bone to bend before breaking, in the same way that a wish bone will before it snaps.

The real reason why chinchillas are considered delicate is that all rodents are delicate. They are small, and are easily hurt by another animal as big and strong as a person.

Do Chinchillas Have a Rib Cage?

Chinchillas have ribs, like any other mammal. They also have rib cages, which is specifically defined as a formation which includes the spine, the ribs, and the sternum.

Chinchillas can be held around the middle if you're careful.

There is a myth that chinchillas do not have a rib cage or a sternum, and that they instead have 'floating ribs'. Floating ribs are ribs that are not connected to a sternum or another rib at the front. This means they are more flexible, but cannot protect the organs as well.

This is not accurate. As you can see from the diagram above, chinchillas do have a sternum. You can see it on the opposite side of the rib cage to the spine. While the sternum is small and weak, it is nonetheless present, and the ribs are connected to it.

Besides that, the ribs themselves are highly flexible. This is because in most animals, the rib runs almost all the way from the spine to the sternum and is only connected by a small amount of cartilage. Cartilage is like bony muscle: stronger than regular muscle and weaker than bone, but more flexible than bone, too.

In a chinchilla's rib cage, the cartilaginous section is as long as or longer than the rib. This means that the chinchilla's rib cage is less strong but more flexible than usual. This is an important distinction, and is why you shouldn't pick a chinchilla up by its middle. Its ribs don't protect its organs as well as the ribs of other animals for this reason.

What Is a Floating Rib Cage, and Do Chinchillas Have One?

Chinchillas do have a sternum. Their ribs are attached to it by small muscles and cartilage, which is similar to other animals' rib cages (including our own). You can see this in the diagram above. The bone of the rib is on the top half of the chinchilla's body, and meets cartilage at its sides. You can see the meeting point where there is a small lump.

Chinchillas do have two floating ribs, one on each side. These are the lower-most ribs, towards the tail-end of the spine, and can be seen in the diagram above. Many other animals have a floating rib in the same place, including people.

However, despite this myth not being true, it is still true that you have to be careful when handling a chinchilla. It's still true that:

Chinchillas have thin ribs which can easily bend and break

The cartilage which connects the ribs to the sternum is far longer than in other animals, which makes the cage more vulnerable to breaking, and more flexible

A chinchilla's ribs can poke into its organs if it is held around the middle

A chinchilla's spine is still delicate, and holding one around the middle can compress the spinal cord

This is why you have to pick up chinchillas according to long-established guidelines. To learn how to pick up a chinchilla by its tail rather than by its middle, read the linked guide.

You might also like...

Can Chinchillas Break Their Bones?

A chinchilla's bones are structurally the same as those of other animals. They are mostly bone marrow on the inside, with a solid exterior of bone. Larger parts of the bone, e.g. joints, are less dense on the inside, but are still strong.

Either way, because a chinchilla's bones are structurally the same as those of other animals, they behave like those of other animals too. It's possible for a chinchilla's bones to bend, fracture or break. The younger the animal, the less chance of severe breaks.

These injuries heal over time. Bones have blood vessels inside them, like the rest of the body. These blood vessels supply oxygen, but also much-needed minerals to different parts of the body. When a bone breaks, this is what happens:

In the few days after a fracture, a blood clot forms around the break. This both protects the break, and enables the blood to deliver minerals and oxygen more easily.

Around the break and blood clot forms a callus. Callus is made of bone- and cartilage-material. This forms over the course of one to two weeks and keeps the bone in place, protecting it.

The structure of the bone is rebuilt and reconnected. This means creating new blood vessels inside the bone, new bone material and new bone marrow.

The callus is gradually re-absorbed by the body. With the bone reformed, it is no longer needed.

If the broken bone is not properly aligned, it takes longer to fill the gap. Infection is also more likely to occur as the wound takes longer to heal. If the bone is perfectly aligned, healing is much simpler.

Can You Accidentally Break a Chinchilla's Bones?

It's possible to accidentally break a chinchilla's tail, spine or ribs through incorrect handling. New owners can easily pick their pets up by their middles without thinking. This can result in broken ribs and punctured organs, i.e. severe injury. You could also break your chinchilla's bones by:

Accidentally sitting on it

Accidentally standing on it

Closing the cage door on it or its tail with too much force

Providing an unsuitable cage (your chinchilla can break its legs in the gaps of the floor)

Dropping it from a great height (although chinchillas are capable of surviving jumps/falls as they can naturally jump up high)

Mistreating it

Broken bones are made more possible by a lack of minerals. A lack of calcium in particular will result in weaker bones, especially if the lack occurs during development.

In this respect, a chinchilla is the same as any other pet. The only difference is that a chinchilla's ribs are easier to break, as they are floating ribs. You must therefore be more careful when handling a chinchilla than you would with other pets.

How Long Do Chinchilla Bones Take to Heal?

Chinchilla bones do not take long to heal. They are thin and delicate, but this thinness also means they are easier to heal. Any breaks may have mostly healed between 7-10 days.

However, if you have ever broken a bone, you will know that there is a difference between initial recovery and long-term recovery. The break site may still cause you pain for a long period afterwards. It may also be susceptible to breaking again in the future. As such, do not assume that your pet's broken bone has fully healed after this time.

What to Do If You Break Your Pet Chinchilla's Bones

If your chinchilla has a broken bone, it needs medical attention. To determine what the issue is and get it fixed, follow these steps.

Observe Your Pet

Bone fractures have several obvious symptoms. Your pet will be in pain and struggle to move, and will experience swelling around the break site. It's rare for there to be an open wound or bone poking through skin, but this is a possibility. This is similar to what fractures look like in other animals and people.

If you were there when the injury was sustained, you may have heard a cracking sound, which was the bone breaking. When your pet moves now you may hear a faint crackling noise. This is the sound of the broken ends of bone rubbing together.

Contact a Veterinarian

You should not leave your chinchilla to heal on its own. A veterinarian can diagnose and treat the fracture to make recovery quicker and more complete.

First, they will diagnose the problem. This is easy as the symptoms above are obvious enough to a novice, let alone a vet. But if the issue isn't so clear cut, the vet will confirm the break with an X-ray. Once confirmed, the vet will do several things:

Reduce the fracture, if it is a complete break, by realigning the bones

Apply a bandage to the area to restrain movement, which is essential for fast healing

Disinfect and dress any open wounds the chinchilla might have

Prescribe antibiotics in the event of an open wound (to prevent infection, which can seriously complicate recovery)

Prescribe mineral supplements (if the break was made possible by a lack of calcium)

Your vet may also advise you to do several things to prevent limb injuries in future and enable quick healing of your pet's fracture. You should remove any platforms from your chinchilla's enclosure until it's fully healed, as jumping/falling would aggravate the issue. You must also avoid allowing your chinchilla free time in a pen or outside of its enclosure for the same reason.

Monitor Your Pet's Condition

Keep an eye on your pet to see whether its broken bone heals correctly. Your pet shouldn't gnaw at the site constantly, as this will interfere with recovery. It also shouldn't overexert itself with too much exercise, so try to discourage this.

Once your pet's condition has improved, you can return its enclosure back to normal. This means putting back in any platforms, elevated food bowls and so on that you had to remove. At this point, you may want to visit the vet again to ensure that the fracture has fully healed. If so, nothing further needs to be done: apart from being more careful in the future!

Below, you can find our chinchilla quiz, new posts for further reading, and a signup for our Chinchilla Newsletter!

#chinchillas #chinchillafaqs #body

[shmosnet2]

Bizarre Claims Made To Disprove Evolution

Bizarre Claims Made To Disprove Evolution

Without getting too deep in the weeds in explaining the Theory of Evolution, it is an established scientific theory that explains the evolution of species. It’s one of those things people who understand it fully support, those who kind of get it don’t consider, and the people who see it as a rejection of their faith obsessively oppose. Over the years since Darwin and Wallace established an understanding of Natural Selection, which is the basis for the theory, many strange and bizarre claims have emerged trying to dispute it. Some are well known while others are only found in the deepest, darkest recesses of the Internet. Here are the ten most bizarre claims made by people trying to prove Evolution is “Just a theory.” See Also: 10 Ways Evolution Made Humans Worse 10 Evolution Is Just A Theory

As any scientist will tell you, a theory in science is not the same thing as that idea you get when you’re trying to figure out who stole your pudding out of the shared office fridge. In science, a theory is a collection of observable and testable facts compiled over a usually extended period of time by a wide number of people. Consider the Theory of Gravity or the Theory of Planetary Motion. These aren’t guesses people like Copernicus, Newton, and Kepler made while sitting in the tub one evening… They collected data over years of study and compiled them into a theory that has since been tested, proven, disproven, added to, and changed. The beauty of a scientific theory is that it is not set in stone. Nothing is absolute, as any new observation can change it. The current Theory of Evolution contains observations made that were impossible in Darwin and Wallace’s day. With new technologies and advancements allowing for the study of individual cells, DNA, and other aspects of life, the theory has changed significantly since it was first forwarded in the 19th century. The claim that “Evolution is just a theory” serves only to prove the person saying it doesn’t understand what a theory is—it doesn’t prove Evolution isn’t true.[1] 9 The Fossil Record Is Incomplete Of course, the fossil record is incomplete. When an organism is fossilized, it has essentially won the prize few animals or plants ever achieve. Fossilization is a truly rare event, which only occurs when the perfect situation allows for it. An organism has to be in the right place at the right time for their body to be fossilized, and that doesn’t guarantee the fossil will survive for millions of years to be found by humans. Because of this, the tiniest fraction of living organisms are ever fossilized and found. Granted, we have found millions of fossils, but if you consider the number of living organisms that have existed on the planet since life first arose, the number is infinitesimally small. Because fossils are so rare, we are constantly finding new organisms that fit into the record to help explain the changes seen over time that lead to new species arising. Whenever this occurs, it provides new answers, but also creates new questions. Those who don’t believe in evolution point to these so-called “gaps” as the reason Evolution is false. The animated series Futurama once did a great bit on how each time a new species was found to fill a gap, a new gap was created. There will always be “missing links” in the fossil record, but none that disproves the theory.[2] 8 It Relies Too Heavily On Chance Making It Mathematically Impossible

Back in 1973, an article was published in an issue of Acts & Facts, which outlined the Creationist stance of “The Mathematical Impossibility of Evolution.” The article fails in a number of respects, but like most arguments against evolution in favor of the Biblical story of Creation, it shows that the author, Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. didn’t fully understand the theory he was attempting to disprove. Despite this, people have raised the mathematical impossibility of evolution ever since. The postulation argues that because mutations occur randomly, and only the so-called “good” mutations are retained, the time needed for single-cell organisms to evolve into mankind is impossible. Dr. Morris threw some numbers out, which suggests that an organism with 200 successive mutations would require a chance of on in 1060 ((10 to the 60th power)). It seems his position relies on the total misunderstanding of how natural selection works, but this hasn’t stopped people from raising this issue whenever they argue against the Theory of Evolution.[3] 7 Evolution Has Never Been Observed

The argument that evolution has never been observed, is not testable, and isn’t falsifiable is patently false. Regardless, this claim comes up a lot on the Internet, and it generally stems from the incorrect assumption that an animal of one species has offspring of a completely different species. This isn’t how evolution… or any aspect of biology works. These claims are often brought up with another misconception related to microevolution and macroevolution. The former looks at changes within species over time, while the latter involves changes that may result in speciation. Macroevolution can be observed in the fossil record, and through DNA analysis, though it does take a considerable amount of time, but microevolution can be observed. Because microevolution revolves around the study of changes in gene frequency within a population, it can be observed in much shorter periods of time. Insects work well in this area due to their short life cycle. One example that’s easy to explain shows how populations of insects pass on a gene responsible for pesticide resistance to subsequent generations. This reduces the efficacy of pesticides and shows how the DNA changes from one generation to the next, ultimately rendering that pesticide ‘mostly harmless’ to the population.[4] 6It Defies The Second Law Of Thermodynamics

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that “the state of entropy of the entire universe, as an isolated system, will always increase over time. The 2nd Law also states that the changes in the entropy in the universe can never be negative.” When the 2nd Law is brought up by people attempting to disprove evolution, all they manage to do is prove they don’t understand the 2nd Law. The argument suggests that living cells could never have evolved from inanimate chemicals, and similarly, multicellular life couldn’t have evolved from protozoa due to an increase in complexity. The misunderstanding would also apply to something like a snowflake, which is a complex structure that forms from disorderly parts, but as we all know, snowflakes exist. Essentially, the misunderstanding of a closed system is the reason this argument is often cited. The planet Earth is not a closed system, as energy from the sun can increase complexity. Similarly, multicellular life can increase in complexity by consuming—absorbing lower forms of life, which effectively balances out the purported decrease in entropy across the universe.[5] 5Not All Scientists Support It So It Must Be False

This argument always comes about when someone attempts to poke holes in the Theory of Evolution by saying it isn’t supported 100% by scientists. That may be true, but if only four out of five dentists can get behind a product, which amounts to 80% support, does that mean the product is absolutely worthless? Conversely, in terms of biologists who understand and accept the Theory of Evolution, it’s more like 98%. Frankly, it’s not possible to work in biology without a proper understanding of Evolution, but that’s not necessarily true of scientists who work in other fields, which may account for the 2%. The numbers of people who don’t work in a scientific field are far different. Roughly three-quarters of Americans believe that there is a scientific consensus regarding the evolution of life. When people who don’t support the Theory of Evolution were polled in a Pew Research Study, 46% believed there was a scientific consensus, while 52% believed that most biological scientists believe humans (and other forms of life) have always existed in their present form. The difference is staggering, but it’s easy to see why this argument is often raised in an attempt to disprove evolution. Of course, to be intellectually honest we do need to say that while a lack of consensus doesn’t disprove a theory, a total consensus doesn’t prove a theory either. Science is not a popularity contest.[6] 4 Evolution Cannot Explain How Life First Appeared On Earth

Evolution is the study of how life changes over time, it has absolutely nothing to do with the origin of life, but most people who don’t understand what evolutionary theory is, bring this argument up often. Evolution certainly has a lot to do with what happened to life after it first appeared, but it doesn’t deal with how life got there in the first place. The area of study that revolves around the origin of life is called abiogenesis, and it deals with the prevailing scientific hypothesis that a single event caused non-living materials to transition into living ones, though that event has yet to be identified. That’s when evolution would step into the equation, not before, and it doesn’t attempt to explain how life started. Even if the scientific community accepts the theory that life began through some extraterrestrial or supernatural means, the evolution of organisms over the following 3.5+ billion years is observable and quantifiable. That being said, biochemists have discovered a means by which primitive nucleic acids and amino acids may have formed and organized into self-replicating units, which could have been the event by which inanimate ingredients formed into the foundational elements of cellular biochemistry, but that’s not the Theory of Evolution.[7] 3 If Humans Evolved From Monkeys Then Why Are There Still Monkeys?

For some reason, this question is one that is often repeated by people attempting to disprove evolution, but the answer is simple. Humans didn’t evolve from monkeys. That should settle the argument, but sadly, it rarely works in quieting the question. Humans are hominids, which is a family of animals known as the great apes. These include humans, chimpanzees, orangutan, gorillas, and bonobo. Humans remain the only surviving species of the genus homo, which once included Neanderthals, Homo erectus, and many more. Monkeys, on the other hand, are simians who do share a common ancestor with humans and other members of the primate order. Humans are most closely related to chimpanzees, who share a common ancestor dating back some six to seven million years. Monkeys and humans’ common ancestry extends much further in the fossil record. The common ancestor between monkeys and humans lived about 25 million years ago. This argument has no basis in fact and instead relies on a misunderstanding of how speciation works in transitioning one species to another.[8] 2 The Banana Argument

Ray Comfort is a New Zealand creationist and televangelist, who once used a banana as an example of the so-called theory of Intelligent Design. Comfort attempted to explain that “the banana and the hand are perfectly made, one for the other.” He believed that the human hand was designed to hold a banana, which was shaped perfectly for our enjoyment. He further declared the peel was nature’s way of keeping bananas safe and edible for people, it has a tab at the top for easy opening, and it, therefore, disproved evolution and proved God’s existence. Here’s the problem with his claim; modern bananas are the product of years of human-imposed genetic manipulation through cross-pollination, and if it proves anything, it’s that species can change over time, as bananas are an example of human-manipulation of evolutionary mechanisms. Wild bananas are small, filled with seeds, and they taste terrible. Eventually, Comfort admitted his mistake/misunderstanding of how modern bananas came to be, saying he “was not aware that the common banana had been so modified through hybridization.” Intelligent Design was created as an attempt at bringing Creationism into the classroom by claiming it was another theory that could explain the origin of life. It didn’t take long for lawsuits and common sense to win in the end, but Creationists still try to push Intelligent Design as a viable theory, which should be taught in biology classrooms.[9] 1 The Crocoduck

Unfortunately, Ray Comfort’s use of the banana to explain his beliefs against evolution didn’t stop with the fruit. Comfort paired up with Kirk Cameron of Growing Pains fame to refute the existence of transitional fossils, which are organisms found in the fossil record showing traits of a parent and descendant species. They are useful in showing how one species transitioned over a long period of time into another, but Cameron and Comfort completely misunderstood what transitional fossils were when they pulled out a picture of what they called a “crocoduck,” claiming that evolution was false because nobody had ever found one. Cameron appeared as an expert on Fox News, where he made his claim, and the Internet had a field day. Amusingly, Cameron and Comfort’s creation came back to bite them in the rear when an organism was discovered, showing traits of both ducks and crocodiles. In 2003, a new species of ancient crocodile was found and later identified, which had a large, flat snout reminiscent of a duck’s bill. The new species was named Anatosuchus, which translates into “duck crocodile,” or, in Cameron’s words, “A crocoduck!” Technically, it’s not a duck’s bill, as it includes rows of teeth and is entirely crocodilian, but you can’t say paleontologists didn’t have a chuckle when the crocoduck entered the lexicon.[10]

https://ift.tt/2Ph6YjT . Foreign Articles December 06, 2019 at 11:43AM

[givemethatgold]

Rescued pt 9

Summary:  After Bucky comes to your aid in a moment of panic you extend an invitation to family dinner. Neither of you could have foreseen how this small act of kindness would alter you, and your life, forever.

Pairing: Bucky x Reader, Tony Stark x alcohol Warnings: Swearing, alcoholism, stress baking Word Count:1616

Author’s Note: I’ve been struggling with finding the time and inspiration to write lately, and I apologize profusely if this is reflecting in my writing! Morning sickness is a bitch. @bxckytrxsh is my lovely proof-reader and sweet, sweet friend.

Previously

“Tony Stark, and you are?”

Freaking the fuck out right now!

“Y/N Y/L/N. How’s Bucky? Is he,” you stopped and willed away your tears, “is he going to be okay?”

Tony’s eye immediately softened.

“He’s going to be fine. Y/N, look at me, you saved him. Now, why don’t you come with me? The team has more than a few questions for you.”

Tony scoops you up in his arms like you weigh nothing and starts walking towards another entrance that seems to lead into the living quarters of the compound.

“Hmmm...on second thought,” he pauses and sniffs, “maybe we should get you to a shower first.”

You were trying hard to remain calm and collected but it was an extremely hard thing to do when you were sitting at a conference table with the majority of the Avengers sitting across from you.  It felt like you were at a job interview from hell.

Scarlet Witch, Falcon, and Captain America sat off to one side of the table. Iron Man, Vision, and War Machine sat as far away from them as they could, and Black Widow was in the middle seemingly acting as both interrogator and buffer. 

You shifted in your seat, becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the heavy silence. Your ankle had been wrapped and was elevated on the chair next to you, but the movement still caused a twinge of pain. You fought to keep a neutral expression; afraid that any word or expression could be taken incorrectly by the intimidating group.

“So, by the time Bucky woke up, the fire had already spread throughout the house?” Natasha had finally broken her silence after hearing you recount your perspective of the last three days. Of all that had happened, she seemed unusually interested in the house fire.

“You don’t think it was an accident, do you?” It came out as more of a statement than a question.

“Y/N, I don’t want to alarm you but we need to face facts and take action.” Natasha’s face softened minutely as she reached across the table and patted your hand. The surprised looks on everyone’s faces didn’t escape either of you, but you both chose to ignore them; the current topic being too important.

“When those Hydra operatives caught up to you, they already knew who you are and what you... meant to Barnes.” Tony, who was already into the scotch at 9:30 in the morning, finished his glass and leveled his gaze at you. “We think they tested him with the fire to see how he would react. Hell, they may have even orchestrated your meeting in the parking lot just to encourage him into gaining a weakness.”

I’m sorry, what I meant to Bucky? Past tense?! Who does this asshole think he is? Okay, that’s it. I am so fucking done being the weak link and getting stepped on.

When you had come close to being attacked in the parking lot, a small ball of rage had begun to form in the pit of your stomach. You had allowed it to take over when your mom had revealed her cancer, but the resulting damage to your knuckles had you forcing the emotion down and running from it. That tiny ball had been added to, a lot, over the past couple of days; the fire, the hospital, getting shot at, getting hurt, seeing Bucky bleeding, almost losing him, and now. Hearing this man, one of Bucky’s supposed teammates, talk about him so flippantly, like he was some lab rat and not a human being; this was the straw that broke the seal on that rage.

“First of all, you supercilious prick,” you rose up onto your hands as much as you could, “it's what I mean, to Bucky. I’m not going anywhere, regardless of his past and what is happening now.  Secondly, if you are so goddamn confident that Hydra knows about me and my family, what the fuck are you doing sitting around here!? Go bloody get them and put them somewhere safe!” 

By the time you were done your speech you were yelling, and not just at Tony. The room sat in stunned silence for a breathe then everyone sprung into action. Sam and Steve both gave you a quick nod before exiting the room, Vision disappeared through the wall, Natasha and Wanda both came to give you a few words of reassurance before sprinting away, and after a mini-quarrel, Rhodey and Tony got up and began to exit. 

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” You called out to Tony, using your best authoritative nurse voice.

“I am going to, as you so eloquently put it, go bloody get your family,” Tony replied, giving you a withering look.

“Not inebriated you’re not!”

“Sweetheart, I’m Iron Man, if you thi-”

“Mr. Stark!” You interrupted. “I don’t care who you are when you put on a fancy metal suit. Right now, you’re a drunk mess on a Sunday morning who needs to sober up and see a therapist!” You were shouting again but you couldn’t find it in you to care. “If you so much as look at one of your suits, I swear to god I will call it in and report you for a DUI. This is my family, I won’t risk you compromising anything!”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.!” Tony called, leveling you again with a challenging look.

“Yes, Mr. Stark?” A disembodied voice replied.

You were able to keep your expression neutral and continue the staring contest with Tony.

“Where is my suit? I’ve been calling it for over a minute.”

“It’s in its dock, where it’s going to stay. I’m inclined to agree with Miss Y/L/N, and I won’t be assisting the operation of your suit until your blood alcohol level is back to zero.”

The shock on Tony’s face quickly turned into indignant rage. His casually cross arms were not at his sides with his hands clenched into fists. You took a moment to worry he may try to punch you, but quickly dismissed the idea. Tony could be a hotheaded asshole, but even he had limits.

“Come on Stank, time to walk it off and do some thinking.” Colonel Rhodes was poking Tony with his cane, trying to get his attention.

Tony stayed staring at you for a moment longer then disappeared out the door. You let out the breath you had been holding and sank back down onto your chair. 

“I’m impressed,” Rhodey said softly to you, “not a lot of people can stand up to Tony, never mind win one of his ultra-alpha staring contests. Give it a few days, I expect he’ll come around.”

You gave him a small smile in thanks for his kind words then slumped forward to rest your forehead on the cool, polished table. Gently banging your forehead a few times before going completely limp in order to better question your behavior towards your host; a friggen superhero. 

“May I suggest you rest in your room, Miss Y/l/n? It’d be a wee bit comfier than the conference room. I calculate that your family will arrive within the hour.”

Lifting your head you looked around for the source of the voice; a speaker or intercom. Coming up empty you just spoke aloud, thanking the woman and asking for directions to your room which, apparently, Tony had arranged for you while you had been getting cleaned up and attended to in the med-bay.

Great. Wonderful. Excellent. Phenomenal first day, Y/n.

Rather than going to your guest room, you had found solace in wandering the halls and exploring the compound. So far, you had discovered that the Avengers seemed to like rom-coms, had a library full of fantasy and science fiction novels, and someone must be a musician as one room was equipped with enough instruments to make a small orchestra happy. They also had a kitchen to die for, stocked full of sugary cereal and a crazy amount of protein shake powder. 

This is what superheroes eat? Can’t Stark afford a nutritionist and private chef? Christ.

Deciding to blow off some steam while waiting for your family to arrive, you stayed in the kitchen and began to bake. Four loaves of bread, three meat pies, a massive pot of chili, and peach crumble later you started wondering what was holding up the arrival of your family. 

Remembering the built-in AI who seemed to mother-hen the group, you tentatively called out.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“The quinjet is ten minutes out, I apologize for my incorrect calculation. I didn’t account for people not believing Captain America.”

“Jordan...” you muttered, shaking your head. It was no surprised to hear that he put up and fight and refused to go quietly. 

You could just imagine the panic they must have felt waking up in the hotel with you gone, Jordan’s truck gone, no way of getting a hold of you, and then the Avengers bursting in claiming their lives may be in danger. 

“They will all be escorted to the conference room where you were earlier today.” The AI informed you.

“Would it be possible to bring them here? I think everyone could use some comfort food while they hear the news.”

After the debriefing and dinner, the Avengers had left your family alone in the common area. While you were grateful for the opportunity to be with him, you were finding it hard to speak. The guilt of what had happened was falling on your shoulders; knowing that none of it would have happened had you just been more careful when buying those fucking groceries.

Your mom and dad had tried to console you, Karen had flat out told you that you were being dumb if you thought that any of this was your fault, and Jordan mumbled something about needing to do background checks. The one person who you could always count of to bring light to a situation and make you laugh was being uncharacteristically quiet.

Before you could ask Mikey how he was doing, your name was being called. Looking toward the door you spotted Bucky, leaning heavily on the doorjamb but looking a lot more alive than the last time you saw him.

“Bucky,” you breathed, heart leaping into your throat at the sight of him on his feet, “How are you fee- MIKEY, NO!”

Part Ten

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[funface2]

Big Bang Theory: 10 Hilarious Howard Memes That Are Too Funny – Screen Rant

It’s strange now to think of Howard as the weird one of the friend group in The Big Bang Theory since he was a one-woman man for about a decade until the show’s end, but Howard had started out like a hound who could not get around without being inappropriate. 

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RELATED: Big Bang Theory: 10 Hilarious Sheldon Memes That Are Too Funny

Due to this, most of Howard’s memes are relatively old, as he was at his funniest when he was incessantly trying to get a girlfriend. Also, because of his one-note personality back in the day, the majority of Howard memes you’ll find are puns that are extremely cheesy pick-up lines that only desperate guys will use. Still, these 10 memes are guaranteed to make you laugh. 

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10 Who Needs Quora?

This is actually a testimony to how long The Big Bang Theory was on-air because this meme was made way back around 2008-09. At that time, Yahoo Answers was all the rage for people with queries, and the younger internet user will be unsure what the joke here is.

RELATED: Big Bang Theory: 10 Most Underrated Supporting Characters

Basically, just replace Yahoo Answers with Quora and you’ll get the joke. Back then, you could find just about every answer you wanted on Yahoo Answers, which makes this a very appropriate pick-up line on Howard’s part. Too bad there’s no girl who would have asked him a question to begin with.

9 Do You Even Watch The Show?

You can find cheap imitations of just about everything in the world, and The Big Bang Theory is a popular enough show that lame products are made by those who’ve never watched the show. Case in point is this USB line, the makers of whom have no idea what they’re doing.

For one, that’s Leonard Hofstader they’ve got as a figurine for a USB, but the bozos who’ve made the packaging had no clue who Leonard was because it’s titled as Howard Wolowitz. To top it off, the creator of this meme has poked more fun at the incorrectness by claiming that’s actually Sheldon Cooper’s figurine.

8 Puns Galore

You don’t need to be a genius to get what Howard means here, because the context makes you understand what kind of reaction he’s getting. Still, it’s not a bad line to use if you want to impress a girl who’s into science.

RELATED: Big Bang Theory: 10 Jokes That Have Already Aged Poorly

People who are interested in particular things don’t mind wordplay concerning their area of interest, so maybe Howard missed a chance to pick up some girl at a genius bar. Then again, with a line that focuses so hard on the pun, odds are Howard would’ve gotten someone with the same personality as him. Now that would just have been weird.

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7 Smooth Mr. Wolowitz

Okay, call us lame, but we actually think this a pretty good line. After all, this is the kind of wordplay that is sure to break the ice. And it’s not even something that should be restricted just as a pick-up line, because it can double very well as a joke.

Another funny thing about this is that you can also picture Howard using this very clearly. We can also imagine the person receiving this compliment to be Penny, who would have no doubt rolled her eyes and probably walked away in exasperation.

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6 Harry Potter’s Howard

There will be a lot of contention over whether this meme is right or wrong, but you can probably discern some of Howard’s features in Professor Remus Lupin. Even funnier is that there were four friends in James Potter’s crew, which is exactly how it was for the boy gang on The Big Bang Theory.

RELATED: Young Sheldon: 10 The Big Bang Theory Easter Eggs You Missed

Since Remus Lupin’s hair wasn’t exactly known to be fashionable, perhaps Howard Wolowitz might be his group’s Lupin. People might be inclined to think of him as Peter Pettigrew, but Sheldon’s cowardice makes him a bigger candidate for that role.

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5 Perfect Product Placement

The Big Bang Theory and Axe body spray would have made millions through promotion had they had this collaboration. After all, the Axe Chocolate Man was a character who was all about the ladies, the same as a certain Mr. Wolowitz.

RELATED: The Big Bang Theory: 10 Best Penny Quotes

Not only that, but you can see just how much the two looked alike. How awesome would it have been had we seen Howard Wolowitz appear in an Axe commercial; at least here he would have had seen girls actually be interested in him. Or maybe Bernadette was interested in him because Howard was using Axe?

4 What’s Your Secret, Howard?

From the little glimpses we got of Howard’s mom, the woman certainly looked like all she ate was briskets, but Howard himself looked kind of like a toothpick with bushy hair. While Mrs. Wolowitz was alive, all Howard ever mentioned of her cooking was brisket, but it doesn’t seem as if that’s all he ate.

RELATED: The Big Bang Theory: The 5 Best (& 5 Worst) Episodes

If that is indeed true, then you’ve got to hand it to Howard for keeping his weight. Howard was known to go extra lengths to impress girls, so staying thin might be his most underrated piece of dedication.

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3 Break It Down!

You might never have considered this before, but Howard’s room had a large assortment of Easter Eggs. Since whenever we saw Howard he was being an absolute weirdo, so the eye didn’t fall straight onto the interesting things around him.

The person behind this meme has shrewdly pointed out that Howard must be a WWE fan, as his lightsabers are reminiscent of D-Generation X’s logo. The wrestling faction was famous for having glowsticks that met in the middle to form an ‘X’, and Howard’s wall reflects just that, complete with DX’s trademark green color.

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2 Hats Off For Creativity

If you really do find Howard’s puns here charming, then be sure to keep this one as part of your arsenal. Out of all the memes we’ve seen so far, you’ll have the best shot of this one working because it requires a certain amount of knowledge to be understandable.

RELATED: Big Bang Theory: The 10 Worst Things Penny Has Ever Done, Ranked

The pun here is that all the words in “Beautiful” are formed through abbreviations of elements in a scientific context. This means that if you have a girl you like in your chemistry class, or if you like someone who’s got a job in research, then this should be your go-to line.

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1 We Need A Wolowitz Repellent

Seeing as Howard has been married for a long time now and his days of being a freak are over, we don’t feel guilty in likening his Season 1-3 self as a fly. It makes sense too because Howard was always buzzing around any woman he saw to land in the zone and try to hit on her.

We only saw this happen in short bursts, but in-universe it must have been very exasperating to be hanging out with Howard, considering he would divert all his attention away immediately when he saw a girl and would ditch anyone he was with just to get swatted away as any fly would. Oh well, at least now his fly days are long gone.

NEXT: Big Bang Theory: 10 Times Amy And Penny Were Friendship Goals

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Bài viết Big Bang Theory: 10 Hilarious Howard Memes That Are Too Funny – Screen Rant đã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày Funface.

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[lovemychinchilla]

Do Chinchillas Have Bones?

Every chinchilla owner knows that a chinchilla's bones are delicate. You may have also heard that the issue specifically relates to the chinchilla's rib cage. So, do chinchillas have skeletons, and if so, why do their bones break so easily?

Chinchillas have leg bones, spines, skulls, leg and foot bones and ribs like other mammals. Their bones are made from the same solid material as those in other animals, although they are mostly thin and flexible.  Chinchillas do have a rib cage, not floating ribs, although much of the rib cage is cartilage so it is weak.

Because chinchillas' bones can bend, fracture or break easily, correct handling guidelines must be followed. This will prevent unfortunate accidents. Everything you need to know about the chinchilla skeleton and how to deal with fractures, you can find below...

Do Chinchillas Have Bones?

Chinchillas are so delicate around the middle that they shouldn't be held there. However, while delicate, chinchillas do still have bones. The bones are what gives a chinchilla its bodily structure, meaning it can walk, run and protect itself. Like other animals, chinchillas have:

A skull, which is solid and thick to protect the brain and eyes

Leg bones and paw bones to stand with

Ribs, the purpose of which is to protect the vital organs (heart, lungs, liver, etc.)

Tail bones which stretch out from the chinchilla's behind, which are for balance when moving

These bones are essentially the same as those in other species of rodent. Take the paw, for example. A paper in the journal PeerJ compared the paws of chinchillas to those of other rodents. They have shortened thumbs, and have lost a toe through gradual evolution. But this is broadly similar to what has happened in other rodent species.

What this means is that chinchillas are little different to other rodents, except in certain specific ways.

Chinchilla Skeleton Diagram

As can be seen in the picture below, chinchillas have a normal-looking skeleton. From the outside, a chinchilla is instantly recognizable, but by looking only at its skeleton you could mistake a chinchilla for a large rat or squirrel.

The large skull and teeth, long tail and posture all mark this skeleton as one of a rodent, but it is indeed specifically a chinchilla. It appears far smaller because a chinchilla's fur accounts for a large amount of its overall volume/size.

Do Chinchillas Have Spines?

Chinchillas are fluffy, making their spines hard to see.

Chinchillas are vertebrates. Vertebrates are animals which have spinal cords. The term comes from 'vertebrae', which is the name for the individual bones in the spine. You can see the spine running along the back of the skeleton in the diagram above.

The vertebrae protect the delicate spinal cord within. The spinal cord is what the animal uses to relay sensory inputs to the brain, and signals from the brain to the outer limbs to make them move. Without vertebrae to protect it, the spinal cord is easily damaged. Damage to the spinal cord can cause disability to limbs below the point of damage. You can feel a chinchilla's spine through its fur when you handle it.

The tail is a continuation of the spine. It has the same structure of one vertebrae after the other as the spine does. Each vertebrae is smaller than the last as you approach the tail tip. The fact that the bones of the tail are the same as those in the core spine is reflected in their scientific name (caudal vertebrae).

Do Chinchillas Have Delicate Bones?

A chinchilla's bones are no more delicate than those of other rodents. They are of the same thickness and density as those of other rodents, and are no more easy to break. What's more likely to happen is for the bone to bend before breaking, in the same way that a wish bone will before it snaps.

The real reason why chinchillas are considered delicate is that all rodents are delicate. They are small, and are easily hurt by another animal as big and strong as a person.

Do Chinchillas Have a Rib Cage?

Chinchillas have ribs, like any other mammal. They also have rib cages, which is specifically defined as a formation which includes the spine, the ribs, and the sternum.

Chinchillas can be held around the middle if you're careful.

There is a myth that chinchillas do not have a rib cage or a sternum, and that they instead have 'floating ribs'. Floating ribs are ribs that are not connected to a sternum or another rib at the front. This means they are more flexible, but cannot protect the organs as well.

This is not accurate. As you can see from the diagram above, chinchillas do have a sternum. You can see it on the opposite side of the rib cage to the spine. While the sternum is small and weak, it is nonetheless present, and the ribs are connected to it.

Besides that, the ribs themselves are highly flexible. This is because in most animals, the rib runs almost all the way from the spine to the sternum and is only connected by a small amount of cartilage. Cartilage is like bony muscle: stronger than regular muscle and weaker than bone, but more flexible than bone, too.

In a chinchilla's rib cage, the cartilaginous section is as long as or longer than the rib. This means that the chinchilla's rib cage is less strong but more flexible than usual. This is an important distinction, and is why you shouldn't pick a chinchilla up by its middle. Its ribs don't protect its organs as well as the ribs of other animals for this reason.

What Is a Floating Rib Cage, and Do Chinchillas Have One?

Chinchillas do have a sternum. Their ribs are attached to it by small muscles and cartilage, which is similar to other animals' rib cages (including our own). You can see this in the diagram above. The bone of the rib is on the top half of the chinchilla's body, and meets cartilage at its sides. You can see the meeting point where there is a small lump.

Chinchillas do have two floating ribs, one on each side. These are the lower-most ribs, towards the tail-end of the spine, and can be seen in the diagram above. Many other animals have a floating rib in the same place, including people.

However, despite this myth not being true, it is still true that you have to be careful when handling a chinchilla. It's still true that:

Chinchillas have thin ribs which can easily bend and break

The cartilage which connects the ribs to the sternum is far longer than in other animals, which makes the cage more vulnerable to breaking, and more flexible

A chinchilla's ribs can poke into its organs if it is held around the middle

A chinchilla's spine is still delicate, and holding one around the middle can compress the spinal cord

This is why you have to pick up chinchillas according to long-established guidelines. To learn how to pick up a chinchilla by its tail rather than by its middle, read the linked guide.

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Can Chinchillas Break Their Bones?

A chinchilla's bones are structurally the same as those of other animals. They are mostly bone marrow on the inside, with a solid exterior of bone. Larger parts of the bone, e.g. joints, are less dense on the inside, but are still strong.

Either way, because a chinchilla's bones are structurally the same as those of other animals, they behave like those of other animals too. It's possible for a chinchilla's bones to bend, fracture or break. The younger the animal, the less chance of severe breaks.

These injuries heal over time. Bones have blood vessels inside them, like the rest of the body. These blood vessels supply oxygen, but also much-needed minerals to different parts of the body. When a bone breaks, this is what happens:

In the few days after a fracture, a blood clot forms around the break. This both protects the break, and enables the blood to deliver minerals and oxygen more easily.

Around the break and blood clot forms a callus. Callus is made of bone- and cartilage-material. This forms over the course of one to two weeks and keeps the bone in place, protecting it.

The structure of the bone is rebuilt and reconnected. This means creating new blood vessels inside the bone, new bone material and new bone marrow.

The callus is gradually re-absorbed by the body. With the bone reformed, it is no longer needed.

If the broken bone is not properly aligned, it takes longer to fill the gap. Infection is also more likely to occur as the wound takes longer to heal. If the bone is perfectly aligned, healing is much simpler.

Can You Accidentally Break a Chinchilla's Bones?

It's possible to accidentally break a chinchilla's tail, spine or ribs through incorrect handling. New owners can easily pick their pets up by their middles without thinking. This can result in broken ribs and punctured organs, i.e. severe injury. You could also break your chinchilla's bones by:

Accidentally sitting on it

Accidentally standing on it

Closing the cage door on it or its tail with too much force

Providing an unsuitable cage (your chinchilla can break its legs in the gaps of the floor)

Dropping it from a great height (although chinchillas are capable of surviving jumps/falls as they can naturally jump up high)

Mistreating it

Broken bones are made more possible by a lack of minerals. A lack of calcium in particular will result in weaker bones, especially if the lack occurs during development.

In this respect, a chinchilla is the same as any other pet. The only difference is that a chinchilla's ribs are easier to break, as they are floating ribs. You must therefore be more careful when handling a chinchilla than you would with other pets.

How Long Do Chinchilla Bones Take to Heal?

Chinchilla bones do not take long to heal. They are thin and delicate, but this thinness also means they are easier to heal. Any breaks may have mostly healed between 7-10 days.

However, if you have ever broken a bone, you will know that there is a difference between initial recovery and long-term recovery. The break site may still cause you pain for a long period afterwards. It may also be susceptible to breaking again in the future. As such, do not assume that your pet's broken bone has fully healed after this time.

What to Do If You Break Your Pet Chinchilla's Bones

If your chinchilla has a broken bone, it needs medical attention. To determine what the issue is and get it fixed, follow these steps.

Observe Your Pet

Bone fractures have several obvious symptoms. Your pet will be in pain and struggle to move, and will experience swelling around the break site. It's rare for there to be an open wound or bone poking through skin, but this is a possibility. This is similar to what fractures look like in other animals and people.

If you were there when the injury was sustained, you may have heard a cracking sound, which was the bone breaking. When your pet moves now you may hear a faint crackling noise. This is the sound of the broken ends of bone rubbing together.

Contact a Veterinarian

You should not leave your chinchilla to heal on its own. A veterinarian can diagnose and treat the fracture to make recovery quicker and more complete.

First, they will diagnose the problem. This is easy as the symptoms above are obvious enough to a novice, let alone a vet. But if the issue isn't so clear cut, the vet will confirm the break with an X-ray. Once confirmed, the vet will do several things:

Reduce the fracture, if it is a complete break, by realigning the bones

Apply a bandage to the area to restrain movement, which is essential for fast healing

Disinfect and dress any open wounds the chinchilla might have

Prescribe antibiotics in the event of an open wound (to prevent infection, which can seriously complicate recovery)

Prescribe mineral supplements (if the break was made possible by a lack of calcium)

Your vet may also advise you to do several things to prevent limb injuries in future and enable quick healing of your pet's fracture. You should remove any platforms from your chinchilla's enclosure until it's fully healed, as jumping/falling would aggravate the issue. You must also avoid allowing your chinchilla free time in a pen or outside of its enclosure for the same reason.

Monitor Your Pet's Condition

Keep an eye on your pet to see whether its broken bone heals correctly. Your pet shouldn't gnaw at the site constantly, as this will interfere with recovery. It also shouldn't overexert itself with too much exercise, so try to discourage this.

Once your pet's condition has improved, you can return its enclosure back to normal. This means putting back in any platforms, elevated food bowls and so on that you had to remove. At this point, you may want to visit the vet again to ensure that the fracture has fully healed. If so, nothing further needs to be done: apart from being more careful in the future!

Below, you can find our chinchilla quiz, new posts for further reading, and a signup for our Chinchilla Newsletter!

[ays_quiz id='9']

#chinchillas #chinchillafaqs #body

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SEO For Beginners: 3 Powerful SEO Tips to Rank #1 on Google in 2019

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SEO For Beginners: 3 Powerful SEO Tips to Rank #1 on Google in 2019

Do you need to rank quantity one on Google good I hate to claim it can be definitely fairly rough ten years ago it used to be relatively easy but now it can be hard and you recognize what except you watch this whole video you are not going to be in a position to rake number one on Google good day everyone i’m Neil Patel and today i am gonna share with you three ways that you would be able to rank quantity one on Google at present I obtained began an search engine optimization once I was sixteen years old I created a internet site known as advice monkey it not exists when you search for it you’re now not gonna see my internet site it was once a replication and a shitty replication of monster.Com and when I created the internet site I thought oh cool that is it humans are gonna come to my website online and i am gonna get site visitors however you understand what I popped up the website and nobody came to it from that factor i noticed there was once something referred to as seo that I had to do I paid a couple of advertising and marketing corporations to aid me with seo so that method I could rank number one on Google for terms like job search however you recognize what I gave them cash and that i got no outcome eventually as a sixteen 12 months historic kid I misplaced all my cash you most effective could make so much cash cleaning restrooms and settling on up trash so I had to gain knowledge of it but after I first started it used to be as simple as placing the key phrases to your website and also you could rank I want it was that handy at the moment number one focus on content material see Google has this replace called hummingbird and with hummingbird what they determined to do is internet sites who just have content material the whole lot is not going to do as good as web sites to focus on one single niche and are super thorough for instance shall we say you may have a internet site around relationship you probably have a website around courting and your article is let’s assume speakme about mmm 5 approaches that you may land a date or five methods which you could land your dream date if you emerge as breaking down hey go to matcom signal up and you’ll be able to find a match after you create a profile you’re not going to do this good but should you write a piece of writing that breaks down the right way to create a profile on fit.Com the ultimate photo the excellent description how you can be humorous even probably add video I don’t know i have not been on these relationship sites in a long time however if you happen to go rather extensive and also you smash down each little thing that they should do after which after you wreck down match.Com then you definitely speak about tinder then you speak about bumble then you definately speak about concord all the other structures then you even speak about the way you will have to reply to men and women and interact with them will have to you be hitting persons up what’s the very first thing you will have to say to them how must you reply where must you go to your first date right methods to carry out of your first date and ask him on a 2d date but if you are super thorough and your content material is so strong that people are like huh Wow I learn this article I shouldn’t have anymore questions and i do know what to do next that is how thorough you need a be so poke holes on your content and as many holes as you could and fill them all up so then that approach men and women are like this is the tip all site that you must come to be reading if you are eager about relationship on-line really what’s humorous I desire courting was this easy once I used to be more youthful i could not simply swipe an app like tinder and to find the next in shape I used to be sitting next to my buddy Terry the opposite day and he stored swiping on tinder and he’s like investigate this out swipe in synapse swipe in svet 30 plus fits inside a few minutes but again in my days you could have got to go to a bar and meet folks and virtually speak to them all correct so now that we acquired that wrong way let’s go into the 2d tip if you want to rank number one on Google the 2d tip i have for you is optimize your title tag and your Meta Description have you ever ever done a Google search and notice that each time you do it there’s this link on the high after which there is this one sentence with the link on the prime is referred to as a title tag and the outline under is known as a meta description now consider of it this manner should you seek for the phrase online relationship and you don’t see the phrase online dating you neither the title or the description are you gonna click on on the influence well if you’re there’s something incorrect considering that why would you click on on a outcomes that’s not related to what you’re looking for moreover to that have you ever ever accomplished a search for a term like online dating and have you ever ever noticed that the phrase is not within the title or description that is due to the fact that Google tracks who’s clicking on what listing and they’ve discovered that once a key phrase is within the checklist the same keyword that you are browsing for they be aware of you are far more more likely to click on by means of so to your title tag and your Meta Description make sure you include the key phrase but you cannot just include the keyword like on-line relationship right the simplest method good i’d do and that i want it was this straightforward i’ll just put on-line courting online relationship online dating online dating if I might put it 20 instances so persons comprehend that the articles on on-line dating I want i’d get more clicks but it’s no longer that easy yes you ought to include the keyword for your title and your description but it must be attractive if it would not float in a sentence it can be no longer effortless to read and it’s now not attractive or evoking curiosity no one is gonna click by means of the third factor i have for you is to use Google search console were you aware that Google offers you a tool that teaches you how to rank number one on Google sure i do know that sounds ridiculous however it is real and it can be referred to as Google search console if you’re no longer already a person of it signal up it doesn’t fee a dollar you’re missing out if you’re not making use of it I can’t emphasize that ample so now that you’re utilising Google search console supply it just a few days because it takes a while to populate information you’ll be able to see a reveal that suggests search analytics and this suggests you the entire pages in your website which can be getting you traffic but the cool thing about Google search console is in addition they show you which articles are becoming impressions and here is what I imply by way of impressions whilst you do a search on Google you do not at all times click by way of on a outcomes right in the event you did then you might be clicking through on ten results every time you did a search that would be insane what Google shows is how many people are seeing your checklist and clicking via and how many people do not click through so that they show you how many impressions you are getting the clicks and the clicking-by way of price and what you’ll be able to find is most commonly you’re lucky if you are getting round a 5 percentage click-by means of fee repeatedly 10 15 but ordinarily most of your pages are gonna be getting not up to 5 percentage click-through fee now the cool part about Google search console is they show you all the key terms that you’re getting impressions for and all of the ones you are getting speedy for now don’t forget the first tip was once about content material thoroughness and you need an editorial that talks about the whole lot below the solar good you should use Google search console to tie in again to the primary tip so sort of quantity one and three are associated in which you wish to have to take all of the keyword phrases you’re getting impressions for and start adding them to your replica now don’t simply shove them in and have your content be key phrase wealthy where you understand anybody reads it and all it is is online relationship tinder Harmonie dating on-line assembly any individual from online courting correct if any person was once studying your article and it sounded just like that they may be gonna leap off your website considering that that suggests your content sucks and it just has too many key phrases it has to waft naturally and be academic so you wish to have to take those keywords that you’re seeing in Google search console and add them to the article now we now have a piece of writing on Instagram and it teaches you the right way to recover from 300 unique Instagram followers per day the article is around 10,000 phrases when I first wrote that article it wasn’t 10,000 words is roughly 2500 I went to Google search console I noticed the entire folks which are browsing for terms concerning the article I introduced them within that article I made it more thorough and what my site visitors greater than tripled to that article yes it’s that simple and after I made that fluctuate it did not happen correct away but i realized the outcome inside 50 days that’s now not a long time so now let’s recap on the pointers 1 make your content super thorough to be certain you include the key words within your title tag and meta description but also when you are doing your title and outline be certain your voguing curiosity and you are creating mighty title that everybody needs to learn and click by way of and number 3 use the free software that Google offers you that’ll aid you rank quantity one that is Google search console use these three matters and that you may rank quantity one no longer just one day but in addition correct now now that you’ve got discovered these three recommendations I assignment you where i would like you to take these approaches and enforce them and then after you implement them within the subsequent forty five days i need you to leave a remark with your outcome in view that if you’re no longer doing good that suggests i am not blissful and i do know these approaches work and that’s why i’m challenging you when you consider that for those who put into effect them you are gonna see outcome and you’re gonna be ecstatic and your life goes to vary and i need to build a trip of like-minded individuals we all take motion and we help each and every other develop so I project you to take motion and put in force these three steps now furnish it i know you can be busy and you may not be equipped to do all of them correct away however simply decide on one it does not have to be time-drinking choose one in every of them make the exchange possibly which you can begin with the second tactic due to the fact that that is the easiest one put in force it and that you could start seeing results right away so make sure you subscribe to this video and this channel and i’m going to see you within the next video and we are going to hold serving to every different grow